i haven't thought of it yet

那些年，我们...

2011-12-03T02:15:00.000+08:00

好久没有看一部让我这么有感触的电影。

不是我的故事，却有着熟悉的片段。

男孩把自己的书放在忘了带课本的女孩桌上，自己却被处罚。小小的动作，大大的帅.
我想起了曾经在我前座的他，因为忘了带课本而转过身把我的本子占为己有的那一刻。我那时呆坐在坐位上，想的是也许被老师骂我也不会说。我因该也会很帅。当时我不知道，真正的偶像剧，角色应该是对换的。这也许就是一个开始 - 一个我这一生不可能有戏剧性的浪漫的开始。

在婚礼上，从坐位站起，看着自己曾经喜欢的他/她，牵着自己的幸福，微笑的，缓缓地从身边经过时，心里有满满的，就快溢出来的祝福不知道该怎么送给他。就站在原地，使劲拍着手，让掌声和念力和散发出的光和热把祝福带给他们。那一刻，最有感觉。不是爱情，不是失恋，应该是眷恋着梦幻的，单纯的青春。而曾经喜欢的人，应该是那一段自己人生故事里，最特别的角色。

看完了电影，特别的怀念穿着校服的日子。似乎是那个时候的感情最真挚，友情最真实，爱情最单纯，自己也拥有，没有理由和原因的自信和勇气。

那些年的青春，过得很愉快。在成长中所失去的自己，得一一找回来。

sneak away afternoon

2011-11-18T23:02:00.000+08:00

Lunch @ Red Dot Cafe

An afternoon walk @ Botanical Garden

A late afternoon movie that brought back so many memories

Dinner @ Timbre with my favourite boy and my favourite band :)

I like days like this

2011-11-14T22:12:00.000+08:00

I sometimes wished I am taller, has slimmer legs, am smarter, can cook better, can run faster, can sing better and the list goes on till it stops somewhere. Nowhere.

However I'm not exactly envious of people who has that. Slimmer legs.. or better grades... or lovelier voice or.. I just almost always find something I'm glad I do not have in them. Like... better personality, stronger character... better appetite? and many other qualities others would find that it is mere self consolation.

But. There's just one quality, talent, flair.. whatever you call it... that I'm often envious of, and that's good writing. People who write beautifully with words, sentences, paragraphs, storyline that blow readers away, that made readers feel as if they are in the book themselves.

I must admit that I read quite a fair bit, but that doesn't seem to help much in my writing. I often have problems with vocabs, sentences constructions and grammar, and that's usually where the trio - spell check, thesaurus and my best friend - google, comes in handy.

I was once a little bothered about how ordinary my writing is and my inability to use big and flowery words, and even my brother, who flunked literature, writes so much better. So Much Better that I can read the full script of his political science essay without hibernating 3 minutes into it. One fine day, Bhany simply told me that a good read is not all about bombastic words. It's about writing things that the reader can relate to and understand. It can be simple, yet meaningful.

Words of wisdom from someone usually not wise.

So I'm still here writing. Struggling with vocabs, sentence constructions, grammars and the differences between "then" and "than". Still envious of people who writes well. Still read a lot, memorizes good lines, and not knowing how to put them into use. And still..

But at least. I take comfort in the fact that simple writing can be just as lovely. :)

2011-11-07T02:32:00.000+08:00

I was taken by surprise when you said "thanks for last time".

Not so much because of the sudden semi-hug, or the tight handshake, or the low whisper with breath that smells of many different kind of alcohol. It's just simply because I know, that period of friendship meant something to you, as it did to me.

Memories came flooding back as if the four words had opened the floodgate. Whatever was painful to you and had made me sigh, would perhaps make us chuckle if we were ever to reminisce about the past.

The platonic bond that build up from your melodrama faded away nicely as we both move on to a different stage in our lifes.

I am thankful, and touched, for your "Thank You", because yes, even though the realities of life tells me that not many people would remember the good things one have done, it still feels good to be appreciated. But I hope you know that I'm also grateful for the times your random words gave me comfort when I'm in my own theatrical melancholy.

Now that we are each pursuing our own happiness, I sincerely wish that you will be joyful and blissful always. I am so glad you are happy now :)

the little exciting thing

2011-10-14T23:00:00.000+08:00

Its the first time in my almost 4 years tenure in this workplace that I'm playing basketball in the court right beside the production shopfloor. The recreation team organize a basketball tournament every year, but it's such a guys thing for the past few years in addition to the fact that the board looks dangerously filmsy, so I didn't really pay attention it.

But this year, there were 3 girls teams who signed up, one from finance and two from production. Ha~ so I let myself get convinced easily by Jason@work to join one of the production team who is short of players. According to my voluntary spy (who is also Jason@work), our strongest opponent seems to be the Finance team with 3 players who all seem to know how to play or shoot (2 of them are filippinos, and I always believe that 99.9% of Filippinos are born basketball players. It's in their blood)

So the day came, and that was the first time I met my other teammates.One team member was without any experience and the other was an ex-Malaysian state player. She's really good. Like really really good. And nice and humble :) I wished I had asked for her full name though. So to make up for an inexperienced team member we both played extra hard, with her giving me easy-to-understand strategies. It was 3 on 3, but I almost died 10s into the game because the opponent was so aggressive and my stamina level was at -37 (note it's negative).

But I guess it felt different when as a player, I'm needed and depended on in the game. The line that came to mind afterwards - Rise to the Occasion. It was one of the best games I had ever played in a while, even though it lasted only 14 minutes. I played like a player, received passes like a player and was relied on like a player. Even the inexperienced third player played her hearts out. And I was like woah by the whole 14min game. Adrenaline pumping and all.

We won the game and then the other game. It was good.

Glorious Food

2011-10-13T23:48:00.000+08:00

Today last week, I was in Siem Reap preparing for a day of temple tours. That's the after effect of holidays to me - out of it bug can't really believe I'm out of it.

But one other thing about holiday, besides staying in guesthouses and being away from work, is food. I love trying local food. In Taiwan, there were the orh lua mee sua and fried chicken, on Phuket there were the real Tom yam soup and fried morning glory and in korea there were the bibimbap and back pork BBQ.

Now I have an addition to the list of favourite - fish amok from Cambodia. I like it so much I had it almost every day. Amok is sorta like curry, but sweeter and the coconut taste is stronger. Amok comes with several other ingredients, with options of Chicken, vege, fish and prawn etc. But I think it goes perfectly with fish. Of course, it'll depend on where u eat it, some amok when too bland (albeit lower cholesterol), tastes quite bad.

Anyways, I'm having a little phobia on curry now, having too much if it every other meal when in Siem Reap. Since it's been awhile since I shared my love for food, here goes another post of some glorious food.

Run's Recommendation from Bedok

Run brought me out for a high cholesterol but super good dinner some time back. It's a hawker center/market in Bedok and I promise the next time I go I'm sure to take note of which stall and the exact location. I super super love the mixed pork intestine mee sua and every single time I see this photo, I will start to feel hungry. Such, is the power for a good mee sua. The kang kong is good as well! From another tze char stall, but I still love the mee sua more.

This remind me of the kang kong in Phuket and Cambodia is called Fried Morning Glory. And even though I was sceptical about the taste, since it's not spicy, it turned out to be really good. !

Nando's Chicken

When I say Nando's chicken, I remind myself of Kenny Roger's chicken. I would say Nando's chicken are tastier, with the peri peri sauce but the side dish... is well... tastes a little too... exotic?.. for my liking. I think it might be a Portugese thing (Nando's is Portugese right?) So for side dish, I declare KR's the winner.

Not much point in posting this, since they are not going to combine. ha~

Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee
Block 466 Crawford Lane #01-12 Singapore 190465

Tell me when was the last time you had your bah chor mee and started feeling heavenly as if having it every day will never contribute to high cholestrol. I have had my share of very bad bah chor mee and some average one and ok ones... until I came to this. It's near the hair salon my mum and I used to frequent, and it's realllllly gooood. They do not have the usual mushroom or meat balls but they do have very nicely cooked pig liver and minced pork which go very well with the noodles that is cooked just fine. My absolute favourite place for bak chor me. For now that is.

Sukiya @ Marina Square

#02-138FG

Some healthy Japanese Steamboat lovin'

Not a lot of meat but lots and lots of plant based like many varieties of mushrooms and veges... yada yada. love it :)

Brotzeit @ Vivo City

For meat lovers like me, we just want to do a little ~~rain~~ (irrelevant) victory dance when we see a plate full of sausages, pork knuckles and (I think that's fish). Over friendly to the palette but maybe not so much to the cholesterol and fats level.

We had a department dinner @ Brotzeit some time back, and I shared the sausages dish with my colleague because we wanted to try ALL the sausages in the house. More hits then misses for the sausages and we were quite pleased, except that we saved the worst tasting sausage for the last thinking otherwise. (-o-) The pork knuckle was a disappointment however, dry and rather tasteless. Not worth wasting the cholesterol over.

Nansuttei Ramen @ Parco Millenia

I have a recent liking for Ramen. I'm liking Ramen just like how much I like Blaine Anderson from Glee. Every now and than I miss it, eat it, and miss it again.

Run strongly recommended Ramen from Nansuttei so one day, Xiaozhe and I decided to try it out. There are not a lot a varieties of ramen (and I realise that most almost-true-semi-blue Japanese Ramen place in Singapore, do not have much choice) and they all look almost the same, perhaps some different soup base and the amount of chasu, or how the chasu is prepared. They also have a different level of spiciness, I tried the relatively lower one because I'm quite hum ji about such things.

The Ramen soup base was too salty for my liking, but I feel in love with the supporting roles like the Gyoza and the egg. Xiaozhe's mum make very good Gyoza (albeit Chinese version) and most of the time, we'd rather have the ones his mum made after tasting those from outside. But the Gyoza here is surprisingly good! And oooooh the egg! I love to eat eggs. (add that to the long list of high cholesterol food I especially love) And this egg was almost cooked to perfection. Even the colour looks perfect.

full moon tonight

2011-09-12T23:08:00.000+08:00

Every Mid Autumn Festival reminds me of how much I used to look forward to this day. I was once that kid who walked round the small neighbourhood with my colourful lantern which upgraded from battery operated ones to those paper lanterns with a fragile looking candle lit inside as I grow older. I too, used to light candles and vandalized whatever open ground there was with the bright lights and melting wax. My brother and his friends would burn anything they could get their hands on and create a mini bonfire. And I will watch in awe, attempting to be a part of them.

We had a few occasions where my relatives, with their kids, came for mooncakes, tea and TV.

I can't even remember when or how, it just stopped. Like how some magic goes away when one grows up.

But still, vivid images came to mind as I walked past kids with friends or families enjoying the evening. Images of how great a childhood I had, especially on this day, filled with burnt baduku, imaginary fireflies, flickering lanterns and the colourful aftermath the next morning. It was, and still is awesome.

September Birthday!

2011-09-10T20:27:00.000+08:00

Happy (Belated) Birthday Alvin!

Not exactly belated because I did send my well wishes on the actual day, just that this post came a little bit late. Looking at the previous post... has it been 1 month already?! It seems I have a lot to catch up on for my postings. Trying hard!

But obviously not hard enough. (-o-) just like the many other things in my life (-o-)

PSC and I went to the Zoo last month, which explains the many pictures with Ah Meng :)

And to add on randomly, I think I want to do some shopping and cut my hair short.

September is a good month because it's 1 month to Siem Reap and 3 months to Cambodia and 4 months to my birthday (which I only look forward to right now because I am going to get presents... rite?) And it's Xiaozhe's birthday month too :)

gary

2011-08-14T22:55:00.003+08:00

I'm sorry for the belated birthday post :P

Gary turned glorious 27 three days ago! Wishing you many happy returns and hope you get your HDB soon!! :D

My 27th Birthday

2011-08-07T22:52:00.001+08:00

29 January 2011

another end of something

2011-08-05T21:49:00.000+08:00

I haven't been in the mood to write... So I'm just doing what I do best - posting pictures.

Xiaozhe and I took half day off specially to take photos of the now closed Tanjong Pagar Railway station during it's last week. My dad found it amusing that so many people are rushing to the station and the railway tracks now then when it was still 'safely' around.

Says a lot about people eh. I'm one of them. (-o-)

I had wanted to take photos of the railway station back when I was still in NUS. Gather the whole PSC to take photos and this would be the first location for the photo shoot. Then, come years later. (-o-)

I really love vintage clocks like this, especially in railway station.

Yes, it's intriguing. There was a hotel in the railway station itself which closed down in 1993. What a waste.

Read more about the hotel here and here.

Always a frantic rush to try and preserve what's left of history when it's coming to an end.

2011-08-03T21:58:00.003+08:00

I'm rethinking, seriously, how this life should be lived.

finally the world is safe (for now)

2011-07-25T00:27:00.001+08:00

I don't want to part with Harry Potter on bad terms, but I can't bring myself to gush about finale of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II either. I should just say that, Part II did not move me as much as Part I did. Most of the scenes were touch and go... but then again, I guess time was the obstacle. I would gladly sit through a 5 hours movie if it meant that more could be seen.

