I don't want to leave my bedroom yet

The van from Barang Barang arrived at 10.30am on Sat and the movers managed to bring everything in, take away my old bed and assemble the new one in an hour, leaving my room in a flurry of dust. Changing furniture is good because when the old bed was taken away, I found some old ang pow money that had slipped through the cracks (I'm $30 richer, whoohoo!), the missing jade stud my grandmother left me, and my mother's red coral necklace which I thought I'd lost but was too chicken to tell her.

After that, it took the whole weekend to test my organisation skills. Where should the box of old memorabilia go? How about old theatre programmes? Or my Suzuki certificates? In the end, I just chucked them all into one drawer and mentally labelled it in my mind as 'Old Stuff I Will Probably Never Look At But Should Not Throw'.

Turns out it was a good thing changing all my furniture as it enabled me to do a huge spring-clean, long overdue for 3 years, ever since I got back from Oz. I must have thrown out 3 boxes worth of old stuff. Suddenly, there's that much extra space in my room to walk in and for future cluttering up. In short, love the new bed and everything else. Oh, and that woody varnish smell is heady stuff. Mmm.

Next project to come up: getting rid of the monster desk.

Be a Santa!

(c) JellyGirl. Dun steel the design! Click to enlarge and view details

My friend is helping out at a gift pledging drive held at the Ulu Pandan Community Club where people can pledge pressies for kids who come from less fortunate families. The pledges are in the form of 'wish-cards' and are will be hung on the Christmas tree in the CC lift lobby. (The amount of the present should not exceed $50, most wish-list items are for NTUC vouchers, toys, milk powder or diapers) So if you want to give a kiddy a nice pressie and spread a little Christmas cheer, you can go there and get a card. I've already picked mine out - I'm getting a little girl a water bottle and a set of 5 Ladybird books. An excuse to go shopping and look at kiddy books!

When you're done shopping, you can bring the present back to the CC from the 11th Dec onwards and they'll wrap and distribute the pressies. Here's the address:

Ulu Pandan Community Club
170 Ghim Moh Road
#01-01

UPDATE: Oops looks like I got my dates wrong! The wish-cards will be up in the tree from the 4th Dec onwards. And the CC will start collecting the presents from the 11th.

The black hole of toilet thoughts

Conversation over MSN at 3.15pm

B: You know what I was thinking when I went to the toilet just now? (its where I do most of my thinking)
Me: ooh yes toilets are important for thinking
B: I thought it's funny how hippies like bananas so much. Because, if I'm not wrong, bananas have high potassium levels
Me: i didn't know hippies like bananas
B: Bananas grow on trees yeah?
Me: yes
B: Q.E.D. ...anyway. Potassium is radioactive. In fact, in someone's life, 80% of the radiation their body gets is from potassium
Me: really?
B: So hippies, by loving bananas are loving the nuclear bomb.
B: stupid hippies.

The things you learn

Last night, as I was hanging off the overhang at the rockwall at the Yishun SAFRA club, I realised what a quitter I was. I don't really put in my best effort on anything I do. I start out with all these good intentions, but along the way, lose enthusiasm or just give up. It's almost as if I'm afraid of putting in my best effort in case it ends up being a disappointment. That the best I can do is crap, or not as good as I thought it would be.

Just like that wall. I didn't make it to the top. After clearing the hard part, I got tired and just let go. Eh, I'm such a wuss. Oh well, there's always next week.

Retail therapy back with a vengeance

Warning: In which I indulge in descriptions of clothes and bags and shoes. Severe fluffines follows. Boys may want to avert their eyes.

The shopping bug has bitten again and I find myself wanting to possess more more more pretty things! Went on a shopping spree with my friend on Sunday as she has two interviews on Thurs and 'needed' a top that looked serious and yet not boring. Very hard to find ah. It's party season now so all the stores are stocked with pretty, flirty and sparkly party frocks, definitely not interview-worthy. And as is usually the case, the person who is out to buy ends up not getting anything, while the shopping partner who is there to provide the critical eye ends up buying gobs more.

