Asian Teddy

Asian Teddy is the journey book of our adventurous cousin who is busy conquering UK with his, erm, Teddy. Don't ask, just read :P

The 7 wonders and Friends

The 7 wonders and Friends dedicated to these friends who have been together for more than a decade. Have not been well maintaining the website but soon soon...we shall start the ball rolling..

Faced the music

Faced it. The truth is out. I have been misled by the T.V. series for more than a decade. I have to wake up in few hours time but I can’t convince myself to sleep if I don’t release my frustrations NOW.

无忌哥哥 did not live with 敏妹 happily ever after.

The story did not “end with” 无忌哥哥，你曾答允我做三件事，第一件是替我借屠龙刀，第二件是当日在濠州不得与周姊姊成礼，这两件你已经做了。还有第三件事呢，你可不能言而无信。”张无忌吃了一惊，道：“你……你……你又有甚么古灵精怪的事要我做……”赵敏嫣然一笑，说道：“我的眉毛太淡，你给我画一画。这可不违反武林侠义之道罢？”张无忌提起笔来，笑道：“从今而后，我天天给你画眉。”

My vivid collection of the whole plot ended at that but accordingly to the version that I am reading now. The official version after several editing…

It portrayed him as being indecisive till the very end.

张无忌却始终拖泥带水，对于周芷若、赵敏、殷离、小昭这四个姑娘，似乎他对赵敏爱得最深，最后对周芷若也这般说了，但在他内心深处，到底爱哪一个姑娘更加多些？恐怕他自己也不知道。

So sad...
How irony….

I can’t wait to land my hand on the next novel 射雕英雄传 and 神雕侠侣 ...
I wondered how different it it is going to be...

That's the reason why I never really like to watch movie adapted from the novel....

倚天

Current reading 倚天屠龙记 my maiden attempt to READ a Chinese novel. A lot of words that I couldn’t make out but I am not giving up…. Well to prove to my young cousin that it is not that difficult to learn Chinese. His score of 2/100 in a recent paper completely freaked and motivated me. I had never in my life score a single digit figure in a /100 paper. How’s shocking!

It had been a while since I have last touched Chinese and I have a hard time searching for the novels... L and I managed to locate them at a Chinese bookshop at Bras Basah. How ironic, so near our workplace. Can you imagine that the major bookshops Kino and Borders don’t carry the novels in “Simplified Chinese”? I started with “倚天“ as it was the very first Chinese pugilistic T.V. series that got me so hooked.

Remembered it was broadcasted only on Sunday’s late night when I was a kid… Back then, my dad was so strict with us. By 10, we would have been in bed ….

If I recalled, I only get to watch when he was away traveling… until one day, the TV decided to “self-destruct”… God, can you imagine I was so mad…. I would think of excuses to get outside buying “新明” or supper so that I could catch a glimpse of the series or rather “张无忌“ played by “Tony Leung” at the CC (there was a TV beside the main road for people like me who had “no TV at home”) before it closed at 10ish...

Well I started to cut and paste the daily synopsis published in the “新明“ in my dairy… It was uncovered and the fate was to the trash bin… Back then, there’s no internet where u can just “google” and read online…. (Even though I embraced the internet, I never fond of the idea of e-reading) as a result of “long hours” of staring at computer screens in the day…)

