Archive for December, 2003

Bubbly

Wednesday, December 31st, 2003

Any heady notions of being swept of my feet in candlelight expeditiously vanished as I mulled over X’mas eve and debated tonight. I have decided regardless of what tonight’s dinner plans are (it’s a toss-up between instant noodles and hawker food as I am broke due to must-have Gucci shoes and saving up for impending trip) I will splurge on a glass of Moet or three to celebrate. A quick SMS to the girls ten minutes ago confirmed apropos dress code for tonight - black tie. It reads OTT.

As usual, I have nothing to wear.

2003

Wednesday, December 31st, 2003

As swift as this year has begun, it has come to an end. A tidal wave of gray has swept my life, as it always does and as it seems to have been doing so for the past couple of months, for good reason. We’re leaving another year behind and with it, memories that we cherish and banish forever seared in our minds, words we regret or reflect upon forever changing our paths, people we lose and keep in our hearts, as we do every day every week every month every year. It’s a never-ending cycle that never fails to remind us that life is as short as we make it, and as full as we want it to be.

What have I accomplished in the past 364 days? I can only think of one thing I am proud of - graduating on top of my class. That particular day, June 28th, I remember standing in front of the Wanganui Royal Opera House looking at its tall gilded doors and wondering how the hell did the one year I spent studying in NZ just vanish so quickly. On that day, however, everything else made sense. I was happy. My parents were ecstatic. Even Grandma, resplendent in her warm winter jacket, couldn’t stop grinning. I’d gotten somewhere, at least in their eyes.

Other singular days of significance slash highlights that I can remember was that farewell party we had on January 26th, where things only ended at 10am the next morning and was such a mad blast that we’re still talking about it, my birthday, February 11th, which was spent in Wellington with my friend Lai Min. We had a really nice dinner in one of my favourite restaurants there before heading to the Jet Bar for the requisite round of vodka shots. April, Easter, when Garret came to visit from Canada and we did the Great North Island Tour with Greg and finished all 1000mls of our Absolut Vanilia in shots one night.. all good times. Not forgetting Design Camp and the Great South Island Tour with my parents after graduation. Looks like I’ve covered 80% of New Zealand by road/foot. And who could miss out the fantabulous Cat Empire and Anthony Robbins? And Ferrari’s driver-constructor win? Dr. M’s retirement? My (in retrospect, stupid) game of Russian Roulette? Stressing during my final 2 weeks before graduation? And my first job interview in KL today?

2003 has been a great year so far, although it’s proportions remind me that of a storm. It came too fast, turned everything upside down (in a good way, of course) and is now about to dissapear forever.

Rather than bore you with my introspections (I noticed my last few attempts at posting has been rather full of self-examination) I have good news awaiting to be typed out..

An old classmate, Foong Yin, SMSed me today. I sent her a Christmas card to her last known address and left my mobile number on it and it turns out that she’s been in Melbourne all this time and finally graduated as an engineer and is now back for good. It’s great to be in touch. Sharon (seldom-mentioned best bud of mine), Foong Yin and I used to make up the BBB trio in school, which (giggle) stood for our nicknames, Bong, Boing and Bo. Needless to say, we used to be very close. I was Bo, as in Bo Peep, having had curly frizzy hair which resembled that of a sheep. Heh.

I also finally got the all-clear from my parental units about this holiday I’m about to be taking with Nik.. it looks like yours truly is about to go on a cruise this Sunday! I’m excited.. it’s about time I got that damned tan. Whee! It also means I’m going to Singapore again, because the ship leaves from Singapore, and I’m also looking forward to Saturday in Sentosa Island. Not a bad way to start the new year indeed.

I haven’t been doing much these past couple of days except for reading. I managed to plough through three novels and am on my fourth, which happens to be the boringly kitsch The Devil wears Prada I bought ages ago but never got round to finishing. It’s so painfully exaggerated and achingly cliche that I’m wondering why I’m finishing it this time round. At least Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic books were funny. Don’t bother reading it unless you’re a fan of Cruella DeVille and you live in fur-lined Prada. I liked the book Tiff loaned me though, it’s called Drop Dead Gorgeous by Katie Agnew which has enough sex, drugs and rock n’ roll to keep me happy. At the rate I’m going though, I think I’ll need to shop for more books to read on the cruise while I bake in the sun. Have been eyeing Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series and his translation of a foreign book about this South African story that I don’t know the title of. Might be a bit tricky to locate then, no?

