My widescreen monitor dreams came true - Gerald bought me a new 20" LCD for Christmas. Yay for best sibling! I picked out a couple of possibles on newegg.ca, and we discussed prices and sizes, settled on one, and ordered it. It arrived on Wednesday, and there really is nothing like more screen real-estate. Easier to do work on it!


new desk - top.
I've decided to just run the single screen and save my laptop's screen for when I'm mobile. I've noticed the laptop screen getting a little bit iffy over the past few weeks. Right now the cable clutter behind the laptop and the screen is unimaginable. I'm also running low on USB ports (there are only 3 on the T60). I went and got the keyboard yesterday.

Desktop wallpaper ganked from the amazing Orioto's game remake art. This one is from Worms. Ain't it a beauty? I've also used the FFIII (SNES), the Lemmings, and the Zelda ones.

The little white case at the bottom of the picture (what a mismatch) is the Nintendo DS Lite. I bought it 2nd-hand off a dude last week for a very decent price. He had bought it a couple years ago, but shunned it for the PSP, saying that "the DS isn't for hardcore gamers". I almost rejected the sale right there, but I wanted it too badly. I'm currently playing The World Ends with You, it's pretty awesome.


I was telling J all about the guy later on, and he was reading this review of Chrono Trigger, this first line of which goes, When it comes to Role-Playing Games there are essentially two groups: those who have played Chrono Trigger and those who haven’t. I balked at that. Come on. If you really want to be so pedantic about it, then when it comes to RPGs, there are two types of gamers - those who've played D&D and those who've not.

'strewth.

Tweet tweet...

• 17:21 @angeliatay oh dear... hope you find something to occupy the time in between now and 7.30pm... #
• 20:38 twitpic.com/s37k1 51 fricking g of sugar in this bottle! Unbelievable...#fb #
• 21:30 @oiseauxbleu I normally only take diet Snapple and even then very rarely so. But yikes in any case #

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Hsin Yeow's thoughts: La Vie En Rose

Stella contacted me a few weeks before her wedding, and asked if I could provide live music at her wedding. Unfortunately, everybody and their uncle seemed to be getting married on 21 Sep, and I was already engaged to perform elsewhere. Thankfully, Eleanor, Ian and Feri were still available. I rushed to meet Stella after I was done, and we exchanged a few words before I had to go. She looked amazingly stunning, and was surprisingly lucid.

Thanks, Stella, for sending us your photos one day after you have received them from your photographer!


Stella and Chun Seng dancing to La Vie En Rose

To all my Livejournal friends, this one's for you!



Band: Eleanor, Ian, Feri


Repertoire:

More (1st march-in), Beyond The Sea, Cheek To Cheek, Come Fly With Me, Dream A Little Dream, (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons, Just The Way You Are, Let There Be Love, L-O-V-E, The Nearness Of You, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Time After Time, When I'm 64, You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, You Belong To Me, 月亮代表我的心 (The Moon Represents My Heart), 甜蜜蜜 (Honey Sweet)


Compliments:


Hi Hsin Yeow,

Thanks so much for putting together a band for me at such short notice! It was also nice that Eleanor was the singer, whom I already knew :)

I think the guests definitely enjoyed A Little Dream, and the band looked good on their side stage too. Some of my friends said Eleanor has a really good voice. :)

Thanks again for coming through for us...

Stella (& Chun Seng)

Great mellower version!

Great mellower version

Back by Popular Demand!



The Substation Moving Images presents
Dinner with Murakami
Yan Ting Yuen/ 53 min/ 2007/ PG


Venue: The Substation Theatre
Thursday, 10 December, 7.30pm & 9pm
Friday, 11 December, 7.30pm & 9pm

Tickets at $8 (Concession) and $10 (Regular)
Ticketing - http://www.onetickethub.com/index.php/events/dinnerwithmurakami

Concession rates for Students, NSFs, SFS members and Friends of the Substation (Only available at The Substation Box Office)

Synopsis:
A poetic trip into Japan and a world that the elusive author of best-sellers, Haruki Murakami, has painted for his readers. Largely structured around Murakami’s enigmatic absence, the film dramatises Murakami’s impact on his readers and takes the camera into the hinterland to determine what is “Murakamian” in the Japanese landscape. The resulting film has a beautiful sense of form and poetic structure.

Bio:
Yan Ting Yuen made her director’s debut in 2001 with ‘Chin.Ind.:Life behind the serving hatch’ which was nominated for the National Dutch Film Award. Her second film, ‘Yang Ban Xi, the 8 model works’ was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival 2005 and was awarded Prix du Meilleur Essai at the Montreal International Festival of films on art 2007.

