That werks

After a long and tiring day, we made our way past well dressed young people. I was a little bit conscious of the brief stares and puzzled looks at our bag packs, shorts, t-shirts and sandals, our dishevelled hair, oily skins and wearied faces. But all that went away when the friendly staff greeted us, accommodated our request for the bigger table with the bigger cushion seatings, and didn't blink an eye when all we ordered were...

I'm no beer drinker, but I have to admit that when you're sweaty, hot and tired, a good beer is a godsend.

You can literally hear the chorus of angels going "Arhh~~"

If you're wondering which microbrewery we went to.

To clarify, it wasn't my idea to go for that beer. Credit goes to the other drinker. ^^

Blessed with friends

I wonder why I felt so tired of people?

Today I've been surprisingly blessed by friends!

Friends who are unquestioning, understanding, and gentle in their boisterous manners.

Friends who encourage simply by listening and pointing you towards the better perspectives.

Friends who simply laugh when you whine and complain because they know that complaining is temporary.

Today I truly repent for the negativeness, and ask for forgiveness for the cynicism.

The dark haze has passed and I can see truly again, and be simply thankful and grateful.

Too many people to please

After checking out of the chalet, I thought I was free to rest and relax at home.

Then I realised after receiving a sms that I had arranged to meet a couple of friends and a teacher, which I had forgotten because I lost track of the days while at the chalet.

Then in the evening was a dinner spent with friends talking about music, which ended on a slightly disturbing note upon a good friend's slightly negative reaction to my decision to teach.

Musing on the way home, on a crowded train, a thought suddenly dawned upon me - there were a lot of people in my life to please. Not that I have to put up a false front to please others. But more of keeping up with other people's pace, learning to accept differences, and learning to be sociable when it's just easier to retreat inwardly and keep to oneself. Maybe I'm too used to being alone and not having to contend with other people's presence. And when I'm thrust into the midst of society, I'm reminded that there are many, many people in my life.

1. The friends at the chalet.

2. The friends from uni. (not to mention the different factions of uni friends)

3. The music friends.

As I walked home, at a late hour at night, I added another group of people to please in my life.

4. My family.

On the weekend, there will yet be another group of people to please.

5. Church friends.

Next year when I start working, yet another group.

6. Colleagues and superiors.

Is it any wonder how exhausted people are? Simmel's optimistic view that only the city living individual experiences true freedom really seems applicable to me right now, typing in my own room, in a mercifully darkened house (because my parents are asleep).

Tomorrow, there's only one person to please. ^_______^

Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning, to me, is a little like coming to terms with who I really am. The accomplishments, the failures, the little joys and little demons, old dreams, new dreams, old ideals, present ideals, ideals that never bore fruit, ideals that burst forth and changed me, bad habits, good habits, old habits and new habits.

When I face myself from all that collection of nicknacks, odds and ends, I am reminded that to move on, I must free myself from all that clutter and look towards the future.

It's a little bit hard, getting rid of the old stuff. I end up remembering old emotions. Lingering in the past, finding it harder and harder to let go... till I resign and tell myself to just keep it - and think, "I'll always be like that." And then the defiance sets in, "what's wrong with being like that?"

But I'm reminded of my resolve: unless I de-clutter my life, how can I be free to move on? It's a bit of taking a break, a stop point. To take stock of who I really am. And when I stop, I stop blaming myself. Stop taking pride in the past. Just stop.

And finally when all is swept away: the dust, the grime, and the clutter, I can go.

Hermes window display

One for the blog before I leave for Muar.

I wonder if this could be art?

More from here: Stunning Video Installation

I've got the Wave

Cool! I've got Google Wave! Unfortunately, my contacts who also have the wave are not exactly people who I always work with or correspond frequently with. Hopefully with the invitations I sent out, we can test it out. ^^

In 25 Hours

In 25 Hours, I will move on. Impatiently waiting for it. Maybe I should enjoy my last 25 hours.

