Ballerina Loves Garfield

2010-05-17T22:43:00.001+08:00

TRUST

2010-05-12T21:06:00.001+08:00

Artist(Band):Sixpence None The Richer

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
Lean not on your own understanding
In all of your ways acknowledge Him
And He will make your path straight
Don't worry about tomorrow
He's got it under control
Just trust in the Lord with all of your heart
And He will carry you through

Lord, sometimes it gets so tough
To keep my eyes on You
When things are going rough
But when I turn my eyes up to the sky
And I hear Your voice it says to me

So child do not be weary with the troubles
Of this world I have overcome

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
Lean not on your own understanding
In all of your ways acknowledge Him
And He will make your path straight
Don't worry about tomorrow
He's got it under control
Just trust in the Lord with all of your heart
And He will carry you through
He will carry you through

signing off~DE XIN

WHERE?

2010-05-10T15:36:00.003+08:00

I realise every time I blog I'm in school. Ok, almost every time. I guess school's the only place that brings thoughts to my mind; thoughts that I'll wanna pen down.

Anyways, today was first day of work. I very excitedly took a train down to Bouna Vista and went to Ulu Pandan CC, was 10 minutes early (I'm so freakin' proud of myself) and then there was no sign of The Players Theatre!!! I started searching frantically, asked the office if they could help me get The Players Theatre's contact number and realised, only 50 minutes later, that I have Carina's number with me.

So I called and found out rehearsals was at Little India. Great. Took the train back down to Little India, got lost for a bit in Little India and reached the rehearsal place at noon sharp. I suppose rehearsal was going well 'cos everyone looked really friendly. No sign of "wa lao she's damn late".

From what I've seen so far today. Charlotte's Web looks like it's gonna be a damn awesome production. They also have a very humorous cast haha. And I'm very much amused by how they talked about productions like The Animal Farm and The Full Monty just like the way we talk about Cloud 9, Disoccia and Sweet Charity in LASALLE. Like as if they're just happening next door. Also I heard juicy information about the Pang couple, much like how magazines talk about Ashton Kutcher and wife.

Ohh it feels like Cloud 9 all over again and I'm damn excited. As of now I'm stuck in school waiting for Robert to reach around 5pm to help me with my monologue. I hope Charlotte's Web was a great motivation for me to audition for Acting now!

Don't say I didn't warn you about karma.

signing off~DE XIN

CAKE!

2010-04-29T00:28:00.003+08:00

Yeah last night was a terrible night but tonight was awesome!

As tired as I am, at least we had chicken rice for dinner (thanks Toby!) and we got to eat Cloud 9's wedding cake (thanks Aole!)

There's always gonna be another mountain, there's always gonna be an uphill battle, but there will also be downhill bliss once in a while :)

signing off~DE XIN

HAHA

2010-04-27T16:59:00.002+08:00

Cloud 9 rehearsals are really hilarious. Take yesterday for example. KJ was playing jump rope and trying doubles and Aole was asking if KJ could do triple.

Aole: "KJ, can you do a triple on that?"

KJ: "Yeah I can but it is really hurt."

Aole: "Oh yeah it IS really hurt."

AHAHAHA. And last night after rehearsal, I found out Lea and KJ both live really close to me so Daddy and Mummy could give them a lift home. When three of us were walking to the taxi stand, KJ and I were talking about where my ancestors came from.

KJ: "Are your parents from China?"
Me: "My Dad's Dad is fro--"

*BUMPHLFPH*

KJ walked right into PILLAR. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

signing off~DE XIN

INTRODUCING THE CHIA FAMILY

2010-04-24T18:30:00.003+08:00

At Singtel Shop, Mummy and I were discussing about our plan to watch Mao's Last Dancer soon..

Me: "Garden City ar? Coffee and cake at Michel's Pattisserie then movie ah? But I want Innaloo leh."
Mummy: "But Innaloo cannot coffee and cake."
Me: "Nehmind, we go Ikea for meatballs and coffee then we go Innaloo for movie."
Mummy: "SET"

Knowing perfectly well we're in Singapore, not in Perth.

On the way home, Mummy and Daddy were talking about the traffic jam along the expressway we were about to enter..

Mummy: "You think still got jam or not ar?"
Daddy: "Confirm lah."
Mummy: "Huh then how? Got other ways not?"
Daddy: "Gooot.."
Mummy: "Huh got ah? Which way you wanna use?"
Daddy (EVER SO CALMLY): "Fly."

Mummy was saying something about the orange she was saying..

Mummy: "This is orange mah."
De Xin: "Ya luh then, purple ar?"
*awkward silence*

Daddy was biting very hard into his fruit and something came to my mind..

Me: "Eh, what if you bite so hard one day your dentures get stuck on your fruit how?"
Daddy: "I'll eat my dentures."

signing off~DE XIN

RAIN

2010-04-23T20:24:00.002+08:00

Halfway through Cloud 9 rehearsals, I suddenly had migraine. 3rd time this month, not funny at all. Cloud 9 ended later than schedule and I was really dying. Feeling weak and all, once rehearsals ended I packed up and scooted off only to realise it was raining.

On normal raining days I would choose to wait but today I didn't. I forgot to bring my painkillers and I was really about to just collapse any moment and so I walked through the rain. To make it worse, the rain got heavier and heavier as I walked through it. By the time I reached the traffic junction outside Fu Lu Shou, my hair was completely drenched and rain was practically rolling down my cheeks.

With all the stuff I have on hand, assessments and auditions and emotional pains, I was on the brink of letting tears roll down and out of no where this kind lady "bumped" into me to offer me her umbrella. She walked me all the way to my bus stop before she went to the mrt station.

This country could do more of this kind of love.

signing off~DE XIN

WHERE'D YOU GO

2010-04-23T10:41:00.002+08:00

I can't stand it. I miss you like insane and it's driving me nuts. I tried to find reasons to get angry at you but I can't seem to stay angry with you each time for more than 5 minutes. I tried to distract myself from all the things I have on hand but each time I'm alone, not doing or thinking about anything, you start to flood my mind.

I gave myself excuses like, "maybe you fell for the guy in the phone and not the guy you met" but your face starts to haunt my mind and I can't forget the times you pick me up and send me back home safely each time we meet up. The conversations we had, the awkward moments you claim to like and...the bear.

I've detached that bear from my phone for about a week now but I just cannot forget that incident. It may not have been the most major event in my life (uh, obviously not) but the sweetness behind it, how it used to make me smile each time I recall, now makes me nostalgic.

I miss anticipating your sms replies, I miss laughing at your messages, making myself look like a fool laughing at her phone.

Remember that crocodile picture I sent you? Did you know I used it as my wallpaper for a few days until it made me miss you too much and I changed it. Each time I see any BMW 6 series on the road, I'll think of how you tricked me into believing you have one yourself.

This may not be killing me but it does make me feel empty, like something's missing. Normally for situations like that I will not admit to anyone, not even myself, that I'm interested in someone. But now..? When people ask me if I'm interested in anyone, I may try to hesitate as long as I could but I couldn't escape it; I end up mentioning you.

I may calmly say, "if he messages me I'll reply. If not, too bad for him." But it's a total lie. I'm not anywhere near calm on the inside. I'm thinking of the things you could be doing at present, your busy schedule, which prevented us to meet on top of my very own busy schedule, which led to all these.

I don't know if you'll ever read this. Something tells me you won't. But I miss you like insane. And it's driving me nuts.

signing off~DE XIN

WHAT'S HAPPENING AROUND ME

2010-04-22T18:41:00.003+08:00

This feeling of peace and tranquility as I plant myself here at the frass, watching the world go by and cliques at other different spots on the frass, some just chilling and chatting, some watching a video on one of their laptops together.

All I'm missing is my cup of coffee.

Damn all these rehearsals, making me spend so much money on meals and snacks. But I guess something's gotta give. I'm learning so much on acting now it's exponentially increasing my interest in theatre.

It's been more than a week now and not once have I dreaded this rehearsal. Maybe 'cos it's my first acting show I'm helping with; something fresh, something to break routine. If not for the IP, I wouldn't be this tired.

No no, I'm not complaining about IP. I'm complaining about...having to do so many things at this moment. But then again, 2 more assessments are over this week, IP will be over after tonight and there will only be two more assessments before my musical theatre and acting auditions. By May 17th, I'M FREE to rot.

What should I do huh. For half of May and the whole of June. Find backstage jobs? I'll try. Ok, enough ranting. Maybe I can do a short nap, then I won't spend more money on more snacks.

signing off~DE XIN

AS CONTINUED

2010-04-22T09:40:00.002+08:00

Hokay, I went for Cloud 9's rehearsal and helped as FOH for the level 2 actors' IPs. Although I'm so damn super tired but I have to admit it was fun. I mean, what's more enjoyable than to see behind-the-scenes of a show live, right in front of you. Then, running around school just to bring people from one place to another for the IP show..

Ok, not around school. Just from Block F's lift lobby to the staircase outside H102.

All that, plus morning and afternoon classes...enough to make me go home, collapse into bed (sitting position) and stone for an hour. No kidding.

Now..I'm in the library trying to memorise lines. Gah. I wanted to sleep but I can't sleep at ease because of all these lines in front of me!!

signing off~DE XIN

SHOULD I?

2010-04-21T13:11:00.002+08:00

Oh how I love to blog in school whenever I'm bored 'cos that's when I have billions of things going through my mind. I'm craving for chocolate. Hmmm this stress period is so far the worst I've had and it's giving my weird cravings!

Tobi's revising stuff with us. Gah. Bored. I'm so tired I can just sleep now. I was even falling asleep during dance technique classes this morning. Tonight's not going to be any better! All the way till 11pm. LIKEWISE FOR TOMORROW. I can't believe I'm whining.

Cloud 9's rehearsal starts at 3 today. Should I go before I stand by for the level 2 acting's Individual Projects at 7.50pm? I really miss Cloud 9. It was totally tempting to go for Cloud 9's rehearsal yesterday if I didn't have to go for the IP's front of house meeting.

Ah well, I'll see how later.

signing off~DE XIN

LONER?

2010-04-20T17:40:00.002+08:00

I don't know about you but there are times where I just love being alone, undisturbed, untouched. No, I'm not usually like this. On normal basis I love spending time with my parents and close friends but actually I was never a crowd person. I don't like being around too many people.

Maybe that's why during classes I'm almost always at the side and I rarely interact with the rest. Very minimal. But when I'm alone with Yi Xin and/or Eva and/or Jia Rong, I can be as loud as hell or doing stupid things. I'm just more comfortable with small groups.

Even shopping. I almost always much prefer shopping during off-peak periods. Like weekday afternoons. And when I choose shops to enter, I almost always enter empty shops. If the shop has more than 3 people in one corner, I either don't enter the shop or I don't move to that corner,

But loner? Is it normal? For me to not want to talk or be with anyone sometimes? Just last night after going home I went straight to my room and started doing my stuff. I didn't talk to my friends on msn, I got agitated when my parents disturbed me (and I think they sensed it and eventually left me alone for the rest of the night) and I didn't even bother checking my phone.

I'm still lingering in that mood now if you have to ask. I'm all alone outside F305 and I'm actually enjoying it, happily munching on the milo cereal that came in that assessment goodie bag my school so generously gave. It's just so much more peaceful when I give myself alone time.

Don't get me wrong, I have my wild moments and it's not rare. I'm not emo, I'm just giving myself a break from the world. If I could I'd sip on my machiatto (IF IT'S NOT SO %@&$ING EXPENSIVE IN SINGAPORE) everyday and observe the world go by. There's just so much I can absorb, so much I can wonder.

Yes, I'm a thinker. And I'm not ashamed to be one.

signing off~DE XIN

CALCIUM MUCH?

2010-04-18T22:36:00.002+08:00

Over lunch today with Audrey, Cindi, Wilfred, Kezia, Ashley, Jesher and Chris, Wilfred pointed at Cindi's nails and said Cindi is lack of calcium.

I looked at my white painted nails and went, "woh, I have loads of calcium."

Only one person got the joke and laughed. Ashley.

signing off~DE XIN

JK ROWLING

2010-04-18T19:41:00.003+08:00

A friend sent me a video of JK Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech - June 5 2008 on Youtube and I am seriously dumbfounded by JK Rowling's level of intelligence! I KNEW she was smart and imaginative and all, to have came up with all those books but little did I know she could be SO inspiring in her speech!

Here are a few short quotes:

"There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction."

"Rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuild my life."

"Life is not a checklist of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life."

"Life is difficult and complicated and beyond anyone's control. And the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes."

"I think the willfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid."

"What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality."

"If you choose to use your status and influence to raise you voice on behalf of those who have no voice, if you choose to identify not only with the powerful but with the powerless, if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change."

"We have the power to imagine better"

"As is a tale, so is life. Not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters."

C'mon, you have to agree she's some powerful speaker!

signing off~DE XIN

PERTH

2010-04-18T17:14:00.002+08:00

Okok. I'm here to compile a list of things and places I wanna do/go/eat when I'm in Perth!!

Nando's

Broadway Pizza

Little Caesar's Pizza

Sienna's

Ciao Italia

Concas

Hyatt Buffet

Swan Valley

Harbour Town

Subiaco

People in Perth! Bring me around!

signing off~DE XIN

KARMA

2010-04-18T16:24:00.002+08:00

What goes around comes around, what goes up must come down.

Don't come crying and desiring to come back to me one day.

signing off~DE XIN

MUM+SISTER+BESTFRIEND

2010-04-17T23:27:00.003+08:00

This morning as I was rushing about to get ready to leave home for singing lessons in LASALLE, I conveniently took the waffle that had peanut butter spread and Mummy drove me off to school.

The story about me and your neighbourhood waffles is that when I was younger, I went to Yamaha for ballet lessons (for my first few years of ballet from the age of 3 to 7). Below Yamaha was this bakery that had your normal breads and pastries and such and also a corner where they placed their waffle machines. Alongside would be buckets of different spreads; blueberry jam, peanut butter, kaya, chocolate, strawberry, etc.

My favourites have always been blueberry jam and peanut butter. If I could I'd ask for a mix.

So on the way to school, Mummy asked, "your favourite is blueberry right? The lady said blueberry jam not ready so I said nevermind and just chose peanut butter."

I don't know how to describe this feeling. This....love? Understanding? Connection? I have NEVER told her my two favourite spreads. She just knew. Like how she knows what kind of food/snacks I like at different periods.

I love this lady in my life. My mum, my sister, my best friend.

signing off~DE XIN

ME AND MY MIND

2010-04-17T12:28:00.004+08:00

I remember how back then when I was still in Chung Cheng, I had to go back to school on Saturdays for either Co-Curriculum Activities (CCA) or remedial lessons. I. TOTALLY. DREADED. IT.

Now? Here in LASALLE, I have to come back to school on Saturdays for singing lessons and rehearsals which I have to help with backstage but somehow I enjoy it. In fact I looked forward to these two events today and rehearsal wasn't even compulsory for me.

I could've stayed in bed till noon and wake up just in time for lunch and rot my day away at home while waiting for time to go for CG but I didn't. Actually I didn't want to. I sprung out of bed at 10am, showered, got ready and Mummy sent me off to school. After singing with Ralph I happily scooted off next door for Cloud 9's rehearsal.

