14 Oct 2007
Another weekend.. time flies. Just wondering what I have been doing this whole year. Hmmm... My Monday, Wednesday & Friday evenings are taken up with cardio workouts. I have been doing Body Combat classes at True Yoga for over a year now (since June 2006). Glad to know that I can last for 60 mins of workout. I tried attending Saturday afternoon classes as well. This is only if I pop-in at office to clear my work.
The latest Combat 33 tracks are quite enjoyable. :o) I've made a few friends too. One of them, Jenny goes for body combat classes every day (Mon - Sun) if she can find the time.
Was checking out Les Mills website yesterday. It's really a great site which is quite informative. It has a demo of how to take your stances and do your punches (jab / cross), kicks, etc.
There's practically no time for me to sit down and watch my Korean dramas nowadays. The visitors to Singapore have come and gone. We played mahjong while they are here. The senior citizens have heaps of fun and it's a good workout for their brains (memory). :-)
Matthias from Germany learnt a new game. He enjoyed Mahjong so much that he bought a mahjong set and went home to Germany to teach his parents and friends how to play the game. He was nicknamed by fellow players as "Mr Pong-Khong" cos' he likes to "pong" and "khong". LOL...
Was watching the France-England rugby world cup match this morning at 3am. Sad to know that France has lost to England. Let's hope South Africa-Argentina match tonight will be an interesting one as well. May the Springboks win the Pumas ... to meet England in the Finals next weekend!
Looking forward to another week of body combat classes...!
Gosh I was doing a Kdrama marathon again Friday night and the whole of Saturday! Completed 12 chapters of The Coffee Prince - the latest production by MBC. Still waiting for Chapter 13. There's 16 chapters in total but I understand that MBC is going to extend the series by another chapter due to popular demand.
I love the show which stars Gong Yoo and Yoon Eun-Hae. It's a heart warming series. Haven't watched Gong Yoo's shows for ages. Last one that I watched was "The Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy" where he fell in love with his teacher who is many years older than him.
While waiting for the next episode of Coffee Prince, I shall start watching One Fine Day. There are so many new series produced by KBS, SBS and MBC but none of the video shops here are bringing them in. It's faster watching them on Youtube I guess.
Thanks to all the people who have been uploading and translating them into English / Mandarin. I do appreciate all your great efforts and hard work to bring such joy to us!!
I have just completed reading my new Harry Potter book - HP and the Deathly Hallows. Everything in the book was written in a "fast-pace" mode. Characters were mentioned using their first names, no more background information on them. So new readers must know who these characters are before venturing to read the book. Surprised to learn that Harry & Ginny have 3 kids - James, Albus and Lily. Hermoine and Ron have 2 kids. Kinda cute to read the "19 years later ..." hahahaha..... enjoy your read.
I watched the whole 16-part serial "Witch Yoo-Hee" on YouTube over 2 weekends. I enjoyed the show. Must admit that Dennis O is a hunk. He speaks more Korean now. I have just bought a new Korean drama "KSA" (also known as Super Rookie Rangers) yesterday from TS Video. It starred Eric Mun and Han Ji-Min. Going to start watching it soon.
Two more weekends before the TV series "Tian Long Ba Bu" is completed. I have seen the whole series on Tudou.com. This China production is really good, so much better than the "Condor Heros" (also a China production). "Tian Long Ba Bu" has always been my favourite TV series, since the 1990s with the characters acted by Huang Ri-Hua, the late Barbara Yung Mei-Ling, Ken Tong, etc. The China production is more elaborate and have lovely sceneries and fight scenes and effects.
Heading up to BKK next month end with Regina. Going to meet the Vikings and German there - for shopping, food and relaxation. Will be bringing these newbies around town and show them the hustle & bustle of wonderful Bangkok.
I missed watching the Jacky Cheung Concert 2 weeks' ago. All the good tickets were sold out. That's why I didn't buy the tickets. Feedback from my friends and colleagues about the concert are quite positive. So dear Jacky has done it again .. superb showmanship!! The last concert I attended was almost 8 years ago. Gosh, time has passed so quickly.
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What a Saturday to wake up ....... to a gloomy weather! But it is a nice day to snuggle in bed. Too bad, I was awake already.
It has been a busy week. Lots of paperwork to chase in the office. Things are getting a bit hectic ... locating a lost envelope that DHL has still not delivered since 29 June from Cook Islands. Supposed to have arrived back in Singapore a few days ago. But it just left it's Auckland facility on Friday morning 11.21 am (NZ time). Weird isn't it? It takes the package 1 week to be flow from Cook Islands. Gosh....... what is happening!
I did 3 days of Body Combat after work - Mon, Wed & Fri. Tired, but I felt great and highly energised! Made some new friends in class this week. :o) Was invited to attend Hatha Yoga with one of them next Friday. Yeah!
