nonsense

Playing with Pancakes

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It’s been a crazy couple of weeks.  It started with SIGGRAPH Asia, then Asian Television Forum and next Asian Animation Summit.  In between all that we launched the beta of our platform.  Yes, at Cloudpic we live on the edge 🙂

The night before SIGGRAPH Asia, I was feeling unusually nervous and decided to flip a couple of pancakes before going to sleep.

It is totally possible to make vegan pancakes.  Good ones at that!!  Unfortunately, these were just ok.  It’s been a while since I made pancakes and I think it was a little too much baking powder but nonetheless, it worked for a late night snack to calm the nerves before a crazy 3 weeks.  Can’t wait for a lazy Saturday morning to make them again.

The trick about pancakes is know you have to sacrifice the first one.

I don’t what it is but the first pancake off the pan always looks terrible.  I think it’s got something to do with the pan not being hot enough.  After that though, they seem come together on it’s own.

And viola!!

One more week before we start to settle down into the holiday season.  Meanwhile, it’s back to the grind and making sure everything on the beta is moving along smoothly.

TGIF!!

Banana Bread

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Before my next crazy experiment, I thought I go regular and make some banana bread 🙂  Also to spare my husband from more torture of eating up my strange tasting baked goods.

The verdict was a much happier one 🙂  It not only smelled great, it tasted like a banana bread.  That is if you ask my husband who had tasted my other  “failed muffins”.  It’s all relative, I say!! I was quite happy with it 🙂

Happy enough to get my sister and Jenna to try a slice.  The texture was different for them non-vegan eaters.  Without butter and eggs, the bread has a slightly crumbly feel that I reckon they weren’t use to :p  It was sweet enough for them though and they could eat it if it had more banans and no nuts.

That’s what I’ll do next more bananas.  Then I’ll may be ready for the world!!

T4

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It is official, there will be a Transformers 4!!  I am a happy camper 🙂  Michael Bay is back to direct it … I’m still not quite sure how to feel about that.  I actually would like someone else’s take on it but talking robots with lots of action will do it for me every time.  Better than a confirmed Transformers sequel is the fact that Michael Bay has confirmed Mark Walberg as the lead.

I wasn’t crazy about him as a rapper, Marky Mark but as an actor he stole my heart in The Basketball Diaries, in spite of Leonardo DiCaprio being the lead :p  So I’m happy happy happy that he is the action lead man in T4.  I C.A.N.N.O.T. wait!! 27th June 2014 I have a date with Mark Walberg and Optimus Prime.  It really can’t get better than that.

Actually it can.  If Keanu was the lead … Keanu and Optimus … … a girl can dream 🙂

Breaking Dawn Part 2

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Right, I’m still a talking robots kind of girl but my sister is a vampire loving one who needed a date for the premiere so I got lucky 🙂

The quick take, New Moon is still my favourite from the Twilight Saga and I’m still Team Werewolf.  More so now than before.

Unfortunately for me, my husband is an aspiring vampire :p  Yes, he’d rather be Edward than Jacob and to throw a spanner in the works I’d rather be Renesme (what is with that name :P) than Bella O_o  All I can say is thank goodness we don’t live out our fantasies 😉

Bella though, looks GREAT as a vampire.  I’ve never been a fan of her through out the series but I have to say I liked her in this last instalment.  She was so much more interesting to watch.

Spoilers ahead so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want to know, stop reading now.

According to die hard Twilight fan aka my little sister, a lot of liberties were taken and while the heart is the same with a couple of scenes verbatim from the book, there were quite a few new ones.  I’m not sure if it worked for fans of the series but I thought the pacing worked for me.  I didn’t fall asleep, which I did a little in all the other episodes.  So I guess that means it worked 🙂

The visual effects though were pretty sad.  Don’t get me wrong there were some really nice shots but when you have a few key shots that don’t work, it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of your audience.

Then there’s a fight scene.  They really should have invested some money into hiring a Asian martial arts experts to choreograph the exceptionally long scene.  It was a mess and you couldn’t see who was where or what was going on.  The moves were hardly graceful.  To makes matters worse, it was entirely a vision.  I now understand why my teachers said never write a composition where the ending says it was all a dream or imagined.  It leaves worse taste in your mouth and your appetite unfulfilled.  Both storytelling, no nos.

All that said and done, love stories do rock and I can see why girls and women all over the world swoon over the idea of being able to be with your soulmate forever.

