Birthday Celebration

The 1st birthday celebration of the year again. As per our “tradition”, we met up to celebrate with Huiyu, though it was a belated birthday celebration. I met up with Ling 1st. Supposed to go esplanade but since the actual dining place was not fixed, I suggested TCC @ Citylink. Birthday gal gave the go ahead so off we went.

TCC is a tad too bright and not as cosy as the previous Pacific café but overall is still quite a nice place to drink tea, chat and do some people watching (if you sit outside).

Was fiddling around with Huiyu’s present when she arrived. Still fiddling with it while talking to her. Realized it was too late to hide it as she grinned impishly at me and looked pointedly at the presents. Still, it was not the time to give it to her yet. We do have our standards, you know: Dinner, desserts then the presents. Haha.

Present includes a photo album from PRINTS (really pretty one :p) and a $40 voucher from Charles & Keith. Ran out of ideas what to buy as the years goes by unless birthday gal has specific requests.

Alicia made a suggestion that we should actually try reverting back to our secondary school days and buy those kiddish and sometimes outrageous gifts, to bring back the fond memories. Good idea actually. I remembered there was even a time when we bought a similar number of gifts to match the age. Think it was when we were 16 or 18. Ali’s birthday is next. Shall do that for her then.

Had an interesting revelation. We have known each other for 10 years! Even though our “6 sisters” has shrunk to “4 sisters”, I’m really glad we are still together and making the effort to meet up and celebrate birthdays and Christmas. Ali commented that when we were “young”, we promised to never lose contact and to meet up as often as we can. But in the end, we still could not escape the inevitable: Work and boyfriends taking up most of our time. Sigh. Staying together as a group really needs effort from all parties.

Poor Ling was sick though. Had to leave early without taking her dessert. We had the chef’s recommendation, a scrumptious chocolate cake with hazelnut flavoring. Forgotten what’s the name (it’s the first dessert listed in the menu) but it’s really delicious! But the serving is a bit small.

So our next planned outing is Picnic @ ECP! Looking forward to that!

P’s: Still waiting for our photos, Alicia! :)

The Freediver

Chanced upon another fantastic movie on the Hallmark channel a few weeks back. “The Freediver”, is a movie of a tragic love story in the world of freediving, a form of extreme sports and the power of the human spirit. Set in Greece, a talented and determined young woman, Danai Varveri was persuaded by Hector, who later became her love interest, to undergo training in the BIOS institute on the Greek island of Spetses to break a FreeDiving World Record that was held by an egocentric American woman, Maggie. However, the doctor at the institute in charge of her training was like a mad scientist and pushed Danai to perform to her limits. He even hides her medical condition from her in order to enter her in the competition. Sadly, between fufiling her dream of being a world record breaker and Hector, her lover and mentor who worries about her health (Danai went into a coma once whilst she was training), she chose the former.

The climax of the film was the part where Danai and Maggie compete directly for the world championship. I was practically holding my breath when Danai sank into a coma again when she was making her way up to the surface. (Note: Spoiler ahead. Do not read beyond this line if planning to watch this movie on Hallmark :p) Miraculously, she gain consciousness in the nick of time and continued her ascent to the surface before she was disqualified by the safety/medical team. It was so touching and joyful when Hector dived into the water and hugged her when she was declared champion. It came as such a shock when suddenly Danai went limp in Hector’s arms and died. Reasons for her death were not given but I guess it might be due to her medical condition. She was able to persevere to the end due to her courage and determination to be nothing but the best. This movie got me thinking: the human spirit is indeed powerful. Nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it.

Before I watched this movie, I don’t have any idea what freediving is all about except that it is a form of extreme sport. Did some research on this interesting sport. Basically, it is spending time underwater without mechanical breathing apparatus. Freediving is not just a competitive sport, it is also for relaxation, underwater photography, sports like underwater hockey, synchronized swimming etc. However, the techniques of freediving have been developed long ago for the gathering of food such as spear fishing and military application. Here are a few links that can be further explored.

http://www.aida-international.org/ (International association for the Development of Freediving; look at the disciplines for the different competition categories, really interesting)

http://www.freedivers.net/

http://www.freedive.com.au/index2.html (the photo of the diver under the sting-ray is really cool!)

Entertaining video

Watched a clip of Russell Peters, a popular comedian’s stand up performance recently. He’s really amusing, makes you laugh out loud. It’s quite a long clip but definitely worth watching. Here’s the link: http://desispeed.com/video.htm. Enjoy!

Reliving my Childhood

It has been ages since I have gotten onto a carousel due to the age and height limit. The funfairs held in Singapore abide strictly by the rules so no carousel for me ever since I reached the height of ~130cm. So, imagine my delight after I realized that there are no such restrictions for the carousel rides in Genting outdoor theme park!
My bro, sis-in-law and I thus clambered up and started eyeing for unoccupied seats, specifically the horses. Shucks! None was unoccupied, seems like everyone is interested in the horses rather than the camels and pumpkins or whatever. Luckily we found one on the top level. My bro and sis-in-law generously offered the horse to me and found themselves a seat alongside.
Granted, the horse or in fact the whole carousel was really not in tip-top shape and there was no accompanying fairytale-like Disney music, but I did enjoy the ride, albeit a short one :)