I did it again!

Not posted for super long!

Anyhow, check this out..




I have actually uploaded my remaining Japan pictures, just havent had the time to narrate them. O well. Or the mood.

And the days go by-the-by-the-byyy

Heylo.

To the very many that have asked why I havent been blogging.

Urm. Not in the mood. And nothing very much exciting to blog about. Life has been mostly good. I like my job. I like my bosses. I like my colleagues (bunch of jokers). So really it does seem mostly rosy. Kinda.

And i have a new friend in my office to keep me company. Yes, I am very privileged to be sitting where i am sitting, with no window into the main corridor (yes, it is actually a partner's room) and I have no room mate. at the moment.

So this is my zebra, ZERO. I chose ZERO from the very many animals because he is stripey and funky. Yes.

So i was saying i have no room mate so like ALL the interns there are possible have been rotated to sit with me. I am like the host LA.

Well, after pretty non-eventful days, HS brought me to the Night Festival at Singapore Art Museum. Apparently they had this free visits to the Museum thingy and there was a free showing of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY 1970 version or something.. (older than me lorh).. and it was good.

Talking about dreams and hoping.. rather elusive if you ask me.. but makes one happy nevertheless..

HS brought mats so we just parked ourselves on the grass. And because it was free the whole place was like PACKED larh.. singaporeans right...

After the screening, they had this "light installation" thingy from Australia.. and they made the facade of the Singapore museum so very different because of the various lighting..





Chioh lorh..
But i think it looks vaguely haunted, neh?

O the other thing was that we tried to crash the ZOUK HIP HOP party at SMU and to my great joy, the security guard thought that we were still students!!!

happiness lorh, i graduated 4 years ago..

And yes, the other thing I have been doing is speaking too much with J. Hence my very bad grammar. It's kinda cute to forget your grammar sometimes, or do i think that only because i dont have a problem with my grammar.. *shrug*

(to be honest i find it jarring, audibly, to speak to people with bad grammar, if u know what i mean.. doesnt mean that i like them less.. just that the inside of you is screaming.. SYNTAX WRONG... TENSES WRONG! etc.. )

okay the other thing i did, was also at the behest of HS.


Yes.. SINGFEST!!!

There was some LEVIs deal. All i had to do was pay for a pair of jeans and i got free tickets to SINGFEST!!! Happening boh...

Anyhow, it was like SUPER crowded lorh..

The show starts at 3 pm (or so they claim). HS and i reached at 1330 in the vain hope of getting a good seat. Man. They didnt let anyone in for like 1 hour so after Q-ing for half an hour to even get in, we had to wait again.

Speaking of which, there was this super uncool girl, who was yakking on the phone and walked all the way to the queue in front of us and just plonked herself there. This was where we got after Q-ing for like 45 minutes ! So HS asked her what she was doing there, and she had the NERVE to reply that all her friends were inside and she was hoping that we would show a little compassion (in a real standoffish manner) So HS said, no, you want to go in please join the back of the queue and whatever it is, not infront of us..

I dont get these people - inconsiderate AND shameless.. there were alot of these around at the festival..


So whilst waiting, we were trigger happy..

and from the crowd i spotted one of seniors! and then later on .. may many of my colleagues!! There were many many from the fraternity there lorh!

So after Q-ing for so long, we managed to find like a seat somewhere in front of the soundbox in the middle of the grass patch.. emcees for the day was the mutton brothers (or something like that) from 98.7.. but the emcees for the grand finale was glenn and the flying dutchman.


And the sun was BLAZING.. like everyone was wearing very little.. and i had SLATHERED sunblock on like crazy, before and during the festival.. so for my 3 hours in the sun.. i hardly changed my skin tone.. so jaszy is happy. =D



And in btw performances, we took more pictures of ourselves..


The food was really exorbitant.. i had a wrap for like 10 bucks. the alcohol was cheaper.. like 10 bucks as well.. and with the weather.. we could have taken BARRELS lorh.. but it was too ex..


snap snap...

snap snap again...

you cant blame us, really.. there were only a few good shows.. i mean generally not bad but the shows that got people moving was like.. towards the end..

I dont need new glasses with these shades..
I cant rem this band. Could be panic at the disco..


