(overdue photos) the WINDIEST NY Countdown @ ICON

I'm on a ferocious photo blogging frenzy tonight.

2008 Countdown was settled at ICON. Fortunately, we had quite a good view and the wind was POWERFUL. Love it!

As our resident Bartender, Terence never fail nor disappoint. He catered self prepared alcohol - premixed Cosmo. That stuff was potent! He had twice the amount of vodka mixed in it. I drank quite a bit but the high kicked in after I got to MoS (which is another story altogether).

Fredrick and Andrew (Cat's loving BF and good friend respectively) got us party packs, pizza, packs of beer and I think red wine!


Our "villa bali" corner.






Me trying to snap a good angle of everyone.




Picture perfect - well, almost! (Excuse Cat who moved forward to distribute cards - we were playing Indian Poker).


Vigorous wind ruffling my once tidy hair.


View from the iconic ICON.


WE CAUGHT FIREWORKS. That smallish red sparkler-like image is it.




Myself, Gideon & Crys with my arms outstretched 31 levels above ground grabbing my camera phone tighter than you can imagine.


Yay! Fireworks!






Group hug. I mean, photo.








Folks from SIM.


Tippy toes.


Fred & Cat.


Ladies of the night.


Gideon the green-horned Unicorn who came from Church (thus the dressy attire) and Crys.


Brown monster.


Cat on a High!




Andrew & Cat.




Getting ready to hit MoS with Terence for Godskitchen, featuring Matt Darey.






WAY TOO EMO, guys.






Destructive wind creates messy hair.


Cat loving destructive wind.




Chipmunk.


TOO HIGH TO CARE.




The lift that took us to Gid's car.




MoS was jammed pack. Had a great supper though. I'll be avoiding MoS for a very long time. Nothing interesting happening anytime soon anyway.

i'm rebonded

I did rebonding to my tresses yesterday.

At Ericia's insistence, I took pictures of my new mane at 5ish AM. She advised that the shape will change after I wake up, so I took heed of her sound advice at once. We're terrible women with overturned biological clock.









This hair job was quite a different experience from the very first one I did about 6 years back. I was freshly 18. It was a lot painful then because of the tugging (the hairstylist was a pro jo and was dead adamant about it - the painful tugging), and much more expensive as a result of the previous longer length.

It also brought back some less-than-happy memories of the past while I was at it. I don't think what I had then was true love. The last relationship I had felt kinda fake to me now that I traced my thoughts backwards. There's nothing in me that's left to regret (I was happy the way things were, just not the way it turned out) except that I could have lessened the hurt altitude by bolting out earlier. Words that never meant more than just...words. It somehow affected me a little but at the end of the day, I know I'm going to be a-okay. Judging from personal experience, bad moods usually don't last long. =)

Had a jolly tanning sesh with Ericia, Zoe and Daph the day before. Not forgetting Alvin Sung too, who text-ed me at the precise day when I was heading down to the beach for a tan. The weather was great except for a lil mid day rain. Met quite a bit of people there.

BX caught me by surprise. He called out to me just when I was tearing myself away from the beach towel I was lazing on, to stand up and dust sand off. I was quite happy to see him.


When I was at Del Mar, I saw Fiona Chuang or Meijun as she was known back in high school. Surprisingly, she's in the same school and taking the same course as BX!


Saw a few council mates there too. And some familiar faces here and there.

My dear girl had it worse. She missed class cos she was too tired to attend. Dragged her tired soul to the beach. Saw someone from the past she prolly never really wanted to see anyway. Affected her a bit. Her food arrived over an hour late. Her stomach was growling from hunger. We took turns asking the wait staff to hurry with the food. Alvin personally went to remind them. Poor girl could have fainted from hunger. Tore open a bag of Calbee Spicy chips (Ericia's fave) previously bought by Alvin before he joined us girls. All in all, I was deeply impressed by the girl's resilience in fronting a brave demeanor. RESPECT woman. =) I know you felt lousy (not just from hunger, but from the "spoiler" of the day) but I hope the pretty pictures from Zoe's camera will be able to cheer you up. Not that I have them now but I'm pretty sure the photos will turn out great looking at the people we have with us that day.

