Backy Back

I haven't blogged in ages, and this also means I haven't been on my computer as well. Besides the occasional booting up for the sake of studying previously, I have done nothing else on it. I check my gmail sporadically. It also means I have NO idea what's really happening in cyberspace, haven't read up on all my blog feeds except a few selected ones, and I am completely not in tune with my anime/manga stuffs.

So, it was a major mistake to check up on all my blog feeds now, and realise that I'm missing out on Persona 4, Working Season 2, Fate/Zero, Tamayura, Kimi to Boku, Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, and so many others. Nooooo~!! Kill me nao.

It's been a crazy ride, and it's only starting to settle down finally. Apartment's in shape, studies are over, and I've finally caught up to work somewhat. There's a routine again, and I'm assured of some structure in my life. Now, if only I didn't wipe out my 1 yr worth of savings on furniture within a month. Grr. I know it's meant for the apartment, but that's just ridiculous. Gotta start from scratch again.

I might consider travelling to Japan in November '12. Hopefully I would have saved up enough by then.

Been following this series which aired on my birthday.

I got started on it because of Sarah Michelle Gellar, of course. Haven't seen her in any major TV series since Buffy, so I was immediately curious. Ringer is all about intriguing plots, deceits and twists. It puts you into knots. Mom gave up on it because she prefers comedies, like The Big Bang and Two and A Half Men. Ioan Gruffudd is in Ringer too, so that doesn't really hurt. I just enjoy watching the way Sarah portrays twins, as she has to act 2 characters really. Sometimes, I forget it's just one of her, and I get sucked into thinking there are actually 2 Sarahs. So, I guess she's successful then. I think the producers should pay her twice, haha. I liked her in Cruel Intentions where she was all mean and devious, and she has to be like that in Ringer too, so all's good.

Another one I'm quite interested in.

Imagine you have a memory that never forgets anything. You can recount anything in the history or in the future as long as you'd heard or read about it. You do not forget, period. But you just can't remember what happened when you stumbled upon your sister's murdered body.

Poppy Montgomery is Carrie Wells in Unforgettable, and such a condition is called hyperthymesia. Local TV has been advertising this series by saying that Poppy is Australian, haha. Anyway, I like how the story always portrays the way Carrie recalls what she had seen or heard, even as a casual passerby. We can look around whilst in a taxi, walk down the street to the bank, and not retain anything about it. But she can, and they show how she does her magic whilst she rummages through her memory to bring about a murderer's face, or something uncanny, etc. Quite an interesting premise from your usual CSI dishes. Poppy is so casually beautiful, not in a very commercialised air-brushed way. I quite like that, it makes me feel like she's a real person and not a make-believe character. Again, Mom gave up on this because dead bodies are involved.

I am loving my TV at the moment. Love my Samsung's LED TV in particular, haha. I signed up for FetchTV for a 3 months trial, and we currently receive channels such as National Geographic, major news channels, Taiwanese channels etc. The Singapore Ch 8 one is crap because they only play old 80s series and absolutely nothing else. Geez. Then JetTV changed its international broadcasting mode, so we can't receive it. You gotta be kidding. Then there is KMTV Asia where it broadcasts Korean stuffs (variety and pop) all the time, but Mom refuses to let me watch it at all. Can be oh-so-frustrating really.

So, when Mom returns, I might cancel FetchTV because as much as I love my Taiwanese channels, I think it's not worth it if Ch 8 and JetTV are not what I thought they are. I had hoped to catch up on Singapore stuffs like local news, variety shows, not watch 3面夏娃 or 边缘少年. Mom and I didn't know whether we should laugh or cry really. You think you are subscribing to the channel so you can watch everything in realtime, but it's just the channel with selected shows only. Although for now, it's helping Mom because she can kill some time with 新亚东风 channel; watching Taiwanese variety shows like 黄子佼's 佼個朋友吧! and also some news, which is at least in realtime thankfully. But her favourite is CTV 中視新聞台, which she much prefers because of the debates, talks and news. Ah well, the boring stuffs, haha. For me, everything is new and fresh, and I am still enjoying the channels very much. We'll see what happens.

