Issie's Random Musings

The Po-Po Encounters

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:35:00 +0000

I'd planned to blog this post a lot earlier than this will be posted (no guarantee I'll actually be able to hang in and finish up this post for today), but work awaits and there's countless fall TV series for me to catch up on (Modern Family, Glee, 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, the list goes on...) so those somehow took priority over the blogging. If only time will freeze... then I could do all the time-wasting stuff (basically consisting of almost everything I do) while everything stays motionless and still... and leave the time when it ticks on for the compulsory things... like work.

Not to say that I hate my new job entirely. I barely think I have any reason to hate it, even. The people there are pretty nice (the ones I have to get in contact with as part of my job responsibilities anyway), but my mind does run amok at times. Perhaps I'm just being pessimistic. But pessimism is good sometimes. Too much optimism spells trouble sometimes too, right? My job responsibilities may feel mundane, but I still enjoy it (on some level), and I don't mind one bit. But maybe something in me seeks something a little more exciting than sitting by the desk facing a giant computer screen and running up and down the next.

Honestly, I've always wanted a computer screen that huge, especially back when I was a full-fledged Windows user and a full-on gamer (think MMORPG games like Maple Story lol). Now? Not so much. I stare too long at the giant screen, and my eyes start to hurt and I have to squint a little. Or perhaps that's just a sign of aging. Still, it's sad either way.

Anyway, the workplace has a strict policy of all employees wearing around their passes with the lanyards around the neck. Entry to almost every single office, building, facility and etcetera in there is hampered by a security device, so you have to use the pass to tap it whenever you wanna enter someplace. One morning (I think it's already been two weeks thereabouts since it happened), after I tapped my pass to get through the barrier from the Reception area, I absentmindedly kept the pass back in my bag, and began my slow, carefully paced walk to my office. And guess what got me? A run-in with the po-po! There aren't usually police standing at that exact spot he was at (seems like there were lots of 'em that day––probably an event), but there he was, standing in the middle of the carpark. I was almost walking past him, and he stopped me and asked for my pass. It's safe to say I was still feeling all sleepy, but deep within the crevices of my heart, it was ringing crazily off the hook. I try to avoid running into the authorities if I can. I like to think of myself as the good kid. The goody-two-shoes. Not so much the teacher's pet, 'cos that's just a stupid title to live up to. I dug the pass out of my bag and showed it to him. But that wasn't enough. Oh hell no. He dug up all of my personal particulars (okay, just my name––last name included––and my IC number). And asked whether I was new here and an intern, to which I meekly replied, "Yes." He also asked for the department I worked at (more about that later...). But he let me go after that, and warned me to wear it at all times from now on. I thanked him at the end of it (which I'm not too thrilled about doing when I think about it now).

When my supervisor returned the next week, on Monday, he asked me whether I had forgotten to wear my pass. And mentioned he had been 'informed' about it. But after that, he just kindly told me not to forget, or it'll get him into trouble. Haha. Still, an embarrassing sitch to run into. Thank God I'd came early and there weren't too many people around when the po-po stopped me for questioning. Wonder what happens to the regular employees who forget to tote around their pass. Hopefully, for the rest of the 19 weeks there, I won't forget to tote it around again!

ONWARDS!

Check out this cool cereal set I bought from the supermarket! It's supposedly imported from Ireland and it only cost me about a buck and a few extra cents!

The milk was just plain gross. Then again, I only like chocolate milk. No idea how I got past my childhood years drinking plain white milk...

Received a card holder and the official lanyard at last!

I'd been collecting a lot of mooncake boxes for my company lately, what with the Mid Autumn Festival (that is finally over, thank goodness!). I told my aunt, uncle and mother about it, and they jokingly commented, "There's still Christmas. There're probably hampers that you have to carry back around that time too." With the ordinary mooncakes, I could take sometime walking to collect and back. But then came the ice cream mooncakes from Swensens! Never really tried mooncakes in their entirety before, but I got to try two types while I was there! Was offered a full mooncake with liqueur chocolate in the center, and a slice of chocolate ice-cream mooncake! They didn't taste as bad as I'd imagined, especially the latter. It was mostly ice-cream.

Ice Cream mooncake from Swensens my supervisor offered!

I started out the first week of internship thinking I'd have no companion for lunch, and was wondering how I'd survive lunch for 5 months on snacks I'd planned to bring to work and the 2-bucks worth of sandwiches from the vending machine. But then came Carmen! She arrived a week later than us for some reason, and I was lucky enough to see her by the Reception when I was checking for packages when I arrived.

The first dish I had in the canteen while eating with my fellow interns!

Another dish I tried (Hong Kong Char Siew Noodles) while eating with Carmen!

The McDonalds' lunch my supervisor kindly paid for me, and upsized too! I rarely upsize my meals at Macky Ds, really. Politely declined a few times, but had no choice but to have to state what I wanted for a meal. Haha. He commented how they occasionally do Mac deliveries for lunch. Not sure if I hope to run into that again.

A pink macaron that I got to eat for two days! A company was doing a beta test of some sort at the canteen and gave away free cupcakes and macarons to permanent staff. The macarons were plain awesome!

Becky arrived to my workplace at the right time to try the macaron too! She actually got to take a photo with Rui En and Pierre Png, the lucky girl!

And... I met her again in the evening after work ended! We spent really long deciding what we wanted for dinner. I died a few times that evening, no thanks to some fickleness. *I kid!* We ended up at Saizeriya Italian Restaurant (I'm sure I've blogged about it before, but it's an average-grade restaurant that offers a variety but taste-wise, nothing exceptional. I've been there many times now, and I usually try something different (I love the idea of eating through the menu!) So this time, I got...

Mushroom and bacon risotto! I honestly expected better risotto (you know, ones that don't taste like rice doused in cream sauce). The bacon was a tad too salty, and the mushrooms were acceptable. Still, I managed to finish it, but I wouldn't order this dish again. Perhaps I'll go back to the Vongole pasta. That one was awesome. Namely because it's filled with clams and uses linguine pasta.

Becky ordered a cheap plate of tomato spaghetti! With way-too-salty bacon in it.

In all fairness, I'm continuing this blog post about a week later than when I originally typed up all that stuff up there. I should start having page/jump breaks in my posts. Otherwise, my blog would be helluva load to scroll through.

My father brought home his camcorder for me at last (I wanted to buy a new camcorder at the last Comex show)! I've always wanted to own a camcorder. And now that I have it... I discovered I've nothing really to do with it. Lest I decide to create my own movies and such. Perhaps I'll be inspired to, only if I have the whole Final Cut Pro software or summat. iMovie doesn't suffice, barely.

It's still in amazing condition! And it was pretty expensive when he got it. There's an option to save it in the memory card or the hard drive of the camcorder! Amazeballs!

See, it's been so long, I don't even remember when I'd gone out for dinner with my cousin anymore! So I probably won't be able to recount that. I think the first set of photos belongs to a Friday, the first Friday of the first week of internship. I remembered how I was complaining to my poor cousin about being all tired about work (when it really was nothing compared to the workload I have now). Anyway, we met up at Bishan for dindinz, and we came upon the treasure: Ambush, famed (not that famous really) for its casual european dining menu. There were even escargots. But I decided to save my money for better, less-casual snails.

Look what my cousin brought to dinner! An Eeyore handbag! It oozes furry cuteness, non? I'm probably heading to buy one of these for myself later this week with my cousin, and I'm stoked!

My cousin, Gloria, posing with her bag. I made her do this. She had zero choice but to comply.

A rather cheap-looking menu resembling a newspaper. The layout is great though, no complaints there!

Batter-fried squid? I don't remember the exact title of this appetizer.

My cousin's pasta with the humongous sausages.

Wait, I guess I did order some snails after all, albeit in a pasta dish. They tasted meh.

For dessert, we headed to saybons for a Nutty Nutella crepe!

Another dinner date with my cousin, this time on a Thursday! I remember, because I'd planned to do some shopping at Oakham Market. By the time we reached Ann Siang Hill and to the front door leading to the basement of OM, I realised the door wouldn't budge. And then I saw a 'Closed' sign. And then my mind flashed back to the time I'd gone there with Becky and we'd gotten in the same predicament (except it was in the day). And I remembered OM's website stating it only opens Friday to Sunday. And I was a day short. Oh well.

The pretty lanterns lit up above the roads along Chinatown, in light of Mid-Autumn Festival! It was a beautiful sight. And it's not even the Christmas season. That's something to be said.

We were hungry and went hunting for dinner. We ended up at a Chinese restaurant. The traditional sorts, with salted, roasted peanuts as appetizers and traditional utensils with traditional Chinese prints. Omg, kill me. I just used the word 'traditional' thrice in a sentence. What has become of me?

My cousin's pissed expression as she waits for the food, as well as at the over-enthusiastic staff.

Braised ee-fu noodles with mushroom, and chicken with dried chilli (no one ate the latter though)!

