:+: Fine after rain :+:

I want to extend big happy birthday wishes to Jenny who turns 19 today . I could be corny & dedicate The Click Five's Jenny to her but I decided not to but in any case , happy birthday Jen !

I'm considering which day I would want to go to the temple & pray & make offerings when I'm there because I received my results 2 days ago & I'm pretty happy with them to say the least !

I actually thought of going tomorrow after school but I decided not to . I'm thinking of going this Fri instead , since I'm going to meet Jiha after school for some lunch .

I haven't seen my dear friend for a while so I'm definitely looking forward to see her this coming Fri after both of us are done with school .

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Monday, January 28, 2008

Woah this's like the longest that I haven't update this blog of mine . I was busy with schoolwork & listening to too many new music that I got caught up with forgetting to update my blog .

Not to mention these days I seem to get more satisfication with updating my music blog rather than this one .

I'm psyched that Chinese New Year's just looming around the corner . CNY's taking place next week & this year's CNY will be a long affair . 4 days of CNY = 4 days to collect more ang pow than ever before whee & not to mention all of the good stuff that will be eaten during this period . For once , I don't mind if there's less steamboat on the dinner table as steamboat has never been on my fave list when comes to CNY reunion dinner .

But before CNY , I'm looking forward to this Sat where I'm planning to go attend B-Quartet's official album launch . I have not seen the band perform live yet & when I found out that there's going to be an official album launch this coming Sat night , I thought why not ?

Somemore I have not been to gigs since last Sept so a bit itchy & it's about damn time I go for 1 like now . I've been listening to Tomorrow Is Our Permenant Address for the past few days , good stuff . No wonder they're worth the hype & the critics really do love them . Could see why B-Quartet's 1 band to look out for . Pity that their sound's not mainstream . About due time that the world gotta know about B-Quartet I say .

Boutique's love & I think in a few days to come , I'm going to write up a review of Tomorrow Is Our Permanent Address . Haven't really wrote a local music album review in my music blog for a while now , the last one being The Great Spy Experiment's Flower Show Riots .

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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I kinda blew it on my 1st tutorial during Accounting & Decision Making eariler in the afternoon because of the fact that yesterday/last night , I was supposed to study for today's inclass assignment as I'm at this moment quite weak in partnerships but what did I do ? I went to surf the net instead & as expected I paid the price for it d'oh .

So which means to say in the near future , a few days before my Accounting & Decision Making tutorial were to take place , I better hit the books or else I'm gonna be in trouble . My lecturer was telling me not to worry after the inclass assignment was concluded as it only make up 1.5% of my module but still , I'm not taking any chances again .

I read LA Ink's Kat Von D's MySpace latest blog entry & she wrote that she's planning to go sober like totally & it's always a great feeling when you're able to kick an addiction for good which's what I'm planning to do in that to kick a terrible habit of mine which's downing too much Coke Light .

I got overdosed over the weekend from drinking too much of it & I decided that I'm planning to get rid of this terrible habit . Not because I want to but I have to because there's an ingredient in the Coke Light which's basically not doing anything good for my health & so's the vitamin C drink that I've been taking after I've done with my gym sessions .

The ingredient in question's the sweetener Aspartame . In fact I will experience terrible symptons which some of them are anxiety and panic attacks , problems concentrating and focussing & depression or irritability so all the more I should stop drinking Coke Light & focus on drinking more water (not that it's gonna be a problem for me since I downed a lot of it everyday) .

I'm gonna cut down slowly & gradually cut out Coke Light off from my life because it takes a while to break a bad habit & to make a good habit . I'm lucky that I don't smoke & drink so I figured that if Kat's able to quit drinking , I don't see why I can't do that as well . I remembered I used to drink a hell lotta soft drinks when I was a kid but now I don't drink them anymore as it's so unhealthy & it wouldn't do anything good for my teeth .

Maybe next time if I have the urge to drink Coke Light , I drink tea instead .

I've been listening to B-Quartet's Tomorrow Is Our Permanent Address for the past few days & honestly it's 1 hell of an album , something that you wouldn't expect to be coming from a local band .

Practically everyone I know around me like Leonard (who co-produced the album with B-Quartet) , Dan , Thomas are raving about it big time . Even The Strait Times gives the album 4/5 so that's saying something . I think probably in due time , I will write my own review of Tomorrow Is Our Permanent Address in my music blog .