PlayStation 3's Naruto Shippudden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 has been fun, fun, fun.

 

Good play options - you can do Adventure according to the manga plot, or just simple slug-it-out battles with other characters. There's Super Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard and Super Duper Hard options. For an obasan like me, Super Easy should ease me in gently.

Ah, the wonderful graphics. Can't say or gawk enough. You must understand, the last time I had a game console, it was the Super Nintendo Emulator and I played very, very 2D-looking characters like Dragonball, Yu Yu Hakusho and Sonic. And we didn't know what LCD, LED or Plasma were then.

Dual languages, heck yes. I always choose Japanese, but on the occasion when I'm very stuck, it's always nice to have that backup.

Love new technology!

Hoozah!

Eat Drink Bento

Wow, I'm actually glad I gave it another go. The first time I went to Eat Drink Bento, I thought it was overhyped. I didn't really enjoy my bento box dinner, and I thought it was ma ma teh. I definitely had better Japanese food elsewhere easily.

Yesterday, we took up an offer which was irresistibly hard to reject. For $19.50 each, you get a complimentary drink, a bowl of rice or miso soup, a bowl of edamame to chew. And between 2 people, you can choose 6 dishes of your choice to share. I got a genmaicha (and they kept refilling it, woo hoo!), and a bowl of rice. Anne and I then proceeded to choose the following 6 dishes.

1. Wagyu beef

2. Soft-shelled crab

3. Seafood and veggie tempura

4. Agedashi tofu

5. Sashimi

6. Gyoza

Cheap as chips! And everything was amazingly generous in portion and delicious. I enjoyed all the selection, especially the soft-shelled crab which was packed with meat, not overly fried, and juicy. It even had some roe in it. Oh wow. All 4 of us were full of praises for our meals, and we didn't have to pay the moon for it!

You can see my towering soft-shelled crabs on my plate and on the serving plate. Both were mine, because Anne already wolfed down the other 2, haha.

Goodbye, Borders

I strolled into Borders at Knox SC which was having a 30% sale storewide before they completely close down all branches in Australia. It was pretty sad to see its shelves slightly empty, and people picking up things to buy as though they were scavengers. So, since I wanted to kill time whilst waiting for a friend, I started to browse around. Pretty disorientating. There were books laid everywhere carelessly so the categories were useless, and I had to make a quick sweep as my friend texted me to say she was fast approaching.

Yes, I couldn't resist. I mean, I took ONE look at it and I was sold, baby. Had to pick it up and bring it to the counter. Oh, along with a DK Eyewitness Travel Guide on Japan. Might as well, since they were all discounted!

Ahoy there, Mr McAvoy

Becoming Jane

The Chronicles of Narnia

Atonement

Wanted

X-Men: First Class

 

Conclusion? It's really difficult to pin him down in one image / look. His Scottish accent is really aaahhh ♥.

Domestic (un)Goddess

As I need to jot down every single thing I'm eating and drinking for the next 2 weeks, I have decided to roll up my sleeves and try cooking a few times over this period. I had the luxury of eating this beautiful salad served up by Tripod Farmers at the Good Food & Wine Show on Friday, and I committed all the ingredients to heart as I scoffed the whole thing down at its stand. The only thing missing? The recipe for the dressing, and they lied to me because I can't find the recipe on their website as they claimed! Gosh, I was devastated. There I was, thinking I found my one salvation to eating salads happily, but it was dashed. Ah well.

Breakfast : Carman's original fruit-free muesli with Bonsoy's soy milk.

Lunch : Baby spinach, rockets, ham, greek feta cubes, parmesan, and cherry tomatoes.

2 dressings were used for the salad.

Talinga Grove's Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Garlic Infused) is a beautiful oil used for dipping bread, and went very well with the salad. I also added Kewpie's Deep-Roasted Sesame Dressing, which smells and tastes absolutely wonderful. It totally allows me to eat the rawest veggies quite tolerably.

Dinner : Low GI rice with ume toppings, fried egg (yum!) and pan-fried salmon pieces. Kikkoman soy sauce to complete the egg experience.

