2013 > 2012

Been putting off writing this post cus I don't feel like recalling 2012 events. The events that happened before I went to Korea felt like a distant memory. And did I mention that while I was in Korea for the last few weeks, I felt like my days in Singapore were a long time ago? I can't really remember how I led my life in Singapore. Ohwell, now I'm back and I'm updating this post right before school starts.

2012 started off with me pretty committed to NUSCO. I was the Social Secretary and the Assistant Marketing Director (co person-in-charge) for NUSCO's concert comm. Being in the concert comm was a pain in the ass cus I really had to do something, unlike being a SS, which all I need to do is to buy snacks for members to eat during the weekends. I was in charge of sponsorships and how I dread drafting letters to companies who would really love to slam the door in my face. I really really hate sending letters to persuade them cus it's like a lost cause. I sent like 30+ letters and followed up with calls but only very little companies got back to us. I tried my  best but in the end we only managed to raise $1,500 in sponsorships, which was quite little compared to previous years. I was just so glad it's overrr! Danhong really helped me sooo much! She's like the main person in charge and I'm the one helping her. The poster was a disaster as well. Paid $80 to a supposed professional designer and she came up with crap. So glad SF helped us! :D I really really liked the poster he did! I think it pwned all the other NUSCO concert posters. Magnifying Minorities came and went. It was good, except we performed in SOTA. Then I passed on my position to Ziyi. I guess I didn't really do a good job as a SS. Sad to say, I think I did average cus at the end I was just very sian and I wanted to quickly finish my responsibilities.

Subsequently, the holidays came and I did an internship stint at MINDEF. It was pretty okay and I learnt more excel skills. Also, I was offered a job by MINDEF :D My phone got confiscated once cus I kept sneaking my iPhone in. I wanted to use my phone so badly but I only had a camera phone. The internship was meh.

I also obtained the best results since I came into NUS. I was really shocked but I'm super grateful!!! I still can't believe how I did for the modules I took. I hope to maintain my current CAP and breeze through honours year (hopefully)

Then I went to Korea! I love Korea!!! It was so fun and all the food is so damn delish! Singapore Korean food can't compare at all. I can say that Korean food has the same place in my heart as Singaporean food. SEP in Korea has really taught me to be independent. I cooked and washed for myself. Settled stuff and made decisions on my own. I was pretty homesick at first but I got used to the new independent me at the end! I didn't want come back. I only wanted to come back to escape the cold, so that I won't need to wear 5 layers of clothes, 2 layers of socks everyday and still freeze my feet off. L came to find me for the last 9 days of me being in Korea and it was sooo fun with him being around!

So, I'm back. I miss Korea, the independent me, the frosty cold weather and finally the food!!! I think I've really grown a lot over the year.

For 2013, I hope to become a better person and to have more faith in myself in whatever I do. And finally, I wish to be less competitive and to not think so much!

Hello

Strikes a chord in my heart

I saw this on Facebook and I could really identify with what was written, so here's to sharing it with you!

We still hadn't learned, though, that growing up is all about getting hurt. And then getting over it. You hurt. You recover. You move on. Odds are pretty good you're just going to get hurt again. But each time, you learn something.

Each time, you come out of it a little stronger, and at some point you realize that there are more flavours of pain than coffee. There's the little empty pain of leaving something behind - graduating, taking the next step forward, walking out of something familiar and safe into the unknown. There's the big, whirling pain of life upending all of your plans and expectations. There's the sharp little pains of failure, and the more obscure aches of successes that didn't give you what you thought they would. There are the vicious, stabbing pains of hopes being torn up. The sweet little pains of finding others, giving them your love, and taking joy in their life they grow and learn. There's the steady pain of empathy that you shrug off so you can stand beside a wounded friend and help them bear their burdens.

And if you're very, very lucky, there are a very few blazing hot little pains you feel when you realized that you are standing in a moment of utter perfection, an instant of triumph, or happiness, or mirth which at the same time cannot possibly last - and yet will remain with you for life.

Everyone is down on pain, because they forget something important about it: Pain is for the living. Only the dead don't feel it.

Pain is a part of life. Sometimes it's a big part, and sometimes it isn't, but either way, it's a part of the big puzzle, the deep music, the great game. Pain does two things: It teaches you, tells you that you're alive. Then it passes away and leaves you changed. It leaves you wiser, sometimes. Sometimes it leaves you stronger. Either way, pain leaves its mark, and everything important that will ever happen to you in life is going to involve it in one degree or another.

