I really love my room

Here I am, comfortable in my own space. Somewhere that I feel most at home. (other than when I am physically with my whole family.) Everywhere I look, I see things I love and cherish. I look at my table, I see stationery that I have collected for many years and chucked untidily in a wire basket. I see documents and notebooks shelved on a Cluck Cluck waxed grey table organizer. (love it so much and don't think i will return it very soon. Customers won't appreciate it as much as i do and it will collect dust on the shop's shelf for a longgg time. I am not justifying myself. Lol. ) I got a rather big notice board I bought recently from Popular bookstore that I plan to decorate on top of my 5 years old cheapo printer. My drawers house things like the stickers that have accumulated since i was a child, gourmet food and tea that I couldn't bear to use yet, miscellaneous crafting materials that I look through time to time, swaroski crystals that I wanted to make into jewellery or sun catchers. My ipad nearby saves most of the new books, magazines and comics that I read. All around me I have room decor that i have kept for years and finally found a surface to display, and I realized they are mainly white and are shaped like birds and chickens. Hahah! Everytime my mom or friends enters the room she will exclaim how my room feels like a shop. My father even ventured to say that I have "cute things". I love to lie on my bed, snuggling on my bolster where I am surrounded by all my pillows and stuffed animals or reading a good book. Hmmm... I like the sound of the whirling of fan and the otherwise silence of the home, especially in the night. I love my collections of small animal figurines, crystals, washi tapes, Japanese fabric, seeds, notebooks and essential oils. I missed my collection of books in my old home, but I'm also happy that they aren't here to clutter my new room. What I love most about this place is that it re established my identity, my interests and hobbies. There is no where else I feel most comfortable with because this place is exclusively mine. I personally build this place from scratch. (well.. sort of. The floor and curtains and walls were here.)  

Australia 2012- part 2

Argh... I'm still on Melbourne timing. It's 3 hours later than Singapore and the effect is killing me. I will wake up at 5am and feel very groggy at 9pm. It is quite bad 2 nights before when i actually felt drowsy while driving home at 11pm after work. Why why why!?

Today is a fluke. I slept at like 9pm and woke up at 3am. It's kinda good cos I get the chance to ... slack, without feeling guilty. Read abit of little thing magazine, finish all my pending animes, eat some mutton stew and fruits i found in the fridge, flip through my new planner, pin new stuffs. How indulgent. There is something very comforting about the night. The silence and solace wrap me like a cloak. No distractions at all. Maybe i should do this more often.

Back to the topic on hand

I love Australia because...

It is wonderfully quirky and cheerful. I see odd collections of dinosaur figurines on a window still and a giant 
vertebrae outside a clinic. I have been to Italy and Japan during Spring but Australia struck me as the most effortlessly happy so far. Spring, i would think, should be a season of great cheer. The country has just shaken off the lethargy and darkness of winter so people should be more alive right? Not so much for Italy. Everyone still look so dreary. Dark coats, shuffling feet, slanting brows, noses perpetually to the ground. I guess it was still too cold.Tokyo however, was on a perpetual high. But everyone i see has a fixed look on their eyes. They says "yes, i have a loud, trilling voice and my face looks happy and energetic but I am so so bored, i am doing all this because i need to do it and not because i like it." Everything seemed like a facade somehow. Australia seemed different. People dance on streets at night when the temperature feels like a minus 10 (granted they are drunk and all), people are talking happily and unaffectedly everywhere. Most people i observed (even in the hospital) look so genuine whether they had just met, or talking to each other. It seem almost scary. Oh i also found that most Australians have a jaunty walk. They have a particular bounce to their steps lol. They are also particularly colorful. Unlike the Italians, Japanese, Honkies who seemed to favor dark colored clothes, the Australians likes bright and cheerful colors. Hmm, makes me feel like flying there now. :) In fact my constant refrains in the vacation was how i wished i studied there. I don't wish to stay there forever. But studying there will be such a pleasure.

Australia 2012 - part 1

I absolutely love Melbourne.