While singing it kept my mind off things 'cos I had to concentrate so hard. During cloud 9 I have to do the blocking and while I'm not blocking I'm happy laughing away at the scenes.

I guess this could do. I don't end up thinking too much.

signing off~DE XIN

PRIOR/ITY/ITIZE

2010-04-16T15:58:00.002+08:00

During ballet exam this arvo, something hit me real bad. Something about priorities in life.

Ok so. I can work my arse off to be the best at what I wanna do (with relations to my future career life) and hopefully succeed and earn big bucks/enjoy what I'm doing at my fullest BUT I lose all my friends and loves ones along the way after spending 99.9% on my work and 0.1% on people.

Also, I can put in all my efforts spreading as much love as I can all around me, making friends with everyone, always being there for every single friend with loads of love and support and earn loads of reputation and respect for the love I give BUT I have barely anything to live on because I did not train in any form of profession to earn proper money.

Lastly, I can choose to give as much love as I can to a close group of friends and at the same time use the remaining energy (which is probably half left) to train in a preferred profession and end up being mediocre in everything. In other words, jack of all trades, master of none.

So we've got a scale here. With spreading love to all at extreme left, and gaining ultimate success in whichever profession at extreme right and mediocre right smack in the middle. I know Jesus would be extreme left, beyond the scale even because He doesn't need the money/profession 'cos God provides. Satan would be extreme right, also beyond the scale, because he hates love.

Where would you wanna be?

I wish I could be at anywhere on the point of the scale, anywhere but middle. I wanna be able to be the best at the profession I choose to work on and at the same time give as much love as I can to everyone, even more to those closed ones. BUT HOW?!

I must find balance. Somehow. God, please lead me in this life that was never mine but always Yours.

signing off~DE XIN

PRIORITY?

2010-04-15T23:32:00.002+08:00

Yesterday after Design and Technology, most dancers went off to practise for this morning's contemporary exam and where did I go?

F305 for Cloud 9 rehearsal.

Today after Salsa, most dancers went off to think of tomorrow's ballet exam and where did I go?

F305 for Cloud 9 rehearsal, followed by Creative Cube for The Wonderful World of Dissocia.

Somehow...I don't feel guilty. Maybe 'cos...these things help me get my mind off things. The way Betty is so beautifully tall and sexy in his/her corset. The way Cathy is so freaking cute in his/her metallic purple dress and 2 ponytails. They make me go hysterical, make me actually relax from the busy, tensed up and emotional life I'm in at the moment.

And, the thing about painkillers. They give you the ability to push yourself to your maximum (or maybe even more) when you need to and that's great, REALLY great. But..the moment those painkillers wear off, it totally sucks to discover new injuries because you wouldn't have know you pushed yourself too much while you were on your painkillers.

Oh well.

signing off~DE XIN

ESCAPE

2010-04-14T16:41:00.003+08:00

It's funny how the only thing that's taking up most of my time is what's keeping my mind off all the stress I'm going through.

Oh the irony.

Cloud 9 is like my distraction. An imaginary world where I escape into.

signing off~DE XIN

LATELY..

2010-04-13T16:39:00.003+08:00

Ok, enough emo-ing. Life hasn't been very easy on me for the past week or two. Or three. Three auditions, helping out with my acting seniors' rehearsals and exams coming up.

Have already had a few major break downs within these two weeks. And also days where I literally come home, go straight up to my room, dump everything on the floor without bothering to pack them nicely and just collapse into my bed crying. How did I manage to let what people say about me affect me? What happened to just trying the best I can and not caring about untrue and nonconstructive things people have to say?

Audition for dance is over, actually. Ever since that audition (last Tuesday) my body has yet to stop aching/feeling sore. My inner thighs, especially. Just when they were getting slightly better after the audition, I over-stretched them again while doing my grand jete. Bravo.

Cloud 9 rehearsals have started. Every weekday except Tuesdays I'll be in school till 7 plus in the evening. Mainly helping the seniors if they forget their lines but occasionally doing stuff like, holding the door open so that they can literally zoom off stage haha. OH and costume searching was fun. No, watching them try on the costume was fun-er. Especially Kevin and Chad cross dressing..oooohh it can't get any funnier. For now Chad has this corset thingy and his moobs look bigger than my boobs.

I'm supposed to help out in my dance seniors' dance shows as Front of House and Assistant Stage Managers but I REALLY CAN'T. I'm so packed with stuff I don't have time to practise/revise for my exams! My audition preparation is not even up to standard yet. Harris!!!

I guess this is the life of a performing artist huh. Actually, I think what I'm going through is just peanuts as compared to what professional performing artists are actually going through out there. So I guess. I gotta just suck it up and draw strength from God and make it through somehow! I know God's with me, right, God? :)

People ask me why I let the whole world know about my life. I guess I just need somewhere to rant? Why not in private? Hmm. 'Cos I'm proud of my life? I'm proud being a performing artist in the making, I'm proud of being God's child/princess/instrument. And people should also know the life of a performing artist AND a Christian ain't exactly that smooth sailing.

Even people in First Class seats have to go through the same turbulence as those in economy class, no?

I wonder what he thinks of me. Or rather, does he even think about me?

signing off~DE XIN

INSECURITY

2010-04-13T15:55:00.002+08:00

Was listening to Bette Midler's The Rose while I was in bus 14 on my way home.

That same one particular line keeps repeating in my head.

Non-stop.

"That love is for the lucky and the strong."

When? When did I become this insecure? What happened to the old me where I so daringly fell in love with just anyone that has interesting personalities and catches my eye?

What's with his fear inside of me? When my heart's been broken too many times that maybe it's about time I got used to it?

But then again. Like what Kelly Clarkson sang about.

"My heart can't possibly break when it wasn't even whole to start with."

signing off~DE XIN

PIANO? NAH, DANCE.

2010-02-02T20:52:00.001+08:00

I recently got scores for Clair de Lune from Jia Rong ('cos I was supposed to print for him but i printed one for myself too :P) and I decided to give it a try today at the piano at home. I tried for less than one quarter of the song and walked away.

Daddy: "Huh? Liddat only ah? Dong dong a bit then no more?"
Me: "That's why I'm not learning piano. I'm doing dance."

=P

signing off~DE XIN

LIFE = ASSHOLE

2010-01-25T21:21:00.002+08:00

I could understand her exploding when I accidentally passed a thoughtless comment but when I thought back at the incident and saw the magnitude of her explosion, I couldn't seem to find a reason as to why.

True, the thoughtless comment could have been thought through before blurted out but even so, a normal person wouldn't have had a reaction as big as hers. Thinking she was just being ridiculous, I tried my best to push that incident to the back of my head.

Later that night, she came back and told me a situation she'd went through, which was totally unrelated to what had happened earlier. But as I slowly digested the information she had fed me with, I suddenly came to realise why she had been so quick to anger; life had been shitting at her.

It's easy for people like, maybe, me, to push any shit life throws at me away before that shit starts to stink your whole life but what about loved ones? What do you do when they come crying at you about the shit life has been giving him/her? If only it was that easy to help that loved one push his/her shit away.

What could I do? I could only cry with her, hug her multiple times, offer her a listening ear, hoping that through all these she'll gain some strength in pushing her shit in her life away before it gets too smelly and start afresh.

signing off~DE XIN

CUTENESS!!!

2009-12-30T14:34:00.001+08:00

超可愛BB - Roller Babies @ Yahoo! Video

THIS IS DAMN CUTE! LIKE HAMAHGOSH!

signing off~DE XIN

FIRSTS?

2009-12-26T21:46:00.002+08:00

I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE OMGOSH! I can't upload photos 'cos I've reached my photo uploading quota :( but I'm still gonna blog! 'Cos these few days have been a real blast!

It started on Thursday night. There was a Secondary school slash Christmas countdown party at Kai Liang's place. I was kinda over-dressed but OH WELL I still enjoyed myself. Had some good food (that steak was really awesome) and good catch-up. I learnt dai dee too! Although, uh, I still get confused what's bigger.

We totally missed the countdown HAHA 'cos by the time the cake was out, it was 00:04am already LOL. Cake was good too. Ahhh it was really a great meet up. :D

Christmas day! I had so much fun giving out the brownies I baked (which were too sweet, damn). After service, I went home to start cooking for Christmas dinner! 'Cos my Godparents and my little baby Godsister were coming over for Christmas dinner!

It was a spread. Tuna, egg, mayo and cucumber on bread/cracker, pork ribs, apricot chicken, beef stew, chicken noodles soup, home made peanut butter chocoalte cups and fruits. All for only 5 adults! Not forgetting white wine :D

Christmas night. Nancy came over my place! We spent the last hour of Christmas playing mini monopoly. I lost very devastatingly. Very obviously, I'm not a business woman. At all. Then. My birthday came! I got my birthday present! A holga micro 110 camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I super love it! Seriously! I now have to go find for film.

Anyone know where to get holga films? For micro 110?

Then I was supposed to go to Parkway with Mummy at 11.30am to buy my birthday cake but I only woke up at 11.30am HAH and so I showered and started putting on my make up. The moment I was done with my mascara, there was a knock on my door. I thought it was my mum. Then another knock. So I thought it was my part time maid. Then a multiple series of knocks. Hmmm. Went to open my door and...

IT WAS Y2K! I was SERIOUSLY surprised! So Surprised I didn't know what to say! At all! I just started to tear, then, I just cried like nobody's business! Went down the stairs with them and GUESS WHAT! MCBIRTHDAY! AHAHAHAHAHA

There was happy meal for every single one! Including my parents! And Diana's pasta. IT WAS REALLY GOOD! Ah. My gosh. Then we had my cake. Chocolate cake! It was really good! Then we ran out of things to do LOL. We ended up playing heart attack, which stopped halfway because Alvin and the Chipmunks was on TV. Even people who thought they were irritating, fell in love with the movie!

Everyone slowly left. Kezia was the last 'cos she was going for a dinner at 7 so she chilled my place for a while. Oh and I got my present from them! A photographer who taeks photos of dancers in the pool. A book of his photo collections. A few....explicite photos but hey, the idea's still damn cool! And I love it!

After she left, my parents and I changed and went out for my birthday dinner at Vivocity. Crystal Jade! Peking duck! Some ginseng soup thingy, scallop in salty egg sauce, spinach with century, salted and normal eggs, char siew, and mee sua fried with the duck meat from the Peking duck. The three of us also shared mango pomelo sago with grass jelly. It was good! And when they found out it was my birthday (thanks to Mummy) they gave us complimentary mochis! Nice!

Ahh. I had an awesome birthday. Totally awesome. Many many thanks to all those who made it so awesome. Especially those who came to my place! Nancy! And Y2K! :D

signing off~DE XIN

CELINE DION - I'M YOUR ANGEL

2009-12-23T13:50:00.001+08:00

No mountains too high, for you to climb
All you have to do is have some climbing faith, oh yeah
No rivers too wide, for you to make it across
All you have to do is believe it when you pray

And then you will see, the morning will come
And everyday will be bright as the sun
All of your fears cast them on me
I just want you to see...

I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel
And when all hope is gone, i'm here
No matter how far you are, i'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
I'm your angel

I saw the teardrops, and i heard you cry
All you need is time, seek me and you shall find
You have everything and you're still lonely
It doesn't have to be this way, let me show you a better day

And then you will see, the morning will come
And all of your days will be bright as the sun
So all of your fears, just cast them on me
How can i make you see...

I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel
And when all hope is gone, i'm here
No matter how far you are, i'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
I'm your angel

And when it's time to face the storm
I'll be right by your side
Grace will keep up safe and warm
And i know we will survive

And when it seems as if your end is drawing near
Don't you dare give up the fight
Just put your trust beyond the sky...

I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel
And when all hope is gone, i'm here
No matter how far you are, i'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
I'm your angel

I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel
And when all hope is gone, i'm here
No matter how far you are, i'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
I'm your angel

Was listening to some Christmas songs and this song fell into one of my collections. Very..heartwarming. When I heard the chorus I thought it was just but another love song till I actually went to look up on the lyrics and hey, it's a song from God's point of view.

Amazing. Amazin Love, He is.

signging off~DE XIN

HAMMIE, WHEN IT WAS STILL MINE

2009-12-14T21:29:00.003+08:00

Was sorting out some photos and I chanced upon this one. Memories! The times I cursed and sweared at its slow pick-up (despite it being manual), small wheels (despite its height), colour (black is probably the worst colour to get in Perth due to all the DUST) and lightness (its metal shell was really thin).

Was a good 1 year and 4 months of drive, nonetheless. A great (as in, unforgettable) start in my driving experience.

SUBARU IMPREZA'S MORE OF MY KIND NOW!

signing off~DE XIN

WHAT'S ANOTHER YEAR

2009-12-04T01:38:00.002+08:00

Being a spoilt brat during those younger days, it wasn't surprising if people in school hated me. Celebrating my birthday then would be out of the question.

When i got to Perth and met friends whom I thought were sincerely nice to me, my birthday was only celebrated once out of the 3.5 years. As if not enough, it felt like everyone, except the planner who was my best friend from Perth then, celebrated only for obligation.

It's been half a year since I got back from Perth and I've definitely had my good and bad times. The time of the year is around the corner but why is it that i feel no different from the past few years? That I'm only excited for Christmas and that I actually fear for my birthday? Is it cos of the many broken promises? Those "I promise I'll celebrate your birthday this year!" promises that were broken all to easily?

I have to admit my church friends here are probably a million times more loving and that they've shown genuine care and concern for me even when I wasn't around.

But they are not the ones I fear.

I fear for new broken promises. Promises made this year.

Don't promise me anything. What's another year without celebrations anyway? Am i not used to it already?

signingoff~DEXIN

PARENTS' WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

2009-12-02T22:25:00.001+08:00

It was my parents' wedding anniversary exactly a week ago and my parents and I headed down toCapital Restaurant for dinner! Original plan was to celebrate the end of my exams (haha) but since their wedding anniversary was also near, we decided to just combine them and have it on their wedding anniversary.

:)

Some fortune bag I think. Nice!

Scallop! Whatever sauce they used, it was INSANELY good. Scallop was fresh too!

Shark's fin. I didn't touch it.

Pigeon!

Smallest wings I've ever eaten. It was nice and crispy and juicy. Roasted to perfection! Very interesting marinade.

Crab meat noodles. Mummy was going on and on about how awesome it was when she first ate it but when I ate it..hmm. Normal? Maybe the essence of it was in the soup but the taste was still. Normal. Not as great as I expected it to be. Portion was really small too.

Abolone, vegetables, mushroom, sea cucumber and some fish thingy (yu piao). Nice :)

HERE COMES THE STAR OF THE NIGHT!

Ohhhhmygoshhh. Love it love it love it. The first time I ate this thing (Shanghai Hairy Crabs) was in Shanghai with Nancy at my neighbour's dad's apartment in Shanghai. The ones I ate in Shanghai was obviously 10 times better in terms of freshness and juiciness and amount of eggs. But this is probably the best hairy crab you can get in Singapore. Probably.

