319: things will be great when you’re downtown

London was wonderful, even though I arrived with a heavy heart on Wednesday night following a pretty bad weekend. It was Guy Fawkes Day and I had loads of fun watching the fireworks coming up from random houses on the bus from Stansted into downtown London. I spent a lot of money shopping and spent half a day in Topshop alone (no kidding) and picked up something like 20 tops and/or dresses and trying them on endlessly before narrowing it down to just two; saving my money for the Boxing Day sales! I was so tempted to buy so many things because Topshop stuff is lovely and I miss it so much now that I don’t get to shop there regularly anymore. Had to keep restraining myself from getting things (“No, it’s winter now… and you’ll only get to wear that six months later when you get back,” and then a voice goes: “But it’s pretty! And you might not be able to find it again! And it’s summer all year round back home anyway! Cost-per-wear!”) including this grey blazer which cost 60 pounds (I didn’t!).

315: almost, but not quite

Traipsing around Italy pretending to be fashionistas on our limited budget. We were on our way to Prada.

 

303: japan: dancing in tokyo

So – here is the last part. We spent three nights in Tokyo, but it was effectively two and half days left because we flew off in the morning. Less words before the cut now because there is just so much more to see in pictures.

299: shopping

My J brand jeans came! I like them a lot and they fit pretty well. Unfortunately I bought the one with the leg opening slightly too wide… so I will have to alter them to narrow it down. 

RZ is on her way to Copenhagen now! So excited. Soon it will be my turn.

297: ajdhfkjhgjkhg dying

 

The product you’ve been waiting for. 

293: japan: osaka city riots

18- 21 May.

So, finally, here is Osaka. Most of what they say about Osaka is totally true. It’s a merchant town, and it’s filled with people who love food, love being happy, love being loud and funny and living life. It’s kind of like being Hokkien on crack. Being Japanese, they’re naturally polite, and really really willing to help. They’re the sort of people that, when you are standing alone on the train platform surrounded by your luggage, an elderly lady will totter over to you asking, 大丈夫か？ (Are you all right?). At this point most of what you can say merely consists of ああ、はい (Ah, yes) which is really rude now that I think about it. Yet the same elderly lady, when getting onto the train, will fight you tooth and nail to get in and give you a not-so-friendly push if you dawdle too long at the entrance. Osaka people are always hurrying everywhere; not in the same way as Tokyo or the big cities, where everyone needs to look like they have something very important to do. Here it is pure unadulterated rush. 

We spent four days in Osaka, and they were a good four days. We visited temples and parks, castles, got lost, did lots of shopping, checked out Kennedy’s wildly expensive t-shirts, gawked at more wildly expensive merchandise, ate and walked, and ate, and ate non-stop. 

291: it’s a bright, bright, bright, sunshiney day

I must say; it’s so hot it’s not even funny. I can just sit here and start sweating for no reason. I hate hot weather. And summer. And whatever arghhh.

I haven’t done anything these few days. I met Nurul to do our nails yesterday so now my nails are grey. It looks cooler than it sounds. I think. Other than that, I’ve only been meeting J for dinner and making full use of my Internet’s temporary connection to Megaupload (I have never been able to download anything from there before. Ever. J says it’s where all the porn is stored and MU has probably cleared all its servers so that horny Singaporeans don’t get to access it anymore…) to download 34689475968 episodes of everything. 

I now have on-going series (what is the plural?!) of Osen, Zettai Kareshi, Last Friends, and Nodame Cantabile. Also I found the subtitled version of the Hana Kimi special. GO ME! I now have a drama collection to rival Isaac’s. Who is obsessed with Nakama Yukie. Watching Gokusen for all the wrong reasons. Tsk.

Pictures of the super wonderful bento/don I ate the other day:

289: japan: yokohama city lights

It’s early in the morning now, and as usual, I can’t sleep. The sky is red and you know what they say about red skies in the morning and red skies at night. Tonight the moon is full, as it was last night, but tonight the moon hung low behind the tree outside my house and I had to look harder to find it. It’s just like most things, which disappear without you noticing in the hope you’ll look ever harder for them. 