~Jim Butcher, White Night

Snow in Seoul

It's snowing in Seoul, and the weather is damn freaking cold! As I'm typing this entry, it's currently -14deg outside. Despite me wearing dr martens with ankle socks, my feet feels cold within 10 minutes of walking outside. And within like 30 minutes, I can't feel my toes :( I'm either buying fake uggs or buying a thicker pair of socks! Or else my toes will drop off one day I swear!

It's my first time seeing snow and I must say, the moment is magical. White specks floating down slowly, covering every surface white. However, the aftermath is not pretty! People will try to melt the snow using salt. After melting, the water freezes back to ice due to the cold weather cus the highest temp here in a week haven't crossed zero, it's all minus something. The thin sheet of ice that forms on the pavement makes the streets really slippery. I've slipped and fell twice, even with my dr martens (which I think the sole is quite good). That's the thing I hate about snow :( I walk really slowly and deliberately now, like I'll plan the steps I take to make sure I won't slip. Anyway Korea University is really pretty with all the snow :)

Me in front of the main building in KU. Beautiful campus, isn't it?

Another spot in KU, with the bare wintry trees!

Depressing Thought

I was doing work when a depressing thought hit me.

岁月不留人

How I'm growing up/old too fast. Time is passing too damn fast! Now I'm in my 20s already and I feel like people's expectations of me changed. I am supposed to be more mature and serious. Soon, all of us will take on new responsibilities, like getting married and building a new family, getting a car, paying off that housing mortgage, making decisions on my own. All these... Sounds so depressing. I like where I am now and I don't want anything to change. I guess what I do during school holidays also changed a lot. From playing, to studying and doing internships. I really want to go back to those days where I can while all my time away. There's no need to worry about heavy responsibilities or whether I will be successful in my future career. Sounds really carefree isn't it?

I don't know what this is

Poorly done collage on PhotoShop

HAHA this collage looks super ugly. Spent some time doing this collage so I don't care how ugly it is, I want to post it on my blog! These are the clothes I like. Actually no, they are just photos of some of my clothes. I really like this houndstooth pullover on the right (10,000W, about $12). The berry peplum and neon blue lace dress are bought from Forever21 Korea.

I really really really like the F21 KR Online Shop!! It's so nice to shop! They constantly have this sale going on and I think they update it every Monday. And it's full of summer clothes!! It's damn difficult to find summer clothes in Korea nowadays cus of the cold weather, so I'm buying some to wear back in sg. Bought 5 items and I just received them after 2 days through the mail. The bad thing is 2 out of 5 pieces are too big for me :( I think I don't have enough confidence. I kind of know my size is S but I went to order M for this neon blue lace dress and a pair high waist shorts. Cus these two pieces looks tight on the F21 skinny models so I thought I should order a size bigger in case I can't fit. I was wrong, should have ordered all S! :(

I bought 2 dresses, 2 tops and a pair of high waist shorts for... guess!!

54,950W!!! About $60? What a steal right. Don't think can get it anywhere in sg! I'm going to be so broke if I'm continuing shopping on F21. Hope they will have Black Friday sale or something soon hahaha

Vlog - Talking about coats

Yeah yeah I know I said I won't do a vlog, but here it is!



Sorry for the poor quality, filmed using my macbook's webcam haha.

좀바빠

Hiiii! Sorry for my lack of updates recently. I've been pretty busy as what my blog title suggested :(

As expected, I didn't do well for my midterms. I just passed for most of my papers and this gave me a motivation to do better! If I'm at the borderline, I might be pushed down for the finals.

Life's been pretty good. I think I've got used to staying in Korea, cooking my own meals and living in my small room in a goshitel. Haha. The weather's pretty cold nowadays and I bought 2 trench coats :((( Haiz, they cost quite cheap but compared to my friends who just bought one, I felt guilty. I just hope I won't need to get the down jacket (puffy puffy) when winter comes. Anyway I really like my trench coats hehehe. Will post photos if I have!

While traveling

Currently I'm on a long bus ride back to Seoul from Busan. It's so freaking long, about 4.5hrs if the bus doesn't stop. I realized long bus rides are really good for self reflection. Been thinking of certain things recently while I'm on the bus, and I like it, the pensive me.

I've been really busy lately. After I finished my midterms last week, my friends and I headed to Inje for some outdoor sports, like white water rafting and bungee jumping. Bungee jumping is really cheap in Korea, about 40,000W (45 SGD) but the height is quite short compared to other countries. My friends wanted to do bungee jumping. Bungee jumping wasn't one of my to-do list in Korea and I don't think I would ever have the courage to really step off that platform and face the icy water beneath me. I went white water rafting with the guys instead. It was quite fun despite me being quite cautious. I can't swim and I didn't want to fall into the water x_x

The water was so clear!

