.: asylum for the sane :.

Time really flies.Tomorrow we start the month of Ramadhan in the Hijrah year 1431. A whole month of fasting, goodwill and good thoughts.

Last year, I barely fasted the entire month. I had the worst stomach flu for 2 weeks, which ended with a trip to the A & E. And I had my period during the first and last week of the month.

So, yes. I barely fasted last year.

It was also a full month of firsts. I sahur-ed alone, and broke fast alone at the beginning of the month. I even fasted while on a work trip in Jakarta, where I experienced an earthquake and having my sahur in the wee hours of the morning at the hotel.

And not to mention, the terrible incident that happened towards the end of the fasting month which led to a serious domino effect – which I don’t want to get into right now.

My point is, I hope for a smoother Ramadhan this year – with not much obstacles and with a peace of mind. And that’s my wish for all my Muslim friends out there.

Happy fasting everyone!

Today we celebrate Singapore’s 45th National Day. We may bitch, whine and complain all the time about Singapore, but at the deepest level, we know that we are in one of the safest and systematic countries in the world. And although we seldom show our patriotism (well, we would if we can qualify for the World Cup!), it is often shown with pride and felt greatly on National Day.

I’ve only gone to a National Day Parade twice. Once was a rehearsal three years ago, and the other was the actual Parade – more than 10 years back. The atmosphere at the National Stadium was indescribable and just bloody awesome. It’s emotional and the feeling of togetherness made all of us forget any differences and unhappiness.

Don’t get me started when everybody says the pledge together. In the event of National Day, it will always be One People, One Nation, One Singapore.

One of my favourite National Day Songs is Home, originally sung by Kit Chan. We have all yearned at one point about getting out of Singapore and living abroad. But deep in our hearts, we know that Singapore will always be Home.

Don’t believe me? Then just take a short trip anywhere. The feeling when you land and walk through Changi Airport is, “I’m home” – and because Singapore Changi Airport is the best in the world, you’d also feel a sense of pride.

Even when you are returning from Malaysia, you will feel the atmosphere is just different after you’ve gotten thru the checkpoints.

Still don’t believe me, then try living in another country for awhile. Even if you don’t miss the ERP Systems or hikes in bus fare or the crazy heat, you will still miss the FOOD.

So come on, admit it. Singapore will always be Home. Am I right, or am I right?

I know it’s a little late but I finally manage to get hold of the complete season of Grey’s Anatomy Season 5 dvd set, months after I was done with Season 4.

I’ve been dying to know what happens after Derek and Meredith stood in a “house” outlined with candles in the Season 4 finale; and now I have 10 days to finished all 24 episodes of it.

Because I am a slow watcher (just like I am a slow reader), I’m a bit worried now that I won’t be able to finish watching the season in time.

And so, with this opening narrative by Meredith Grey, Season 5 starts:

We all remember the bed time stories of our childhood. The shoe fit Cinderella, the frog was turned into a prince, sleeping beauty was awakened with a kiss. Once upon a time and then they lived happily ever after. Fairy tales. The stuff of dreams. the problem is, fairy tales don’t come true. It’s the other stories. The ones that start in dark and stormy nights and end in the unspeakable. The nightmares always seem to become the reality.

p/s: I’m already done with episode 1 (that comes in 2 parts). Onward with episode 2!

p/p/s: Singapore hospitals should have beautiful surgeons and doctors like in Grey’s Anatomy. Enough with the nerdy ones, seriously!

Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything on this project. Well we are back from the long hiatus and there’s some changes. For starters, it’s now 52 Weeks of Her instead of 50 Weeks of Her (making it rounded to one year sounds better) and FP has gotten himself some awesome new equipment. What equipment? I have no idea. But let’s get on with the photos for Weeks 9 and 10:

Week 9

Click to see image in his photostream

This was done a few weeks back. I was so excited when he showed me the military hat and put it on immediately. I have a liking for all sorts of weird headgear (well wait till u see the photo for week 10, lol). Thankfully that day I wore a jacket that can pass off as a military jacket, since this shoot wasn’t planned beforehand.

Anyway, the concept of this photo is sort of like The Chronicles of Narnia. Open a wardrobe and finding yourself in a completely different world. In this case, it’s opening a closet and finding a completely different universe. Imagine if this really happened. Now, wouldn’t it be fun? It could be serve as a teleportation station as well. Jump right in and you’ll be in the office, something like the Floo Network in Harry Potter – oh you get my point.

The whole shoot was fun, as was the post processing

p/s: I absolutely love this test shot. It has an anime feel to it and finally a nice shot of my side view!

Okay onward to Week 10!

Week 10 also involves a crazy headgear which I so love! It’s like a Russian hat and it’s really adorable. I wore it even before the photoshoot started, haha!

