Pre BD fun

Been exactly a week after my birthday & too busy to do any updates.

My birthday celebration started on friday with a few colleagues, a very small one though. But it's the thought of gathering for the 1st time & for my birthday that's greatly appreciated :)

They're not from my team - 1 from the 7th floor, 2 from 14th floor & I, from 18th floor. We got to know each other through work separately & later discovered we all knew one another.

We had a quick lunch at one of the nearby coffee shops & then moved on to Far East Sq's Spinelli. They bought me a slice of cake & one of the gals, Irene, suggested singing birthday song. What we least expected was.... she sang real LOUD. Cindy who actually started to sing got too shock to carry on... we're embarrassed (me, especially) & couldn't stop laughing. I shouldn't have dared her... earlier in the morning when she suggested lunch, she said she'd sing me a birthday song in public. Can't remember what we said, I told her that if she dared to sing aloud, I'd have the guts to be there too. So now I know she's one who can't be challenged.

This is Ms Irene, who seemed oblivious of the people around. There she was singing happily & loudly while clapping.
She's so nice to have organised this lunch.

With Zoey, Irene & Cindy (behind us)

For My Birthday Boy :)

He didn't know what the whole day program was.

Due to the cranky weather lately, I came up with Plan A, Plan B & Plan C. But I missed out the part that rain might hit at noon... don't ask me why.. just didn't cross my mind despite the planning :(

And it's raining heavily approaching lunch time & I panicked. We ended up in Parco's Sakae Sushi so we could be all sheltered.... it's a last minute decision. After lunch, took hubby to where I wanted to bring him for lunch. Since the rain had stopped, we went there for tea instead.

Having a cuppa @ TCC, Marina at Keppel Bay

Nice ambience. Would even be better without the construction.

Marina at Keppel Bay

Then we headed off to Sentosa. Since it's already past 3pm, we decided to only visit 1 or 2 places & not getting the package.

All set!
If you notice, we're donned different sets of clothes before that. It's a "decoy".. hehe. That's why hubby was a bit reserved when he knew we're going to Sentosa as we're dressed appropriately & was a surprise for him;) He'd have known if we were to leave home in these outfits. So I smuggled a bag of clothes & slippers & hid them in the boot while hubby was showering the night before. It's so thrilling to pack all the stuff needed, go to the car & come back before he's out from the bathroom! :P

Parked our car at Beach Car Park & we hopped on the Siloso Beach Tram.

Siloso Beach

We visited Underwater World.
Hubby's touching a starfish!

In the tunnel

By the time we finished, there wasn't enough time to travel to Dolphin Lagoon which was included in the ticket we paid. So hanged around the Siloso Beach a lil before going back to get our car.


We then drove back to the same place as we'd be having dinner buffet in Rasa Sentosa.

I'd made 3 advance booking... 1 with the beach-front Trapizza (Sentosa) as hubby likes pizza, 1 with Marriott (in case it rained & the plan to visit Sentosa had to be aborted) & the last was with Silver Shell.

We played a round of pool in the hotel before having dinner

The food was :(( So was the service. The consolation was that we only paid 50% because of credit card promotion.

Ice-cream Man! Hee..

Took a stroll before we left

We're so tempted to stay over on the island (Amara Sanctuary's offering $209+++ for locals) & gotta take big efforts to resist the temptation. Told ourselves that we'd be off for a short trip soon :D

Ended the night with supper at a famous beancurd shop on Sembawang Road.

Nothing sophiscated but hope hubby has enjoyed the day :)

Fun times

Last Sat, Con, June & I planned to have picnic & kite flying at Marina Barrage. But the weather was bad... Fri no rain, Sun no rain (scotching hot in fact) & it'd to rain on Sat!

Anyway our contingent plan was to have it @ ours if it's a wet day. So we met later, for dinner instead. Since the rain had stopped & it's a cool evening, we had it in a pavillion downstairs.

