and so the world's highest Qinghai-Tibet railway opens today (Sat). i think CCTV has been covering the 'historic event' rather extensively.... this morning while dad was watching special mini documentary of railway... i stopped in front of the TV and casually remarked that i wanted to go, only to be instantly, mildly 'rebuked' for wanting to travel everywhere (it has actually been one of my frivolous fantasy destinations for a while... you know, places you dream about visiting some day but don't know if you ever will) THEN, at night, Dad was watching coverage on the railway again. this time round, he encouraged me to watch the program and told me that "the scenery on TV was breathtaking, even better and clearer than if you were to go on your own".... sigh. a not-so-subtle hint there.... :P actually....a 48-hour train ride (Beijing to Lhasa) doesn't sound that appealing though! but that's if you do a non-stop thing. there's a lot of controversy about the railway in the papers, one fear being that easier access might dilute the unique Tibetan culture... though i have no idea how "culturally intact" Tibet is right now, i certainly hope that it wun be too 'culturally diluted' as feared, in the years to come...

touring is such a dilemma sometimes- i quite dislike over-touristy places; yet sometimes only when a place becomes touristy is it easier for ppl to visit... :( and perhaps i'm being hypocritical -- i too contribute to the touristification of these places...

Clarke Quay at night

managed to capture this while walking along the river yesterday night... too bad hands were still a little shaky :P

resolve to break out of vicious cycle of going to the same eating places all the time brought me to the newly renovated (perhaps by my standards, since the last time i went there was prob few years ago) hawker center at East Coast Park... and a delicious (but oil-drenched) spread of satay, sambal sting ray, roti john, fried hokkien mee etc. (things i haven't had for ages!) left me extremely satisfied with dinner. though couldn't help feeling worried that a single meal probably just wrecked my plans to keep trim and fit :P maybe... and hopefully.... work will stress me out and whet my appetite in 2 weeks' time!

recent events have also made me somehow very aware that change takes time, and serious action. and commitment. it might be a silly and duh thing to say, but i dunno, i feel like i always yearn (sometimes unrealistically) for these desired outcomes/perfect scenarios without devising practical steps to bring myself closer to these lofty goals...

was clearing away another pile of old cards/notes and noticed two most common things that ppl said to me- 1) that i was 'nice' and 2) that i had 'nice' handwriting; and a few even apologized to me for writing messily in the greeting cards! (i was very amused but a little upset). these made me think about what i used to be like-- for one, it was quite true that i had EXTREMELY neat handwriting back then. sometimes when i look back at my secondary sch notes i wonder how i managed to produce those almost evenly-spaced, font-like characters... my handwriting is nowhere near that kinda 'perfect neatness'; but somehow i quite like it the way it is now :) as for the 'niceness' bit... i wonder if a shy, smiley, quiet and agreeable me gave ppl the impression that i was 'nice'... because a lot of these friends i really didn't know that well! and talking about being shy, one letter my primary sch friend wrote me made me a little horrified, but highly inquisitive as to what happened back then. apparently, she wrote something like "i noticed that you were shy and uninterested at my birthday party. i would like an explanation from you" (in my head, i was thinking and laughing to myself... what on earth did i do! :P) regretfully, some of these interesting people you want to contact, you have no idea where/what they are doing right now... on hindsight, (and after reading through some old pieces of lil notes) there are also some individuals you wished you got to know better. clearing old stuff might be REALLY tedious, but it does bring back some good old memories... :) and i hope that maybe ten years from now, when i pull out some old emails (ah... times have changed) to read, i will find that people dun just remember me for being just another quiet girl... for that to happen, i have a long way to go! but a goal worth working for :)