Or, it could really be just me who doesn't want all of the magic to end. Or, it could be that GV Max is too big for me to feel connected to the characters.

There's nothing I won't miss about the show, the moving staircase, the living portraits, the quidditch games, and especially the "I-got-your-back-all-the-time" kinda friendship.

What fabulous writing. What magic.

I hate goodbyes, seriously. *sigh*

Expecto Patronum!

2011-07-21T23:37:00.000+08:00

Happy 27th Bdae AJL!! :D

Hair For Hope

2011-07-17T23:07:00.001+08:00

I haven't blogged proper for awhile, so I'm feeling a little rusty now, but for a good cause, I'm blogging again (writing this part makes me feel important, ha~) and trying to keep myself from being too emotional or whiny.

If you are my friend in my facebook or a friend in my iPhone contact, you would mostly likely have received a message from me to support my bbbff "as she does her bit in charity".

Run's Site

Run is participating in a fund raising event called "Hair for Hope" where she will be having her hair shaved to raise fund. The fund will go to the Children's Cancer Foundation where it will be used to help the young cancer patients and their families with services from psychological, counseling, care services to palliative support.

You might be wondering why Run would go to the extend of shaving her precious hair (especially so for people like us with not much hair in the first place) when she could have donated money instead. I was thinking out loud about that too. Run could have donated $500.00 or $1000.00 but it will not match up to the $5.8K she has garnered now from people and even strangers who have heard and read her story and donated to support her. Besides the money, she has also raise awareness to many others who will not even consider donating to this foundation. I think Run said it best when she said "people do the best they can when they can", and this is the best way she can contribute. Her precious hair really has a lot of value! :)

Supporting this cause meant a lot to Run as she lost her beloved Dad to cancer 7 years ago. From the period of his illness to his passing, it was a difficult time for her, emotionally, mentally and physically as she, being the eldest, tried to support her family financially, care for him and later, in managing her loss. I felt the sadness and helplessness as her friend, and I cannot even imagine how she was feeling then. 7 years later, I'm proud (and I believe Run's dad will be too) to say that she has done well in life for herself and her family and will be doing even better. Not that she's a modern day a-shin who takes on hardship silently, she has her share of whining and griping about the unfairness of life, but hey, aren't we all just human. Her strength has been extraordinary all this while, and now, it is shown again in this simple gesture (yet very difficult decision made) because she knows what the pain feels like not just for the cancer patients, but for their family members as well.

We will not be able to remove the pain that the little patients and their loved ones, and the people who love them, have to go through, but let's just try to alleviate their pain and worries a little by our contributions which will help to support the services given to them, as well as show them that there are people around who do know that they are hurting, but are still cheering them on to continue with their fight.

Run will be having her hair shaved (and I promised photos :D) this coming Saturday (23 July) at Vivocity and I beseech you to please take a look at her HAIR FOR HOPE site . If you can, please do donate and any amount will be very much appreciated. Every cents really count. And even if you do not donate, we would still be grateful if you could go to the site, understand more about Hair for Hope and the Children's Cancer Society and spread the word to others. You never know there might be someone who could contribute to this good cause, not just monetary terms, but also as a volunteer or to raise awareness.

With the many feel good movies that have been screening lately like X-Men: First Class, Transformers III and Harry Potter etc etc. All of us come out of the theaters wanting to be superheroes and make a difference and save the world. Well, in the real world, we can't all be superheroes since it is more important that we attend normal schools to get our "A" levels, instead of special schools that develop whatever special powers and most of us need to spend time working to have allowances to appease our Mothers (Mum, I love you really) and they just closed our only railway station that might be the only way lead us to Hogwarts... BUT we can be that someone who makes a difference and this could mean the world to someone else who need it most.

So please, just a few minutes of your time is needed to please look at the site and follow up with some simple actions.

For your kindness, we say THANK YOU!! :)

2011-06-11T23:06:00.001+08:00

A very Happy 27th Birthday to you Little Miss Contrary! You don't look a day over 20! :D

27th with Bestests

2011-06-11T00:16:00.000+08:00

We played a game, again. We never have an easy time when Rongz's is around. lol

Rongz took some photos and whatsapp to Bianz's phone and I had to lead them to the places where the photos are taken.

I thought.. they should have known better about my sense of direction, the first time we played the game. But obviously, they didn't and we took almost 2 hours to finish the game (even though it's only within city square)(-o-)

Finally settled for Korean bbq

Pressies from their travellings! Almost have presents to collect every time we meet! It's seems to always be Xmas!

And my bdae pressie is a big haversack from Uniqlo which I super heart beacause it's super BIG (love~) and light!

Right, that's about it. And before you know it, my next birthday is coming soon (-o-)

Birthday Post

2011-06-04T23:03:00.001+08:00

Dear Weiling,

Because it's a very special day today, I decided to put a little something together... on how most PsC show their love to - you.

er.... well it's a little unorthodox... but you do know that you are being loved yah! :)

A very Happy 27th Birthday to you! :D

2011-06-04T02:02:00.004+08:00

Just like how you and I get tired of good looking people (er... do you?) or eating steamboat sometimes, I do get tired of whining too.

I tried to count my blessings and take note of good things that happen today.

It started with having the breakfast prepared by grandma... and it ended right after I start clearing my emails at work. A record breaking 1.5hr on a weekday.

I think I just need to work harder on this. (-o-) Need better days to come soon

Zee's 26th

2011-05-28T15:42:00.000+08:00

ahem. Zee's 26th birthday photo. It's so way overdue it's embarassing. *hurhur*.

Our present to Zee was to contribute to zee baby fund :) (And latest update is zee baby is born! that's how long I slacked *hurhur*)

So on the day itself, we have picked the person whom each of us has to organise bdaes for.

Chingmei's organising for Yong'An. They May babies had their birthday celebration at Universal Studios! Sad I couldn't join! :(

We are taking lesser and lesser photos already! Hope it's not a sign of growing ~~older~~ up!!

a tinkle of faith

2011-05-26T00:21:00.000+08:00

The phone rang and very randomly, I received this..

That's why Run always say that I need a bbbff besides a bf :)

But then again.. the bf is never as candid (-o-)

I love you anyway bbbff :)

2011-05-22T21:35:00.002+08:00

2011-05-22T01:40:00.002+08:00

The reflection that stared back was not what she had imagined to be. Not the hair, the face, the dressing, not this kind of life... not like that at 27.

And yet she's drifting further into reality, and away from what dreams there used to be.

She pushed on, convinced that there must be something for her, even though the fear that she might not find it is stronger. And she wears that smile everyday, even when she griped about the sapless work and the frustration on feeling lost. It's a habit to plant humour into everything, but it's like she fiercely need people to understand her vexation. I do not know why though. Not that many people will really understand... not that many people care.

Maybe she just needs someone to say it's ok, and promises that things will be better.

Personally, I think she should just get the hell out of whatever is making her life miserable. (-o-) Somebody, please drag her away.

14.10.2010 Seoraksan & Seoul, Korea Day 9

2011-05-21T19:45:00.000+08:00

Ok, I'm guessing that you miss my Korea photos as much as I do, and a woman's instinct is always right :) I'm finally posting this!!

2nd day on Mt Seoraksan. It was 6+am. (-o-)...

and freaking cold..

The only one who was happy throughout the whole hike (-o-)

So here's our target for the day. Xiaozhe chose the Ulsanbawi Rock Course where after we came back, I found out that the level of difficulty is Grade B (highest being Grade A), which makes it one of the hardest course in the National Park. Xiaozhe better be very glad that I only found out about this after the hike.

Still the relatively easy way up...

Then it starts to get a little vertically challenging.. but there were still stairs and railings to hold on to. *cool it cool it*.

But look at the view! Splendid!! It's 1000000 times better in real life. serious.

This could be the last photos taken between the safer journey up the mountain to reaching the peak. When we reach a certain point, there were no more stairs and railings at the side and it was real hiking. Climbing rocks and heaving yourself up the never ending + increasingly steep steps, and hanging on to your dear life with the support of, well rocks on one side and a spectacular view of the scenery at the other side + 876m below the feet. I couldn't bring myself to take out my camera and take pictures as I don't think I dare to do anything else except climb. (-o-)

By the time we reached the peak, I was stoned face and refused to move to the edge for a picture.

But then, I had to give a nice smile for the picture, because I have to make the climb worth it!!

Fellow climbers met along the way. From Thailand and Myanmmar (if I remember correctly )

Then the horror begins again.

And going up is actually much easier then going down.

All the steady ahjummas. No sweat and no fear I tell you. so embarrassing for me (-o-)

After the hike, we managed to catch the early afternoon bus and headed back for Seoul, and to a new backpacker's hostel with our smallest room ever.

Super Fresh sashimi for dinner!

On our last night in Seoul... we decided to go...

grocery shoppinG! It was scary! We bought so much kimchi, seaweed, tidbits, cup noodles.. it was as if we were residing in Seoul instead.

This was 1+am the next morning. Some of the well known shopping centre in Myeongdong was opened till the wee hours in the morning.. or rather more specifically.. 4+am! The city really never sleeps!

2011-05-16T00:04:00.001+08:00

It's been a year since we bade goodbye.

And I still remember the last time I saw you. My mum was so glad to see aunt Linda at your place helping out with the housework. She has always been a dear and a sweetheart isn't she :) I think she's the only person who can chide you, yet only receive more teasing from you in return.

You were there, sitting in your rattan chair, watching TV. You waved goodbye and gave me your usual toothy grin. I'm glad you gave me a smile before you left :)

I still think of you. Your neighbourhood, the Korean soap drama, sign languages, the men's late 80's slightly curly and long hair, the toothy smile, the secret handshake... They all remind me of you.

I wish you are happier now. Wherever you are. I would tell you to quit smoking.. but if it makes you really happy. Then scr*w it. Just remember to brush your teeth :)

Missing you always. :)))))

2011-05-15T22:17:00.003+08:00

Happy Birthday May Babies!

I'm so sorry I'm late! There have been many things going on these 2 weeks, but I shall not taint my good wishes with my incessant whinings!

So wishing you guys many happy returns and hope all things beautiful come your way! :D
*breaks out into songs and dance*

2011-05-08T23:31:00.000+08:00

It was a bad week last week, and I'm not quite optimistic about how much better this week is going to be. I feel terribly stifled at work, and I recently have been feeling so much grievances and negative energy when at work, that I can literally feel myself aging prematurely even without the presence of UV Rays.

One of the few things that is keeping me sane is whatsapp-ing Run. Thank god for Whatsapp, can you imagine how much I would have spent if I just sms her everyday. I complain to her on an almost weekly basis, but of course we would drift off to other topics, where the most common recently are the GE, Glee, my quest for my dreams and of course the constant complains about work. Of course, not that I don't sms Xiaozhe, but he's so busy all the time, and he's an eternal optimist. :)

You don't get satisfaction grumbling to a person like that. If you get what I mean.

And so the GE 2011 is finally over.

I was at Hougang Stadium yesterday, to soak in the atmosphere of the GE results with supporters of the WP. It was super crowded, and I can't even estimate the number of people who turned up. I know I have difficulty breathing in fresh air up, down, left right. (Xiaozhe even asked if I needed a straw)

But boy, did we cheer. :D

I think the Opposition Parties had done very well in this election. Even though only Workers Party had emerged victory out of all the other Oppositions parties, the results for most of the SMC and GRC were really heartening. By getting such good votes count (especially Joo Chiat! Super Amazing!), I believe it has finally got the ruling party on their feet and perhaps understand that more people do dare to vote against them, and that the people do have grievances and unhappiness about many of the government's policies.

虽败犹荣

In a perfect situation, WP will win Aljunied GRC from a MP other then George Yeo. (And I already have a list of MPs who should be in his place instead, as collected by the many other Singaporeans) And TPL will be in this (Aljunied) GRC with another MP. And Potong Pasir will continue its legend as the longest held opposition ward under CST.

But in the real world, we win some, we lost some.

I am not a religious person, but I believe in the works of higher beings and the way of "things-happen-for-a-reason". So maybe, having a PAP losing its ward to an opposition party, and winning another... and with TPL in the Parliament, it all meant that something better is coming...? (I find the last reason rather not convincing, so I'm crossing all my fingers at the same time)

WP has big shoes to fill in the Aljunied GRC, and they have carry huge responsiblities on their shoulder to exceed the expectations of the people who took the risks and place their faith in WP. So even though I find their slogan a little tacky, I really do hope that we are moving towards the direction of a first world and better Singapore.

Now that the elections is over, let's put our differences aside and work together for a better present and future. At least, let's not disappoint those unsung heroes in Singapore, who had fought hard for the voices of the people to be heard.

Courage

2011-04-24T02:39:00.015+08:00

It had been quite a week.

I finished 39 episodes of GLEE in 6 days, out of which 17 was done in one. I love the show, it makes me want to burst out in songs and dance... something I have shared endlessly with Xiaozhe (asked me to go ahead but instincts tell me that he will somehow disappear if it really happen) and my bbbff (pointedly remark that our friendship is not yet strong enough to withstand this happening).

