.: asylum for the sane :.

So I finally got myself a new pair of glasses after a week of having my previous pair sliding down my face all the time.

(No, it’s not because I’m lacking a nose bridge. I’ll get to the reason in awhile)

So just for everybody’s reference, this was how my old glasses looked like. This was taken on the rare occasion that I wore it out about a year plus back:

Prior to this pair of glasses, I hated the idea of wearing my glasses out. Somehow I felt that when I wore glasses, I look weird and because of that I strongly believed that people will look at me weird. I don’t know how true that was, but I seriously thought as such.

However, once I got this pair of geeky glasses (my first pair!), it felt alright to wear it out. I’m not too sure if it’s also because by that time, my self confidence has already stabilized overall. But anyways. This pair lasted me for quite awhile at quite the bargain ($80 – with multi-coated lens from Queensway Shopping Centre).

I remember when I was getting it and the guy asked me what I wanted, I told him, “I want geeky glasses” and he understood what I meant. Straightforward, no?

Okay, so fast forward a year later and this was what became of it:

What’s missing? The ear handles of course! It started with the left one being broken (no idea how it happened). So it was still okay to wear the glasses because 1) whatever was left of the left handle, still manages to hand on to my ear and 2) the right handle was still intact.

This went on for a few months, to the amusement of my family. But because they know I’m slightly weird, they let me be.

Then last week, I came home to find that the right handle has also broken off (no idea how it happened too!) and this time, it’s short of a couple of centimeters to still be able to hang on my right ear.

So the aftermath is that most of the time when I’m wearing my glasses, it slides down. Sometimes I forgot and look down and it just dropped to the floor. It was infuriating because I couldn’t possibly wear my contact lenses the entire day till bedtime – that’s just crazy.

So I decided to once and for all end this torment and get a new pair of glasses. I chose a lovely and huge Paul Frank pair (I just want to look extra geeky okay?)

It sure doesn’t cost $80 but I’m sure that the quality is much more sturdy and will be long lasting. Plus I’m not one to pass off the chance to look geeky, am I?

Now I can pass off as a librarian or accountant or a teacher. Or simply a weirdo with huge glasses. Okay maybe an artistic looking weirdo with huge glasses. Anything works for me

I’ve been wanting to have bangs for the longest time. In fact, the last time I sported bangs was 7 years back, as seen in the photo below. This has always been one of FP’s favourite photos of me. It is certainly one of mine. I look like a Japanese doll, and some said it looks like a poster of a Japanese horror movie, lol.

So today, I recreated this look. It was hours and hours of pure boredom at the hair stylist’s. I went back to Artica Hair Studios, mainly because I still remember their brilliant and thorough service the last time round. This time, I wasn’t dissappointed. Just that when the girl finally cut my bangs for me, I looked very stunned (because for a whole 5 minutes, I was crying out loud inside: what the hell did I just do?! I LOOK LIKE A COCK!). – sorry “looking like a cock” is a Singaporean term for looking ridiculous. I didn’t mean.. nevermind.

I had that reaction because when she cut it my bangs looked very flat and very fake. And I was almost hyperventilated; because my hair is my crowning jewel. I asked her if she could layer my bangs because it looked too flat, but she says there’s nothing she can do about it and that it will take a few weeks for it to look “natural”. I was still fretting about it as I paid and made my way to the cabstand. I was like.. shit shit shit!

And then in the cab, I caught myself in the rearview mirror and I played with my reflection as I often do and realized that the girl didn’t do a shoddy job after all. I don’t look like a cock. In fact, I look a lot like my younger self – 7 years back! And I look good!

Plus, with this hairstyle, you’d feel playful and cutesy automatically. I think I easily look 10 years younger with this look, hahaha.

So I’m glad I made the decision to have bangs this time round, and I’m glad I went back to Artica for it. The poor girl looks so disappointed as I left (because she spent hours and hours on me, and I had a panicked look as I left, tsk). I feel bad now, because I’m totally loving the look – well till the next time I get sick of my hair of course.

I am still not in the best of moods today. However, I refuse to get all emotional here, so I shall post up happy pictures to project happy thoughts – because what you see goes up to your brain and straight to your heart, doesn’t it? Well that’s my logic anyway.

