Tuesday, February 19, 2013

New York I Miss You

It's 2:36 in the morning and I'm pretty sure a fever slash cough is on it's way, but still, I'm awake. You know, a sensible person would have probably gone to bed approximately 5 hours ago but noooooo.... Guess I'm not sensible enough. 

Anyway, I've been up watching random Youtube videos, spanning from 非诚勿扰 (a Chinese dating variety show) to Meteor Garden episodes, to DDR and skating videos. 

While browsing, I started to miss New York City. The feeling came rather suddenly, but I think it was probably inspired by a dream I had last night about being back in the US, driving around in my car and hanging out with my friends there. 

I started to think about all the things that I used to do in the city. The places that I used to hang out- Times Square, Central Park, The High Line, LES, St. Mark's, etc... Smells and sounds started to come back to me. The feeling of warm steam drifting up from manholes in the winter. The silent dark waters in between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. All those nights I spent handing out hor d'oeuvres and champagne. It all came back in one mad spinning swirl of memories... 

Many memories weren't that pretty at all, to be sure. Yet I do have a tendency of romanticising moments past. I've always said that I could never see myself living in New York City for the long term, but tonight I almost wish as if I were stuck there for another five years. 

"Almost", is the key word. 

Don't misunderstand me. It's not dissatisfaction with my current life that is driving my nostalgic sentiments right now. NYC was where I really grew up. It was where I lost and found my soul and was where I really transitioned from my teenage years to being a young adult. As I draw closer to turning 25, I can't help but feel sad at leaving my youth behind. That sense of loss I guess, is what's really making me miss even the heady stench of Manhattan's subways in the rain. 

So, missing NYC and all, I ended up watching this video:


I haven't watched Gossip Girl for the past two years or so. Pretty much ever since I started going back to church and everything. Just felt that its content was a bit too provocative for me. 

Still, I'm not gonna lie. When the first episode of Gossip Girl first came out in 2007, I was a freshman in college and I went nuts for the show because it hit so close to home. I loved everything single thing about it. From the punny lines to the amazing fashion (yes, I was still into the whole fashion shindig then), GG kept my eyes glued to the screen every Wednesday evening. 

I felt like Gossip Girl really reflected a portion of my life during those few years and I connected so much with it that it makes me sad to see the show end now, even though I haven't watched it in a while. 

Six years.

Where did the past six years go???????

Sigh.

I really don't know what's around the riverbend. It's always an exciting ride forward, but I hate always having to say goodbye to places, things and people. I feel so torn between Pennsylvania, NYC, Washington State and Singapore all the time. 

Dear God, I know this world is not my home. You have opened my eyes to that, having had no choice but to live my past 23 years as a semi-nomad. I've switched living quarters about 15 times in the past 12 years and left pieces of my heart everywhere. I just pray Lord, that You will help me to stay grounded in You, because You are the only person that has not changed throughout my entire life. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus You are the same. All may change but Jesus will never, Glory to Your Name!












Saturday, February 16, 2013

A Crazy Fun Night


No prizes for guessing what I did last night. 

That's right, I went prawning! 

At first it was just going to be me, Shirley and two of her friends. However, we ended up having Estella and the rest of the skating crew join us later. 


By the end of three hours, we had enough prawns to feed all ten people. Know how we did it with just three rods?


Well, it was because we got really lucky and three kind strangers gave us their prawns after they were done! 


We played Never Have I Ever and Truth or Dare all night. 

In an attempt to avoid awkward Truth questions, I had to do two really idiotic dares. One of them was to scream really loudly behind some random guy. The other dare was to walk to all four corners of the prawning ponds and do jumping jacks while yelling "I LOVE PRAWNING" twice. 

So. Embarrassing. 


Let's just say, we all found out quite a bit about each other last night.


Here's Estella doing a dare- running back and forth while carrying the chair above her head!

I'm so glad now that I've found another female prawning buddy! 


By the time 7am swung around, most of us were quite ready to collapse into bed. Still, we gamely waited for the sunrise. 


Cheers to a fantastic night!

Though I reached home around 9am and didn't get to sleep more than 2 hours, I wouldn't mind doing it all over again next weekend... :P








Thursday, February 14, 2013

How I Spent Valentine's Day

Wow, Valentine's Day was such a huge success!

I woke up this morning feeling as if today was going to be a failure. Instead, everything went by smoothly and surpassed my expectations by far. 

I was supposed to take an exam at 2:30pm, so I resolved to wake up at 10am to study, despite going to bed at 6:30am. However, I did not hear my alarm and woke up closer to 11am instead. And guess what? Instead of studying, I just ended up procrastinating for the next two hours or so. It was simply an impossible task for me to focus on studying. 

With an hour left before the exam and my textbook still untouched, I decided to prepare myself mentally for the possibility of having to retake this exam. Still, I went online and memorised as many mock exam questions as I could before running off to the exam venue. 

