Book Opinion: Mitch Albom - Have A Little Faith

Meimei presented a 'special' edition of Mitch Albom's latest novel, Have A Little Faith, for my Bday. It had ruffled pages, very in touch with the cover which depicts a notebook binded together by two strings.

And I just finished it over the weekend. Most of the reading was done at Changi T3 Coffee Bean. Meimei was busy with work on Friday so I found a comfy spot, and coupled with a New York Cheesecake and my usual Latte, I started on the book.

True to Mitch Albom's books, it has strong religious overtones to the stories told. Though I'm not a believer, the stories are inspiring and refreshing. It didn't have that big of a oomph compared to his earlier books. But I guess it's because it's based on true stories. Such is the reality of life, good things come in small packages. So when I finished I wasn't 'moved' like his earlier books. Nonetheless I must say it was a good read. Good writers bring out the favour of any story. And Mitch is very fluid and detail in his writing. Highly recommended for a quiet rainy cozy afternoon with a good cup of coffee and pastry.

High Tea at Goodwood Park Hotel

We are on a high tea spree! Goodwood Park Sunday High Tea are reputed to be one of the best in town, so we had to try yah .... yeah it didn't disappoint!

The cafe serving the high tea is just at the end of the main lobby. It's a quint little place, nicely spaced between each table. They had a good selection of pastries and tea. Definitely one to return for more high tea pleasure!

The New Adventures of Puddle Girl & Medicated Boy

Puddle Girl
Think little girl in a red dress, jumping in the rain.
Call to Fame - Making waves in puddles by bouncing on them.

Medicated Boy
Think thin sickly boy, constantly coughing.
Call to Fame - Finished a whole course of Antibiotics but still sick.

It was a rainy Tuesday evening. Medicated boy braved bad traffic and inconsiderate drivers to reach Puddle girl's office. He made an exception and drove into the office carpark so that he didn't have to get out in the rain, much to the 'dismay' of Puddle girl. She would have loved to feel the wetness in her feet. But it was for the best of both heros as they couldn't afford to fall further into sickness.

They thought about dinner and agreed shopping centres are the best bet as they wouldn't need to trample in the rain. So off they went to Le Meridan for Korean goodness.

Both heros enjoy the rain. It's coolness, calmness and overall good feel.

Stay tuned folks for more adventures of Puddle Girl and Medicated Boy.

Tea with a High

Yeah yeah I know, "Cheesy Title". But hey it's my first High Tea experience. And boy, it was fabulous. We were at the Mandarin Oriental to conclude on our special celebration venue. When it was done, we continued to sit around and enjoy the lazy Saturday afternoon. We discussed a little about other aspects of the celebration. And as I looked around I see waiters bringing "trays" of little bite size tarts and scones and my mouth watered.

So we decided to order a tray as well since we already had free tea from our earlier dicussions with the catering manager. We also moved to a long sofa where we could relax and stretch. I must say, I love the High Tea experience. No hurry, no pressure, just irresistable pastries and hot teas. Food for the soul. Yum! I could get used to this. Hehehe.

1 Year Wiser

I'm a year older, or in someone's words one year wiser. This year is abit more special, though not that there was a big big bash or anything. But my mum used this opportunity to invite Meimei's parents to meet up for a meal on the pretext of celebrating my birthday. Heheh. This actually had me worried for awhile as I wasn't sure they would be cordial with each other, let alone cozy up to one another. Well, truth be told, I wasn't worried about Meimei's parents as much as I was worried about mine, and specifically my dad.

Thankfully it turned out pretty alright for a first meeting. We had buffet lunch at Noble House and were joined by Meimei's sister and my brother actually managed to make it. He just flew back to Singapore the night before. So lunch went pretty well and my heart finally stopped jumping when we drove off. Phew . . . imagine the horror if they got into a "discussion" . . . Anyways my fears were for nothing. I found out later that mum had warned dad harshly not to "anyhow say things". Thanks Mum! *kiss

Oh and Meimei got me presents!! I had to pick and choose but I was greedy and got all of them hehehehe. They are all my favourite pastime stuff. 2 seasons of The Big Bang Theory and Mitch Albom's latest book "Have a Little Faith". Thanks Meimei, I had a wonderful bday. Really . . . *kiss!

Early Party

My team was very nice to conjure up a 'surprise' celebration. Well, they made sure I was free today weeks in advance. And well, I did drop a few subtle *wink wink* hints that I love a particular strawberry shortcake from a certain eatery called Bakerzin. Hehehe.

