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On (L)ea(V)e, singles and dogs

The previous post is password protected coz it is being treated as a police case and so I think it shouldn’t be made public, except for those who used to be colleagues with me.

Regarding my office being broken into last nite, which you might have known if you had followed me on twitter.

Tmrw’s gonna be a busy day for me. Will be on half day leave to go see doctor and before that a blood test. Seems like I can only grab a light snack to have time to do it (actually thought to skip lunch but I might just faint after they take my blood if I dun eat )

Then I’ll rush for a facial appointment which I brought forward from Thu coz I need to pick G up from the airport. He decided to return 2 days earlier!

Fully utilise my leave.

Just came to know from Cruz’s tweet that November 11 is also known as Singles Day…

Like that also have?

And why do they eat youtiao (flour fritters)? Coz it’s 2 pcs bound together like number 11, and the binding is supposed to be something auspicious?

My guess only, but it’s got a point in there too, ain’t it?

If I happen to be right, does that mean that for it to become really auspicious, you shouldn’t tear apart the youtiao (if you happen to 应节 and eat one tomorrow) and instead should gobble the whole thing down?

Probably we should also start singing The Spice Gals’ song, Two Become One~~~

Oh, I think my LV bag should be in Singapore since last weekend. So probably I’ll be able to get it on Thu nite or Friday.

Woot woot woot! My first ever investment ever. A bit too late but better than never.

I think when Caramel and Cinnamon returns home, my dad would be so bored. My mum won’t need to cook dinner twice – one for dogs and one for humans (like us). They will miss the action at home, the barking, and their welcome at the door.

My dad will start repeating how clever and adorable they are, and then start missing them again. And both pooches might just not get used to not sleeping on the mattress anymore.

End of holiday and chalet soon.

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Identity

Been reading how Huiwen and Joan lost (and found) their dogs very much recently, and I was glad I did the same thing to Caramel and Cinnamon a while ago.

Caramel is a dog that forgets his name when he sees grass, or see a lot of dogs to play with. Once he starts running very fast, I can forget about catching him. On the other hand, Cinnamon is one who was new to this name (she used to be called Yumi before for 6 years) so it might be possible that she might not respond to her ‘new’ name and get lost as a result.

So I did the best thing I thought should be done when I saw this during one of my polyclinic visits: a bullet-like capsule that holds details about their names, and contact numbers if anyone should get lost. In addition, there is also an O-ring that keeps the paper inside dry and waterproof.

Caramel

Cinnamon

Only thing is, if they ever get lost, I hope anyone who picks them up will know how to find their identity.

And just as I was writing this, Caramel’s identity tag came loose at one end and he started playing with it.

World Record: US$14.3M License Plate

Sighz…I would rather they gimme the money…

See the great lengths they go to on buying something perceived to boost the image of them.

Read the full story here: ABC News

Cities at nite

Rio De Janerio:

Paris:

Niagara Falls:

The troublesome little missy, and dinner @ Safra

Argh. My laptop battery is giving me problems again. Now I gotta stay connected to a power source else the laptop will shut down.

Brought Cinnamon for the first time to my mum’s office. As usual, she left a puddle of pee just right near to a wetsuit. Nice try. Thank goodness she didn’t think the suit was a pee pad.

And then I leashed her up. Since she couldn’t walk around, she thought she would find a comfortable place to lie down on.

Under the table in the middle of all the neoprene rolls.

Went for a wedding dinner at Safra Jurong last nite. Before this dinner, I didn’t even realise that there is one Safra near Jurong Point. But that place is packed. Carpark was full when I got there.

As usual, we Chinese have very bad time management when it comes to wedding dinners. Until 8.30pm before the dinner starts.

Nothing much memorable, just the restaurant staff as emcee, then the usual march in and montages.

It was very funny when they got to our table. I guessed we just wanted a simple cheer, but then it ended up the groom starting to shout Yum Seng then we follow suit at our table. Liddat also can?