Photos from Ericia's camera.

Ericia & Zoe.


Pretty Girls In Bands


Daph & Zoe.

some overdue photos from yesterweek

Viv's School Play.
More photos when you click on the picture below.

Was nursing a hangover before I met up with Viv.
Stomach was growling even before we stepped into the studio.
I sat in for their final test runs.
Laughed when the male lead stripped down to his boxers in sync with (?? can't remember the tune).
Teared when Viv said her lines.
Teared more when Buble's Always On My Mind came on.
Got asked to come on stage as a make up artist when the "credits roll" - this section was subsequently scrapped.
Made up the actors/actresses.
Stick falsies on.
Made Viv teared because I crimped too hard on her lashes.
Dolled up the girls.
Bronzed the guys.
Busy running from room to room.
Calls & SMS-es kept flooding.
Finally, time to look for the SIM clique.
Met up with the SIM clique to huddle together to catch Viv's performance.
Blew whistles (not literally) when Ziyang presented Viv a bouquet of Lilies on stage.
Camwhored a lot.
Munched on a lot of fried food.
Tried to keep my eyes open half the time.
Went for supper at Rivervalley.
Made our way to McDonald's at Liang Court.
Laughed, joked, amidst trying to keep my eyes open at McDonald's.
Took a night rider bus with Ericia.
Took another cab ride home because the bus doesn't stop anywhere near my apartment.
Knackered and still tryin to keep my eyes open when cleaning up and preparing for bed.
Zzz.

you can't go wrong with a food themed party

Our first party of the year.
(More photos HERE)

I wasn't actually present when the guys were huffing and puffing from shuffling the huge rattan sofas around. But I had a good visual concept when I saw the photo(s).

Can't remember who brought/bought what but here's a list of food items matched with people:

1. Gillian - chocolate fondue with s'berries/bananas/marshmellows/honeydew(!!)
2. Ericia - expensive 油鸡 (expensive because the auntie selling it tried to swindle her)
3. Viv - Mini sausages & 2 different kinds of fishballs
4. Crystal - Absolut Kurrant
5. Sandy & Crys - Fried Bee Hoon
6. Cat - Assorted cakes (banana cake/panda cake/muffins/etc) & Absolut Blue
7. TL - Watermelon & (more) Honeydew
8. Myself - Non-alcoholic drinks

* Noticed there were tidbits and munchies but I don't know who brought them. Gideon or Terence maybe?

The fishballs sparked off an interesting conversation about how Sandy doesn't eat anything that's spherical in shape. Gideon joked that she can only eat her sausages vertically because when you hold a sausage the typical way, it's round in shape! Sandy also added that she've a girlfriend who refused to eat anything white!

It just gets more interesting.

Nothing we love more than food, I guess.

Photo taken before I arrived.


Photo taken upon my arrival.


Ericia with a change of style and myself after dance training.


These guys are listening to some stories of Crystal's.


Hey! Don't stop eating!


Viv and couple; Natalia & Terence.


Crystal (youngest of the lot), Gillian who brought chocolate fondue (my perfect indulgence after suffering -and still presently suffering- from ulcers!), Gideon after a long hiatus and Viv who organized the Potluck.


Add Sandy the SIA girl to the lot.


Sandy & Crystal aka the non-PG duo.


Cat the host (not literally but she got us the place) & a tired TL (from playing soccer).


Ziyang, Ericia & Myself. Still had some bits of food in my mouth.


And again.


Directly opposite us are these guys who stopped eating!! I had to repeatedly remind them to keep eating but nobody wants to anymore. I want to eat some more but Cat & Ericia doesn't want me to. Tough love! They think I've been over eating.


Ziyang doin the brow frown.


Signature Shield from the Paparazzi.


Food & drinks aplenty... Conversations aflow.


The Giggling Girl aka Crystal, as evident.


