we met at the singapore changi airport 9:30pm for our 11pm flight. aisle seat, yay! ver sat beside a not bad looking guy, but who dont seem very keen to smile...








after 12 hours and 25 mins we transit at frankfurt for a hot cuppa chocolate


and we spotted beer in mccafe?














we travelled through a very very long travelator to our gate and up into the air again to barcelona.



they served sandwiches on the 2 hours flight which come in interesting packaging. every package introduces a different kind of food and where it originates.


estimated arrival at barcelona was about 10am and the sky was clear. i dont usually do this but i stick my camera on the aircraft window and started snapping away. not knowing what i was snapping only to learnt later that some of the views will be caught (on the opposite) on a church tower during the last days. if you look closely at the 1st 2 shots, you can spot the sagrada familia, europe's most unconventional church. construction started 1882 and is still now rising.




we finally arrived at the barcelona aeropuerto and searched our way to the train station via an overhead bridge.


human traffic would really be rendered much smoother if the boarding passengers would allow the alighting ones to get off 1st and not blocking the way.

whilst waiting for our train to zaragoza, we had our lunch at a cafeteria. we discovered the 'cheesecake' below, which unknowing to us at that time, would become 1 of our favoured food during our trip. except, this was not chessecake, its 'tortilla', spanish omelette of potato bound with egg.

after one and a half hour of journey, we arrived in zaragoza! spain's 5th largest city. it was also quoted that zaragoza is one of the cities with some of the most striking mudejar monuments.

this seems to be the shortest ride comparatively to other between cities travel, maybe due to the fact that this is an express train.

after some searching, we finally managed to identify where and which bus to take to the city centre, where our hotel is located. i wonder where the cable cars are heading...

our bus stop places us in front of this buidling. the 1st sight i took in, although it may not be significant.

as we search our way to the city centre, we passed this coin operated public toilet. i wonder if this works like those in paris where the door will automatically spring open if you are in there for more than 3mins...

it is said that zaragoza takes its name from the roman settlement of cesaraugusta, and besides being spain's 5th largest city, it is the capital of aragon.

below in the middle of the roundabout, is a monument to the martyrs, inaugurated 23 oct 1904. designed by ricardo magdalena and bronze casted by agustin querol. this monument represents the idea of immortalising the memory of the numerous christians who were martyred in the square and those who died defending their ideal during the war of independence.


as we walk along
still searching

we spotted our 1st chinese restaurant. along our journey, i realised that all chinese restaurant are labeled chino restaurante.

we finally found our hotel sauce!

Labels: life's journey, some happening

i have never weeped so hard in a movie before. donno if it is partly because i am relating back to my recent bereavement. but this story is truely heart warming and relatable to how asians view this trade. i felt torn for daigo when his wife, miko, made him choose between her and this job which he became to find meaning to it.

the ceremony is beautiful and very much different from what we practiced here. will get the dvd.

"its a story about a cellist (daigo)who loses his job and must move back to his hometown. once back there he reconnects with his past, and comes to terms with his life, love and dreams. desperate to find a job, he answers an ad listed under departures, which turns out to be misspelled. it was supposed to say "the departed". the job pertains to dressing, washing, and putting on of makeup for the deceased before the funeral. it is a job that most people look down upon. at first daigo, also does not like his job but little by little he comes to a new understanding of it. the process of prepping the corpse is being previewed within the context of the story, and it is an incredible ceremony to witness."

Labels: reflections, some happening

kyreen's chat comment remind me to start blogging! hee. yes i was being saboed into a karaoke competition where i dont even need to fill in my own form and pay for the registration fee. my friends did all that for me. i dont even know what i am in for! but it was really an experience, at least i can say to myself i have done that!

i was nervous freak though! but i was impressed with my very calm mask! i thought i looked and sounded nervous, but people actually commented i looked like i was enjoying myself! i was flattered that some even 'betted' that i would go into the next round. i guess the best comment personally to me, was from a seasoned singer hinself who so strongly believed i will surfaced the next round, 'you are a great entertainer'... initially i digested the comment... then i thought to myself, i think i would rather receive this than just 'you are a great singer'. cos i figured with so many competitions going on, although some can really sing really well, but if they dont entertained the audience, then i guess the x factor is missing in being a celebrity. you are probably a talent, but not a star... hmm...