My friends didn't want to try bungee jumping in the end so we headed to Sokcho for the night. This was in preparation for Seoraksan. Seoraksan is a famous park in the Korea and has a series of mountains. The highest peak is the Dae Chong Bong which stands at about 1.7km, the third highest mountain in Korea. Not wanting to squeeze with the crowd, we headed to Seoraksan at about 4+am and started climbing at 5. It was pretty scary as it was still dark, really dark. Darker than in singapore. One of my friends bought a torch light and we began the ascend. Oh my, we climbed for 5.5hrs and we still didn't reach the peak. Previously, I've saw online that it would only take 8hrs in total for both up and down. I was very very very wrong. The uncles and aunties who passed by us when they came down the mountain told us we at least had another 2 hrs to go. It was majorly depressing cus my thighs hurt so much and I took more than 1 second to climb up each rock. I used so much effort and I felt like dying. Finally, the girls decided to go down cus we need to go to YangYang for the salmon catching festival. The guys were staying for another day so they persevered. I WAS SO GLAD that we were heading down! Even the descend took quite long, about 3.5hrs? I really really really wanted to die cus I was so tired and my whole body was like crumbling.

At the highest spot ever.

Autumn: the supposedly best time to visit Seoraksan for its foliage

Pretty autumn foliage.

Bye Seoraksan, I never want to see you again.

Subsequently we headed to YangYang to catch salmon using our hands. This is one of the highlights of their festival! For 25,000W (28 SGD), we were given gloves and some time in a shallow pond with artificially released salmon. The salmons can really swim, I went after a few but I couldn't catch any. Finally, a kind Singaporean guy caught and released a salmon into my direction and I caught it with my bare hands!! Haha. After that we paid to butcher to cut up the salmon and we brought it back. So, I'll have salmon to eat for awhile :)

Me and my catch :D

That's pretty all that I did last weekend. I came back last sat night and went on a free tour on Sunday morning to Buyeo, Jeonju, Suncheon, Yeosu and Busan. I'm currently returning to Seoul from the tour. can't wait to be back in my room ^^ Will blog more about the free tour soon

Emotional turmoil

Midterms start tmrw and I'm so unprepared for it. Such is the life of an exchange student.

I think I don't have to study hard, I've been putting in like 10-30% of the effort I put in when I'm in NUS. But the emotional turmoil that I have to go through, like feeling really scared about the midterms and failing is just unbearable. I'm unprepared but I want to at least pass all my modules, what a dilemma!

Can't wait for midterms to be over. After that it's Seoraksan for the weekend. Not really looking forward to it cus I don't particularly like hiking, exercising or bungee jumping. Seoraksan is the third highest mountain in Korea and I'm afraid of what the hike will bring. A few weeks ago, we went to hike one of the mountains in Seoul and I wanted to die. It was so dangerous climbing all the steep rocks :(

Oh well, maybe it's time for me to embrace nature x_x

Cooking Adventure

I've been cooking a lot in Korea and recently I've been trying to cook some new stuff. Mostly I cook stew with veggies, enoki, crab stick and stuff, fried rice or rice with omelette and another side. 

I have a self imposed grocery budget of $20 for 2 weeks so it's quite hard to get fresh items as they are quite expensive. I try to alternate the fresh items I buy every 2 weeks. I bought 20 chicken wings this week and they cost me about $7.70, expiring in about 5 days. After 2 weeks, I'm going for prawns :D Koreans like to put expiry dates on everything, even on veggies. I've eaten a piece of fishcake that was 1 week past its expiry date and I was okay. So I don't really care...

Decided to pan fry chicken wings and it was a success :D The inside was fully cooked as well. When it was cooking, I poked 2 holes in each wing in hopes that the hot oil will reach the insides and cook it!

End product: Mushroom omelette and pan fried chicken wings! Wanted to eat it with rice but there's currently no more rice in the hostel. Meanwhile I should treat it like I'm on a diet with no rice. Had a banana as a source of carbs. On the topic of fruits, fruits are really expensive in Korea! One watermelon goes for 20,000W, which is $22.60. Isn't it crazily expensive? One watermelon cost like $4-$6 in Singapore if I'm not wrong. Sadly, the only fruit that I can afford is my most hated fruit - banana.

I do hope I'll become a better cook in time. Not that I'm a bad cook now! Haha. Meanwhile I will try to add more dishes to my belt :D

Angsty me

I'm so fucking angry with this guy right now, let's call him j.
So fucking angry, I can't believe I'll have to see him for another 3+ more months. I might die.