The girl's got her cute side. Simply doesn't stop giggling away.. Even when others have moved on.


A woman gotta concentrate when she's chewing her food!


TL, Sandy & Crystal grinning away.


At the back of Ziyang's car.






Appreciate the ride home dude! Felt sorry that you got into a fix later on...

it doesn't sound like much

lyrics
Head under water,
And they tell me to breathe easy for a while.
The breathing gets harder, even I know that.

You made room for me but it’s too soon to see,
If I’m happy in your hands.
I’m unusually hard to hold on to.

Blank stares at blank pages.
No easy way to say this.
You mean well, but you make this hard on me.

I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one, you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's,
Make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I'm not gonna write you to stay.
If all you have is leaving,
I’m gonna need a better reason to write you a love song today.
Today.

I learned the hard way,
That they all say things you want to hear.
My heavy heart sinks deep down under you,
And your twisted words, your help just hurts.
You are not what I thought you were.
Hello to high and dry.

Convinced me to please you.
Made me think that I need this too.
I’m trying to let you hear me as I am.

I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one, you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's,
Make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I'm not gonna write you to stay.
If all you have is leaving,
I’m gonna need a better reason to write you a love song today.

Promise me you'll leave the light on,
To help me see with daylight, my guide, gone.
'Cause I believe there's a way you can love me because I say,

I won't write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking this.
Is that why you wanted a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one you see.
I’m not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I’m not gonna write you to stay.
If your heart is nowhere in it,
I don’t want it for a minute.
Babe, I’ll walk the seven seas when I believe that there's a reason to,
Write you a love song today.
Today.

...but it keeps me going.

to all my loved ones, this is what i want to say

...if tomorrow never comes



Sometimes late at night
I lie awake and watch her sleeping
She's lost in peaceful dreams
So I turn out the lights and lay there in the dark
And the thought crosses my mind
If I never wake up in the morning
Would she ever doubt the way I feel
About her in my heart

If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face the world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes

'Cause I've lost loved ones in my life
Who never knew how much I loved them
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she they mean to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her them how I feel

If tomorrow never comes
Will she they know how much I loved her them
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she some must face the world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes

So tell that someone that you love
Just what you're thinking of
If tomorrow never comes

...i never want to miss a chance telling all my girlfriends, best friends, families (yes, families) how much i cherish, appreciate, love and how very happy i am to have each and everyone of you in my life.

bossa novas' in the player

soaking the feet has become a daily affair. far too much walking and dancing lately. i'm gorging on konnyaku pudding because i'm too tired to eat anything else. i earned myself new bruises everyday. today, i bruised from dancing - from the back to the front, from the top to the bottom. i've been aching for the past few days. received massages from ericia and cat after i whined about being achy yesterday. they made me feel so loved =) that i need no men. i try not to anyway.

will blog about krabi in another entry.

damn. puddings are addictive.

not meant to be

a perfect moment for reflections.

with so much thoughts racing through my mind.

one of the past.
- a mess.
the other of the present.
- a relish.
and another one of the future.
- an unknown.

i once received a customized ring that bore 3 stones across the front.
i wore it faithfully.
i was told the representations: the past, present and future.
but i wasn't told what they meant.
words that found it hard to be expressed.

oh what a sweet melancholy.

headswells

polished up my resume as soon as i got home from work.
die.
after reading the horoscope, i feel uber confident.
like... almost a lil too over.
gosh. this feels soo wrong!
but!! it's rather motivating.
very encouraging horoscope remarks.
me lioke.

still, i mustbemore. humble.

year of rats - the beginning

whoa.
this was what stepping into a new year felt like.

i'll be getting a career.
a fixed salary.
new colleagues.
work experience.
possibly an office romance.
haha.

it rather excites me.

in 3 days' time will be viv's play. i'm looking forward to it. mainly because there were bits of my sob story that influenced her acts, she said.

case in point: i'm bringing tissue.

emptying the skeleton in my closet

just returned from kj's place an hour ago. i felt the need to wrap some things up once and for all. y'kno... end all potential discussion.

