i like the songs, 'again and again' and 'my fair lady'

time to regroup and focus.

the music on 'across the universe' really grows on me. the characters have wonderful voices and it makes the beatles' song refreshing. i think if you haven't watched it, you should.

_been listening to cat power on radioblogclub because i cannot find the cd anywhere. i love her voice. it really sounds familiar but i can't figure out to who.

_mingyao and i drove to siglap yesterday to have waffles and ice cream. he got pistacho and i got vanilla bean. you choice is so boring, he said and continued eating his ice cream. it was breezy. we went to the beach. lazed in the car and talked. took a walk out to the lagoon area which has been converted into some water sports thingy. it's quite nice to watch. we leaned against the timber balustrades and watched the ski-ers in the spotlights. laughed alot and held hands plenty. that dog's not walking properly, he pointed and said and told me about discovery channel findings. they got rid of the vjc senior junior bbq at the beach after our year, he told me. that was a good time. we walked back to the car and drove home.

_i want to go cycling

sharon texted me and said there was a class reunion - it was funny cos there were only six of us in the end. you get my gang and i'll get mine, gwenne apparently said. but that made it nice, just six people. two whom i have not met since ten years ago, and they still look and talk the same - yy who's very practical and sweet and who's going to albany next week so i'll hook her up with ee jie, and jo, who copied my e maths homework most mornings because we came to school early and she sat behind me and who is married and is a kindergarten teacher. after a jap dinner we walked a bit to have some ice cream.

only crazy people feel like crying when they're reading 'little women' on the mrt. but well i really feel stirred up when i read it because it makes me think about my family.

where i work

HAPPY 7TH ANNIVERSARY MR. AWESOME. I AM SUPERLOVING YOU!




i didn't expect it so i was awesomely surprised when i saw a stalk of rose on the car seat. my beart did go boomtity boom. and i have something for you to eat too, he says, and reaches to the back seat to hand over to me a giant box of belgium chocolates :) we drove to greenwood avenue and had dinner at Covo Bistro and Lounge - an intimate place decorated in an elegant but casual style - think white-painted iron grille screens, bare concrete walls, dim lighting and tree branches decorated with classy glassy droplets. there were sofas in the alfresco area and a walk through the back end of the restaurant to the toilet revealed comfortable niches for possible small gatherings. at the centre of the bistro, there was a glassed up section and just one table inside, for romantic reservations - bird cages hung from the ceiling with real birds in them. we had fish and chips, which came with an adequate portion of fries in a fancy porcelain cup and ended off the meal with one orange meringue pie slice. at the end of the meal we drove to bojangles at balmoral plaza for a quick half pint of beer each and laze around a bit before going back.

yesterday morning mingyao fetched me from my place after i had a quick morning run and we went to siglap for breakfast at killiney kopitiam, after which i lazed at his home for half an hour reading the special insert of FT before walking over to coffee club to meet char, sc and ch for our annual meet up. (cheng, you still owe us last year's pics at loof!) a sleepy saturday morning turned quite quirky when we discovered the colour accent mode on my camera and started taking funny photographs. after lunch i had a great day hanging out with mingyao just watching cable and lazing.

then we went to meet his friends at fullerton for the seafood buffet at 'town' restaurant - fantastic food there was. the sashimi was fresh and there was soba too; the section with the mussels, scallops and crayfish was a favourite - delicious and fresh, with lemon and tabasco and a selection of sauces. the section with the cook in action had pasta - mine wasn't so good; i had cream sauce, but mingyao was satisfied with his tomato paste one. for dessert, the banana mousse cake was a winner - at least four different textures in one cake, plus i liked the strawberry shots, and the creme brulee too. i'd totally recommend it. it's a good place to relax with friends because the food is well prepared and it's not too crowded. we took a walk to cityhall - it was nice. it's sort of like, a weekend prelude to our 7th year anniversary come tuesday.

this morning we went to the island cafe at tangs for lunch and a quick jaunt about town, which was really, just borders.

a friday



i met brenda for dinner at central mall; we had ramen at marutama ramen - the seasoned egg is still the best there, after which we crossed the bridge to clarke quay and shared a beautiful waffle dessert with strawberries and vanilla pod ice cream at nectarie. the bar stool seats are awful for sitting. the foot rests were too low and i literally got a back ache and had to shift my butt several times. other than that it was a lovely evening. thanks for the earrings :)

that said, i like Jim Sturgess's voice, singing the beatles' song 'something'.

how can so many things happen in one year?




this year was like a potpourri of many many many things good and bad, big and small. hence, let's begin.

this year, i:

sank into the lowest of lows with The Thesis of Thesises that plagued me like a horror that won't go away - somehow in the darkness i was really interested in my work but The Fear of Not Passing got into me real deep and i couldn't see the light for months; finally at the edge of giving up, upon total surrender, i was showered with miracle after miracle. i think i totally plagued my family and mingyao too with the residual stress heaped upon them - through the course of the year, more so at the end, i got to know many new friends, people i could connect with, some juniors and some seniors. i'd say repeating my course was a non-regret. i met friends i could totally speak to, share obscure music and stuff with i never really could with many of my original peers, people i can meet outside for coffee or a meal and whom i don't feel judged by. people i could talk to about anything frivolous or serious. i'm grateful for that.

