Blogging and working

Sis just asked me when I started blogging. I checked and it has been slightly more than a year since I started on 21 May 2005. A friend earlier told me over MSN that she enjoys reading my blog. So nice to hear that :) It has been fun blogging about the interesting highlights of my life but life is not always all chirpy and sometimes it's inevitable for sad memories to leave a mark too. But I'm glad that I'm quite optimistic and looking forward to my life ahead.

I also realise that I have been working in my current job which is also my first job for about 6 years. I started working on 22 May 2000 and it seems like a long, long time ago. I have been asking what I would like to do but the answer has eluded me. Well, I have a lifetime to find out. In the meantime, I just continue what I'm doing and pursue my interests in my free time.

Inspired by Fiction@Love

Visitors to the Fiction@Love exhibit can draw a 3 panel comic strip/story board and submit their creation on a contest form to win some prizes sponsored by Nokia. Yesterday, we saw some entries and a few are really nice.

I was inspired too and last night before sleeping, I decided to draw something for fun and did a rough sketch. This morning, I expanded the idea and this is what it looks like:

This is a Mi Jiang Kueh (pancake) with some mayo and floss on top. I bought it from Pin Le, another shop who sells soya bean milk, curd, sesame paste and other desserts and peanut pancakes, etc. This new pancake is quite yummy. 

I bought 2 photo albums as I have 200 over photos that I have developed over the past year and have not found the time to put them into albums yet. The hamster cartoons are so adorable. 

I quickly took one of Fat Cat eating too as he is camera shy. 

I like this photo of Shadow with her cute pink tongue. 

White Neck showing his tongue :) 

I quickly went down to the park around 11am when I saw the sky turning gloomy. There was already someone @ the pavillion and I was surprised to see the cats waiting @ the stone beach. They greeted me by meowing and I gave them some food. 

The exterior of SAM looks cool with the nice graffiti.

I visited the Singapore Arts Museum with friends yesterday late afternoon to view Fiction@Love exhibit. These are the photos taken of the artworks. Colourful, cheery, creative. ok, I can't come up with more words starting with "C". Hee. SAM also has other exhibits that feature local famous artists as well as artworks in the Asia regions. I enjoy Fiction@Love best. If you like what you see here, visit SAM by 2 July 2006.

This is what the whole necklace looks like. Very pretty. Mum said it reminds her of a rosary. Now I must think of when I can wear it. Most probably on weekends when out with friends and family. 

Sis has been making long beaded necklaces that are the in-thing right now. Yesterday, she gave me a sweet pink coloured one that she had been making from morning till after lunch. 

My parents got me this prawn pork dumpling soup for lunch from the nearby coffeeshop. The coriander and lettuce are what I added in to make it more nutritious. Mum commented that she can hardly see the dumplings now :) 

Fruitful morning

I had a dental appointment @ 9am this morning. The last time I visited was more than a year ago for my wisdom tooth extraction. Dentist found 2 cavities and she said it's due to my overcrowded teeth and as we grow older, our gum will recede and the root won't be able to take the hard brushing like the enamel. It cost me $130 but now my teeth have no stains. Dentist also reminded me to visit her 6 months later. Hee.

I also went to Fairprice supermarket to get the mushrooms, blueberries, ingredients for cheesecake (which I hope to bake a few weeks later) and treats for the community cat.

When I got home, parents were also at the park feeding the cats breakfast. I changed into my jogging gear and went down to the park to jog a few rounds. Dad showed me the fitness corner and asked me to try this machine where you use your arm strength to lift yourself and the "chair" you are sitting on. It may be hard to visualise. I will post a photo of it the next time. To complete my workout, I walked up the stairs to my flat on 11th floor. I feel good but hope my arm and leg muscles won't be aching tomorrow :)

Breakfast this morning was Nutrella spread sprinkled with dried blueberries & cranberries on wholemeal bread. By the way, the mug in the background belongs to Sis. I'm too nice to be bitchy. Hee. 

I like this "Courage of the Wind" music I hear on David Lanz's CD. I shall just try to practice this piece for a start as it's less complicated than the rest. 

I collected these piano scores from Library@Orchard after reserving them as I don't want to hunt for them @ Library@Esplanade which has many of such books. Although I have passed Piano Grade 5 examinations, I'm not talented in playing the piano. But it's fun to try playing familar pieces and a few of the David Lanz's pieces are quite manageable for me. Jim Brickman's ones are harder. 

Today is National Family Day, so my company's HR encouraged all the staff to go home @ 4.30pm to have dinner with our family. I left office around 5.15pm after finishing some work and reached home around 6pm. Mum cooked up a feast - egg, chicken and some veggie stew. Yummy! 