I'm not going all cheesy and say that it reminds me of my high school days, because my Secondary School and JC days were nowhere as happening or dramatic as that. But somewhere between the uplifting songs, performances, lines... I felt motivated, to pursue my dreams too. I had them in Junior College - one was to play in the Nationals and the other was to get into University. That was the last time I remember working hard for something I really really wanted. So when I surround myself with songs that boost my positive energy, I suppose that's where all these emotions really start.

Now, the only issue is, what the dream could be. ?

I find myself in an episiode of my own drama this week, Titled - 27 & Clueless : "Searching for..." (too much dramas lately maybe?)

One week of indulging in GLEE and it's never ending optimism and cheer is part one of the script. The others are the 3 people I spoke to during the week.

One. I attended a few gatherings and I was just commenting to Xiaozhe how I find it difficult to fit in sometimes. I don't quite know how to join in discussions, say interesting things or give logical opinions that people understand, and let people have a conversation that includes me. It's a skill I tell you, and I know I seriously used them up when I talked excessively in Kindergarten and Primary School.

Xiaozhe merely said "you can just listen".

To me, keeping quiet was because of all the above mentioned. To him, if I have nothing sensible to say, it would be best to keep my lip together and instead, listen to what others are saying. Not just hear, or read lips and space out, but really listen.

Two. I had a late dinner with a cousin 12 years my junior, who was sharing with me her plans in life, her ambitions and her dilemmas (about her plans in life, not some silly BGR issues) and I was kinda unnerved by her level of matureness. (-o-) Here I am, at 27 and clueless. And there she is, troubled at 15 about her dreams.

She next threw me a question about what my ambition was, at her age. And I was kinda thrown off by that question. I mean many people have asked about what I want to do in life, but no one really asked me about what did I want to do in future back then. I didn't tell her that I wanted to be a FBI agent (because I was watching X-files) or a doctor (ER, and my grades really sucks) or Charlie's Angels (well, Charlie's Angels), so I said something intelligent like what a person, 12 years her senior should.

But it set me thinking. Specifically about what... I'm not really sure. But, it just sets my mind whirling around more then usual.

Three. It was after the very oily but good Ayam Penyet with Run (She had been griping about her work-communication issues and I was as usual lamenting about my life's confusion and early stage of the the late quarter life crisis) when she said "I think you want to be successful in your own terms. You just don't know what your terms are yet."

And I thought - it's real. Someone understands, so it's not another of the strange thought in my head only. I have heard so many people's definition of success for myself is to climb up the frightening ladder in the corporate world (I'm afraid of heights), but something tells me that I somehow might not be cut out for this. There seems to be something more for me... I just haven't found it yet. (-o-)

The other thing that blows me away? Someone understand, when probably not many others notice or sees it. And Run so seldom says such philosophical things. :)

So there you go, it has been a defining week for me since the start of 2011. (I think I wrote enough for this post to cover what I had missed in the past few months)

:) Shower me with courage

2011-04-14T22:51:00.003+08:00

delightful :)

2011-04-10T23:34:00.000+08:00

Somewhere in between a Sunday of CSI and GLEE, I managed to do some sorting to my photos... and ha~ my super overdue pictures taken on my birthday! (ok, not counting the Korea trip's photo)

On my birthday, Xiaozhe brought me to a Thai Restaurant because I had a serious craving for Tom Yam Soup. GOOD Tom Yam Soup.

AH Loy Thai at Shaw Tower/House (one of them, I never know how to differentiate)

Very, hungy

And this is what we had! Oh I love the pad thai and the tom yam soup! They were really(x10) good!

And nope, your eyes are not deceiving you. We always almost over order our food and gorge ourselves silly (-o-) We were still contemplating if we should order one more steam fish :)))

But I like to see many many food on the table. It makes me happy :D

Hanging out at one of our favourite chill out place ~ Paulaner

2011-04-09T19:23:00.000+08:00

It took awhile, but I got to know you, and you, me. We used to be so good together.

As I grow up, sometimes I lose faith, sometimes I lose patience, many a time, my energy gets drained. With that, I lost you.

You were with me, the good times and the bad times... I miss you.

Let's make peace. Can we be friends again?

2011-04-03T01:51:00.000+08:00

Some songs, when I hear them, with the ear piece stuck in my ears, drowned in the music, make the hair on my hand stands, what do you call that.. goosebumps? And a flush of warmness came over me, and the memories came flooding in. You know how, just like some songs represent a generation, a cultre, an era... there are some songs that brings you back to where it once happened - the bittersweet, innocent, foolish, dreamy, lovely time of your life.

17 and my sweetest crush ever

17 and I hear you sing, and I'll always remember the sweetest crush at 17

18 and bittersweet

19 and this was for you

19 and 10 months and tears

26 and you still make me smile :)

2011-04-02T22:35:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday Uncle Jason! :)))))

2011-03-20T23:34:00.000+08:00

My Phuket trip in 2009 updated in my travel blog! *finally*

2011-03-13T22:16:00.001+08:00

加油...
我们一起加油吧
虽然我们已经到了不允许只做梦的年纪
虽然已经到了不能不面对现实的年纪
我们...到最后都不要放弃
加油吧

~上矢
《Buzz Beater》

2011-03-13T02:16:00.000+08:00

My neckache + Shoulder ache + backache + butt ache is killing me.

This is what bad ergonomics + late nights+ plus episodes of Japanese dramas on-the-run-continuously do to you

What I really need is one good long comfortable massage.

And the Japanese dramas have done it again. It got me on a replay-romantic-scenes mode which got my heart fluttering and my mind dreamy. It's kinda lame but I love the dramas that makes me hopeful again :)

date saturday

2011-03-11T00:10:00.001+08:00

19.02.2011

V day gift

kiddish delight @ Science Center

Mercury Beauty

childlike fascination

Self portrait

fishy meal

chill out evening

Timeless together

All dates should be like this :)

2011-03-06T23:14:00.000+08:00

Is it Sunday night already? Less then 45minutes to the dreaded Monday? I don't think I have done anything meaningful yet? (?_?)

I took time off on Friday, came home and did nothing. I went for my music class on Saturday, went for hair treatment, had dinner with my mum, came home and fossilized in front of the computer screen. Today, I played basketball, walked around Hougang Mall, had desserts, had bread, came home for dinner, cleared the table. And then the day is almost over.

Dreaded Monday, back off! (-o-)

Ok, After I'm done with my personal drama, I shall go to bed and wake up to another work week. And it's going to be another week where I try to find meaning in what I do. Till, the weekend that is.

30 pictures

2011-03-06T22:53:00.003+08:00

Inspired from Miss Kate's post of 30 pictures.

01/ someone I spend a lot of time with:

02/ a picture of myself:

03/ a picture of someone in my family:

04/ a picture of something that makes me happy:

05/ an old picture of myself:

06/ a picture of my sibling:

07/ a picture I never posted before:

08/ a picture of a person I miss:

09/ a relative of mine:

10/ a picture of my favourite place:

11/ a person I can tell everything:

12/ a picture of my everyday life:

13/ a picture from a place I love:

14/ a picture which reminds me of old times:

15/ a picture of friends from my childhood:

16/ a picture of myself:

17/ an unusual picture:

18/ a picture of my spare time:

19/ a picture I'm satisfied with:

20/ a picture of the people who are closest to me:

21/ a person who's always there for me:

(Sorry I cheated and posted 2 pictures. It was too hard to decide! And I didn't want to crack my brains further on a weekend)

22/ a picture from a time in life I miss:

23/ a picture from last summer

24/ a picture that makes me happy:

25/ a person who always makes me happy:

26/ someone I'm always having fun with:

27/ a picture I always laugh about:

(again!)

28/ a crazy picture:

29/ the latest picture of myself:

30/ someone I will never let go of:

2011 first images

2011-03-05T01:19:00.000+08:00

01.01.2011

I'm finally moving on to 2011! :D

Celebrated the New Year with the bkakis aka sunday bballers at Ikoi Japanese Restaurant @ Hotel Miramar. It was ala carte buffet style, which is truly the most suitable kind of food for basketballers (I mean the buffet style)

We dropped our jerseys, and wore something nicer for a change (please don't mind Run though)

Monitor & Yuanlong

I like large group outings for one reason - can take many many photos!

久违了的King & Shichang

If you keep seeing the same faces you know why, they were sitting nearest to me. ha~!

Big Boys!

Jac, char & peiping :)

Checkered is in fashion. Seriously.

Ladies :D

Monitor in superhero cast, quite like the power arm guard of Chad in BLEACH.

Ah~ it's always perfect to end an outing with a nice group photo :)

13.10.2010 Seoraksan, Korea Day 9

2011-02-26T17:00:00.002+08:00

Xiaozhe getting himself comfortable for the 4 hour bus ride from Seoul to Mt Seorak. He concussed for the full 4hrs+ to and fro. (-o-)

Sokcho City. It was super cold!

Mt Seorak is really beautiful, cold and.. expensive.

We planned a 2 days 1 night stay in the National Park premise.

The only hotel within the national park.

Retro. It somehow reminds me of Wong Kar Fai's 花样年华

The view from our room. I can just feel myself getting younger and fresh like 小龙女 if I can wake up to this every morning.

Think national park in autumn - and I was expecting slow walks with yellow, red, orange leaves falling like a scene from Winter Sonata. Mt Seorak is well known to be filled with the most beautiful colours in Korea during Autumn.

I was not disappointed. It was already so beautiful even though early October was not autumn enough yet.

I took manymanymanymanymanymany photos, but I don't want to push my luck and get you to stop reading my blog for good. So I had to throw the coin a couple of times just to select these few photos.

Love nature. and Love being in touch with nature.

I didn't know what was waiting for me... (-o-) The last of the normal walkway for the day.

For our first hike, we decided to follow the trail to Geumganggul Cave. When I checked out the difficulty level at the National Park site after I returned, it was a grade C - meaning low difficulty.

First steps up. NOT as easy as it seems ok. Even though ahjummas keep flying past me. I think many korean ahjummas know 轻功.Ｉam so not kidding.

It gets more beautiful the higher we hike.

The reward is sweet, the process is painful.

f/o/r/c/e/d/ s/m/i/l/e

The hike looks easy from here but it really IS NOT. At least for someone who's terribly afraid of heights. There are railings to hold most of the way, but for some small corners which doesn't have railings, and is a HOLE that leads to the AIR or the whatever-I-do-not-dare-to-see-directly-below, it was terrifying. (-o-) It gets steeper as we move up, and the steps get smaller.

Grade C only. WHAT GRADE C?!

Xiaozhe was very light hearted throughout the trip, thoroughly enjoying the hike and blind to my frowning face and deaf to my loud mumbling grumbles.

It's a conflicting feeling of fear and anger (largely towards Xiaozhe for valid and non valid reason) as I hike towards the cave with my famous big pink bag vs the feeling of awe whenever I stopped and look at the breathtaking view the higher I go. All these feelings mashed together as I grabbed tightly on the railing with one hand and the other hand fumble with my camera trying to aim for a good picture.

And then I see Xiaozhe smiling happily, hands free from railing, feeling super at ease, turning 360 degree taking photos up down left right. *dagger stare*

We finally reached our destination - Geumganggul Cave. The cave is quite small and inside it, is a Buddhist Shrine and there are green lanterns hanging outside the shrine. There was a buddhist monk and a middle age lady selling souvenirs in the isolated cave. Both of them flew past us as we were making our way down the cave. By the time we reach real steady land, they were nowhere to be seen. (-o-)

Awesome view from the cave.

my dear life

Everything was worth it. Even though I was still pissed. (-o-) but Xiaozhe said he was proud of me so I let it go this time. Now I wished I had taken more photos, especially of Xiaozhe because he looked so pleased.

And after a day of achievements, we rewards ourselves with... one bowl of soup with some 年糕. And we had to share that little bowl of soup (think my big appetite plus Xiaozhe's double of my big appetite) Food was very expensive in the national park! But it was getting dark, and this was the only restaurant still opened. I was miserable and hungry the whole night. And Xiaozhe slept till morning. (-o-)

it gets me down, and i don't know what to do

2011-02-25T00:36:00.003+08:00

I used to be up in flames
I used to be so creative
I used to have a lot of ideas
When I was just a lil kid

Now, every day I walk the same walk
Every day I talk the same nonsense
My life is a continuous chain
That eats itself again and again

And it gets me down
It gets me down
It gets me down
It gets me down

Sweet 27

2011-02-18T23:37:00.000+08:00

Happy 27th to my bestest! :)

glorious food

2011-02-17T01:20:00.002+08:00

Xin Yuan Jin 新源记
31 Tan Quee Lan St
(Opposite Bugis Junction, and besides the Apple Strudel Shop)

Back to the 80s

One of the 2 best fish soup bee hoon I've ever had. (The other is at Jurong Point). The normal fish soup costs about $5+, while the one with the special fish (can't remember the name) costs slightly more.