two weeks later i went for interviews and started a job a week after my interview at a great firm with - awesomely cool and inspiring bosses i can really talk to/ fun and wonderful collegues/ a very nice working space, even though the roof leaks when it pours and we have to walk up and down 5 stories everyday) in a shophouse in an old street and the work is interesting and i worked an talked to people and learn new things.

i started reading jack kerouac who wrote about san francisco and new york. and in september and october i was in those two cities, plus albany to visit my dear sister whom i sorely miss ( it was lovely, she cooked lovely dinner and i ironed our clothes whilst watching youtube; jogging to her school and waiting for her to finish class) and our road trip up to quebec city for three days - i never thought i'd go back there when i was there in 2003 with wynnie shivering like mad in the cold but it was nice that we could go about now and see sights and apple farms in the slighty chilly but sunny weather and walking the artisan shops together with my sister - and boston for lunch to meet jerrold and andrea, and seeing wesleyan college that i've only read about; before that to yald (yale!) to visit cheng and sit in an aki theory class and meeting up some relatives for the first time in queens, nyc and taking the subways and going up to columbia uni all by myself to meet dionne for lunch (that was so surreal really, we haven't met since our chance meeting just before uni) and having mingyao come over and us gallavanting all about the different museums and shops (oh broadway shopping!) and taking chere to lunch and meeting up with alfred in k-town and with kim li near columbia again and having awesome roast duck rice in san fran and just walking, taking buses, spending too much in supermarkets (two tubs of icecream just so we couldn't decide) and discovering 'the wonder years' on television in nyc and going home to catch it and watching a free concert in the lincoln area and the gorgeous golden gate bridge and going to citylights bookstore in san fran and the strand bookstore in nyc and central park and going to places and everything. i've only read about in books like the solomon guggenheim museum/passing by sejima's museum of contemporary art at the bowery/ the MOMA and The Met and Renzo Piano's musuem extension along fifth avenue/ yale/ central park/ de young museum in golden gate park by herzog and de meuron/ mario botta's san fran MOMA...

and joining the cell grop in march which was filled with awesome people - i had so much fun and encouragement from this group of people whom i can really connect with.

plus i had an awesome year with mingyao - both of us starting on jobs we like and the long long trip and just happy being in each other's company and still learning from each other and growing with each other and the little things and big things he does for me, i super love.

and some miscellaneous randomness; this year i discovered yves saint laurent touche eclat, bobbi brown eyeliner, shu umera eyeshadow in THAT pink and benefit eyeshadow with that lovely cream texture.

i suppose the only resolution i need is to improve my walk with God. let's see how things go from there.

happy new year from high up





it was a brilliant date day today - i met mingyao for viet beef noodles at circular road for lunch because i thought we weren't having a half day but my lovely bosses gave us a sort of half day and we left at 3 and mingyao came to pick me up. we parked the car at the ywca and had cuppachino and iced tea at the dome cafe at park mall which was really chill and good and we browsed through magazines and talked and then we decided to head to meidi-ya supermarket at liang court after seeing an article on it in a magazine from the cafe and we took a really breezy late afternoon walk through the back roads of park mall past UE square and it was really awesome in the supermarket - just like japan except when you hear the guy inside the counter cutting up the sashimi speaking hokkien. little japanese children sat on the floor watching doraemon surrounded by shelves of japanese snacks and japanese fathers and mothers bought their fresh produce and japanese things. i bought myself some cute candy and we bought a custard and red bean snack from the cart at the cashiers where the snacks were freshly made - made by japanese cook, the piece of paper on the cart said.

we sauntered back to ywca to drop our goodies and headed to cathy where we collected our tickets for 'across the universe' and we walked around a little observing the young punks and awkward youths because we were early. at eight we watched the show - don't expect a fantastic plot. story was written to fit the beatles songs and at first it felt rather contrived, so after awhile i just settled on just being soaked up in the images and the sound. i would say there's a certain poignancy in how the beatles' songs can remain so relevant to issues of today and the 60s, war and inequality; love and hate; extreme sadness, happiness; irony in all forms and acts. i'd say at the very least watch it for the graphics and the pretty colours - like sequences of postcards - and for the music. it could have been good somehow - the shots were awesome. but it was a pretty thing. and bono makes a cameo in funky tinted glasses.

after the show we drove the car to orq and had our satay and mee goreng at lau puat sat before heading up to the 47th storey to wait for the countdown fireworks at the bay. mingyao showed me around his office and later on nh and hw came up and the fireworks were beautiful from where we were except it seemed too short, although i suppose ten minutes was quite long. but it was really cool being able to see the casino and the sail condo being constructed at such a height and closeness.

hi love. it's the new year and i love you to bits.