Dessert! Glutinous rice balls in ginger soup. The ginger soup was shiokness. Enough ginger to make me go "AHHHH".

After dinner, we walked back to...one of the buildings in Chinatown haha I don't know the name =_=. I wanted to have dessert at the stall I always go to but it was closed so we went to the one beside it instead.
Daddy's sesame paste. I didn't try.

Mummy's durian chendol. Durian was screamingly fresh!

My yam paste. Adding sweet corn was..weird. But other than that, it was ok. Smooth enough and it has the minimal fragrance to make it nice.

Won't go back to that dessert stall again.

Life's much less busy now. Catching up with rest but can't really stand being so..stationary? Went to jog yesterday. Felt good. Didn't jog long, more of a circuit thingy.

So long!

signing off~DE XIN

GLAD YOU'RE GONE

2009-11-29T22:44:00.003+08:00

Since you've been gone I've lost a chip on my shoulder,
Since you've gone I feel like I've gotten older,
And now you've gone it feels like as if the whole wide world is my stage
And now you've gone it's like I've been let out of my cage.

There's nothing cool about you at all.
I've got a life ahead of me.

signing off~DE XIN

HAPPILY BUSY, BUSILY HAPPY

2009-10-25T17:27:00.004+08:00

If you've been wondering why I haven't been blogging, the video below is the reason why.

It's tiring, boring (when we have to wait for hours for certain stuff), frustrating (when people don't cooperate) BUT as a whole it's really fun. Even though we stay in school till around 10pm in the night and come back to school again at around 8.30am in the morning, I can say I somehow still enjoy it 'cos we get to spend so much time with each other. We as in we from across Dance, Music and Theatre.

Please do come down and show us your support. This production is FREE and OPEN to the public 'cos its OUTDOORS but if you really want a seat (instead of jumping around with us), you can always let me know and I'll reserve tickets (which are also FREE) for you.

Thanks!

signing off~DE XIN

TEDDY BEAR

2009-10-13T23:31:00.003+08:00

You ask me why I don't blog about you but actually I do.

Just not here. ;)

signing off~DE XIN

LITTLE PRINCESS' 1ST BIRTHDAY

2009-10-11T16:51:00.001+08:00

Last Sunday a few of us in my mother's side of the family met up at Germaine's cafe to celebrate Baby Christine's first birthday.The food.

Someone's busy eating!

Aaah cuteness.

She kept crying when her mother's not in sight!!

Too damn cute, I swear. She was at my place just last night and she kept staring at me. I didn't really wanna play with her 'cos I was all sweaty and smelly and tired so I just entertained her from afar.

This aside. School? As usual except I feel more loved every day :). More often than not you'll find me smiling myself silly while using my phone. I've never been this excited to go to school everyday. LASALLE's awesome enough to start with, it has now gotten even better.

Go figure!

signing off~DE XIN

IN SUMMARY

2009-10-03T23:29:00.001+08:00

SUPER tired :(

Stronger =/

MUCH happier :)

signing off~DE XIN

LASALLE SO FAR

2009-09-17T21:39:00.025+08:00

Finally blogger is back to normal. So here I am blogging about school!

This is who we are from the dance class.

Week 4:

There's this thing between me and Aisyah. Like. Mountains. And. Chickens.

Before my arms got way bigger. Miss those tender arms.

I LOVE THIS JACKET!

Charmain and I =)

Week 5:

Before lunch time concert where almost everyone slept. Me included.

Charms and I again, before the photoshoot (first picture).

Lovely sky huh.

A few of us at Harry's bar. Met some of my secondary school friends there too.

Week 7:

AHAHA. Love this.

Some of the less-seen-in-photos people.

HAH!

Love this too.

On Friday, after watching a play, a few of us went for supper. We were already super duper uber full but I just HAD to get the yam paste dessert.
Tahdah. We almost finished it. ^^

Really love this school. Surrounded by really awesome people. Taught by almost-awesome lecturers. AHAHA.

signing off~DE XIN

BRIGHT FUTURE

2009-08-19T21:15:00.000+08:00

Daddy was driving his friend to our house the other day and we started a chat. He was asking what I'm doing now and when I said I was doing dance in LASALLE, his immediate response was "WOAH! GOOD! BRIGHT FUTURE!"

Honestly, it's really comforting to know that there's SOMEONE in Singapore, of my parents' generation, who's very supportive of such dreams instead of the normal "WHAT!" or "WHY?!" or "YOU SHOULD AT LEAST FINISH YOUR STUDIES NOW LAH!"

Studies ain't for everyone, just like how arts may not be for everyone.

signing off~DE XIN

FORGOTTEN MELODIES

2009-08-15T00:03:00.003+08:00

Away from the main shopping crowd, in one small theatre held a very small-scaled concert. It's amazing watching the fingers move at speed of light. Makes me wonder how fast can a human's finger go.

Benjamin Lim is crazy.

signing off~DE XIN

SOUND OF MUSIC?

2009-08-12T21:21:00.000+08:00

Shujian showed me this Youtube video just a while ago. It is. Shit. Cool.

signing off~DE XIN

ALL MY FEARS SWEPT AWAY

2009-08-10T23:57:00.003+08:00

Hillsong Live - You Hold Me Now
On that day when I see
All that You have for me
When I see You face to face
There surrounded by Your grace

All my fears swept away
In the light of your embrace
When Your love is all I need
And forever I am free

Where the streets are made of gold
In Your presence here to hold
Let these songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suff'ring You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

In this life fin'lly stand
Through my joy and my pain
Knowing there's a greater day
There's a hope that never fails

When You're name is lifted high
And forever praises last
For the glory of Your Name
I'll be livin' for the day

When the world has finally cease
All creation rest in peace
Let these songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suff'ring You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

Was just listening to this song and it instantly brought tears to my eyes. So encouraging, so comforting.

signing off~DE XIN

TOO DAMN COOL

2009-08-08T00:53:00.003+08:00

I have to say. MY SCHOOL IS TOO DAMN COOL! They had a "Welcome Back To School" party this evening and it started with a...what do you call that..drums band? A bit like marching band but no marching and HELL LOADS cooler with 3 guys at the back lifting the largest drums up and down while playing them. Not forgetting a dance performance by the level 1-3 dance students (which distinctively showed who were the hiphop and non-hiphop dancers) and FREE FOOD. Dessert was pathetic but HECK.

My school is too damn cool. I'm loving it more and more by day.

Even though lessons are 8.30am-7pm Mondays to Fridays and we have to dance for 3 to 3.5 hours a day depending on the days and do push ups while almost-side-splitting.

signing off~DE XIN

HOLA!

2009-08-03T21:53:00.000+08:00

Oh my wow. I just have to wait another 5 days and this blog would have been left untouched for a month! I stopped blogging halfway through my Sydney trip because I fell sick (to the point of nauseousness and almost fainting) and when I got back to Perth, it was constant packing. 3.5 years of stuff all packed and brought back to Singapore.

As if not enough, when I got back to Singapore I had to pack my room because I was going to refurnish my room (new wardrobe and bed and side table and swivel chair coming this Saturday!!!).

School has OFFICIALLY STARTED! I have to admit I was shit scared. Unlike your normal primary/secondary school, college or university where it's kind of a norm to attend, LASALLE is where every single person fought to get in, myself included. You'll naturally come to realise every single student who made it in LASALLE is fighting for his/her dream and you can pretty much say the whole environment is very competitive (adding on to the naturally competitive educational culture in Singapore).

Yet again, if you choose to look at it in a different perspective, every single student in LASALLE share the same dream; to make people out there realise art is just but another form of communication less used. We come together with the same dream and hence you can say we understand each other better? Or at least, to a certain extent, we often look out for each other for only we can understand each other best (the discrimination and the exclusiveness people think of us as).

I know it's only the first day of school but I do really hope it gets better from here. OR AT LEAST I hope it doesn't get dry. My school's cool. For the very first time in my whole 19 years, 7 months and 9 days of life, I ENJOYED SCHOOL!

signing off~DE XIN

WOAH!!!

2009-07-08T21:53:00.017+08:00

SECOND DAY! Omgosh omgosh so GOOD but yet so tired. 9am-8.30pm man! Started with Brian Houston preaching in the morning ralley. I slep through most of the combined stream, though HAHA super tired lah, my gosh. Then was the electives session at 1.30!

I went for the worship session with Diana and Wayne. Main arena. FOURTH ROW FROM THE FRONT!!!Sooo near!

Darlene Zschech! I'm still so amazed at her singing. Seriously.

Louie Giglio! Can you believe he's already 51. My gosh. He's just so amazing AND funny.

Went for the Dance and Dramatic Arts stream. I LEARNT SO MUCH! I couldn't believe it. Choreography, how you should choose wisely according to the event and song and audiences, how you should choreograph in order to maximise your dancers' abilities, how amazing is that.

Night ralley. We moved a bit closer to the centre. Just a bit. But made a whole lot of difference.
I just love the projections.

Jentezen Franklin spoke at the night ralley.
He. Is. HILARIOUS. And so amazing. I learn so much from his sermons every single time.

Not to mention the worship was always super impactful. Did I mention Chris Tomlin led the worship stream's worship as well? He is AWESOME!

After the conference, the bus took us back to our apartment/hotel and a big bunch of us walked over to Hurricanes for ribs at Darling Harbour.
The huge bunch. Plus 3 more smaller tables. You can imagine the size.

Eunice and I!

Octopus salad. A$22. BUT IT WAS SO GOOD OMGOSH THE DRESSING WAS TO.DIE.FOR!!!

FULL RACK OF PORK RIBS Omgosh YUM!

Walked back after dinner with Eunice, Lijin and Rebecca. Got bubble tea at the dessert store near our apartment/hotel. It was actually better than EasyWay's! I guess. I don't have to go far to get bubble tea!

signing off~DE XIN

FINALLY THE OPENING!

2009-07-07T23:11:00.025+08:00

4th day in Sydney already. Time passes really fast, hey. Gah. Anyways! Wayne, Diana and I actually wanted to go down to Paddington Market but apparently it was closed so we decided to go back there on Saturday so that we can not only go to Paddington Market but also shop around that area as well.

Since our original plan was postponed, we went for Din Tai Fung instead!!! But we reached there at 11am when it only opened at 11.30. So what did we do? SHOP. I got a pair of shoes, and so did Wayne. Walked a bit more and then we were back at Din Tai Fung!Aaah. Spoons and bowls on display. Miss those stuff.

8 xiao long baos (soup dumplings with pork meat)!!!

My Dan Dan Mian (noodles in spicy peanut sauce). Sooo good omgosh. Lurved it.

Diana and Wayne ordered pork and prawn dumpling soup. The soup was gooooood. Dumplings were totally awersome as well.

They also ordered the prawn fried rice. I've tried it before so I already knew it would be good =D.

Taro dumplings!!! My favourite! Gah I had three of those haha Diana doesn't take taro and Wayne only took one. Omgosh omgosh I can hyperventilate and die happy HAHA.

We continued shopping, where I bought another BAG for only $36! Then we decided to walk over to QVB but along the way we saw a sports shop on sale because their lease was ending. EVERYTHING HALF PRICE.

Guess what I got. A pair of Puma black with silver stripes high cut sneakers.Originally $140 but I only paid $70 for it. I also got another top, originally $80 (that's insane) but I only paid $40! I was dead happy.

We totally walked through QVB and came out the other side. Along the way, we walked pass a cupcake stall. Diana got a choc-choc cupcake. I got...
Cheesecaaaaaake!!!!!! Totally.Splendid.And.Awesome. Best I've had so far in Australia. YUM.

We walked over to Sports Girl. Well guess what. I BOUGHT ANOTHER PAIR OF SHOES. Bright gold high cut sneakers that can be folded and buttoned down to look like a normal pair of sneakers with a super long tongue. $70. (You can check it out at https://shop.sportsgirl.com.au/index.html and go to shoes, flats, and click on "New Bling Hi Top" and mine will be the GOLD one.) I'm going insane. I swear. And I haven't found a nice wallet yet.

We rushed back to the apartment/hotel because I was supposed to meet Genesis to get Diana's and my arm band for Hillsong. Went back to the room, rested for a while and down we went to the bus, set off at 4pm to ACER ARENA!

I WAS SO EXCITED!
AS HUGE AS EVER!

Did I mention HOW COOL the OPENING was!
The lights flashed to a classical song. Can't remember the name of that song! Dammit.

This Cross was hung right in the middle of the arena. It was SO COOL. In fact, it was the last photo I managed to capture before I was chided for using the camera. Nonsense stuff. There was no notice or announcement stating we can't use cameras!

After a good sermon (with very awesome worship sessions), our team left for dinner. A few of us (say, 20 odd?) went to Super Bowl.
I had Original Recipe Combination Congee. There was chicken balls, liver, intestine and whatnots. I've never had anything like that before! I totally enjoyed it! Ohoh I also had like green tea milkshake with pearls from Y2K Supercafe. Not baaad.

Walked over to Woolworths after dinner to buy some stuff and then back to the apartment/hotel. Now? Tiiiiiired.

signing off~DE XIN

DAY 3, MORE FOOD!

2009-07-06T21:43:00.011+08:00

I had to move out of the room I was sleeping in the past two nights and check-in to another room. Waited for Diana and Wayne to arrive so that I can let Daian move in to the room we're sharing while she's here with Wayne. Wayne's sharing a room with Kah Hon and Jeremy, though.

So they came around 3 and when they put their stuff down, we headed out for super late lunch hahaha. I was dying for Din Tai Fung but it was already closed because of the time so we decided to go over to Capitol for Harry's Pie.Top left (clockwise): prawn tiger, cheese and bacon tiger, chilli dog. Tiger means mashed potatoes and mashed peas. The mashed peas actually tasted good! It tasted like the pea snack. My chilli dog was hot dog with chilli con carne. It was spicy. IT WAS ACTUALLY SPICY. Satisfying to the maaax.

We walked around a bit, I bought EasyWay bubble tea (looks like I'm gonna keep to my bubble-tea-everyday-in-Sydney tradition) before heading back to the hotel/apartment to meet with the whole team to head down for dinner.

We had dinner at a buffet place, Garden Buffet, in Star City (equivalent to Burswood in Perth but probably a bit better).
Aimee on the table, with the boys terrorizing her HAH.

The WIDE spread. You see one stretch, then there's another stretch, and then a third last stretch.

Pizza, baked pasta and ravioli/spaghetti with carbonara sauce.

Bottom (clockwise): lamb, pork crackle, I-don't-know-what-and-I-didn't-touch-in-the-end, osso buco, beef (really awesome although a bit dry) and something that tasted like spam.

Dessert!!!!!! Top (clockwise): two different triffles (THEY WERE SO GOOD OMGOSH), two different jellies (reminded me of those childhood jelly-in-the-cup), passionfruit cheesecake (it was SOUR?!), some citrus-y cake which was AWESOME, strawberry shortake (I think and it was not bad), caramel eclairs (not bad) and brownie in the middle which was SO SWEET it nearly killed me.