Jellybeans in all sorts of colours and flavours will definitely cheer any moody prick up. I should really go get some, but the best jellybeans are found at Changi Airport and it’s quite out of the way for me right now.

Sunflowers never fail to cheer me up. Perhaps it’s because they look so cheery by nature. They brighten up the whole room and I can’t help but smile when I see sunflowers. It’s contagious. Everyone should have the contagious cheerfulness that sunflowers bring. That will make world peace, slightly achievable.

Tubs and tubs of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. That will make anybody happy. What’s not to like about Ben & Jerry’s anyway? The design on the tub itself is enough to make me pick up all the flavours if I could. It’s just a happy thing.

How can anyone not love rainbows? I get so excited every time I spot a rainbow in the sky, because it seems like a magical and beautiful thing that appears out of nowhere. I do love rainbows in other forms as well. In fact, I just love splashes of colours.

My favourite colour is white (no, it’s not PINK, contrary to popular belief). So I really adore white interiors such as this one. It gives a really pleasant, clean and relaxing vibe to it. I just love looking at pictures of home interiors, hoping one day I can apply some of the ideas to my own home.

Lastly, I really do feel that the world needs bottles and bottles of Good Vibes. Seriously, then there won’t be any malicious and evil people around, because they can be easily destroyed with a spray of Good Vibes.

Seriously, why is there an innuendo on the packaging of my prescribed lozenges from the doctor? *giggles*

So yes, today is the first day of Ramadhan and here’s what I did (or didn’t do technically):

1. Woke up for sahur despite the worsening sore throat. The sore throat started last night and it was worse when I woke up and my head felt extremely heavy with a blocked + slightly runny nose – go figure.

2. Went to the doctor’s and got 2 days MC – just like I predicted. Was given seriously disgusting pills. 2 of them have puke-worthy aftertaste (especially the deceptive small and red flu pill!!) To make things worse, my antibiotics is in the form of capsules. I can already foresee plenty of medicine time drama that can only happen to me.

If only pills are candies, then i wouldn’t have any trouble at all. In fact, I might suffer from an overdose.

Look: happy pills!

3. Broke my fast, took the meds and completely concussed for most of the afternoon. The sleep went on and on and it was pretty good. Must be due to the fact that the paracetamol given to me is also a muscle relaxant + my disgusting flu pill “causes drowsiness in some people”. Believe me, I am always that “some people”.

4. Watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy before taking the meds again.

5. So here I am, half awake typing out this post. Should be concussing again in no time. You have no idea how much difficulty I went through just typing out this post. I must have turned slightly dyslexic and very unfocused, seeing how I had difficulty typing and spelling words correctly. But of course you don’t see the mistakes because the perfectionist in me shines through the drowsiness.

My words don’t make sense? Too bad. I warned you in twitter that I’m blogging while drowsy.

Once in awhile, I would accidentally bite my tongue and/or the sides of my mouth. It’s not a conscious act but I swear that it happens. FP normally disregards it saying that nobody ever bites their own tongue, but hey it’s me – I’ve punched myself by accident for God’s sake.

So just now at lunch, it happened again out of nowhere. One moment I was trying to process the conversation that my colleagues were having and in a split second, I bit my tongue really, really hard. Harder than I’ve ever done before. The pain lingered for awhile, almost numbing that bit of my tongue and I just continued eating once it has subsided for a bit.

But 3 hours later, the pain is still there, at the left front part of my tongue. Still stinging, still slightly numb. I can’t figure out why I keep biting my own mouth for no reason at all so I do what any self-respecting geeky girl would do. I Googled it.

And this was what I got:

So this proves 2 things: 1) that I’m not the only one biting the innards of my mouth subconciously and 2) there’s a logical explanation for it.

So there. We learn something new everyday. Now I’m just hoping this sensation goes away soon.

I’m obsessed with red hair. You must have seen me mention it somewhere, sometime.

If you ask me why I like red hair, I don’t even have a clue on how to answer that. Red hair makes a girl so lively and makes her stand out. A quirky personality is always tied with redheads. They are fun, they are artistic, they are lovely, they stand out in a crowd of dull brunettes and overrated blonds.

