Jack O' Lantern

I saw 4 singaporeans at McDonald's this afternoon !!! a mum and her 3 daughters. Amazing-- why would singaporeans come to Durant?

when i first saw them, i didnt think they were singaporeans cos they certainly didnt look very singaporean. more like mainland chinese. my ears pricked up when i overheard them ordering double cheese burger without tomato and onions. Haha. i thought that was definitely chinese/ singaporean.

so anyway, they sat at the table next to mine. they spoke english, but they were very soft, i couldnt hear them clearly. but i was very sure they didnt have any american accent, and not many chinese asians speak english other than singaporeans. i peeked at the mum's handbag-- MNG. her top-- U2. one of her daughters was in a Nike jacket. the confirmation came when her daughter said : " i am a singaporean kid... "

i was tempted to start a conversation, but they were too engrossed talking among themselves. i heard the mum mention something about having to return the car.

they left shortly, so i lost my chance at striking up a conversation. being a little kaypoh, i hurried out to the parking lots to catch a glimpse of the car they were driving in -- a Volkswagon. it looked like they were on a road trip.. Durant is quite an unlikely place for tourists to come visit. mabbe they were heading for Dallas ??!!

Pool

played pool yesterday evening with Ken and this chinese girl at a local pub. the girl's a student at SOSU, an accounting and business undergrad. i wonder how Ken got to know her.

anyway, it was quite fun. yifan played with Ken, i played with the girl ( i think her name is Pangchu or something like that. I didnt quite catch it when intros were made and it's weird to ask her after that.) we have to go there again another time. Ken said that there's another billiard saloon where he goes to play for free. we should check out the place in future.

oh, and this weekend being the Halloween weekend, some of the pub's patrons were dressed up-- i saw a guy in the " Scream" outfit, and a woman in a cheerleader's.

we had wanted to go down to Kinki Bar in Dallas last friday. They had a Kinki Ball that night... dress-ups not necessary. in the end, we didnt go cos yifan had to move some stuff at work the next day, and those parties usu start ard 11pm, so it's too late anyway. ( that plus the fact that we both weren't dressed appropriately. I was in capri pants, t-shirt and sandals.)

bought 2 pairs of dangling earrings yesterday. :) took out my diamond studs the other day to give my ears a " break", but felt that something was lacking, hence the danglies.

flora from biotherm explained to me about some products, and i got samples of the Aqua-source Oligo thermal moisturizer to try out. she's 50, but her skin is completely flawless-- no age spots, no wrinkles. she uses Biotherm products, of course. by now, i am almost sold. tried the sample last night and again this morning, and it is GOOD. no oily feel, though the smell is a little too strong. she actually suggested i attend a free makeover today, but i thought the drive all the way down is a little too much, so i had to pass it up.

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yifan's body has these little red spots on them. i dunno if he's coming down with chicken pox or measles or his body is just too " heaty". he's already gotten chicken pox years ago, but i know that some people do get it more than once. anyway, hopefully it's nothing and that the spots will disappear within the next couple of days.

*******
notice all the la-la-la stuff above? from now onwards, that's how it's gonna be.. just to be safe. dun want to get myself into unwanted trouble. :)

DST is ending soon

Nothing much is going on except that the weather is getting colder ( which is good news) and Halloween is just around the corner. :)

October is one of my favourite months. Great weather-- neither too cold nor too hot. Fall foliage is everywhere (except this part of the US *sigh*) It's pretty close to the holiday season, and thanksgiving sales is just a couple of weeks away. hehhe. Not that i am very very addicted to shopping, but there are a few things that i will need to get, so it's just GREAT timing !

Also looking forward to a possible Austin- San Antonio trip during the long Thanksgiving break. it was actually a toss between Colorado and Austin, but the drive to Steamboat is just too long for a 4-day trip. will have to make future plans for that. Then, there is also Banf and Victoria in B.C. that i so want to visit. hopefully an opportunity will come soon.

meanwhile, back to reality, and time to fry the veges for lunch.

cheerios.

yippee yay yay

newly formatted pc. works great.

either there is something wrong with my msn messenger or the latest version 7.5 is unstable. i keep getting signed out and when i try to get back in, it always says " service is temporarily unavailable." yet when yifan tries on the same pc, he has no problems. mabbe i will email them later this afternoon to look into it.

ohh, and i still have to re-download ICQ. troublesome, but no choice since there are still a few friends who are still clinging on to that, despite the majority of us already having switched to MSN long ago.

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last night was soo cold. temps were down to 6 deg !! had the heat turned on for a bit, but it got too uncomfortable. it is still cold now, i think its somewhere around 12 deg right now, sunny and breezy-- excellent weather.

