Friday, February 29, 2008

short





natalia has it. jessica s. has it. katie h. has it. ladies and gentlemen the bob of 98' is back (temporarily. we're going back to long hair right after this.)

Saturday, February 23, 2008

that day walking to raffles mrt station after work i bumped into janice and jian (i can't remember his name; cheng that's your friend) walking to the singapore river to throw oranges in. 15th day of chinese new year. they're both working in URA. i went into the train. mingyao called me and said he was going to pick up his camera from work and would i like to go back to ORQ to wait for him so he can send me home. i thought about it for two seconds then said yes and when i met him he was lovely. he took me for late night dinner at thomson. i ate hokkein me; wanted to slurp something lime-y.

and on tuesday we met justin at oosters; i had a very awesome cod; we had a ginormous bowl of fries; some beer. we met chloe, justin's girlfriend; had a quick coffee/tea at starbucks. oosters feels like that belgium restaurant/pub we went to in brisbane, two years back (wow!). i love trip-ing. it's such an indulgent state of mind to be in.

on wednesday we attended the 80th birthday dinner of a granduncle i've only met maybe 2 or 3 times in my life. he had quite an awesome history; he was a camera man for australia broadcasting corp. and covered all the big asian stuff - the vietnam war, the tiananmen massacre, etc. it was cool. but i didn't really know him. i thought about how i was deprived of a really cool granduncle because his wife - my relative - is not that close to us. then i thought, so what. it doesn't matter. who matters are those relatives who showered me with lotsa love and concern growing up despite leading difficult and less impressive lives. so hence, cool is nothing. love is everything.
flowers

today i decided to buy flowers. got siew to drop me at far east flora; walked pass my kindergarten, recalled waiting at the traffic light eighteen years ago to take the bus by myself to orchard road; recalled ee jie making a quick trip to far east flora before going home for her flower arrangement assignments for home economics. smelt it - the smell of growing up; which is the lush green smells of the neighbourhood. i bought roses ( so cheap when it's not valentine's), twenty white ones in a bundle, a bunch of white orchids and canna leaves ( i'm not sure how that's spelt) to make a trial bouquet for siew's wedding. and a roll of wide dusty pink satin ribbon;

i'm glad i did a trial - the leaves are not appropriate, too longish. the flowers are nice together though i think i have to be a bit more stingy with orchids for a better proportion but i can only really judge when the roses bloom. it's quite therapeutic sitting in the living room listening to john legend and cutting thorns off and letting the intuition seep through my fingers.

monocle is out. there is a beautiful camera on the cover. my boyfriend has a new toy. i got him something today that's related to his work, somewhat.

starting on maggie cassidy after buying it for about a month. it's been good. don't rain. i'm going to run now. good saturday beats i hope, on the radio.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

room







today we went to watch Juno. i found a good review of the movie here. i was so excited to see it after all i've heard about it and curled up on my movie seat i laughed out loud and teared a little at the end. i would say i think the soundtrack is supergood at making me love the movie a little more and i love the script drowned in a superdose of american slang; coupled with ellen page's superb acting i really enjoyed myself. when the film ended mingyao turned to me and said, let's go get you the soundtrack, i know you want it. yes sir my boy you know me pretty deep and we went on an after-movie mission to procure the sounds of a delicious film.

music music. we're into the top of the tops. mark ronson is awesome i think. i've got a good selection to listen to the coming week. herbie hancock's grammy award winning 'river - the joni letters' and harry connick jr's 'chanson du vieux carre' on loan from mingyao; plus my juno ost. that calls for a very eclectic potpourri of lovely sounds to dose myself in.

lately i've been rather unsatisfied with digital. i mean i really love my puny camera; it's beauty astounds me everytime i take it out to take a photo; but i miss the certain three-dimensionality of a film photo; maybe it's the unpredictablity; i guess i should rediscover this relationship again sometime.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

afternoon email from boyfriend.



"you and me"

cutes.

Friday, February 15, 2008

yo weekend.






i mean, can you believe it? we're already into fall 2008 fashion (according to style.com) and it's only the middle of febuary. i can't keep up! scrolling through the fashion show pages, everything is kinda predictable for a fall look; the only gorgeousness that captures my eye is bcbg max azia.

i did have some indulgences the past week:

1. dior addict lipstick in Rose Fashion because the case is so pretty and i've ran out of lip balm and it's hydrating.

