My first game of pool ! 

Men's Team 

THE SHIP 

Penang Pesta Dragon Boat Race

Para-sailing in Penang

Immediately after attachment ended on friday, I went home and was soon on my way to Penang after that. Bei bei was there to participate in the Penang Dragon Boat Race, and I accompanied him there. In summary, the three days there was about eating, eating, sight-seeing, taking buses, kena cheated by locals, playing sea sports (jet-skiing's really cool !), good steak and horse-ridding.

We tried the banana and parasailing too. To be honest with myself, the banana was a real disappointment. We went on it with a Macik on board. At the begining of the ride, I kept reassuring Bei Bei that the Banana was really exciting round the corners and the guy was just warming the speed boat up when we were simply going up and down along the beach. 2 more minutes had passed and we were still going up and down the beach without sudden cornering and violent flinging people off, it started to dawn on me that it was gonna be a kiddy ride till the ride ended. OMG... At the end of the ride, when Macik got off, she chattered excitedly to her daughter "wah! my heart pumping ah!". I looked at bei bei and rolled my eyes. Money wasted.

After the sports, we took a cab for some sight-seeing. We got cheated by some stupid cabbie who brought us to this seafood place, claiming that it's got fantastic chilli crab and it's chilli sauce is a must-buy, he followed us off the cab. After he spoke to the owner, he told us "Aiyah, no chilli sauce!" and walked back to his cab. We looked around the old and dirty place, wondering to eat or not. Finally when we decided to order, we were given a rude shock when the owner say they didn't sell any chilli crabs, only BBQ crabs. That cabbie probably spoke to the owner to claim comission for bringing customers (us) to the shop. I was quite put off by being cheated by the dishonest cabbie (making up things about the shop), that I didn't feel like eating there at all.

We found dinner at this magnificant The Ship that bei bei's been wanting to check out since he was there the last year. The place looks exactly as the name suggests. There, we were served like Kings and Queens, and the food (baked escargots, soup, steak) was marvellous. That was our stay at Penang.

When we got back, I spoke to our colleague at the special school, she wasn't surprised at all, afterall, it is a very commercialised tourist spot. She advised me not to heed cabbie's recommendation. Other than that, the trip had been most wonderful, and not to mention having bei bei for company day in day out!

Almost forgot to mention, my first pool game and my first dragon boat experience also happened during this trip. At the food centre in Penang, I play my first game of pool (so orh-bit right, haha...). In the water of Penang, I paddled my first paddles in a dragon boat. As a result, I suffered the first ultimate back muscle ache in Penang. I also ate my first alf-done steak all by myself at The Ship in Penang. It ahd been a most unforgettable trip with my bei bei !

Happy Birthday to Me II

In the early morning of 22nd November, before I set off for attachment, Mum told me someone was looking for me at the door. I had no idea who it could be. Huh ? Michelle's maid? What's she doing here? She had something for me, Levi's vouchers! Haha... That made a difference to the rest of my day. Even joining a small class in hydrotherapy in the chilly rainy weather didn't seem so bad.

Later that evening, my family and I went to Thai Express for dinner together. Everyone was there, even brother-in-law turned up! It started sorta grouchily with chippy pissed off at everyone for being late, and at pig pig for forgetting to bring the present. Well, it's my Birthday afterall! How long can she be grouchy? All of us enjoyed the food and fantastic service of the crew. Papa really gave me a very pleasant suprise this year: being quite a traditionalist, he had always been reluctant to let us own a set of house keys. To Papa, not having your own keys implied that you can't come back too late after dark. If not, you'll be locked out. Well, we all got our own keys eventually under inevitable circumstances. We didn't have a maid (domestic helper) for a period of time a few years back, and had to have keys, if not, there'd be no one to open the door for us. It was symbolic to me when Papa volunteered to get me a key for birthday. It wasn't just a pendant, to me, it was more like a gift of independence.

I absolutely loved that evening. Didn't want a moment of it to end.