The noodles were awesome, I gotta admit.

Blew my cash on this unappetizing bowl of mango dessert with sago.

It's my first time entering a Chinese restaurant voluntarily. Rest assured, it's my final time too. It's not that the food was overly lousy or expensive. But... it's just not worth it, if you're not going there for something other than wedding banquets.

On a completely unrelated note...

Two plates of Pop-Tarts I prepared for Becky & I when she came over for some secret mission art session!

And something else that is waaay overdue. I think the exhibition has even ended its run here in Singapore already, in late September! The Harry Potter exhibition! Here are some snaps of the goodies I got from there (I wish I got more, but one shouldn't be excessively greedy...)

A Gryffindor beanie! It fits perfectly over my head. Too the colour doesn't match my Gryffindor scarf I'd bought for USD$90+ online. It's a far cry, in fact. Oh well. Where else would I use a beanie of this shade without looking I'm trying too hard to cosplay as a Harry Potter character? I welcome any ideas.

Does the real Gryffindor beanie (the one they used in the movies anyway) even resemble this colour?

Got a huge Undesirable poster! This would only come in handy after I get to renovate my room. This is worthy of getting its own frame.

The similar one that's sold online!

If I vaguely remember, my mother and I went to a scholarship and top university fair (for US & UK universities anyway––and one German university for some maritime thingy) before we went for the exhibition. Anywhere seems appealing right about now.

My mother got me a caramel waffle snack (loved it!) and sunblock for the face from Ocean Potion! You can't be too careful!

Anxieties

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 15:54:00 +0000

Damn, I've been blogging (on and off, no doubt) for a few years now... it's unbelievable how I still find it so taxing to come up with a starter line interesting enough to rope readers in to the *real* stuff. I'll continue working on it though...

And now that the first paragraph's over and settled with...

I've no idea what I can really say on my blog posts now. My life mainly revolves around the internship presently, what with 10 and a half hours spent at work each day, and there isn't a lot I can write about without getting into legal prosecution risks of divulging confidential information. But I'm pretty sure emotions and thoughts don't really count in that.

Speaking of which, I kind of enjoyed Media Law (which I took the past semester), even though I only managed to scrape through with a B+ at the end... Undecided if I should actually pursue Law completely in university, and I've to admit: I've never once given a damn thought about doing Law. But perhaps Media Law had contorted the inner workings of my mind, who knows. But what happens then, even if I study Law? Do I become a lawyer? Where do I work? A giant legal firm? A small, independent, private law firm? (I don't mind small companies, really!) Do I even possess the confidence and willpower to obtain what's right for clients as a lawyer? I mentioned the whole studying Law notion to my uncle and jokingly remarked I could be a judge. Right, as if it's that easy. My aunt decided against it. She said it spells for hard times, being a lawyer. If dire times call for desperate measures, perhaps a legal counsellor? Someone who deals with family/divorce trouble? In any case, my future in university (hopefully I get into one) is a big question mark. I want to study theatre. TV. Film. Writing. French. It's a pity university education is not free-of-charge the world over, that'd make it so much easier to go to whichever country I desire (assuming I can get in!) Apparently, my friend in Finland pays nothing for her university education! She's happily studying singing in a university in the city of Turku now. The Finnish got it swell.

Anyway, think I terribly railed off the subject I intended this post to be about, so it's time I get back on track. Wish I could say the same about my own life. Standstill. Crossroads. 4-way junctions. Those are words I can describe about my present state. I go about my day with careful routine––hey, routine is good y'know. According to an article I read in Reader's Digest (the iPad digital versh), unpredictable schedules and lack of a regular routine "spike[s] levels of the stress hormone cortisol and disrupt your body's ideal state" (BAM! Sufficient true blue informative facts for one post, there ya go!)

So the subject at hand: Internship. I have about 20 weeks left to go, come Friday this week! I end on 8 February, so if the world doesn't blow up on me and the rest of the world by then, I'll very gladly take my leave! I know, it may be too early to tell, you say? I actually like being in the field of TV. It's vastly interesting. Just yesterday when I was doing my rounds (or maybe when I was going home), I heard two ladies commented how they had to remove the homosexual scene in the drama series premiering soon (or has it already premiered?), 'Revenge'. I've watched up to the latest episode (right before the hiatus) and I know it like the back of my hand (I'm not exaggerating here, people). They meant the scene between Tyler and Nolan, where the two dudes kiss in the privacy of Nolan's metal-hard study, after they've got a deal working of some sort. Ignore this if you don't actually watch 'Revenge' or remotely even care for it. That's such a pity really, in my opinion (I can see I am beginning to tread on dangerous ground here). Cutting out the homosexual scene completely and leaving out an otherwise vital part of the story? Actually, it may not really have been necessary, lol. But I guess the authorities have to do what's best for the conservative nation we still are now. All right, I should stop there before I start rambling too much.

On second thought, I shall blog more about this whole internship when I feel up to it. I know I have barely typed 10 lines on the internship itself, but it can wait! I've got ample weeks more of it.

Photos below! I've taken some shots of my desk and the area around my cubicle, but it's probably not the best idea to put it up online, not when the whole place is so security-protected anyway.

My first meal, on Day 3! I get anxious when I see egg in my food, then the picking starts. I barely touched the thing (except strands of noodles and vegetable stems maybe) and brought it home as left-overs instead.

In the background: my official notebook for internship (I record my dailies––what I do each day––there!), and a "limited-edition" sticker set (related to the TV channel I'm working for) a kind corlick gave when she noticed my really huge notebook!

Offered a snowskin mooncake by another corlick that we received boxes of today and yesterday from Raffles Hotel (I was actually collecting mooncake boxes and delivering back empty ones yesterday...)!

It's alcoholic mooncake! Liqueur chocolate hidden inside! Sorry if the photo grosses you out.

Headed to the supermarket after work today to look at items and stock up on the snack supply during work! Somehow, looking at grocery items in a supermarket really calms me down. I should do it more often...

First-Timer

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:38:00 +0000

I watched Annie the Musical on 26 July this year, so this is just another one of my usual long-overdue blog posts! Anyway, my mother bought the tickets for both of us to watch a few months before, but she forfeited her ticket to my aunt instead when she scheduled to go on a get-away to Indonesia with her pals instead.

My aunt has probably never watched a musical in her life, so this was her first. When the 'Overture' ended and Annie belted out a rendition of 'Maybe' and there were tons of children (playing the orphans) running around the stage, that's when my aunt leaned towards me and asked me in Mandarin, "Are those real people?" No need to exactly mention my really exasperated reply to that insightful question.

Anyway, Annie the Musical had some pretty heart-warming moments, so it was pretty nice overall! The little Singaporean children they hired as actors to play the orphans were precious, especially the tiny girl with the two ponytails at the side of her head (name's Molly, I think?).

Our view of the stage from our seats, right next to an aisle!

During the intermission...

Brought out my new Juicy Couture monogrammed bag to use for this occasion! So purdyyy!

My uncle fetched us after the musical and we headed for dinner/supper at the usual restaurant along Geylang Rd we usually patronise!

Abalone with broccoli!

Tried soaking my broccoli in hot water like what my aunt and uncle did to remove the abalone sauce (they're vegans!) and it really does work!

My noodles.

One of our usual pickings. My uncle dubs them 'Chinese French Fries' and the chilis tossed amidst the "fries" as 'bombs'. LOL.

On the ride home, we saw the hugest moon hanging from the sky! It was almost impossible to describe (so I have no idea how to describe it here anyway). Anyway, the moon in the above photo is the small white figure in the sky next to that orange luminating light from the streetlamps (i know, the irony).

My uncle's posters of his stuffed animals he usually sells during his fleas!

Words Left Unspoken

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Well, you can probably see by the time at the bottom of this post... I'm typing up this short piece at 6:30AM in the morning. I'd usually only eat my breakfast till about 6:15, then go back to sleep for a bit before I'm woken up by my human alarm clocks (either Gran or Mum)... Yesterday, I slept early (quarter before 1AM?) so perhaps I'm not feeling much of the effects of being sleepy enough to go back to bed.

Anyway, there isn't a lot I can write here. Week 1 of internship is drawing to a close! Now... 21 more weeks to go! Huzzah! Because I had to sign a non-disclosure form and whatever serious business it is that could get me prosecuted (legally, of course), nothing about internship is going on here! I've faithfully kept a daily (written) diary to record what I do every single day (which will just get tedious in time and I won't be able to faithfully keep it up just like how I do this blog...) since there are 2 big reports and a ton of monthly logs we have to submit on what we do for our internship and other inane stuff like that. Still, I guess I shouldn't complain and just be glad and satisfied I managed to land a position at this company. The people there are pretty nice (according to my company's supervisor).