I don't know how someone can be nice and then obnoxious. In the same person. I've to say j is sometimes a nice person but sometimes obnoxious. j helped me when we went hiking. I was the weakest link and he always lent me a helping hand. But fuck, yesterday he's just obnoxious.

Yesterday was my birthday so I told my friends I would treat them. Okay, normally I don't treat my friends, or we don't have the tradition of treating friends on birthdays. But before I had my birthday party in SG, I thought I would celebrate my birthday in Korea, so I told my SEP friends that maybe I'll have a fried chicken party. Hence I felt like I had an obligation to treat.

We went to Kyochon (damn delicious) and we ordered 3 plates of chicken. j wanted to order beer and I said he would have to pay for it himself. Cus I was quite pissed with his jokes previously, when he said we'll be going to an atas seafood restaurant blah blah blah, and said I didn't need 21 shots, I just need 1. When we were halfway done with the chicken, he wanted to order one more, I retorted "not full meh?". Normally when we go to a fried chicken place, we would order 2-3 plates only. He said he wanted to try everything and said he would treat us the one plate cus I wasn't willing. Like wtf?? It's like don't give me face. Yeah after the food arrived, we all ate and then when we were paying the bill, he only paid for his alcohol and DID NOT PAY me the extra one plate. It's not me being calculative or what, I just feel that he should HONOR what he said. After that my friends said I shouldn't treat and gave me back the money. I accepted after some refusal cus they said they will need to give me a birthday present and they think I would prefer cash.

After that, while we were walking back, he talked about me winning 2 blogging contests. He said I SHOULD TREAT CUS I WON 2 BLOGGING CONTESTS. Excuse me, why should I treat you? You didn't even fucking contribute anything to me winning the contests. It was creativity and my hard work, coupled with the help of some of my friends. Why should he expect anything?

Or maybe, it's me. I'm the petty one.

Chuseok Weekend in Busan

Life's been good. Just came back from Busan and it was fun! I loved the hostel we stayed in. Initially I was quite against it cus I had Angel Hotel in mind. A night at Angel Hotel will cost about 24,000W and the guesthouse that my friend recommended was 30,000W per person. Furthermore Angel offers room service and is in a central location while the guest house doesn't and is located in a corner of Busan but it was near Haeundae beach (must go for Busan). In the end we had to go with the majority and the guest house won. Not a bad thing afterall

Took a 4hr bus ride to Busan. At first I didn't want to go to Busan cus I've been to Busan last year. However, we did not visit the Haeundae beach as it was raining. If I don't go with my friends, I would be alone for 3 days, which is quite scary so I decided to join them.

 The view from my bed :) The guesthouse was 44 floors high!

The huge living room. It felt so good to be sitting on the sofa! I missed lounging on sofas.

Went to Spaland, which is like a high class korean bath house. It was quite awkward for us at first cus we must be completely naked inside. The Koreans had no problem and were quite open. For us, we covered ourselves with towels and the people inside were staring at us :X Each of us showered in a booth then we went out to enjoy the jacuzzi tubs of water with different temperature. They also had an outdoor spring and sauna! We sat in the 80 degrees sauna for awhile and couldn't take it. After that we showered, dressed ourselves in their t-shirt and shorts, we went to their rooms with different themes.

How one of the rooms look like. Something will supposedly emit electrons at us and has some health effects. Don't know if it's believable.

After Spaland, we went to dapao fried chicken and had supz in the living room. How I wish my current place in Seoul has a living room for us to hang out!

The following day, we went to Jalgachi market which is a seafood haven. Tried live octopus for the first time! We ate the small octopus so it wasn't so bad. Tasted just like normal octopus sashimi just that it moves if you don't chew.

Huge oysters!

 Ordered their king crab to try too! It was awesome, and I could take out the meat in the leg with a small tug like in those travel shows.



Crab fried rice but I could barely taste the crab meat.

The amount of roe in the crab!!

A must try in Busan, gukbap. It's just pork soup with rice. However it's not very common in Seoul and is a Busan specialty.

Friends. Changed hostel room on the second day and it was awesome again.

The manager prepared Chuseok breakfast for us, which were japchae and some mochi thing (not sure about the korean name)

Pasta at Thursday Party near Haeundae.

Haeundae beach, one of Busan must visit places. The water is so much clearer compared to Singapore's!

When asked about how I'm doing in Korea

I would answer that I want to come home. Why so? Cus...

