Super Mild Guacamole

It has been raining for two days straight, and I find myself missing blue sky and sunny days.

I had a very disappointing lunch of puffed rice cakes and guacamole. Usually, I prefer avocado dip, but because Carrefour didn't have any, I had to settle for guacamole, which, for those who don't know, is just a spicier version of my favourite dip, with a fancier name.

But this guacamole was not spicy at all!!! It tastes like tomato and avocado lol. I consoled myself by thinking how healthy it all was :P (It is made up of 95% avocado!)

This afternoon, after going to post Ai's present, I finally caught up with Sol over coffee at TCC again.

Because the both of us have been so busy with assignments, we haven't really talked for some time. He had his usual coffee-something, whilst I had Linden tea. It's supposed to have 'healing powers' but I don't feel much different haha :P

As usual, we were teasing each other throughout the whole time until he had to leave for church. So I stayed on at the shops by myself until Rz came off from work :)

As I walked around the shops alone, I recalled someone asking me if a girl and a boy could remain good friends, or would attraction get in the way. I thought of what someone said to Sol today: "roxy your new gf ha" and I laughed to myself!

I've known Sol for so long, it never once crossed my mind that I could see him as anything other than a younger brother.. Yes, he's three years younger than me.

Anyway tomorrow is Teachers' Day in Singapore, so all the schools were let out very early this afternoon.

Zzzz! I was feeling very out of place walking around amongst the throng of under sixteens!

I felt so out of place even sitting on a bench outside the shopping centre!

ALL the smokers were YOUNGER than me =.=" Anti-smoking ads say they'll die younger than me too, but, well, I don't think they care at this point.

I was only too glad when Rz called to say he'd left office already and was walking over. When I am with him at least I can think of other happier things.

I was so grateful to be with him, I took him to Muji to buy him snacks lol. My latest (other) mission is to fatten him up lol :P However, not only did I get him some corn snacks, I ended up with a packet of apple chips and some fruit tea for myself!





I know these shots are bad, but I was too lazy to take better ones :P

Tomorrow evening I'll be meeting Junk and Taryn :D with Rz, Sol and JL :) So happy and excited :P

We're going to have dinner and then it's off to Daiso :D Yay :)


- 31 August 2006 11:35pm -

Remedy for a bad day :) 

いやなコトをすべて水に流すんです..

In translation, it means "Let it drift away with water if you had a bad day". I learnt it from Jelinda-san on flickr!

Last night after dinner when I came home, I was feeling very tired from not having enough sleep over the weekend. So I took a very long time having a hot shower, complete with a dead sea salt body scrub, facial scrub, collagen facial mask and even used my favourite Clinique serum after that :)

So revitalising :)

It was such a coincidence that Jelinda used this phrase in one of her comments to me! It's such a beautiful way of expressing such a simple truth :)

Well, I think I'm very fortunate to have found so many flickr buddies who are so willing to teach me Japanese!! Not forgetting time@-san, iku~san and so many others :)

Ai-chan has also been most painstakingly teaching me Japanese words and phrases! I learnt so many new things today just by logging onto flickr hehe :P

I managed to get Ai's present yesterday! They were so cute, I simply had to take photos of them! :P

I got a pair of owls for Ai, a pink and a white one :) Pink because it symbolises 'ai', Love, and has her name on it :) White because I wanted to wish her all the best of luck in everything she does, and also I want her to have something I have too, so she will remember me :)


I also got a pair of frogs for Ai :P Green for health, as I believe good health is hers to claim from now on! Blue represents peace of mind, which I hope she will always have :)


I also made her something to go along with them, but I shall only post pictures of it when she gets her package :) I don't want to spoil the surprise :P


- 29 August 2006 9:14pm -

DBSK - Rising Sun

Hazy Dawn

I've not slept and on my eyes are massive slathers of L'Oreal eye cream. I'm not trying to be funny either :s

I'm so tired, but my essay still needs a conclusion and a bibliography. I am so sick of looking at it already, I decided to take a break and blog instead. I know I've been neglecting this page somewhat since term started.

Anyway I should get back to it, I need to send it out by 5pm later.


Clutter
Originally uploaded by hesedetang *.

- 28 August 2006 7:57am -

I wanna nap too... :s 

I Need Focus

I'm really grateful for all your prayers for my grandfather. The panel of doctors have declared that his cancer is in the early stages.

This declaration in itself is amazing because my grandfather's health has never been perfect, and he used to smoke tobacco for many years.

From now on, we have to constantly watch over his health as he undergoes radiotheraphy (treatment for his cancer).