One of my favorite and unforgettable scenes:
张翠山全身发抖，目光中如要喷出火来，指着殷素素道：“你……你骗得我好苦！”俞岱岩突然大叫一声，身子从床板上跃起，砰的一响，摔了下来，四块床板一齐压断，人却晕了过去。殷素素拔出佩剑，倒转剑柄，递给张翠山，说道：“五哥，你我十年夫妻，蒙你怜爱，情义深重，我今日死而无怨，盼你一剑将我杀了，以全你武当七侠之义”
张翠山接过剑来，一剑便要递出，刺向妻子的胸膛，但霎时之间，十年来妻子对自己温顺体贴、柔情蜜意，种种好处登时都涌上心来，这一剑如何刺得下手？
他呆了一呆，突然大叫一声，奔出房去。殷素素、宋远桥等六人不知他要如何，一齐跟出。只见他急奔至厅，向张三丰跪倒在地，说道：“恩师，弟子大错已经铸成，无可挽回，弟子只求你一件事。”张三丰不明缘由，温颜道：“甚么事，你说罢，为师决无不允。”张翠山磕了三个头，说道：“多谢恩师。弟子有一独生爱子，落入奸人之手，盼恩师救他脱出魔掌，抚养他长大成人。”站起身来，走上几步，向着空闻大师、铁琴先生何太冲、崆峒派关能、峨嵋派静玄师太等一干人朗声说道：“所有罪孽，全是张翠山一人所为。大丈夫一人作事一人当，今日教各位心满意足。”说着横过长剑，在自己颈中一划，鲜血迸溅，登时毙命。张翠山死志甚坚，知道横剑自刎之际，师父和众同门定要出手相阻，是以置身于众宾客之间，说完了那两句话，立即出手。张三丰及俞莲舟、张松溪、殷梨亭四人齐声惊呼抢上。
但听砰砰砰几声连响，六七人飞身摔出，均是张翠山身周的宾客，被张三丰师徒掌力震开。但终于迟了一步，张翠山剑刃断喉，已然无法挽救。宋远桥、莫声谷、殷素素三人出来较迟，相距更远。便在此时，厅口长窗外一个孩童声音大叫：“爹爹，爹爹！”第二句声音发闷，显是被人按住了口。张三丰身形一晃，已到了长窗之外，只见一个穿着蒙古军装的汉子手中抱着一个八九岁的男孩。那男孩嘴巴被按，却兀自用力挣扎。张三丰爱徒惨死，心如刀割，但他近百年的修为，心神不乱，低声喝道：“进去！”那人左足一点，抱了孩子便欲跃上屋顶，突觉肩头一沉，身子滞重异常，双足竟无法离地，原来张三丰悄没声的欺近身来，左手已轻轻搭在他的肩头上。那人大吃一惊，心知张三丰只须内劲一吐，自己不死也得重伤，只得依言走进厅去。那孩子正是张翠山的儿子无忌。他被那人按住了嘴巴，可是在长窗外见父亲横剑自刎，如何不急，拚命挣扎，终于大声叫了出来。殷素素见丈夫为了自己而自杀身亡，突然间又见儿子无恙归来，大悲之后，继以大喜，问道：“孩儿，你没说你义父的下落么？”无忌昂然道：“他便打死我，我也不说。”殷素素道：“好孩子，让我抱抱你。”
张三丰道：“将孩子交给她。”那人全身被制，只得依言把无忌递给了殷素素。无忌扑在母亲怀里，哭道：“妈，他们为甚么逼死爹爹？是谁逼死爹爹的？”殷素素道：“这里许许多多人，一齐上山来逼死了你爹爹。”无忌一对小眼从左至右缓缓的横扫一遍，他年纪虽小，但每人眼光和他目光相触，心中都不由得一震。殷素素道：“无忌，你答应妈一句话。”无忌道：“妈，你说。”殷素素道：“你别心急报仇，要慢慢的等着，只是一个也别放过。”众人听了她这冷冰冰的言语，背上都不自禁的感到一阵寒意，只听无忌叫道：“妈！我不要报仇，我要爹爹活转来。”殷素素凄然道：“人死了，活不转来了。”她身子微微一颤，说道：“孩子，你爹爹既然死了，咱们只得把你义父的下落，说给人家听了。”无忌急道：“不，不能！”殷素素道：“空闻大师，我只说给你一人听，请你俯耳过来。”
这一着大出众人意料之外，尽感惊诧。空闻道：“善哉，善哉！女施主若能早说片刻，张五侠也不必丧生。”走到殷素素身旁，俯耳过去。殷素素嘴巴动了一会，却没发出一点声音。空闻问道：“甚么？”殷素素道：“那金毛狮王谢逊，他是躲在……”“躲在”两字之下，声音又模糊之极，听不出半点。空闻又问：“甚么？”殷素素道：“便是在那儿，你们少林派自己去找罢。” 空闻大急，道：“我没听见啊。”说着站直了身子，伸手搔头，脸上尽是迷惘之色。 殷素素冷笑道：“我只能说得这般，你到了那边，自会见到金毛狮王谢逊。”她抱着无忌，低声道：“孩儿，你长大了之后，要提防女人骗你，越是好看的女人越会骗人。”将嘴巴凑在无忌耳边，极轻极轻的道：“我没跟这和尚说，我是骗他的……你瞧你妈……多会骗人！”说着凄然一笑，突然间双手一松，身子斜斜跌倒，只见胸口插着一把匕首。原来她在抱住无忌之时，已暗用匕首自刺，只是无忌挡在她身前，谁也没有瞧见。无忌扑到母亲身上，大叫：“妈妈，妈妈！”但殷素素自刺已久，支持了好一会，这时已然气绝。无忌悲痛之下，竟不哭泣，瞪视着空闻大师，问道：“是你杀死我妈妈的，是不是？你为甚么杀死我妈妈？”

