Thursday, January 31, 2008

It's just another day..

This song has never fail to lift my spirits (or at least for the time it has been residing in my handphone since the BKK trip )



Kae Lan Kae (Together) by Q Flure

Somehow it's the catchiness of the song, becoming more upbeat and sense of optimism that the tune brings. Though I do not understand a single word. But it's still nice :))Funny thing is..my Thai friend told me that the song was for a Thai gay show.but the MTV says otherwise :/

Well..it's just another day...that needs a nice song to perk it up a lil.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Kampung Gelam exploration

This is a really late entry. Had wanted to do this during the week, but the week was really madness..

I always found Arab Street area a fascinating place. I remembered that there was once I ventured to the area to find some trinkets for some presents..Cos the concourse area and Textile Center were perfect pleasure for handicraft gems (that felt like eons ago when I still had the energy to be creative :/)

Anyway, the facination with the area was rekindled when I read a feature about the place - food, indie shops in some articles some months back. But never had the opportunity to explore (no time..sigh).

阴差阳错,landed in the area cos some work related stuff. And that was I found myself spending one whole day at the Malay Heritage Center.

Used to be sultan's residence during the British Colonial times, it stands to be an iconic place in the area which was teeming with rich Malay influence and culture.




It looks nice at night..but the purpose of going at night wasn't that pleasureable :(







And its splendour in the glorious morning sun
- although the purpose of catching it so early in the morning wasn't something that I would want to do as well :((






So it was to work.

In the afternoon, it seemed that I had a chance to run out and explore a bit..which was what I did :p


Of course, closeby is the Masjid Sultan, just beside the Malay Heritage Center.



It really looks very majestic and grand.

The area, known as Kampung Gelam in the olden days was designed area for the Malay community then, but it was supposedly an area flourished with traders from different continents (which reminded me of the history lessons I took in sec sch..). I can only imagine the Chinese,Javanese, Arabs, Indians and all other early pioneers mingling in the bustling area amongst the shophouses.


And also imagine how the skyline has changed since then.


I actually also explored other small streets, including those eateries along Kandanhar Road and others, but realised the photos I took didn;t do them justice..darn. But I would really like to pop by one of the cafe that I saw one of these days, cos it struck me as a good enclave from the city buzz.
So that ended my short exploration.

And rewarded myself with M&Ms for the rest of the afternoon :)







Thursday, January 17, 2008

Who exactly are you?

As part of the exercise for a course, we were paired up and one person was supposed to be asking questions. The "Askers" were pulled out of the room by the course instructor for briefing. When they returned, the course instructor set the games rule, one of which was to play to the spirit of the exercise and try to answer the questions going to be posed to us "askees" (simple I thought...), and the second, you cant answer the question with the same answer (or paraphrased).

My "asker" came back, leisurely with a cup of tea, and we settled to a corner of the room and started the exercise.

"Ok..who are you?"he started asking

I assumed that it was the opening question, so I replied matter of factly "I am Pauline"

"Ok..so your name is Pauline..So who are you?"

A small question mark kinda floated out of my head "Er..I am my mum's daughter?"

"Yeah..who exactly are you?"

"I am a girl?!"

"Yeah I can see that! But then who are you?"

And I rolled my eyes,wondering what kind of question technique was that supposed to be.

And it went on and on. The answers I threw out ranged from where I lived, my relations to people I know, what I like, what I dont like, re-asserting my validity as a human being and not someone from other space..blah blah...but the question never changed.

Until I was rolling my eyes and my "Asker" became fearful of his safety in case a punch fly his way. Yet I was quite boliao to have stuck by the game rule come to think of it..cos I continued to asnwer the question.

Suddenly at one juncture, I couldn't think of anything having pluck all worldly associations from my body. Thinking hard, I answered.."Actually I am quite confused.."

I am confused over who exactly I am. Having used all association, I am not exactly sure what am I other than how I exist in relation/relative to other things/persons.

It was getting a bit scary to have suddenly be confused about your own identity. Thankfully the exercise ended within a min or two after that juncture.

