Kelly hasn't been home for 3 weeks so I plan a 'Welcome Home' surprise! Banners, balloons and his favourite cherry pie!
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Kelly has to work the weekend so I get to join him in San Jose.
Guess what I found on the hotel towel? Suspicious reddish pink stains which look like lipstick! GRRR! This is the classic movie scene where the girl finds lipstick on the guy's shirt collar and realises he cheated on her. I don't believe Kelly would do that but still half-jokingly interrogated him. And then we proceeded to ewww at how gross the towel is.
How can a hotel can provide guests with a STAINED towel??? I asked Kelly to complain but he refused. That makes me more suspicious. Hmmm.. I tell myself "iLane don't think too much."
Hehe, turns out Kelly just has to work a couple hours so it becomes our getaway weekend. We head to San Francisco with a mission.
We are at the San Francisco Golden Gate Park's Redwood trail. There is a sign that says we are not supposed to feed the squirrels ... :p Shhh, we have a can of nuts with us. Hee!
Look! A squirrel! It looks pleadingly at us and scampers after the nut we throw to it! Someone described squirrels as rats in cute costume which is so true and funny but we are both nuts about them anyway. =)
Walking around the park, we stumble upon a happy family near the pond!
I see a grove of bamboo and tell Kelly to pose like a kungfu master. But he looks more like some hip hop meister.
My powerful crane move!
Feeling zen at the Japanese garden.
Kelly is so enamoured, he wants to get a Japanese garden. There he is, daydreaming.
We leave the park and head for Chinatown and Little Italy. No pictures cos we were starving and just wanted to eat. Haha..
Look what you can do with beer labels! Promote your bar, use the labels to form the bar's name.
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Kelly has to work the weekend so I went to San Jose again. After a bout of cold Spring weather, we finally had a nice warm sunny weekend! Time to hit the beach! Kelly was sick but it's so rare we get a day off his busy schedule. So we go ahead anyway. Monteray Bay, here we come!
We actually drove 3 hours to see one thing. It can be found at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
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The sea otter! This cutie was shaking scallops out of its clam-toy! Their primary diet consists of sea urchins, crabs, clams, mussels, octopus, other marine invertebrates and fishes. Seafood all the time, so good life huh.
And then there was the jellyfish, dolphin fish ... yes, that is a dolphin fish. They belong to the same family. Too bad, it didn't inherit the cuteness.
We saw a balding penguin! Poor thing, it must be freezing its ass off!
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My first baseball game: Colorado Rockies v.s San Francisco Giants. Even though I was in San Francisco, I actually support Colorado Rockies and they won! Tee hee!
Crazy baseball fans!
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My volunteer work with the LA Asian film festival ended early May. I had fun working with these nice peeps! From left to right: Steve, Gena and Jeff.
Contrary to the little I have blogged, April has been a super hectic month of travelling between North and South California.
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Catching the setting sun in San Francisco Bay Area. 
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We drove along Highway 1 which has some scenic views of the Pacific coast. At Big Sur and Pfeiffer Beach, we saw waves taller than man crashing against cliffs. Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera so no pics. Fortunately it was also a very foggy day. As you can see below, no point having a camera.
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And I went to my first rave party!! It's no fun going to a party without all my friends. Somemore I was the door bitch! :p
Too bad I never got to display any bitchiness. Kelly did it all!! ;) Ha no la, he very good customer service. People would ask who is playing tonight, is so-and-so DJ here etc. I have no answers so Kelly has to deal with them. I tell you, that guy was a chiong-ster! he knows the scene.
Me? I just put wrist bands on people who paid. So much for being the door bitch. Guy in white is the organizer.
Hee, we strongly suspect that the party venue doubles as a porn production office during the day. Just look at the kind of rooms they have. Prison cell, sexy bedroom, airline seats, pool table, somemore got Egyptian statues!
Apparently glowsticks are not just for National day. People like to swing them about at parties. I guess smoking pot makes shining moving sticks very hypnotising.
The guys would love it here, I tell you. Look at girls dressed in bras, mini skirts and boots. Kinky siah! (and Kelly told me it would be ok to come dress in tanks and sneakers, I feel damn over-dressed looking at them!)
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Sometime in April, I also visited the famous Stanford University in Silicon Valley. Bill Clinton's daughter was an alumni. Don't you wish our NUS, NTU or SMU look like this?
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And I visited Angie who lives near Oakland. We went to San Francisco for the day!
So shiok hor.. the sealions just lie on the deck and sleep all day. When they wake, just slide to the sea and catch fish.
Of cos must stop at Ghiradelli's for their famous chocolate sundae!
A director arriving in LAX was asked the purpose of his visit. He replied "
I am here to shoot a pilot." and was promptly detained for 5 hours.
Details at:
http://www.cinematical.com/2007/05/29/director-mike-figgis-detained-for-threatening-to-shoot-a-pilot/
Rules of the game: Each player of this game starts off with ten weird things or habits or little known facts about yourself. People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names. No tagbacks hor.
1) I MUST have desserts after every meal.
2) I collect recipes. But I don't cook. Don't ask.
3) I have mild OCD.
4) I like to count the number of letters when I come across a long word. Part of point 3.
5) I love buaya-ing girls.
6) I am a social animal. I am extra hyper when there are people around me but am otherwise super nuah.
7) I once had a bruise bigger than the size of a palm.
8) I can multi-task all the time except when I am typing a sms.
9) My dream is to travel the world and be a photographer or writer.