John left SGT to join a competitor yesterday. There was photo sessions with everyone in the office, John bought us goodies for tea break and there was much laughter when John opened his farewell gift .. a new addition to his existing M&Ms collectables! More laughter ensues when he read his farewell card signed by the big boss and the rest of the staff (including 2 ex-staff). Wishing him all the best. We will sure to meet up for lunch since he is going to be around the corner from my office! LOL......... :o)
Greetings ......! I'm home from my holidays in Germany and Norway. It has been fun despite the weather !
It was a nice and relaxing holiday. Weather has been unbelievable ... hot and rainy in Germany, sunshine all day long in Norway. In fact the sun never sets during our week in Norway! The birds were chirping away in the garden at 4am ! Gosh! A wake-up call!!!
We took a long-haul KLM flight from Singapore to Paderborn in Germany (via Amsterdam and Frankfurt). We had a 3 hour stopover in Amsterdam - crossing the custom takes a long time as there were only one counter for "other passports" (other than the EU countries). In Frankfurt, we had about an hour and a half to get ourselves to the next Terminal since we were on a different airlines. It was rather stressful as we had to locate the other Terminal which was a distance away. Our luggages were offloaded in Frankfurt Main Airport and we had to lug them to the Lufthansa counter in the other Terminal and check-in again (within an hour) before our flight to Paderborn. Glad that all went smooth. It was an unforgettable experience! The people we asked for directions were quite helpful.
Kim & Mathias picked us up from Paderborn airport - a small airport. We had less than 15 people on the plane. Paderborn is a nice interesting city. We managed to explore the city during our few days there.
After the weekend in Paderborn, we rented a car (driven by Kim) and our journey to Berlin starts. We spent 3 nights in Berlin exploring the beautiful city. We explore the city on foot, taking the underground. We visited the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium - hoping to catch a glimpse of Knut (the famous orphaned Polar Bear). We queued for an hour before giving up. The queue never moved! Gosh, it wasn't a well-organised event (to see Knut). The Aquarium has fishes and reptiles as well. There weren't much information given on the fishes except their names and species. I saw the tank of big Arowanas (these fishes are very popular in Singapore and Malaysia - as the fishes brings good luck to the owners).
We also spent a few hours visiting the Concentration Camp and Museum. It was full of students on study trips.
After Berlin, we drove over 6 hours to Frankfurt Hahn Airport to pick up Mary (who travelled from Norway to join us). The B&B (in Frankfurt) was just across the road from the Airport Arrival Hall. The hotel room was tiny but very cosy - equipped with a flat-screen LCD TV. The hotel shower though small, was superb.
We woke up early the next day. After breakfast in the B&B - we travelled towards Trier, Moselle Valley, Koblenz. We stayed one night in Koblenz.
Mathias and his parents were our hosts for the weekend in Detmold. We had a BBQ dinner and a BBQ lunch the next day. We returned to Paderborn for 2 nights stay before leaving for Hamburg and Bremen. We explored the city of Hamburg for a few hours. We spent a night in Bremen. During our walk in the city centre, we saw the "Musicians of Bremen" statues. Yep, I took a lot of photos!! :o)
On 6 June, we left for Norway from Bremen airport. We had a relaxing stay in Larvik (home of Mary, Kim and Belinda). We had a few mahjong sessions too ! It was fun.
We celebrated Mary's 60th birthday with 30 of her friends (all ladies). There were about 15 nationalities - from Singapore, Norway, Canada, New Calendonia, Trinidad, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Denmark, England, etc. Everyone had fun. There were different variety of food cooked by Mary and friends - Ngoh Hiang, prawns, chicken drumsticks, curry, fish, potato salad, Norwegien cakes & delicacies. Line-dancing was the popular dance item. Mary's friends performed a hawaiian hula dance, a flamenco and a samba dance. We were treated to songs, dance and jokes as well. Everyone had a great time.
It's a pity the holiday has ended. Now it's back to Singapore and work work work !!!
Attended the Farewell Ukulele (再见。优客李林) concert on Saturday evening with Mabel. Held at the Singapore Expo Hall 1, the duo Terry Lin (林志炫) and Lee Chi (李驥) reunited after a 15-year absence and entertained us with all their popular songs.
It was their final and farewell concert (after Taiwan and Shanghai). We enjoyed the songs they sang. I have uploaded 2 of the videos on YouTube (www.youtube.com\tas27). The videos and these photos were taken using a Nokia 71 mobile phone. It was a fantastic concert, worth the wait!
A pity that there will no longer be a group called "Ukulele".
Completed the Korean drama "Spring Waltz" in 2 days, over the weekend. The series is simply enjoyable. Glad that it has a happy ending. Spring Waltz is the fourth and final installment of Yoon Suk-ho's season drama series - following Autumn Fairy Tale, Winter Sonata and Summer Scent. It's great to be watching fresh faces on the Korean drama scene! For Spring Waltz the 4 leads are Han Hyo-ju, Seo Do-young, Daniel Henney, Lee So-yeon. Daniel Henney is a familiar face - having acted in "My Lovely Samsoon".
