Hello, jacuzzi

Happy new year (dragon roar)

Happy New Year! I always seem to come back from Malaysia with a itchy throat or a leaky nose - think its the stuffingduriansdownmythroat that do me in, but in any case I wish it would go away; I want to eat more CNY goodies! Of what is so far a bakkwaless new year, its been pretty good. I seem to enjoy going back to Malaysia more these days, even though I don't seem to be any closer to my cousins. But to see the old house; to see my parents occupied and happy; and to see that everyone is still well and happy, makes me happy. I wish everyone happiness, and good health. That's all that matters, really.

langsai

Love this house.

Adibah would be proud

My only pediicure client

Fireworks raining down on us

And we made the ice cream man drive in

Huat ah!

Taken at My Humble Abode

Huat ah!

Taken at My Humble Abode

Less work, more money!

Seats on the morning train

The Outside

Taken at Dark pits of RP

I'd say.

Taken at Dark pits of RP

Oh, joy

Taken at Dark pits of RP

Oh, indulge me a little.

Happy birthday!

Boys.

Merry Christmaa yo

Light me up

"Discuss the role of key financial statements..."

I guess being ambitious is one reason why I'm doing the exam (working and studying do not go together, fyi); but I think I've figured out the real reason why I wanted to take the exam:

It's because I want to feel inspired. That rush of adrenaline, sense of passion, wide-eyed wonderness and overflowing feelings of euphorium - oh how I've missed you, old friends. It's been a long time since my friends and I were enjoying the San Francisco air and talking about being passionate in what we do and getting a general sense of happiness from our lives.

In perspective I don't think my life sucks. I count my blessings - but that doesn't mean I don't feel like I should and can be doing a lot more with my life. Sadly, motivation only counts for so much when you're mostly too exhausted by the time you reach home. Or so I say to myself.

One thing at a time. Let me get through the exam, and enjoy the rest of 2011. Then see how lah!

Hmm (twirls moustache)

marble nail art

I blame Adibah (and how my iPhone has her name on auto spelling).

Waiting for the tenors.

Taken at Bishan

Duck in my Tea

Taken at My Humble Abode

baubles on my rain pumps

So I'm supposed to be studying but am (i) waiting for my nails to dry, cos I re-did them (am a little compulsive when it comes to them), and (ii) am thinking of this pair of rain pumps that I saw the other day, absolutely gorgeous but since I'm on my obligatory-shopping-purge I did not ask to try them on and walked away instead. Also am thinking of what to draw on my tee.

So life feels pretty good right now, especially since work has started and I know that my life from now on will be as it is right now (for the next two years at least, workwise); plus I'm no longer confused, which makes life much easier to live out. Really, the part about weeding out unnecessary drama from your life is the best advice I've ever read on the internet.


And so it goes, and so it goes.

Empty carriage (score!)

Taken at MRT

Everyday should be like this.

Taken at Da Paolo Gastronomia @ 6 Battery Road

Takeout (pen and paper included)

Taken at Dark pits of RP

Why, you awesome lychees

Taken at My Humble Abode

no, you just have to wait

Was pleasantly surprised at how lunch turned out today. I had a good time just talking sharing and listening; so it seems, stories of (seemingly, self imagined or otherwise) star-crossed lovers have been played out the same way (and with the same characters) since time immemorial (immortalised by Korean dramas).

I have no wise words or useful insights. Only feelings. Many many of them. Some good, mostly sad.

I wish you, my friend, well.

Waitingforlunch

Taken at Dark pits of RP

Hello girls you are being ditched (for this)

Taken at Dark pits of RP

还是 Hup Seng 的好吃

Taken at Dark pits of RP

Popiah!

Alternatively massage into the affected area

Taken at Dark pits of RP

Hello, 律师

Taken at Dark pits of RP

Angry birds

Taken at Erika's House

My nice hand

Morning!

Because my office still has blackouts

Taken at Dark pits of RP

And I'm back

Taken at Dark pits of RP

"isn't that what time is for?"