The whole nite, it was conducted in Mandarin all the way. Didn’t really have anyone translating into English for non-Chinese people who attended the wedding. Except the speech done by the groom.

Slightly too noisy, coz both sides there were some functions going on and as you know, dividers can’t totally mute out the sounds.

It was just meant to be a dinner for their frens in Singapore.

Ermm…do I sound critical like that?

流转 － Coco Lee

New debit card, shopping and Standing Sushi Bar

It was an eventful day. I was practically out of office the whole day.

I went to the bank to drop some cheques for the CEO. Though he is a Privilege Banking member, I can’t join the Priority Q.

Apparently, it’s supposed to be for personal banking only. And since he issued the cheques to some corporate account, it’s not included in the Privilege Banking service.

Anyway, I was let into something interesting also. UOB is going to launch the new debit card by next week, where the card can be used as a cashcard, ezylink, ATM, tap-to-pay and debit card. My debit card is due to expire this Dec, and I was actually invited to sign up for some gold card. But the CSO told me not to sign for that but to sign for this new platinum card. The ezylink and cashcard actually had a separate account, and requires top up manually. So even if the card is lost, it does not mean unlimited usage by whoever who picks up. There will still be a cap.

Interesting. I think I will take it up. Moreover, I do not have an ATM card anymore (it spoilt donkey years ago) and so I need another new one by its expiry end of this year.

With barely time to rest, I headed down to Orchard in the rain.

Chose a few ties, and got 3 lady-style pens from Mikimoto.

Only had lunch at 3pm+. By then I kinda lost my appetite.

Few hours later, I headed down to CBD. For what?

Standing sushi bar!

We were late due to the accidents and meetings and such. However, dinner was very enjoyable. We kind of were the first one there, and thought how come it was so empty.

Minutes later, the full force came and filled the place.

Icybabe and me had some food to taste while waiting for the Paradizer to arrive.

Miso soup, salmon skin handrolls for starters.

Both very good. Yumz.

Then we ordered sake toro nigiri, inari gunkan, mekajiki nigiri.

Then sake toro and sake sashimi.

Finally we had sake toro aburi style. That was the ultimate dish of last nite.

First we must put the whole thing in the mouth, within seconds after it’s served. At least enough time to let the Paradizer snap a photo of it.

Splendid. I think that was an understatement actually.

Here’s what we had. Part of it.

*Photos taken with Blackberry Bold.
*Logo of ’standingsushibar’ taken from standingsushibar.wordpress.com.

A bit of here and there

Feeling a bit sick now. Headache.

Kept staying back late for god-knows-what-reason at work. And sleeping really late at nite.

Tomorrow will be going to Standing Sushi Bar for dinner. Supposed to be birthday dinner gathering with the Paradizer and Icybabe. We decided to try the ala carte menu first before we try the omakase (next time).

G says he should be going to LV today. Yay! The excitement somehow died down a bit at this moment but there will be excitement there if I see the bag itself. Haha.

Was trying to book the air tickets for the Dec diving, when I realised that the return flight does not connect till home. It was a good thing coz I had logged in to check the cost several times before but didn’t get down to book it coz something will always hold me back. I didn’t notice that they actually took out one flight on the return date and pushed the later flight up to depart earlier. Until today. And the bad thing is, Air Asia didn’t inform my other friends who had booked the flights earlier on. So I kinda ’saved’ them from only realising it at the last minute.

Cinnamon is a bit of a handful these 2 days. She sunk the 2nd piece of mat at my place today. She went to the toilet to pee (which was clever of her) but she also pee-ed on the toilet mat. I wonder why she doesn’t pee on her own pee pad though. Even last nite, she pee-ed just outside her pee pad in my bedroom.

I think she really pees a lot. She did pee in the grass patch last nite actually. But I think it’s also she’s drinking a lot of water. Much more than Caramel.

