My ex-landlords from Berkeley...

Have relocated down under.... to Sydney! Halfway across the globe from California... Got a Happy New Year email from my ex-landlady Tonya today, which contained well wishes and a link to their 'family website'. That was how I found out that they'd moved... A couple of months back, I thought I'd completely lost touch with them, since they never replied an email I sent half a year back. I guess they were just REALLY busy with moving and settling down! Kai is now 6 years old, looking very handsome (he has also graduated from kindergarten and was apparently recognized at graduation for his creative writing and "passion for communicating with others") I am not surprised at his achievement, since he was indeed one of the most articulate and brightest kids I knew. His sister, Ani, is 1... and looks very very sweet. Their family website also contains many family pictures (mostly of the kids though) and totally emanates this family warmth and xing4fu2-ness... And somehow fond memories of the family just came back to me all over again. Though I was never THAT close to them, they were all great housemates. I never once regretted visiting 1230 Josephine St after seeing their room-for-rent ad on Craigslist ;)

Someone gave me the Little Prince lamb for New Year :) It's so funny 'cos it looks terribly blur... Just like how it looked in the book. And just like how blur and innocent I can be sometimes. I told S maybe I should learn French this year, then I'll be able to read one of my favorite books in French.

I miss little pleasures in life.

Happy New Year!

I have 3 simple wishes for 2008:

1) Become a better photographer! I want to learn how to bring out the best in everyday subjects and to really appreciate the beauty and wonders of light.

2) Continue to work at keeping old friends/Make new (and good...) ones. Somehow feel like the former can't really be taken for granted esp into working life. As for latter, realise that I prob didn't get to know anyone new well last year, aside from colleagues... Hee, but knowing me, the latter should be quite a challenge... :P

3) Go on at least 2 holidays this year... Hopefully to catch cherry blossoms in Japan and visit some other developing country. Though Ting's rave abt Berlin & St Petersburg swayed me quite a bit too. Also miss Berkeley... Hmm, maybe 4 holidays...

Les Triplettes de Belleville

This Oscar-nominated French animation (2003) has to be the most bizarre cartoon I've watched to date... But on the other hand the drawings are so captivatingly unique and plot so refreshing I have to concede that this is a really cool show ;) In addition, most of movie was in pantomime-form; aside from the opening song, dun recall hearing more than 10 spoken sentences throughout show... Can read more about the plot here. If anyone's interested, I have the VCD... got it some years ago but never watched it till just now ;)

This Christmas.... I was a free-rider... of someone else's cool gadgets haha. Got to try someone else's Nintendo Wii and... must say that it's a pretty good ego-booster. And makes for great indoor family entertainment. Everyone and anyone can become a good sportsman/sportswoman... and without having to move very much at all... Even this Shi Min can like defeat her opponent at boxing... ;) But the REALLY cool thing about Wii is its ability to detect motion AND have your 'on-screen persona' imitate them simultaneously... half the time I was just wondering how on earth the sensor does that...

And here's the MONSTER ending song! - "For the Love of Life".... (might take some time to load though)

Long weekend...

I basically spent my long weekend lazing and doing almost nothing. Finished the entire Vol 1 of Monster hehe. Scouted around for other volumes, but realised that they were easily 30 something per volume... so have decided to watch the remaining episodes online. The ending song is eerily nice (Shall put it here next time). In case you're wondering if Shi Min has morphed into some psychological thriller fan overnight-- I really haven't. It's just that behind all this seemingly scary ju4 qing2 in this anime series, there's like all this history-related snippets abt East Germany and like a hidden commentary about human nature... Which makes this whole series rather appealing on the whole.

On Sunday, also got down to designing a 'book cover' for a lil booklet my section will be making for our DD... Actually had no idea what to do; but somehow once I got into it, creative juices started flowing... and I had something tweaked along the color scheme of our SERS logo. Haven't done anything arty for a long time... but I realised while doing this that the affinity I have for doing such frivolous things is as strong as ever.

Here it is! My tiny piece of art :)

Lastly, would like to wish all my dear friends who read this blog a Merry Xmas! Spend a little quality time with your loved ones yeah?

I'm a Japanophile...

Yesterday was an unintentionally japanophilic day for me. After doodling around the whole afternoon, went down to Suntec BookFest with family (cos Teacher sis wanted to get stationery and stuff in preparation for sch reopening) while I just tagged along. Though I love books, I have enough of unread ones sitting on my shelves for the time being ;) However, I stumbled across this display of 'classic movies'... and though at first glance I dismissed them as forgettable movies, on closer examination I realised that they were the old, GOOD movies... And this was how I discovered some good Japanese classic movies, such as Tokyo Story and Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru... Also got Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, all for $5 each! In addition, I splurged on the first volume of an anime series - Monster (Started watching it on Arts Central last week; it's kinda dark (NC 16 for cartoon...), but seems to have a very interesting plot) ... Haven't really 'chased' after any anime series since my Naruto craze :) So... yeah, am very happy that I have some really OLD but good movies and an anime series to keep me occupied during my leisure time.