While the shops (and restaurants!) close really early at 6-7pm (incomprehensible for us), general prices are slightly higher than Singapore and temperature can reach freezing point for most of us, the experience was pretty amazing.

Let me count the ways the city rocks.

1.  Busy streets but never congested 

Melbourne central can be teeming with people but not to the extent when people need to jostle for space. That's a nice change from Singapore.
Driving is pretty relaxing too because of there aren't many cars there though taxis are as zealous there as in Singapore.

     2. Really interesting shops

They have so many choices of shops and products, and they happen to be things that i love! Melbourne is full of quirky and sweet clothes, home decor, yummy and gourmet food. I am so so so sorry to have missed the Finders Keeper's Market but i resolved to track those shops online. :D Victoria Market have really a great variety of food and i happily bought organic asparagus, cheese and parma ham back. And omg the teas are phenomenal. The scent of the green apple tea i bought permeates my rooms and suitcase. I couldn't bear to try it yet. Another place that we went is Fitzroy Street. I went somewhat crazy there taking pictures and buying things. Oh man!! The shops are very eclectic. They have vintage things, relatively cheap clothes (for Australian standard), fantastic shop displays and very cool stuff! I wish they stay open longer!! I even beg a shop (that was apparently in Finders Keepers) to let me in even though they are closed because their things are simply too pretty! We chanced upon a very atmospheric cafe amidst the graffiti covered walls and tried their breakfast set. It was amazing delicious to say the least... The cool brisk air, shops like glittering treasure troves waiting to be explored, bright cheerful flowers everywhere and contrasting graffiti and grunge made us lose our head abit. That was seriously one of my best memories of the holiday.

      3. Those wonderful Australians

Their service was fantastic. Most of them went out of their way to serve us. And they were sincere and very helpful. On the rare occasions we ask for directions, some even guided us there personally.

Okay, need to go for work! Will continue again when i'm free.

Shopping! lazy post

Went shopping with my sister lately and boy was it fun! It's been so long since i last shop, so long since i last shop with my sister. We went dorothy perkins and topshop at Raffles City and i bought a reallyyyy nice shorts and a sparkly black sweater there. Yunjin managed to control herself and not buy anything. I later bought a cute heart pink sweater (what's with the sweaters) at a pushcart there. Later went to peninsula plaza to buy a new skate board with my sister. As she bargains, i walked around the very interesting shopping centre. Men spas, black market camera shops, oriental wedding gown shops, streetwear clothes and accessories dotted the mall. I even found a shop my father might like- authentic cowboy accessories and clothes! Hahahah! I wished i took pictures of the interesting shops and place. As we walk out, the distinctive smell of pungent Myanmar food pervaded the area. Want to go shopping again.

It was also really fun having the whole family eat together to celebrate my brother's birthday. When we all laugh at the random jokes my father make and i see my brother laugh, i really feel that my heart can burst. It is a joy to see people happy. (hahaha! so colloquial.)

Aftermath

Surprisingly woke up with not much pain. The supplements must be working, either that or the power plate training conditioned me.. Onz, will go beginner ice skating course.

Ice Skating

Went ice skating for the first time today and it was one of the most frustrating experience Ever. Seeing people skate by when you can hardly balance is incredibly irritating. I'll wait for the body aches to subside before i consider if i want to take some beginner course. I want badly to at least KNow how to skate. Argh!!! (*punch wall)

Updates

* Feeling a urge to create something- cards, buntings?
* Great leap forward- went to see the orthodontist today!
* Putting exercise into my daily schedule- feels good yeah!
* Stoning alot lately. Deprivation from just one day of fragrant & stimulating coffee?

Blissful Sunday

The title says it all

Sunny but windy
Blue skies
Awesome music
Driving with the window down

Love it

Appreciations

I'm very lucky to have very good friends. :)
(touch wood)

Coronation plaza

When I was a primary school kid, I spend a lot a lot of time in coronation plaza. Everyday after school, I will come here for Chinese calligraphy classes, English classes, piano classes. After that I would go to the second hand book shop on the second floor and spend hours buying and reading the books there. I will wait outside of the shopping mall for my mom to fetch me, sitting on the ledge outside Fairprice, reading my books. After swimming lessons, my whole family might choose to come coronation for vegetarian food, and my sister and I would linger at the magazines section of Fairprice choosing new Bookworm short stories to buy. I think my time spent here was pure uncomplicated happiness. Almost everyday will be the same. Coming here again feels very nostalgic to me. Time feels suspended to me even though it happen 10 over years ago. Love this place. I hope they won't renovate it.

