-24 september 2010-

on the way up to an old-school house party.
Pavilion 11, Akyab Road, Singapore

bx

-21 september 2010-

late afternoon dessert with the bff.
Max Brenner, Vivocity, Singapore

nual

-17 september 2010-

zonked after bday games night!
Minds Cafe, Boat Quay, Singapore

kelvin/hooisin/eileen/francis/bx

Abstract City

Today I stumbled on this bi-monthly column in the NYTimes by Christoph Niemann. As far as I can make out, every so often, he publishes several small creative artistic pieces that relate to random experiences and observations about his life in his city - once new york, now berlin. The mediums he uses are so great - they're simple and very everyday, but the points that he makes with them are so entertaining. They make you realize how wonderful creativity and imagination are.

His latest column, published Feb 2, 2009, takes lego pieces and transforms them into something else entirely. A couple of my favourites:

he also has this thing about the subway, as any true new yorker would. i think almost all his posts have touched upon the subway in some way shape or form. For example, he once wrote a whole column about how his family (sons really) were absolutely obsessed with the subway.

they're so crazy about it that he proposed retiling their bathroom to be a subway map.

what's more, he then went ahead and actually did it!

The iPod Game

Not to be childish, but remember when these kind of quizzes were all the rage? I found this on FB the other day - one of my friends posted it, and I couldn't resist the urge to try it myself :)

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button (ONLY ONCE!!!) to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS - even if it is incredibly embarrassing.
----------------------------------------------------

1) IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY...
The Reason (Hoobastank)
Surprisingly logical...

2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Dear Old Shiz (from Wicked, the musical)
um...

3) WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
Forever and For Always (Shania Twain)
Embarrassing, but true.

4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
I Promised Myself (A*Teens)
...to enjoy myself :)

5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Carry On Dancing (Savage Garden)
YEAH! Salsa is in my life for a reason.

6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Love Is (Brian McKnight/Vanessa Williams)
Okay, my iPod is a mind reader.

7) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Love Doesn't Have to Hurt (Atomic Kitten)
...i have really sappy music...

8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Ocean Travel (Tearliner - OST Coffee Prince)
yeah, does this mean i'm going on a trip soon?

9) WHAT IS 2+2?
Higher (Creed)
lol.

10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Fergalicious (Fergie)
LOL..

11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Sexxx Laws (Beck)
ooh i am looking forward to this.

12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
I'm Not Moving (Phil Collins)
ironic considering my history.

13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Unwell (Matchbox 20)
oh crap.

14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
The Next Episode (Dr. Dre feat Snoop Dog)
what's next, love and marriage?

15) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
The Bare Necessities (OST Jungle Book)
um.

16) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Chu Shen Ru Hua ("Superb"; Fahrenheit)
yup, we will break out into a chinese dance routine. go hubby!

17) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
I Was Looking For Someone To Love (Leif Garrett)
they'll have to look beyond...

18) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
I Miss You (Darren Hayes)
I've definitely moved around enough for this to be the case...

19) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Makes Me Wonder (Maroon 5)
LOL.

20) WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
I Like That (Houston feat Chingy/Nate Dog)
when i like something, i do get addicted...

21) HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Lunar Gala Dance Song (unknown)
apparently I die of embarrassment while waving neon orange scarves about on stage. yup, that sounds about right.

22) WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
How Sweet It Is (Michael Buble)
If by that it means the CNY snacks I just ate...*hangs head*

23) WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now (Joss Stone Feat Common)
?

24) WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Under The Sea (A*Teens)
yeah, Ursula's death really cut me up.

25) WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
En el Amor ("In The Love"; Joe Veras)
that means yes :P

26) WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Now and Forever (K-Ci & JoJo)
commitment phobe, check!

27) DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Buddy Holly (Weezer)
lol.

28) IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
'Til I Say So (3LW)
hee i would be a dictator

29) WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Overture (from 'My Fair Lady', the musical)
does that mean the big picture?

30) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Hot hot hot (Sebastian)
HAHAHAHA

'how they met' stories

it should come as no surprise to anyone that i'm a romantic. i "awww" when i see sweet couples on the street, whole-heartedly adore sappy taiwanese dramas (and other chick flicks), and matchmake like its my job (sometimes even successfully :P). one of my favourite things to do is to collect romantic/sweet/unusual "how-they-met" stories - especially when i'm involved haha. no matter how prosaic a 'how-they-met' story seems on the surface, there's always an element of awe when i hear about it - it seems so amazing and wonderful that two people managed to find each other.

i was thinking about this the other day, and thought i'd list out some of the more unusual stories i've heard - and of course, felt like sharing the joy.

in no particular order:

1. boy meets girl in a cab - boy is the driver and gives girl his number after having a ton of fun flirting. girl actually texts him one day, and sparks fly.
2. boy is a grad student ta-ing a class, girl is a sweet little undergrad. they go on a date after slight nudging from mutual friends, and the rest is history.
3. boy and girl meet on a train in a foreign country. they spend summer together, but never exchange contact details. upon returning home, girl realizes she misses boy, and emails all potential name combos at his university until she finds the right one. love finally triumphs, and the missing boy is found.
4. boy and girl are both separately looking for marriage partners to suit their traditional families. by some strange fate they end up going on a date together, and 3 days later are engaged.
5. boy and girl are friends in the same dance team. one day she notices he has cute hair; he thinks she stands out from the rest of the girls on the team. after a few disasters, a couple comes together.
   