Sorry cant rem!

More boredom. Excuse us. I thought her hat was pretty funky.





And the night got really moving with JASON MIRAZ.. he KICKS ASS LORH!!!

i didnt KNOW who he was until i heard the geek in the pink song and i was like OOOO.. I KNOW this guy.. i is like!! Anyhow, Jason was the most charismatic singer of the lot.. like totally engaging the crowd... cant say the same for the rest..

i cant rem who this is, might be the pussycat dolls. At first i was real excited until i realized that they really cant do anything other than wear very little and prance around?

There was this part of the jig where the girls were like.. hey let's show everyone what we can do, and this girl KIMBERLY .. (whom I thought was quite hot, to be honest) all she could do was.. stand one one foot in her stilettos and then pull the other leg up sideways until she could kiss it..

AND SHE WAS REAL PROUD OF IT..

AND THE WHOLE TIME WHEN THE REST OF THE BAND ASKED HER.. SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO KIMBERLY..

SHE WILL GO I CAN DO THIS!

and she will do it.

Man.. no Nobel prizes to be given out here.. not that i can do what she did but it was like so !!!

perhaps I am too harsh. those are the goods they are selling, right?
And the last part of the show was Alicia Keyes. If we had pay all that $$ just to watch her, it would have been worth it..




I thought i would end with giving everyone a taste of jason, my new favourite..




other news, WH is coming home so i am mighty pleased.. perhaps more on that another time!!

So cute! Get one today!

awwwww.. so cute can cry.



this baby above so intense.. scally he grow up with lazy eye the papa so bad teach him these kinda things..

=)

Japan 2008 Part (ii) - losing steam but must still blog the good stuff!!!

As usual, when there are like a trillion photos, it gets very cumbersome to put them up. But I feel obliged to (dont know for what.. since nobody reads my blog now)..

FOR YOU FURRY!! I AM PUTTING IT UP FOR YOU!! (Actually not true larh.. i think MONKEY also reads my blog wan, and HS and WH.. actually alot of you read it, except that with these I dont actually have to instruct them to do it. Heh..)

ANYHOWS..

I was saying that I am very grateful for my 2 guides in Japan. When my gal-friends heard that I was going to Japan alone, they immediately volunteered two of their friends to bring me around as guides. These ladies went beyond the call of duty to bring me around.. Last post you guys were introduced to the funkymama Yuki , and today we have Nozomi.. a nice young lady (WHO IS THE PASTOR'S DAUGHTER LORH) working in the local university (man I sound like i am writing for SDU.. all Ps Vic's fault... check out the post in question at his blog here)..

So anyhow this is Nozomi..

I thought her scarf was nice. She said she got it from Singapore. =_=

Nozomi wanted to bring me to Harajuku, but I thought Harajuku is totally do-able by myself. I asked instead for her to bring me to Odaiba, by ferry (which was farnee because on the way there we talked so much we missed the stop and ended up at Yokohama, which is like the next city.. hahaa) .

So anyhow, I wanted to go to an onsen real bad. There was this special theme park onsen at Odaiba which was supposed to have different types of baths (special flavours, etc) and it is built like Edo-Japan. When you get on the inside, everyone changes to like Yu-Katas and you deposit your stuff into lockers. They have this electronic wristlet which acts like your wallet so you dont have to bring any money around.

This is us outside the Onsen. Oedo Onsen.

Panty vending machine! But it's not like the ones at the Sex-shop. The ones here are clean and packed for those who (forgot to bring theirs??? forgot a birthday and need to get a present quick??)


Nozomi was commenting that she thought this foreigner (i.e. me) was very brave to have requested to be brought to an onsen. Most foreigners would be shy because basically you would have to walk around naked (so that you can dip into the onsen, riiiiggghhhhtttt?). I mean.. i didnt really think about it larh, I just wanted to check out the place!

And she was right.. i got the culture shock of my life lorh!!!

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I NEVER SAW SO MANY NAKED WOMEN IN MY LIFE LEH!

