27

27除了是我今年的岁数之外，也是本月对我们来说很重要的数字。

没错，我们在一起有27个月了！大家一定很好奇吧？我们到底如何庆祝我们的27周月纪念日呢？

周日实在是太忙了，所以我们只好提早两天庆祝。大概是累坏了，所以这一天我们果然是睡到自然醒。当然，我和那只猪究竟是谁先睡醒，想必大家用手指想也猜得到吧?

我们先是吃妈妈准备的爱心早餐，然后再出门买制作冰淇淋的材料。可怜的女朋友，周末也得工作。所幸，男朋友是超级无敌的天才，就连冰淇淋也会做。在此，多谢小志“志愿”叫我制作冰淇淋！

说真的，我们从来没有一起做过菜。但是，制作冰淇淋算是做菜吗?这个男朋友还真是爱扯啊！不过，男朋友的手还真是巧啊！不信？有图为证！

制作爱心冰淇淋的主要材料和用具有......

牛奶

生奶油

力宾纳

碗和汤匙

盐

两个尺码不同的密封袋

冰块

爱心冰淇淋的制作过程......

把生奶油倒入碗中

把牛奶倒入碗中

加入适量的力宾纳并搅拌均匀

把混合物倒入小码的密封袋

把空气挤出并合上密封袋

把冰块倒入大码的密封袋

置入小的密封袋

把盐倒入大的密封袋

把空气挤出并合上密封袋

搓啊！

完成品！

男朋友好能干哦！从头到尾，我只是负责拍照，真是惭愧！我决定了，结婚以后，我会......天天让小志做饭给我吃！为了让良心过意得去，我一定会把他做的菜吃光光！老公（劳工），好不好啊？;p

辛苦了一个下午，我决定好好奖赏小志。于是，我们便启程去吃好料。说是带他去，但结果我却不知道那家餐馆在哪里。走了好多冤枉路，我们终于抵达千奇日本餐馆！

话不多说！开动！

设计对白：下一道要吃什么好呢？

设计对白：好会吃啊！会不会把我给吃穷？@.@!!!

Transformers 3

Well, after watching its prequels on the computer, my dear decided that this series should be watched on the big screen and therefore we went to do so.

Though there were much saga about the dropping of Megan Fox in this film in real life, none of it were explained in the film, thus as a result, the sense of discontinuity was rather strong as the new girl seemed more ornamental than critical to the development of the story. But one thing quite interesting was that it tried to link several major historical events together, like the landing of the moon and the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident.

Anyway, it started by introducing a new character, Sentinel Prime, the previous leader of the Autobots, as one of the escapees from the war in Cybertron and that all historical events mentioned about were linked to covering up the fact that Sentinel landed on the moon. Slowly, all these were discovered and Optimus decided to retrieve and revive Sentinel. However, to the Autobots' horror, Sentinel turned to be a traitor and Ironhide was sacrificed as a result (though I never really understood why Sentinel did not take up the leadership when Optimus requested him to lead the Autobots again, as I thought that that will make things simpler if he was the betrayer). As the film progressed, the humans made a deal with Sentinel to exile the Autobots, to which the Autobots agreed by leaving in a space shuttle. The space shuttle was then blew up by Starscream. When I sincerely thought that the Autobots were dead (mainly because I was naive?), they came back to save the day by battling Sentinel and Megatron and stopping the transportation of Cybertron to Earth Though once again, I never knew how they can escape detection just based on their sheer size. Perhaps they had some pointers from Mas Selamat. And guess since this was the last movie, they decided to kill off all the bad guys, destroy Cybertron and have a happy ending. As a result, Optimus killed Megatron and Sentinel after Megatron injured Sentinel in order to relieve his bruised ego upon learning the potential of losing his leadership of the Decepticons, just when Sentinel was about to kill Optimus.

As usual, I'm not a good narrator, thus for a clearer plot, please look for other sources, but I guess it is quite an ok show, though my dear preferred its predecessors as she felt that it lost depth and plot.

The Housing Problem 2...

Yeah! Our second appeal was finally successful. Though that was no thanks to the impending announcements that the income limit be raised above 8k. Now we need to do the HLE application and submit the necessary documents for approval. Unfortunately, that was the easy part. The hard part was to find a suitable flat and persuade the owner to sell to us. Sigh. Guess it was another futile weekend and more flats added to our statistics, now standing at 39 and counting...

The Housing Problem 1...

There had been quite a number of highs and lows in our hunt for the prefect home and the recent news ("http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/hdb-resale-flat-prices-continue-rise-033408072.html") seemed to make the lows even lower. 

I guess we were greatly motivated to look for a place of lodging (or rather forced to) as a result of our pay increments in April, which unexpectedly and suddenly made us ineligible for a lot of things, namely the BTOs, the HDB loan and the HDB grants. Our first appeal was flatly rejected, despite the upcoming elections. Perhaps the absence of a MP letter had something to do with it. Our second appeal was still in the considerations, awaiting the results. Guess the office staffs are waiting for the official news for the income ceiling to be raised so that they do not need to process the documents as part of their KPIs.

