a call for CHANGE*

moved to: www.thegreentomato-mateen.blogspot.com

this place needs change.

it is boring.

moved.

-end-

people, people.

are we or are we NOT going for a holiday together???

bangkok? bintan??langkawi? or HongKong???

and yes, YOU - CAROL. WE will send u off! currently, we're working very closely with secret agencies to get our needed information :) *hush hush.

seriously, david cook

dinner at parkviewHotel, S'pore

Happy 19th Birthday Hariz! :)

"LOVE is too strong to say it too early, but too beautiful to say it too late.."

- from someone over the radio, interesting!

i have lots of things to say, it's just that it can be really hard trying to pen down all that emotions, feelings and excitement. It doesn't help that the students i'm teaching are forever keeping my mind busy thinking of how to make lessons more interesting and engaging. I think that's the beauty of relief teaching. You don't really have to bother yourself too much with admin stuff (although i'm the form teacher of 3 Opal with Suliana as my co-form teacher, which is 3E1..hahahaha!) and to a certain extent, academic performance. Hence, you have fewer responsibilities, enabling you to simply teach - making lessons fun and inspiring. However, not ALL relief teachers are enjoying the perks of relief teaching, for instance our dear Mr Ilyas, Nixon and the overly stressed but very dedicated Farid. Their time-tables are crazy relative to mine and i'm freaking GRATEFUL! hahaha. in a way, i do enjoy teaching but i think relief teaching is as far as i would go because i won't forgive myself if the students i teach fail to meet their expectations. nonetheless, relief teaching (well, at least for me was FUN!) it's just that i'm most of the time pretending to be busy and stressed-out cos everyone around me is! lol.

favourite performance - american idol.


it's seriously, gonna be a battle of the davids this time round. both of them are freaking good and seriously, no one deserves the top 2 positions besides them :) this is probably the best american idol season ever! i'm an american idol fanatic! oh, and david cook's rendition of "always be my baby" by mariah carey was awesome! and mariah carey's touch my body is addictive!


i was reading carol's blog and she posted something rather interesting: her personalised top 10 things to be done before she turns 25. and gosh, they are really coool stuff. i think having lists are fun and i've decided to have one of my own - my top 10 favourite places in Singapore (since i love this country of mine to the max! lol.)

oh, by the way i've deiberately left out the more over-rated chill out places such as esplanade's rooftop garden, marina square's open stairs,vivo city's open gallery and erm, cafe delma. yeap. so here goes:


TOP 10 favourite Hangouts!

#1 - the newly-opened Starbucks under the esplanade bridge. the view is great at night and it has a very cosy and nice feel to it. ideal for cam-whoring! you'll be able to have a view of the floating platform, the Singapore flyer as well as the surprisingly beautiful structure of the esplanade bridge. however, it can be quite hot for some strange reason. probably cos it's not really windy.

#2 - Fullerton waterboathouse roof. There's some posh dinning place on the first level, but don't worry..that's not the place. There's access to the roof from a small staircase situated just infront of the restaurant. There's really nothing much to do here, except to enjoy the view and the moment. You'll be facing the esplanade theatres with the old merlion site as well as the view of Singapore's CBD on your left, one fullerton on you right and The Fullerton Hotel itself behind you. The view is greaaaat, especially at night when it's not scorching hot! For those of you who caught The Leap Years movie, tadaaa..this place was actually featured!

#3 - the Greek Theatre of Singapore Flyer. Wonderful place to relax while allowing the jazz bands(only on weekends and friday nights) to serenade you with the coolest-relack-one-corner songs with their instruments such as the saxophone! super coool - try getting them to play imagine by john lenon and seriously it would have been a perfect night. oh, the best part is, the place is rather windy! with the singapore flyer as the background as well as funky changing coloured lights that lined the center of the outdoor theatre, it's definitely one of my favourite places to chill. oh, and if you're hungry go grab a bread biscuit (which costs only about $1.30) and probably a medium pack of cajun fries from the Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits Restaurant which is halal, surprisingly!