"Haha omg this sentence I don't know how to use Korean. Haha I want to come back cus it's really so good in sg, like I don't need to wash my own clothes, don't need to worry about what to eat every meal, and don't need to clean my own room... Over here I have to do things myself. It's a good experience la haha but nothing beats the comfort of home :) I'm enjoying myself here, like I really like my new found freedom, like I can go anywhere anytime! Haha. And Korean food is nice! Class is slack cus I don't need to score well! And the weather is good ;)"

What I typed to my friend over whatsapp. I guess this is how I really feel about exchange. I always thought going on an exchange would be glamorous and I would have lots of fun. Boy, was I wrong. I mean it's right to some extent but people on Facebook just don't show you the photos of them cleaning their room, doing their laundry, spending time planning their trips and having disagreements. These are the scenes behind the "having fun and good food" photos on Facebook.

A good way to enjoy exchange is to bring my whole house with my family there. Haha joking.

Above are just some of my late night muses.

Goodnight x

Oh Hi

Hello! Sorry for my lack of updates. The past week has been pretty hectic for me, all thanks to 2 modules: fixed income securities and service operations. These 2 modules have really heavy workloads!!

Main highlights of what I did in Seoul from last Fri onwards

Last Friday:
Woke up at 5.15am to take a train to 삼각지 station to Camp USO for DMZ. From Camp USO, we took a 1.5 hrs bus to the Joint Security Area (JSA). It's damn cool!!! I actually got to see the border between South and North Korea. Think it's quite exclusive and really worth the money. To go to the JSA area, we paid extra 43,000W (48SGD). For those who don't know, there is a 2km wide buffer zone on both sides of the border and they call it the DMZ. In the DMZ, there is a blue house that stands equally on both sides of the border. Leaders from both countries have meetings in the house! We got to visit the house and got to stand on the North side of the room! So I've been to North Korea :) haha

The blue house. The gray building opposite belongs to North Korea.

On the North Korea side of the room!

After that we went to the tunnel, which was dug by North Koreans to sneak an attack on South Korea. Also, we went to Dorasan observatory to look over to the North side. Nothing much could be seen :( Finally we went to the Dorasan station where South Korea built a train to Pyeongyang. However it's not in use :(

This trip has really made more interested in North Korea. I want to go visit North Korea when I'm slightly older and have the $$$ $_$ It would be really cool to see what's inside!

Last Saturday:
Woke up pretty late cus we were really tired from the trip. The previous day I was awake for 21 hours! Went to look at the Bukchon Hanok Village in the late afternoon and proceeded to Myeongdong for shopping and the dance night! Nothing special except that we missed the last train and had to cab back.

DJ spinning music on the streets of Myeongdong.

Last Sunday:
We went to the free Incheon concert featuring SHINee! It was damn far away, took about 2 hours to travel there via train and had to transfer quite a lot of times. On one transfer, the number of stations that we had to take was like 30?!! But it was worth it cus it was free and there was a lot of effects like fireworks and stuff!

My packed weekend last week was the reason for the hectic week. I only got home at about 1am on Tuesday and had to do a 3 page case report, study for FIS pop quiz and 11 pages of Korean homework by Wednesday.

I was so relieved that I managed to get past Wednesday! Haha

I have 고연전 tmrw! Will blog about it soon too x_x

1st week of school

School started! It was okay except that most of the classes are quite boring with the exception of 2 modules. Each class at KU last about 1hr15mins and there are 2 classes a week per module. I really like this system because each class is shorter and I feel like I can pay more attention. Even so, I fall asleep like in almost every class so far x_x They have some panels on their ceiling which will amplify the prof's voice when the prof is standing under it! So cool! They don't need to hold mics. And I really like how the school look. Even though it's in Korea, the university looks like it's from UK! Almost all the buildings that I've seen are stone buildings.

#arm candy/#arm swag. I always see people posting photos of their arm swag on ig ( I follow some fashion accounts on ig) and I was so inspired I wanted to get one too! Went to DongDaeMun Complex yesterday to get the below! Nice? I don't know if it matches nicely cus I just bought what I like then I put them together x_x

One of my outfits for school. I got the top and bottom in Seoul for like 10 SGD altogether! I think it's quite a bargain! Mint green t-shirt with lace panel and black high waist shorts

Doing the favorite pose of my KUBA buddy

The BiBimNaengMyeon I had at DongDaeMun. It was damn damn damn spicy! It's cold and spicy at the same time. When my friend recommended this place and told me that their cold noodles was damn spicy, I was like "how can anything be cold and spicy at the same time?" The existence of this dish proved me wrong. After a bite, I was dead and my mouth went numb with spiciness after just 4-5 mouthfuls! I thought it was quite shiokz :) Haha. Must go to this place if you like spicy food!

It's a lazy saturday afternoon and I was lazy to go out x_x It's always those quiet moments in my own room that I begin to get emotional. I miss everyone a lot!! Sometimes I'm okay and I really enjoyed myself in Seoul.