It's really sad. I've lost most of my downtime, since I unconsciously (almost always these past 4 days) get off work at 6:30PM (I've no idea why my body alarm clock doesn't fire up at 6:00PM - that's the time I'm supposed to end), I get home only around 7 plus, which leaves me basically zero time to get some proper work done, like emailing my penpals or writing letters to them. Hahaha yes, they are proper. Maybe not exactly 'work'.

Anywhooo, hopefully I brave this last day of Week 1, and that nothing screws up for me (Pooh you, Murphy's Law!).

P.S.: It really has been a while since I typed up a no-photo post...

Lunch in a (Full) House

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 15:04:00 +0000

Smelly, The Cow and I managed to make use of the deal we bought on one of the deals' sites (there are so many, I can't differentiate them really) a while ago! The deal went like this: it's $9.90 for a three-course set lunch, which includes one soup-of-the-day, a plate of pasta (with a select choice for your preference) and top it all off with a beverage (coffee/tea/iced lemon tea)!

There is only ONE Fullhouse café branch in Singapore, and a few in Malaysia. This one's located just next to Hotel Rendezvous! It's a part of it, I reckon. The address states it's at 'Rendezvous Gallery'. There are a few other swanky restaurants around the perimeter as well.

Cow and I arrived first at 11.45PM, early for our reservation at 12PM! This is the entrance to the House!

We climb the three steps to the car porch! And look what greets us! An open-top car, with fully-functional doors for you to enter and gives you photo-ops!

A mural right next to the car! I love the graphics! And the cartoon Singaporean Merlion is way adorbs!

We move on past the car porch! Apparently, the dining area we were assigned to was on the 2nd level, completely detached from the area on the 1st floor. We confirmed our reservation with the friendly staff and moved to our seats!

Our table, and the scene behind us. So pristine! The decor was absolutely delightful to look at too. Little photo frames of the characters in Fullhouse on the walls, pretty wall lamps, etc.

The counter!

The Balcony, right behind my seat!

The menu!

Back cover of the menu!

A brochure I picked up at the entrance...

...which includes a handy little floorplan of Fullhouse! So cute!

A wall lamp right by my seat! I would love something like that in my refurbished room (not gonna happen for now, unfortch)!

A portion of the wallpaper on the walls in Fullhouse!

Smelly arrives and we get straight down to our lunch, furrealz!

Our Soup-of-the-Day: Pumpkin soup! I don't really like pumpkin in general, nor have I even tried it... but this pumpkin soup is pretty good. Just the right amount of 'creamy' and the taste isn't too over-powering!

We all ordered iced lemon tea for our beverage! It came in jugs and the volume was just right!

The Cow's order: Alfredo Pasta! Creamy spaghetti with shitake mushrooms!

Smelly and I ordered the Vongole pasta! It is butter-based, with chilli flakes (look at the amount of it, really shows you how friggin' spicy it is), clams with a dash of pepper along the sides of the plate! It swelled me up like no tomorrow. I was nearly in tears when the waiter asked me whether I wanted to refill my cup of iced water.

We went around to explore after our meal! Tons of photo-ops around the place! And all the decor was extremely delightful! I could only wish my house was like that! The entire place has that cottage-feel and the dainty air to it.

The Master Bedroom! Almost everything is for sale there, save for the furniture of course! The clothes on the rack, the items on the shelves...

Smelly and I had some photo-ops with the hats!

Overwhelmingly-sequined top. I can only imagine the price of it! Most of the items for sale there cost a bomb, anyway.

The Cow in the background!

Glasses on display, all for sale as well! Have I mentioned how much I dig all the furniture there?

A canopy bed in the corner! We weren't allowed to sit on it, but Smelly and Cow went ahead for a photo-op there anyway.

Bedside table, with accessories for sale dangling over hooks above it!

Another angle of the Master Bedroom.

A coat hanger that displays scarves for sale! The miniature potted plants on steps against the wall are so precious!

Back to the balcony!

Cosy Corner!

A fountain filled with rubber duckies and coins thrown in by people who assumes it's a magic wishing fountain, in the outdoor garden, just outside the restaurant!

Moi photographing the fountain!

The Outdoor Courtyard!

An Eiffel Tower-shaped beer tap?! So pretty.

We had more photo-ops on this garden bench!

Back on the First Floor!

Goodbye, Fullhouse! I'll be back, someday!

To make a not-too-long story short, we met Becks and took neoprints for the first time together! It was really smaller than expected since we had to divide it among a group of 4.

Anyway, I'm completed with this blog post! It's internship Day One tomorrow and I honestly should be getting to bed soon! I'm not exactly allowed to disclose any confidential information about internship, my company and what I do on the Great Wide Web, so it's best I disclose nothing about it at all, so I'll simply continue with past events when I get the time!

It's pretty much a lack of words in this blog post since I'm already seriously lazy to write, especially when they're already tons of photos that can make up for the lack of text! Goodbye for now, fair fellows!

The Brush Guard Review

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:37:00 +0000

Just to show you how dedicated I am to keeping this blog alive, here's another post! A product review this time, to be exact! I'm always blogging based on the chronological events of my day. Another irritating quirk of mine. Is it even something positive for it to be coined a 'quirk'?

Anywho, I received my brush guard pack in the mail today! I think I ordered it just a week ago, in late August. How quick! There are several packs to choose from, and I got the 'Variety Pack' so I get a little bit of everything! Others include a 'Blush Pack', 'Foundation Pack', to suit the kind of brushes you want to safeguard!

The envelope it came in!

Different sizes!

So far I've only used two of 'em...

The mesh are extremely breathable, good for drying your brushes throughout the night! But the underleaf of the package says that the mesh can fray over time! So I'll be sure to take great care of it! The mesh felt harder than I thought it would, but the brushes fit perfectly.

Michelle Phan's video review of The Brush Guard and how to clean brushes properly! It's a pretty old video...

Click here to buy The Brush Guard!

Click here to meet The Ickies! They stay on your brushes if you don't clean them proper!

All righty, I'm too tired of blogging for now, so I shall end it here! Tata!

Comex 2012 Haul

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 15:30:00 +0000

All right, so I said yesterday would be my last day at Comex, but not exactly! Even though I didn't have to work for the final day of Comex, I still returned, for the fourth day in a row! To see Smelly at work, and at the same time, get some tech products that I really needed! Was able to get a 100 bucks from my mother before I went so I could get a look-see and buy something!

I headed there after my music lesson (I've proceeded on to Grade 7 now, huzzah!) and met with The Cow before we met up with Smelly for lunch. And guess what I ate? ChicKing... again. For the third day in a row now. I'm seriously never going back. Never again!

We headed back to Comex and Cow and I walked around Levels 6, then back to 4, before we met with Smelly at her booth and left! Wan Er got a pretty blue, sleek aluminium hard drive for herself, of 1TB capacity! So much prettier than my hard drives really. It was hilarious, how she asked for a red case that only came with the pink hard drive. But she ended up with a dark blue case with her blue hard drive in the end, but it still looked pretty okay.

Here's what I managed to get, mostly from the extremely crowded Level 6 exhibition hall!

The loots.

First, a moshi Magic Mouse mouseguard at $18!

The mouseguard comes in two colours (you have to buy them separately of course) - white and silver!

I got the white one, obvs. It's basically a sticker already shaped to accommodate your Magic Mouse, with matte surfacing across the top. It's supposedly wear- and scratch-resistant, and it doesn't hinder with using your mouse at all. I've always worried I would scratch my Magic Mouse (and I already have, even along the aluminium side as you can see from the photo above), so I'm glad I got this for cheap at Comex!

To get the mouseguard in white, click here!

To get the mouseguard in silver, click here!

Alrighty, next product!

SanDisk Cruzer Pop USB Flash Drive, 16GB, a paint design, for $9.90! I was looking for a SanDisk brand (one of the trusted brands for flash drives!) for my new thumbdrive and this li'l thang caught my eye, amidst the huge crowd around the booth! Get this thumbdrive here!

The really thin and miniscule thumbdrive bends!

Tried to put it through the USB drive on my Mac this way at first. Didn't work.

I tried flipping it over. Huzzah! This was the proper way to insert the flash drive!

On to the final product!

sensonic's EVI800 Zip Cable Earphones!

Click here to see the features!

Click here to see where exactly to buy 'em (only available in certain countries)!

What caught my eye was the zip cable! Really one-of-a-kind!

Look at the pretty pink zipper!

It provides you with three, interchangeable, different-sized ear-buds! Small, medium, large! Somehow every size I tried doesn't seem to work. They all end up falling out of my ears from time to time. But one good feature of this set of earphones is that the audio jack's cable is not made of the usual rubber outer-layer, but a string that encases the wire inside, I suppose! All my past earphones had to be tossed away when the rubber layer frays and gives out, which somehow damages one side of the earphone until it is rendered useless. With the string, it's practically impossible for that to happen (I think, I'd have to give it time to find out if it's really all that formidable)!

And now, that leaves the obligatory food photos! The Cow and I headed to Clementi Mall afterwards for her dinner!