Here are some of the red heads I’ve come to love:

Hayley Williams of Paramore

There’s so much to love about Hayley other than her awesome signature red hair. She’s down-to-earth, despite her fame and talent. She’s fun and adorable. She’s just lovable, ’nuff said. If a girl can understand why guys find another girl so appealing, then that girl is truly amazing and attractive. And I understand it completely. She’s absolutely the best. Click here to follow her on Twitter.

Felicia Day

Felicia Day is of course from the epic gaming web series The Guild. She writes the script for the infectious web series and is an avid gamer. She’s just awesome. Yet another example of redheads being fun and creative. Click here to follow her on Twitter

You can also watch this music video from the season 4 of The Guild. Seriously love her hair in this vid!

*****

Isla Fisher

Funny how I only notice Isla Fisher and her lovely red hair yesterday when I watched The Pleasure of Your Company yesterday on TV. I only came across the movie when channel surfing. Loved her in the movie, so adorable she is! Weird how I never noticed her before this, when I absolutely loved her in Confessions of a Shopaholic!

Amy Adams

How could anyone not love Amy Adams after watching Enchanted? Red heads make such fine princesses (plus she had McDreamy), which brings me to our next redhead:

Ariel, the little mermaid

She’s my favourite Disney princess. She’s (here we go again), adorable. Of all the Disney princesses, she’s the only one not stifled and rigid. Plus, she has the best hair. Obviously. The other princesses has blonde, black or brown hair – which is boring, boring and boring.

I’ve always thought that my love for red hair is developed over recent years. But a few days back, when I came across a picture of Kim Possible while surfing, I realized that I’ve had a liking for redheads for many, many years – without really realizing it.

Kim Possible was possibly my favourite cartoon on Disney Channel years back. At that time, I just thought she’s a kick-ass chick with really nice hair. But looking back, I think it was the start of my love for red hair. I just didn’t know it yet.

Blonds certainly do not have more fun than everybody else. It’s the redheads, for the win.

It’s not a well-known fact, but I’ve always had a feeling I am not going to live past age 30. I can’t explain it, it’s just a weird feeling.

I don’t even know if it’s going to be a reality so I go about my daily life normally, but it is always at the back of my mind. Then once in awhile, a huge thought will land on me asking me, “What if all you have are your 20′s? Have you accomplished enough? Have you done all you wanted to do?”

To which my answer would be NO. I haven’t accomplished anything really, and I am certainly not doing the things I want to do and love to do. Not all anyway. Sometimes when this fear creeps up on me, I’d be so scared that I’ll just vanish one day, leaving nothing behind. Not a memory, not a legacy and no trail of thought.

Which is why I force myself to blog, as a means of documenting my life. In a way, this is killing two birds with one stone. I love blogging and writing, and I haven’t had much time for it, especially in the past 2 and a half years – what with my crazy workload. But I’m going to start now.

My challenge for August would be to blog every single day. No matter how short or silly the post is, I will post up something.

And to answer the question posed in the title for this blog post, here are the things I’d like to do / have been meaning to do / have missed doing:

1) Observe & Learn

I’d like to sit down somewhere and just people watch. Not just normal people watching but analyze relationships between families, couples and write down my observations. I’ve done this before but without the writing part. Damn what am i carrying a notebook and pen in my bag all the time then?

It’s really interesting sometimes what comes out from observing people. It’s like analyzing a literature novel live. It’s like taking a step back and just seeing the world from a detached point of view.

2) Reading

I’d like to read everything that I can get hold of. I’ve picked up my reading speed again this past few months. It just feels good getting lost in the world of books, in this age of technology and fluff.

I’ve noticed that as I grow older, my choice of books have evolved as well. My taste in books have grown more mature. I tend to read modern classics now, with the occasional chick-lit novels. I’m not being pretentious here, but it’s just an observation, since I’ve been reading all my life.

There are some things I’d like to re-read and that includes Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, the entire Harry Potter series as well as the.. Twilight Series. And oh, if I could just finish reading Emma by Jane Austen and Alice in Wonderland for just once in this lifetime!

3) Travelling

I’d like to travel the world, visit exotic places, have new experiences across the oceans. It’s sad to say I haven’t travelled all that much at my age, when I’m such a huge lover of culture, food and heritage. There’s so much to explore in this world. FP and I have planned to set aside time to travel. We’d probably take one trip at year end, or early next year – and then a short trip quarterly. And I’ll blog about the trips and possibly make travel scrapbooks! What’s not to love?