Lil Rye

Dress code for the evening (without discussing) - racer back tee & shorts. Guys - round neck tee. :)

After dinner, we played monopoly & it's fun. :D

Con, the banker

The Danger Zone! I preferred hiding in jail actually haha.

Nope.. I was not the ultimate loser. But because of my soft-heartedness, I let hubby off twice. Hmm!

Enjoyed it so much that we still chatted on FB after that ;)

We agreed to play another round soon that include Ben who's working that day & complained we went ahead sans him. Hehe.

My Collection

The BB cream I own

From left (the oldest):
Scandal- from Sasa. A bit too glossy & fair on my skin.
Skin Food - My second piece, bought during our last Korea trip. Price was cheaper by nearly half! Initially I found it good but gradually feel that my face greases pretty easily.
Etude House - BB pact.
Etude House - BB cream. This & the previous were also bought when we're in Seoul. Disappointly, too rich for my skin!
Castledew - Good. Been using for more than a year but only less than half is depleted. Quite a matte finish with medium coverage. Goes well with my new Lotree Rosa Davurica Loose Powder.
Lotree - my latest addition. Matte finish but a lil too sheer. Am alternating between this & Castledew's.

Heard Lotree's DIY BB cream is good... hmmm.... But nope! I'm not getting it any sooner as I've banned myself from shopping before our KL trip! :P

Gift

Hubby has bought me a birthday present but I can only "use" it a day before the actual day as it's a 3D2N trip to KL. Hee!

Haven't gone for a trip for exactly a year so we're really looking forward to this holiday though it's a small one.

The airfare of S$74/pax (including taxes) is too good an offer:) So as the hotel rate.. It's even cheaper booking directly with the hotel (Parkroyal KL) @ S$130nett. Have been quite a struggle for me to make this choice & forego the 2 regular hotels I used to stay. But Mandarin Oriental & Ritz Carlton are out of our budget as we plan to spend as little as possible for this trip. Hopefully this will be a good one in terms of location & the room.

It's also gonna be the first time we're taking a flight operated by a budget airline.

Going back to somewhere we're familiar with... Can satiate our charsiew craving.. indulge in the Japanese buffet again... & the dai pai dong... some shopping too.... Can't wait :)

A Nice Sunday Lunch

Had lunch with mum @ sis' as I was craving for my favourite confit de canard.

Chef at Work.
It's an open kitchen... can see clearly what sis puts in the frying pan:P It's running a full-house but she could still smile & pose for a pic... haha.

A new extension from the bistro which is very garden feel. The down side - it's by the main road so it can be a bit noisy occasionally. But I like this lil lush area especially at night when it's surrounded by tiki torches. It's so exclusive that some mediacorp artists like to dine in there.... the latest one would have to be the celebrity couple from the most recent local movie (& you guess who?).
One of these days, I will want to hold an intimate, private gathering here too, if there's an occasion to celebrate. ;)

Rainbow after the Rain

Actually it's still drizzling a lil. Caught it while hubby's driving on CTE, towards home. I could see the whole semi-circle spread across the whole sky... too wide for my phonecam to capture.
Simply beautiful.

Long Lost Friend

Early last week, I had a new friend request on my facebook and was pleasantly surprised to see that he's my sec schoolmate/classmate. We lost contact when he joined NS.

Sec 1, we're in the same class. I sat in front of him. I could feel that he liked me as he would do almost anything for me. For Egs:
- When he knew I liked his self-made plasticine, somewhat used as blue-tac, he made a real big one for me (but I threw it back at him whenever I was unhappy:P).
- He would deliver video tapes to my house (which was about 10mins by bus then another 10mins walk), just to the doorsteps, not allowed to go in & meet my conservative & fierce mum.
- Same for the Atari games which I wanted to play. He lent me his full set infinitely and delivered to my doorsteps.

