2008: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow...

The year 2008 has already checked in its luggage. In a couple of hours' time, it will board the plane and head straight for the *erm* place where expired years (e.g 2007, 2006, ... ) go to. It has been a memorable year for AstroBanana. As they recall the past in their old age, they will remember 2008 as the year when Eric Banana proposed to the lovely Astro Girl. And yes, Eric Banana suddenly feels obliged to unequivocally state here that it was probably the best decision of his life. *Astro Girl releases her grip on Eric Banana's neck*

On a more reflective note, AstroBanana feels that somehow time passed very quickly this year. Well, people usually perceive time to pass quickly when they are happy, so maybe it is a good indicator of AstroBanana's collective happiness index. 

Anyway, AstroBanana would like to wish all the faithful readers of this blog a very Happy New Year! (Note: Readers who have been unfaithful... shhhh, AstroBanana will keep it a secret :|) Anyway, the #1 New Year resolution for both Eric Banana and Astro Girl is to *erm* disappear into THIN air. Wish them luck.

Prima Sabrina

The above picture got your attention, didn't it? :P

AstroBanana had the pleasure of having dinner with the inimitable Sabrina Foo at Sun with Moon Japanese Dining & Cafe earlier this evening. Now, to observant readers, that name should ring a bell. Yup, you have seen it somewhere on the left sidebar of this blog.

Sabrina will be helming AstroBanana's wedding banquet reception on the AD. Depending on how you look at it, she will either be the first-line-of-defense or the first-line-of-offense, enforcing the procedures described in an earlier blog entry. And yes, Eric Banana would like to categorically deny making any reference to Sabrina as a door bitch. Or a bouncer either, for that matter =P 不要命啊?!

Anyway, Sabrina was really nice when she got to know that Eric Banana and Astro Girl are getting married. Most of the people on the wedding crew had to be convinced (read: coerced) into rendering their assistance for the wedding. Sabrina was the only one who cheerfully volunteered without Eric Banana having to ask :) Thanks, gal!

By the way, the above picture was not taken this evening. Sabrina's *erm* publicist provided Eric Banana with a photo to use for this particular blog entry. It has been reviewed and approved for use by Sabrina herself. Talk about QC! Hmmm, Eric Banana thinks that Sabrina looks a little like Ann Kok in the picture. 

The pattern design on Sabrina's dress of the evening looks something like this: 

Eric Banana somehow sees a resemblance with the following though:

Hmmm, maybe Eric Banana should learn to keep his opinions to himself. Switching to another topic (before he gets bludgeoned to death), it's been a while since a photo of AstroBanana has been posted on this blog. The photo below is taken by Sabrina (and edited by Eric Banana):

For your information, Astro Girl really dislikes Eric Banana's hairstyle in this photo. Some people have even commented that it looks like the hairstyle sported by the guys in 小娘惹. Eric Banana refuses to comment any further :(

Blog Anywhere

Eric Banana just realised that subscribing to the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) allows him to blog anywhere in Singapore *wheee*. He is currently on his way to meet the lovely Astro Girl in town. They are meeting someone for dinner tonight. More on the mystery person later ;p

Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!

Blabbering: How Much Is Too Much?

During dinner with Joel, his girlfriend Audrey, and Celine earlier this month, the conversation somehow steered towards classes of seating in air travel.. and Eric Banana nearly got into trouble.

Eric Banana (in blabbering mode): Quite frankly, I don't understand why anyone would want to sit in First Class and Business Class on flights. Based on past records, when a plane crashes, usually the passengers seated in the rear section have the best chances of survival. Which means, the passengers in First Class and Business Class would probably be the first to die... Besides, usually they assign the *ahem* more experienced air stewardesses to serve the First Class and Business Class, which means the younger, prettier air stewardesses are all in Economy...

*Joel, Audrey and Celine started to gesture to Eric Banana that it was probably time to change topic*

Astro Girl (getting ready to strangle Eric Banana): Hmmm, so you have been looking at air stewardesses huh?

Eric Banana (realising his folly): Uh oh. Did I just sign my own death warrant...?

Nobody Can Tell...

If you read the previous blog entry, you would probably think, "It seems that the painters have already painted the entire house on Day 1.. so what else is there left to paint?" Nope, they did not paint Eric Banana. Don't be silly. Well, Day 2 of Exercise Pain_T turned out to last only half a day and involved the doors, the door frames, the pipes and the metal gate. 

And yes, it is *finally* over. Except for the paint fumes which are making Eric Banana feel like puking, there is almost no evidence that the house has gone though intensive painting. On paper, the wall colour has gone from Apple Green to Lily White:

Before:     After: 

(Note: The Apple Green colour was lighter than what is depicted above.)