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This post is about Yokohama, with which I think I might have a special love affair. This is not to say that I didn’t love all the other cities I went to, but that they mean different things to me. Tokyo is the place of childhood and dreams, mainly because I went there so many times when I was younger, though as you grow older you discover its ever-increasing adult attractions. Osaka was all about food and relaxation and just generally having fun doing everything and nothing. Kyoto was full of history, but Yokohama…

Yokohama is full of lights and romance. Yokohama is the place you bring girls to when you want to impress them. It doesn’t seem like much because it’s so near Tokyo and it’s so easy to overlook, but it retains that particular, off-centre, sort of feeling. It’s near but not too near. It has its own voice, its own attractions, its own history. Some people say Chinatown wasn’t too interesting; sometimes you just need to know where to look. Stepping into Minato Mirai is fascinating precisely because we’re at an age where we can appreciate it, still: the free theme parks, ferris wheels, lights across the sea, the red brick warehouses and the smoke curling up from beneath the windows. It seriously is the number one place to bring a girl on a date. It is so romantic you can choke. 

288: japan: tokyo story

Erm. I’m sorry this took so long, but there were really a lot of pictures. 

287: and she takes me away to that special place

Right now I feel giggly and happy.

 

286: just a case of… history repeating

I like these. A lot. I feel like they could make me 5 inches taller without the pain. Some people probably think they are ugly. Anybody still in the UK willing to bring them home for me please tell me XD

Times like these I’m very happy that J is like 6 feet tall so I can wear all the heels I want.

282: 写真を撮って、いいですか？

Just a quick post: in Yokohama now, heading to Osaka tomorrow morning.

Everybody loves Japan, yes? I am no exception. I wish I could stay here forever, but we all know that’s not possible. However I thoroughly indulged my fangirl self ogling cute boys everywhere (and the girls are so pretty) including random Kanjani8 Nissin Cup Noodle advertisements in the subway, caved in and bought two KAT-TUN DVDs (haha did you know Johnny’s Entertainment has their own separate section in HMV?) and a magazine (the one where the photo below appears) while my boyfriend dragged me all across Harajuku and Shibuya shopping and looking for his weird obscure underground shops. Oh, and he bought about half of Uniqlo as well. Also, I have overheard more conversations about the merits of Akanishi vs Kamenashi vs random Japanese celebrity from girls with their boyfriends than I can count. Starbucks is freaking everywhere.

Today was good: Yokohama is a pretty place. Pictures when I come back; the night lights are beautiful. I’ve also sat more rollercoasters than I can count, including the ones in Disneyland (the parade was magical omg, but I got sunburnt haha) and some random super drop rollercoaster in Yokohama today, in a free theme park no less!

Lots of food. Ate orgasmic sushi at Tsukiji it’s like food porn. Really can die.　And my Japanese is super bad it’s so embarrassing.

More when I get internet again.

279: dinner with cleavageman j

Did I ever tell you I love Muji food? Like, not the clothes, but the random selection of weird and wonderful foods they stock up near the back. Like plum cheese tarts and black pepper cheese bites. Yum. 

I should be buying less since I’ll be in Japan in a few days, but I can’t help it. Anyway yesterday concluded the neverending series of birthday parties (surprise, and otherwise).

278: and now for something completely different

I’ve been trying to plan for Japan this past week. So I got a notebook, copied down my accommodation and flight details, listed a million things to do and see (and eat !!!!). That includes Disneyland and USJ which are touristy like hell, but I’m a kid only once and who cares right? Finally getting to go with someone other than my parents. It never strikes you how shitty being an only child is until you actually get to a theme park and you have to go on all the rides alone. Bah. 

I’m halfway through Osaka. There’s still Tokyo, Yokohama, and Kyoto to look up. And funnily enough, my boyfriend has been put in charge of the shopping destinations. 

… what? Turnabout is fair play, no?