This morning I passed by the horrible accident that happened around Clementi Loop. By the time I heard about the accident, I had no other way to divert to, so had to endure the long queue to Clementi. The 3-lane road was left with only one lane, and even that was not a straight road to go faster. The leftest 2 lanes were closed, and after which, had to zig zag past the accident site coz a patrol bike was on the 1st lane this time.

I saw the guy died with his shoe in a distance. Similar to the accident scene I saw several months ago, the one that involved the taxi that skidded and hit the divider in the wee morning hours.

Sad.

Not sleeping, yet not sleepless

It’s going to be 1am, and I am still not sleeping.

Didn’t sleep well last nite even. I brought the dogs home here coz G is away for 2 weeks. And Cinnamon was not too used to my place. But today everything went fine.

She had a bad tummy, so was shitting at unusual places. She was lying on the mattress sleeping, then suddenly woke up to wander to my kitchen.

I went there to see what made her go there, and realised she poo-ed at a corner.

Such a clever little bugger.

After that, she was pretty nervous and didn’t go to sleep immediately. I kept hearing her tinkle and so had to try hard to lull myself to sleep while Caramel was looking over from my bed to check out what she was doing.

Today, she got used to my place already. Except she kept barking at my neighbours because she didn’t know them.

And she’s also starting to pee at grass patches. Though she still has a mind of her own and kept braking halfway thru her walk.

Slowly, but surely.

Actually felt like getting sick. I kept waking up with runny nose and itchy throat. But it didn’t get serious enough to get proper medical attention. And so I hovered between sick and not sick.

Hmm…starting to get tired now. Gotta log off this abruptly.

Will blog again tomorrow.

3 sessions to Halloween

Last Saturday I became 狗仔队. Glad that we managed to pull off the surprise.

Session 1:

It was tiring actually, for I was greatly involved in session 1 and 2. Anyway, that enabled me to visit the Underwater World for the first time ever. And I think I will never visit it again.

Not when I went round the tank for like…10 times?

A lot of people were also at the Underwater World. So much so, I felt a bit claustrophobic too.

Our destination

Here we are…

Fur seal! Take photo with it need money lor.

*yawn*

Freaking long tail

Jellyfishes that change from red to…

…to yellow

Mimic octopus, which btw also can change colour too

Nautilus

Beautiful silhouette of a dugong

Was supposed to wait for WK and FT to appear for their dive session but their briefing and preparation took a long time. In the end, I had to go to location #2, Siloso Beach Resort to prepare the room. But it was fun doing up the room and setting the camera secretly to capture his reaction.

New kid on the block

Been a roller coaster week. Some downs which I would not want to remember.

Anyway, there’s a new kid on the block. Someone called Cinnamon too, but totally changed dog.

After the last ‘failed’ attempt, the rehomer who found Caramel for us found another chihuahua. 6 years, female. She had to be rehomed because the lady had another 2 CHHs and she had received complaints from others despite the 3 of them being quiet (like nobody’s home). And more surprisingly were the ones who complained, were from other blocks, and they even had dogs for their own.

Some people can just be so ‘nothing to do’.

G saw the dog and took a liking to her, coz she looked like his previous dog which died because she accidentally ate something poisonous while having a walk outside. And such was the connection that we immediately took the dog away on the same day.

Cinnamon refused to walk on the leash, probably coz she goes out in a bag and not walked (her paws are soft and smooth). But being a clever dog, she finally started walking now and even looks about for Caramel when she didn’t see him in front of her.

The next thing to train her is to pee outside like Caramel, instead of being paper trained. Then she can go up on the bed.

On the day she was brought home, she actually pee-ed on the bed after running around with Caramel. Probably thought it was an extra big pee pad. So no more until she starts easing herself outside.

Another thing to train, is to be able to walk up the stairs. Now she can only go up the last steps and not a whole flight. She would just sit on the steps when I leave her there.

Yes, she really has got a mind of her own. No, means no.

