movies feast (once again, yay!)

falalala, im still very much in CNY mood! and i had an eventful weekend (or so i think!) :)

friday:

just gotten my payslip & feeling decidedly rich (when im obviously not), i made my way to meet hubbi for dinner in town. after a hearty dinner at MOS (anyway, everyone should go and try its beef teriyaki burger! most of you raved about the chicken one but the beef tastes every bit or perhaps more delicious! *yummy*), we went to my fav. shop of the moment - gramophone @ taka!

DVDs can be rented at $3 per piece and loan period can be as long as 6 days if you borrow 4 pieces or more! *wee* better than play & cheaper as well. oh, and more selection too!

given my (short-termed?) interest in old movies now, that place is a godsend. :)

so i did my thing & rented 4 DVDs at one go! (hubbi fainted cos that means he had to sit through all 4 with me.. :P) only $12 bucks! *cheep chirp*

so on fri night itself, we watch the 1st disc -- "Dead man walking"!! i've been trying to catch this show to no avail. finally, i got to see it! i always think that sean penn is a super-underrated actor for that man can really act! he should have gotten an oscar for his role as a sinned man finding redemption but he was up against nicholas cage for "leaving las vegas" during the same year. so, tough luck.

susan sarandon was good as ever but how she nabbed the oscar for her role was a lil'puzzling. anyway, the show is great & i teared (ever again) at the end when he died. why, oh why must he die!? i think i much prefer leads who stay alive at the end of the show.

saturday:

hubbi & i woke up to grab a quick lunch before i made him watch another disc with me. *hiaks* it was da *drums roll*..... "THE SHINING"! yes, the classic by jack nicholson!

it was not as scary as the novel itself but the movie is a masterpiece! stanley kubrick did a very good job in building up the atmosphere. not using cheap scares like today's movies, he used disturbing yet effective scenes to protray the tension between the characters & the isolation of the Overlook Hotel. for eg: the flooding of the hallway of blood/the twins standing at the end of the corridor.

& nicholson is good with his protrayal of one man's descension to madness (or was it possession)? thats the beauty. i found myself holding my breath most of the time!

good show in short.

after which, hubbi & i made our way to orchard to window-shop abit. i got myself a novel *yet another! to date, i've 3 novels un-read, sitting in my study room* with the 40% borders voucher. after which, i left for home to meet up with the gang for dinner & lou hei @ the restaurant near my house while bb left for his MJ session at his friend's house.

Dinner was s0-s0, much to most of our disappointment. and it doesnt come cheap too, @ 32 per pax. bah! they came up to my house for a session of blackjack & we took turn being the bankers. we were a hoot! 8 young adults can be horrifying noisy. dan said he can heard our screaming & laughter from the guest room all the way from my common toilet in the kitchen. oopsie. i pity those who stay above/below me.

we played for 3 straight hours & i managed to win $45 out of the game! *yay* i was on a losing streak TILL i got 2 "A" (ban ban!) when being the banker! lalala. 3 folds from everyone. hehe.hubbi also won ard $40 bucks from his MJ but he treated back dinner so no win/loss for him.

sunday:

guess what we did in the morning? YES, we watched yet another movie! "taxi driver" this time round. in case you guys wondering what is this, its a 70's classic by the wonderful team of Robert Di Niro & Martin Scorsese! its the same good team for "cape fear" in the early 90's! *wee* Robert Di Niro is my fav. actor from the past. haha. what a way to put it when he's still ard. but his movies in the 70-90's really rock!

so far, i caught only 2, being "cape fear" & this, but im totally sold already! taxi driver is about urban alienation. wow, what a forward concept for a 70's show. so di niro is this vietnam war veteran who came back finding that he suffered from insomnia & cant seem to maintain any r/s with anyone. and slowly, he began to perceive a good lot of people as scums on earth. and he put it upon himself to be the saviour for this teenage prostitute (brilliantly played by jodie foster! gawd, you wouldnt believe how young she is but the voice was hers! ha). which leads to some climatic violent showdown at the end.

robert di niro is really really good! i cant wait to catch the othe 2 shows that he teamed up with Scorsese - Ragin Bull & Goodfellas! and there was this classic scene in the show when he talked to himself in the mirror - "you talking to me?" in different tones/stances. so freaking good!

after the good movie, we made our way to hubbi's house at gombak to have nice home-cooked dinner by my mother-in-law & my 6th lou hei! haha. *yummy*. but i lost $10 bucks at blackjack. i could have lost more when my 5 dragon burst when im banker!! can u imagine that??? i got to pay double to everyone! luckily i won back some to minimise my loss.

monday

the "someone special" potted plant from hubbi has finally sprouted up! see how fine it is! hahah.

oops! its 645 already! i got to go home! byeeeeeeeeeeee!

