Shakira's La Tortura 'Live' Performance

Hmm...her isolations are juz too good man! Damn makes me feel like i really must rid my excess flab! Oh well, enjoy the performance

A series of Upcomin Events

that needs me to fork out $$$! Hmmm i dun make much but gosh, i juz hate to miss these!

1. trip to Phuket, end of July (at least $200, lucky someone is toppin up the rest of the expenses for the trip! *thank u*)
   
2. choreography workshops by Kaeshi, co-founder of Bellyqueen, 20th & 21st Aug (2X$85)
   
3. drum solo workshop by Rose, the Australian Drum Solo Queen, 21st Aug ($25)
   
4. WOMAD Singapore, 26th-28th Aug (at least $24/day)
   
5. Poly Mates Gatherin, 1st Sept (hmm Sakura International Buffet? $26?)

oh Goodness!! Almost $500 to buy knowledge & happiness for the heart & soul ?? anyone care to sponsor for items no. 2 to 4...or smuggle me in for WOMAD? NO??  *faint*

Together Again

As we go on
We remember
All the times we
Had together
And as our lives change
Come Whatever
We will still be
Friends Forever

catch up time wif my poly mates@West Coast park on 17th June. more pics @Ned's

Don't Blink!

Check out my Home page!! Look wat's back??? My Backgrounds!!!! WooooHHooo!!! I'm freakin ELATED, do u noe how much i'm so freakin affected by their disappearance past couple of day?? Welcome back babies!!! Ahhhh....i'm at peace now .

Apparently, the problem that made them disappear was a change in my photo URL. (right click on photo->properties->u see a buncha http://bla bla bla). Luckily i approached the Customer Service and enquired abt my problem since it persisted even after i have changed the theme to CLASSIC. So thanx to Curtis, the Customer Service personnel, now my site's lookin as good as it used to!

WhoooooPeY!!! Thank u Multiply !!!

Oh and I'm a new Aunt today!! My cuzzin gave birth to a set of twin baby girls!! How lovely!! Double Whoooopey do do!!

ArGhHH!!!

Crap man!! Another change in interface?!! Usually i'll rejoice but tis is abit overboard lah! i'm so happy wif the previous set up, why can't Multiply juz add more new features without disturbin the site settings?? Now i can't even see my Nude Beach babes, my strunged up ballet puppets and my Green Brained girl!!! Arrghhhhh...Changes Changes!!! Now must meddle wif my site again!

*stamp feet*

The Manhattan Fish Market

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Seafood
Location:	Plaza Singapura, Singapore

Tis eatery is a lil spin off of "Fish & Co." cos they have similar offerings, from the table cloth to the food to the prices, tho i think The Manhattan Food Market probably has a lil bit more variety of seafood and charges slightly lesser. The eatery has a trademark dish that requires staff to literally FLAME the seafood right in the faces of those who ordered it.

I had Black Pepper Butter Fish ($15.90) and bf had Manhattan Fish & Chips ($9.90). I have no idea wat the heck is Butter Fish but it smelled really fishy but taste like chicken. Reminds me of fish usually used for Assam Pedas. Tenggiri perhaps? but it doesn't look like tenggiri *shrugs* For the fish & chips, it looked and tasted pretty much like the one in Fish & Co. tho slightly smaller in portion.




Ambience is pretty cosy and it even has an inhouse projector showin Underwater life.



Overall, it's nice n i'll most probably come back to try out their other fish dishes & seafood platter but somehow i still prefer Fish & Co. hmm...oh and we weren't given any mints after meal. Had fish breath all the way till i met up Hafiz & Firus and they offered some nice Mudpie from Coffee Club...ok, that's another story. hehe...

5 Guys & a Gurl

Pics of our meet up on 12th June 05
From Holland Village->Beach Road->Kallang Waterfront (no pics@tis location, photographer needed toilet urgently, forgot to tag along camera)

Sorry guys, the pics at Beach Road are pixelated badly, was paranoid abt "Flashin" in that hawker centre...as if our laughters did not get much attn already.

Marriage Mania: What's Your Deadline?

Found this on iVillage's site.  Juz tot of sharin since tis is a "Peer Pressure" topic amg some of us, Bachelors & Bachelorettes

*Photo courtesy of Jules, the model herself*

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The old-fashioned new relationship trend

Returning home to Birmingham, Alabama, after grad school last year, Satina Richardson was determined to "work on her personal life," and by that she really meant "find a husband." Obsessed with wearing that white dress within one year's time, Satina began her very own "Operation: Matrimony." Since there were no hot prospects on her horizon, the then 29-year-old opted to date a jerk she'd long been avoiding ‑- just for the sake of dating someone. Not surprisingly, the relationship was a disaster from day one, yet she still hung in there waiting for him to propose. And did he? Yep. He proposed to the woman he'd been seeing behind Satina's back.

