Foodie I

Ok, going to start a new series entitled 'Foodie'. Basically, photos of food I eat. I feel that photos are more interesting than words and I'm trying to talk less on my blog nowadays. Ha. I also know I eat a lot thus, this series. Well, it's not often I transfer photos from my phone to the PC, so some may be quite outdated.

First up, food from Muthu's Curry. This is the authentic branch at Little India. Went with Huiqin some time back.



Sianz, facing prob with uploading photos again. Will do it next time...

Comics

Diamonds

Well, after having a hard time and numerous tries, i've finally got some of the photos up on the previous entry. Ok, so today is Sunday and I'm all alone at home with nothing much to do for now. Qin is going for a wedding and I'm going to have lunch on my own soon, but for now, i've decided to post an entry on how to do a proposal and this serves as an informative post for those who plan to propose now or u can save it for later, when that Ms. Right comes along.

So, first, choosing a diamond. For diamonds, there are basically 4 Cs.

1. Carat. This is the size. For most places (I think) you can get an interationally recognized cert when you purchase a diamond that is more than 0.3 carats. A 0.3 carat diamond is also known as a 30 pointer diamond, 0.4 carat is a 40 pointer and so on. Well, this is the most common deciding factor for typical Singaporeans who tend to be a little show off. The bigger the better. The most common question asked amongst common folks is "what is the size of the diamond he gave you?" or "how many carats?". well, so if you want to have pride, then dun be stingy but choose a stone that is of a big size. Well, some people have argued that only shallow people look at the size of diamonds and more professional people or those who know diamonds look beyond just the size and at other things such as cut and colour. However, my personal experience with some jeweller is that they too look at size first. Maybe the typical Singaporean mentality is embedded too deeply. Ha. So it's up to you to decide if size is all that important.

2. Cut. As mentioned, the cut is another important aspect that others look into. This will determine the price of the diamond as well. In fact, all 4Cs determine the price. There are many different cuts and since, I bought a celestial, I'll talk more about it. It has 73 facet which means that there are 73 surfaces. So it tends to reflect or refract light 'better' or 'more' than the typical Belgium cut. Well, these are what the sales people told me. As we all know, they are quite good at smoking, so if you think that what I'm posting here is all smoke, you know where they are from. From my noobish point of view, there is really a difference bet a celestial cut and something elsewhere. It is brighter and sparkles more. However, the brightest one i think has to be brilliant rose cut by Soo Kee. That 66 facet cut really shines like crazy. But some poeple says that the Brilliant Rose is nothing more than just a Leo diamond (a brand in USA) so it's not unique. So, well, at least I know that celestial does not have anything close to it. At least that's what I know. Anyway, accordingly, the "rose" of the brilliant rose is only visible from the bottom. So after setting the diamond, you will not be able to see it unless you dig it out and see from the bottom. As for Celestial, the star is visible from the top. Ha, I know I'm bias but comevon, I bought Celestial, of course, I need to talk more about it.

3. Colour. Ok, this is important too esp if your stone is big. It ranges from D-Z colour. Anything from D to F is considered colourless. I dun think anyone will use a Z colour stone to propose unless the girl has a fetish for yellow. So you have the picture, D is the best when Z is the one with the most yellow in it.

4. Clarity. This one has names like VS1 or SI and all that. Basically it means it has slight inclusions so on. Most of them are not visible to the naked eye. I peronally feel that this is one area that is the least important of course that is because I'm buying a small size stone. So how can the inclusions make much difference. Ha, and so i thought.

Ok, if you have a budget, then try to lower the requirements for one aspect and then you can improve the standard of another. for me, I had one that has good colour but compromised on the clarity. Well, if you're really on a tight budget, bring your girl to watch "blood diamond" [the movie] and she'll not want to buy another diamond already. So it's all up to you. All the best to whoever who is proposing...

Proposal (Photos)

Proposal (Part 2)

Ok, as promised this will be a continuation of Part 1. So then after re-fueling, I told Huiqin that I had obtained my license (PPL) after 60 hours of training. So, when Huiqin hopped on to the C-152, I immediately called for clearance for engine start-up as there were many in the flying club awaiting for the plane.

So, Johore ground cleared start up and I still remember the QNH was 1011. Ha. So once started, taxied and lined up holding point. With the Flight Plan filed, we soon found ourselves lining up runway 16. On 16, we were heading back to Singapore which was not exactly the direction I had wanted to go as my initial plan was to go to Kulai and do an anti-clockwise loop around Gunung Pulai. However, as soon as we were airborne, we got re-routed to a clock wise loop so I went to south Gunung Pulai instead. But it doesn't matter, as at the end, I just wanna go to the proposal ground that is above Pulau Kukup.