That wasn't all I had. I also had tiramisu (the coffee taste was too strong and there was too much cream and not enough sponge fingers and slightly dry), sticky date pudding, apple and rubharb crumble with custard and watermelon. OH and a coke float. Yummm.

Joshua Lau did something cool with his forks and some toothpicks.
Same concept as the bird beak balancing on the tip toy most people played as a kid.

Walked over to Woolworths with a few of them to do grocery shopping. Back at the apartment now. Had some fruits. Super full. Gah.

signing off~DE XIN

DAY 2!

2009-07-05T22:18:00.020+08:00

Omgosh I. Am. So. Tired. But the cause of this tiredness is definitely worth it. Was supposed to wake up at 7 this morning but I OVERSLEPT by FORTY FIVE minutes. Rushed like mad and managed to meet the rest at the lobby at 8.30am before heading down to the train station to take a train down to Paramatta to take a shuttle bus to HILLSONG ON THE HILLS!

On the double-decker train..The boys.

They were HILARIOUS ok! Leonel was playing with that small window thingy and then Chris decided to open it for him and -wahlah- Leonel got whacked in the head by the window. AHAHAHA I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING OK!

At Paramatta station, we scouted for some breakfast. I bought HAZELNUT CHOCOLATE STRUDEL at some German bakery. Oh.My.Gosh. It was. SO GOOD. Plus a long macchiato that was so strong and yet so smooth. It was not too hot either. Finished it in minutes. Nice lah.

There was this cupcakes store where Pia stood outside, waiting for it to open. Once they opened, Pia was the first to rush in HAHA.
$2 for one cupcake. I think it's insane. But they looked cute lah.

The last Hillsong shuttle bus came but it was super packed and guess what! They immediately sent another shuttle bus down! Talk about love.

When we reached the church, it just brought back so much fond memories. A year.
I can still clearly remember where I sat a year ago. And how Jiahuei dragged a few of us all the way to the front just to take pictures with Jonathan Douglas when service ended =_=.

Hillsong bus! I so love it!

After alighting from the shuttle bus back to Paramatta train station, Eunice, Leonel, a few other UWA girls and I took the train to city central for Harry's Pie.

I got the curry pie with cheese sauce.

Ooomgooosh. It was just awesome. To top it all off, I went to Passion Flower to get sticky rice ice cream. It's just like eating pulut hitam with cream but frozen. Aaaaaahhhhhh......

We met up with the rest at Paddy's Market. Got some track pants for myself and nothing more. It felt like Fremantle mix Shanghai mix pasar malam in there. So I was out with the boys (Jim, Chris, Leonel) in no time.

While we were out, I saw this little kid feeding the seagulls.
DAMN CUTE LAH!

We decided to move on to Queen Victoria Building (QVB) but along the way, I managed to get my EasyWay bubble tea!
Double pearl. How AWESOME LAH!

Met the UWA girls on the way to QVB but as we were making our way there we somehow lost all the girls but Eunice. The boys went on their hunt for nice jackets while Eunice and I just walked around.

Bumped into Lynn, Karen and Yee Mei at Nine West. I managed to get a handbag! Originally $189, reduced to $89. Karen got the same one too. Next hunt: wallet.

Eunice went back while I was at Nine West. Lynn, Karen, Yee Mei and I continued shopping at Supre. I bougth SCARVES. New addiction. It's just amazing how I can still use them in Singapore where the malls are CRAZILY cold. Did I mention the Supre here has SEVEN STOREYS?! But only the first two levels were open because we went in when they were about to close.

Four of us went back to the apartment to put our shoppings down and lazed on the sofabed while watching the new Hillsong DVD; Faith+Hope+Love. Totally. Awesome. Took us a while to get our butts off the beds and onto the streets again for dinner.

Dinner was at Darling Harbour. We wanted to go Hurricane for ribs but we had to wait 1-1.5 hours for a place! So we walked on, wanted to go Pancakes on The Rocks (DH branch) but there was a queue. So we walked on again and decided on Waterfront Grill.

Nachos! Not bad lah. Wasn't fantastic though.

Lynn's greek salad with chicken. The chicken was SO GOOD. Tasty and tender.

Yee Mei and Veli's rib and rump. They were struggling to finish towards the end haha!

Karen and I shared a 300g sirloin steak (medium rare) with mashed potato. We chose the garlic butter with truffle-something sauce. The sauce was TREMENDOUSLY AWESOME!

The steak was tender....but would've been better if it was juicier. Karen only took 1/3 of the steak lah! I struggled to finish my larger part. Don't ask about the mash (which wasn't very good actually). We didn't manage to finish it.

After dinner, we walked over to Lindt Chocolate Cafe. I got a cup of hot dark chocolate. SO. FREAKING. WICKEDLY. AWESOME. Nice and smooth and aromatic and EVERYTHING NICE.

They had a wide display of cakes as well which I daren't touch 'cos I was so full. Ohoh!
And macaroons (which they call Delis I think). ICE CREAM TOO! But their ice creams didn't have much variety.

On our way back (where we got lost numerous times over just one bridge), Karen returned a DVD and rented another one. DID I MENTION HOW COOL THE RENTING MACHINE IS! It's just like a vending machine! Well, almost.

So it's a machine with a touch screen. You pick the DVD you want to rent/buy, swipe your credit/debit-master card, and the DVD comes out! You return the DVD into the machine itself too! It's dead cool. I swear.

So we watched Role Model. I didn't pay attention haha 'cos I was using my laptop talking to the mother. Now everyone's asleep except for me and my room mate. Which reminds me. I should take a picture of the apartment. Maybe tomorrow. =D

signing off~DE XIN

ONE YEAR ON...

2009-07-04T23:02:00.004+08:00

Aaah it's been a year. Boarded the Qantas flight at the Domestic Airport (less messy this time but I still loathe it) with Darrel and met Melvin over here at the Sydney airport. Took a cab down together to the airport where we dropped off at the wrong spot and walked a big circle thanks to Melvin HAH.

Dinner was at the same place as where we ate a year ago with the team.CHINA TOWN!

Superbowl! With Y2K desserts beside it. Oooh memories.

I didn't have to look at the menu to decide what I wanted to have. Mummy's jealous, by the way, HAHA. Fried rice cakes shanghainese style with XO chilli sauce. Yummy stuff.

I ordered bubble tea at a store near EasyWay (it was closed boohoo) and when I asked for double pearls, the lady gave me a look of doubt. When I got my drink, I figured why the look. The pearls took up 3/4 the cup. IF ONLY SINGAPORE'S DOUBLE PEARLS COULD BE HALF THIS AMOUNT!

signing off~DE XIN

COLD, RAINY AND VERY WINDY WINTER

2009-06-29T16:50:00.002+08:00

It's amazing how winter can bring out the extremes in you. It can either make you warm, fuzzy and cuddly with the heater in doors or just make you cold right through the bones. I've experienced both. I enjoyed neither. Not even the warm fuzzy and cuddly extreme.

Had lunch and coffee with Mishi just this afternoon. Talked about life. Life can make you go nuts but then again you have the choice of handling it the right way. I don't know how thankful I am to have God holding on to me whenever I fall. Seems easier to fall during winter, hey. The wet and the cold. Urgh.

Sometimes I really don't know where I'd be if not for God. Maybe I would have gone back to my old ways, cursing and swearing, probably even relying on tobacco to escape the sourness spreading through every single vein in me. But it's God's Love, forgiveness and Grace that comes running after the sourness, defeating them in every corner, making me fall to my knees to realise the awe of it all.

I can't help but gasp at how much back up plans God has for each and every one of us. How in the world can He musti-task so well?! Every slip we make, He's already there, ready with another back up plan. How often do we handle stuff with back up plans right at the back of our minds?

Sometimes we try to stay within our comfort zone, even when we're down. We're afraid to move on, afraid to face another fall. If so, how can God reach out to us? If we don't try, how would we know the possible outcomes God will provide us with? How true is it that everytime we try to avoid one situation, God will place us right back into similar situations to help us grow and learn to overcome that very hurdle, to make us stronger individuals?

Reason why I can pretend to be so sane on the outside is because even while I'm tearing into pieces on the inside, I know God's there to pick my every piece up and piece them together again, making me a stronger final piece. I know that as I take a big step of faith in life, moving on from the many lessons I've learnt and will learn, God will be there to prepare me for something better.

God's my fortress, my shield, my comforter and healer. It's in Him I find life. It's in Him I find sanity.

signing off~DE XIN

ALL THAT JAZZ

2009-06-26T01:44:00.003+08:00

OMGOSH! SHE'S SO GOOD! That jump split. AND when she spinned NON STOP on the podium *covers eyes* I was so scared she'll fall off! She's crazy. Insane.

I miss those days where I was probably just as flexible. Which would be about 12 years ago. Gah.

signing off~DE XIN

=D

2009-06-17T15:24:00.004+08:00

"Let's go watch movie."

And within half an hour, we were on our way to the cinema. Phil, Philip and I watched The Hangover together last Sunday night. DAMN hilarious! I can say I laughed through the whole movie. Including the credits. But no, we didn't throw the popcorn like in the picture above haha I just thought it was funny, the dressing, the seats, their expressions and the lighting.

Jordan was upset 'cos we didn't call him along. I guess that's what happens when things get so inpromptu. We forget people. =P

I GOT MY CAMERA BACK! Met Faith in the city last Thursday after my Business Econometrics paper (don't ask).

She brought Daylan along! Little Winnie the Pooh! Gah he's so cute. You should see him when he gets hyper. He's. Damn. Cute.

We had lunch together at Han's.

The sick me had Banh Canh noodles. I was shocked they used udon noodles instead of the normal glass noodles. Not good.

Faith had Pad Thai. They used bee hoon instead of the glass noodles also!

Both our dishes were super oily even though mine was with soup. Another Han's branch to cross out.

signing off~DE XIN

SICK

2009-06-10T13:48:00.002+08:00

When I was terribly sick at the start of the year in Singapore, I remember there was once I had to go for physiotherapy due to my ankle. Daddy very kindly offered to follow me down via MRT. Being a senior citizen, he very easily got a seat while on board the train. I obviously did not request to sit because HE'S MY FATHER, I love him and I'd rather he take the seat no matter how sick I was.

While sitted, he took my hand, made sure I stood steady and constantly checked my body temperature. With so much love and care from Daddy, it didn't matter how the crowd in the train stared.

At the physiotherapy centre, he made sure I wasn't out of his sight. When I had to go into one corner to get my ankle massaged, he sat in a chair beside the bed I laid on. When I had to go to the main area to do some ankle exercises, he followed and stood by watching.

After the physiotherapy, Daddy said, "where you want to go for lunch? Anywhere also can." I knew he loves beef and so I brought him to Wheelock. In there was a very fine Japanese Restaurant that serves very awesome beef. The thing is, it's pretty pricey, but then again, it's not exactly fine dining.

When we got to the restaurant, it wasn't open YET. We walked around Wheelock for about 15 minutes and went back, still not open. We walked around Wheelock for another 15 minutes and Daddy said, "if still not open ar, I bring you go hawker centre. My wallet won't cry also." So we went back, and WALA! IT WAS OPEN! Acting as though he was in grief, he still happily went in with me.

Daddy ordered a sukiyaki set, while I ordered just plain cha soba. He even asked me to just order any drink I want. HOW COULD HE, WHEN I WAS SO SICK, JUST LET ME ORDER ANY DRINK I WANT! Was he trying to pamper me while I was in so much pain? I knew one thing for sure, it was his way of showing love =).

Having never tried sukiyaki before, he was constantly asking me how to eat it. I kept telling him it's up to his own preference and no, that wasn't a good idea. He just asked more. When he's settled with his own way of eating, he constantly shoved beef onto my plate. After a while I said, "YOU DON'T NEED TO EAT MEH!" And then he shoved the egg yolk into my spoon and forced me to eat it, saying it's good for me =_=.

On the way back home in the MRT, he did just the same as when we were on the way to my physiotherapy.

Now that I'm sick, I can't stop thinking of Daddy. How he constantly came in to my room to check if I was ok when I was fast asleep. And these thoughts never fail to bring tears to my eyes.

p.s. doesn't mean Mummy wasn't there HAHA she was there for "night shift" after she knocked off from work xD.

signing off~DE XIN

LAST CELL

2009-06-01T00:45:00.023+08:00

Bloody hell. My pink sony vaio crashed, AGAIN, yesterday. I can still reember when I first got it, totally brand new, untouched, unused, the motherboard spoiled. I had to trouble Wei Xian's parents AGAIN to bring it back to Singapore to get it fixed. And now, after less than 1.5 years, it's crashed again. What a timing. More than a year, less than 1.5 years. I can't even claim any warranty.

I've promised myself never to buy a vaio ever again, however good their red ones look. *spits*

So. Whose computer am I using now? Leon's. Thankfully, he has a spare compact notebook for me to borrow for the time being. I feel really bad, though, 'cos he uses this notebook for his school work. But I did tell him to just take it back whenever he needs it.

Anyways, last Friday was our last cell with Evangeline. How fast, hey. I've only joined her cell for about a month or so and it was already the last cell. Boo. And for our very last cell together, we went to Cottesloe Beach after cell evaluation at Florence's place =).

Ahhh the moon. Covered by clouds =_=. This looked a bit like some water colour painting, IMO.

Our cell's very own F4. L2R: Jordan, Leon, Philip, Phil.

Food, glorious food!

Same three guys, doing the same things to each other, as usual.

Supposed to be a shot of them jumping off the cliff. It was...a bit...hard...for my...DSLR...to take...in the night. Damn. I'm still waiting for my Lumix!

And again.

Flowers 4 on the grass? HAHA!

Oh gosh, I swear they look the cutest here.

A bit off focus, but you get the point. Leon saving Jordan from falling off the cliff and I miraculously hung off the cliff, taking this shot.

The girls!

All emo, except me.

All emo (and one dead), except Jordan.

Sigh...I'll miss you guys while I'm gone, really.

Totally. Random. Shot. WASN'T MY IDEA!

Me and the emo giant.

Giant and the spoilt me.

Yay Pauline! Eh. Did you change your facebook account?! How come I can no longer find you on my facebook friends list!

Leon. The pepsi guy. HAHA! Go shopping, Leon.

Ah well. I really will miss this bunch when I'm leaving. This is boohoo. Bad boohoo.

signing off~DE XIN

WEDDING DANCE?

2009-05-29T01:43:00.003+08:00

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA seriously. I wonder if Daddy would do that on my wedding. IF I get married. HAH!

Can you imagine??? What if the next day the bride has to pay truck loads of money for damaged wedding gown. HAH! I'll be laughing. Hard.

I wonder what's Elena's reaction to this. AHAHAHA.

signing off~DE XIN

GREATEST APOLOGIES

2009-05-22T00:02:00.003+08:00

Okokok. It's been a month now, since I properly blogged. Not my fault, really. My compact camera has been away from me for about 1.5 months now. It's fully repaired BUT still in Singapore. Dammit. Faith. Come faster k. HAHA.

Have been enjoying life quite a bit. 3 weeks ago I was kinda emo. Personal reasons HAHA best explaination ever. It got a bit better a week later (which was 2 weeks ago). And now I'm fine, if not better. Haha!