Ming Chung Restaurant 民众餐厅
67 Maude Road Singapore
Near Farrer Park / City Square

If you like heng hua (兴化） food， i.e. or lor mee with lots and lots of vinegar and "ham" (that's how I eat my heng hua lor mee". You must come to this place. It's about $4+ per bowl. I always eat one bowl of Lor Mee and share the lala~ with Xiaozhe. If you don't really like vinegar, this might not really be the lor mee for you, cos it can taste quite bland. I have cravings for it alllllll the time.

Tampopo Restaurant (Liang Court)

I had ramen with black pork which is supposedly their special. But, after eating true blue authentic delicious black pork in Jeju, the black pork here tasted like any other pork with ramen. (-o-) The taste was ok, like any other ramen really.

BUt sashimi was quite fresh :)

Chikuwa Tei
9 Mohammed Sultan Road

The chef was from the supposedly famous wasabi-tei in Far East. I have never eaten at Far East while the chef was still being grumpy there, but I have heard many reviews that he whips up good Japanese food, even though grumpy.

Now that he had shifted to Chikuwa Tei, he is no longer grumpy. (And I am guessing because of the brighter and more spacious work place)

Xiaozhe's order. Which he likes very much because of the fresh sashimi.

Chwanmushi was ok la.

My order. Super filling.

Very fresh sashimi with generous portion of filling for the sushi. One of the few good japanese food that I like. :) Price range for the set is about $20+.

Hippopotamus
#01-204/205 Marina Square

Their sides taste better then their mains, especially the potatoes.

I had lamb chops. And the Baked potato was good. Not crazy about the ratatouile though. S$18.90

Love the potato gratin and french fries.

Xiaozhe had classic primerib. It was ok only. I blame Morton's steak.

So, if such meals are affordable to you at $20+ and you would want to have something filling at that price, you can give hippopotamus a try (at least for their potato). Their meals consists of the main, a choice of your sauce and 3 side dishes!

Sole Pomodoro
19/21 MACKENZIE RD
Near Little India Station

Famous for their pizza and pasta.

Say "NO" to distilled or sparkling water that costs $7+. Ask for the usual ice water instead. Of course, unless you really want to drink the special pricey water.

Simple little restaurant with cheerful design.

This near to REX cinema.

A little bag to put your bag. Very 贴心 :)

Red for me and blue for the boy.

BUFALA pizza was good. It's tomato sauce and buffalo mozarella. The pizza, though thin is rather chewy :) S$24.90

Tortiglione Crema E Funghi, which is Tortiglione with cream and mushroom. It was quite good! I love good pasta. $20.90

PsC End-of-Year (送走2010，迎接2011) BBQ Gathering

2011-02-11T00:37:00.003+08:00

On the eve of New Year's eve, the PSC had a 前所未有的 PSC and PSC's spouse & partners BBQ night. All PSCians were invited by, erm, PSC, to bring along their other halfs for the gathering.

PSC spouses doing the work...

While PSCians eat and take pictures. Now who's the host.. ha~

Tell me you like this photo ;P I lurve this!

Many photos turn out quite blur :( I think my camera is aging and have a lack of vitamin A. But at least the most important picture turn out fine. All PSCians and spouse except for mine and Uncle Jason's. ha~ It was Xiaozhe's mum's birthday and he was having sore eyes too. (Uncle Jason said I boxed him cos he didn't want to come. I can't hide anything, can I? )

喜事！:)

Sunday already!

2011-02-06T23:54:00.002+08:00

恭喜恭喜！

A very happy Chinese New Year to all of you! Wishing all of you good health and happiness in the New Year!

It was a good 5 day break and as much as I don't like my work, I am ok with going back to finish up my piling backlogs tomorrow. I just felt like there's going to be a change soon, though I'm not sure yet of what it could be. ha~ :D

The past 5 days were spent eating, visiting relatives, eating, collecting ang baos, eating and eating. I believe that one will not get fat when eating during CNY. *firm nod*

However, I do think that there can be 2 improvements done for the holiday:

1. Have a longer CNY holiday. I don't even need the full 15 days. Maybe just 7.5 days or something.

2. Mediacorp should 反省 a little on the kind of shows they are airing. (-o-) I mean, I love 黄飞鸿, but it has been showing too many times, CNY or no CNY. (on the other hand, kudos to Starhub for showing all channels! I caught Texas Cheer Mum yesterday and find American lifestyle very interesting)

赤壁 I and II were on TV too! Super lame shows I tell you (-o-) Even though Takeshi Kaneshiro makes a very handsome Zhuge Liang. But everytime some characters appear on the screen, these thoughts will come to mind.

Zhuge Liang - Intelligence Level : 100
Zhou Yu - Intelligence Level : 92
Liu Bei - Intelligence Level : 75
Zhang Fei - Intelligence Leve : 35

I blame it on Romance of the Three Kingdom II game I played when in Primary school. I even did a show and tell on it in P5.

oh, nostalgia nostalgia.

12.10.2010 Seoul, Korea Day 8

2011-02-06T19:07:00.001+08:00

The first backpackers' inn we stayed in Seoul.

The second day in Seoul was a my favourite day in Seoul. Without a specific detailed itinerary, we just go to places I wanted to go :)

Bukchon Hanok Village

This is one of the "must go" places for me when I read about it before travelling to Korea. The hanok (traditional houses) are preserved in this area and most still remainas as accomodation. We went early in the morning, and it was a quiet walk among the houses. Most of the doors were closed, except for those which are open as museums or little schools that holds cultural classes like making tea or traditional korean art work. I looooove this place :)

I like that they have the names of the family/ house displayed at the door. Though it's in Korean.. I assume that they are names. ha~

Most of the doors are closed, so there's not much opportunities to take a peek inside. But there are some hanok guesthouses that are open to tourists for a few nights stay. I wasn't able to make time in our travel schedule to slot this in, I would definitely want to try staying there for awhile!

The quaint hanoks as a contrast to the vibrant city of Seoul

Peaceful, quiet and serene.

But I think the houses here are super expensive. (-o-)

Before my trip to Korea, I read that there were previously 1,500 hanoks in Bukchon, but there are now only 900. With the young koreans now preferring convenience and accessibility in their accomodation, Hanoks are not a popular choice for them, and the government was not doing much to encourage the preserve of such hisotry. It's rather saddening to read such news :( A lot of such incidents are happening in Singapore too, and some even has the government's involvement in the destroying of such architectures that have much values and history in them. These are what gives a country their unique identity, but with the destructions, the uniqueness is slowing dying away.

And as always, there isn't much time to slowly explore the whole area :( I don't like to travel with tour groups, because though convenient, we were often rushed from one location to the next. With backpacking, we are able to go to places we like and skip those touristy areas especially when it's for shopping. But 11 days is not exactly enough to fully understand the culture and know the people of the foreign land too.

Insadong

Ssamziegil - an outdoor art mall. It makes me feel arty farty once there! I love it!

soothing scents

The square at Insadong have little shops selling interesting, quirky, fashionable stuff from clothings to accessories to furnishings.

A graffitti of MJ at the staircase of ssamziegil

The street of Insadong which sells many souvenirs and handmade items.

Lunch at Insadong was Korean maggi noodles like what we see in Korean dramas. Definitely taste better in the metal pot! ha~ :D

Han River Park

On our way to Han River

On our way to Han River again.

I was this close to appearing in the next popular Korean Drama.

With more time, it would be nice to rent a bicycle and ride it around.

Chilling by the river, munching cookies, enjoying the soft breeze.

Coffee Prince House

~love love love love love~

As a big fan of the Korean drama, 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, paying pilgrimage to the Cafe where the film was shot is a must must must must must.

So ta daa! It was closed on a Monday, but very open on a Tuesday! All the staff in the cafe were girls... no sight of any cute waiters. hrmz.

familiar sight. ~sigh~

Ahem.. Xiaozhe was not very pleased about the price of the drink though. (-o-) It is.. indeed... a little bit... more pricey then usual la~

*grinz* :))))))))))

Dongdaemun

Kwanjang Market

Very near the backpacker's hostel, and full of glorious good food! I am so happy here!! :D

We tried Korean pork knuckle which was nice! And something else, that seemed like it stuffed with something... intestine perhaps?

Xiaozhe scrutinizing the food before eating...

And the walk back again. :)

2011-02-04T23:47:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday Bhany!! :D

weekend takeaway

2011-01-30T23:37:00.001+08:00

1. I suddenly felt like posting this
I went to Powerhouse @ St James 2 months back for a more happening event then clubbing.

Hiroshi Kubota's Electone concert! How cool is that! It is a rather cosy event, and though it was not very crowded, but all the good seats were taken up anyway. We were lucky to find one place on the second level, though we had to kneel on the sofa and turn the other way to get a good view of the concert.

The music he played were not really my favourite type of genre, but his technique was very good, his footwork was amazing, and his passion was infectious! I seldom attend concerts, but I think I should do that more often now.

My electone just had a minor open heart surgery and a worried me wondered what I could do to keep the her in good shape.

The technician merely said "you must play more".

Oh~ No wonder it's sick (-o-)

2. I had another round of Kovan FC's wanton mee

3. Celebrated my birthday with PsC

4. Had Home Cooked Tom Yam soup for dinner on a cold rainy evening. It's been so cold. I'm just waiting for it to start snowing.

5. (-o-)

here comes the neighbourhood

2011-01-24T00:11:00.002+08:00

Spotted these mysterious things on my brother's messy desk when I came home from bball.

I unzip them one by one and discovered these!

quriky little badges!

My favourite ")

I blabbered on about them and Bhany said "you can choose one if you like, ~~cos you are a loser~~" *happily ignored last part of sentence*

yeh! v("_")

ok, I'm done blogging for the weekend. It's the start of the darn working weekday now. (-o-)

2011-01-23T20:41:00.001+08:00

27.12.2010

I finally met up with my AV mates after 10 years? Was the last time the AV camp we went to after graduation from Cedar?

Some things never changed. Meiyu and Shuhui were the first to reach.

Jasmine was late. Diana was later. :P

I miss the girls and I miss the good times :)

I'm a firm believer of "things happen for a reason". I remember being 13 year old and looking for a glamorous CCA like those uniform groups and sporty ones. But I was rather unwilling to give up my Saturdays' sleep ins and unfortunately, I am not very talented with sports. (-o-) My brother's "Go join the AV club la" made me sign up for the CCA.

I don't know why he said that. I don't think he knows too. I don't know why I signed up. I just did.

But no regrets :) It was a good 4 years of excitement. ha~ don't think we are nerdy k. Things were more happening then you can ever imagine.

2011-01-23T01:50:00.002+08:00

It has been crazy at work. And dreadful. And it's not even just the workload. I can remember things at work during the weekdays but can't remember what I did during the weekends.

LIFE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THAT. At least not mine *sulk*

I woke up at 10am today, after a full 8 hours sleep. I did my music homework, practised my electone (like once a week) and went for music class. Don't think I am ever going to graduate this way. (-o-) And then people around me are going to get younger while I get older. I almost fell asleep in class today and took another 1 hour nap awhile ago. I'm feeling my youthful energy being seeped out of me...

I.need.a.life.overhaul. And negative thoughts *dissipate dissipate* -> Weiling style

Ok. Shall work on that :)

Well, as you know, I turned sweet 27 last week. Age is really just a number to me. Nothing much changes... if only there is nothing like necklines, aging eyes, 高龄产妇, increasing premium for insurance and yadadada, things that constantly remind that.. age is not really just a number. (-o-)

But still. Birthdays are great. Cos that's the day where people pay special attention to you and flood you with birthday wishes, cakes and pressies. :)

Mum & Dad

Breakfast Special on Birthday Morning

Colleagues

Birthday treat from Xiaozhe. Oh the heavenly tom yam soup.

With the sweet kiddos

With my bestests :)

11.10.2010 Seoul, Korea Day 7

2011-01-18T22:25:00.000+08:00

Last picture taken with our lovely Guesthouse owner :)

On our way to Seoul!!

Buying subway tickets to where our backpackers' inn is.

Seoul Subway station.

Our accommodation gets smaller with each destination. haha~ Besides the TV in front, all we have is this coat rack.

We did not really have an itinerary planned for Seoul (-o-) The good thing is we get to go whenever we want without worrying about time constraint, but the bad thing is, unexpected stuff do happen.

Like when we went all the way to Coffee Prince House @ Hongdae. It was closed! :(
:

Street of Hongdae

So we headed to Myeongdong...

And it's the first time we saw a 4 storey high Dunkin Donuts!

Myeongdong Theater

Super hungry, so we got a waffle. I was hoping against hope that we would get some food on the domestic flight to Seoul, but yah, it was really hoping against hope. (-o-)

Dinner was at this restaurant where we fry our own rice and meat.

Myeongdong is famous for being Korea's trendiest shopping area. But Xiaozhe and I didn't manage to get anything from there. We had high hopes, or rather I had high hopes, that I would return to Singapore as a fashionista - Korean style. Didn't quite turn out that way :P

So we made our way to Namdaemun.

Seoul Tower

Unfortunately, Namdaemun was under renovation... dang~~~ And again, we didn't get anything from Namdaemun. dang~~

A food market near our hostel. I love this place! They sell so much food!

