Meaningless

I think I'm......... broken?

I suddenly don't see the meaning to things that I used to really enjoy in the past; Lunar New Year and my birthday.

Just these two for now. Not sure if there are going to be more things that I no longer feel excited about?? But to not be excited about Lunar New Year and my birthday makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with me...........

Like... It's LUNAR NEW YEAR and MY BIRTHDAY!!!

MY BIRTHDAY!?

I used to feel really happy when it's Lunar New Year, NOT just for the red packets, but (as I age) mostly for the family gatherings and snacks I'll get to eat! Snacks I'll get to eat!!!! All the tangerine and pineapple tarts I'll be stuffing myself with. Om nom nom 🤭

BUT! This year, all I want and did was coope up at home scrolling through people's Instagram and wish I'd felt the same joy they were showing. I wasn't stuffing myself too. I've also been requesting for mum's porridge when it's dinner time.. This is ridiculous?! I don't even like porridge on normal days!!

As for my birthday.......... I don't know.

I don't know where I want to go.
I don't know what I want to do.
I don't know what I want to eat.

I don't know...

Karena asked when I want to celebrate my birthday with the clique waaaaaaay ahead of time, but I was focused on planning our Lunar New Year (our anniversary too!) dinner first and reduced that priority. Now that our dinner is done and dusted..., there is still no date from me.

I'm not sure if I'm going through something internally again? But I'm not unhappy. Just.... meh. I don't even have a description of how I feel right now.

And when my friends start asking me when, what and where... I just keep saying I don't have that celebratory mood for my birthday, but I definitely do not want to do anything (like plan or think).

I am a tiny wee bit disappointed though; dates were mentioned and some things were asked, but things didn't follow through.... Kindda made me wonder, was I supposed to initiate, poll and plan for my birthday?? If yes, this year is just not it.

Suddenly, all I wanna do is spend my time at work, in gym classes and at home.

Fuck. Is this quarter-life crisis!?

We Lou Hei-ed!

With the new PMOs @ Soup Restaurant!


And exactly a week after, the project louhei-ed today too!!
First time organising this, there was so much to take note, setup and look after!


Everyone's happy faces and the loud cheers made it all worthy though. :')

I am growing up to really like Yusheng... This sweet (many times too sweet) oriental salad with sashimi. ♥ Hate it when they put abalone though. NOT THE SAME.

Okay, bye. HUAT AH!!

Zi Char for CNY

It's almost midnight, but I'm going to make this quick because my heart feels so full (my tummy too!) that I cannot exactly sleep right now. :3 Just back from the clique's CNY celebration!! &It's also our anniversary in 4 days!! How time flies... But more accurately, how old we have aged...

Guess what we had for dinner tonight!

Zi Char!!!!!!! Lol.

Will we soon start drinking beer at coffee shops??

The Zi Char place we went to is pretty famous though - Rongji Seafood (荣记煮炒) right in front of Northstar at Ang Mo Kio. It was a nice experience because the place was crowded and felt really festive! Also not exactly cheap, so I guess this is what being an adult is like.....

Going to simple places that ain't that cheap anyhow.

After dinner, we settled at Gary's place because it was really nearby and played a few rounds of card games!

&That was all...... Lol.
 Simple yet, a time together I am really treasuring with everyone just buzzing around in their own lives.

May we continue to have our annual CNY reunion dinners till we grow old with kids and grey hair!!! 😄




Also, cool kids lou yu sheng with mini-magnums!

IT'S THE ROOSTER YEAR!

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!!!

This orientation of our living room is really terrible for any family shots in the day!
Anyhow, this is us all on the first day of the rooster year, in a variety of uncoordinated colors. Lol.

My family's Lunar New Year has always been simple. Though I sometimes envy how most of my friends would dress up to go visiting different families and gamble their redpackets away, I somehow have came to appreciate our family's simplicity. Especially after starting work. Such a good break!! &Hardly anyone works during this festive so nothing much to catch-up on when we're back at work. HEHE.


This is us on the second day; me standing up to go pick Sugar for our family shot, before heading out to our uncle's place to visit our maternal grandparents.


Psst. No one takes picture for us; I love love love the invention of tripods!


Grandma!
It is even simpler when we visit our grandparents.

Our uncle's family is usually back in Malaysia to visit my aunt's relative so we're usually just sitting around munching on their Chinese New Year goodies. HEHEHE.






😄

EVERYBODY HUAT AHHHH!!!

