Vincent Tay & Yvonne Chung

We did like a couple of shots...

2007-07-20T12:05:00.001-05:00

Here are some of our fav shots... thanks to KC Wong of Greymatterphotography.com

We did a few things which tickled Nat pink!

2007-07-20T11:13:00.000-05:00

Wayyyyy back in Rochester, MN, Gnat and us were planning how "small" scale the wedding was gonna be, all low key, no fanfare... but it al got blown outta proportion as the wedding dinner date drew closer.

In the end, we had the works, and I heard no end of it from Nat who was there that night. Glory, my other gal pal, did not help too. She added fat to the fire! Well, her wedding's up next in August, so we'll see...

WHAT WE SAID WE WOULD NEVER DO...Famous last words

ok, so we did the dry ice walk in thing.... to the traditional wdding march...

then we had the fake PLASTIC cake cutting

followed by champagne fountain

and of course, the "yum seng"

The Bentley Continental..:o)

2007-07-20T10:57:00.000-05:00

Vinnie was so estatic about the car and the chauffer that he instructed the photographer to take extra shots of the vehicle.... I can't blame him actually.... that 1.2 million dollar baby is gonna be the most expensive car we have or perhaps will ever set foot in...

All the seats come with massage function... can u beat that? Arthur Tay (ahem.. no relation, but who is the owner of One degree 15 marina AND the ride) must really live it up!

Wedding dinner...Finally

2007-07-20T10:37:00.000-05:00

Ok, Gnat has been bugging me for ages to put up some picts of the wedding, but we have been super busy... here's just a few for starters...

so here's the wine connoisseur aka Nat (awww... hugs!) giving us the " hmm, lemme see if its really any good" kinda look. I think the white passed!

here's our groupie shot

the rest, I will put them up slowly lah...

Rabbits: Peanut and Butter

2007-03-19T23:17:00.000-05:00

Recently, I adopted a couple of rabbits. Here they are:

The brown one is called Peanut (duh!) and the Greyey one is called Butter. They are about 3 months, so cannot see if they are boys or girls yet. Very very cute!

Patch is the brown and white one. He came from the SPCA. Gotta get him cleaned up better first. Full of pee and poop stains on his furry bottom.

Fostering one more next week...

Fly back in Singapore

2007-03-05T20:16:00.000-06:00

thanks to everyone who has been asking about Fly. She made it thru 30 days quarantine alive though she was driving the keepers made during the stay with incessant pleas for frisbee sessions.

Here she is next to my new car with her most treasured possession, tired out after a whole afternoon of play in Singapore's hot n humid weather.

we are officially boatless now

2006-12-07T20:26:00.000-06:00

sold the boat today........ SOB!!! it had to go as we r moving back home soon.

but we are glad that it is going to another fishing mad couple. still... it was heartbreaking watching the boat being towed away by another truck....

that was the best boat ever and it gave us lots of fish and good memories...

here's one last look of the black baby........

the dog with manners

2006-10-29T23:38:00.000-06:00

we rented a boat slip for 2 days from Terry's harbour during our Mille Lacs trip. inside Terry's shop, were a couple of dogs. One of them was thi black lab who was extremely well behaved and liked to perch herself, legs "all properly crossed", at the window sill, looking out for customers.

she was a real sweetie that I couldn't resist taking a shot with my camera..

Mille Lacs Lake- walleye capital of the world!

2006-10-29T22:33:00.000-06:00

as our time in rochester is drawing to a close, even though its still a few more months, we are looking that many things from a different perspective....i.e. better try it out cuz we won't get the chance in Spore when we head back.

thus our mad attempts to squeeze as much fishing as possible into the weekends, trying to maximise our time with the boat and taking in as much of the outdoor splendour...

so we spent the past 2 weekends dirving up to Mille Lacs. Mille Lacs is Minnesota's 2nd largest lake after the Red Lakes way up north. Its located smack in the middle of MN. To the fishing literate, this lake is world famous forMinnesota's favorite fish: the walleye. to some, that is prized above salmon. Lake spans just about 200 miles! and in the winter, it ices over so good, about 2-4 feet, that big trucks can drive onto it!