Whisper

Good intentions paved the road to hell.

Writing

It suddenly dawned on me that I've been well trained in the need to meet expectations. So I not only clarify what is expected of me, I even ask for the SOP, hoping that somewhere out there, there's someone's footsteps to follow after.

But in writing, there are no other thoughts but my own. Sure, shaped by the giants of thought whose own journeys left behind historical footsteps and shaped the destiny of humanity. But in my own journey, I can only walk and in walking, somehow realise the route till I see my destination and run towards it.

The end is near. Press on.

Whisper

How do I describe how I'm doing? Aaaaaaagggrrrrrraaaahhhhhhh!!!! pretty much sums it up.

Whisper

Guy sleeping in library is irritating me with his snores! LOL. It's amazing, I can hear his snores through my ear phones! - I use the ear phones to muffle out the chitter chatter of people in the library.

Whisper

Feels like a struggle with Proteus... am I at Penuel?

The Road Ahead or the Road Behind

Sometimes I think the fates must grin as we denounce them and insist,

The only reason we can’t win is the fates themselves have missed.

Yet, there lives on the ancient claim – we win or lose within ourselves,

The shining trophies on our shelves can never win tomorrow’s game.

So you and I know deeper down there is a chance to win the crown,

But when we fail to give our best, we simply haven’t met the test

Of giving all and saving none until the game is really won.

Of showing what is meant by grit, of fighting on when others quit,

Of playing through not letting up, it’s bearing down that wins the cup.

Of taking it and taking more until we gain the winning score,

Of dreaming there’s a goal ahead, of hoping when our dreams are dead,

Of praying when our hopes have fled. Yet, losing, not afraid to fall,

If bravely we have given all, for who can ask more of a man

than giving all within his span, it seems to me, is not so far from – Victory.

And so the fates are seldom wrong, no matter how they twist and wind,

It’s you and I who make our fates, we open up or close the gates,

On the Road Ahead or the Road Behind.

-George J. Moriarty

Whisper

Grateful for old friends today. They are truly God's divine interventions to a poor spirit, lifting it up with sound advices or simple good cheer.

Whisper

Can we live without leaders?

The greater goal of straws?

For some reason I'm reminded of dear G_. While dining in one of Medan's coffeeshops, we were presented with suspicious translucent straws for our bottled drinks. Miraculously, G_ produced a zip locked bag of straws to rescue us.

[Via SimpleStyle]

All aboard!

The joy of overcoming personal dislikes and preferences in order to work with others and accomplish a common goal.

Courage

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at
the testing point. ~C.S. Lewis

Time to muster up every little virtue I may have.

Teamwork

Sometimes you just need to believe.

[Photo credit to Chris via Facebook.]

Fluffy clouds at Shangde

I'll remember this moment. When we paused in our tracks, looked up the sky and watched the clouds go by.

我会永远记得这一刻。 我们暂停，抬起头来，看着天上的云彩。

Sydney photo

Unfortunately you can see the piecing of the photos to form this pic.



We walked so much this day, my parents promptly fell asleep when we got back. Dinner that night was REALLY late.

Bubbles

I wonder how patient you have to be to get a great shot like this?!
Bubble pictures here.

Potluck Dinner

Riot after the potluck dinner. Shanghai will be FUN. Photo credits to Chris via Facebook.

Sydney photo

After imagining myself in an MTV-like senario, enjoying the breeze and good weather, assured that I've protected myself from Sydney's scorching sun by religiously applying layers of sunblock, I went home to find out that my head was sun burnt. At my hair parting... -_-;

Moral of the story: Wear a hat.

Rippy builds a nest

Rippy's bubble nest. No mate for him though. haha.

Post Fundraising Sunday

Big success at the fund raiser. Our net profit was about 6 times our cost. And we sold off more than 90% of all items!
(Photo Credits to M_ via Facebook)

Mummy's healthy breakfast

I became curious of what Mummy was eating for breakfast. So she made me a bowl too.
Oats and fruits... I'm no fan of oats, but the fruits were yummy!