Click to view this photo in his photostream

I forgot to mention the Kanye West glasses! This is such a goofy photo of myself. But goofy = quirky = fun! Who needs pretty photos all the time anyway, haha.

Don’t you just love the Russian hat + Kanye glassea + pouting Sha combo? It’s classic.

So, the question is: Am I really in Bali in this photo, or am I not? That’s up to you to decipher!

I’m currently re-installing The Sims 2 Double Deluxe (which is basically a combination of The Sims 2 and the Nightlife Expansion pack).

I chose to reinstall this because:
1) I can’t find my The Sims 3 CD
2) I miss playing The Sims 2
3) Nightlife is my favourite expansion pack of the lot (Yes i’ve played them all)

I’ve had a pretty hard day today full of irritating and unappreciative people, so I thought why not go back to playing The Sims – which is easily my favourite PC game. I can build pretty houses from scratch, create beautiful Sims and make them have a very good life.

And unlike me, they will go all the way in their career and getting pay raises every few days. Even Sims are being appreciated at work. My life is so sad, haha.

Anyways, I’ll probably play the game like I always do -> the Legacy Challenge way. Start from scratch with a single Sim and bare essentials and work the family up to 10 generations.

I could blog about them just like how I did one of my many Legacy families years back: http://www.shaslegacychallenge.blogspot.com/ –> OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAD SO MUCH TROUBLE FINDING THIS FORGOTTEN BLOG.

In this blog you’ll discover what a legacy challenge is and follow the life of Mark Fullerton.

All the wonderful screenshots are no longer showing on this old blog page – farkin’ flickr but you can still read the life story if you like. I didn’t manage to play until 10 generations but you get the drift!

YES I AM SUCH A NERD.

Here are 9 cool advertisements I’ve found online:

1. This was sent as a direct mail to the chief of 6 of the most popular women’s magazines in the Netherlands.

2. Creative lift advertising

3. This series of ads will make you feel strong. Meiji pasted life-sized stickers of “strong men” on revolving doors in several buildings. When you leave or enter the building, it would feel as if you pushed those strong men quite easily. The tagline – “Milk makes you stronger, Meiji”.

4. These are road stickers for Pioneer Suspensions:

5. Fed Ex – Making the world a lot smaller

6. A very REAL feel for this Lays potato chips advertisement

7. Clever use of Ikea drawers as creative balconies!

8. Very clever ad for a women’s hairdresser

9. Very smart ad for hair products (possibly hair colouring products) – that makes use of literal natural resources!

All images were taken from Fuck Yeah, Ads

I read The Vagina Monologues a couple of days back. Nothing and nobody warned me how it was going to affect me. In fact, I was hesitant to read it at first (I mean, who reads and writes about vagina anyway – well look who’s talking right now) but it was FP who urged me to read it. He told me that I need to find out more about myself.

And he was right.

I had no idea it was going to make me cry so many times. I had no idea that it was going to touch me in an indescribable way, and I certainly had no idea that it was going to make me realize what it really means to be a woman. It delves right to the very core of a girl – a forgotten, often neglected part of being female.

After reading this book, I realize that all women belong to a certain unspoken-of sorority. Right at our very core, we all share the same thing – something that we are born with, something that is ours and will always be ours. Yes, I realized after reading this that the vagina is in fact the very core of a woman.

I love how, when a 6 year old girl was asked what her vagina reminded her of, she answered, “A pretty dark peach. Or a diamond I found from a treasure and it’s mine”. That’s an answer that is so innocent and yet goes so deep down your soul, you know it’s true.

Two of my favourite monologues in the book are: Because He Liked to Look at It & I was There in the Room

Because He Liked to Look at It speaks about a woman who has always thought her vagina was ugly and was embarrassed and ashamed of it. I believe that most women feel the same way about her vagina, me included. So to have to read that this woman has found a man that simply adores vagina is truly touching.

This was what he said upon looking at her vagina, ” You’re so beautiful [...] You’re elegant and deep and innocent and wild”. Prior to this, he insisted of taking a look at it because this was who she is.

I was There in the Room will shake you emotionally, whether or not you are already a mother. It describes the birth of a child and the very important role the vagina plays in this process. How it changes from being “a shy sexual hole to an archaeological tunnel, a sacred vessel, a Venetian canal, a deep well with a tiny stuck child inside, waiting to be rescued”.

How it changes colours throughout the process and how it eventually became “completely exposed, mutilated, swollen and torn” and how a vagina is really like the human heart.

It was a short read really, if you minus the forward and the whole chunk about V-Day at the back. All I can say after reading it was, “Wow”. It has made me want to love myself even more, I feel myself embracing womanhood and so proud that I’m on this side of the human race. Many books have made me emotional but this book attacked the very being of me.

It’s a must read for all girls and women of all ages. Trust me. Some things to ponder on before you read the book: If your vagina got dressed, what would it wear? & What does a vagina smell like?

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?