Before I catch up on my sleep, I’d like to wish everyone who reads my blog a very happy 2004. May the new year be better than the last!

Adieu ;)

NYE Plans

Monday, December 29th, 2003

What are you doing on New Year’s Eve? I haven’t decided what I’m gonna do yet, it’s between a party in Maple Suite, a party in Eastin and this Black Tie & Diamonds affair the girls want to go to. We’ll see. Anything interesting going on in town?

Christmas

Saturday, December 27th, 2003

We celebrated Christmas at Ascott this year, with a bunch of friends, a turkey and too much booze! It was a blast though, those mad things (Jeff and Alex) suggested playing blackjack with shots of alcohol as bets so everyone got tipsy really fast. The bottles of vodka infusions I brought finished too fast! And for some reason it was a non-smoking apartment, so we all had to smoke on the balcony, which was so big that 5 people can’t stand there without feeling claustrophobic. Hehe. I can’t say very much about the rest of the party because I fell asleep just past midnight and woke up about 5am when everyone was sleeping and I had to step over some bodies to get out of the apartment!

On Christmas day I found a blue box on my bed.. Nik and my mom were in cahoots about it, turns out that he somehow bought the dress I liked in Singapore without me knowing and got mom to hide it till Christmas morning - I wonder how since we were perpetually together! So I have a new dress thanks to Nik, it’s a really short sexy lacy black number and I don’t know when I’m gonna get the guts to walk out in it. Mom thought it was a nightie, haha. I spent the rest of the day eating. For lunch we had Segambut seafood curry noodles and for dinner we went to this place in Pudu which apparently had kickass fried tofu (but I’m not a fan) and a killer kueh kak.

On Boxing day we went shopping in the city and I bought a frying pan which was a smaller version of my NZ one I had to leave behind. I miss cooking with it. I also bought a pair of 5-inch Gucci stilettoes which renders me broke for the next 3 months. They are to die for and I’m so dead if dad ever finds out hehe. Nik also bought a frying pan and some feather pillows. The day ended in Bar Savanh with Nik, Lynn, Eleana, Leesa, Gwen, Yee Lin, Hui Fen, Chor, Roy, Evon, Chris, Mark, Ken, Henry, Debbie and her friends, Alex, Jeff, Douglas, Q, Nik’s friends, Roy’s friends, Leesa’s friends and as usual, too much alcohol. I only had one drink, a Lychee Martini, which I didn’t even finish before we left to have supper in Jalan Alor. On the way out, me and Nik dropped by Bar Blonde to check it out and I have to say, the balcony at the back is a really nice place to chill out, except it’s too dark and as for the rest of the place, they’ve added alot more furniture since the last time we were there during the opening. I spotted some tables and chairs from Ikea, which were not so cool as they were aiming for super-posh and their collection of furniture and fixtures are now a rojak of expensive and cheap which could work but not in this case. The music also sucks for a bar with posh interiors, mostly radio pop music (not what you’d expect), and the place is too bright. As for the crowd, the music attracts what used to be the mainstream Modesto regulars and some spillover crowd from Bar Savanh.

Tonight, the party’s at Nouvo because Carl Cox will be playing there. I missed him the last time he was down in Kuala Lumpur because I was in NZ and I’ve been wanting to go to one of his gigs for as long as I can remember. Where are my dancing trainers?

De javu

Wednesday, December 24th, 2003

One day before Christmas.

I still haven’t figured out what that day means to me. Amidst all the festivities that surrounds this day and the joy and laughter that permeates the atmosphere, I am still a little jaded and reluctant to go with the flow. My friends have been great, as they always are, but someone needs to give my ass a good kick because I’m stuck in a mood I can’t get out of. Some call it holiday blues.

I miss having a tree to decorate and presents to wrap. I miss the company of family and close friends that all come together on that one day to celebrate, and I miss having someone to share all that with. I think, at some stage in my life, I realized that things will never be the same again. That sounds cryptic, but I’m really just talking about what Christmas used to mean and what it means now. I suppose like many things in my life, and why I am who I am, there lies the fear of expecting too much and being disappointed. This year, like the last, I expect nothing.

What are your wishes this year, if they would be granted at the stroke of midnight? I’d wish to be truly happy (the one thing that eludes me to this day) and I’d wish that I could see some people that I want to wish Merry Christmas to in person. I’d also wish for a new digicam and that Tiffany’s heart link bracelet, but Santa’d be broke when he gets to my list.. hehe.