But there are no pictures, for obvious reasons. But for those who are secretly wondering, the baths are divided into one for men and one for women... (some honeymoon suites have their own onsens. nice)

I realize the whole deal about the onsen is to soak yourself in SUPER HOT WATER.. then when you cant take it anymore you basically dash out to sit around in the cool air. There was an outdoor onsen Japanese landscaped style and it was spring so the temperature was very cool. And i realized that this going in and out of hot water and air-drying in a very cool landscape garden is very shiok.

So at night, I had a nice girly dinner with Yuki at Odaiba shopping complex. And here we have the famous RAINBOW BRIDGE!



It was super cold and super romantic. Alas there was nobody standing next to me, not even another tourist(!!), for me to exclaim at the beauty (I have this thing for lights at night).

Okay here we tried taking picture in the toilet a-la- XIAXUE style.. I have never tried this shooting your own reflection in the mirror thingys..

Yuki was bringing me clubbing. This was her first night out (EVER) since her handsome Ryugen was born. Calls for quite a celebration, neh?

We went to this club at Roppongi, it was SUPER happening lorh. check out the picture here..


i never saw so many good looking people in one place lorh and it was packed!!! But the name was spelt wrongly larh .. ALIFE! surely they meant alive? =P

So we clubbed till like 4 am.. which is fine, until i remembered that i was supposed to attend my friend's church at SAITAMA (suburban Tokyo lorh) at 9 AM!

I am so proud of myself, i actually managed to wake up and drag myself there. and this nice picture i took from the subs..



so now we know that all the cartoons we saw (i.e Doraemon) are accurate representations of what Japanese neighbourhoods look like. there was another place (and i cant find the picture right now) where they were growing beautiful flowers outside the homes. Very very lovely. Many many colours.. Wish we can do the same... here we only have bougainvilla (however u spell it) lorh..

After that i went to Harajuku! Sorry, didnt get to see very many exciting cosplay.. apparently the fashion now is to be LOLITA.. so you see all these young gals dressed up as french maids, except that there are wearing pink instead of the traditional black and have these huge skirts (betcha wearing can-cans inside) and holding the hand of this young boy who is wearing like normal street clothes..

blows your mind man.

Anyhow, check out this boutique. this is the entrance..

I mean, Harajuku is like PACKED right.. but when you step into this place, it is like another world. I rem when I studied a little design in school and was reading up interior design, good design kinda transports you to another place.

this is totally good design.. the moment you step in, you FORGET you are in Harajuku.. there is nice music in the background, wait i think it was probably birds chirping because it is some garden theme and the walls are lined with carpet grass.. and the ceiling is painted like yellow with flowers and butterflies.. it is amazing lorh.. i HOENSTLY forgot that i was in the middle of sweltering Harajuku..
see what I mean?
But i didnt take more pictures because they didnt really like it, the shopowners that is..

The next day, I took the SUPER UBER FASTEST EVER BULLET TRAIN in Japan, the NOZOMI train to KYOTO..


Actually in the picture above i was trying to point at the cleaners. They are all dressed in baby pink and blue!!!



Okay, to be honest, even though I paid quite abit to go to Kyoto and Nara, after awhile it is just a blur of shrines and gardens.. I am just gonna post the nicer pictures..

It was no longer sakura season when i was there, but it was the beginning for that of the wisteria.. I managed to capture some very lovely shots..


They just grow all over lorh.. (reminds me of morning glories, but they more attas the wisteria)..

Not bad horh my shots..

I am pleased..

Got standard wan lorh.. =)


And here begins the endless streams of shrines and etc.. this was the first one i visited at Nara.. I took a picture because it was the first... after that I gave up.. everything was built like in the 1st 10th centuries and took alot of skill to make and etc..

I mean I know i totally sound like I dont appreciate it but i do, it's just that.. i like pretty flowers more.. and because we were hitting summer.. trust me.. there were MANY MANY pretty flowers..

so here is the temple..

okay this park is cool because it is the famous DEERPARK because they have alot of tame deer just roaming the park (duh, why not elephant park or tiger park right).

so they had all these deer that were just roaming the grounds.


When I think deer I think Bambi.. now i see the deer i think of jason. i think it's the colour. hahaha.

observing these that roam I see that the Disneyfolks were struck by quite a stroke of genius. Deers are alot more endearing on film. The ones here were pretty aggressive, ate the ticket off the pocket of one of my fellow tourists..



i really attempted to go near them, like pose. But deers are quite scary. They are nothing like the real Bambi. Think this picture summarizes how I felt pretty accurately..


