Below, some shots of Chet's new work place. Pity they won't allow outsiders into the building. Would love to take a walk along one of these these sky bridges. Went there after a presentation to MOE HQ... Hopefully the meetings end beyond 1730hrs each time so I can just fall out from there :P

Like for the past couple of years, we did it nice and simple. 1 cake, 1 candle, 2 persons.

It's a very Bat-ish Birthday for me this year, since apart from cufflinks I received from ZM and CM (thanks alot, my 1st cufflinks >.<), I got Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3 from Chet. 1/2 way through the game... it's really a job well done. I'm sure any Bat-fan will attain geek-gasm / nirvana from it, and sure as hell a normal gamer will enjoy it too.

...and to complete the "Bat Birthday", colleagues from office pooled together to get me this DC Direct statue of The Dark Knight featuring Batman from the 2nd movie. My 3rd Batman statue...

Then below are gifts to myself (herh herh, then again, it doesn't take any special occasion for a collector to buy a figure lah~). McFarlane Spawn's Series 22 The Viking Age Bloodaxe (R3: Repaint, Resculpt, Revisit), and from the same series Skullsplitter. These 2 figures features hidden articulation, some new materials (velvet / fabric), and some really ass-kicking sculpting works. Been purchasing some pass Spawn figures, cuz recent releases in general really couldn't match the level of attention to details displayed in these figures. Sigh...

Every year, the "gah-men" never fails to make me stressed as my birthday approaches. Cause they've made every Singaporean male's birthday into a deadline. Notice the irony? "Birth-" and "dead-"?

So every year I'll procrastinate (I admit) till the very last few months (6 weeks) to start training for IPPT... And then, feel stressed over that last decisive chin-up that I'm always short of to pass. So if you see that I seem very far away these days, it's because I'm stressed over this bullshit, and worried of the consequences of failure: you lose your freedom. Looking back at last year's results slip, which isn't very far from this year's, I'm reminded of how close I escape RT. Don't think I want to undergo these stressful periods again, particularly before my birthday.

Perhaps it's time to continue training and pass for 2010's work year... though I'm almost certain that if I do that, it means I'll slack for 2 full years :)

To celebrate Chet's finding of an ideal job, we went to Suntec Crystal Jade for some noodles after work and took a stroll to Esplanade, where we took some photos... Start work loh~~~ Hopefully now we will become more stable financially >.<

A proj I've been following for quite some time. She's coming along fine. If TOP is a building's birthday, then ours are quite close to one another, provided there are no further EOTs ;)

Finally found the time to visit the Marina Barrage. Chet had this idea to celebrate our 10th Anniversary there for a long time, but then a busy competition submission period came in office and our plans were foiled. It was after submission that we went ahead with our celebration. First we went to Suntec to get Subway, to go along with the bottle of red wine and chips we packed in our picnic basket. The straw mat was our souvenir from Krabi :)

This is actually a stitch of three shots taken. Kinda warped on the right side, as though the ground began to slope upwards when it is truly flat. Still, not too shabby for a stitch. We arrived there via cab from Suntec at around 1630hrs and was surprised to see so many people already on the turfed roof, flying their kites, running with their dogs, playing frisbee, etc. It was then that I thought that perhaps the satisfaction of the profession might not come from money... Crowded as it is, it wasn't difficult for us to find an empty concrete bench for us to lean on, so we sat up our mat, ate our food, observed the scenes and happenings around us. It was a nice place to chill...

Turn, turn, turn the cock screw into the bottle of red wine~~~

See? We even brought our dog along :)

We saw quite a few wedding couples there doing their wedding shoot. I think it's so popular that it'll become a cliche. Still, the views towards the Singapore Flyer / CBD area is quite marvelous. Only I'm quite skeptical that the camera man manages to capture anything nice in that hazy evening.

Then night came and we stayed to watch the sun set, and take some photographs. There were alot of people there armed with their large tripods and DLSRs. I also had my digicam and a small tripod of my own. Quite satisfied with what the camera managed to churn out. For night shots with people in the foreground, always remember to set the usual settings of long shutter speed, and with tripod, low ISO. I also turned on the flash so that our faces can be captured.

Then the following day we went with my family. They probably didn't know we already visited the place a day before. So sneaky!!! Sorry lah, needed alone time too. Totally enjoyed the following day playing with the kids too!

Taken while we waited for Mr & Mrs Goh to arrive with their precious kids, my niece and nephew :)

We had lunch at the restaurant there called "7 Storeys". Check out En-En playing with her plates :) Managed to catch her naughty acts on video. My 1st youtube uploads :)

A group shot at the end of the day. Amidst the exhibits there was a station where you can take a snapshot of yourself and the machine will automatically superimpose the photo against a nice marina barrage backdrop and e-mail the photo to you for free. The one we took turned out pretty blurry so I had to do some photoeditting myself. Heh~

Finding it more and more difficult to keep the blog updated with my life... Life goes on, it never waits. Nevertheless, I'll try to update more constantly. I'm glad to have the habit of taking photos of the sights I see, just need time to edit them and post them. Been damn busy with submission for a local competition, and now that it's finally over, it's time for some updates.

One of the major happening things in my life recently was the purchase of my (our) HDB flat! After scouting around Serangoon Central for months, burning away wkends for resale flat viewings, we finally settled down with a 25 yr old unit along Ave 4... The ID works are currently on the drawing board, whenever I can steal some free time. Below are some pics of the 4-rm flat, taken when Matt and Yisu graced the house with their presence as we took some site measurements to facilitate our design.

Orchard Ion. One of the 2 new shopping centres along Orchard Road, both of which I haven't stepped foot in. Sigh... It's time to make a point to visit these awesome shopping malls.

Though I've missed the chance to visit Orchard Ion and Orchard Central, I've been to Iluma quite a couple of times. I've heard several criticisms about the planning and shop mix of the shopping centre, but there are still alot of interesting details to learn from.

Pics of our NLB at Bugis. Took them before and after visiting Bugis Junction. K lah... it's a pretty nice building. "Decorative Tropical" style... hee hee~~~ No offence Mr Y.

Below, publicity for a game that I've been wanting to buy, but on hold because of my vitamin M deficiency. Hmmm... perhaps when there is a pay raise or bonus... herh herh herh... though I doubt so, cause I'm lucky to be employed.

The Pinnacle @ Duxton. I'm told that the Pinaccle is called the pinaccle, because of its significance as a milestone in HDB design, and its location in Tanjong Pagar, which belongs to Mr L. I'm starting to like the facade more and more. This was taken from inside the bus on my way to Master Crab @ Ghim Moh to meet my good friends for dinner. It was a memorable dinner... Went to Mr Cheah's house for some inspiration on HDB design. Below, a building visible from my office, Pearl Bank Apartments. I hope it doesn't get demolished any time soon... I think it's really a charming building.

Taken from my house. The camera isn't able to capture the moon, but it was full that night. This is the general direction of my new HDB from Summer Place, though its blocked by these HDB blocks in the pic. Yes, the new flat is within walking distance from my home now, which is great.