Don't Forget To Live Your Life

Lift your head up from your work every now and then and take a long walk, hold hands with your beloved, go fishing, spend time with your friends, swim, bask in the sunlight, try something new, meditate, breathe deep, or sit quietly for a while and contemplate the goodness around you.

In other words, balance yourself – work diligently toward your goals and dreams, but don’t ignore every other aspect of your life.  Keep your mind fresh, your body active and alive, and your relationships nurtured.  Do so, and the things you want most in life will come more naturally.

-Marc and Angel

Before Genting Part I

So ladies and gentlemen, you all know that i went to Genting a few months back and it was both a crazy and memorable (half good half bad way) experience that i would never ever forget. Now i will relay to you what happened and so i call this story...

"The days in Genting of 2012"

But before you can understand what happened in the 2 and a half days there, you need to know what happened before. So lets rewind back 3 weeks when the whole family decided to go to Genting.

It was a Sunday afternoon, all the kids were just lazing around in the house enjoying the heat slash rain of Sunday blues and dreading the coming Monday. I wasn't around at the time but my sister, Rin, and brother, Danial, were talking about the holidays approaching and that they had nothing to do. They talked and talked and the topic landed on: "When was the last time we went out as a family out of Singapore for the holidays?" The answer was years ago, back to even before my youngest brother was born. The fact is it HAS been a long time since we went overseas together.

So filled with the need to have a family vacation overseas, what do you get when you combine one stubborn mule of the family (Danial) with a girl who always speak logically pieced nonsensical garbage (Rin)?

YOU GET AN EPIC DEBATE.

PARENTS VS CHILDREN

The rest of us 3 children (my 2 brothers and i) had to pick a side so we chose the side that would most benefit us so yeah... WE WANNA GO OVERSEAS TOO! We proceeded to plan our course of action and then told our parents to meet us at the debate table (which was actually our dining table) at 1700 hours sharp.

Background Information:
Eldest, Female: Rin (20)
Second, Female: Me (19)
Third, Male: Danial (16)
Fourth, Male: Dhamir (14)
Fifth, Male: Iman (7)

-1600 hours-
All 5 of us locked ourselves in a room and started our plan of action.

-1604 hours-
One man down (Iman) who came up with "yay go overseas!" and started playing with his toys because we were discussing in his room

The rest continued to brainstorm ideas

-1610 hours-
Our points:

• Haven't been overseas for holidays in years
• Always in Singapore during holidays

After re-reading it though, we realised that they meant practically the same god damned thing.

-1630 hours-
2 more men down: Dhamir who couldn't be bothered anymore and laid on the bed to sleep or something. And me who laid down on the carpet to daydream.

The remaining two charged forward and decided to discuss on counter arguments instead

• money can earn again
• don't need to be anywhere far
• we need a memorable childhood experience

It goes without doubt that we were screwed.

-To Be Continued-

Cause baby you're a Firework

Living In The Dark

Anything but the Road

If someone were to ask me what i would do if i could live forever, my answer would be to continuously learn new things. I would continually take new courses and even degrees, from business, to psychology to arts and the sciences. I would do that if i could live forever. I've a thirst for knowledge and all i need is time. And the money of course.

Last night, i even planned what i wanted to take during my Internship period, even made a list of the things to learn/do before i'm too old to do them:

1. Perfect my Malay language because all my life, i've been speaking the basics
2. Perfect my Chinese some day because i'm always embarrassed speaking them in front of my father's friends and my friends/acquaintances
3. Learn to speak conversational French (to sound sophisticated)
4. Learn to speak conversational Korean so i could watch Korean dramas more easily (like understanding their inside jokes which simply couldn't be translated easily into English)
5. Learn Sign Language
6. Take a Lifeguard course so i could save someone's life if that ever happens. A second chance at life is a wonderful thing.
7. Take an Oil painting course, all beginner, intermediate and advanced level
8. Take up Aikido so i can learn to protect myself 
9. Take up either Taekwondo or Mixed Martial Arts so i can learn to counterattack my attacker

And that's all i currently have in my to do list. Mind you, i will do them. I'm actually going to sign up after my upcoming examinations (which i should be studying for right now) for beginner's swimming lesson at the Happy Fish Swimming School to work toward point number 6-getting a lifeguard certificate. 

