unphenomene

The freak has shifted!!! While I enjoy being on LJ, the short amount of time when the server was down earlier on spurred me to start up a new blog on Wordpress.

So for now, there'll be a trial period on mymindwentrunning.wordpress.com.
Watch out for the freak there and if things turn out haywire, I'll return here.

For the past couple of years, I've been going around telling my family and friends that I've pretty much gotten over the desire to be happily settled down with a family and bundles of children as I had wished for years ago in my youth. As depressing as some might think of it, or maybe even feel that I'm simply saying it for the sake of it, I realised recently that it's not that I don't desire a relationship but that at this moment in life I don't see the possibility of it.

I won't shun from opportunities when are they are presented in front of me, but neither do I go knocking around for them. I am learning to be appreciative of what I have right now and simply enjoying and indulging in the friendships I still possess before people start moving on from this.

Being ready for singlehood doesn't mean I reject marriages. Simply that since I don't see it happening in the near future, I might as well make plans for what is more possible. I don't mind having my plan changed and altered as life goes on, but I won't want to be caught in a situation where I'm left helpless simply because I wasn't prepared.

A close family friend and teacher whom I respect and love was one like that. She gave her youth and time to guiding and teaching us leaving her with no extra time and energy for a romantic love and partner. She too, was well-prepared for singlehood and happily retired to her hometown. Yet recently, we received news that she is engaged to be married end this year.

Years of devotion to us resulted in many many children of hers. And now, all HER children will be there to witness her love and to give her our greatest blessings for a match made by God.

A decision has been made and even though I have no idea if it's the right one or how it would turn out, I shall stay steadfast to it and simply await the best results possible.

There are indeed soooo many different ways one can show their love for others.

In my family's case, it can be as direct and straightforward as saying it in each other's face with a hug and kiss. There are also times when it's demonstrated through kind words and advices, time set aside to discuss seemingly important matters and buying the right gifts for each other.

Today, during a very late dinner, I say how a father showed his love for his son in the simplest way. The whole family were having western food when the son dropped his knife on the floor. He hurriedly picked it up and left it on the table, showing no signs that he was going to get a new one from the stall. After a short observation, it was obvious that he had resigned to eating simply with his fork. At that point of time however, his father took out a piece of tissue and wiped the knife that had dropped before passing the son HIS original knife while the father ate the rest of the meal with the wiped-clean knife. I know how silly this might sound, but at that very moment I really felt that it was such a simple action that demonstrated a father's unconditional love. It would have been a lot easier if either one of them had just gone to get a new set, but somehow this seem a lot more meaningful to me. Then again, maybe I'm just being sentimental and emotional?

Typing this entry has reminded me greatly of a line I came across long ago that goes somewhat like that:

"Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want, doesn't mean he doesn't love you"

Definitely not the exact words, but I think it gets to the point and I'm happy with it. ^_^

After months of working and more working...the past 3 weeks when I was jobless were probably the most trying period in recent years. There were much self-doubts about my abilities and whether or not I still had a place in the current market.

Yet it has also given me the time to really help with my Dad's work and at the same time the time to myself where I could really reflect and sort things through. Reasons for past successes and failures ran through my mind and somehow, the 2 interviews I got and the positive responses i received helped me to regain my confidence and the will to want to be a better person.

I've made promises to myself and *him* last September, of which many I've failed to abide. Right now, all I can say is that I want to move on and be better. I want to be able to keep looking forward and gain achievements of my own. Wishes will only remain as dreams and wishes unless I put in some action and it's high time action is carried out in my life.

I missed the last 2 years of your life, and now I'm too late.
All the signs God gave, all His prompting, and I paid attention to none.
It should not have been about the past, but holding on the to the present.
No one can see the future, so there should not be pushing things to tomorrow.
Now that I have missed the past, and no present with you, I look forward to the future.

It's not about what I don't have but what I have now, thus I will treasure them so I would not let you down.
I know I will see you again some day soon, when my mission on earth is done.
So stay the bubbly cheerful you, forgive my ignorance, and welcome me with your best smile when I return home.

This has been a wonderful night~

Had a date with Rajesh for movie at Alliance Francaise, a place I miss terribly and has not been to for years now. I miss the days where I learnt French there with Daphne, the days where the 2 JHs and Zixiang and I would go for French film festivals and such.

Arrived early and decided to check out the course registration. Shall be sending in my placement test later to see if I get to skip the beginners class. Yet given the lack of practice over the last 3 years, I doubt that's going to happen. >_<

So Rajesh came and we headed into the theatre. Shortly after, a familiar face walked in. It was Gerald, my poly french class mate!!! He was there with his girlfriend (I think) and it made me very happy to bump into random people like that~ Yet a while later, I recognised two more familiar faces: Ellie and Gurveen. Had a short exchange before they had to go grab a seat. We did manage to converse more after the movie luckily.

The movie "Le Concert" turned out to be surprisingly good. I didn't read much about it and left the decision to Rajesh which I am grateful for. The show was a very well mixture of emotions, humour and tension on top of a great plot. It was mostly Russian (dubbed French) and the show left an impact despite me expecting things to always turn out well in movies. There weren't exactly a twist, yet it wasn't all that cliche and boring. I was truly captivated. Come to think of it, I'll probably try to make French movies a monthly thing. It's probably a much more worthwhile option compared to blockbuster movies out in the market (of course there are exceptions). So yeah, anyone interested to catch more of it with me????

So after movies, we drove out to AMK for some chit chat over drinks before heading home. Well-spent night in my opinion. It's always nice to meet up and chat with friends. ALWAYS.

Breakfast on Thurs with the E Lit girls. Shall blog about my happiness again very soon.

Just as Wei Long had commented on my FB status a few days ago, "But it is also the boring days that make fun days seem extra fun", the boring and without plan Tuesday did a wonderful contrast with the days before it and especially the 'adventurous' day after.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I had arranged to meet Ron at 11am for lunch and to spend some REAL quality time together before he leaves for further studies. He suggested giving me morning call in case I overslept, and I got Pei to give me one as well. Pei couldn't reach me on my HP as the battery went flat in the middle of the night and she called my HOME! Hahahahhahaa.....apparently it is much more effective than calling my mobile. Woke up in a daze and after dilly-dallying, I managed to feel like I'll be late and sms Ron that. Turns out that he overslept as well! So much for jogging in the morning >_< So we shifted from 11am to 12pm, which turned out to be somewhat a blessing in disguise I guess.

For most Singaporeans, you should know that yesterday was a special day! Why? Because not since 1984 has there been such a severe flood in Singapore that even some parts of Orchard were submerged in water and people walked in knee-high water. So yes, I entered the CTE to be greeted with the message "CTE Closed from KG JAVA" on the electronic board. Immediately turned on my radio to wait for news regarding the matter but it wasn't till 30 - 40 mins later that the flood was reported. So there I was, all frantic, wondering if I would successfully make it to Orchard Central to meet up with Ron who was already there. The main reason for the delay though, was that a tree had fallen blocking the path on CTE, which made every single car headed downtown exit at the latest exit possible: Bukit Timah. That was a very miserable thing to happen, 5 lanes of cars on CTE squeezing to exit through the ONE lane was agonising beyond words. It really tested my skill of swerving into the lanes when the opportunity comes up and the kindness and courtesy of people to let me in.

Managed to get to town only after 2 hours, but I was grateful enough that I could enter and still have time to spend with Ron. Good thing the parking at Orchard Central starts from level 5, so no worries about flooding and all. The time spent together was rather rewarding, but I can't help to feel that the two of us were running out of topics to chat about. Has our lifestyles grown so apart and different? Will be meeting up with him again next week and I hope this time round, things will work out for the better. I just have to put in more effort to really talk in-depth maybe?

The flood in Orchard is indeed a curious event. We admit that it's really common to have floods along Bukit Timah and its stretch but Orchard, Patersons and Stevens road are rare occurrences for even the slightest accumulation of water. The siren of the LTA Police Marshal car was something I've never heard of before yesterday, and the number of tow trucks, police cars, traffic polices motorbikes and ambulances I saw on CTE and Orchard road yesterday was way over the amount I would have seen in a year. It was worrying indeed, for both the safety of the people and the losses incurred by various Singaporeans. The authorities are investigating the reason for the flood to so so severe, but the losses has bee incurred and the individuals/parties could do nothing but accept their stroke of bad luck.

It's such a fabulous and absolutely sinful day!!!

Bernard, Pei and I had made prior arrangements to meet up today and since Pei has to work, she can only join us for dinner. Bernard and I then decided to try out this place I found out about at Bishan Park for lunch. We arrived at The Green Room trying not to set our expectations too high since it was our first visit. We saw Canopy first and our first impression was that it reminded us greatly of the Mandai Zoo! Hahaha...We walked further in to get to The Green Room to find it CLOSED!!! Looked around for someone but to no avail and just when we were about to give up, the waiter arrives and welcomes us warmly. Sat on the veranda (I think that's what it's called) and looked through the menu. Ordered the high-tea set, vegetarian chicken rice and mushroom soup. I forgot to mention, The Green Room serves HEALTHY vegetarian food. ahhaa


Here's the view we have from our table.

The nyona kuehs in the high-tea set arrived first and we were both so amused that we couldn't help but giggle and laugh when it was served.


Now you see why we laughed?

The presentable was impressive for sure and, as it turned out, the kuehs were nice tasting and not too sweet even for me. Next to arrive was the mushroom soup which wasn't too bad but probably not fantastic compared to the ones you can get at The Soup Spoon (which was were we went for afternoon tea?) Then the well-anticipated HEALTHY laksa was served. To Bernard, it simply tasted like usual vegetarian laksa but to me, it tasted really interesting especially given the lack of dried shrimps and all. The gravy was nice despite not being as thick compared to the Claypot Laksa I had with Jolene. It was a very simple taste with nice tau poks and really smooth and soft mock fishcakes! Both Bernard and I couldn't figure out what it was made of, but yes, it made us happy. The mock chicken rice was very nice smelling, and well, in my opinion not that great a dish though i admit the rice was pretty well cooked. One problem with it though was that the rice along the sides were terribly hardened and that didn't taste as delectable as expected. Kind of got bored with what we had ordered and decided to try another dish. Bernard walked in intending to order the spring roll and came back out telling me that he placed order for the gado gado instead since he saw someone having it and it looked good. Turned out that it was a truly impressive. Very different from the usual gado gado but the ingredients were very fresh and the cashew nut sauce was simply incredible and made everything dipped in it taste so much better. The tempeh, however, was too nutty and neither of us got bear to try another piece. So that kinda got me a lil disappointed with the dish, but not disappointed enough to give up entirely.

Here's the pictures taken of our lunch:









After lunch, we headed to various places including Bugis, Ion Orchard and Icon. Interesting fact to note though is that I spend lesser than Bernard!!! But then, that's because he treated me to lunch and bought gifts for people before buying some stuff for himself. We parked our car at Fu Lu Shou and while getting out of the building, we entered this 四面佛 place where it acts both as a temple and as a shop for buddha statues. Intriguing place especially since I've never been this close to so many buddhas. The funniest part of the whole afternoon was probably when we entered Muji. He tried on a weird cardigan, attempted to get a pouch for his itouch, only to end up purchasing a whole bag of skin care products (of which 1 he insisted that I get as well since I was the one who influenced him into buying it).


Here's him in his new bought tee...look at that tiny waist! OMG

Met up with Pei at Icon for Sakae buffet, but since both Bernard and I had had afternoon tea at The Soup Spoon and we weren't that crazy about the fact that pink and red plate weren't included in the buffet, we decided to just have ala carte orders which was truly a great blessing in disguise. Both Pei and Bernard couldn't stand the non-crispy seaweed which even I had loads of trouble chewing and swallowing. Disappointing as the seaweed were, the salmon sashimi was ridiculously fresh!! It was really enjoyable for me though the sushi in general weren't sufficient to satisfy my desire for good food. After leaving Icon, we thought of going to Orchard for the FANTASTIC laksa at Prima Taste but we missed the exit and Pei suddenly offered another option which was to head over to Square 2 for Seoul Yummy's beef soup! The beef soup made me sooooo rejuvenated and happy, but it didn't last very long as the full day of sneezing and sniffing finally got to me and I suffered from a serious headache.

Got back into the car and just couldn't be bothered to think or do anything except to close my eyes and rest while Bernard tries his best to stir us in the right direction. Dropped by circuit road to check out the bags there but were simply in vain and got on our way home instead.

