"Se@SoN" PaRaDis3

Breaking news Sept. 13, 2008 Blog Moving

2008-09-13T19:49:00.001-04:00

On June 6, 2008, I've been working with "Season Paradise" for two years. These two years, I've uploaded more than 500 pictures in more than 80 posts. Today, Sept. 13, 2008, this blog is winding-up at this point, and I officially announce this will be my last post with this blog. From now on, all my posts will be posted at "Season Paradise 2", which is still under construction and will be launched soon...

This blog has attracted some of the readers and viewers. If you are one of them who always browsing my blog, especially those who leave me a comments. I really appreciate your times and commitments. Thank you very muchhhhh... So please show your supports in volume 2.

From now on, "Season Paradise 2" will be the site to browse. Due to the storage limit, I will no longer post any news in this blog. So please click on the "Season Paradise 2" and it will be direct you to a new site. In "Season Paradise 2", I will continue to update my journey in United States. If you would like to know what's going on, please stick with me!!

Once again, Thank you for all your supports. Here is the new site link:

seasonparadise33.blogspot.com ~~Volume 2~~

Will see you there~~

September 11, 2008~~ Remembering 9/11

2008-09-11T21:14:00.000-04:00

Today, September 11, 2008 marks the seventh anniversary of the day the world trade center in New York city was broken. Seven years ago, families and students representing more than 90 countries were killed in a day. Today, people around the world visit Ground Zero and pay their respects to 9/11 victims. For the New Yorkers, it felt like a flashback to Sept. 11. There are some ceremonies going on in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington. I remember when it happened I was still in High school and I knew 9/11 attack from TV. news. It was scary and bloody...

Summer is officially over as school has started. I am still enjoying my break and enjoying my fishing before the weather turns cold. Meanwhile, I am waiting for my permit to work but the status still on pending. I had a wonderful Summer 2008. First, completed my Undergraduate Program and awarded a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree. Second, a trip to Las Vegas. That's was a wonderful trip!! Also, I had lots of outdoor activities, fishing, BBQ, etc, and family gathering in August. We also had fun watching Olympic!!

School is over and what is the next? What is my plan?? Honestly, I feel so lost and I really do not know what is my next plan? Master in Science Accounting (MSA) Program?? Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam?? Or heading back to Asia?? I really do not know what is my next 5 years plan? One thing for sure is my job hunting continues... I really need to take my time out to plan about what should be done and get it done within these years. My journey ahead is full of challenges. Planning and Organize are two essential things to reach my goals. I am really need to get myself ready for all the challenges. GMAT and job hunting are my two priorities and need to get it done in this Fall 2008. Keep on going, Darren!! I know you can do it, it just matter of time and a little faith to yourself. Positive thinking is my drive...

Some technical notes: Blogspot.com has limited 1GB storage for each user. I've reached the storage limit, and was not able to upload any pics for my blog anymore. I was so pissed as I planned to post my pics I took in Las Vegas. Blogspot.com only allows me to upload more pics if I pay for extra storage. So after this post, I am planning to create another blog. For the details, I will include in my next post. It's kind of cumbersome to maintain two blogs. Once created, I will include my new blog link in my next post.

"Season Paradise" is moving to a new site. New blog is still under construction. Please be patient!! Cedar Point and Las Vegas posts are coming soon in my new site. A continuing legend of Darren... please stick with me and do not switch your gear!! There are more to be explored!! To be continues...

Cabela's, Dundee~~ Aug 15

2008-08-27T00:01:00.002-04:00

On Aug 15, we visited Cabela's at Dundee, MI. We drove half an hour from Ann Arbor. Finally, I have chance to explore Cabela's. Cabela's is the world's largest retailer of outdoors merchandise. The sporting goods outfitter sells fishing, hunting equipments. We had lots fun there and here are the pictures.

All these were taken by Canon SD790IS~~ Thanks Andy for these pictures:

I like this picture. It looks like I was caught by the bears.

Fishing boat

In Cabela's, there are lots of specimens.

Vivid specimens

Look at the bear behind me!! Scary if that's real!!

haha~~ Look at this tiny bike~~

I was there to get some fishing lures. There are lots of lures. I spent an hour to find the lures.

The fishing lures are freaking expensive~~

Andy took some pictures at Cabela's aquarium. This is real fish, not specimen!

Obviously, Andy is not a good photographer. I was checking out which container is cheaper!!

King Salmon~~ You will learn lots of things when visiting Cabela's, as the specimens of all kind of fishes with a name tag at the bottom.

After shopping for an hour, we took a break and had some sandwiches. We ordered the Ostrich and Roast Beef Sandwich. That was my first time to try the Ostrich Sandwich. For me, Ostrich tastes like pork, I can't really tell the different. But it was delicious!!

Roast Beef Sandwich~~ Yummyyyy~~

Vivid Specimen everywhere in Cabela's

Help!! He is chasing me~~~!!!!

We stopped by at the Gun Library at Cabela's. Cabela's Gun Library offers the discriminating sportsman and firearm enthusiast an exceptional selection of classic antique, collectible and fine sporting firearms.

Yeah~~ all real hunting firearm~~ Do you know how much each? The cheapest I think cost like $5k. I saw one $20K. Holly shit~~

Hand Guns~~

My hand was shacking~~ I held a gun that worth for $20K. Freaking heavy gun~~ 40 lbs!!! This gun is older than any of us~~ 130 years old~~

Look!! This musical box costs $14,500. Oh my God~~

Checking out my spinning Reel at fishing department. I spent another hour for my spinning reel as there are tons of reel with different brands. I can't make up my mind which to buy.
We shopped until Cabela's closed. We spent couple hours in Cabela's and spent 80 bucks. It should be more than that, just because the cashier forgot to scan two lures, it costs 12 bucks. Haha~~ I got two free lures~~ I was so lucky~~ hehe~~

After that, we hanged out at Bubble Island for Bubble tea at downtown Ann Arbor~~ Andy was checking out the free magzine from Cabela's~~

Family gathering Aug 8 - 10

2008-08-26T22:38:00.001-04:00

Family's warm continuously surrounded in August, Michigan. On August 8, Simon & Maggie and Hee Lee's family flew over from New York to Michigan. We had a huge gathering at Lee's place to celebrate the birthdays of Sophia, Simon, Sasha, and Tee. We also watched the Olympic games at home.

Homemade birthday cake for everyone:Customized birthday cake for Sophia:

ton of foods... Yummyy~~

Augusto's family~~ Sasha- birthday girl

Tee and his family

Simon and Maggie

Papadopoulos's family

May and her family

We went out to Seoul Garden

KimChi Hotpot~~

Samuel Lee

Kids were playing around in Seoul Garden

haha~~

July 7, 2008

2008-08-26T21:52:00.004-04:00

It has been awhile since my last update in April. Wow!! It sounds like a decade ago. Yeah, I've been so busy recently. Same as usual, work and study drives me crazy in Summer time. However, I really enjoyed what I did in Summer. Finally, I am done with my UG program last week, and it means that Summer is winding up. Sad :(...

Breaking news: I bought a new digital camera~~Canon SD790IS which replaced my Casio Ex-55. It is simply because I accidentally dropped and broke my Casio Ex-55 in the bathroom, and crashed the 2.5 inches LCD. I was so pissed and sad. I am now using the Canon SD790IS. This camera has much better mega pixels and all of the pictures in this update were taken by this camera. As the new technology and new features, it took me couple days to study the user guide for the new camera. It's a nice camera!!!

All these pictures were taken by my new camera~ Canon SD790IS. Check it out the picture quality. From now on, the blog will have a better quality pictures.

