yesterday i met mingyao for lunch along upper circular road. we were undecided at first at what to eat but we chanced upon the japanese restaurant near tcc with the nondescript entrance - a 'kyoto' something - and took a look at the menu and we were attracted to the poor english - which meant, real jap! - and we took our place at the queue and after being led in through the main eating area pass where the lightwell is we sat at the bar counter behind, which was semi-alfresco and opened to the side lane with timber decks on the floor. dark wood and maroon - mingyao thinks they go together well and my katsu don was delicious - the egg was slurpy enough and the katsu was good too and i tried mingyao's salmon - awesome and fresh - no more going to wasabi tei, we contemplate. and dessert was some caramelised white jelly thing in a very small cup - just about right.

i think we'll be back.

it's our twelve-year anniversary! i reminded brenda - twelve years since we met in secondary two c, so i gave her a little anne of green gables magnet from quebec city. it's a funny thing, how literature comes back into your life here and there. i got the whole anne of green gables because of you, dionne said when i was having lunch with her near columbia uni in nyc - you gushed about it so much i went out and bought the whole set, she said - or something to this effect.

brenda and i met at thomson for a birthday catch up and i gave her a feist (number one - let it die) cd which i know she will love - you can only give music to some people, books too. everything goes with a ribbon, so i bought a red one in the afternoon to complete the wrap. time to stock up on ribbons for festive wrapping. and of course it was really nice how we sat there for several hours just catching up and wrapped up in our conversation. december date, i told her.

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timeout. i can be more focused if i want to. i can do alot in two days.

staying in on saturday

i mean, it's quite amazing isn't it? the show has been running for 7 years, exactly the time i started university and this year i gradutated and i just bawled my eyes out when i saw rory's graduation in the second last episode - not because i'm so fond of her character though i think it may be, a little, but it made me think about how my own uni experience was so bittersweet - really bitter bitter, and really sweet sweet - and this whole thesis thing, this whole work thing you know. i'm thankful for everything, really.

last night mingyao picked me up from work and we headed to crystal jade la mian at taka for dinner. while waiting for our queue number to be called we went to check out some cuff links he had seen in a catalogue and we just mulled about. they've removed the chicken soup la mian from the new menu - which was one of the best dishes, especially for people who feel flu-ey like mingyao did. anyways we had a customary - for me at least - walk about in kinokuniya before we took the long route home. night's still young, my boy says, which translates to, we can talk some more.

on thursday i walked over to clarke quay mrt station and got dao's luggage and gave her directions on how to walk to chinatown and the esplanade and later i met her for dinner at holland drive with the family. pulling her small black trolley bag with me, suddenly i was in holiday mode again.

today it's nice just lounging about at home because it's raining outside, to think about stuff and re-focus a bit, after coming back from the supermarket and the library.

anyway, aldo rossi carpets.


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it seems like whenever we eat at the taiwanese cafe, we have a nice conversation time. today i got the christmas issue of uk vogue - the cover makes last year's iconic; the previous one of sienna miller was more magical. we drove over to dempsey hill to take a look at jone's the grocer. it's got quite a small selection - culina too, after coming back from the wonderful land of dean and deluca in nyc. but it's still got a very nice, relaxed ambience; quite holiday-ish. i think i'll go back there sometime.

next week my cousin from thailand is coming to singapore for the first time. i've thought of so many places to take her to, but she's only here for two days.

this is the next movie i am so going to watch

i can cope better than this. most of it are bad habits that i have to eliminate as well as more rigour to do more in less time; need to get back in the just-post-thesis state of mind and offload things that will distract me from truly focusing on what is important; so making sure i get my exercise and sufficient sleep is one of them.


mingayo and i went to watch lust,caution today and it was a film where we could have a discussion after. i like it very much for the intensity and rawness of human emotion that's so well-treated by the tony leung and tang wei. it's a good film, but not one of my favourites. we had boon tong kee chicken rice for dinner at katong and i bought a chocolate mint cake home for hui hui, my baby sister who's just turned twenty.

too cute




no wonder i found the illustrations familiar. they're by liselotte watkins who used to illustrate for vogue magazine and also the album cover for The Concretes.

let me do a little commercial gushing

Christmas is here. you can feel it in the air, though more so in the white snowflakes hanging in orchard road, the carols and the trees. so wonderful. i'm all ready for anally choosing presents, picking the perfect wrappers and lots of essential ribbons. from the muji website we have a selection of very fun, very appropriate and very muji-ish presents to get for people.

here we have a christmassy playset.


but i think the hansel + gratel set is more fun. the website says that the background can be changed according to the progression of the story.


i am so totally getting these hankerchiefs for my dad - hanky maps!


a pop up toy soldier


and definately, a dodo!

time for sleep


benches in tokyo midtown: taken from here.



i haven't finished reading last month's monocle magazine and i already bought the next issue. on thursday i met mingyao for lunch and we went to the mama shop at chevron house to get a drink after and i saw the magazine and i had to buy it. there are so many cool stuff innit. tomorrowland advertisement i saw. and a short interview with regards to arica - an online store. i can't wait to go to japan. there's something so snazzy and careful, calm and unpredictable about japanese designs. maybe i'm bias. cos they make their ads so cool. already i love the word - tomorrowland - it's so romantic and kinda offbeat, and care- less.

well we stood at the bridge and sipped our canned drinks. i bought him a helicopter model set made of foam from the party shop opposite my office. it's so neat in there. last week it was liam's birthday and we bought her the doll's house version - they come with stand up foam dolls and over the weekend she put them together and put all the furniture in a shoe box to show us. and we had a chocolate cake and cupcakes for her birthday and mh brought her polaroid camera - so now we have a row of polaroid shots in a row next to the pantry switch on the white plastered wall.