Totoro in HDB Estate
Jeannice recently gave me a tiny Totoro from Hokkaido... which i've put up on the windowgrille of my new room. And on a slow Sat morning I was inspired to come up with some silly pictures below... Globalisation has brought Totoro to the HDB estate.The view from my window, with Totoro watching over me ;P

A good friday

Yesterday marked my first night in my new room! yeah.. about 4 months after I announced that I would be getting my own room :P didn't get a whole lot of furniture... only a simple bookcase that doubled up as a side table; a bedside table cum drawer and a new wardrobe-- cos my sister's and my clothes were literally spilling out of our old wardrobe. since it's impossible and wasteful to just dump all old furniture, also reused some old pieces and so room looks kinda like an odd fusion, but still ok for my liking... hee... will decorate my walls over time. it's fun to be able to do up your own room... and to 'mark the occasion', i went out shopping for lil things I could get; and found a cool cushion cover (which i now find a little scary actually cos it's a half-face-half-motifs design) at The LIFESHOP at Raffles City, at half-price. (It's a cool furniture/lifestyle store, but sadly, most items are way above my budget...)

Also volunteered for the first time as an usher/ticket-puncher at the National Museum. task was quite simple, and caught bits of a very interesting Syrian whirling dance performance. at the end of it all, was also asked by staff to be one of two girls to present bouquets to the director and main performer... that was really quite random, but since no one knew me anyway and it's just presenting of flowers, i did it quite unreluctantly haha. but yeah, quite a good experience overall. not to be blasphemous or anything, but it was really a 'Good Friday' on the whole...

The Lives of Others is an excellent film. The first 20 min or so was a little hard to get into, but soon you'll get really drawn into the whole story... I love how it ends... I think not reading any synopsis (or a really brief one) would make the film more enjoyable/more impactful... pls only read the plot summary on wikipedia after you've watched it! Catch it at the Cathay Picturehouse before it goes off the screens ;)

2Q resolutions

I find it hard to introduce changes into my normal routine; cos whatever self-improvement drive I choose to embark on would inevitably eat into my sleeping/resting/bumming time... but perhaps small steps will help? And so, the 3 small things I set out to do are ONE: Be a more conscientious Japanese student and stop doing homework only at last min. This i've been trying to 'implement' over the past 3 months or so but haven't been very successful. It beats me why I bother spending $300 for each semester, only to remb sufficient grammar and vocab to do my weekly test. More discipline!! Also splurged on an electronic dictionary last week; if I don't study harder I suppose i'm really throwing money into the drain :( TWO: Exercise more. I've come to appreciate the importance of exercising, but I don't do enough of it. But... this will take time lah. slowly slowly... shall aim to eventually exercise twice a week or something. Should also be a good way to force myself to get off work more punctually. THREE: This is not really a resolution, but I've been trying to think about what things really matter to me/things I enjoy. Under the influence of that inspirational book i read some weeks ago, I have been trying to figure that out... so last Sunday I revisited the good old Bras Basah Complex and all the arty shops there... feels a little like finding things you've lost. Gone are the sec days where I could spend literally 4, 5 hours in the art-room just drawing one thing, or putting together a little part of my art project; yet not feel that time has been 'wasted'. Sometimes you wonder, have certain things been 'rightly sacrificed' and why have they been sacrificed?