Another favourite place of mine in Seoul was Cheongyecheon Stream. The Cheongyecheon stream was constructed not just to beautify the city, but also to push the city to be environmentally friendly.

The 2 backpackers inn we stayed at in Seoul were near the stream, and for the 3 nights we spent there, we took a walk here each night before returning to our accommodation.

It's peaceful, quiet and cooling. :) There are little stone steps for crossing from one side to another.

And the little lighting show of flowers, ducks and birds. :) Lovely place to date, to hangout with friends, or simply being alone.

Even though it was just a day of aimlessly wandering around, it can get quite tiring too.

marry me mary

2011-01-07T23:27:00.000+08:00

favouritest favourite scene

This, to me is romantic. :)

nah, I don't want to grow up

footprints

2011-01-07T00:14:00.000+08:00

Am finally done with the posts on my Taiwan backpacking trip in my travel blog! Moving next to Beijing! :)

2011-01-05T00:22:00.000+08:00

moi cousins!

I know we are all looking a little strange here... it must be the festive mood getting into us :D Had lotsa fun at the family chalet before Christmas and it was a warm and Happy get together since the last time my family and extended family gathered. :) Lotsa other photos but some relatives are not really into this virtual world + social network so I shall just post one here. :) The age ranges from 14 to 28, but judging from the pic, I don't think you can tell. RITE? (I am so not the oldest there)

2011

2011-01-03T23:50:00.001+08:00

It's the first working day of the New Year. I've been so occupied I don't know how it went actually. And now I can't really remember. (-o-)

You know I'm hardly serious about setting resolutions for the new year, because half the time I got distracted, the other half of the time, I forget about it. So this year, I'll just try to work on something simpler - I want to be happy-ier and do more for myself, whine relatively lesser.

Perhaps increasing the "doing" part by another 80% and the whining by just 20%. Cos Xiaozhe said that you can't (he meant me) whine a lot and do a lot, cos if you whine a lot, you will have lesser time to do a lot, and if you do a lot you won't have time to whine a lot. He didn't put it in such an intellectual way, I just rephrased it for him. I haven't tried doing both at the same time yet, so I don't know how true his words are. But I'm just increasing my whining anyhow if I'm increasing my "doing", because I just like to whine. It's like a hobby... kinda.

In 2010, the greatest lessons I learnt, were from the subjects - goodbye, backpacking, music, idol dramas and my pictures. I learnt about the unpredictability of life, about making something that seem impossible come true with a bit of pushing. I affirm the greatest source of my inspirations and motivations and I appreciate the value of my photos which kept my memories and make me aware of the beautiful things and people around me no matter how blur or awful they are.

In 2011, there will be other life's great lessons to be learnt.

I know it's kinda random but I recently realised that when other people are called "anal", it's not meant to be rude or dirty. It's a short form for "anal rententive", which according to Freud, is that one receive too harsh potty training during the stage of growing up and thus might have traits that are linked with "anal-retentive personality", for example being obsessive with neatness, perfectionism and being in control.

For me, I analyzed myself (and according to Mr Freud) to have "anal-expulsive personality", where in contrary, I supposedly have very lax potty training and thus have characteristics like being untidy, sloppy, absent minded and lack of self discipline. I could relate to them almost immediately. :) (oh, why am I so happy about it?) Freud has strange and at times ridiculous theories, but at least, he is interesting.

Those are, one of the first few things I learnt in 2011.

Have a good year :))))) And try to be yourself, if you can :))

the last of 2010

2010-12-31T23:25:00.000+08:00

It's the last day of 2010. In this year, I...

turned 26
had my finale with Nodame
been in my own family drama
got hooked on listverse and NPAA
attended May Day's concert live
witnessed Xiaozhe's convocation
bade farewell forever to a love one
played Turkish March (and it meant something for awhile)
was hurt and felt the pain I thought I would never feel again
went on a Staycation for the first time
planned an unsuccessful birthday surprise
went to S.Korea like I said I would
started my Travel Blog and Photo Blog finally
went on a rare family trip to Phuket
am still stuck in my unsatisfactory job
grew older, but not wiser
whined a lot, but procrastinated even more
should have fought harder for what I believe in

If I have to update my resume for life each year, the number of things worth mentioning dwindle each time.

But I shall leave my regrets in 2010 and only bring with me the memories. Goodbye 2010.

BRING IT ON 2011!

10.10.2010 Jeju, Korea Day 6

2010-12-31T02:08:00.001+08:00

After the long break... back to the Korea photos!

The start of our many long bus rides for the day.

Manjanggul Cave

Mangjanggul Cave is actually a 7.4km long lava tube and is very well preserved.

It's about 1.5 hrs to reach the end and back in the cave. It was pretty cool, but after some time, everything kinda looks the same to me (-o-) But Xiaozhe like it though. Anyway, it was very dark, so I didn't get very good pictures with my camera.

Waiting for bus, in the middle of nowhere, to take us to Jeju Folk Village.

While walking to the Folk Village, we bought some doughnuts for lunch. Best doughnuts I've had in years! It was a little crisp on the outside, soft in the inside, and not like those sticky doughnuts I often eat in Singapore. The doughnut was really really good! But can't find any of similar quality in Singapore :(

Jeju Folk Village

A look at the lives of those who lived in the Jeju Folk Village.

Real Black Pigs!~

When I see all these, the things that constantly came to mind was the ~lu~la~la~lu~lala song from the Korean show Jewel In the Palace (大长今). It was said that some scenes were shot in the Jeju Folk Village, eh, it was actually so minimal that I don't remember much about them.

We came across a flower maze.

A horse stable...

WANTED notice...written in Chinese! It was how long ago...

Chinese Chess! I haven't read up on it yet, but many years ago, it seems that Chinese influence, or could it be Chinese governance is a huge part of Korea's history.

The exile room or something. I think when 大长今 was sent into exile in Jeju Island, this should be one of the places she was closed in.

Pharmacy. Interesting eh.

And those small little square table/seat that we often seen in Korean traditional house, even today! Often placed outside, and they would sit outside and chat and eat and do things. At least that's what they show on Korean dramas.

We went back to our guesthouse after Jeju Folk Village and our guesthouse owner suggested that we take a walk to the nearby harbour/park to catch the sunset.

View from our room window. If you could see the bow like thingy, that's place the owner suggested and it was less then half an hour's walk from our place.

beautiful beautiful place.

The last of the trilogy of milks. The first one still wins!

Catching sunset...

How lovely :)

Teddy Bear Museum

I know it's way overpriced compared to other tourists site, and I know there really isn't anything much in there. But I really really wanted to go.

In the museum, it was just a lot of bears imitating famous people or well known historical events...

兵马俑

The Beatles

lu~la~la~lu~lala

MJ

The beginning of teddy bears.. where some can look quite creepy...

princess hour! :D

The outdoors.

Musical fountains of Teddy Bears again!

I have heard many people gush about how beautiful Jeju is, but when we were there... let's just say that it didn't quite turn out the way we expected.

But I do like Jeju, just like Kenting, I like it because of its simplicity and its close relationship with nature. It felt like a place, where being stressful seems sinful and closing my eyes and feeling nature is the right thing to do.

It's Christmas

2010-12-25T17:53:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmas y'all! :))))

I L.O.V.E. Christmas and it's a lovely rainy afternoon today. I'm doing minimal housework since morning, trying to make myself look useful, but am now drinking almond tea my mum made while multi-tasking in front of the computer again. (-o-)

Anyway, here are some pictures...

Xiaozhe and I boarded a super retro bus the other day, which transported me back in time to the 90s where I used to take this TIBs buses especially during Chinese New Year when visiting relatives.

The typical ultra big windows. Why don't they have it now?

nostalgic green BUS STOPPING sign. Even the font looks old now.

And the bell! It's also representative of the 90s TIBs bus! I miss the old things. I wish they don't have to go away :(

And it's a bad idea to watch the Korean Movie, Once in a Summer, on Christmas. It's just so sad :(( *sobs*

But Lee Byung Hun... why do you have to look so perfect *starry eyes*~~ *sobs again*

Oh and what would blogging on Christmas be without a picture of Christmas tree?

Christmas Tree taken at Taka.

Christmas Pressie from Xiaozhe. My favourite book ever.

Love it!!

And check out the pages. *happy* =)))))

2010-12-24T22:28:00.004+08:00

走在拥挤的乌节路上，佳节的彩灯在头上微微的闪烁着。到处都是蓝、白、绿的圣诞树，到出都是手拉手的情侣，到处都是让人窒息的浪漫。明天就是圣诞节，根据偶像剧里的剧情，男女主角总是在除夕夜有着令人羡慕，戏剧化的邂逅。但那只是虚幻，给少女们的希望（和娱乐圈的商机)，不是真的，未曾发生过，至少对我来说。虽然我仍有期待，但在别人面前…我应该是死都不会承认。

Robinson's 橱窗摆设的一件灰黑色的连身裙吸引了我。虽然我已提了三大袋的衣服和鞋子，但它像是有魔力一样逼我走了过去。我正在欣赏并认真考虑是否该买下那件裙时，我注意到了另一个也在望着同一个事物的身影。从橱窗的反射，我观察了这个女孩。她穿着粉红色的小花裙（还真有点像窗帘），脚上穿着褐色的gladiator sandals,手上还提着几个印有圣诞佳节图案的袋子。感觉上，她跟我一样，也是喜欢这季节的女孩。

我开始分析那女孩，并且自编剧情。她左手的无名指戴着一枚银色的戒指，没有钻石，却像有刻上名字，应该不是结婚戒指，大概是男友送的。但… 有男友的女孩怎么会在圣诞前夕的这个时间，一个人在着里飘着？是男友在工作吗？还是他不庆祝圣诞？还是吵架了？还是自个儿跟朋友玩去了？还是忘了这个特别的节日对某些人应该是特别的？还是… 几千个可能性，我决定在下雪之前停止猜疑。

女孩的眼神有点寂寞。有着那种＂不要让别人看见我寂寞＂的寂寞。也许旁人不会察觉，但以我拥有心理学大学文凭（虽然成
微差了一点），和有着习惯分析路人的无聊习惯和经验，我绝对看的出她的落寞。那眼神有点令人怜惜。我回过头，想看她的人时
，她似乎已消失在人群中。（为什么我看见的不是圣诞老人或偶像剧中的男主角？！）

我当下做了一个决定，就是把那件裙买下。虽然银行会因此少了几百块，或明天会后悔以及几个礼拜都必须吃粥… 但我知道这世
界至少会有一个人对我好，那就是我自己。

p/s: 这不是为了买裙的借口

3 girls out

2010-12-19T14:50:00.001+08:00

I know I'm posting lesser then usual this year end. It's just a mixture of laziness and family-related packed activities - Just came back from a family chalet! I love the Christmas season, but the one thing that's making it not great enough is w.o.r.k. I shall not get started again, because I just told my uncle yesterday that I am going to be a cool mum instead of naggy mum. Practicing starts now (-o-)

Anyway, ha~ here's the picture from Bianz's belated birthday celebration in October. :)

We were at some cool chill out place in Little India recommended by Rongz.

Umbrellas were souvenirs from Bianz's Taiwan trip many months back.

Hiding under the table to write birthday cards. That's Bianz's long legs.

Ha~~~~ We'd be meeting up for Christmas Dinner soon!

2010-12-15T23:28:00.001+08:00

I just came back from Phuket not too long ago and enjoyed the good holiday with my family and relatives. It was nice to see grandma happily surrounded by the 3 other generations after her. :)

No nice photo of me, since I'm still going through 'the phase' after an awful haircut which made my face looks twice the original size.

Work has been dreadful. I can't remember the last time it was this dreadful. It's not even because the work was too tough to handle. Or maybe I'm just too easily annoyed by people nowadays.

Many things have been going through my mind lately, and I'm trying to do something about it instead of procrastinating till the dinosaurs age reappear.

I think that mainly, I just need another holidays and many happy returns.

Talking about happy returns.

Happy 26th Birthday Zee!!

Wishing you many many happy returns!

2010-12-12T23:56:00.000+08:00

A woman's instincts... Just how reliable is it?

There are things... that I am not sure how I am going to handle, or if I am capable of handing... but maybe it's time to face them now.

coolest witch ever

2010-12-05T23:10:00.001+08:00

new crush!

No, not him, but her.

Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter 7. I have a huge crush on her because of her hair, her accent and how good she looks in jeans (and maybe everything else in HP7).

I don't heart her hair now... but I must say... the lady has got some character. :)

09.10.2010 Jeju, Korea Day 5

2010-12-05T19:06:00.000+08:00

We woke up to a very lovely morning in Jeju. The hostel owner chased us up to the rooftop to catch this view of Mt Hallasan (I think it's Mt Hallsan haha). It looks like a woman's face, lying down, with her hair flowing down. It's a rare view, that only could be seen in a clear morning, and moments later, her "face" would be hidden by clouds.

And view of a nearby harbour. Everything is lovely in Jeju.