anyway, this last weekend was our best by far... we totally outdid ourselves catching walleye. in our first 2 weekends at Mille Lacs, we averaged 1-2 fish only for the whole 2 days of fishing. then last weekend, we finally struck gold! all the conditions were perfect... the wind was not horrible, waves were very bearable at 1 ft or less. at night, it was usually calm.

so...this time around, we caught more than 20 fish in just 1 night and had to stop fishing cause' it was 2.30 am, no actually... it was technically 3.30 am cuz they set the time back to reflect daylight savings.... we fished non stop from 4pm till about 8pm (we had 2 fish in the cooler then), stopped for dinner for an hour, then fished until 2.30am! that was hardcore. temps were 25 deg F, or just minus 2 or 3 deg celcius....our friends will think we r nuts to fish in this weather... however, vince bought a little heater, so that made things a little more bearable in the boat.

fishing got real hot just after midnight, and we were catching fish at every pass in about 5 ft of water. usually, we had just gotten our lines in before one of us would yell: FISH ON! then for the next 2 and a half hours, it was nonstop action. I even caught a huge Northern Pike. weighing in at 11 pounds! it tired me out reeling it in... however, in reeling in my fish, vince lost control of his rod and it fell into the murky depths.. that was the only shity thing the whole night.

in short, we had a whale of a time, and hopefully this coming weekend, we will be heading back again for one last trip... man! that was a fantastic weekend. I will be posting pics next, so watch this space.. ;O)

2006-10-24T01:40:00.000-05:00

French and Saunders - Sex Skit

omigod!!!!!... hilarious shit about todgers and men's dangly bits!

2006-10-24T01:20:00.000-05:00

Harry Enfield - The Old Ladies

horny old ladies....har har har

2006-10-24T01:00:00.000-05:00

Harry Enfield - Women know your limits

I loved harry enfield & chums during undergrad days. here's a classic!

2006-10-23T22:48:00.000-05:00

Funny stupid japanese guys

spastic video just for shits and giggles

just discovered Picasa...

2006-10-23T18:35:00.000-05:00

well, thanks to Nat, found a better way to blog photos. that one's of vin n his ice cream!

Fixing gene's cruise control

2006-10-23T18:19:00.000-05:00

Picture taken outside my window. apologies for the screened view! the boys trying to fix gene's cruise control, taken 2 weeks back. vincent's ass sticking out proudly! weather was about 8 deg that day. crazy!!

Our last hurrah in Sheboygan, Wi

2006-10-10T22:36:00.000-05:00

its been a while since I blogged. had wayyyy to much to do. still kinda busy but figured I'd better keep some notes for the memories when we leave.

Sept/Oct, after I got back from the UK, was a mad scramble. Had to complete manuscripts, book accomodations for fishing in wisonsin, finish off experiments in the lab and getting some nitty gritty things sorted. which reminds me, I have to complete Fly's documents for quarantine for Jan next year, else she won;t get a space at the station. Spore's quarantine is rather archaic.. poor dog has to spend 1 month in the shack, get multiple shots, just to prove she's ok to live in Spore. Rabies is still a concern in the US, hence the laws... poor Fly..

anyways, this was our last salmon season for the year and perhaps for the rest of our stay in the US. So we totally "pia" and weekends and headed to wisconsin as often as we could. weather willing of course.

last weekend of sept o6 was crazy... the salmon run had started and we got ourselves into some pretty good fishing. brought home more than 10 big ones, which is really a good haul. stayed at a nice resort after I spotted a deal online. the place is called blue harbour. see pic.

its a new conference centre/hotel in the sheboygan, wisconsin area. the rooms always went for at least 200 USD a nite, so vince and I never bothered to book. well, their water park was closed for maintenence, so they chopped rates for 1 week. I chanced upon a 79USD a nite offer for a Jacuzzi Fireplace room normally at 379 a nite. wow! I just love good bargains. the room had a lake view, the fishing was good, weather cooperated and we totally had a blast.

