SMS Services Degrate Our Communication

“How huh? He never replies me. Did he receive my sms?”

“What took her so long to reply?”

“Should i reply to acknowledge?”

Sounds familiar right? Smses and Internet chatting services have become so convenient nowadays. But they fundamentally work the same as traditional letter writing. First, you have a message to convey. Second,  message often comes with anticipation for the next response or replies. Third, you sit and think of it all day till you receive the next writing. And the whole cycle repeats.

Except that we don’t sit and wait whole day now (sometimes we still do), the replies are almost instantaneously (not always) that we lose the anticipation (now we wait too long and get frustrated). And a sms, with no replies, followed by a phone call, can be seem as urgent, impatient or even rude (at least for me). So how different are we from letter writing?

This sometimes bother me. I don’t know if i should ring the person up, to know that he or she has gotten my message. Is this the right time to call? Am i a nuisance? Thoughts like that often float in my mind. My anticipations transform into hallucinations in my head, thinking what is going on or what the receiver is thinking.

So dear friends, don’t ignore my smses. It’s heart aching and brain damaging for me to wait.

P/S: And if i did ever ignore your smses, i’m very sorry because i want to ignore you.

Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream

Ever since my first Salt ice cream at Sushi Tei, I kinda fall in love with this savory option. Unfortunately, salt ice cream is only in their seasonal menu.  The closest I can find is Sea Salt Caramel ice cream from Azabo Sabo.

I wish it’s a little harder, like frozen from the fridge. But Lester says Azabu Sabo’s ice cream are soft ice creams, so this is the “hardness”. Taste wise, it isn’t too bad. Caramel blends out taste buds shocks for any first timer who doesn’t like know what this will taste like.

Not forgetting Lester’s all time favorite, anything which deals with banana, Banana Chocolate Ice Cream!

Azabu Sabo - Sea Salt Cameral and Banana Chocolate Ice CreamSea Salt Ice Cream (Left), Banana Chocolate (Right)

吊虾很好玩

Impromptu activity and we decided to go prawning near Lakeside 2 weeks ago.

31102009036The other 2 couples

The rain shaken our intention to meet a little, but it does make the night a little cooler than usual. The charges are 3 hours for $28 per fishing rod,  chicken heart baits provided. We are allowed to share our rods, so you actually share out the cost.

I conquer my fear of touching raw meat while Lester conquers his fear of unhooking and touching the struggling prawns.

It takes us sometime to master the “skill” of catching prawns, many escape their death fate. We only caught 2 in the end. Lala~ It’s fun, really!

30102009029I think i am standing at the bridge.31102009032Lester waiting to hook up prawns.31102009035Our total catch, meaning from 6 of us.

A Christmas All Deck Out

This year’s Orchard Road Christmas 2009 lighting ceremony is held  at Orchard ION. This lighting ceremony has started since 1984 and has been running continuously for 26 years.

This year, 3 iconic mascots are brought back into Orchard Road, namely the snowman in the blue zone, reindeer in the orange zone and Santa Claus in the red zone. If I did not remember wrongly, lighting hours from Mondays to Thursdays and Sundays are from 7pm to 12am. Fridays and Saturdays are from 7pm to 2am. On Christmas eve and New Year eve, the lights will go on from 7pm to 6am the next morning.

Blue Zone
Blue Zone
Orange Zone
Orange Zone
Red Zone
Red Zone

We hopped onto the Hippo bus for a 30 minutes tour in Orchard Road after the ceremony.

Hippo Bus
Hippo Bus

Lester blogs a little more about this. Check out his site to find out more.

HP Mini By Studio Tord Boontje

HP recently launchs a HP Mini, a netbook. This is collaborated with a world-renowned industrial designer Tord Boontje.

I shall not address on the technical specifications of the netbook. Instead, we are very privileged to meet Tord personally last night at Gallery Hotel’s Bar 84.

bar84
Bar 84 at Gallery Hotel

This is his first time in Singapore, specially for HP Mini launch. His works are mainly nature inspired and highly stylised partly because his mum teaches art and textiles. He also bring this continuous theme into the netbook design. The white HP Mini is covered with white flora and fauna prints design by Tord. Embedded within the intertwining prints are more than 30 endangered animals. Tord also realises that HP has been greatly involved in environmental programs, therefore he suggests an added message, an awareness to be more environmentally responsible for these endangered species.

HP Mini
HP Mini Separate Bundle

HP Mini
HP Mini Outside

HP Mini Inside
HP Mini Inside

HP Mini Mouse
HP Mouse

Tord also works with several materials such as paper, fabric, glass and pottery. I personally fall in love with the delicacy of his work and the experimentation of the medium. So lovely.

I get to pop a question in Q & A session. The question goes like this: Being that your design is so organic and experimental, do you classified yourself as more craft inclined or technology inclined designer? One of his design philosophies is to be socially and environmentally responsible, he answers that he engages craftsmen from the Africa to work on some of his projects. In this way, he keeps the human interaction in a loop and expose these people to outside world too.

We each have an umbrella with Tord’s print to take away. Yes, he autographed for us!

HP Mini UmbrellaUmbrella

Lay Hiang Umbrella
Me & Tord

Lay Hiang Umbrella Autographed
My Autographed Umbrella

Lester Umbrella
Lester & Tord

Lester Umbrella Autographed
Lester Autographed Umbrella

And crazily, I took all the animals I can find on the umbrella.

Rabbit
Rabbit

Elephant
Elephant

Peacock
Peacock

Butterfly
Butterfly

Bird
Bird

Polar Bear
Polar Bear

Bird
Bird (Pardon me, I don’t the species)

Swallow
Swallow

Dragonfly
Dragonfly