Way up....on the Balloon!

It was with my dear hubby's persistence that we went back to the Balloon site the same evening to catch the ride at night. We had earlier confirmed that the suspension in the day had been lifted.

Hurray, finally the day had not been wasted and so did the free voucher! Ready to 'balloon' my way up 150meters (ie about 40 plus storey high)

Here's one of the night view of Singapore. The nicest scenary is still the night lights of the CBD.

This is the Central National Library taken from the Balloon.

Raffles Hospital taken at the half-way mark.

Mmmm.....I probably won't spend $23 for this 7 - 10minutes ride up the sky, but with the free tickets, well, I guess I had a pretty good time up there.

28 Aug 2007 (9.25pm)

The Balloon is not taking flight!

A test flight against a gloomy weather conditions.

The day was initially catered for this moment, to utilise the free voucher which we got from Singtel Sweet Treats.

But who's to know that the authorities were definitely taking 'every single precautions' to ensure safety. The right was suspended right from the start at 11am. Well, first the weather was gloomy in the morning, we understand, and hope for the sky to clear come afternoon.

Well, we thought the cloudiness was gone, and the sun had returned, but still we were told it was still suspended!

27 Aug 2007 (5.55pm)

Hungry Ghosts, Hungry Me!

What an extraordinary Saturday with half a morning to half an afternoon getting involved in folding and burning incense papers and waiting for the annual 'zhong yuan jie' (Hungry Ghosts festival) ceremony to finish. And with a scorching hot weather (but somehow threatened by the little dark clouds along the way).

It was held in a MNC with office staff and manufacturing assistants chipping in to get the job done. How interesting!

It had been a long wait for the whole ceremony to complete, but the process was fun. There was a huge load of incense papers to burn and this particular item took a long time to complete.

And finally, the most enjoyable part was chopping up of the offerings (ie roasted pigs, ducks and chickens) on the spot and the pieces distributed to everyone present. Most had their share of 'fats', satisfying their palate on the spot!

Then of course, there was an item most of the people were very keen with - seeking the lottery numbers from the deities. Wonder how much luck we will have this weekend!!!

And...the numbers are.........er...............

25 Aug 2007 (9.35pm)

Snapshot!

This is one of my proudest works. How's that?

There should be a great title to go with the pic. Any suggestions?

23 Aug 2007 (8.45pm)

I've conquered M&M!!

Might & Magic, that is.

Over the last few months (maybe three, maybe four), I have been entertained by a game, called Might and Magic - For Blood and Honour, which my hubby has played for seven years. Seven years!!!

And just on 19 August, I have completed the whole game and even had a certificate! Isn't that quite an achievement. It required a lot of mind works and mind-boggling moments.

But of course, I had the help of the expert to show me the 'way'. And of course, being a newbie, I had created many unwanted opportunties for my hubby to laugh at, tease, make fun of my silliness, stupidity, clumsiness at the game. And making silly comments and stupid questions - that's what he thought.

Now that I have completed once, I am going to do it again, this time, hopefully mostly on my own. But then......I will still need the guy's help every now and then. Wait till I have master the game a few more times, and I can challenge the seven-year guy!

The game involves creating and building your characters, determining the level of skills they possess at the basic levels. As the game progress, your characters should have built up the skills, in terms of weapons, armor, magic, spells, etc...to an advanced level for them. This is required for them to do the quests throughout the games. Find golds to add to your bank account so that you can use them to purchase skills and whatever you need to upgrade. The monsters get more difficult to manage as the levels increase.

You get the thrill of finding precious weapons and armour, the relics and artifacts which can increase your skill levels by leaps and bounds.

So it is quite a challenge and one gets satisfaction at the completion of each quest - esp when you hear the sound of gold deposited to your account! (wish they were real!)

I had grumbled when I found my hubby so engrossed with the game when we were just married. For a while I tried to understand and play the game, but gave up. After a few months, I tried at it again, and found it to be more interesting as I played on! And er.....I started to 'compete' with him for the computer. Ahem, he probably needs to 'beg' me for more computer time now. :D

Well, I would like to show off that 'certificate' the game had 'conferred' upon me - but not now as I have yet to find a way to convert it to a picture file. What a bother!

22 Aug 2007

My 'Pet-ty' World

We seem to have numerous 'pet-ty' topics at work of late. These topics have brought much joy and fun at lunch. And of course, the subjects have no way of knowing the 'gossips' behind them, and even if they do, well, they can't do anything!

Who (or rather, what) do you think are the 'pet-ty' subjects? No prizes for guessing them right!

The little hammie is my first very own pet (I mean, 4-legged ones) after several long years. I had long wanted one but did not dare to commit myself to one. Emotional commitment is one of the many reasons.

I used to have goldfish and guppies during junior school days, but would you believe it if I tell you I 'mourned' the death of everyone of them?? It's tortorous. I even kept one dead goldfish in a matchbox and kept it in my bedroom bathroom not knowing what to do with it. Or rather, I would do anything not to dispose of it.

Mao Mao (my hammie) is a great pet which sleeps most of the day. When he feels like it, you can pet him in your palm while it zzzzz......Tissues are Mao Mao's favourite 'plaything'. He makes nests out of them and sleeps cosily on them. Sure knows how to enjoy life. Sunfower seeds tend to make him run wild most of the time.

The cattie above is a neighbourhood pet. It has been around for more than 10 years, as long as I can remember. It moves about in our void deck and is welcomed by most of the residents. I named cattie Xiaohei, not knowing what it's real name is. Some residents say it's called Cantik (malay word for 'pretty'), and said it was owned by a Malay family who had moved but left the cattie behind. Xiaohei is a lovely cat, but has it's temperaments. When it feels like it, it will follow you and snudge beside you and perform whatever tricks it has. Xiaohei loves to be patted and caressed.

Well, at home, I have another 'pet' on my bed. He is a doggie I named Gougou which was a birthday gift from my dad. Gougou, though not real, looks very much like a real house dog. Very cuddly.

Only recently when the pet-ty topics started that I realise I've got lots of pet-ty friends around. Most of them have dogs and we have very interesting topics surrounding them.

Much more interesting and joyful topics than those surrounding 'homo sapiens'. Don't you think, pals?

20 Aug 2007 (4.50pm)

Official 'Opening' of my Blog

A big warm welcome to myself to this world of blogging!

I wonder how long have I waited to finally get this going. Not that I was making any big preparation for this day. It's simply laziness!

Thanks to my friend who has recently sent her blog to me and that has reminded me to get it started again.

My 'desire' to write has started a very long time ago. At one time, I was contemplating to write a book on myself for myself. But no headway was made. Then, I registered for a distance writing course, from a UK-based institute but there was no time and discipline to pursue. How lousy!

So what I did was ad-hoc writing. That too, went dead, after some time.

Well, I have started this blog going, and I hope....'the best is yet to come'!

19 Aug 2007 (9.45am)