2009 | Gabriel's Musings

Archive for » 2009 «

The last day of 2009

31 Dec 2009 by gabriel

I can’t believe it’s the last day of 2009… How fast time flies this year around… And since it’s the last day of the year, I shall make it a habit to reminisce what I’ve done/achieved over the past one year. Well, I did that for 2008 and I think it’s quite good.. Good summary for my own pleasure reading next time.. Did a lot of travelling in the period between end-of-examination and starting-work

  1. Completed my Electrical & Electronics Engineering Degree in NTU with a 2nd Class Upper Honours
  2. Went to Alor Setar and Langkawi for the first time
  3. Went to Phuket for the first time with my family
  4. Went to Jakarta and Bandung for the first time with family
  5. Went backpacking in 2 countries for 18 days – Cambodia & Vietnam (which I still have not blogged about yet and lots of experience gained there)
  6. Started work in SingTel in the Mobile VAS Planning Department (with many havoc days)
  7. Celebrated my 2-year anniversary with my darling girlfriend
  8. Shifted to a new ‘base’ in Hougang, Singapore
  9. Bought my very own desktop with my own money
  10. Built an Ipoh-community right here in Singapore with many get-together and gatherings and crazy fun times

 

The list is not as extensive as the previous year but can’t really think what else is there. Cause if to go into the details, have to really crack my brain and list them all out. Anyway, even in the Ipoh house, there’s so many changes… There’s a new bed-room, new 42” LCD TV, new hi-fi…. A lot of new things.

On the work-related wise, I’ve been immersed with work ever since I’ve started work and hope that 2010 will be a better year after getting more used to the environment and surroundings. Will probably make some new year resolution for me to meet later on…

Category: New Year, emo  Tags:  Leave a Comment

Making Pineapple Tarts

31 Dec 2009 by gabriel

My mum makes the most delicious pineapple tarts… I’ve tried that first batch in KL on Xmas Eve and I’m yearning for more… Upon request, she decided to make another batch, but this time, she has help from many little helpers…

helpers

Grace and Annie helped by squeezing out the batter from the shaper,

pastry

My mom have already prepared the pineapple stuffing. They look like worms

pineapple-filling

Yin Sin rolled the pineapple fillings onto the pastry,

 pineapple-tart-filling

 

And arrange them nicely before putting them into the oven…

pre-baked-pineapple-tarts

And finally, the final product!

IMG_0662

 

r

Category: food, holidays, house  Tags: , ,  Leave a Comment

Post-Christmas Activity

30 Dec 2009 by gabriel

After spending Christmas in KL, the family initially wanted to have a getaway in Port Dickson or Genting, but we couldn’t book any rooms at those places.. Hence, we headed to the best location in Malaysia – Ipoh! We just hang out, chill out and eat lots of Ipoh food. I begin eating a lot again and now that I’m back in Singapore again, I’m constantly feeling hungry cause I kept eating when I was in Ipoh.

I didn’t meet any of my friends when I was back in Ipoh. Either they are not around or I didn’t really take the initiative to look for people. But it didn’t matter as all of my family members were around, and I meant all. Even my eldest sister and her kids came down. They have all grown up. My my…

Even annie’s and ashley’s dog, Maxie, is here… Very cute dog.. Only 4 months old and already likes to hump on people’s legs.

maxie

 

The house was very noisy with so many kids around… It probably is music to my parents’ ears as it’s not everyday you get to gather everyone in one place at the same time. I too enjoyed myself being at home, lazing on my bed… To be driving around Ipoh town, eating Ipoh food.. Ahh… Can’t wait for CNY…. nyek nyek

Category: family  Tags: , ,  Leave a Comment

Christmas 2009 in KL

30 Dec 2009 by gabriel

  This year’s Christmas is a bit special as it was not celebrated in Ipoh, but in Rosemary’s house in KL. Every year after her marriage, she would be spending Christmas in SG as her husband’s father is there. But this year, she’s in labour and she insisted in hosting Christmas at her place.