On the nite where she was left in the toilet with Caramel while we were out, she jailbroke the barrier and I guessed Caramel was very happy when he saw us coming home. Yes, he received us at the gate, which I wasn’t too surprised because I heard Caramel’s bell when we reached back. But as Cinnamon couldn’t go down the stairs, she was actually walking around the 2nd floor.

Photos up soon, once she is confirmed to be staying with Caramel. Right now she is still on probation and at the moment everything seems fine.

She’s one sweet looking lass.

Lunch at Saraceno

*This entry was first written on 24 Oct 2009*

Earlier this last week, CEO came into office in a good mood (probably also coz he took a long break for Deepavali) that he told me to go find a place for lunch for the whole department. Actually I thought I heard him say the next day’s lunch but then by 12pm I realised it wasn’t, and was supposed to be TODAY.

To cut things short, someone suggested to go to Saraceno at Duxton Road Bejaya Hotel. Italian!

I did a fast check on what I was to expect for lunch. Hmm…good reviews. I made a call, but found the receiver of the call a bit no standard. I asked for 18 pax but then he thought I said 5. Plus he was like speaking so softly and I couldn’t even hear what he was trying to say. Anyway, I managed to get the reservation done before I had the urge to scream at him.

SERVICE.

I find the service so-so only. I think they were trained to do things some ways. Coz we had 18 pax, we took nearly an hour to settle down and order food. They go from the ladies first, then to the guys. My CEO got impatient and wanted the guy to bring the ladies orders to the kitchen first then take the guys’ orders, but they explained that the food will come out at different timings which would not be good.

Well.

Most of us ordered starters. But for some reason, my soup of the day didn’t come until last. Another guy colleague had his soup that came before me, then they seemed to have stopped serving us food before I reminded him of my soup.

Second, my main. When they laid the cutlery, I knew something was wrong. I was having lamb but was handed a table knife. My colleague next to me, on the other hand, was having fish but she got a steak knife. Hmm…I was looking at my knife thinking, I bet I’m going to have problem with cutting lamb with that knife.

True enough, the waiter laid the lamb on my colleague’s front. I told him I’m the one having the lamb before he realised a mistake again.

Lastly, when the bill came, there were some discrepancies on the bill. We were overcharged on the alcohol. Didn’t understand why when it came to food order taking, only one did the work, but when in terms of serving drinks, a few of them took the order.

And because of that, the food order taking took some time, and still ended up with mistakes, and the drinks had extra orders entered into the system.

FOOD.

Food quality was not bad. They served 3 types of bread, and we curbed our hungry tummies with them.

My appetiser was the pumpkin soup of the day. It was generally quite thick but not overpowering, and with the sweet taste of pumpkin with every mouthful. Only thing is, I think it didn’t come piping hot, which I would much prefer.

My main was the lamb chop with some sauce (can’t remember). I like how they manage with the doneness (I asked for medium rare) and it came just right. But I didn’t really like the sauce that came with it. I thought it took away the natural taste of the lamb and frankly, I much preferred the ones they served at Tanglin Club. But one thing to comment, no lamb-y smell.

Dessert was panna cotta with Amaretto. That was good. I like how the bitterness of the liqueur complemented with the slight sweet taste. And I think I felt a bit high from the dessert after that which surprised me coz I CAN’T BE THAT BAD A DRINKER RIGHT?

Overall, I give a better rating to the food quality rather than the service. It was uncalled for because they even took down orders on paper and still, mistakes were made.

Hopefully they can improve on their service, and…pls set up a website for this restaurant coz I couldn’t find anything on it except from food reviews and articles.

BB Camera

Been ‘obssessing’ with the camera on my BB phone. And who else had been my model?

Caramel likes to lie down in front of me when I do things on my MacBook. And by chance I caught him red handed:

Not only did he refuse to move away, he even did this to me:

See? Dogs nowadays are getting techie too.