Screenings & Awards:
- 2007 CPH: DOX International Documentary Film Festival
- 2007 Copenhagen International Documentary Festival
- 2008 Doku Arts
- 2009 Singapore Indie Doc Fest (Opening Film)


For more information, please visit - [url=http://www.substation.org] www.substation.org [/url]
or call 6337 7535 or email [email]bengkheng@substation.org[/email]

FB event - http://www.facebook.com/#/event.php?eid=171170868159&ref=ts


TRAILER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foX09vleMZU

Bright and sunny, we set off for the day's destination: Lantau Island.

It was my brother's birthday and he was one happy chappy that day :)

Taking a tram ride to Central (for the MTR to Tung Chung)

Sean (in Grandma's sling) taking a snooze during the ride

A short side-note here, I have to say I was quite disappointed of all the times we travelled via MTR, bus or tram, we were only offered a seat (for the baby) a grand total of ONCE during our entire trip. People would point at him sitting/sleeping in the sling and whisper among themselves - babies are quite a rare sight in HK, I realised - but that was just about it. I was quite appalled by their nonchalance! (Singaporeans are a wee bit better in this regard.)

At Tung Chung, before taking the cable car

Happy grandparents

I had last been to Lantau in 1998 and my somewhat hazy memory of the place was that it was a very sleepy centuries-old town of wooden stilt houses and musty incense-filled monasteries.

This time though, I couldn't recognise any bit of it.

The island has totally transformed and I think they did a mighty fine job of developing the infrastructure. We saw many newly-paved roads and sky-high condominiums on our way in and of course, besides the Ngong Ping 360 cable car station, there's also the swanky new airport and Disneyland on the island too!

(No Disneyland for us this time - Sean is too young to remember anything and we too old for Mickey!)

I enjoyed the pleasant, breezy half-hour cable car ride from Tung Chung to Ngong Ping Plateau. The view from above was breathtaking and we could spot the famed bronze Buddha statue (the largest of its kind in the world) from afar.

Up, up and away

... in a cable car

Taking in the view

We stopped over at Ngong Ping Plateau where the air was noticeably colder and fresher.

Sean donned his GAP hoodie with bear ears (which sadly he is about to outgrow very soon) and wool booties lovingly knitted by Mas' grandma :)

No one could resist the baby bear

Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear (Giant Buddha in the background)

Rest break at Ngong Ping

The sullen Emperor and his silly grinning concubine

And their lovechild, the flying baby monk

Leon and young Simba

My ants-in-pants mother was very excited to climb up the two-hundred-something steps to the monastery at the peak.

I wasn't too keen to carry an increasingly cranky Sean (or all his barang) who was hankering for a nap so she, together with my father and brother, went up without us.

The following pics were taken by Leon on their vertical trek up to the monastery.

85m-high bronzed Giant Buddha in the distance

Up the few hundred steps to the monastery

Mum at the peak

Bronze statue at the monastery

We ended the day with some factory outlet shopping at Tung Chung. Quite a decent selection of brands but they carried mostly winter wear which I have no use for. Pity.

In the end, after much aimless wandering around, I bought a cool jet-black biker jacket and a boyfriend-type blazer, and I think that's about all I bought for the entire trip!

We got back to Causeway Bay and had a huge, sumptious Chinese dinner for the birthday boy (my brother) that night.

And that's all for Day 2, folks!

Sean is going through a big developmental spurt of sorts at the moment - the change in his behaviour has been very noticeable in recent weeks and he looks so much bigger, doesn't he?

*S is for Sean onesie, courtesy of Godma

He is such a wriggly worm now. He rolls over the minute we put him down and always does this cute little bum shuffle thing like he is about to scoot away.

I usually find him in a completely different position from where I placed him. He's really fast!

He gave a heart attack yesterday morning when I left him on our bed to get something from the next room and came back a second later and saw him teetering precariously on the edge of our bed! One more inch to the left and he would have plunged onto our cold, hard marble floor!

(Arg, my blood still turns cold just imagining what could have happened!)

My mum and I now do everything we can to stop him from flipping over now, especially when he is sleeping (because it is very disruptive) - funny, just few weeks ago, we were doing the exact opposite!

Escaping diaper changes is his forte. He even has that furtive sideways glance down pat!

Catch me if you can, mum!And in case you didn't know already, he started off in the middle of his changing mat!

He has also begun to resent confinement.

I used to be able to leave him to sit happily in the Bumbo while I took a shower but now he screams when I put him inside and struggles to get out. That thing was useful for, umm, two weeks, maybe?!

Escape artist

He is very curious and likes being held upright to look at the world all the time.

If we so much so tried to lower him into a reclining position, he will arch his back defiantly and lurch forward in protest. Now he prefers sleeping upright, like a stubborn little right-way-up bat.

Must.sleep.upright.zzz

Once breezy affairs, car rides have turned into absolute nightmares.

Since returning from HK, he seems to forgotten how he used to ride in the car every day and developed a very strong dislike for his capsule seat. This is bad news because it makes our daily 20-minute commute to and fro my mum's place everyday a misery for the both of us.

