casa



there's a new design magazine in town. created by indesign mag. interesting cos it's an australian/new zealand + south east asia coverage. so far the first issue is great - so many inspiring projects. plus it used awesome paper, the type with the same texture as monocle mag. i like the emma house, in kl, featured in the first issue. photos posted taken from the architect's website.


habitus magazine

thursday is ash day

five things i appreciate about you:

number one: you make me take care of my things
number two: you make me feel smart although i say stupid things a million times a day
number three: you're a technical genius. what a blessing. as opposed to my absolute lack of technical prowress.
number four: you go all out to make me feel comfortable, even at your expense.
number five: you don't take me too seriously when it's not necessary and you're not afraid to laugh at me, which makes me laugh at myself too.

summary: awesome.

a monday morning thought

Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly. ~Rose Franken

funny fella, u.

today we met the cell guys for the hawker outing, this time for prawn and pork rib mee at kallang. the dish was quite nice and the soup was flavourful, but i guess it didn't feel that indulgent, hence, the kick was not enough. well it was such a hot day i craved for ice cream so we went to the petrol station opposite the new place and bought a cornetto each. we went to our place and sat on the floor eating our ice creams as as the breeze cooled the room.

tired week.

on monday we collected our keys! mingyao picked the keys up from the lawyer then he fetched me from hong kong street, after which we drove to the place and parked the car at the sheltered car park and walked to siglap for dinner - had lovely chicken chop zhi char albeit the long wait and had a lovely walk back to the place where we went upstairs and scuffled about in the dark (no electricity, yo.) with torchlights and measuring tape and after opening the windows we discovered brilliant cross ventilation - and it was a really hot humid monday night yo - and we both agreed the study room was our favourite room because of the windows. and before we left we dipped our hands in the pool downstairs - as a customary gesture of hello and ours now. can't wait to fill it up. meanwhile i'm in love with a certain suspension lamp which i shall not reveal until i save up enough to get it.

needing catharsis


there are some times i just lose the groove - walking a blur. so many things to do but one has to be alert, prioritise and be in control - clearheaded and still, be bright-eyed about what's around me. maybe this is what happens when i forget to do my qt for months. i guess being human one can't be like that all the time. needing assurance - one of my flaws. this week i was ultrasensitive, lost my cool, forgot, or maybe tipped a little over the edge of forgetting that it's okay, just write it down and get it over step by step. i thought too much, about others opinions; i must remember hence, that it is God's opinion that matters, and to be focused about the product. it's hard to be smiley all the time. i think, i'm generally okay, only when i go into my moments, i become a monster i don't like - i forget, i lose control, and then i regret. how i hate to regret. it is always the same fatal flaws that we have to overcome, like the tide it comes again and again and we must be strong and each time battle it, and perhaps we can overcome it one day. step by step okay. each morning breathe anew and maybe thank God that i'm alive and i can marvel at wonders outside my window. think bigger picture. be more selfless and then all priorities will fall into place. work, attitude, everything. to be compassionate and passionate is the end, but meanwhile it is hard work at battling the little hooks that tug at myself everyday, little bad habits that stumble my walk, makes horrible mountains out of molehills.

i think, this week i attempt begin to be free again, starting with the mundane. starting with ironing out the things i do that create the hiccups.

lullaby nomad


last night mingyao and i attended jo dong's concert, and launch of her ep, at the esplanade recital studio. the funny thing about meeting up with vj people is that, 99 percent of them looks the same. it's like time never passed and we just had a tsd lesson yesterday, or something like that. saw lineng, flo and judy helping out at her concert. at the beginning of the concert when the lights dimmed the video showed her singing when she was aged 9. it was kinda cool, the direction of her concert - reinterpretations of songs she sung growing up. when she sang danny boy i could feel a lump in my throat and you could her sniffles and people blowing their noses in the audience. later outside i bought her album and got her to sign it. she's got a beautiful voice and i can't help but feel admiration that she's taking steps to further fulfil her dreams. i hope someboday signs her on.

i think talent's dead when it's nonchalently picked at once in a while. fueling it with passion makes it an amazing thing that people can feel and acknowledge a connection with.

i think when i attend concerts like that, whether i know the performer or not, i feel like i have to take stock of my life and address the issues that curb any ounce of passion- for anything- that i have and make it alive and active. even if i am scared, lacking confidence and not informed and experienced enough, everybody takes small steps to get somewhere. i think there's something else that renders action to be alive - compassion. i feel that everybody has compassion but most of it lies dormant, at least for me. passion and compassion - without action, both of them are as good as being non-existent.

click - the architect's house is featured in the new issue of uk elle decoration. i love the materiality.

mooncake and random
















and so i really just wanted to write an entry about the last picture, but i ended up snapping alot of other things lying about in my room and waiting to upload them (browsing spring 09 style.com meanwhile) when really i haven't finished my drawings and my eyes are bursting out of my sockets and i really want to sleep early because i need a run tomorrow. ee jie gave me a ring holder and i begun with that and then there is also my new vintage kodak pocket camera, comes even with that retro chain; agnes b diary, sorely neglected for a bit until i wrote down an entry yesterday about mingyao's proposal; also we have a new book - truman capote for the next plane ride mebbe.

and so the last picture is the gorgeous mooncakes given by mingyao who dropped by the office to pass it to me after queuing for it at raffles hotel. followed up by a bedtime quote, unquote - i love to shower you with love, or something to that effect, which is the sweetest love note ever for a monday.

hey mingyao. visualize, and auralize(random term):

watching the live 8 and live aid concert dvds in our living room.