I’d also wish that all of you out there will have a great season and great memories - go forth and be merry!

Here’s a little case of seasonal de javu.

I also found a very old picture of me in a santa hat.. I must’ve been about 15? This used to be Bronson’s favourite picture for reasons I cannot fathom.. I can’t remember if I’ve ever posted this up before but here it is:

Post Singapore

Wednesday, December 24th, 2003

I’m back from Singapore and have been thrown into a vortex of busy-ness, hence the lack of updates. My weekend was great, lots of shopping and good food, but the partying bit sucked a little (sorry).

We spent SGD$300 in Velvet on 80 shots during the 1-for-1 special and none of us even came close to being drunk except for Jimmy, who had a great time before he threw up. The music was alright, but the crowd wasn’t what I expected. We had fun though - me and Nik left Lynn, Roy and Jimmy to check out Phuture and Zouk about 2 am and headed home.

Centro was, to say the least, blah. Can someone tell me what happened to the place? The music/crowd used to be good, and on Saturday night when we were all there, there seemed to be waaaay too many underage people in there. It’s like the Singapore version of Warp (so say the ten of us). It wasn’t too bad though, we finished close to two bottles of alcohol in the apartment before heading out because of the absurd drink prices hence our judgement was slightly impaired. Hee.

And the shopping? It was nuts. Being the last weekend before X’mas, half of Singapore was on Orchard Road and we had to battle human traffic everywhere and super long queues for taxis and cashiers. Madness, seriously. I managed to come out of the fray with some tops and sans Fendi bag. Oh well.

We did manage to catch the Body Worlds Exhibition at the Expo Centre though, which was really good and gross. I like gross. I fondled someone’s plastinized brain and liver and oogled at umm, lots of dead bodies. Very interesting stuff, go check it out if you’re there before February.

We came back tired and spent and very broke. Hee.

Me and Tiff exchanged Christmas presents today because we won’t be seeing each other on the day itself. It turned out that we bought each other the same thing - cocktail shakers - in different sizes! How bizzare? They even look the same but we bought them in different countries. I got the full size one and she got the travel size one. Haha.

Tomorrow will be super busy. I just finished my full colour version of my CV and I have to somehow churn out a completed presentable portfolio by Friday. Argh. Have an interview of sorts next week.. ooh! I also have to help prepare for the X’mas eve party at Ascott tomorrow night.. can’t help but wonder how the hell I’m gonna recover from this flu (yes, I’m still sick) at the rate I’m going.. *sniff*

Super pissed at Nik today for FFK-ing me for a freebie lunch. Bugger. Whats up with men lately? Alot of them seem to be rubbing me the wrong way - or maybe it’s just PMS and I’m in denial or something. Hiaks. On another note I got the nicest SMS from my Gregory in NZ saying I took with me Wanganui’s collective IQ because they’re having trouble finding inspiring and intelligent life. I love you guys to bits.

That’s the quick update before I sleep.. argh. I’m running on empty again. Pfft. But before I go and if I don’t post again due to collapsing from fatigue or something before The Day:

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.. hehe!

Retail!!

Friday, December 19th, 2003

I swore I wouldn’t shop but ten minutes since we left the apartment (which is conveniently located right behind Paragon) this morning I bought a bag. The shoes in Singapore are to die for, lots of pointy stilettoes and straps - yum! I also saw this Fendi bag I wanted to buy but Nik told me to wait for the sales.. hmm.. oh well, I’m supposed to be broke anyway but things are so cheap here. Blah.

Can’t wait for party sesh tonight!

Pre-Singapore madness

Thursday, December 18th, 2003

One more hour till we leave for Singapore.. I’m at home trying to finish packing for the trip, and I seem to be getting absolutely nowhere! Help!

(Party) Itinerary for the trip, apparently, will be as follows:

Thursday - 3rd anniversary of Newsroom Bar (freeflow till midnight) / Bar Opiume / Velvet (most happening night)
Friday- Gatsby at Zouk (freeflow) / Velvet Underground, Rouge Opening former Milleu @ Orchard (freeflow)
Saturday- IceRed @ Illusion (1 drink free) / Liquid Room / Centro

I wonder what we’re doing during the day. I suspect this is mainly a party trip, no one ever discusses daytime excursions.. hmm. I wonder if anyone will take me to Sentosa Island..