I always wonder why as I had the weirdest hairstyle then. Because of that, I had been the laughing stock among the gals especially Mel. Hubby will always burst out laughing whenever he sees photos of the younger me but those were already considered better ones comparatively. If he were to see any pic of me in that goofy hairstyle, think he’ll definitely flip! Haha... Well, think about a (girl) studdent with short, layered & back-combed hair (short as in real short, just a lil longer than the boys’) with a centre part... but a bit of the short, naturally-curled fringe was deliberately “pasted” on the forehead for don’t-know-what reason. And yes, that’s me...

Ok let’s come back... Sec 2 onwards he went to the first class & I was in the 2nd last. Only when we’re in Sec4 that we resumed regular contacts. Even went to his place, I mean with the gals during CNY & I was being teased almost endlessly. But the gals warned me to not accept him as he seemed to be a very sheltered person as he's always well taken care of by his elder sisters. Nothing happened though & we went on our separate ways after ‘O’ levels... till about 3 years later I can’t remember how we got in touch again. The same old him... still delivered stuff to my doorsteps.. be it medicine or dinner.. we went out quite a few times & then he got into NS. In a way, I was glad that he didn’t ask to bring our 'friendship' to the next level. I think I liked the attention showered but couldn't imagine myself being together with him. I didn't dislike him though... just didn't like him enough to want to be with him, to get emotional when he vanished. And also, I didn't need to choose between religion & him.. maybe that's one of the reasons too.

All thanks to FB, I get to catch up with this childhood (or teenagerhood friend haha). He asked me out for lunch 2 or 3 days after re-meeting on FB. He's supposed to pick me up below my office at 12. He said he'd call when he’s nearing. But 12.15.. 12.25.. no call from him. So I text him...

Me: “Hi, is our lunch still on?”
MS (replied almost immediately): “I’m here. Still waiting at the drop-off point.”
Me: “Still??”

So he explained that he actually reached my office around 11.35 but this blur friend saved my hp number wrongly the previous day & text the wrong person. When I didn’t show up or respond, he called the number to know that it’s switched off. He thought that he’s being stood up but still waited downstairs. Only till I messaged him around 12.30pm that he realized he’d saved the wrong number... Careless careless...

We’ve so far met twice for lunch & both in Central asit's just a short drive from my office but away from the crowd. And his treats;)

He's doing well now, driving a new B-class Merc & the boss of an ID firm of 10 years. So the gals were very wrong. Hmmm...

Was interesting meeting an old friend & we took turns to try update each other on the important events during those lost years. So much to catch up on & also clarified some issues happened back then - at that time, someone told him I already had a boyfriend which was why he chose to let go. Glad that now we can at least talk about things very openly.

MS said if he could turn back the time, he'd have persisted... but now that I'm happily married, everything's irreversible.

Then 6 years ago... back in 2003, we could have met. He’s a regular at Newsroom & mine was right next. Had bumped into quite a few old friends who happened to pass by but not him. He said if he met me then… he'd "go all out" to win me over & hubby wouldn't have a chance.. haha! Yep... I’m quite sure things would not be the same if I were to re-meet him before Mr Soh. But was it for the better? Certainly not. As I feel so happy with us that I can't imagine how life could be better without hubby. Yet both hubby & I agree that he would have been the best choice then. At that time, I was so lost. I needed a pair of strong hands to pull me out of the troubled situation & steady shoulder to lean on. Finances wise, he definitely fitted the bill. And from how he treated me when we’re much younger and even now, I think I would be well taken care of. If MS came into the picture first, I wouldn’t have given hubby & myself a chance to know each other. Or rather, we wouldn't even meet then?

