Wednesday, July 28, 2010
♥ 12:02 PM
Don't know what to say but thank God ! :)
And yes, I don't take 'I don't know' for an answer.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
♥ 11:59 PM
Jim Halpert:
I just wanna say how happy we are, that all of you are here tonight. And I want to especially thank those of you who have travelled from far away to be here with us tonight. Especially the Florida cousins, who obviously can't take a hint. Four years ago, I was just a guy who had a crush on a girl, who had a boyfriend. And I had to do the hardest thing that I've ever had to do, which was just to... wait. Don't get me wrong, I flirted with her. Pam, I can now admit in front of friends and family, that I do know how to make a photocopy. Didn't need your help that many times. And, uh, do you remember how long it took you to teach me how to drive stick?
Pam Beesly:
Pam Beesly:
Like a year!
Jim Halpert:
I've been driving stick since high school, so... For a really long time that's all I had. Little moments with a girl who saw me as a friend. And, a lot of people told me I was crazy to wait this long for a date with a girl I work with but I think, even then I knew that... I was waiting for my wife.
-The Office, Season 6, Niagara
Thursday, July 22, 2010
♥ 1:25 AM
I wish you out of the woods
And into a picture with me
I wish you over the moon
Come out of the question and be
If this is gonna run 'round in my head
I might as well be dreaming
Run 'round in my head
I roller coaster for you
Time out of mind must be heavenly
It's all enchanted and wild
Just like my heart said it was gonna be
If this is gonna run 'round in my head
I might as well be dreaming
Run 'round in my head
Nickel Creek's Out of the Woods
***
This is still stuck in my head. The treble melody gives it the exact dreamy quality the song speaks of. Am trying to get the harmony right, not too sure though haha. Apt song because I just watched Inception ! About entering dreams and then dreams within dreams and then dreams within dreams within dreams. Reminds me of the japanese anime movie about entering dreams that totally mindfucks you. Anyway it's a good albeit confusing show, not too violent, just enough creepy and quite an original story. On a similar vein, I finally watched Toy Story 3 ! Makes me feel all nostalgic even with the new toys.. Barbie is less of a bimbo than she seems and I like Mr Pricklepants ! His theatrics and his lederhosen, hehe. For me, Woody still trumps Buzz.
I'm back safe from Bangkok ! Haven't had much rest since the world cup started actually. For the past month I've been staying up for soccer and traveling and in between, going out with friends. Will really miss Chatuchak and the favourable exchange rate ! I could stay there like forever. Buy clothes and play with the puppies. I think I bought 8 shirts and 4 pairs of shoes :x Hotel was really good and so was the thai food I had. Mmmmms.. Not so much the japanese food though..
School's starting in about 2 weeks, yikes. Part of me doesn't want the holidays to ever end and the other part of me is thinking about starting on readings. I feel extremely rusty, haven't done geog proper in what, 9 months ? :S Also need to figure out this whole wisdom teeth thing. MAJOR URGH.
On the whole, apart from the usual monetary woes (it's a pten affliction I'm sure), life's been pretty peachy.
Tea and pancakes, movies and couches, I like that :)
Thursday, July 15, 2010
♥ 2:37 AM
It's the first time I actually entertained (and damn well followed through with it) the idea of going abroad primarily to catch a performance. It all started with Mark's choice of Seaside Rendezvous for the alumni concert. Started out thinking that the song was pretty tough to catch. Chanced upon the youtube video of the King's Singers doing the song as posted on the alumni blog by gerald. That led to me OBSESSIVELY listening to it during work so I could learn my part. Thank goodness for all that waiting around and free time for eonnagata. Listened to a bunch more of their videos and then visited their website. Looked at the tour dates for fun and OMGAHH KL !!! Plus it's before school starts. Made a few overseas calls regarding tickets and the venue was very kind enough to hold the tickets for me for three days. If only sistic allowed that.. That gave me some time to spread the word. Pity Jasper, Aggie and Gerald couldn't make it ! With some help with my aunt's credit card, tickets were booked for yl, mark, zz, daniel and I.