Tentative. Heh.

And deers stink.

So part of the shrine after shrine that I visited - of which like all of them were built in 7th century Japan - pretty amazing, no termites yáll..


This is the shrine that has the most number of stone lanterns..


Cute horh.

And everywhere you turn, there are these little winding paths flanked by trees. Standing at the beginning and letting my eyes wander down, I go back to the tales of Hansel & Gratel and all the little Japanese warrior children living in magical farawaylands...

I forget who I am and I wonder, if I walk down these paths - will they lead me to my castle, my lake, my prince?



But such thoughts were fleeting. The lull of reason and sobering weight of time beckons. I dont want to miss the bus back to my (I would discover.. HAUNTED) hotel. So the let's-have-fun-in-whatever-way-manner-it-chooses-to-descend-upon-us jasmine resurfaces and i thought it would be farnee to take a picure with the spitting deer..


And this picture was taken from my table at the haunted hotel.



Arguably the best meal that I had in Japan but I was too spooked!

I chose to stay in Gion, Kyoto because I was hoping to see a gei-sha. Come to think of it, it may have been a good that i didnt see one I would probably have freaked out..


This is the exterior of the hotel that I went to.

To cut the long story short, the TV in the place switched itself off in the middle of the night. The aircon blew hot and cold. It sounds like mere electrical glitches now but it really wasnt then. I was so spooked, I chose to walk down the dark alleyway from the haunted room into the familiarity of mere darkness at 4 a.m. because I was convinced if I stayed in the room any longer something was going to happen. There were NO LIGHTS.. and after figuring my way to the front desk (which was not manned) and communicating with great pain and patience to the care taker that spoke no English, the reality gripped my heart that nobody sympathized with a foreign woman who claims that her hotel room was haunted. It was either I sit in the equally haunting looking lobby (i dont know for sure if it was haunted like the room) with its no windows, dim lights and scary statutes, or roam the streets of Kyoto in stoic solitude until I reach the solace of an internet cafe.

I chose the latter.
My recluse from the haunted house.

I do myself no justice in this clinical summary of my haunted hotel. But I write because I am obliged. And in the security of my HDB room and warm cup of milk, it is easier to do injustice to myself.


Anyhows, here are pictures of the surroundings I took whilst wandering the streets at 5 ish in the morning. I had refused to return to the hotel until it was fully lit.

Looks lovely in the day. Try to imagine it at night. Take away all the lights and you have it about right.

Quaint. (and scary)

I had not dared to look into these walkways at night.

Next to the hotel.



I apologize. You can tell that I lost steam. I was my usual ranting self at the beginning of this post (which was religiously begun two weeks ago. I uploaded all the photos guys, promise. Just requires alot of stamina to finish what we begin) and somewhere in between (i.e. the 14 days) it struck me again that I write best when I write for nobody.

Hence, therefore, henceforth, perhaps, just maybe, I shall resume to my old melancholic ways here again.

Maybe it's all the books I have been back into reading. We remember how I used to read so ferociously. (actually no, i forgot) Maybe it is my HFM speaking. I have little bumps on my arms and legs. I think it might be HFM (which I know is not lethal on adults and the little bumps should appear on soles and palms and shouldnt itch but mine do) that is speaking through me.


I forgot how to write folks. Good night.

What will i be like ten years from now?

I wuz gtalking my beloved wwh just. Complaining tt we never talk now cuz he's always busy (it's true, even he admitted it! I neh bluff u.) So anyhows i wuz asking when he's comin home to Singapore and because he bochup me i very naturally and conveniently started to whine and i started. I am behaving like i did 10 years ago when we were in school lor! Freaky lor. 10 years already i still like that. Hahaa. I wonder if I'll still whine to my best friends 10 years from now? Ha!

Japan 2008 Part (i) - how do you organize happiness?

Hello!

I figured if I dont start now, I wont ever start, like what I did for my Israel trip. So whilst I can I am gonna start now!

First up, what greeted me was the shocking efficiency of the Japanese. This is the busstand for the Limo Bus, they are punctual up to the minute, I kid you not. Whilst we are used to buses coming at ten minute intervals (and being late in that event), the buses here come at times like 16:23, 16:27, 17:01 and so forth.

