I found my perfect laptop bag - for now. Since I got my macbook early last year, I have been searching high & low for the perfect laptop bag that could fulfill all my many needs in function & style. Since big tote bags were so the rage last year, I was very happy as I can just stash my lappie in one of my many huge bag including all my other basic everyday necessities, but I discovered that aching back, neck & shoulders are not a very good thing for me - it hurts a hell lot & the red marks were a proof of the price I have to pay. SO I thought a bag pack would be a good solution, & I got myself a nice samsonite black laptop bag. It looked cute & nice, simple too. And basic black would match perfectly with everything that I own. After putting my macbook in it, I found out that I could not put the rest of my things without having the bag look like the Hunchback of Notredame with ugly bulges protruding everywhere.

So I searched - again - for a separate tote bag. But since I always ended up stopping by somewhere, somehow after work, carrying 2 bags I realised is not very convenient. Moreover the tote bag I had were in brown & black so it kind of limit the clothes I can wear to match it with.

Over the net, I found a carry-all tote bag specially for laptops from a local designer,Charis Asher, which does not cost a bomb. As it was in dark brown, it was perfect I thought & I can put all my other stuff in it too without having to carry a separate small bag for my basic necessities. But you see, I was so taken in by the bag style & colour that I almost forgot that putting EVERYTHING in one bag in ONE shoulder is not something my body can endure for long. susah right this woman, how liddat. Up til this point I have about 4 laptop bags I can use & match with what I wear everyday :) But this ahjumma is still not settled - yet.

I thought I was happy & satisfied. Then I saw the Eastpak bag. I have always been a fan of Eastpak haversacks especially those that comes in print. And there is a new line of printed Eastpak meant for laptops. I did my own little research & read that it does not feel heavy at all when carried on your shoulders. But I have to get one with a nice print, also the colours of the print must somehow be able to match with most of the stuff that my wardrobe already has. SO one fine evening, the dear husband wanted to end the wife's 'misery' & finally 'end' her search after hearing her whining about the lack of the perfect laptop bag like an old broken recorder.

We headed to Queensway, the trove of bagpack haven. Without looking too enthusiastic, I did also considered Nike Laptop bags (too huge & the colours not very appealing I thought) just so I don't regret purchasing yet another not-so-right carrier. But in the end, I settled for a nice colourful printed Eastpak haversack that I thought would go perfectly well with my casual combo that I wear to school everyday (its blue, red, green purple printed). It doesn't hurt my shoulders or back, it doesn't feel heavy & it had more than enough space & pockets to feel my many basic necessary everyday things. I am happy bunny. Perfect. For now...

Thanks to Wikipedia, I discovered that Takuya Kimura & I share the same birthday & blood type. & whadayya know, he got 2 kids too! but both girls. This one I can call my oppa as he was born a year before me :) oh, & his actress wife,Kudo Shizuka, is 2 years older than him.

I am so gonna finish watching 'Love Generation' in 2 days tops! Gosh, I feel like a freaking addicted teenager once again, right until I hear my kids calling out my name & wake me up to reality ;p

Over the weekend, my husband did the unthinkable, a feat that not even I have yet to achieve so far-he completed the whole series of 'Yu-Hee The witch' in TWO days!! which means he watched 8 episodes per night. We rented it last Friday, the original plan as we usually did was to watch 3 to 4 eps per night therefore needing only about 4 days to complete a drama series(if its a 16 episode drama, or else 6 days tops if its a 24 episode drama). I started watching 2 eps on Friday night and after I fell asleep, my oppa couldn't wait & decided to watch the other episodes while I was asleep! which cetainly wasnt in our original deal at all...

So the next morning, I have to do the 'catching-up' time just so we can watch the rest of the episodes together. I completed up to ep 8 on Saturday, in between other plans like birthday parties to attend & hosting a soccer dinner for his soccer boys-again, don't ask how I managed. After a long & tiring day on Saturday, I woke up Sunday morning with the news that my newly-minted K-drama fan already completed watching the whole series :p So I ended up completing watching Yu Hee & Mu-ryong find their destined love by myself.