And that's all for today, from yours truly who has probably cooked no more than 10 times in her life. Now let me go wash the obscene tons of plates/pans which are totally not worth the time since I finished eating in... 2 secs. Cooking for one person is so not worth the time and effort really, sigh. Well, at least I'll be having salmon and rice again for lunch tomorrow.

Are we there yet?

My unit is the one with the 3 small windows. Extreme right window - bathroom's. Other two - bedroom's. You can see the top bit of a lengthier window for the bedroom at the other corner. The unit below me is a 2 bedroom unit, so that's much bigger. I prefer having smaller windows on this side, because it's facing West and the setting sun's rays are something I totally try to avoid. They just steam up the place like no tomorrow, and I experienced torture in my room back at my old rental place during extreme heaty summers. 40 degrees, yeouch! I also don't want people to see through the windows easily from ground level, and I don't want to use curtains to cover up all the time. My balcony doors are facing North, where the most light will stream through the unit. As you can see, the unit below me has balcony doors facing West. I know, top levels are known to be hotter, but sadly, they have all the 1 bedders on the top floors. Pfft.

Totally gonna make it a bachelorette pad. I'll try not to make it messy! I'm gradually seeing myself as a single mom having a commitment to this baby for the next 30 years of my life, haha. This thing has taken more than 9 months though, sigh.

k0k bL0k: After the Day of No Judgment

k0k bL0k: After the Day of No Judgment: "'I want to see Harold Camping prosecuted for bilking people out of their money, for destroying lives and families. I want to see his radio e..."

美少年之恋

Yes, I will revert my eyes to the Japanese manga scene after a long absence. -laughs-

... although anime might just have to wait a little longer. Still not interested in resuming any of the titles I last watched.

×××ホリック - What ending is this!?

CLAMP's xxxHoLic has ended its run officially, since it debuted in 2003. I didn't know it finished up in February this year, but obviously, I have lost touch with all my manga/anime stuffs since coming home from S'pore, and that was a long time ago. Yesterday night, I decided to do a massive update - which means chionging thru everything, and only went to sleep at 3am. I shouldn't have read xxxHoLic last, but since it started with x, it was the last on my bookmarks list. Big mistake.

Not happy! I went to bed feeling so melancholic, sad and empty. But I was also delighted that massive fangirl rants were already in place regarding the last chapter. People were just lashing out at how the finale turned out. No, I'll never stop being a CLAMP otaku, but seriously, the way they always torture their characters so quietly, so endlessly and so painfully should be diluted somewhat. The wistfulness of Watanuki broke my heart at the end. BROKE it. Especially when we realise what really happened after they had this conversation. Oh gawd, the angst. It's so tangible, I am still feeling it. 7 years is a long time. Thanks for making us feel attached to the characters, and then knifing us in our hearts. Oww.

xxxHoLic was meant to be read interchangably with Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, so I always knew HoLic would soon dribble out when Chronicle ended its run. But this means there isn't much of a wrap-up anywhere now! Chronicle wasn't too bad, it was an open-ended thing and knowing CLAMP, Sakura and Syaoran didn't stay together physically. Yes, Syaoran went on for another trip with the boys. Couldn't they just get married and have wonderful cute babies after so much tears thru out the series!? What's left for me to read now!? Sobs.

I am now kinda glad that CLAMP left so many other works hangin'. I knew their style ever since Ling introduced me to them thru RG Veda when we were 15. I'm not exactly surprised, but I am still sad. We do love your characters, CLAMP. You need to stop the blood and the mental S&M inflicted on your fans. Here's my plea: please kindly leave my Subaru and my Kazahaya x Rikuo pairing as they are. Gohou Drug and X were abandoned, and I was initially furious. But now... I think it could have been a blessing! Subaru is angsty enough, CLAMP. You ladies have been torturing him since 1990, and I have loved him since 1995. You ladies need to be controlled. Your notion of reincarnation becomes really painful when it is synonymous with so much suffering.

Leave. Them. All. Alone!