CNY (part 2)

CNY day 2
most of my house visiting kinda ended on day 1 so day 2 was relatively free & easy for hubbi & me. and so we R&R at our house snacking on all kind of rubbish & watching telly the till mid-noon. ha. talk about wasting time.

still, it was a well-rested noon. we managed to get our butt out by 3pm to go my gramps (dad's side) to 拜年. being not too close to that side of my family, it was pretty much unexciting time spent there. bah. we rotted there till 5+ before heading out to town for some window shopping & dinner with hubbi's parents.

hubbi & me waiting for 132 to town

anyway, bus 132 interior was changed perhaps for some Tiger campaign. the interior was like a mini pub. so fun! see below! they even have a bar top. ha.

hubbi accompanied me to window shop at DFS and now im in love with like millions of bags (okie, 2 to be exact). so im quite torn on which to buy or to buy both (?!)? lolz.
i have until mid apr to think it through. hmm.......

we met up with his parents for dinner @ california pizza kitchen. *yummy* after which we went to the al fresco haagen daz outside hilton hotel for some desserts!
ice-cream! but i much prefer ben & jerry.

any activities thereafter was cancelled due to my aching feet. darn new shoes. why must they bite so much! so we went home for more snacking & telly-watching!
anyway, i bought 4 new pairs of shoes for this CNY. so i wore a new pair for every single day from 初夕till 初四! hiaks.

CNY day 3
we made our way to my mum's place for some joyous gathering with my relatives & we were "assigned" the role of banker for blackjack the moment we stepped into the house. lolz. and we were at it from 4+ till 6+.

we actually lost nearly $80 bucks but managed to fight back till our nett losses were only $20+. oh well, in the spirit of merry-making.

i love my relatives. they are v mad + fun just like me. heheh.

now im back at work, feeling blue. grr... shall go for early lunch soon. later!

CNY (part 1)

Finally, the long awaited CNY is here! i've to admit that the festive mood is not as upbeat as before, but im not going to let it get to me!
i got to:
-have a good 4 days break from work (sad to say that this is the 1st thing that come to mind for this CNY)
-get to meet up with my big extended family for some joyous blackjack session (hiaks)
-get to distribute ang pows for the 1st time with hubbi (kinda excited)
-last of all, got the perfect excuse to shop to my heart's content for the occasion!

CNY eve
CNY eve is not all fluff & fun. hubbi and i got to do our last leg of spring cleaning - the living & dining room! *eeks* so we spent the good whole morning and noon doing just that. its amazing how much dust can be collected at all kinds of obscure areas. bah!

then i was hit with another bleh news after that. reunion dinner will no longer be held at my gramps place. *meg hair* seems like everyone decided to have at their own place. so i didnt get to see my cousins,uncles & aunties alike.

still, it aint bad to have a quiet reunion dinner at my mum's place with just her, dad, bro & us. we left for home at around 9+ & the night was spent watching the tube. heh.

me all ready for my reunion dinner! i really should stop the victory sign. but i've no idea where to place my hands when taking such pixs!

CNY Day 1
busy busy day ahead for us yesterday! but i love the madness - isnt that whats CNY is all about? :)

we (had to) wake up bright & early at the unearthly time of 930am. we were supposed to reach hubbi's place by 10am but it was already 11am when we made it.

hubbi & me ready to move out! hubbi's nice springfield top is from me! (okie, using my coy's vochers lah..)

i like my get-up for yesterday. a simple top from FOX & my new vest (!) matched with checked shorts from topshop. very causal chic (or so i thought, heh).

after lunchie @ his place (which is at gombak by the way), we made our way to his gramps at clementi. we had another round of light lunch over there and then it was time to make my way to my gramps (where all the action is!). we managed to reach there by 230 as promised to my mum!

before long, i was playing cards with the kids (for fun, no money involved lah!).

me caught in action. :)

then hubbi got sick sitting ard just watching us play so he became the banker for blackjack & suddenly everyone is playing blackjack ha. we took turns with my aunties/uncles to be banker & everyone was happy for the next 2-3 hours. haha. in the end we still managed to win a small neat profit of $16. not too bad huh.


