Audrey's Bday

My Gf Audrey's Bday - The 4th Bday date which i commit to my memory after my own, my bro and sis. Opps, now that i mentioned it, i kinda forgot my sis's Bday date liao. But anyway, i know i will never forget my Gf's Bday date. One thing its easy to remember, the other thing is that i care enough to commit it to memory.

So, her Bday is on the second day after i came back from my Taipei trip. Lousy trip which we encountered Typhoon Saola (see my other post on it). Anyway, I took to great length to prepare for her Bday. I had already thought of making her a Tiramisu cake which i promised eons ago but have not deliver so far.. haha. So even before going off to Taipei, i had researched on the recipe and even made one to try out first. The first attempt was not so successful even with my Dad's help. The cake was too big at 9" by 9" and could not stay in shape cause i think there was too much of the whipped cream added. However, the taste is still good, i guess due to the generous amount of marcopone added. I had the confidence then that the second time i make it, it will be better than this.

On the first night i reached Singapore back from Taipei  on the gruelling 4.5 hrs flight on Tigerairway (i will try not to take budget airline on long haul trip if i can afford it next time), i went immediately right from the airport to buy the required ingredients. I even remembered to buy the cake box to put the cake in (actually, i forgot, i remembered while ordering my dinner at a nearby coffeshop then went back again. Luckily, the shop have not closed yet).

The next morning, i started work on the cake early. It was smoother the second time round. My parents went out for their breakfast and coffee and i was done by the time they came back. This time round, i made a smaller cake at 6" by 6" with the new ware i bought the night before. I thought i looked quite decent by the time i finished. I had wanted to surprise her with the cake that night, but decided to keep it on her actual Bday the next day which will be more significant. It helped also that she changed my plan and did not want to go to Newton straight from work to dinner. So i just left the cake in the fridge and met her for dinner at the new Canton Restaurant at Compass Point.

The next day, on her Bday, i already made plans to bring her to lunch at a famous fish soup restaurant at Chinatown. Too bad i did not take any photo of the fish soup dish. It was an excellent dish and the bowl (i don't know if i could call it a bowl, it was more like a wok) was so big and looked so grand. I should start to take picture of all the dishes before i start eating like my Gf did so that i can also post it on my blog. Anyway, here is she posing with not the dish but a bottle of wine. So cute ar.

Next, we went to Gardens by the Bay. Initially, she complained of the hot weather when we reached there and wanted to leave. I was angry but relented and agreed since its her Bday and did not want her to be upset. But after learning about the two places which i had bought tickets to had air-conditioning, she agreed to go and it was lucky that we went, because the the places - Flower Dome and Cloud Forest were magnificent and beautiful with the myraid species of flowers inside. More importantly, its was cool and comfortable inside.   

Gf complaining hot and did not want to continue



Changed person once itside the Flower Dome. Really a creature of comfort...



Enjoying herself among the flowers

After that, i took her to dinner at the Sheraton Tower Hotel's Dining Room. The dinner was not really that good but that was not the highlight. THE main thing was the ultimate surprise i had installed for her there and that was the tiramisu cake which i had brought in the morning there for the staff to help me keep chilled. The staff even helped me to put the cake on a very nice platter. Here are some photos of it.



Happy Bday! Notice the Star shaped specially made keychain by the side. Specially for my Drey.



Her happy expression made all my effort worthwhile. Hope to see her like that all the time.

Well, that is it for my Gf's Bday. Stay tuned for more exciting surprises i had installed for our Penang - Langkawi - My Bday trip. Happy Bday once again Drey. Hope this will become your happy memory forever.

My Taiwan Trip

I know i should have blog about my Taiwan trip earlier than this since i came back on 5 Aug but i was really too busy and lazy to do it. Busy because after i came back on the 5th, i had to prepare to celebrate my gf Drey's birthday which was on the 7th. It was quite a rush. In fact, the reason why i chose that period to go Taiwan with my family besides the offer in air ticket by TIger, was also because i want to be back on the week of 7th Aug to celebrate Drey's birthday. After her birthday, which i should be posting another day, i was really too lazy to start writing on my blog. But here it is finally after i pushed myself to do it since my hope is to brush up my blogging skills to be able to do some online marketing eventually. I must remind myself to always talk do some background study on the country i want to visit next time especially on the climate and weather around the year. Reason being the Taiwan trip really make me realise the importance of doing so. The 8 days in Taiwan saw me and my family faced with wet weather for 5 of the days because of Typhoon Saola (category 2). 5 people was dead and 15 injured because the typhoon brought torrential rain and strong wind triggering landslides and floods. Our original plan to fly to Kinmen to visit our hometown was also disrupted following the cancellation of flights on Thursday 2 Aug due to the Typhoon making its pass through Taipei en route to Eastern China. Well the typhoon disrupted only one day of our holiday because we still carried our umbrellas and went sight-seeing around Taipei braving the rain and wind. Here are a few photos of us in Taipei.




Picture of my family in front of the Huang Jin Pu Bu in Kee Long



A rare family portrait on top of Kee Long Mountain experiencing very strong wind



Me doing the 3 sec off ground camera trick

        

My brother - even better poseur



Where's my water?

