Yeah, I was almost back to ghost town at the now defunct library@orchard. Everywhere was deserted. No books. No shelves. No floorings. No counters…

From outside, it was just a glass with white paper pasted over the windows (#1). There was nothing. Once inside, I saw… empty space where the Chinese books used to be (#2). No more checking out machines (#3). No more IT books (#4). No more comics (#5). No more multimedia computers (#6). No more facing against the wall (#7). No more printers (#8). No more cubicles where you could listen to music as you read (#9). No more counters (#10). No more checking out just near the entrance (#11). No more stage (#12). No more Galilee (#13). No more waterfall (#14). No more health books (#15). No more meeting rooms (#16)…

Well… then I met our 2 comedians librarians at the library. Here, Ivan was wondering where Jillian is. Hmm…

Oh! Is Jillian teleporting from the future? Did she see where she was going to go to? But that’s secondary…

… because what is a lunch without food?!

… and log cakes?!

… and desserts?!

Side-track a little. One of my friends was thinking of opening a dessert shop in town to beat the hot weather during spring and summer. She intends to call it Just Desserts! Yes, including the exclamation mark! Haha… how apt to be situated in the midst of busy Shenton Way. Now, directors can ask their employee to go get some desserts…

Director: Look at how you handled the case? How can you not put the interest of your clients before your own? Now they are downstairs demanding to get an explanation and to sue you for your negligence. I am not going to care. I want you to go down and face the music and get your just desserts! And I want Ice Jelly with Aloe Vera…

Lawrence Lee (the employee): …

Ok. Enough of the side-track. Since today’s also going to be the last day of reporting to the branch for the librarians, I figure it might be safe to show some more pictures…

Here’s where the books from he book drop goes to… sliding down a now-non-existent slide… and they go to…

… these shelves! Where the books are sorted out first and if they belonged to the same branch.

The manager’s room! But… where’s the window?!

Ah… here it is =S

And this is the counter that’s right in front of the staff room door…

And an overview of the staff room… The manager’s room is to the left.

And soon, it was time to go… guess I won’t be seeing any more of the library@orchard. Still, thanks for the good memories. I look forward to the next library that’s going to open in town. I hope Ivan and Jillian can return together to the new library.

See you in 2012!

The last week or so was packed with so many Christmas get-togethers that I was starting to lose track of what happened when. Haha… It started off with Ping.sg’s Christmas celebrations, on 21st December 2007, my KCS meeting on 22nd December 2007 - which wasn’t a celebration, the Wii party cum crab session on 23rd December 2007, an unplanned, unexpected Christmas dinner on the 24th December 2007, kitty hunting on 25th December 2007 and watching some legendary show on the next day - which is today.

The Wii party started at 2pm on Sunday, when Jeff picked up most of our friends from the MRT station. Everyone except Chin and Lynn were here. After a while, we began to wonder if Chin holland’d again - just like the last time when we were supposed to meet at Settlers’ Cafe… but he ended up at the Holland Village branch instead of the Boat Quay branch. Oh well…

So we decided to give him a call and realised that he thought it was the following week?! Hmm… I don’t think Chin’s that blur though. Haha… cos he managed to bring a yummy log cake along the way! Haha… it was nice! A little creamy, but nice! =P

We played tennis on Wii and were showing off all kinds of stunts and aces. Most of them are random - especially those by me, but no one knew the better! Haha.. geesh. I think now the whole world now, but it doesn’t matter. Haha… Chin kept returning a ball that was consistently out of court. Even I wasn’t able to do that - and he was using my Mii - not that it matters anyway.

Alice was supposed to join us, but she missed the entire Wii party! Oh well, but she managed to join us in time for the next item on the agenda - crab session! Yes, we went to Melbourne Mellben Restaurant at Ang Mo Kio and lined up in that crazy queue for a share of our crabs! Since crabs, when cooked are red, it’s sort of a Christmas celebration for us, especially when garnished with leafy mints.

We ordered lots of food - rojak, tofu with lemon sauce, pork ribs, stir fried vegetables, man tou, chilli crab, black pepper crab, and bee hoon crab! Yum yum! A picture tells a thousand words right? So here you go!

Doesn’t all these food simply make you hungry? Especially the sambal chilli crab! More photos!

The (almost) full table!

Look at that crab! The claws! And the meat!

This is a moment in history! Jeff having his first taste of crab!

Finger licking good!

Jeff: Yeah man! That was good!

Jeff posing with his trophy.

Stephanie and Kelly obviously delighted with the crabs! Yum yum!

Eddy helping himself to more food!

Chin aiming for his next game while Lynn continues enjoying the food

Yuhui: Yeah! I like that!

Stephanie: Oh gosh, I’m so full!

Stephanie and Jeff, both looking very fulfilled from dinner! =P

Alice: Heh… is there more food?

Chin: Sorry, it’s all in my stomach, but you can pose with me though

Chin, Stephanie, Jeff and Yuhui all looking very happy and fulfilled with their meal

Do you know what’s so special about this? The claws are clean without using fingers! Alice scooped everything out using satay stick and chopsticks!

The disaster that was left behind by us for the lady to clean. It was a good meal and a good gathering! Also a good get-together before Kelly leaves for her new job! All the best!

Well, the recent increase in fuel is beginning to show it’s domino effects - starting from the raise in electric tariffs. This means that every household in Singapore that uses electricity will be paying more for every single second of electricity they use. Fuel is also used widely in other industries, especially in the transportation sector - hence I believe strongly that a raise is eminent.

FROM next month, electricity tariffs will go up nearly 6 per cent, to 22.62 cents per kilowatt-hour (kwh).

This is the highest price hike since 2001. The revision is the result of soaring fuel prices, said Singapore Power which released the January to March tariff on Wednesday.

The 1.24 cents per kwh increase works out to between $1.30 and $5.50 a month for one- to five-room HDB flats.

Between Jan 1 and March 31 next year, Singapore Power expects fuel prices to go up by some 10.5 per cent, from $87.46 per barrel to $96.64 (US$66.28) a barrel.

Electricity prices are adjusted every three months. The last increase was made for the October-to-December quarter where electricity costs went up between $1 to $4.20 a month for one- to five-room HDB flats.

Members of Parliament The Straits Times spoke to agreed that with the rising fuel oil prices, the electricity tariff hike is inevitable.

Dr Lily Neo, an MP for Jalan Besar GRC, said lower-income families and the elderly ‘will definitely feel the pinch’.

She noted: ‘Already, many don’t switch on the lights at night to save the extra few cents. What we can do is offer financial help such as NTUC vouchers and food and grocery vouchers to tide them over.’

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 27th December 2007