For once , it's not mainstream stuff & the band's sound's a mixture of Mute Math , Muse , The Observatory . At the moment I have to say I'm liking Boutique (the 1st song I heard from B-Quartet) , Personal Space & Dispr:s .

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Friday, January 18, 2008

Wow I can't believe it , I have wrapped things up for my 1st week of my brand new trimester term in Uni . Sometimes time files by so far it's seriously scary .

Today by right , I supposed to have only 1 lecture in the morning but because of the impending Chinese New Year , I have to attend another lecture for a different subject in the afternoon & it was pretty torturing especially when you're sitting for a lecture in the afternoon since I have to fight off the much dreaded afternoon slump in which thankfully I didn't experienced it eariler on .

But at least after I got that over & done with , from next Fri onwards until the last few weeks of the new trimester or so , I will only be having lectures in the morning so phew . At least if the lectures are in the morning , I still can concentrate sorta .

Straight after I was done with my Accounting & Decision Making lecture in which thankfully ended slightly eariler than usual , I quickly dashed off to McDonalds ie. after I asked my lecturer some enquires regarding the 1st tutorial questions in which when I was there , I managed to solve them or so I think .

The reason why I was in a hurry is because I wanted & needed to do something in which to record a 987 segment in which Electrico was being interviewed by Desiree Lai . Well only 2/5 of them which're Dave & Dan in which I have to thank Dan for that since he was just telling me about it just yesterday when I went to see him .

I used my old cranky Creative Zen Neeon mp3 player to record the interview as my current new Zen wouldn't allow me to do that since the new batch of Creative mp3 players have the 'record FM' function being striked off . I said my old Creative's cranky because it has a mind of its own like iterally .

Any bafoon would know that a normal mp3 player would not switch on & off on its own & navigates the functions of the player on its own somemore which's what happened . I'm not sure why it became this way but it doesn't matter .

Before that I was worried whether can I manage to record down the interview in full as I was praying the player would not died on me or switch off at its own will . It did switched off on its own but thankfully when I was at the midst of recording that particular segment , Sean Kingston's Take You There was being played & so the interview wasn't affected .

But I gotta say that after hearing the interview in which Dave & Dan were interviewed by Desiree , I'm psyched about their return to the music scene this year & not to mention a new album too . Album no.3 whee . Hui Li's also excited about it as well .

It was weird to hear Dan on air eariler on though . I don't know the mechanics behind it but I suppose if I don't know him personally , then I wouldn't have reacted in that manner but I know him so it's weird .

The interview was enjoyable & I realised that after I listened to it , I really miss the band be it seeing them in person , watching them perform live as Electrico has been on an infinite break since last year but they're definitely are coming back with a bang & I'm so looking forward to their return .

& oh yeah before I forget , happy 21st birthday Sor Lay :)

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

I started school on Tue & I'm still haven't really adjusted back to the fast paced Uni life yet . Maybe because this has been only 2 days since I last went back but I'm sure sooner or later , I will adjust my momentum back to normal .

Since I don't have school today , I decided to go & meet up with Dan after it was like forever since I have not seen the dude for almost 4 months + in person even though all this while I've been communicating with him via MSN & text .

On my way to Raffles City before that , Dan was saying that we should go & grab something to eat & etc but I promised my dad that I would come back for dinner no matter what . + I had lunch at 2.30pm so I wasn't exactly hungry .

Initally I wanted to go to his workplace but he was like it's so boring so in the end I went to meet him at Raffles City . For a moment there , I thought I wasn't able to recongise him since I have not seen him for a very long time but aha the moment when I saw him from afar , I instantly knew from afar it's Dan .

Honestly , it was really good to see Dan after so long . He asked me whether today or tomorrow will be better for the both of us to meet & catch up on things . I said today's better since tomorrow I have school & I don't think it would be fair for me to bitch about schoolwork when I'm around him so why not .

We went to Ben & Jerry's & I can honestly say that they serve really really good ice cream & it's probably 1 of the best in town . So much so that it's worth it for me to spend extra time in the gym in the next few days to come .

In general , today was good . I finally passed Dan the presents that I bought from him & the rest of the band when I went to Aust last month & he thought I gave him a pepper/salt shaker haha in which no I didn't .

Dan's still the same person that I've known . Not to mention the same bully too haha . He was going on something about my age eariler cos I was lamenting that I'm old & that my next age milestone's 30 *deadpans* in which it will come soon but not now but anyway it's ok . I mean I tolerated his bullying antics for the longest time like ever & if I couldn't take it , I would have walked away from him eons ago . Then again most of the time , his antics are harmless . I say most of the time in which a small %'s not haha

But aside from that , he gave me some good advice in which I'm definitely putting it to good use since I usually sought advice from him if I'm having problems with practically everything & it's all good & I definitely don't take anything for granted .

