Fast Food?

I seem to be eating more than my fair share of fast food lately. I guess it is the convenience that makes me do it.

Here are some sobering facts:

Think you're keeping it light by eating a Taco Bell taco salad? Think again! It contains 850 calories, enough for two meals. I have to give it credit, though -- along with the 52 grams of fat (more than you need in an entire day) it does have a beneficial 16 grams of fiber. Of course, you could simply eat a high fiber breakfast cereal and save yourself approximately 600 calories.

Are french fries your downfall? The best bet is the small fries from White Castle. With only 115 calories and 6 grams of fat, they're actually not a bad choice. As you can imagine, the more fries you order, the more calories and fat you get. At McDonald's, the small fries have 210 calories and 10 grams of fat. Add 240 calories if you eat the medium size (450 calories total), 320 additional calories for the large (530 calories total), and the super-size weighs in at an astounding 610 calories and 29 grams of fat! Believe it or not, a Chicken McGrill (hold the mayo and you have 340 calories) has fewer calories than the medium fries, a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (530 calories) has about the same amount of calories as the large fries, and the only sandwiches with more calories than the super-size fries are the Big X-tra (710 calories) and Big X-tra with Cheese (810 calories)!

The skinless chicken you roast at home may be healthy, but chicken nuggets have more fat per ounce than hamburgers! The same goes for fish sandwiches. Here are the numbers:
A 6-piece Chicken McNuggets has 290 calories and 17 grams of fat, a Filet-O-Fish sandwich has 470 calories and 26 grams fat, and a hamburger has 270 calories and 9 grams fat.
Don't drown your sorrows in the milkshakes. Burger King's shakes contain 66 grams of sugar -- that's 16 teaspoons! The 430 calories aren't too shabby either.
Beware of large portions. They entice us with special pricing, but what we're really doing is contributing to the financial bottom line and our own derrieres. Supersizing gives the companies additional profits while we pack on the calories and fat. Do we really need a triple cheeseburger and super-size fries? Take a look at Burger King burgers:
Hamburger, 320 calories and 15 grams fat
Whopper Junior, 400 calories and 24 grams fat
Whopper, 660 calories and 40 grams fat
Double Whopper, 920 calories and 59 grams fat

Today in History!

The mighty elephant, trumpeter of the jungle and circus entertainer -- lumbering, powerful fieldworker and mode of transportation -- became a symbol of the Republican Party on this day in 1874.

The cigarette manufacturing machine was patented by Albert H. Hook of New York City. He probably had no idea how appropriate his name was for such an invention.

Pennsylvania’s Blue Laws meant that lots of things couldn’t be done on Sunday. Shopping was one. Drinking was another. Sports was yet another. The votes that were counted this day in the Keystone State eliminated sports from the forbidden activities. Fans in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia rejoiced!

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt won a fourth term, defeating Republican Thomas E. Dewey. F.D.R. was the only President to be elected for more than two terms; he was elected four times with three different Vice Presidents. He died in office on April 12, 1945, after serving 53 days of his fourth term. Vice President Harry Truman filled the remainder of the term and was elected President in 1948.

A coin-operated television receiver was displayed in New York City. To sneak a peak at various test patterns and a model of Felix the Cat, folks dropped in a quarter.

Billboard magazine began listing the top 15 popular records. Only 10 songs had been featured previously.

Elvis Presley hit the charts with Love Me. The song was the first million-seller to make the charts without being released as a single. It was, instead, an EP (extended play) 45 rpm, with three other songs on it: Rip It Up, Paralyzed and When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again -- on RCA Victor.

Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love was the #1 album in the U.S. The rest of the top-five for the week: 2)-Bad (Michael Jackson); 3)-Dirty Dancing (soundtrack); 4)-Whitesnake (Whitesnake); 5)-A Memory Lapse of Reason (Pink Floyd).

Top Movies: Bean (“The Ultimate Disaster Movie”), starring Rowan Atkinson, Peter Macnicol and Pamela Reed; Mad City (“One man will make a mistake. The other will make it into a spectacle.”), with Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta and Alan Alda; and Starship Troopers (“A New Kind Of Enemy. A New Kind Of War.”), starring Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Seth Gilliam, Patrick Muldoon, Michael Ironside and Marshall Bell.