Also discovered a huge MUJI store at Marina Square yesterday... And bought myself some yummy green tea mix! Actually it was while studying for JLPT did I realise that 'muji' reallly meant 'plain' in Japanese... esp wrt to clothes/paintings.... Though am not sure this store was named MUJI because of that; it certainly made sense to me! The name certainly befits the minimalist/simple (but tasteful) designs of its products.

Long weekend!

Think I deserve a little break... Today's a public holiday and took leave tmr... so I have a total of 4 days to 'recuperate' a bit. Weather these days have been very December-ish and gloomy weather outside now makes me feel super stay-homish. Nice weather to snuggle in bed all day ;) Thus also decided to take the time to change my blog pic again... ;) S once commented that the dogs in my pic look Chinese, with slity eyes and all... maybe they were just cold. These cute furry creatures were quietly sitting on the roof of a Tibetan temple in Shangri-la, Yunnan Province. Skies were blue but temp was prob hovering around 0C...

Atonement

I really want to watch this :)

I bought a lot of things....

Isn't this pendant lovely. Saw this in a tray of 50% off sale items at Fie Japan, and HAD to buy it, cos it's totally like something i would draw. Then i very boliao, spent a good 20 min or so at 1am in the morning trying to take nice pic of it at good angle. Aargh spent a lot of money today... but feel somewhat proud of myself that though I did spend quite a bit, I also got many many things (mostly on sale!). But once again fishing for bargains entails wading through irritating crowds (times 5 due to Christmas)... which is very very tiring. Sigh, no pain no gain... ;)

For some strange reason my title pic has mysteriously self-cropped... oh well. Will tidy up when I have the time :)

Today spent my lunchtime..... "exercising"! -- Needed to get some 'nice paper' from across Bras Basah Complex... yet had to get back to office in time to prepare for a 2.30pm meeting... So like ran all the way (sort of) right after alighting from City Hall MRT station, from Raffles City to opp National Library... good thing I wore flats, but my left shoe still flew out like thrice. Bit embarrassing... but i dunno, it was kinda fun and amusing having to repeatedly hop to flown-off shoe in the middle of the streets ;P Along my run I also "whizzed past" nice-looking shops... but a bit depressing, no time to stop. I shall go shopping tmr!

Disclaimer: Not like I didn't stop lah. On way back to City Hall MRT I like very lousy no breath already, then never really run anymore. :)

This Shi Min has been working rather hard the past few days... Think the next two months or so I can basically forget about doing much personal stuff on weekdays. Good thing there are some 3 public holidays coming up... So dun take leave also can rest :) But somewhat depressing when you're like the handful few left in office over 'holiday season'; then 1/4 of office somewhere else holidaying away... Aiyah but dunno leh, I am actually feeling ok. *Continue positive thinking* Life in ERU has also been particularly "unstable" lately, with DD leaving for studies and new DD coming in... Hai, all I wish now is for my site to go as timed... dun keep dragging and dragging... then I can finally go on my holiday... Though grounded till Mar/Apr next year, I signed up for basic photography class (starting early 08) at Objectifs last Sat, so at least I still have something to look forward to in meantime :)

You want to apply for HDB flat?

This question wasn't posed to me, but to my sis :) Though I should have been expecting this, but still cannot help but feel surprised when my mum mentioned that sis & bf are going to apply for BTO flats this time round. Dunno, though wanted to find out more details, somehow couldn't bring myself to, so somehow I acted like it was no big deal and nonchalantly agreed to help her find out more... So funny hor, actually want to dig out more details one (plus it's my own sis) but then too paiseh to go and ask also. Perhaps it's cos all along we dun share details on our personal lives, despite being 'close'... This also comes one day after I went down with sis to sign up for new phone line (sigh, copycat sis decided to get exact same phone model, same color... and EXACT HANDPHONE POUCH as me...! cannot really stand, but aiyah whatever, as long as she is happy) 'cos she was afraid of being cheated etc etc. Then I said, wah, so I wun get cheated ah? Then she gave me sheepish grin. Personally, I am quite relieved that her bf (maybe fiance-to-be soon...) is really quite a nice decent chap who seems like he will be able to 'take care' of my zhang3bu2da4 lil sis...

