bogglific addiction

I wanted to write a long and thoughtful entry. I really did. I wanted to share what a wonderful stock Posco is, and why everyone should take advantage of it.

But I've just been too busy with Bogglific. I think it is by far the best Facebook app I've come across so far. Everyone should join Facebook and check it out.

myself yourself itself

One of my colleagues has the most annoying penchant for punctuating all his sentences with the word itself. Whenever a sentence ends with a noun, he uses itself like a full stop. I cringe every time he is giving presentations.

Another more common plague that really gets to me is people using myself in place of "I" and yourself in place of "you". Singlish is inherently a lazy language, where people tend to drop words that do not add meaning (and in the process make sentences ungrammatical by proper linguistic standards). So it is incomprehensible to me why anyone would use words that have more syllables than necessary. It makes myself wonder if it is just my colleagues, or if it an ailment affecting Singapore as a whole.

Is it really that cool to be ungrammatical... what does yourself think?

so how's the wedding?

For anyone who's been wondering why I haven't been writing over the last month or so, there are two main reasons. The first is that I have been so busy with wedding and housing preparations. The second is that I have nothing to write about because everything I do is either work-related (taboo!), wedding-related or housing-related. I haven't even read the news in ages, so I can't make any sarcastic comments.

Anyway, since I have nothing else to write about, and since the most FAQ I always encounter is "so how's the wedding preparations?" I shall attempt to summarise some of the stuff we have accomplished, as a quick reference for all my friend just a few steps behind me, of which there are surprisingly quite a number. Many people comment that we are preparing way in advance, but that is unfortunately because we won't be seeing each other much over the next two months as we take turns to exit the country. So let's begin ...

Finally, we are about to close the chapter on our HDB flat. Ever since we first found our HDB flat in early May, we have hit numerous obstacles that have delayed the entire acquisition process. After making some adjustments to our income status, we finally resubmitted our paperwork to process the HLE (step 1) in July, and we'll be finishing the transaction next week. We managed to complete process that is supposed to take about 14-16 weeks in about nine. Credit to this really goes to all the helpful agents that we have been chasing mercilessly (albeit very politely). And my word of advice to anyone thinking of doing the same is to be nice to them, and while they will not make any promises to speed things up they never failed to deliver things ahead of schedule. Of course, it probably helped that the stock market crashed in August, because apparently lots of transactions were cancelled when the buyers became victims of the credit crunch.

After talking to several contractors, we shortlisted two and are now awaiting their quotations after they surveyed the flat. With some luck, our very minimal renovations should be done by the end of next month.

Now that the flat is finally (almost) ours, we also started shopping for the household appliances in earnest (having already bought the bed and most of the furniture before GST was raised). Some good places we have frequented are Mayer for kitchen appliances. The washing machine and refrigerator are more of commodity items, the big stores like Courts, Best Denki or Harvey Norman offer a good selection for comparison, but we'll be getting ours from Tai Sin Radio & Electrical Service. The fiancee has demonstrated an keen knack for sniffing out the best prices.

So we've practically been working on everything and the kitchen sink. We picked up the latter today at Jalan Besah from Poh Joo Hardware Engineering today. While the Balestier area (Upp Thomson end) had a much wider selection of shops selling sinks, faucets and toilet bowls, we found Poh Joo's range pretty good and prices more competitive. Those areas are even better for people looking for lighting fixtures, but thankfully we don't have to worry about any of that for now.

We've also just taken collection of the wedding cards over the weekend, even before we've worked out the invitation list. Great prices and service on printing were offered by Welon, while our beautiful chruch service cards were gotten from Tecman.

In between all the chores for setting up home and the big day, we also try not to neglect laying the foundations for future family life. Before You Say "I Do" is a devotional book we have been reading weekly, and it often prompts us with thought-provoking questions that help to address problem areas in the relationship. Just today, we read 1 Corinthians 13, and we came across a verse that everyone poor kid who has ever been through Sunday school must have been forced to memorise at some point or other.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrong.

How familiar this verse, that it borders on the cliched. But when I really truly contemplated it today, when I looked back at my recent actions towards her, the depth of its meaning and the impossibility of living up to true love just floored me. In such simple words, it has captured the essence of relationship. If we were able to love like this, there would be no such thing as failed marriages or divorce. And how much harder is it to give such love to others less dear.

And last but not least, we have also completed our wedding photo shoot! The dreary weather over the past few weeks was cause for great anxiety, and we were really praying fervently for fine weather. Thanks to all who were praying as well. We were rudely awakened on the morn by heavy rain, but this soon transitioned into probably the bluest and brightest day that Singapore had seen in a while. And while the actual photos won't be out anytime soon due to our conflicting travelling schedules, here is a little sampler of one of our props.

So if you were asking about the wedding preparations, I hope this answers your questions!

pichon french restaurant & bar

Dinner at Pichon with the family was certainly one of the more memorable meals in recent memory. My father, the birthday boy, had picked the place after hearing good reviews on the radio. And upon arriving, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that their 3-course set dinners (usually $65+++ per pax) were going at 1-for-1! Needless to say, we tucked in greedily.

Between six of us, we had considerable latitude to try lots of different dishes. Unfortunately we were too swift to devour the appetisers, and it was only later we remembered to whip the camera out. Hence there is no visual record of the lovely Mediterranean Fish Soup, Garlic King Prawns, two kinds of Escargots in Garlic and Red Wine Sauce, as well as some vegeterian thing for the mother. They were all duly shared around and proclaimed as delicious.

Salmon Carpaccio was ordered by two, and came in a light pastry crust. Personally I only like Salmon raw, but the two who ordered it gobbled it down greedily so I presume it was pretty good. Admire the lovely view of Boat Quay in the background.

Ribeye Steak with Bearnaise Sauce, of which I had a morsel, was succulent and juicy, and not at all over-cooked even though it was ordered medium-well (out of health considerations). I usually accept nothing more than medium, but it was lovely, as was the sauce.


Duck Confit on Mashed Potato, another popular choice, was what I had myself. The duck was roasted until it simply fell off the bone. The skin and a considerable layer of fat were also ready to melt in your mouth! It really reminded me of KFC's original recipe, and for those who know me that is a very high compliment. The only downside was the helping was a bit too large, and after about halfway through we started to tire of it. Nevertheless I would most certainly order it again to share.

Some more vegeterian stuff. Enough said.

Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream was the first of the delicious desserts. We ordered two of these and one each of the other five items on the menu. It was quite a typical lava cake, well done but not outstanding. (We still prefer the one at Wild Rocket on Mount Sophia)

Profiteroles were light pastry puffs with more vanilla ice cream.

The Lemon Tart had a very strong lemon tang, quite refreshing.

Crepe Flambed in Cointreau arrived aflame, although we didn't get the camera out quite in time to capture it. This was my personal favourite, and probably the most unique of the lot. The crepe still had the lingering taste of orange liquor, most delicious.

All in all, we spent just over $200 for six people, ate till we were ready to burst and the food was delicious. The lovely view of the river provided a great backdrop as well, perfect for that romantic date. I would certainly go back, and recommend everyone else to do so, especially while the 1-for-1 offer is still on.

Pichon French Restaurant & Bar

48 Boat Quay S(049837)

Tel: 6535 9135

Web: http://www.pichon.com.sg