 

266: 你是我的花朵

 

爱你伍佰年！Thank you for the ticket, guys. It was so wonderful. I sat 10 rows from the stage and I got to see every single detail up close, properly, including his 34869759 guitar changes (beautiful guitars too!) and everyone was jumping up and down with lightsticks and generally going crazy. I didn’t sit down at all the whole time, and that was over 3 hours. He gave two encores, there was a lot of fireworks, and random confetti. Whoever said Singaporeans are staid obviously aren’t going to the right concert. Chinese fans are seriously crazy. It was so fun. That said, I have never seen so many Ah Bengs congregated in one area before. Hahaha. 

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In other news…

 

256: i’ve got my mind set on you

So pretty right? I have been looking at this thing for like 6 months. Really only US$395 :(

 

Alternatively, the ring is only US$150.

 

My middle finger is 7.5 and my ring finger 6. Haha.  

248: the night lights remind me of bright eyes

245: saturday wait, and sunday always comes too late

Just in case you all thought my life was very exciting, let me bring us all back to the plane of reality.  Which is that: 

• I have not stepped out of my house today, did not have lunch, and had Macs da-bao-ed for dinner – except at 9.30pm to drive back to school and get my bloody Constitutional Law textbook out of my pigeonhole. 
• And drive back. 
• And after all this time, I am still at question 3. 
• And my grammar is shot to hell because I keep starting sentences with “And”. 
• And despite not having any prior injuries on the area, my knee really hurts like fuck. Also, my right wrist cracks ominously whenever I move my hand from the keyboard to the trackpad and back. 
• And that the sole highlight of my day has been to finish the last pack of Wasabi Steamed Potato Crackers that I have in my larder, and realize that instead of the usual 5 in the pack, I have 6! SIX!

 

I have cheated the evil manufacturers of an extra 1mm thin biscuit! I rule.   

Naturally I spent most of the day lusting after bags I cannot afford. 

 

241: something good will come my way!

Things that don’t bear thinking about:

Why I am going back to school tomorrow.

Why my knee is suddenly acting up and hurting like a bitch today. I can’t bend it or walk properly. WHY?

Why I have a really bad and horrible throat.

Why my attempts to eat Penang Laksa at Jalan Bukit Merah have failed. Thrice.

Why that Miu Miu bag is so expensive.
(US$285 on eBay, ending today!!! If I weren’t so broke, it’d be mine, for my birthday. Hint.)

But.

My timetable this year is pretty sweet.

After more than a year, I’ve decided what I should name my car. And in the name of spontaneity, I present to you Judy Bloom!

We are going to get our asses on the dean’s list this year.

230: your life is your life

Hmm. My current obsession — one that may last very long — shift dresses. Even though I’ve gained a fair bit of weight over the past year (woe) so that now my body is no longer what it used to look like, I have decided that even then, shift dresses can be flattering on not-flat-chested people.

Is it strange to mourn the loss of your flat(ter) chest? I always thought having bigger boobs looked sort of vulgar, for some reason. And I like the adolescence and androgyny that being flat-chested confers. (This was probably not appropriate public conversation, but who cares) In the meantime while I’m trying to lose weight, let’s make the best of it!

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Went on a pretend-holiday with my mum yesterday. Booked a room at a hotel for a night, and lived utterly decadently. We had lunch at Pontini yesterday before checking in, and after dumping our stuff headed to town and went shopping. In lieu of no holiday, my mum gave me money to spend. Which was a good deal (: We bumbled around, looked at wildly expensive things, my mother dreaming about the day when she could stop buying me things and I’d buy them for her (haha), drinking bubble tea and being totally random. And when we got back, we stopped by 7/11 like we would in any other country for drinks before going up to the hotel. Then my mum decided that since the tea and coffee were complimentary, she’d drink them like a typical Singaporean (her words, not mine), and she couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night.