Memories and such

Just got home from Orchard. Did not meet with my dearest today. Just felt it an exercise in futility to meet her just to eat her mum's home cook food. Of course it is never an easy choice to decide not to meet her under any circumstances. I guess being brought up in a home where my mum and dad are virtually inseperable, I have very much the same traits in me. There are times when it is not possible or practical,as was the case today, for Agnes and myself to meet. But still I miss her so much, it is crazy at times. By the look of things we will not be meeting until Thursday. She has guitar classes tomorrow evening. And she is meeting up with one of her dear friends on Wednesday. The saving grace in all of this was that we had an overdose of each other last week,what with all the public holidays,weekends and Agnes's annual leave. We did alot together and for that I am thankful.

I did drop by Takashimaya (Ngee Ann City) and managed to catch a glimpse of the teams competing for the Subaru Impreza. I must say that they look rather lively & jovial for people who have been under the rain and sun for over 55 hours at the time. There was also a mini challenge going on nearby where passers-by were roped in to compete in a similar challenge. I have no idea what the details were of the mini contest. But it ended up with a mob of people gathered around the 3 cars with all their hands on the cars. I presume there were some premiums or vouchers at stake.

I also scouted Borders and Kinokuniya for some books I was looking for,which was my initial intention for going to Orchard in the first place. In the end I got what I was looking for at Kino. Kino had a much wider range than Borders for some strange reason.

After all that walking and looking ,it was time for some eating. I had wanted to try the new food place at Wisma but it was really crowded. Which meant it was not advisable to go and eat there alone, as one is not assured of a table. There were no 'single' tables so a singleton like me had to go look elsewhere. In the end I settled for Burger King. After dinner I waltzed over to Wheelock to collect Sunny and drove home!
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As you guys can see below I had a busy week last week with all the holidays and leave and weekends. In response to my pictures Pei Yun spoke about the new National Museum that is coming up. As some of you may know, I used to study at Saint Joseph's Institution. I was there in the interim period between the old school at Bras Basah Road and the new campus at Malcolm Road. As such I was fortunate enough to experience the best of both worlds. As much as the new campus is bigger and better equipped, the old school still holds a very special place in my heart.

The area around the old SJI is filled with lots of old buildings and places with historical as well as sentimental significance.

CHIJ (now CHIJMES): My mum's alma mater. As well as being our sister school. God knows how many marriages there exist between Josephians and the IJ girls. I just love the chapel.One of the better ones, comparable to the nearby St Andrew's Catheral and Cathedral of the Good Shepherd in terms of scale.

The old National Library at Stamford Road also holds many fond memories for me. I used to love to read so much in those days and I was lucky that my school was but a stone's throw away from the library. Just across the road the road was MPH House. I also used to go to the many bookshops (Times and MPH mainly) in town, but the easiest for me was the big MPH there.

Dotting the area were several places of worship like those mentioned above, as well as a few smaller ones such as the nearby Wesley Methodist Church, Maghain Aboth Synagogue, Church of St Peter's and Paul, St Joseph's Churchand the Armenian Church.

Other notable places include the Central Fire Station, the old Capitol Cinema, Bras Basah Complex, Fort Canning Hill, Raffles Hotel and St Anthony's Convent & Boys School.

Even further off are all the 'biggies' like the Padang,City Hall, Parliament House, The Cenotaph and the various smaller memorials.

Thankfully many of the places I mentioned still exist and have been earmarked for conservation. Many have been converted into use such as schools,pubs and entertainment centres or still exist in the same form till today.
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Man U beat Chelsea 1-0 at old Trafford. As much as I dislike anything to do with Manchester United, I am glad they beat Chelsea. So the EPL title is not a forgone conclusion yet, with Wigan winning again and Man U leap-frogging to third place (and now 7 points behind with a game in hand).I guess many of the things that I found distasteful about Man U now apply to the new Chelski. In a perfect world, they would have gone out on the field and just annihilated one another, and the world would be a better place for it in my view. But of course that is my completely biased opinion.
On an even better note, my beloved Newcastle have found winning ways with the arrival of Michael Owen. Hopefully he will stay and take his place amongst the legends of the Toon Army.
And I am glad for Wigan and Spurs. Love the underdogs! Go dogs, go!
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museum walk

We went and paid a visit to the Singapore History Museum on Hari Raya. It was rather similar to the exhibits I saw at the National Museum years back. Kinda disappointed. But it is ok.



Clarke Quay is very nice now. Gonna be great when it is done. Colourful!!
After the *snooze* history museum we walked over to Liang Court and had lunch at McDonald's. There was a line-dancing demonstration in the lobby. Agnes and I stayed to watch for a bit.



After all that fun, we drove over to Empress Place. Heard people raving about how great the Asian Civilisations Museum is. Had to go and see it for myself. I must say it was great. All museums should be like that. The way they used mood lighting and music really made each display come alive. There was also a clever use of modern technology to tell stories and bring history to life.