However, it's my heart that I have doubts in. If back then I didn't feel, not even a lil, sad when he decided to go away, I’m pretty clear about my feelings. So I would be accepting him for the wrong reasons and get myself into more distress if I happened to meet someone whom I found myself emotionally attracted to. After all these years, I know myself... Nothing beats LOVE. Of course, money is important as well. And God is so good... He placed hubby in my life. Not MS, & others were just passers-by. I know that my friends were really supportive but many did silently doubt my decision... Vince could not give me financial stability then... choosing him would mean I've to start from scratch again. Why did I not go for TM? Eric? Or others who could provide me sufficiently? At that time, I wasn't that sure... just followed my heart. Besides being the No.1 doting & attentive (then) boyfriend, I saw his potential in proving himself at work. Hubby’s also the only one among the rest who shares the same faith as me and unbelievably, with very similar background & problems, which I've now come to realise how important that is for a couple. It's definitely drawn us closer. Sometimes, even till now, I do admire my own courage & take pride in having such accurate foresight:P But frankly, all I can say... it's His arrangement.

Had also filled MS in on what hubby & I been through especially during the initial 3years+. He felt happy for me that I was able to find such a good husband and he gave us his blessings. He also said... now besides hubby, I have another man to trust.

I'm really happy to have re-found this long lost friend and hope that he'll be a good friend for another 20 years... or even 30, 40 years... not only with me, but also with hubby:)

It's a LOVE-ly Saturday

We had a small celebration yesterday.

Had buffet lunch at Royal Plaza on Scotts' Carousel. Don't think we would be there again. Not too bad on the spread but didn't manage to whet our appetite.

The hotel looks nice after the facelift

When we're done with lunch, had just enough time for me to remove my gel nails in FEP before catching a 4.15pm movie (Look For A Star) at Lido; we used the vouchers given by one of hubby's aunts so it's free!
It's a dreamy show but we love Andy Lau ;)

After the movie and a big tub of popcorns, we shopped around... Thought of getting a pair of flats but couldn't find anything suitable.

Left Orchard before 9pm, only then that we decided to make a short visit to sis & niece who're in Sentosa and sis had been persistant in inviting us over.

We packed KFC from Orchard as dinner

Took some pix from the balcony

We left Sentosa around 11pm... the island was sure crowded with couples as well as families!

As for presents... hubby bought me a set of Korean beauty products. Used them for a few days & have since fallen in love with this new brand especially the BB cream & rose powder which is so fine, so light & set my makeup so well! :) Its skincare range is good too... so far my oily & sensitive skin is adapting pretty well to these new products.

My new range of makeup base/powder from Lotree:
From right - Rosa Davurica Loose Powder, BB cream (my 5th or 6th BB cream?), the additional travel-size compact case for my loose powder.
The skincare products from Kelly Water:
From left bottom (clockwise) - Anti-Winkle Eye Tox Repair Cream, Soothing Moisture Drop, Lip & Eye Remover, pH Control Water, Water Balance Essenserum.

All thanks to Ruth's recommendation! Now, will see when I can get my open pores fixed so as to bring the best out of my new makeup set. Am also contemplating getting the Essence Concealer for my eyes... hmmm....

As from me to hubby.... a boxer for his low-rise jeans :P

Our CNY preparations

It's a busy period for us few weeks before the Lunar New Year. As usual, we've done up a checklist & were glad that all errands were ticked off according to schedule.

Overall this year's chores were lighter than last year's. At least we didn't have to clear our big store room & paint the planter's boxes. But the last week before CNY was filled with errands. Mum made kueh lapis for my MIL, so we had to find a night to deliver (decree from mum to have it delivered 'fresh from the oven'.. what to do??). And another night, helped buy a few cartons of drinks for parents inlaw. One night (Thurs) was entirely spent on my nails. I reached FEP as early as I could at 6pm but I was only done around 9.30pm.

Another night, we went to Chinatown just to get a cat for me. I saw this very adorable 'zhao cai mao' during a lunch-time trip to Chinatown's bazaar with colleagues. I didn't buy it then but regretted...

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Miao...