So wah lah! they got me a cake, and had it delivered during office hours. The funny thing was the reception called me to collect a parcel haha. So I went to collect my own birthday cake. I must say they did keep a good straight face when I came back with it. They must have been stunned to see that I collected my own cake. Hahahahah.

While anyways, we gathered in the pantry and everyone sang a loud birthday song. I actually forgot to whip out my camera during the celebration. So the only picutre I have is that of the congratulatory message on the cake. "Happy Birthday to SunShine Boy!" Yeah! that's me baby!! Muhahahahahha

Live From HP's Office

This is Pokpok, live from HP's office.

Still in office attire and braving the minor pespiration from the lack of aircon, I am fearlessly bringing you this news report straight from Meimei's office. Chest high partitions in light brown colour, light emitting a yellowish glow, squarish booths. This is surely a scene right out of an office in an 80's movie! You'll see paper stacked over the place in each cubicle. Computer and monitors holding years of dust. It just sucks you in and in no time you'll be feverishly working on your lappy with no concern of your surroundings. Well, pretty much what I'm doing now. Heheh. It's 10.40pm right now but I'll be here for another hour or so as Meimei still can't leave for home. So stay tuned for more Pokpok live updates!

A New Toy!

I have a new toy! It's a hand-me-down from Meimei but all so good cos I can try my hand at it and see if I really like what it does. Hopefully this is not a 5 minute thing and I can continue playing with it with fest. I'm sure it'll work out once I start using it and brightening up this dull space with more colours and shine.

Please give a warm welcome to Canon Powershot A520! *Clap clap clap Hehehehe

My Professionalism

I've finally received a piece of paper that signifies my professionalism and integrity. Hahaha *sigh . . . a piece of paper.

Well this is how the world is build on. Doesn't matter how good you are, doesn't matter how hard working you are, doesn't matter how honourable you are. At the end of the day, a piece of paper says whether you are what you are . . . or in some people's case, says you are even when you are not.

Oh well, can't change the world so I'll go with the flow. Hehe. Anyways I am now known as Pokpok, ACCA. Hehehe I like the initials at the back. So commanding and studious like a doctor.

Yours Truly
Pokpok, ACCA.

P.S. By the way, to frame up my professionalism cost 90 bucks . . . Ouch!

ByeBye My Little Taru

What do you say when you say goodbye to someone whom you have been with for so long . . .

I started this game back in 31 March 2004. It's been a blast all these years. He was a little Tarutaru back then, green as the leaves of a rainforest. With luck, he met a group of friendly souls who took him in and helped him on his adventures in the world of Vanadiel. An immense Thank you! to all the wonderful people I've met, Aokin, Imomuchi, Kubochi, Areng, Eva, Belck, Jilsander, Mintfrappe, Zklken, Sigue, Popon, Zephyr, Tetsumaru, Lazarius etc. FFXI wouldn't have been the chalice of my life for these years without all you guys. I'm sure I've missed a whole lot of names but you will be remembered fondly by AhBoo.

I started as a Bard and on my farewell I thought it was appropriate I say my goodbyes as a Bard as well . . . kind of coming full circle. Though many of you have left the game before me, maybe we'll meet again in FF14. And to Areng & Eva . . Thanks for sending me off.

It's kinda bitter sweet feeling . . . I've not play much for the past 6 months or so. In the past 2 months I've only logon once, and that was just to see who is still around. Well I guess all good things come to an end sometimes. At least this is still something which I can comfortly say that "Hey, I've enjoyed the ride and now it's time to say goodbye."

Maybe I'll meet this great bunch of fellas again in FF14 when it launches . . . Maybe, maybe not. I dunno. There is something else much more important, much more exciting on the horizon.

I'm off to my new escapade . . . a brighter, more personal adventure. An adventure in reality which started 2 years ago and will continue to be in many many years to come. Here's a big big "HooYa!" to my new crusade.

The Hunt for Blinky

The proposal ring I used was actually a temporary one. It was a 0.3 carat ring which I picked up at West Mall Lee Hwa. They had this arrangement for Destinee rings where you can exchange it for another in 30 days without any charges.

I had previously been at the Bishan Junction 8 Lee Hwa outlet and gone through the specs of numerous diamonds. I finally decided to go for one with less clarity (cheaper hehe) as you can't really tell the difference unless you look at the diamonds through a scope. And because of that, I could ask to view larger carat diamonds with the budget I have. The nice lady serving me eventually found 2 diamonds which fit my requirements but had to make arrangements to have them transferred to the outlet. So I set it the viewing for 5th which pans out nicely.