And everybody's moves are like synchronized as they scurry around moving your luggages into the bus and issue you tickets to collect your luggage and they holler the arrival of buses to various destinations (okay i am assuming the hollering bit, I dont understand what they are hollering in Japanese... hahah.. but must be right!)

And this is amongst the first picture I took of myself in Japan, on the limo bus. I was real happy to be in Japan because for once I can wear my clothes in ALL the combinations I think they look nice in, and WONT look out of place, or all over the top, because everyone is dressed so well / elaborately!


I am glad to say that many thought I was Japanese! (That's a compliment. I think Japanese men and women are hawt! The men are like SOOOOOO well dressed and the women, I mean, I wonder if their husbands recognize them without make up... )

Actually i think the comments on Japanese dressing deserves a separate paragraph by itself and I shouldnt squeeze it in brackets! What I mean to say, is that ALL the girls are like SOOO WELL DRESSED, regardless of whether they work at Ginza (a la Raffles place in Singapore) or whether they do sales in the malls, it's like.. wahh! And they stick like both upper and lower lids with fake lashes, the individual strands kind? It's madness larh. I wonder what time they get up every day to get ready.

As for the men, I mean EVERYONE is in a suit! I was super impressed until I realize that the salesmen also wear suits, it's like default attire. But be that as it may, it's hard to look wrong if you are guy and you are wearing a black suit. I mean, if you are good looking, you look better. If you are not look goodlooking, at the very least you look sharp! And all the Jap men who carry bags all carry nice GUY-BAGS.. leather or otherwise, and you dont see any of the laptop bags that Singapore guys are so like to carry around. Heh.

It's farnee, I met ALH for lunch that day and was recounting the above to him.


ALH: Cant be everyone is so good looking right?

Me: Really larh. EVERYBODY looks super good larh.

ALH: What about the old people?

Me: Urm, the women in their 40s all are like well preserved larh. The men also. Actually you know what, I didnt see any old people in Tokyo. Unless we are talking about the REALLY old ones like 80 plus. I think old and ugly people dont exist in Tokyo.

ALH: HAHAHAAAA.

Really what. He laughed as if i was really biased and just obliterated the old people from memory. But really what. I really never see any like gross people in Tokyo. Except for the really gross ones.

So back to my pictures. The other thing that pleasantly surprised me was the DRUG STORES in Tokyo. (Drug stores my XXX lorh) These places are like DECKED with cosmetics larh. And it goes on for like floors! It is probably like 80% cosmetics (I promise I am not exaggerating) then the rest is like your normal WATSON stuff like plasters and biscuits.

I mean seriously, have you ever had such a choice of hairspray in your life? For girls?

Look!



Many had forewarned me about this sight. And many had predicted that I would go mad in Japan in these shops. But I didnt.

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Because I dont read Japanese. And everything is in Japanese. O well. Heh.

The other thing, which I already blogged about, is the vending machine food stall thingy. The picture wasnt clear in the previous post so I put it up again. What I wanted to eat is in the picture on the right side.

I actually lost weight when I was in Japan - primarily because all the food was SO HEALTHY and in SUCH SMALL PORTIONS.. no wonder Japanese women are so "tall". I was seeing everyone eye to eye and I was in flats and they in heels. But back to the issue of weight loss, and i WALKED SO MUCH... but i put the weight all back on when I reached home - blame it on the local food craving ( you know, curry, char kway tiao and the likes of those things)



So this is the first of these vending machine stalls that I ate at. The girl was nice. I dragged her out and pointed at what i want and she told me the number that I should press on the vending machine.

Actually most people in central Tokyo understand simple English, they just dont speak it.



This, is a love hotel. Just outside mine. Check out the hourly rates. Apparently such hotels are the norm in Japan - flats are so small that couples use these for a little bit of privacy. Well, if you ask me, all these tourbooks are written by angmohs. The place isnt so small what - it's like in Singapore. And I think the space in HK is much more limited in any event.


Another interesting thing is that Japan is pretty much handicap-travel-friendly. The traffic lights are highly populated areas (like the place I stayed at) play music when the green man is on. Different song for different areas. I took this picture because I thought it's farnee that the sign says it's for the use for the visually-impaired, like they can see the sign right. Hahaa.