I would not say its a highly recommended drama - its watchable to say the least. The fashion & style of Yu Hee (after the make-over) is one of the high points of the drama. Another drama that I give cookie points for its fashion & style is 'Snow Queen' :).

The lead actor, Jae Hee is not too bad(cannot beat Ji Hoon, Gong Yoo or Jun Ki of course), but I cannot get pass his permed hair, no matter how charming he is - guys & permed hair-a definite no-no. Only towards the end, when the perm kind of eased a bit & he got a shorter cut, can I really feel for his character. The ending is also too abrupt for me. Dennis Oh, did not do much for me in this drama, although his Korean is plausible, I still think Daniel Henney wins this round in the battle of the Korean-ang-moh-mix actor debacle.

Right after 'Yu Hee', I decided to give J-Drama a go & started watching 'Long Vacation' loaned by my cousin, which have been sitting on the shelves, 'waiting in line' to be watched after I completed one of the many Korean Drama series. Its hard not to compare to Korean dramas, but I think its a good choice as the leads & supporting casts are a boon to watch. I prefer the supporting actor,Takenouchi Yutaka, whom I feel has a strong resemblance to Takeshi Kanishiro & in some strange way in that drama, he looked a bit like Farid Kamil, the Malaysian actor. Apparently this drama was so good that it swiped almost all awards from Best Drama to best actor,actress,supporting roles even best screenwriter in the 9th Television Drama Academy Awards in Japan. But of course since it was a 1996 drama, I can safely say that the standards of Japanese drama series of recent years is much much better in comparison. So I do look forward to watching more J-dramas now rather than limiting myself to just Korean ones.

On the social note, I attended yet another birthday party of a girlfriend's son over at National Service Resort at Changi Coast Walk - I know its my first time ever knowing of the resort too. Apart from the familiar faces, I was also reunited with a former colleague who coincidentally is her cousin -talk about 6 degrees of separation. Although we worked together for a mere 2 years,about 6 years ago, we did share many funny & special memories especially our not so pleasant experience with that former employer. So it was really good to see her, still funny as ever & knowing that there will be more opportunities for us to meet again in the near future. To talk & laugh again with her, its hard to believe that it has already been 6 years since we met & I felt so natural talking to her again, its like we picked up right where we left us with no sense of awkwardness whatsoever.

On a much better note, Jo Ji Hoon is set to act in another movie "Kitchen" which is an adaptation from a Japanese novel by the same name. After 2 years,he will be re-united with his lead actress in The Devil, Shin Min Ah. The movie is in production right now & is slated to be released in 2009. I am still waiting for the release of "Antique Bakery" which was supposed to be out in the summer of 2008-seeing that its almost autumn & winter, I guess the release date have been delayed. Oh well, I suppose good things will come for those who wait....

One of the Prince in "Coffee Prince", model turned actor, Lee Eon, died on a motorcycle accident early today.

Lee Eon, 27, who was born by the name of Park Sang-Min was on his way home following the wrap party for KBS’s 'Strongest Chil Woo' early on the morning of August 21. The 27 year old crashed into the guard rail of the elevated roadway in Hanam-dong. He is said to have died on impact.

The news shocked a lot of people: Friends, Family, Fans, Netizens, including me. Just the night before, he was just seen onscreen in Chil Woo’s finale episode, and the sudden news is, to say the least, startling. Lee Eon’s parents rushed down to Seoul from Busan after knowing the unfateful news. Lee Eon was the only child in the family. I can only imagine & empathize how devastated they must feel on losing their one & only precious son.

Lee Eon had got his start in modeling but then got a part on the very famous hit “Coffee Prince” playing the goofy but likeable Min Yeob, the one who liked Go Eun Chan’s (Yoon Eun Hye) sister. He had also acted “When spring comes” (2007), “Who are You?” (2008), and his last one, “Strongest Chil Woo”(2008) with Eric Mun.