It's strange how now that I am older (and seemingly supposed to translate into a IcandoanythingandeverythingIwanttojustbecauseIcan) - I actually stop myself. Not that I agree, cos I still think the way I do, just, breathe and say 'Let's just not'. The joy/thrill seems to not outweigh everything else, not anymore. In light of bigger (and hopefully better) things, it just doesn't seem to matter. The strange effect is that I seem to be an old lady now. Either that or a very young child, eitherways : not very sexy.

But underlying it all seems to be the idea that this is what time is for - that it will promise to be the solution and that if I wait, just a little while longer, and if I win this / fight the endurance test / survive, in one piece - I shall get It. What It exactly is seems irrelevant at this point of time, as long as it is It.

So the Twenties is supposed to be the age of questions questioning wondering pondering making dreams into reality. I hope I'm doing this right then.

And I would wait a hundred more!

Earl grey jelly, yumm

Taken at My Humble Abode

the best kind of feeling

Driving with the windows down, the wind running through your hair and the radio blasting;

Listening to Les Miserables on the loop during work - and wishing I was back in West End;

Living in my own head.


But actually Singapore smells like food everywhere so driving topless is really overrated, sadly.

Roll of thunder, hear me cry

STOP YOU TIME

If Time is a person he would be a tiny tiny person (cos no one will notice him) who is actually a thief that steals other people's precious moments and memories. Man he is moving so fast this year, I can't catch up/him. Someone lock him up and freeze him please.

How half of 2011 passed by me without me knowing, I really have no idea. The new office does excite me, although I think partly because it reminds me of all the stuff we used to do back in school, the whole planning and execution thing. Patience, and lots of coke.

Ah, inner peace. And at such a young age!

I should take up knitting.

The higher education of men is what I should like to see. Men need it so sadly.

They do, dear. But I'm afraid such a scheme would be quite impractical. I don't think man has much capacity for development. He has got as far as he can, and that is not far, is it?

the way you look today really makes me want to pour alcohol all over you

Actually anything will sound like a good idea now.

I've missed you, (regular) worldwideweb.

So much for being a socialmediasnob.

someone like you

"there's nothing quite like the feeling when you're listing to a song, whom you dont know, and whom you've never met, who somehow manages to describe exactly how you felt, at a particular moment in your life"

Think I'm in a selfish period of my life right now - everything I do is for myself, if it's not about myself then it doesnt matter at all, 'it's over when i say it is' (existentialism, like in Sucker Punch). I've not been alone much nowadays, have had the luxury of last minute dates and constant company, so today is a good break. Not much motivation to do work, but oh wells that will sort itself out.

All smiles

Taken at Marina Bay Sands Resort

prayforjapan

There I was, sitting at my desk, trying to finish up drafting/never-endingchecking/pondering on my circular (ha, mine) when I heard news of a second earthquake, and felt incredibly sad for the people in Japan.

If you only live once, are you to live your life more or less responsibly? Because if you try to live life to the fullest (and therefore less cautiously) then it means things don't matter so much (because you are being careless), and therein lies the irony of treating life carelessly by living life to its fullest.

I hope we get through this.

On a lighter note, I think I should quit Coke. It's not doing late night wonders for me anymore, and actually makes me feel like puking, blah.

wholesome possum

had a very productive and wholesome weekend (friday night included) and well, i quite like it. i got to live the life of a taitai for a morning, meet all my friends in one day (haha,), play the part of a prudish worried parent, spend all the money in my wallet (true story), and then try to order china apple from an indian dude (which took quite a bit of explaining, to which my lovely friend said 'yeah shes from china, thats why must drink china apple).

thanks friend(s).

grumps

It's been quite terrible recently, and friend's will call me up and ask me out for dinner, and I'd happily oblige even though I have workloads of work. I keep thinking that I need to be less grumpy about work but I'm not exactly sure how.

More snacks in my secret drawer?

"small eyes is actually not ugly lah!" whythankyou.

At least she said my dress was nice.

be be your love

I had a really good day today, plus my weekend was awesome and so I'm feeling terribly loved. I'm glad we went to sandy's house, I can't believe I was playing Battlestar Galactica boardgame with the cast's faces on the player pieces, was strangely quite fun. Hence I was an hour late for dinner. Was kinda wishing for plain old brainless Saboteur, but oh wells. (don't tell Xuhao that I was zoning off while he was explaining). :)

Was a late night today but was kept alive by gossipcalls and sillytalk. Love love my friends.