I would classify my M.I.A period into 3 chapters.

Chapter 1:
Had 2 drinking sessions with Ivan, Ryan and Ansley. Of which i stayed over Ivan's place the second time. OH the second time was actually after a movie with Ivan, Ryan, Junie and Jasper and a few of their friends. Oh gosh my memory's failing on me.

Chapter 2:
Spent time with Genevieve and Mark. That was ages ago. Grocery shopping...bubble after YA cell (when I was still visiting Eulynn's cell)...lunch after Sunday service. OH and I had lunch with Frances and Genevieve last Wednesday at Funtastico at Subiaco. I had ravioli. SEE! I COULDN'T TAKE ANY FREAKIN PICTURES BECAUSE MY FREAKIN CAMERA IS STILL FREAKIN IN SINGAPORE.

Chapter 3 (and still on going):
Got to know Jordan, Phil and Michael a little better. 3 weeks ago, on a Tuesday, I watched Xmen with Michael, Jordan, and a few others at Carousel. After which we went Jimmy's place to watch soccer (Man Utd vs Arsenal). I also watched the Barcelona vs Chelsea match at Jimmy's place on Wednesday night but I can't remember what I did before that.

Thursday I met Jordan, Phil and Yazid at Carousel 'cos they were grocery shopping. Had a light dinner at their place (in Vickery House) as well. You should have seen how Yazid cooked. HILARIOUS. Michael and Leon were there too.

Friday. Hmmm. Watched Monsters vs Aliens 3D! With Jordan. Haha. Had cell that night.

Ok. Didn't do much the second week. Oh but I had dinner with Phil and Jordan on the Monday I think. This week. So far. Watched movie with Jonathon Loh (JL) and Michael and Melvin Kiew Derrek Justin Wincy David Michelle and another guy I don't know who he is. Watched Angels and Demons.

I'd say, that night was awesome. ;)

Yesterday. Met Phil, Jordan and Leon in the city, but in the end we bought dinner from Uncle Billy's in Northbridge and took a bus back to UWA area 'cos we were going to Opheleia's place for dinner. Opheleia's Phil's sister haha. We had a lame jokes session that night. It got so lame I couldn't even respond to the lameness. Phil drove Opheleia's housemate's car after that. He drove me home, and then Jordan, Leon and himself home. I believe Opheleia drove her housemate's car back. Which reminds me. I should have accompanied her all the way. Crap.

Today. Gah. Baking cheesecake. The last (imperfect) batch is in the oven now. Why imperfect? Because there was not enough cheese =_=. Too much biscuit base. Urgh.

I'm going a little high. From typing chinese with JL. HAHA. Honestly, it makes me feel spastic. Like a primary school kid learning something new. Ok maybe not something new. But rekindling a joy. Heh.

signing off~DE XIN

ps. I REALLY WANT MY CAMERA BACK! So much for a ps.

KINDLE DX

2009-05-21T00:50:00.002+08:00

I didn't know kindling me would be so expensive. HAHA!

signing off~DE XIN

OH GOSH.

2009-05-17T00:29:00.000+08:00

SNL - Justin Timberlake does Lady Gaga @ Yahoo!7 Video

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

signing off~DE XIN

GOD'S ORIGINAL MASTERPIECE

2009-05-14T18:25:00.003+08:00

Just when I thought I could have things my way for just once. Just when I complained like a stupid kid in front of God. Just when I felt so insecure. Just when I thought God never listens to what I want.

He wants the best for us. And He reminds us of the day we surrendered everything into His Hands. Why then do we ask our everything back from Him?

We're just being too unfair to God.

He Loves us. And therefore He disciplines us. Accepting Him and surrendering everything to Him does not equate a smooth-sailing life.

It means moulding. Chiseling. Hardship.

All for the better in us.

All for the original masterpiece that belongs to Him right from the very start.

I am His original masterpiece. And so is every single one of you.

signing off~DE XIN

2009-05-13T00:51:00.001+08:00

The sun was going down, and the silence was like death. Everything slowed inside her and she thought if she closed her eyes and relaxed, she could stop breathing and die.

Francine Rivers

2009-05-12T05:02:00.002+08:00

When she felt the tears coming up, building like a great hard pressure inside her, hot, so hot she thought they would burn, she swallowed them down deeper and deeper until they became a hard little stone in her chest. She learned to look back at her tormentors and smile with cold arrogance and disdain. She learned to pretend nothing they said could touch her. And sometimes she convinced herself nothing [touched her].

Francine Rivers

FRIENDSHIP

2009-04-22T01:24:00.002+08:00

A lot was going through my mind these few days, mainly about friendship. Received a message from "The Count to 1,000,000,000 Believer's Worldwide" on facebook.

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.

He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.' The young man held out this package. 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.'

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. 'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift.'

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?'

There was silence.

Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.'

But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?'

Another voice angrily. 'We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh's, the Rembrandts. Get on with the Real Bids!'

But still the auctioneer continued. 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?'

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting..' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

'We have $10, who will bid $20?'

'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.'

The crowd was becoming angry.. They didn't want the picture of the son.

They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.

The auctioneer pounded the gavel. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!'

A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with the collection!'

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is over.'

'What about the paintings?'

'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.

The man who took the son gets everything!'

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: 'The son, the son, who'll take the son?'

Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE...THAT'S LOVE

Start questioning yourself. What kind of friend are you exactly?

signing off~DE XIN

BoA - Eat You Up

2009-04-21T02:00:00.003+08:00

Is she good or what?! MY GAWSH I really wish I can dance like her one day hey. Not forgetting Beyonce as well.

I have to admit I've underestimated BoA.

signing off~DE XIN

2009-04-19T20:08:00.002+08:00

I can't find home ground. Can't find a place I fit in. Not here. Not in Perth.

Everywhere I go I just somehow feel so out of place. Is it me? Or have I just not found the right place to fit in? Even after 3.5 years?

2 months back into Perth, every breath I take, every second that ticks, is a struggle and almost like a living hell. They say 4 months will pass fast, I beg to differ.

Shopping and high-tea-ing with the mother, going out to find good food with the father, spending time with Grandma at her place, cooking with uncle, watching movies with Sherry, Thursdays with Elena and Nelson, spending time with the CMC and Y2K people and hanging out with Nancy.

I can go on. But it will just never end. I'm gasping for air here. And I don't quite like this feeling.

If only ending one's life wasn't a sin.

EASTER LONG WEEKEND WITH LOVE

2009-04-13T18:47:00.017+08:00

Hmmm. Just watched Knocked Up. A little dodgy.....but it was still. so. hilarious. And sweet, at the end. Haha. Who doesn't like sweet endings, right?

Well anyways, the mother was here over the long weekend. She touched down on Friday morning (and I didn't sleep, fearing I would oversleep and not pick her up) and I had to rush off for dance practice right after I dropped her back at our apartment.

And for the very first time ever, I fell asleep during dance practice. REALLY. We were dancing in groups because of space constraints and while I was waiting for my group's turn, I dozed off until Gen went "right, De Xin?" And I just subconsciously went "mmm, ya.." until I jumped and realised they were correcting the dance. Not to mentioned I dozed off for split seconds while driving to and from dance practice. Hur.

Faith hitched a ride back with me because she was meeting Allison. Had a good catch up with Mummy and then she went off to meet Allison while Mummy and I headed down to Tiamo for lunch.Mummy had risotto! It was REALLY GOOD. I'm ordering that the next time I go back there.

I had the chicken pasta. Can't even remember the name already. That extra cheese on top was from Mummy's risotto HAHA.

She was test-trying the camera and then *FLASH* blinding.

Mummy ordered tea. I had this chocolate fudge cake. Mummy had a pot of rose tea. Absolutely lovely.

That was...not fresh. And the ganache was so rich AND SWEET it totally killed my chocolate craving until I go back to Max Brenner's again in Sydney.

Saturday morning. Dragged myself out of bed early so that I could bring Mummy to Blue Duck for breakfast =). My first time there too!

Mummy's cappucino.

My long macchiatto topped up.

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THE HEART. The coffee was really good. Thick, strong, smooth and fragrant. Best drink to perk me up in the morning.

Mummy had two poached eggs on toast. She loved it! I don't know how they tasted because I don't like poached eggs so i refused to try them HAHA.

My scrambled eggs and bacon on toast. The scrambled eggs were SO SMOOTH LIKE OMGAWSH and the toast were really really good. Home made toast =).

Aaah breakfast by the beach. Nice huh. =D

After breakfast, I headed down to Curtin for rehearsals. Was SO dead (no sleep on Thursday night and only about 4 hours sleep on Friday night) I had to drink two bottles of coke.

After rehearsal, I drove down to Garden City to meet Mummy. She had arranged a meet up with her distant cousin, whose daughter opened a pharmacy at Broadway Fair, which is only 5 minutes walk from my place, and son is going to study in Canning College.

Didn't have anything to drink or eat while we were all seated at Dome because I was kinda craving for Michel's Patisserie.
Which was kind of disappointing because the black cherry cheesecake I had was so terribly sweet that I couldn't even taste the cheese in the cake and I had to eat the cherry layer separately so that I could totally enjoy the cheesecake.

And the coffee was burnt. They usually have really great coffee and cakes. Mumy and I suspect it was 'cos of the long weekend.

Performance was the next day. Where I woke up with back so sore it made me really nauseous. Popped 2 nurofens when I reached Curtin. Will blog about Easter Sunday again when I've collected all the photos and hopefully videos! =)

signing off~DE XIN

PHISH?

2009-04-10T15:40:00.005+08:00

HAHA seriously. Garfield, Garfield. Aaah. My entertainment everyday.

Sorry peeps, I know I havent' been updating regularly. Well, you see, my new Panasonic compact camera is spoilt *mumble grumble* and I've been having dance practices at least once every two nights and most of the time its Saturday, Sunday AND Monday.

So yeah. Please spare me some thought and forgive me for the lack of updates. I promise more updates once Easter Sunday's over. Mummy's for the weekend =) really glad to have her back again. Although. Well. She's been quite a nag HAHA but it's all good. I enjoy it....but thats for short term HAH.

Till then!

signing off~DE XIN

AHAHAHAHA

2009-04-07T00:06:00.003+08:00

Garfield is SO SPASTIC. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

signing off~DE XIN

LET ME THINK ABOUT IT

2009-04-04T23:46:00.003+08:00

I thought this was a really powerful dance but GARGH the music to this dance was not allowed on this video due to copyright issues (all these copyright issues are really getting on my nerves).

This dance was originally danced to "Let Me Think About It" by Ida Corr Vs Fedde Le Grand. PLAY that music, have that music in mind, MUTE the video, and watch it. You'll know why.

That dance has left the greatest impression in my mind so far. Group dance I mean.

signing off~DE XIN

GET UP, GO AGAIN

2009-04-03T00:52:00.004+08:00

Was just watching So You Think You Can Dance [Australia] Season 2 Episode 7 and I saw how a dancer injured himself while doing a very risky move with his partner. His dance had to be altered as a result but he and his partner still performed the dance so absolutely well. At the end of it, one of the judges (Bonnie, I think??) mentioned, "This is what dance is all about. Dancers get injuries. They get up. They go again."

The moment I heard that, I thought to myself, "Geez, how true, hey."

A little more than 6 months ago, while trying to put together steps with a few other dancers/friends for the dance performance for Search For A Star '09, I jumped and landed the very, VERY, wrong way. Ankle literally went 90 degrees and it wasn't the first time my ankle went that way. It had happened to me before once when I was in high school. That, however, was not anywhere near the pain I experienced last year.

The pain was SO excruciating I couldn't get my head together to know how to respond to what happened. All I did was just sit on the ground for a good 5 minutes or so (maybe even longer), with my friends frantically coming all over me, asking if I was ok. A physiotherapist friend had to use a wrap on my ankle and I couldn't dance anymore that day. For the next few days I was limping everywhere I went and it was the WORST sprain I had ever have in my whole entire history of dancing AND spraining.

I visited a pharmacist who told me it would be ideal for me to be on crutches and not dance for a few weeks but Search For A Star '09 was only around the corner. I went against her advices and took nurofen as often as I could and danced my way through. No doubt, my performance was affected but I still wanted to dance 'cos that was all that I can ever do AND enjoy.

A fear was still in me for the next few months as my ankle never really healed. I couldn't put much pressure on it, fearing I might feel the pain OR lose my balance. The pain/injury lasted all the way till my trip to Shanghai with Nancy. When I got back to Singapore I decided I had to do something about it. I had my ankle scanned and visited a few specialists (bone specialist, sports specialist, physiotherapist).

Oh by the way, the x-ray showed a small chip in a minor bone in my ankle.

The specialists and physiotherapist were all very optimistic and supportive of my dreams as a dancer. They said they've seen LOADS of sportsmen with the exact same injury and still going strong in whatever they aspire to do. They also assured me that I wouldn't have any problems with that either.

If you ask me what if I could never dance again, I can tell you, it's almost like the end of the world for me. It's not a secret now that my academics aren't going very smooth (even up till now when it's my last semester unofficially and I've tried so hard but I still feel like I'm lagging behind).

I guess I can only thank God for all that He's blessed me with. The strength to dance despite such an injury and the offer into LASALLE. I could never ask for anything better. He knows what's best for me and He gives me strength in my weakness. See? Such a cliche "He gives us strength in our weakness" can be put into this context!

Dance IS really all that I think of. There are many times where I face problems in life and I almost always can never find the strength to over come them if not for God. Dance, however, gives me the strength in everything. Not saying I depend on myself in dance but God planted that talent in me and I do not want to put it to waste. Not even for a minute.

Talking about strength, there was one point last year where I thought I just couldn't go on anymore. Uni, "friends", injury, life. I called home every night, crying into the phone, right at my parents. They didn't know what to do with me either because they felt so hurt that I was going through so much. But, unexpectedly, Daddy messaged me on MSN one morning telling me not to give up just because of little set backs, be brave and settle whatever problems I had. He reminded me of how I fell and injured myself during dance but still managed to perform on stage.

Daddy's encouragement has been so uplifting all these years. You can never imagine unless you feel it for yourself. He's always been the one behind the scenes supporting me all the way. Every performances I had, he made sure he was there at the back of the stage when I had a break or when I was done so that I could run to him and hug him and tell him how awesome it was.

God has really really blessed me with so much in dance I just can't find any better words to thank Him. So many opportunities, loving teachers who nurtured me, supportive parents who were there for me in every area of my dancing life. I just only have one choice.

Get up, and dance again.

signing off~DE XIN

Three Trees

2009-04-02T15:20:00.002+08:00

Very recently, on Facebook (yesyes, it's Facebook AGAIN), I joined a group called "The Count to 1,000,000,000 Believer's Worldwide". Everyday they would send a message to all the members of the group with regards to The Word. But most of the time, due to my busy-ness AND laziness, I failed to open the messages to read. More often than not I actually deleted them.

Today, however, I decided to open it up and right there infront of me was a message with so much meaning and power I knew I had to share it. It was an interesting way of illustrating three very important passages of Jesus' life on Earth. Here goes:

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said,

'Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty.'

Then the second tree said, 'Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.'