2. The Book of Other People (ed: zadie smith) because i want something to read on the train and not have to stick through the whole book; i can flip here and there and finish two stories on a train ride, or one if i'm zonked. besides, there was the borders discount voucher AND my borders extra ten percent discount card. so.

3. feb issue of elle uk; march issue of nylon mag; march issue of vogue uk (kate moss yo; but i don't really like her bangs); elle decoration mag march 2008 - i'm a magazineholic i know. i'll try to work on this addiction i promise.

4. a new pair of moto dark blue jeans from topshop because i gave mine to my sister.

5. a really good looking black and white striped singlet from massimo dutti because it doesn't hug so tight and it makes my shoulders look well, quite nice.

6. nouvelle vague's older album: bande a part


and from here onwards the indulgences will cease to contribute more to the GHK fund which will commence on the third week of march. and so let me declare: a-no more buying magazines till april and even then let us try to have a little more self control ya. b-no more cd-buying even if borders sents me an attractive email declaring a million percentages off the cost price; books too. c-no more apparel and accessories shall i covert. so.

i'm wondering if i can be a sneaker girl.

Monday, February 11, 2008



neighbours' cats at grandparents place

this chinese new year i got sick right before the eve and am gonna just recover today; at least, i had my three pieces of bak kwa. but programmes and illness left me no time to run and i'm craving for that. this year, i saw that some loved ones are losing strength and getting weaker physically and mentally; the feeling of giving away money (if you have it) is just as good as receiving; i didn't see some people i was hoping not to see - i don't know if that is good or bad. i got to spend sometime with mingyao. even watching him practicing his golf for half an hour yesterday was nice and peaceful. i met up with sammie and the girls too at sammie's house for an annual macaroni soup meal; this time it's a little more special cos ying's got a ring and steven is here for all the cny festivities.

i will want to be less materialistic and more compassionate; and more focused.

pastor lilian ang's sermon is mostly straighfoward and succint and i like that. yesterday she preached about serving God in the workplace, something i had been reflecting about in the past few days; Fear God and respect man, not the opposite. i must really use my hours and days wisely.

i am looking foward to march.
yesterday we had a dinner for DT who is going off to sydney to have fun for three years under the guise of doing a law degree. we had zi char at forture restaurant at bukit timah and i'm glad these guys are serious foodies cos we ordered lotsa meats - chilli crab/mantous soaked in the gravy/salted egg crab/curry fish head/stir fried beef/sweet and sour pork/herbal chicken and later on we proceeded to the bar fifteen steps away - apparently a new one, charlotte says - called Bar Bar which is cute cos they had a sheep mascot logo. it's very chilled and laid back, like the one near DT's place at balmoral but this one's more serious on the food i think, cos charlotte said the burgers are awesome and the menu looked tempting to try; plus they had this solid wooden swing at the side where a few of us were rocking to while drinking some light beer; a few of the soccer fans were satisfied watching their apparently big soccer game comfortably in the breezy night.
baby sister has left for melbourne. she gave everybody notes. so cute. "i secretly think you are going to miss me because you start buying so many things for me suddenly".

of course la i am gonna miss you. please write me letters with your wonder woman notepads from The Met and i will reply with Yellow Submarine/beatles notepads.

i can't wait for june when both sisters come home.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Friday, February 01, 2008

adventure about town

God is very straightfoward to me. if He thinks i have a problem with deadlines, he throws me right into the crisis and i have to learn to overcome. i think now He thinks i have a problem with vanity, because he gave me a lesson this morning.

and mingyao was so nice about it. i griped to him to let off steam. is there something big happening in your office today, he asked over the phone and i said no in the most deadpan of deadpan the-world-is-ending tone and somewhere after three o clock a delivery guy climbed up five stories to pass me a garden of red roses. sweetest.



we went to town and walked and walked and sat down and talked and went to have korean bbq at crystal jade's outlet in taka - nyc k-town revival. kimchi soup and korean bbq with stirloin and bacon which we wrapped in lettuce and dabbed bean paste; let's have a beer, the boy said, at the right moment when the fatty meat had settled quite nicely in our stomachs. you look happy eating, he says.

oh definately. you make my day. everytime.