He's like an older brother that I never had seeing that I'm the oldest in my family & I can't say how awesome it has been since knowing him for so long . In any friendship that I have with my friends , there're ups & downs but at the end , I managed to work things out .

Oh before that , happy birthday to Ken Hirai who turns 36 today :)

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Monday, January 14, 2008

Hui Li & I were having a normal conversation about our weight eariler on today before she left school to take her exams . We talked about the unseen & unwanted pressure to fit in & to look as good as our skinny/slim counterparts .

There's always pressure to be thin & when you're walking down the streets of Orchard Road & you see so many beautiful slim women wearing all those gorgeous clothes , I somehow will be affected as I don't have that particular type of look & body type to fit into the masses .

Not to mention when you go to posh boutiques where the cutting of the outfits that're sold in the shops which probably can barely cover 1/2 or maybe 1/4 of my body ain't helping matters too .

You imagine the pressure to be thin is already like that in a normal society but how about those celebrities living in Hollywood . I'm sure the pressure that they're feeling is even worst than a normal human being .

Having said that , my body image's pretty ok . It was very bad in the past when I was a teenager but as years go by , it became better & I tell myself it's ok to be curvy & not skinny . You have people like Beyonce who embraced her so called flaws like being curvy & celebrates them as bootlicious in which I respect that as she's a great positive role model to look up to as well as Alicia Keys , America Ferrera , Mandy Moore in which Mandy has a healthy body image despite pressure from Hollywood in telling her that she must lose weight in which she refuses to succumb to such demands .

I wouldn't lie that I put on weight during the holidays & this week I'm heading back to school which's why I think it's about due time that I head back to 'rehab' & do what I gotta & used to do in the past .

I realised in the past I was very focused when comes to diet & exercise but somehow or another , it went outta the roof & I began to lose focus as to my main purpose as to why I want to lose the extra weight once & for all . Not surprisely , my weight has been like a see saw ever since I lost my drive .

For starters , I don't want to spend the next decade of my life feeling all fat & frumpy as I was in this state for the past 2 decades but probably my main purpose as to why I want to make things right again is because of health reasons since I have relatives who're diabetic .

I don't want to scare myself but I suspect that I might be having some sorta health problems because I've been feeling extremely uncomfortable & feeling outta sort for the past days & it's scary to think that I might be on the route of having a health attack in the future so that's a wake up call for me .

So from today onwards , no more excuses for me & as hard as it might sound , I have to cut out all of the good stuff & get back on the treadmill . I definitely hate to put a no. on the weighing scale as it doesn't do damn much to my self esteem but as long as I look good in the mirror & in pics , it's good enough for me .

But it doesn't mean that I want to look like a twig , a girl has gotta have some curves at the right places . For starters , like what LIME's Levan Wee said , someone should throw a bloody sausage sandwich at Victoria Beckham .

& last but not least , extreme crash dieting is a big no no . I gotta do things 1 step at a time . Here's to a better & healthier future for me .

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

I want to thank all of the kind people who has left me bday messages via MSN & text messages . Much appreciation for remembering my bday & it's official , I'm 21 , how stoked am I & 1 of the text messages from my phone's a fave of mine & it was sent by Jenny .

The 1st part of the SMS goes by the lyrics of The Click Five's Happy Birthday heh in which I thought it's so cool . The 1st few lines that goes 'hey , you , I know I'm in the wrong . Time files when you're having fun . You wake up , another year's gone , you're 21' . Nice .

It's something very unglam but I remembered at the stroke of midnight , I was downing apple juice & it dawned to me that oh cool I'm 21 already , let's just continue to watch TV .

I went to Central to have dinner with my family . That almost didn't happened because my mum was telling me last night she's so bogged down with work & that she might not leave the office early today but thank goodness she managed to get most of her work cleared today which's why she was able to leave the office .

We went to Ma Maison which means My House in French for dinner as I wanted to try their food for a while now seeing that they serve fusion Japanese & European dishes & their signature dish's the hamburger steak in which the sauce that's served over the patty takes 28 days for it to be brewed & naturally I decided to try their signature dish & I wasn't disappointed with it & it's a good one .

Except my mum , the rest also ordered the same thing as me . The hamburger steak was huge , 250g . So much so that the rest had to give me whatever they couldn't finish to me so I thought why not .