I have been terribly caught up with everything that has been happening that I still have not began to work on my assignment which is due next Monday. It is worth 50% of the overall grade, and it does seem that I will have to miss out on sleep tonight.

I am exhausted, but I am truly thankful about grandfather's news.

...

One of the very nice people I've met on Flickr is Alice :) She's always got a smile on her face at anytime of the day!



She loved my owl charms so much that I decided to send her some :D For this reason, I simply cannot wait til my assignment is over to visit Takashimaya again :P Hehehe..

...

R finally came over today to see "my new hamsters". That is what she still calls them lol, even though they have been in my house for about 3 months already...

Verdict was as expected: Tori is so round!

Hahaha, R loves round hammies. She would never look at skinny or scrawny ones. So guess which hammy she photographed the most? ;)


- 26 August 2006 11:42pm -

And then there was one. 

Slipping

So many things at once. The most pressing on my mind is Grandad. His health. Tomorrow we will be meeting a panel of doctors to discuss his condition and the options open to us.

My aunt is a subset of this problem. She is completely useless as an ally because of her emotive outbursts everytime she talks to me. Love is not a factor in this equation, because even though I love her very much, she often drags my mood downhill with her and saps me of my strength. At a time when I am struggling to cope with everything at once, I simply cannot be allowed to let myself go with the tears and rants I so desperately want to be able to give into, too.

I am dreading meeting her tomorrow. I love her. So much that I feel what she feels and it kills me too.

I am bottling up everything on the inside even though on the surface it seems like cool, clear glass. Although I know bottling up is no good in the long run, I don't see how I can continue to face the day, everyday, if I just let myself go.

It is times like this that I selfishly envy other people of their mothers. How nice it would be to have a confidante! Someone who is 100% for you, on your side, supportive of you! Loving you! Encouraging you!

Secondary to all this is my load of assignments and other freelance projects. I am looking to Him for wisdom. Wisdom to cope. Wisdom to overcome. Wisdom to excel. Wisdom to deal with all that is happening.

I know in many ways I am blessed. And bad things happen when they happen. Why is it so hard to tell yourself the same advice you tell others?


- 23 August 2006 2:15pm -

Owls on my Pillow :) 

Many Shades of White

There's so much I want to say but don't say these days. And that is so unlike the old me.

Once upon a time, I used to blurt out everything that was on my mind, no matter who I was with. I used to believe "honesty was the best policy" because I was brought up that way.

Now, I don't really see any point in voicing out sometimes. These days I think the ones I talk to most are my hammies :s haha

Anyway, I'm going to be even more busy from now on. On top of full time studies and Jewel Paws, I'm taking on freelance editing for the Bible Society of Singapore.

I've already been involved in editing a couple of books for them, and I think there will be several more to come. Well, even though I will be indirectly be working for dad again (which I once swore never to do), at least this will look impressive on my resume :) haha :)

Hmmm, at least this time I will be able to work from home and not go to work with dad :s

...

This afternoon, after I had finished bathing and feeding the hammies, all of them went back to sleep in their respective corners as usual. I suddenly decided to pick Tori up from her corner on impulse.

I must have picked her up too quickly because she didn't realise what was happening and continued sleeping when I used a bit of my t-shirt to wrap her against my tummy!

She continued to sleep for about five minutes until she woke up when she heard my voice. So cute and heartwarming!

Usually, she is a livewire when we carry her, so I really treasure today's experience :)

As for Lemon, she recently made it onto Sol's blog :D She's got some fans in Flickr too, my "Lemon" photos usually get many many more hits than any other photos I may put up!

...

I hate water retention. I'm like a sponge. At times like this, I feel like it's actually hard to move about! Grrrrr.

I even broke the heel of my shoe yesterday. So I got finally got some new ones hehe :P Rz likes to inform me that my other pair has a hole too :s



If you ask me, that's the only good thing that comes from water retention :P :P :P


- 21 August 2006 2:19am -

I'm feeling greedy..♡ 

Neither Day nor Night

I've been doing so much research of late that it seems like 24 hours is not enough in a day. Sometimes I sleep at 5am and wake up at 11am. Sometimes I sleep at 12mn and wake up at 9am.

This is bad for my complexion and health, I know :s But what to do?

