2011 in pictures

2011 in pictures

Beginnings: 

Started the year with my girls home for summer break. 

Kicking off the lunar new year with a boisterous affair at home.

Turned 22.

Summer:

Did the same things I said I'd never do again and had a helluva time.

Had a taste of adulthood during summer internship.

Pranced on the tracks for the first and last time.

Remembering old times in Montreal.

Took a shot at dreams I've always kept. 

Drove in Malaysia for the first time on a roadtrip with the AC peeps. 

Watched G toss his mortarboard into the sky. 

Marked our second year.

Flew to Bali, to celebrate graduation, anniversary and first job.

Second half:

Missed these girls terribly at school.

Walked on the bright side. 

Still rolling in the mud.

Took some time to appreciate art. 

Rediscovered the wonders of technology. 

Went on adventures mid-semester. 

Adapting to school without G.

Thrown into the life of Honours year. 

Spent time with the dog.  

Rolled around on the lawn at U-Town. 

Marveled at my #1 motivation.

The last stretch:

Celebrated surviving the first half of the Honours battle! 

Had an epiphany for my longest essay yet. 

Getting honked at in the middle of Orchard Road with these silly girls.

Found time to be alone and be happy alone.

Elated to have this girl home again.  

Gearing up for my favourite time of the year.

Counting 10 years of friendship and more.

Found that crossroads sometimes bring people together. 

Made new friends.

And new dreams too.

To 2011, cheers.

found: valentine's gifts

found: valentine's gifts

While looking for some ribbons and stickers, I opened up old boxes and found cards, letters and various mementos that I've collected over the years.  These are the Valentine's Day gifts I've received from G over the years, each one with its own story.

2009.

2009 - our first Valentine's together. A sleek black box, labeled Angel. He told me about the days he spent in Germany, where he walked as a lonely man on the streets when he found this. Jumper and Angel came in a pair, and he bought them both, knowing some day he'll find someone for Angel. He did.

2010.

2010 - our second Valentine's together, but away. A long red envelope, addressed to me. I waited and waited, running across the small apartment to the door each time I heard the postman's footsteps. It was a white Valentine's in Montreal, beautiful but lonely. He asked "Do you know how much I love you?" I do. 

2011.

2011 - our third Valentine's together, again. An old brown box, yellowing with age. It said "G, give this to the woman you love." A story from sometime long ago, before I knew him. Deutschland encore, a special person in his life made a prophecy about us. He gave it to the woman he loves.

Maybe, I could have loved you before I met you. 

good morning indeed!

good morning indeed!

So, one rare morning, I woke up feeling totally refreshed at the unearthly hour of 830am despite going to bed some 4 hours before and suddenly found myself with too much time to spare. I spent a good 15mins in bed texting everyone GOOD MORNING WORLD! Just because I was awake.

Wow, good morning. It's been awhile since I've actually experienced this thing called morning. My brain went into overdrive. What do we do with mornings?? A brilliant idea struck me - let's get some exercise in the morning sun! Cycle to the lake, breathe in some fresh air, say hi to random folks and then drop by the mall to grab some healthy ingredients for a wholesome brunch!

That, of course, was only the plan. What really happened was this: I wobbled my way to the lake on the too-big bike, narrowly missed a few pedestrians and grinned like a Cheshire cat when I finally reached the park, where there is no traffic. Except there was. Old couples in wheelchairs took up most of the pavement, and of course I swerved to give way, with a big gracious smile. Since I was busy smiling, I didn't quite realize where I was headed towards.

Eventually, I found out that I was on the grass patch. No biggie, I'd just cut across the short distance to the pavement again. But the bike didn't seem to move very much despite my most strenuous pedaling! Of course, this was some nature park and I was stuck in some marshy fauna area. What the hell is a fauna area anyway?! Well, let me tell you, it's just an innocent looking patch of grass that's a freaking mud pool in disguise.

Never mind, we'll still have a GOOD MORNING. So I ventured onward to the boardwalk to enjoy the view. All's good. Time to wobble home. And wobble did I. I wobbled and fell because this woman was sitting in the middle of the pavement practising her catnap skills. I guess that was the final straw for my poor bike. It refused to budge another inch!

So I stood there, dumbfounded, grease on my hands from trying to fix the bike, mud on my feet from trying to save the world, grinning like an idiot at my own stupid predicament. And then I heard the bombs. The tree I was standing under apparently made the best toilet for the birds!

Nothing like running away from bird shit to start a girl off on her 3km walk home with a broken bike. Oh, mornings!

of elevens

of elevens

The music is too loud, we complain. We are getting too old, we concede. The night is still young, we concur.

Moscato wine from the bottle, favourite place by the river, eleven our magic number.

High and giggly from all the alcohol, we stroll along the skyline of our city, humming softly. The urban fireflies dot the skies, stars in the background. Why did they say the city is not made for love? We are. And that's quite enough.

We feel young and almighty, the weight of the skyscrapers light as feather. We make pacts for the future and get lost in the present moment. A lie is a cooperative act, but we speak only the truth. Your reputation precedes you, but I say love precedes us. And it'll be here a long time after we're gone.