Splish Splash and Pink Lemonade Ice flavours from Baskin Robbins 31! It cost me an exorbitant 6 bucks, lol.

And oden, with Tako Ten Chigiri (octopus fishcake)! If you haven't tried oden before, you've really got to. The soup at least. It tastes waaay heavenly. And this just cost me 1 buck.

Well, that's it for now! I've been blogging an awful lot these past few days, but keep a look-out for more! Till then!

On the Battle Ground: Comex Promoter FINAL DAAAY

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 15:30:00 +0000

And so comes the last day of my temporary real job at Comex 2012! I worked without Smelly, while she was off gallivanting elsewhere with Becky as I suffer. Anyway, I was once again posted to Level 4's booth, with a minor change. A new promoter for AMD joins me at my booth, and according to our supervisor, he had experience at previous IT shows selling AMD computers. Turns out he was a smoker too, just like the rest. Ew. They must be the Cigar-Smokin' Musketeers (not even close to be called 'musketeers', really) of AMD.

I wasn't able to sell a single laptop right before lunch, while the new promoter kept coming to me to enquire how many I'd sold. I had to keep coming up with tiny reasons of why I sold nothing. Here's how the ordinary convo between us went.

Him: So how is it?
Me: Um, sold zero *shaking my head*. Only have potential customers.
Him: *nods* I already sold 3, leh.
Me: *feigning shock* WOW! That's good!

It was annoying, really.

Anyway, during lunch, my supervisor allowed me to go off elsewhere for lunch since I mentioned I was meeting a friend elsewhere. So guess who I got to meet!

Smelly, Begs and The Cow! We took an Instax after I ate at ChicKing... again. I was getting really sick of the place, but at least it'd be the last day I'm eating there! Or so I thought... But more on that in the next post! The one in the white polo-tee is yours truly!

Went back sadly to work, and played promoter-and-customer with Begs and Cow for a bit before they all left and I was back alone, bored and miserable. I even ended up skiving for a bit, leaving the exhibition hall to take a breather from the crowds, from time to time, for fear my supervisor would return and find me missing. Besides I could always use the excuse of going to the pee-room if that happened! Or sometimes I'd walk around the perimeter of the ASUS booth, staking out potential customers not already taken by other ASUS promoters (basically what I did all day). Or even the perimeter of the exhibition hall, looking at other products by other brands and companies. I was that bored, yes. And I hadn't sold a single laptop, while Mr. Braggy Pants continued to increase his commission count. Boo hoo me.

But just as I thought I wasn't gonna sell a single laptop on my final day of work, I managed to clinch one with a couple! Funny story. I spoke to them in Chinese at first (really surprising). When I noticed he didn't truly get what I was saying, I tried again. And I was able to sort of answer the man's questions in pretty undecipherable English, and I was finally able to sell one when he said he would get the $799 laptop! Huzzah!

Anyway, I didn't sell another laptop after that, try as I might. Some learning points here: I can't really sell. I pick customers selectively, and somehow try to judge on my own whether they were Chinese-speakers. I can't do sales for nuts. And lastly, never doing another IT show in my life!

On the Battle Ground: Comex Promoter Day Two

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:59:00 +0000

Truth is, I'm only typing this almost a week after this post is dated. Don't ask me why, but after just a day or two of posting, I somehow lost all interest again to blog. Wonder where all my previous enthusiasm with blogging ran off to. Perhaps it's all lost with age. But more on that later. Or next time when I actually blog.

Anyway, the second day of Comex was pretty uneventful. Not if you count me managing to "break the egg" (according to my Uncle) from the previous day's *duck record. I was able to sell one pretty early in the first 2 hours, thanks to one of the ASUS promoters who helped me out with the Chinese-speaking customer. She let me fill up the invoice and use my name instead of hers. So grateful! If I'd known earlier, I'd have shared it with her so she could get her commission from selling AMD computers. Anyway, the first laptop I sold was priced at $799!

For lunch, our supervisor somehow allowed us to eat away from the rest of the AMD group (thank goodness), so Smelly and I went off to Marina Square to eat at a lesser-known fast-food place called 'ChicKing'.

As I'm writing this, I'm sifting through folders upon folders on my computer seeing which pictures I have that would apply to this post in any way. The photos are accumulating like crazy. And for some weird reason, I think the only way to be rid of them is to post them on this blog. Who knows if one day all these posts and photos would be erased? But I'll take a chance.

Anyway, at ChicKing, I ordered a box of cheese fries that are way too overpriced (SGD$5) and a mini chicken wrap (SGD$2.50). Pretty ordinary fare.

Smelly consumed her lunch box given by her fellow ASUS promoter.

Oh and see that water bottle there? It was given by the lady boss of AMD. More on her later.

We had a hearty laugh over the label on the lunch box. According to Smelly, she'd consumed expired food since she started eating after 3PM. Ha!

The ASUS booths on Level 3 of Comex where Smelly is stationed at.

Anyway, back to the lady boss. She came to me acting as a customer with too many probing questions about AMD and the laptops. Terms like 'FPS' (frame rate per second) and questions about the temperature came up. I didn't exactly suspect anything until I'd noticed the booth in-charge exchange friendly smiles and acknowledgement with her. She gave up the entire charade after she asked me to leave my name for her (still in her customer-guise) and rejected it after I gave it to her on an AMD information handout. Then passed me a Watsons bottle too. She approved my explanations and then gave me tips to improve. And before she left, she instructed me to leave the company branding on the top left corner of the shirt wide open. Now, I'm still unconsciously tucking my hand from my left side back from time to time.

My steady companions throughout my Comex days. Literally. I consulted them a number of times you would never believe and held on to them from 11AM to 9.30PM. The AMD handout is the one on the top.

A view of the ASUS booths on Level 4 where I was stationed at for 3 days. Smelly got to take this when she worked on the final day of Comex.

For the second laptop I managed to sell (priced at $1198), it was to a gamer (I think). He was asking me questions about AMD laptops good for gaming. He looked pretty familiar. Perhaps I talked to him on the first day of Comex. I'm horrible at remembering faces. An excellent example: a guy asked for an ASUS brochure from me, and I went to grab a copy near the cashier. I returned and gave it to the first guy I saw standing at the spot I left moments ago. The guy who requested the brochure looked confused and beckoned to me. Cringe. I returned to grab another copy for him after that.

Okay, enough about Comex. It pains me to be writing about all the past experiences of working. Anyway, on the morning of my second day at Comex, my mother returned home from Bangalore, India while I was groggily slurping up noodles at 6 in the morning! She was there for a week learning some new accounting software and brought back some pretty souvenirs for me! Apparently, there were even people from Kenya and Ethiopa who joined them on the learning journey in Bangalore. Pretty awesome.

Love the wrapper! And so beautifully wrapped too! And in it...

A wooden elephant figurine! It's earned a permanent spot on my cluttered desk, lol.

An I heart Bangalore tee that I requested from my mother. Somehow looks a lot different than how I wish it was. And it's friggin' huge for a size 'S'! Pretty sure if I wear it out, Becky will start talking about wearing bags again.

Other stuff from India I got during the week!

A pencil holder! Beautiful handiwork there!

My mother knew I'd eat any snacks from the Singapore Airlines planes and kept these two packets for me.

Postcards with Bangalore's sights and cultural locations. Their postcards feels like cheap, soft cardboard, but still pretty.

And finally, a letter from my penpal from Mumbai, India! She sent lots of stamps from Hungary and other places, and an empty postcard of the Queen Necklace in Mumbai. According to her, the beachline lights up at night and resembles that of a necklace, hence its name.

After work, I looked up my aunt and uncle (they go to practically every IT fair for at most 2 days each time!), and my mother came as well! We all went off to eat at Applebee's! Love the place. But we received the suckiest service that day. Possibly because there were lots of customers and we usually went late at night when there was dwindling in numbers. My mother and I shared food, and we ordered...

A lemon basil and shrimp risotto. Creamy. But I didn't get tired of it too quickly. And the shrimp was deliciously crunchy. The cheese strips added a nice touch to the risotto too. Sorry for that lame attempt at reviewing the dish. I'm not sure if it got through to you folks.

I ordered a frost lemonade with strawberry swirl!

See, my uncle usually orders this appetizer, 'Spinach and Artichoke Dip', basically a dish of chips served with some greenish dip. Today, he cleared the dip and suddenly commented that there was PLASTIC in the dip. He didn't get too worked up about it. But if it was really plastic, then that was really dangerous. Plus he eats this most of the time since it's a vegetarian option on the menu. He consulted the waiter that there was plastic. He offered to change the dish for us but we hurriedly declined. We were already as full as hell. The manager came up and then explained to us it wasn't plastic. Just artichoke that looked like plastic because it's a really thin layer. Hilarious! But at least we hadn't been consuming plastic.