Of course the highlight of the trip was the concert. A groggy night awake for the yellow card laden world cup final, a 5 hour bus ride and some wrong turns later, we found ourselves in Red Palm hostel. Had yummy beef noodles (thanks quenster :D) right across the street and then took a 30 minute walk to KLCC for the concert ! We were dressed very very nicely if I do say so myself ! :)
The first half repertoire consisted of some madrigals, classicals and folk songs around the theme of dancing. I particularly liked Dance with Thy Daddy ! Perhaps the english songs left a greater impression because I could understand them better. Second half included some recent hits including Jason Mraz's I'm Yours (which to me felt strange cos I'd think that they're too atas for such pop hits, plus they're not the youngest choral singers around), Yesterday, Billy Joel's Lullabye (so much better than ours of course) and my absolute favourite, Nickel Creek's Out of the Woods (on loop now).
It was a very surreal experience, to hear them live. They sound exactly like their recordings. Very well blended, very light sound. Nothing forced or ugly. Technically sound, very able to control a wide range of dynamics. The wonderful thing about them is how they are so cohesive as a group, very tight. Not to mention their sense of humour ! Particularly Philip, Paul, David and Stephen. (i.e. the members who've been there longer) Very entertaining..
The night was made even more memorable because we got to meet the 6 of them ! It was my first time ever meeting celebrities and they were really nice albeit tired. I was particularly charmed by Stephen, the bass cos he was very warm when he spoke and he talked a lot, haha. He'll end his stint as a King's Singer in September. Hopefully we can get him to conduct a masterclass here..
Paul the tenor who's very hilarious and enthusiastic when performing
With David, counter-tenor. Was very taken in by his lovely soprano voice ! Also somewhat surprised he's married. :x
Timothy, the other counter-tenor that replaced the funny tall blonde dude. He didn't get any solos but he's very nice and somewhat under appreciated unfortunately.
With Christopher (baritone) and Philip (baritone ?). Christopher isn't as loosey goosey as Paul but he's still rather new so he has a lot of time ! He has a nice voice too.. And Philip is very fatherly ! Haha, the rest always poke fun of him maybe cos he looks so fatherly..
Paul the tenor who's very hilarious and enthusiastic when performing
With David, counter-tenor. Was very taken in by his lovely soprano voice ! Also somewhat surprised he's married. :x
Timothy, the other counter-tenor that replaced the funny tall blonde dude. He didn't get any solos but he's very nice and somewhat under appreciated unfortunately.
With Christopher (baritone) and Philip (baritone ?). Christopher isn't as loosey goosey as Paul but he's still rather new so he has a lot of time ! He has a nice voice too.. And Philip is very fatherly ! Haha, the rest always poke fun of him maybe cos he looks so fatherly..
Stephen, bass. Very nice, spent a lot of time talking to fans and stood up the whole time. Lucky we were near the end of the queue so we managed to get photos, hurhurhur. Anyway it was a fantastic albeit too short trip. First time staying in a hostel ! Nothing exciting though. (read: no cute guys. except maybe the cat ! haha) May post more about KL next time.. For now I need to rush out soon because Bangkok awaits.. Till later ! :)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
♥ 4:29 AM
O hai Walter !
***
Am still up at the unearthly hour of 430 in the morning because of the nap I took around 6 and the uruguay-germany 3rd place match that just ended. 3-2 to germany ! But uruguay put up an amazing fight, RESPECT. Also means that yet again, paul the octopus is accurate with his prediction ! Hurhur. Sad though, that klose and lahm were on the bench.