Finally the third tree said, 'I want to grow to be the tallest and
straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the Hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.'

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, 'This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter, 'and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree the woodsman said, 'This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.' The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the Woodsmen said, 'I don't need anything special from my tree, I'll take this one,' and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.

The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.

The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left alone in the dark.

The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said 'Peace' and the Storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried theKing of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know thatGod has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, you are as close to Him as possible; and God will give you great gifts.

Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.

We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

Please keep this moving... pass it on, so God may inspire more people on the way.

May your day be blessed. And until we meet again, may God cradle you in the palm of His hand..

May you always have Love to Share,
Health to Spare, and Friends that Care!

I hope you had a good read =).

signing off~DE XIN

UPDATE!!!

2009-03-29T19:18:00.024+08:00

Here are some updates on little baby Christine. Yesterday, my maternal aunts, uncles and cousins, including Daddy and Mummy, went to Grandma's place to celebrate her birthday. Mummy was damn smart. She took all the photos of Christine. No photos of Grandma. WA LAO!
Whoever took this photo, is FAIL. I know it's definitely not Daddy 'cos he's quite a good photographer as well.

*glugluglugluglug* According to Mummy, my cousin, Jojo, took away Christine's milk bottle because they thought Christine was done and Mummy wanted to burp her. Surprisingly, Christine got angry and snatched the bottle back. AHAHAHAHA.

Christine's like "neah, stop taking pictures of me already, I know I'm damn photogenic anyways."

She. Is. Just. So. ADORABLE! And Daddy's face is so red from wine AHAHAHA making Christine's fair skin a greater contrast.

And I just realised. Both my parents need a haircut badly.

Lately I've been spending quite a bit of time on dance AND GENEVIEVE (*coughandmarkcough*). On the 18th of this month, Gen and I went out for dinner after my tutorial in school.
Woodpecker's Woodfired Pizza it was! At Subiaco!

I'm still very amazed by the wine bottles decoration. And the paintings on the wall made no sense at all, by the way.

Gen and her hot-pink-ness. EVEN HER EAR RINGS WERE PINK VOODOO DOLLS. I don't know about her or you but I never really dare own any voodoo related stuffs.

Seafood pasta! Do not be deceived by what you see. THE PORTION WAS HUMONGOUS. And they gave us a lot of prawns and smoked salmon. Considering the fact that there were no scallops and crab meat (as promised in the menu), I guess that's why there were so much prawns and smoked salmon. Dammit, scallops and crab meat are more expensive! But then again, they're a pizza place. But then again they had seafood pizza. Aiyo I don't know la.

The pasta was good. Although tomato based, it wasn't sour at all! *surprise surprise* Haha. Pasta was al dente so yays! The rocket leaves on top were ubber fresh. I so loved it.

Mid-eastern pizza. I requested for no eggplants but there were still eggplants in it (just like how Gen requested for the parmesan cheese to be seperately served but they still added it into the pasta). But other than that, the crust was abosulte yum and the cheese was OH.MY.GAWSH. *two thumbs up*

*nomnomnomnomnomnomnom*

OMGAWSH OMGAWSH OMGAWSH THIS ICKY STICKY PUDDING! IS WHAT WILL BRING US BACK THERE AGAIN! IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!! *faints*

And YESTERDAY, we went to the beach at 10am (supposed to be 9.30 but hohoho me being the super NOT morning person, I was late as usual).
Champagne on the beach!

I think my red nails looked cool. HAHA! My hair is already blonde, dammit. Need the colour toner.

*wolf whistles*

Gen I seriously think you look totally gorgeous here.

OH by the way, you see those little white specs below Gen? THOSE ARE SAND. The wind that day was DAMN STRONG and all it ever did was blow sand on to us. Within 45 minutes my towel was half filled with sand and thanks to the wind+sand, my PANASONIC COMPACT CAMERA IS SPOILT! Argh. Please pray for my camera. Thankews.

Saw this really cute little girl. Although we had totally no idea why her parents made her wear such a pretty little fluffy dress at the beach. (Stupid seagull.)

I would be damn worried about the sand in my dress if I were her.

Wooooo model! Ahahaha.

That very day, I followed Gen's car around Murdoch area to her place, Mark's place and everywhere else. During the midst of that, I got pulled over by a police. HAHA. What happened was, I didn't know the way to Mark's place from her place so I was following her car. She turned right, cut 2 lanes left, and turned left. I didn't want to lose her so I followed tightly behind her, cutting infront of a big red car (but it wasn't dangerous at all!), a police car was behind the red car, saw what happened, and pulled me over.

Trying to get away without any penalties, I acted cute (to think of it NOW, I can't believe I did that), like I didn't know what happened, and they only gave me a warning! How great was it that both cops were guys. HAHA!

Did some grocery shopping and went to Zion Centre for dance practice at around 5. I was so dead tired.

Recently baked some cookies for the dancers. (Also baked brownies for cell but totally forgot to take pictures)
They're a bit under-baked but everyone kept saying they were damn good. Credits to Happy Home Baking for the wonderful recipe that was so simple it's almost unbelievable.

p.s. I still have some cookies left over!

signing off~DE XIN

WORST FRIEND EVER

2009-03-27T19:47:00.003+09:00

How more selfish could she ever get?

She who broke the heart of a guy who was so much into her, willing to give up anything just to get his passport to visit her at where ever she is now. All because she so selfishly held on to her own dreams, thinking he won't be able to marry her young, having only her own aging parents in mind, or provide her at least a comfortable future based on her own dreams when all that guy probably ever thought was to just give her as much love as he could.

She who left one whole bunch of peoople without a word just because of a main group friends who disappointed and hurt her for over 2 years. Did she even think about those who really care? Or those who had not even have not chance to get to know her better?

She who walked out on dance practice just because she nearly got knocked in the face 4 times due to space constraint, got upset just because gossip that got to her ex cell leader and because no one listened to her when she was trying to help some people get the dance move right. Could she have perfected her moves while she was out? Did she realise how some of her friends were so worried for her?

She who can only go home and rant at a poor friend of hers for DAYS and didn't even bother to think how his days were.

I can't even think how worse she can get. Don't make friends with the author of this blog. This is the best warning she can ever give.

signing off~DE XIN

WHEN YOU CAN'T SLEEP

2009-03-26T03:13:00.002+09:00

What kind of personality do you have/ What is your best quality? Your Result: Cool/Popular You are part of the "incrowd." You might not know it, but you like attention, and love rumors and gossip. You want people trying to be your friend. And you want to be the first to know anything, and everything. Though your best quality could be many things, there is a good chance it is your looks! Not a bad thing! Actually, you can get by very easily with looks. Who says you have to work for your money?!
Fun/Outgoing/Adventurious
Smart
Sensitive
Funny
Laid-Back
Nice/Sweet
What kind of personality do you have/ What is your best quality? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Which Positive Quality Are You? Your Result: Friendship You are Friendship. Friends are those who can be counted upon in times of need. Friends are those who share in your joys and your sorrows. Friendship unites us with others beyond family and brings happiness and comfort to our lives. "Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."
Faith
Peace
Love
Charity
Courage
Which Positive Quality Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Your score on this personality test was 56%

Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.

Personality Quiz
Take More Quizzes

What type of person do you attract? Your Result: You attract Yuppies! You attract the very well-dressed, job oriented type of people. They usually have their finances together, are 'middle of the road' on most topics, generally happy with the 'main-stream' of things. If it is stability you are after, these are good people to attract, if you seek adventure, it may be time for an overhaul.
You attract artsy people!
You attract geeks!
You attract models!
You attract rednecks!
You attract unstable people!
What type of person do you attract? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Who are you in the school? Your Result: You are the person who is just there. You are not geeky or the popular person.You just kind of walk the halls.You dont get the highest grades or the lowest,and your not the prettiest in the school.You are very kind,except to the popular person in the school.
You are the popular person
You are the geek
You are the trouble maker.
Who are you in the school? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

And your back is aching from stoning in your chair for too long.

signing off~DE XIN

QUIZQUIZ

2009-03-26T01:12:00.001+09:00

Your dating personality profile:

Religious - Faith matters to you. It is the foundation that you build your life upon. You trust that God has a plan for you.
Big-Hearted - You are a kind and caring person. Your warmth is inviting, and your heart is a wellspring of love.
Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate.

Your Top Ten Traits

1. Religious
2. Big-Hearted
3. Liberal
4. Practical
5. Adventurous
6. Outgoing
7. Intellectual
8. Traditional
9. Wealthy/Ambitious
10. Stylish

Your date match profile:

Religious - You seek someone who is grounded in faith and who possesses religious values. You believe that a religious person can enhance your life.
Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living.
Conservative - Forget liberals, you need a conservative match. Political discussions interest you, and a conservative will offer the viewpoint you need.

Your Top Ten Match Traits

1. Religious
2. Practical
3. Conservative
4. Big-Hearted
5. Traditional
6. Adventurous
7. Intellectual
8. Athletic
9. Shy
10. Wealthy/Ambitious

Take the Dating Profile Quiz at Would I Date You

What element of the nature are you? Your Result: Rain The merciless requiem that cleanses the field; you are mainly an optimist and are very cheerful, but when you are serious, you can be scary. You are devoted to doing your favourite thing, and takes it as no joke.
Sky
Storm
Mist
Cloud
Thunder
Sun
What element of the nature are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

And if you go to Lex's blog, you'll realise our results are almost 95% similar. LOL!

signing off~DE XIN

THAT ASIDE

2009-03-25T00:56:00.008+09:00

New hair colours. Credits to Gen for the style at the back. Hah.

signing off~DE XIN

FINAL STRAW

2009-03-24T22:20:00.003+09:00

Driving home in rage, driving at 100km/h at a 60km/h speed limit road, I got home full of tears.

As I unlocked the gates to my apartment, I missed the days where Mumy would jump out of the sofa and open the door for me, asking me how was dance practice.

I also miss the times Daddy would drag his feet to the gate in Singapore and open the door with a stupid face.

Sitting into my arm chair, I continued crying, thinking how it would've been so great to have Mummy behind me asking what had happened.

It's already my final semester, can't they make my final semester here a least bit better? Do they have to just disappoint me yet again?

I've made my decision. Not only can I NOT be bothered anymore, I'm opting out already. End all relations. End all association. Parden me, but it was a fucking embarrassment to be part of you guys for so long since the problems started to affect so many people, including me, unknowingly.

You've had your chances. You screwed each and every one of them. Don't ever say you want me back again.

signing off~DE XIN

BABY CHRISTINE

2009-03-22T02:32:00.012+09:00

Reason why I'm still up so late is because I've exceeded my peak period limit (internet bandwidth) and I received pictures from Mummy and I HAD to download them because they were so absolutely beautiful pictures of my little baby cousin slash Godsister, Christine.I think she looks like me in certain ways!!!

And I think it was REALLY smart of her to realise it's a camera taking pictures of her just after 2 shots.

CHECK OUT HER EYELASHES MAN! NATURAL LENGTH + NATURAL CURL! OMGAWSH. *JEALOUS*

I think her eyebrows are arched really beautifully =) and check out that smile. How splendid!

Already knowing how to be sexaye!

*ahem*similar*ahem*

I was just counting the months and I realised I'll be home to celebrate her very first birthday. Just looking at the smile in the pictures really made me tear when I first saw them. Gah.

Mummy tried to camwhore with Baby Christine but hohoho she was too smart. She tried to GRAB the camera. My gawsh. And she's a real darling. Hardly ever cries. When she's tired she just stops playing suddenly and zzz. *hugs imaginary Christine tightly*

SO CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK HOME AND SNAP GOOD PICTURES OF HER!!!!!

signing off~DE XIN

WHERE MY HEART IS

2009-03-16T00:27:00.002+09:00

When I only took one night to master the basics of waltz and learn absolutely new steps (to me) and had to perform the next day...I didn't look good. HAHA! Those were the practices' videos I got off Alvin. There were loads more but I thought these two were the best. Although it was just one night of remembering steps and just one more night of perfecting them, so much fun went on I couldn't help but miss those two nights.

I was glad this combination of dances didn't exactly require perfection. We had more fun trying to enjoy dancing. Not that we didn't enjoy when perfection was needed but this time there was less stress. The second video was my favourite of the 6 dances combined. Heehee.

I haven't got the pictures and videos of the actual day because, well, I was lazy as usual and didn't really take my camera out. Patiently waiting for them now...*taps fingers on table*...patiently. HAH.

I swear, my heart, has gone all out back to dance. I couldn't find any better place to feel more comfortable in. Especially when these dancers make me feel so myself and I can just be myself in front of them. Ok I just repeated myself.

signing off~DE XIN

OMGAWSH

2009-03-14T03:52:00.000+09:00

If you don't fall in love with this you're inhuman.

signing off~DE XIN

OMGOSHOMGOSHOMGOSH

2009-03-12T01:58:00.002+09:00

This is so pretty!!!!!!

signing off~DE XIN

MUMMY

2009-03-10T00:19:00.050+09:00

Reason why I haven't been blogging is 'cos the next post (which is this post) would mean I was leaving Singapore. You know me. I hate leaving home.=(

Mummy filling up the entrance into Australia form.

I kid you not. This IS the wing of the aircraft. It's a rather new aircraft, actually, their sits are so much more comfortable. Entertainment system no change, though.

Two cups of this, plus very comfy new seats, make a very good sleep which lasted 90% of the flight. I was trying real hard to stay awake for the movies but as you can tell, I failed.

Very next day (24/02/2009), Mummy and I made a trip down to the city because I had to renew my car registration, renew my driver's license, renew my car insurance and everything else that's under Mummy's name.

After everything was done, we stopped by Dome to have a good cuppa.
Mummy's hot chocolate.

My long macchiatto. XOXO!

Mummy's marshmallows for her hot chocolate flew over to my long macchiatto.

We shared a piece of strawberry shortcake 'cos we were crazily full from lunch. Oh shit. I forgot to load pictures of lunch.

I really love this picutre. It's like a leftover of someone who just had a break from life, reading newspapers, sipping from his/her cuppa. Nice.

On Thursday (26/02/2009), we went to Garden city after my one hour lecture in uni 'cos it's suburban late night shopping!
I reckon Michel's Pattiserie at Garden City has one of the freshest cakes ever. Mummy and I each had a set of coffee and cake. The cake was tiramisu cake. Sorry the picture ain't doing justice to the cake. It's really fresh and flavourful and not too sweet.

Shopped a bit. Mummy bought the stuff she needed to buy and before we knew it, it was time for dinner.
Beef black bean hor fun. The chinese stall at the food court. Mummy had beef char kway teow. The beef was awesomely tender. *two thumbs up*

Dinners at home had been really awesome. Take for example 01/03/2009.
Pumpkin rice. I've still got some in the freezer ^^.

And then 02/03/2009.
Shanghai rice sticks. I love rice sticks. Totally. Even the korean version makes me high.

On Tuesday (03/03/2009) I managed to send my car in at the servicing centre at 9am 'cos it got recalled. Car was only available for pick up at about 3-4pm so Mummy and I went to the city for some good breakfast. Or rather, lunch.