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another issue with yet another bank. this time, even more ridiculous. account was supposed to have been closed months ago. in fact, we have already closed it 2 times before. apparently, NOT. will call in tonite to complain, that's for sure. and becos the account is still " alive", there are other problems now. Urgh!

a "new" comp !

the next time i blog, it's going to be on a New computer. YAY!! okay, it'll not exactly be a new computer per se, but yifan's going to reformat my pc right after this. keyboard's repaired a few days ago. apparently, one of the needles was bent, so thats why. :) msn messenger is still having problems... so for those of you who have been wondering where Sharon is, yup, i couldn't sign on.

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we went for Taste of Lexus yesterday afternoon. Lexus is launching their new 2006 IS 250 and 350 models, and are visiting 10 cities all over the US, with a 2-day stop in Dallas. I thought this might be something interesting so i signed us up weeks ago. it was MORE than interesting. after 3 hours in Texas Stadium, we were sold on the idea of Lexus being the brand to own.



for starters, Lexus cars not only drive well, but look great too. Stylish, and of exceptional quality. yifan test-drove the IS 250 and 350, the SC430, the GS 430 and BMW 330. the organisers had the BMW and Mercedes Benz cars available for test-drive too( the closest competitors to Lexus) so people could see for themselves that Lexus is truly the better car.

that's the SC 430, the newer version of my Lexus SC 400. we test-drove a Red one on the tracks. ( i didnt drive at all cos it was a little like car-racing, with all the little cones on the ground, and i didnt want to run over the cones. i was the front seat passenger, and that's good enough for me.)

the interior of the SC 430 that we drove. cost of the car: US$ 64,000.

that's the IS 350. the exact same car that we test-drove just minutes later. i was in the SC430 when i took this. hmm, we both prefer the IS 350 to the SC430. cost: US$ 36,000.

we didnt drive the mercedes cos i thought the car looks ugly. our only comparison was the lexus cars with the BMW 330. BMW doesn't feel as strong and powerful, although i think the brandname is slightly more prestigious.

The inside of the tent. Lexus must have spent a bomb. This whole event was held at Texas Stadium, but huge tents were set up, fully air-conditioned for the comfort of all participants. it didnt look anything like what i would have expected for an event that is FOC. even the make-shift toilets outside were beautiful. i was surprised, and so was yifan.

they had appetizingly displayed finger food for everyone-- thai fish cake with chilli sauce, fresh fruits, chocolates, brownies, egg rolls... and it was GOOD.

to cap it off, yifan enjoyed a 7- minute neck and hot stone massage.

all in all, we were super-impressed with everything we had experienced. it is amazing to see how much thought and effort had been put into the entire affair. the best part of it all-- there were no salespeople around trying to sell you the cars. it was purely for enjoyment.

Taste of Lexus

it's something i signed up weeks ago. we are going to see the new Lexus IS in Dallas tomorrow. there'll be a chance for us to test-drive as well. i am excited. * grin*

http://www.tasteoflexus.com/

Nihon

Currently reading:


tentative departure date: 23 dec
tentative return date: 9 jan

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my desktop is not working, or rather the keyboard's not working. came home yesterday from walmart, and found the internet connection for the computer to be going in and out, keyboard not responding, spyware everywhere... so now i cant even back-up my stuff into the hard disk. thank goodness most of the important stuff is done already, but i'll most likely lose all my recipes.. * baah* i had a hard time collecting all of em.

and now i'm stuck with using my 5- year old Acer. it takes an eternity to boot up... but since i dun really use much of the computer except for surfing and emailing, i guess this is fine. mabbe when it gets to the point when i think enough is enough, i'll get a Dell or something.

*** is there something wrong with my comp? i think i see the spacing for the paragraph starting with " my desktop.." as bigger than the spacing for the other paragraph. ***

oh, dun think i mentioned about the " police chase" we had last sunday. we were travelling above the speed limit, when yifan noticed that a police car going the opposite direction had made a U-turn and was coming our way. we immediately took the nearest exit, drove some small dirt roads and took a detour to the expressway. ( just before the drive, we had gone for a car wash, and you can imagine that the car's now dirtier than before.. but better that than a ticket) ( we had actually gone on the parallel service road and saw the police car just metres in front so back to the dirt road)

so back on the expressway and we had just gone about 5 minutes when we saw another police car from the opposite direction come towards us. AGAIN !! this time we didn't leave, but slowed down and tried to hide behind a truck. oh man, that was a close shave.