Fundraising

I've met M_ everyday for 6 days straight... preparing for our fundraising on Sunday.

Here are some sneak peaks of what we will be using to raise funds.


The card design is done by M_ a graphic designer. ^^


Perk up someone's day with a rose!


These cookies are really good! Crunchy edges and soft insides.

There're more stuff like handmade jewelery kindly donated by SH,
Pouches, t-shirts, more baked goodies and balloon sculptures. Tired, but excited. ^^

I have to rethink the Stravinsky's quote on the right

The copy is just so... bad, I have to rethink Stravinsky's quote on the right side of my blog. Evidently, I don't think you'd call these guys great artists...

Sick Rippy

My fish got sick... it had small pin white spots and weird gunk hanging off it's body. So I visited a pet store in Marine Parade and was roaming around the fish medicine shelf for a good half an hour and looking at pictures of my sick fish to try to determine the illness when a friendly staff decided to be kind and help me out.

Except that he was bad in English and I was bad in Chinese. Nonetheless I showed him the pictures of my sick fish only for him to tell me that he honestly wasn't certain about the exact illness and so recommended me an all-in-one herbal cure made in our very own Singapore.

So for the past week I've been diligently dripping the medicine onto my poor fish, who strangely didn't even notice me dripping the medicine until lately.


I took him out from his purple box and into a plastic bowl so as to disinfect his box and change the water.


If you can see the white pin spots on his body.

The good news is after a week of diligent water changing (every three days - cos I couldn't stand the gunk lying at the bottom) and dripping medicine on my pet (a drop every two days - cos he looked miserable), Rippy is back to his hungry inquisitive self and making happy bubbles. He's still a little shy at his reflection though... preferring to run away than to flare up a challenge. Hopefully, he'll be back to his old self again.

Movie: Sherlock Holmes

Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson?! Somehow my image of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson wasn't quite this suave... or young. But I'm a fan (got my complete collection of Sherlock Holmes series falling apart to prove it), and besides Robert Downey Jr. always includes some interesting comedic scenes as seen from the trailer below. Can't wait for December.



Movie website here

Movie: Nine

I wanna watch this!

With stellar cast of women and one man, good music, fascinating wardrobe and set...
More from remotecouchpotato

TPO: The Soldier's Tale

The Philharmonic Orchestra (Singapore) is performing Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale. Check it out here.

Quote

Thinking that something isn't strange, is strange itself.

- Kimura Takuya's character, Tsukumo Ryusuke in Mr. Brain

Love Story to Viva La Vida

Popular musical elements are usually recycled so it's not unusual to sometimes find similarities between two different songs... and link them. But I like this rearrangement, even though it sounds and feels different from the original songs. The emphasis on the rhythmic element still retains the spirit. Maybe the ancients were right, the beat does communicates with the spiritual?

I wanna take great pictures too!

I came across a wonderful website on the daily life of a Japanese photographer. If only I knew how to take photos like his that depict serenity and peace... the mundane won't be the mundane.

Someone recently said to me...

I didn't introduce him to you because you'd chew him up and spit out his bones with bits of flesh still hanging.

I still haven't decided whether to feel offended or complimented.

Yet another weird phone call

I called back the missed call number in my phone...

"Hello?"
"Yeah, someone gave me a missed call?"
"Who is this?"
"This is Jean."
"Where are you from?"
"Huh? No, someone left me a miss call. I'm returning the miss call."
"What number is this?"
(Said my phone number)
"No, this number belongs to my colleague. I called my colleague."
"What? That's impossible, I've had this number for years."
"Wait, where are you from?"
"Singapore?"
(Duh. What planet are you from?)

"What company?"
"I'm not working."
"Which part of Singapore are you at?"
"East."
"Oh my colleague also in the east, maybe mixed up. What is the number you called?"
(Said the phone number of the missed call, internally cursing my phone company for yet another stupid wrong number.)