Speaking of my hotel, I like it. There was this nice good looking guy at the front desk who remembered my name and room number so I didnt have to ask for my room keys whenever I returned... hahaha.. but seriously, it was VERY CHEAP, clean, and in a good location. Ikebukuro and along the Yamanote line which runs in central Tokyo, I will recommend it to anyone who wants a no frills kinda stay. Not to mention the very nice (and attractive) guy at the front desk who was so very nice. =PPP

This is the games thingy that they have all over Japan.. Pachinko they call them...



I also went to Shibuya, which was a little bit of a disappointment really. i expected the shopping be really good, this place i headed to is REALLY famous. but it is really like a high class Chatuchak - or Far east.. But it was nice, street fashion, except that i wasnt in the mood to buy street fashion clothes.. I did buy some SUPER BLINK accessories - which if I have the time I will blog about.

But i like this picture, because it is like in fairytales when the trees part from the clearing and you see the castle?? And excitement fills your heart cuz you are going into the fairytale castle?

I did feel somewhat like that. heh.

When I was there, I met two very kind Japanese. One of them is Yuki, Jean's friend who became my friend. Yuki was VERY hospitable, she even offered to let me stay at her room when i was looking for a hotel one of the nights. She brought me clubbing and shopping with her very dear son here, Ryugen. He looks Japanese, except for his dark skin and head of curly hair. He is very cute he is... i bought him this tshirt that says, "Cool Hunk". Indeed he is.

Of course, we had to go to take neoprints. Here I was just snapping pictures before I got caught.
heh.


I dont know why they dont let the men in. heh.



The neo-print area was filled with school girls, and pretty Japanese girls. But no surprise larh, with lighting like this in the neoprint machines, everyone will look good!

Just to illustrate how big and bright the lights are, here is Yuki inside the machine rummaging for change to take pictures. Yuki is real hospitable - she refused to let me pay for my meals. but lucky i move fast. =)

I cant find a scanner so I cant take a picture of the neoprints we took, suffice that it was very cute. Ryugen got really excited when we put him on the floor, he was just running around into other machines. And interrupting other girls taking pictures, but not that i think they mind. It's not everyday you get a cute little boy running into your room.


I also visited Mount Fuji on like the third day of my trip. I was very fortunate, because apparently you dont always get to see Mount Fuji. The weather keeps changing. I almost didnt see it because it was filled with clouds. This is the sakura at the base station of Mt. Fuji. Good larh, I also got to see sakura, which is also supposed to be super lucky cuz it was so late into spring already, all the flowers had withered. But at Fuji still cold so still have sakura.



so nice horh.

Again.
And up at the fourth station (which was the highest we could go in the weather) got this uncle selling sotong. hahaha. i like.



Okay this is me sitting near the snow. This might be the first time i saw snow actually. Quite anti-climatic actually.

And we have Fuji!


And again!

This is Hakone, which is near Mount Fuji.. and it was soooooooooooooo cold and nice and windy there. That day i happened to be wearing fake lashes.. wah i tell you, so windy one of my eyes the fake lashes nearly got blown off lorh!
Ducky cute. =)




So nice. It was probably the best place i went to in Japan. =)

Many Many SAKURA!!

Okay this is a picture with nice scenery. Then this random stranger ah ma's daughter, i asked her to take for me. Then the Ah ma thought i want to take with her (and why would i want to, since we are all random strangers. but since we are all tourists and I have a digital camera.. i thought i would pretend and let her take with me lorh. Afterall can take again right.. )
This picture so nice! Even ALH said so. =) heh. It was taken on the bullet train btw. =)

After Fuji I went to this high rise building at Ikebukuro to reward myself with fine dining. The view is good horh.
I dont know about you, but sometimes when I am faced with great beauty (which is prone to hit me when I am in a high place, or facing a wide expanse of nature - be it fields or mountains but especially large surfaces of water), but when i am facing with great beauty, i usually feel so very lonely. It's like wah so nice, then you want to turn around and tell someone - it's like the expression of beauty completes your appreciation of it. You know, like taking it in. AND if there is nobody to express that to, meaningfully.. the awareness and consciousness of that beauty just swirls around on the inside of you and leaves you feeling, empty.