can see moi? haha i have time to pose cos i got blackjack! see, my cousin whos on my left and also the banker cannot believe he had to pay me (again!). *lolz*

we've dinner there before heading town to watch "ghost rider". the show aint as bad as i thought but not exactly fantastic too.

in short, it was a busy & fun filled day for me!

backlog of events in ecookie's world

anniversay & v-day

been a pretty busy week for me! having both our anniversary & v-day in the same week is no mean feat. heh. so 12th feb on monday is our 5th year anniversary! gawd, we've been together for 5 freaking years?! *sweat*

it was usually me who pester for celebration, be it mini or not. so after the irritating fight last sun, i was naturally in a generally pissed mood (as hubbi put it: "why you always angry?") but not without reason this time.

so he arranged for us to meet at the cathay for dinner after work. he brought us back to the same restaurant we've been to earlier on. the food aint bad & they serve some really nice onion soup! anyway the dinner almost started on a wrong note as i was kinda upset over everything. luckily, my mood and the night got better as we proceeded. :)

in the end, hubbi got me a card & a cutie little pot with a seed (which has "someone special" on it). hence, supposedly if i water it everyday, the seed will grow roots & sprout out from the soil saying "someone special"! lolz. i just got him a mini card (no kidding, its really those mini card which you are supposed to tag on pressie, only this time round there is no present for him).
he seemed shock at the absence of pressie from me for im always the one who put effort to make card/buy pressie/think of prog etc. NO MORE! no more taking me for granted. hiaks.

and oh, i still cant remember the restaurant name for the life of mine. if you are interested, just pop by the cathay at the 3rd/4th level. its decor is real nice- touches of velvet red/plastic chair/black strings curtains etc. okie, you got the drift.

yummy onion soup!


me with my boring pasta.

and then its v-day on wed! not too sure if its really an occasion worth celebrating for (for its over-commercialism & exorbitant price tags attached), we agree to meet up at vivo for a simple dinner. n a simple dinner it was. we had grilled chicken & ribs (not unlike those from Kenny rogers). conversation topics gravitated more towards work angst. ha, not exactly a v romantic topic huh?

hubbi got me a novel -"the historian", which i wanted to read for a long time. was torn between this & "the traveller's wife" then but decided to give the latter a try instead. "the traveller's wife" is sorta disappointing so let's hope this will be good!

was thinking when will be a good occasion to read the book since im always so busy nowadays will all sorta rubbish. so hubbi & i were discussing if we can make a short weekend trip to KL in Mar. it will just be a really short 2D1N thingy since he cant take leave so soon. we will take the slowpok overnight train way since its more of the train ride that i miss than KL itself. lolz. think we will just to enjoy our overnight train to arrive at KL freah & bright at 7am (!) so that we can just spend a lazy day shopping n eating before making our way back to s'pore the next noon. ha. sounds mad. but i want to get out of SG soon!

and yah, i DIDNT get hubbi anything (again) except for a mini card. think hes still in denial when i told him over the phone in the noon that i wont be getting him any present. maybe he thought i will ambush him with a large bouquet of flowers when we met up at vivo? hiaks.
when he saw my incredily small coach bag when we met up, he sulked and asked,"you really never buy anything for me ah?". haha.

okie lah, will get you a belated anniversary cum v-day gift soon. :)

still, we had a nice dessert break @ ben&jerry after the dinner & take a slow leisure walk outside the shops. nice conversation & cool breeze are good! :))

i didnt know vivo has this outside. kinda remind me of x'mas which wAs over too sooN!

spring cleaning
i now understand my mum's pain come every CNY spring cleaning. 真不是人做的!
on top of normal housekeeping chores last sunday, hubbi & i get our big butts busy with spring cleaning both the study & guest room. we wiped windows/clear out rubbish etc. very hard work!! i remebered waking up with aching bones in monday morning.

then yesternight was our bedroom turn. the bed is not so bad but the bedroom toilet kills!!!!!!! very dirty.. think all the toothpaste/my skincare/hair products/cosmetics leave ugly smelly residues here n there. bleh. *puke* but its a nice feeling to see my master bedroom & toilet sparkling (almost) clean after yesterday's nearly 2hrs work!