Later at night, bei bei came by after work. We met up downstairs for a chat. He wanted me to get something from storage space in front of me, there lay an envelope with my pet-name written on it. When I opened it. I couldn't believe my eyes, I felt a rush of mixed emotions sweep over me. My eyes started to blur, and my nose started to run. This Jud Jud of mine, had hand-made me a card! I absolutely touched to tears! I was also sorta angry at him for bluffing me that he was really clueless when it came to making a card, and therefore didn't make one for me.

... ... ... ... ... ...

I love handicraft, I love to make stuffs for the people whom I care about. I made him lots of cards especially. Everytime I gave him a card, he would complement me and apologetically told me he's bad at it to explain not making them for me. On particular weekend morning before my birthday, I gave him a surprise visit at home, expecting him to be sound asleep in bed, I found bei bei's room with lights on, when I opened the door, I saw a panda-eyed bei bei bent over his table in concentration, apparently in the midst of cutting and gluing something. Hahaha...

"Wei !" he protested.

"Hahaha..." I laughed triumphantly, proud of having discovered his secret mission.

Later that day, he had convinced me into thinking that he didn't have any ideas of how to make the card at all.

... ... ... ... ... ...

When I saw the pinkish paper when an essay written on it, my tears flowed involuntarily for a while. We stayed downstairs and chatted for quite some time. It had been a day filled with pleasant suprises. I felt so happy that I hoped this day would not end.

Warm staff of Occupational Therapy Department of Special School 2005

Spot the Red-Eyed Monsta !!

A beautiful 2 months (Oct & Nov) in the special school has passed. There were days of UPs, as well as the downs. Fortunately for me, the days there had been a lot less traumatic as compared to other times. Given the time and space to learn and grow during this period, I feel like I emerged more realistic in self expectation and more confident of my capabilities. Also blessed with a fantastic buddy for companion and for discussions on our clients, this had been my BEST placement ever! Besides a blog entry dripping with compliments for our beloved O.T. department, it

Happy 21st Birthday to Me !

We totally forgot about heeding our own advice about birthdays & buffets. We stumbled upon another international buffet for my birthday. Not surprising at all. We kinda overate again!

I definitely must remember this outing to Sentosa. Not long after we touched down on Sentosa afer our cable car ride, I threw one hell of a nasty temper at dearie on this day. It was about some kinda petty, like regarding where we should go next. Of course I felt really dreadful about it when dearie made me realise my mistake. Glad he did... We were grumpy for quite a long while this time. Most of the time, dearie would never get grumpy at me or for the things that I do. He only gets grumpy at the way things were. I on the other can get quite grumpy at him for things. *guilty*

We sorta recovered later that day. We walked around a bit, checked out the luge ride and took a cable car back to Mt Faber. The place's been revamped, and it looks great now. We chilled out a bit at the lounge-like place there, before making our way back into Sentosa for dinner. We left Silver Shells Cafe after dinner feeling really full and headed for a stroll along the beach. That concluded my first birthday together with dearie.

Happy Birthday Dear !

Happy Birthday Baby !!!

I have never gone out sooo often during attachment till now! Eventful month of attachment it is. Haha! Lots of taking things one step at a time, going out for late-night dinners, and our birthdays!

Dearie's birthday was a simple fare of steamboat buffet dinner. I oughta remember not to go for buffet dinner for birthdays in future. We ate till our stomachs' were so bloated that night. Despite feeling quite bloated, we continued to have another enjoyable evening spent together. A nice stroll at East Coast Park, order a couple of drinks, and chillout.

The first pub (the one this photo was taken) we stopped at was kinda stuffy, so we moved to another breezier place later. All this while I told Dearie that I didn't manage to get him a present, so dinner was on me. I didn't even intended to let him know I made him a card till my clumsy hands gave me away (the card got flung out of my bag and landed at his feet when I was getting my wallet out of my tiny bag).

The highlight was the evening was when I got Dearie to close his eyes at the pub we settled for, while I whipped a longish box that so filled my bag before him. I can never forget the Million-dollar look on his face when "OAKLEY" appeared on the box after the wrappers came off. He knew immediately, it was the Oakley aviator sunglasses that he's been eying on for months. As much as he could afford to buy them himself, I knew if I hadn't gotten it, he never would. Typically him, more willing to splurge on me than himself.