Saturday: Family, Work & Friends!

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii 👋
Yes, that's me today in office. Sigh.

One Saturday, many places to be, many things to do!


First up, Lunar New Year visiting!
Well, not really.... Dad has some work errands to run so we dropped by his office after breakfast.
Got red packets though. Muahahahah. :X

Then then then........... We hung out a bit and Dad drove me to office.

Yes.... Office. On a Saturday.

SIGH.

And what was I doing...?


Making sure the team has a full tummy all day while they work!
Nando's on the menu this afternoon~ :)

Today's the second Saturday we're in office for dress rehearsal; Simulating the launch of our system. OUR PROJECT IS GOING LIVE SOON!! 2 more weeks to go. Soft Launch next week and then... the real deal! Time flies.. I've been with the project for 18 months now. Wow... Though not from the requisition phase, but from the Analyse and Design phase all way through! Sucha long time.

ANYWAY!

Work was simple, and I get OT pay. hehehe.

After work, it was an evening with friends from work lol and we celebrated Jocelyn's birthday!


:)



We also played a round of Escape Room. Fun shit.

Fast-forward to 2017 where I'm blogging this now; I actually can't remember if we escaped within the 60 minutes. HAHHA. I only remember being really involved and having a lot of fun while trying to exit each room. Different from the time when the clique played the escape room in JB (Read here!) - That was a slightly scarier and less fun because it was a lot messier! Tsk. I remember (actually read from my blog) that the staff even pushed and lightly hit Jolene and Weishan. SO annoying!

ANYWAY! Back to this~



They also took some Polaroid shots! Good times! :)






Okay, I feel lazy now. BYE!!

Happypills Celebrate CNY, Anniversary & Sam's Birthday!

One evening, so many celebrations!! 🎉
The clique turned 9 few days ago, but it was the second day of the Lunar New Year so we celebrated it today instead! heh. 💓 To be honest, I think I miscalculated......... The first year we got together was in 2008 (that BBQ at Lance's place) so it should be the 8th anniversary this year, but based on my previous entries, it's the 9th already......... HMM. :/

Anyway! Samuel's birthday is also in........ 4 days (taking that I'm blogging on the 13th morning already) so we just combined them all~ Lunar New Year, our anniversary and his birthday! 🍊🥂🎂 And what better way to celebrate this than to have a steamboat together?

A simple dish for that signifies 'reunion'. As we all embark on our careers, we have slightly less time for each other than we used to... It's sad, but not really. Sad for obvious reasons, but not really because.... Absence makes the heart grow fonder? Lol. What nonsense.

BACK TO THIS EVENING~~

So, we were supposed to meet earlier to buy the ingredients for steamboat and.... prepare dinner together.

But look who turn up early among the 8 of us!


Just us 3. Lol.
There were already things prepared at home, so the 3 of us did some quick shopping before heading back to my place for the rest of the preparation. It's been a while since everyone gathered in the "headquarters" a.k.a my place. Hahaha.

It's just the 8 of us this time because Chiulee and Lance couldn't make it, like duh~ Had tonnes of fun nonetheless ^^


Sugar look so unwilling here.......... LOL.
This hairdo is not working for you, Sugar!


DINNER IS SERVED!!!
After everyone chipped in to do a little bit here there. Mum marinated the meat and prepared the sauces! ^^ I am forever blessed to have a good cook who loves to cook as my mama.

But as always, too much food is prepared for a steamboat dinner..... LOL. We should learn how to section our dishes. Take out just half portions and open up more when we do not have enough. Then again...... They joy of having steamboat during the Lunar New Year kind of signifies having abundance of food on the table? I'm just guessing. LOL.


Pictures of food also wanna squeeze in my face!


LETS' EAT!




Just look at Samuel's sian face here. LOL.
We definitely started eating after this shot. Lol.

Preparation and cleaning up takes so much longer than actually eating the food.

&After dinner, we took a 'family' portrait! Sugar included!


Just when she looks at the camera and somewhat happily, the other humans weren't looking at the camera. -.-




♥


Surprise, surprise!
His Birthday Strudel!




One birthday, plenty of wishes together! Hehe.


Right after taking pictures and blowing off the candle, no one else was interested already. Lol.
It's difficult to decide what to do after dinner these days..... People say Singapore is boring.. To me, yes and no. Most of us just don't find the available activities appealing or interesting enough. Not just at night. I mean in general.

Like what activities, you ask?

