i think this coming and going arrangement is doing more harm than it is good.
he's been back since last year early november which makes it a grand total of about four long months that he's spent in singapore since then.

four months is a long enough time for the relationship to further develop and deepen.
and thats just what it has been.
and suddenly its all going to be taken away from me at one go.

honestly, it feels really crazy.

sigh.
looks like the countdown will be starting really soon...

alas, the impossible has finally come true.

i, the avid fan and enthusiastic advocate of levis jeans has turned to other brands to satisfy my need for jeans that fit.
skinny jeans from mango and zara have proven themselves worthy as they fit like a glove and are less expensive than good ol' levis.

levis also has no one else to blame but themselves.
one of my jeans, my favourite and first pair of 593, has expanded to the point of impossibility in putting them on.
my square cut too has fallen into that unthinkable category but is still wearable, for now.
i have another 2 pairs of 593s, barely worn and in pristine condition, taking up valuable wardrobe space.
(i just have to insert an advert here! anyone wants to buy? they're both size 24 but run kinda large actually. i think a size 25 could be a tighter and better fit actually. one has been altered though, but its still too long for me. the other remains wholly intact.)

so until levis comes up with better and nicer designs that FIT me,
(f.y.i, i cant fit the princess cuts which have the most gorgeous embellishments and details)
i shall have to look elsewhere to obtain what is probably my favourite article of clothing.

(:
and and and,
im happy that skinny jeans are in!
because now it makes finding jeans a lot easier, cause they now fit fit fit.
HA.
and why is it that i can wear zara and mango jeans size 32 but not their skirts at the same size?
stranger than strange aint it.

it almost seems like the chinese new year holidays never came because im falling back so easily into the routine of doing my readings, churning out essays and researching for projects.

that just goes to show how to pace of life in singapore is.
mindless and automated, its almost robotic and scary.
and this is coming from a university student, someone who has yet to step into the working world.
i can only cringe and imagine how it's going to be.

anyhow, i had quite a good cny the past few days.
reunion dinner,
watching the really boring channel8 cny variety programme (which is the same every single year),
gobbling down copious amounts of cashew nuts at each house i visit,
receiving red packets and then seeing who gave how much in the car,
tossing the lo hei and trying to pick out all the salmon sashimi slices inconspicuously
and of course the final tabulation of money collected.

shucks.
too fast, too soon.
doesnt help that the cunning and very sneaky NUS decided to put our mid-term break with the cny holidays.
*bleah.

photo time:
at my mum's brother's house, used to be my granny's house. we'd go there every first day of the new year for lunch. things have changed though. granny used to cook her famous pork chops which everyone would rush for. but its been pizza the past few years ever since she passed away...

more people added to the photo! more relatives from my mum's side. oh and the girl on my right in peach is my niece. and as you can see, she's as tall as me. HA. and she's only 12!

caught Norbit yesterday at the preview held at cineleisure orchard.
it was the kind of show that i wouldn't normally pay to watch.
or rather, as jy pointed out, i might have watched it (possibly at his request, not mine) and then complained and whined about how we actually paid good money to catch it.
haha.
so thank goodness the tickets were free. well. sorta.
the show consists of your typical slapstick, no-one-gets-hurt-no-matter-how-much-pain-is-inflicted-on-them, subversive and cringe-worthy humour.
oh and not forgetting the blatant racism and stereotypes strewn throughout the 80 minutes.
its the kind of movie one watches to de-stress or celebrate the end of the exams.
go catch it if you have extra ang bao money and you dont know what to spend on.
or if you enjoy watching excessive levels of cellulite and bulging and bouncing layers upon layers of fat.
hur.



anyway,
Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!
may each and every of my blog readers have a lovely year of the pig,
eat lotsa goodies and yummies
and collect enough ang bao money to last u for at least a month!
(:

i'm really quite proud of myself.

after procrastinating and putting off the idea (due to laziness and a lack of funds) for the longest time,
i finally decided to get down to actually making use of the kitchen.
what better to cook than my favourite type of food?

so here's presenting to you,
albeit in lousy quality grainy handphone photographs,
what the wongs and a chin had for dinner last night...

assorted tempura -
shitake mushrooms, asparagus and kani (crabstick)

japanese style curry with potatoes, onions, carrots and chicken thigh meat

and for the carbohydrate part, we have the cold soba noodles (the green stuff on the left hand side) complete with dipping sauce with seaweed and spring onions.