This evening. I met this nice girl, Esther who has offered to help Cat Welfare Society (CWS) to make some cross-stitch bookmarks. We had dinner @ Subway, Far East Plaza and she gave some ideas on how to make the samples she earlier made more attractive. She is also very nice to give some cross-stitch material for me to experiment some designs before we start to make some bookmarks and see if they can help to raise some funds for CWS. This is the second time I met her and we had lots to talk about. Cats, work and parts of our lives :) 

Goodbye, Zip!

This morning before I rushed out for work, I thought I better checked on Zip who had been restless last night and he didn't want me to sayang him. Mum also said he didn't eat much and she even found blood in his urine but the urine cleared after that. When I saw Zip on his side, lying still with eyes open, I knew he is no longer with us. But just to be sure, I touched his body which had already hardened. Zip must have passed away when we were sleeping. I quickly woke Mum up from her sleep. She said it is better for him to go since he had not been feeling well. I left home, feeling strange that we now only have 2 hamsters, Zap and Pip.

"Sorry, but I don't believe in your cause"

Today I had dinner with a friend whom we have not met for several months as she was feeling unwell for a period of time. When I had to attend to an sms from someone, she asked me who that person was. I told her it was a nice person who wanted to help to make cross-stitched bookmark for Cat Welfare Society (CWS). My friend gave me an incredulous look and was amazed that such society exists.

I briefly explained the work of CWS and she said she and her neighbours have been complaining about the stray cats around her block to the Town Council. There are many of them and 2 mysterious ladies would feed them in the morning and night. The cats make lots of noise and would harass the residents. The Town Council has responded to their complaints by saying they would look into it but nothing has been done.

My friend said she just wants people to stop feeding the cats so that their population would not increase. I explained to her about the benefits of sterilising the cat, releasing them back to the estate and feeding them responsibility. She went "Sorry, but I don't believe in your cause."

It was quite a shock for me to hear that. She doesn't think it's a good idea for people to co-pay the cost of sterilising the cats (if they submit the necessary form and receipt to get reimbursement of $10 per cat from CWS). I know whatever I say, it would fall on deaf ears.

I didn't tell her that Mum and I have been caring for the community cats in the park near our place. She would be appalled. We then went on to talk about more agreeable issues.

I guess I have to respect that people have different views and it would take more than a dinner conversation for her to understand why I do what I do.

I was wrapping up this piece of cheese cake for my friend Fion @ work. The cake tastes very rich that a small piece is enough. Mum, sis and Fion like it. Yay, my next project will be to try the bull eye's cheesecake (that has swirls of melted choc in it). 

Zap, the sister of Zap is happily munching on an edaname (soya bean). Zap has also lost some weight but she is still strong and alert like Zip. 

Mum and I notice that Zip is losing a bit of weight. Sigh, no doubt it's due to old age. I have already seen about my 30 hamsters dying over the past 10 years as their life span of 3 years is so short. In the meantime, we will continue to give Zip lots of hugs and his favorite food as usual. 

Pip is getting chubbier by the day. She used to want to come to my hands and demand to get out of her house for a walk on my hands or in the exercise ball. Now she is just contented to stare out into the world by resting on my hands. 

i cut out this article from today's Sunday Times. I can empathise how the writer feels about her mum's concern and reaction towards her being single. The difference is I don't think I feel unhappy about being single. No point being sad when I have parents and sister who are like friends, a group of nice friends, a job with nice colleagues, I have time to do things I enjoy and also not forgetting my 3 hamsters and community cats. Like the writer, I hope my mum won't be overly worried about me not attached and married and that one day she will understand and see that I'm happy even if I'm single. 

I baked this cheesecake this afternoon. I was inspired to try making one after seeing the Baker's Bull's Eye Cheesecake The recipe looks simple enough. I will take a nice photo of it and give a review after I taste it tomorrow morning. After baking, it was cooled before sitting in the fridge for 4 hours for the flavours to set in.

Making ice cream

I bought this packet of Chocolate yogurt ice cream some time ago and it is going to expire soon in Jun. So today was the day. I have tried making it before and I recall it was quite easy. I just had to mix the powder with water,
freeze it for about an hour and try to beat it to twice its volume. The last part was tough as no matter how I beat it, the volume still looked the same to me (and I was too lazy to activate the electric mixer since I used it earlier to prepare the cheesecake batter and I didn't feel like washing the mixer a second time) . So I just leave it to continue to freeze in the freezer. Currently it looks like this:

Hopefully tomorrow it will be creamier :)

I drank this papaya soyamilk concoction from Jollibean @ Bugis Junction after we had dinner @ the foodcourt. Nice and satisfying.