Labels: learning curve, life's journey, some happening, watering hole

found time finally to sit and recollect again... so many going on in this 2 months! as the end of the year is approaching and with the thanksgiving season, there are things which i look back and wanna thank god for. things which i though i could not have gone through, the strength and support i acquired, the life lessons i experienced, the relationships formed, ...

this year's birthday is in no way personal! meaning its very publicised indeed! haha. although i might have been prepared and geared up that there may be a quick happy birthday singing session (cos that day is truely a bodily splitting experience for everybody), i dont expect anything out of the ordinary. however once at expo, the business kinda went into an auto mode and it slipped out of my mind completely. then, whilst addressing the choir, saw bb at the corner of my eye, thought he may have something to say since he is here, handed the time over to him, and walked away... only to see a weird expression on jus's face. after i enquired if anything is wrong (there cant be any major screw up that day!), continued my way away... when a whole choir broke out in unison the popular happy birthday song behind my back. haha. "oh ya i am supposed to expect this... but i forgot and now i am unprepared!" haha. so... with ssssoooo many pairs of eyes looking at me, i was wondering what was i supposed to say beside 'thank you'. hee.

then, the dinner with parents at night at aunt jenny's place, the whole restaurant celebrated my birthday and she got the restaurant to play and presented my favourite flaming baked alaska! didnt expect one but aunt jenny gave me a hug!

thinking that was the end of my birthday... come and goes in a flash... came along wednesday... i had an interview with robert half, with surprising information, met d for lunch, bought ama's present, went along to choir practice. thought the interview was the highlight of the day, until the end of practice, i hop on stage for the annoucement, jace came along to take over the dressing, and... instead of telling the choir what to wear, they broke out in a birthday song for me! argh! not prepared again! and to think i actually have alot of thoughts for this year and told myself to be prepared in case anyone question me, especially in the area of relationship, and especially if bel is the one asking! i have no chance to say! haha. so, as i learnt in psych, practice indeed does not make perfect! heh.

thank you for a wonderful birthday!

Labels: behind close doors, flashback, genesis, life's journey, some happening

in the midst of happy chatter, the usual alert for an incoming sms was within my hearing range. didnt attend to it until the conversation came to a slight halt when we caught our breathes amongst laughter and lame jokes, brought to us mainly by bb. ha.

opened my inbox, read the start of the message concurrently with the name of the sender, it wasnt the name but the start of the message that tunnels my attention to read on, with vivid images flashing up to form a storyboard of the message. for a moment, where and what was happening around me blacked out, but was quickly pulled back into reality when the laughters started again.

all was well until the next halt, when i wanted to allow the facts to sink in, that i picked my mobile to read the text again. this was when i was musing over the message that d asked me what i was thinking. heh, dont ask! haha tears control centre working hard!

this is in loving reminiscence to my babies, now with just lone hamburger, both always dear & close to my heart

Labels: behind close doors, flashback, life's journey, some happening

has been a very busy 3 weeks but it has been fulfilling. the performance on handels was put up in a mere 2 weeks! forgotten the camera so wasnt able to video but some of the moments was captured on peter's and lawerence's cameras.

Labels: behind close doors, flashback, life's journey, some happening

i have had this drilling noise for the past 2 days and today was much worst than yerterday!! it was periodically and today was continuous since like 10am?! thank god i am done with my paper else this will definately drive me crazy! this brought back to my rememberance about an incident when i am having an exam, not sure which home i was in, and the neighbour is having their renovation! i tell you, i almost thought i am going crazy and that instead of the drill to the wall, its in my head! and i seriously have this drilling imbedded in my brain that even after it stopped, i can still 'hear' it!! gosh!

now i cant even hear my music from my lappie...

ok cool... patience... understanding... acceptance...