The King's Speech

#TheKing'sSpeech 'Bovril nourishes you to resist the flu' :)

twit.

I've only just realised that my timestamp for this blog was still on london time.

So dearestadibah signed me up for twitter, and I figured - if I have twitter (and if i do tweet) why stop at just that? so I signed up for posterous as well, but sadly it doesn't seem to autopost if I post from Instagram. Still, the autoposting function is pretty awesome. Plus I quite like the posterous layout.

I have to admit, it is quite awesome that I'm following Oprah on Twitter. Adibah knows me so well ;)

Good morningggg

nomnom

I don't think I've been back for such a long stay, ever. Being back never fails to make me realise that I'm part of a bigger unit, nucleus - family, and that I am not and cannot be on my own.

How silly!

macham mafia

We moved around in packs. Black Mercedes Benz with tinted windows. We look rightly out of place. We never smile.

Minus the drinking, and I would have liked it very much.

I also realised how much I missed/was reliant on the iPhone. Will try not to lose it again.

Love, from my iPhone.

Such wisdom. Love, Boost.

Ooh, hello

(testing an app, also too free)

Yesterday on the mrt I stood next to a pwc intern talking to a kw intern. They were greenhorny. How different their conversations were (as opposed to those between Adibah and myself "Eh my boss was nice to me today" "I'm still in office!!" "jurong sucks"). Chey, interns. Squash you with a photocopying machine lah.

what, 2011 already?

as with all year-ends and year-starts, there was a quiet reflection of the year and life thus far, and what should and can be done for the year ahead. This year there was no rush to finish unfinished business; neither were there ambitious thoughts for the new year ahead. There are, however, many thoughts and ideas and feelings, and it was good that I had the time to think them through. But the luxury of time will run out when I start work next week, and then the thoughts and ideas and feelings will have to take a timeout.

how fast time flies!

if it makes you happy, it cant be that bad

goodbye world,
(helloooo paradise).

hello, hi

I used to be afraid of not being able to remember what my life was; the events that happened; all the little details that made everything special/different/horriblywrong/wonderful, and I'm pretty sure my brain has been shrinking (or succumbing to the evil that is Age/wrinkles) because I find myself not remembering things when people ask me questions like 'so what is the most evil thing you've done' or 'what is the saddest thing to have happened to you'. My life has been in placebo so much that I have forgotten these events (mostly unpleasant) that made me, into the person that I am, and I am finding that I am taking longer to recall the events, but I do, and I remember acutely the emotions then, and my thoughts at that time.

So I'm good. For now, no need for a diary, not yet at least. But may blogger live forever, so I can remember what I was thinking, what I felt, and how I felt at this very moment.

:)

Off we go!

xoxo,
Sent from my iPhone

and away we go

THELONGWEEKENDISHERE:)

so I woke up too late to go buy any snacks/mags/cupnoodles (we are, afterall, poor working girls) and im just in time for eug's dad to come pick me up. I did go get macs breakfast though. Its still on my table, hm dont really feel like macs these days.

I realised I didnt have enough money for the trip, and so I started looking into my ang baos. I found a stack (I think, from last year) and began opening them (still unopened!). My mum has this quirk where she thinks if you keep the ones from the current year it'd bring you good luck, so I try not to touch the angbaos from this year. (they're in ringgit anyway). Well so I opened one angbao after another and they were all dark red notes, and then I saw two blue notes.

Then I realised that angbao was probably from my grandmother, and well how different things are just about a year ago. I'm not particularly sad, because I think it brought us closer together. Now my uncle tries to replicate her cooking, and its rather heartwarming (and quite delicious) if you knew how alpha he actually can be.

I'm keeping that angbao a little longer for keepsake. But I really do need the money so, thank you Grandma!

hello, back!

havent been online much at home, and Ive obviously lost interest in touching anything remotely resembling a screen when I'm at home. It's dinner, and then the bed.