The weekend before CNY, Saturday, we spent the whole afternoon around Bugis... collected our altered clothes and bought the goodies, both from Rochor, some shopping as well as getting a cake for FIL's birthday. In the evening, we went for the reunion + birthday dinner at Choon Seng Punggol Restaurant. Was a happy 9-course reunion dinner with a total of 5 tables... CNY mood was already in the air then:)

Just to Queensway Shopping Centre alone, we'd made quite a few trips, almost once every 2 days. Besides going to our regular seamstress in Rochor for alteration, we're trying out one located in Queensway Shopping Centre. And hubby found a boutique that sells nice pieces for guys. Not cheap though and the lady boss claimed that quite a few Mediacorp artistes were their regular customers. But more importantly for us, the shirts & pants suit hubby very well. With no prior intention, hubby bought a suit together and a shirt. The suit, uniquely in grey with a tinge of silver, was quite a good deal. More for the shirt... we saw a similar piece in Seoul last year & it's priced at slightly more than a hundred, after conversion. And the one that hubby bought was just about 60% of it. So the collection of his altered pieces & re-alteration from the boutique contributed to 2 of the trips to Queensway.

Every year, there're lots of washing/cleaning up, numerous errands to run & seemingly endless items to buy which could get a lil overwhelming at times.. just for a week of celebration, or 2. But it's all worth it as we simply like CNY:P

Our CNY celebrations

Reunion lunch with my family was on the eve. This year we had the 'Fortune Pot' (Poon Choy in cantonese). Ordered from this new Chinese restaurant in Sembawang Shopping Centre - Prosperous Kitchen. It's good & we all enjoyed all the choice sea products stewed in a clay pot.

What's in the pot:
Abalone, Shark's Fin, Fish Maw, Dried Scallop, Prawns, Mushroom, Chicken Drumstick, Cuttlefish Ball, Broccoli, Lotus Root, Cabbage, Beancurd Skin.

We had more than our own portion as what we ordered was meant for more persons. Yummy... :)

Reunion dinner with inlaws & family was steamboat, as usual. Guess I've grown to enjoy it together with everyone in the family. Left AMK slightly past 10pm & we brought our car for a wash. Back home, got the ang paos ready & prepared the goodies.... what we always do on CNY Eve.

CNY Day 1:

Reached AMK at noon. We're getting later & later every year... tsk tsk... Idled around & also had some small chats here & there. And of course the annual photo taking session! ;)

Hubby played a few sessions of card games with the siblings & uncle.
See, fat uncle's showing off his cards!

Can't do without the family pic every year

About 4pm, we left AMK & visited daddy, then had an early dinner in Northpoint's Xing Wang Hong Kong Cafe... the only restaurant that was opened on 初一 and served a very decent meal. Thereafter we returned home, had just enough time to take a shower & redo my makeup. We're meeting again at 8.30pm for a movie at J8. Hubby & I would rate the movie 1.5/5. We didn't think highly of it even before watching but it's all for the family get-together.

CNY Day 2:

We stayed at home for the whole day. Sis & bro came back for lunch (as Cantonese, we've this tradition of having '开年饭' on the 2nd day). Aunts & their family came in the afternoon so we stayed around to catch up with the cousins. In the evening, hubby & I played mahjong with sis & mum.

CNY Day 3:

Went to 5th aunt's (mum's 5th younger sis) in Toa Payoh for lunch.

Took some shots after lunch & while waiting for aunt no.6

6th aunt & hubby finally arrived after being late for nearly an hour. We went on to another aunt's (mum's late brother's) in Kim Tian together. Hubby & I left 3-ish & went to Vivo for a movie. Right after, we rushed to attend my ex-secondary classmates reunion at one of the guys' place in Pasir Panjang. Was interesting to see quite a few familiar faces after a long long time.