Labels: behind close doors, flashback, life's journey, some happening

received a really pretty keychain from D! and its personalised! so sweet of her! muack!

Labels: life's journey, some happening

finally gotta meet up w AL! think the last time we met up was...... ... ... i cant remember! heh. but its good to see her again. didnt get a chance to catch up much cos i wasnt there for dinner with fio jude & ah bao. apparently the steamboat they had was good. i checked the website, indeed looks good, though i wasnt a fan of steamboat.

we hang out more at AL's favourite and we met really friendly people, and then there is this one weird 'aussie' man. he seems proud to be one cos he asked if i have met an aussie man. initially i was like, you think i am not globalised or you are just kidding me. then he say 'i am an australian and i am very hungry'... ya i can see that with your hands all over our food. i have met better aussie men!! not to be mean, but he brings shame to his country, and 'man'kind. and he tried to act friendly with us. oh save it. ya i can voice out here, but i was telling fio, that is the problem with us, we complain, but dont act. haha. i guess if its an outspoken 'ang moh' gal, she probably would have gave him her piece of mind! (applies to outspoken 'asian' too) hehehe

anyways, it seems to be a pretty short time before our next meet up, cos its the reason of my birthday. like i titled, birthday = meet up, thank god for birthdays, and friends.

Labels: behind close doors, life's journey, some happening, watering hole

metaphorical speaking, in relation to my printer... that is how super impressed i am to my new printer! it really prints fast!! the paper almost like flew out. haha. and it prints without cable connection from my lappie! i am so mobile!! haha it better serve me well through at least 8-9 yrs, which was how long my last printer served us. and its still printing. just that i need to feed it manually and its old... so it slow...

Labels: life's journey, some happening

my pda resigned!! or rather it quit on me cos at least a resignation serves a notice period! as a boss, i am not sure why my worker left me! i dont remember restraining any of its worker's benefit to a new jacket, protection cover, gaming allowance and time to rest and recharge. i did not overwork the thing! consolution, it has served me for about 3 years i think, and it did not breech its confidentiality contract by taking away the contacts and work we have done together. sob. it will take some time before i am able to recruit a new pda.

Labels: life's journey, some happening

Labels: behind close doors, some happening, taste buddies, watering hole

we got a cosy fireplace sofa corner


the place wasnt so crowded the time we arrived, so i managed to scruy around a little


the shelves behind us were displayed and categorised by liquer bottles, some empty


was the game so intensive or is she looking at the hunks hee


fio was amused at my photo taking and insisted i took one hee

grace joined us a little later and food flowed in whilst she was here heh

Labels: genesis, some happening, taste buddies, watering hole

kumar the queen is the special for the day, at the esplanade, and silly as i am, to keep assuming the play starts 330, to leave expo only at 230. i still have the cheek to reply fio when she sms she is gonna be late that i will be 'slightly' late and will arrive at 315. she was like, the play starts 3... i was like... so, i stepped on the accelerator!!

wow, i arrived like 3 but of cos the door was already closed and the play has started. there were so many that were late too, and they opened the doors at an appropriate time for the latecomers, i went in, but we were sitting in between and i didnt wanna do the 'excuse me, i am sorry' motion, which i am not sure for how many people till i get to my seat. so, i chose to leave the hall and watch the tv till the interval, only to find out there is not one!! darn! fine! i will just watch the tv all the way. i decided, and sat myself comfortably on the sofa. another friendly attendance came to me, kept encouraging me to go in and watch for the nice customes and such. i felt so obligated, i obliged.

surprisingly, i only need to do the 'excuse me, i am sorry' speech to say like 4 persons and i saw an empty seat, and fio's friendly hand motioning me to sit. phew. thank god i finally chose to go in.