I came away with a pink (or to be more specific, dusky rose) jacket from Zara and a white pair of pants from some label called Moonstone at the newly renovated Tangs. Very excited about my new buys, and like all new clothes, I can't wait for the next event to wear them. The extent of my shallowness is revealed when I find myself looking forward to certain events only because it allows me to dress up. The first outing of said pink jacket will be aired tomorrow when my mum and I go for the Boris Berezovsky concert.

Out of my reach
There was of course so much more I wanted to buy, but my budget would not allow for such outrageous spending. Alas.


I'll take two please.

Lacoste argyle sweater - I'm not normally a fan of argyle, but I'll make an exception for this. So preppie! So cute! So expensive...
Cute doggie shoes from Ras - I liked the tweed version and the white version, they would look splendiforous with jeans, but $200 for a quirky pair of shoes? Urrr I don't tink so.
Charlie boutique - new store on the third level in Wisma Atria. Has the cutest handmade bags from Brazil with little dollies attached and a bewwdiful sequinned skirt from some New Zealand designer which I am coveting so much. Unfortunately, skirt is $600 and bags are $250 and $600 (small and large). Why why why are they so expensive?

So if you want to make me a very happy girl and a slave for yew, you can buy me any of the above-mentioned as a combined burfday and Christmas pressie. Thanks.

Redecorating

I've been sleeping on the same kiddy bed for the last 15 years, so it was really time for a new bed. So on Sunday, after tennis and our prata breakfast, my father and I went to Tanglin Mall to have a look at Barang Barang and behold, I found a nice bed from the Java range at 40% off. Ever the sucker for a sale, we got me the matching cabinet, step cabinet and a mirror. Fwah. All to be delivered on the 27th Nov.

And because I had ordered a super-single bed, I must get a new mattress right? So off to Robinsons we went on Sunday to get me a Sealy mattress (at 30% off, I lurve bargains) so I can have lovely sleep at night. And of course, a new mattress means new bedsheets, right? I had lots of fun looking at the range, and deciding on colour schemes and finally selecting some egyptian cotton with a gazillion threadcount. So nice. I can't wait to try out my new bed.

However, that now leaves me with about 2 weeks to clear all the junk in my room to make space for the new furniture. Uh-oh.

Maison de Fontaine

My dad was driving down to S'pore for the long weekend* so we had dinner together on Sat night. It's always good to have dinner with my dad, because he's a major foodie, and he loves to try new places. My sister and I normally reserve the more pricey establishments for when he comes down, so we don't have to pay hehe.

This time, we decided to try Maison de Fontaine, in a bungalow along Scotts Road. French food in a nice colonial bungalow, plus they had a fairly good review, can't go wrong right? We didn't call to make a reservation and decide to chance it by walking in. We arrived to a practically empty restaurant, and were told that the entire place was fully booked and the only table they could offer us was outside on the veranda. It was a nice cool night, so we didn't mind.

The first sign that things were not quite right was when the waiter came out to set the table while we were going through the menus. Instead of setting the bread plates and cutlery nicely by our sides, he plonked them down in a messy pile on one end of the table and walked off. Now, if that were to happen at a normal cafe, that wouldn't really bother me, but when you're a fine-dining establishment who charges at least $28 for a mains, then you'd better darn have some fine-dining service to match. But to give the waiters their due, they were always very polite and attentive, just not quite polished.

Overall verdict of the food: too salty (you have to say it Zhang Ziyi style). From the complimentary starters of little salad we got in Chinese soup spoons, to my sister's duck confit and my bay prawns, everything just made me want to gulp lots of water down. And as for my father's tenderloin, he got a well-done steak when he asked for it to be medium. He sent it back to the kitchen, after all, if you're paying $40 for steak, it had better be done right. The captain came back with the same steak sliced in half and said, "The chef cut your steak in half to show you that it's red inside and that he doesn't think it is overdone. However, just to please you, he's doing another one again." I could imagine the chef throwing a prima donna fit about how plebs did not appreciate his art. I dunno lor, what happened to the customer is always right? We were not impressed. Oh, and I forgot to add that the food took a reeeeally time to arrive. Looks like we're not going back there again.