Mass.

taunton's dam is threatening to break???
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9739595/

mabbe it was a good thing that we left Hartford. it has been raining in New England for days on end. And yet, this time last year, the weather was just great.

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something is definitely wrong with my monitor. the screen is making everything look green. xz, we always have the same problems hor? ( jobs, and now comp) but luckily i have a spare monitor at home, so we'll just need to switch things around. :)

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i need to go walmart to buy some stuff, but i have to wait for a call from the travel agency. the girl said she'd call me back in 10 minutes, but 45 minutes have already gone by. and i dun really want to leave before getting her call, just in case she claims that she called me, and " did i get her message?" mabbe i'll give her another 20 minutes.

sometimes i just want to forget about it, and get my tickets from elsewhere, but at the same time, i really want to go on Korean Air, and also, tix are usually cheaper if you get them from travel agencies. strangely though, she mentioned the tix will be $1700++ per pax. hmm, how come i was told that it cost around $1400++ when i called the airline ?? now comes another problem-- should i ask the girl from the travel agency about the large price difference, ( and have her think why i called her to get her to find out something i already know) or just forget about it?? esp since we already found cheaper tix on american airlines, and that we'd most likely go with that ?? in fact, if we are taking AA, then i shouldn't even need to wait for her call.

it's been an hour. Time's Up!!

i am off to walmart. if she calls, she calls. otherwise, i give up, and all i can conclude from this entire episode is that koreans aren't very helpful people.

Bean

we went car-shopping yesterday. yifan has been wanting to buy a mini cooper for the longest time, and we found a guy selling his 1967 for $8500.

hmm. the car's cute, really small, and errhh a little too old-fashioned for my liking. it's something that i'd like to look at and admire, but i dun think i want to ride in a car like that. it's a manual transmission car, which is fine, although old cars can be a little tricky, no radio, and worst of all, no air-conditioning.

anyway, we saw the car on saturday, and the seller invited us to join his fellow "mini" gang on sunday. needless to say, everyone showed up in either an old mini, or some other vintage cars ( dunno what brands/ models but it's the kind of cars Grease the movie used).

there was also a new Morgan Aero 8 car on show.





that's the Morgan Aero. the shape's very unique; it reminded me of some disney characters like Daffy Duck. the selling price of this car: USD 120,000 !!!! that's very expensive considering you can get an average car for almost 10% of that amount.

back view of the Morgan.

that's one of Skip's car. ( the car who is selling his mini) i said " one of his car" because Skip has something like 6 cars when we visited his house the other day. mostly old vintage cars, but there was also a new Jaguar and a RV.

his only reason for wanting to sell off his mini: he didnt have enough room in his garage. actually, i dun think he is very interested to sell the car to us... mostly cos we dun have a garage, and cars like those need Tender Loving Care. i overheard him telling yifan that buying a mini is like adopting a dog-- he needs a good home. he even told yifan that we should get a house with a garage after we buy the car !!! walau, this is the first time we've seen anyone get so attached to a car.

the new mini...

see British Emporium in the background of the pic. that's where the Mini gang has their usual hangout. the store sells UK stuff we are so familiar with, but have not seen in a long time... foodstuffs like Ribena, Ovaltine and Horlicks powder, McVities...

cinemark 7

Just watched: The 40 Year Old Virgin

Quite funny, but still not as good as The Wedding Crashers. This is the 4th movie we saw in a row-- 4 weeks continuously. i dunno how long this movie craze will last. i mean, before this, the last time we went to a cinema was close to 3 years ago, but ever since last month, we have been going to the movies every single weekend. i am not complaining, though.. not especially if the movie tix stays at $1 and blockbuster is $15 per month.

scam?

i just need to rant a little more...

Spoke to the girl at Eurasia, and she acted apologetic about not calling me back for a week. well, it was ONE WEEK, and of course, i " sounded a little upset". in fact, i am more than a little upset. i know it's not easy getting all the info i wanted, but the least she could do was call me to keep me updated.

and the whole issue with SBC Yahoo... that's another load of crap. I called them up to check on the existing phone plan we have, enquired about the new charges for long distance, and was told that it's either i pay $2 a month to continue the plan, or $3 per month to block long distance calls. Urmm, excuse me, but if that's the case, wouldn't it make more sense to leave the long distance plan as it is, and not use it ( and therefore not incurring any more charges) than to block it ??? where's the logic ? and then, there's the explanation the customer service rep gave about having to keep the long distance plan, or else I would not qualify for the DSL discounts that i was currently enjoying.

this whole thing is a SCAM. helpless customers like me have no other choice but to stick it out for the remaining of the 2-year contract. Yes, it's a 2 year contract. if not for the house phone, we would have taken cable instead. hmph !!!!

walmart

the cut-up whole chicken i bought from walmart yesterday had 3 drumsticks and 3 chicken wings !!!! i nearly freaked out when i took it out from the freezer to defrost it for dinner just now.

random pics

some random pics we took recently:


Carl's Jr burger for only $0.85 every friday.

cows grazing on the field on a lazy afternoon. it's too bad you can't tell from the picture that the field is actually just next to an upscale residential area, right next to a busy road, and a couple of minutes from the mall.