They're going to be expensive but it's all going to be worth it. Money isn't everything, i'll just take baby steps but i know for sure that i'll get there one day.

Unfortunately, no matter how much i thirst for knowledge, there's one two things i would never do: Number 1, learn how to drive and Number 2, learn anything that is remotely related to mathematics i.e. engineering. ugghh, hate that word. I'm scared of driving even though i like looking at the Volkswagen Beetle, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder or a Porsche. I look at the zooming cars on the streets during peak hours and all i could think of is "Oh my god, how do they do this?"

Really, i'm terrified of driving. Even the thought of it makes me queasy. And don't even talk about Mathematics. During my secondary school days, my best friend had been nothing but patient with my lousy math skills. All she ever says is that she was always frustrated when she had to coach me through the questions. I HATE MATH AND ALWAYS WILL. But surprisingly, i love accounting. Still, i hate maths, especially you logarithm. and integration. and depreciation. and solving integers. and.... Oh gosh, there's just too many of them!

To Travel or Die Trying

I love to travel. Like many a people, our dreams are to travel the world, see things we never would in our homeland, sharpen our taste buds, make new friends and ultimately enjoying the wonders of nature and life outside our own. That has always been my dream as a kid when people asked me what i want in life and among my top three, one of them was to travel the world. The other two being finding a wonderful faithful gorgeous husband and having a career i love.

Which is why my interests have always wavered in between jobs that might get me into the 'travel the world' kind of business. What i'm studying now is Events Management and this job alone requires some transportation to and fro sometimes to another country. Even my internship interview asked me if i was okay travelling to another country when it would be required of me. I love that part of this job. I may not stay long in this industry though because i'm not really into events. What i love, is when i have to travel for my job. For example, air stewardess, events manager or something in a cruise ship etc. Anything that can bring me into a whole new world.

I don't know why but there is something in me that want to go somewhere. I need to go overseas at least once a year or i would feel like my life's slipping away. It's not a want, more like a need. Or i'd feel uneasy.

The things i most look forward to in all my trips are connections, people i would potentially make friends with. Without a doubt, you have to be careful, safety is a priority but not to the extent where we avoid trying to make connections with people. We were taught at a young age to not talk to strangers but lets face it, such a thing doesn't apply to our adult lives. It simply does not make any sense. Everyone is a stranger unless you give them a chance. You never know, that person may just end up being your friend. And if it doesn't feel right, you can simply just walk away.

Ultimately, all i want is to experience the world at its finest. Oh come on, we should enjoy all we can in this short life we have.

What I'd Do If i Have 6 Hours Left to Live

6 hours can mean a lifetime to someone who knows he has a few hours left to live. Sometimes, i think that knowing how much time you have left in the world might be a good thing. It gives you the sort of motivation to do the things you always end up pushing off. It reminds you that life is short and to do the things you love.

Unlike the natural cases where the harsh wind suddenly blow the light off your candle without any notice, you have a chance to control the things you could do in your remaining time. 

So i came up with this post called 'What  I'd Do If i Have 6 Hours Left to Live' which starts 1200 and ends at 1800. Let the hypothetical final game begin...

1200 Set off to my old secondary school in a taxi who will be my personal driver for the day because i have no time to take public transport

1210 Find my favourite old teachers and say my final goodbyes and tell them how they changed my life

1230 Take the taxi to my primary school (while in the taxi, i would write a hate letter to the teacher who always bullied and hated me)

1240 Pass the letter to the general office and eat my favourite Mee Soto 

1250 Drive to Orchard road (During the ride, i will post on Facebook to thank everyone who was a part of my life, for all the lessons they taught me and for everything they have done, it would also include a special calling out to all the friends who impacted me)

1330 Arrive at Orchard road and shop for a beautiful outfit to wear for the rest of the day with friends i called beforehand to hang out with

1430 Eat my final lunch with my closest friends

1500 Bid my goodbyes, go to the main street and hug a hot guy and apologising afterwards for thinking he was someone else and drive to Sentosa Beach (During the ride, i'd write future letters for my family to read every new year's day) I would try to write as many as i could

1540 Arrive at Sentosa Beach and pay the taxi for the total cab fare which god knows how much. He would probably tell me to not pay him considering i'm 'dying'

1550 Arrive at bbq party my family and i had planned to have at the Sentosa beach and hang out together, play a little water and have a long chit chat. Talk about old times and all the heart to heart talk. I would then pass to them the letters to which i'd tell them to open them year by year which i've indicated on the letter which one to read. Afterwards, we would just hang out together until i catch my last breath.

