the start of something wonderful

The break of dawn illuminates shades of orange hues across the horizon, signifying the arrival of a brand new day.

Since life is a short-lived luxury that is engulfed in a cycle of light and darkness, let this marks the start of something wonderful that's here to stay.

~A.W.

Happy New Year everyone!
May you and your loved ones be blessed with joy, good health and fortune throughout 2010!

gone

Gone, gone are those friends
in which naught replaces close in its definition.

Gone, gone are those essential conversations
that forms the important part of relationships in life.

Gone, gone are those flickers of happiness
no matter how ethereal they may be.

Gone, gone are those moments
never to be re-captured ever again.

Gone, gone are those chances
when you could have changed those bad decisions then.

Gone, gone are those carefree days
where together with your childhood, your youth,
and all the sunshine and laughter,
become past memories you long for now.

Gone, gone are those vibrant colors of life,
that fade away along with your very own existence

~ A.W.

10 telling signs that I'm stressed

1. Laugh awkwardly
2. Smile, frown, smile frown (you get the point)
   
3. Binge on potato chips and Nutella hazelnut spread
4. Indulge in lots of chili padi (chili pepper)
5. Behaving like a true-blue insomniac, complete with no. 3 & 4 in the wee hours of the morning
6. Hairstyle that looks like I just got off the bed
   
7. Run while listening to metal,rock music or just Alanis Morissette's songs
8. Pile up stacks of research materials on my bedroom floor
9. Ordering overly-sweet coffee like toffee nut latte when all I want is a cup of cappuccino
10. Singing at the top of my voice when I drive alone

Seriously, I really need to get that punching bag soon...

Personal Life by Tokyo Jihen

東京事変 - 私生活
Uploaded by utadalove. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

I'm wasting oxygen, seas, gasoline, and a lot of kindnesses.
I'm working for life and eating up the city.
I hope that the mechanism of your left cheek doesn't fall into disorder when you smile.

To the fair wind here, please blow for me.
Things behind me are just memories.
When I'm able to take in the opposing wind, I'll finally be renewed.

I'm wasting sunsets, Autumns, and a few encounters.
I keep on going back and forth, to butter up people/the times/the age.
I must seem miserable and pathetic in your eyes.

Compass, now, please show me where I am and point to the right direction.
Even if I have to memorize the existing maps, I'll definitely head towards you.

I want to stay gently close to you when you are feeling alright.
How long is there for me to live? Please don't go away.
Let me catch up with you. Please wait a little while more.
You're living your life, further and further away from me.
This makes up how I lead my life.

photos update

I'm finally free after a period of endless workload and school work. Here are the photos for these 2 weeks.


Right after exam:

The groggy-eyed gang binging on hot Thai food to relieve the stress accumulated after exam. I had my favorite tom yam soup with glass noodles.

Kenneth's and my birthday cake

This is Kenneth's indulging in his Udder's Bailey's ice-cream. Still can't believe this guy has the exact birthdate as me

From left to right: Daniel, Rosslyn & Joyce. Daniel and Ross are the sweet ones who bought the cake for us. Thanks!

With my closest girlfriends (Just a simple get-together can cause me to be this happy):

Look at how work has done to our face! We just got off work and we look like this already! Haggard level - 3/5


Only Val (the one in black) exudes radiance. Never doubt the magical confidence and radiance that a lady can have when she's getting married ;)


Birthday:

@ Satsuma Shochu Dining Bar. Kevin brought me here 'coz he knows how much I love Japanese cuisine and sakura :)

Enjoying the ambiance... the sake, and the food. Here're some of them:

Scallop with soya milk in claypot

Grilled rice balls

My mini birthday cake with sweet candied potatoes

~Thanks dear!~

Ice-cream version of strawberry shortcake. See the packs of Vitasoy (soya milk) at the corner? Everyone finished it before I could even drink it ;(


Kevin's birthday:

The cake I bought for him - Raspberry cheesecake with almonds

Disney Princesses ice-cream cake from his buddies

goodbye grandaunt

To me, she's more like my grandmother than my actual one who had passed away too soon. She loved chocolates, napping on her old armchair, our visits, and watching national day parades on television every year. Funny how she passed away in the midst of this year's parade.
Goodbye grandaunt, may you rest in peace. Going to miss you...

worrying

My sister's father-in-law was recently diagnosed with tuberculosis. It was a relief that it's still in the first stage, but how can one truly be relieved when it's still a case of having a serious illness?

As her in-laws live with her, along with her two young kids - Chloe, 1 and Brandon, 3, she is worried about everyone in the family, especially since it is a contagious.

I heard that the nurse there told her it will be extra hard if a child suffers from it, as it will spread from the lungs to as far as the brain. The whole family went for a check-up today and the results will only be out on Saturday.

Worry.

It's hard not to worry. The more one cares about someone, the more she/he will worry. And I'm a constant worrying machine, one that churns out one worry about this problem to the next worry about another problem.

I'm worried about them. I worry about my parents' state of health. My brother who basically hates studying and lives in his own world. K. and my friends' individual problems. Financial burdens. My own baggage inclusive of other crazy difficulties I encountered.

It's frustrating how you can be so helpless at many problems that all you can do is worry. I can only try my best to do the little things that might make them better.

uniqlo's Jap CM

Juri (shorter hair) & Meisa (long hair) look real cute in this UNIQLO commercial. I have not stepped into the newly-opened outlet here in Tampines One. Will I be able to play with the rows of neatly-folded clothes over there too? :p

positive thinking!