Ps: I love my iPad x 100
But I do wish it's lighter. It's really straining my hands and shoulders

I love my iPad

Except for the fact that I much prefer a 8 megapixel camera instead of 5, I am head over heel with my new iPad. Oh, and that I can't download kindle on it is also a big downer.
:(
While I know that having kindle in Singapore will affect the local bookstores' business, it's really convenient and cheap to have books and magazines at your fingertips. I love Kinokuniya and hope it grows in Singapore. I can only hope it stays competitive in today's books industry.

burger king@amk hub

worse fast food i ate


it is incredibly inefficient. there is only one counter to order, and one counter to collect food from. the employees look frazzled and stressed.

as you queue you pass a viewing gallery where you watch them make your burger. big mistake here. they arent making gourmet food here. watching them slide out the compartments to take out the meat patties and squashing cabbage to plunk on the burgers make me think of a food factory. that doesn't make my burger more appetising to say the least. and honestly, the burgers look real ugly here.

i ordered my swiss mushroom chicken grill and it was really salty. the onion rings was salty. i can't taste anything but salt in anything. i always thought burger king's better than macdonalds, so what happened?

but i really like their decor. laminated wood tables and counters, homely cozy atmosphere. maybe it's just teething pain for now.

* the stomach flu is not stopping me!

argh...

sick with stomach flu after 3 cakes and 1 ice cream... ouchh

but it has been really busy i especially love cny this year.

the family bonding--
good food (hua ting is yumz) --
abalone is yumz! ---
waterloo street vegetarian food is yumz!--

some random thoughts

tarot reading is really scarily accurate
stomach flu can be the kick start of my diet! (right now all thoughts of food repulse me)
macarons workshop w kc!
cannot sleep...
wants to buy good oven/ food processor/ happy call pans

CNY!

passes like a blur this year! and now it's back to the same routine again---
this year the most distinctive memory i have is eating and eating and eating

Happy New Year! 2012!!

I reread some of my oldest blog entries and was struck by how immature I sounded. haha! but it still sounded distinctively me- which was inane and rather excitable.

A new year! Woosh! so fast so sudden! I can never prepare for new year emotionally. It always feel like I barged into someone's room totally bewildered and confused. So my sneaky way is to procrastinate till Chinese New Year to anticipate the rush of a new clean beginning. and nothing, i mean nothing!! makes a bigger impact on a new year like the lunar new year. The massive once a year spring cleaning (when tempers fray and my father will hide somewhere where the screaming won't reach him), the last minute (really like on the DAY of the new year) shopping in chinatown, visiting waterloo temple in the wee morning of chinese new year (grabbing some vegetarian nosh after that) and the rather enjoyable visitings to our relatives. The drama during this period can really create enough content for a cny movie. hahaha or even better- Reality tv. It will i promise, be absolutely riveting.

This year (and even last year) there is a sense of aiyah i dun care le la feeling. The last exams, work and all the never ending chores in the new place (and since I'm not living in the old home now) has create that void in me- whatever will be will be. We will be flexible and play by ear. No time? Just hide the things somewhere for the time being hahahahah! My only regrets is that too bad we are a small family. If there were more people, it will be more boisterous and fun.

Okay, my inevitable new year resolution list. abit more comprehensive so that it will create more impact to me

1) LOSE 10 kg (min) -every month lose 1 kg. (i know anyone who reads this will start scoffing le. SMIRK AWAY!) Rabbit food here i come!

2) regain my sensitivity chip - where and when did i lose that?

3) concentration and focus - yah i know. stop floating along.

It's a short list but at least it is easy to attain right? HUAT AH!