we went back to sheboygan again 2 weeks later to make the most of the salmon run. didn't catch so much this time around. caught 2 coho salmon as opposed to the king salmon the trip previously. waves were high at 6-8 ft. in our little boat... we got pretty sick quick. took some last photos of good ol' sheboygan... BYE.... we won;t be seeing you again next year but thanks for the solid fishing experiences and wendy's burger dinner memories.. :o)

so we cut short that trip and headed to Lake Wisconsin, which is a big lake smack in the centre of "duh" Wisconsin. its big enough to have a ferry crossing through it. we queued for 1/2 hour at the crossing (we could not find a boat launch nearby to launch our boat and drive across), where I got really sian... silly thing is, the boat launch was just 10 min drive away... sheesh.. but here's a pict of the ferry crossing anyway, only 15 cars max can get on at any point in time. so in the weekends, it can get kinda crowded. but its a tradition that apparently goes way back to 1890s.

spent a while pottering on that lake before having a really good fish fry at Fitz's on the lake. raced home and got to bed by 1am!

still shacked.

9/11 what were we doing then....

2006-09-11T13:34:00.000-05:00

well, Gnat started this blog rolling, so I will chip in with my 2 cents worth...

I had just started my housemanship, well, I was into my first month when this happened. when the planes struck, I was fast asleep. got to work the next day and it was all over the papers, everyone was talking about it and we were trying to watch the news from the patients' TVs in the VIP rooms.

funny actually, I was thinking... who do I know in New York who might be affected... then I remembered Vincent's sis was in NY at that time. (I hadn't spoken to vince for more than 6 months then, he had pissed me off real bad, so we were not going out at that time). well, I set my differences aside and texted Vince. No reply, the obnoxious bugger... oh well, sod it then! I just carried on with my work.

i kept remembering the scenes on TV that evening when I got home. still sends chills down my spine as I can imagine the horror of being trapped up there. I distinctly remembered the video of this chap who jumped to his death. I guess that's a better way to go than be suffocated and burnt to bits.

Vince called me 1 week later. His sis was living a couple of blocks away. scary thought! the twin towers collapsed apparently in the opposite direction to where his sister was staying. MAS (where his sis worked for during that time) flew the Sporeans home ASAP. Vince asked me out for makan at some wonton mee joint in the east coast. we saw a movie later. I started going out again with Vince after that and the rest is kinda history....

I don't think Vince remembers the details of all this, not that he's the type that bothers... :p

but 9/11 is a sombre day of rememberance but it also brought vince back into my life in a funny way when I had written him off for good....

Last day in London

2006-09-08T11:19:00.000-05:00

sighhhh.... all good things must come to an end..
will leave London tomorrow and prob will not return for some time since its such a hassle to travel from Spore. so am doing all the last minute makan pig outs, checking all the latest fashion stores in Covent Garden as I know once I hit Rochester.... the closest thing to high street fashion they have on offer is GAP... that is just sad!

but on the brightside, I get to see the damm dog (as Vince puts it) and settle back into idyllic MN life...

i will miss the hustle and bustle of london city, its eclectic mix of shops and all things quaint and queer, the dropdead goodlooking gay blokes in super tight tees n pants, super models (and the wannabes), fantastic chinese food (not the absolute rubbish that passes for it in Rochester), the cool accents and getting perpetually delayed on the bloody Tube!

off for another pint at the local pub (Pinner Arms) now..

vince won a prize!

2006-09-07T13:57:00.000-05:00

whahhhey.... sooo proud of Mr Tay. so must blog and brag....

His abstract won best trainee prize when it was submitted recently for a radiology meeting. He is 2nd author but did a lot of work on the abstract.

good work Vincey! :o)

lunch today... yum!

2006-09-07T12:19:00.000-05:00

oh, and here's what I had for lunch: wonton noodles and sambal kang kong!

