It has been a busy week and am so glad it's Fri! Met up with Ms wong and had a nice lil catch-up session. This was after a long walkabout at Raffles City, bumping into 3 Berkeley ppl at diff spots in shopping mall and being turned away from 2 full-house Jap eating places. We ended up at Canele for dinner cum dessert. The Brioche Burger I ordered was pretty good... but was like surprised by the Chestnut ice-cream cum crepe dessert we shared... 'cos for some weird reason I kept thinking Chestnut=Water Chestnut... so when my ice-cream tasted nothing like that I guess I couldnt hide my surprise :P Earlier today also had special lunch date with tph at Crystal Jade... And earlier yest dear Buddy comforted me after I just got pretty upset with myself & state of affairs arising from some meeting... I'm so happy to have such dear friends around me... For me, in-person interaction beats virtual interaction hands down... (despite being shy and AS) I'm actually quite baffled why ppl can 'sustain' so long and remain so active on Facebook when things you do aren't even real.... In fact, am rather irritated with certain features on Facebook (yeah, I'm weird) but i suppose I shall talk abt it in a separate posting next time :) Time to rest now.

D & D

The D & D we have been planning so long for finally took place at Shangri-La last night... And am relieved that everything went pretty smoothly! Though I was only in charge of a sub-set of the entire event (VIP/Registration) and the team leaders kinda ran most of the show I guess I did pick some valuable experiences. And after unpleasant memories of my dept D & D 1.5 yrs back I was somewhat hesitant to be the stand-on-stage pass trophies/LD prizes girl and kinda requested that I do only a watered-down version... Glad that things really weren't as complicated/ intimidating as the worry wart me had imagined it to be.. and on hindsight I should have been capable of doing all the stuff the whole night. But aiyah at least for a start... paranoid a bit better :P

Also realised that I am really not a v graceful person... So I was vain and tried to do a french pedicure for the evening... but for some reason I managed to (very obviously) ruin the white bit on one nail the very night I had the pedicure... Then was v upset and thought ok, on Sat morning I shall do something to the that toenail... Then when armed with nail polish remover the next day I very absentmindedly forgot that fingers had nail polish too then like kena tissue stuck to forefinger fingernail... Then er, like got one blemished fingernail and toenail now. So in the end I gave up trying to salvage the situation... Lesson learnt: No french mani/pedicure for me next time :P

Mtr Koh

Was doing Party Team stuff today and checking on placement card revisions we had to notify Shangri-La abt. We asked some VIPs how we ought address their spouses -- mainly cos for female VIPs we couldn't possibly address their partners as Ms XX's partner (whereas it was easier for guys cos you can just do Mr and Mrs XXX). Was v puzzled with one set of names... So we expected a particular Mr Koh to reply "you can do Mr XX Koh and Mrs XX Koh". But it was Mr XX Koh and Mtr Gabriel Koh. Now... cos I really had no clue what 'Mtr' meant I was pretty confused. The first thing that came to my mind was... now.... Gabriel should be a guy's name-- this guy cannot be so openly gay right. Then another wild thought crossed my mind -- wah, this guy can't be bringing his mistress along right. Then i thought ok, perhaps it was a typo and he really meant Mrs Gabriel Koh (cos Gabriel is still a relatively 'androgynous' name, though the female version probably has an additonal 'le' behind). So I trotted over to seek some affirmation from tph and she kinda said, possible. Hai, but just so I wasn't being presumptuous I finally decided to clarify.... And it turns out that Mtr really stood for 'Master' and that Mr XX Koh was just bringing his son along. When I saw that email I couldn't help but go.... Oh......! So suaku, right ;) Actually might have heard of little boys being addressed as Master XXX, but it just didn't occur to me Mtr would mean that!

Me feels very sian. But dun really have much free time to like rot & just do nothing. I shall blog abt something frivolous today; before continuing with some work... :(

So yest afternoon was like listening to some old songs I had on my laptop... Then I like realised (after 4 years of ownership maybe) that this song I have -- Somebody by Depeche Mode actually had such aawwww lyrics. esp like the latter half of the 1st stanza... but 2nd stanza like a bit questionable...

Somebody - Depeche Mode

I want somebody to share
Share the rest of my life
Share my innermost thoughts
Know my intimate details
Someone who’ll stand by my side
And give me support
And in return
She’ll get my support
She will listen to me
When I want to speak
About the world we live in
And life in general
Though my views may be wrong
They may even be perverted
She’ll hear me out
And won’t easily be converted
To my way of thinking
In fact she’ll often disagree
But at the end of it all
She will understand me
Aaaahhhhh....

I want somebody who cares
For me passionately
With every thought and
With every breath
Someone who’ll help me see things
In a different light
All the things I detest
I will almost like
I don’t want to be tied
To anyone’s strings
I’m carefully trying to steer clear of
Those things
But when I’m asleep
I want somebody
Who will put their arms around me
And kiss me tenderly
Though things like this
Make me sick
In a case like this
I’ll get away with it
Aaaahhhhh....