At the same time, we also went to check out how the bank loans worked, in case our appeal fail. We did learn a lot, only to realise that we can only officially apply for a loan when we found a flat. So much for spending time on that. Maybe if there were a Dummies' Guide to Buying a Flat in Singapore, that will definitely be a best seller. And one can always have the 2nd and 3rd editions easily with every new changes to the housing policies. 

Well, to date, we had viewed 35 flats in Tampines and Simei, and it was really demoralising to go by each week without securing a place. The early days had us too inexperienced, naive and picky, and with some regrets, we did not really go all out to seal the deal. The later days had us frustrated at the absurdness of the COVs and us wondering at the greediness of the sellers and the wealth of the buyers. There are actually some owners asking for 100k COV. Well, this probably has something to do with the DBSS launched recently with its exorbitant prices. Most likely, we had missed the optimum period to buy a 5-room flat at a lower cost and I doubt prices will ever drop. For now, we just have to hope that the prices for upcoming resales are still within our reach. 

Wish us luck.

Our AD Photographer... Leslie Ang

Hmm, got a feeling that I'm just so going to do another advertising entry. LOL.

Ironically, we actually sourced for more options for our photographer as compared to other portions of the wedding (i.e. banquet location, bridal studio and videographer), despite it being the lowest cost of them all. Good thing that both of our jobs has minimal relations with monetary investment. Bad thing that it implies the inadequacy of (or rather lack of) a money mind. Perhaps that's why we are together anyway =)

Anyway, we requested for a few quotations, further reinforcing the lesson that "doing some homework online will always land us in a better position to capitalise on the best deals" (see Videographer entry) and we met up with three of them, the last of them being Leslie.

The first we met was with Ben from 9photo, as he was recommended by our sales person from the bridal studio. He was a very nice and sincere guy to talk to and one can really tell that he is passionate about photography and wanting to give the best to the wedding couple. His style is his strength, in that he captured a lot of shots of the couple, together with the priceless expressions. However, his style is also his weakness, as we would prefer shots with more variety. Anyway, for those who are interested, "http://www.9-photo.com/".

The second we met was with Stewart from GPhotography, as I was first attracted to the brightness, sharpness and layout of edited actual day photos showcased in albums on his website. My dear actually preferred the lesser use of sharpness by Kelvin - "http://www.kelvin-photography.com/", but cost is another factor we both considered. Well, beyond the first impression, I felt that Stewart was far too busy and businesslike for us. Guess his popularity and thus his tight schedule made him this way. As such, we decided to look for alternatives. However, for those who are interested, "http://www.clutterme.com/stewart".

The third and the last we met was Leslie. Actually since the first photographer, my dear and I had been guessing on (and boasting to the other on our accuracy later) how our potential photographer look like. Well, he turned out slightly different from what we both expected, but that's not the main point. Similar to Ben, I felt that he was quite sincere and wanting the best from his photography. And most importantly (just like the two we met previously), he had worked on many assignments with our chosen videographer Wai. And so, the deal was sealed, at least I think it is sealed, and doubly sealed when the deposit is transferred to his account on Wednesday by his request.

And yes, another item off the checklist and a day closer to the wedding, so exciting =)

Oh yah, for those who wish to see Leslie's works, "http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leslie-photography/175075442509511".

The Bridal Shoot 2

Actually, contrary to the title, this is a just a prelude to the bridal shoot, which was choosing of gowns. For those who are emotionally traumatised or utterly disappointed by this misrepresentation and that we are not that super kiasu to take our wedding shots close to one year before the actual day, you can stop being drama queens for one day =). Well, you can consider suing us, though I doubt there is much to be compensated =P

The studio was quite accessible from Tanjong Pagar MRT station, though we took a longer route to get there. There were three storeys for the studio, but I believed the upper storeys were for the staffs to access the gowns as soon after we entered the studio, we were relegated to one corner of the first floor to select the gowns.

I guess my dear had a rough idea of what she wanted (and of course what she did not want) and thus she tried only about 10+ gowns for the main, evening and outdoor, before making her decision (Considering that her friend took a few trips to the bridal studio to decide on the gown, hers is fast). It took her about three hours, but actually most of the time is spent waiting for the staff to retrieve a suitable gown. She did mention that some of the gowns are actually very heavy (well, for her to complain that it was heavy, it definitely must weigh more than the thick stacks of students' work which she brought home and back school regularly). It must be very tiring for her *sayang sayang* It took me about 10% of that time for three matching suits, just to add on to the statistic that guys do not really need that much time for clothes fitting. But just to be fair, the choices available for the guys are much lesser too. For one, there is only white, black and grey to choose from, unlike the spectrum of colours offered to the other half.

Anyway, I shall let the pictures do the talking.

The main gown

The evening gown

The outdoor gown

The main suit

The evening suit

The outdoor suit

We decided on the photographer and the makeup artist. Well, we will be going back one more time in September to make some changes, as my dear felt that her outdoor gown is too similar to her main gown. I will probably change the silver suit as well. Stay tuned for more pictures.