Hanging out with Andy at Thai restaurant. Few pictures around the Thai restaurant.
Thai Curry and Pad Thai... Yummy~~
Testing my new camera... Hang out with Andy at downtown Ann Arbor... Shooting around downtown Ann Arbor... Chocolate! Yummy~~

Harley Davidson Team~~

We did the car oil change at Andy's place. We usually do the oil change by our own during the Summer time, because it cheaper!! Few pictures around Andy's place.

Andy's office~~ basketball big fan~~

CDs collection everywhere

I did my car oil change within half an hour. Andy spent an hour but still cannot get it done. We ended up changed it at workshop. As the freaking nut took us an hour to unscrew it.

Bad Day

2008-04-06T21:47:00.001-04:00

It's really hard to believe that!! How could it happen to me? Oh my god!! This never ever happened in my life before, it's just unbelievable!! It's my first time and I hope it will be my last time...

Back to last week...
Last week, we were planning to fish at Lake Erie as we know that the weather will turn into 55F this weekend according to the weather forecast. Lastly, we decided to have a fishing trip at Lake Erie this weekend.

Here it comes to the day...
Today, the weather is extremely nice and warm. I can feel like Spring season is really here. I miss Spring so much after having a long Winter Season. Nice weather, relaxing mood... everything seems to be fine and perfect. However, it was not so perfect as we expected...

Here it goes...
We woke up early in the morning, and stopped by at Meijer to get some fishing stuffs. After driving for 30 miles, we got City of Romulus. On the way to Lake Erie, we saw lots of fishing boats heading to Lake Erie as well. We do not have fish boat, so we decided to lease a fishing boat...

So now, you guess what had happened...

Bad sign 1...
Oh ya, the leasing office was closed!! It's because they haven't start their leasing business after a long Winter break. They will resume the business at the end of April. Actually we should call before we get there. But we did not, as we do not have their business contact. So what did we do? We decided to find another place to fish. We were so aggressive, it's simply because we do not want to waste such a nice day! After discussion, we decided to fish at Ohio State.

Bad Sign 2 Starts...
We drove cross the boarder and got Ohio State, it was another hour drive. We were fishing in the same lake, Lake Erie. It's just at different State. We fish at Maumee County at Ohio. It was so crowded at Lake Erie upstream today, as the Walleyes season starts today!! We did not even know about that. That's why it was so crowded at upstream. What a coincidence!! We met some friends there, they are from Michigan too. We decided to fish together...

It was too crowded at the Lake Erie upstream. We can not even find a spot to fish. So, we decided to fish at downstream. Everything seems fine in the first half an hour. We enjoyed our fishing. Guess what had happened?? We get caught by Ohio Department of Natural Resources patrol!!! We got TICKETS!!! I did not even know what was going on, I was at the other side when they get caught. They charged us for the violation of fishing without a valid non-resident Fishing License. As you may or may not know that, we have to get a valid license in order to fish. I bought seasonal fishing license last year in Michigan. I was going to buy one this morning, but they closed. However, Ohio fishing license is another story. Even I hold Michigan Fishing License, I still can not fish at Ohio state. I still will get charge anyway. Maybe, they will let me go with Michigan Fishing license.

The violation charge costs $80 each!!! We got five tickets, which is $400!! That's a lots!! We got nothing, but the TICKETS. That's really piss me off!! We were really mad!! It was a bad move!! Actually, fish at Ohio State was not under our plan. It was an exceptional!! We never think about fishing at Ohio State and never ever thought that we will get tickets. However, all these happened!! What can we say? Bad luck???

They did not even let us go after issued the ticket. They hold our operation licenses until we paid off our penalties. It's simply because we are non-residents in Ohio. They afraid we will sneak out of state without paying the penalties.

The weather is nice, but had been screwed up by all these. SUCKS!!! $80 dollars penalties!! It's just hard to believe that!! We got nothing, no even one fish but the tickets!! That's really piss me off. If we got couple fishes, that's will make us feel better. It's really not worth for this trip!! Well, let's "assume" that is the expenses for traveling to Ohio State. I never been Ohio, so... Hmmmm... What else can I think? Positive thinking always make me feel better... $80!! I can pay for phone bills for two months... haiz... :(

Our moods have been screwed up by all these. So, we decided to head back Michigan earlier than what we expected. Before that, we stopped by at New Empire Dim Sum restaurant to have our lunch. Without paying the penalties, we probably can have a luscious lunch at Ohio. But after the penalties, we all broke!!!

All these happened just in a day, but it's seems like a century long. Unbelievable!! Like I said, I am here to experience my life. Now, you know I am really do!!!

A Nike Zoom from Andy & Tat

2008-03-10T22:13:00.001-04:00

It's been awhile since my last post. Just way too busy and hard to find the time to update this blog. The weather getting warmer, we almost going to say goodbye to winter season and ready to welcome the Spring!!

My life has been so busy ever since I worked as an intern. I do not even have enough sleep. I wake up around 8am every morning and most of the time go to bed at 1a.m. Then I have to drive back and forth to school and work every day. More challenges and stresses coming up, I just need a little break...

Now I only update my blog when there is something special to blog with. It's simply because there is nothing great to talk about in my daily life. My daily life now only works and studies:> I wish I could have a short break to visit somewhere. I hate my life that only fills with works and studies now, hate the life that facing the computer everyday. I wish I could explore somewhere here to make my life become more meaningful.

Just couple days after my birthday, I received a gift, Nike Zoom from Tat and Andy! I was surprised when I received that Nike Zoom. What a precious gift!! Thanks a lots, dude!! I love it so much :>

Nike Zoom from Tat & Andy!

Alright, it's almost 12a.m. It's time to go to bed. Oops... before I forget, I would like to thank Leo for the birthday gift. It was a tie from Banana Republic. Thanks dude!! It's just a brief and quick update. I would update my blog IF i have time sooner or later...

A package from HooISiN

2008-03-07T11:52:00.004-05:00

Life is always filled with lots of frustrations. Sometimes you will get frustrated without any reason. It happens to me all the time. It's 12:24pm now. I am sitting in front of my office desk and start blogging. You probably will wonder why I choose to write my blog during the office hour. You might have a doubt on my working attitude, right? Indeed, I am having a short break now. Sometime, your brain can't operate properly when you are exhausted. So, I am here to blog...

I was in a bad mood last night. You may or may not know I am having schools and works at the same time. I drive back and forth everyday for schools and works. I am busy and feel fraustrated. A lot of stresses coming up. These stresses come from several fronts, exams, works, company projects, schools, etc. The student life here is not easy as you thought. Plus, now another pressure from my work. I need to release my stress!!! People said, the better way to release your stress could be through sport. However, I can't go with sport as my ankle sprained. I am still under "probabtion" period by someone. So, I am here to "release" my stress!! A little update for my ankle. It's getting better now, but I need couple weeks more to heal back...

Erm... back to the topic, why I was in a bad mood last night?! It was an exam day, I took the my exam right after worked. After exam, I thought I did good!! Indeed, I screwed it up!! I was stunned in a second when I got the exam grade. We graded the exam right the way after we were done. It was sucks!! Plus, my project graded was sucks too!!! I was so down and stunned for a couple seconds to cool down. What the hell!! How could it happend to me?!!

I reliazed that my emotion is easily get affected by my grade. The result will directly reflect from my emotion. It happens to me all the time. I am easily to feel down when I did bad in the exam. Sometime people thought I did good. Indeed, I don't think I am good enough. What do you think? I set a high expectation for myself. That's make me feel stress sometimes. However, in this world certain level of stress can make you stronger. But do not over-stress yourself sometimes. I do not think I am over-stress myself. I just feel that I can do better that what I did. In recent year, I realized that I care much more about my studies far away than before. Environment forced me to be aggressive. In order to compete with other, you have to be strong and well-equipped. No matter how hard it is, just hang it and stay tough and be stronger. Nothing is impossible... Everyday could be a new challenging day, just stay strong and get ready to welcome every single challenges instead of hidding and running away...