Lovely sunrise this morning. I've got nothing to take, so try to find beauty in everyday things.

Met boss in lift on way to office in morning and the first thing he said to me was, "You look sleepy"... To which I (audaciously?) replied, "You don't look very energetic either"... But it's true leh. He had tired look and I suspect I did too. Work can be so draining and exhausting (I very pathetic right, only 24 already so lethargic) Later in the day during pockets of eat-snake moments, colleagues were discussing how life is so stressful in sg; how everyone works such long hours here; how having and bringing up kids can be very stressful these days; how the older you grow the lower the likelihood of making new friends etc... painting a bleak picture of life for me :P But when I commented life seems so tiring hor, then colleagues protested saying that I was still young, cannot think that way. But sometimes it really is. Wake up. Work. Work. Work. Sleep. *repeat*

Kampong Glam

Met up with C, J & S for dinner yesterday and we decided to go along with C's idea of sampling some Morrocan food, "some 5 min taxi ride from Bugis"... When the taxi turned into a street lined with carpet shops and all (think Arab St) someone commented that it didn't feel very sg. Someone else wanted to bring her Persian ex-roommate here haha. The first structure that greeted us upon alighting was the Sultan Mosque (which, sadly, none of us could name. S however recalled that it appeared in our textbooks last time...) Then while walking to our dining place, I kept trying to recall what this area was called. It's the Malay version of Little India & Chinatown, I thought. But I just couldn't pinpoint what it was, till suddenly while deciding on what to order I blurted out "Kampong Glam!" (felt very proud of myself haha, but like everyone seemed v doubtful till we saw a NHB signboard nearby). Hee, quite sad right, this is how well I know my sg. I have to say that it was my very first time here (as much as I can recall).

Anyway, I quite liked the area, with its quaint restored shophouses and a beautiful mosque in the background (7-eleven had white wooden doors as entrance!). The Morrocan restaurant, Delimorrocan, was situated halfway along the pedestrianised Bussorah St. We settled for a outdoor table in the middle of the street. Food was alright, but service was patchy. The lady who took our orders didn't seem to be very bothered to serve us (C waited for her ice lemon tea all meal and was told close to end of dinner that it was actually "self-service"). The (Morrocan?) owner was friendly; but strangely decided to practise his Chinese on us (something I typically only experience out of sg). Anyway, it was a nice place to chill 'cos there weren't very many ppl around; and it's so hard to find a nice, non-crowded place in sg these days (esp on Fri night). We also discovered some other interesting looking restaurants along other streets in the vicinity. I shall return some time. :)

Facebook

Alas! I've succumbed to colleague pressure and finally signed up as a member of this social networking site. As with many other things, I have delayed reaction :P Actually many ppl have been telling me to sign up but I never did, cos I suspect my relationship with Facebook would be as doomed as my previous one with Friendster. Nonetheless, for K-P-O sake, I signed up to see who's friends with who, what ppl are up to etc... For time being, my interest is still sustained by the novelty of it all. But haven't really got around trying all the features. General impression I had was that it was a very American college kinda networking site, but am quite surprised by how popular it has become among S'poreans too (and globally as well, i suppose).

I had an eventful morning today. First thing in morning, found out I had been 'arrowed' to draft a speech... Buddy was v cute and remarked that I've been 'shot again'... and asked whether it was painful or not haha. But then 15 min later, a sweet gesture somewhat salved my fresh wound ;) I earned myself a loaf of home-made banana bread/cake from a colleague from another unit. 'Cos she wanted to thank me for translating some Japanese instructions for her some time back ;) Rest of morning was spent following film crew videoing staff cum management -- for an opening MTV item at our D & D... After laughing at the antics of some v enthu staff and getting amused by spontaneity of senior management/ HODs, realised at the end that my Party Team was not spared from the dancing & lip-synching either... (But I have to admit it was actually somewhat fun) Poor S, being the only guy around, was pressured by his evil Party teammates to perform the gross act of stuffing black curly wig into shirt (as fake, dense chest hair). Dun think I've laughed so hard in a long time. Everyone joked though that our MTV had better not suffer the same fate as the MDA one...

Maybe I'm just strange, but I really miss putting together like a well-argued paper.... Ok, not like I am very good at it, but I just miss the whole process of thinking everything through... Tying all you want to say together nicely... NB: all YOU want to say... and not what XXX or YYY wants to say. I think writing 'work papers' is hard cos you always have to be pseudo- psychologist and imagine/figure out what XXX or YYY would want to say. No doubt you are given instructions on what roughly to put into a paper to Ministry etc... But still... it's just so different.

And I realise that I actually enjoy editing essays... Though it's like time-consuming... Because somehow I feel like my brain is actually working. At times I can get so thrilled over being able to say, find one brilliant word to use, stupid things like that you know? But aiyah, at the back of my mind I know that I am not suited to editing things as boss or team leader... I will take super long, cos I am a slow thinker and I can have perfectionist instincts over the most trivial of things. :P

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... ;)