Eric Banana could tell that they were painting the walls in a different paint colour WHILE they were doing it as there was contrast between the two colours. But once they were done, who could tell?!

Anyway, with the completion of the paint job, Eric Banana has started to reconfigure his bedroom a bit, with more changes to come. He continues to struggle with Mt. Eric...

Pain First, Then PaintFest!

27 December 2008. Today is Day 1 of Exercise Pain_T, which is scheduled to last two days. 

Eric Banana's original grand plan was to have the painters deal with the utility room, kitchen and living room on Day 1 and his bedroom and the master bedroom on Day 2. That particular plan disappeared into thin air this morning when the painters said they were painting ALL the rooms today. "Oh no," screamed Eric Banana. "Oh yes," the painters chimed in unison.

Before the painters could get started, they had to first rearrange the rooms. Basically, anything that was position against the walls had to gravitate towards the centre of the room. After the *erm* centralisation, the painters covered the furniture and what-nots with big plastic sheets to prevent them from getting dirty. The painting sequence was as follows: the utility room, the master bedroom, Eric's bedroom, the kitchen, and lastly the living room.

Whoever thinks that painting the house is a breeze seriously needs to rethink. It may be easy if the house is vacant but once there are furniture and what-nots, it becomes an instant nightmare. The painters also have to scrape off the uneven surfaces on the ceiling and walls to facilitate their painting. This results in irritating paint flakes falling all over the house.

And the paint job was supposed to be the easy part. Cleaning up after that was still not so bad. The shifting of furniture and what-nots back to their original positions took some energy but was still manageable. Thankfully, Astro Girl went over to Eric Banana's house to render assistance. What bothers Eric Banana most now is... how to clear the remaining of Mt. Eric :(

Astro Girl: What's next after the paint job har?

Eric Banana: After the paint comes more pain lor :(

AstroBanana Christmas

Christmas this year seemed to be a blink-and-you-will-miss-it-all affair for AstroBanana. 

Astro Girl had to work for half a day on Christmas Eve while Eric Banana chose to take the day off. They bravely inserted themselves into the heart of Orchard that evening as Astro Girl had a facial appointment at Ngee Ann City. While waiting for her, Eric Banana caught Pride & Glory at the nearby Orchard Cineleisure. By the time the movie was over, the crowd was building up along Orchard Road. To make things worse, it was drizzling and the weather was freaking cold. After they met up, they decided to have a quick dinner at the Coffee Club in Ngee Ann City. Dinner was not particularly satisfying though. They then bailed out of Orchard as soon as they could.

The AstroBanana theme for Christmas Day was DYOT a.k.a. Do Your Own Thing. Notably, it will probably be the last Christmas Day that they would have the luxury of doing so. Eric Banana did not enjoy his luxury - he spent his day working on clearing Mt. Eric and hurt his back in the process :(

Astro Girl met the not-very-mobile Eric Banana for lunch near his house today. In return, an appreciative Eric Banana bought her ice-cream at Cold Rock Ice Creamery. They spent the lazy afternoon watching a VCD at his house before venturing to town for dinner. Trying to avoid the busier part of Orchard, they went to Modesto's at Orchard Parade Hotel. It was their first visit to that particular outlet (although they have been to the one at Vivocity). They picked a table on the terrace, where they could watch the world go by. 

The last time AstroBanana were at Modesto's, two of their friends each ordered a pizza but ended up eating only half. Technically, they could have shared one pizza especially since they are an item. To avoid unnecessary wastage, AstroBanana wisely ordered one pizza to share today. And the pizza of the day was... Pizza Quattro Stagioni. Its ingredients include tomato, cheese, mixed seafood, cooked pork ham, mushrooms and black kalamata olives. The four main ingredients for this pizza are served in quarters and not mixed.

Eric Banana ordered a bowl of soup - Crema Di Funghi, which is essentially hand-made cream of mushroom soup, topped with cream. Astro Girl knows that the Modesto's soups come in big portions so she gave it a miss as she wanted to save precious stomach space for the pizza. The waiter who took their orders was exceedingly considerate. He said that the serving for the soup is rather huge and offered to split it into two bowls for AstroBanana. Eric Banana took a sip of the house blend coffee Astro Girl was having and it was so good he decided to order a cup for himself. Haha, insomnia is gonna knock on his door hard tonight. Overall, the service level was very good. Food was served promptly and plates were cleared reasonably quickly. An excellent dinner = a very happy AstroBanana :)

And that was how AstroBanana spent their Christmas. Boring, you say? Well, who cares? As long as they can spend time together, they are already more than contented :)

AstroBanana Trilogy Part IIa

Note to readers: Erm, the story is still stuck at 14 January 2007. *Eric Banana hears a distinct "Wah lau eh!" in the distant background, which he decides to ignore*

After they parted that night, Eric Banana and Astro Girl continued to exchange pleasantries over SMS, which were probably something along these lines:

Eric Banana <14/01/2007>: Are you back home?

