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Everybody knows I love the zha jiang mian at Asian Kitchen. I eat it almost exclusively when I'm there, except for their village tofu, which is sour and crispy. I like the cucumber in both dishes... It really adds a crunch that I can't get enough of. This was dinner with Chingy after a studio session that finally provided some relief. She got me these postage stamps with pretty depictions of trees! *loves* Just as I was showing her this website I found while I was looking for pictures of Cinnamomum iners. :)

welfare

Ching bought Koi's hazelnut milk tea for us - damn nice (both her and milk tea lol)!
It's the final lap now...
We can do this!

indecisive us.

this was a good after-studio dinner with puteh and smellyhead last week? i haven't eaten at Mayim for quite some time since i encountered a foul-tasting har gao there when i went with mummy a few years ago. they've changed their menu since... and it's become pretty extensive, although confusing. i'm not sure if it was because i was famished, but i thought the food was quite palatable. they have a range of condiments on the table that are distinctly unique too... and give the cabbage appetizer a try; i really like the sweet, sour and spicy taste of it. :)

charged in more ways than one.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (First Movement)

i really like the vigour in the third movement of the same sonata, but i can't imagine myself playing it. anyway, for the first time in my ten failed attempts of (the first movement of) Moonlight Sonata, today i finally managed to trawl (yes, it was terrible) through the entire song, without giving up at the third page as i usually do because of the constantly changing keys. i really hate the multiple accidentals in every bar, and it's already bad enough that the piece is in C# minor which already has five sharps to begin with. how can something so beautiful be so difficult to play (for me, that is)? grrr. BUT i want to master this song!

so yeah. even though the playing was full of pauses and wrong notes, i was still glad that i persevered through the four pages, and also inconceivably relieved when the piece was over (as were my parents who were almost on their way out to get earplugs). lol. :)

there but not there.

haven't blogged in some time because i haven't been 'happy' for quite a while.

i was feeling quite down. i am still feeling down, in fact.
but i try to pretend that everything is all right; i try to get rid of those feelings without thinking too much about them.

they are definitely not the things i will ever want to talk about on a blog anymore.

but i'm really thankful to have so many good friends around me. you guys rock.

especially breast friend, who is a constant source of encouragement and inspiration to me.

you never judge me, you never look down on me, and you always believe the best in me.

you truly inspire me to become a better person.

so this post is dedicated to my bestest breast friend in the world -

thank you for always being here, even when no one else is. :)

reciprocate(d)

the one and only photograph.

when we were fifteen, there were no such things as digital cameras, or camera-phones.
there were only film cameras; and you sure took a long time to develop this photograph...

today has become a somewhat surrealistic day after you sent it to me.
it was just a few days ago that i was reminiscing about the past, reading my old works.
you read that entry. perhaps, you're reading this now.

you're right. it's been a decade since i first fell in love with your dimpled smile. and the way you used to speak in that aloof manner. your long violinist/violist fingers. your pale skin that barely darkens after a full day in the sun. your set of straight white teeth. your laugh; your eyes that become but mere arcs during it. your music singing in my ears. your moments of seriousness, and your moments of playfulness. your thoughtfulness, your quiet arrogance.

today is the day i remember... how happy it always made me to see you. how you only had to lean over to make my heartbeat quicken. how special i always felt. how these feelings never went away for years and years, and-

how amazed i was that they didn't, when they would have died long before, for anyone else.

today is the day

i finally understand -

why we left then, and yet didn't leave at all.

but, i have moved on since.

don't be more than an illusion; i want to keep you as you are-
a perfect memory.
it doesn't matter what the circumstances now are. they won't change the fact that things should remain status quo.
maybe i'm selfish, maybe i'm not brave enough to 'take the leap of faith' - but i don't want to lose this ideal.

C, i'm not making sense but i know you will understand what i'm saying; you always have.
we will find our happiness, we will. :)

 - J.

hold my hand

I found C with ease; actually, I heard him before I saw him. He was standing under an umbrella tree facing the sea, with his back towards me. It was a sight to remember for life - him swaying slightly to the tune of Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D: Allemanda he was playing on his Bertholini violin, against the backdrop of the glassy waves and slightly misty sky of yellow bleeding into blue. The casual melancholy of the song haunted the calm of the quiet bay, oddly at peace with the crawling waves. There was no denying it – I was mesmerized by the vision.

“So you found me,” came C’s amused voice out of the blue.

Without realizing it, I’d closed my eyes in appreciation to his music, and it had ended all too soon. He was crouching at the foot of the tree laying his violin tenderly back into its case, and I could not see his smile but I could hear it in his voice. I remained silent; there was no need to respond to his previous remark and I knew he didn’t expect one either.

“I like it here,” he declared. “Do you?”

He sat down under the tree, leaning against the trunk, his face awash with the gold of the mid-morning sun. I sat myself down beside him, feeling his bony shoulder against mine.

“You take the Violin Beach a little too literally,” I said, ignoring his question.

He laughed out loud, and the wind carried his voice away, like a string of smoke dissipating. “How else would you have found out where I was going to be at?”

It took seconds for me to realize that he was in fact, making a dig at me. “Are you trying to say I have no imagination?” I attempted to act hurt but was unable to mask the smile that was intent on forming.

“Whatever you like to think,” he replied, with a faint curve at the edge of his lips.