Watching re-runs of Coffee Prince from now on will definitely take a different turn & emotion now...

it was a busy weekend for me again. a weekend filled with meet-ups with friends & family. my weekend started with an early morning meet-up with my saint homy girls as I paid another visit to see Faz & Dani, this time round together with Rima, Salawati & Haliza who couldnt't quite make it the first time I went over. an unplanned outing saw us doing a little window shopping & having lunch at vivo together with the weekend crowd.

After a quick rest, I then headed to the East with the kids where dear Yan celebrated her Prince Darwish's first birthday. with saturday leaving me happy & tired-out, an early saturday night prepared me for yet another event the next day.it was the wedding of the husband's cousin. once again I was reunited with aunties & cousin's in-law in the form of mamis & mamus. this time round it was much more relaxing as we did not do much of a helping-rewang bit. we get to enjoy live hindi music all afternoon & the day ended perfectly with a little bhangra do enjoyed by all.

it was the first time I've seen my husband's family having fun & literally 'letting their hair down'. I can also feel a sense of camaraderie & family closeness & felt ties that were 'loosen' were definitely 'sealed' & mended. & since there was not much 'working' to do I get to prance rather comfortably in my heels & lace baju all day long. I think I echoed everybody's sentiments when Auntie Faridah said that 'it was really nice seeing you again & I had so much fun today, I hope u did too' when I bid her farewell. yes, fun. I really did. the husband too, even though it was followed by an achy body after all the little banghra prancing that he did...

I am not a big fan of Kimchi, I am still not used to the acquired taste of the spice & sourness of it. I am a big fan of sweet, sour & spicy food, but somehow I think I need a little more time to make kimchi one of my favoured dish. BUT I've found a great taste of Kimchi in Myojo. Highly recommended by my girlfriend,Shir - who unfortunately do not share my over-the-top affection of K-drama, just K-food. The Kimchi flavoured noodle taste like a cross between Tom Yam & curry, just the right amount of spice & not too bland too. Its good. jal-mug-ut-sum-ni-da 잘먹었습니다.

Continuing my obsession with K-drama, I have successfully made the husband watch his second k-drama. Initially he wanted to watch one with Sung Yu Ri after becoming a fan of her in "Snow Queen" but I told him that the other drama she was in, "One Fine Day" was not a big fav of mine. I mean I bought the DVD just because of Gong Yoo, but the drama is not one of those watchable ones & I do not recommend it to others unless you are a big fan of Gong Yoo. Even if you are, GY's character & image in that drama is not too much to my liking either,(salah hairstyle & fashion for Gong Yoo I feel)- only the second half of the series when he cut his hair short & look more presentable do I find it more bearable to watch ;p So I recommended "My Lovely Samsoon" as the lead actor is one he is familiar with, Hyun Bin, naturally 'acquainted' after liking him playing a maths genius & boxer in the "Snow Queen". With about a quarter of the series left to go, I once again find myself looking for the next drama to watch with him. Perhaps I can convince him to watch 'Coffee Prince', and this would be for the umpteenth time for me & I certainly dont mind another 17 episodes of Gong Yoo-shi..

In between the drama series, school, kids & my freelance design work, I manage to squeeze in time to catch a few K-movies too.(Dont ask me how I manage to, but I somehow did with some sleep-sacrifices along the way of course). I find watching K-movies a breeze compared to drama series as they do not go beyond 2 hours and they sure don't make you lose sleep making you want to watch one episode after another just so you can know the ending quickly. After watching him in Samsoon I caught Daniel Henney in "Seducing Mr Perfect". The movie is not one I would rave too much about as its just about Daniel, the eye-candy. The heroine,Uhm Jung-hwa, is just ok too, the same girl in "Get Karl" - don't really do it for me. This is my second time watching Mr Henney & I noticed that most of his character dialogues have been in English although in his part he is supposed to understand & speak some Korean. But I would love to watch him in a drama or movie where he would speak fluent Korean. "A Millionaire's First Love" with Hyun Bin is not that great either. He played one of those characters that he does so well in, a rich & arrogant guy made good.