Labels: behind close doors, some happening

national day bbq
marshmellow monsters in the making

Labels: flashback, some happening

on the day i started this blog title, i was really quite mad at how the interview at ml when. maybe its the result of me having too high an expectation. sigh. on the bright side, at least i get to visit the office and gotta do lunch with simon and mag! good catch up

next angry thing... which kinda went down by this time also, is that i would like to put the blame on sim really dark carpark! scratch my alloy cos i cant see the curb... sob. it was surprisingly empty that day so no cars to guide me and cant see the lines nor the curb... dont give me the look, it is really dark and i was afraid on my initial days there.

Labels: behind close doors, some happening

the birthday gal!

whilst waiting for her to come on stage and for us to surprise her, we waited around, taking pictures... heh . and thereafter the event backstage



this is the glimpse to wed project queen's surprise!

Labels: some happening

come to think of it, the last time i remembered encountering on such situation was when i was still living in tampines and i just had a bad row with bf. cant remember if he paged for me 1st or i was trying to get hold of him, i picked up my phone to dial and there was this guy at the other end of the line! i wld have be more friendly if he wasnt that irrating. we kinda realised that it was some sort of telecommuniations screw up, so i put my phone down and picked it up again. but he was still there! and i asked him to put down and he refused and asked why should he!? i was so pissed at that time alrdy i feel like reaching my hand into the receiver and box him through the other end! i put down again and picked up and he was still there! i was almost fuming and there was no reasoning with him! so i have to put down and delay contacting my bf. so mad! heh

well tday's situation was v different. tian called my mobile from her office and we both heard this other guy talking. tian can only hear him but i can hear them both. he obviously cant hear the both of us. which makes me wonder, how private are our teleconversations??

Labels: behind close doors, some happening

the best part, not with our own money! ya how good can that feel. i wonder if that's how buyers of prestigious luxery brands function. but of cos, the goods are not ours to keep as well. we are presents shopping! and it definately brought us places! we got to spent the later part of the day in sentosa, having dinner by the beach, with fireworks view!! how lifestyle can that be?!

Labels: some happening, taste buddies, watering hole

the penang hawkers' fare is back and i got the company of my mummy! she took leave for this day! i took quite a few pictures with my mobile but i didnt know there was a limit to the storage of the file transfers and the earlier files transfered were overwritten and i deleted those in my mobile! boo hoo! but thank god i still have pictures of my mummy enjoying the buffet!
she often eat less or not eat is today eating so much more than me! we had 2nd helpings, and she is going for the 3rd helping! as long as she likes it! hee i really did took lots of really delicious looking food but it just disappeared! so mad! anyways, the penang fried kuey teow, ming chin kuey and of course the all time penang laksa are must try.
the following picture is cute cause she discovered that some table send their foreign helper to continually queue for the kuehs when they have only 2 ladies, to discover that they put the extras in a black plastic bag as takeaways... so we wanted to take a picture of her with the expression that she discovered something, but she couldnt hold the pose before i can take the picture and burst out laughing. heh heh
aww! i truely have taken really gd food pictures!!

Labels: some happening, taste buddies

thoughts are penned here
memories are traced here
the future is envisioned here

live'd' life... am still
loved and lost...will still

if you think like you've always thought,

you'll get what you've always 'got'.

1 1a
apple iBook!!
mini makeup box
coco whip body wash
haagen-dazs chocolate lowfat sorbet
choc snow ice!
lookg for dark shiroi koibito here

cafe del mar
b a r f l y ~
decadence dark indulgences
ccup luxury gourmet cupcakes
xangosteen
splatter::beautiful original artwork
art for the masses

the spanish experience - zaragoza - the arrival
departures
Popo I Love You
the one when she is being saboed
journey down memory lane...
is availability all in a relationship?
sanity...
wardrobe full of clothes... nothing to wear
who's my satc character?
there is a time

19 August 2007
26 August 2007
2 September 2007
9 September 2007
16 September 2007
23 September 2007
30 September 2007
7 October 2007
14 October 2007
21 October 2007
28 October 2007
4 November 2007
11 November 2007
18 November 2007
25 November 2007
9 December 2007
13 January 2008
20 January 2008
27 January 2008
13 April 2008
22 March 2009
5 April 2009
6 September 2009

designer | kathleen
image | 00Velvet00Dreams00