~=arcanedenial=~: January 2008

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Of Ponies, Kway Chap & Menotti

I had a great time with John tonight. We were having one of our usual meet ups after a long while type thing, and I was a little late. By the time I arrived at Raffles City, he was already at the bed linen section of Robinsons. Now, I have always found it slightly weird for two guys to be together at the bed linen section of any departmental store. The salespeople just tend to stare and whisper a lot...but then again, I don't really care...at some strange level, the attention is sorta nice. Wahaha.

So I reach the wagons where there were many designs of bed linen on sale, and spot John almost immediately. He was fawning over this particular design with ponies on them (the packaging actually said 'Trojan Horses' but the idiot insisted on calling them ponies), where the ponies came in many different designs. There were rainbows one, grassy ones, ones that looked like sheep...well, you get the idea....I think. So John goes on and on about how the ponies are so pretty and cute, and how he wants to get them for his room in Newcastle and I sorta joined in the fun and talked really loudly about how I hated the ponies and the banter between us (I'm sure) scared the sales boy a little. He probably has never seen two guys talk so much about bed linen...wahaha..

All that fun over and done with (Mr Siow spent $100+ on the bed linen..sheesh), we headed to get some hawker food cos' he's leaving and I think he wanted to stock on local Singaporean food before he leaves for about a year or so. We had Kway Chap and a side of roasted duck meat too. Shiok lah... it was the stall near Bugis. Not too bad...only spent $11.70 between the two of us.

After that, we head down to Menotti's for drinks and dessert because I'd never been there before (to the horror of Mr John Siow). According to him (or his expression at least), my not having been there was apparently quite blasphemous. Ah well, I totally fell in love with the place. We had hot chocolate, lemon meringue tart thingy, and this mousse thingy called Canolli. Freaking good sia...everything was exceptionally yummy. I know the desserts all go for half price after 9pm, so all of you reading this, get ready for invitations to join me at this splendid place soon yeah?

To John: I had a great time tonight. Please take care when you are over there, and don't forget what we talked about yeah? You will be fine, more than fine. Gambatte ne!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

SHOUTOUT!!!

I hate not having a laptop/desktop!!!

ARGH!!!

Friday, January 25, 2008

It's been awhile...

Hi guys...it's been a long while since I posted anything. What to do...my desktop 'exploded' and for those who know...my laptop is about as reliable as, well...my desktop that exploded. Needless to say, I have been struggling to survive, and am doing pretty well so far. My mom has the intention to buy a new laptop for me (dunno why also, but she offered to pay half, and to pay the full cost first...amazing stuff). This is the one I'm currently eyeing (yes yes, I know it's a Dell, but somehow I seem strangely attracted to it):

Dell XPS M1530

It's supposed to be a gaming laptop lah...so I can finally return to my GuildWars! Wahahaha....anyway, we should be going shopping this weekend. Wish me luck!

Alright, here's what I really wanna blog about.

For those of you who know, I've been involved in writing a book (www.pickmeup-book.com), and being Chief Editor hasn't been easy. It's really been a stretch for me, and all of it for charity. Yesterday, while I was assisting at the ECI headquarters in Joo Chiat, the Make-A-Wish Foundation CEO came down to pay us a visit, and wanted to see what we were doing and to thank us for our efforts.

As she shared with us how she got into this foundation, and described the process of 'wish granting' for the kids with life-threatening diseases, I really began to see how my efforts are going to pay off, and I began to see how this book is going to benefit these children who do not have the ability to make wishes happen for themselves. She shared one story with us.

11 year old, Joseph has leukemia, and has to stay in the hospital most of the time. Because of this, he longed for a laptop, so that he could stay connected to the world, and his friends via the Internet. Simple wish to grant yeah? Well, the whole point about wish granting is to create a magical experience for the kid in question. Now, the volunteers who had been working with Joseph also know of his love for cooking, but he never has the opportunity to do so. So one of them took the initiative to collaborate with Four Seasons Hotel, and arranged for their head chef to have a private cooking session with Joseph.

So they took Joseph to the hotel, led him through the grand entrance, and all the way to a function room where there was only a mobile kitchen top set up, and a dining table. As Joseph entered the function room, he was amazed to see his parents (who were supposed to be working), two of his best friends, and his medical social worker who referred him to Make-A-Wish. They then handed him his very own apron, name tag, and chef's hat, and immediately the head chef worked with Joseph,. teaching him how to prepare a four-course meal for his parents. He did so, and then sat down to dine with them. It was a magical experience for him...

And they presented the laptop to him as well, of course...

This story really touched me. I was imagining what it would be like to be Joseph, having one of my greatest dreams/wishes/fantasies granted. Amazing stuff...I'm glad that we chose the Make-A-Wish Foundation as our beneficiary....it's just so freaking cool...

That was enough to keep me going for the rest of the race. Thanks Debbie for sharing that amazing story...

It's almost time for my 2pm lecture. School just seems so...well, boring, when I'm doing something meaningful. But I know I need to get my foundations well set up before I go running all over the shop. Yeah, I am tired, and I'm learning how to function with low amounts of sleep and what not, but hey, if I grow bigger and better with this experience, who knows what's to come? I shall continue with my lectures in school, and if I can create a few miracles along the way, why not? Hahaha.

I'm loving it... ^_^