Perpetually thinking of food. :x Thanks to Jasmine's photos, I want to try Kichn, Oriole, K Ki, Mouth @ Work and Mary's Kafe. Also want to stop by Bar Bar Black Sheep, Applebees, Wendy's, Pine Garden, 15 minutes, Spruce and Victor's kitchen. Must go back to the basketball ramen place and Food For Thought for more pancakes though ! :)
Ladyironchef and Sittingwishingeating are now my new favourite sites ! Horrible ! Dad are you reading this ??
Excited for yenyen's party and the kl roadtrip. There's packing to be done ! There's also the Spain-Holland world cup final. Going to be a long and probably crazy night, till later !
Friday, July 09, 2010
♥ 12:53 AM
Shall talk about the Bintan trip ! How it has come to fruition since we raised the idea of a trip last december or something. It was taiwan or hongkong then it became cambodia or bali. The other people who were supposedly involved early on were long teng, howard, xianhui, katarina, saffie, pyong, jingkang.. So it was whittled down to 6 of us and bintan. Was so sick and tired of the lack of commitment and effort in planning the trip. The number of guidebooks I read/skimmed through and returned without using. Pissed and tired me to no end but it miraculously worked out and we all got back in one piece, thank God ! (plus, I saved almost thirty bucks in travel insurance, which I spent on a maxi dress, hoho)
The pool ! More sunblock and splashing than swimming.
Snorkeling ! I love it.. Helps that there's the lifejacket since I'm a shabby swimmer. Waves were choppy, visibility was poor and there weren't as many corals and fish compared to thailand. Oh well. Did like the feeling of being unmoored in the ocean though. 
Laser quest ! It was only fifteen minutes but for a good reason. It was so dark, running around was quite tiring and the music was techno ! 
Random shot while waiting for zk to drive the buggy down the slope from our villa. Hurhur.
Right before we took a speedboat into the darkness of the mangroves and saw fireflies ! Tiny green light emitting winged creatures. We even nicknamed a particular plant the 'Zouk tree' for the pulsating action, haha.
Last moments at the resort. Mandatory jumpshots and beach frolicking. Everyone tried to get a tan whilst I tried my best to remain pasty white in the shade. Apart from the activities mentioned, we hired a cab driver and visited tanjung pinang, the little town on bintan. Wasn't much shopping to do although I'm still thinking about that faux chanel bag haha. Went to a department store as well and I got a pretty red satchel, a longchamp-ish pouch and a 3 dollar shirt. On hindsight, I should've bought more shirts. Three bucks !! And they were nice and funny and spelt correctly. We almost had an expensive seafood dinner but our wallets heaved a sigh of relief when we realized the restaurant was hosting a party. Then we had scrumptious (but tiny portioned) ayam penyet with a spicy nutty salad, spicy soup and a coconut drink ! For four bucks, yum. The drive there and back was 3 hours, wish we spent more time driving around though. But I was glad that I had aggie and zkai for company for the brazil holland game. :)
Another activity we partook in was the spa ! No pictures, for obvious reasons. Didn't really know we had to strip down to panties. Kept my eyes closed almost throughout, didn't want to see more than necessary of meirong, haha. But the balinese massage was gooooooood ! Despite how I am oh so ticklish. And at 31 bucks, it was really value for money, as its tagline promises. Need more spa dates ! Wish there were cheaper ones here..
So it was a good trip ! Despite my depression and loneliness in the middle of the night on the first night. It helps to fall asleep with someone around, so thanks zk for coming to talk to me until I got real sleepy on the second night. Not used to being the only person in the bedroom. Didn't get seasick though the waves were almost nauseating during the snorkeling trip. Didn't get burnt or tanned, yay spf 30 ! Friend for life. My only quibble is the $30 SGD buffet lunch we had on the first day because our villa wasn't ready. Dammit that was expensive and not worth it. But continental breakfast was DA BOMB. Omelette and muesli nomnomnom.
I went with very low expectations cos of the reviews and my previous bintan experience a few years back so was pleasantly surprised. Also helped that I had good company ! :) My third trip with friends after kl with pten and penang with mark and gang but my first trip with the choir folk. May this not be our last ! :)