Looking forward to my second week of school and third week in Seoul! Haha

Seoul much fun

Sorry for my lack of updates. I've been pretty busy with orientation, modules adding and sightseeing! Today is the first day that I'm taking a break from all of that. No alarms to wake me up, I just woke up naturally and stayed in the hostel to nua :)

I guess I'm finally accepting the fact that I would be staying in this small hostel room for at least 2 months. Even though it's really dusty (just now I discovered a thick layer of dust in the space between the table and wall that made me shudder) I guess I'll just have to settle for it. I can't possibly move out alone into another place cus it would be quite dangerous.

Sightseeing was okay, I haven't been particularly excited cus I've seen almost of all of the things when I came to Seoul last year. Rather, I have been asking Fangfang for more info on where we went last year, finding out more about it then bringing my friends there. From a follower last year, I've become the more knowledgeable one around! If you want to come, I can bring you around quite well (I think)

Some photos from the sightseeing
N Seoul Tower

Sky at Edae

Sunset at Hangang Park

Water fountain at Banpo bridge

School starts tmrw. I'm looking forward to it. Cus I've been walking and shopping too much that I'm sick of the routine x_x Studying would be a nice break :)

I did a vlog then I realized it's too lame and decided not to post it x_x so... no more vlogs for the rest of my exchange. Hope I would have time to continue updating this space!

Seoul

I'm currently in Seoul, for my SEP.

I thought I always wanted to come to Korea for 4.5 months but now, I don't know if that's what I really wanted. I don't like my hostel cus it's too small and dirty and I can't imagine myself living in it for 4.5 months. I miss L and my family.

I thought I always wanted it and now I feel like I brought it upon myself.

I can't wait to return to Singapore, where my room is at least three times the size of my current hostel room, with my parents who care, clean, wash for me! Now I know how hard it is. I washed 2 sets of clothes and I don't ever want to wash clothes again. But no. I can't "don't want to" cus I'm on my own and there won't be anyone who will do it for me. I'm supposed to be independent.

Ohwell. I hope I get use to my hostel soon! Or else it's going to be a painful 4.5 months :(

p/s a vlog might be coming up!!

Blink

Blink, and I'll be in Korea.

Time has been passing by sooooo fast! 8 days till I leave Singapore. I don't really want to leave now that I'm about to leave. Felt like I did no preparations at all but actually I have a visa, booked air tickets and a private hostel room. All I need to do is to pack my luggage and I'm all ready to go. Oh, I haven't settled my bank account stuff yet...

I'm going to miss everyone here. Please don't forget me!

The party preparations are now a chore. So many things to do...

Oh and I tend to spend much more $$ when I'm not working. I meet up with people every other day and spend money like crazy. I need to save!!!

x

P/S: This post is really just random thoughts.

Work + Party don't mix

I feel so busy everyday. Nowadays. Currently I'm interning at another company in their HR department. I don't really like my job cus I feel like I'm more of like a temp than an intern. I was willing to accept an intern's pay because I think that I would be able to learn something from the company. But I've learnt nothing from this company so far!!! I've just been hired by this lady to clear her backlog. So far I either spend my days doing filing, photocopying or data entry. Things learnt = nothing :( sadly I have not learnt anything much about HR except that it's a lot of admin work! In light of all these, I have resigned and am serving my one week's notice now! I can't wait to be free and concentrate on preparing for my party! :)

Every night I get home I think about something party-related it's driving me crazy. Either it's about the food, or the cake, or thinking of what alcohol to bring there. I wished I'm not so preoccupied with my party, but I'm x_x I can't imagine how it's going to be like for weddings because I feel like there are so many decisions to make! Like what kind of food to order, what kind of cake to have, how big should the cake be? So many decisions and I cant make decisions. Most prolly there will be a lot more decisions to make while preparing for a wedding. I tend to think a lot but I'm indecisive. Too cowardly to choose one alternative over the other. Almost always, I end up making decisions last minute x_x hope I didn't make any wrong decision so far! L has been really patient to listen to me talk about the party the whole time. I think we talk about it like at least 60% of the time we meet up!

Can't wait for the party to come! Skip all the preparation period! Haha

A giant leap

You're invited!

In the end I decided to have a pre-birthday celebration and I did this using photoshop. Quite noob :(

It really took me very long to decide on this and I hope I won't regret. I'm so upset over the "no external catering allowed" I keep thinking and complaining about it. My father was quite irritated and asked me not to be such a perfectionist. What if the food sucks? The menu doesn't look very nice :(

And I keep thinking and thinking about other stuffs like what theme am I going to have, what dress am I going to wear, how to decorate the room. O M G

I realize I just need to relax and enjoy the planning/doing part cus it's easier that way. Nothing can be perfect.