One of my friends told me: "Everyday is a new start, it's really depend on how you like it to be. It could be a happy day, fun day, sad day, stress day, etc. She decided to stay happy everyday. It simply because life still going on no matter you are happy or sad. So, why don't you choose to stay happy in every single day, to be a happy person!" Now, I realized that do not let the unhappy things bother you more than 24 hours. I need to learn how to always think everything in the positive way now. Nothing could let me down... Be a happy person!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 3rd...
Continue...

Back to the topic, a package from Sin, Malaysia!! I went to Post Office to pick up my package on March 4th. I can't wait to see what is the package. So I woke up earlier than usual and went to post office. I went to the wrong branch and I was late to work that morning. Eventually, I got my package!! I was so excited... Here are the pictures that showed you what is inside the package... Here it goes...

I got it!! A package for me from Sin, Malaysia!! As you can tell from this picture below, the shipping cost wasn't cheap anyway. She sent by normal postal service, luckily it arrived safely in Michigan.

Dang... Dang... Dang... Inside the package... It's a little cute gift box...
Erm... Come on!! just open it!! What is inside the box?? I can't wait... Hurry up!!
Oh... Come on... Open it!!!

Finally!! It's another little box. A Esprit box... It looks like something valuable????
What is in this box?? First guess-- watch?? Second guess-- necklace??
Dang... Dang... Dang... Here it is... Oh my god!! A superb watch!!!

Sin, Thank you so much!! Thanks for your birthday gift!! It's a really nice watch. I love it so much... Love you!!!

March 3rd _official 25th birthday

2008-03-03T20:42:00.003-05:00

The weather turned bad since this evening. According to weather forecast, winter storm warning remain in effect until next morning. It's still snowing outside and will continue with occasional sleet. Snow accumulations of 3 to 7 inches can be expected... It's sound like time to go for ski!!!

It's now 11:52pm. I log in to blogger to start writing my new post. You may or may not know, March 3rd, probably just an uneventful day for others, but it comes to me a very special day that usually gives me lots of sweet memories. Well... What the big deal on March? No... no!! It's a big deal!! It's my official birthday!! My officially turning into 25th... If the life expectancy is 100 years old, I already traveled a quarter of my life... Kind of hard to believe it's true

Well, what did I do on my 25th birthday? Actually, I was pretty busy on my birthday as I have a crazy schedule on Monday. My birthday was filled with schools and works. I drove back and forth to schools and works that day. This is how I celebrate my birthday!! When I was on the way home, I was thinking how could be my birthday end up like only schools and works. So I decided to call my friends to hang out that night. It was Monday and everyone was busy on their works and schools. I can't even find a friends to celebrate with. Most of my friends thought I would have lots fun during my birthday. Indeed, you were wrong!! I was alone this year!! It's sound pretty sad, right!! It was sad...

I was listening to a song by Lee Horn named "You're not here"(Chinese song) when I was on the way home from work. That song reminds me of her in Malaysia. She is my beloved. She came into my life since 2003 and we have been together for awhile. I miss her so much. That song reminds me again of her. "You're not here when I need you so much.".... I was alone and you were not here... Sin, I miss you so much...

I hate to be alone sometimes, especially during special event. I always love crowd!! Maybe I used to surrounded by a group of friends or my siblings. So I decided to do something for my 25th birthday. I always believe that you can do something to change the situation if you are not satisfy with. And I gonna do it.... I decided to get myself a birthday cake... Tiramisu... I went to Hiller's market which located less than two miles from our place. I spent couple bucks for my cake and grocery shopping. What do you think?? Yeah... you're right!! Celebrate by myself... Since no one to celebrate with...

I bought a cake and went home to share with my family... They don't even know my birthday!! I felt sad, I guess you can tell how I felt that day when no one remembered my birthday and I ended up went to buy a birthday cake for myself. It's sound sad, right?!! It was sad!! But now I learned to get used to it... I was glad some of friends and my family in Malaysia still remember my birthday. Thanks for your birthday's greeting message.

When I backed from work, I saw a package notice on my desk. It was a package notice from United States Postal Service. I was stunned by a sudden news. It was from Malaysia, the sender was Sin. It was a package from Sin!! I was so excited and felt warm at that moment. I missed the package so I need to pick up next morning. Sin, thank you so much although I'm still don't know what is in the package, but thanks in advance... Love you!!

其实包裹里是什么哪一不重要了，重要的是你的心意。而你的心意我已经感觉到了. 在这冰冷的世界里我被大家给遗忘了,但至少还有你... 而你为我这冰冷的世界带来了温度...

"这世界可以很大,但也可以只有两个人..."
"两个人的世界会比一个人的世界得来的温暖,因为温度会相互转递; 两个人的世界会比一个人的是世界快乐,因为快乐只要对方的一个笑容. " -- 2008--

The above quotes exactly delineate my feeling now. The world could be boundless and could be only two people in the world. My world is cold here and filled with loneliness. Now, I know I am wrong!! Because you are with me all the time, even you're not here!! No one cares about it, but you do!!! I can feel it... Thanks!!

Here are some pictures that Kostas took on my birthday!! Here it goes...

Package notice from USPS... I was stunned when I saw it on my desk. The sender was SIN...

Here is my birthday cake from MYSELF... It's sound sad, right!! It is sad!! As you can tell from the picture below, it was Tiramisu cake, same as last year. I love it that's why I bought the same cake again. Last year the cake was from Simon and Maggie, but this year I paid for myself...

I bought a cake and had celebration at home with my family...
After having our dinner, we started to have a small birthday celebration. Thanks Kostas for taking the picture.

We had the celebration in our kitchen... just forget about the Chinese couplet behind me!! I don't know why the couplet was still there.

We set up a self timer for the camera, so we can take a family picture together. As compare with last year, this year was quite, as we missed Simon and Maggie in Michigan.

Make a wish... and blow the candle...

Sophia was waiting for her Tiramisu...

Kostas took this picture when I was going to have my first bite of my Tiramisu

Kostas, Lee and Sophia...

Even though it was not a superb birthday celebration, at least I had a birthday cake, blow the candle and make a wish. It was not too bad. Plus, I received lots of greeting message from Malaysia's friends and a package from HooiSin. What else can I expect for?!! I should learn to say "enough"...

Birthday Wish 1
Foremost lots of health... Wishing all my friends and family stay in tune and healthy... Simply because without health we got nothing!! Family stay peace and harmony!!

Birthday Wish 2
Study & Career... I wish I could further my master program and graduate on time. Also, I wish I could start my professional career path by the time I finish my master program.

Birthday Wish 3
Keep it for myself... hint: Someone... You may know or may not...

Alright, that's all for now. I will keep myself update. If you like to know what is my package please be patient for my next post... :>

Feb. 29, 2008 ~ Friday

2008-02-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

February 29, Friday

Time: 10:14pm
Snow day

It's snowing outside, and the weather still cold. The snow had fallen since this morning until now, it seems like I'm going to shovel 3 to 5 inches of snow tomorrow morning. I hate shoveling!! It gonna be tough to shovel with sprained ankle. Anyone willing to help? I will appreciate your help :>

that damn three doors garage snow will take a while to get to it... It's hard to believe that my car broke down three times within a month, and I got it fixed three times within a month. That's unbelievable!! I think I really need to get rid of this stupid car, it really spent me lots money!! Transmission, condenser, cooling system, muffler, major tuned-up, etc....

On Feb 27 morning, I had a horrible experience on I-94 freeway. When I was on my way to work and I was trying to surpass a truck with a 70mph on I-94 freeway, somehow my stupid car suddenly slow down and can't even speed up when I accelerated. There was a car with a high speed and very close to me and almost hit on my back. Luckily, there was no car in my right lane so that I can quickly move it to next lane, otherwise, I think I might be gone at that moment!!! It was a horrible experience!! Although now I got my car fixed, I believe there are more problems coming up. He is 14 years old, I think he is almost done!!!