the reviews i got was encouraging and i possibly want to get my hands dirty again before jy leaves.
and im toying with the idea of making soup from scratch since i now own a blender.
heh.

cooking is fun!
(:

i've officially exhausted my bank account.
so much for my resolution to not spend until the ang bao money comes in.
hur.
but it was money well-spent.
i had a really good time with michele.
its been ages since we had a girly-shopping-day-out.
thanks girl.
you've constantly been there for me since our days in GB and JC.
now its my turn to return the countless favours!

met jy for dinner.
carl's juniors never fail to satisfy my cravings for avocado in the form of the guacamole burger.
and guess what?
we got preview tickets to catch Norbit next friday evening!
cool.
haha.
should be a riot.
and a well-deserved break given that i have TONS of work due next week.
not forgetting a test.
bah.

on a random note,
manicure and pedicure this sunday!
let's see if they last till chinese new year.
hur.
(:

i fully understand the statement about how our wants are never ever enough.
because i found the perfect skinny jeans in black.
but now i want it in white as well.
(interestingly enough, the white ones are $9 cheaper than the black ones. weird.)
haha.
such a typical girl.
but i highly doubt i'd be shopping anytime soon.
i need to wait for the ang bao money to come rolling in to replenish my drying account.
its time to start bugging my parents to visit the "long lost" relatives.
hurhur.
just kidding, im not thatttttttt evil.



anyway, today, something really unbelievable happened.
usually i only eat the fish from long john sliver because the chicken is always too dry and too hard.
but today, amazingly, at the really small hougang mall branch, the chicken turned out to be the best i've ever tasted.
the plastic knife cut through it rather easily and it was soft and tender.
i would even describe it as yummy.
jy and i were really pleasantly surprised.
perhaps its because the outlet was crowded and hence the food fresh.
but im hoping it because the cook does a good job frying up the golden pieces of oily goodness.
im definitely going back.
just to see if its the cook or its just my right timing tonight.
(:

the minute u say you're graduating this coming semester, inevitably the question will pop out from people's mouths,
"so what are you going to do?"
among friends and the people i know,
i'd usually laugh about it and say the same thing that probably a hundred of the other graduating students would say too,
"i have no idea!"

but with the chinese new year holidays (i.e plenty of home visitations) coming up,
i'm thinking i had better come up with a good answer.
by a good answer, i would mean something that is politically correct, not exactly lying, hopefully intelligent and "it's a job that will bring in the dollars" sounding.

sure they will say that it isnt necessary and want you to just say what you really feel and think because its ok.
righto.
and appear clueless and potentially jobless in the months to come after graduation?

i know it isnt ok.
at least i feel it isnt.
somehow i feel like im going to be sized up and scrutinized whether im good enough.
most possibly among the people who arent really familiar with me and expect me to be good enough or at least of a certain caliber.
tell them you're not doing honours and woohoo, that raises more eyebrows.

bah.
i just want to survive those houses and
enjoy the good eats at the others.

and
i want to go shopping.
heh.

i've been shopping lately.
perhaps just a little too much.
i would list my purchases but i decided against it least i scare myself.
thankfully, i didnt have to pay for everything myself.
hurhur.
but there's still more to buy.
like shoes and accessories to match my dress for CNY.
haha.
(oh stop rolling your eyes.)

on a completely unrelated note,
if you've got the money to spend and are hankering for a bit of pizza-ish grub,
head on down to California Pizza Kitchen at Forum.
jy gave me a treat (thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks dearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) last friday
and it turned out to be better than our last visit.
then again, our last visit was last year in july.
but i digress.
service was impeccable and the food was delectable.
dessert was fabulous.
and the bill warranted the great food and time we had.
UOB card holders get 10% off too!
so do go check it out if you havent already.
i know i wanna go again.
(JY are u reading thisssssssss?)

maybe its just a girl thing that i think of marriage and getting married.
any feminist would probably scoff at my such thoughts and tell me that i dont need men.
but that isnt the point.
during a rather interesting conversation, someone brought up the notion of wanting to enjoy at least a few years of freedom, which was later clarified and specified as "financial freedom".
i suppose i couldnt help but feel a tad bit irked at the remark.
it, consciously or unconsciously, implies that im being an imposing figure who takes away this much revered entity called "freedom".
it also really doesnt help that we're in a long distance relationship.
as i have told many people, in the form of advice, it just isnt worth it to be caught up in a LDR if you know that it probably wouldnt end up with marriage.
the stress and distance doesnt justify.

dont worry, we talked about it and all is well.
but it really got me thinking.
am i really rushing into it? by just thinking and talking about it? by simply wanting it?
maybe im just worried that it isnt going to be easy to sustain a relationship for another 4 or 5 years without any concrete plans or at least intentions.
dont get me wrong, im not saying that im foreseeing we break up, but rather im being realistic.

