Back in Action

Ah.. I am finally updating tis blog. I had an extremely productive trip back home. It was tiring but i managed to do all that i wanted. I did however miss out on visiting Ah Yang's new condo and meeting up wif Yiing Chai +Mich; the trip was just too short... next time i suppose. Photos below are the key activities + moments ^_^

Ride on the Singapore Flyer with Ivy's parents. SG$30 ride...It had great views on Marina Harbour area and the new casino construction. But it seriously lacked narration during the ride

My dad's 70th bday celebration. It was good to have close family around me again..something missing in my Sydney life

I brought my parents to ipoh, setiawan and pangkor. We used to make tis family trip yearly when i was little...but somehow, jackie and me lost interest and stopped tagging along once we reached secondary school. For some reason, my parents have a soft spot for Pangkor

Parents and me on pangkor beach

Ray & Yin's wedding pict with ray's parents

One of Ling+Cat Twins...claire i think

Ling wif the other twin.. Cheril (ling did i spell her correctly?? i thought it was cheryl) At tis stage, the twins don't look alike :-P

Sculpture by the Sea.. Take 3

Bondi's annual Sculpture by the Sea is back. This event has had 3 entries in my blog in the last 3 years and i am beginning to feel tired of blogging about it. Ah well.. it allows me to practice my photography and do a little bit of exercise. 

It was as crowded as the previous years

Had the same wierd shaped artifacts..tis time they also had floating stuff in ta sea (if you can spot it)

ta familiar giant sculptures.. i kinda like tis photo

tis was something new.. cute doggie cut outs (ivy likes tis photo)

how does tis photo make you feel?? (will post ta full photo later on ^_^)

me ^_^

Weeks that flew by

The weeks really did fly by... worse of all, i barely remember what i did. I dunno if it is just a stage of my life, but my memory is getting really bad, and most activities feels kinda mundane to me. Went paintballing 3 weeks back with my ex colleagues. No pictures coz it didn't make sense to carry a camera while getting shot at. It was a painful and confusing day. Painful coz they don't give you a protective vest to wear and confusing coz i was out with a bunch of china chinese who don't seem to understand the rules of the game. Ah well.. it was an experience ^_^ 

Headed to Newcastle last week during our 3 day "Labour Day" weekend. I don't understand why we have labour day in October for NSW... wierd. Ivy wanted to visit her aussie daddy & mummy (Ron & Helen). Spent most of the time chit chatting at their place.. i guess that's what most elderly people prefer to do.

ron's & helen's place... the dream aussie home.. a place with a pool. This dream is no longer possible for middle income aussie's

We headed to Wollongong tis weekend to visit ivy's cousin...drove all the way there to collect some "bakuteh" seasoning that ivy's aunt sent thru ivy's cousin... ta bakuteh better taste divine when we use it ^_^ Typical of our trips to Wollongong, we stopped over at Nan Tien Temple for our regular dose of peacefulness.. for some reason, ivy and me really like tat temple.

The tea house at Nan tian temple.. enjoyed a quiet tea & vegeterian brekkie there

Layang-layang & Brasil

Our weekends are getting more "happening" since the sunny weather is back. I found last winter a little depressive... it was colder than normal and i was getting tired of the dark sky. There was some sort of kite festival at Bondi last week. It was a wash out coz it rained but it did not stop ivy and me from getting a little action. I think i got string burn from playing ta kite. Tis week was Brasil and Korean festival in Darling Harbour. Me, ivy and her collegue Natika joined the queues for meaty brazilian food and listened to bazillian drums under the hot sun. Simple day.

layang-layang everywhere... too bad, didn't see any wau's ^_^

ivy trying her best to fly ta kite... it refused to fly

I did have a photo here of the brazillian fair, but tis freaking blog interface went looney.. ah well

these are secret shots from my 'insider' of lingie and ta twins ^_^

The roof, moon and lantern

Another year another lantern festival... i am beginning to see double in my blogs. This year we

held our mooncake celebrations on the roof of chris and joey's apartment. The roof had great views of Darling Harbour... and was perfect for us overgrown kids to make noise, have good food and play lanterns. I had hoped to carry lanterns around the city to scare the locals... but ivy refused to support me.. ah well.                                                                                                                            

The food. i told sonny to get enough spring rolls for 8ppl and he bought 80 spring rolls!! geez