Neighbourhood

Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak

Ilchubong peak, also known as 日出峰, is perfect for watching sunrise as the name suggests. But we were way past the timing to watch the sunrise when we reached there (-o-) It was more then 1hour bus ride!

We took about 30min to reach the top and the view was beautiful. The whole Ilchubong peak and it's surrounding greenery has a nice calming effect actually.

View from the top. We caught a Korean lady wearing a 3 inch boots walking up up! wl! respect!

A viewing section at the top.

A rare picture from Xiaozhe that doesn't make me look compressed.

Beautiful, ain't it? :)

Udo Island

Took a ferry to Udo Island.

I love Udo Island. So I'm posting more photos here. To show you why I love Udo Island.

Clear Blue Sky. Simple Lifestyle. Happiness. :)

Beautiful blue sea.

There are a few ways to travel around Udo Island - By Bus, car, scooter, bicycles or ATV. The ATV was very expensive, and we had a rather "over- adventurous" tryout with the scooter so we decided on the bicycle, which was so much cheaper.

I had reservations about it, sharing the road with much bigger vehicles, even the scooter seem safer then the bicycle. But then again, I am a born worrier (inherited), and I am soooooooooooooooooo glad I chose to ride the bicyle. It took about 3 hours to ride round the island.

Like it's taken from a movie scene.

I enjoyed the ride, even though my butt was a bit sore for the next few days. We rode in Hualien too, when we were in Taiwan. Would be nice to plan short bicycle trips in our next, next and next destinations :)

Lighthouse. See the stones that are stacked at the side? It is said that the higher your stack, the luckier you will get。

Serendipity.

We would not be here without the recommendation of our hostel owner.

There were a few unique houses along the way, but I didn't stop to take as many pictures because we were sort of rushing to finish the ride as we needed to catch the last ferry back to mainland. It would be nice to be there again, with more time to walk the beaches, feel the breeze and take more pictures. It's really a very very charming place. :))))) Xiaozhe is not crazy about it, but after thinking about I LOVE IT. Just like how I love Kenting :)))))

Peyoseon Beach

We were at Peyoseon beach because.... by the time we took a cab and rushed down to the Jeju Folk Museum it was closed!! And I was super pissed la. The museum closed early according to the winter timing.. and October... was supposedly winter. :( I got very grumpy but Xiaozhe was easy about it. We walked to the nearby Pyoseon beach and he cheered me up a bit.

So I guess we complement each other when travelling because I can get quite high-strung and restless when things don't go well during a trip, but Xiaozhe is always very cool about such things. Sometimes abit too cool about it. So at least with my jumpiness, he'll try to plan something to pacify me so that I stop annoying him with my tantrums. (-o-) Works out fine so far :D

Xiaozhe decided that we should eat something good for dinner. Supposedly to appease me. But I think he just want to try the expensive Korean traditional meal that the hostel owner recommended.

Check out the number of dishes. 20,000won = S$23.00. Our most expensive meal in Korea.

This is some Ginseng salad I think. When the boss brought it over, he kept saying "man power, man power!" (-o-)

The additional side dishes after everything listed in the menu was served. We were so full, I guess it was quite obvious. When the boss served the side dish, he said that these is the start of dinner. ha~ But the food was very good. I like to eat in Korea, they have so many side dishes!!

2010-11-25T00:44:00.003+08:00

for me! :)

信念 - HP7

2010-11-23T00:24:00.001+08:00

不是感人肺腑的爱情，也不是你死我活的浪漫，最动人的，是那真挚的友情。

戏里的每一幕，都超乎自己的想象。每一个场景，每一个细节都让我觉得 “对的，就是这样。”

电影谢幕，屏幕缓缓暗淡，感到的不是震撼，反而是一丝丝的不舍。如此佳作，Rowling 是否能够超越？很难，但我期待着。

小小的失望来自于荣救哈利的那一幕。原著写着：

"Nothing but the shock of hearing that voice could have given Harry the strength to get up. Shivering violently, he staggered to his feet. There before him, stood Ron, fully dressed but drenched to the skin, his hair plastered to his face, the sword of Gryffindor in one hand and the Horcrux dangling from its broken chain in the other....

"Why the hell didn't you take this thing off before you dive?"

Harry could not answer. The silver doe was nothing, nothing compared with Ron's reapperance, he could not believe it. Shuddering with cold, he caught up the pile of clothes still lying at the water's edge and began to pull them on. As he dragged sweater after sweater after sweater over his head, Harry stared at Rom, half expecting him to have disappeared every time he lost sight of him, and yet he had to be real: he had just fived into the pool, he had saved Harry's life.
.
.
.
There was a pause, in which the subject of Ron's departure seemed to rise like a wall between them. Yet he was here. He had returned. He had just saved Harry's life"

读着这一段时，鸡皮疙瘩顿时全起，感动了再感动。面对好友再最艰难时离去的失望，应该不及这一刻被好友救起的100种情绪。但戏里，只是带过，难免觉得可惜。

惊喜的是哈利拉着妙丽，随着 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 的 "O Children" 跳起舞，那带点伤感却又唯美的画面。男女之间的友情和暧昧的关系向来只是一线之差。我不相信男女之间能有很好的纯友谊，但是我羡慕。三人的友情 - 坚固，忠实，对彼此的信念 - 最完美的组合。

电影的颜色，是黑暗，不安。但因为有可以抓牢的朋友所以不寂寞。

真的。最感动的，不是华丽的爱情，而是那最真挚的友情。

steamboat and coffee

2010-11-21T18:42:00.002+08:00

23.10.2010

Steamboat with some of my bball friends and Xiaozhe's secondary school classmates.

Just to digress a little... We had bball as usual today, and Run drove us back from the Tampines court. So Xiaozhe asked if Run would be free to have dinner on New Year's day with some of the bballers, and Danny nicely added that we shall not have steamboat. And he's saying in advance because according to him, 10 times they have dinner with me, 10 times I would be suggesting steamboat.

What's wrong with steamboat?! I LOVE STEAMBOAT!! (-O-) *angry*

ok. but I guess we are not having steamboat. If not later they don't want to go out with me :(

Ok, back to the topic.. then it was TCC after steamboat. :)

And I like this photo! It's very challenging to take ok~

2010-11-20T16:16:00.001+08:00

'Cause I guess I'm just scared I'm the only one here
Growing old, growing old but not quite growing up

08.10.2010 Busan --> Jeju, Korea Day 4

2010-11-18T21:28:00.000+08:00

Again, another look at my favourite street, near our motel.

A concert for the PIFF on the night that we were going to leave for Jeju :( missed another chance of being talent spotted.

PIFF square :)

Buying coffee at Angel-in-us Cafe. It's so pretty! Even the chairs have little wings attached to them.

I've been wanting to try this! The food is not exactly fantastic or any 山珍海味. But it's a food culture and a street culture in Korea that's worth trying. It's just like yong tau foo in Singapore, where the cost is calculated per stick. And there are little plastic cups for you to scoop the soup with sauces at the other side for you to dip. Hygiene aside, it's quite an interesting experience.

And it's exceptionally good to eat something warm in the cool weather.

Back to our motel.

Goodbye to the long escalator :(

Busan Airport.

Looking down at Jeju!

A glance at Jeju City.

Seogwipo

I basically divide Jeju into 2 parts - in a ~~tourist~~ backpacker's point of view. Most interesting places in Jeju are located in Seogwipo which is about a few hours ride away from the city area. Jeju city has perhaps more developed transportation but not as much things to experience.

After 2 hours ride from Jeju City, finally we see Tae Gon Gak Inn, where we are staying for the next 4 days 3 nights.

A picture of the cleanest toilet ever, in our 11 days stay in Korea. Tae Gon Gak Inn is also voted (100% of the 2 votes) the best place stayed in Korea. The room is small, but extremely comfortable. And the owners of the guesthouse is super nice and hospitable. And I like them even more with the very first recommendation by the owner.

The black pork restaurant!!!!

Without recommendation, we might have missed this restaurant cos it looked kind of dodgy, but! Never judge a book by its cover and 人不可冒像! The food here is heavenly. Best BBQ pork I have ever eaten in my 26 years of life.

No kidding.

Eating it in wanna-be Korean style

We tried to have it again on our last night in Jeju, but it was closed that day... 为什么！！＊晴天霹雳＊

After dinner, we were on our way to Chengjiyeon Waterfalls. It's a good place to go to after dinner, since it opens till 10pm and within walking distance as well.

Night trail to the water falls.

:)

The blue milk. Green one still tasted better!

the socks that bind us together

2010-11-15T21:50:00.003+08:00

One thing about having a brother instead of a sister is, you can't share clothes or accessories or perfumes.

but what's up for grabs are cool bags and strange but branded socks. ha~

2010-11-14T02:49:00.000+08:00

I know my brain lags most of the time...

That's why I think I should learn to just keep my big mouth shut sometimes

2010-11-14T01:14:00.000+08:00

22 October 2010

PSC celebrated Alvin's Birthday at a Japanese Restaurant (eh, forgot the name) located in Orchard Central

Arrival of the birthday boy!

('o') + ('e')

Uncle Jason

All of us without Chingmei yet~

After dinner, there was no where to go, so we went to cineleisure

玩 game 三人组 @ Ben & Jerry

Birthday pressie for Alvin

And chocolate from Chingmei! It's a muscular human body la, Yong'an chomped off the head and replaced with his. xD

07.10.2010 @ Busan, Korea Day 3

2010-11-09T23:14:00.000+08:00

Xiaozhe needs to eat like now, now.

The most original, traditional Bibimbap!

Stone pot, or was it hot pot bibimbap.

Lunch was recommended by the Motel boss, and it was just 5 min down the slope from our accomodation. It's a restaurant that caters mostly to the Busan hotel nearby.

40 Steps

Many Koreans were driven to Busan during the Korean War in the 1950s. This area of the 40 steps became the place where many separated families were united, and where others stopped by to gather information on their hometown and buy groceries. Bronze figures depicting the lives of the refugees back then could be seen around the area.

The song from the lone figure, playing the accordion, gives a feeling of loneliness even in this developed place.

Wedding gowns being aired in the back alley

Bosudong Book Street

Shops and shops of second hand books!!

The book street, with more then 50 years history, is only a few metres long, and perhaps more of a clustered passageway then a street.

Most books are in Korean, but perhaps with more time to browse, one might just find a valuable old English book.

Gukje Market

A short walk away from the Bosudong book street is the Gukje Market, that sells everything from fresh seafood, to cooked meals, to clothes, bags, linen, daily necessities etc etc. The clothes or bags are not exactly very trendy for shopping, but it's definitely a very interesting place to go to.

All the places mentioned above, together with PIFF square and Jagalchi Fish Market are all within walking distance from our motel. It really has the best location in Busan. If you want to find out more about the place, you can check out my travel blog. Only that I haven't blogged on it yet. haha~

Busan Aquarium + Haeundae Beach + PIFF Pavillion

On our third day in Busan, it was also the opening of the Pusan International Film Festival. The PIFF pavillion is located in Haeundae Beach, where photos of past opening ceremonies were exhibited. Laptops were also available for visitors to check out the events and film schedules for the festival.

Sad that I was not talent spotted :( I had high hopes :(

Busan Aquarium is also located at Haeundae Beach. I had my reservations going in, but it turn out to be quite fun.

penguins

The colouful lump of thing is a crab (Camposcia Retusa also known as decorator crab)! No joke!

Pretty Jelly Fish with soothing lullaby music playing in the background

I'm posting this pic here because it reminded me of my previous post. Think thick lips is in fashion now?

Nemo(s) everywhere!

Haeundae Beach is beautiful.

And it was perfect weather to be at the beach!

Back to PIFF Square again

Our first Korean BBQ.+

And the never ending side dish. I like eating in Korea. The number of varieties of side dish makes me very happy. They keep coming and coming, and I keep eating and smiling. :)))))

First time we saw a 4 storey Coffee Bean. The koreans really love their cafe.

I had strange craving for milk while in Korea. After so many milk drinks in my life, I very confidently says that, no milk beats the milk I drank for breakfast in Jeju.

Anyway, there were 3 different flavours to this milk, so I tried all of them on different days, and this is still the nicest. ha~

2010-11-07T00:53:00.001+08:00

25.09.2010

I almost forgot about posting these..xP too many photo debts to clear...

I brought Xiaozhe to Les Bouchons for dinner as for the second part of his birthday celebration.

Les Bouchons a cosy little restaurant at Ann Siang Road. It has about 3-4 tables in the open air, right beside the road, and probably less then 10 tables in the restaurant itself. The tables are a little close to each other, but the decorations and the settings are rather unique, so it kinda made up for that.

We had escargot for appetizers and it was ok. I've never tried escargots that made me go ooooh~ after eating them, so there is nothing much to compare to.

I had steak-frites (which meant streak and fries really), and they are supposedly famous for their fries. To me, the meal was alright. Nothing special on the steak, and I blame that on the steak at Morton's. No steak ever tasted as good after that... and the fries was just fries, and I was not really impressed. I could hardly finish my portion.

So overall, the food was nothing fantastic for the price that we paid though the atmosphere was quite nice.