Today, Lee and George went for dinner. Both kids stay at home with me and I become their Nanny!! Usually, I will go for basketball on Friday. I'm not playing since my ankle sprained. Lee knows I ain't going anywhere. So, they decided to leave both kids at home. I came home right after work and stay at home with both kids. Here you can see couple pictures that we took at home.

Around 7pm, Sophia said she feel hungry and ready for dinner. She keeps looking in refrigerator for food. But she doesn't like anything.

Here you can see Sophia is looking some snacks in the pantry. Pantry is Sophia's heaven, because there are lots candies and snacks that she loves. She ends up to have some snacks.

Sophia loves Japanese baked seaweed.

Playing with Sophia... She is funny...

We had instant Noodles for dinner. I know it's not healthy, but kids love it. After dinner, both of them watched Harry Potter movie at living room. And I continued to do my studies and works. They went to bed around 10:15pm and I started to post my blog.
A little update for my sprained ankle... It's fourth day after I sprained my ankle. As you can see the pictures below, it's still swollen. I am getting better now, at least less pain but still swollen. I take off my ankle brace when I am home, because It's so uncomfortable to put it on with me. There are some bruises around my ankle... I hope it can be healed up by next week, but need couple weeks rest before I continue to play basketball...

March 3!! My 25th birthday coming up next week... Best wishes to myself... Will give you more update next week... HappY 25th Birthday to Myself... Wow!!! Unbelievable!! 25 years old!!

February 26, 2008 ~~ Ouch!! My ankle hurts!!!

2008-02-26T15:19:00.000-05:00

February 26, 2008
Time: 3:36pm
Snow Day

Weather has been very cold recently and with lots of snow!! That was between 2 inches to 5 inches snow had fallen since yesterday evening. According to weather forecast, the snowfall will continue to taper off through the afternoon.

I take a day off today, because I sprained my ankle last night in a basketball game. That was really hurt and I can't even move. It was swelling up immediately after I sprained my ankle. It bothered me at night and I can't even sleep well... Snow had fallen since yesterday evening, I took these pictures when I woke up in the earlier morning...

I love snow scene, especially in the earlier morning... It looks perfect!!!

View of our subdivision...

I woke up this morning and get ready to work, but I realized that my ankle was getting worse since last night. I decided to take a day off and went for doctor. I can't even stand or move... It was hurting me badly. I decided to make an appointment to visit my doctor at campus.

I can't wait because it hurts me so bad. I went for X-ray and my ankle looked good, no break!! I'm lucky... But still hurting me... Doctor said, no big deal but at least needs couple weeks to heal back. That's mean no basketball for couple weeks... Nurse helped me to do a splint treatment. My ankle did not break, so she helped me to put on the ankle brace. As you can see from the pictures below...

Dang... Dang... Dang... "Elephant Leg" It was swelling up after I sprained my ankle...

Ankle brace... Do you want to put your name on it?

After put on the ankle brace, I can move slowly now... getting better...

Oh my god!! No basketball for couple weeks. Also, I won't get pay today... Luckily, consultation fee is covered under my health care insurance, so only $10 co-pay has been charged. My 25th birthday gift ---> ankle brace???!!!

~Love can be magic, but sometime magic can be... just an illusion~

2008-02-17T02:44:00.000-05:00

Feb 14? Valentines Day? What did I do? I did nothing beside my schools and works. How was yours? Someone happy, someone sad?? Someone married, someone divorce?? Valentines day is a day to express your love, and to celebrate the spirit of love. Actually, valentines day creates lots of business opportunities, such as restaurant, gift shop, etc, and there usually make good money!! It is not necessary to shell out couple bucks to buy a dozen flower or chocolate to your lover on Feb 14. What i meant is, for me, if you got the right person, everyday can be valentines day. As my friend said, do you want your lover to be bad on you a day and be nice to you the rest of the day, or, be nice to you a day and treat you bad the rest of the day? Which one would you prefer to be? Love sometime can be magic, but magic sometime can be... just an illusion. So, like I said, once you got the right person, everyday could be valentines day!!!

寒冷的冬天，孤单的情人节，一个人独自走在街上，看着双双对对的恋人在人群中互相拥抱。心里忽然想起你, 两个人的世界会比一个人的世界温暖. 因为,拥抱会让温度互相传递!!! ~~当你孤单的时候,你又会想起谁呢?~~

First Official Paycheck

2008-02-16T16:44:00.000-05:00

I have been completely lazy in posting my blog these couple weeks, just because my busy schedules. Also, not much pictures from picture taking department, just because too cold outside!

I have been working for a month, and I received my first official paycheck in the United States as an Intern. It was not a large amount but it enough for me to cover my living cost so far. I shared part of my first paycheck with my friends and family. I bought my friends dinner at Yoshuba Japanese restaurant. Originally, I intended to buy my cousin for dinner, but we ended up celebrate it at home. We invited some friends to come over to have a party. Here are just a few pictures in this post:

We had a gathering at home to celebrate my first official paycheck.
Kids took a short break for the dinner after playing couple hours with their game.

Yummy!! I bought some food from Seoul Garden, a Korean and Japanese restaurant, plus my cousin, Lee cooked a lot of food. Luscious food.

Anthony and Burn. Like dad, like son!

Here we have, Mr. Jacob.

Anthony -- Second round!!

After shelled out $1,100 for my 14 years old car's transmission. Last week, this stupid car gave me another trouble again. This time is muffler problem. I sent it to the workshop and costs me another 300 bucks to get it fixed. The money that I spent on this car is enough for me to get another decent car. Well, he is 14 years old, what can I expect for....

Chinese New Year?!! What did i do during Chinese New Year? We did not actually celebrate Chinese New Year in States. I worked during CNY and we didn't do anything special to celebrate it. Unlike Asia, Michigan is quite as usual. However, I did pamper myself the luscious food. My cousin invited friends came over to had dinner, we had a small gathering at home. My family visited Taiwan during the CNY. I wish I could be there, but...

Last week, we had a CNY celebration at Blue Karaoke. We sure had fun! We sang until midnight. It was snowing and with the Ice on the road. It was so cold that night. The minimum speed is 55mph, and we drove like 45mph in the freeway. Can you imagine how slow we were driving. We drove very carefully because the weather was really bad. We were all the way safe, until we ramped into another freeway, our car somehow lost control and had 360 degree turns from first lane to third lane. We felt so lucky because we still survive. It was horrible and scary!!! I was driving the car and my brain totally went blank and did not know how to respond in sudden. I was shock!! I was glad because I was survived. That was not my first time!! I had couple experiences before, but this is the most horrible, because it was happened in the freeway. If there was a car behind us, can you image what will happen. That was not my first time, but we hope it could be our last time to experience that.

Goodbye 2007 & Welcome 2008!!!

2008-01-13T17:20:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that this is the first post of Year 2008! We just concluded our magnificent Year 2007 and looking forward to have a better Year 2008. Are you ready for Year 2008? I know I am!!

These past few weeks were filled with schools and works since return from holidays. The official day of school started at Jan 7, everyone backed to their routines after a long holidays. I hope year 2008 will be a prosperous year for everyone. I sincerely pray all my friends and family will be blessed with lots of health and happiness.

We had a magical countdown at home as we turned off all inside lights, turned on the outside light and watching the heavy snow come down while a neighbor across from us put on a magnificent fireworks show...

The first day of 2008 was filled with 8 inches snow... We had shoveled the snow in front the driveway. It was fun to have snow but hate to shovel, because it was tired and took lots of time.