i have been told that i'm still not moving on like i should. mainly because i still mention the ex's name and the activity we used to do and stuff. i was told that at this stage, i should have moved on far far ahead. and should i do it (mentioning past events) again, let me reassure my friends that i have moved on for good sometime back. the only reason why i'd even bring up past activities was because i felt comfortable enough to roll it off my tongue. after all, what's past is past right? i had spent a good part of my prime youth which involved plenty of shared experiences with someone i thought i'd eventually end up marrying.

many new activities were actually had together with him. and many MANY more i have yet to mention. or just plain awkward to go into details. either because 1. it'll bring back fond/bad/etc memories or 2. i didn't think the other party would really bother to know more about it.

here comes the tricky part. what happens when a relationship come to an end? 2 things can happen, either 1. they stay as friends or 2. they don't. the latter applies in this case. there were factors that refrained the friendship but it's useless to go into details now. it wasn't mutual but it just had to be done - and there's no stopping me.

i didn't exactly do a lot to move on, asides from the usual deep reflections and self console. guess it's just a natural progression after being let down so many times. it's unfair to pinpoint any blame anymore. nothing's ever fair and square anyway.

i'm only 23 - there's still room for trial(s) and error(s). =) sometimes i amaze myself.. my positivity is shining.

well, the only drawback is.. i'm quite comfortable at where i am that i can't even see myself in a committed union. and i've become something that i never thought i would be; a commitment phobe. it's about the biggest problem i'm having right now. haha!

one last thing before i hop into the sack for some shut eye to gear up for the night ahead.

the financial forecast for the impending year seems rather gloomy -sorry for the anti climax!- and that's according to forbes. wasn't exactly shocked by the prediction cos i was having similar thoughts. can't be helped. it's the economic cycle. it got me thinking about living on a shoestring budget for the year ahead. freaked me out a lil.

anyway, the year of the rats will be my year *beams*. more clubbing, parties and overseas trips awaits.

midnight hunger pangs

i'm starving again.

had fish porridge from maxwell market 4 hours ago.

had my dance training with eve earlier on. got a good grip (pun) on new moves. pole dancing's starting to grow on me. after a 2 hours long training, i dragged my sore ass and trudged down to CU to meet the boys & row. training ended rather late so i wasn't able to make it down for samuel's costume birthday party.

i'm having a stayover with the boys at kujen's crib right now. only bx, chris and me are still up and chirpers. i'm getting a bit of rhematism in my limbs. seems like i'm always down with IT whenever i'm over at kj's place. snuggling nicely under his covers right now. at least i'm kept warm and fuzzy.

cleared most of the clutter in my email piled up over a week. the krabi photos are all sorted out nice and sweet, just waiting for me to load them when i had enough of the festive cheer.

arranged for a NYE gathering at cat's ICON tomorrow. not many can make it though. will be counting down at MoS with terence and soaking in the trance act with Godskitchen.

i'm getting a bit monotonous here. think the brain's not functioning so well without food.

OH! today's also the last day of 2007. in retrospect, i think i had a rather good year. nothing spectacular but i've learnt a lot over the past year. suffered many heart breaks that would serve as a great lesson in future. had friends who stuck by me through thick and thin. gained a new set of family members. made merry countless of times. achieved and accomplished many goals. got stuck in a rut and got out of it quickly. rekindled many friendships and sparked off many new ones. didn't put on an ounce of fat despite rekindling my love for chocs, cakes and all sugary stuff (what better ways to battle post-breakup depression?).

new year resolutions are nothing but passe. but they do make for some great feel good about yourself mantra maybe for a day or 2 before they're soon forgotten and discarded. however, i do have a simple one that i think i can fulfill. after all, what's the point of making one that you can't keep? well, it's easy to remember and i'll keep it private for now. some things are better left unsaid.

to declare with glee that i indeed had a great 2007 after all, isn't really that difficult anymore. =)

really wanted to talk about the krabi trip today but i realized i have no time!

oh dear. i gotta go prepare soon.