Anyway,the exercise was supposed to exemplify the purpose of deeper questioning instead of glossing over initial answers superficially. And somehow I think I will remember this exercise for reminding me to go for a more indepth search for my core.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Love without baggages

For the sake of those "eat potato" ones.. the ang moh ver of my prev post

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Thanks to Dr Jack, I was given another lesson on life - to always enjoy the feeling of being in love, to the extent of being ready to be hurt by the other party. Only then, will you be able to enjoy the whole delightful process.

It's kinda strange that "how to be in love"..needs to be taught?

Then it dawned on me, it is not easy when two persons are together - selfishness, holdinh yourself back and giving yourself excuses to retreat, possessiveness, greed..all come into play.

To enjoy the feeling of being in love, one has to be able to think of all means and way to create moments that sparkle. Being ready to be hurt, you are already on the way of giving your all without respite..

Nothing holding you back.. free and easy.

It's time to throw away the baggages.
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And know I know why sometimes I rather blog in Chinese..中文永远更含蓄,更丰富 :)

Was just talking to the Leo the other night on this, and was telling him that the downside of this seems to be that there are always room for abuse if the recipient does not recipocrate. And he simply said that in the first place, the person shouldn't even have the idea to expect anything in return. If not, the person will never have a peace of mind for not knowing whether if he is going to receive anything in return. Then that defeats the purpose of being in love in the first place.

The concept seems so 理所当然 for him :/

Friday, January 11, 2008

没负担的恋爱

多亏老师指点,又上了人生的一堂课 - 要享受恋爱的感觉,而且要爱得准备受伤害。这样才没负担,才会开心。

好奇怪哦,恋爱还要人教?

可是,发现到,两个人要在一起还真的不简单-自私,留后路,霸占,贪心.....

要享受恋爱的感觉,会想要付出好多心思。 准备受伤,是已经有了豁出去的心态。

没负担,轻松自在。

是打开心结的时候了。

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Jump start to spring cleaning

Spring cleaning came early..albeit a bit unplanned.


Was rearranging some of the stuff around the room when I realised that I had super lot of junks. A lot of caps (gathering dust), a lot of unwanted doc (sometimes I wish the credit cards will stop sending their promotional mailers), a lot of unused gifts (christmas/birthdays/welcome/farewell)

And basically realised that my room is a bit of garung guni set up :/

Maybe was kinda inspired by the flea market stalls at Tanglin Mall. Cleaning space and earning $$$ in the process..hmm..sounds like a good deal! Actually I think I dont even need to earn a lot, just need to cover cost of the space rental+petrol+parking can already..bonus will be more space for new stuff!

Or least more space in the room for manouvering.

Told the Leo the other day that I am a space-whore. And I just realised that that applies in the physical as well as the non-physical sense.

It suddenly feels like the the personal space - in both senses - need some revamping and touching up.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Highlander Cafe

Was brought to a new place for lunch today. Never expected such a cosy cafe coexisting the same stretch as sleazy pubs and karaoke :p



As you can see, it's unit 49, but hell I cant remember what is that stretch of road called. I only know it's the stretch beside PCC after the 鱼头炉shop.









But you can look out for this sign :p




Was greeted by a row of high back chairs facing cute green-tiled counters





Can see that the place is really serious about their coffee



The place sold mainly coffee, sandwiches and stuff.






My flat latte







But I think the biggest draw was the fact that the whole place is filled with the aroma of coffee, which kinda warms you up once you step in..very comforting :)
Somehow the whole place felt like it's somewhere overseas that I had been to...can't put a finger to it..hmmm..
Think the next time will hop by for coffee/quick lunch if I ever go PCC for meetings :))

Friday, January 4, 2008

Start of 2008 from 0000hrs

It started with this


Followed by sinful supper of bbq stingrays and sotongs :D



Nice nice day on the beach on day 2.









Ended with nice cakes



Followed by discovery of loss of wallet on day 3 :~(

*&^%^@#$


Welcoming all donations to help tide me over...
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in getting a new wallet :p