© 2004 geraldine.

to think, i was ever young and in love enough to write a story for someone... i don't anymore; and i haven't since then. but he was perfect. he still is. i don't think any single person can ever inspire me as much as he did. the violin solo is still one of my favourites.

anyway, i just find it extremely amusing that six years down the road, i now know the latin name for "umbrella tree" - Terminalia catappa. :)

stuffed

stewed chicken crammed full of yum. :)

cracking up

made my own breakfast this morning. you have no idea how happy the sight of two lovely half-boiled eggs, two slices of plain lightly-toasted bread, and a piping-hot mug of tea makes me. :) simple, but it works.
breakfasts are happy! hee.

sugar rush

was feeling a little sian.
so i ate some chocolate, and felt much better. :)

branding yourself

Magic Soup,

via NoteMaker.

Chocolate Rain.

aren't these products just adorable?!

(i like the 爆炸头 in Magic Soup, she's called Titta i think.)

i've always been fond of these 'little' boutique-feel brands (my guess is, they're probably quite lucrative considering they've made it out of their country). maybe it's silly, but it's always been a small dream of mine to have my very own brand. i've hoped to create a story and characters using a personal style, and print them onto everyday essentials like bags, shirts, and notebooks, etc... i think it would make me more than happy (okay, it would give me a real big kick) to see people using and wearing things that i've designed. :D

but it's easier said than done because i don't know what that style is.

googling 'Magic Soup' resulted in lots of yummy photographs of soup and i'm umm... distracted already. oh well. haha.

knowing is not feeling.

Global 5 Primary Type Descriptions

Limbic

(14.3% of women; 6.6% of men)

easily hurt, does not keep emotions under control, envious, quick tempered, can't do anything when they don't feel good, emotional, bitter, attracted to things associated with sadness, has love/hate relationships with most things, sabotages self, more doubt than belief, thinks the world is a dangerous place, searches for identity, fears having no identity, suspicious of others, more past than future, desires security and support, fears being without guidance, familiar with the role of victim, hypersensitive, defensive, dependent on the support and nurturance of others, more feeling than doing, dislikes change, more likely to want a tattoo, can be hurtful, prefers to stick with things they know, wants to feel loved, fears being unwanted or unworthy of love, wants to enhance their self esteem, more likely to have taken anti depressants, prefers instant gratification, has trouble speaking when emotional

favored careers:

author, freelance writer, novelist, bookseller, magazine editor, freelance artist, poet, arts and media, library assistant, bookstore owner, theater teacher, librarian, publisher, songwriter, artist, screenwriter, editor, fashion industry, psychotherapist, art therapist, makeup artist, beautician, playwright, art education, painter, english professor, costume designer, copy editor, photojournalist, interior decorator, performing arts, art director, fashion designer, professional photographer, art teacher, film critic, singer, florist, psychologist, illustrator, dancer, digital artist, travel writer, museum curator, ceo, art curator, business manager, journalist, art historian, clinical psychologist, cosmetologist, cinematographer, hair stylist, performer, music journalist, dance teacher, psychoanalyst, hair dresser, research psychologist, fashion merchandiser, filmmaker, musician, fashion editor, stylist, theater industry, copywriter, home maker, music industry, reporter, wedding planner, philosophy professor, actor, music therapist, media industry, theater director, broadcast journalist, interior designer, therapist, counselor, web designer, photographer, philosopher, psychiatrist, english teacher

disfavored careers:

athlete, supervisor, engineer, coach, ceo, businessman, military intelligence, athletic trainer, sports management, firefighter, mechanical engineer, operations manager, fighter pilot, mechanical profession, sports medicine, lifeguard, project manager, construction manager, financial advisor, international business specialist, military employee, industrial engineer, manager, paramedic/emt, security specialist, systems engineer, soldier, real estate investor, mechanic, business administrator, police officer, office manager, business analyst, civil engineer stock broker, personal trainer, electrical engineer, math teacher

---

i would say, it seems to be extremely accurate...

if you're interested, you can take the big 5 test at similarminds.

sparkle

i saw this poor palm tree while going past the Old Supreme Court, looking like the victim of a sadomasochistic assault gone wrong. should we say thanks to F1 racing for doing this to our plants? :|










the mid-semester break had MLA scrambling to meet up (for a good time!) as soon as we could. the gathering was a bit lacking in numbers, though. oh well we still had lots of fun. i'm not really sure how to review the dinner at Handburger... had the handburger original with a $4 top-up (about $14 in total inclusive of taxes), and the Caesar salad was really nice. but the burger was quite a disappointment because i didn't like the raw-looking, unchewable bits in the beef patty. meh. drinks at Helipad after dinner completed the night! puteh's friends joined us (or the other way around), and we had a lot of fun playing drinking games and laughing. :)

mishmash

as recommended by fab, Razuken was the choice for the night. the food was good, and i would say that the sets were reasonably priced for the quality as well (my teppanyaki beef set being about $18). i didn't get to study the menu as i was late and extremely hungry, and more or less just pointed at whatever caught my eye first.

meet-ups with FUGA peeps are always nonsensically serious and seriously nonsensical. our topics for the night can range from the mundane (expenses tracking, work...), to the contemplative (horrors! the M-word!), to the idiotic (who can give the most emo look of the night without laughing? all except one whose task was to look lovesick, to much success!), to the downright disturbing (a certain iPhone app... hmmm). but whatever, they're one of the best bunch of friends to be around! :) we never run out of things to say (to the point where a few entirely separate conversations can occur simultaneously) but time is never on our side.

cheers, FUGA. here's to our friendship of five years and counting...

"over here!"

还算有一招。lol.