So I thought I'd try to make an effort to keep this up, after hearing Liyann say 'I've always pictured you doing something more creative', I realised I havent been thinking very much. I mean, other than that brief discussion with Eugenia over whether Murakami killed the male character in Sputnik Sweetheart, I really havent been engaged in anything remotely intellectually stimulating recently. All I have been thinking about are weekends, weekends, and weekends. and an occasional KFC. I mean, I dont even have any desire to go shopping??

I would talk about the epiphany I had in the office yesterday, after my long meeting and after the rowdy office boys left the meeting room, but its nothing more than just, that, myopic view and abstract concepts becoming a bigger picture. Although, the corporate culture (and the people, oh the people) still baffles me. Am still waiting for that epiphany to dawn on me.

fyi this shall be my last post on work and i hereby ban myself from speaking about the O (for office) word.

Meantime- LONGWEEKEND!

quarterly review

it has been about three months since i started work. the cold feet from the 'ohnoidbedoingthisfortherestofmylife' started in week two when i saw an old man with a whole head of silver hair shuffling along to the mrt crowd, trying to get on the escalator. i got over that, and then my life's been, well, still manageable so far. ive always been a very practical person, but lately ive been finding that hard to keep at. its strange how work is making me feel that work is just work (and nothing more, i must keep that in mind), and how my matteroffact attitude will probably kill my soul even before i strangle others (imaginary, of course) at work. so i breathe, and i take a little break to make tea. i listen to my ipod and i play Ruby Blue so i can dance around in my little head.

the little bits of joy i get from work are from listening to other people talk about themselves and their work. im glad for my china trip cos i get to meet people outside the office, and of course drink eat and get massaged;) talking to people helps me get a perspective i cant get from working in my little room. so im glad for that.

see if i think differently three months down the road;)

before we turn to stone

sometimes I'm really in awe of the way this universe works. Just when I needed to talk to someone, my best friend from halfway across the world could do with a talk as well. And so a few lines over gchat actually made my previous weeks of heavy heartness (all those frustrations!) seem light, lighter, and the part where I was caught grinning like an idiot and texting into my phone when my boss came into my room just made it funnier.

and so I say, nothing in this world is that bad. lets give this another try;)

what, its 2010 already!

So my cat says its january already, but my brain doesnt seem to agree. (that is the closest id ever get to having a cat, btw.) and just as I was just getting used to having my Sister around the house, she leaves for South Africa for a month. Family time is so hard to come by:(

I'm not quite sure what to expect for 2010, so I'm just going to go with an open mind. It is, afterall, the start of the rest of my life. (cue: Only Yesterday from Studio Ghibli). And because I believe in things like fateful coincidence (I had watched all but two of the Studio Ghibli vcd set and I picked that to watch on New Year's Eve) I shall remember dearly the little girl from the film. Oh, and to have an open heart too.

Happy new year everyone :)

do-mee-no

Everytime we had to marcato the Cantate I felt like I was going to say a very bad word.

People have been asking me what Im busy with, and I feel almost ashamed to say that im bumming around, and have been for the past month. Im not so sure what im busy with, but Amore definitely tops the list for the highest activity recorded in a week. my bed comes a close second.

-
And today I think I spotted a real life Carey Mulligan; a Lynn Barber; a Jenny Miller. Maybe a little unfair to put the label on her, but its one of those movies where the idea of it gets stuck in your head and you keep wondering if you'd ever do a 'Jenny', or as Bing puts it, 'Youth's folly'. I did want it to work out for jenny, I did want him to be her ticket out of her seemingly boring and stifled life. She just seemed to be much more than what she was getting, but alas, if its based on real life can it still be cliche?
(if you havent, do go catch 'An Education')

Or as Lenka sings it (yes Im still sore about Budak Pantai) "live like you're dying, and never stop trying. its all up to you, use whats been given to you"

in the wee small hours of the morning

i woke up today, and the air was cold. there was a nice cool breeze blowing through my living room. the sun looked strong, and i made iced milo for breakfast. all morning i felt a sense of nostalgia- as if it was the december holidays and my mum was going to bring me to some cool place today, probably tangs to see the christmas decorations or the science centre.