😉

Initiated Into Auntie-dom

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A month ago today, one of my dear friends made a trip back to Singapore, she hasn’t been back in 7 years!!  That’s like a whole lifetime … literally for my niece :p  Anyway, besides eating her fill of local delights, she wanted to play MAHJONG!!

I am friends with some of the best mahjong players around and my own aunts are very well acquainted with the tiles but I have actually never played the game.  Not until a couple of weeks ago, that is 🙂

We all trooped to All Hail Mahjong Queen Cherry’s place and I was taught to identify tiles, what ‘pong’ meant and no, it has nothing to do with smells, how to game and I even won money 🙂   I have to say, it is an interesting game and I can understand why older people all over the world play it.  I suspect if Cherry lived closer, I’d be playing more often 🙂

Meanwhile, I’ll look forward to our next game, which is probably when Mia comes back … in another 7 years.  Don’t wait too long for your next visit!!!  For now, all I can say is thank goodness for whatsapp, skype and email.

TGIF!!

This Weekend

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I am looking forward to this weekend.  Bali, here we come!!  It’s a family trip of sorts.  Just the cousins 🙂  No children or parents :p  Possibly our first trip together in a gang, not all 12 of us are going to be able to make it but with 3 under the age of 18, 5 out of 12 with some of our other halves ain’t that bad.

It’ll be a weekend of doing nothing, celebrations and enjoying each other’s company.  3 nights and nearly 3 days, just enough before villa fever can set in and we go all zombie on each other 🙂

Stay tune for the updates, pics and maybe a video or two.

 

Tattoos

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I have always fantasized about getting them but I never actually do.  Why?  I don’t enjoy pain and anything that requires pain usually gets stuffed to the bottom of my priority list.  In all honesty, I have issue with permanence.  Change I can handle and in fact, maybe even thrive a little on it but permanence … I’m not so sure.  It’s come from living long enough to know myself, what I like today, I may not like a couple of weeks from now.  Let alone a couple of years.

I always liked the idea of a bunny with my chinese name or my parents’s names or my children (if I ever have them).  I know it has to be something that is significant to who I am and what I want to be reminded of.  It has to be subtle too.  I’m a less is more type of design person.

Though I’ve never found a design I liked enough to permanently scar my body FOREVER, I’ve toyed with a couple and thanks to the people at PeTA here’s my favourite for now.

While I’m all for cruelty free, I’m not going to tattoo it on myself.  Just the bunny design 🙂  I’m also unsure about my Chinese name, 陈淑丽.  Some days I want to include it and other days I don’t.  Which font?  Vertical or horizontal?  If I had kids it’ll be their Chinese names for sure.  Seeing that there is no kids, I’m back to not being sure what exactly I want.  With my parents, do I get Daddy and Mummy or their names?  The former seems generic and the latter a tad rude.  Now, you get my conundrum that is called my mind :p

So I just going back to just thinking about it, fantasizing and wondering if “getting a tattoo” will ever find its way on my bucket list?

All We’ve Got

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I love the Singapore public transport system.  It is a reflection of what we are really good at, being efficient and reliable.  I love the fact that in Singapore, I choose to take the bus or trains because it is a better alternative to driving.  So yah, I’m taking it a little personal when the people behind the system don’t seem to understand the urgency of what’s happening.  I’m not talking about complaining about how our lives are made inconvenient by delays.  Seriously, I agree take a chill pill, this happens in cities everywhere around the world.  In many cities, people factor delays into their already inefficient daily commutes.

My concern is this, like it or not, Singapore as a city we don’t have much but what we have is that we’re efficient, reliable and we make things work well.  Honestly, that’s pretty much all we have.  Once that starts to get eroded, I’m not sure what else is there.  We don’t have resources to allow us to be complacent and arrogant.  Innovation and culture are something we talk about rather than do.  So, yes, I’m worried.  If we don’t keep doing what we do well and get better at it, we are in serious trouble.

That’s my miff with the SMRT.  Also, the blame game that’s going on, it doesn’t help anyone.  Just find out what’s wrong and fix it.  I sure as hell hope that in the background people are working their ass off to make sure we do what we do well, happen again.

Breakdowns happen in London, in Tokyo, in New York, in Melbourne, in Vancouver and just because all these world class cities drop the ball doesn’t mean it’s ok that we do.  Then again … hang on … maybe this is all a good thing.  Once we can no longer be efficient and reliable, we may be forced to innovate and in desperate times art is cathartic and will flourish.

