simple pleasures

i no longer find it uber fun to end entire weekends squeezing in everything i can do so as not to 'waste' it. i used to be someone who would never waste a weekend by living in. a quick phonecall and i'd zip off to wherever the heart of the fun is. it's where i belong. come to think of it, it's actually life draining. i can feel my life shortening up to days after which i'd just cram more impromptu schedules into it. sounds tiring? you've no idea. i don't know how i survived that.

i know it could be a phase that anyone nearer to my age will go through. the very fact that i'm laden with much more responsibilities at work seems to back up that strong urge to club less, booze less, exercise more, hydrate more, read more and self enrich more.

i think it's time to hang up my dancing shoes and call it a day.

even doing nothing beats clubbing. which was exemplified by my friday night and saturday. i did nothing i could boast about. but it was solid staying in hogging all the time to myself.

take today for instance, the cranky weather kept us away from beach. that was a total letdown but we made things happen in the end - everyone was tired but not unhappy - and i'm not sure if it's me, but i began to see everyone in a different light. there is something good in every shortcoming. :) it took me a while to realize it. i gotta make an admission - i wasn't as desensitized as i've thought.

over the weekend, i started a food diary just for fun. maybe counting calories isn't the primary cause but there's zero harm in penning the amount of munchies i eat in a day to hopefully shock me into positive action. actually, i'm already watching what i eat. heh. i jolly well cheated. so that serves the point of getting this whole healthy living going. which is what it's all about.

so there, my weekend summed up in a few humble words. it's been a tiring but meaningful day. i'm rescheduling my training routine starting tomorrow so i really need to get some snooze in before wakie-ing at 6.30am.

g'night guys!

what the hell

when was this?! how is it that...

who is this??

post shock, i just don't think i can ever remember taking this picture. the furthest i can remember is that this is not my swimwear. it must have belonged to row. wow, some work needs to be done soon.

sieving through my archives, i must have stored millions and billions of pictures stashed away in my hardly accessed 700 gigabytes external drive. browsing over them brought back lots of giggles, shocks, memories and glassy eyes. upon speculation, i think it's gonna take me days or weeks to finish poring through everything.

i have so much backlog photos to post i don't even know where to begin. and even if i don't, it was really fun to reminisce away.

maybe i will start a backlog soon. i think you guys will love it.

blog overhaul

in the midst of a revamp, i forgot to print screen the original layout.

i've forgotten most of the codes and had to google for help. honestly, i don't think i'll do this within the next 10 years. i'm serious. it's exhausting. anyway, i think it's classic.

i'm limited by the template. it's maddening and i'm not thoroughly satisfied. i tried inserting a lovely background image but the codes have its boundaries.

i wanted to box up the content and side bar with a trim border but well, boundaries boundaries boundaries.

one thing's for sure, an overhaul is an accomplishment.

itchy eyes and healing knees

on days i work out, i wear no makeup. today, sans makeup, i almost rubbed my eyes out. it's a bad vice i've cultivated since young. i quit doing that a couple of years ago when there was still someone constantly chiding me silly over it. but today, i basked in chasing the lost delight of eye rubbing.

it felt divine. would have done anything to arrest the itch anyway.

in better news, my knees are on its way to making a full recovery. lots of healing rest helps. knee problems are dreadfully common. stems from lack of basic strengthening, and leading to injuries of all sorts. im not gonna subject myself to victimization of knee pain anymore. if i can help it. whenever possible, i stretch and lift my legs parallel to the desk. hold there for a bit. repeat a few reps. that simple.

otherwise, things are looking rosier. there are still areas of my life that i need to apply more effort on. or i could simply put it down to chance. like every girl worth her salt, i know i could really use some sun and cosy company soon!

that said, i've penciled in a beach date on sunday.

looking forward to that!

better together

there are just too many treasures i found in the archives and here are just a few scattered pieces. i love to share them.

get the skinny on: those lean years

rocking out before school


v-day roses from gid


project mates








Mmmm, It's always better when we're together
Yeah we'll look at the stars and we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah it's always better when we're together
(jack johnson - better together)

it's been a long time

funny how as years go by, i simply used up longer downtime. the past two months has been rendered downtimes many times over.

i've been working my tail off for over a year now. once dubbed the energizer bunny in the work pad at the peak of glorious days, i don't suppose there's any energy left in me so to speak. nary an ounce of it.

some grand changes are in order. working towards something at work is one. then there are friends, close and far, who are converting into me! - somewhat of a on-again, off-again health freak. depending on BMI, and WHR (that's waist-hip-ratio for you) really. that should call for a celebration.

t'was a good break for me for sure.