Some bad movie about Chinese Americans was playing on Star Movies, while I read half a history book. I think there is something very fascinating about the French Revolution, even though the French still really annoy me sometimes, which is why unknowingly I suddenly have about 5 books on the subject, excluding that hugeass Oxford History of the French Revolution I bought in JC (Sad that I only read it properly after I finished my A-Levels; before that I just read the concluding chapter and winged it haha).

#

After I checked out this afternoon, the bf came over and we went to Haji Lane. I picked up a shift dress which I’m intending to wear for my family’s Christmas party (part Yay and part Awkward, for reasons exclusive to the recent past), and a vintage kimono, which I’m intending to dry clean then send to a tailor to convert into a dress. I feel sort of sad chopping off almost half the length of it, because I love the detail at the hem, but there are two little holes at the bottom (which was why it was cheaper) so I’ll find something for it. Maybe the obi.

The shopkeeper showed me all the old family kimono, the black formal ones with family crests at the chest and intricate embroidery at the bottom. They were beautiful, and old, and I would have liked to buy them, but they didn’t suit my purpose (and they were expensive). And it would be sacrilegious to hack an old family kimono to turn it into a fashion item. Some of them were really lovely, especially those for a young woman’s 20th birthday, a formal celebratory occasion in Japan. I’ve got my eye set on one — I’ll see how the tailoring goes with this one, first.

It might even be ready to wear for Chinese New Year! (:

I like all these random DIY projects.

So, um, any recommendations for a good tailor (not just one who does alterations)?

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I haven’t filled in my exchange application form yet!!! There are 2 more days. Argh.

175: things will be great when you’re downtown

top want at the moment: botkier rose satchel :)

i might actually consider working next holidays as contract staff again just so i can buy this bag. and gayly, i only have to work three weeks! and i’d use it everyday…

watched the bf play in the gryphons cup over the weekend. randomly (and inappropriately sharing the same line as the previous sentence), the referee for the game he was playing in on sunday was the hottest guy i have ever seen in my life. tall, and tanned, and young, and lovely. and muscular. and handsome. omg. :x there is something very man about playing sports. i don’t know how to explain it haha. :)

anyway the first day at lee&lee was fun, even though i am appalled that people would pay $6.8m for a penthouse in rochester, but anyway — CBD! morning traffic! peak hours! lots of food! whee! and happy birthday sharmila!

174: just go ahead, let your hair down

today was pretty good. met the girls today and watched the simpsons, which was funny in some parts but still better in half-hour episodes. had a nice dinner (marred by a telephone call, but quickly rectified after) and some really nice dessert. i spent a lot of money today, but it was good. bumped into the a14 people and chatted at macs for a long long time before heading off to chijmes for drinks. and talked a lot more, once the alcohol was all in the system. ’twas good to see everyone again and catch up and talk about stupid things late into the night, sort of high. thankfully no drunken photos.

watching NDP preview tomorrow courtesy of joel! whee (:

169: the timing is quite unusual

gayly, i realised that it was actually ONE week to hong kong from the last post, not two. i’m flying off on wednesday morning at the horribly ungodly unearthly time of 6.40am. i have severely underpacked. i hope i come back with a lot more things. the shopping better be good because i’ve not bought anything this great singapore sale. BAH.

my mum bought 2l of venezia ice cream last week. i feel a moral obligation to eat it because no one else will if i don’t.

i think tanning is one of those things you can’t do too often. i’ve gone to the beach 3 times since i got back from bangkok (and i tanned all week there) every 2 weeks and today i got bored by 4pm. i am also fascinated by the 7% GST. now all the parking charges are like, some weird number ($1.07)! i don’t understand why it is some incalculable number when there are no 1-cents in singapore anymore. perhap it is a ploy to get people to round up their figures so the government can steal a bit of money on the side by taking 40 cents instead of 37. 3 cents x 4 million per day is $120,000! imagine how much they steal in a year! bleh. actually i just punched it into a calculator. the figure is very depressingly $43.8 million.