Some places that I’d like to visit:

- Japan: to have REAL sushi, lol and to see the cherry blossoms!
- China: life long dream, to see the great wall of china and the terracotta soldiers
- Australia: just because.
- Europe: So many places in Europe itself!
- New Zealand: New spot for the honeymoon (move over, Rome!)
- Disneyland again
- Some parts of USA
- Certain Indonesian spots such as: Bali, Bintan, Bandung, Puncak
- Some parts of Malaysia: I’d love to travel to Malaysia by train again!

4) Crafts

Doing crafts, just for fun or selling them. I really miss this. It is a good feeling to create something completely by hand and having someone pay for it. I wonder what would it have been if I carried on with my ribbon roses business. I had huge plans for it when I was younger, but I knew that I had to get proper work experience first before I can build up the craft business. Perhaps the time is now?

If you’ve noticed, I love trying out new crafts on my own. Never going for proper classes but just meddling and self learning. Such as making felt food, then felt dolls. Even the art of making ribbon roses was self-attained.

My latest interest would have to be clay miniatures, which I haven’t tried yet but already know where to stock up on the books and materials

Perhaps, I should just go ahead and take up classes to enhance my unpolished knowledge and then do something with it.

5) Writing

I really love to write, and it is such a shame that I haven’t even written a short story up till now, even though that’s all I’ve been wanting to do since I was a teenager. I’ve even stopped writing poems. The only writing I do these days is the occassional blog post (which is going to be a daily blog post) and that doesn’t really sum up as writing.

I think it would be a dream to be a columnist somewhere, but where I always lose out when it comes to writing jobs is that I do not have any writing samples! Blog posts are never a reference that employers would want to refer to so, I’m practically screwed because I’ve wasted the past 10 years not writing anything that can be useful right now.

So, I’m going to build the momentum up, starting with blogging daily, and slowly but surely I’ll go back to writing stories (haven’t done this since I was a child) and perhaps composing poems.

6) Baking & Cooking

Baking was something I took great interest in sometime last year and I haven’t touched it since. Not because I am not interested in in anymore, but I simply do not have the time. But baking is certainly something I’d like to go back to. I have not perfected making cupcakes and decorating them!

So I should go and take up proper baking classes!

And cooking is something I’ve been wanting to try out but haven’t done anything about it. But I really should.

7) Keeping Fit & Taking Care of Myself

I’ve not been really happy with my body for the past year. Yes to the naked eye, I’m still thin, small and weightless. But I know myself and I know that my figure now is not what it used to be, and I really don’t like it.

I need to lose all this weight and get back to what I used to be. And to do that, I’d have to keep fit and start running and exercising. Eating right is no problem, I have great self control. It’s just the exercise part I’m worried about, I’m not exactly sport spice you know? Just waiting for FP to get all better so we can start our exercise regime together!

Don’t get me started on the taking care of myself part. I say this to myself every year; and every year I find myself not being taken care of! Tsk.

*****

As you can see, I’m a simple girl with simple wishes for this life time. I don’t wish for wealth or LV bags. If I manage to fulfill some of these and I don’t get to live past 30, I’d be happy already. What would you do if you had 3 years more to live?

I am very particular when it comes to doing anything to my hair, so I am forever on the lookout for good hair dressers. It does not help that every time I found a good and versatile hairdresser, the shop will relocate in the next few months and become impossible to trace.

So, in recent times, I’ve been pretty sick of my hair. It’s gotten too long, too thick and too messy. But I didn’t have a hairdresser to go to because my previous one disappeared into thin air. But I couldn’t take the mess anymore. So I googled, and read forums and found out about this salon called Artica.

I still had my doubts about if of course despite reading good stuff about it but I went ahead with it anyway. And I have no regrets whatsoever.

When I first went into the salon, they told me they are full and to leave my number and they’ll call me as soon as they can slot me in. So I went shopping

Close to an hour and a half later, still no phone call but I went back to the salon and indeed they are just about done and more than welcome to do up my hair.