"If you truly love him….if you genuinely miss him, someday you can meet and love him again…. Just like us playing a hide and seek during our childhood days,…. no matter how deep he hides himself from the world, and disappear from my sight, he who hides shall be somewhere out there…..always be waiting for me, the tagger. Regardless of how often failing to catch or missing each other’s ways, at the end of the day, your most earnest desire and pray shall lead you to him……only to meet and love again."
This is a story of two wounded hearts that fall in love with each other, heal each other and later forgive each other. Underlying their love are the shared memories of their childhood when they first met. Their dramatic love begins unfolding when the two – stouthearted rolled-rice seller Eun-young (played by Han Hyo-ju) and famous pianist Jae-ha (played by Seo Do-young) – accidentally run into each other on a train in Austria after Eun-young wins a grand prize and a trip to the country at an industrial art exhibition. But Jae-ha has no idea that the unabashed girl from South Korea whom he meets on the train is the love of his childhood, the beautiful Eun-young from a remote island who brought a warm spring into his frozen heart. Their destined love undergoes a test when Philip (Daniel Henney), Jae-ha’s manager, and Yi-na (Lee So-Yeon), who claims Jae-ha to be her childhood sweetheart, come into their lives.
Adding to the spellbinding and heart-moving love story of Eun-young and Jae-ha is the scenic backdrop of Austria, the homeland of waltz, and the picturesque landscape of Namdo Island on Korea’s southern coast. The shootings of the series have taken place around well-known tourist spots such as Hallstatt and Salzburg (in Austria). It certainly brings back memories of these places I have visited in 1997 esp Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds).
Seo Do-young 서도영 as Yoon Jae-ha (Chris Y.) 윤재하
Jaeha is a talented classical pianist of the next generation who has been closely watched with deep interests and concerns by Koreans since he won a prize in a famous concert. Even though he was brought up in a rich and enviable family under his father who is a foreign diplomat, Jaeha is a lonely person having only one friend because of his eccentric and particular personality. He is a well-mannered and dutiful son to his parents and never harms others, but his piano melody always sounds sad. He is hidden in a veil showing his true feelings only to his best friend and manager, Phillip. He is a sad person keeping the secrets of the past that nobody knows although he has a charismatic personality and wonderful environment.
Han Hyo Joo 한효주 as Park Eun-young 박은영
Eun-young is a diligent person who works at her adoptive mother’s gimbap (Korean rolled rice) house in the daytime and sells homemade accessories and clothes at her street stand at night. Even though she could not finish her studies, she is a talented person who is good with her hands and is to be able to win the grand prize in a handicraft contest open to the public. She never looses her smile nor her dashing spirit although she lives in poverty. She has an opportunity to visit Austria from her prize winning in the handicraft contest and meets Phillip and Jaeha by fate. Eun-young who does not know of this ironic fate deeply misses Suho from her childhood.
Daniel Henney as Phillip 필립 He is the only friend as well as the global manager of Yoon Jaeha. He was born to Austrian father and Korean mother and was expected to become a promising musician during his childhood. He plays the piano, the cello, the guitar, etc. Even though there are no musical instruments that he cannot play, he gave up playing music instruments. Instead, he decided to pursue his dream of a musician by becoming the manager of Jaeha who Phillip acknowledges as being a true musical genius. He is not only a considerate and warmhearted person who kindly understands Jae-Ha’s fretful personality but also is a romantic. Phillip is in love with Eun-young and despite knowing that she loves Jaeha, he chooses to stay by her side.
Lee So Yeon 이소연 as Song In-na 송이나
She is a capable career woman who started her career from the bottom and became the director of the planning department in a leading classical record and concert planning company by her own ability even though the company is owned by her parents. Inna is a perfect woman with remarkable beauty, wonderful background, and outstanding ability, but there is only one thing that she earnestly desires for. It is Jaeha who played the piano with her during her childhood. She has exceptionally liked Jaeha ever since her childhood; thus, she gave up playing the piano and left for Canada to find Jaeha after he left Korea. She has a reckless personality to do so. However, she could not find Jaeha but completed her study in Art Business in Canada. She voluntarily tries to promote Jaeha’s debut in Korea after she happened to see an article of Jaeha activeness in Austria.
Completed the Korean drama "Which Star Are You From" 넌 어느 별에서 왔니 starring Kim Rae-Won, Jeong Ryeo-Won, Park Si-Hu and Park Ji-Yoon. I enjoyed the movie. Jeong Ryeo-won has this famous "pig-tails" in the show. According to her character, she invented the hairdo. :O)
Also completed watching the 15-part Taiwanese series 花樣少年少女 (Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nu) also known as Hana Kimi on YouTube. Didn't like the ending. I believe that there is a continuation to the show. Look forward to seeing the story developed!
I certainly enjoyed the song "怎么办" sang by S.H.E. - the theme song of Hana-Kimi and the songs by Tank.
I read about Korean actress Jung Da-Bing's death in the newspaper today. It's very sad to hear the news about her suicide.
I enjoyed watching her on "The Cool Guy" and the drama series "My 19 year old sister-in-law". Was always checking the sites to see if she has any new shows.
Agnes ~ 11Feb2007.