#4 - Ben & Jerrys at Dempsey Hill. That place is freaking freaking cool.The ambience is great. There will be someone playing the guitar at one corner, singing . I think the great part about that place is that it has that country feel to it. The place is simply, different. You got to experience it yourself :)

#5 - Siglap's Gelare. There's this particular street in siglap that has a striking resemblance to Holland Village. There's really nothing special about this particular Gelare, except that it's where guards specs would run and jog from bedok camp to that place( a good 5km) on Tuesday nights, to enjoy some delicious waffles and ice-cream. It's a nice place to simply relax and have a chat. i miss those times!

#6 - Old Merlion Site. This place, not very popular with most people has turned into a pretty park. It's the simplicity that amazes me. Once again, this place offers a great view facing the river. It makes you reflect on a lot of stuff. There's nothing fun about the place and..unless you feel like having some private, reflective moment for yourself , or you're having that feeling that the entire world is crumbling on you then probably this is the best place to go. Think of all the struggles that our early immigrants had to endure, working so blady hard on this particular river to make ends meet and you'll realise that whatever problems you had is seriously, nothing as compared to many people around the world in the past and present.

#7 - Swissotel, Equinox. The place is damn nice and you'll be just too dumb-founded to do anything else besides staring at the beautiful view of Singapore. The most common misconception about the place is that you'll have to pay a hefty sum even before you step on the 75th floor. You don't have to pay if you go before 5pm! and the best part is, you can stay there for as long as you want. So, go catch the view of our island during sunset. it's freaking nice :) However, the cost of the drinks for instance normal soft drinks and fruit juices can be a bomb! and only 21 year olds can enter! lol.

#8 - Mr Tea, a mall beside PricewaterhouseCoopers building @cross street. The tea is great and it's priced reasonably as compared to the over-rated Mr Teh Tarik stall! There's a huge variety of drinks and tea available. The place looks normal but the ceilings are quite cool because they hang a lot of inverted flowers on them and they look interesting :) oh, and don't bother going there during lunch hours, from 11-2pm weekdays cos it will take forever to get your drink!

#9 - Macritchie's River Mouth at lower mandai. The view is spectacular and awesome. However, going there can be a challenge as it requires some bashing off the normal tracks and probably only Sispec trainees would know that place as that is where we slack and rest without the warrant officers finding out!

#10 - Coffee Bean at Republic Plaza, raffles place. Have breakfast there. Sit and enjoy the view of everyone rushing to work while you enjoy your muffin and coffee, reading the morning news. It's really cool :) lol.

random.

a once in a lifetime thing.

equinox cafe. -the Top floor of Swissotel Singapore, The Stamford-
veerry cooool :) thanks shaun for the "chat" as well as the treat, lol - applejuice and wedges.

it's quite(really) lame but then again, the view was suppeeeeeeerrb! (:

100% ORIGINAL

FUN-O-rama, acjc08

look at the guy trying to prevent me from taking a shot of the formula1 car. what a ____, you should have at least covered the entire car with black cloth! lol. btw, if i were to take a picture with the car, the price will be 10bucks. like, wtf. typical of acjc. but i still love ac though!

just where are you??

-sighs-

thaaaaank YOU!

to everyone who have made my 21st birthday surprise a meaningful one. venue didnt really matter and it was the company that made it all fun and significant. i love you guys, the videos as well as the surprise - actually, i love EVERYTHING! (: once again, thank you.

to: fahrul, hariz, shasha, daniel,my parents, all my aunts&uncles, haqiz, syahidah, sheila, luqman, danish,hafiz, dinnie, aqilah, arina and kak yan

thank you. for all the effort, decorating my place with streamers of red blue and yellow - for a very acsian theme surprise party, the cakes & brownies, the steamboat buffet, the sandwiches, the satays, the icejelly cocktails, the lovely strawberries, NEMO stuffed with 10283748kg of sweets, the taboo game, the poppers, the balloons, the horrible singing session, the video - after countless drafts to ensure that i love it (which i seriously do!), the old unglam photos, the quotes, the talk and of course, the company! thanks for doing this for me. i really do appreciate it and no amount of thank you-s or gratitude can match the weeks of careful planning and preparations (the fact that you guys didn't sleep at all the night before!) i love you guys :)

the cousins that made it all happen

the preparations - as you can see, fahrul is trying very hard to fix those streamers, while hariz, daniel and shasha were working hard to come up with the best video!

to: ilyas, este, carol, meowzhi, khai, fidah and fyedee

thank you for the beautiful theme - kisses. i love it all : the colours, the poster, the 53426272290 lips, pictures, cranberrysprite drinks, candles, door gifts, very memorable video!, the chat, the food, the chicken, the lip prints, the decor(gosh, i love them), the cool cake - it was really not that bad, carol!, the invites, the surprise, the lips collage, the cam-whoring and all the effort put in, just for me! you guys are really the best bunch of friends that i have and no one can ever replace that special place in my heart! (here is the part, where you must go: awwwwww!) lol. and if only samantha and fye was there, it would have been more memorable! but i love you guys anyway :) thank you once again!

to: alvin, ameer, john and hamizan

of tasty garnishes and sour lasagna.

thank you for making time to celebrate my birthday, especially alvin who made the extra extra effort to plan all that. the place was cool and the food was greeeat! love them. thanks for the book and that lovely card! i'm glad that we're still keeping in touch despite the fact that army is way over us now and that we're leading busy working lives! wonderful :)

to: the people(schoolmates, army buds, pwc peeeps, guards pple and friends) who wished me happy birthday on facebook and handphone via sms of course - saylin, alvin, seehong, khairul, yongthian, sgt ganesan, nicholas, jenson, samantha, richard, shawn, tee yee hui, bel, nora, lynette and nigel

thank you for wishing! and i would love to meeet you guys soooon! :)

the number 1.

Like seriously, my HEART goes out to all the eldest-child in the family, including those who take up the role of one. Regardless, being the eldest is definitely not an easy task. It sucks and it sucks bad. (Well, maybe sometimes we do get to enjoy the perks but in general it sucks)

Expectations, role-models, being the-best-ever examples for those younger toads and being the sacrificial goat for almost everything that goes wrong around the house or the family for that matter can be, tiring. You fall into a deeper hole, so that they can prevent themselves from falling. You run the tougher race, so that they will not have to do it. You fight a more difficult match, so that they can have an easier one. Don’t we just LOVE our younger siblings!

It is a no wonder why it is often very hard to find the eldest coaching the younger ones. The usual reasons for that are: lacking in patience, tolerance, it is different, they are stubborn and the general mystery of why-i-can-do-it-but-you-can’t. However, why really do the eldest find it tough teaching or coaching the younger siblings? Answer: It is because, we ARE SICK of having to go through the bitter and less sweet experience as always. We want the younger generation to have a taste of how tough it is like to be US. It is not easy and very often they miss that point. Who appreciates the eldest? Who cares? Rarely anyone does.

Nonetheless, the eldest remain the eldest and hence very often we have to fulfill our obligations and responsibility. When we see something that is not right especially when they are things that we have gone through, we attempt to give them advice. But these younger toads are freaking stubborn. For some reasons, they think that they will never fall into that hole we have fallen for initially because they are way too smarter and wiser than us. Like, seriously. Grow up, and to hell with all that teenage angst and that hey-i-know-what-i-am-doing attitude.

When these toads refuse to listen to you, who gets the blame? US. Hence, like I have said earlier, being the eldest can be tough. And not anyone can be the eldest. We have been CHOSEN to perform such difficult tasks. After all, we were the first, fastest and strongest sperm to penetrate that egg and we were the, THE FIRST to make it out from the birth canal. And that speaks a lot about us.

To all the eldest-child in the family, including those who assumes the role of one, may we be granted with greater wisdom, guidance and tolerance.
To the younger toads, come on! Give your best shot.

in black&white

have i brought a fresh perspective?
pricewaterhouseCoopers collegues. @ the 12thfloor pantry.

