xiaoqiang says: candid pix complimentary from dickson's xanga above taken on last friday night at zouk. Hah! it was really nice to have terry and ian for our bachelors' night. it's been a while that i had old school fun-thrill treats at zouk. guess terry will be in town for a while before he leaves for KL again.

anyway quoted this speech below from yamato nadeshiko's episode 4, destiny is life's biggest puzzle . do you agree?

"There’s a saying in mathematics that life is like a game of chess set out by God and there is an order to be found in all things manifest in the universe. Many don’t believe there is such an order and say that circumstances are all random occurences. But the groom has persevered with this order of thought and that’s how he’s succeeded in finding his beautiful bride. So perhaps each person’s chance meeting with another is so much of a chance really, but takes place in accordance with this same order. If this is not so, then all meetings would be random and would have no special meaning. So, the reason why we are partying so happily today is a consequence of the groom meeting his bride. Destiny is life’s biggest puzzle – and it is one that he (the groom) has solved."

click here go to strait times site to view video.

saw this article in TODAY. i'm sure this one non-biodegradable trash that you dun wanna throw. don't be surprise if somebody hand a plastic $10 to you. something for friends who're out of singapore to take note. frankly speaking i'm really curious how it really looks like as the picture above don't show that well.

"THE new plastic $10 notes went into circulation yesterday, with a very mixed reaction from the Singaporean public. Some thought the polymer bills were counterfeit notes.

"Doesn't look like plastic to me, but it doesn't look like real money either. It looks fake to me," said one Singaporean.

"This is legal tender, right? I didn't realise it until you told me," said another person adding: "Once you have a second look, it looks pretty fake compared to the old note. I guess I'm not used to it."

Ten million plastic notes are being put into circulation. To handle the new notes, automated ticketing machines at MRT stations have been recalibrated. Automated teller machines (ATMs) have also been adjusted to dispense the new notes. But other machines, like those at some car parks, still cannot accept the new notes. Back in 1990, when the plastic $50 bills were introduced, the new notes used to stick together, giving some people windfalls when they withdrew money from the ATMs.

This time round, the banks are ready for the new notes.

"The bank has upgraded all the software of our ATMs. It is able to read the new $10 notes," said Ms Low-Ngo Min Ying, head of a branch of Standard Chartered Bank.

"The cash deposit machines that we have are also able to accept the new notes." — Channel NewsAsia "



below is yamato nadeshiko's episode 4.
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if you all can't wait for me to post the story. click here to view all 11 episode. i am just linking the english version to here.


Title: Yamato Nadeshiko (Perfect Woman )
click here to find out more.


a little more about...
Matsushima Nanako grew up in a very poor family and is thus determined to marry a rich man so that she will never have to go through poverty ever again, and is named the "gokon queen" in her quest to find her man. Tsutsumi Shinichi is a brilliant academic (Fields prize winner - Nobel Prize equivalent in Mathematics) who gave up his studies to take over his deceased father's fish-shop. They meet through a doctor's "gokon" (group date) and she falls in love with him under the mistaken assumption that he is a very rich man...

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Yamato Nadeshiko ("Perfect Woman") : Episode Four

Kasuya as Osuke: "Look at me, I'm the King... King-size!!"





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Nami and Wakabe go to Higashijujou’s hospital to visit Sakurako but when Higashijujou takes them to her room, she’s not inside and he freaks out and runs out to find her. Meanwhile, they find her outside in the veranda, arranging dates with her gokon candidates! She fixes a dinner date for that night at 7 pm.

At Sakuma’s hospital, Osuke is asking Hanabusa about his chameleon toy but he tells Osuke that it’s not in the room. Sakuma comes running up to them and tempts Osuke with another gokon. Osuke tests it out with a passing nurse and is surprised to find that she agrees to come and to bring her nurse colleagues.

Back in Sakurako’s room, Higashijujou is relieved to find her there and asks her to have dinner with him that night at 7 pm, but she asks him to push the time back to 8 pm. After he leaves, Sakurako tells Nami and Wakabe how Higashijujou was by her side that night at the hospital – which surprises them as they had suspected that it was Osuke who spent the night there.

Osuke receives a wedding invitation from one of his university buddies and his mom takes the opportunity to mention his own circumstances, encouraging him to propose to Wakabe, saying that she seems like a nice girl.

After leaving the hospital, Nami and Wakabe discuss about how they think it might have been Osuke and not Higashijujou who spent the night by Sakurako’s bedside but they decide not to tell her, with Nami saying that it’s better for Sakurako to think it’s Higashijujou anyway.

Meanwhile Sakurako accidentally double-books herself with two dates that night for 7 pm. She meets both of them at the same restaurant, and spends her time divided between the two of them, running back and forth. Osuke, who’s there with Sakuma and Kasuya, for the nurse gokon tries really hard to be in the party mood but after seeing Sakurako there, he spends the time spying on her instead.

Just before 8 pm, Sakurako races back to the hospital and makes it just in time. She gobbles down her meal in five minutes and then pretends to be really tired. Higashijujou leaves her so she could "nap" but then arranges to look in on her at 10 pm.