I reached KL on Christmas Eve after almost being late for my flight… I reached in the evening and at that time, everyone is already in Rosemary’s place. We went out for church and then to a seafood dinner nearby. Yin Sin came to my sister’s place shortly after I went to church and joined us for dinner. Of course, the Christmas celebration tradition begins with a glass of wine and my mother’s delicious fruit cake when the clock almost strikes midnight.

wine-fruitcake

Rosemary and Grace prepared most of the food. As I stayed at my 2nd sister’s place, we helped by picking up the turkey from the store. As you can see, there are a variety of food that my sister prepared… Yummy-licious!

 xmas-food 

Okay, then my family camwhored a bit there.

aliceannie-james

With one pair of sunglasses, it looks different on different faces

 grace mum

Even my mum looks hip!

children

Okay… back to the Christmas… There are so many presents this year! Maybe because there isn’t space under the tree and everything have to be scattered around.

presents-xmas-tree 

There’s one stash near the Christmas tree. But there isn’t enough space there, so there’s another stash of presents behind the door.

presents-door

It’s all in plastic bags cause it’s all from all over – SG, Indonesia, UK, Ipoh, Australia…

We opened the presents earlier this year as there was no point waiting for it to be opened at night. We opened it in the afternoon!

open-presents

Again, Yin Sin joined us this year with lots of presents in her hands… She bought individual presents for almost everyone too.

yinsin-presents

And the kids have extra ornaments to be worn this year…

marielle rosemary

 

kids-presents

Emphasis is more on the kids this year as most of the presents there belongs to Marielle. Then the themes for this year are err..

Snake skin products from my brothers to almost everyone,

purse1purse2

 purse3

Thermos Flask that I bought for Yin Sin that everybody laughed at…. hahah
I bought her a handbag already but was too big to be wrapped and bought a thermos instead. It’s damn useful okay…

Some lingerie…

panties

A bicycle…

marielle-bicycle

Makeup Kits

ashley-makeup-kit

Okay, I didn’t take a lot of pictures this year.. Too crammed up with kids running around and blocking my line of sight… and the lighting was very bad.

Nevertheless, everyone was happy and most importantly, time spent with the family. The next day, we headed back to Ipoh to just chill out and eat Ipoh food!

Category: christmas, family  Tags: , , ,  2 Comments

Christmas Celebration & Ian’s Birthday @ Hougang

20 Dec 2009 by gabriel

My first actual Christmas celebration in Singapore, celebrated with Ipoh Mali peeps. Have brought over the Ipoh give-exchange tradition over here, where we bought presents for each other. You can see the collection of presents under the Christmas Tree below.

presents-under-tree

At the same time, Ian’s birthday falls on the 27th December and we celebrated his birthday together in this joyous occasion. Melanie (Ian’s gf) was the main organizer where she prepared and bought most of the things. We had turkey, spaghetti, roast pork and lots of booze! haha

xmas-food

While waiting for the complete arrival of guests, we had some nice group pictures…

 xmas-girls

xmas-guys

 

Some, were anxious to look for their presents.

von-pressie jv-pressie

After our nice and fulfilling meal, we just talked and chilled out.. The atmosphere was soaked in christmas songs but the TV had football matches in it. Liverpool, Man U  and Arsenal matches, back to back.. hahah.

There were drinking sessions…

drinking-girls

Partying & singing sessions…

IMG_0313-1

And of course, since it’s Ian’s Birthday Celebration too, we had a birthday session for him too!

 

mel-ian-bday

We made the two of them did some stunts which I won’t be revealing here. But those who knows, well.. you know.

Here’s to Ian with the ladies.

ian-girls

Anyway, the ‘best’ part is up next – the opening of presents!

There were two parts to the give exchange. First part is where each of us buy a present approx $10 and we exchange them via a ‘musical chair’ concept.

exchange-presents

We passed the presents around until the music stops playing and get the keep the present in front of us. The present I’ve gotten was from Chin Zwen where she bought a Kitty Vacuum Cleaner.

gab-pressie 

The second part is where we bought individual gifts for each other. Residents of the house bought a present each for each other and some are actually enjoying the gift of giving…

von-mel-pressie

And shouting…

cl-shout

Then, there are gifts from the house… They bought lots of food supplies..

food-supply

 

I’ve received quite a bit from my friends – from post it notes to slippers to mattress protectors.opened-presents

A very fun and Christmas-ey night. With the usual Ipoh-Gang..

ipoh-gang

With an interesting ‘crazy’ picture…

 

crazy-group-pic

But there’s missing Yin Sin in there.. She went back home to spend some time with her family…

Nevertheless, next thing to look forward to – Christmas Celebration with my family!

Category: birthdays, christmas, ipoh gang  Tags: , , , , ,  Leave a Comment
Page 1 of 23123451020...Last »
SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline