All the hype about metals!

The world's going crazy about old school fads, like the recent Terminator and Transformers. One fine day I passed by this church and they had a big poster hanging from the walls which read:

We don't Terminate You,
We Transform You!

Christ. And the fonts being used are that of the movies!

Anyway we just got back from watching Transformers 2. I'm still dazed by so many flying metals. I'd rather they walk and fight instead of flying around.

Back at Dear's home, Javier's dad got him a Bumble Bee Toy. We checked it out at the Taka toys department yesterday and isn't cheap at $27.90. Plastic somemore. In the past they were all made of metal!

It's amazing how detailed they are at making a toy out of it.

And thus, I suck at transforming it back into a car.

Maybe I should attend church sometime so that they can teach me how to fix it back? Since they promised they will? Nah kidding.

I got myself a Transformers toy too.

A Diamond is, Forever?

I read this article with eyes wide open. Well, like what Dear has said, De Beers made the whole world think that a diamond ring is necessary in any marriage. I guess I'll never know this if I never had a girlfriend majoring in Marketing.

So, are we all just slaves to a slogan?

Diamonds Are a Girl's Worst Friend

What a &%^($@# dining experience!

Even though this is our first time there to celebrate my parents' 28th wedding anniversary, we all felt that it is one eatery that is unworthy of a 2nd visit. At all costs, please avoid the Ebisboshi Shotengai restaurant at level 4, The Illuma @ Bugis, if you cannot stand..

1. A seemingly innovative but nonetheless irritating and frustrating way of ordering your food.

Imagine this. You are given a menu which is only in English and Jap Romanji (Jap Hanyu Pinyin). Mum struggled with the words and takes 10 mins to decide what to eat.

There's a magic electronic pen that takes down your order, by tapping the pen's tip on a spot beside the dish you want. Upon a successful tap, the pen's built in speaker will blare out your order. You will then have to tap on a quantity, e.g. the digit '1' to indicate that you want 1 set, and then the word 'Enter'.

Aside from these 'buttons' on the menu, there's even a volume control, 'Cancel Order' and a 'Review' button to tap that spells out all your orders! Here's what I heard after tapping the 'Review' button:

Ebifrycurryrice(pauses 0.5 second)KatsumiyaCurryRice(zammbreak)
SakeSashimi(zammbreak)coffee(zammbreak)hotgreentea(zammbreak)
ChickenkKatsuCurryRice(zammbreak)KarrageCurryRice(zammbreak)
EbitenSoba(zammbreak)SpicyMiso.

Dear asked: "Isn't there any 'Slow Motion' button?"

KNN. Thanks to my goldfish memory, I had to listen to it over and over again. I nearly wanted to jot the orders into my mobile phone.

After spending 15 mins in all struggling with the pen as though as I am masturbating it, I finally tapped on 'Send' to confirm. That's all? I was left wondering for a moment whether to throw the pen at the waiter next, or if the pen was clever enough to send our orders to the kitchen. Maybe another magic pen in the kitchen scribbles our orders on a whiteboard?

After 3 seconds, the pen suddenly blurted out:

"Please call the waiter!"

Ah. That leaves me with a clue. A young little waitress responded to my beckoning and came over. She asked if I have tapped on 'Send'.

Yes, I replied curtly.

Oh, I'm sorry but somehow my system could not register your orders. Why not I take your orders again??

I should've listened to Dear to ask the waitress to take down our orders in the first place!

2. A fleet of couldn't-care-less trainee waiters/waitresses -

They can't be bothered to fill up your teacup when it's running low. They prefer to punch SMSes away in front of you than being attentive in their service. The best part is, after waiting half an hour for our YakiUdons, one waiter checked with the kitchen and told us "I'm sorry but we have a lot of orders queuing up".

When Alex asked how long more do we have to wait, he murkily replied "Around 30 more minutes."




To solve this problem, a Manager kindly asked if we would like to change our orders to something that is faster to prepare. And the food did came within 5 - 10 mins as promised. Not only that, he also asked out of goodwill if we would like some complimentary ice cream. But it never came anyway. Haha.


3. No proper communication between the staff -

After waiting for an agonizing 10 mins, my bro, parents and 大嫂 finally got their food. While they were eating, a waiter served up one of our previously cancelled dishes. We asked the poor bloke to check with the manager and cancel ALL the previous orders. Not surprisingly, another came by and served the cancelled YakiUdon. And another. WALAU~EH!!! Vomit blood like a volcano!

Fall off chair plus earthquake (due to volcano)

Not forgetting the promised complimentary ice-cream that never came and the cock-up bill that came with the cock-up orders. The only deeds that deserves to be commended was the waiver of the 10% service charge by that manager and 4x$10 dining vouchers. Now THAT is something justified.

In fact, the food is still ok, especially the ramen and Spicy Miso. The curry rice was mediocre. We all knew it wasn't the manager's fault, it's how the company trained their staff that marred their image. I was actually recommended by a Manager from their company to visit and give my support, so it's kind of a letdown given their service standards.

I believe this place has the potential to perform better, let's just hope that they can organize more training sessions for their staff. And please, remove that pen- ordering thingy!

Kalene Dear's Bday Celebration (written by herself)

I'm so happy that Dear wrote such a sweet post on her blog for her birthday. Quite funny too. With her special permission I'm sharing that post with all of ya, since such a post can't be coming from me. So here it is, Enjoy!

She Wrote:

You know, I was never looking forward to my 25th birthday. The number 25 is really such a taboo to me because it transforms me for a early-20s young lady to a mid-20s. Next year, I'll be a late-20s. Damn.

However when my birthday was nearing, Dear told me that he had planned some surprises for me. Since my birthday fell on a weekday this year, Dear reckoned that he will celebrate it on the Saturday before. Oh I love surprises! I patiently waited for that day.

That day came and Dear was supposed to pick me up from my house but he overslept and didn't had enough time to do his preparation work. He suggested that I meet him at Orchard Road instead.

Just like normal, we had a simple dinner at Sushi Tei as he explained that the surprises will come after that. We finished our food and Dear said we'll be heading to Far East Plaza. Huh? Far East got surprise one meh?

This boy brought me to the Goodwood Park Hotel for a couple spa at the Aspara! Sure to burn one hole in his pocket.

We recieved a warm welcome at this renowned spa and were soon ushered into a private spa suite. We opted for Balinese massage with mineral salt bath.

After changing into our spa robes

While waiting for our therapist

After a good 60 minute massage, we were treated to a 20 minute mineral salt jaccuzi.

It was our virgin experience for a full body massage. It was kinda shy when the therapist massaged my backside but the worse came when she told me to flip over. My breasts were fully exposed for her viewing pleasure and the last thing I thought was she would actually massage my chest. -_-"'. I guess Dear was equally bashful when his inner thighs were being massaged.

Now that we finished our heavenly massage and I could feel like I was floating, I was whisked into a taxi and off we went on to the next surprise. To ensure that he doesn't give himself away, Dear made me put on his noise-cancellation head phones (with mp3 of course) while he give the taxi driver instructions.

Minutes later, we arrived at this place called Hotel Re! My gosh, it's the latest boutique hotel in town. Am I gonna stay here tonight?

Yes!

My darling booked a James Bond themed suite. I was over the moon! Two holes in his pocket now.

Heart shape made up of pink petals by darling earlier in the day.

It's a water bed!

The bathroom was huge! I saw my dream rain shower!

Came with a jaccuzi too! Blue rose petals by darling too. We had red wine while we soaked in there. So romantic.

Knowing that I dread 25, Dear prepared a 21 year-old cake for me. I'm forever 21 in his heart!

Happy birthday!

Who said that water beds are fanstatic? We were certainly 2 people in this world who didn't enjoy it. We had less than good sleep that night which caused Dear to be super sleepy the next morning. Soon after our complimentary breakfast, he conked out.

Hey that's not all for my birthday.

On the actual day, we met out after work and Dear again surprised me with this cute little stuffed toy which he thought looked like him. He hoped that this fur ball could give me the comfort when he's not around.

He named it French Fries.

Bears a resemblance?

I really appreciate what my guy had done for me. Make me feel so guilty for all the nonsense that I have given him. I'll be try to be good ok?

I heart the Botak Head!