"Closer" to Clive Owen

2006-09-07T11:14:00.000-05:00

hi y'all

after numerous delays and long queues at Gatwick airport, finally made it to London. Security is ridiculous. Lines for gate entry checks stretched to outside the terminal. Spoke to a lady who said that she was just taking a 1 hr internal flight but had been standing in line to get thru security checks and bag scans for an hour! flights were also delayed but I guess on the bright side, I got to get up close to Clive Owen (his plane was delayed and he was milling around the airport with his wife). I did not manage to get a frontal shot as I didn't wanna be totally in his face. poor bloke... quite a few people wanted to talk to him... i stood behind him when we were all looking at the departure time boards.

ok, the picts do not do justice and you may not believe me but I really did see Clive (might have had a chance at a better shot if that cow of a woman did not block my view!). did not get his autograph as I felt he looked harrassed enough, but man, he looks REAL GOOD! and he's really tall. anyway, was missing hubby more, so just took 2 long peeks (maybe 3..:o)) at Mr Owen. Vince was in Washington at a hand surg conference.

its been a really relaxing week in London. ate lots (Nat... I think I doubled what I lost that day at the gym!) of chinese food: char siew fan, dim sum, sambal balachan kang kong, mmmm... lagi shiok! just left my lobster noodles tomorrow... can't wait

stayin with Mum at her friend's house in Northwest London, Pinner. A nice middle class estate, people walking dogs n babies, leavy green trees and tons of squirrels. sure beats central London. too bad Fly isn't here to enjoy that! Her friends have gone back to Msia on a last minute holiday and left us the keys to the whole house, wow!

anyways, will blog more later. we're off to a proper pub now for beer!!

groovy weather

2006-08-27T12:42:00.000-05:00

here's what it looks like outside, folks... that's more like the summer weather we r talking about... hee hee.. can;t wait to fish...

What a week!

2006-08-27T12:11:00.000-05:00

aiyoh, what a hectic few days.

weather has been real crummy, with the exception of today (so maybe can sneak in some fishing R&R). worked out with nat in her spanking new gym on thursday and found muscles I never knew I had. although it was only for an hour, I could really feel the difference that evening and the next day. legs were like jelly and after I got home, just peng san already...

to make things worse, rochester was having bad thunderstorms. this always happens with the turn of seasons now that we r heading from summer to fall... oh warm days... fleeting fast...

and it just rained and rained buckets that thurday night. Fly was a real manja shit who is afraid of loud thunderclaps, so she sneaked into the house and crawled up on the staircase. hoping that we would just forgive her is we looked into those watery brown eyes.

anyways, it also started to hail near midnight, and nickel sized icechips were raining onto the truck. vince got real worried about the truck so both of us, in our t-shirts and shorts, got in the freezing rain and tried to cover the front of the truck with surgical drapes.... sheesh! held it down with heavy carpet, flapping in the wind all over the bladdy place... what a mess, we all got drenched.

next day, went to TK's 30th bash

we have been working on our comps since then..... sad sad sad... but work needs to be done... sigh!

here's vince...

ok, gotta make lunch. ... hope to hit the water this evening...

CONGRATS NAT n GENE

2006-08-22T21:55:00.000-05:00

Have to say CONGRATS to Gene n Nat on their new purchase.... hee hee... U guys finally did it!!!!!!!!!!Hopefully we get to see it tomorrow..... will post picts then...won't spoil the surprise now...

2006-08-21T19:41:00.000-05:00

ok, i am still figuring out how to upload my pict onto the profile page, so am taking a shortcut here... excuse this blog hor...

carp fishing with tom bernhardt and brianna

2006-08-21T18:59:00.000-05:00

we went carp fishing with Tom and his equally fish crazed daughter Brianna. the whopper fish we pulled up weighted about 23 pounds each plus minus. we hauled up about 30 over fish that day... in just one afternoon.!!! wahhhhhhhhhh.....

FYI: carp are very hard fish to catch, they are spooked easily... so we did pretty good!