I want to have a birthday planner! Then all I need to do is to heck care and just appear on the day itself and enjoy

Enjoy the process, I shall!

My biggest enemy

is my tears... I tear so easily it's sooo embarrassing! I'm turning 21 soon and I seek to be more mature. How can I portray myself to be more mature when I cry so easily? Arghh.

Anyway another dilemma is bugging me recently. Whether to have a farewell + birthday party. I know I told some of my friends that I don't want to have one at the start of the year cus I will just be an awkward penguin. Holding a party means having to socialize with all your friends at once, and maybe give a speech or something. So not me :( I'm also not much of a good host so yeah...

What I'm afraid of, is regret. I will be away in Korea during my actual 21st and it might be good cus I won't need to celebrate it in Singapore. But now I think I will be quite sad on my actual birthday in Korea cus I'll feel alone without most of my friends, L and family. I really don't want that day to come, it'll be my 21st birthday and yet one of the loneliest birthday of my life. So I hope that at least by celebrating it in Singapore, it would make it less painful when I'm over there.

Another factor contributing to this huge dilemma is the venue! I can't seem to find a suitable venue x_x they are all quite expensive and I don't wish to spend so much! Miserly me... Oh and my mum doesn't want me to have a party cus she doesn't want me to invite the relatives. Ever since the fallout, it has been hostile. If I have a party, I want to invite my relatives! My mum offered to give me money for my birthday and asked me not to have a party. And my parents almost quarreled over this, I feel so guilty.

Isn't it complicated? I guess all the factors are pointing to "no party" but I still can't convince myself. Sometimes I really hate myself haizzz. Maybe I should just give up on the idea, and I can get some money $_$

Money for a gift just sounds so... I can just spend it in 1 sec, then there will be nothing left to remember of my 21st. Don't think I will become mature cus I celebrated my birthday anyw.

Any advice? Haha

Locking up this feeling

Life's been good. However, it wasn't good all along, last week it sucked.

Even though it sucked, I think I learnt a valuable lesson. I see each setback in life as a lesson. An example is my bizlaw final, which left an indelible mark in my mind. I couldn't finish the bizlaw final in time, more precisely I left a 25-30mark question undone. Oh my I can still remember how lousy I felt when I was on my way back and I dreaded the day I would get my result back. True to my prediction I got a C+ :( I will remember that forever... Because of that incident I now chiong my papers right from the start. All of them! I will do my papers damn fast cus I'm scared of deja vu. Speed is my focus for every paper and since then, I'm proud to say I have never left any paper unfinished :)

Last week, I realized how important my family is to me. I feel really embarrassed of what I said to my parents in my fit of anger. I really really really regretted those hurtful words x_x I realized I tend to say hurtful words to people when I'm angry without thinking of the consequences and how they'll feel. I really want to change this part of me and I hope I can! I don't want to hurt people's feelings and regret afterwards.

Things are okay now and I really feel grateful for everything. Grateful that my parents forgave me. How I wish I can lock up this feeling and re-visit it once in awhile when I'm feeling down and ungrateful. Let this "state" be a reminder to how happy I can be and how I can choose my actions to reach this state. I know it can't be done and I hope I'll remember this incident whenever I'm angry!

x

Nestle 100 Years in Singapore

This year marks the 100th year that Nestle's been in Singapore! Currently, they have an app which you can download on your mobile phone. It's called iFeedback and it's a channel for feedback.

I'm going to blog about my feedback and the country I want to go to! 1 app download, 2 feedback and 3 reasons.

1 app download

I downloaded the iFeedback app on my iPhone! You should too. Offer your Nestle ideas and stand a chance to return air tickets for two to Europe via Finnair! Just that simple. Not only do you get your feedback across on your favorite Nestle products, you might also win air tickets to Europe! Nestle might listen to your ideas and come up with new products!

Downloading in progress

Done!

2 feedback

I'm going to offer feedback for my two most favorite products from Nestle.

The first is MILO! It's like a national favorite and also my favorite. I used to drink one packet at least once a day back in my secondary school days. Before assembly, I used to hang out with my friends in the canteen and the first thing I do when I reach the canteen was to head over to the drinks stall to buy a packet of MILO for breakfast! Even when I'm late, I would buy it after assembly and speed drink it in like 2-3 mins and rush for my first lesson! It's a good choice for breakfast cus I feel like it gives me energy and keeps me full unlike other beverages like green tea x_x

One suggestion that I would like to offer is for it to be packed in 500ml bottles! Currently, MILO only comes in packets and cans. A bottle would be awesome cus you can bring it everywhere and anywhere. For example, if I'm late for class and I want to have MILO for breakfast, I can buy the 500ml bottled MILO and there would be no need for me to gulp it down. I can bring it in to class! Also, there would lesser chances of spillage, which makes it more convenient for people who drinks MILO while multi-tasking.