Do you believe in absolute truths, I ask. Nothing about this moment is real. We live in our construction. We construct us. We create the world in our imagination.

Some time in history, light years ago, in a form different from what I am now, I imagined this moment.

Eleventh of the eleventh, eleventh of the eleventh of the eleventh.

(This word begins to look like an elephant. Maybe I'm a little drunk. Incoherent poetry for those who live in dreams. Postmodern. But I digress.)

11:11. 11/11/11. One and one, always a pair, never alone. Isn't that what everyone wishes for?

Happy 11th, my wish-came-true.

nostalgia is a strange feeling

nostalgia is a strange feeling

It's 1am and I pick up my phone to see a missed call from G. I call back, and a sleepy voice mumbles, "Good night, babe." Only our daily phone call, but it feels like I've missed something much bigger, like my night can't find closure.

So I pick up the new card that arrived in the mail and examine my own face. The long side-swept bangs, the yellow glow of the light, the turquoise top that I don't wear anymore. 2 years ago, an afternoon in hall, a chore to complete. I remember sitting in front of my laptop, arranging my fringe, angling my face for that photo.

I looked so young.

And then a flash of memory of me in a crowded room, too warm in my thick winter coat indoors, queuing to have my photo taken. Montreal, a shopping mall whose name I forget. I had to get my metro card done. But the image that comes to mind turns out to be the face on my McGill ID card.

McGill. Late winter, early spring. The air was still cold, some days chilly, some days biting cold. I was walking up the never-ending hill, panting when I finally reached where Rue Peel meets Pine Avenue. Another evening, another gym session, already a routine. Then the hike across the frozen field to get to Italian film class, where I'd always fall asleep, snug and warm after the workout and the walk in the cold.

I can almost smell the sweet scent of the first leaves and savour the surprise of the late April snow now. Rue Peel still meets Pine Avenue, like always. It's just me who took a different turn one day and never looked back. If roads have hearts by virtue of having a name, I wonder if they miss me, like an old friend whose name they forget.

Nostalgia, it's a strange feeling. I remember the heartaches and the homesickness of those days too. But I would be there again in a heartbeat, back at the same spot, the same song playing on my iPod. Because that's how nostalgia tastes, bittersweet.

how iPhone changed my life

how iPhone changed my life

So I haven't been blogging much, again. But this time, unlike previous times, I don't quite feel the need to update. That's really quite unusual for a narcissistic social media addict like me! Haha.

Here's what happened - I got an iPhone. I don't wanna sound like an Apple whore, but I gotta confess I was rather excited when I got the phone. Maybe delirious is the right word. G can testify.

That's me at the unboxing ceremony of my iPhone.

I don't know how it works for other iPhone users/lovers, but what happened for me was that I was suddenly armed with a smart phone with a great camera and access to all the social media world! And the best part is, this smart phone doesn't make ME feel stupid! I actually know how to use all the functions I'd like to use. WOW.

Oh and then there's the whole galaxy of apps that allows me to constantly update the world on the perfect or epic moments in my life INSTANTANEOUSLY. You don't even need a story, a theme or any sort of coherence. You just need one line, one photo. And the best part is that it's INTERACTIVE. Your friends can comment and reply with such ease and it easily turns into a whole conversation! Yes, I think I've been sucked into the black hole of micro-blogging.

So this is how a typical one-liner update would look like:

Lovely weekend it's been! U-Town tour with G, random catch-up's with
friends thousands of miles away, time spent at home. 

Being connected to the world 24/7 also changed the way I spend time online. My first days of blogging coincided with the first days of Facebook, I think. Back then it meant that blogs were still the best ways to share photos, stories and other random facts about life. It also meant having to sit down at my now ancient computer every night, wait for the photos to load one by one while I rant away on the keyboard.

When I got my MacBook in uni, I was amazed at how connected I was because I was always using my Mac in school. So, can you imagine what the iPhone did to me?? I don't even feel the need to turn on my Mac every night!

And even as I type this, I'm tapping with two thumbs and not ten fingers, on the Blogger app while the train takes me to school. So who knows, maybe blogging in the train might just be my new favorite pastime, quite literally a way to pass my time!

Just watch this space. (:

p/s: Okay so I realized that I can't really figure out how to upload and arrange photos on this app. Hahaha back to the MacBook it is!

22

22

22 is the year of catch-up’s. It’s the year G graduates and I spend the first week of the second half missing him. 22 is too old to make friends, but not too old to find old friends. I rekindle friendships, find new lunch/study buddies, step out of my bubble.

22 is the year I have my first taste of corporate life and find that I actually like it. It’s the year I end my internship and G starts on his first job, a short getaway in between, the last summer for awhile. I look towards the CBD from school and find myself looking forward, wanting to catch up with G.

22 is the year I reconnect with old friends with whom I’ve lost touch. Social media doesn’t really allow you to lose touch completely, but browsing through pictures of familiar faces isn’t quite the same as a “Hello, how have you been?”. We drop the arrogance of neverending tomorrow’s and make time to meet up for a drink, a hug, a “I missed you too”.