She races back to the restaurant and continues to shuffle her time between the two dates. Meanwhile Osuke is getting really drunk and starts to become really silly with the party games and eventually scares off the nurses. As Sakuma and Kasuya are supporting him out, they run into Sakurako and she coolly bades them good evening.

Sakurako has cut it too close to 10 pm and she does her best to race back to the hospital before 10 pm, but almost doesn’t make it, as Higashijujou is in front of her going to her room. She ends up legging it back via the window and so when he goes into her room, she’s in bed, but doesn’t have enough time to put on her pajamas. He’s shocked to find her in her lingerie under the bedding, and to find her pulse racing. He becomes embarrassed and leaves her, saying that he’ll give her a thorough examination tomorrow.

Next morning, Osuke is suffering a really bad hangover. He doesn’t remember what happened the night before and his friends are totally disgusted with his behaviour. He finally learns that while playing "oosama" (king) party game, he scared off all the nurses by taking off all his clothes and wearing his underwear over his head, he declared himself to be the King, saying that he was "king-size"!! (while pointing at his crotch!)

Mariko tells him not to force himself that way and Osuke tries to deny it and asks his friends to arrange another gokon, but they refuse him outright! As he’s begging them to reconsider, Mariko stands up and tells Osuke that if he continues like this, he will lose his "most important thing" (but doesn’t elaborate on what it is).

At the airport, Sakurako’s crewmates are trying to convince her not to continue like this and to value Higashijujou properly, but Sakurako tells them that a girl’s sell-by date is 27 years old. Once past that age, it’s downhill from there. She says that she is 27 right now and has one and a half months left before her 28th birthday in December. She’s determined to use this time to search out the best guy.

One of their crewmates is getting married and they give her a send-off. Sakurako tells the others that the wedding party is the ideal gokon, as when a guy is faced with the happiness of a newly wedded couple, it will bring out his own desire to find a mate. Therefore, Sakurako says, when you look at it from that angle, the 30,000-yen wedding gift money is not expensive at all!

In the bathroom, Nami asks Wakabe how it’s going with her and Osuke but Wakabe says that Osuke doesn’t seem to have gotten over Sakurako yet and she mentions her suspicions about him being in the hospital that night. Nami decides to check out the truth and calls Kasuya out for a date.

Osuke has a fish delivery to Sakurako’s apartment building and while he’s there, there’s a plant delivery from Higashijujou for her, but the delivery man is unable to locate her mailbox (obviously, since she doesn’t live there!) Sakurako shows up and Osuke questions her about her lack of mailbox but she is very cool to him, saying that it’s none of his business. She tells him that he’s not only poor but is the lowest character, as he won’t even lift a finger to help someone who has fainted in front of him! Osuke tries to explain but she doesn’t give him the chance.

Meanwhile, Kasuya tells Nami and Wakabe the truth about Osuke having spent the night at the hospital by Sakurako’s bedside holding her hand. Wakabe is upset to learn this and leaves abruptly.

At home, Sakurako has her recurring dream and when she wakes up, she thinks again how her ojisama (prince) must be Higashijujou (but she doesn’t seem very happy about it).

By some coincidence, Osuke’s university buddy is marrying Sakurako’s crewmate and so the two of them end up being at the same wedding function. Sakurako’s not happy to see him there but resolutely ignores him while making a play for someone else there. During the cake-cutting, the groom calls up all his university friends to work out how to divide up the cake evenly, and naturally it’s Osuke who does it. Sakurako head off to the bathroom, where she accidentally overhears her crewmates’ conversation and finally realises that it really was Osuke who was at the hospital with her.

Meanwhile Osuke is asked to make a speech: "There’s a saying in mathematics that life is like a game of chess set out by God and there is an order to be found in all things manifest in the universe. Many don’t believe there is such an order and say that circumstances are all random occurences. But the groom has persevered with this order of thought and that’s how he’s succeeded in finding his beautiful bride. So perhaps each person’s chance meeting with another is so much of a chance really, but takes place in accordance with this same order. If this is not so, then all meetings would be random and would have no special meaning. So, the reason why we are partying so happily today is a consequence of the groom meeting his bride. Destiny is life’s biggest puzzle – and it is one that he [the groom] has solved."

That night, Osuke gets really drunk at the party and wakes up in a love motel, and finds Wakabe there in the room with him. He is shocked, but can’t remember what happened and questions Wakabe, hoping that she would say nothing happened. But Wakabe’s words are obscure and he is left in a state of uncertainty (but is not terribly optimistic about the outcome).

As he is leaving the motel, Sakurako sees him while she’s passing by in a car and rushes over to him. She starts to apologize for what happened before, but just then, Wakabe comes running after Osuke and seeing how they came out of a love motel, Sakurako gets upset and accuses him of dishonourable intentions when he spent the night by her bedside at the hospital. She also tells him that the chameleon toy from him was not what she wanted, and shows him Higashijujou’s watch, saying that was the chameleon she had meant.

Poor Osuke is speechless and just hangs his head, but Wakabe interrupts her by asking why she’s acting so upset? Sakurako is taken back by this and says "who me? Upset? Why should I be?" She then makes a curt apology for disturbing them and walks off. But after a few steps, she turns around and says to Osuke "that was all I had to say to you. I hope we never meet again. Sayonara."

Osuke stares after her retreating back and says a little sadly, "Sayonara…"




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