Year 2008!! A brand new year with brand new luck!! I received a internship offer at the end of 2007 and I started to work on Jan 2, which change my daily lifestyle in 2008. I have to wake up early in the morning and drive 20mins to work everyday. Now, I work 40 hours per week 9-5pm from Mon-Fri, and have to go to school after work, I was tired like hell in the first week!! However, for me it's a good start of year 2008!! I like my job so far, I learned lots of things which I can not get it from school.

Back up to Year 2007, there are lots of things happened. In year 2007, it was filled with sadness, lost, frustrated, and of course happiness. It was an eventful Year 2007. The most wonderful time in Year 2007 was the time that I spent with HooiSin and my family members in Malaysia and Singapore. It was a sweet memories!!

I screwed up my life after return from Malaysia, cell phone broken, screwed up at interviews and exams, car broken, traffic tickets, etc. and I spent a couple thousands in the end of the year. It just never end. I was so down at that time. Overall, it was a bad year!! So, I sincerely pray all my bad luck please get away from me!!!

Happy New Year to everyone and foremost lots of health... simply because without health we got nothing!!! What is your resolution on Year 2008??!! My resolution is" Study hard!!! Work hard!!! Play hard!!" Actually, this is my motto!! How about you??!!!

Dec 26 & 27, 2007 Chicago, Illinois --> Part 1

2008-01-05T20:51:00.000-05:00

One day, I asked Lydia, what are we going to do in this school break? Do you have any plan of what are we gonna do? She said "no! Staying at home!" I said "come on!! old lady!! Just do something during the break!" So, I suggested to plan a two days one night trip to Chicago. I just wanted to get away from Ann Arbor, Michigan to visit somewhere else.

We started to do our research, buying train ticket and make the hotel reservation. Unfortunately, it was the peak season when we decided to visit Chicago, and the tickets already sold out and most of the hotels were fully booked. At that time, Lydia almost decided to give up. But I said "No way!! We got to make it!!" So another place that came out on my mind, which is LAS VEGAS, Neveda. It sounds like a pretty good idea to visit LAS VEGAS, Neveda. So we started to do our research. Again, the ticket was extremely expensive during the peak season... Haiz... Lydia said "forget about the trip to anywhere, just stayed at home for Christmas and New Year!" I said " Probably, you're right!!"

After a long way discussion and argument, we finally decided to visit Chicago. I told Lydia "Just do it!! If we keep discussing we are not going to anywhere." So we finally made up our mind to visit Chicago on Dec 26, 2007. We decided to drive since we can't buy the train ticket.

On Dec 26, we woke up early in the morning and set off to Chicago. We stopped by at AAA, which is the insurance company and also the travel agent, such as maps and hotel reservation for their members. Lydia joined the AAA membership, so we went there to grab the map of Chicago. We never thought about staying at Chicago before, but ended up staying for a night, because we got membership discount from AAA if we made the hotel reservation through them.

We left from about around noon. We have to drive 4 hours long to Chicago. But we planned to stop by at Indianna, Michigan City outlet mall.

We took these pictures before we invaded to Indianna and Chicago. Are you ready?? Let's check it out the pictures below:

In front Michigan Stadium-- Ann Arbor

On the I-94 west freeway. The weather was so nice. It was the sun shine day!

Lunch time, we stopped by at McDonald!!

Both of us took turn to drive to Chicago.

Welcome to Indianna!! After 2 hours drive, we finally got Indianna!! As you can see from the pictures below, we can't even get a shot of the signboard. It was 120 km per hour. Time difference with Michigan and Indianna and Chicago is one hour, because of the time zone.
Michigan City!!

Michigan City outlet mall!! We spent an hour here for shopping!!
It called Lighthouse outlet mall!!

After that, we drove for another hour to Chicago.
We paid toll at Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge.

Chicago Skyway toll Bridge

After a few hours drive, we finally got Chicago downtown. We made the reservation at Comfort Inn, which is located at Chicago downtown area. We followed the direction on the map and found Comfort Inn. After the checking and unloading our baggages, we started exploring the night view of Chicago. First, we parked our car at garage, which cost us $34 per day!!! That's really expensive. We decided to buy a day pass for our transportation. It included bus and subway, unlimited use for 24 hours, which only costs us $5 each. We arrived at Chicago downtown around 7pm. It was the dinner time. I suggested to visit Chicago Chinatown for Malaysian food. So we decided to have our dinner at Chinatown.

Christmas tree at Comfort Inn lobbyI took a lot of pictures at Chicago downtown area. Night view of Chicago downtown:

We took subway from Grand station to Cermak-Chinatown station

I took these pictures while we were waiting for the subway to Chinatown. As you can tell from the pictures, subway has been a history in United States. Honestly, that was my first ride in United States. The feel was totally different from the subway at Singapore.

We took pictures at Grand Station

It took 10 minutes from Grand Station to Cermak- Chinatown. Here are some pictures that we took at Chinatown.

Welcome to Chicago Chinatown!!

Chicago Chinatown is considered small when you compare with New York Chinatown. We first welcome by the "tian xia wei gong" this fours words at the "city door"!!

We had our dinner at Penang, which is the Malaysian food restaurant at Chicago Chinatown. The is the place that I can find my curry and Nasi Lemak. I can't wait to visit this place, because I miss Malaysian food so much!! So I suggested Lydia to try our Malaysian food. However, Lydia can't handle the spicy food, so she did not really eat much that night. When I look at the menu, I felt like I was in Malaysia. I wish I could order all of the Malaysian dishes that I love, however, I was not able to do that, because the portion is really big and we can't even finish it. I ordered Beef Redang and one of my favorites, cendol.

Penang, Malaysian food restaurant at Chicago Chinatown

Haha!! Interesting!! I took this picture!! human need to pee!! Haha... It means restroom!!

Fried Intestine!! I love this dish so much!! Malaysian food? I'm not sure. It's appetizer, which ordered by Lydia. But It was so good!!

Another appetizer-- Fried Egg Oyster--, which ordered by Lydia as well. It supposed is Lydia's appetizer, but ended up become her main course, because she can't even finish it and we realized that we ordered too much food!!

Beef Redang!! It was not spicy enough. Although it's not the authentic Malay food, but it was so good!! I really enjoyed my dinner that night!! We realized that we ordered too much food, so we canceled our dessert, which is one of my favorites -- cendol--.

After we done our dinner at Penang, we started to walk around the Chinatown. These pictures were taken at Chicago Chinatown:

Chinese Education center at Chinatown

Dr.Sun Yat-Sen Museum. It only open at weekend. We missed that.

Chinese Church at Chinatown

Look!! The Chinese road signs at Chinatown.

Sears tower at Chicago downtown

Waiting for subway at Cermak station at Chinatown.

We stayed a night at Comfort Inn. It's a 3-star hotel. Not too bad!! We paid $130++, so what can we expect for!!

The famous Deep Dish Pizza - Pizzeria UNO- is next to the hotel that we stayed

Night view of Chicago downtown

We went to Michigan Ave., which is a street at Chicago downtown. It's pretty much same as Orchard road in Singapore. You can shop at Michigan Ave for the whole day. It was so beautiful, especially the Lights decoration in Michigan Ave for Christmas and New Year!

Carriage for tourists

The shopping heaven-- Michigan Ave-- for girls

Water Tower just right in fron of us

Tiffany & Co.

Water Tower Place.
The eight-level Water Tower Place reigns as the largest mall on Michigan Avenue. Anchored by a Lord & Taylor and a branch of Marshall Field's and Company, Water Tower includes more than 100 stores, movie theaters, and many dining options.

Church

Back to hotel, and ready to go to bed. Take a rest and continue our trip tomorrow. Thanks for Lydia's camera. Because of her camera, we got a lot of beautiful night view pictures.