and now i'm ready to bounce and pounce, leap and dance!

hear me holla already.

hullo portobello the bunny is back! *doink doink doink*

what's cookin'

mangled feet

bruised ankle

scattered moods

painful footwear

grave sobriety

not an exciting combination

but the music was trippy and good

a redeeming offset

a glowy week

my latest conviction is that everyone is entitled to a week of pure rest. eliminate late nights and online activities.

in between working out and training (over-exerted certain muscles which i never knew existed and inherited a whacked ankle in the process), radiant skin is what good sleep looks like.

for once, i couldn't be arsed to come online at night because it would take me away from my precious rest. all in all a good decision in hindsight. i can't believe how different the skin transformed within a week of discipline. but i know i better believe it ever since i started partying and neglecting the most essential aspect of my vanity regime - my beauty sleep.

for all that's worth, i could be destroying myself for what's coming up, tonight. we'll just have to keep the alcohol limitations in check, won't we? it's gonna be another night at the jiak kim street establishment. and there's no music quite like trance, to raise my pulse, with ter and law and the other guys in tow.

exactly a week ago, i met up with the two love of my life - qi and katt. the last time we had spent a day like this was eons ago - which i believe to be last year.

despite our physical absences due to different time schedules, i've always felt we had drawn closer as we grow older as we spent more quality time together.


decking out in her new aviator shades from koh samui, our souvenir from katt


pretty washroom calls for our camwhoring attention


the two love of my life - qi and katt


L-R: the smart-slash-sporty one, the arty-slash-demure one, the one and only Wan (heh)

beaming with affection

not forgetting the one who took our pictures, YCC
(who joined us for a short while before dashing off to catch GI Joe)

i just peered outside my window and it's raining. well, it's been a lovely morning. except that i'm rushing to catch my 11am facial appointment!

adios guys!

who you calling a nerd

for some reason, i've been whiling and burying my nose in paperback books. within a month, i've completed reading 1 novel, 1 memoir, 1 science fiction, and 2 biographies:

1) The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer

2) The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir by Isabel Allende by Isabel Allende

3) The Host by Stephanie Meyer

4) A Child Called 'It' by David Pelzer

5) The Lost Boy by David Pelzer

in between the last pages of a book and the start of the new one, i've given myself a span of one day to absorb and reminisce the stories by heart.

as a kid all the way till i turned 15, i used to snuggle up in bed just to read. it happened every single night without fail. i'm the sort of kid who falls asleep with drool on her books. i started my long term affair with glasses when i was all but 8. and at 13, began my love affair with contact lenses.

just between you and me, i've got something to say. i'm actually an enormous closet nerd.

the weather grouse

too cold, complain.
too hot, complain.
too humid, complain.

but what else can we do.

you'd think 'there isn't much i haven't already known'

no news means good news.

it's been a depressing couple of days. many bleak thoughts running amok. last night bore the full brunt of the mopiness. i became thirsty, for alcohol. i lusted for vino.

but as always, i snapped back to the old self after knocking back a few drinks in solitude. it wasn't much but enough to reel in my better senses.

today, i was a much happier person.

i went on a shopping spree after a hard day's work on monday. in a release of frustration, i flitted from store front to store end and shopped till i could shop no more.

further to that, i applied for membership cards to two franchises. i must be quite obsessed.

did i feel better after that?

not one bit.

but the days that followed, i instantly found that i had prettier clothes to don. so it did make me feel slightly better in a warped sense.

tonight was especially gratifying. lots of stories and laughters shared amongst the thursday trio (with cia and law). some were really good jaw-aching booming laughters mind you. having good company amounts to a lot. also, it made me believe that good stories should never be swept under the carpet! at least not after what happened tonight.

thursday's officially over. can't wait for tomorrow night.

i'm dog tired. ought to sleep soon. g'night guys!

a relaxing sunday

i have been sleeping a lot for the entire month of july which i've dedicated to be a resting period, but never really feeling quite well rested. anyway, i just hauled my dead carcass home from swimming (with cat and oya) and shopping (plus cia and ter). i need more sundays doing mindless stuff like these.

also, note to self, today marked a first that i resisted the temptation of ice cream at mac. i am a huge fan of oreo and therefore, mcflurry. despite ter kindly offering half of his hot fudge sundae and cat a lick of her ice cream cone, i couldn't bring myself to eat it. my throat is burning and the plan is not to fall sick.

but if i do, and i can almost feel a fever creeping in, i won't have the heart to blame it on cat's homemade curry. it is the most lip-smacking curry i've eaten in the longest time.

photos are coming up in a day or two.

rest time for my sick body.

g'night, world!