Article: When you are not at home

In the modern world today,  we often take people around us for granted. The closer they are to us, the more easily being taken for granted. When I came upon this illustration, it kind of hit home with the message within them. I am not sure if you feel the way I do.

I always look highly to and love my parents very much but I don't say it out. Probably because we are guys, we are not as expressive in this term. Hence, when I see the illustrations, I can imagine my parents doing that too. They do. T.T

I translated the bottom two in English while you may take a look at the rest in Chinese. [Click Here]

*When You Are Not At Home*
Daddy: "Dear, no meat ah?"
Mummy: "Kept all for our daughter.
Aiya, It's healthier to eat more veg!

*When you are at home*

You:"Mum! Enough dishes, faster join us!"

Mum: "Left 1 more. You guys start first!"

Dad: *Drunk*

Checklist: Checked

8th day of 2014

I made sure I did what I plan to and what I wanted to. This is to prevent myself from creating more backlog. I may not complete all I wanted. At least, I completed most.

Checklist:

- Present (Kre-Os) for my friend - Done

- Tune my Ukelele - Done

- Read Manual of Equipment (Work) - Incomplete

- Have a gym session - Done

I bought transformer Kre-Os to give my friend (from a group of us). I have always been a rather last minute person for present. Hence, a new year, a new self. I try to settle it earlier and so I have more time to prepare other stuff. Now left a display box and, maybe, wrapping. =)

Returning home late doesn't suit well for me to practise my Uke. You don't expect me to create 'noise' in the middle of the night, don't you? Hence, at the very least, I tune my Uke to season it as advised by my friend/teacher. 

I am supposed to have a gym session with my trainer, but unfortunately, he was down with food poisoning. But nevertheless, I went for BodyPump class instead. Don't want to give myself more excuse for skipping gym, especially since I am freer in January. Good job! Keep it up!

As I always mention, I wasn't doing that well at work. Today, I seems to have antagonise my friend. I have no idea why I could not get the USB Serial working for my MacBook Air. It is not as if I didn't try, but it just did not work. Guess I have to continue to try tomorrow. I understand the necessity of getting it working, so I am not running away. As for the manual, it is the new equipments that we are going to use. I should do some reading. But guess it is a little too late now to read, so shall leave it till later 'today' (Its almost 1am!).

Keep it up, Jarron! =)

A new year, A new blog

Finally, my blog has seen some 'light'. I mean I finally revamped my blog page to a brighter one. Ditching the dark colours (like finally!), I went for white and brighter colours for the page! Hope your eyes will feel much better! =D

The Unspoken Voice (2004 - 2014)

Guess my blogging style will continues what I did in 2012. Slowly evolving over the years, I think it is not hard to observe the difference if one had read my blog for years. So I shall not elaborate on the changes! haha! Might change the title of the blog when I think of one (soon).

Recently, I have been focusing more on my food blog, Critic's Critic, as compared to this blog. A food blog is something I wanted to do in 2011! Hence, I am glad that it has been running for a year. Not like the usual professional, full-time bloggers, I am more like someone who have an alternative views to offer to the places people went. I love desserts & coffee especially! So, it is not surprising that I covers more cafes than restaurants... I also try to make my own when I am free!

Anyway, the travel blog is ongoing too. But I am not someone who can do a good job in multitasking, I engaged a friend to help me too and she is more active in blogging there than me! The blog name is not confirmed yet, but the tentative address is this... Since we are not ready to show the blog to the world, we are keeping it under wrap. As for photography, I created a Facebook page to share my photos to more people. But as my laptop is down for a long time, I am not that active there too. =D

I was shock to see that I am into blogging for more than 10 years, evolving from ranting to a more objective oriented blog. I hope that I can keep this going, even though I do not have any followers! haha. The Unspoken Voice has been around for more than 9 years! It is time for some good changes... =)

Frozen : Review

Synopsis


In “Frozen,” Anna (voice of Kristen Bell), a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven in an epic journey, encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn in a race to find Anna’s sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), the Snow Queen, and save their kingdom from eternal winter.