You know what I mean?


So anyhows the restaurant that i went to was super nice, service very good, food very nice, waiters very cute and price very cheap. i even got a free bottle of wine. Hahaa.

So I shall end this post with my post card pictures of Japan. To illustrate the point about the expression of beauty completing our appreciation of it.

This one is the only pink sakura that I saw. Not bad lorh, even the very yim jeem P said I can use it on his online mag. Which btw has changed their name and you can take a look by clicking here.

This is another very lovely shot of Fuji.
I am going to try and blog about the rest of my trip (haunted hotel - YES! one of my hotels was haunted lorh).. but it's hard to upload so many pictures and etc. I am lazy, but I have to share my joy and stories with so many of the ppl I love, who have not seen the pictures!

Japan was so good.. possibly the best thing I ever did for myself!

I am rambling, but I am really grateful for the sms-es and the emails and the msn conversations and the blog comments, that i had when i was away - and all the little things that were done by very many people, that reminded me that i am very much loved and thought about whilst i was away. It was little but i was v touched. (Yuarh somebody commented before that i very easily touched. what to do, tender heart what.. lol). But yes, thanks peeps!

Japan was good for my heart.

Indeed. =)

Wah.

So we are in e car on e way to JB and QT wuz saying if we need charger for our phones can get from him. I wuz abt to tease and ask if he brought 10 chargers for our array of phones when he pulled this out. You really can charge ANYTHING lar. Cool. So guy.

I'm in JITPOON!

Yes! Thanks to ur prayers, i'm safe in my hotel room blogging from e bed, mask on my face. I nearly got lost just now! The people here REALLY dont speak english AT ALL! And e maps are SO misleading. And japanese guys are SO CUTE! The young men are all really stylish or swanky in their suits. I never saw so many men milling in one area other than in court and Japanese men look better than e lawyers lor! I'm glad to report tt i pass off as local without a doubt, i jus need to step up e makeup, which is quite easily solved! I'm so glad i bought e trench boat and boots! Perfect for weather here. Anyhow, e shopping here is pretty good, i've only been to e sama sama malls near my hotel and e stuff so nice! Can you imagine when i go harajuku and shibuya tmw? Ha! O. The picture above is of some ticketing machine for food. There are various orders and you must put in right amt and press right buttons. The ticket wif ur order comes out and you bring it to e staff who will prepare it. I really wanted to eat e thingy in e picture but at tt point in time not enough loose change and dunno which button to press so bopian. I know i'm rambling but forgive me. One sad thing abt travelling alone is no one to take pictures for you! I'll try to blog again!

Tell them what to do

I think the man is hiding magnets somewhere. But anyhow, it is cool to be able to tell fish where to swim!

Recently, some guy commented (yet again) that I was too directive. Which brings me to a conversation I had with Mal C a long time ago. When we were in JC maybe.

He was telling me how most local guys like the xiao niao yi ren type of girls. (read: 小鸟依人) But yours truly is the da niao chi ren type (read: 大鸟吃人).

Wah. I nearly died laughing lorh. I had forgotten how farnee Mal C is.

=)

zhng it!

Hello!

In preparation of my upcoming trip to Japan - I went today to do this to my lashes!

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Drama enough anot?

I dont wanna have to bother bringing eyeliner and mascara and what not when I am travelling so now I really dont need to have ANY make up on leh. SHIOK!

But I think it isnt drama enough, will probably go zhng it somemore just before my trip.

Now I know what to pray if i ever have kids - God please give them long and thick lashes!!! (i think a woman's appearance is dramatically improved with minimal effort with lashes lorh)

On a separate note, I FINALLY got down to uploading my Israel pictures to my computer - and I so feel like I should be blogging about it! (which was what i intended to do eons ago) .. we'll see how it goes.. I didnt think much of it then, but looking back, I really like some of the pictures.. here are 2 of my favourites..

At one of the natural springs in Israel that existed since biblical times (the name i forgot. hey i actually wrote down each day where i visited okay - so is i lazy to find, not just a nameless place in the whirlwind of the tour)



The lighting overseas - at least in Israel, is great! I didnt have to zhng the picture AT ALL lorh..