So today we went down to the outlet to check out the 2 rings. Firstly, I would like to say, she is one smart saleslady. We were shown a 0.43 carat and a 0.48 carat ring. The 0.43 one was comfortably in my budget, but the 0.48 cost a good 50% more. The thing was, the 0.43 was dull and unclear. When compared to the 0.48, our eyes straight away went towards the 0.48.

Meimei took a long time to look at them, rightly so as this is The Ring. I could see the concern and dilemmia on her face as she pondered which one to get. The 0.43 was within budget though it was yellowish and dull. The 0.48 instead was of clear and bright but yet cost so much more. Several times she looked at me with puppy eyes but kept her tongue as she worried intently and didn't wanted to sway me incase I had to truly stick to my budget.

Sensing her choice, I made a deep mental calculation on my finances. Hmmm, this should work. So wala! we made our choice. All this while Meimei kept asking to reaffirm that we could afford it. *kiss I reassured her over and over and we went about choosing the ring sizes. Eventually we were done with all the preliminaries and made the payment. We couldn't get the ring for another week though as they needed to resize the rings. So as we left, Meimei actually gave a wave to the ring . . . I could see the loss in her face as I tore her away . . . *kiss hahahahaha . . . And so Blinky was born!

Bintan Trip with Nua Group

Woohoo a short trip again! Well I didn't remember much of it. For some odd reason I caught a bad bad cold and was sneezing all the way. Yes literally sneezing constantly. We had to load up on packets and packets of tissue as we went about the day. Oh well, it's either that or a lonely boat trip back to Singapore immediately.

The place was nice, relaxing and away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Good place if you want a quick hideaway for the weekend. The touristy area are pretty standard, some activity attraction, expensive food and drinks, etc etc.

It'll be a long while before we come back again. We pretty much explored the whole place, bar the actual normal local town, in this trip. So yah, maybe Batam next?

Moo, Poo, Zoo!!

It's been ages since I've gone to the zoo. And when I mean ages, it's really ages. If I remember correctly the last time I went there was during a Primary school excursion.

While anyways it's still fun as ever seeing so many animals. Didn't take much pictures though but I'll post 2 of the nicer ones here.

I was totally beat after walking the whole day. Hahaha seriously i'm no longer young for all this walking. I even had to take a short nap, much to Meimei's disgust, during one of our rest stops. Oops hahaha.

The Next Step - A New Beginning

You know guys always have this problem with dates. We can't, for the life of us, remember significant dates. But this time it was too important to miss. Truthfully though it wasn't much of a surprise.

I'm already very sure this is the right next step, the one I want to take. Though I can't be sure when this affirmation came about (I'm guessing some time last year?), but I had planned to make this day the day I take the next big leap in life.

To be truthful there wasn't much planning that went into it. Prior to this I've been scouting around various jewellers, while dropping hints to Meimei to try to find the sort of ring she likes. It was kinda hard to shop as we spend most of our free time together. I had to chance on opportune moments to check out the jewellery, like when she went for mani-peticures and I excused myself from waiting at the lounge. She seemed to know my intentions though . . . hehe *kiss.

So flowers *check, restaruant reservation *check, proposal ring *check. I picked up the flowers and ring in the morning and went to pick her up. She went wild when she saw the flowers . . . hehe thumbs up for the rest of the day. Dinner was at Dolce Vita. It kind of backfired though as the meats were a little too exotic for our taste, e.g. calf meat . . . ewwww very bad taste. Eventually we made our way to East Coast. I remember this was the place when I first held her hand. Initially I wanted to perform the deed at the exact same spot. But there was just too many people there and it didn't seem like a place for a private moment. So we walked and all this while I was looking around for a secluded place where I could get down on my knees to ask her the all important question.

Thankfully we chanced upon a somewhat quiet pavillion and took a rest. *phew with the number of people that day, I was fearing I would never get the chance. Meimei seemed to know what I was up to but didn't give a hint or showed it *kiss thanks hehe. So after resting for a moment I got down on one knee and popped the question with all sincerity, "Honey, will you marry me?"

Guest Post - Poetic Pokpok's back!

Busy busy busy
Busy as a bee
From left to right I try
Around the office I fly

Pokpok
11.10am 30 June 2009