Final segment of this post! I promise! Was bored at night after Day 2 of Comex, and did a little alteration of this photo Smelly posted on Instagram...

We took this quick shot in the bathroom on Day 1 of Comex, in our uniforms!

It ended up looking like this...

I shall leave it at this.

*duck = it basically means zero as well. I kid you not.

On the Battle Ground: Comex Promoter Day One

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:01:00 +0000

Where do I even begin? It was an extremely long Thursday, with my first day at work as an ASUS/AMD?! promoter at Comex 2012. I've never worked at an exhibition show before (but I've been there every single time there is one so there's really no excuse) and it's only today I realised how truly tiring it is. For starters, I was walking up and down the entire day, seeking out lone souls to pour out technical specifications and features of buying a AMD APU-powered laptop under the brand of ASUS. It's all confusing really. The action of pacing back and forth gave me a headache, firstly.

Then I started to get an ache in muy stomach. Some dull pain that can't seem to go away. I've been talking too much (well, to the certain few I've selectively picked to target) and the stomach was contracting as I explained nervously to the folks. This always happens to me after an exam, after a presentation, you get my drift!

Smelly and I got some hope when we arrived in the morning (albeit wondering around lost thanks to some pretty bad instructions) and were told we were both posted to the same booth on Level 3. Then our supervisor returned and told us one of us had to go up to another booth to promote because they were shorthanded. And that was the story of how I got posted to just near the entrance of Hall 401, Level 4. It was weird, first arriving there to find my booth-in-charge was called 'Lovely', a (lovely?) Filipino woman who doesn't seem to know that much honestly. Thank God it turns out there was another in-charge whom was bombarded with questions every second when the exhibition was declared open.

Before the exhibition started, I began to identify the laptops I had to promote, solely, lonely. The other promoters in the same booth as I (the bulk of them) who were dressed in blue ASUS shirts were huddled together in a corner while their in-charged briefed them. When the exhibition began, the blue-shirts huddled all around the booths and blocking my pathway to most of the ASUS laptops I was suposed to promote (just four). There were seriously a whole lot of them, holy cow. And there was only one me. The blue-shirts were selling some of the ASUS laptops I was supposed to promote, so that was pretty harsh to notice from a distance. And at times when I successfully managed to clinch some passing visitor to stop and take a look at the laptop I was promoting, some curious eyes that originate from the blue-shirts would wander over, and one person may cut in and ask the passer-by, "How may I help you?"

My cousin visited first, then my aunt and uncle came. I explained the whole deal to them while my uncle continued to put down AMD computers. Hilarious. And one guy tried to steal from me while I was talking to my aunt and uncle. The nerve! Anyway, my uncle suggested to go while I'm working and distract the blue-shirts with his endless truckload of questions, leaving me clear to find new customers without having to worry about the swiping blue-shirts. But two of them were nice enough to chat with me, so I shall leave the unnamed two out of the 'blue-shirts' category.

Anyway, here's the tag for Comex exhibitors I got when I had to work at Level 4...

A little comic strip I'd like to think is hilarious. Smelly was beside me when this photo was taken, FYI.

Wel, better go, it's second day into work in less than 10 hours so tata!

Naturally

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:59:00 +0000

Well, save me. I haven't been diligently following through on my blog posts recently, or months before that. I've built up tons of un-posted photos on my iPad and in my folders on my Mac. As well as several drafts where I've attempted (I really have, believe me) to blog out an entire post.

I've failed miserably as you can see from the lack of posts for months now. I usually first start off uploading the pictures to my computer from my iPad, then when I've gained what little inspiration/willingness to blog, I upload those pictures to a new post. I manage to come up with as best a title I possibly can, and when the uploading of pictures take too long, I give up and lose all sense of inclination to blog. And it winds up as a 'Draft'. How annoying is that? The best method for me is probably to take it naturally (*cue Selena Gomez's single 'Naturally'), like what I'm doing now... Not exactly, I'm being inclined to blog by some not-exactly-persistent fans (is this considered bragging?)

I've missed out on too many wonderful days I've had so far without blogging, and I've probably (and will) forget what the days were like, so I'm not sure if I can manage to spill them all out of me onto the screen.

The exams have been over for several days now and my schedule's guaranteed to be packed of fun-filled days and frolicking in the sea, sand and the sun (naw I wouldn't want to get a tan). Gosh I'm already too lazy and tired to blog about the past several days.

Anyway, I'll be working for the first time in a really long while (probably my 2nd real job) at Comex 2012, for a period of three days! Smelly and I initially thought we had gotten a SingTel MioTV promoter job, since I got a call and all. The guy took several days after that and called (me, again) that there were no more available jobs for SingTel. Blisterin' barnacles! Holy mackerel! What the f***ing hell! We were told we got jobs promoting for AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) processors over the phone and training was scheduled for today. Whatever went down today for the training today is AMD confidential, so I shan't blog about it. We had to end up taking a taxi to the location where the training was held: Ubi Techpark, amidst other industrial buildings that all look so alike.

All I can say about the training today: we didn't realise we were selling laptops until Smelly asked the guy. And there were loads of really confusing information. Smelly and I got an oversized M-sized tee for the job, and it's an early morning report-to-work day tomorrow so I shall end the post pretty soon.
Here's a photo of the shirt!

Here's praying I can sell at least one unit tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Of Boo-Boos and Burnt Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:45:00 +0000

As usual, I'm clearing out all the photos I've hoarded in my folders, some recently, and others, way too long overdue! Bear with me on this! I've definitely got a serious problem that needs to be addressed: that photos I've EVER taken have to be posted online in a blog post. How crazy does that sound?! Sure I've known all along I'm deathly conscious of being organised and all, but could this even be close to an OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, FYI)?

Moving on... (Just 'cos I don't know how I was gonna continue from that previous sentence!)

Met Beck on Monday for mainly Saybons: The French Food Factory! We were planning to do bowling or watch a movie or summat but we couldn't squeeze that all in one afternoon.

I cleverly (ha) ordered escargots first (garlic herbs flavoured!) and then a mushroom cheese crepe!

Escargots in garlic herbs! I prefer escargots in their original, au naturel shells though! It's so much fun to dig them out of the shells.

It came with some miniscule garlic bread!

Left: Becky's cheese crepe. Right: My mushroom cheese crepe. It's obvious which one looks a little more tastier ;)

We were waiting at the bus stop to take a bus home that day, and while waiting, we were watching repugnantly at a small snail crawling out where it's dangerous (actually, everywhere is dangerous for a small thing like a snail!). It crawled further, further out in the bus stop. Then a couple of dudes came. I witnessed the snail first being kicked. It crawled back into its shell, and stayed that way. Not too long after, that same guy stepped on the shell (and had evidently no idea of doing so). I heard that godawful crunch of the shell. It left behind a gross pile of pus-like stuff. *shudder* Both of us were really grossed out.

Beck and I ate at Fish n' Co pretty long ago. Few weeks back. Here are some long overdue snaps of our food...

Becky's Danish Fish and Chips! The best ever! The cheese atop the fish was plain heaven. I got some Alaskan one I think. It wasn't that good.

Chocolate fudge cake and ice-cream! With an artificial cherry! I love artificial cherries!

And below, the undesirable remains...

Some of the cupcakes I brought home from Becky's places ages ago when we baked them one spontaneous morning! One is evidently burnt! Guess which? The pink polka dot and blue striped cupcake cups are so adorable!

And now, flash forward to this morning! I forgot it was Good Friday, obviously a public holiday... and a Friday, so movie tickets were a lot more expensive. I watched Mirror, Mirror alone (for the first time too!) at the nearest cinema to my home (it wasn't that bad, except the part where I was buying "just one" ticket, according to the ticket guy who was probably purposely making me miserable by asking for and making me fish for change...). The movie wasn't as awful as I expected it to be either. But I'll probably have to watch 'Snow White & the Huntsman' first before I do any full-scale evaluation of it!

Lily Collins was pretty awesome as Snow White! And the costumes in the movie were mad pretty and looked tons heavy!

And while we're on the topic of Snow White, here are some really awesome graphics/sketches?! of the different Disney princesses! I had no idea who the center and right princesses in the third row were, and had to google before I managed to find out. Can you identify EVERY last one of them?

I met Becks for a bit after the movie ended, then joined my mother and brother at another shopping mall for lunch! My mother bought me a screen protection and new iPad case after that! Feel so blessed.

They were both not exactly too cheap either!

My new iPad came home to me a day after I got back from Perth! It arrived earlier actually at my mom's office! The box weighed a total of 1.4kg!

I love unboxing gadgets.

I took a really long time getting everything back in order with the new iPad... trasferring apps, games and stuff.

The new iPad case!

Just kidding it's not grey at all. It's a deep orange shade, made of hard fabric material!

Exterior. This case actually has an automatic sleep/wake function, similar to the iPad Smart Cover, even though they didn't exactly state it on the cover box...

