it is Good Friday, and we did not meet up today. agnes was tired and needed to rest. hopefully we will get to do our stuff tomorrow.

things to do:
- look for a new car
- go to Sungei Kadut and look for furniture
- cycle
- clean out the flat
- go balestier and meet up the kitchen n lighting peepur
- bury lollie

Awoke this morning to the news that our dear Lollie had passed on. the cause of his demise is uncertain, and most probably we will never know why he died. we had high hopes for him to house train him once we moved over to Bedok. He will be missed, and like my dear Mimi, will be sorely missed. pets with distinct personalities are hard to replace. Lobang does not quite have the same charisma so to speak as his more illustrious sibling.

anyway... RIP Lollie...


one of the first pixs of lollie and lobang


lollie made a good pillow for sure

as illustrated here as well...


Lollie having a rest after playtime



smaller than mummy, but always larger than life


always a handful!


lollie was noticeably larger than lobang for some reason. and he was white! in case no one realised. quite extraordinary considering his mum and brethren. which makes one wonder who his dad was. but by all accounts he was albino, based on his eye and fur colour. wonder if that may have played into his death, as albino have been predisposed to certain illnesses and diseases.

dad was noticeably affected by lollie's death. he and lollie spent much time together since he was born. i think lollie held a special place in his heart based on how much dad spoke about him around the dinner table.

he will be missed. by all of us who knew him.

now will probably move lobang down to the lower cage as it is bigger and better furnished that the little pigeon hole he is in now.

this saturday the lion's play australia in a WC friendly. should be a close one. *cough* then on wednesday the lion's play Lebanon in a world cup qualifying match. will try to attend both if my busy schedule allows.

and on the telly, it is blockbuster sunday, as Liverpool face Manchester United, and Arsenal face Chelsea in 2 matches that have a major impact on the destination of the EPL trophy this season. this is shaping up to be the most exciting title race in recent seasons. the last few seasons the title had already be locked up by this stage of the season. but the way things are laid chelsea,manchester united and arsenal could take it all. and liverpool cannot be ruled out completely based on their current form and could still have a big say in where the title ends up.Liverpool face 5 matches that could make or break their season, against Man U... a triple header against Arsenal,in the EPL as well as in the champions league.. and then they face off against everton for the all important 4th champions league spot.

will be off to Perak from the 4th to the 7th of April. we are going up to pay respects to agnes's grandpa who passed away not too long ago. it will also be a chance for me to meet 'the other side of the family' whom many I have not met before. hopefully there will not be any overwhelming language barrier.



we have also yet to firm up the dates for our Bangkok trip. hopefully we can get around to do so soon, as time is not on our side. most probably in May or early June. and avoiding any public holidays, and of course subject to availability.

there are plans for a dinner after we get our promotion bonus. and also a trip again to JB if time permits. although no dates have been set as of yet.

mona has changed our appointment with her from the 22nd to the 24th. and she replied most of my reservations as expressed in my email. we need to remember to bring along a set of keys. we be meeting her at 7 pm that day. so it is a bit of a rush for us as both of us end at 6pm. hopefully we can settle most of the outstanding matters that day, so we do not have to meet up so often thereafter.

I also emailed the hotels regarding the redemption of our prize of a 4D3N hotel stay. I was pleasantly surprised to get sch a prompt reply. much gratitude to Rojana Plienanugool,Larrina Lim and Charlotte Chew for their quick response.

with the wedding dinner 9 months away, both of us are racing against time to get into fighting shape for our big day. We both could do with a little less mass and a little more toning. I have stopped jogging or working out for a few weeks already. I guess it is hard to be disciplined about fitness when your mind is preoccupied with so many things to be done.

have to find time this week to clean out the bunnies cages. although it has not been all that long since I last cleaned the cages, it seems that the bunnies have accelerated the turnover rate. I also noticed that a couple of the bunnies have long nails and no way in which to wear them down naturally. looks like I have to cut them myself, unless there is someone somewhere who provides such a service for a nominal fee.

Then there is all the junk in our bedok flat that I have to move out before the contractors move in.