Along club street, I had my first encounter with the beautiful Books Actually, full of books and vintage goodness.
:)

I love the place and wants to have shelves like that at home next time! no termites please.

a thousand words

2010-11-06T18:38:00.005+08:00

I'm just done watching the Honokaa Boy, a quirky, quiet, cute Japanese Film set in Honokaa, a town in Hawaii and a story about friendship and love. But what I love most was the colours, settings and the props used in the film. Here are some still shots from the movie:

Aren't they lovely?!!! My favourites are the Theatre and the Hair salon. :)

I caught Due Date with Xiaozhe yesterday. And I find it very annoying even though I had liked Robert Downey Jr since his comeback in Ally McBeal and the Elton John video, but seriously, this movie is just sooooo annoying for me to even like it. Xiaozhe was very entertained by it though.. but then again, Xiaozhe is very easily amused. (-o-)

I have recently took an interest in the Best of Photojournalism (BOP) sites and is starting from the 2010 winners back to past winning entries. I'm now at 2009 and glad I still have a few more archived records to get through because the pictures are telling me much more then any newspapers or evening news ever did on the society and the world.

Oh... and I started another blog again. haha~ I think this sort of thing is kinda helpful for my restless and easily distracted mind. Partly, it's because of how easy it is to post pictures using iPhone on Tumblr!! Plus! I have added so many nice photography and camera effects app in my phone that it's been really fun creating pictures (My brother called them fake lomo and I'm a fake photographer... he's just old school ha~) And it's been quite fun, because I can instantly post the the impromptu photos taken anywhere and anytime and that moment stays in the blog. I don't think I'll ever have photos good enough for the BOP award, but I'm just contented that my pictures are keeping memories alive, especially those worthy for blackmailing.

If you think I talk too much here, I promise that it's much quieter there. You can check it out at summersalter.tumblr.com

Yah, someone is actually using somersaulter. good choice, but... bugger. (-o-)

06.10.2010 Gyeongju & Busan, Korea Day 2

2010-11-06T02:28:00.000+08:00

Gyeongju

On the second day in Korea, we took a free shuttle bus in front of Lotte Hotel to Gyeongju.

It was a close to 4 hours bus ride. I'm so glad I don't get motion sickness easily, if not it would be hard not to be merlion with all these long distance rides. But Gyeongju is a lovely place, so all that travelling is really worth it.

The surrounding of the bus stop where we were waiting to board the bus.

I like the rural area of Gyeongju for all its greenery and quietness. It's not as crowded as Seoul or Busan, and there is a feeling of simplicity and peacefulness. Gyeongju is often referred to as "museum without walls" as vast number of archaeological sites and cultural properties from the 7th - 9th centuries remain in the city. We were only there for a day, but it would be nice to be able to spend more time there to explore all the historical places.

Bulguksa Temple

We went to 2 UNESCO Heritage sites in Gyeongju and one of them was the Bulguksa Temple. The temple dates back to 774 and reconstruction was done in the late 1500s and 1960s after the Japanese invasion and the Korea War respectively. It's one of the surviving architecture from the Silla dynasty.

Stone Tub of Bulguksa

Dabotap, one of the 2 pagodas on the temple site, built in 751 symbolizes the complexity of the world.

Dragon Fish - Guardian of Gyeongju

Sok-ga-mo-ni-bul (Sakyamuni Buddha), also known as "man of great enlightenment"

Geyk-rak-jeon (Supreme Bliss Hall)

The winding road leading to the exit of the Bulguksa Temple.

Seokguram Grotto

View from the outside of the Grotto

Seoguram Grotto is also in the UNESCO world heritage list and was completed by the Silla Court in 774.

The external of the grotto might look unimpressive, but the real beauty lies within. We were not allowed to take photos inside, so here's a googled image.

The buddha statue sits inside the mound behind the temple roof.

An idea of what the architecture is like... As amazing as the design was, the details to the carving of the Buddha statue and the grotto interior have a lot of meaning in them - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seokguram

Wolseong & Seokbinggo

After the grotto, we were expecting something grand at Wolseong fortress...

Paddy Field near Wolseong

But what was once a place full of imperial buildings is now an empty ground. Tourists still can visit the ruins, and the area was listed under the UNESCO world heritage sites.

What was still intact was the Seokbinggo which was in existence since the Josyeon dynasty. The Seokbinngo, also known as the Ice Storage, was the ancient refrigeration in Korea.

Snacks in one of the many cafes in Korea

Downtown of Gyeongju

After another 4hrs+ ride back to Busan, we walked around the Lotte Department Store and found several roadside stalls, which were exactly like what we saw in Korean Dramas!

Shoju..

and expensive chicken, which was tasty, but totally not worth it. ha~

And then we were back to PIFF (Pusan International Film Festival) square. We can't help but appear there every night because it's so lively and it's really near our motel!

Xiaozhe and one of his favourite "past time" from Baskins and Robbins. +

Busan Tower, taken at night while on our way back to our Motel.

amused

2010-11-05T00:37:00.001+08:00

Bhany got this for me from a recent trip to Taiwan & HK.

I've got 2 votes for it being a chicken and one being a rabbit (ah ma understands abstract art). I thought it's a fruit.

But there's something about the lips...

05.10.2010 @ Busan, Korea Day 1

2010-10-31T23:57:00.000+08:00

With our converse shoes, we finally set off to South Korea from Changi Airport at 10.35pm

Seoul, Incheon International Airport at 7+am in the morning.

We have learnt to keep as many small change as possible in Busan, because to get subway tickets, they only except the 1000wons! not 50won, 10won, 100 won, not even 5000won! They are so atas that they only take 1000wons! Just for our very first tickets, we had to buy a bottle of mineral water to get small change, but that wasn't enough as well. So I had to do my very first charade (and many more to come) with the lady cashier at the convenient store to change my big notes for smaller ones.

It was close to an hour subway ride to our motel, it would have been faster if we take the airport limousine, but we overlooked that part. But still, despite the long travelling time, it was only a short walk to our motel from the subway station, and I cannot tell you how much I LOVE my motel location.

Busan Tower

It was only a 15 minute climb to the Busan Tower. We just had to walk behind our motel, and climb the endless flight of stairs, and ta daa, we are right at the Busan Tower and and the Yonghusan Park.

Up the tower. Xiaozhe gets very amuse by doorways that are shorter then him.

View of Busan.

Busan port :)

I like to look down at a city from those viewing tower, it really gives you a feel of what the city is like.

Yonghusan Park

Noisy kids on excursions.

So here's the other part I love about our motel location. To get down from Yonghusan to the subway station, there is another long flight of stairs / escalators where after everything, we will reach...

ta daaa~ （sorry I do not know the name of this street). But it's so cool! There are shops and cafes at both side of the street and pedestrians and cars are one on the road. haha~ I really love this street! It's like a different world here.

Jagalchi Market

We headed to Jagalchi Market for lunch which was only another 15 min walk from the motel. It's was not as crowded at the time we were there, and the peak hour is usually during dinner time, or early in the morning at 2-3am when the fresh fish and other marine life comes in.

We heard that you could get any kind of seafood you like from here, and go to the second floor where you can ask the restaurants to cook for you. We were mistaken often for being Japanese (Xiaozhe said it must be my socks), and some stall owners can get a little over friendly to have you take a look at what their stalls are selling.

Taking a little breather outside the market. The building in the right is the Jagalchi Fish Market.

photo from Xiaozhe

We decided to just go to the second level to have our lunch since we do not know how to choose fresh fish and seafood. (-o-) There are many restaurants at the top level, and again, many ahjummas would ask us to eat at their stalls. We chose one and ordered Sashimi. So here's what we had, fresh (and cheaper) sashimi with endless side dishes that Korea is famous for.

Back to the motel after lunch, and left the motel again after carrying our backpack to our rooms. Here's the neighbourhood.

Yonggungsa Temple

One thing about Busan and Jeju is the extremely long bus rides. We took more then an hour to reach Yonggungsa by Bus + Cab.

Yonggungsa Temple is located on a huge rock and has a beautiful view of the Ocean. Seldom are temples in Korea found along the shoreline as most are found in the mountains instead.

photo from Xiaozhe

Gwangali Beach

It was still early after we left Yonggungsa (but it gets dark early in Korea), so we made our way to Gwanggali Beach.

Gwangan Grand Bridge

It's a lovely place to relax at night and there was even a 2 men band singing nearby.

Finally, dinner was from Lottorta (I think) one of the fast food chains in Korea, with its set meals exactly like Mac's. :D We had our dinner in our Motel while watching a mixture of Korean variety shows and English movies.

those girls

2010-10-31T01:31:00.001+08:00

There is a type of girl... that as a girl, you will like a little and dislike more at the same time, that as a friend you might like a little more and as a mother, you will pray that your son will not bring home.

They, are not evil and not necessary very 'sweep-you-off-your-feet' kind of beautiful.
They could be instead, exceptionally nice, exceptionally friendly, exceptionally cheerful, chatty, sociable, outgoing, a little flirty.. in those eyelash batting kind of way, a little naughty... in those supposedly cute way, a little weak - manga like.

In short, as a girl, you could find faults in them in ways that you cannot explain, or spell out without sounding bitchy and envious, but as a guy, they are considered close to perfection.

So at times, when you expect your close guy friends, who you think is on the same sensible wavelength as you and have those 火眼金睛 like you, or that guy you had a huge crush on, who you think is the coolest person on earth (not like those "other guys"), to not belong to the category of __________________ (I want to say superficial, but logically it's not really superficial, it's just that category of "those guys") and fall under their spell, you would be ultra astonished to find that they do.

Ok. That's when reality sets in and you realise that all those romance drama remains in your computer set, and people like 崔汉杰(the main character in Coffee Prince) remains, well, a fictional character in my favourite show of all time.

how... disappointing.

September Baby

2010-10-24T00:34:00.001+08:00

24 September 2010

We had a unsurprising surprise birthday dinner for Xiaozhe on his birthday @ Raku Zen.

So the surprise didn't work out that well, or rather, Xiaozhe was surprised over the wrong things, but it's quite ok, because it was actually quite fun.

Ice cReam man trying to bbq raw salmon. not quite successful though.

Pei Mei Mei... Oh I so want to collect her!!

People who turned up. THANK YOU!

Birthday cake bought by Margie :) Xiaozhe had a chocolate overdose that day. His colleagues bought him chocolate cake too!

I'll just do a shoutout here that I don't eat chocolate, so please don't get me chocolate cake on my birthday. thank you. :D

All the Sunday bball peeps, past and present, retired and semi-retired, and those who made guest appearances.

oh so cuuuute! *collect collect collect* Maybe I should just come up with an album with all of Pei mei mei's photos in it.

We headed to Settlers @ SMU next for some chill time.

Pei mei mei drawing on Aaron's back, and he was supposed to draw what she drew... nobody understood anything. (-o-)

Then it was time to go home after the fun. :) It was quite a good evening :))))) And thank you to all who came, despite some last minute arrangements, a long day of work and the bad traffic. Am thankful for friends like you!

I remember when I was in JC, my xiaodi commented that ah ying jie (which is me) had my smile copied and pasted in all my photos because my face look the same in all pictures. hmm~ *roll eyes*

2010-10-20T22:34:00.000+08:00

Today, 2 weeks ago was my second night in Busan. Today, last week, I was in Mt Seoraksan and most possibly asleep already at this time.

:~(

I have been making so ~~many~~ much blunders as work. I thought I needed a break from the daily work, but after the break, I am still making as ~~many~~ much mistakes. (-o-) My bosses have been relatively kind about it, but I think I shall not push my luck.

The one good thing that happened today was finally having my long awaited facial in the evening. ha~

I want to post up the Korea pictures soooooon! And I'm happy looking at them. Then not happy when not looking at it :( I need another holiday, like soon.

fyi...

2010-10-17T23:39:00.000+08:00

I'm back!

I reached Singapore last Friday (and very almost melted upon touchdown because of the weather), but was reluctant to officially declare the end of my holiday, that's why the blog was pushed to wayside. Tomorrow is the darn working Monday, and I supposed there's no other way to hide from it anymore :~(

It had been an interesting 11 days in S.Korea - the people, the culture and the food. We felt a bit more accomplished then the Taiwan trip because we managed to try the things we wanted to try despite the language barrier. But then again, we agreed that we enjoyed the Taiwan trip more because, I guess we could have perhaps understand things better if not for the language barrier too.

That aside, it was a truly good experience and I got to finally go to my Coffee Prince house to 朝拜 and Xiaozhe got his share of trekking + hiking (scared the s**t out of me) which he likes.

I like cultural, arty farty and historical places, while Xiaozhe likes nature, flowers (easily seen from the number of photos he took of flowers - in big pictures, small pictures, as background, focus, zoomed in, zoomed out, more then the photos of me) and animals. Erm, maybe I should classify it as all living things except human beings.

So now I'm counting down the number of days to the next holiday, which is Deepavali and 14 working days away.

