I think I will continue to do this over the next 1.5 years such that the number of dinners/ mini-parties I host will be more than the ones held at Caribbean during my 3.5 years stay there.

It’s always awesome to have friends come and visit, chill out (without or without alcohol), sing a tune or two, and with reserved late night energy play Wii.

I guess I will have to find a better way of sorting out some logistical concerns like where to order sumptuous food (since I don’t cook) and having an amply supply of ice.

With the excitement of entertaining visitors, I occasionally forget to take photos. But here’s a party I hosted where I didn’t forget to bring out my digicam. Maybe because my guests are camwhores as well and inevitably I will be asked why I am not taking photos. Ha.

Welcome Julu, Ben, and Karl…

Julu belting out high notes on the Magic Sing with my sister

Mostly Philippine cuisine

Compared with previous years, I felt really excited about this year’s festivities even if my family really does not celebrate CNY. We had more goodies/snacks, home decorations and CNY CD’s. The only thing we did not observe was buying new clothes. There’s not much closet space and we didn’t want to cramp the limited space anymore.

Some bits of info which I picked up from the Yahoo Q&A website :

Red as the official CNY color

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nien (Chinese: 年; pinyin: nián). Nien would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nien ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people.

One time, people saw that the Nien was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nien was afraid of the colour red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nien. From then on, Nien never came to the village again. The Nien was eventually captured by hong jun lao zu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nien became hong jun lao zu’s mount.

Clothing

The colour red is commonly worn throughout the Chinese New Year because it is believed that red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune.

In addition, people typically wear new clothes from head to toe to symbolize a new beginning in the new year. Wearing new clothes also symbolizes having more than enough things to use and wear in the new year.

Photos around Singapore

Chinatown - stalls selling goodies left and right

CNY goodies - peanut & coconut cookies, shrimp / pork rolls, pineapple tarts . Towers of calories!

Mall tour

Takashimaya mall. Believe it or not, I went stall by stall to check out the stuff. Ended up buying cornflake butter cookies (only).

Ion Orchard - These are cherry blossoms right?

(Newly-opened) Mandarin Gallery. This tiger is made up of flowers.

Vivo City came up with a directory of which shops are open during the festive season. Very customer service oriented.

Resorts World Sentosa also opened during the CNY weekend and as anticipated crowds flocked the island. Here are photos taken inside Vivo City and the nearby bus stop. Waiting time is loooooong. I will wait for Universal Studios to open before I join the queue.

Resorts World Sentosa -- taken from Vivo City

Waiting time for monorail - 45 minutes

Waiting time for buses into Sentosa - 2 hours. Of course waiting time could vary with signs updated accordingly.

More info on : http://www.rwsentosa.com/

Believe it or not, I know all those songs but cannot claim that I can reach all the high notes!

Quincy Jones recognised his talent and chose him to perform both “Just Once” and “One Hundred Ways” in his album “The Dude”. Such album resulted in 3 Grammy nominations for James — Best New Artist, Best Pop Male Vocal, and Best R&B Vocal (which won him his 1st Grammy).

Here’s a video of him performing “Just Once” :

and

“Somewhere Out There” (theme song for “An American Tail”) — a much younger James Ingram

Talented right?

So when he was here for a one-night concert as part of the Mosaic music festival at the Esplanade, I knew I had to watch the show.

We also invited Patrick to join us. He sang "Just Once" several times during his stint at Boiler Room at St James Power Station

1) Arab St & Haji Lane

Sufi (48 Arab St, Singapore 199745 ; Ph +65 6298 2258)

Time to go Turkish in Singapore

The design of the vanity mirror which I got for my sister during my Istanbul trip a few months back matches the wall!

Babaganoosh - Roasted eggplant pureed with garlic, tahini, olive oil, and lemon juice

Salmon steak - charcoal grilled salmon with delicious (Sufi) homemade sauce

Adana kebab - Skewered minced lamb and beef, spiced and charcoal grilled topped with a delicious tomato based sauce

Kasarli kofte (my main course) - Minced lamb and beef, formed into patties, topped with cheese and tomato based sauce; freshly baked in a clay pot

Baklava - Walnuts, pistachios, and honey syrup rolled into filled pastry

After lunch, I attempted to burn off some calories by dropping by a few shops along Haji Lane.

Haji Lane

This time with Haji Lane as my backdrop.

2) Once  Upon a Milkshake

You can find it in Maxwell Chambers near Tanjong Pagar station (32 Maxwell Road, Singapore 069115 ; Ph +65 9823 3779)

Maxwell Chambers (white house) is beside...

... a red building called Red Dot Museum

Milkshake Menu

Left : Chocolate Truffle Castle (my sister's) ; Right : Nutty Peanut Butter (mine)

Really good. Will be back soon.

1) … Blog entry – this one!

2) … few photos in the new year (Post-Countdown)

Sophie distracted by the New Year's Eve food on the dining table

3) … Singapore tourist attraction visited (Asian Civ Museum)

4) … shopping mall where I made a purchase beyond SGD50

5)… film watched on the big screen

Happy new year!

New hairstyle and specs going into the new year.

Here’s what I plan to do in 2010 in random order :

1 Achieve “regular customer” status in one of the bars in Singapore by end June.

2 Listen to FM radio more often to keep up with English and Mandarin pop music.

3 Lose 3kg by end March, another 3kg by end June and maintain weight with +/- 2 kg variation for the rest of the year.

4 Be more active on Saturday mornings.

5 Use my MacBook, Nokia X6, online applications (i.e. WordPress), digital media to the fullest.

6 Be involved in preparing at least one new dish per month.

7 Be more conscious of the price of goods & services I purchase and use such knowledge on a need basis. Avoid buying blindly.