Interior. The grey portions you see are velvet material, and the nude shade is plastic to protect the fragile sides of the iPad!

And guess what I earned after ice-skating on Wednesday for the first time ever...

Lo and behold! What a sight!

The ice rink! I wasn't able to take any photos while we were in the rink, but now I wish i had!

Reasons:

1. Becks and Mells came in the same striped shirts from H&M

2. I loaned the two similar pairs of leather gloves for the ice

3. The rink was a zoo! Ducks everywhere (and by that I mean noobs on the ice like us - except Mells, she picked it up pretty fast - clinging on to dear life on the barely-there railings)!

Below are some of the souvenirs I received! Place: Kuching, Sarawak!

Becky's pile! A magnet, wooden clip and bubblegum tape! There was an additional Hong Kong Disneyland chocolate! Love 'em!

Elaine's! Cute keyfob!

Of Manis, Pedis and Matryoshka Dolls

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:04:00 +0000

Damn I hate getting back into blogging after being off it for more than a month or so! I miss the days when I was actually disciplined enough to do daily blogging! Perhaps I'll get back into that.

More recently than ever, I've been really getting into the spirit of frequent manicures (not so much of pedis - hello, you can't ever see them!) Here are the ones I did for the past month!

China Glaze's 'Papaya Punch' (Orange) from the Island Escape Collection and China Glaze's 'Kiwi Cool-ada' (Green)! The latter one left a matte finish. I love matte, really. Which was why I bought...

A matte finisher by Essie!

Essie's 'Matte About You' with China Glaze's 'Love Marilyn' from the Eye Candy Collection!

I heart matte!

And I finally received my polishes I ordered nearly a month ago from Becks, when I got back from Perth, Australia!

Ordered it from a blogshop, Beauty So Fly! The prices are super affordable!

China Glaze's Hunger Games Capitol Colours Collection (I blogged about this previously!)

Left to Right: Riveting, Luxe & Lush, Stone Cold, Dress Me Up

It was super difficult removing three layers of CG's Love Marilyn completely. All that glitter was an irritant!

Started off with CG's Dress Me Up first.

Then added CG's Luxe & Lush, the awesome flakie top coat!

Final product!

I was too lazy to scrape the glitter from the previous pedi off my big toes. Added CG's Riveting and Stone Cold to my small toes! Looks pretty weird, but who cares?

And while we're on the subject of The Hunger Games... I got into the newly released Facebook game, 'The Hunger Games Adventures' today! The graphics were pretty awesome, and it just mainly revolves around doing small chores (or quests) here and there, all while following a pretty interesting storyline that non-readers of The Hunger Games books or non-watchers of The Hunger Games movie will get.

Nooo! Service maintenance! I hate that! I kept refreshing all the way waiting for the game to start up again...

Some screenshots of my progress in the game. Shown here: Forest Escape!

Shown here: The Justice Building, with some Peacekeepers, Katniss and Gale! (I originally thought I would be playing Katniss, so I dressed my character up like her. Bummer.)

Check out this awesome cartoon by Hilaritron! Its owner, Jason, has cleverly weaved TWENTY Hunger Games names into this cartoon. Readers of The Hunger Games trilogy, can you spot all of them?

(Double-click to view it a little better!)

JSYK, I was only able to find 16 of 'em...

On to Matryoshka/Babushka dolls! They are basically Russian nesting dolls (4 more are hidden inside this big wooden doll!). In fact, the dolls are considered to be a fertility symbol, to represent the future generations (Babushka means 'old women' in Russian!)

I saw it lying on the desk in my mother's office one day and I just took some snaps of it! Someone in her office apparently went to Moscow and got this along with some Russian vodka and chocolates!

Bring on the next doll!

...And the next!

The complete set!

34 Euros! That's pretty expensive...

Tried one of the Russian chocolates! It was pretty good!

An assortment of chocolates!

My mother brought me out to lunch one day and I had some real good pasta, clear soup and scones! Loved the pink whipped cream!

And below are some of the completed works for the office's events coming up in April... I had some part in designing then (and designing, and then again...), albeit multiple and countless times! They were all polished by a more professional designer, and then printed!

A painting in the office. Purrrrrdy!

The Hunger Games Movie Update #4

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

I know it's been a while since my last 'The Hunger Games' update (or any kind of blog update), but now that the exams are over (they've been over for a while now... I was just too lazy to get back to blogging again), and the school vacays are here for me to take on full-fledged, I suppose it's 'bout time to get back to this whole shiz!

Anyway, it's just 22 more days till the premiere of this awesome movie I've been anticipating for since they began casting and everything. Can't believe it's finally here! My heart was literally speeding when I first watched the trailer in the movie theatre (In my defense, not my first time watching the trailer!!! I must have watched Hunger Games trailers and TV spots more than 20 times on YouTube...) yesterday while watching 'This Means War' with my dear ol' cousin! So stoked!

Anyway, this is the official movie poster in Singapore...

But I'd have much preferred the poster to be this one instead...

It's coming out in IMAX too! But not here, unfortch!

And there's a soundtrack too! The official tracklist:

1. Arcade Fire “Abraham’s Daughter”

2. The Secret Sisters “Tomorrow Will Be Kinder”

3. Neko Case “Nothing To Remember”

4. Taylor Swift “Safe & Sound ft. The Civil Wars”

5. Kid Cudi “The Ruler and The Killer”

6. Punch Brothers “Dark Days”

7. The Decemberists “One Engine”

8. The Carolina Chocolate Drops “Daughter’s Lament”

9. The Civil Wars “Kingdom Come”

10. Glen Hansard “Take The Heartland”

11. Maroon 5 ft. Rozzi Crane “Come Away To The Water”

12. Miranda Lambert “Run Daddy Run ft. Pistol Annies”

13. Jayme Dee “Rules”

14. Taylor Swift “Eyes Open”

15. The Low Anthem “Lover Is Childlike”

16. Birdy “Just A Game”

Check out the official music video of "Safe & Sound" by Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars two Mondays ago on MTV First! I love it! Check out the mockingjay pin Taylor picks up nearing the end of the video!

Check out this link for BTS of the music video!

And lots of magazines have started on the whole Hunger Games hype too! I'm so getting every magazine with a photo of Katniss on the cover! Seriously.

The newest Entertainment Weekly release with Katniss on the cover, again!

Can't forget the Capitol Colours line from China Glaze too, in honour of the Capitol in Panem and 'The Hunger Games' movie soon to be released! I'd so buy the entire set if I could afford it!

12 colours in total, each one taking each of the 12 districts in Panem!

All Lacquered Up did a full collection swatch and review on Capitol Colours! Go here to get the 411 on all 12 bottles and their related districts! The article does a pretty good job of describing the application techniques and how each colour will fare on your purdy nails!

Of course, I had to get a few bottles from the collection for myself! Becks introduced me to a site selling each bottle for 9 bucks, and I got them as quickly as I could! I chose 4 bottles in the end...

Dress Me Up, District 8 - Textiles

Luxe and Lush, District 1 - Luxury

Riveting, District 3 - Technology

Stone Cold (Matte), District 2 - Masonry

Stone Cold with Top Coat

I noticed most of the colours I chose were from the earlier districts... the ones that churn out Career Tributes (which you would not know what I'm talking about if you haven't read the books - shame on you!)

Then, there's also a whole new Hunger Games iPhone game app coming out soon enough, going at 99c!

8-bit style, a Sega Genesis-inspired game!

The aim? Help Katniss escape!

Up on a Mountain

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:59:00 +0000

Went for a 3 day 2 night vacay up to a mountain called Genting Highlands that I've been umpteen times ever since I was a kid. But it'd been three years since I last visited so I guess I didn't mind that much! Plus, we would get to eat at one of my fave restaurants of all time there, since my mother and brother's birthday fall then! It's a pity though - I won't receive as many red packets this year since I'd have lost one day of the lunar new year to go visiting. Oh wells.

We were supposed to leave at 5 in the morning on Saturday, but everyone woke up at 6 plus, and it dragged till we only managed to reach the checkpoint at 8! The first checkpoint we crossed was not as heavily congested as we thought. But after that... the checkpoint into Malaysia was waaay congested. We were stuck in a jam from the highway all the way to the checkpoint. We took an hour plus to get there. It was hell.

After that it was a pretty long drive. But a pretty interesting one. We saw a Lamborghini that we saw previously at the checkpoint in Singapore, and my father tried to overtake the glamowheels a coupla times (and succeeded). It was hilarious to see. In the end, he joked that we should give the man in the Lamborghini some "face". Haha! I hope I get a Lamborghini in the future. But what are the odds?

We had a rest stop, then we stopped in Jonker Street in Malacca to eat chicken rice (um. It wasn't even that nice, even though it's pretty famous). It's funny how ridiculous that latter sentence sounded. I'd been there before, and how it looks in the day and at night is extraordinarily different.

The wooden ship structure I managed to snap a photo of as we left Jonker Street and headed for Genting!