Why did a smart woman like Satina do something as stupid as wasting time with someone so wrong for her? Well, while her philosophy may seem old-fashioned, what she did is more common than you'd think. And who knows? It might even sound familiar to you (ahem). Regardless, there are five particularly noteworthy motives behind marriage mania ‑- and some very important do's and don'ts.

1. Need-a-Man Syndrome

Mary Jo Fay, author of When Your Perfect Partner Goes Perfectly Wrong (HelpFromSurvivors.com), consults with many middle-aged women who have found themselves in difficult relationships. "Many married because they felt they needed a man. They were so desperate to be taken care of that they jumped directly from their parents' home into marriage ‑- or from one relationship to another." Fay adds, "If neediness is your driving force, you should stop and remember that your parents may have taken great care of you, but being parented by their partner leaves many women in an unhealthy situation."

2. Life Scripts

Many women set very specific, age-based timetables to achieve certain goals as to how they think their lives should run. Research conducted by Dr. James Houran, chief psychologist for the online relationship service True.com, shows that overall, women are as fearful of commitment as men, but that "life scripts," subconscious or not, apply a different kind of pressure.

When she was a child, Nicole Marquez set a deadline to meet her mate. "I wanted to be married at 19, which then moved up to 25, and I wanted kids by 21, which got pushed back to 28." The Arizona public relations account coordinator is now 26, and there is still no ring on her finger. But with a successful career and a strong network of friends, she's doing great! With some maturity and perspective, Nicole has made the decision that she'd rather not get married at all than rush into the wrong relationship ‑- and she's acknowledged that she has less control over her path than she originally thought.

3. Tick Tock

The biological clock still factors into why many young women want to race down the aisle. Fixated on having her first child by age 30, 23-year-old Sarah Branch, an art director in Seattle, simultaneously signed up with five different online personals sites. With over three million people engaging in Internet dating each month, 75 percent of which are seeking a permanent relationship, Sarah has a lot of company. While she hasn't found love yet, her goal is to meet at least 10 men a month. "Lots of times it's a chore to drag myself to the date. Truthfully, I'd rather be with a friend or alone than hook up with another stranger. But then the image of baby booties pops into my mind, and I'm out the door."

4. Community and Family

Relationship expert April Masini (AskApril.com) points out, "Societal pressure to conform and to marry is real. Many conservative people feel it and create dating deadlines [for themselves] to adhere to that conformity."

These days Sandra Montenegro calls Miami, Florida, home. However, the 33-year-old single account executive actually hails from Columbia, Brazil, where the pressure to find a husband is so painfully intense that, after the "ancient" age of 30, being divorced is considered better than never having been married at all. Sandra says, "People sort of think there's something wrong with you if you are still single." Even though she's lived in the United States for 13 years, her family is still pushing her to become someone's Mrs. But Sandra has yet to melt under the must-marry heat. "I guess I've got a strong will," she says.

5. Money

Masini says, "Financial pressure to marry someone who will take care of them still exists for some women." The dating pro adds, "This can be something they've always felt, or something they've come to feel as their careers may or may not have worked out the way they expected."

Patty Henderson, a 38-year-old single mother in New York City, married for money at a young age, and she quickly became the stuff statistics are made of. Divorce is highest for women between the ages of 25 and 29 ‑- and a new study reports that nearly a quarter of newlyweds consider filing for divorce within the first two years of marriage. Patty now works double-duty to support her child. "My ex, who comes from a rich family, stopped paying child support years ago." Studying at night to get her college degree, she insists, "I am raising my daughter to make sure she can always take care of herself. And when she marries, to make sure she does it for love."

Dating Deadline Do's and Don'ts

DO...

Realize You've Got the Right Idea
Dr. Houran says, "Dating deadlines can be positive, depending on what's motivating them." It's okay to set a deadline that pushes you to work toward your goals, as long as you aren't ‑- pardon the pun ‑- married to completing your goal by an inflexible date.

Know What You Want
Masini says, "There is no shortcut for doing your homework. How do you want to live your life? With whom? Where? It's only after you know the answers to these questions that you can stop wasting your time dating the wrong men and succeed at your goal."

Respect Your Guy's Goals, Too
If you're with a Mr. Right who ultimately wants marriage but doesn't want to be forced to the altar, relax. Eleven months ago Nicole met the one. But he's not in a hurry to set a date, and now neither is she. "It'll happen when we're ready, and we're having too much fun to worry about that yet anyway." Dating coach Suzanne Blake (SuzanneBlake.com) cautions, "It usually takes between nine months and a year-and-a-half for couples to build the type of intimacy and trust that is necessary for this life-changing decision." She adds, "Many women want to push up the deadline out of the fear that if they don't seal the deal, it won't happen." The truth is, it might not happen if you push too hard. Relationships develop organically ‑- on their own timetable.