M E R R Y
X ' M A S
Y'ALL!!

counting cows

bleah. goodmorning world. sleep's not on my mind now. not really intended. just got back an hour ago from another night of fun. top it off firstly, with disappointment at not being able to meet anya on her birthday - because she got wasted before i could get my ass there after work. and secondly, a fight broke out. ratio's 10plus : 3.

in comprehension of a freaky afterthought, one of my eye was twitching incessantly during work and when casually mentioned to a friend, she gestured to her eyes with her index finger and went 喜怒哀乐 in a counterclockwise motion starting from the upper left brow. she stopped dead at 怒 and said something to the effect that i'll run/get into some matters adept at generating anger in me. it got into a bit of a long story there but i'll cut the story short. in a gist, something bad did happened that provoked the fight. and someone indeed got angry.

i get a lot of twitching going on (in my eye) from time to time. usually it gets really accurate and forewarn me of many emotions that's coming my way. depending on the impact of the twitches, the situation heightens with it.

it totally have no basis and relies more on basic intuition - something which i believe very strongly in. i've always had a bit of a strong clairvoyance.

however, i think that this time could be just a coincidence.
a freaky coincidence.
beat that.

tonight's a very liquid(room) night. met alvin sung (whom i later partied with), jeffrey ng (bar), michael (bar supervisor), adam (bar supervisor), christina chong (AM/OM?), even steven cheng (OM) and eric lam (OM? i think). right..not that you guys know who i'm talking about. well, they're just guys from the past. a happy part of the past to be precise =).

stomach's still hurting after the sup-brek at HK cafe. gonna be waking at 1pm for brunch with the Tauruses clan - Shan & Joanne. will have to do with some sleep for now.

a GEELY in our midst

i was still very confident when i told terence i didn't think geelies are in singers.



was actually on my way home from ericia's place when i spotted 1 geely. went chillazing (chill & laze) at her place one night. i enjoyed it tremendously. enjoyed the talks that could have went on forever with no timestamp on the duration.

i am extremely tired and on the verge of suffering a burnt out. the summit gathering was disastrous IMO because the 2 of us michelles were really tired and thus, couldn't socialize with much gusto. anyhow, nothing went wrong despite the few turnout. thanks to pete and essy for the effort and coordination in making it happen!

x'mas is just around the coooorrrner!

ps: no time & energy to blog about krabi yet.

Disclaimer: Geely is literally translated word for word from 吉利; a china manufactured car. An oxymoron because I don't think the car's very "吉利" given that even my friend Kengsong tells me not to get that car if I "don't wanna die inside". Haha! Quoting him, "pls... i see the car i dun feel ji li.."

pps: it's an inside joke between classmates. i'm not even thinking of getting that car.

short update

finally received all the photos i needed to blog. time's not on my side though.

i'm happy beyond words to be hanging out with katt and qi the whole of yesterday. it's been too long since we last shopped/dined/goofed around/teased/cam whored TOGETHER. did many crazy things yesterday that brought back fond memories of the high school days. we also walked into juvy's shop at FEP to spring a surprise on her and it turned out she was surfing through my friendster page moments before we walked in. talk about coincidental.

and how cool is it exactly to find that my family law tutor during my poly days is on friendster. i met him at the subordinate court once but that's another story altogether.

alrighty. i'm gonna be needing a time out. dead pooped.

meeting my SIM clique tmr for a day at the beach to post celebrate viv's birthday. and i've arranged to meet sheena for dinner before rushing off to work at 11pm. a pity manda couldn't make it for our date.

and before saying my good nights to the world,

HAPPY BOOBY DAY GILLIAN!

sweet of baoming (the bf) to spend the whole day with her later just because.. i'm happy for my gf!

viv the drama-esque diva

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIV!

coreen and tl surprised her at school with a gobi cake and some sparklers. and they conveniently left me out of the fun! that's cool though cos i know viv is still beaming from the surprise! =)

country rocks

i'm loving this MV.
titled Teardrops On My Guitar - Taylor Swift