Man, xxxHoLic's epilogue had better be good. I am waiting with much 'anticipation'. *rages*

No energy to keep up with the world

May, already? May day, may day! How did it just sneak up on me like that?

It's been an overload of news recently. Kate & Will's Royal Wedding, Singapore's General Election, and now Osama Bin Laden's death. I did try to filter out the ads for the Royal Wedding as much as I could, but I watched the live feed of the wedding from start to finish. Totally enjoyed it. I love to read up on all news possible from all sources, but I think I'm suffering from fatigue now! Too old, too old.

Koorong is my downfall. I dropped in this evening to get a Mother's Day Card, but in the end, I walked out of the store with a few more books too. It was the second last day of their 20% storewide sale. Oh good grief, why is my willpower so weak? At this rate, I will never, ever finish reading all the books I own.

Sigh.

Good days!

Ah, 5 days with the girls ended on Sunday. As the old adage rings true, good times fly so quickly that it's ridiculous.

I was starting to feel unwell on the eve of the girls' arrival into Melbourne, and my condition never got any better during the girl's stay. It was probably a 'gift' from my colleague the day before, who was afflicted with a really bad cough/sore throat. Then I went to the gym, and it got worse. It seemed that the gym was synonymous with me falling ill all the time. Initially, people said that it was due to the germs in the air by all these gym-goers, and my system would 'adapt' to it eventually. Well, that was a load of crap then. How is it that I keep falling sick every time I go back after a week or so? Gosh.

Anyway, the girls were always understanding and patient with me, haha. As I was the driver, I did try to adopt the 'mind over body' stance and it sorta worked. I did cough a lot, and I sounded hoarse all the time. Going out all day continuously didn't help much with my condition, and I couldn't sleep loads as I kept coughing all night, but I think the cold weather really assisted with suppressing any possible flareups for the time being. Thank God.

Of course, being with the girls was so much fun that I didn't focus on being sick much. I do act like a little obstinate kid sometimes, even at the expense of my health, haha. And the girls were so easy-going and undemanding. So blessed! We had pretty good weather most of the days, especially on the longer day trips. 感恩 was our most-used phase during their stay.

We did lots of catching-up, and we hung out loads instead of going to places frantically. It was very leisurely, lots of chillaxing and chatting. We even ran into my dept boss at a winery! I brought them around to the suburbs as well, to the places where I usually hang out, saw the construction of my new place... kinda let them see what I do on a day-to-day basis here. We had fun as I drove, a lot of comments or jokes made, trying to figure out where we were going, talking to my 'Homer Simpsonified' GPS and random things really. I did hope I was a decent tour guide, and I drove very carefully since my mom kept stressing to me that I was responsible for their lives. Wow, talk about a heavy responsibility! But yeah, I know I should drive carefully at ALL times anyway, haha. It really helped that they were really undemanding, because I was usually zonked out physically. Trying to suppress an illness was mentally testing. The girls were always asking about my welfare, especially when I began coughing away, but because we weren't going at a pace of 100km/hr all the time, I was much better able to cope.

And for some reason, they really liked coming to my place. That just baffled me, haha!

Felt a little surreal after bidding farewell to them at the airport and drove back alone. Days just zipped by! But there was no time to think, because my 'mind control' relaxed and I fell disgustingly sick after they left. Fever, cough, and free-flowing flu all went BAM! on me in an instance. I went home feeling like I was hit by a bus. I rugged up with my blanket and snuggled up in my armchair watching telly. The next day, I called up the local clinics around, and only one was opened for business because we are still having holidays until Wed. Drove in to see the GP, and got put on antibiotics because he was appalled that I was already sick for so long, haha. Even the receptionist said I sounded horrible. I was already hoarse when the girls were here, but I think it got worse after they left. The antibiotics worked though, because I'm already feeling tons better today, and I wasn't kept up all night coughing as per previous nights. I did dream of cockroaches though, and woke up with my arms flailing away this morning, Like, wth!?