The view. wat a view

The gang..kinda similar to last year's gang

Partying under ta moon

Bill

The last 2 weeks were cousin weeks for me. HJing from Melb was here for work and WWin from Glasgow is here for a course. I have recently started playing badminton again and i dragged HJing along for one of the sessions... it's nice to have someone familiar in matches.. allows me to clown around more ^_^ Ivy has been suffering from withdrawal sydrome since passing her microsoft papers and is now pondering on wat to do next. At least she is making better use of her free time than i am :-P

ivy's way of celebrating passing her papers ^_^

wwin and me at some building near town hall (dunno it's name ^_^)

hjing and me in a typical toursit shot

booo

Cirque

It's been a while since i updated tis blog. Ivy was busy with her MCSE exams and i have been busy doing nothing ^_^ Anyway, Ivy passed her 4th paper and will now retire... now she is a leg shaker like me. We celebrated Ivy's bday over the weekend with a visit to Cirque du Soleil. It was good, but i guess i was expecting too much.

no cameras allowed inside the circus..too bad

our simple celebration ^_^

Yuppee life

2 weeks just whisked by again..scary. I really should make more effort to go out and snap more creative photos. I can only remember 3 meaningful events tat happened. Ivy passed her 3rd MCSE paper. One more paper to pass before she can call herself a "certified microsoft admin" ^_^ I doubt i can push myself to study daily as she does. 2nd event.. watching the Dark Knight. It's a good movie. Easily the best i have seen in a long time. Lastly, ivy and me visited a japanese girlfriend of her's in Coogee. She married a local and now lives in the yuppee beach area of Coogee.pretty sea view from yuriko's balcony ^_^ i have a better pix of ivy and yuriko standing there.. but i was banned from posting it.. sigh

C&C

In an exclussive first... i managed to get pictures cat & ling's twins pictures (and i did not need to pay millions for them ^_^) By ling's request, guess who is who:

Baby 1: Clarabelle or Cherilynn

Baby 2: Cherilynn or Clarabelle

I think we will need to wait a few months before we know how they really look like ^_^ Hey Ling, do the girls really look alike??coz they sure do look similar in the photos!

On another subject, Syndey was gripped with Pope fever for most of the week. I tried to get some meaningful photos of the event.. the photo below tells how successful i was ( i wasn't really trying ^_^) I felt the event was a waste of Sydney's public money. It's silly that the government had to foot out over AUD30million to host the event when the catholic church is RICH. I was in the city on Friday nite, and the restaurants and pubs were mostly empty, the city roads were mostly closed, i heard most shops hardly had any business mainly coz the pilgrims are pokai youths... even the cabs couldn't get business coz the pilgrims walked to all their venues ^_^

My best shot of the pilgrims ^_^

20 Mins

20 mins is the amount of time it takes me to walk to work from my apartment. After 3 weeks of walks.. my pants feels looser ^_^ I now have more work to do and am slowly getting used to the style of work here. The work pace is a lot slower and they have amazing budgets. I have never worked in a project where i did not need to worry about the cost of materials.. till now ^_^ Attached are photos of my daily routine to and from work:

1st milestone when walking to work.. crossing the iron bridge. I quite enjoy the walk.. the weather has been mostly good and the air is chilly.

I tend to sneak out of the office during lunch for short walks.. tis is one of my stopping points..rhodes river side.

Back home.. i can leave work at 5pm..spot on... have never experienced such a luxury in my whole career ^_^ Too bad the sun sets at 5pm tis time of the year.. the amber sky view ain't too bad.

Tis is a totally unrelated photo from my walk back. Ivy and me made a trip to bondi beach over the weekend. I have an ex colleague who runs an internet cafe there...photo of his place is above. He later took over the sun glasses business next door.. these chinese business guys are rather amazing.

Ben-gineer

Two weeks of changes for me. One week of farewell to my former company and another getting accustomed to a brand new working environment. Did practically nothing in my 1st week of work.. looking at old plans and company manuals.. typical.. at times i felt like placing a gun against my head and pulling ta trigger coz i was tat bored ^_^ I suppose it will be like this for the 1st month.. ivy keeps saying tat i should be happy for the break.. i suppose she is correct. Anyway, this is the 1st large company that i have actually worked for... i have always been a small company man. Quite a change to have over 50 engineers around me.

Took a drive to Wollongong on Sat to visit Ivy's aunt+cousin. On Sunday, we drove to Newcastle to celebrate Ivy's "Aussie mummy," Helen's, 80th Bday.