CNY Day 4:

We took pleasure in lazing at home, with a few short trips to the neighbourhood for meals. Nice :)

CNY Day 5:

Left home before noon to catch a movie at Tampines Mall. Last week was the week that I watched the most movies in a week. That's because hubby was offered a GV VIP Pass which means we're getting a pair of complimentary tickets per movie for a year. So we'll see ourselves watching many movies this year ;)

Headed back home after the show. After a short rest, we went out for dinner with mum before going to bro's.

CNY Day 6:

It was a busy day packed with consecutive visits. The first was June's at noon in Sengkang.

"Back to the Basic" pose with June's very oriental vase.. haha

Then to one of Vince's colleague's in Punggol for a late lunch. Had a very interesting chat with the wife of hubby's boss... exchanged beauty tips;) Stayed there for 2 hours & we left for the third destination - Gina's (da jie) in Bukit Batok. Supposed to be a poolside affair but the other girls arrived too late so we just stayed indoor, at her place.

Been such a long time since we last took a picture together...

The gals stayed for dinner but we had to go. Meeting hubby's family for dinner. We'd booked a table at Swa Garden in MacPherson only to realise they only served limited variety during CNY period. This very old restaurant is hubby's & my most fav teochew restaurant, thanks to the good recommendation of one of hubby's colleagues. You've to make a reservation especially on weekends otherwise chance of getting a table as walk-in is very slim. Anyway we planned to revisit when the normal ala carte menu's back. Ended up having "zhi cha" at a coffee shop nearby. The food was not too bad.

The night didn't just end there. After sending MIL & BIL back, hubby & I went for a beer at this chill-out place near our home, called Flamingg Mango in Sembawang. A pint of Hoegaarden costs only $10! And they're so generous to always give much above the 50cl mark.

It's a lovely night. We chatted about those days before, when & after we knew each other... our past relationships... how things started between us... It never fails to tingle my heart & set a blissful smile on my face whenever we talk about how he first noticed me & tried to gain my attention. We left home after about 1.5hr, feeling so loved & contented. We're very glad that the night ended on a lovey-dovey note.

CNY Day 6:

After fetching mum from church, had lunch with sis at Suntec's Crystal Jade. Sis' treat! Hee. We'd yu sheng too. After lunch, we visited daddy. It's so fast, it's been 3 years.

For the entire afternoon, we stayed around... feeling a lil depressed that our holiday was ending very soon.

The first 2 days of work were really tough, getting the mood tuned back & catching up with work.

Our company's CNY Lo Hei on my first day of work.
Next to me was the Deputy Chairman.

And yesterday, my colleagues visited our place after work. Hubby came & fetched us.

Lo Hei!
My 4th this year and the 6th for hubby!

Singing time

Jazz felt bad that we'd taken care of everything, from travelling, drinks, dinner to the ktv session & volunteered to treat us the next time round. To us, the most important was that everyone enjoyed the night:)

Happy 牛Year !

Our Peach Blossom

Haunted

Recently, one night after shower I was about to blow dry my hair while watching news, a déjà face & voice caught my attention. It's him. He's running a restaurant & was being interviewed on tv. During the time when he aggressively pursued me, he's already the owner of a very popular pub in town & Dy MD of an established firm. Perhaps due to that, I didn't mind the attention & the chance to know him better. He's not good looking but I thought he's capable & charismatic.


However, I soon discovered the horrific sides of him. His temperament was extreme... when he's happy, he could make you laugh and everything around would be bright & cheery. But when he's in a foul mood, I saw & heard the worst vulgarity from him. Though they weren't directed at me, I wouldn't want to be associated with all these verbal abuses. Especially because I'm someone who doesn't swear. But I would only be upset secretly (lest I provoked him further). An explosive temper plus an ego that'd gone way too out of proportion, and I hadn't mention he's also such a manipulative person. This combination made up one of the most disastrous boyfriends. So it wouldn't take much to imagine, the short stint & split became a nightmare.