Dec 26 & 27, 2007-- Chicago, Illinios --> Part 2

2007-12-30T21:45:00.000-05:00

The next day, we supposed to woke up in the early morning, but the stupid cell phone's alarm didn't ring, so we lost few hours to travel around. After having our breakfast at Comfort Inn, we started our day trip plan at Chicago. According to our plan, we supposed to visit five attractions in Chicago, which includes Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science and The Hancock Observatory, however, due to the limitation of time, we were not be able to visit these five attractions. We only visit Shedd Aquarium.

We stopped by at post office to drop off our postcard from Chicago to our family and friends. Our first stop was Shedd Aquarium, we took subway from Grand to Roosevelt, and took bus to Museum Campus. I suggested to walk to Museum Campus, but the weather was freezing and windy, we can't even walk there. So we decided to ride bus.

We were checking out the bus schedule at bus stop. Lydia took this picture for me. I knew she was taking the picture and I was pretending I do not know. Thanks Lydia, it's good shot!!!

She was pretending too.

These pictures were taken while we were waiting for our bus to Museum Campus.

We bought a $5 dollar day pass for subway and bus, so we decided to ride bus rather than walk. The reason that I suggested to walk because we can explore the Chicago city, but with the freezing weather, we ended up with riding the bus.

From Roosevelt bus stop to Museum Campus took us less than five minutes. These pictures were take at Museum Campus and front of Shedd Aqurium.

All the way down to the end is Adler Planetarium Museum. We missed that because we run out of time. Anyway, we will be back!!!

View of Shedd Aquarium

Chicago Lake Shore

Lake Shore, It was windy and freezing!!

Darren & Lydia

Welcome to Shedd Aquarium

Yellow cab!! City of Chicago!!

Statue in front of Shedd Aquarium's handicap entrance.

View of city from Shedd Aquarium

Main entrance of Shedd Aquarium

Lydia was checking out the Advertisement of 4D Theater. She looks like a Santa Clause. haha!!

John G. Shedd Aquarium

I took this picture while we were lining up in front of Shedd Aquarium.

It was so crowded because of the holiday season!!

This picture was taken by Lydia while we were lining up.

The admission ticket cost $24 each. It's cheaper if we bought the City pass, which is include the five attractions. Like I said, we run out of time to check out the rest of the attractions, so we decided to buy one by one instead of five attractions at the same time.

Let's check it out the pictures that we took in Shedd Aquarium:

I guess is feeding time, the diver was there to feed the fishes in the Aquarium!!

Fancy fishes

Look!! Whale!! It's White Whale!! She is really cute!!! I love it so much!! Lydia told me that she just had a grey baby whale. She told me when she was here last time, this place was closed because Mom whale was having the baby!

Look!! The baby grey whale and Mom whale !! It's a boy!!
Lydia was checking out the Sea lions that next to the whale pool

At Whale pool

One of my favorite animals -- penguins -- They are so funny and cute!!

Underwater dolphin show!! I can't catch up the dolphin's move, because they move really fast!!

They were waiting for the dolphin show start!!

Welcome to the Philippines?? Actually, we were here to check out the wild reefs and corals.

We spent two hours at Shedd Aquarium, we left around 2pm. We walked around the Museum Campus. These are the pictures from Museum Campus.

Nice shot!! Look!! Wonderful background!! City of Chicago, in front of Shedd Aquarium!!

Sun shine but still windy and freezing!! Goodbye Shedd Aquarium!! There was a long line after we left!! We were glad because we came in the early morning, otherwise, we will waste our time at lining up!!

Look!! The tallest Building behind me is Sears building!!

Beautiful view from Grand Park !!

Sears building

We took pictures at Chicago Lake Shore

Nice Shot!! Look at the background!! Personally, I love this picture so much!!! Nice background.

Ducks at Chicago Lake

View of Shedd Aquarium from Grand Park

We walked through Grand Park and reached Field Museum at Museum Campus!! View of City of Chicago from Field Museum.

Santa Clause with City of Chicago!! Lydia was freezing because of the strong wind.

The building behind me is the Field of Museum!! We just stopped by in front of Field Museum and took a few pictures. We didn't visit Field Museum this trip, but we will be back next time!!

I'm not sure what is that building!! It looks like a stadium!! I guess is Soldier Field. (Do not worry about the car, because took it from a far distance.)

Tourist bus around Museum Campus!!

Another entrance of Field Museum!!! There was a stall that sold the famous Chicago hot dog bun. We heard that Chicago Hot Dog Bun costs $5-$6 each!! Can you image how many profit margin they make? We stopped by and bought two and tried it, nothing special but really expensive. I finished it within 5 bites!!!

We took subway back to the Chicago downtown. We visited State Street at Chicago downtown, it was crowded. We walked through State street and passed by Michigan Ave. to Millennium Park. These pictures were taken at State Street:

The patrol police was on duty at the State Street with his "police car" (horse). He is so friendly. We stopped by and took these pictures with him.
As you can tell from the picture, he is so friendly and funny.

Lydia and patrol police.

Public Library at Chicago downtown.

The man was sketching the city view for sale. It costs $10 each.

Finally we got Millennium Park. Here are some pictures we took at Millennium Park.

I'm not sure what the name of this building, but the shape of the building looks unique!! It located at Chicago downtown, which across to Millennium Park.

Welcome to Millennium Park!!

Oh my God!!! This is my first reaction when I see this extraordinary sculpture. It's called Cloud Gate, which is located at Millennium Park. I named it as "Millennium bean", because the shape of this thing looks exactly like a bean. This "Bean" weights over 110 tons, and it's the world largest outdoor sculpture. I never see the outdoor ice-skating rink, but there was the one right in front of me in Millennium Park. I did not skate because I do not how to skate. I think it will be fun to skate at outdoor.
Same as the other cities, there are a lot of tall building in Chicago downtown. I guess this is the tallest building I had seen in downtown, or maybe there are other taller buildings such as John Hancock Building, Sears building, etc.

Crowded in Millennium Park, especially in the "Millennium Bean".

Here are the pictures that we took with "Millennium Bean". The Millennium Bean looks like a stainless steal bean. It reflects the view of Chicago.

Look!! Millennium Bean looks like a mirror, it reflects everything!! Awesome!! We took picture in front of Millennium Bean.

Interior of Millennium Bean!! Awesome!! Can you tell where are we in this picture!! I can't tell either!! But we are in picture!!

Lydia told me that this is the water fountain. There are couple different faces, and the face will change after few minutes and the water will come out through the mouth. When we were there, it was closed.

Due to the limitation of time, we do not have chance to explore the Art Institute of Chicago, we just stopped by and took a few pictures. Hopefully we have enough time to check out what we missed on this trip.

The Art Institute of Chicago

We had our dinner at PIZZERIA UNO. The famous Deep Dish Pizza at Chicago. Lydia told me it is a must-try pizza at Chicago. It was a long line, it took us 45 minutes!!! Can you image we waited for 45 minutes just because of the Pizza. I guess you can tell how good of the pizza and how good of the business everyday. The restaurant is crowded everyday. Amazing!!

We took these pictures while we were waiting for our pizza and seat. We have to order before we get into the restaurant, so they can prepare and baked it on the spot. It's hot and fresh for sure. We ordered a small size Numero UNO Pizza. The signature pizza of the restaurant!!

After a long waited, we finally got our seats. We ordered the appetizer and drinks. But we still had to wait for our signature pizza.

Here is our soup!! Not sure what kind of soup, because it come with the pizza. Anyway, it was really nice!!

Still waiting.....

Our drinks!!! Wildberry & mango smoothie, and Oreo Cookie smoothie. Still waiting for our pizza!!!

Dang!! Dang!!! Dang!!! Finally!!! We got our signature Numero UNO pizza. The famous long-waited Deep Dish Pizza in Chicago!!! Gosh!!! It took us an hour just for the pizza!! If you ask me how was the taste of the pizza, all i can say is so-so!! It famous probably because it's a deep dish pizza, and it's unique!! I'm not that crazy about the pizza, so i think is just so-so!!! Anyway, at least I had tried the famous deep dish pizza at Chicago.