Shophouses lined along the streets of Melaka/Malacca.

Some building in Malacca.

A Herbie Volkswagen my brother pointed out to me while we stopped for petrol.

On the road again! Angry Birds merch are annoyingly sold everywhere in Malaysia.

After awhile, about an hour away from Genting, we were stuck in a jam again! Dayuuum. My father was pretty smart. He drove along the left side of the road, while other drivers obediently followed the vehicles in front of theirs (the result of the jam). Finally, a split in the road, and we were much closer to scaling the mountain on wheels (I always loved the dangerous winding roads up the mountain - it'd be fun to drive), and away from the traffic jam! Turns out most of the cars in the jam were headed elsewhere. Thank goodness.

The traffic jam.

We finally reached and parked our car close to the ledge. It was terrifying to look down (but I did anyway). Still, the view even from the parking lot was amazing! The sky was beautiful and we could see cable cars in the distance.

Okay that's enough for now. It must get really boring looking at pictures of scenery.

We checked in and immediately checked for wifi at the hotel lobby (we were staying in Hotel Highlands - the second best one out of the many hotels in Genting). There was Starbucks in the lobby, and there was wifi that I never did get a chance to try out during my entire stay there. Damn. Plus the counter lady told us there was no wifi in the hotel rooms at all (except on the 12th floor - we stayed on the 11th, how unfortch is that?!)

Beautiful illustrations and statues on the counter in the hotel lobby!

We got connecting rooms! My mother and father in one, and my bro and I in the other. The view from our hotel room was amazing. We were so close to the clouds, even though we were only on the 11th floor! And the mist was so pretty to see.

And now photos of how the hotel room looks!

The gridded square opens to reveal the bathroom! It's not locked. LOL.

A pretty hand-painted portrait!

We rested for a bit in our rooms, and only went out for dinner at 8 plus! We decided to eat Chinese (something nice since it was my mother's birthday!). We had fresh oysters, which I think gave me a stomachache for the rest of the night... It tasted good, regardless!

Our messy remains.

We had a bit of spare time after we ate, and the shops don't close too early! I had time to try on and buy some clothes! Yippee! From Padini Authentics, I bought:

A Christmas-type pull sweater with a brown patch at the elbow sleeve! So cute!

Squirrels!

And a tri-colored knitted buttoned cape!

The second day arrives! We all woke up pretty late, and ate our breakfast together with our lunch at Genting's most expensive restaurant, which wasn't too far from our hotel! It was my brother's birthday.

The pretty leather-bound menu.

We had a free appetizer! A salmon sashimi, laden with white cheese (I think), salmon roe and a tiny leaf. I dont usually eat salmon raw, but I have to admit, this one was really good. I finished every last scrap of it.

The empty restaurant in the afternoon. It gets crowded for dinner though! Plus the prices on the menu are waaay enough for them to earn their keep.

More appetizers! The black bread was good! I've no idea what it's called though.

I ordered Pont L'évêque (a type of cheese from France, if it's not already obvious!) It was really good, when eaten together with the crackers and nuts! I ate most of the grapes too.

Wild Mushroom in Porcini Powder, Truffled Foam.

Was feeling up to eating more French delicacies, so I ordered Escargot with Herbed Garlic Butter too! They were good (much better than the ones sold in second-grade restaurants in Singapore). The green garlic wasn't as good as the ones in France though.

My main dish! It was creamy, with cheese and mushrooms in each piece of pasta wrapped in a shape of a cup. Thank God they didn't give too many. I was almost sick to my stomach by the time I gobbled up the last one.

My brother's Chilean Sea Bass Mushroom Ragout, Chili Chutney, Asparagus & Ponzu

My father's beef dish. The waiter came out with a huge box filled with different types of knives for him to choose to cut his beef. It was hilarious.

My mother's salmon dish.

Nice mineral water from the alps of Tuscany, Italy. They charged us for it, naturally.

My tri-sorbet for dessert! Yummers!

That night, we watched a single show movie at 7PM! Journey 2: Mysterious Island! It was awesome. Loved Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens and Dwayne Johnson's performance in it! And also, the tiny elephants.

On the road down the mountain after our stay... we travelled down the winding turns of the road again. Fun!

Okay that's it. Can't be bothered to blog too much on this anyway. Tata!

Stuff Schmuffs

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:17:00 +0000

Just gonna post seriously random stuff (I'm trying to clear my photos I'd taken ages before - they're piling up!). Bear with moi!

Ordered a faucet plugy! It is a decorative cellphone jack!

Mells ordered mine along with another faucet and a Stitch plugy! So cute!

A Forever 21 necklace I bought for myself! A revolving earth ornament, with a metallic plane and postcard!

And Becks helped order a shirt through David&Goliath too! I love my shirt (even though I'm not really a vegetarian...)!

Becky's other shirts she ordered.

What I received for Breaking Dawn movie premiums from Kinokuniya: a 2012 movie calendar, a mug and a huge movie poster! I'm always winning stuff from their contests... Movie tickets for X-Men First Class, The Lovely Bones, Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2... Awesome! But I guess that's 'cause not many people bother signing up for these contests (which just includes answering one simple question!). No idea what I'm gonna do with these freebies though... I'm not a huge fan of Twilight anyway.

Below are the souvenirs I received from Alleyne (she gave all 5 of us) from Hong Kong and China! These photos are looong overdue.

Love the velvety pink pencil case!

Coral bracelet.

And below, some of the souvenirs from Mells bought in Hong Kong, too!

We ate at Hot Tomato at Nex to exchange souvenirs!

Awesome mushroom soup!

And we shared escargots (I particularly felt like eating them after getting to try them in Paris - the ones in Singapore definitely couldn't compare)!

We stayed pretty late one night editing our radio segment! We decided to buy frozen food from Cheers in the school compound!

Beef lasagne!

I think this lasagne is chicken!

Beck and my leftovers from Pizza Hut! I think it was some holiday season special pizza!

My family, together with my aunt and uncle went to this Chinese restaurant pretty long ago for dinner!
The chairs they had were so adorable! They were shaped like hands, with the fingers as a back rest and arm rest. I selected a pink one to sit on:

My Italian soda (I wonder why they call it that)!

And spring rolls!

Other random food snapshots await below!

How my pasta turned out! It tasted pretty okay I guess!

A reaaaally old photo! Ate this at Long John Silvers' with Elaine!

And Sour Sally fro-yo with Becks! I love their fro-yo the best! We added mini chocolate-chip cookie bits!

Elaine and I went to the airport to attempt studying, and we wound up eating at Astons! Their food is awesomely cheap and satisfactory.

See our notes there in the corner?

The Cow and I shared this plate of fries at the Riders Cafe @ Bt Timah Saddle Club while waiting for our interview with a staff there! Best fries everrrr.

Bought this cup of Baskin Robbins. I forgot what flavour it was... I'm so glad they came here!

Becky's meddling fingers.

Had dinner at a Japanese restaurant with my cousin!

Chuka idako (seasoned baby octopus)! I love eating these to bits, no matter how gross they may seem.

A close-up! Feast your eyes!

Scallop ramen!

Had cookies and cream at Island Creamery! We just bought our French books from Alliance Française then.

Becky's apple pie with ice-cream!

And I shall leave you with this cool horoscope personality checker!

Hurrah for Leo!

More, More Presents

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:56:00 +0000

Oh my goodness, I'm overwhelmed. I have so many Christmas gifts from so many awesome people - and I got more from one more awesome person! She's my German penpal, Marie!
She got me...

A Christmas card
A wooden Christmas ornament
Lindt chocolate (which melted and chocolate got out of its wrapping and onto the envelope on the way here - I wonder if it'd have melted as bad if my mother checked the mailbox a little earlier...)
Milka chocolate (Pretty famous brand of milk chocolates - I think, but not as expensive as Lindt chocolates!)
And a short letter (for a change!)

Enjoy the pi-chures! I love the wrapping paper!

This is one of the most precious things anyone has ever given me! I shall keep it close! ;)

And I chanced upon this while I was randomly looking at my blog traffic influx of visitors! Found out someone had posted one of my blog entries on we♥it! So cool! Here's the proof!

MOAAAAR Christmas Gifts!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:40:00 +0000

I'd be feeling so excited right now if there isn't ALL. THAT. PRESSURE from school assignments. Feature writing, especially.

Christmas has passed (it's been 5 days already, how quickly time flies!) and I'm still getting an influx of Christmas gifts! Yee ha!

On Tuesday, Becks and I went to Elaine's belated birthday party for a steamboat dinner! She invited two other friends who were both studying to be teachers. Wowza palooza. It was pretty fun! Exchanging and opening gifts, playing with the resident Chihuahua, Juno (I love her!) and eating awesome noodles with the other steamboat ingredients. Poor Elaine puked twice from eating too much of the steamboat while sending us down!