I was late for 12 minutes and there was a crazy man sitting next to me in the exam room. He kept throwing a fit whenever he got frustrated with the exam and even banged the table so his computer mouse fell off the side. What a psycho! Totally distracted me during the whole exam.

When time came for me to press the SUBMIT button, I cringed inside, expecting to see four big red letters F A I L. Instead, I saw four big black letters saying P A S S !!!!!!!!

OAO

I was so shocked, I wanted to bang the table and throw my computer mouse off the side too!

Needless to say, I left the exam venue in extremely high spirits.


Ran off to Jaben at The Adelphi to get new earphones after that. 

The ones on the right are new, while the Hippo VB earphones are what I used to wear instead. 


After I paid for my purchase at Jaben, I got a very lovely surprise. They gave me two pineapple tarts, an angpow with real money inside, as well as two cuddly teddy bears! 

SO MUCH LOVE FOR ONE CUSTOMER???

I couldn't believe it. It really made my day!


In the evening, I went to JCube for an ice-skating session with some friends. Those of you who saw my Facebook status earlier on will know what this is all about. 


We played some game and won some prizes.


Had such a fantastic time ice-skating and just laughing till my belly ached!


And of course, after ice-skating, I simply had to run (literally run) over to Westmall for some last minute DDR action. 

I was really happy when I saw this score: 983,640. It's the highest score I ever received on a song! My next target score for this song will be a AAA, which is 990,000+ I think? Or is it 995,000? I don't remember exactly...

Yep, and with that, I went home nicely tired, but feeling very spoiled and loved all the same. 


Thank you God, for watching out for me even though I am such a terrible failure. Thank you for all the blessings, whether big or small. I am really grateful for everything! 




Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Chinese New Year 2013

I really don't feel like blogging, but I just don't want to give all this up without a fight! My blog is the only thing that hasn't died on me along with all my photos in the past 6 years, so I think it's worth sustaining... 

Anyway, there's simply too much to catch up on over the past two months, so I'll just be sharing a bit of what I've been up to in the past few days instead. 

Chinese New Year really started on Saturday.


Mom's side of the family went to The Line at Shangri-La hotel for an unorthodox reunion lunch. This is the first time in my life that we've had a reunion LUNCH instead of dinner, and at an outside place too. 


We sat outdoors next to the pool. Nice ambience and all, but the buffet was far too crowded. There was a long queue getting in to the restaurant even when we had all made reservations, as well as another long queue at the oyster and sushi stations. 

No wonder it's called "The Line". 

Huahuahua... 


Sigh.

Being around young cousins makes me wish I were still in primary school or something. 


My desserts were the only thing I remembered to take a lousy photo of, and I didn't even like them that much...


That evening, we all met again at my aunt's house where we just ate more food and had a lo hei. Uncle Rick made delicious quesadillas that night. I think I had about 5? 


On the first morning of the new year, we went to my grandma's as we usually do. 


This year's fare was slightly different from last year's, but still delicious nonetheless. The roast pork and bamboo shoots were my favourite.


I had my nails painted bright pink for the festivities. Was hoping that they would make up for my first day's outfit being black and white.


Celebrated Ah ma's birthday on the second day of the new year. 

She turns 92 this year, which means that she's really 93 according to the Chinese calendar. Ah ma doesn't know her actual birthdate. All she knows is that she was born on 初二,so on the second day of CNY each year, we will celebrate her birthday. Can you imagine not knowing the exact date of your birthday?

Come to think of it, my maternal grandma doesn't know her actual birthdate either, so she just picked a date that she liked and we celebrate her birthday on that date each year. 


Chanced upon a random lion dance in Chancery Court's Cold Storage that afternoon. 

I was really happy because I did not get to catch one last year!


Finally got to sing at K Box with Shirley and Edwin. Thanks for the good times!


Yesterday morning, I went to Pulau Tekong to send my brother off on his epic journey to adulthood. 

Now that he's 18, it's time for him to enter the army and serve two years in what we call National Service, also known as NS. 


He had his head shaved the day before. Makes him look bigger sized now that his head looks smaller sized LOL


After a really long tour around the premises, it was time to say goodbye. I couldn't help but feel a weird mix of pride, sadness, curiosity and anticipation as we watched them file away. Pride because he's a big boy now, no longer the 8 year old I remember running around the house with. Sadness because I won't get to see him for a bit. Curiosity because I am just dying to know what are they going to do all day today, tomorrow, the day after, etc. etc. etc.! And lastly, anticipation because I can't wait to see him at his graduation parade, fully dressed in his army wear!

Sigh... 

These few days really made me feel old. 

From the ever-shrinking pile of angpow money (it gets lesser every year that I grow older), to the harmless prodding about my relationship status (23 and single? Why no babies yet??!!), to sending my bro off to the army. It just seems to augment the sense of time flying past at the speed of light. 

I wonder what the rest of this year will hold?

A new hobby? Gahhh I hope not.... I have enough hobbies as it is and no time for another one!


Well, think I better go to bed now that it's 06:21 in the morning. Fingers crossed for another blog post soon :)