Happy *Belated* Birthday To Me!

So yup, I’m officially older by a year now.  Hello, 34 years old!

Got a couple of birthday wishes from some colleagues and close friends, thank you all so much!  *feels loved*

Received a lovely drawn card from Reko again (hadn’t received any from him in a while!), and I thought the idea was so cute! It probably took him only like 5 minutes max to come up with it, but heck, it’s the thought that counts, lol.

 

Haha, isn’t it cute!!  He says the bear is on his way to meet me for my birthday lol.  I could see that it’s really just a simple and rough picture, but it really just put a huge smile on my face.  Thank you, Reko!  For remembering my birthday, that is.  :D

Took leave on my birthday itself and Bear was nice enough to spend it with me.  I knew I could count on my buddy to accompany me!  Haha.  Not that I would mind being alone, of course.  I’ll be alone later today!  Which I’m so looking forward to, too.  :)  Anyway we went to Clinton Street Baking Co because the last time we were there, it was so crowded and the waiting list was so damn long that we decided to give it a miss.  But since today is a weekday, we were hoping that there’ll be less people, and yup, we got a table!  We ordered their “signature” dishes – their Pancakes with Warm Maple Butter and Wild Blueberries, as well as their Buttermilk waffles with fried chicken.

Verdict:  Well I didn’t really try the waffles with chicken, so no comments on that.  The pancakes were good though.  Soft, warm, fluffy, fresh.  The maple butter was sweet and slightly salty, and when paired together with the slightly sourish blueberries, the taste was really “oooomph!”. Very nice!

And because I had my TCM appointment at 4pm, we then slowly walked towards Orchard and stopped by Peace Centre because Bear’s suddenly craving for the tom yum soup there.  He managed to convince me to take a sip, and boy, it’s good!  It’s not spicy AT ALL, to be honest – just sourish.  It’s not those kind of sour-taste that will make your face all scrunched up though.  The sour taste is just right and it really kind of opens up your appetite and makes you want more of it.  Maybe next time I can go there again if I’m around the vicinity, haha!

Then we head to PoMo and tried the coffee at the Montana Brew Bar.  Their latte was not bad, but I really just prefer Percolate, haha!  I guess I’m biased.  :x  After coffee, I went for the TCM appointment, and we just head for a Shin Sapporo ramen dinner after that before heading home respectively.  I’m SO disappointed with the ramen at Shin Sapporo now.. their egg is totally flavourless!  The soup and noodle texture are still all right, but the chashu and eggs are totally off the mark.  Like, WAY OFF the mark.  Sad… I remembered I used to love their ramen when they had a small shop in Suntec… it’s really disappointing to find that they’ve totally lost their standard.  =(

Well that kinda concluded the stuff that happened on my birthday!  Nothing much, really, obviously. Haha. Gonna go catch my beauty sleep now… long day ahead tomorrow too!  Breakfast at Percolate… solo karaoke session at Teo Heng… Dinner with the girls… woot!  And on Saturday, it’s GameStart Asia!  Gosh so many things lining up! Now I’m kinda looking forward to Sunday too, when I finally can relax and rest at home lol.  There’s still that colouring book that Sharon gave me!  Need to get started on that too!  :D

Change…?

I’m so tired of my job. I almost dread going to work every day now, especially on month ends and beginning of the month. Day in day out same old same old.  Geez…

Feel like changing a job, but I know that’s easier said than done.  Just wish I could get out of this routine while still doing something I like and can pay my bills.

But then again, I don’t know what I like doing. So that’s the problematic part.  Meh.

Ugh, or maybe I just need a break.  One holiday a year is just WAY TOO LITTLE.  How does one survive with just ONE holiday per year?!  *groans*

 

我想我不会爱你 (I Think I Won’t Love You)

I’m bored on a Sunday afternoon.  And this song’s chorus has been churning in my head since this morning, and I have no idea why. Hence I decided to just turn to Youtube and listen / learn this song.  After 30minutes, this is the result, lol.  Pretty bad I must say, coz I sounded just so damn pitchy.  But this song is pretty out of the norm too, with so many flats/sharps in the composition. Guess I should grade myself like B- for the effort!

 

你的呼吸 穿过身体 (Your breathing passed through me)
我来不及反应 (I can’t react in time)
你的声音 躲在耳里 让我生病 (Your voice hid in my ears, made me fell sick)
谢谢 你给的让我沉迷 (Thank you for mesmerizing me)
让我丢掉了姓名 (Made me threw away my name)
在好奇的时候 拉不住眼睛 (And can’t close my eyes when I’m curious)

我想我不会爱你 这样下去 (I think I won’t love you, if this goes on)
渺小的自尊都快要抛弃 (I’m almost throwing away what’s left of my self-respect)
我想我不会爱你 只是也许 (I think I won’t love you.  Just maybe.)