I recommended this app game to my gf Drey today. I first saw this game being played on the MRT by a Malay girl and her bf. she was playing one stage and could not clear. Her bf then helped her with it and she was so happy and full of praise or her bf. I tried to help Drey clear one stage she was stuck at for quite some time but she shouted at me and refused my help. I was so angry that I just got up and went home. On my way, I remembered abt this Malay couple and wondered is it the race, the religion or just the character that explain the stark difference? I guess it's just the character but the race and religion does play a part in constituting the culture and environment with which a person is brought up. Anyway, Drey did call to apologies later. At least she can acknowledge her mistake so I guess that is a start to changing her bad temper personality. On my part, I guess I need to be more tolerant of her temper till it is better but it's not easy... I don't like people with bad temper shouting at me especially. But we do have a long journey together and if we are to finish walking though that journey, we both need to accommodate and work together to improve ourselves. Penning this incident down does make me feel better than to keep my feelings inside me but it's not to remind her of this incident. It's more to make us be more aware and conscious of our bad behaviour and always ready to nip it in its bud to prevent it from happening again.

Back to work

Today is my first day back to work after a long vacation in Taipei. I don't know if its considered a vacation as the 8 days I spent there were nothing short of tiring especially the first couple of days. The reason being I was lead around places by a bogus hotel vendor registered in agoda website. The first day we arrived in Taipei was spent searching for the hotel booked in agoda for my family. Then time was spent searching for vegetarian dinner cause my dad can only take vegetarian fare. After much searching, we spent a bomb at a high class tea restaurant where the food sucks and not filling to the stomach. I finally found one decent vegetarian food stall for my dad.

After that, I set out to find my cheap hostel to check in but only to find that its non existent. I had to take refuge with my parents hotel that night. Although I had a bed to myself, my parents and sis had to share the queen sized bed... The next morning, after calling the hotel owner to demand an explanation, he told me he has another location arranged for me near to Taipet train station. I actually believed him and went there searching by myself. Needless to say, i was duped again. Damn! It was not only a waste of my time which could have been spent bringing my family to sight-seeing in Taipei, it was also draining my energy, spirit and morale. After that, the bastard still had the audacity to call me trying to lie saying he was coming over to show me the place when i had already asked the building managment that there was no room for lease at that particular level.

The only consolation is that after i complained to Agoda about this, they gave me reward points equivalent to about US$90 which i used immediately to book another hotel stay for myself. It turned out that i need to also book another hotel for me and my family due to the cancellation of the flight to Kinmen because of the Typhoon Saola. That is a blog for another day as i am already tired and angry just recalling and writing the incident here. Finally, a word of caution here - Do not be greedy as greed often brings about the downfall of Man. Or as what my gf Drey will say: "Cheap things no good, good things no cheap".

Unsettling Test

Read a article in the chinese wanbao recently which really unsettled me. Actually, its was a test instead of an article. The test is to find out how much a person clings on to his/her past relationship just by doing a simple addition of the birthday. Eg, if your birthday is say 21-08-1980, then you add individual digits of your birthday like this 2+1+8+1+9+8=29. Then add the individual digits of the number again. In this case, its 2+9=11 which you should take sum of the individual digits again 1+1=2 which is the final score. From a 1 to a 10, the level of attachment you place on your past relationship goes from minimal ie a 1 to very attached and will constantly be thinking of the happy times of your past relationship ie a 10. In my case, i scored a 2 which means i will not think much of the relationship once its history. Not to mean that i am not sentimental but to me, i tend to be attached to something or someone once i take a liking to it and i try my best to seize it and not give up on it as much as possible. But once its beyond my means to retain it like a forgone relationship, i might have regrets now and again but will not keep thinking of it.

Being a busybody and paranoid, i tried doing the sums for my Drey. The results was quite unsettling. But of course, i try to dismiss it as a stupid test with no substantial basis. Its just more for entertainment than as a professional test. What do you think?  

My first shot at blogging

I know its too late to start learning about blogging and to try posting my own blog online. But as they say, its never too late to learn new things and knowledge and its better late than never...

My girlfriend Audrey whom i affectionately called Drey started blogging about us i think a couple of years ago but i was not really interested at that time which really pissed her off. On hindsight, i should have paid more attention to her blog which to be really honest, i did try to post comments but was unsuccessful and after a few times, gave up completely. But as i said, i really should have tried harder. Now, i am making up for lost time by starting my own blog. What really spurred me to start to learn to blog was my dream to earn passive income through online marketing. It seems like really a lucrative and yet simple idea. Write online about something which i am interested in, and which people will be also interested in. At the same time, to provide value added information and services to the people who visit my site for solutions to their problems. Of course, the money will only come if they but into the solutions and recommendations that i made on my site to them. Given that i am quite adept at writing and with the genuine quality advice which i can contribute to the masses, i believe i got a pretty good chance to succeed in this biz compared to if i just start a brick & mortar or direct sales biz.

With the internet reaching out to the world, and more and more people in big countries like India and China gaining access to the internet, the potential of online marketing is too big to ignore. Hence, to take the lesson from Adam Khoo, the self-made millionaire by age 26, i figured i had to start to learn to seize the opportunity to earn passive stream of income using the WWW. And the best way to start is through blogging at a free blog site such as this before i advance to setting up my own website.

I will write about things of interest between my Drey and me since the first audience and follower of my blog will most inevitably be my Drey until i am able to reach out to the masses with topics of interest to people. I will also attempt to talk about my personal feelings as i am not good at talking it out. I hope my Drey will start to understand me more through my blog since i don't always share my feelings with her by verbal communication. I will also through blogging learn more about the fascinating world of online blogging and ultimately marketing which is my target. Drey, if you are reading this until here, i hope to have your constant support in this endeavour of mine and its also for our future too that i am doing this.

Love always,
Drian  

My Bali Trip 27 - 30 Aug

My drey accompanied me to Bali in Aug after i finished my business with supporting NDP. It was a nice trip and we took lots of pics mostly of my drey cause she like to be in mei2 in photos and i like taking photos. But need to share these photos with her so i tried to set up this blog. Hope the effect is good and objective can be met.