The team tat i left behind ^_^

In WYang's tradition of changing topics abruptly, i have placed a picture of his sons here ^_^ I had wanted him to write tis week's blog, but he was too busy and instead gave me tis photo only. Don't ask me wat they are doing.

refresh

ta last supper ^_^ company dinner at some korean all you can eat bbq. i will pass my reigns to the guy sitting next to me ^_^

Looks like my blog will be every forthnighly from now on. Finding it hard to find materials to write about as the winter weather limits my outdoor activities. I have been home alone for the 3 days Queen's Bday weekend. Ivy is back in Spore for the week. I have been suffering from a sore throat which then moved on to a cough...typical, and my constant yacking due to work hasn't really helped. Since ivy was not around, i haven't really spoken to anyone for 3 days ^_^.. gud rest for the throat :-P Had my final company dinner on Friday. This week will be my last week with the company. Looking forward to doing engineering fulltime.. and also a break from all the responsibilities of running a factory.

On another note.. i have finally been notified on Ling's and Cat's coming twin daughters. I must be the last to know ^_^ It's gud news, and i am really happy for them

Moving On

I have been rather slack at updating tis blog. Dunno where the last 2 weeks went to. But there have been changes. I have finally tendered in my resignation and will be moving on to a new job sometime next month. Operating a factory was fun but i am reluctant to "let go" of my engineering. Back to projects, piping, pumps and infrastructure for me ^_^ Ivy has been busy studying for her MCSA and recently passed her 2nd paper. That's her current hobby ^_^ I have been "busy" with my new toy...a new HTC Touch Dual.. came free with my new vodafone plan.. hee hee. Dunno why people have been saying -ve stuff about tat phone.. it's quite a pretty phone to me and since it's a WM6, how bad can it get?? I am happy with it.

couldn't resist posting a pix of ivy's home made pau.. it was yummy :-P

spot my new toy

2 weeks & 2 years

It's been 2 weeks since i updater this blog. I skipped my blog entry last week coz it was just too hectic. My cousins Ray and Yin visted for a couple of days last week. It was more of a hanging out visit rather than a touristy trip. I really do appreciate family making the the effort to catch up with me..and i do treasure these moments more as i age. We had brilliant sunny weather and i tried my best to show them all the typical touristy places ^_^

yin+ray at 3 Sisters, Blue Mountain. Sunny, but the wind was chilly

ray trying to be funny ^_^

2 years on the title refers to the number of years ivy & me have been married. We have known each other and been together as "buddies" for well over 15 years, however living a life together and making common life plans have been a challenge for us in these 2 years. It's a good thing we have plenty of happy memories to fall back on :-P I am happy with my wife ^_^ We took a short trip to lake macquarie to celebrate our aniversary over the weekend. Rented a picture perfect boat house by the lake and had a simple time together.

Our little boat house for the nite

What a view from the living room

Perspective

Our Anzac 3 day weekend came and went fast. Had initially wanted to do some fishing at Wollongong, but couldn't get enough kaki's. Re-visited the Lane Cove National Park instead with a group of friends for a few hours trek. I did not anticpate that the rain in the past week had made the trek muddy and the small creeks full with water. We spent more time taking off and putting on our shoes for the numerous creek crossings and avoiding muddy patches ^_^ We were dirty, wet but happy at the end of it ^_^

Ivy and me could hop over tis creek ta last time.. ah well

dirty dirty

ivy's kueh of the week.. her onde onde ^_^ i know the frequent posting of kuehs makes some of you guys sick.. but i just couldn't resist.. it tasted great!

Things have been breaking down around me lately. My car controller kaput, 2 watches refused to tick, my car ran out of petrol on me twice tis year, even beloved ipod nano stopped working on me last week... and on Saturday, my laptop gave me the blue screen of death... i absolutely hit the top when that happened... then i received a sms from yyee saying that his mum had passed away. Everything came in perspective to me. I felt a dreaded sadness with that news. My deepest condolence to yyee, ynern and their dad.

Siaran Tergendala Sekali Lagi

No entry for the week. It rained and rained :-P Unless you guys dun mind seeing more pix of ivy's kueh/bread making adventures ^_^ Next week should be more eventful as it will be Anzac long weekend.

Coconut

I had hoped to have photos of the Lee's new kid in this week's blog.. but it was not to be. Had a quick dash in and out of Melbourne over the weekend. Managed to catch up wif the khoo's but not the lee's. Time to meet up with old friends is so scarce these days... i suppose we all value these moments differently. Well.. not dwelling on bad moments.. i did have a good drive back from Melb....1000km drive and only stopping once to fill up and rest (personal best ^_^). Since i was lacking in photos for the week.. ivy suggested that i post our coconut adventure instead :-P

it all started with a nut

learning piano finally paid off... strong fingers ^_^

yup.. that is a juicer...used it as a grater instead.. hee hee

see.. just like a professionally machine grated coconut

ahhh.. final product.. beautiful and tasty kueh dadar