"Yeah, that's me. But I was calling my colleague. I spoke to her just earlier today!"
"Think, you dialed wrongly. You should check with your colleague her number again."
"Wait uh, I'll try to call her. See if the phone number works. What's your name?"
"Jean."
"Gin? Genie? Genie in a bottle?"
(Oh please... how many times have I heard THAT before. But I decided to act dumb.)

"Huh?"
"You know? The song? Uh. By Britney Spears?"
(Actually it's Christina Aguilera... but my patience was running out.)

"Yah."
"Okay, I call okay? If you get you pick up okay?"
"Right."

(Seconds later the phone rings)
"Hello?"
"Hello? Jean?"
"Yeah. You got me. Think you should check with your colleague her number again."
"Anyway, I think it's fate uh. Somehow maybe God wanted us to meet."
"Ha. Ha. Anyway I've got to go."
"Okay, thank you, byebye."

My friend says I'm too nice to have stayed on the phone for so long. I agree. Need to be wiser in the future.

50 People 1 Question

The question: where would you wake up tomorrow?
The responses? A revelation of dreams, aspirations, fantasies, gratitude and contentment.
http://fiftypeopleonequestion.com/

Dew in Muar

I miss mornings in Muar. The birds are incredibly loud, the air is cool and damp, and a fresh new beginning without baggage.

Strange

Today I...

Put facial foam on my body puff scrub

Forgot how to write my surname in Chinese

Signed my signature wrongly

Walked from the bathroom to my room... thrice... and forgot what I was suppose to take for two of those times

Could not recall what I ate previously

Could not spell avocado

Opened the fridge and forgot what I was looking for

Looked high and low for my keys, before realising that they were with me... in my jeans pocket

Wrote in my diary with a marker

Origami Money

And I thought knowing how to fold a paper crane was pretty good...
Got them from here.

When silence is not an option

3D Street Art

3D Street Art Singapore Biennale should bring in.



I like seeing how the passerby react and interact with the street art.
Read more: Dailymail.co.uk

CNA showed a report couple of years ago on Julian Beever's 3D Street Art. Edgard Mueller's 3D art definitely has a greater shock impact, but then again Beever was probably one of the earlier pioneers of the art. Which probably pushed Mueller for greater impact so as not to pale in comparison with Beever.

Waterfall by Julian Beever. Taken from here.


Video of Julian Beever's art making.

Since 3D art has to do with optical illusions, the art making process is a lot more calculated and precised, yet nonetheless shockingly realistic.

Strange wasps in my room

Is it the weather? The season?

Wasps have been flying in and out of my room. Blasted two of them at my window still.They look kinda pretty though....

My Birthday cake

Excuse the mis-spelling... But the picture of the cherry blossom tree is the main highlight! ^_^
Thanks to my church mate and her mom for baking the cake for me.

Farewell cactus

The last of my cactus died.

Thus marks my 7th attempt at growing cactus. And the 7th time a cactus has died on me.

Dear cacti, you've stuck valiantly with me all these years. Thank you for not giving up on me with every last spine and prick, I will remember you all...

Actually, I think I might have killed off more than 7 cacti... if I'm not wrong, I tried growing 3 cacti before I started Uni. If that's so... 10 cacti have died in my hands.

...

I'm a cacti killer! I've no green thumbs!!!!

On plants again.

My orchids bloomed again! So happy, even though I didn't do anything. Just plunked them there and spray water. When I see plants I always think that they are amazing, all they need is the occasional fertiliser, and water. Compared to human needs, they are pretty much self sufficient. Without expectations, they bloomed again one year later.

Ah!!! I wanna live in a room full of plants!

明日恩典

A song I learnt recently. ^^

Neutral

I realised that the word 'Neutral' is so important nowadays.

I used it last Christmas, and now I'm using it for the coming Valentines' Day.

It's such a comforting word. Used to assure people of your pure unintended intentions.