From the studio behind 2010’s “Tangled” and this year’s “Wreck-It Ralph,” Walt Disney Animation Studios presents “Frozen,” the coolest comedy-adventure ever to hit the big screen. When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on an epic journey to find Anna’s sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), the Snow Queen, and put an end to her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.

The film is directed by Chris Buck (“Tarzan,” “Surf’s Up”) and Jennifer Lee (screenwriter, “Wreck-It Ralph”), and produced by Peter Del Vecho (“Winnie the Pooh,” “The Princess and the Frog”). Featuring music from Tony®-winner Robert Lopez (“The Book of Mormon,” “Avenue Q”) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (“In Transit”), “Frozen” journeys into theaters November 27, 2013, in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters.

Source: Disney Animation

What I Think

If you think that the Snow Queen is the main character of the show, I would think that her sister Elsa steal most of the limelight. The story unfold with romance-seeking Elsa finding her true love among the two main male characters, while finding her sister and saving their Kingdom.

Frozen's main characters

Anna, the Snow Queen, on the other hand appears more often when she was a kid. The animation was made so beautiful that I couldn't let my eyes off the screen. The flakes, the snow, the ice castle... amazing. The music of the show is also amazing. Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) and Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel) had great voices and immediately nailed the songs in the mind of the audiences.

 "Let It Go" is one of my favourite and  "First Time in Forever" is another amazing one. Disney didn't disappoint with their fairytales revolving queens and princesses before, and they definitely didn't disappoint now either. If you have not catch the movie just yet, go catch it before the movie ends.

Till then, enjoy the music "Let It Go" from the movie...

Photo Courtesy of Frozen's Facebook

Official Website : http://movies.disney.com/frozen
Follow Disney Animation/Frozen on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Youtube!

Movie Trailer:

Movie Teaser:

Disney's Frozen "First Time in Forever" Trailer:

Critic's Critics

I must say that I am not a hardworking food bloggers. I have many backlog (drafts) in my blog and not yet publish. It doesn't help when my laptop is down and I am trying to find ways to get and organise my photos for the blog (Critic's Critics). But I still have something to offer - an alternative view.

There are many foodies out there full-time or even did a great extend to research, talk to the owners, chef and understand their background. Some paid, some not (yet). I am aiming to produce a most objective or independent view on the food I had, be it hawker food or snacks, and not get sway by temptation. Like means like, dislike means dislike. There is no point of hiding it.

Service and ambience is just as important as the food. Of course, the food need to be of a certain standard to keep customer from coming, but do you know that the service and ambience are now very important in the modern world? Who will want to have something good and get served rudely? I won't!

Anyway, I finally uploaded some photos and completed the following reviews. Do check them out! =)

1. Just Want Coffee (Everton Park)
2. Hummerstons (Robertson Quay)
3. Mr Bean (One North)
4. Grub Singapore (Bishan Park)
5. Pho Street (Jurong East)

Reviews underway: D'Good cafe, Lady M, Spathe Public Bath, Ootaya and RakuZen.

Article: "20 Common Grammar Mistakes"

Yesterday, I saw an article shared by my friend via Facebook. Titled "20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes", this is a column by Jon Gingerich back in Jan 31, 2012. Quite an interesting article, especially for those who wanted to improve their English language. Even if you are good with the language, there is no harm taking a look and see if you agree with the article.

From the list, how many common mistakes have you been committing without realising? =)

1. Who and Whom
2. Which and That
3. Lay and Lie
4. Moot
5. Continual and Continuous
6. Envy and Jealousy
7. Nor
8. May and Might
9. Whether and If 
10. Fewer and Less
11. Farther and Further
12. Since and Because
13. Disinterested and Uninterested
14. Anxious
15. Different Than and Different From
16. Bring and Take
17. Impactful
18. Affect and Effect
19. Irony and Coincidence
20. Nauseous

Article: 20 Singaporean Slangs

Even though I always try to perfect my pronunciation of my Chinese language and improving my English, never will I detest our proud Singaporean-style English, Singlish. I definitely feel more at ease when I hear people speaking them (but not shouting them!). Born, breed, grow locally, I definitely am a Singaporean, despite being mistaken many times by strangers over the years.