Some memories are meant to be kept in storage, take them out to reminisce every now & then. But some are meant to be dumped in a non-recycle bin as you never want them back. And those relating to him, definitely belong to the latter.

The Longest we ever had, so far

We’d had a very nice break of 12.5days for Christmas/New Year. Getting into the details, we’ve spent 294 hours together, if inclusive of 6-7 hrs of sleep every day… the missing 6 hrs (12.5 days = 300 hours) would have to be our toilet trips & shower time for those days.

Didn’t go out of Singapore but the fact that we didn’t need to work was delightful enough:) Every morning when we woke up, the first thing we thought about was: "where to have breakfast?".

It's an interesting holiday. Had an assortment of activities during these 12.5days:

- Christmas Eve > gathering with Vince’s family & relatives
- Christmas Day > gathering with my family
- Boxing Day > my “body wellness day” >> facial treatment, acupuncture session then shopping in FEP (shopping = wellness? Sure! :P)
- Several nights > gaming session. Some memory game using poker cards. And hubby also taught me to play "dai di"... as in the past I didn't have the interest to learn though someone's willing to teach. Only both of us, poker cards, beer, chips. Had so much fun that we wouldn’t sleep before 1am during those nights (when we played cards).
- The few days before New Year (29 -31 Dec) > we’re out almost the whole day but just stayed within the neighbourhood. We seemed to have endless things to buy (mainly for the household). In & out of the newly renovated Northpoint & newly opened Sembawang Shopping Centre.
- New Year’s Eve > dinner with mum in Northpoint. Her treat!
- New Year’s Day > had dinner & drinks with L.
- Aside the above, we also started our spring cleaning - packed the smaller store room & removed the curtain for dry cleaning, watched TVB series, sent some of our new clothes to our regular seamstress in Rochor for alteration & gave our car's interior a thorough steam cleaning .....

While our colleagues felt it'd bore them out to have such a long break if weren't travelling, hubby & I found it addictive and wanted more! Maybe we're plain lazy! Hehe.

The next we're looking forward to will be the 9-day CNY break :)

Marathon

On New Year's Day, we met L for dinner and continued the chat over drinks... for a record-breaking 9hours. Well I'm not sure about L but that's the longest for me, as well as for hubby.

Dinner started around 6.45pm opposite our place, at this very popular 'Taste of Thailand'. Around 8pm, we moved to our place downstairs. A bottle of red wine, some left over bottles of liquor and chips.

Our drinks of the night + Alizé Bleu (not in pic)

Close to 1am, we adjourned to our place. During this marathon conversation, we'd some conflicting viewpoints. I didn't mean to go against him... not at all.. I'm sure he knew we meant well. I could imagine his pain & shock... afterall it came like an unexpected tsunami that flooded his life & all. But I tried to tell him from a girl's perception. I can't say I totally know her well but there's some knowledge through the past few interactions with her. And I think I can gauge a person pretty accurately most of the time, after some observation through a few conversations & behaviour.

I'm not taking sides, anyway we're not in a position to do so. As we all know, neither of them can say he/she is acquitted, though one might have to shoulder a larger portion of faults for making such move. But there're just too many pre-existing problems that contributed to today's situation which seriously I don't think are negligible issues. Not nitpicking or trying to condemn but I feel that it's important to dissect the problems to know what've actually gone wrong. This is essential for communication & reconciliation, though I'm not sure whether it's too late now. Been there before... if the other party only has the intention to salvage but doesn't realise there're serious problems fatal to the relationship, how can things be worked out? Worse is, what's being focused on is my wrongdoings that have resulted in the current situation & his are considered small matters. To say it crudely, I'll even be more convinced of my decision because things won't change, and he won't change.
I miss M, this sweet friend.

L only left few minutes before 4am. By the time we went to bed, it was nearly 5am. Thank God we didn't have to work the next day.

We know we can't help much... just hope for the best for L, who is a very nice & dear friend to us, in 2009.