There are movies to watch, places like pubs and parks to drink and chill, museums to explore, kites to fly, bikes to ride along a coast, natural places to hike........... Why am I digressing?  But really, what else do you do overseas that is not possible here?

The best kind of activity though, is the one done with friends.
For me... So anything counts! As long as I have good people with me.


Check out the crazy huge cards we were playing with!
Played 'Indian Poker' and 'Up & Down'. Gambling is what makes this festive the Lunar New Year! Lol. At least for most people luh.

Karena edited some clips we shot last night~ HAHAHA. Enjoy!
Posted many days later, and this is one of the benefits(?) or blogging backlogs. LOL.

CNY Episode 1: Karena invited her friends over for some gambling session and never did she expect she will be the one.... #actualgambling #ilosehor #$7😂

A post shared by Karena / Yaping / Pingponggg 🎀 (@karenacyp) on Feb 17, 2016 at 5:34am PST

CNY Episode 2 Part 1: Types of gamblers you see during Chinese New Year..... Which one are you? Hahaha #actualgambling #ilosehor $7😂

A post shared by Karena / Yaping / Pingponggg 🎀 (@karenacyp) on Feb 19, 2016 at 5:15am PST

CNY Episode 2 Part2: Types of gamblers you see during Chinese New Year...... Hahaha true colours all come out! #actualgambling #ilosehor #$7😂

A post shared by Karena / Yaping / Pingponggg 🎀 (@karenacyp) on Feb 19, 2016 at 5:17am PST

Great shot~ Such a huge reaction I was giving.
Obviously cannot remember why already. LOL.

And check out the table! Look who's been lucky and winning all our money!


Us watching 2013's Christmas celebration. Oh man... That crazy celebration. Hahah.

Since the blog entry is killed with no more images to see, here's the video we made of that night!

&... I'm done~

TO MANY YEARS MORE WITH THIS CRAZY BUNCH 
OF FRIENDS I LOVE LOVE!!
💙💚💜💘💛🖤❤️

Year of the Monkey!

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!🍊🍊

It's the year of the Monkey, Monkey~ 🐵
&This year has been fairly simple... Actually, it feels like things are just getting simpler as we grow up. I remember we had a lot more decorations in the house when we were younger, we even used to have pussy willows in the house!! But now, it's just what I want to put up... And I get lazy sometimes. :X Things aging does to you.



🍊🍊


Reunion Dinner 2 evenings ago!
This year at second Uncle's place with a mix of home cooked and tzechar dishes! :)

I have 2 aunties from Hainan and they make this awesome sauce that goes so well with simple boiled chicken! See that small bowl on the right? That's it! We have it quite often during our family dinners. Like.. almost all the time. LOL. It goes well with other dishes too, but best with boiled chicken! I have no idea how they make it, but it's good. :D



Just 3 families and grandma

After dinner, we hung out a little at their place before heading back home to watch the Lunar New Year show on Channel 8, together with grandma. Uncles and their wives kick started the festive with mahjong through the night! Till Day 1 of CNY where they come by out place to visit!



🍊🍊


"Why am I wearing this so early in the morning!?"

No pictures taken of our lunch or wishings in the afternoon. Was helping out in the kitchen since I woke up. Gaaaawd! So much to cook = too much to prepare and wash.


全家福! Though not us all. Check out lazy Sugar with her heavy head. Lol.
I always miss the timing to take family photos. I remember we should take a shot only after our third uncle says he was leaving. Boo.


Ended Day 1 with a movie with the family!

To be honest, it's 2017 now, and I cannot remember what movie we watched! :X It's highly highly possible that it was "From Vegas to Macau 3" though. Hahah. Anyway, just the uncles for movies because the nephew and nieces went out with our aunties to visit some other families.



🍊🍊 TODAY!


Day 2 with Chua Family's lovebirds.


Our own mini 全家福; though Sugar looks a bit unfocussed. :X


&At Uncles' place with grandparents!

I love visiting their place! Technically, our uncle's place is the only place we visit every Lunar New Year. :X But anyway! It's because my grandma would stock up the house with plenty of snacks! Muahahaha. TIME TO FEAST! And see, they have pussy willows!


Forever can't take a single good shot with me. SIGH.




Look, we have a poser! Lol.


♥

& that is all for my Lunar New Year. 13 more days of the festive to go! HEH.

Oh wait! Today is also the clique's anniversary and I can't wait to see them this Friday!!!!!!!!!


The fountain at the back looks as if it is some natural scenery. LMAO.