By golly, I’ve got it!!!  That’s how the other cities do it!!  Crap public transport systems force people to develop innovative and creative mindsets.  If how you normally get to where you go disappears, you got to think on your feet, move fast and figure it out.  In the midst of all that frustration sets in, you may even get a little depressed and we all know depression fuels the need to express.  Viola!!  That’s how culture is developed.

It all makes sense now.  The conspiracy theorist in me has joined the dots.  The SMRT breakdowns are a part of a bigger plan.  Singapore – a first world country, we are on our way.

Trust no one.

X

A Dear John Letter

/ carlenetan / 1 Comment

Dear Samsung Galaxy Ace,

It’s been about 6 months since we came into each other’s lives.  It was more of an arranged marriage rather than a giddy whirlwind romance.  I must admit, initially I was intrigued and wanted to see how we could work in each other lives.

Unfortunately, after 6 months I’m more sure than ever that it was a wrong match.  You don’t response well to my touch, my voice seems to send you into all the wrong directions and sometimes you go off without any provocation from me.  It’s clearly not working out.

So I’m leaving you for an ex, my reliable 3GS.  He served me well and in fact, even with the somewhat sexier 4S, I still have a soft spot for 3GS.  You can call me a sentimental fool but yes, I’m going back to my 3GS who may not have your bells and whistles but I can trust him.  At the end of the day, that’s all a girl needs.

Good luck and goodbye.

Yours Sincerely,
Carlene

The Amazing Race

/ carlenetan / 2 Comments

I’m such a reality TV junkie :p  Especially Survivor and The Amazing Race, which is in it’s 20th season.  Can you believe that?  It’s episode 4 and already I’m hooked, I so live vicariously through the different teams.  Since I now know I don’t have the stomach for Survivor, I can only hope that one day I get to play The Amazing Race.  When I get the chance I have a list of people I think I can possibly play this game with.  It has to be someone I’m close enough to so I can share a room with them, be completely candid with yet at the same time not too close so that we’re still patient enough with each other and not go at each other’s throat as soon as something goes wrong.  As you can tell, I have thought about this list for a while now.

Honestly speaking, this game does, at times take sheer brute force so my practical side reckons that my Amazing Race buddy has to be a guy.  As much as I would love to do this with my husband, he is definitely not into running around the world, doing crazy stunts and possibly having to put up with a grouchy me.  Unfortunately for my husband, I feel 100% comfortable with him, so much so that some times I can give Oscar a run for his money in the grouch department.  Most of my friends don’t even get to see the half of it :p  I’ve gone through my list and here goes nothing on the guys I would ask to be my Amazing Race buddy.

All four of them are very strong 🙂  Yep, they will be able to lift and do all the manly stuff that may be a little way over my head.  They’re the types who are open to eating anything too!!!

Starting with my brother-in-law in the bottom left hand corner, Rob will be game for any task and he is as patient as his brother, my husband 🙂 but he lives in Canada.  Next in the right bottom corner is Zack who would be the perfect partner to charm our way out of any fix.  Again he’s also incredibly patient.  ‘Cept I don’t know if he’ll be up for running around and not having time to see the sights :p  In the right hand top corner is Marcus, again patient to the hilt and completely reliable.  You can’t tell from his face in the picture, he’s also a gentleman.  Only thing is, he probably doesn’t want to do the race with me :p  He knows me well enough to know I can get grouchy.  For a couple of hours in Singapore when we’re hanging out, it’s probably ok for him but days on end while running a race.  I’m not sure if he’s up to it >_<  Then there’s Jason, Daddy to my lovely Goddaughters.  He will be game for ANYTHING and has the right spirit for the game – there is nothing we can’t overcome.  He isn’t the most patient but he won’t take anything personal, which is perfect for the race.  Unlike the rest though, he’ll have to give up time with his girls to run a race with me and I doubt he’ll do that :p

The thing about me and any of these guys … we’re too boring to be picked.  Nothing exciting for reality TV :p

However, most of the girls in my life would make interesting teams with me and no disrespect to them but I think most of them aren’t interested in running the race … well, not at the stage of their lives right now.  My sister and I would be a hoot for reality TV and she would do it because I ask her to but the first task that happens in the a mall and we’re out of the game.  She’ll be too distracted shopping to do anything else and I do want to win the race 🙂  I’ve also watched enough seasons to know a 2 women team is fun to watch but there are some tasks that are just biased against a lack of brute strength and stamina.

Oh well!!  One can hope and that’s what I’m doing today coz daydreaming keeps the moments when I don’t have my iPhone that much more entertaining :p