i let that feeling of nostalgia linger on for a little longer, before it disappears and i have to start my revision for the day.

bert and ernie

during my euphoria at showing everybody my disney crocs i tried to tell janice about the wonders of seasame street (and the lack thereof - they arent showing on okto anymore!!), and then i tried to sing her this song but she wouldnt stop staring at me (those cursed big eyes) and she made me feel funny so i stopped short of finishing the song.



besides now that theres a new baby in the family im quite excited to play aunty;)

i succumbed to crocs.

so the metro sale did me in. but i had finally succumbed to The Crocs, previously known as ThoseAwfullyLargeAndUglyPlasticSandalsThatEveryoneHas. i still remember when Quan Yifeng first wore it on TV and i couldnt believe that Mediacorp actually let her. needless to say i never understood my sister's fascination with them either. she must have, like, five pairs.
But hey, at least this one is mickey, and because its a kids version (Size 3, one size smaller than the biggest kids size!), the shoe doesnt have a big head. i wore it to breakfast this morning and i must say i was rather pleased with it. like a big kid who just bought a new thing! mickey mouse!

Long Live Disney.

lets take a better look, beyond our story book

yesterday my mum dragged me to go watch 'City of Life and Death', the film on the Nanjing Massacre. i tried to pull her to 'Julie and Julia'; i didnt want to watch something so depressing on a sunday morning. but as always, my mum's puppy eyes won.

i loved history back in TKGS because we got to study world wars and ive always thought them fascinating. not the torture techniques, i understand they're, in a way, inevitable and part of the war; but the whole idea of wars. invading a country and taking it by force, and claiming it as yours from then on.
but since 'The Pianist' ive kinda stopped watching war movies. i cant remember a war movie ive watched after that; been putting off 'Schindler's List' for the longest time now. it was as if 'The Pianist' has satisfied my then seeming insatiable appetite for war stories. that plus me imagining Japanese pulling off my fingernails.

The Nanjing Massacre was a horrifying account as far as the Chinese were concerned. Perhaps much so for the Japanese; i wondered if their conscience pricked at them when they raped those women and mass murdered those chinese soldiers. just a tinge?

halfway through the movie i wished for the movie to end. i kept wishing that it would end in the next frame, that Chuan Lu would decide that it was enough.

when the movie ended no one left the theatre for a long time. then they started showing the names of the characters, with their life years. it was then everyone realised that the characters in the show were real people, not simply the imagination of the playwright based on research. these were the stories of real people.
but what was comforting was that one little boy, who cheated death twice, survived to tell the tale.

"Death is easier than life." said the japanese soldier.

flashdance..what a feeling

today marks the end of my no-scratches-or-nearaccidents streak. i lightly bumped (lightly) a lorry in its rear, and some of its silver paint came off on my spoiler thing. the lorry uncle was nice enough to say 'my lorry nevermind its your car thats got abit' and i was only too anxious to say its alright.

and today janice and i detoured to jurong before finding the pie exit to get home. from clementi campus. thats how eros and anastacia do it baby!

i love jimny;) (and so does my dad)

"even if it means id have to face the queen"

winning tickets to Zee Avi must be the best thing that has happened to me since a long time, and i was absolutely thrilled to hear her sing, and as usual, they all sound better live than their cds. she kept making us do sing-alongs, something i must say singaopreans are rather good at. sadly i only know the lyrics to kantoi, ha.
somehow i didnt have to queue with other minions on the long queue and was ushered onto the VIP queue. ive never felt more privileged to be in the same queue (and ahead! cos i was first:D) with those socialites.

i have to say, she does have the cutest little brother.

im definitely going to frequent timbre more;) shirlyn and the unexpected is up on my to-do lists!

a beautiful mess

(it was on my itunes shuffle)

The Night of the Rebellion, we girls met at Royals Cafe and pondered (among many other things like if singapore is a one party state or one party dominant state) upon a perplexing question: we are all so hot and desirable(statement), so why is it that no guys are chasing us/chased us(question)?

we carefully reviewed each of the boys from our class and affirmed that none of them made any moves; gave flowers; or tiffany necklaces (hee).