Sorry I've not been writing. I was lost and way too occupied on my inspiration-seeking journey to gather idea(s) for a feature article lately and now that I got it, I'm back!

I don't know if it's just me but I've been feeling a sense of gloominess around town area ever since the recession kicks in. Did you get that too?

Ever since news of a looming recession begins, I have been curbing my inner shopaholic persona and refraining myself from stepping into any one of my favorite stores such as Warehouse, french connection and Massimo Dutti to prevent me from buying anything.

Being a typical female (I just strike out 'girl' after much thought, thanks to those questionnaires which keep reminding me of my age); who is also a victim of consumerism; and a stickler of the 'right' combination of clothes and shoes, this obviously would not work out entirely.

This happened on the day I arranged to meet my friend in town for dinner.

At Wisma Atria shopping centre: 'Okay, here's Warehouse. Don't look Adele, keep walking. Oh no, I saw this cool jacket on the mannequin at bebe. No, don't enter. Just walk straight and you'll be fine. Oh, Nine West's having a sale! So, you have lots of shoes! You'll survive!" Wisma safe. Obstacle one cleared.

Straight and into Takashimaya shopping centre: 'No, that Guess blouse will not suit you so don't look. Yes, Calvin Klein and DKNY are having a sale, but that's none of your business. Gosh, the color of that pair of Armani jeans is just what I'm looking for so long! Okay, no. It's not on sale, so you can wait for it to go on sale right?' Level two cleared. For now.

Then, as I headed towards Kinokuniya bookstore, I passed by this recently-opened boutique - Juicy Couture. 'Aww.. That dress is gorgeous!' And with that, I finally could not resist the temptation but to enter this forbidden enclosure.

Luckily, that gorgeous dress (about $600) and the cute denim shorts ($310) were too pricey for a student like me to splurge on, especially in bad times like now. 'Luckily', in the sense that I will not spend anything at all in the end! Ha ha!

In an attempt to cut costs and save more, I even traded my usual dose of Starbucks double-shot espresso frappuccino with caramel drizzle for kopitiam's $0.80 coffee :( and bring along a bottle of water instead of buying those bottled / canned / packets of water (they can be unhealthy too) whenever I go out.

But what can I say? All that's important is I'm alive, healthy enough to sit down here and whine about it, and not bankrupt right?

Like what Domenico Dolce of Dolce & Gabbana said,

"The worst times can be the best if you think with positive energy."

Like what the Japanese loved to say with their cute accent, "Positive thinkin'!"

reflection of a faulty biological clock

All talk and no action means nothing right? I've meant to take better care of myself but with my procrastinating past catching up to me for this matter, I've yet to do anything about it. Which is why I've got a dressing-down from my mother this morning, who is worried about my shrinking body size and bad habits which seem to take a toll on my health.

I don't work everyday since school started last week. On days where I've class, I tend to sleep late into noon, even though I've set the alarm to 9:30am or 10am. And for this morning, I woke up at a time where almost everyone would have started or finished their lunch by then - 1 o'clock. I had specifically set the alarm to 10am the previous night (wee hours of the morning at 2am to be exact) but somehow, I did not hear it going off at all.

I had tested it a few days ago, thinking it might be that my handphone's alarm is defective, but it worked perfectly well as compared to my biological clock that sleeps at 3am - 4am and wakes up in the afternoon. I can feel my heavy eyes straining to remain wide open from about 2am, but for some reason, I just have to find something to do as I can't sleep. My best friend who's a nurse suspects I'm suffering from insomnia.

This scenario has been happening repetitively for about a month now. I wake up, glance at the time, 'Shoot! It's 12 plus already!", and jump out of my little comfort zone called 'bed'. And this is only the start.

Which leads to the next issue - breakfast. Obviously, what I'm going to take at that kind of time is what one would call a 'brunch'. I used to think, 'ok, I've missed breakast, but I can make up for it by having a hearty lunch!' For commonsense point of view, it makes perfect sense. For a health specialist's viewpoint, it's one of those bad habits that when combined as a whole, it could turn nasty and serious.

My mother, who just woke up from her nap to cook, was totally aghast at me taking the most important meal of the day at 1:10pm. She gave me a lecture and showed me a newspaper article on the bad habits that lead to kidney failure. They are namely, skipping breakfast, having them irregularly, substituting proper meals for desserts or snacks, and stress. 4 bingos, I just got a perfect score for all of them.

If I don't do something about this messed-up lifestyle, I'm going to be those people who are prone to getting all sorts of diseases at a much younger age as compared to statistics five to ten years ago. Now, that is scary. To risk that, I'd rather not.

a glimpse of hope

As I sat semi-dazed on my couch after reaching home from the new year's eve celebration at 3:49am, this question came to my mind, "What's the reason behind all this partying and celebration? For fun, hope, or reflection?"

Then I realised the answer is all three. I had an eventful year, with more ups than downs.But what if the downs are far more severe than the ups?

Fun: I deserved a well-earned break for enduring all those negative incidents and problems for the whole of 2008.

Reflection & Hope: May the past of bad begone, lessons derived learnt, & the good stays with me and my loved ones through it all

How does one measure a year?

post-new year countdown

New year's eve countdown celebration as an excuse to have fun and let loose with friends? Or to count down a new year that, hopefully (with fingers crossed), will be much better than the previous? Or to reflect on the past year's ups and downs?