*tada* our new bedsheets from the previous isetan private sale ha. match our purple wall hor?
now left with living room & kitchen. i dread to think of tonight! *brr*

im so sick of isetan!

shopping (what's new?)
im sick of isetan wisma/scotts! i've been there last thursday, sat & sun!
all in the name of finding suitable clothing for the upcoming CNY. but alas! there is only so many clothes i can get from there. now im left with $150 voucher and nothing more to buy from there. i guess i can only save them up for post-CNY shopping.
i really hope the lineup of clothes will change by then!

still, i managed to get 2 more tops from isetan last week. hehe. 1 shorts from topshop. (silly me forgot that there is a topshop at isetan scotts, so i paid for this. bleh)
and 1 necklace from a pushcart at raffles city.
hubbi is appalled by all these purchases. he kept on screaming: "stop buying!" (to my deaf ears anyway).

fun/fight
i've an awesome friday night (apart from the fact that i've a fearsome row with ah long, but i will come to that later). met up with the usual gang, except for dan, grace & jx who cant make it, for gb's pre-bday celebration. as he said, it feels more like a gathering.
had tons of fun chatting, even though our conversation topics changed at an alarming speed. :)
anyway, everyone should go menotti after 10 to enjoy their desserts which are slashed by 50%! wow wee! we had like 5-6 cakes between us but it costed us less than 4 bucks per pax! *sweet* we've yet another mini 掏心掏肺 session. hiaks. we were all enlightened on a fact that night: 家家真的都有一本难念的经.

went home and proceeded to have a fight with ah long. bleh. lets just say we've different issues with each other and there was a meltdown on that night. glad to say that it's resolved now and i really hope we dun argue into the wee hours again! i feel so sleepy now, given my sleeping pattern is all screwed up. arg!

old movies
happened to chance upon this great dvd/cd shop with hubbi at taka on sat. it was opp the hello shop at the basement. it housed an alarming wide collection of movies & there's a rental corner as well. we spent a good hour just browsing the dvd section (most of you should know by now how much i adore movies). and the staff there were so friendly, keen to assist. i bet they have a good/vast knowledge of most titles!

anyway, was kinda interested in old movies recently. not super old like those gone with the wind/breakfast at tiffany/the ten commandments etc. but recent old mainly those 80's titles.
i want to catch those movies that made old veterans like robert di niro/al pacino/dustin hoffman etc so famous.
wanted to catch "the godfather" trilogy at one go this weekend but as usual, hubbi is the 老鼠屎. he thinks its too long & "the shining" is too scary for him. bah!

in the end, i got "cape fear" which is one of de niro's best works. max cady is really one of top ten villians in reel history! i want to catch "raging bull" by him as well. its a pity i cant find "scarface" for i heard its a stellar performance by al pacino. hmm. anyone loves a good old movie like me?

arrival of DA vouchers

FINALLY!

the long-awaited vouchers reached my hands at last yesterday. :)
and guess what i did? rushed to isetan to shop my heart out immediately after work!
all ALONE. lolz. sounded desperate huh? but to some like me, you will understand the joy of shopping alone at times.

anyway, its not really shopping, shopping per se. but more like picking up items that i've "eyed" like 2-3 weeks ago! hiaks.

so i utilised HALF of my vouchers for-
meself: From Topshop-1 tops, 2 undies & a pair of earrings. From MNG-1 top. From Foxtrot-yet another pair of shoes (!) *wee*
hubbi: 1 top from springfield, 2 pairs of socks, 1 towel (ha!)
home: 2 hand towels

cant wait to utilise the other half of the vouchers this weekend.
yes, 我是虚荣女子!:)

the husband is a spendthrift!

or maybe not. you be the judge.

woke up bright & shiny on saturday morning. okay, not really. woke up to lunch brought back by hubbi again. :P after a hearty lunch, it was time to accompany hubbi to buy one of his most expensive & sought after purchase for the longest time.
as some of you would have known by now, hubbi is a watch fanatic since dont know when. and he is finally ready to take the plunge now with this Rolex GMT master II!


i can never understand why anyone would want to buy a Rolex & spend so much on a singular piece of accessory. but by now, i would have known, a watch is not merely a piece of accessory to him, but something larger than life. (just like LV is to me, heh).

have tried dissuading him previously through an array of ways. "your savings will plunge leh" doesnt appeal to the inner thrifty him. "buy a cheaper watch then you can save up faster for your next watch lah" doesnt appeal to the greedy him. "dont buy rolex lah, so old" cant find its way to the inner youthful him. "why dote on yourself only, buy something for me also lah" OBVIOUSLY fell on his deaf ears.