Reverie, ACJC Alumni Band

it was fun going back to acjc, lecture theatre! hearing the band played. i was supposed to play but err, after looking at the repertoire, i kindda back out from it.it was quite overwhelming! nonetheless, i had fun and it was a joy to hear the band once again :)

abbaGold, as secondary-schoolish that may sound is the BEST feel-good SONG ever!

doughnut Mania! -OREOlogy-Yummy!

the long wait was worthwhile.
check out the various funky and yummy doughnuts available at : j.co donuts webby.

bought for my mum's bdae :)

TRY THEM!
Donut Factory @ Raffles City and Dippin Donuts @ Vivo/CK Tangs

Green or Going Green?

it comes as a no surprise that Asia is generally moving towards a greener society, with all the hype about global warming and sustainability in development being a growing concern among government bodies, big corporations(cos, they do not really have much of a choice – especially when everyone is looking at them as they have one of the biggest impact for change) and individuals who hope to see a more promising future – one that is not filled with gloomy images of animals becoming extinct, fishes suffocating along the coast, icebergs melting, hazy weathers and having that imminent feeling that the world is gonna end anytime soon.

Housing for instance is going greener. With the additions of energy saving plants, solar panels, rooftop gardens to provide a natural cooling system and many other bizarre suggestions. Impressive. Very impressive indeed. However, do these new measures meant that our houses are green? Like many other issues, some have believed that such green efforts on housing are half-hearted attempts to satisfy a government quota. Additions that are included simply serve as factors required to tick boxes – to qualify a building as a green one. Nonetheless, though it seems that we are no where near creating green buildings as compared to those in other developed nations such as the US, such baby steps and small attempts are putting us in the right direction, paving the way to new developments for a greener built industry. However, I think it is important for us to alleviate the designing of green buildings and housing (have you seen the out-of-this-world-non-matching-colour-schemes that is being painted on our HDB blocks?)IT IS OUTRAGES! We should not let the common stereotype that eco buildings are ugly and boring. We need good design looks. And I think, we have a lot to learn from countries such as United Arab Emirates, where designs, ideas as well as innovative suggestions have no limits or boundaries.

Modern Living.
well, they look okaay and normal. Nothing special - a typical HDB estate in Singapore.

All that Greenery.
Balcony fitted with gardens. Wait till all these houses become occupied with makciks and aunties, where every single corner that allows sunlight to penetrate around the house is a haven for the drying of clothes! lol.

COMPARE with this.

Curly Slabs.
Marina and Beach Towers, UAE.

Amazing! Notice how the two curly slabs are designed. The slab that is facing the sea has a more gradual transition to the coast with the additions of gardens and greenery that lined the lower part of the curved slab - the slab simply dissolves in the terraces on the sea. Just as the beach coast works like a gradient, offering a more blurry border. On the other hand the other slab that faces the marina, ends abrubtly, just as how it demonstrates a typical marina's structure with all that sharp borders.

the crisscross lines that are on the internal surfaces of the slabs are meant to emphasise its thickness. veerrry Cooool :)

perfect in black

i've considered all the other options and thought about all the advantages/disadvantages, benefits and problems. and yes, i've come to a decision - the MacBook.

GO local, The Leap Years - A Must Watch!

my mum was having her typical '-in 20 years time..' conversation over dinner and that set me thinking about where i could be 2 decades from now. where i would live, how my life would be, family matters, careers and etc.

and and and,

i found this while browsing through the net.

sentosa cove

this place is damn cool. i think nothing beats living at one of the condominiums or villas in sentosa cove.the environment is great and i think it's lovely! this would be my inspiration to study hard and hopefully i would be able to live there one day. it doesn't hurt to dream big! lol.

hmmm..if only i get to be part of the team that builds beautiful residential areas like this!

gosh. the one15 marina club is -speechless-

YAY! SINGAPORE WON THE BID to host

the 1st Youth Olympics Games 2010! :) :)

call me crazy and i don't CARE, cos i'm damn happy that Singapore won the bid. and it's gonna be held at NUS! congratulations to everyone! the webby for Singapore's bid is http://www.singapore2010.sg/ and it is freaking cooler and funkier than moscow's webby: www.moscowyog2010.com !

loves Singapore.