10) Advertise for my parents: They own a mee siam stall at Hougang Street 21. Bo Ji Cooked Food, 2nd stall from McDonald. Authentic Indian style mee siam. Very goood! I don't have a lot of friends who blog leh so you are the honoured ones. =)
1) Lin
2) Rach
3) Suriani
Passing a bridge at sunset. Hard to believe these beautiful colours are caused by pollution.
Fast and furious.
I feel Wong Kar Wai-esque here.
welcome to the world kiddo! I am glad your parents settled on your name before you arrived. They took a long long time you know. I can't wait to see you soon. Hope you aren't giving your mommy a hard time. Let her get some rest ya? *hugs*
Hmm.. I have to find out if you are my godson. Gosh, you will be my first! *beams*
Source: AsiaOne Wine, Dine & UnwindI am in two minds over our latest foodcourt makeover. Eating and reading are my two fav ways to spend a lazy weekend so the idea of having laksa in bookstore-like surroundings is highly appealing. But laksa is hawker food after all and I don't fancy paying more than $5 for it when I get great tasting ones at Katong for way cheaper. I said $5 because that is standard food court price. Why we pay for aircon just to jostle with a million other sweaty people for awful food, I don't understand. I digress here.
From what I read in the AsiaOne article, a bowl of pei dan chok costs $6.80 at this spanky new foodcourt.. That pei dan chok better come with
LOTS of pei dan for that price. The novelty factor is there. Having nice surroundings for meals is well, nice. But I would rather go to a hawker centre for cheaper and possibly, nicer food or take my wallet to a restaurant where I get a nice ambience, aircon and be served.
Read more about Book Republic at: http://wineanddine.asiaone.com.sg/reviews/hawkers/20070520_001.html
Source: www.emapadvertising.comright now I am envious of my friends with great careers.
Certainly I am happy for them but I too want to be going overseas for work, groaning that I have too much on my hands, wishing I had time to kick back and planning a holiday to get away from work.
Since when has my life been validated by me being a working woman? This is just so wrong and it shouldn't be. But I have no idea how to maximise the time on my hands with a limited budget. Ideas somebady?
I ended up in an ulu part of Koreatown while waiting for Kelly to get off work. On the spur of the moment, I decided to ...
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Get a Cut, Colour and Highlight! 
I met Kelly for lunch earlier in the day and thought I would surprise him with my new look come dinner. But that guy turned the tables on me! He picked me up at the salon with a bouquet of lilies just because. That IS so SWEEEET of him! *a million little hearts all over me now*
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Mother's Day might be over but there is no reason why the celebration should stop. I have always wanted to get a branded bag for my mom. Not that she would recognise any brand names but I think she deserves to be carrying one. If like me, you can't afford one yet, consider this:
The Handbag cake from Neiman Marcus ~ a delicious triple Belgian chocolate mocha cheesecake. Costing USD190 not including shipping, this is one branded handbag/cake. Granted she can't tote it to wedding dinners or kaki gatherings but this is one cute cake your family will remember always. Just don't let her know how much it costs you.
Get it here:
http://tinyurl.com/2ok99s
*Seems we cannot edit posts of videos transplanted from youtube. The video disappears once you click the edit button. An IP safeguard I suppose. Hence, my new post on the previous Ode to Laksa video*I found this ode to Laksa on
http://ieatishootipost.blogspot.com/. Laksa ranks top of the list as my favouritest Singapore food. It is the
ONE food I miss when overseas and the
ONE food I want to devour when I return. Imagine my agony - pictures of shimmering golden soup and silky noodles flash before me with stirring lyrics that echo my desire. *Bawls*
By the way, the lady sung raw meaning she just sang directly into the laptop with no editing! She has a great voice! Ought to consider Singapore Idol!
1) People like to give advice even when it's unsolicited. Like me.
2) Relationships contain an irordinate amount of waiting time. It's worse than your doughnut queue at Raffles Place. Are you patient enough to ride it out?
Source: WikipediaYou ask "Why would I want to buy tumbleweed online? In fact, why would I
even want to buy tumbleweed??" You would if you are a fan of Hollywood Westerns, to use them as props in TV and movie productions, as an alternative Christmas tree or for research. I am not kidding. According to this online site, Nasa buys them to test their Mars tumbleweed rover. The business owner, a woman in Kansas, makes $40,000 annually selling tumbleweed online. Since these plants occurs naturally, she incurs no expenses too. Just a little effort to gather them.
Check out the site:
http://www.prairietumbleweedfarm.com/In fact her tumbleweed has such a following in Japan, there is Japanese translation on the site!
A wildfire raged across Griffin Park yesterday. The fire is more contained now but the firemen are hard at work still. There is a vantage point in my hood where you can see the Griffin observatory and Hollywood sign. I came home last night to a group of spectators from nearby houses and some who had driven here. All joined in to partake of the huge bonfire and ceaseless smoke columns including me. Too bad all I had was the lousy resolution of my cellphone camera.
Source: New York TimesHard to believe, I was here in March and this is how it looks like pre-wildfire.
I had wanted to hike in the Mt Hollywood trail but it's too late now. But isn't this what slash-and-burn agriculture is about? Now all we need are the rains and we can look forward to a green spring next year!
Thanks for checking in. Really really appreciate that. *Big Hug*
That day, a major part of it was PMS talking and problems at home. I am ok now.
and I am posting here because this is my venting ground and I know Kelly won't be reading this.
What are the words that would describe how I feel now?
Bored
Lonely
Heartbroken
Indecisive
Useless
Floater
PMS
I just wish I could teleport myself back home now to my parents and friends. I am going to be calling my parents later, another heartbreaking session. Another session of hardening my heart. What to do? I am torn.
I miss my old life. I miss my life. I miss a life.
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