The first night in Singapore after spending 11 days in Korea, I dreamt that I took a bus with xin and we were going to Myeongdong. I was just going to ask her whether we could make a trip to Insadong too because there were some things that I thought I should buy more. Then I woke up to find myself on my bed, and that is itself a little of a nightmare. boo.

And no, I am super not looking forward to work tomorrow, but there are many things to be done. I think I'm going to be down with flu soon :( and I think it tells a lot on how my body is reacting to work tomorrow :(

I am rethinking about what I want to do in life.... like how I always do when I come back from overseas trip. Only that nothing ever gets done.

haha. oh well, I think I should just get some sleep first.

Live from Busan

2010-10-08T13:23:00.000+08:00

Ahneonghasayeo!

Greetings from Busan! Xiaozhe and I are very excited to finally find internet access in Busan airport and are hogging it like mad. My keyboard is a little cranky though and needs some hard hitting before most keys can appear here.

It has been ok thus far, my limited korean was laughed at but I have fully mastered my gamsa-hamida. haha.

We are on our way to Jeju now and I'm looking orward to some good black pig bbq.

Oh, and there are many many nicely make up girls in Korea, and I wonder if that's he reason why people can make out tha I'm not Korean.

Alright, I'm running out of strength trying type on this keyboard. Hopeto update soon!

off to get talent spotted in PIFF

2010-10-04T19:53:00.001+08:00

It feels kinda surreal that I'm going to be in S.Korea in less then 12 hrs. Perhaps because everything was in such a rush that I didn't get to digest it properly. Oh well, I guess it'll be forced down my throat when I have my culture shock at 7am tomorrow morning.

It was half day's work today, but didn't manage to leave after half a day. It always happen to me. When I need to leave early, things come in at the very last minute. (-o-)

But I managed to reach home, eat my fish ball mee pok before the craving sets in again (I just had it ytd too heh~), do a last minute pack, took a nap, do a last minute check, do another last minute check (because it's often the case that I will miss out on something ~dang~) and now I'm having dinner soon.

I guess I will not be updating much, or at least, not with the usual photos because I can't figure out how to do it with the iphone still. bleah~ Maybe if I need to complain about the travelling partner and I can' tell him, I will write it here. So he won't hear it, but he can read it.haha... most likely I think it'll be the other way round though. hur~

Keeping in mind to sms birthday wishes to Bianz and also the usual fyi sms to Run. haha~ alrighty. GTG

Gary & Joos' Birthday Celebration

2010-10-04T17:13:00.000+08:00

28 August 2010

A rare occasion where the PSC dressed up, other then to attend a wedding. We celebrated the belated birthday of Gary and Ah Joos Lin at NUS Alumnus House. I've forgotten the name of the restaurant... maybe it's the NUS alumni house or something.

Zhiwen's nicely placed prawn shells.

玩 game 三人组

You know the thing about taking pictures in a restaurant with a nice round table is that... the people who appears beside you is always the same.

An attempted squeeze into the picture in front of the big mirror opposite the gents. ha~

On our way to KTV.

There was a miscomm somewhere, so we ended up at a pub for awhile.

Then KTV :)

2010-10-03T21:19:00.001+08:00

Was a fascinated child again for a minute.

2010-10-01T00:22:00.003+08:00

I have cut my hair shorter. Not short kind of short, just shorter then the previous length.
To put it in words so that Xin can picture the difference - it used to be able to cover the boobs, now it barely reaches it. (I think I've been seeing her too much)

I was worried about all sorts of things before - a haircut. (My brain should use herself better sometimes.) What if it turns out ugly, and I look horrible in all my Korea photos? What if I changed my mind and think again that permed hair indeed does look nicer? What if my fringe turns out ugly?

Surprisingly, I didn't feel much about it. Though I think the fringe could look better. (-o-)

It took me quite a long time to keep my hair that long, because I was planning to do those princessy curls. But it kinda dragged too long, got quite clingy and becomes a little too complicated, so I chopped it off before the trip. And I felt nothing much. Not even a teeny weeny of regret because, well, hair grows back.

So doesn't that felt like the many things in our lives which were actually quite easy to get over but we are the ones who just refused to let go? That determined thought to lose weight because of a fat toe, that lost wallet with the gold dragon ball card in it, the one who doesn't love me back, a comfortable relationship without meaning, the comfort zone at work and yada yada. Sometimes, it might not even hurt, but perhaps we just protect ourselves too well to even take the risk. Ok, maybe it really is just me.

Never knew that a hair cut could get so philosophical.

Oh and talking about the Korea Trip. There were good times and bad times, even though we are just at the planning stage. Let's just put it this way.

First I was homeless (byebye Punggol Emerald and Darn you Waterfront, why never even give me queue number?!), now I'm hotel-less. (-o-)

Oh oh and Happy Children's Day. My grandma kept asking if it is a public holiday tomorrow. I wish leh.

Melissa's Farewell

2010-09-26T23:15:00.000+08:00

24.08.2010

There seems to be quite a few farewells this year....

Melissa~

Miaomiao

They might not look familiar to you considering that we only meet once a year. ha~

With my NUS mates

So, we've been making plans, that maybe our next gathering will be at Shanghai since Melissa will be there... but then again... it might be next year again and Melissa would have been back already :D

In a Levi's store where Weili was trying out jeans. There was a big mirror, I have a camera... well, if you know me, you would know what I like to do with big mirrors and cameras. ha~

2010-09-26T19:46:00.001+08:00

The weekend was spent celebrating Xiaozhe's birthday and the usual bball. So now, I finally have the time to freely roam the internet world without feeling like I'm going to knock out anytime soon.

So taaadaaa, here's a preview of Xiaozhe's birthday celebration.

The planning for the South Korea trip is still going on, and it's not even 50% done yet. We have out flight reservation and the accommodation in Busan confirmed... and... that's about it. Xiaozhe is not worried, and I wonder if I am the only one who keep these nagging thoughts on the darn itinerary. Is it a girl's thing?

So far, the plan is something like, going to Busan --> Jeju --> Seoul. Of course, it looks like something straightforward, but it really isn't. (-0-) In South Korea, places of interest might be of a huge distance away from the other and transportation planning is really quite important. Furthermore, we have minimal knowledge of the language (if you don't count those learnt from the Dramas and the translation app in my iphone - it's ZERO) and I reeeeeaaaaally would feel more secure if we have something more concrete planned up.

But a big thank you to Xin for helping us with the flight reservation and such. I have been seeing her a lot (twice in 2 months), which would never have happened if we are not going for this Korea trip. She has been dishing out great advice like repeatedly asking me "so tell me again, why are you going to Gwangju?", and after several attempts to explain, I realise that there really isn't a good enough reason on why we are going to Gwangju except that it's in my world list.

Just a peek at Xin's work space

haa~~

Xin ~ on my first visit

And Xin again, on our second visit.

HA~ ok, I've got to get back to multi tasking, that includes finding and confirming accommodation in S.Korea. (-o-)

2010-09-24T00:00:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday to my Dearest...

*hugs and kisses* :)

2010-09-19T12:51:00.000+08:00

17 August 2010

We had expensive Crayfish Laksa, Rojak and Nasi Lemak which was about 5 times it's usual coffeeshop price at Island Cafe because Ms Ang had a birhtday voucher. It was quite good actually, especially the laksa.

Missing ema. :( And Yingerh's gone to London for 'return-to-school' days. But It was a nice meet up, and I miss the good people.

Desserts that are 5 times it's usual coffeeshop price again. I'm such a cheapo. ha~ But Red Ruby was good, I like.

Miss Ang & Yingerh. :)

stuck in another space

2010-09-19T02:54:00.003+08:00

Hello!

Has it been a week already! Time passes so fast that it's sometimes quite scary.

I haven't been posting here as I have finally started on my travel blog, which you can check out at somersaulterfootprints.blogspot.com.

It's not fully done up yet, and the template seems a little off, but I know that it's going to take a few more months before it could look acceptable, so heck, I thought I shall just share it first anyway. I'm still trying to make myself comfortable writing a travel blog seems it's going to be quite different from writing here. For one, I try to be less long winded. It's mainly photos (what's new), on directions, signboards, maps, attractions, neighbourhoods and many more minus myself and whoever companions were with me. Contents wise, I'm just putting down description of places, some recommendations and the travel process.

I just felt that all those planning for the trips and the experience overseas shouldn't be wasted after the trip ended. And please, you are most welcome to share with me interesting or informative photos/ details you have had on your trips.

Besides being occupied on the travel blog, (and my recent serious addiction to Korean Drama - City Hall), I've also been rather tied up with planning for my UPCOMING TRIP TO KOREA!!! Yay~! It doesn't matter that the only thing that is confirmed is that Xiaozhe's and my leave's are approved, and it doesn't matter that our plane tickets are not confirmed yet, accomodations are not booked yet, transportation not researched on yet and itinerary not finalized yet, we are still going TO KOREA ON A BACKPACKING TRIP!

heh~ It's going to be challenging considering that it's one socially awkward person plus one temperamental introvert in a country where English is not the most common conversant language.

Ok I'm nodding off. Anyonghee-gaseyo!

2010-09-11T13:23:00.001+08:00

13.08.2010

Steamboat @ Zhonghua Steamboat. Ramen with 3 ~~men~~ boys.

Basically, it was ok. The ingredients were rather fresh, though limited. They do offer some nice fried food... but, ready cooked food comes second when you are having steamboat. And their man tou is not nicely fried. The herbal chicken soup is nice, and the Tom Yam base was spicy enough, but we got tired of it after awhile, as it became a tad too salty.

In short, it's acceptable for $22+, but no where beats the now closed Jin Deli... yet.

I think the three of them almost swore off steamboat for at least a month after that dinner, but my craving for steamboat came back the very next morning.

Using the atas Intercontinenetal Hotel washroom.

Walking to 1 Raffles place to have supper with Run. Spotted nice lightings from the high rise buildings, and one of the guys suggested Batman.

@ Xin Wang Cafe while waiting for Run to finish work.

Raise your hand if you agree that Shichang has been acting cute in photos. He denies!

sms

2010-09-10T00:09:00.001+08:00

I'm now home, with ah ma asleep, and close to a hundred window tabs in front of me. Bhany is out late as usual, having a happening life while my dad and mum are on a holiday in China again. (yah, again, you got that right)

My mum specifically said that she was not going to call home unnecessarily because overseas calls are very very expensive. So, she or my dad will sms me. Of course I raised my eyebrows but kept quiet, and decided to give their technological skills the benefit of the doubt.

A few days passed, and I got concerned when I still have not received their phone call. I tried to call them twice, but they didn't pick up. A few hours later, they called back. I demanded an answer for not calling home to inform that they were safe in China, and my dad commented that my mum said it was too expensive and there was no need to call. My mum even 理直气壮-ly said that they were going to sms me rite.

So I asked where the sms was.

And mum sheepishly said that they have yet to figure out how to send sms from my dad's new phone. (-o-)

Anyhow, I decided to let them 2 teenagers-again be, and finally, I received the sms from dad this morning.

It says:

“LY 今早到新疆西北看辽阔草原，牛羊成群，万马奔腾，美丽的风光。"

(-o-) *makes mental note to show my nephew those possible words to use for his Chinese Essay*

SRJC BBall Alumni Games 2010

2010-09-07T23:25:00.000+08:00

18 July 2010

(xin, it's finally up! heh)

It was breakfast as usual before the games. And when we thought we were late, there are almost always people who are later...

New comers :)

Before the start of the game. Check out Aaron, Lianggui and Desmond. They look more well behaved then our SR boys

My Girls :)

The boys' games

It started raining as soon as we started the game.

And here's where we hide ourselves most of the time - the new sheltered walkway leading to the bball court.

It got so wet you could even see your reflection on the floor.

brave boys still fighting

I know what it looks like here - The boys seem to be doing all the playing, while we were just having fun and being dry. Actually, we did play 2.5 games courageously before we had to retreat from the rain (since we are now old bones and all).

Half made up of foreign talent

There were supposed to be more boys but some of them left for lunch in the nearby coffeeshop.

As what I said, our priorities differ when we grow older.

'twas a short day, wished it had been longer. I just like seeing my fav girls and boys altogether :)

on selective display of emotions when in love aka love might be blind

2010-09-05T23:59:00.002+08:00

I suppose it's hard to be irritated with someone who gives up after 3 seconds of trying to open the cap of your bottled hand soap unsuccessfully when he's out almost the whole Saturday running errands to fix you a new CPU (and showing much more excitement and enthusiasm then the owner of the new computer)

The new computer is awesome in ways such as me having hundreds of windows opened and not hang!

And I suppose it's difficult to be upset with someone who deliberately made annoyed faces when you want to take a nice shot when he had to have a very late lunch so that you can get to the SingTel Service Center earlier to send the iPhone for a check up.

And And I supposed that it's rather impossible, really, not to smile at a supposedly grown up person...

showing his inner child every now and then. :)

(and you cannot believe the price of the gundam model that's the size of my face - and my face is not very big. I thought I should clarify)

To ten million fireflies, I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes

2010-09-05T19:59:00.001+08:00

I want that keyboard he's having

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare

2010-09-03T21:03:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday Mr Gan!!