你的叹息 散落一地 (Your sigh, is all over the ground)
让我歇斯底里 (Making me go into hysterics)
靠得太近 一不小心 弄伤自己 (Went a little closer, and I hurt myself when I’m just a little careless)
谢谢 你给的让我沉迷 (Thank you for mesmerizing me)
让我困住了自己 (Made me trapped myself)
在迷路的时候 舍不得离去 (Can’t bear to leave after when I’m lost)

我想我不会爱你 这样下去 (I think I won’t love you, if this goes on)
渺小的自尊都快要抛弃 (I’m almost throwing away what’s left of my self-respect)
我想我不会恨你 伤的痕迹 (I think I won’t hate you, even when there’s scars)
住在我心底 变成了秘密 (Living inside my heart, becoming a secret)
我想我不会爱你 害怕失去 (I think I won’t love you, I’m afraid of losing you)
所以逞强的 远远看着你 (So I’m pretending to be strong, looking at you from afar)
我想我不会恨你 只是也许 (I think I won’t hate you.  Just maybe.)

我想我不会爱你 这样下去 (I think I won’t love you, if this goes on)
渺小的自尊都快要抛弃 (I’m almost throwing away what’s left of my self-respect)
我想我不会恨你 伤的痕迹 (I think I won’t hate you, even when there’s scars)
住在我心底变成了秘密 (Living inside my heart, becoming a secret)
我想我不会爱你 害怕失去 (I think I won’t love you, I’m afraid of losing you)
所以逞强的 远远看着你 (So I’m pretending to be strong, looking at you from afar)
我想我不会恨你 只是也许 (I think I won’t hate you.  Just maybe.)

If I could turn back the clock…

… I will still make the same decisions that I had made.

That’s how I want my life to be – no regrets. Or at least, as minimal as possible.

If it’s meant to be yours, it will be in the end.  If two people are meant to be together, they will be in the end, no matter what happens in between.

In the event that we made mistakes, we learn from it and we move on – and of course, take care not to make the same mistake again.

One thing I’ve learnt – always be who you are.  Never change yourself for someone.  Because soon enough you’ll find that it doesn’t work that way.  Never does, never will be.

If the person cannot accept the bad side of the other party, then he/she does not deserve the good side of that person.  You can’t have both worlds.

Running away from the issue, or avoiding the issue when it happens, is not “accepting” it.  It’s just simply running away from it.  If you accept it, you won’t even run.  At least that’s how I see it.

I guess I should feel lucky to have met at least one person in my lifetime who had accepted me, for being me.  He had never made me feel that I’m inadequate, he had never yelled at me or shouted at me for being me – tempers, bad moods and all.  Too bad I had to let him go.

At the end of the day – no regrets.  No regrets for what I’ve done, no regrets for what I’m doing, and no regrets for what I’m going to do in the future.

That’s how I would want it to be.

I’m Still Alive

It’s been a long while since I last blogged!  Suddenly I’m like, losing all motivation / incentive to blog, lol.

Nothing much has changed, except for the fact that I’m getting more tired lately.  I haven’t really been doing much changes to my lifestyle or diet… just not sure why I keep feeling so lethargic.

The haze that we are suffering from is still far from over.  The hotspots in Indonesia are still burning, just that the wind directions are favourable for us these few days.  Thank goodness!  Nevertheless, the haze looks like it’s slightly back… to be on the safe side, I’ve closed all windows and door, switched on the air purifier and aircon.  I don’t want to fall sick!  =(

Since yesterday, I suddenly have the urge to visit Finland again.  Solo, this time.  You can probably say it’s something like a closure for myself, I guess.  I’ve already done some homework, looking at the overall cost to go (after all, in the past, I’ve always stayed at Reko’s house, so I saved quite a bit on accommodation.  On top of that, my coffee and lunch was always paid by him, and dinner was always prepared at his home.), as well as where I would want to go this time.

The trip will tentatively be in year 2017.  I’m looking to go before the Christmas period (I want to go to the Christmas market!), and be back in Singapore BEFORE Christmas.  So that leaves the period to be either second or third week of December 2017.  I’ve already decided on the hotel and airline (pretty obvious choices here), so I’m just looking at where to go.  I’ll definitely be looking at the places where I used to go with Reko.  Visiting those places again, alone this time, will probably do good to my soul.  On top of that, I’ve been looking for decent coffee roasters/cafes where I could get a real good cup of coffee (besides Robert’s coffee, that is).  I’m prepared to walk – just hope I don’t keep slipping on the ground since there’s no one for me to grab on to this time, lol!