Speaking of influences, Amirul have been 'sprinkled' with some Korean fever too. Usually when I drive him to school every morning, he would watch Spongebob or one of the Disney movies, but since the last few weeks he heard & fell in love with music from Goong soundtrack that I continually play so often whenever I am behind the wheels. He particularly love one song, 'Stay', having caught the drama while I was watching it. He even know the translated english version of it based on the subtitles! At first he would tell me to turn on the 'E-yo' song as all the verses had that rhyming in the end, but now he only know them by numbers which is disc 6 song number 33, so I am not complaining just as long as I get my k-music fix :)Now all I need to do is get Amira 'converted' too - maybe I should get a nice Han-bok for her for a start, just need to convince her that its a costume of a Korean Princess...

Eversince we made the appointment we have been haggling back & forth, to wait or not to wait; to do or not to do. The final decision was only made after my gynae asked the question again right in front of our faces. So we decided. To wait. For a few more years. But if we changed our mind, as she said, we can come back to her anytime. At least for now, we'll wait. Although in my weaker moments I would just say - what the heck - just go for it. I mean it has always been one of the most enjoyable & glowy moments of my life.I want to have that feeling again. I want to have that familiar dewy scent close to me again. But we'll wait. For now. And when we are ready again, I hope ALLAH will grant us our wishes,again...Insyaallah...

It was sweet night literally & metaphorically.... sweet palate, sweet pals with dashes of giggly galore. We had a table spread of sinful desserts ranging from tarts, tiramisu,pudding,oreo cheesecake,even the traditional putri salat & modern chocolate fondue. The savoury popiah gave us that much-needed spicy sweet-sensor's break just so that we can continue indulging more in the sweet spread. With all the loaded calories intake, the k-razy mummies wii-ed the night away in a bid to break down the fats that we just gorged down & indulged in a great cuppa to end the sweet evening.

As always, it was a hoot as expected. Thank you Shir, the hostess with the mostess:). We almost forgot its National Day although we did all came in patriotic garb of reds & whites.

Time felt too short especially as the saying goes when u are having too good of a time. But the better news is much laughter & fun shall await us in 7 days time...

She came all decked in red & white for her first ever National Day Celebration at school. Excited & enthusiastic, she danced,sang & recited her pledge like a true Singapore girl...

Earlier this week I met up with former colleagues from WalkerAsia. Just a couple of nights ago,during SingFest, I was recalling the fun time working together during our major webcast events at Fort Canning, then on Monday the guys decided to meet up for dinner & just to 'touch-base' with everyone. Almost all our Singapore based team members & crew turned up & all of us shared the exact sentiment of how it felt surreal when we were working under one roof over at the cosy shophouse at Emerald Hill.

We remembered our time there as enriching, relaxing environment, except when it comes to major events, & also a very much 'growing-up' time for each of us. We worked together for a mere 3 or 4 years but one thing we knew we had was the fun time & the friendship we made during those years. And reflecting back, all of us had 'developed' very much over the years.

One of them Lee, was a junior programmer under me & now 4 years on, he's the head of Interactive Design in one event management company. Eric, a fresh film & media grad when he joined us then,is now an expert in field video work. Koh, another programmer decided to veer course completely & decided to go back to school 2 yrs ago where he is now studying to be a trainee teacher at NTU. One of my closest colleague, CK, who was already a good video editor & producer back then is now an award-winning TVC & film director - remember the M1 Mumbai-India ad? he directed & earned accolades from that, it even won the 'Viewer's Choice Award'. But he is still the humble funny guy that I used to know back then. Wakae, my fav Japanese colleague who was just an administrator is now a senior Associate at a recruitment firm. Well me? still enjoying my time in between meet-ups with friends,family & squeezing in time to still do what I love most - designing, & teach kids what I love most, for the extra moolah. I have to say, we did come a long way & wondered if our Jap boss had not passed on or if the company did not relocate to Japan & HK, would we still be working under one roof..like they say Every Cloud has Its silver lining....we wouldn't be where we are now if not for the experiences we earned during those years. And looking back, its great knowing that all of us had nothing but fond memories of our time together then, no regrets whatsoever...:)