6. girl likes boy from afar forever. she tells him of her love, but he totally rejects her. by some unfortunate circumstances, she ends up having to move into his house, and after several loooong years of mutual existence, a never-ending love is borne.

okay i admit that last one was stolen from ISWAK (it started with a kiss) :P anyone have any other lovely stories to add to my collection?

My current top 6 favourite t-dramas

1. It Started With A Kiss/They Kiss Again
2. Smiling Pasta
3. Hana Kimi
4. Devil Beside You
5. Fated To Love You
6. Tokyo Juliet


Other notable series (not all taiwanese):
Coffee Prince, Goong, Bullfighting, Meteor Garden I, Prince Turned Frog.

Eleven Roses

My new favourite romantic fact (from my new fav drama, "Smiling Pasta", which has kicked Meteor Garden off my top drama list :P):

When a guy gives a girl 11 roses, it means that he will only love 1 person in this 1 lifetime.

Mushy, but I hope that when I get engaged, my loved one will give me 11 roses :P

I'm so glad there's a Singaporean holiday tomorrow.

We need more of these random mid-week holidays. I love having them on a Wednesday - they break up the week so nicely, and just make life so much better. Whatever tomorrow is, it should be celebrated everywhere!!!

Photo Paint!

Since I don't have a sticker picture machine of my own, I decided to play on Paint and make my own little random pictures out of the photos that N and I took the day we went sticker-picturing :P They're kind of very elementary, since my command of Paint is rudimentary and I didn't want to devote hours to this :), but here ya go!

Right before we got into the water

Wading!

bffs!
i'm actually kind of proud of the last one :P

Go Cross Campus - IVC!

Next tuesday begins the second annual Ivy League Championships on gocrosscampus, an online risk-type game that pits various factions against each other. When you join a game, you choose a team based on some sort of social affiliation - in this case, it's by what school you attended, but past "fun games" have had themes like relationship status (single, taken, divorced etc) and star sign (virgo!). A current "fun game" is based on a world war ii do-over - it'll be interesting to see how history rewrites itself!

Anyway - once you join a team, you build up "vitals" each day by logging in and energizing. You also get extra vitals for conquering territories, for having x many connected territories etc. Each team elects commanders who are in charge of writing up a plan of attack (or defense, depending on strategy), contacting other teams, and rooting out the spies in the team. It's a ton of fun! I first got into GXC last year during the very first Ivy League Championships - unfortunately, Columbia got fourth (boo!), but i'm hoping this year that we do a little better! Penn's leading right now with a massive recruitment drive led by their administrative team, but hopefully in the next couple of days Columbia will surge ahead (the more ppl you have the better - increased numbers -> increased armies -> kicking ass). Our map this year seems to be a distorted version of new england - which I'm kind of sad about, I've been playing on the Manhattan maps which are awesome!, but Columbia has a decent position, and hopefully decent allies. I'll keep updating as the game goes on - but if any Columbians read this blog - join and play!

Sticker photos make life better...really!

I'm in a blogging mood today, so I'm going to write another entry :) Went out today with my best friend N from high school, who's doing a law program in Singapore this year. It's been awesome hanging out with her again, and I love that though we've barely seen each other since high school, we're as close as ever!

Anyway, today was kind of a disaster! N came over to my area, and we took a bus to one of Singapore's largest malls, VivoCity. We walked around a bit, splashed around in this wading pool on the top floor (she has the photos, but as soon as I get them, they'll be up :P), and then decided to go for lunch. Disaster 1: There were bugs in our food!!!! We had ordered a plate of roast chicken and a large hokkien mee to share, and we were barely midway through our food when we noticed a bug on our table. With some unease, we swept the bug off of the table and continued munching away, but within a minute, we saw more bugs crawling on our plate. Being the insect phobic girls we both are, we dropped our chopsticks in horror, grabbed our bags, and left. Without lunch. We were too freaked out to get more food, so we decided to leave Vivocity behind us and take a train to Bugis to do some real shopping.

At Bugis - which is an outdoor street shopping area - we felt a lot better, and wandered around picking out cute tops. I love Bugis - week to week, fashions are different, and it's hard to be bored. This week the theme seemed to be ruffled office shirts and colorful tube top sprinkled with flowers. N found a really preppy but cute pink long button-down top with a collar and grabbed it. She wanted to see how it looked on, and so we ran into the nearest indoor mall and tried on her top...which ended up being much too small in the shoulders for her. Disaster 2. We ran back to the stall, and after some hard talking, managed to get the vendor to agree to an exchange. N picked out a flowery tube top...but remained in a kind of funky mood from the whole encounter.

Walking around, we saw a sticker photo store and decided to make ourselves feel better by taking pictures :) It was a little stressful, actually, because we had to use Japanese machines (where you get to write on the photos after you're done taking them) as opposed to the Thai ones that we're used to. We messed up a lot and couldn't find the erase button, but we felt much better after the scribbling process. Took a few random shots of the pictures at the store.

Yup, there's nothing like sticker photos to make one feel better after a lousy day!