There was this new cafe in the city, formally a huge store of facial products (I also remember it was once a huge store of branded chocolates).
Coffee was tasteless.

Even though they got their cakes from the same place where Terrazza got their cakes (The Cake Factory, was it?), this carrot cake was shockingly a huge disappointment. The cake was so unfresh it was really hard and dry and it tasted stale.

My chicken avocado roll wasn't that great either. Bleh. DON'T GO THERE. Sucked big time. To think they charged their stuff so expensively.

Toilet break. I'll bring you to a tour at David Jone's 2nd storey toilets.
No joke! This is what you see once you enter, and then there's another door leading to a hand wash area, where there's also another door leading to the cubicles. Cool huh.

Later that evening Mummy cooked dinner again.
We came up with this dish together. Yumyum. I have some of these in my freezer to HAHA!

And then 04/03/2009.
Soya sauce pork. How much better can this get! This was totally awesome lar I'm gonna try making it myself one day!

Thursday. Garden City again. Because Mummy and I needed to go David Jones but we didn't want to go to the city because city didn't have late night shopping, only the suburbs had and Carousel has no David Jones so Garden City it was.
Michel's Patisserie again! Their coffee's awesome as well. But the one opposite, Amano Gelato, serves better coffee but their cakes ain't as nice.

Mummy took strawberry shortcake.

I took black forrest torte. In the end I preferred Mummy's while she preferred mine so we swapped after eating half of our owns. HAHA!

07/03/2009.
Siena's. The phone call to book was really. Hmmm. Let's just say it pissed me off and we'll leave it at there. I was glad the service at Siena's on the actual day itself was totally good. Really friendly waiter. REALLY friendly.

While waiting for food. Got bored. So snap snap. The key looks longer than it actually is haha! Wide angle does that.

Me thinks Siena's is like an enlarged version of Ciao Italia.

Mummy had pesto prawns. She didn't quite stir it well so by the time she reached the bottom, we saw a layer of extra virgin olive oil. HAH.

My penne al pollo which I obviously changed the penne to fettucine.

*grins*

Hungry yet?

Went for Sunday service the next day, and rushed home straight after service because Mummy had to go to the airport =/. But before that we managed to squeeze ample time for lunch. At Subiaco's Han's.
Camwhore attempt #2, phail. Yeah, you read it right, it's #2. There were 4 other phailed attempted but I shouldn't bore you.

Mummy's latte. She claimed it was tasteless.

HAHA I just had to post this! Omgosh. She didn't even know she made that face!

Mummy's pork chop. The pork chop was damn tough. Apparently the sides were better than the main.

Still waiting for food. And given I haven't camwhored in ages, I'd say this was a pretty good attempt!

My thai tom yum soup which wasn't even a tinsy bit spicy at all. Sucked. Standards have dropped DRASTICALLY since they moved. Boo.

Re-attempt #1, phail. I just had to get a good shot of us before we go!

Re-attempt #3, SUCCESS! #2 was similar but Mummy thought she looked ugly. You can see how we managed to get a good shot. Mummy figured her hands were longer than mine =_=.

To the airport~
This was tugged into Mummy's handbag seconds before we left home for lunch haha. It was a daffodil bear I bought just a few months after Greatgrandma passed away in 2007 due to intestinal cancer.

Little bear got to accompany Mummy throughout the flight!

signing off~DE XIN

STILL SINGAPORE

2009-03-03T12:54:00.038+09:00

I had to meet Sherry one last time before I flew back here to the land of misery. Having gone crazy with movies, I was left with no more interesting movies to watch with Sherry =(. So we met up for a simple lunch at Manhattan Fish Market at Plaza Singapura on the 17th of February 2009!We shared a seafood platter for 2. Struggled to finish with a few chips left untouched. Heh. I also gave her the present I got for her for her birthday =). We also walked around Times bookstore a bit. OHOH and we were both on time but I reached Manhattan Fish Market earlier woohoo!

5 more months, Love! I'll be back =). Hopefully not too busy by then hehe.

On 20/02/2009, I met up with Grandma and Godma/Aunt Siew Khim for lunch at Bishan Junction 8's Crystal Jade. Third time in my whole life haha!

Century egg with pork porridge. Yumyumyum! I lurve the rotten porridge. HAHA!

Yam puff pastry!

Oooh heaven heaven! Fluffy outside, mashed up yam and meat on the inside. The meat was good! Yam too! AWESOME!

Fried rice. Not bad! Not too oily. The rice was super long grained haha. Fried really well.

Har gow! Not bad I guess? Haha I don't really know how to judge this =P.

Soya sauce chicken with noodles. Didn't quite understand why it took so long to come. By then we were damn full already. Chicken was good and flavourful. Vegetable was damn old tsk. Noodles standard lor.

Our chee cheong fan didn't come la wa lao! We were too full as well so we just cancelled. I thought the service was ok but. The food came really slow. Boo.

Later that afternoon, I met up with snort =D. We hung around a bit. Like. Arcade. Within Dhoby Ghaut MRT station's vacinity. Very unlike me, I know, but he wasn't happy with my Spot The Difference score on Facebook LOL so he wanted to play photo hunt with me in the arcade. Hah!

After a while we were making our way down to the Singapore Flyer woo! We ate a bit at Popeye's first, though. Snort bought 2 piece chicken meal I think. THE BISCUITS ARE SO NOT BISCUITS LA WA LAO THEY'RE FREAKIN SCONES CAN! Me thinks. HAHA. They don't LOOK like biscuits and neither do they FEEL like biscuits. Wtheck.

BUT THEY WERE STILL DAMN GOOD LIKE OMGOSH. Very VERY buttery taste. Perfect with the jam provided, even better with the mashed potato sauce! Snort and I were even trying to figure out what they used to cook the mashed potato sauce 'cos it was just so good. Even better than KFC's. And at least it doesn't look like oil discarded from frying chicken.

After Popeye's we finally "went on board" the flyer.
I liked this shot!

Teehee. =P

I like this shot too!

Sun setting =).

This shot too!!!

Snort.

Seriously. I look like some damn monkey.

I think I was trying to capture a shot in my hands. Like picturing a shot. Get what I mean?

Snort just kept shooting away.

Go gain some weight!!!!!

Oink misses Snort. =(

signing off~DE XIN

CRAB?

2009-03-02T01:24:00.009+09:00

Was looking through some old photos I've not blogged about and chanced upon photos I took when I was out having dinner with my parents on a Friday night, just one day before Valentine's Day. We were at Thai Village.Best salad ever. I don't know if this is actually considered a salad but I view it as a salad 'cos IT'S FULL OF VEGES! But it's damn good. My favourite appetizer of all times.

Parents ordered shark's fin. No surprise. I didn't touch a single part of the fin. I just stole some of Mummy's soup which was DAMN FREAKING SALTY FOR I DUNNO WHAT WEIRD REASON!

They changed their pot holder. Used to be just some silver pot holder with two handles. Now they're gold and they have two lion heads biting onto the handle.

Also ordered a bowl of fish maw soup. Fish maw is damn awesome. Totally.

Now when I go back to Singapore, I not only crave for rojak, I also crave for CRABS!
Yummy chilli crabs with oil-coated deep fried buns at the back.

You drooling yet? I've got great skills in prying the crab open. I just love crab. Black pepper, butter, chilli, curry, whatever crab, just give them to me.

I miss crabs in Singapore <=( and Shanghai!

signing off~DE XIN

2009-02-28T22:44:00.002+09:00

As much as I've been trying to convince myself to blog again, my heart sinks deeper each time. I can't stop thinking about home. Almost a week now. I'm still thinking about home.

If you know me well enough, I don't blog when I'm down. And this is exactly what's happening to me. I see things happening around me, isolation setting in. I thought I came back different, I thought things would be at least a little better. I guess it's still the same, huh. Same things happening to different people.

Sucks.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-26T20:31:00.003+09:00

Sorry, Sherry, looks like Nokia has provided me with a new love. > < It's too beautiful!

signing off~DE XIN

2009-02-26T01:51:00.003+09:00

As I grudgingly sat in the car that was on the way to the airport, many others were grudgingly making their way to work.

As I grudgingly checked my luggages in, many others were grudgingly singing their school songs.

As I grudgingly walked into the departure hall, many others were grudgingly sitting down in their respective seats, forecasting what they'd be expected to do at work/school.

It's more than a week since I properly blogged. It sucks, doesn't it. No proper post, no proper me. The moment I touched down, I was screaming all over on the inside, "I WANT TO GO HOME NOW!!!!!!"

No more doing nothing with Nancy. No more CMC, no more Y2K. No more movies every Thursday with Elena and Nelson. No more going out damn late into the night/morning with Sing Chang and sometimes the rest like Eng Kwan, Jacob, blahblahblah. No more, no more.

I was lost. Very lost. Still am. It may only be 5 months but it's really scary. The mother may be here but she'll be gone in 2 weeks. It's the 4th year but it seems the scariest. I've never felt so attached to Singapore. Never felt so special.

The urge to cry has been almost every night. Sucks to be alone, hey. Can only patiently hope and wait for someone to come for just a while to spend some time with me.

OMGOSH

2009-02-24T17:17:00.002+09:00

This is not like any other ugly hybrids.

Turbocharged V6 running on LPG, generates about 335kW and 700Nm by itself, power going to rear wheels ONLY and weighing only about 1400kg.

It does not strictly need a spoiler and is easily identifiable. How about some LED running lights?

Wait for it. It's SHIT cool.

HSV W200h (Walkinshaw 200ci hybrid).

2015!!!!!

signing off~DE XIN

DEAR NANCY

2009-02-16T04:00:00.000+09:00

How's Melbourne treating you for the past few hours? Did you get help from the bus driver? Are you melting? Why are you not online? Is the place clean/decent? Is your area very dark at night? Are you crying?

So many questions. I didn't know where or how to start. They just came rolling out. It's not easy, dear, it surely isn't. There are still so many places I wanna go with you, so many things I wanna share with you but you're gone.

Looking at the photos we've taken together (most of the time not literaly), I can say although it was only 2 years we've known each other and I've been away most of the time, they were still 2 crazy years.

19/07/2007
Half year after we met, while I was back for my winter holidays, I tried Waraku for the first time with you. You had some weird curry thingy and you got high on some alcoholic drink (and I could barely even taste the alcohol???). That's me in the background with my cha soba.

22/02/2008
Another half a year later, I was back during summer holidays. We visited J K Don (our old work place where we first met) at East Coast Park. You and your crazy love for bibimbab. We even walked along East Coast Park until we couldn't walk any further.

I didn't come back during winter holidays 'cos I went Sydney. I was super busy with my schedule and nearly disregarded you. I'm so thankful you took so much effort in talking to me on msn all the time. I'm so glad I didn't lose you amidst my busy-ness.

24/11/2008
A year later when I was finally back, we went Parkway for lunch. I was supposed to suntan but both of us lost the mood. We were supposed to try Summer Frost but it wasn't open. You had duck rice for lunch at Parkway's basement foodcourt.

I was craving for local dessert, we had them at Bedok Interchange's hawker centre. We had our haircut together at the auntie's house you recommended.

And also by then we've already decided on going Shanghai together!

26/11/2008
I can't quite remember about this. Sushi Tei was it? This was what you ordered.

28/11/2008
You introduced me to ban mian gan (dry version of ban mian).

03/12/2008
We went Aston's and I was pissed with the service and couldn't understand why people loved Aston's so much. You ordered their chicken chop. They were value for money but not splendid.

06-14/12/2008
We were finally in Shanghai. The shopping and eating madness. My crazy craving for dessert that NEVER died. Don't ever forget the pretty lady selling bubble tea k. She was so generous. Lovely lady.

You better thank me for putting up that unglam picture of me in my glasses. Seriously, how do I even look anywhere near good in them?!

23/12/2008
You found a Wh!sk at Wisma Atria and we were both crazily high about it even though it was not the same as Shanghai's Wh!sk. You beat me to ordering the beef pasta!

06/01/2009
We went PS. Cafe at Paragon together. We both had the laksa pasta which was not as fabulous as we thought it'd be. I brought my mother there the very next day for coffee and cake.

20/01/2009
We tried Crystal Jade ramen xiao long bao. I went crazy ordering all the stuff we ate in Shanghai. Jian bao, xiao long bao, cong you mian and so on.

10/02/2009
You brought me to Temasek Polytechnic and we had a super value meal in the canteen haha and it was the first time I drove you in my father's Impreza and also the first time I saw you with your hair tied.

Later that day both of us saw bags we fell in love with at first sight and we went in and out of the shop THREE times before I decided to get mine and you still couldn't decide but still bought it in the end before you flew and even put it to good use.

Undated.
You went back to Indonesia for Chinese New Year and you were so unhappy about it but yet you still got me these delicious snacks. They're 3/4 gone. Only left the sticks.

Let's rewind back a little to 02/02/2009
I finally squeezed a suntan session at your place, afterwhich we had lunch at Ichiban Sushi at Parkway. You ordered some curry thingy.

15/02/2009
You've flown to Melbourne. Gone is a best friend. I sent you off at the airport, was planning to write you a letter together with the little froggie keychain I got you but on the way to the airport I couldn't bring myself to take the paper and pen out.

My mind was blank.

You asked how come there wasn't a card from me. Look at this post. How could I possibly squeeze everything, including pictures, into a card?

Before you went into the departure hall, you reminded me about this Thursday. After you cleared the custom, you called Lex and asked him to pass the phone around. When it came to me, you reminded me about this Thursday again. It's amazing you're so worried and encouraging at the same time.

Take good care of yourself there in Melbourne. Diversify your groups of friends. Don't be an idiot like me and rely on just one group of friend 'cos just in case any group backfires on you, you'll have many other groups there for you.

I hope I'll get to visit you in July when I'm over at Sydney. I'll try to make the effort to go over to Melbourne and visit you. I'll miss you so so so badly when I'm in Singapore without you. You're the first friend I've ever gone overseas for holidays with. You always try new food places with me. And we always shopped like as if we had all the money in the world and in the end I ALWAYS GOT BROKE?!

One last thing. Remember on the Tuesday or Wednesday that just passed, when I just started watching Bull Fighting? You told me not to cry. It was the first time we touched on that topic. I told you I wasn't crying. I was lying. I cried for a good 5 minutes. The thoughts of me being in Singapore without you to kns, watch movie, eat, shop, do stupid stuff with. Everytime I thought of that, I cried more.

Please really really really take good care of yourself. Make many many many friends from everywhere. NEVER go anywhere alone, day or night alike. Don't you dare get drunk. And. DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT FORGETTING ME. Talk on msn k. I don't mind your blurry "1.3mp webcam". Let's not lose ourselves to busy schedules.

I love you many many, dear. *inserts hug1 and hug2 emoticons HAHA*

signing off~DE XIN

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE?

2009-02-16T03:35:00.005+09:00

Hmmm. I wonder why.

signing off~DE XIN

ANCIENT TIMES

2009-02-06T23:49:00.023+09:00

Long long ago, in a far away island called Singapore, there lived a girl named De Xin who was sad and single. HAHA just kidding. I really don't know why I just always manage to find random photos of things that happened almost a month (or more) ago. I really haven't been maintaining this blog as well as before.