:p

beautiful recall







it has been nearly a year since my US trip to new york, san fran, boston, albany and quebec city in canada - time jets pass in a blur of submissions, inspirations, disappointments, surprises, etc. etc. and here i am again no longer a fresh graduate; school seems like a few chapters away - it was a love and (not hate hate, just exasperated) relationship with school; i digress. anyways i had fun on that trip so i shall commemorate with some photographs. i recall vividly a few slices of flashbacks in my memory - walking pass the laundryshop outside ee jie's house, crossing the road in my running gear and jogging around her campus; arriving in quebec city after several years - i never could imagine i would be back again. quebec? so far!; mingyao and i trugging about wall street looking for the bull; sitting outside the san francisco moma and feeling the brick walls; watching dogs at the dog runs at union square and walking through central park. i can understand why the people in new york love central park; the tour in alcatraz in san francisco and taking the bus/walking home to the little japan area where we stayed.

i think i'd love to go back to those cities again; new york in autumn would be wonderful.

united bamboo



spring 2009 is here. spring's always welcoming cos it's fully of happy pastels.

+++

today mingyao and i went to hannah's lunch at barracks cafe at House at dempsey. the decor is kinda fun - your typical mish mash of different furniture pieces, exposed unplastered columns and hanging bulbs that i think started with colin's apartment a few years back; interestingly the counter walls were made of cement board which goes with the decor - i thought that was bold of them. but the food is not worth the money seriously. it's not bad but i think it's not worth the price. drinks were nice and innovative and i heard dessert is good. we sat at the glass house area and it was very nice to meet up with everybody - they're such a fun bunch to be with. moses came later and it was hilarious that he ordered two main dishes within half an hour. quote unquote by mingyao: come on guys, it's been half and hour since the last dish. serene, hannah's friend whom i sat next to told us gory tales from here experience as a legal counsel in a hospital and we invited her for our next hawker adventure which is at the end of the month.

+++

it's great that we have alot of time to do up our place cos then we can scout around and decide what we want to spend money on.

saturday holiday

this morning mingyao arrived at the door with breakfast for 2.5 people (ee jie is half cos she had two hardboiled eggs in the morning)with chee cheong fan, chee kway, char siew bao, pei dan porridge, fried bee hoon, egg tart. i love the pei dan porridge - the right amount of sweetness and the porridge is so smooth, and it's got enough pei dan and minced pork too. we couldn't finish the egg tarts and a char siew bao. yeah breakfast with mingyao is a million and one things.

i dragged mingyao, mark and ee jie to balestier to browse for tiles. mingyao said it felt like when he's waiting for me to choose things at borders, which means i stare at one thing for a million years before deciding. we dropped by a sanitary shop next door and got a lesson on toto's half siphonic flush system wc. i took them to whampoa to see the beautiful mosaics they had there - love the japanese danto ones with the shimmer as well as the matt ones. you can't find these in the common balestier shops. we crossed the road to buy dao sa pia for his mom and i tried the famous 603 one with lotus paste for the first time - the crust is amazingly wonderful - the texture and fragrance is right on.




i totally dig supergrif's d38 range of sanitary fixtures - awesome and simple. and expensive for sure.

today we ran some errands in town and passed through the mooncake display at taka square - looking specifically for hang heung mooncakes from hk of course - mingyao bought one and he also bought a box of 6 lao-po bings for me, of which i unfortunately left in his car today when he fetched me home, together with some cards from borders and the wallpaper magazine.

we met yvette and shiva at ps cafe today and we sat at the outdoor area which was pretty cooling after the rain - but yeah no more expensive places after this. i think the drinks are more expensive than the ps cafe at paragon? i'm not sure. but i have to be more mindful of spending now. we exchanged tips relating to house matters and wedding matters.

randome: my cuticles are peeling - it's a pain to have to keep moisturising but i have to do it or it gets painful. also, muji cotton stretch singlets are amazingly comfortable, and fitting for me - the topshp ones don't work so well because they're meant for stick-thin skinny beans and i got a bitta curve and the muji ones hide my belly when i have too much mooncake, etc. and the material is good - it doesn't stretch after 2 washes and i have to reiterate - it is very comfortable.

hello monday.