And yes, I have tried everything: distracting him with toys, music, talking and singing to him, NOT talking and singing to him (so he thinks no one is listening to his whines), timing his nap time with the car ride hoping he would take the purr of the engine as a cue to fall asleep. Nothing works.

I think he just hates being strapped down and not being able to sit upright. Now he always arrives at our destination hoarse from screaming, with his face soaked with snot and tears - it's quite a sight!

Another not-so-pleasant development: his once-perfect sleeping schedule has gone to the dogs.

Just as I was finally getting the hang of a somewhat reasonable night feeding schedule (just one crucial refueling feed at 4am), Sean suddenly changes tack and expects a 24-7 all-you-can-eat-buffet!

For example, last night, after going to bed at 9am, he woke up at 12.30, 3, 5 and 7am wanting to nurse!

(An aside, you should have seen the his mega explosive poop job this morning!)

I don't know about him but for the past week, I have been feeling like an absolute train wreck every day!

So it is not surprising he has been super cranky and clingy during the day. The late nights are certainly not helping his mood, or mine for that matter!

It takes forever for us to put him down for a nap in the day and even then, he fidgets a lot and doesn't stay asleep for long. I think he takes two, at the most, three short naps a day now.

Now that he has better hand-eye coordination and has stopped clawing at his own face, I let him go mitten-less.

He loves clasping his hands together and the sensation of feeling his own fingers. Of course, in the process it has also struck him that two hands taste much better than one!



He has also discovered he can do a lot more with his hands besides shoving them into the wonderful sensory organ that is his mouth.

He rubs his eyes with his little fists when he is sleepy. He is slowly reaching out for and grasping things with his hands now. He loves playing with my Tiffany's starfish pendant when he is nursing. He swats violently at the yellow, bobbing rubber duckie during bath time. It is very amusing to watching his face scrunch up in deep concentration each time.

We have also noticed since returning from our holiday, he has lost a bit of his chattiness.

He still responds animatedly when we talk to him now but he is no longer at that adorable stage where he seems to be testing his vocals and goo-ing and gaa-ing all the time.

At first, we thought it was because we didn't engage him enough in HK, amidst the constant buzz of the distractions of the city and bright lights.

But now I think it could be because he has SO MUCH else going on - all that rolling and exploring to do! - that he doesn't have so much time for mindless chatter anymore ;)

So yeah like I said, MAJOR growth spurt. Exciting times!

If you are interested, here is a very informative article about developmental spurts here. It sure answered some of my questions!

Melissa's thoughts: Grow Old With You

The highlight of Vincent and Cheryl's wedding was most definitely Vincent's courageous performance of the popular wedding song, "Grow Old With You".

The butterflies in my stomach have long since disappeared due to my years of performing, but I could still remember how daunting it was to perform in front of a live audience. It wasn't easy for Vincent, since he had to sing and play the guitar at the same time. At the end of the song, he even whipped out a rose secretly taped behind his guitar and offered it to the blushing Cheryl. What a romantic guy!

Kudos to Vincent, and congratulations to the lovely couple!

Thank you for engaging us, and making us feel absolutely at ease. We had a fabulous time!

P.S. Take a look at Vincent's special version of "Grow Old With You"!

I wanna make you smile
Whenever you're sad, pacify you
When you’re feeling so stressed
All I wanna do is
Grow old with you.

I’ll go shopping with you
Pay for all the bills
Carry your bags
When your hands are all full
All I wanna do is
Grow old with you.

( Read on... )

Band: Melissa, Joel Tan, Mei Sheum


Repertoire:

Canon In D (March-in), Le Festin (1st Dish), Cheek To Cheek, Close To You, It Had To Be You, La Vie En Rose, Let’s Fall In Love, L-O-V-E, My Romance, Our Love Is Here To Stay, 'S Wonderful, So Nice, You Raise Me Up (Special Dedication), Taking A Chance On Love, I'm Beginning To See the Light, Dream A Little Dream, Fallen, Beyond The Sea, Someone To Watch Over Me, (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons, C'est Si Bon


Compliments:


Taken by Ron Lee from Eye-deas Photography

Hi Hsin Yeow,

We would like to say a big thank you to you guys.

Melissa sang beautifully and serenade the entire ballroom with her powerful vocals. The band was fantastic as well.

Both songs for the first and second march in were timely and awesome.

Even when the 2nd march in song was decided only on the evening itself, A Little Dream still managed to pull off the performance without a single glitch.

My guests were singing the praises of A Little Dream after the wedding, and a few have asked me for your contacts.

A friend even commented Melissa's voice was so perfect that it sounded like its playing straight from the CD!

Hsin Yeow, thanks very much for coordinating such wonderful entertainment for our great day.

Thanks very much once again.

Best,
Vincent & Cheryl