*sigh*
only time will tell how the story ends up.
in the mean time, all we can do is listen, compromise, understand, endure
and most of all
LOVE.









i love you.

i've been wanting to sample the food at Sun with Moon Japanese Dining and Cafe ever since i heard about their delectable tofu cheesecake.
not just any other japanese cheesecake, but cheesecake soft and silken due to the addition of tofu and served dramatically in a bird cage.
now that's not something you get in any ol' restaurant, or even any of the more well-known japanese food outlets.
hearing my brother rave about the quality and quantity of the food and ingredients made my mouth water and got my brain chanting
"i need tofu cheesecake, i need tofu cheesecake, i need tofu cheesecake..."

I NEED TOFU CHEESECAKE!
(and whatever else they serve there, only because dessert always comes after a proper meal. bah.)

school has been relatively ok the past two weeks. really nothing that interesting to report.

except that maybe my southeast asian art module's lecturer is suspectedly gay, but he's a cool guy because our tutorials consists of learning how to draw thai art and learning thai dance and his lecture slides consists of three pages with words and the rest are pictures. oh and he comes into class 20 minutes late. hurhur. leisurely walking in.

ive only been for one jap studies lecture and its alright i suppose. we only did the mandatory japanese history lecture and watched a video. the video was, erm, rather interesting. haha. it was a mini-documentary about male escorts/club hosts in japan and how it is a very popular concept in japan today. tsk tsk. the japanese are kinda wacky in their interests sometimes. but i guess maybe their excessively high stress levels are to be blamed.

my film studies modules is kinda cool. we're having dr. wee again which is kinda nice because im aware of how she teaches and what she expects in her essays. if i keep it up and do the same as i did last semester, i might just get myself another good grade. so yay-ness for me. haha. we're not watching movies every week anymore though. focusing on other stuff like television shows and youth consummerism and advertisments and those sort of media. the first lecture felt kinda like an NM module lecture. haha. it should work out to an advantage since quite a bit of stuff overlaps. well, we'll just have to wait and see.

ok, someone tell me why Reading Visual Images (GEK 1025) is such a popular module? its absolutely insane! i know it doesnt have an examination but other than that, its not that easy a module. there are quizzes every 4 weeks and a boring old essay to write. and the lecturer is BORING. he speaks slow, walks slow, does everything slow! and the timing of 7 - 9pm is just torturous. by 8pm im already fighting back the ZzZzzZzzz monster. gotta remember to bring a good supply of sweets for the next lecture.

and finally, Knowledge Economies. had i known it would be taught by Sreekumar, i would have stayed at least a hundred kilometers from the module. the only good thing is that his powerpoint slides have improved tremendously. other than that, he's still the same. his thick indian accent is still just as unbearable and half the time everything is asking their friends "what did he just say?" and when he speaks fast, he's as good as speaking his native language. to top it all off, the topic isnt exactly easy. woohoo. looks like im in for quite a ride with this module.

tutorials are starting next week and i aint looking forward to it. *bleah. its times like this i wanna graduate.
but on the other hand, i rather keep on studying than start work.

most recently i have been disappointed by a few people.
not angry, but disappointed and somewhat surprised as well.
i guess i expected too much and thought that others would have done the same for me.
its disheartening at best and disgusted at worst.
but i suppose that's just how it is, how people are at time.
and i'm not perfect either, so the complain ends here.

in the meantime, i have more things to worry about.
like whether i'd get my tutorial slots so that i can have at least a 4 day week
and won't have to go through all the hassle of emails and appeals and what not.

more hongkong photos to come.
i promise.

just some really belated holiday photos...only because i refuse to accept that school has started.

