Water girl

Where's the water?

Here I am! Don't go!

Okay, let's have fun together!

(Pix taken in Nov 2009.)

Christmas lights 2009

Christmas lights, you are pretty... but something is still missing...

... now, my picture is complete.

Heaven to the building and the tree: "Stop comparing who's taller. I'm the highest."

(Pix taken in Nov 2009.)

I wonder if people in those office buildings notice the scenery

Took this while waiting for Chloe to arrive at Arina - Stadium Waterfront, where we watched Reverie - Cirque On Ice on Wednesday night :)

Propose over FB? Let me run 21km instead

To propose to Chloe on Sunday (6 Dec), i ran a half-marathon with her... before popping THE question (with flowers and a ring) just in front of the finishing line!

Thank God for wonderful family and friends (my sister, bro-in-law Perry, Gavin, Joscelin, Shirley and Chloe's former colleague Grace) who were there to help.

I couldn't have done it without their moral and logistic support.

Most importantly, praise God that Chloe said yes!

Looking back, I'm glad that Chloe didn't require me to propose to her over FaceBook.

The fact is that a small hiccup took place tonight when I wanted to change my relationship status on FB from "in a relationship" to "engaged".

No matter how many times I amended the status (and refreshed my info page), the change just refused to be reflected.

Both Chloe and I were very puzzled and we started discussing about this over the phone -- while logging on to FB, trying to figure out the mystery together.

(Ahem! That's what solving problems together as a couple is all about, isn't it?)

I just refused to admit defeat.

I had overcome the battle of being a bundle of nerves to propose, and Chloe had taken the leap of faith (an extremely huge one, I guess) to accept an imperfect person like me... so there must be a way to beat the perils of the digital age.

No FB (or Tweeter/Twitter... whatever) gonna stop me from getting engaged to the girl of my dreams!

So I edited my info page again and again and again.

Finally, I discovered the problem...

...

I had forgotten to click on the icon "save changes" after editing the relationship status.

Oh well!

If I had to propose over FB, I would have flopped big-time -- even though it's probably cheaper to "give a ring" online.

A techno-idiot like me definitely prefers using 21km (or even a full marathon) to propose any day.

She said yes!

It was literally a leap of faith and the beginning of a brand new walk for us :)

No bluffing. Time to beef up

YOU know it's time to hit the gym and the treadmill when you witness the many benefits of having a trim and fit body -- on the big screen.

Watch The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and you will be amazed at how easily Taylor Lautner (who plays werewolf Jacob Black) scaled a wall, sprang up a tree and darted right into the window of his dream girl.

This dude had dogged his personal gym trainer and wolfed down a lot of meat, raw almonds and sweet potatoes just to make that happen.

If seeing his hot bod doesn't inspire you to exercise more, the teenage audiences sharing your film theatre will.

I've never watched a movie with so many parts of the floor being teenage girls -- who AUDIBLY went ga-ga each time Taylor and Robert Pattinson take off their shirts.

(I thought screaming fans belong to rock concerts.)

Rob Pat plays the moody bloodsucker whom my girlfriend strangely labelled as charming. She's not alone. Many girls (and their mums) have gone over the moon over this star of New Moon.

Before this writer can get over his jealousy, he's reminded of another male hottie-movie leaping onto local big screen -- Ninja Assassin.

Rain has somehow created a mini storm in Hollywood despite spouting English that leaks.

And it's nearly 100-percent because of a body that had 0-percent fat.

So are there enough reasons to hit the gym? You bet.

But of course, my aim isn't to become a beef cake (I can't bear to part with my beef and cakes).

After all, I'm not a bodybuilder. I need to maintain a lean and mean physique as a long-distance runner...

And I can't rely on CGI techniques to make me move from place to place in a twinkle of an eye like Rob Pat can in the Twilight movies...

Being too serious is a serious problem

IF love is what motivates in life, then humour is the lubricant.

Of late, I discovered that having a good laugh, whether it is at others (oops~) or myself, makes dealing with problems less painful.