The day i travelled to Singapore's POI

If you haven't got it by now, POI means Places Of Interest.

In a span of less than 3 hours, i ran an errand- running from Dover to Chinatown then to Geylang at Paya Lebar. Took the wrong train at the Green line towards Pasir Ris when i should have taken the circle line towards Bishan for me to transfer to the Red line to reach Choa Chu Kang followed by a ride on the LRT to finally reach home. I practically travelled all the MRT lines today huh? (Confusing enough for you?)

All this for a bunch of children and to satisfy my cravings.

Let me start from the top...


While in Chinatown
Chinatown is a fantastic place to go when you need to find lots of cheap/value for money stuff for yourself as well as souvenirs for overseas friends. Which is the reason i went there in the first place. The moment i exited the Chinatown MRT and out onto the streets of shophouses, booths and coffeeshop, i knew i was at the right place. You see, Chinatown MRT has many exits to take to take to the ground level, Exit A to Pagoda Street, Exit B to Chinatown Complex, C to Eu Tong Sen St and a couple more exits. If you're wise, you'd look at the locality map that is available at the station and plan from there which exit to take, if not, then you would be in a hell of a roller coaster ride.

To get to the street of wonderful souvenirs, food as well as the Chinatown Heritage Centre, take Exit A, Pagoda Street. Fortunately, i found what i needed in 10 minutes and got out of there as quick as i could. The sun was blistering hot and without my sunglasses, i had to squint my eyes the whole time i was on the main street. SUCH A PAIN. I was actually finding keychains to give my children in Cambodia, not literally though. I went to Cambodia a few weeks ago under YMCA and Singapore Polytechnic to teach and interact with a bunch of children at an orphanage as well as help build infrastructure for a family at a village. The kids were always jovial and some very naughty and cunning but i managed to bond with a couple of them, especially the class that i taught english to. I miss them so much. Which is why when i found out that a few of the caretakers from Cambodia were coming to Singapore for a short while, i had to pass to them stuff to give my children there.

So i bought gift bags and filled them with chocolates and keychains (from Chinatown) for my level 1 class. I hope they will get it :)


Geylang Si Paku Geylang 
On to Geylang i went but i was stopped on my tracks because there was not one MRT on the line that said 'Geylang'. I admit, as a local, i'm such a failure to not know where Geylang's nearest MRT is. So i did what anyone in my position would do, call my mom. Turned out, she didn't know either but her friend sitting next to her who overheard the conversation immediately jumped to my rescue and said it was at Paya Lebar MRT and there i went. For a moment, i did feel like a tourist, not knowing which direction to take :)

The best time to go to Geylang is during the fasting month and Hari Raya because that is where you can absorb all the malay culture in, from the food to the traditional costumes, it's really wonderful! Every fasting month, there is a bazaar held in whatever place possible in Singapore. And Geylang had a big one just right outside the MRT entrance.

The errand was to find Sarang Semut. It is a biscuit among many others that are eaten during Hari Raya, termed Biskut Raya.

There are tons of Biskut Raya, not just these on top. So among all these, i had to find one particular snack called Sarang Semut. I searched high and low i tell you, from the bazaar to a mall and a second bazaar and a third one only to return to the first bazaar which actually had a sarang semut because i underestimated the the size of the place. So lesson learnt here is to look closely and patiently instead of rushing all over the place to find what you need.

So here it is, my darling Sarang Semut, after almost an hour of searching, i've finally found you <3

How I Met Your Mother - Promo Season 9

IS THIS THE BEST PROMO EVER OR WHAT!?