- 2 bicycles
- 2 big plastic boxes filled with our stuff
- 2 foldable chairs
- a table
- a safari chair
- a stool
- an inflatable bed
- buckets, mops, brooms, etc

will try to do what i can over the next few days and maybe take advantage of the Good Friday holiday long weekend to settle matters.

with friday, saturday and sunday at our disposal, I am hoping that agnes and me can spend some time together doing stuff. but knowing agnes, she would probably prefer to couch at home or sleep the day away. it remains to be seen what we will be actually doing that day. but i am sure we will figure something out. we always do.

agnes was allowed to go to hong kong by the end of the month by her company, as it was the end of the financial year. but due to the short notice and that we have stuff to be settled over the next couple of weeks, it was in both our best interests that agnes did not go during this period. I am sure she will have ample opportunities to go overseas in her career at HSA. a bit of a pity that agnes could not make her hong kong trip, but i am sure this will be just a distant memory in time.

agnes and myself attended the Bridal Extravaganza yesterday. it was free for us as we had already signed up for our wedding banquet the week before. The normal price is $38 per couple or $28 for those with DBS cards. so we were fortunate enough to have a chance to go for the bridal thingy without having to fork out a cent.

the bridal extravaganza consisted of a 5 course lunch, bridal fashion show, lucky draws and a talk. The lunch itself was ok. not as great as we had expected. hopefully the menu for our actual wedding dinner will not be the same as what we had tasted yesterday. the bridal fashion show was nice.saw many nice gowns, which agnes and myself found appealing. at least now we have some ideas for what to wear for a wedding of our own.

Then there was a talk by this fengshui guy about traditional chinese wedding customs.

after the lunch,talk and show, it was to the foyer for a dessert buffet, which was even better than the lunch itself. we gorged ourselves on the many cakes and pasties there. After that there was a lucky draw. by virtue of having already confirmed our date with the hotel, we were entitled to both the main draw as well as the draw for confirmed couples.

we did not win anything in the main draw. although we did win a little something in the next draw...

A FOUR DAYS/THREE NIGHTS STAY FOR 2 PERSONS AT THE DELUXE ROOM AT THE SHANGRI-LA WING OF SHANGRI-LA HOTEL BANGKOK

i must say it is a pretty good prize to win. we been aching for a holiday. we not really been on a real holiday in ages. we are both a little pre-occupied right now, so we plan to make good on this prize probably in may or april. since it is a 4 days/3 nights kind of deal and is not applicable for eve of and on public holidays,as well as subject to availability, we will probably have to take some of our annual leave to make full use of the free hotel stay. I have no problem with that as i have ample annual leave and off. I am also entitled to 3 full days of marriage leave to be consumed by June. But agnes on the other hand has not as much of me, so she has to be more frugal with how she spends it.


how the hotel looks in the day...and night.

the rooms look something like this...


bet agnes will love the chandeliers in every room.

another picture of the hotel


the lobby



the view from the window:


bangkok is one of my favourite places to go. the history and culture is nice. best of all though is the shopping. there is so much to buy and it is all so cheap. i am sure agnes will be loving every moment we are there. can bring her to all the places we did not get to go to when we were last there on business.

with the accommodation already taken care of, we only need to pay for the return flight and whatever transport cost we incur. then there is the shopping. being that bangkok is only an hour plus away, it makes sense to take a budget airline there and back...

JETSTAR/VALUAIR:
SIN-BKK $38 to $119
BKK-SIN $49 to $199

TIGER AIRWAYS:
SIN-BKK $19.99 to $139.99
BKK-SIN $49.99 to $139.99

AIRASIA:
SIN-BKK $45.99 to $140
BKK-SIN $103 to $179

ZUJI.COM
SIN-BKK-SIN $130 to $230

(prices fluctuate depending on dates and times of departure, so can be even cheaper)
*all prices are per person

After the bridal extravaganza we headed off to Tanjong Pagar area to fix an appointment with our bridal studio. there we got to sample some of the wedding dresses on display to get a feel for what our options are. we fixed the

after we were done with that, we headed to SUNTEC for some shopping. First stop was the food and beverage fair at the convention centre.as we were still full from the late lunch at the hotel, we did not eat anything on offer there. Then it was to Bata where agnes bought a pair of shoes. then we shopped for some office stationery. then we made our way around until carrefour. then it was to picket & rail where we spied some good bargains on furniture for our flat, but decided to KIV as we may be able to find good offers elsewhere and our flat is yet to be renovated.

Then it was back to agnes's house where we spent time watching her favourite korean soap and then the silly hongkong dog contest show. By then we were starting to feel famished so we headed to T3 for some Ya Kun. I ordered the french toast and my dear wife had the kaya toast sets. even then we still shared a chicken meal at the sprawling food court. There was a little commotion there whilst we were there as one of the ladies tending to one of the stalls had an altercation with one of the customers. although there was no physicality per se, it was till quite a scene to see them having a go at one another verbally in full view of all the patrons. the guy in question was with his girlfriend. she acted like as though nothing was happening. either she been in that situation before or she just did not know how to react.either way it was cool. after our meal we walked around the shopping level abit before heading back to our car and back home.