Reading the article (below) definitely put a smile on me, and I must thank some friend who introduce #13 to me via some meme app (or something like that) haha!

---

20 Slangs Only A True Blue Singaporean Will Know by Joshua Goh

1. Bo Jio
2. Whatever / Anything Lor
3. Guai Lan
4. Wah Lau Eh
5. 几点了 (What Time Already)
6. Pai Seh
7. Kao Pei Kao Bu (KPKB)
8. CB (Chio Bu) - But if you see CCB, trust me... it meant differently!
9. Last Warning
10. Eee-yer
11. GG
12. Siao
13. Come I Clap For You
14. No link
15. Pang Seh
16. Jialat
17. Sian
18. Steady
19. Liddat
20. Simi

Wanna know the meaning of these Singlish? Read the article here

Forget about resolution

It is quite interesting to see which of my photos are the more popular ones.
Take a look at my Instagram Top 5 for 2013 (Thanks to Statigr.am)

Not too bad huh? Do help me 'Like' by clicking here

Saw an article recently on doing away resolution. I actually kind of agree with it. It also mention about a To-Do List instead.

Instead of doing a yearly To-Do list, maybe I should do a monthly one too.

January will be my exercise month, planning to reduce my meet-up and focus more on exercising...

January:
- Lose 5kg before Lunar New Year.
- Run at least 3 times a week
- Visit gym at least twice a week
- Complete the Photo editing for Nat & Ber
- Complete my 7 owls for my Photonics friend
- Complete the sewing gift I still owe XY
- Complete 2 chapters of "Networking: A Beginner Guide" book
- Write a To-Do List for February =)

2o14:
- To complete my Ukelele class (end in Mar 1) and able to play it smoothly!
- To start my Ukelele level 2 class.
- To weigh 67kg by the end if the year.
- To pen lyrics to one melody (even if the lyrics sucks!)
- To start planning on my cafe (a little vague, I know!)

Ahh... can't think much for 2o14. That's all for now... ciaoz~!

Celebrating December

December is a month of celebrations and gatherings.

Most of my annual gatherings are in the month of December, except for one which was postponed till 2014. T.T

I must thank all my friends for turning up for gatherings and those who are willing to spend some time with me, celebrating my birthday! I feel so good to have these people around! hahaha...

This year, I got many 'surprise' birthday presents~!

First birthday present of the year~! Volkswagen Kombi car models! Met Diana, Choon & Derek on 1st Dec (after my exhausting run...) and Diana gave me this set as a present! <3 I find them cute when I saw them in airport back in July when I go for my Phuket trip! Shuyi said it will be cheaper in BKK and Diana bought it for me when she went in Nov (I think) ! Thanks Diana, Love you much much! =D

Cute Socks =D

I met Gwen, Shirley, Boon Chay & WJ on 5th Dec for gathering and received 3 X*mas presents! Sorry guys for not bringing any! =x But thanks for the presents! One of the present is a hand-made socks with choc stuffed inside (see above)! haha... Nice! 

Happy Birthday to.... Me!

On 18th Dec, I met up with a bunch of friends! Ok, I should name them! haha... They are Joey, WJ, Jx, Dz, Terry and two Vietnamese sisters, Truc and Ngoc (as on FB, haha). Elaine was not able to turn up due to illness, but it is ok as she made it up by treating me to Antoinette desserts on Saturday. Nevertheless, we had a great time having dinner at Mushroom Pot & counting down to my Birthday at Changi T3. The sisters got me a Tee. I have yet to try on... haha... no confidence since it is erm... M size! hahaha...

I was wondering what these people got me... Too bad not the RV residences that was on the newspaper wrapper! But to my pleasant surprise, they gave me what I am looking for a while! 

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles LEGO set!

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles LEGO set! OMG! Nice right?! I know!!! Too bad there are two missing turtles in this set! This means I need to buy the other two turtles (Michelangelo and Donatello). I was looking for the 4 ninja turtles characters and was planning to get them. So I am like so surprised to receive this! =D I heard that the original characters were not sold separately. Those in the market are most likely MIC (made-in-China). Will have to decide if I want to get another set or just get the not-so-originals! Have to think of where to set up and put this display set too! *Headache* haha!