This attitude is reflected even at work.

Being too serious in life, I realised, is a serious problem.

It's bad for relationships, physical health and personal state of mind.

After all, who wants to hang out with a person who frowns all the time? That's probably more excruciating than having a hard knock on the funny bone.

Thankfully, I realised -- with relief and resignation -- that I AM corny by nature.

So it's not too hard to flick the cranium switch to joke-mode.

There's one problem though -- if the humour is not appreciated, the joker then becomes the joke.

Timeless classic

REDEMPTION.

That's the main theme of A Christmas Carol, a tale written by Charles Dickens that has been retold countless times.

I remember I first read it as a children's book -- a Chinese translation with very few words and lots of lovely illustrations.

As a primary school student then, I was very touched after reading it (I can't be sure if I cried), and I told myself that's what amazing literature is all about.

In fact, A Christmas Carol -- along with Dicken's other novel David Copperfield and Jack London's White Fang and The Call Of The Wild -- was a story that left me dazed for hours, perhaps even days, after finishing it.

Tonight, I revisited this tale again -- watching it this time in the form of Disney's 3D cartoon.

Throw in the animated voice of Jim Carrey, splendid 3D effects and Chloe's company, it is, of course, yet another exhilarating experience.

Redemption -- a merciful and biblical theme.

A Christmas Carol -- a timeless classic.

Lessons in life (Part One)

NEVER say never.

God usually educates us with unusual methods.

I once said: "Send me to any desk but the entertainment beat" -- because I knew my own weakness.

I said that at the job interview too -- conducted by the ENTERTAINMENT editor and supervisor.

Yet, lo and behold, that's where I was posted to.

But here's the miracle. After many struggles, I'm enjoying myself in this department -- where I'm learning the art of writing from colleagues who seem born for the job.

Looking back, small deposits of wisdom and experiences were placed into my life at different stages.

It's in my primary school -- no longer existing -- where I discovered my interest in English and Chinese. This revelation literally charted the course of my life till today.

Childhood was also the time I experienced being the top student in class, in school and in nearly any type of competition you can think of.

In short, I tasted the sweetness of victory.

Yet it's in my secondary school -- existing since 1919 -- that I learnt it's all right to be at the bottom of the class, the school and in nearly any type of competition you can think of.

No exaggeration -- after failing tests and examinations repeatedly, I was nearly kicked out of the institution. But to give credit to my school, it doesn't believe in throwing the rotten apples out, without first trying to extract the worms.

So I stayed on, and somehow got grades decent enough for me to enrol into a Junior College.

It's in JC that I discovered, ahem, I could be quite popular with girls -- mostly not in the romantic way though.

I'm short and my chiselled jaw makes me look like a certain Japanese pop star on good days, and like the Joker in the Batman comics on normal days. But frankly, girls don't care that much if you know how to make them laugh, either with your wits or your foolish antics.

I had the second set of talents.

It's also in JC that I learnt it's often hard to tell the difference between a compliment and pure sarcasm.

"Ling Kai, as a school athlete, you have such nice, muscular shoulders, so to attract girls, you should just keep running around the school in your singlet..."

Sounds like a compliment?

"... because the moment you stop running, that's when the girls start running -- in the opposite direction."

Of course, the original remark wasn't that witty. I edited it a little, but you get the idea.

It's also in JC that I learnt the agony of unrequited love.

Some say, if love has to be one-sided, I rather be the one who gives the love.

Sorry guys, that's nonsense. Whoever says that apparently has never been heartbroken before -- like me.

This entry is getting long. More to be told in subsequent instalments.

Idea of fun

YOU know you have entered another stage of life when your idea of fun on a Wednesday night isn't to go clubbing (and definitely not creating puddles of puke all round yourself thereafter), but to go to NTUC to buy chicken wings -- costing $2.36 -- marinated in black pepper sauce.

That's what I did.

Once I got home, I stir fried them to share with my parents.

Well, in the name of merry making, I did pour myself half a glass of red wine and some baileys. Excellent!