Astro Girl <14/01/2007>: I am back home.

Eric Banana <14/01/2007>: Cool.

Astro Girl <14/01/2007>: Yeah.

Eric Banana <14/01/2007>: Right.

Astro Girl <14/01/2007>: Absolutely.

By now, you should have realised that the above SMS conversation is fictitious. Well, Eric Banana and Astro Girl are not about to post their actual SMS history online anytime soon yah? They do not want to be accused of triggering the next Ice Age.

Anyway, Eric Banana faced a dilemma after that night. It's commonly known as the how-long-should-I-wait-before-I-SMS-her dilemma, which afflicts only guys after their first date. If the guy sends a SMS to the gal too soon, he may come across as "desperate". If he does not send a SMS soon enough, the gal may think that he is not interested in her.

Not wanting to seem "desperate", Eric Banana decided to take it slow and steady. On the other end, Astro Girl must be thinking, "He is a guy. He has my number. The ball is in his court." So eight long days went by before Eric Banana sent a SMS to Astro Girl, asking her out for a movie. Not expecting that Eric Banana was ever going to SMS her, she agreed and picked the movie. A-P-O-C-A-L-Y-P-T-O. What a gutsy gal!

Eric Banana and Astro Girl went out on 28 January 2007, 14 days after they first met. It was a Sunday again. This time they chose to watch the movie at Orchard Cineleisure. It was a rather gruesome movie, at least according to Eric Banana's standards. He was practically flinching at every other scene. Astro Girl? She was hardly even batting an eyelid.

After watching the blood-curdling movie, Eric Banana was not looking to eat much for dinner. Actually, he had no idea where to go for dinner. Neither did Astro Girl. Eric Banana knew he had to make a quick decision to avoid seeming like an indecisive person. Whether he was truly indecisive was another matter altogether. He opted not to be too adventurous and picked a dinner place which he has patronised before.

Dinner was at Shimbashi Soba, which is located in the basement at Paragon Shopping Centre. They had an enjoyable conversation over dinner but Astro Girl was not particularly in love with the food at Shimbashi Soba. Guess it was minus points for Eric Banana :(

After dinner, Eric Banana offered to send Astro Girl home but she declined, probably because she had not fully established whether Eric attended psycho school or not. She did let him walk her to the bus-stop though. From Eric Banana's viewpoint, it was better than nothing.

Moments after she boarded the bus, Eric Banana sent Astro Girl a SMS to tell her how much he enjoyed their date and express his interest in getting to know her better (read: non-platonic). Yes, that sounded mightily desperate but please allow Eric Banana to explain. When a guy and a gal first know each other, it is easy for them to fall into the "just friends" category. And once the just-friends line is established, it becomes very hard if one of them wishes to turn back. As such, Eric Banana opted to be unambiguous and unromantic. He felt very at ease when he was around Astro Girl and maybe that was the lifeline that Cupid has thrown at him...

And that summed up Eric Banana's and Astro Girl's second date. More to come...

It's ABT Time!

Yup, it's ABT time. In more ways than one actually. "ABT" can be interpreted as an abbreviation for "about". Coincidentally, it is also the acronym for AstroBanana Trilogy. Yes, Eric Banana is aware that Part II of the AstroBanana Trilogy is long overdue. It has been more than three months since the teaser was posted. He apologises to any reader out there who has faithfully been waiting for the second installment.

Unlike Part I or Part III, which are rather straightforward, Part II of the AstroBanana Trilogy is probably the most difficult to write. Beginning from the end of Part I till the end of Part II, it will require delicate linkage to ensure some degree of continuity. To write one long story, it will take a substantial amount of time. As such, Eric Banana is planning to divide Part II into at least four sections.

Stay tuned! *wink*

You Are Not A Thing

Knowing that Eric Banana has a near-impossible task to complete within a short period of time, Astro Girl decided to graciously offer her help in clearing Mt. Eric...

Astro Girl (in a very helpful tone): You want me to help you? I am very good at throwing things out.

Eric Banana (replying very pragmatically): Hmmm, you would probably have to throw me out.

Astro Girl (without batting an eyelid or skipping a heart beat): You are not a thing.

Eric Banana (putting one and one together): 我简直不是东西??!!

Astro Girl (slightly annoyed): That's not what I meant lar! 讨厌!

Eric Banana: Hee hee

Conquering Mt. Eric

Eric Banana was not expecting to take a day's leave from work today but he ended up doing so... in order to begin his conquest of Mt. Eric. 

