Things I've won in the month of February

On this special leap day, I'm so happy to post the things that I've won and gotten this month. This is a lucky month for me indeed! ^^ 

7th Feb 2012 - Mum collected the prize on my behalf from BLACKMORES. I received an e-mail on 29 Dec 2011 announcing that I've won the Grand prize of week 2's Blackmores Shoo Away the Achoo Facebook contest! I joined this contest by sharing my thoughts in the blank bubbles of the three person in the jam packed lift when someone let out a thunderous sneeze. The wordings in blue is what I've submitted in as I tried to put myself into this situation. No one likes falling sick. Especially in stressful Singapore whereby even if we are sick, we still try to force ourselves to go to work. For the S$100 worth of products, I'm so fortunate that I'm able to choose what I wanted out of the wide range of products they have on their website. So I gotten myself two bottles of Bio C Chewables and one bottle of Ginkgo Forte 2000. With these, I'm able to prevent myself from falling sick easily and also boost my memory. Such great products. 

On the same day, my mum also went to collect a $5 Marina Bay Link Mall Cashcard which I've also won from their Facebook Flip & Win week 3 contest. Received their email to me on 3rd  Feb 2012.  

21st Feb 2012 - Gotten this Swarovski pen from my Company's recruitment drive during the Recruitment Awareness Week (RAW). The idea is simple, just need to provide 8 leads to them for follow-up and it didn't end there, if the candidate from this referral listing gets contracted within 3 months, I can even be entitled to a S$100 shopping voucher. Oh, actually not to me but my FSC as I cheated and used her code to take part in this. 

25th Feb 2012 - This Sony Insulated Flask came just at the right time as my red metal water bottle was spoil. By the way, the flower beside it is just for decorative purpose and is not one of my free gifts. Haha. Gotten this at the Sony Days 2012 Fair at Suntec. Exclusively for the first 1,500 members who went down and no minimum purchase required.

Of all the prizes I've won so far, the BEST has got to be an iPad 2 which I have longed to win for so long and I eventually got it! I will blog about it soon. So, although there's no free lunch in this world, there's lots of opportunities to get free things and win prizes if one would just put in a bit more effort. Don't need to envy me, just participate!  

Mexican Food at Baja Fresh + Movie : The Wedding Diary 结婚那件事

DINNER

Bf went to collect his pay at Rendezvous Hotel. We spotted this newly opened Mexican restaurant and decided to give it a try. It's not everyday that I had Mexican food. I think I've only eaten Mexican food for 1 or 2 times in my life. 

They have a fast food restaurant style. Order your food at the counter and take it with the tray. Very self service style.

The nachos and the four different types of chili. I guess they have try to suit their chili to the Singapore standard cause even the one that was labelled HOT really wasn't as HOT as you imagine it to be. Try all four different type to see which one you prefer.

This is the food. Read my review here.

YAY! Satisfying meal indeed.

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MOVIE

A wedding is a day but a marriage is a lifetime! This is the parting quote that I got from this movie which is like so true. In fact I think most people can relate to this movie. It's a very realistic movie directed by Adrian Teh who is also the director for Lelio Popo.

Watched this movie from the free ticket that I redeem from the voucher gotten from Ms Tay. Thanks!

Marriage by right should just be a two person's affair but it's usually not so in Singapore. A wedding becomes another great chance and avenue to show off one status. So this movie reflected about the wedding culture in Singapore where because of "Face matters" (面子问题) people spent a great deal of money on that wedding dinner itself. Sometime, people even end up getting themselves into debts before the marriage. The place where you held your dinner should be grand enough so that people will give bigger ang bao and hopefully you would be able to recoup back some of the loses. Below is a screenshot of a mypaper article on the wedding angbao guide.

For the full listing of the Wedding Ang Bao Market Rate for 2012 - 2013, do visit the Perfect Wedding's forum page and download the attachment. What I do is I usually try to search online for the package price before I decide how much I should give.

Source: http://ecentral.my/

Ok, back to this movie, it's about how the humble Daniel (acted by A-Niu) from a Malaysian Hokkien family decided to marry Tina (acted by Elanne Kwong) a beauty from a rich Singaporean Cantonese family. The plot cleverly depicts the difference in cultural between the two different family. The beginning of the movie were quite a lot of funny scenes. For example, there's a jackpot counter at the top right corner of the screen that keep increases as the expenditure of the wedding gets more and more and out of budget. A-Niu funny expression is also the main souce of humour in the movie. Then, there's quite a few jokes like 结婚 = 结到昏。There's also a part which I felt is quite thoughts provoking. It's when the father of both side of the family meet up and chat. So the wealthy Singapore father (Colin Chong acted by Zhu Hou Ren 朱厚任) asked the humble Malaysian father (Ah-Sai acted by Marcus Chin 陈健彬) what he does for a living and he replied that he was a fisherman. Colin Chong contiunued to asked if he would be interested to expand his business and get his business listed. So Ah-Sai asked him why should he get his business listed? To which Colin Chong replied something like to earn lots of money so he could retired and enjoy life later on after 20 years. And guess what Ah-Sai replied with? "This is the retired life I'm living now, why do I have to wait till 20 years later?" Hmmm. Closer to the ending, just before it ends off with a happy ending is a touching part on revealing why Ah-Sai wears a woman watch. That part will teared a bit but luckily, all well ends well. Overall, a great movie and below is a trailer to the movie. Enjoy!  

Catch Chingay at Bukit Panjang Town

Did you know the word "Chingay" is derived from a Hokkien phrase and it means the art of masquerade. It was first held in 1973 as a neighbourhood procession and now the Chingay Parade has evolved to one that showcases the vibrant culture of Singapore through the many colourful floats. 