Spending around SGD3k just for 5 days seemed a little too much, but I guess it’s necessary.  I’m not sure if Reko would want to meet up (I highly doubt so), but I guess I’ll at least try to meet up with his sister.  I kinda miss their mom too, but I guess things will be awkward if I drop by their house for a surprise visit.  >_<;

On the side note, I found out last night that Rosso no longer offers meatballs pasta.  Sigh… there goes my favourite pasta in the whole world… :(

Exhausted

Its been so tiring lately. I’m all exhausted. When will I be able break away from all these chains, these emotional rollercoasters, these routines…

Will all these be ending soon? I’m really just so tired…

Tears

Format Status

Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to sleep. I guess the tears have replenished themselves for that few hours.

Happy 50th Birthday, Singapore

I’m about three days early, but let’s not care about such minor details, shall we?

Singapore, through all the hardships, is finally 50 years old. Unfortunately, the man who had pushed Singapore to where she is on international stage has passed away earlier this year.  If only Mr Lee Kuan Yew would still be here, I’m sure he would be proud of what he had achieved as he watches the SG50 parade this coming Sunday.  Alas…

I’m not a patriotic person.  At least I don’t think I am.  I have lots of complaints about Singapore, constantly pointing out the flaws of the system, etc, when my overseas friends raved about the positive impressions they have on Singapore through various media.

I do, however, appreciate Singapore for where she is, what she is.  Although I’m upset that we do not have four seasons here, I’m glad that we also do not suffer from natural disasters.  We are relatively safe, geographically speaking, that is.  We have strict laws, but thanks to that we do not need to worry about random shooting in schools or malls.  We stressed on racial harmony, and even though there are tensions between different races, there’s no racial riots yet.

There were quite a few times in the past where I thought I would leave Singapore for good, and move to Finland with Reko.  Although I was excited about the idea at that time, there’s always another part of me wondering if I’d miss Singapore.  Then, I heard Kit Chan’s “Home”, and I realised the lyrics really hit home (pun not intended).

Here’s the lyrics (with the bold parts that resonates the most in me), followed by the MV thereafter:

Whenever I am feeling low, I look around me and I know.
There’s a place that will stay within me, wherever I may choose to go.
I will always recall the city, know every street and shore.
Sail down the river that brings us life, winding through my Singapore…

CHORUS:
This is home truly, where I know I must be.
Where my dreams wait for me, where the river always flows.
This is home surely, as my senses tell me.
This is where I won’t be alone.
For this is where I know it’s home.

Whenever there are troubles to go through, we’ll find a way to start anew.
There is comfort in the knowledge and home about its people too.
So we’ll build our dreams together, just like we’ve done before.
Just like the river that brings us life, there will always be Singapore..

(Repeat chorus)

For this is where, I know I’m home…

 

Whatever worries I may have for Singapore’s future, let’s cast it aside for now, and relish in the fact that Singapore has reached 50 years old, and hope there’s many more years to come for us to celebrate.  Happy 50th birthday, Singapore.  =)

Untitled

我知道我们都没有错, 只是放手会比较好过。最美的爱情, 回忆里待续。

X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X   X

退后
作词:宋健彰
作曲:周杰伦

天空灰得像哭过
离开你以后 并没有 更自由
酸酸的空气 嗅出我们的距离
一幕锥心的结局 像呼吸般无法停息

抽屉泛黄的日记 榨干了回忆
那笑容 是夏季 妳我的过去被顺时针的忘记
缺氧过后的爱情 粗心的眼泪是多余

我知道妳我都没有错 只是忘了怎么退后
信誓旦旦给了承诺 却被时间扑了空

我知道我们都没有错 只是放手会比较好过
最美的爱情 回忆里待续

天空灰得像哭过
离开你以后 并没有 更自由
酸酸的空气 嗅出我们的距离
一幕锥心的结局 像呼吸般无法停息

抽屉泛黄的日记 榨干了回忆
那笑容 是夏季 妳我的过去被顺时针的忘记
缺氧过后的爱情 粗心的眼泪是多余

我知道妳我都没有错 只是忘了怎么退后
信誓旦旦给了承诺 却被时间扑了空

我知道我们都没有错 只是放手会比较好过
最美的爱情 回忆里待续

我知道妳我都没有错 只是忘了怎么退后
信誓旦旦给了承诺 却被时间扑了空

我知道我们都没有错 只是放手会比较好过
最美的爱情 回忆里待续