Erm, Mt. Eric? What is that? If you are thinking of Mt. Everest at this point, you are close. Very close. It's more of Mt. Never-Everest actually. Well, the story goes like this... After their wedding next year, Astro Girl will be moving into Eric Banana's current flat for the time being until their flat in Punggol is ready. To get his flat ready for Astro Girl's impending shift, Eric Banana has consulted his dad and they agreed that the flat is in serious need of a paint job.

Paint job. Two days. No big deal.

In theory, yes. Eric Banana struggled a fair bit in locating some walls in his flat though. The mystery of the missing walls? Not exactly, just that they are not very visible at the moment, reason being Mt. Eric. Well, in his relentless effort to catch up with his studies over the past few months, Eric Banana has kinda ignored the surroundings on the home front. The "rubbish" that has accumulated in the meantime is hence known as "Mt. Eric".

The paint job is scheduled to take place on December 27 and 28. Eric Banana does not have much time left. His progress today in conquering Mt. Eric can be best described as "pathetic". Maybe he should call up the producers of 超级好管家 (a.k.a. Supreme Matron, a Channel 8 TV programme hosted by Kym Ng on cleaning up impossibly messy houses) for help.

Astro Girl Gets Even...star :)

Astro Girl was probably not expecting a surprise when she popped over to Eric Banana's house this morning... which was a good thing from the latter's perspective, since he hardly plans surprises :P *At the mention of the word "surprises", Astro Girl starts to lament the death of romance from a distance*

The said surprise came in a red box with a silver ribbon that was horribly tied by Eric Banana. Apparently, tying ribbons is not listed as one of his core competencies. He has so much to learn in this area from the professionals at Tiffany & Co., which would necessitate a need to visit the store and probably make a purchase in order to witness the ribbon-tying process first-hand.

After opening the box, Astro Girl found a small metal case inside it:

Within the metal case lies Astro Girl's surprise... an Arwen Evenstar pendant:

   

This version of the Arwen Evenstar pendant is a faithful reproduction of the original one featured in the Lord of the Rings movie. It is crafted in sterling silver and has a curving leaf pattern that encloses six cubic zirconia gemstones. 

Actually, Eric Banana has intended to get the official licensed version but it comes with Swarovski crystals that are glued onto it. Some reviews reported that the crystals tend to fall off easily. Eric Banana decided not to take the risk since he wants the pendant to be *erm* a pendant, not an ornament. There is another licensed version that uses CZ but the shape of the pendant is somehow disproportionate.

The globetrotting pendant arrived about three weeks ago. Eric Banana contemplated giving it to Astro Girl there and then but managed to resist the temptation. Besides, he needed to find a nice box to present the pendant to Astro Girl. After much struggle, he eventually found a suitable metal case online (not the same source as the pendant) and placed an order. It arrived via registered mail yesterday but nobody was at home which meant that Eric Banana had to collect it from the post office this morning.

What was originally a leisure walk to the post office became a mad rush against time when Eric Banana found out that Astro Girl was already on the way to his house (Note: She is usually not that early). To keep the surprise intact, Eric Banana would have to collect the metal case, do a quick march home and wrap the items before Astro Girl got to his house... and yes, he managed to achieve the feat. In fact, he even managed to take a picture of the metal case before it went into the box :P

And that is the story of Astro Girl's surprise... simple it might be, it took a lot more effort than it seemed.

Be Bold

For no rhyme or reason, Eric Banana's Samsung SGH-Z720 mobile phone (a.k.a. Ultra Edition 13.1) has gone over to the *erm* Dark Side. The screen is now permanently black. So much for slider phones *bleah* - they run the same risk of screen blackouts as flip phones.

Eric Banana has been using Samsung phones since 2005 - V200, E930 and Z720 - as he likes the user-friendly interface and sleek designs. However, the current Samsung offering does not appeal to him. The Omnia and Pixon are touchscreen phones which, like the Apple iPhone 3G, are not his cup of tea. The Innov8 is rumoured to have software lag issues and it doesn't look fantastic in real life either. Plus it is a slider phone. The upcoming Emporio Armani Night Effect looks way too beng-ish.

Let down by what Samsung has in the market, Eric Banana started to look at other brands. He has no faith in Motorola and LG mobile phones. He considered the Sony Ericsson models briefly but none really stood out except for the XPERIA. But the phone is a slider phone and the build quality is not fantastic.

Most of Nokia's mobile phones did not appeal to him as they are too "ugly". The N-series seem okay but are quite expensive. The Nokia E71 caught his eye and yes... he did get it.. as his new corporate mobile phone. Which means he wouldn't get another Nokia E71 to use as a personal mobile phone.

And now announcing Eric Banana's new mobile phone... the BlackBerry Bold