To soothe our dissatisfied palates, we went to Halia for some dessert among the tall trees and chirping crickets. Muuuch better.

* My dad works in KL and comes back to visit about once every month.

Nerd alert

(Picture from E-Online) So they have a name for this kind of art eh?

Complete Guide to Isometric Pixel Art
Now I can create pictures like that too. Yah right. This reminds me of the 3D Animation tutorials I had to do in uni. So painful, I'm so bad at breaking up an object into various shapes.


(From Samurai Champloo website) More adorable anime I can't watch

I've been on a crazy anime hunt lately. It's not enough for me to watch and rewatch Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, I want more more more! Blame it all on my friend who got me back into anime with Kenshin and Saiyuki. Samurai Champloo is the latest offering by the Cowboy Bebop guy, and judging by the website, this looks lots of fun. Argh why can't I read Japanese?

Objects of Material Lust

Hubba hubba...to flip (Nokia 7200) or to slide (Siemens SL65)?

I can't believe I have caved, but I have started thinking, "Hmm maybe I should get a new phone." I've always been a loyal Nokia girl, mainly because I'm just too darned lazy to learn how to use other phones. But then, after watching all those Korean serials and seeing the pretty girls with their clamshell phones and sparkly danglies, I want one too! Maybe if I have a clamshell phone, I will have flawless milky skin, beautiful straight black hair, pouty lips and Lee Byung Hun will want to snog me!

Yah, I know the Nokia clamshell phone hasn't gotten many good reviews, but it just looks so stylo! And then as if things weren't bad enough, I had to catch the Siemens SL65 ad on TV with that sexy sliding action. Aarrgh! What to do? What to get?

No no, must resist. Will stick to my trusty Nokia 6510. I don't need a sexy new phone, I don't need a sexy new phone.

This November, I am into...

more Christmas card ideas, finding yummy dessert recipes, the start of the holiday season, the preppie look, a long weekend, Rouge Online, Fantasy Mint Wash, those quirky shoes I saw at Hue, getting some or any kind of exercise in between the rain.

The answer to the universe?

On sat night, my normally recluse friend sms-ed me and asked if I wanted to go to Jazz @ Southbridge to listen to the Okazaki brothers play. I'd never heard of them before, but I like the place and hadn't been back in close to 2 years. Also, if your recluse friend wants to go out, you'd better darn go out!

Not only are the Okazaki brothers real brothers (as opposed to the brotha' , brudder kind), but they are both bald and sorta dress alike - in long-sleeved patterned shirts. The hotter one (who sorta looks like Lim Yu Beng, but shorter) plays saxophone and the other (who looks like a teddy bear) plays trumpet. It was very enjoyable and we stayed for two sets. The only songs I recognised were 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow', 'Autumn Leaves' and one other old jazz song I can't remember the title of.

While we were there, I tried a 42 Below vodka cocktail. Apparently, it has won awards for Best Vodka of the Year, or something like that. I had the special manuka honey blend with frangelico and apple juice - a very nice heady, strong mix which grows on you with each sip. Very yummy. I love sweet cocktails. The vodka was peddled by a girl wearing a black 42 Below vodka T-shirt, black pleated skirt and knee-high black boots, who went from table to table trying to sell the drink. Although all the men were checking her out, nobody was biting. A group of Americans seemed quite taken with her, and one of them attempted some 'witty' banter with her:

Guy: So, you know, the number 42 is the answer to the universe.
Girl: Urrrr...right.
Guy: I'm serious! There's a book that was written and in
it, these guys in it build a computer to find out all the answers in the universe. So they build it, and when they ask it the question, they wait years and years for the answer, and when the answer comes out, it's 42. Harhar, very funny right?
Girl: You are lying.
Guy: No, I'm serious. It's true, really!
Girl: Look, will you just buy the $%&^* vodka already!

I rolled my eyeballs and continued to sip my drink.