Bar of PIZZARIA UNO.

We left Chicago after we done our dinner at PizzaRia UNO. We drove through Michigan Ave. and passed by Chicago river but we did not stop by because of the traffic and parking at downtown.
Chicago river!! I took this picture in the car when we passed by Chicago river.
Our last stop at Chicago was the Nave pier!! Also, we just stopped by there to took some pictures. We do not have chance to experience the Taxi boat at Navy pier, it was closed because of winter season.

Chicago Children's Museum

Michigan Ave. at downtown Chicago. Michigan Ave is a street like the orchard Road at Singapore. It's crowded everyday and branded shops everywhere. When I was there, it makes me feel like I am in Orchard Road, Singapore.
Night view of Chicago downtown, Chicago river!!! Awesome!!
We left Chicago around 7pm evening. We drove through the Chicago Skyway and headed back to Michigan.
We stopped by at Indiana. We checked out the Casino at Indiana and continued to drive back to Michigan.

Casino at Indiana!!

Thank you Lydia for being my accompany to Chicago. Because Lydia had been Chicago couple time but it's my first time. I really enjoyed the trip, and had fun for sure. If we could stay one more night in Chicago, that's will be prefect!! Anyway, we decided to visit again!! We are planning our next trip, probably Las Vegas, Nevada.

December 15 - 25, Winter Storm, Christmas Day

2007-12-30T18:57:00.000-05:00

Michigan was attacked by snow storm on December 16. It was eight inches snow over that weekend!! The commencement at Eastern Michigan University had been postponed due to the severe weather!! Also, the following Monday was announced as snow day, it was a good news for the kids because they had no school!! As you can tell from the pictures how bad of the weather was over that weekend!!

View of street at Ypsilanti old house!!! These pictures were taken by me around 10am in the morning!! I woke up to shovel the driveway in the morning!! I was so tired after shoveled the 8 inches snow at the driveway!!! It's my first time to shovel and I hate the snow so much at that moment!!! Look!!! The snow cover my entire shoes and up to my feet!!!

I didn't wear boot and I got wet!!!

After shoveled the Ypsilanti old house driveway, I had to go and shoveled the new house driveway at Ann Arbor!!! It's a three door garage!!! It took me an hour to take it away!!!

Kostas and Sophia was enjoying the snow!!! Sophia tried to help me to get the snow away!!!

Darren and Kostas. We were having the snow fight at the new house driveway! I love snow but hate to shovel the snow away!! Especially it was 8 inches snow, gosh!!! damn tired!!

On December 24, we had a Christmas eve celebration at Uncle Tee's house!! Tee is my cousin's coworker at proquest. Tee is from Thailand, he invited us to come over and had a Christmas eve celebration. We all hanged out at Tee's house until midnight!!

In the early morning of Christmas Day, when I was still on the bed, I heard a lovely sound from downstairs... Jingle bell... Jingle bell... Jingle all the way... In sudden, I heard Sophia was yelling.... Darren!! Darren!! Wake Up!!! It's time for Christmas Present!!! Time to wake up for you present!!

This is year, I bought Kostas a GameStop gift card and Sophia a lovely purse with lipsticks, nail polish, and body lotion. Also, I received two pair of socks from Sophia and Kostas for Christmas Present, and I got Wireless Digital Alarm Clock from Papadopoulos family.

Darren & Sophia with their Christmas gift in front of Christmas Tree!

Darren, Sophia & my cousin --Lee--

Kostas, Sophia & Darren

Christmas tree at new house

Here are few pictures from the Papadopoulos's new house at Ann Arbor. As you can tell from the pictures, they moved with a few pieces of furniture, the new pieces are coming soon in January!!

Great Living room with Plasma Tv!!

Kostas was enjoying his new Play Station 2 game, which he got it from his mom for Christmas present!! He was practicing his songs to be the next American idol!!!

View of the street from the Kitchen area!! There have the kid play ground in the backyard.

View from Guest room, which it my room for now!! It looks beautiful in the Winter!!

I'm planning to visit Chicago, Illinois during the day before new year eve. Will keep you update when I back from Chicago, Illinois.

Eastern Michigan University HomeComing Event

2007-12-30T17:44:00.000-05:00

On October 28, I attended the Home Coming event at Eastern Michigan University. Recently, I joined the Beta Alpha Psi and Accounting club. As a pledge of Beta Alpha Psi, we had to participate two social events to earn the credits to be a member. Due to this reason, I have an opportunity to experience the campus event. Honestly, I never take part of any campus event, this is my first time, and we had so much fun!!!

In this event, you can hang out with your club members and social and making friends with other club members. Awesome!!!

This event started with a dance show with a group of Eastern dancers!!! Thanks Natalie for sending me these pictures!! These pictures were taken by Natalie, because I left my camera in the car!!! These pictures are all from Natalie's camera. She is one of my club members.

In order to get the free TCF's hoodie, we had to challenge and cross over this!!!

Crowded!!

It was a windy day!!! Freezing!!! As you can tell from the pictures, the weather was terrible!!!

It was a Eastern Football game day!!!

Instrumental troops were practicing at Eastern Field

Getting crowded at the evening!!!

Yap!!! I'm represent Malaysia, and Singapore!!! I was the volunteer to hold the flag of our country!!! However, one of the Malaysian already took Malaysia flag, so I take care of the Flag of Singapore!!! Sorry!! I was the traitor of Malaysia!!! haha!!

"Malaysia Boleh"!!! I borrowed the flag from that Malaysian and took this picture!!!

All international student!!! It came from several fronts, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, etc...

It's our show time!!! It was a parade for us to show our flag!!!

That lady with the hoop is Malaysian, she is the freshman at Eastern Michigan University. She take care of the Flag!!! She is proud of being Malaysian!! Look at me!! I was the traitor of Malaysia!! hehe!!!

The game almost start!!!

We had to line up to welcome the Footballer!!! It was freezing and we waited for 10 mins there!!

Eastern Eagle Football Team!!!

Here we go!!!

I didn't go for the Football game that day!! Because I had another appointment that day!!! These pictures were taken by Natalie!!! She went to the Football game!!

It was a good experience to explore the campus event.

2007 Summer Vacation -- August 25, Friends Gathering, Malaysia

2007-12-30T15:09:00.000-05:00

On August 25, we held a party at my place before I fly back to Michigan, United States. I invited some of my best friends in college to come over my place to have a party. I really appreciated them to spend their time to come over. Thanks friends!!

As you can tell from the picture below, I didn't invite much friends to come over. They are all my college good friends. They are Bryan, Catherine, Zhi Da, Meifen, Betty, Yn jie , Qiu fang and Xing Yong. It was a good time for all of them to gather in my place, we have a very nice chat and sure had fun!!!

We didn't cook much food that night, and we only have a Grilled Chicken Wings and Home style Curry. The main purpose for this gathering is to hang out with my friends that I didn't meet or even contact for a long time.

HooiSin and Meifen!!! She is one of my course mates and she is HooiSin good friend. We met each other during the college time.

William and Meifen!!! Thanks William for joining our gathering!! Willam enjoyed his Chicken Wings a lot!!

Am i look silly? Zhi Da, one of my course mates and good friends.

William, Darren, Zhi Da.

Betty, one of my course mates and she is HooiSin's good friend.

Betty and HooiSin

Group picture!! We missed Betty, Zhi Da and William because they left earlier. Anyway, thanks for coming the gathering.

Dang... Dang... Dang... Bryan, he is one of my college best friends!! He is a nice and good looking guy, but he is attached!! haha! Bryan, thanks for helping me to arrange everything in the gathering!!