That we put forth to our Aunt Agony hailed from Figaro Gardens. and to each of us he gave his insights (so matter of fact but i guess that helps) and told us how to remedy our, shall i say, uniqueness.
the hot babe: you look too high class (eug: huh what kind!)
yours truly: you look too dao
the cool one: you dont hang out enough with malays! (but surely under the block counts..)
the one perfectly happy the way she is: you.. just dont care right?

and why should we?

and i shall stop here in short of lapsing into what adibah calls my self proclaimed prophecy.
in short, boys are stupid, throw rocks at them. in long, i am working towards a bachelorette pad.

in nus com lab,

its my first time doing soemething schooly in nus so i thought i should commemorate it.

its nothing great, im still terribly bored in lecture, and we didnt even know how to get into the lab. we had to look really lost, so this girl would come and open the door for us. and then they made alot of noise so i felt slightly annoyed, oh monday blues.

now i have to go back to lecture.

semalam i call you, you tak answer.

so ive been driving (!) my new ride around singapore, but none by myself and without any banter between the three of us- me, the directionless driver; my dad, the director; and my mum, the backseat driver. and occasionally we argue with the gps, too. but its been fun, and ive had 'bitter heart' stuck in my head for the past two days, so ive been humming that while driving, until i discovered this song. now that i know the english translation to it i love it even more;) ahh zee avi ive underestimated you.

i had a really fun weekend, with baybeats and bing's birthday party. i actually even enjoyed today's salsa lesson; i giggled secretly at shaky boys' hands and others' uncoordinated steps. i do not want the week to start again sigh.

i dont want to fall apart today or ever,

today i realised how i love my friends very much and that im very lucky to have such good friends to hang out with and talk about everything under the sun with. school's a bore and my grouses about it never ceases; but my tiredness dies with good company, even if its over kfc and toomuchcream strawberry shortcake. i cant wait for the rest of my life to start ;)

a triangle trying to squeeze through a circle

to be honest i was quite happy to go to school; home was boring me and i wasnt doing anything productive. now that im back in the system i find that i just go back to my old ways.

today we were learning about Singapore's Criminal Justice System and a Senior DPP even dropped by. but further into his lecture I realised- the 97% conviction rate is and will be so because of the system. the prosecution has an upper hand and crime control is simply an efficient yet heartless way for a criminal justice system. its not just the fact that we dont have the right to remain silent (silence may be inferred as a guilty conscience; this is shared in uk as well); but more on the various presumptions made against the defendant and the lack of rights that is accorded to the accused. true, i dont know enough to do a comparative study, im merely sharing an intuitive feel i got at the lecture. sure the justifications for the various measures were, well, well justified; but they are that. a utilitarian system is truly flawed and even as i marvel at Bentham's intelligence, I seem to see more faults than not with the principles and system of utilitarianism.

but as judy turned to me to lament about the lack of fundamental liberties, i explained to her the crime control system that singapore employs; and after some discussion i say "well that's just the way things are."

it seems like i will be saying that alot more in the future?

all done!

OKAY its all pretty much done. ive updated the links (some,) and added some stuff. too bad the bookshelf thing doesnt change by itself, but oh wells. i couldnt find another one.

;) im actually quite proud of myself!

dottedness

its like when girls go for haircuts, wardrobe rehauls and makeovers; my blog needed a facelift as well. hence, tadaa! i did get this off blogskins (thank you) but i twinkered around with it, although i realised that i dont have the links to the blogs anymore. that will take a while to fill in. im tired.

i really love my friends, and all the girl nights we have. the junk food is getting to me though, but i really appreciate how we still make the effort to hang out together;) and of course, the bridge mahjong poker, and gossip. ah, what are girlfriends for right! too bad we couldnt get any sun.

school tmr, again. i hope it gets more interesting.

muhna muhna!

its bing, she did it.

well i finally unpacked clothes and shoes! :) :) yes that is a huge achievement, thank you very much. now its just the small itsby bitsy stuff which ive been procrastinating.

but in any case, heres a song to cheer everyone up;)