On impulse I went to the mall today and bought 3 pairs of shoes. I know I’m gonna sound like a bimbo (hehe) but I have an extra bag just for my shoes. Mwahaha.. I’m supposed to be packing and I’m typing away.. sei lor.. damn hungry also.. pack.. eat.. pack.. shoes.. food.. argh!

I can’t find my fav CD on earth (Frank Sinatra - Duets).. am so upset! How am I gonna live another day without Frank.. where are you Frank?! *sob* I need you Frankkkkie baybehhh..

Frankie rocks my socks. Seriously. I want Frank.

Steph is sick. Phbt!! Something wrong with me today, am referring to myself in third party mode, must be meds. Steph is drowsy on meds.. meaning cannot drink in Singapore! What a good excuse!! My liver needs a break lar guys..

To everyone in KL, let me know how the Deep Dish gig goes, it’s an invitation only gig but seems like everyone I know managed to blag an invite.. good stuff! I will be blogging/checking up on you party animal bloggers so keep it coming! The apartment we’re staying at has broadband (woohoo!) so I’m bringing my laptop.. at least when all my friends are recovering from their party nights I have something to do.

Sounds like this trip will be fun, so far it’s me, Nik, Lynn, Roy, Eleana, Gwen, Hui Fen, Chor, Jimmy, Leesa.. err.. wonder who else is going last minute.. Roar into Singapore! (Hahaha, seriously though, that Singapore tourism campaign cracks me up.. roar roar!! Hahaha..)

Steph is silly, Steph is nuts, Steph is collecting cigarette butts.. err. Please ignore Steph.

Christmas is just around the corner.. argh. I have yet to finish my shopping for presents, hope I get a chance to in Singapore. I am broke though, so that might not work out. However (hiaks) if anyone’s feeling generous, buy me a book from my wishlist. I just noticed my wishlist link was messed up all this time.. oops ;) I think that one works.

OMG die lar, 10 minutes to pack.. I’m out. Will post!! MWAH!!

Sick as a dog

Wednesday, December 17th, 2003

Am feeling no better unfortunately - waking up at 5 am and taking some Demazin did help a little and Tiff prescribed some lecithin pills for me which apparently will stop my nose from attempting to run the minute mile. The unorthodox lifestyle I chose to lead is not giving me enough time to recover, already I have plans to party the weekend away and being the stubborn ass that I am, I know I won’t be staying home and catching up on some much needed rest.

Mark came over to pick me up for lunch today, there is nothing edible in my fridge that doesn’t require cooking and prep save for a pack of Boursin cheese and Sunkist juice. We ended up having Vietnamese for lunch today but I couldn’t taste a damn thing. No wonder I always lose weight when I fall sick; my apetite plummets and I have no desire to eat.. well, unless it’s that yummy Mango-Lo thing from KTZ. Small joys

I’ve been sitting at home all day doing nothing.. what a waste of time. I suppose I could do some packing for our (Lynn, Roy, Eleana, Gwen, Nik, me and whoever else who will be joining us) impending trip to Singapore..

I love procrastinating about little things.

Melancholic

Tuesday, December 16th, 2003

Bad start to a good day? Good start to a bad day? I really don’t know. I desperately need sleep, am thisclose to collapsing from fatigue today, am mentally and emotionally drained and when I got home, the delivery order for 56 cartons of 1×1 tiles arrived and I had to help the poor boy unload it.. It weighed 16kgs a carton but it felt like 50kgs today. After probably unloading about 20 cartons, I gave up because my arms were giving up on me.

Feel soooo shit - throat hurts, nose running miles, temperature fluctuating, muscles aching, head throbbing, emotionally drained, mind about to shut down..

Riverdance seems like a chore now, all I want to do is sleep..

Oh hey, I’ve got a set of six postage paid maximum cards with postage stamps affixed from NZ Post in mint condition. It’s from LOTR The Two Towers and the issue date is Dec 2002. It’s no longer on the market and somewhat of a collectors item and I want to sell it. It retailed at NZ 12 a year ago.. any offers? E-mail me.

I’ve also got a presentation pack (first day covers, miniature sheets, stamps) from the same series that looks very, very cool and comes in a little folder-type thing but I’m reluctant to sell it. It retailed at NZ 30 and I might think of selling it if the price is right.. it’s autographed ;)

I have 20 minutes to sleep before dad gets home from work. Eek.