It hasn't sunked into my mind that I'm officially 21 & that I'm no longer a kid anymore & not to mention I'm an adult now . Maybe in due time , I will feel the 'effects' of it but at the moment , I want to say a big thanks to everyone who bothered to remember my bday & also for the bday wishes too , hugs & kisses :)

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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Finally after countless times of procrastinating on my part , I finally got my hair cut earlier on this morning . I wanted to get it cut 3 weeks ago & up til yesterday I still haven't got it done so I figure better get it done today before I head back to school next week so phew what a big relief .

I watched Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern on Sun night as I figured I got nothing better to do on a Sun night & this time , the show was flimed in UK where Andrew got to sample downright weird & bizarre foods found in different states in UK such as haggis , jugged hare , head cheese , ox heart and bone marrow , jellied eels , pigeon , pheasant meat & etc .

Before I watched that episode , I didn't know that UK has strange & bizarre foods to offer but I do know that they served Haggis which's a Scottish dish & the way haggis's being prepared & the way it looks like , it's gross in both aspects . I almost wanted to puke when I saw how it's being made & the appearance of haggis's something like the jumbo size of sausages except it looks more grosser & yuck .

& eew regarding ox heart & the bone marrow . It looked disgusting especially when I saw the ox heart in its raw state before it was cooked with the bone marrow . It was so huge , even bigger than what I thought it would be . I don't mind drinking ox tail soup & eating ox tongue but no way would I try an ox heart but I don't mind to try pigeon & phesant meat .

& I thought last Sat's Japan Hour was bad where the hosts were served a whole tuna head that was cooked . Then again I also don't know why am I watching shows to gross the heck outta myself .

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Sunday, January 06, 2008

Oh happy days , earlier on in the afternoon it was party time where my family of both sides , maternal & paternal got together at Royal Plaza On Scotts's Carousel to celebrate my 21st birthday in advance .

My mum initially wanted to make reservations at Raffles Plaza where the old tea room was located at but on 2nd thoughts , Carousel is better . Somemore I'm not big on Nonya food since I can't take too much spicy food as my chili tolerance's very low .

I wore something that I usually don't wear on a daily basis which was cool & the odd thing's that despite the fact that Carousel serves buffet style cuisine , I only polished 3 plates of food which's like the least amount of food that I ate for a buffet spread as I wasn't hungry seeing that I had breakfast before I left the house .

Somemore I was busy entertaining my relatives as I was the 'star' of the event just now & most of my relatives have not been to Carousel before but for me , I have been there a couple of times & honestly , their buffet spread's 1 of the better ones out there in the market & for the past few times that I went there to eat , I always head straight to the roast chicken / steak while Hui Li will head to the bread basket .

Carousel has a great selection of food but I realised 1 of their weakness lies in desserts as somehow to me , they don't seem to be strong in this area but hopefully they can work things out to improve on things .

If you ask me , it's the thought & family that counts as most of the time , my paternal & maternal relatives don't get to see each other often , aside from Chinese New Year but just now , the family's gathering was great & my cousin Hwee Gek's baby son Yang Khiat's so cute . His eyes are panda-like & his cheeks are so chubby but when everyone was gathering around me to see me cut the birthday cake , he was pulling my hair of all things -.- .

I received stuff from my relatives , mostly cash (in which I'm going to bank in probably 90% of the $ that I collected since I'm a very very very bad spendthrift . If there's $ in front of me now , I would spend it without giving any 2nd thoughts) , Takashimya vouchers , a birthday card & last but not least 3 gorgeous pendants & 1 of them's a white gold collage of hearts & it's very pretty . The other 2 are key pendants in which 1 of them was given to me by my mum .

Before things were called a day , the staff at Carousel gathered around me bringing out the birthday cake that my mum bought just before the restaurant opened & started singing a birthday song to me & I'm not the only 1 whose's celebrating my birthday in advance in Carousel . The same thing happened 3 times at different parts of the restaurant .

The cake that my mum ordered from Carousel is supposedly their signature cake called Sunset & the taste of the Sunset cake's very unusual . Sunset is a mixture of dark chocolate cream , orange creme brelee & nougat . It's a weird concoction I know but there's always a 1st for everything .