To offer my feedback on MILO, I scanned the barcode on the MILO packet in the iFeedback app.

I chose I Critique and typed in my feedback :)

The thank you page!

Imaginary Scenario:


I like to drink MILO packet while using computer

As I was too engrossed in using my computer, I spilled MILO on my computer :(

MILO in a bottle, no spills! Happy!

A mock up MILO in a bottle!

The second is KoKo Krunch! I would always look forward to breakfast whenever my mum buys it. This chocolatey cereal is great for breakfast cus it needs no preparation, just add milk!

One suggestion that I would like to offer is for Nestle to offer KoKo Krunch in cereal bars. It would be awesome for people in a rush! For me, when I run out of time to have breakfast in the morning, I would reach for a snack that can be eaten on the go. Sadly, cereal with milk cannot be eaten on the go cus it's liquid. However, if there's a KoKo Krunch cereal bar with KoKo Krunch bits binded together with caramelized milk (I don't know how to describe), it would be awesomeeee! I can just grab a bar of KoKo Krunch whenever I'm running out of time and I can still enjoy the cereal at the same time!

To offer my feedback on the KoKo Krunch cereal, I scanned the barcode on the KoKo Krunch cereal box

I chose I Critique and typed in my feedback :)

Imaginary Scenario:

I overslept and woke up late :( Oh no!

I wanted to eat a bowl of KoKo Krunch with milk and was upset that it cannot be eaten on the go

With KoKo Krunch cereal bar, I can have my favorite cereal on the go :)

A mockup KoKo Krunch cereal bar!

3 reasons why I want to go to Paris

The first reason is the French food! Especially the desserts.
My favorite dessert is macarons! Sandwiched between two biscuits is the dollop of filling in the middle.  Ah, heavenly! The dollop of filling mixes with biscuits which disintegrates in your mouth :) Describing it makes me want to eat it again!! What joy would it be to enjoy authentic macarons in a parisian setting! Below is the obolo macarons I enjoyed last saturday.

In Paris, there's a famous chef called Pierre Hermes that supposedly makes the best macarons! The French Vogue Magazine dubbed him as the "Picasso of Pastry"and the most flavor is the Ispahan which combines rose, lychee and raspberry! Imagine the myriad of flavor bursting in your mouth! If I were in Paris, I would rather die than to miss it.

Other French delicacies include foie gras and truffles. It's going to be gastronomia heaven when I go there!

The second reason - Paris, the fashion capital.

There are numerous brands that came from France, the more famous ones are Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, and ofcus Hermes! Who can forget that? Even though I'm currently a poor student and cannot afford any branded bags, I would be very happy if I get to window shop and just look at the gorgeous clothes and accessories. 

 

Credit: http://chinchin.org/store/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=517

The bag that I really want to have in the future is the above Celine Mini Luggage Tote. Celine is also a French brand! I really like its unique design, a trapeze shape with handles on the outside and it comes in eye popping colors! Electric blue, hot pink... I don't know how much it cost but it should be S$4,000 and upwards. If I get to go Paris, I might borrow money to buy it! (just joking, I might be branded as a shopaholic if I do that) 

If I get to go Paris, I would most definitely engage in people watching. Imagine sitting down at a parisian cafe, savoring authentic macarons and tea coupled with watching fashionable people from all walks of life getting by. A relaxing morning in Paris...

The third reason is the awesome sightseeing! 

Credit: http://www.eiffel-tower.us/

The Eiffel Tower is a must visit! It's the tallest manmade structure in the world until some other building beat it in 1930 and the tallest building in Paris. It looks magnificent and I would definitely go to see it if I get to go Paris!

Credit: http://www.parisiensalon.com/2010/04/seen-in-paris-the-champs-elysees-as-a-garden/

Another must visit tourist attraction is the Champs-Elysées! It's a street filled with theaters, cafes, cinemas and gardens. Sounds pretty similar to Singapore's orchard road. Major events are held there, like New Year's celebration. A place where modernity is mixed with tradition.

What are you waiting for? Download the iFeedback app from the app store and use it to scan the barcode of the Nestle products that you want to offer suggestions on. Offer your feedback on your favorite Nestle products and stand a chance to win a pair of air tickets to Europe! I'm sure everyone has feedback to offer :)