And no, I'm not sad and single. Actually wait. I AM sad and single. I really am single and I'm sad that I'm losing a best friend to a foreign land in a few days and I'm flying back to the land of misery a few days later. Really sad. Sucks.

So. Even before CNY, on the 10th of January, I went shopping with Mummy. Because I only have these 3 photos, I only remember roughly what happened.

Lunch was at Takashimaya basement foodcourt. This beef noodles (from a stall all the way in the corner by this China couple) was actually damn good. They even have kung pao chicken noodles. The next time I go back I'm eaitng from there again.

So we...shopped. I can't remember what we bought but after Takashimaya we went ovevr to Bugis area because Mummy needed to get CNY groceries from...Albert St I think? But I was REALLY tired 'cos I was sick at that time (remember?) and I was on medication so while Mummy went over to get her stuff, I walked over to TCC at Bugis to have a good cuppa.

Moments later, Mummy called and came over and ordered a tall cup of iced coffee.
Attempt at taking a nice picture of the milk diffusing into the coffee. Fail.

Second attempt when drinker mentioned not enough milk. Fail. Oh wells.

A few days before CNY (21/01/2009), Daddy, Mummy and I had dinner at, uh, some hotel. The one near Raffles City. I think it's Carlton. I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE RESTAURANT!!!!! >=(

Very grand interior design.

Mummy looking at the menu and got fedup and asked me to decide on what to eat and stop taking photos.

Chilli and some appetizer. The appetizer was toufu skin in char siew sauce. Superb!

The father ordered yu sheng.
YAY!

OKOKOK TIME TO LOU!

Tahdah!

Since young I've always loved to lou yu sheng. But only with my family. I find doing it with friends a bit. Weird. Who knows maybe a few years down the road I might have gatherings with friends and lou yu sheng but everytime I lou yu sheng I feel my family (be it my parents, grandma, aunts, uncles an so on) is very very close to me. I've always been very thankful for a family that's been so close and loving to me and each time I lou yu sheng, it makes me even happier.

Dinner goes on! We had ala carte.
Deep fried tou fu. I was kinda expecting cubed ones so I was shocked to see this but (ignoring the crazy amount of oil) this was really good. Toufu was fresh (AND HOME MADE), skin was crisp (and oily =_=) and the flavour was awesome.

BEEF! I think. I can't even remember the name tsk. I can only remember the crisp of the meat, and the sweetness that was not to overpowering. Two thumbs up. Totally awesome, again.

I thought the spoon was pretty hehe.

In Perth, this was called YUMMY DUCK in Uncle Billy's (shudder). This is VERY OBVIOUSLY the BETTER version.

Duck meat was cooked till just nice but the yam was a bit salty but the sauce was totally totally awesome, yet again!

TIME FOR DESSERT!!!!!
Mummy ordered gui ling gao (herbal jelly). Smooth!

I ordered pomelo sago with mango. Woaaah it was soooooooooooo good! Cream was not too heavy, sago was of generous amount (same with pomelo pulps) and the mango was SHIOK! It was so good Daddy ordered another bowl for himself too!

And then, on the 5th day of CNY (30/01/2009), I met up with my Godparents (aka Aunt Siew Khim and Uncle Allan) for dinner. Mummy came along! We had dinner at the Killiney Kopitiam at the airport.

My mee siam! Totally no regrets getting mee siam. Soup had the nutty fragrance and IT WAS SOUR! Not spoilt sour but lime sour. The best thing was, it was just nice. Not too blend, and not too sour. The serving's a liiiiiiiiittle bit smaller than your normal serving but another serving would be too much so. Hmmm.

Mummy's laksa. I didn't try but she said it was not bad. Oh and apparently their chicken rice is not bad too!

Gloria Jeans after dinner. This would be just nice instead of another serving. The tiramisu cake was yums!

After all that, we went over to my Godparents' place to bai nian (pay respect). Mummy didn't have to lah, she just tagged along haha! What a lovely way to end a Friday night by just lazing on your Godparents' sofa in their living room watching tv till it's about time to go home!

signing off~DE XIN

ALMOST A MONTH AGO

2009-02-03T21:15:00.020+09:00

Severly late in posting haha my bad. About a month ago, I went out with SHERRY LOVE! We went to Marine Square. Remember how EITHER of us will DEFINITELY be late and VERY RARELY both of us are on time?

I was late.

SO. We had late lunch (at about, what, 3? haha) at Pasta de Waraku! They had this set lunch thingy which I thought was quite worthy. But if you're a big appetite-r, you can forget about it. The set lunch was one pasta and one side for I think S$9.90. So we picked things we liked. Or rather, I liked. Heh.
Potato salad on toast. Not baaaaad but something I can do at home haha!

Spicy cod roe pizza! I LOVED THIS LIKE OMGOSH! The roe (sorry I just love roe) was nice and creamy, crust was nice and crisp, gah and the sauce was just awesome. If I ever go back there again, this is a MUST HAVE!

Sherry had the ham and peas pasta. Not bad but er, ya, I can also do that myself > <.

Spicy cod roe pasta! I told you I love roe. Tobiko roe, cod roe, crab roe EXCEPT salmon roe. Too big, i found it disgusting. Back to the pasta. The pasta was cooked al dente! Yumz. Very fragrantly cooked. Two thumbs up =). But because it was a set with that side, all the portions were smaller. =(

MOVIE! We watched AUSTRALIA! Thankfully I have a friend who appreciates good movies. Everytime I asked some people to watch Australia with me, "HUUUUUUUUUH DONT WANT LAAAAAAAH VERY LONG LEEEEEH!" Boo you.

I thought the movie was AWESOME. True, it was long, but not a single bit in the movie felt draggy. It was like a history lesson about Australia, except less exaggerated. Rare, huh. Movies are always exaggerated but somehow this movie seemed to be hiding some stuff. Like The Hidden Generation were actually abused (some, no, most) when FORCED into white families instead of being just sent to Mission Island like what the movie showed. But gah. The movie was totally great. All those who didn't watch it? You missed out. Too bad.

During lunch, Sherry passed me my birthday present while I passed her the miserable stuff I got her from Shanghai. I suck lah. I promise something better on your birthday okies, love. =)

So I got home and very excitedly opened the card before I even went to my room.
HOME MADE CARD! LIKE ZOMGOSH! You just got the artsy blood in you, something I don't have =(. Best card I've ever got. Not to say I don't appreciate the other cards I've received because they are ALL bursting with love but I never would have thought anyone would spend so much time on a gift for me. You make me feel so loved, Sherry. *wipes tears dramatically* Things I don't get in misery land. Oh wells.

AND THE PRESENT!
TADAH! Is this omgosh or wtheck! CHEESECAKE! PLUS COOKBOOK! TOGETHER THEY ARE THE BEST! Man, Sherry, I really don't know how much thought you put into getting the gift for me. I even blogged about this so late. Aiya I just suck.

Sigh. This 19th birthday is really the best ever. Surprises, presents, presence(s), blessing, loved ones, friends. Gah. CAN I PLEASE JUST NOT GO BACK TO PERTH COS IM EVEN GETTING TIRED OF WHINING EVERY FEW OTHER DAYS. *pouts*

About a week later (16/01/2009), after I got well from my terrible sickness, I went out with The Good Friend (TGF) for lunch at a Japanese ramen place near Raffles Place mrt station. I can't quite remember the place. Heh. I was still 10% sick okies don't blame me.

This was my bowl of ramen.
And I couldn't finish.

Check HIS out.
And he even finished up what I couldn't finish. Heh.

I was still recovering from sickness so my appetite was till not there yet. But I can say the soup was superbly tasty. The char siew was tender. Noodles were normal. But everything added together to become a damn good bowl of ramen. Will wanna go back again. Bring my parents there or something. Maybe the father. Yeap.

Oh but it's a tad expensive though. I remember TGF's bowl was about S$15.

A few days later (20/01/2009), I met up with Nancy again! We went to Bugis for CRYSTAL JADE LA MIAN XIAO LONG BAOOOOOO! Finally. Have been wanting to try it since I can't even remember when.
Very weird looking appetiser. The peanuts even had the taste of the vegetable. It's weird tasting but so weird you just keep wanting more. Even weirder.

Cong you mian! Or you cong mian. Was nice but a tad dry. Had to add some soup. But the taste was good.

Nancy's kou shui (saliva) chicken. I refuse to know how they cook it but trust me, that thing was hell spicy. Reminds me of the bowl of chilli oil drowned dan dan mian we tried in a sichuan restaurant in Shanghai. Hah!

XIAO LONG BAO!!!!! Ok la. Skin was just right, soup was not bad. But. The meat. I don't know how or why but it tastes and feels different from Din Tai Fung and not just that, it's just not as good. Hmmm. And boo. They don't have yam paste xiao long bao.

Guo tie! Not bad.

JIAN BAO! OMGOSH loveloves! Awesomeness! Fluffy buns, nice inside. Yums. Closest I can get to Shanghai. *daydreams*

I also ordered red bean pancake.

The skin. Is. So. Totally. WRONG. But the red bean paste was not too sweet which was ok.

Overall, I'd rather Crystal Jade to Din Tai Fung. It has a wider, MUCH wider, variety as compared to Din Tai Fung. And at least it has red bean pancake even though it sucked. But if I were to be craving really badly for xiao long bao, I'll go Din Tai Fung. I'll only go Crystal Jade for the noodles and other dimsums.

signing off~DE XIN

BACK!

2009-01-31T01:00:00.000+09:00

Aaah finally. I kinda just got home from visiting my Godma/Aunt Siew Khim. To think about it, she and Uncle Allan/Godpa were a huge blessing dropped from heaven. I remember asking God how come I can't be like normal Christians and have a Christian Godparent(s). I've had a pair of Godparents since young but they're my parents' damn good friends and tour buddies and they're not Christians. I even ranted to some of my close friends about not having Christian Godparents. And so I praid to God like a small spoilt child, asking what's wrong and tahdah. Approximately a week or two later, Mummy called to tell me Aunt Siew Khim and Uncle Allan wanted to be my Godparents.

I was elated.

I didn't think twice and said "OK!" God loves us. =) There was a reason behind them being my Godparents (I'm gonna have another cousin soon yay!) but I couldn't help but tell them about this miracle. They felt comforted. They agreed. God answers.

ANYWAYS I took a few photos during this spring season. =D

CHERRY BLOSSOMS! I super love them. Outside my house in Perth, just a short walk towards uni, along the way, I will always see a tall beautiful tree of cherry blossoms. Every September (ahem Australia's spring is in September, just like how our summer is in June ahem) the flowers will blossom and I never ever get a good picture of the whole tree. Too big? Too tall? Too wide? I don't know. It just never look as pretty in photos. Only upclose shots of the flowers will look good.

I begged Daddy to get me this from the start (when we enter the flower garden) to the end (when Mummy was going to pay for the other 4 pots she chose). He gave in. YES! I love this pot. Nice and small. EASY TO TAKE A NICE PICTURE OF! But the focus is a bit. Hmmm.

Close up! These flowers obviously don't blossom as well as those in Perth. Weather lar.

The other 4 pots Mummy bought. Which means there are 2 other same pots that I didn't take.

Er. Chinese new year flower/tree. It's called ying liu in chinese but uuuh I don't know what's it called in english heh.

SNACKS! Yumyumyum the big bottle with flower shaped yellow coloured cookies are home made. Somewhere in the background, amongst the taller bottles, the extreme left one, without the red cap, is also home made. Not that you can see but haha I'm proud of it =P.

CNY cards! Some with love, some...er. From companies haha.

So it was CNY eve and one of Daddy's sister came over for reunion dinner.
Taugua? I think. Haha and lap cheong (chinese sausage) and suan (some chinese vegetable).

Oyster and facai (some chinese vege I think haha) with mushrooms. (not very well taken, sorry)

CHICKEN COOKED WITH CHINESE WINE! YUMS!

ABACUS BEEEAAADSSSSSSSS! Nah, Nelson, now you knwo what it is. (picture not well taken again, sorry)

Ever wondered how this dish is made? Well, I'll give you a hint.
.
.
.
.
.
.
TADAH!
You shall figure on your own how that(above) becomes that(below).
^^. Secret recipe, sorry.

Sea cucumber. I hate how outside restaurants cook them till they're jelly soft, like as if they're fats. Mummy cooks it just right. QQ!

And chicken soup! Yums yums yums! Once a year. Makes them best.

And that aunt asked if I learnt the arts of mahjong while I was in Perth. I nearly jumped (no exaggeration no joke) and said no. My parents have had a bad history of mahjong thanks to that aunt and a few other sisters of Dad's and hence I've refused to learn it in Perth but Nelson said he's gonna teach me tomorrow during steamboat at Audrey's place so I might just give it a try.

First day of CNY, Daddy, Mummy and I went over to Grandma's place. I ATE GRANDMA'S MEESUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been THINKING about it since I was in Perth and since CNY eve. Gah. Finally.

Also went over to Granduncle's (Grandma's younger bro) house for lunch. Found out his son (who's obviously my uncle and is only 5 years older than me, which makes him the same age as a cousin of mine from Daddy's side) works in National Australian Bank (NAB)!

After that, home. Sleep.

2nd day of CNY! Daddy's sisters came at about 12-ish. Sit sit chat chat, majority left after a while. Sherman and his family stayed on a bit longer.

In the afternoon, Mummy and I went over to Mishi's house. NICE PLACE! Josh's friends were just leaving and one of his friends worked in a pet shop and had to bring back a puppy because of the public holidays. Super cute little shitzu. =D

We sat and chat for a bit, had a drink and a bowl of really good cheng tng.

Us! Some people say Mishi and I look alike. You think so? =D

Later that evening, Daddy's siblings and Mummy and I gathered again at Daddy's older sister's house for dinner. Honestly, dinner wasn't THAT great like what everyone said. Only the oysters (and facai), mushroom chicken (something which is damn easy to make) and dessert (something similar to cheng tng which even Mummy can make) were great. Lobster over cooked. Vege (which were damn hard, my teeth nearly broke) with oyster sauce was a bit tasteless (I couldn't even taste the oyster sauce). Sea cucumber had sand (WA LAO?!). Shark's fin soup was terrible (I had to pour my rice in to dilute the terrible-ness). How did everyone come to say it was great? Mummy came home agreeing to every single thing I said.

Ok, no more mood spoilers. Family photo! That white dress made me look FAT. Adam saw the pictures on facebook and said I seemed to look chubbier when I'm actually 2-3 kilograms LIGHTER than the last time he saw me. Stupid dress.

Sigh I found so much joy in this CNY. I remember sitting down in one of the houses (can't quite remember which but I think it was Granduncle's) quietly. Solemnly.

"Stop dreaming, De Xin. All these are gonna end. Poof. Gone. In a month's time you'll be back to the land of misery. Don't be too happy."

Sucks.

signing off~DE XIN

LOOK WHAT I'VE FOUND

2009-01-30T04:48:00.003+09:00

AAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

signing off~DE XIN

HERE'S WISHING ALL...

2009-01-26T00:48:00.002+09:00

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

signing off~DE XIN