Day ONE

thats me checking out the exchange rates..
thinking if i should change more HKD..heh..

candid shot! parents checking in...
we were really early!

this is what you do when ure bored, hungry and waiting for the mac breakkie to arrive...

my turn! (:

my parents did it too. haha.

my footwear of choice..converse sneakers.
i would have worn my birkies but i didnt want popsicle toes in hongkong.

before take-off.

hongkong international airport

Day TWO

City tour - first stop at Aberdeen Harbour

in the little boat.
the famous (and very expensive) Jumbo Floating Restaurant

me! with the boat uncle in the background. heh.

Next stop - Repluse Bay

one of the most expensive housing areas because of the excellent feng shui.
apparantly, according to the tour guide, jackie chan's house is at the top!

that's me dreaming about the houses i'll never own..

JY with the houses he'll never own too.
ok here's what you do with this photo. click on it and maximise the size. then spot jackie chan's house. its the one with the red roof and the steeple like thingy on top.

my parents.
see the temperature? i love the weather!

the insanely tall housing in hongkong. can you imagine if the lift breaks down?
Final stop - mid way of Victoria Peak

the view.



Family photo!
end of the tour - time for lunch
we had lunch at some famous goose meat place.
but i wasnt in the mood for goose...instead i ordered a chicken katsu noodle.
for a non-japanese place, the katsu was delicious and well fried. it didnt go all soft depsite being in the soup. the noodles were yummy too! done al dente. haha.

dad had the goose rice. it was so yummy he told us to take a photo of it. haha!
dinner time!
thats the problem with hongkong. its all about eating...

this photo acts as a warning. haha. when they serve you cups of tea, especially at roadside stalls, its not for DRINKING, rather its for WASHING your chopsticks with!
dinner - ko lo yoke (sweet&sour pork), veggies and deep fried tofu.
we had more food that wasnt pictures - steamed fish and claypot chicken.

a typical neighbourhood street in hongkong.
Dessert time! that explains my happy face. haha.
the famous dessert chain in hongkong selling a lot of mango stuff.

christmas decorations in a hongkong shopping mall.

the disney-themed decorations.
they really go all out dont they? beats singapore's anytime!

taking the train back to Tsim Sha Tsui.

stay tuned for more to come...

im really really sorry alicia. sigh. i didnt expect myself to be so irresponsible and careless. it's really times like this whereby a simple sorry doesnt help or change the situation and i accept and admit that fact. sorry again ally.



i keep doing the wrong things. jy should know.

this pair of jeans would probably cost me EIGHT weeks of absolute starvation.
*bleah.
but i wanttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.
(say it the famous whiny kat way)
i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want.
i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want.
i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want i want.




Tsubi Jeans - Courtney Black Scooter Jeans

i've been meaning to blog about hongkong for the longest time ever. laziness and the prospect of blogger hanging on me in the midst of all the uploading of photographs have aided in this delay. but here it is!

erm. well. not exactly hongkong but im starting off with, what else, but FOOD. when you go to hongkong, its common to over-eat. haha. i proved the theory right. (given that i usually dont eat a lot, im quite trustworthy when i make this statement.)

and what better way to start than to show pictures of the delicious western food we had at my aunty's cafe. the food's good and the portions are rather generous.

i cant remember the address exactly but its about a 10 minute walk from times square. if you ever visit hongkong, let me know! i'll go seek out the address for you! in the meantime, feast (pun intended...hurhur) your eyes on the photographs...

Cafe de Cest La Vie

the signboard from outside.
the guy in white is my cousin, his wife is the owner of this cafe.

pan-seared foie gras.
my first time having this and it certainly wouldnt be my last.

cream of brocolli soup

minestrone soup

garlic bread

deep fried soft shell crab.
my and my dad's favourite.

brocolli with lots of cheeseeee.

duck breast risotto.
despite being breast meat, the meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender.

steak and fries.
no idea how this tasted like as i dont eat beef but the general consensus was that it was good.

they call this dish the "seven thousand layer fish".
basically its layers of fish below topped of with a fat prawn on top and surrounded with a tangy cream sauce.
this gets my vote (and my brother's and JY's) for the best dish of that night.

pan-fried chicken with gravy.

mushroom linguini with a light cream-based sauce.

ribs with onion rings.

braised lamb shank with mash potaotes.

the famous hongkong "ying yang" tea - a mixture of milk tea and coffee.

this was my drink - a type of floral tea brewed with fresh peaches.

and finally, who could forget dessert.
crepe filled with cream and fruits.
a nice light dessert after all that meat.

(: