Congratulate me....

on having gone to the gym regularly for 5 consecutive weeks. And i'm not even growing tired of it yet!

I recently signed up at Amore and gave up my membership at Fitness First. I gave myself quite a hard time over that decision. I guess the real reason why I held on to the FF membership all this time was because I thought it was cool and a "status symbol". I'm not kidding! People do actually view gym memberships as status symbols too - not everyone can afford spending $150 on gym memberships monthly (and not go to the gym, like me).

Anyways, so I signed up at Amore as I wanted to a)lose weight and b)start going to the gym regularly. Figured that as the gym was at Tampines One, and so accessible from my house, I'd go regularly. Turns out that the classes at Amore and thoroughly enjoyable. Once I started, I was hooked!

I still think about Fitness First sometimes and just wonder why I was so stupid to hold on to that membership for so long!

Friday

Today is Friday and Soap has taken leave from his NS. You can imagine how excited I was to be able to spend a weekday(!) together...

Its now 2.03pm and we're still at home after racking our brains for the past couple of hours about where to eat and where to go. Finally, he fell asleep and here I am in front of the computer wondering why on earth is Singapore such a boring place!?

I know of couples whose date itinerary consists of and has become:
- Watching movies
- Eating
- Laze around at home

And I don't want to go to this place in my relationship. So I try hard to think of places to go, but sadly I fail. Coz we are here yet again. He sleeping whilst I'm on the internet (why do NS men sleep so much??).

To be honest, there ARE many places one can go. But only if you've got the moolah to go along with it. Living costs are on the rise, albeit slowly, but surely.

Sigh. What's a gal to do?

Christmas is coming...

I made a New Year's resolution to send out Christmas cards this year and guess what? I have! OMG am so excited right now!

I took some pics of the stuff and cards (yes you do get presents through snail mail too how about that!) I sent out (will post them up soon coz I just wanted to get this post out today). Hope you guys like what I got for you!

For those who didn't receive anything from me, there's still next year!!

I've been thinking of setting up another blogsite dedicated just to snail mail. I definitely do not want letter-writing/paper mail to die out!

What have you recently got in the mail other than adverts and bills? Any letters from your friends? Cards?

My grand total of letters from friends and cards is....TWO. And both were wedding invites. Sigh. There is really so much pleasure derived from reading a letter ON PAPER. It would really make my day. *not so subtle hint...LOL*

I believe in paying it forward, so before paper mail makes my day, I should make the first move and send out paper mail!

What would be a cool blog address?

ThankyouMrPostman.blogspot.com??

Or Ilovesnailmail.blogspot.com?

Ideas are welcome!

I just googled and these are a few websites that deal with their love of snail mail!

http://snailmailfriend4life.wordpress.com/
http://www.vivasnailmail.com/
http://welovesnailmail.webs.com/apps/blog/
http://missivemaven.blogspot.com/

And look out for more snail mail coming your way this year!! (methinks I need an address book)


On a solemn note..RIP Brittany Murphy. You will be missed. I loved your wacky antics on camera and your smile.

Way too many celebrities are leaving us this year.

Chocolate Eggs and Promises

After dinner today, my parents and I went to the nearby convenience store to buy some groceries for the house. I spied the Kinder Joy chocolate egg, picked it up and placed it with the items to be paid for at the counter.

On seeing it, my dad said to me "Hey you're not a little girl already! Don't buy lah."

But it was not the first time I bought this chocolate egg and so my dad paid for it and the rest of the items. Then he turned around and said "Next time whatever I want, you must buy for me!" To which I of course replied to the affirmative.


It may seem like an offhand remark that my dad made, it may even seem insignificant but this is a promise that I'll keep. Next time when my daddy and mummy grow older, I'll make sure they live life comfortably and most of all, happily.

Is It Me?

Serene will tell me its part of my character - Virgos are perfectionist people. But is it just me or was the show today too amateur? Are my standards really that high? Coz I certainly don't think so. What I expect of shows (whether I have to pay to watch or not) is that of industry professional standard.

Sadly, this show I watched today, dealing with clever monkeys wasn't all of that. Granted, the music and the dancing by the female lead was great. Excellent in fact. However what didn't work for me was the acting by the musicians (who really tried their best given their untrained circumstances), bad miming, and a skeleton script that wasn't fleshed out enough. Bad blocking by the cast added to the confusion - at times there was so much unsubstantial stuff happening on stage that I didn't know who to look at or what to understand, or whether it was improvised and therefore not important to the flow of the story.

Scenes were chop-chop done and gotten over with and all too soon, we're presented with the final act. One doesn't really know how it got from the monkey to there. And was the issue ever resolved? How did they do it? Hmm... I really don't know.

I'm disappointed. Because firstly, this show was put up by my gamelan company of which I'm affiliated to and if it is not a great show, its affecting all those in the company. Secondly, because my friends worked so hard for this show, which in the end didn't turn out so good in my opinion. Ok, so fine, you can say, that is my opinion right? But what about other people like me? Who pay money and expect to see something put up which is not just passable but good, interesting and of standard.

What's wrong with setting your standards high? People don't care if you say, hey but what we are doing is already a step up, a level up than our previous shows. These people weren't with us throughout our growing process and they wouldn't know anyway. So in they go...expecting what is only natural. Something of standard.

But of course some people won't understand. I'm so tired of hitting brick walls and making people understand what it takes to become a PROFESSIONAL PERFORMING ENSEMBLE.

Maybe its time to give up? Seeing as some people are blinded as to a certain ang moh's abilities. You wouldn't have given JT that support if she were in the same shoes so why are you now? Just 'fess up. You ARE partial. And it IS UNFAIR to all of us who also slog it out and have been slogging it out for years with you.

Its a long time to be waiting...

by .fefisnandinha

Its getting closer to his enlistment date. It hasn't sunk in yet. Everyone has been asking me what am I going to do. Honestly? I don't really know. Its two years. Two years of waiting till he is free.
But I do know that I am very very happy.

Going to be a mad rush for holidays. Been planning my schedule so that I'll always have free days every week to do stuff together. We've also been planning to go overseas quite abit..end June to early July will see us off to Indo for 12 days to study gamelan (so that's not officially a holiday) and then three days after we're back, its off to Ho Chi Minh. Its our first time there, so I'm really looking forward to exploring and seeing new stuff.

The week of my birthday in August will see us spending 5 days in Phuket. Jasmine tells me its boring...so it'll probably be a relaxing one then...meaning sleep, eat, and sleep and eat. Haha.

I feel like going to Melbourne too but with the swine flu in that city, I'm afraid to even fly there. So maybe it'll be Hanoi or Hoi An and maybe even Bangkok again!

And then after all that, its back to staying in the east, and having free nights and days. Then I'll start becoming a workaholic and all my friends will start getting calls to go out.

Sigh. Two years.

Its Women Like You

This video shows a Shanghainese woman throwing a tantrum when her boyfriend(?) refuses to buy a car for her. She then jumps into the car and attempts to drive it off to the chagrin of both the car salesman and the boyfriend, until he is forced to whip out his credit card and buy the car for her.

Horror - that is what I felt. I thought these scenes only appeared in movies and tv serials, not in real life.

Its women like you that give the entire female population such a bad name. China women. pfft.




If you can't view it, click here.

Therapeutic Tuesday

Today is the last day of my time-out. Six days of not working, but somehow, I don't feel relaxed. I wonder why.

So in a bid to bliss out, I am not going to a spa and I am not going out. The endless crowd makes me stressed and I zonk out like a walking zombie. I am going to stay home and look at pretty and interesting things like these.

Cisma's "Le Sens Propre" from glossy inc on http://vimeo.com">Vimeo.

Le Sens Propre is a short film written and directed by Blacklist's Cisma for Adobe��s Shortcut to Brilliant campaign for CS4 (Creative Suite 4). I love this!

These would be so suitable for hiding out from the sun and drawing your attention.

My favourite Singapore celebrity.

Channel 8 filmed part of their wedding dinner at the Ritz Carlton last night and I'm sure many brides-to-be had many inspirations from Michelle and Shaun's wedding. It brought back memories of Xin's wedding there. :)

What touched me was that Michelle herself made the wedding favours for the dinner – chilli padi from her family's recipe, and then bottled and decorated the favours. Also, she chose to skip the sharks fin course from the menu and had only 5 courses for the dinner, which by the way is a great idea. I think most of the time, there is way too much food and too much wastage. And why does the noodles always have to be served nearing the end of the dinner course? It is the heaviest part of the meal and should come first, right?

Another great idea was the dessert buffet. Set outside the banquet room, the buffet would be ideal for the guests to mingle and talk over sweets! My kinda scene. :) *sweet tooth.

Oh and her dresses were gorgeous! I can't wait for photos of her wearing them to be published! A short day dress? How clever! Beat the heat I say!

They look so happy together. Congratulations and may you both lead a blissful and happy life with each other!

In The Living Room.

I will going for a radio interview tomorrow! This is for the ACE Festival happening in June, and I, together with some of the other participants and directors will be interviewed for the "In The Living Room" segment by Pamelo Ho and Stanley Leong. I am so excited!! Hope I don't sound funny over the radio and don't say the wrong thing!

I did a little research on the hosts of the show and found myself at The Living Room blog, where I found out who was behind the two government (more specifically, MCYS) commercial that had me thinking hey this is so different from the staid government I know! They moved me, and most importantly, touched my heart. In this day and age, THAT is an accomplishment.

So this person, Yasmin Ahmad, a Malaysian director, was interviewed on "In The Living Room" and was specifically headhunted by our Prime Minister himself. For more on the blog article, please click here.



This is my next female idol.

The forerunner of great women

Queen Hapshepsut was the only female Pharaoh in Egyptian history, who after her death, had images of her as well as her name erased from all carvings, paintings and literature.

During her reign, the kingdom flourished, with many bold trading and exploring expeditions and great building projects amongst her acheivements. One might ask then, why was her name and her images erased?

Who had it done? Archaelogists think that her nephew/stepson was the culprit - one evidence being the fact that he had his name carved over her erased one.

Why was it done? Apparently, to uphold the male lineage of the Pharaoh line. It wouldn't be good for future generations to know that one of the Pharaohs had been female.

Imagine that. This woman, who did so much for the country and who proved that she was a good ruler, had to succumb to this age-old preference for the male gender.

Which brings me to think further, how many women might have rose to success or fame if they hadn't been thumbed down by this "male is better" rule? How many girls, if they had been given the chance to study in school instead of boys who were too busy playing to care, would have been leaders now? Millions or even billions!

I really am thankful that I was born in the society that I am in, thankful for the chance to study and thankful that my parents have never practiced male favouritism, unlike some of my friends. Thankful that I don't have to look at the ground everytime a man passes by, or wear a veil, or be subject to only doing menial tasks.

What about you?

This is for Joe

Thank you for your response to this post.

Yes, I agree with you that this is not a competition. It never was meant to be one. However, be it a competition or no, schools have always taken the SYF as a competition.

This is unhealthy. Principals exert pressure on the teachers, who then in turn exert pressure on the students and some times instructors.

In fact, I always tell my students that the most important thing is to have fun and in the process, learn something in terms of ensemble work, team work and musicality. But in the end, schools' mentality isn't about the learning, team work and fun, rather about what award would the students get.

It will take many years before the schools can change this perspective, I'm afraid.

Next, let me justify why I say that big ensembles win.

Firstly, like you said, more instruments means a larger, richer sound and therefore a better performance for the audience. My idea of a big ensemble is something like Millenia Institute's or Siglap Secondary - where they utilise not only a huge number of angklungs, but also kulintangs as well as other instruments.

Digressing a little, here comes the part wherein I am confused as to why the angklung and kulintang are grouped together because in Indonesia, the angklungs are played alone, and are certainly not accompanied by the kulintang. This is simply because of geographical differences. The angklung has been used and played by the Sundanese (West Java) since ancient times, whereas the kulintang is used more frequently in Eastern Indonesia, like Sulawesi. Furthermore, the wooden kulintangs that have always been used in the SYF do not come from Indonesia, but rather, originated from the Phillipines.

I've always been amazed at the lack of research by the MOE personnel. Do they know for instance that the kulintang of Indonesia are made up of kettle-gongs not wooden keys, thus the term coined for the kulintang ensemble: gong-chime family? So shouldn't the kettle-gong kulintang be used instead of the wooden ones?

By using the wooden kulintang, does this then not classify the kulintang under the "other" instruments category?

In my opinion, what I could see on SYF day was that the kulintangs overshadowed the angklungs most of the time. Of course, seeing that one is an instrument capable of more sustaining power, mellower timbre and depends on the hitting capacity of the mallet-wielder, one would understand why. But if this is an Angklung category in the SYF, why would one then choose to have so many kulintangs in proportion to the angklungs, when he/she knows that the incidence of the kulintangs drowning out the angklungs would be greater?

And then to add on to that would be to introduce other instruments. I actually don't find the "other" instruments a problem. I myself have used them in my arrangements. What I am concerned is the role they play in the ensemble. Do they have solo roles? Or do they just play accompaniments to the angklungs or provide sound effects or enhance the music?

I actually think that the performances by Siglap Sec and Millenia Institute were great and musically interesting, especially MI's orchestral-like arrangement. But to me, the roles of the angklung in their performances were sadly diminished and eclipsed by other instruments.

The best performance of the day I felt, went to Crescent Girls School. The instructor used only the angklung, kulintang, and a hi-hat/cymbal for her second song. The angklung parts utilized both the rhythmic and melodic aspects, the kulintang played accents and accompaniment figures that did not clash with nor steal the spotlight from the angklungs and the hi-hat/cymbal combination gave an added rhythmic boost to the whole ensemble. That performance I felt really showcased the angklungs and was easily the best performance of the day, musically. However, they only got a silver.

Thats why I say that big ensembles win gold. Not only just vast amounts of angklungs, but kulintangs as well as other instruments. Oh, and not forgetting the choreography that has become consistent with schools under Mr Khamis.

One really wonders.

Happy Valentines Day!

(via design*sponge)

To all my friends, family and anybody who chances upon this little blog,

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

This is the day to comemorate the love you have for each other, be it between lovers, family or friends.

What did you do today? We did nothing special. :) Yup, nothing special. We woke up early to have Mac breakfast, did some window shopping and then watched Valkyrie. I think its rather cool to watch a movie in the early part of the day. Its actually my favourite part of the day to watch a movie.

And then we headed home to watch the Deadliest Catch - a documentary on fisherman fishing for Alaskan crabs. It apparently is a rather lucrative, if not dangerous occupation. They can expect to get up to a few thousand dollars for just a few days at sea.

We ate delivered pastamania with Soap's brother. Very yummy. I love the fact that everything is still hot. Hot. Not warm. Even the pizza was delicious!

And later, at 12.30am is another movie showing at our very own movie theater at Soap's. Hehe. We're gonna watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

Nothing special right? But the important thing is we spent the whole day together. To me, everyday can be Valentine's day, as long as we cherish each other and let each day that passes be meaningful. I'd take blissfulness over chocs and roses any day.

Was supposed to bring RnB out today to meet with Liz at East Coast, but we couldn't find their leash and the other doggie bag! Sorry Liz! You'll meet them soon!!

I have decided to update my other blogs @ the Chic Suite. I really should continue what I started! I also will have to revamp the blog template, but thats for another day. First things first!

Here are the links. I would be so very pleased if you could make a trip to the Suite and tell me if you like them.

The Saloon - everything fashion
Lava Lounge - happenings and events
The Boudoir - everything on beauty

Merry Christmas!!

This year, I received a deluge of Christmas sms-es and no Christmas cards. The number of Christmas cards I've gotten has been dwindling little by little over the years and when I received none in my mailbox this year, I was struck by a sudden yearning for those Christmas cards I used to get.

I remember one year, the trend was an inbuilt recording of a Christmas carol that would automatically play every time you opened the card. Do you remember those type of cards? I would always open the card and then quickly close it, just for fun. Ha! Those times are now long gone, just like many others, for example the sending of letters, even wedding cards today are just sms-es (i've gotten a few wedding invites via sms....so weird you know?)

It is too late to send out Christmas cards now, so you know what? I'm going collect Christmas cards the whole of 2009, as well as the addresses of you people and you're going to find a card in your mailbox from yours truly next Christmas! Yaay! :D

Wordle

I have recently discovered Wordle - an online free program that turns this poem by Philip Larkin:

Is it for now or for always,
The world hangs on a stalk?
Is it a trick or trysting-place,
The woods we have found to walk?

Is it a mirage or miracle?
Your lips that lift at mine:
And the suns like a juggler's juggling-balls,
Are they a sham or a sign?

Shine out, my sudden angel,
Break fear with breast and brow,
I take you now and for always,
For always is always now.

into these:


I like how the different layouts bring out different facets of the poem. I'd love to frame them up - they would make for a cool centerpiece/wall art.

The Wedding Dress

I stumbled across this webpage on the history of the wedding dress while searching for any history at all on the sweetheart neckline (nothing definitive I can find so far! How weird is that?).

Ok we all know that the choice of color for wedding dresses were white and its variations right? But blue was also a favourite colour.
a) blue is a colour associated with Mother Mary, therefore another symbol of purity
b) blue traditionally symbolised fidelity and and everlasting love (hence the popularity of sapphires in engagement rings!)

This phrase below is a wedding customary phrase and it refers to what the bride must have on her on her wedding day.


"Something old, something new

Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe."

I now know why its "something blue" and not pink or yellow! Brides would wear blue or something blue on their person to ensure the fidelity of their husband as was the superstition of the day.

Now, what colours were forbidden or frowned upon?

Pink: "marry in pink and your fortunes will sink"
Red: in Victorian times, this colour was associated with prostitutes and slatterns. Also for guests, this was considered rather taboo - if invited to attend a wedding, a widow in mourning would throw off her customary black and wear red to the wedding. Thus, red was further viewed as a bridal mourning colour.
Green: considered the colour of fairies and was generally thought bad luck to call the attention of the magical folk to oneself during the wedding. Also, green is connected to Nature and to wear the colour might induce rain to dampen the wedding day.
Brown: rustic. "marry in brown and you'll live out of town" - with the implication that one would always be a hick and a countrymouse.
Yellow: Trendy for a while but considered to be a heathen colour and unholy, therefore forbidden to be worn in church!

Thats a lot of colours the bride/guests can't wear to a wedding! We're fortunate to be in the modern times. Nowadays, brides and guests get to choose whatever they want. I've seen lots of black in recent years!

They might not care, or they might be ill-informed. However it is, it is always good to do your research before you attend a wedding as a kind of respect to the couple getting married.

Laurie's getting married on the 30th of November! I think I'll wear blue. Heh.

Lethargy...

is creeping in. I have so much to do, but I can't put my hands around it. Sigh. I wonder why this period of ineptness always happens to me! I know I just have to tell myself to just go and do it, but I just feel like resting and resting!! :( okay, must go do more headbands after this!!!

Facebook tagging

Its interesting, this Facebook thing about tagging. We can tag ourselves and our friends in photos. Others can request to tag your photo if their friends are in a group photo with you. I think its pretty cool. Recently, a friend of mine requested to tag a photo of mine that included her friend (whom I didn't know). Apparently, we were at Xin's wedding dinner together.

But then again, sometimes this tagging thing can be hilarious, especially if your friend becomes a darabuka (read: middle-eastern drum that accompanies bellydancing). Yes, you read right. Julia Sim became a darabuka. And I was at the particular photo hunting high and low for her! You know how the tagging is done by placing a square around the person's body part/object? Julia Sim was the square around the drum! Want to know something stupid? I thought she was hiding behind the drum so I was searching very carefully for signs of Julia behind the drum. Aiyo. See the photo here. But please sign in first! Facebook that is!

What I Saw Today and Loved

Presenting to you some pictures I saw today and fell in love with...the best part? All three pics give a different vibe. Its like how life is never just black or white, but grey with bits of pink, blues, yellows and red :) Enjoy...

Argentinian Indigenous Ensemble

On the fateful Friday that just passed, I watched a rhythmic, pulsating performance by the Argentinian Indigenous Ensemble. I didn't enjoy it. No lyricism, no melody. There was no one song that stood out. In an almost one hour and forty five minute show, thats a miracle.

There were spoken vocals that I (and I suspect, the rest of the audience) couldn't make out and some costume changes in the vein of animals. Oh, and not forgetting the Maracas Solo along with a backing track. I was thinking what "tape" meant - some indigenous instrument or something and came to realise it was what it was! Tape! And maracas solo? Thats just hilarious. Of all the indigenous instruments they could choose from, the maracas was the best they could do for a solo?

Oh well.



On another note, Beyonce looks fat here. Apparently, this dress is from the House of Dereon, that is, her label. Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything for her.

When Coco Pops come into my life...

you know that i'm out of Singapore. Its funny how I only eat cereals when i'm overseas. Its like suddenly, the invisible shackles between me and that elusive breakfast cereal miraculously come off when I step onto foreign sand.

I'm still trying to make sense of this madness. Don't get me wrong, its not that I hate breakfast cereals. Au contraire, I love them! Especially Froot Loops! When I was in Edinburgh, I ate Coco Pops every morning, after bread and peanut butter just didn't cut it for me anymore. Yup, I finished the whole box in a week, pretty much the same situation here in Sydney now. Haha.

Maybe its my lifestyle in Singapore. The mad rush and chaotic crush. Those endless days of chores and work that doesn't seem to diminish even after you've put in so many hours. No time to sit down and have that bowl of Froot Loops in the morning because its a race starting from the time I wake up to the time I collapse on my bed. Mayhaps I need a change. And that bowl of Froot Loops may be just it.