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still sourcing for air tickets back to singapore. i called Eurasia 2 times today. Still waiting for their answer. i am getting mad. apparently, they have to wait for the airlines to call them back with the prices !!! why is the process so long and cumbersome?!! it's been a week since i spoke to the first girl there.

** NB: red font color = pissed off

*an even darker shade of red to signify even more pissed off *

stupid SBC Yahoo started charging us for long distance service -- service which we had informed right from the very beginning when we signed up that we DO NOT want. and now, they want to charge me $8 to cancel the service !!!!!

cable and phone companies here are always trying all sorts of ways to charge unsuspecting customers for things they do not want/need. i just discovered that they had erroneously charged me for HBO service which was supposed to be free. and that's the second time it has happened in 3 months !!! imagine if i had done all the payments by direct bank transfer. i wouldn't even have known.

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a house in denison, tx. this is like a REGULAR house in texas -- huge ( usu around 3000 SF built- in area), water feature like a fountain or a pool somewhere, and exterior made of bricks or stones ( dunno why but those in new england are always made of the ugly plywood-looking material) and if you think the house looks okay or not bad from the outside, trust me, the inside looks at least 10 times better. and you would never have guessed that the interior is so big. often, there's a butler's area near the kitchen too. ( the first time i saw one, i was like " woah, incredible".) my only complaint is that the master bedrooms are always on the ground level, next to the living room. not much privacy if you have guests around. angmo kitchens will be a problem for us chinese too since it's almost always right next to the living area with no walls/ doors, so for people like me who cook sambal belacan and pig trotters in vinegar, it'll be a nightmare.

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Martha's Apprentice on tv tonight. it's a direct copycat of Donald Trump's The Apprentice. except the intro music is a total joke. HILARIOUS !!

Currently reading:
Men are from Mars, women are from venus by John Gray

So it is true that men retreat to their " caves" when they are stressed or worried about something. should have read this book much earlier. :-)


what i did over the weekend:
- went Bobby's house for a BBQ, and Barbara tried to " sell" us her house
- watched The Wedding Crashers * great movie*
- watched yifan play basketball for a bit, then watched a couple of girls play tennis

Watched the Howard Stern show and some guy ate the radio show guy's booger ( nose shit) so he can promote his band on the show.( he even had a woman fart into his face at the same time) the guy looked like he was gagging, but he actually managed to swallow the shit with a mouthful of coke. sigh, the sacrifices people make for a shot at fame.

then there was another time where a guy licked someone's toe just so he can hug a topless pornstar. eeeks!!

i dun know which act is grosser. if you had to choose between the two, which would you rather have? yifan says he will eat the pi sai. i think i will suck the toe. xz, and anyone else who reads this, which would you choose? leave me a comment, eh ??

my computer

i think my computer is breaking down soon. the screen gets a bluish hue every now and then. the internet connection seems really slow too, and i'm quite sure the problem lies with the comp and not the internet service, cos yifan's is working fine. just to be on the safe side, we've already transferred most of the important stuff onto the external hard disk. * spend money on new comp? use my old laptop which is even slower? *

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just got back from lunch at La Tapatio with yifan, allan and bobby. one word: BORING. i should have stayed home for lunch instead. i didn't talk more than 2 sentences throughout, and didn't enjoy allan's " sense of humour" either. " buy a small plasma tv and put a magnifying glass in front" ??!!!! **HUH!!!** i thought that was so stupid, and if he thought that was witty, he is so wrong.

they are talking about going bobby's place for another BBQ tomorrow. urrgghh ! i really dun feel like going. firstly, there is nothing much to say to them, since no one has anything in common with anyone else, and i dun believe in talking just for the sake of talking.

secondly, stupid lin may show up too, and that will be the ultimate " gift" to me.

thirdly, nights like this always end late. very late. i dun mind late night-outs so long as it's fun, but otherwise, it's just going to be a long and draggy and boring night. yifan may say otherwise, but i know he really feels the same way as i do. he just wun admit it, that's all. :)

24 dec ???

it is almost 4.30pm and i am bushed. i spent the ENTIRE day surfing the internet and calling the airlines to check on air tickets.

best deal so far: korean air. i just hope the dates will work for yifan.

we actually dun have much of a choice. flights are mostly already fully booked by now, so it's either we leave in early dec, or we pay an arm and a leg for the tickets. lufthansa quoted USD 6000 per pax !!!!

an observation i made from a whole day of calls to the various airlines: it is cheaper to travel on asian airlines than american/ european ones if your starting point is the US. prices can differ by more than 100 %.