In between paragraphs and reading material for my essay, I take time off on Flickr and other random stuff. I just realised (again) how mcuh junk I actually have in my PC :D

It's a happy problem, and I'm not lacking space yet. But if I continue to take 80-120 photos a day, I will :s

Hmm browsing through Japanese foodie pix on Flickr is a bad idea at 3am in the morning whilst you're trying to mug :s Haha :P

Oh well, I shall have some kimchi ramen with fresh garlic and wild seaweed later :D Yes I ♡ garlic :P I can eat it raw :P Ginger too :P

My essay is about 75% finished, depending on how much garnishing I feel like adding. Hmm garnishing? Hahaha, yes I'm greedy :P Like Tori like owner :P

I swear everytime I look at baby Tori, she's eating! If she isn't eating you can't catch her sitting still at all :P

She's the only one of my hammies who can eat three course dinners :s

Tori with Course #1: Freeze dried Strawberries by ab Gex


Tori with Course #2: Brocolli Flower, Leaf and Chunks of Stem


Tori with Course #3: Seeds


After that she ends up like this :s


Yes she and Lemon are really adorable, so much so I can't stop snapping photos of them. I've even begun to receive one or two Flickrmails addressed to "Dear Hammy Girl" :s

So today I actually uploaded some of my favourite shots from my own archives :D I can't have people thinking all I do is snap hammies (and food)! What a waste of a new Canon Ixus 60 :s

Oh well, break's up, back to work. Hope I can get to bed by 7am :s


- 18 August 2005 3:03am -

A bit of blue and lots of grey, just like my mood today - Cavanagh Bridge Singapore 

Light and Dark

I've been kinda caught in between feeling happy and sad for the past few days. The irony is that I probably have never been happier in my entire life.

I know should be enjoying my life as a third year undergraduate, working freelance and running various projects, with photography, gaming and endless loves to keep me busy and entertained 24/7.

It's hard to understand how one can be blissfully happy and contented in some ways and yet be feeling distraught in others.

I guess I just have to savour those happy moments until the light penetrates those darker ones.

...

Hamsters are all doing fine. Healthy and chubby. Getting really tame too. Tako and Lemon have begun to respond to their names :)

Tori, the baby, is also the roundest yet. LOL.

She's an eating machine.

...

I have this essay that is due this Friday. I haven't written a single word because I am still scrambling to get my research together.

It's about risk factors and criminal justice policy making.

I have no idea whatsoever. No one talks about such things in Singapore. I feel another headache coming on when I think about it.

Oh well.

Tomorrow should be a better day. It just has to be.


- 14 August 2006 11:51pm -

<3 Lemon 

The Right Music

So far this week has been a very busy one. Yes, when have I not said that before, right?

*sigh* I have an assignment due next week and was supposed to start tonight. But after going to visit Grandad in TTSH I somehow lost my drive.

I shall digress from what's eating me and blog pictures from the week that's past.

...

6 August 2006

Service was good. Pastor talked about how the right music in our head determines the productivity of iour actions. No, I am not referring to DBSK or BoA, even though recently they seem to be all I hear 90% of the time.

She talked about the City of Jericho and how it was circled wordlessly for six days, before falling on the seventh day with a shout and trumpet call.

All this means nothing to those hearing me repeat this because I am being deliberately vague. *sigh*

We had Carl's Jnr for lunch/dinner and had desert at this Jap restaurant at Marina Square. For a strange reason, I can't recall it's name at all. LOL. Oh well. So much for "good memory".





Tofu's tank was flooded when his water bottle broke lol! This was taken before that though.

I was playing CS and actually heard a commotion when it happened and thought, "Hmm Tofu is noisy tonight.."

Then I turned and saw him struggling to stand in wet cat litter, with a very frustrated look on his face. If he could talk he would have said, "What are you still staring at me for! Come and help me!!" LOL.

Demanding, yes. That is our Tofu for you.



...

7 August 2006

Tako, unlike Tofu, is very happy being alone. He has all the food to himself now :)



...

8 August 2006

Had lunch with Rz and was supposed to study after that, but something happened and I realised being outside would be un-productive. So I went home and surfed Youtube and Flickr.

Met the Stoddarts with dad for dinner. Went to Dan Ryan's where my pasta had 3 meatballs the size of a Mos Burger patty each. Except for the exceptional size (of their meatballs), there was nothing exceptionally extraordinary about their pasta except the exorbitant price.



I can cook better pasta, sorry.



Dad's rainbow trout looked much better. I'm sure you'll agree.



Us and the Stoddarts. I think I look kinda squished here.



Outside Regent Hotel Singapore, also known as the place where dad lost his car in the carpark -.-"

...

9 August 2006

Spent National Day like I have for the last two National Days - feeling uninterested. I haven't really felt at home in Singapore since I turned 15.

Went to Yoshinoya at GWC. Amazing that so much has changed. This branch was refurbished since I last worked at GWC in 2004 lol.