On the actual date of my birthday, I met JH, Xin & Bel for KTV! Ok, don't ask me when was the last time we went together... 'cos none of us remember! But had a short but fun time together! JH & Bel got me a Waffle Maker~! haha... I wonder why did they decide on this present! haha! Since I am expecting an kitchen appliance from another group of friend, I felt like I am having a house warming, rather than Birthday~! hahaa!

On the other hand, Xin got me a very ATAS trendy bag. It must have cost a lot! I must make myself look good to be able to look stylish using the bag~! haha... Thanks Xin! Like the loud colour, hope I am able to use it soon! haha. She also made a Christmas tree using beads that got Nat & I fighting over it! She gave it to us on 20th when we met for another of my mini-celebration brunch at Spathe. I decided not to post the pics of our X*mas presents (else this blog post will never end!) Anyway, Nat got confused with what I wanted and told Ber to get me a electric whisk/beater! haha! Thanks Ber for changing it for me. Hence, I must wait for another few days before I officially got the correct one.

Yes! This is the shocking expression I got when I saw the present! (I looked more shocking then!) Imagine me carrying this HUGE present home! I wonder how Ber managed to bring it from work through the Orchard crowd. We went TCC at Peranakan Place for our X*mas celebration with Angelina, Jingda and Natalia. But unfortunately, Jingda was sick and unable to attend. I, myself, was sick too but managed to survive that night. I was almost bed-ridden on X*mas day! Anyway, this is what they got for me....

8in1 Food Processor

8in1! No wonder the box is so big... 8 in 1! There is grater, blender, mixer, chopper etc... I also cannot remember the 8 functions off hand! The brand is rather unknown to us though. Hopefully, it will work perfectly! They are asking me to make fries! haha... Now I must get myself more hardworking in the kitchen for 2014!

My last gathering for the year is with my Photonics friends~! 7 friends turned up and we got a X*mas gift exchange after our lunch at Tim Ho Wan (Toa Payoh). Most of us have never been to Tim Ho Wan before, which is why we decided to go there. The food is pretty good! Unfortunately, I don't really like the staff. Boo!

Like the past few years (forget when exactly), I received the most expensive gift there, which is over the budget set! Thanks HC for the Jean Perry towel, L'occitane shampoo and conditioner! May use them when I am on trip since they are less than 100ml per bottle! haha

2013 has been an eventful year so must really really thank all those that helped me and took care of me over the year... =D Let's hope for a better 2014~!

A Running Start

I started the month of celebration and gathering with a run - Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (Ekiden). It always been fun running as a team and when all gather after the finishing line. Unfortunately, this year's event did not end on a happy note, for me.

Getting ready for the race at 4am!

Thanks to the weather, even for runner #5 or #6, no one need to run under the scorching heat if your team took 5-6 hours to complete the run.

Runners at the starting point

Unlike last year, this year's event seems to be a little disorganised and lack of sponsors. Firstly, the race pack is pathetic for a run that is consider expensive. Unlike last year, first few Ekiden runners are not offered any 'goodies' after their run.

At some of the Ekiden Point, the helpers/volunteers did not shout out the numbers way before the runners reached the changing pen. Last year, there are two helpers, one stand at a further end, while the other will repeat the numbers being called out. This will ensure the next runner will have time to get ready. This year, some of the points do not even have anyone shouting out. Boo!

Ekiden Point 2

During team briefing, we were asked to sign out after running our leg of the event. This is not the case. If they decided to call off the signing out procedure, they should have let us know much earlier, even if it is not affecting our performance much. Many runners simply ran to the booth (for drinks) to look for someone that let them sign.

I have not even touch on the time discrepancy that marred the event over the last few days on newspaper. To be honest, my team is considering if we should participate in next year's event. 

After reaching Ekiden Point 2

I am also disappointed that the team spirit and responsibility (for my team) is not there. Unlike last year, one of the runners did not inform the other waiting that she has completed. I doubt I will have her in my running team again. Another went home due to weather condition. (No, I can't fault her.)

Despite the disappointment, I am happy to complete the race in such a good timing (for me) and I could even complete 2 legs (#1 & #6) of the race! *claps*