Pulau Kukup is a wildlife nature reserve. It is mainly an island of untouched mangrove. Not the best scenery but it's the best in the region and the next best that I can think of is Pulai Sinai which is quite far away and I think if I really go there, Huiqin would have vomitted. So after about 20 mins, we arived at Pulau Kukup. While reaching there I told Huiqin that we were lost as I really didn't know where we are.

See, flying a plane is unlike driving a car where you can park somewhere and get your orientations right. Flying a plane is like you taking a deep breath and running into a smoke chamber, you'll have to hold on until you reach the exit (in this case would be to find another runway to land). Else you'll just have to keep holding on, the last thing you want is to get lost. So anyway, I told her "quick take out the GPS from my bag so that we can see where we are". Of course, there wasn't any GPS in my bag. I had used the RoyceChocolate spacy looking wrapper to wrap up the Celestial box. So when she took it out, she opened it and saw the Celestial sign on it. well, I just looked at her and smiled. I think at that moment, she'll know. So, in the end,she opened the box and behold, the STAR DIAMOND greeted her.

Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words hold my hand
In other words darling kiss me
Fill my life with song
And let me sing forevermore
You are all I hope for
All I worship and adore
In other words please be true
In other words I love you

So the song played (in my mind) and I asked her over the coms if she'll marry me and the reply was "ya" Hahahhaaahhaahahahhaha. From that moment, I know that I am the happiest man in the world. the feeling is better than when Man U beat Liverpool. It's even better than getting back my PSLE results.. haha. And by the way, all these happened at 1500 ft up in the air though I had initially requested for 2000 ft, but requested to descend due visibility. well, I didn't know that descending will be so fun with huiqin sitting beside me. Everytime I descend, she'll grab onto my leg. Haha.

So, after that I did some steep turns (AOB = 45 degrees) over P.Kukup and then I returned to WMKJ via the same route that I came, overhead Pekan Nanas. When we landed, I did a normal landing with 1 degree of flaps to give me a good foreground visibility with good drag and still good lift. Touched down at a speed of 65 knts and then taxied to the apron.

Upon reaching the apron, 2 familar looking Singaporeans were there and they had come all the way to sahre this moment with us. Well, I think I can't disclose who they are as it's meant to be a secret but I think most people can guess... So took a lot of photos and video too and then we left the apron as there are other users who were waiting for the plane. So I was congratulated by other members of the club and it was one happy day. I was tiring as well as I had only slept 1.5 hours the night before. reason? Too excited and also had to rush out to buy things while doing last minute preperation for the flight. Ha.

Kenneth over and out. Ok, I've posted the video (above)but I'm really having problems putting up photos. Dunnow why it keeps getting problem with the server.

Proposal (Part 1)

Well, this is official. I know Huiqin has told some people not to spread this news but I've decided to make it official now. No point hiding from anyone. Haha. Holding a secret surely is not a nice feeling. That's precisely what I did for the past 2 months. I've been hiding a secret from Qin for the past 2 months. Well, we do have a mutual agreement not to have any secrets bet the 2 of us with the exception of proposal preperation. So I played by the rules.

The proposal preperation started as early as last year (2007). I had wanted it to be special and memorable for her. It's an event that should be focussing primarily on her so no point having too elaborated things. First and foremost, I've decided that I will keep things sinple. We have been leading lives that often involve a lot of people around us very often. Perhaps it's becos I'm a CGL.. we often go out with many people. Times of dating and fellowship have only a very thin line seperating. Nothing wrong with that, we do enjoy the company of people esp people of the same faith and focus in life. However, this is marriage proposal, so "KISS" (If you know this acronym)

See, starting in 2006, I've been travelling to Malaysia (Johore) to learn how to fly an aeroplane. I was so inspired by Dr A.R.Bernard's message when he encouraged the working people to go back to studying and have night classes or courses to improve themselves. So, despite my busy schedule as an engineering student in NUS, I decided that I could and should do a part time course to add value to myself. I also heard from Shaun (Mrs Lee) that she desires to learn something new every year. I thought to myself, after my Class 3 driving license which I got in Uni yr 1, it's time I start learning something new. So that really spurred me on to go do it. Armed with all the information, I started out a life changing course to obtain my PPL (Private Pilot License).



The above is a Cessna-152, the plane which I trained in. To cut the long story short, what happened in 2 years can be summarised into a few lines. I flew my first solo and even flown from Johore to Malacca (and landed) on my own. I took the test and gotten my PPL (Unrestricted) Malaysia now.

For the proposal, I did not tell Qin about my license and I keep avoiding the question when she asked me how's my training getting along. So I got her to enter the airport with me on the 20th of May 2008 and told her that I needed her to take photos of me as I feel paiseh to ask the instructors to take photos for me.



Well, I will pause here and leave more details to the next post. Ha, going off to makan dinner. So, next up, the actual take off and what happened in the air...