I am...



...Getting hungry already.



...

10 August 2006

Met up with Sol to study again. Was kinda a mad rush. Had to arrange with both my dad and my aunt for this evening's hospital visit.

Not easy talking to two impatient people who are related to each other :s

Here's my lunch: Tofu Tortellini at TCC Bugis Junction



With all Singaporean eateries, I guess every 3 years is about the average for a refurbishment. This is how TCC Bugis Junction looks like now.



My Uchi pencil case I bought from Myer Brisbane. Something about it makes me think about Jap food.



And yes, this creature is our Lemon.



...

Alright. I'm off to sleep. Hope I won't have to toss and turn 12781982156215 times like the past few nights.


- 11 August 2006 3:51am -

DBSK - Hug

Beginning to love this song :) Doesn't help that it comes in Japanese, Chinese and English versions too lol.

I feel so peaceful when I look at this :) 

Loving Daiso!

Just came home from visiting Grandad. He just went for a biopsy today because they'd detected a growth in his throat.

But he was happy and chirpy to all of us whilst we were there. He even watched the finale to SuperBand with us :D Happily chatting and asking me questions about school.

I love my Grandad very much because he is the person you'd least expect to be unconventional. He shares my love in photography and was the one who got me second hand cameras to fool around with in my childhood. I credit whatever photographic skills I may have to him.

I love him for continuing to shoulder on alone after grandma and mum passed away one month apart from each other since way back in 1999.

I love him for never stopping my father from going to church, for never stopping my parents from marrying in a church, for never stopping my parents from raising me up as a Christian.

I would like to think he taught my dad to be unconventional, to be unlike anyone else in this world, and for my dad to have brought me up likewise.

To me this is the unique characteristic that binds the three of us and sets us apart from the rest of the family.

...

Last night I went to meet Rz, JL and Junk at IMM :) Taryn was supposed to come along too, but her granny took her out last minute.

JL was sad. He really wanted to carry and play with the lil girl, but well, there will be other times :D Don't worry k JL :)

The main thing I wanted to see at IMM was Daiso, this immense department store that sells everything for $2. I'd heard lots about it and I really wanted to see it for myself.

I just love all the pretty glassware :D


It's such an amazing place :D

I cannot wait to go again! I managed to get a porcelain bowl in the shape of a bathtub for Pepsi and Lemon :D




Not only is it cute, they seem to love it too :D This picture actually was of her face, but at night, Lemon moves about 10x her speed in the day lol. So all you can see is her rearview.


In comparison to this, you'll know why I prefer to photograph them in the day :D


Also, I bought some denim and applique to make Fb's baby Fluffy a carrier bag :D I promise more pix when it's completed :D Now I only have to look for some sorta mesh, so Fluffy can have windows :D

Rz, Junk and JL bought mostly snacks. This is one of the cuter ones :D Tako Pachi!


After Daiso we had dinner at Wang Zhai Xiang Gang Nai Cha Dian :D Yummy! :D

Does this make you hungry? :D


We ordered Beef Brisket to share :D


My Minced Pork Salted Fish Rice :D


Junk's Pork Rib and Baked Butter Rice :D


Rz's Seafood and Baked Butter Rice :D


Chicken Wings!


LOL I didn't take a photo of JL's fried rice, cos not only did it come very late and we were all busy eating already, it didn't look very special :x

Hahahaha JL was also very unlucky to pick the only dish that doesn't come with free soup!

So instead of posting pictures of such an unlucky plate of fried rice, I'll share a pic of Junk and JL :D


...

Like everyone else, I have small bits of me that are sensitive too. I can gallantly carry on a joke at my expense, even when it is far from being true.

I laugh at myself on a daily basis, and I make sure I don't put on any airs. I am so approachable until the point I can hardly tell when people are talking to me in order to backstab me at times.

We shared good times, and we've stuck together in bad times. I love you like I'd love a blood brother. I've stuck by you over the years, even when people gave me reason to doubt your integrity and questioned the strength of your character, I have always remained in your defence.

True, what you said in the forums could have been a joke. But how come instead of laughing I feel so much like crying? :(

I've tried to brush this feeling aside more than once since the attacks were first launched. But tonight, it hurts more than ever. Still, I took the time to visit your blog, look for you online, the same as everyday.

You know, I don't feel mad or angry at all. Just feeling kinda hurt cos I still care a great deal. Perhaps, as you put it, I am indeed eccentric after all.

You'll always be brilliant to me. And no matter what you have said, I will always have a word of encouragement for my didi *sayang*


- 6 August 2006 4:15am -