One of my favorite verses that I can memorize and recite (Actually 1 since the other is actually a poem):
武林至尊，宝刀屠龙，号令天下，莫敢不从, 倚天不出，谁与争锋

And I am not embarrassed to quote the 2nd one I knew, which is a poem:

床前明月光，疑是地上霜。
举头望明月，低头思故乡。

hahaha… I didn’t even know that there it has a title until I google “李白“. Well, now I know. The title is “静夜思“

Ciao! Got to go on date with “无忌哥哥”...

Shiroyuki* Yume

Shiroyuki* Yume is our dear cousin who is a pretty teenage girl talented in manga drawing and pastry making and planning kidnaps of handsome celebrities :)

Jia Xuan - Growing Up Journey

Jia Xuan - Growing Up Journey is a blog setup by a friend for her daughter, intending to record the kid's life journey. You will be amazed by the likeliness of the baby's appearance against the daddy's childhood photo!

Panda Kaya

Panda Kaya is a travel blog of a friend and his wife. They tend to visit less traveled, but interesting places with pretty sceneries. There are some very nice picturesque photos inside!

Bewitched Closet

Bewitched Closet is a new online fashion store setup by a friend. The clothings and accessories are generally catered for local young and trendy ladies. Feel free to take a look :)

Borders Discount Vouchers

Went to Borders for a walk sometime in mid May and bought A Random Walk down Wall Street while S bought another book as well. Random Walk was given a 15% discount then (don't know what promotion it was) and the entire receipt entitled us to another 20% discount for a book. The counter staff also asked me to provide my email to sign up for their eNewsletters.

So I went back to Borders another day and used the 20% discount receipt to buy The Only Three Questions That Count.

Then I realized Borders emailed me a 20% discount voucher because I signed up for their eNewsletters. And then with the Great Singapore Sale they emailed me another 25% discount voucher...

So I've two Borders vouchers, which I need to use this month. I'm not finished with the two financial books yet so I thought I'd find something else to buy. It's a headache to think what to buy when you didn't really plan for it, heh. These discount vouchers are really really evil things that tempt you to spend money :p

So we went down to Borders just now again. S wanted to find a black/white photography book but the Borders collection couldn't quite make it. In the end I bought Your Magic Power To Be Rich using the 25% discount voucher. Yes, another financial/investment book... I should have gotten a Neil Gaiman book instead :\

Last but not least, I still have a 20% voucher, which I need to use by end of the month but no idea on what. Argh... even spending money is a headache...

Va Va Voom Cafe

We went to this vietnamese cafe for dinner about a week ago. There was little crowd despite the location, which I suppose the cafe and others along the same street caters mainly to lunchtime crowd. The restaurant is modernly styled with inexpensive furniture. Clean, neat and gives you the feeling you won't need to pay much to enjoy the food here. Talking about cost, it is definitely not those high end restaurants. You can pay around S$10~20 per person to have a complete, filling meal here. The only waiter in the cafe is quite friendly. We ordered one chicken-based and one beef-based main course, and 2 desserts. The food is modern vietnamese-fusion style, and tastes quite decent for its worth. The dessert was interesting, and I liked it but S didn't. The dessert was basically (mango) sago, but they moulded the sago together into a pudding shape, which was a little tasteless if you don't eat it together with the mango sauce. Nevertheless, we like the place enough to consider going back again, and perhaps bring our friends to it.

There is no website, so I'll post the location here:
Va Va Voom Cafe
36 Seah Street (beside Raffles Hotel)
ops hrs: 1130-2200 daily.