Catherine and Darren, she is a really talkative and easy going person!!! She is Bryan's girlfriend!! I met her after hang out with Bryan.

Qiu Fang, she is one of my course mates too. She is very independent and smart. I'm glad to meet up with her and become friend!!!

Yn Jie, one of my course mates!! She is tiny and cute!!

Funny meifen!!!

Xinyong, Catherine and Darren !!!

Xinyong, one of my good friends!! Bryan and Xinyong, we used to hang out at my place to study or had fun together!!! He is a nice guy too!!

Hey my friends, thanks for giving me such a wonderful night!!! I was so glad to hang out with you all again, it was a excellent night, and I really enjoyed the time with you all. Thanks for giving me such a good memories in this Malaysia trip!!! I will miss you all!!! Stay well and take a good care, my friends!!!

2007 Summer Vacation -- August 23, National Zoo, Singapore

2007-12-28T17:01:00.000-05:00

Another day trip on August 23. This trip we visit National Zoo, Singapore. Honestly, this is our first time to visit the National Zoo in Singapore. The reason for this trip is because we would like to experience a natural and relaxing trip. We spent a day at National Zoo before I leave. We finally have chance to explore the National Zoo of Singapore and we sure had fun!!

We arrived at Singapore around noon. We meander through the Rainforest Walk to catch sight of small-clawed otters before heading past Gibbon Island for a glimpse of our acrobatic apes.

Arrival of Singapore Zoo. We took these pictures Zoo shop.

Meander through the Rainforest Walk and took the pictures at Rainforest Walk

We stopped by at Rainforest Walk to catch up the small-clawed otters before heading to the Tiger Trek.

We stopped by at Tiger Trek and caught the spectacular white tigers.

White Tiger at the Tiger Trek

HooiSin pictured at Tiger Trek

There have an exhibition with multimedia animal facts. We have an opportunity to see a tiger's pug mark, hear a tiger roar and watch a video on tiger bones and how poachers hunt it to make traditional medicine at Tiger Trek.

Boar

House of Hunter!!

As you can see the picture below, I believe those are the tools that hunters used for hunting.

Peacock

We also hop into the Australian outback!!

Visitors can also come up close to Eastern Grey Kangaroo.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

We came up close to the Eastern Grey Kangaroo!!

We stopped at the Elephant bathing area, but we missed the show and the feeding time. So we took some of the pictures there and checked out the exhibition.

Baby African Elephant -- HooiSin--

Elephant Darren !!!

Penguins. One of my favorite animals, because they are so cute and funny!!!

Sea Lion

We stopped at Gibbon Island for a glimpse of our acrobatic apes!!

En route, we took a break before heading to our next destination. Hooi Sin bought a Ice-blended wildberry drink.

Polar bear!!

We didn't catch up the time of carriage and we missed that!!! We only took the picture but not ride on it!! HooiSin was so disappointed!!!

En route, we encountered Wild Africa, home to white rhinos, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, meerkats and lions.

Zebras

Welcome to the Snake house!!

It was the feeding time when we arrived at snake house!!! We have an opportunity to watch how the snake swallow the entire hamster!!

Scary and huge python!!

Look!! The Green Snake is swallowing the hamster!!

We took a quick ramble past the Reptile Gardenfor all things scaly – from our giant Aldabra tortoises to the rhino iguanas to the Komodo dragons.

Komodo Dragons

Giant Aldabra tortoises!!

Time to leave!!! En route, we catch up the sea lion show. Here are some pictures from the show!!

Also, we catch up the feeding time of our acrobatic apes!! Here are the pictures we took at the feeding time!!!

Acrobatic apes!!

2007 Summer Vacation -- Snow World City, Science Center, Sentosa Island, Singapore

2007-12-23T13:18:00.000-05:00

On August 22, we planned a Day trip to visit Snow World City, Science Center and Sentosa Island. Snow World City is our first stop, we didn't take any pictures from there, because we are not allow to bring our camera into the Snow World City area. However, we bought some pictures that were taken by the professional photographer.

We also visited Science Center. We bought a promotion tickets which include the admission ticket of Science center and Chinese exhibition. So, we visited the Singapore Science center again and we also have the chance to check out the Chinese Exhibition in Science Center that day.

Pictures from Singapore Science Center

In the exhibition, it showed and explained the Chinese Cultures, and some Chinese Inventions, such as paper making, histories, etc.

Pictures from Chinese Exhibition at Singapore Science Center

Navigation

Papermaking

As you can see from the pictures, there was the student tours from different high schools. They were assigned to write a report from this exhibition.

We left in the noon and headed to our next destination - Sentosa Island -

We took subway from Vivo City to Sentosa Island.

View of Vivo City shopping mall, I took this pictures from subway.

As you can see from the picture, part of the Sentosa Island is remodeling because the ONE and ONLY casino is coming soon in Singapore. View of Sentosa Island.

Merlion of Singapore

Let's check it out these pictures from Sentosa Island, Singapore

Images of Singapore

Sky Tower

View from Sentosa Island

We checked out the new game - Luge- in the Island. It was fun!! We love it!!

Safety first!! Darren with safety helmet!! We took these pictures while we are lining up.

HooiSin with her blue safety helmet.

The instructor was explaining how to navigate the luge!! We rode the cable car from the downhill to the tophill

I took this pictures from the cable car! Nice view!!

We also checked out the famous musical fountain at the Sentosa Island. Now, it named as The Songs of the sea. When we got the there, the show already started. We missed the show. But we got a good spot which can watch the entire show without paying the admission fee. It was really amazing!!! Nice show with a excellent lighting system!! We really enjoyed the show.

Picture from Musical Fountain. Not a good quality pictures, because my camera is not good at taking night view.

Exhausted!!! I was so tired after a day walk. Hooi Sin took this picture while I was taking a break at the coffee shop.

Time to leave!! We walked to the subway station to catch up the last subway to Vivo city. Here are the pictures we took while we were waiting for the subway.

Hanging out at the Sentosa park.

Nice view!!! The lights will change every five second. It looks beautiful!!! Awesome!1

2007 Summer Vacation ~~ ViVo City, Singapore

2007-12-22T12:44:00.000-05:00

On August 14, I finally have chance to meet up with my friends. We all hanged out at restaurant which located at Johor city downtown. It's a place that recommended by my friend. Personally, I love that place very much!!! It's a very old-fashioned design bar. It doesn't like others bar, with the contemporary decoration. It's a good place for you to hang out with your friends. It's a place that make you feel like you are at home. Awesome!!

I didn't take much picture there, here are the two pictures from the restaurant!! The food and the beverage there was so good!!! We all enjoyed and had fun!! Thanks Joey!!! It's really a nice place to hang out!!

Hanging out at the bar!! I can't remember the name of the bar!!! As you can tell from the picture, It's a very old shop!! But the owner utilized the shop and remodeling as a old-fashioned design bar. Good business idea!! Thanks for Joey and Bryan joining us for dinner that night!! I really enjoyed to hang out with you all!!
Here are the pictures that we took at the new shopping mall, Vivo city at Habour Front, Singapore. Vivo city is a new attraction in Singapore!! Across Vivo City shopping mall is Sentosa Island. you can take subway or shuttle bus from Vivo City to Sentosa Island. There also design the outdoor playground for kids. Beautiful view at night!!

Bridge that connects Singapore to Sentosa Island. Not so clear:<

We met up with my Ting after we done our shopping. We went to Sakura Sushi Buffet at Jurong East, Singapore. Thanks Ting for the dinner!!! The food was so good@@!! We really enjoyed it!!

I took the pictures before we start our dinner...

Are you ready?? I'm starving!!!

Sister, Ting!! Thanks for buying us the dinner:>

My turn, I'm ready!! Let's get started!!

Wow!!! Yummy!!! So good!!

~~"Se@SoN" PaRaDis3~~

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