DON'T...

Let Your "Deadlines" Run Your Life
Remember Satina Richardson hurling herself into the arms of Disaster Dan? That's a decision she never would have made had she not created that ironclad deadline. She says, "In retrospect, I was lucky he proposed to someone else. I'm much happier without him and have opted to enjoy my life instead of pressuring myself to get married in a certain timeframe. This is much better."

Beat Yourself Up
Say your deadline has passed and you're still single. Or, like Satina, say you're sticking with the wrong guy while praying that he'll turn out to be decent person deep down. Or, maybe you dated a nice guy who just wasn't the right one, and now you're upset at how much time you wasted. The fact is that these experiences aren't time wasters, they're learning tools. "It's called growth!" says Masini. She adds, "For some women there is no substitute for real life experience ‑- and mistakes ‑- when it comes to figuring out the kind of man they need. Pick yourself up and make a change for the better ‑- no matter where you are in your life."

Forget to Count Your Blessings
Nicole is thrilled, not sorry, that her initial deadline to marry by 19 and morph into mommyhood by 21 was derailed. "I thank my lucky stars things did not turn out that way because I now know there are a lot of fun, educational things I would have missed out on had I taken my original route. I also might have been stuck in a very unhappy relationship."

 

The Moral Is...

Believe "What's Meant to Be Will Be"

Author Mary Jo Fay explains, "Women who feel that they are fine human beings without a man, but would enjoy sharing their life with a man, have proven to have the strongest, healthiest and most satisfying relationships." And these women don't have firm deadlines. Sandra, whose family back in Columbia is desperate for her to marry, would like to meet someone, but she's in no hurry. "I left a relationship in the past that was going nowhere ‑- he never wanted kids. And I have no regrets. I'm proactive in the sense that I go to happy hours and parties." She says, "My belief is that, as long as you are open to meeting people, that special someone will arrive when you least expect him. Naturally. Just like it should be."

Accomplishment!

At 0600h, i 've Finally finished my 2000 words essay abt " The Origin & Biological Significance of Hydrophobic Interactions" that has been occupyin much of my time for these past few days! Ahhhh utter Relief!! Congratulations to me! Hahaha! And my poor back has been screamin for mercy, now it's finally Answered! I am gonna get off tis damn chair, log off the computer and sleep. To my messenger contacts, sorry i gotta decline chattin wif u for long these past days. 

OK! from tomorrow onwards, no more slumpin and slouchin...i need to do some physical activities man! All tis sittin n typin is bad for my back & Bowels! Need to stretch, need to dance, need to get all worked out....i feel so unfit nowadays! Ah thank God i went out wif bf, his army buddies, Hafiz n Firus yesterday...had a laughin good time & endorphin boost & makan all day & spared my achin back! Hafiz's good ol van served us really well....Thanx for the ride dude!

I got a couple of postings to put up...but those gotta wait, i wanna sleep n wake up to see my dad come home from his Umrah trip.

Mesye....please pwetty please...catch the movie wif me later ?

Music of Lebanon

http://www.musicoflebanon.com/songpage.htm
Hosts a massive collection of Arabic songs by Middle Eastern artistes. Songs are of excellent quality & u juz need a Real Player to listen to them. Enjoy the spread!

Don't Believe the Truth abt Oral Fixation

The Brit Rock N Roll Gods

Launched their album on 31st May 2005, i couldn't be happier. I could only rejoice at hearin Liam's snarls and the band's signature wicked guitars & drums beats! Soundin a lil bit more mature in Don't Believe the Truth but how u live up to ur Glory days, Oasis!!! Thank u for not tryin so hard to be spiritually uplifted or sumthin'. I HEART OASIS!!! Check out "The Importance of Being Idle" & "Meaning of Soul". Let's Rock N Roll !!

 

The Exalted One

Shakira launched Fijación Oral Vol. 1 on 7th June 2005 and she sounds as Great as ever! Tho i have no idea wat the heck she's singin cos it's all in Spanish, but i do DEFINITELY love every of her song cos she sound sooo Raw & Honest. Tis album is less dancey compared to Laundry Service and more Grounded. She slips into Bossa Nova(Obtener un Si)  & a lil French (En Tus Pupilas) but never leavin behind her Rock Chick take on LOVE. She takes us all on an emotional rollercoaster ride esp. in La Tortura(woot woot)! I'm anticipatin her English version of tis album, it'll be out in November...but the spanish songs are a kickass lot too!! Ohh she's such a Goddess!!

 

*Do click on the album titles to listen to their track listin

**Photos of albums were taken from http://mtvshop.mtv.com