Over the weekend this ahjumma & oppa mingled with the hot, sweaty,young & restless amidst loud blaring music at Fort Canning Park. The husband won himself complimentary tickets for the Singfest so in order to fully maximise the $300 + price tag attached to it, we braved ourselves to squeeze between the 10 000 crowd of mostly young crowd of teenagers to mid-thirties (oh we also chance upon a 40-something tudung-clad makcik ;P) & enjoyed live music from the likes of
* Jason Mraz-insanely talented - he did an accoustic of "I'm Yours - awesome!!,
* Rick Astley -he still sound the same & those songs! he sang favourites like ‘Together Forever’ and of course ‘Never Gonna Give You Up' & actually did an acoustic version of it - a really trip down memory lane. Other songs performed include ‘She Wants To Dance With Me’, ‘Take Me To Your Heart’, ‘When I Fall In Love’, ‘Hold Me In Your Arms’.
* Pussycat Dolls - a fav of oppa, I mean which guy isn't?? They belted out almost all their hits like 'Don't Cha', 'Buttons', 'I Dont Need a Man' & 'StickWitU'..
& super Ms Alicia Keys herself. who did sang her much anticipated 'No One' & "Superwoman'

We got the weekend pass but gave away the Saturday tickets to my niece whom we feel would appreciate more the live music from Travis, Lost Prophets, New Found Glory & Simple Plan.

So on Sunday after our mandatory weekend visit to the in-laws, made special as it was MIL's birthday, we trooped to Fort Canning. We missed the live performances of earlier acts like Stacie Orrico,One Republic & Panic at the Disco as we came only after Maghrib & only after putting our little pair to get ready for bed & leaving them is the safe hands of my mum & dad - after we all we ARE parents first...

As expected it was crowded & it certainly brought back fun memories when I was part of the crew during the Ublues Fest 5 yrs ago. The atmosphere was electric, the crowd was great although I wish more of them could hold back their alcohol intake a wee bit, I mean it would be nice to actually let others enjoy the concert peacefully without having to worry when they will stumble & suddenly do a 'merlion barf' near you. But it was a good end to a good day, although this not-so-young body wish she had half of the energy that those young uns possess ;p

I've just completed my 6 lessons, 3 weeks teaching stint at SQSS. I am still lamenting how I am going to miss this bunch of kids coz they are among the best in the many cohorts of classes that I've conducted so far. Although they are from the NT stream, their attitudes & determination far surpasses my expectations. And this is among the few exceptions that I can say that I will miss those darn kids.

I still have about 5 more weeks at FHSS. I am starting to feel a wee bit impatient & cant wait for the course to be over as unlike SQSS the classes & students are not one that I look forward to. Apart from disciplinary problems & obvious lack of good attitude & respect, they are a constant disruption in my classes - like going around switching off the comps of their fellow classmates while I'm conducting my lessons. I'm not saying that all of them are like that but in all 3 classes, there are bound to be a bunch of 'gang of 5 or so' that never fail to bring my mood down & make me look forward to the end of the lessons. Thankfully the Claymation classes are better. I am enjoying myself now that the kids are capturing the characters & props made by their own toys.

Cant believe that its already August, soon Amirul will start hitting some serious books, drowning in assessments & worksheets prepared by his dad. On a good note, he did say that he has an aim - to beat the best student, also his best friend, Donovan in all his subjects. I wish I had half of the determination that this boy of mine possess.

Now that we've completed our "Snow Queen" drama marathon, I am still looking for a good drama to share with the other half, at least while his interest is still at a mighty high. I wonder if he would be remotely interested in watching pretty-boy-turned-hawt oppa Jun Ki in action....

and its either something is wrong with my Mac or Blogger coz I cant seem to upload any pictures..:PPPP

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