Here are the reasons why I was giving so much praise for Artica on twitter:

1) they keep restocking magazines in front of me, even the newspaper. and when a guy came in, they provided him male magazines even though he told them it’s okay. This is called catering to the needs of different clients.

2) they had a menu for complimentary drinks. i was shocked when a guy showed me a piece of laminated paper, and got even more surprised when it was a menu for drinks, on the house. They offered things like coffee and others (didn’t really look at it, was just in awe of the menu). I didn’t want a drink because as it was, I already brought a cup of bubble tea to the salon.

3) Still on the topic of drinks, it was getting cold because it was raining. They asked me again if I wanted coffee. Loves, right?

4) They didn’t “recommend” me any shampoo (like other salons do). This is a very welcomed change.

5) Their price was really reasonable, doesn’t matter if it’s because they were having some promotions (later on, I found out that they always have discounts and promotions). This is the cheapest I’ve paid for a professionally done hair cut

6) They gave me my fringe, without telling me they “can’t because [my] hair has a natural curl”. They gave me my fringe, by overcoming the problem, without even mentioning the problem. This is the second time in 7 years a hair stylist is able to do that. So that explains how awesome this salon is

I’ve learned to measure the skill of a hairstylist by the answer I get when I say I want a fringe. For the past 3 visits to other salons, I’ve gotten a flat no. And how they suck.

7) They called me soon after I left their salon, to let me know I’ve left behind my shopping bags (shoes!!) Bliss!

For those of you who want to check out this place, here is the name card.

The address and contact number reads:

Far East Plaza
#04-82 Singapore 228213

Phone: 6836 2891

These are actually valid movie tickets.

Went to watch the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie yesterday (nice show by the way) and we bought our tickets online, because lazy people do not queue for their movie tickets.

So when I went to collect the tickets, the printer decided to stop working (it had been working until it was my turn to collect the tickets). So the guy at the counter made me these handwritten tickets! He smiled at me sheepishly while saying, “These are manual tickets, you can still use them to get in. I’m sorry but our printer broke down.”

Well don’t be sorry. It’s really fantastic and unique. How many people have had handwritten movie tickets? Or shall we say manual movie tickets? There is such a nice, retro feeling to this.

Old school, even.

And by mere coincidence (or perhaps the cinema gods wanted to help me prove my point), the printer got up and running again after it was my turn and the people behind me got their regular and boringly printed movie tickets.

That, my friends, is what I call fate.

Or maybe it’s my way of contributing to Earth Hour because I’d be in the movie theater during the dark hour anyway. So forgoing the use of electronics to get my movie ticket is my way of paying tribute to the hour.

Hur hur hur. I just made that up.

Perhaps we should forgo emails and blogs for the entire month and replacing it with handwritten letters and good old diaries. And we can call it Earth Month. What say you? But if we did that then trees will die and we will all be told to use paperless methods, so as to save the trees.

It’s another chicken and egg problem, and there is no pleasing everybody. And that’s how the cookie always crumbles.

I’m back from a really fun-filled and completely impromptu Malaysia trip. I haven’t been in Singapore since New Year’s Eve so the new year practically begins for me now.

(Blog post abt Malaysia Trip – 3 cities in 3 days will come later. Awaiting pics from official photographer)

So anyway, with a new year comes new resolutions. And I am normally pretty good with resolutions so here goes:

1. I will take better care of myself. This means drinking enough water, getting enough sleep and putting myself before others when the need arises.

2. I will not let the small things bug me. This means I have to be more patient and not get angry and upset easily.

3. I will not let idiots get the better of me. There are too many idiots and only one me. If I let them get to me, they will trample all over me.

4. I will be a happy person.

5. I will not be late for work.

6. Which brings us to: I will not wake up late in the morning.

7. I will not let anybody push me around. I am not a pushover (anymore).

8. I will not try to strive for perfection every time. It’s okay to make mistakes.

9. Since I learned how to bake last year, I will learn how to cook this year!

10. I will take up an enrichment course of any kind (learn a language perhaps? or learn a new craft?)

11. I will blog regularly.

That’s the eleven that I can think of right now. There might be more along the way and will add on as we go along.

I hope I can keep all these 10, especially about me not being late for work hehehe.

Have a great new year guys and girls. 2010 will be an awesome year, you just know it.