Weird. Cos if you have intention, how can it be purely unintended? Lol.

People are so sensitive nowadays...

Last Christmas, I used 'neutral' to describe a non-religious event/party/gathering.
This Valentine's, I'm using it to describe a non-SDU event/party/gathering.

Maybe people just don't want to be tagged/labeled/associated with anything that sounds remotely SDU-ish. Makes them seem desperate/left-on-the-shelf/stressed about being single.

LOL

Reminds me a little bit about being in primary school, and being teased about the opposite sex was SUCH a big deal. The accusation must then be treated with vehement denials/declarations of disgust/an arsenal on the opposite sex to support your own in the war of the sexes.

Come to think of it, those days were fun. You really needed to state clearly your support or else be treated as a traitor or worse, a desperado! You don't see that clear a social regulation when you grow older - cos such rules are more subtle and understated.

After all, it is culture.
No question or explanation is needed if you're in the society. You know the culture.

But then...

When the 'rules' are out in the open, they are open to debate, easier to clarify and given a choice to follow or not. But when the 'rules' are unstated, it is the underlying fear (that one may cross the line) that governs and subjects a person to self-censorship - sometimes needlessly.

The final question to be asked therefore is: "How do you want to live your life?"

LOL

Finding a good spot to sleep

Rippy

Seeing Rippy at his favourite spot to sleep, I realised that he was literally sleeping among his own filth!

Feeling a little sorry for the little fish, I proceeded to torment the poor guy by dropping stones into his glass and rearranging them... loudly.

Needless to say, there were loads of swirling... filth.

But Rippy's such a trooper! Slowly and tentatively, he checked out the stones to make sure - they are mere stones. Then proceeded to probe around for the best place to perch himself and finally get some rest.

The funny thing was while he was checking out the stones, I tried taking photos of him being inquisitive. But whenever I moved, he'd float up away from the stones and STARE at me.

Must be worried that I'll do something to terrify him again.

So I end up resorting to sneaking the camera from behind the laptop screen and using the laptop to hide my hand movements to take the photos.

I think I'll get him a plant sometime in the future for him to perch and make for himself a cosy hiding spot. Then he will not need swim all the way to the top to get air and all the way to the bottom to sleep.

Habits

I realised that I have a habit of taking off my accessories... be it in the lecture, at the piano... I think it's my way of settling down, especially when I know I'll be in one position for a while.

Meet Rippy

Meet Rippy!

Rippy checking the depth of its new home.

Rippy reading. Lol ^^

Rippy's happy bubbles ^^
A sign that it's settled into its new home.

Another attempt to keep a pet. Rippy's really cute. It likes to stare at me while I'm doing stuff in front of it. It follows my wriggling fingers albeit from a safe distance, and perks up when I return to the desk. ^^ Rippy's name is derived from Red and Pipsqueak. Other considered derivations were: Rip (X) Ripsqueak (sounds like rib steak so X) Rsqueak (sounds like risque X) Priseak (Prosac??! X) Ped (X)

The day I went to the Opera House

The day I went to the Opera House.

The interior of the Opera House.

The interesting point for me was the people. They really like their wine!

Here they are getting their wine before the concert. Many then head outside to sip their wine and enjoy the sunset scene.

Sipping wine and GAZING into the sunset.

I was really impressed with the pre-concert talk. The speaker was funny, but I was more impressed with the people's response to the speaker. They were really engaged with the speaker. Maybe it's the speaker's skill, or maybe it's the people's own interest level.

After the concert, many asked me if I enjoyed myself. Of course I did! But I think Esplanade's acoustics are better. Hahaha... seeing the basses work so hard and not be hit by that wall of sound... was a little disappointing. Maybe my seat was just WAY too far away.

Finish Each Day

"Finish Each Day"
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with
your old nonsense.

This day is all that is
good and fair.
It is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on yesterdays.

Want an apple?

The fruit shop


















Its proud produce.













A good reason why you should not wear skirts or kilts in this shop.