After that we headed back to Agnes place. We hung out a bit before all of us headed out for dinner. Brought Agnes and family to Ban Leong Wah Hoe's near my place. We were lucky to get there before the crowds came. By the time we finished dinner the place was packed to the rafters like it always is on weekends and public holidays.



Had wanted to use it as an opportunity for our folks to meet,but mum & dad had already made plans to meet Leo and Lynn. Anyway my dad (and mum to a lesser extent)is kinda pissed with the wife of the owner of Wah Hoe's because she loves to gossip. Dinner was ok. After that I drove the lot of them back to my house for a look-see.



They hung around my house for a bit and watched a little TV. After that I sent the lot of them home. Agnes and I then drove over to Changi Boardwalk for some private time. The place was quiet and it was a cool night. A good night to be under the stars. Had a good chat before heading back home, as I had to work the next day.

Some pictures above were reproduced with permission from www.scottcorboy.com

The birthday weekend

First let me show the gifts I got.
My mum and dad got me a ...dry box! Now I have my own...umm...dry box. To keep stuff dry. I put all my game cd's and DVDs inside along with a token camera.



Agnes bought me a watch. It took us 2 days of shopping to finally find one I liked. It is a metallic black watch with a red face. Like I mentioned it matches my new glasses with the same black & white theme...



Hasli got me yet another mug.

That is about it as far as gifts go.

Sunday
Met up with Agnes and we went to watch April Snow at GV Bishan.
After that we went to meet Yew Kwang and Lyn at Suntec Swensen's. They wanted to meet for lunch or dinner but everyone had something on at the time so we had to settle for tea. We ordered a regular Earthquake. Was nice.
After that we went home.



Saturday
We had wanted to watch April Snow but they did not have any afternoon or evening shows.

Monday
I had wanted to go to the HSBC Tree Top Walk at MacRitchie. Problem was they close on Mondays for maintainance and research. So we had to can that idea. I picked Agnes up from her place. Our first stop was The Johore Battery at Cosford Road. I had read and seen pictures of the place but never actually seen the actual gun. In fact the gun on display is not one from WW2, but a replica of the actual one. There are also tunnels below the gun which are inaccesible to the public but you can see the layout from above.

Excerpts: "Built by the British in 1939 for the defence of Singapore, the Johore Battery is a gun emplacement site consisting of a labyrinth of tunnels. The tunnels were used to store ammunition to support three monster guns that could fire 15-inch shells.

The guns were the largest installed outside Britain during World War II. They were destroyed before the surrender of the British army and the tunnels were sealed up after the war. The location remained a secret until the Singapore Prisons Department rediscovered them in April 1991.

Today, replicas of the monster gun and 15-inch shell sit at the Johore Battery. "


The place was rather quiet, we were the only ones there, and no one was attending to it. Quite a pity.

After that we dropped in to the nearby Changi Chapel & Museum. I managed to take some pictures. I did not realise that cameras were not allowed until the curator ticked me off about it. :( I really did not know. Did not see the signs at the entrance mah . :'(

Anyway these are some of the pictures I manage to steal...



To see the full set of Changi Chapel & Museum go here.

After that we headed to Bukit Batok Nature Park. I been there only once and it was only for a while, so I relished the opportunity to go there and take some pictures.



The full set of Bukit Batok Nature Park can be viewed here.

After that we headed home to rest and get ready for dinner. We had dinner at the Jack's Place at Ang Mo Kio before heading home for the traditional cake-cutting ceremony.

Tuesday
Finally got to go to HSBC Tree Top Walk. We parked at Venus Drive and walked in via the new path. Along the way we spied an old grave stone. Not sure to whom it belonged. I heard that there are some Japanese graves in MacRitchie. Maybe that was one of them. The weather was hot and did us no favours. The walk in was ardous and it was also rather crowded with it being a public holiday and all.Being so crowded it was not possible to spend as much time as I had wanted on the suspension bridge as I would have liked. The worst part of the journey though was getting back to the car park after the bridge. The path back was long,windy and full of stairs upways and downways. Sometimes I question the logic of spending so much time to get to and return back just for less than 10 minutes on the actual bridge, but like they say life is a journey not a destination. I could think of a few other analogies but this is a PG-rated blog. I managed to also climb atop the Jelutong tower! Yayyy....good on me. The view from up there was not half bad. Too bad I had no one to share it with. Agnes opted to wait for me below...

See...








And the full set can be viewed here. Tree Top Walk