but i was glad that he bought it for he seemed genuinely happy & he had this gleeful (irritating) grin plastered on his face. still, i slowly start to appreciate the watch. the design DOES grow on you over time & its functions (shant bother to explain here) are really cool.

but again, do we really need to spend so much on a watch? so, i guess he's a spendthrift afterall. being broke and seeing him do retail therapy is not a good feeling. so i gotten him to get me a top from FOX! hehe. for those who have amex card, pls drop by FOX for 15% storewide (from now till end of mth i think).

so for now, the rolex is the centre of affection. flanked by his & my omega. *bleh*


tada! tried wearing opaque tights (from topshop) which seem to be the latest craze nowadays. sorry, if the photo below show little of it. its supposed to be this way cos my legs kinda look like lotus roots with it. lolz. and it DOESNT help that its texture is a little shiny.

only grace got to see it (apart from the husband) & is still alive after that. so grace: look like lotus roots hor? it may be some time before i dare to don it again. i need to slim down my legs!!

kinda into nail polish nowadays. been brushing on & wiping off nail color like nobody's business! tried the new color from the skin food (did i get the name wrong?) this sat night. the initial end result look really nice huh? just like what u got from a manicure. im a genius!

but alas, i assumed its dried too soon and the next day, my nails have some scratches on it. bleh.
guess i will re-do end of the week if i'm in the mood. :P

anyway, didnt get to see my fav. peanut butter baby this sunday. but still get to see ah long's the other nephew. he is very very cute too. look at those eyes! *wowwee*

and lastly, the other baby of mine! mimicking the poster and posing for me! hiaks.

happiness is just a matter of mindset

yes, i sincerely believe happiness is really just a matter of mindset.
if you are set and firm on making yourself happy, its really well within your ability.
but practice is normally harder than theory, no?

many a times, i really thought that i made it! yes, at times i was able to withdraw myself from a particular distasteful/unsatisfying/plain unhappy situation & convince myself life is still full of color & vibrance.
and i move on, happily.
but there were also times where i feel like crawling home & watching tv alone feeling sad/unwanted/lonely etc. which i did, in the end.
so, happiness is self-attained or bestowed by others? same goes for sadness.

i want to & still believe that happiness is a matter of my mindset.
so i decide today shall be a happy day for me! :)
it doesnt come easy but i can do it!

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watched "the illusionist" yesterday finally with hubbi. hubbi didnt exactly find the show nice (but he seldom find any film nice, anyway).
to his credit, the show's plot is not particularly engaging nor is there any meaningful message behind the show.

BUT (there's always a but, huh?), the actors' acting is really the saving grace for the show.
edward norton: my fav fav fav actor in hollywood (together with johnny depp)!
he was good like every other time but i really miss him taking on more challenging roles like those in "american history x", "fight club" & my fav. of all time "primal fear"!
he's like everything he acted, no kidding here! so talented! and we all love talented men, dont we? (",)

paul giamatti: he surprisingly good here. better than norton, perhaps. discovered him since "sideways" and he never disappoint in all the shows i ever caught him in (which aint alot, by the way). just 3 including the above & "cinderalla man". lolz.

falala. what will my next movie be? dang, i feel like a no-lifer escapist who prefer the reel world to the real.

hubbi first day at work!

its hubbi first day at his new job today! think he's getting some jitters this morning over change of working environment.
but as i told him, we should embrace change while we still can. surely, change is always for the better. or rather, we will only change for the better?
not very sure what im trying to say here. but i guess once we made the decision for something, we should have faith in it & hope for the better since WE are the one who made the choices, no?

lolz. come to think of it, this is the start of my 11th mth in my company! i never know i can survive this far. for the benefit of those who aint too sure on my work status, here's the update:
ever since before my wedding (around Aug?), working life has slowly become more bearable as contact with my boss minimized.
still as overbearing but not so much in-your-face now.
so, here i am. another 2 more months to my one-year mark! *yippeee* been thinking alot recently over if i should stay one more year here. for the resume sake & also for the hefty bonus of cos. but the culture here is really not my cup of tea.

hubbi encouraged me to stay on if possible since this is really a stable company with relatively good benefits to boot. but not at the expense of my happiness of cos (job satisfaction is not the criteria here). i just want to be able to go home on the dot without my bosses unhappy with this. is it so hard to achieve? bleh.

arg! shan't think too much till this apr before i evaluate my choices. meantime, just cruise along & count down to CHINESE NEW YEAR! *yay*