By the way, I spotted an ideal bag at Albert Orchard! It wasn't exactly a backpack but it looks good, feels great and I've kinda got my eyes set on it. Came home and told my mum about it and guess what? She offered to get them for me as my birthday present!!! Woooohooooo!! Mummy Rox!

Wow...this weekend had most definitely been one of the best and most fun-filled one i had in ages...

Fri night began with a dinner with my beloved churchmates whom i have not spent quality time with since forever. Dinner at Sakae was fun and filling, with loads of chatting and sharing of yummy food. The night was followed by a seminar on Christian Marriage and Dating in TA. Erm...not to be mean but a lot of the information shared were very theoretical and poses much challenges where advices were not and probably could not be easily given.

Saturday was my most packed but most enjoy-ed day of all! Ian's wedding was in the morning and the lazy pig (me) actually arrived on time (as in 15 mins before the ceremony) only to have the wedding delayed. Poor me had to sit alone too coz everyone else just didn't seem to be around. *sobz* Jing Mei was there too!!! Much to my surprise i suppose, since i wasn't expecting to see people i know from the bride's side. Turns out that she too is getting married this year!!! Time flies....

Met up with Jolene who miraculously wasn't late either! Haha...we headed down to have claypot laksa at Alexandra Food Village which was supposed to be yummy-licious. Well...the word 'supposed' already gave the game away...and i was kind of disappointed that the laksa wasn't that up to my expectations.



After the not so satisfying lunch, we headed over to Ikea for a walk and the smell and thought of meatballs simply won me over and i had a second serving of lunch much to the dismal of my losing weight hopes. What was supposed to be a small plate of meatballs ended up with me having meatballs, salmon and ice lemon tea!! Sinful and fat yes, but satisfying and happy making. Poor Jolene though, her cinnamon pancake and honeyed apples was such a flop that we took a bite each and left it alone for the rest of the afternoon.



A little chilling and we headed off home. Got to be running a lil late for Julien's 21st birthday party but decided to go get the helium balloon anyway. I love the shop and the shopowner at Kallang Leisure Park. He's so friendly and he actually remembers me for my last purchase which was last year~ Service was good and i got julien this humongous foil balloon which i had trouble pulling along and stuffing into my tiny little car. Flounder was the one who kept it 'well-seated'. Arrived at Julien's with much difficulty because i was lost and my wonderful gps brought me to geylang before directly me on to the right path. Think about it, i was at kallang, going to ECP and i passed by geylang. No way that makes sense. This is the reason why i should NOT trust solely on the gps.

The party was simple and Julien was kept busy with friends and relatives throughout most of the night but the group of us had a great deal of fun entertaining ourselves and chatting. We even planned a next outing given that 5 of us has birthdays in July and we thought it'll be nice to meet up at the beginning of the month for a gathering as well as a form of celebration~ I just can't wait for it. I love my churchmates and i really wish i have more opportunities to spending time with them in church but my schedule and commitment simply doesn't allow it. >_<

Today, as usual, most part was spent in church. Came back home to have a short nap before heading out to meet Rajesh. I can't recall exactly when we last met but, according to him, it was during the last World Cup which would make it approximately four years. *whistle* Was awkward at first...given the long period of time since we last met and we weren't exactly regular chatters on MSN. Dinner passed with small talks and asking about random superficial information for updates. Caught the movie "The Karate Kid". It wasn't exactly a disappointment, but it certainly wasn't a very recommendable movie. The plot was rather flat and predictable, action moves were rather limited and I guess the fact the Jackie Chan and Will Smith's son stars in it is the greatest motivation to catch it. Nevertheless, those who wants to watch it should still go ahead since it is a rather fresh thing to see a black boy learn kungfu. The english title of the movie probably wasn't very apt.

The highlight of the night was the drink at Giraffe.
Ignorant little me had never been there and it turned out to be rather pleasant. Nice place to really sit down and chill, as well as a real deal of chatting and catching up. And it was there that Rajesh and I finally warmed up a lil and got down to 'proper' communication in some ways. It was nice to meet up with him, that's for sure. Even though i don't know when we'll meet again, but i do look forward to it and somewhat hope that it won't be a wait till the next World Cup.