I took this picture of the Israeli flag in the old city - which is like the old and preserved part of Jerusalem. The rest of Jerusalem looks like any modern city.

We'll see how it goes. Maybe I shall blog about Israel if there is popular demand, or I get struck by a sudden streak of efficient inspiration!

Men who can laugh at themselves are good company

I love it when people can laugh at themselves.

Check this one out.




Initially I thought that the objective of the game was whoever could make their own face uglier. But maybe not!

Why the pizza not round.

DCK is so funny.

We all had to work late yesterday so the boys ordered pizza. I went to join them (funny, because I realized my dinner kaki all not from my dept.)

ANYHOW, DCK made an exclamation about HOW they could serve us pizzas there were not round.

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The pizza was oval shaped.

I was very amused. You'd realized most pizzas are round - though I do think I have seen square shaped ones before. I think we were all very stressed because I was very amused by the pizza that was not round. Hahaaa.

Poor DCK. He is super swamped at work, and his wife is pregnant with first baby and anytime going to POP and he is moving house and renovation not complete (as is usually the case i heard), all at the same time!

Poor boy. I am not strong else I can volunteer to help him move house. But I already volunteered to help him and his wife clean the house.

=)

so nice I am. hur hur hur..

Look at what ALH gave me.

ALH is moving to his new room. He gave me this!

Somehow, I dont think what he gave me (read the print on the bottle if i have to say it so clearly!) is a statement of my femininity. Hiaks.

The Lonely-Planet Japan was volunteered to me when I told CBC that I going to Japan alone! So kind of him to lend me his copy. Wonder what I should get him from Japan. Speaking of which, I am totally enjoying planning for the solo trip. Living it out my alternative career path as an events planner! Hahaa.

I think I am going to totally enjoy me solo trip. Only thing is that nobody can take picture for me, and we ALL know how much I like to take picture!

Anyhow, back to the picture above. We should all be gracious and kind to the people in our office as much as possible. Especially when you spend so much of your waking hours there. So much of your life there, if I may more accurately say so. And by gracious and kind I mean in the altruistic sense. Not solely fueled by selfish motives that kind. I mean, for those who are honest, our motives are often, at best, mixed. So how about moving it towards altruism?

Preached it. Now do it.

My mother cut her hair.

Today is Sunday and I brought my mother to do her hair. Then I told her, you should be different like me, how about looking COMPLETELY different from when you step into the salon?

So after much persuasion and pressure (from me) on my very not willing to try new things mother.. she decided to CUT HER HAIR! i know. you would have thought it was something more dramatic but the only time my mom has had long hair after she passed puberty was like ONE other time.. so yeah. you get the drift..

and i think she looks like my sister larh!!



I think it looks very nice.

Then after that, I brought my parents to this Jap restaurant at Bugis. Speaking of which, I CONFIRM that i AM going to japan! Just booked my tickets, so happy my heart come out already. So happy i cant sleep. Ya know Ya know?

Anyhow, too bad my little brother the yandao couldnt join us for dinner.

My little brother, when he was actually little, now he is like he-man-i-so-strong-i-can-crush-you-like-powder, had asthma (which miraculously disappeared when he started swimming). So I remember the incident when he was like super tiny and i was slightly less tiny (no stupid jokes here okay!), my mother gave me a piece of chocolate and told me NOT to give it to him because he was coughing. Well, I remember i PURPOSELY went up to him and pranced the chocolate infront of him before popping it in my mouth.

Wah. He was very upset. Hiaks.

Well, I lurve my little brother alot alot. And I am super proud of him. He used to really look up to me when he was little. I mean, more than just literally - but maybe the figurative thingy also stopped when he stopped having to look up at me literally, I dont know. Hahaa.

ANYHOW.

This video is super cute. Big brother is very concerned.

My little brother is bleeding and it's NOT FARNEE!!!!






Kill me now!!! SOOOOOOOOOOO farnee! Brotherly love man. Brotherly love.

Charlie bit my finger!!!

SO CUTE SO CUTE SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


the big boy abit SM. check out how his facial expression changes.

And Charlie? Well, Charlie's sense of humour abit dark dont you think? *wink*