8 Discover new items via online shopping every 3 months.

9 Among all acquaintances I will meet in 2010, be able to catch up again post-introduction with at least 10 of them.

10 Continue to learn more about Singapore — specific focus on (1) how the education system works, (2) CPF,  (3) buying a house, (4) its history , (5) heartlands exploration

11 Use the bus as the primary mode of transport to and from work (70% of the time).

12 Learn basic / conversational Mandarin without taking up formal classes. Sound like a pro even for a limited scope of words.

13 Read more – on print and online.

14 Undisclosed target – to be known by yearend if achieved

“Good Enough” by Dodgy

I’ve got an aching in my bones,
I’ve been exposed to what I want to see
The fuse is burning somewhere
it’s drenched in heat, it’s where I long to be

There’s always two sides you don’t have to suffer
If this is heaven then send me to hell
So stay in the light, don’t take your eyes from the prize
Hey, there goes the bell

If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me
It’s good enough for two, it’s what I want to see
If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me
It’s good enough for two, it’s what I want to see

Sing a song as the sun does rise,
if you don’t ask questions and you don’t know why
There’s a bridge to the other side,
Don’t take your eyes from the prize

There’s always two sides you don’t have to suffer
If this is heaven then send me to hell
So stay in the light, don’t take your eyes from the prize
Hey, there goes the bell

If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me
It’s good enough for two, it’s what I want to see
If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me
It’s good enough it’s true, it’s what I want to see

[Bridge]

There’s always two sides you don’t have to suffer
If this is heaven then send me to hell
So stay in the light, don’t take your eyes from the prize
Hey, there goes the bell

You’d like me to buy you mind,
The situation may you never find

If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me
It’s good enough for two, it’s what I want to see
If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me
It’s good enough for two, it’s what I want to see
If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me
It’s good enough for two, it’s what I want to see
If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me
It’s good enough for two, it’s what I want to see

Here’s what I discovered:

1) West Coast Plaza

http://www.westcoastplaza.com.sg/home/index.aspx?key=home

There's a large Cold Storage supermarket in such mall.

2) West Coast Park

Although not as popular as East Coast Park, this park also has a McDonald’s outlet and some walking / jogging area. Good for a weekend morning stroll.

Zen-like McDonalds outlet

Sis and mom posing for the cam

This specific play area is for 7 years old and above. I meet the criteria.

Presenting the West Coast

Unless a wild animal was chasing me, I would not attempt to climb trees... :p

Oooh a flying snake

Soccer training or lessons at the park

I realised that change is good if it means having a place with more space, keeping the same modern look & feel at a much more reasonable price.

Moving also means getting rid of the clutter (or at least knowing what could be thrown away in due course) and buying new furniture and appliances. I keep telling my family that we are only transferring to a new home within the same country, not relocating to another country hence no need to purchase a lot of items. I think we have kept that in mind 50% of the time.

My room looks neater now than before and I plan to keep it that way. It will look more tidy after the holidays as some of stuff from overseas travel meant for Christmas gifts are still in one corner of the room.

For some reason, I sleep more comfortably now even with a slightly earlier wake up time. Maybe it’s the room, the house in general or my new mattress and set of pillows.

I am also taking the bus more often as the bus stop is less than 3 mins away. I had wanted to do this ages ago but happy that I am able to do it now. Better late than never.

There a few major insights I learned throughout this experience so thought I’d write some here :

1) Several months before the move, I kept a folder containing the types of mail I receive which are directly addressed to me. Examples of these are membership-related letters, subscriptions, bills, other notices. This allowed me to track the relevant parties I need to inform of my change in residence.

2) There should be an overlap between the lease end date of previous and the lease start date of the new place, at least 2 weeks to a month. In my view, the extra month of payment for the new place was worth it. It not only eased off some pressure in having to move everything in one go. It also allowed some form of transition — mails, clean up of old place etc. It is also a busy time and I did not want to get stuck with relocation stuff during the Christmas break.

3) SingPost has a mail redirection service which you can pay for a certain number of months. What they then do is to intercept all your mails based on the name/s you indicate in the form and place a sticker based on the new address. There is a 1 or 2 day delay vs normal delivery time but at least you don’t miss out on any correspondence.

4) Singaporeans and Permanent Residents can update their address at the community police station. Doing so also results in a select number of government institutions and agencies to be notified accordingly. The process is quite straightforward and takes less than 30 mins. You go to the police outpost with proof of new residence and the police officer will ask you to sign a form before he places a special sticker indicating the new address on your IC.

5)  Moving is costly and one needs to set aside funds to cover : 1st month rent, 2 months deposit, service fee for property agent and relocation company, cost of buying new stuff.

6) There’s a lot of coordination that happens prior, during, and after the move. My family has been a tremendous help in making things happen as I have been tied up with work.  We treated the relocation as a project and it went really smoothly with everyone’s efforts and patience.

What’s left on my To-Do list ?

1) Get rid of some more stuff currently in organised boxes in the storage room

2) Series of housewarming parties over December and January

A few photos :

Living Room - That couch is really comfy

My bed

Sister's bedroom

Mom's bedroom

Hallway from rooms to dining area. Behind the sliding glass door is a study room which we converted to store bookshelves and shoe racks

Her home is also walking distance from a popular curry rice place and a newly constructed shopping mall.

Curry Rice - Yummy

The condo even has its own bowling alley so checked it out after dinner. Haven’t played bowling for ages. Hence, the dismal score (see photo showing 62 below). Haha.

The forfeit (consequence) of this Indian poker is to drink whatever concoction is made by people pouring all sorts of drinks.

And I had to drink twice for losing... Not nice at all :p

Everyone (missing Lynn and Fanni)

Thanks Kris for welcoming us to your lovely home. Til next time.