The motto is, the mind over body thing works! OK, all jokes aside, I had tons of fun with the girls and was glad they came over to visit. Since it was the first time I drove Kuru-chan to places further than Melbourne itself, I was slightly scared since I was afraid we would get lost due to my poor navigation skills. But, it turned out to be ok, that it was actually do-able, and I was just a paranoid goose. The GPS didn't let me down, haha. The girls were also reassuring and relaxed, which really helped lots, and I wondered where they had such confidence in me really! Anyway, I'm more confident to take the car out on road trips next time. Having passengers as friends who could read maps and settle your nerves helped too! After the whole episode of driving through the Dandenong Ranges, I think I should be ready to take on anything, wahahaha.

秋の空

And we're into Autumn here, in this weird part of the world.

I love Autumn the most. It's beautiful, melancholic, and it's a welcomed break from the murky summer heat. Being borned in September, I enjoy the affinity I have with it as well. I do prefer rugging up than sweating it out. All the documents which required my attention were done and taken care of. It took me one day at a time to get through several stuffs, all from the Uni, banks and the landlord. They're unrelated matters, the timing was just unfortunate for me. Anyway, it's a relief ... well, until all those babies are processed by their respective organisations and spewed back at me for follow-ups. Yikes.

So finally, I now have a reprieve this week. With stuffs outta my way, this week's schedule is looking way better than it has for a month or so now. There's dinner in the city on Friday. I'd decided to elect the restaurant, Eat Drink Bento in the city for us to try out. Hope the guys and gals wouldn't kill me if it was below their expectations. Then it's Ps Benny Ho speaking on Saturday! I really miss hearing his sermons, and the topic will be quite interesting. Another dinner again on Sunday night, and I'm done for this week.

Next week will be fascinating. I emailed The 7PM Show after they mentioned, at the end of a segment, that we could apply for tickets to be part of the studio audience since they recorded live. I emailed them and actually got a reply sometime later. So, my gals and I will be trooping along to the recording studio next Tues, haha. Well, I'm curious as to how it all works, and it's free too. Why not? I do have the Audit & Risk Board Sub-Comm meeting that evening, but my lovely dept boss has allowed me to pass this time. She's da best. Just today, she brought in a Granny Smith green apple, bought me a brand new peeler and taught me how to make stewed apples. She also made me some stewed pears last night and gave them to me this morning. Our CEO has pear trees, so she harvested one and brought in a whole stack of them to work. Woah. I had  my lovely stewed pears and apple with Nestle's Connoisseur Honey Macademia ice cream this evening after dinner. Needless to say, it was yuuuuuuuumo to the max.

And finally, next Wed, I'll be heading to the airport to greet Ling and Net in the morning. Definitely the highlight of next week! Better rest up whilst I can for now. =)

도움 !

I need to book myself a day of rest during one of the weekends in May. No more evening apptmts during weekdays, no more outings on both Sat and Sun. There's always something coming up, it's a bit ridiculous. Need to unwind, need to do things like watching random clips on Youtube for the whole day in my tracksuit pants, need to stuff my face with potato chips.

I don't have time to go to the toilet, sit down and read a magazine while I do my business nowadays. Can't even squeeze in a trip to the hairdresser's. -eyes her own scissors- My iPhone's To-Do List is exploding. Now I'll have to wake up at 8:30am on weekends so that I can squeeze everything in. Yipee yay yay, yipee yipee yay. Women out there who have husbands, children, careers and house chores to do in your lives, you have my most sincere, wide-eyed, utmost respect from the bottom of my heart. I shouldn't whinge.

I keep getting missed calls because I can't hear anything from the iPhone nor the HTC whilst on the move. Too soft even at max volume, and I feel no vibrations either. I am really annoyed. They are smart, but really impractical. Sounds like a certain country's Parliament somewhere.

Who is Tin Pei Ling? Her name keeps popping up in the Singaporean news feed.

A day of two emotions

Upon knowing that the British hosts of Top Gear (minus cute little Hammond) were roaring into Brisbane and Melbourne and hosting a live show, we got our tickets early and planned our day as it got nearer. Jeremy Clarkson and James May, here I cometh.