My unit has some of the most helpful/nicest ppl I've ever met. When ppl are so hao3 to the frequently clueless(work-related) me it makes me want to cry. Lucky I didn't, else would have scared them, suddenly tear in the middle of those let's-figure-this-out discussions...

Secret Pals
There was some commotion early this morning at the pigeon holes. From my workstation, I could hear a bunch of ERU ladies wowing and ah-ing... cos someone's secret pal had left her a small rose bouquet! And that someone turned out to be me! :) It certainly made my day, but my secret pal was thereafter accused of 'spoiling the market'... 'cos secret pal expectations were "upped" as a result. Tmr's our Christmas gift exchange; and I shall find out who has been so sweet to me, showering me with lil gifts every other day :)

At end of day, the junior officers also decided to re-collect all the tiny gifts we had given one another the past week or so for a secret-pal-gifts 'group picture'. Someone who got a donut last week then joked... already eaten want me to spit it out meh?? Though we're no longer kids, it was somewhat cute that this Christmas-secret-pal-initiative brought out the kid in many of us... like making ppl really happy for 3 minutes when they discover small gifts in their pigeon holes.

Hmmm, feel slightly guilty of this (go to article). Perhaps that's why I can get super stressed easily. And overly self-critical. And kill a lot of brain cells for NOTHING. But sometimes I just can't stand being slipshod leh.

Am back and all traumatised by my JLPT test... Considering how many answers I tikamed, will count myself lucky if I pass. If not, I will just try again next year... and make sure I pass then!! Sigh, am still not quite there yet, esp my comprehension and listening... but nmind, will take a short break from Japanese for time being; then start all over again early next year. And I deserve to give myself tiny pat on shoulder for religiously going for Jap lessons almost every Sun the past year... even if I dun pass, I did learn quite a bit :)

On a unrelated note, Sg feels more and more prosperous these days... with so many shopping malls undergoing facelifts and shops opening everywhere there are so many things to buy... places to eat and shop... takes some willpower to resist buying something everytime you hit the stores.. yet at the same time I feel somewhat disturbed... this place feels very materialistic (not like it wasn't before)... What do ppl want for Christmas? This voucher, that voucher.. this branded bag, that branded wallet... Of course I sometimes have a weakness for these things too, but yeah, try to remind myself from time to time that these are often transient possessions that wun really make me truly happy... (Sadly, "face" matters so much in our society huh) And seriously, women's mags I pick up are frequently unrealistic.. half the things they recommend are totally unaffordable. Few hundred bucks for a pair of shoes. A dress. And the list goes on... Who buys these things?? If I ever publish a women's mag, I will try to jie4 shao4 value-for-money-yet-look-good thingies... so that poor ppl can be happy too :P

Pretty benches in Bratislava, Slovakia (Jan 06)

If you've been reading my blog all this while, you might have found my new title picture somewhat familiar :) Yup, blogged about them nearly 2 years ago... It was one of those bu4 xian2 yan3 things that caught my eye... outside some castle in Bratislava on a gloomy winter day. Love the curves on these simple yet elegant benches :)

Am taking a break from cramming tonnes of Kanji pronunciations and grammar into my head... The last min me has been spending most of yest (and prob the rest of today too) soaking up all the Japanese vocab, grammar and all i've learnt all year... but head feels too saturated already... so will need a fair bit of luck tmr afternoon! In btwn resting and studying also visited food blogger/photographer Chubby Hubby's website the yesterday (piece of trivia if you didnt already know: he's Tommy Koh's son) and he has lovely lovely pictures of Bhutan! I want to be able to take pictures like that one day. One day.....

Yesterday I got physical headache today got mental headache. How can right, so young then all my brain cells killed prematurely... I'm beginning to feel though that thinking positively really does help. Makes keeping afloat easier :) Though sometimes when I feel stressed I just quiet quiet sit at workstation and stare at comp screen... then colleagues dun see much of me then everyone concerned what happen to me :P Ok lah, actually not stressed I also quiet quiet...

Today I took the lead and put up my wish list for our Christmas gift exchange! But ultimately some of my biggest wishes only I can make come true.

Today I worked through most of the day with a headache, which I suspect was due to lack of sleep :( Another logistical nightmare is about to erupt soon... this time round in the form of VIP invites and registration for a board-wide D & D... Somehow I whole day kenah this kinda role one, though got many diff sub-teams in my Party Team... So it's another round of getting right who are the VVIPs, VIPs and the tonnes of other ppl who's supposed to get invited. Hai, nmind lah, like I said last time, hone my skills next time can set up logistics company when out of job... :)

Shall sleep at 9.30pm today tonight! Break record. Hopefully headache goes away tmr.