22 is the year before the future. In the future we’ll all be holding real jobs, driving our own cars, wearing wedding bands and living in new flats. In the future we will still be the kids we are today, goofy and corny, laughing about those nights we spend sharing our hopes and worries about this future that we will be living.

22 is a good, good year.

the end of summer

the end of summer

3 weeks into summer and I realize that this is the last long summer holiday that I'll ever have. Penultimate year. Internships. Friends and boyfriend graduating. Other friends going away while time allows for long trips. I'm slowly beginning to realize that life only gets faster from here. There'd be no more lazy weekday afternoons for shopping, swimming and just hanging out; no more waking up at noon everyday; no more having the whole day to yourself, just watching Gossip Girl and reading a book.

For most of my life, each year has always been marked with a long summer break. A time for us to take stock of the first half of the year. A time for us to chill and find drive for the next half of the year. A time when days melt into one another and summer becomes one long hazy memory that's so mellow and sweet, like the dollop of honey that goes a long way in sweetening your cup of tea.

This summer, I found myself industriously hunting for an internship and when I finally land myself with one, I feel like someone stole my jar of honey - summer's cut short. No more languid afternoons. No more spontaneous day trips. No more "let's just pack up and leave" attitude.

Now I think I'm beginning to understand why people just quit their jobs and become wayfarers for awhile. It's because they've kept summer in their hearts all along. I hope I will too, when I finally leave school next summer.

double deux

double deux

I was actually going to blog about my birthday celebrations on time, but I was waiting and waiting for that birthday dimsum with my family, which never quite happened because we couldn't find a free day! We even postponed it all the way to late April, so that Mommy and I can celebrate together with my brother, but even then, we couldn't find find a good Sunday morning to do dimsum! I think we're waiting for my dad's birthday now, which is in September. Hahaha. Fingers crossed. But before you go away tsktsktsking at what a terrible modern busy family we are, let me assure you we've had countless dinners together, enough to celebrate 10 times over. :D

So anyway, because I love celebrating birthdays, I've had 3 celebrations this year! :D

On the day itself, with Glenn: 

Check out the wall murals and G's birthday card for me. 

Fake lomo. Hahaha.

We headed to Greenwood Avenue for the famous pizza, and boy, was it worth getting lost for awhile! I thought it was unnecessary to make reservations for a weekday night, but it turned out that I was completely wrong. The place was packed, even at 8pm! So we hung around, and played the "Shall we be nuts and order the largest pizza?" game before we got a table and decided not to. Haha. But one day I will go back and have that hugeass pizza, I SIMPLY MUST!

Over the weekend, I celebrated with some of my oldest friends:

Dinner at the underlit Overeasy.

Lovely skyline calls for a long stroll and many photos.

The girls (and boys) and I had breakfast food for dinner at Overeasy, One Fullerton. Not a bad place, with an awesome view of the MBS! It was so dim inside that if I weren't such a breakfast food lover who cannot wake up in the morning, I'd have had a hard time convincing my stomach to down the breakfast platter. I love how the girls managed to get me a cake in secret!

The next day, a very late brunch with my touch girls:

Finally, happily seated.

Really, who needs dinner food??

 

  Camwhore in the ladies!

I really, really wish Wild Honey would take reservations because the queue is CRAZY long. Bless Nana for reaching early to get us a place in the queue. It was my first time at Wild Honey, and honestly we waited close to 2 hours for a table and no surprise, yours truly wasn't very pleased, so I gave them the dagger eyes while Karen smiled her ever-so-charming smile and somehow they presented the birthday girl with a birthday cake on the house on top of some complimentary muffins they served to prevent us from fainting from hunger. In conclusion? We had a lovely, lovely taitai brunch! I totally want to be doing this 10 years down the road still. :D

So yes, I did have a very, very happy birthday. (And yes, I am still waiting for that family birthday dimsum meal to materialize come September. Haha.)

macbeth in the park

macbeth in the park

Macbeth in the park was the first thing I did to celebrate the end of third year in university! It's the best way to kickstart summer. (Even though neither internship nor holiday is confirmed. Haha.)

As you know, I've always loved picnics and all things artsy fartsy, so Shakespeare in the Park was probably one of the best thing that could happen in Singapore for me. I was pretty bumped about missing the previous one, A Midsummer Night's Dream, so I was all hyped up when Shan asked me if I wanted to catch Macbeth!

We were blessed with great weather, especially considering that it'd been raining almost every other afternoon. The evening was breezy and cool, although the climb of 1345 steps to Fort Canning was anything but that. When we finally got to Fort Canning Park, boy, were we glad to be finally nestling on our mat, drinking Moscato from the bottle and munching on sandwiches from Provence. We thought our picnic was thrashing everyone else's, until we saw people drinking champagne from proper glasses. Dammit!

I think Macbeth is showing till the 22nd, so go catch it if you'd like a picnic with Shakespeare too! Just take the route that starts behind the national museum. Where there are escalators that will spare you the torturous climb.