anyway, today was a series of unfortunate events because the day totally did not start off on the right track. so we were supposed to go to the beach, and before that have lunch at botak jones at AMK (where we went yesterday and decided to come back because it was good!!!). so off we went. and then while parking head in, i heard a sickening grinding sound come from below the bonnet of my car. which only means one thing. seeing as i was not the one driving, i was very very very grumpy with the bf. thankfully however, it’s one of those places nobody can see (but now you know cos i told you). after that fiasco we walked into the coffee shop only to find out that botak jones is closed on mondays. FAIL. anyway in a bid to not waste time we sat down and ordered bak chor mee. when it came, it took the form of fishball noodles. when pressed for an explanation the bak chor mee auntie just said, “oh, we ran out of bak chor, just now forgot to tell you”. GRRRR. and although the fishballs were nice, the noodles were not. when we got to sentosa, cafe del mar was FULL. on a MONDAY.

anyway yesterday i went to town and had a nice day because i bought 2 books for 20% off, and then went off to the starbucks at liat towers at midnight (fast becoming my favourite peoplewatch hangout in town, too bad it’s closing). did i mention i hate book covers that have movie references to them? like the virgin suicides cover suddenly became kirsten dunst’s face after the movie came out. i hate those, but mainly because i am vain and i refuse to let people think i bought the book because i watched the movie, especially since this has actually never happened to me. book then movie, or no book at all. grrr.

randomly i have this urge to eat NYDC’s mushroom madness spaghetti and alot of fish&co food. that must wait till i get back though. ah well.

168: things to feel glad about even though i did not really buy anything

- actually being able to enjoy the rainy cool morning and reading newspapers in my garden. because i am actually AWAKE at 7am
- buying a new pair of emergency sandals because my shoes fell apart while shopping with mum today
- this udderly champion moisturiser that smells like milk (haha) called udderly sMOOth with a cow print on the tube!!
- cakes from my favourite patisserie ever in takashimaya (rive gauche!). haven’t eaten their choc charlotte in so long, and this totally swoon-worthy matcha swiss roll with clotted cream and azuki filling. yum. i have such an anglo-japanese tendency :x

i am now having two slices of that roll with some wheatgrass and vegetable juice. lest i sound like a freak, this announcement says WHEATGRASS JUICE = ACTUALLY VERY YUMMY!!

- i am going to nail that pair of jeans from massimo dutti asap (i.e. as soon as all the wannabe aunties get out of my way in the changing room!!!)
- watching magic school bus
- watching TOM AND JERRY! (omg so funny)

amazingly, as an illustration of how hard to see my hair colour is, my mother has not said anything about it. it has been 1.5 days, and she spent the whole day out with me today. however that also means she will not be knowing where all my money has gone. heh heh.

TO HONGKONG IN TWO WEEKS! better plan my to-find list.
there is a movie on belle de jour in the making!
i still want to watch the original belle de jour, currently residing in my cousin’s UK apartment. bleh.

167: she only drinks coffee at midnight when the moment is not right

hello all –

today i took a jump and when i went for a haircut today i dyed my hair violet. this is to say that now 90% of my head is purplish-red, even though that isn’t exactly the colour you expect from hearing “violet”. i wanted dark purple at first, but was informed that since my natural hair colour is the blackest nonsense you can ever find on the face of this planet (i swear, it even looks black when you hold it up to the sun) anything dark and masquerading as subtle would be rendered invisible.

so now it’s slightly brighter, and is a cross between dark purple and dark red. but you still can’t really see it unless you look carefully and/or see me in sunlight/white light, but that’s the way i like my things to be.

in addition, the only reason why i am actually up at 6am in the morning is because i woke up at 5 due to a headache that refused to go away. so other than the nice hair, i actually really feel like shit. :(

ETA: one thing that really irritates me is why do some irritating people manage to be rich at the same time!!! ya, i am jealous. i am so going to buy myself a totally frivolous and beautiful bag the moment i graduate for the heck of it. i have had enough of stupid people buying bags i have been lusting for (5!!!) in one hongkong trip!!!!!