Have to see whether my family can go out together to celebrate my actual birthday on Thurs . Hopefully everyone will be free on that day . Oh dear , I suddenly feel very old but I'm young at heart & this means I'm going to cross the invisible line to my 20's real soon & this means that I cannot say that I'm 20 but in my early 20's in no time noooo :(

Luckily I have not experienced my 1st winkle & my 1st grey / white hair ... not just yet . But that does not mean that I'm afraid to age . To me aging is beautiful . It's what inside that counts most importantly .

The co-stars of the event , the birthday cake & a heart shaped cookie . For some strange reasons , the cookie tasted better than the cake errr ... -.-

A cute Precious Thoughts figurine that Hui Li & Hui Lin got for me & I thought they would probably get me a pig or tortoise soft toy

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Friday, January 04, 2008

The 1st lessson I learnt in 2008 - NEVER ever open my big mouth for nothing . Why you asked ? After I gave a call to my paternal grandma a few days ago asking her to give me details regarding a skin specialist bcos I need to see 1 , within hours or so , I was bombed with messages & calls asking why I need to see 1 .

Er ... is it a crime to call my grandma to ask her some innocent issues regarding a skin specialist's details ? I have been suffering from skin problems all my life & I feel it's about time I should see 1 to address the root of the problem & to control my condition for good . No thanks to my mum's constant nagging on how bad my skin's , I think somehow her persistant nagging began to rub on me & I guess it finally paid off .

This's not the 1st time & I think next time , if I ever blare out any somewhat innocent issues to my paternal relatives , I better think twice before doing that . Numerous incidents already scared the crap outta me .

Speaking about the skin specialist , my mum will be accompanying me to see 1 tomorrow & on Sun , it's party time at Royal Scott Hotel's Cafe Carousel where my maternal & paternal relatives are invited by my mum to celebrate my bday in advance . Can someone say pressies in advance galore ? Regardless whether will I be receiving anything on Sun or not , it's the family that counts , not non-materialistic things .

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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

What a better way to start off the new year with a new CD purchased from HMV ! Hui Li bought abingdon boys school's self titled debut album yesterday on my behalf . Like FINALLY I say . Damn stoked about it especially when she returned home yesterday & she handed the CD to me wheeeeee .

I waited since last Oct for HMV to bring in abs's album & they finally did . I cannot believe I waited for almost 3 months for an album to be brought into S'pore to be sold & just last month I called HMV in asking whether will they bring in stock since I'm not willing to pay S$72 for a straight from Japan import edition & back then they quoted me a price of S$28.50 but yesterday Hui Li saw it in stock in HMV & they were selling it for S$21.95 phew .

& just as I suspected , the disc wasn't manufactured in S'pore but rather in Taiwan . It's a pity I say in that the album wasn't manufactured & distributed in S'pore but I suppose Sony BMG has its reasons for not doing that . Well too bad then .

Then again kinda expected since abs's not really that well known in S'pore or so I think but I was so happy when I finally received the physical copy of the CD yesterday . So much so that I almost couldn't sleep . 3 months of waiting definitely paid off .

I was a bit bummed that HMV did not import the CD + DVD edition as the cover of it's so much better imo .

Then again , I suppose it's better than nothing . Somemore the DVD contains all the PVs that abs has released prior to BLADE CHORD in which I have the files already so no big .

The CD sleeves of abs's possibly 1 of the best I've seen to date . It's just like a student handbook & the way it's designed's fab . The pics of the band are good & the content's not skimpy like some other CD sleeves I came across . There was 1 pic of which the whole band was riding on scooters , helmets & the works . That one made me laughed a lot & finally at least I managed to find out the lyrics of some of the songs on the album , especially the Eng no.s like As One , DESIRE , LOST REASON .

1 thing's for sure , frontman Takanori Nishikawa (T.M Revolution) is a genius . I cannot believe that the Eng songs on the record , he wrote them himself & it's impressive seeing that Eng's definitely not his main language . He also wrote the rest of the album too with the exception of the last 2 tracks , Dress & ReBirth + ReVerse as Dress's a cover of BUCK TICK & ReBirth + ReVerse's an instrumental piece .

Somemore the way the lyrics are being structured's another thing & it's not like some broken Eng coming from him .

Well at least I'm so glad that I managed to get my copy of abs's record . Now I have to wait for the rest of the albums that I want to buy which will be released this month .

I want to lay my hands on GUILTY & Kingdom but I have a feeling that GUILTY will not be on sale probably til end of the month ? I'm not sure but only time will tell . Waiting for 2-3 weeks for an album to be released's nothing , just look , I waited 3 months + for an album to be shipped & be sold in S'proe & it finally paid off .

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