Found out about this event through the monthly issue of the North West Cohesion newsletter.

Although I miss out on the real Chingay parade at the Pit Building, I'm glad I still have a chance to experience the Chingay parade at the heartland of Bukit Panjang Town. This year marks the 40th anniversary of this annual fiesta.  

The floats were all stationed along the carpark of Pending Road and there's some performances going on at the open field in front of Blk 229. This was the first float that we saw.

There was a much bigger crowd standing in front of this second float which consist of the Chinese, Malay and Indian participants wearing their traditional costumes. I call this the multi-racial float. This float was able to attract such a big crowd in front because of the Fu Lu Shou 福禄寿。Each time the god of prosperity or Cai Shen 财神 shouted "HUAT AH" he would threw some "gold coins" or should I say chocolate wrapped in golden wrapper in the form of a coin to the crowds. That's why everyone stood there waiting for a chance to get a piece of the "gold coin." If there's an award for it, this float would definitely win the best interactive with public award!

The three floats from New Creation Church, Majlis Pusat and CDC respectively that transform into such magnificent floats with performances later during the night. 

Saw someone we knew and this is his boy. So cute but a bit shy. Hehe. 

Mum and I. She say she love this float from CDC the most so we took a photo with it together.

NUS Float. Pretty butterfly. 

The swan float!!!

The girls with showing off their sweetest smile as people like us are snapping photos of them. Keep that smile on, girls.

And finally the Dragon float with Singapore's iconic place of interest - Singapore Flyer. 

 

The dragon and lion dance before ushering the Guest-of-Honor and VIPs.

    The Hosts . . . 

 The brilliant perfomers from China . . . 

This two pretty ladies amazed us with a performance of changing clothes in the speed of lightning. Really impressive. Pull up the cover, shake shake a bit and after pulling down the cover, the whole outfit was changed. I wonder how they did it. This remains a mystery. 

 Another group of performers . . .

They sang a few songs and one which I've heard before is Di Tanjong Katong.

 And the VIPs ! ! ! 

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Dr Teo Ho Pin and Mr Liang Eng Hwa. In the background is the electrical fireworks that will be lighted up later. 

And the VIPs were ushered to the float. Managed to shook hand with Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and Mr Yam Ah Mee. And the Chingay parade began after the VIPs were safely ushered to the top of the Dragon float. As the floats drove pass us, everyone was taking photos with camera of handphone of the beautiful floats. It's a different feeling seeing the floats lighted up during the night time as compared to seeing them in the day.

Really enjoyed watching the Chingay parade live at the scene! Some people felt that it's a waste of money to create such a big event. I felt that it's a yearly event that cannot be missed. It's like a arts and culture thing. It allows me to take so many wonderful photos, it gives the residents at Bukit Panjang a chance to come down, stroll along the road with the floats and get excited. Chingay originated from Penang, Malaysia, and currently I think only Singapore and Malaysia has the Chingay parade. I hope more people will appreciate. 

Took the LRT back to Bukit Panjang Plaza for late dinner. 

My late dinner - Green noodle.

Online Quiz - What type of Singaporean you are : PERSONALITY TEST

Source: http://itsmyturn.sg/

I love Singapore and I'm proud to be a Singaporean where people of different races live harmoniously together in this small dot on the World map. Due to the strong framework of the Total Defence, Singapore is perceived by most people as one of the safest country to live and work in. The theme for this year's Total Defence campaign is "Total Defence: It's my turn." Yes, when it comes to keeping Singapore strong and secure as a Nation, everyone has a part to play in. This website http://itsmyturn.sg/ provides a great platform for Singaporeans to both appreciate and participate. Click on REFLECT to read about the interesting articles and appreciate our cultural and identity as a Singaporean. Click on PARTICIPATE to join in some of the events that ranges from simple actions like "Visit a Local Bookstore" or "Leave work by 6pm" to a larger efforts like "Rebuild Boys Town" for a worthy cause.      

Source: http://itsmyturn.sg/

After which, spare a few minutes to take THE QUIZ to find out what type of Singaporean you are! Are you the true blue Singaporeans, the complain kings/queens or the patriotic Singaporeans? It's only ten questions to determine that and at the same time compare it to the statistic. 

Source : http://itsmyturn.sg/quiz/take-quiz

And below is a screenshot of my results after completing the quiz for the first attempt. You may wish to try it for as many times as you like if you think the results does not describe you accurately. 

So, the result shows that I'm a take it easy Singaporean! It so true! I'm a very easy going person ma so everything also take it easy. Lolol. If I'm going to start a family, it would mean I would have to change my routine which I don't really want to at this point of time. I'm a true blue Singaporean who would queue up when I see a queue and didn't know what I'm queuing for at times. My thinking is got queue means the food is nice right? Wah, such a long queue, got free gifts ah? That's so me and it's just so Singaporean! I always have time for entertainment as I believe in work-life balance and I quite know how to enjoy life. Eat good food at restaurant once in a while and watch movies, counted as enjoy life right?

Alrighty, remember to click here now to try out the quiz and if you like, feel free to share with me your results too! ^^V 

Source : http://itsmyturn.sg/speak http://itsmyturn.sg/eat http://itsmyturn.sg/play http://itsmyturn.sg/do 

These are some of the interesting statistics gathered. From the statistics, we can also find out the majority of Singaporeans behaviors. 

Now, I'm gonna end my post with this Y U NO Meme. Y U NO TAKE THE QUIZ? Y R U still here? Hurry go take the quiz and share share your results with me okay??? Have fun and cheers!