2006-08-21T18:32:00.000-05:00

early this sping, we had the opportunity to go to a gun range activity organised by one of the fishing forums. we got to shoot semi auto and auto guns. great fun! i never shot a gun before in my life, prob never ever will, so that was just damm shiok!

here are some picts. the extra large gun I was carrying is a BIG (literally) bonus. some instructor brough that gun in that evening. he was going to use it to shoot the squirrels in his backyard! that is one massive shit sniper rifle. vince is holding up the shell. that's USD$2 to fire just 1 shot!! that crazy instructor must have hell lot of pesky squirrels!

boating in st croix river, taylor falls, wisconsin

2006-08-20T22:46:00.000-05:00

ok, the picts aren;t great but we had a blast. Vince caught a sturgeon, albeit a small one, but still, that was a tough fish to catch and I think we were just lucky. we caught it on a worm with a sinker and circle hook. gene took the picts but we won';t get the picts till tuesday when he goes post call, so here are just some of gene and nat on the boat.

sunny day, warm weather, no bugs, nat took a swim, we beached on a sandy bank and played with Fly.... great day. but very tired. will blog more another day. i end with one of the doggie in the car, trying to look cute and asking for pats. she succeeded...

the border collie's story

2006-08-20T03:04:00.000-05:00

oh, better give the dog some web exposure...

here's the sob story on :

Fly, female border collie, adopted from Safe Sanctuary near Faribault, MN. thet think she was about 1 year or less when they picked her up from a farm in wisconsin. she got kicked around pretty bad and got thrown against walls by a nasty farmer (hope he kanna langa by car one of these days). so she was skin and bones when I saw here. she was'nt my fist choice incidentally. I was looking for a weimeraner, who was adopted before I got there. but those eyes really got to me, and after considering for a few weeks, I took her home.

vince, then bf/fiance wasn't too keen as he did not have dogs in his life. but Fly survived the 5 day trial at home and vince is gradually warming up to her. though he does not admit it, think he's pretty fond of the dog. so now, vince has 2 "biiiiiaaaatttches" to contend with at home!

she's done very well 1 1/2 years down the road, made lotsa friends, took up frisbee and succeed on drivin vince mad by dropping her hair all over the place and chasing the lure when we cast it during fishing. but really, that's not her fault. she's goofy and not the brightest BC around, but still a poofball of love.

Going boating today......

2006-08-20T02:18:00.000-05:00

well, after having read Nat's blog (she's a jounalist who accompanied her husband on his anesthesia fellowship here in Rochester), am very impressed.

so thought I would give it a go. not that life in rochester, mn is the most exciting, but we do stuff that we normally can;t do back in Spore... like skiing, fishing... though most of the time this year, we are super busy with research, manuscript writing and our masters program lectures n exams.

we are taking a break tomorrow. vince is itching to take the boat out on some decent strip of water. he was deprived for a couple of weeks cuz we were busy preparing for our final masters exams. it was over on Tuesday, so we can breathe a little.... and get stressed with other things now!

so we r heading maybe to Lower Mississippi or St Croix river with Gene and Nat.. am looking forward to it. was feeling quite bummed after so many weeks of studying. I still have manuscripts pending and data to collect... all must be done within the month.. bummer.. still, need a break....... taking grocery shopping trips are definitely not destressing me enuff, its bordering on sad.....

here's a pict of us in fall about 2 years ago on a rented boat in the "sippi". I bagged a crappie. in singapore terms, its kinda like a "chong yu or pomfret" but they call it pan fish here. supposed to taste fresh, but we never eat them. as we r now too lay to fillet fish. and even after filletting these buggers, we can fillets no bigger than my palm. too much work lah. vince in the first pict got a bass. that fish gave him bragging rights for months to come. think its still the biggest bass we ever caught. more than 2 pounds, and he picked it up with just a worm on a bobber.

will post picts of how we do tomorrow. I don';t know if we will fish much, prob drink lotsa beer, get hassled by fly and her frisbee (that's the pooch) and have lotsa laughs with "gnat".