*** got cheated by citibank. they told us we can get 1-for-1 tickets to anywhere in the world on any airline, and when i called Spirit Incentive, they said that it applies only to travel within continental US. ***

today

a day of happiness, of hugs and kisses, and loving pics.


versailles, france, 2002.


sentosa, singapore, 2003.



Halloween 2003



Vegas 2005

...and still going strong!

p.s. happy bday, pa !!

Texas State Fair

we went to the annual state fair in dallas yesterday afternoon. it's a 4-week long affair, with auto shows, livestock auctions, stage performances, and funfair.

indoor car exhibition -- below is the Ford GT

me and the new Ford Mustang

i dun like how the car looks like from the back. the front is much much nicer.

in case you are wondering why there isn't any picture of " racequeens", we thought we'd skip that since errm, they dun look as good as the racequeens we often see in singapore car expos. i mean they were really quite bad, i joked to yifan that we should take a pic of them, post it up on clubsnap and let CSers in singapore have a " nosebleed time". :)



the horses that the policeman and policewoman were on were huge. in fact, we went to the horse stable and saw the horses up close. on the average, the horses measured 14 hands in height. and they BITE!!! just a thought, i wonder if the policemen have to undergo training in horseriding. hmm.

an ugly bike:

everyone was enjoying the music and the singing. everyone except us. it's country music.

i am so excited....

and this is what got me so excited ....

the pig race. or rather the preview. it's the little pigs that would be racing. the guy was saying lots of stuff, that we couldnt catch becos first, he was talking real fast. secondly, the sound system in the arena was quite poor, we couldnt hear very well, and also becos the southern accent is way too strong. doesn't bother me, though. i was there to see the pigs. i had once seen an episode of The Newly Weds: Nick and Jessica, where they went for a pig race, and i thought it was so cute. so here i am !! :D



pardon the blur pic. i think the shutter speed was wrong, and we were not seated at a good spot. but i thought it gives the feel of 4 speeding by-real-fast pigs.

now maybe this pic would be slightly clearer cos this little pig was moving so slowly, we managed to capture at least 3 shots of him ( or it) heading towards the finishing line.

there was also a sheepdog race but we were late for it. we only caught the very last minute of the show. :(

see the tiny horse on the left. it's a fully-grown horse. and yes, you can ride on it. if you're a kid of 5 or 6, that is. the little girl was explaining to me how the horse just came here for 6 months, and her name ( i mean the horse's name) is Ritz, cos the mother horse's name is Crackers. you know, like Ritz Crackers ??



see how small Ritz is, compared to the one in the background.

yifan wanted to get another picture of me stroking a horse. i was kinda worried that the horse will bite me when i turned away to look into the camera. i actually love horses, just dun really like to touch the hard bodies. and that's why you'll only see me stroking their hair. besides, i sometimes think my hair is like the horse's hair --- long and brown and straight. except mine is in a much better condition. horses have very very coarse hair !!

and lastly, a very satisfied yifan before we leave the park and go for dinner at Aw Shucks.

no more privacy

friendster has just recently added on more new features to its site. not only can i track which of my friends are online, but i can also engage in an online chat with them, much like the MSN Messenger.

however, there is one feature that i am not at all comfortable with. you can now find out who goes to your friendster profile. that's bad news for me. i used to like surfing the friendster site, doing random clicks, looking for long-lost friends, mostly just checking out other people's pics and passing time. now that people will know when i go to their profile, i dun think i want to do that anymore. it is no longer fun like that.

thanks to this new feature, i found out that there's this guy who first sent me a smile, then visited my profile 2 times yesterday. and i dun even know him. if he was aware of this feature, would he still have done that? probably not. i know i wouldn't. cos now i am thinking, " why does he keep coming to my site?" hmm. i dun want people to have the same questions in their minds when i go to their sites too.

it's tough not surfing around after all this time as a friendster member. i had to really control myself last night and refrain from going to anyone's profile ( other than chew's cos i wanted to test something out, but that's different.) i might email the administrators to see if they can consider removing the tracking feature. surely i am not the only one who feels uncomfortable??