Firstly, I set a personal record by waking up early for breakfast... on a weekend! But shortly after, I was horrified when I switched on the telly and saw what was happening to Japan for the first time. It played on my mind for the whole day, although I did pray and ask for His comfort to be with His people. Sigh.

I was still half asleep whilst driving to Eltham Train Station, to be honest. It was a 25 min drive, and I did jolt awake since I was approaching the tricky consecutive roundabouts, but with the help of Homer Simpson's voice on my trusty GPS and the lack of traffic in the morning, I managed to make my way there without getting majorly lost or getting into close shaves.

Secondly, we left our cars behind and took the train to the Melbourne Showgrounds. It was the first time for me taking the Hurstbridge Line, so that was like a mini sightseeing tour. The northern suburbs were completely different to the eastern ones, which I am residing in. That was pretty interesting since they weren't far away from each other at all.

Thirdly, we got into a tiny pinch when we arrived to transfer trains at Flinders Train Station. We had never taken the train directly to the Showgrounds, as I'd always driven to the venue for the annual Manifest Convention. We looked at the train schedules, but they were all running to the Flemington Racecourse as their final station destinations. So, out came our iPhones as we frantically punched in directions for maps and public transport guides, whilst sitting in the train. There was a racing carnival on the same day, so we were seated with well-suited men (oooh!) and beautifully dressed ladies with fascinators and big hats. It felt very wrong. Thankfully, we spied more passengers coming in, dressed like they were going for a car show, lol. We then realised that the trains would travel to the Showgrounds' dedicated station when an event was running. They were nice enough to appoint people with placecards, standing on the platforms of Flemington Racecourse, with big words informing attendees of the Top Gear show not to alight there. We were on track, it was full locomotive steam ahead.

Fourthly, there were tons of people at the Live Show. Unbelievable. Just hoardes of people, and in all packages too. I half-expected men, men and more men. Maybe burly bikie men, geeky scrawny boys, family men and their sons. Well, y'know. But I was pleasantly surprised by families in full force, i.e. Dad, Mom, Son and Daughter, young couples, old couples, males and females in all ages and sizes. How remarkable! I guess it wasn't really entirely about the cars for some people. It must be the star factor that also pulled some of the demographics in, i.e. us included.

Anyway, it was a supremely hot day - 29°C to be precise. It was nothing short of disgusting, of course. Yucky hot, murky but thankfully not too humid. I did slap on UV30++ moisturiser on my face, but conveniently forgetting my arms. I did pack in a tumbler of water, and I finished it in no time at all. Had to grab a bottle from the stalls, which cost me a limb. Of course.

The Live Show was pretty funny. Jeremy Clarkson and James May sounded exactly the same as I remembered ... I know, that's mightily obvious but it's exciting all the same. We got fire, space ship cars, sexy woman dancing, young bikie guy taking on a mover, sleek cars being introduced by the hosts (and being vocally abused by them as well) and the famous car football too. The Stig made his appearance, so that was nice. I didn't have much complaints, but I felt the show was far too short!

You can watch other videos posted by people with hot shot equipment, lol. I took a lot more videos than photographs during the show.

After the show ended, we walked around to the showrooms where they had these beautiful vintage / modern cars lined up for oglers to drool over. The worst thing you can do, I believe, is to dangle a ravishingly fat carrot before a hungry donkey and leave it juuust beyond its reach. Yeah, I felt that showroom was designed to make lots of car enthusiasts suffer sleepless nights. Left high and mightily dry. I guess under the circumstances, I should be thankful that I don't really know a good car when I see one. I mean, I heart a Jaguar, I look twice at a Lamborghini, and I loved all the cars there since they looked so gooood. But well, I wasn't too fussed about it, and began to think of where I should have our lunch, lol.

I really, really don't mind having one of these in my garage. I'll be keeping a lookout for it if I do watch Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift again, someday. Yep, it made its appearance there, and it was up for private sale.

Fifthly, I saw a scene which was rare on all accounts. There was a queue for the men's bathroom. I know the ladies' queue was longer, but hey, there was A Queue for the guys. Yes, how uncommon was that? Well, only at an auto show, it would seem.

We decided to head out towards the city centre to feed our stomachs. Abandoning the train this time, we took the tram and found ourselves in the dreaded time period of 3pm. Most eateries would be closed from 3-5pm. We did manage to find our usual Japanese restaurant open (thankfully), and we rested our sore feet and eyes with lovely Japanese food (which then reminded me of the ongoing disaster and I was itching to get the news feed on my iPhone).

Avocado Calpis - absolutely beautiful on a hot day.

My bento lunch. That 'potato cheese thingy' on the top right-hand corner was just amazing.

We went back to Eltham via the train again, and it was wonderfully pleasant. No jostling, no crowds. The Hurstbridge Line was completely different to the jam-packed Glen Waverley, Belgrave and Lilydale Lines. The suburbs it serviced were more rural, greener and quieter. It makes me sian just to think how crowded mine will be, because I'll be living in Glen Waverley. My only consolation is that it is the last station, so I'll get to have a seat some time during my journey.

Anyway, I was very happy to be invited to Chrissy's new place, as I hadn't seen it yet!! That was absolutely exciting - her own little abode and no more renting. She did a fine job with the furnishing and decorations, and I digged the space. It was fantastic just for herself. I reckoned it was cosy but not too small. Just nice. Her mother was such a pleasant lady too, and so easy to get along with. We had our attention on the telly initially because we really wanted to know what was going on in Japan. I stayed till 10 and decided I should go. Felt bad intruding for so long, y'know, lol.

It was one of those days when I was very contented, and yet, very perplexed by the events happening around me. My heart really went out to the Japanese people. I called up my Mom to ask about the well-being of my cousin and he was fine since he was in Tokyo. I reflected quite a bit that night, praying and asking. It just didn't seem fair, somehow. I recalled the prophecy that Aunty Anne made, with regards to a tsunami someday. I didn't quite believe it when she said it then, but now, I'm not so sure, and I still pray that the prophecy will never, ever happen.

The Apple Hath Descended

After waiting impatiently since August 2010, my reaction was pretty lukewarm when the Three representative called me up to tell me that the courier company had left a pickup notice for my parcel at the nearest Post Office. Still, there was no masking of my gratitude to this particular rep who kept to her promises and followed up on my case.

This was partly why I was left waiting for so long. People just dealt with my requests by 'putting in a request with their managers for ordering a new iPhone 4'. Then, it was always followed by 'a waiting time of 4 weeks'. After 5 weeks or more, I would call in and the whole cycle repeated so viciously that I wanted to seriously strangle them. August suddenly became October, and December became February next year. It was a pretty good date when the iPhone was finally in my hand, being 1st of March. Hmmm. No, not going to buy Toto, lol.

Why did I stick relentlessly to waiting, instead of cancelling the entire contract and going with another provider? Well, because of this mess-up, the telco 'kindly' waived the monthly $10 handset cost for the length of my 48 month contract (I'm already 6 months into the contract, and they had to keep waiving my monthly bills). I'll only be paying the basic cost of my usage every month. Yes, this means my iPhone is technically free of charge, and hence, I shamelessly hung on.

Time to bust out the cases! I bought the left one ages ago. It has a slot in the front for cards etc. The blue leather case was a birthday gift from Anne. If you peer closely, you'll see a very cute robin embossed on it. Birdie!

My customised iPhone skin created using Gelaskins, along with an accompanying wallpaper. As you can see, other customisations took me till 2am in the morning. Phew.

Although I was very tempted to choose a design including 2 hawt bishonens, I decided to go with a safer theme.
Here's Chiaki and Nodame, from Nodame Cantabile, chillaxing in a café in Paris.

In one night, I had pumped the iPod with vids and songs. Majority K-pop. Yeeeah.

Onew ♥ My photo gallery is filled with pictures of him only. For now.

My current ringtone is one of SHINee's songs. All's right with the world. Current count: 8 apps and 2 games. I had to create a Japanese iTunes account, and I find it weird that apps are limited to countries. Now downloading Taiko Drums, woo hoo.