Loved every single one of my presents I'd gotten so far! Here's what I got from Elaine:

What I got from Bex on the same day:

Chocolates from l'Italie from her grandmother!

On Wednesday, helped Becky with her website especially on Adobe Dreamweaver at Wendy's at Holland! She managed to finish it completely within 3 and a half hours. The lucky girl. I stayed up that night till 4AM trying to complete mine. I only finished it at 2PM the next day! But I think mine looks decent enough, I guess. Here's a snapshot of the homepage!

When I came home, I found my table was scattered with Juicy products that my mother received at last from her office! I was positively jumping for joy then.

It came with three charms (two of which are charms of car keys for Becky and I, and the other one is a Juicy iPad charm!) and a watch (for my mother) and 4 mini envelopes with a Juicy card inside each one of 'em!

Becky personally requested this message to be on the card!

Just realised I took 4 photos of the watch - and none of which you could see the clock clearly...

My Juicy iPad charm! It was a lot cheaper with a 30% sale then!

The pink rubber can be used to secure the cover of the miniature iPad case as well. Feels like it could break at any time!

The most beautiful box I've ever seen...

... It flips!

The car keys charm! So lovely.

And finally, a bag that wasn't as big as we expected it to be that my mother wanted.

Yesterday, The Cow had her parents drive to mine when they went out for din-din so we could exchange our Christmas presents. The wrapped present for me was humongous. Makes me feel kinda poor that I only gave a small animated singing reindeer and a Christmas cracker. LOL.

A really big bag!

What's in it? Mickey and Minnie couple stuff toys.

Souvenirs from Taiwan!

Sour plum candy.

Two pairs of warm, woollen socks. Cow thought the one on the right with the tiny embellishments were little paw prints! HAHAHA.

How do THESE look like paw prints?!

Also from Taiwan, a keychain that says 'Open your mind' with my name carved in its back, and a moneybag necklace that opens to reveal a little clock! So cuh-yoot!

The mess that is now my table, especially after the Christmas season!

Beck and I went shopping at New Look and H&M in town yesterday! Spent less than 50 bucks, surprisingly! Here's what I got...

Home comfort boots from H&M. It had a 50% off, so it cost us only $12.45! It's like stepping on cotton candy or marshmallows! It's heaven.

Hair elastics from H&M! Just $2.90! B got hair clips at the same price too. She wore the gold ones after and commented it looked like something a certain group of people would wear. I shan't reveal exactly who here.

A New Look skirt that costs me $36.90!

Got it together with these over-the-knee bow socks that cost $13.90 so I could get $25 off with the voucher that expires on the 31st December! So worrrrth it!

Previously bought these 3 socks from New Look too. I own waaay too many pairs of socks.

Went to Melissa's house today too (we got lost along the way there since we missed a bus stop) so more pressies for us!

Mell's presents for all of us!

A cupcake charm Becky gave her! So cute! Wish I got one for myself too...

The top of the box the charm came with!

All our presents for Mells!

My moustache hanger for her already on the wall! It looks like the hair dryer, but it's really not.

Mells' presents for me! So. Many!

Buttons for scrapbooking!

A wooden self-carving postcard and a notebook!

A set which includes a shower gel, body lotion, body polish, and bath salts! So puh-reedy!

I love the gold-rimmed ends of the notebook!

Perhaps I shall use this as my French notebook too!

On a side note, check out this picture I found on BuyCostumes! They sell awesome costumes (obviously). They are selling a Hannah Montana wig for children, and this was the product picture...

She looks a lot like a young Miley Cyrus, non?

The Spirit of Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 08:23:00 +0000

Christmas gift-giving is always a sign of great Christmas spirit, right?

Below are some of the Christmas gifts I got for my friends!

For The Cow...

An animated singing reindeer!

And a tiny reindeer card as a finishing touch!

For my Korean penpal...

Gifts from Typo! A notebook with Spanish on the front cover, and the English translation on the back and...

A fabric Christmas stocking with reindeers and blue trees on 'em! So cute!

She hung it on her door after receiving it!

Also sent her birthday gifts along with her Christmas ones since it will cost a lot cheaper than mailing them out twice (together, they still cost 20++ bucks ._.) and gave her these cute character earstuds from Toy Story! They look a lot different in the picture than in real life...

...See?

Also sent her a Forever 21 necklace (they don't have F21 there) and a silver nail polish from rubi!

And decorated her a birthday card! I think I must have done about 6 birthday cards in the past month!

For my penpal from India...

Haven't heard from her ever since I sent these bangles (also Forever 21) her way. I wonder why. Anyway, these weren't exactly Christmas gifts - they were for her birthday. Figured I'd just put this here anyway.

Me trying on the bangles!

Below are some Christmas greetings videos I've received on Whatsapp! Enjoy!

Apparently, Becky's mother sent this creepy-weird Indian version of Christmas to her via whatsapp.

A sweet Christmas greeting!

My aunt whatsapped this to me. Pretty cute.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:16:00 +0000

Went to Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition just last Monday with my mother! It was the most awesome experience, ever! I'm so glad they came to the Art Science Museum in Singapore for their 100th year anniversary in 2012 (since Titanic sank in 15 April 1912...), and it'll be showing till after this significant date - 29 April! So get over there ASAP! Tickets cost $21 initially, but my mother got a 20% discount with her credit card! Hurrah! And we each paid an extra five bucks for a museum souvenir and hour-long documentary viewing: Ghosts of the Abyss.

There were 2 exhibitions showing at that time. We had the option of viewing the other: Cartier Time Art, at a lower price if we viewed both, but decided it would be extremely boring anyway.

The spectacular view of the bridge extending over Marina Bay outside the museum.

The exhibition was mostly entirely dark, except the areas where they lit up the boards explaining the humble beginnings of Titanic, the rooms and facilities in it, how First, Second and Third Class passengers lived and where they had mock-ups of places in the RMS Titanic (that stands for Royal Mail Steamer, if you don't already know!) I love the mock-ups the most! It was my favourite part in the whole exhibition. There was an elegant replica of the Grand Staircase (my favourite!), the deck along the side of the ship and how starry it looked when you were there in the night sky (my second fave - it looked really real!), replicas of the First and Third Class chambers and the corridors along the rooms aboard the ship (completely with carpeted flooring!).

Awaiting Ghosts of the Abyss! Apparently a film by Walt Disney! And it shows people out at the Atlantic Ocean (not too far from New York, since it sank when it was about 450 miles away from its destination) floating right above the wreck of Titanic (about 13,000 feet below the ocean!), sending small, square-ish robots down to the wreck to assess its interior. Submarines with a maximum of 2 to 3 people were sent down (the descent down to the bottom of the ocean floor takes 12-13 hours, if I so recall from the movie!) to check out the wreck and send out these robots too. It was awesome, looking at the wreck, even if it's from a screen! I can't imagine how unreal it would be if I actually saw the wreck for myself! But who knows if I'd dare to even go down to see the wreck. What if something goes wrong with the submarine? You can't survive a swim up to the ocean's surface! Anyway, my mother was sleeping through the whole movie. LOL.

No photography was allowed at all in the exhibition, but I managed to sneak a few snapshots with my lousy camera phone after we exited the exhibition and into the souvenir store just outside! I wish I had more money to buy more souvenirs! They were all awesome, especially the dining plates and such, replicas of what First, Second and Third Class Titanic passengers used! First Class passengers of course had more exquisite dining material, with blue and gold lining the plates, cups, saucers, etc. I didn't manage to get a picture of that, unfortch. Here's what I did take:

Plates, cups, saucers, mugs from the Third Class! All very realistic replicas!

Umbrellas with the White Star Line flag logo etched on one side! My mother and I got one of these for 25 dollars, just so we could sum up to 50 bucks to get a free Third Class mug (more later).

Old-fashioned hats of what women wore in the past for sale! I wish I bought one of these!

The front cover of the photo book my mother purchased for 25 bucks (for 2 photos... TWO!)

My mother and I posing for a photo. Becky says I looked reluctant to take the photo. I really did.

On a side note, this is a giant Salvatore Ferragamo wedge heel outside the Titanic exhibition! Uber cool!

Below are the other souvenirs I got from Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition!

The boarding pass each visitor received of an ACTUAL Titanic passenger! How awesome is that?! But I'm pretty sure the boarding pass does not look like how it did for Titanic passengers back then.

Click to enlarge! I was Mrs Stephen Hold, a 36 year-old Englander in the Second Class with her husband. My mother got Mrs Amin Jerwan, 23 year-old, Second Class (also) and travelled alone aboard the Titanic! It didn't indicate on the boarding pass - but I'm pretty sure none of them survived the sinking.
- A FEW MOMENTS LATER -
Ahhh wait a second! Both of them actually were rescued and survived the Titanic sinking -.- Mrs Stephen Hold was rescued in Boat 10, but unfortch her husband died in the sinking. Poor thing. Oh well, at least we know how they turned out!

Our museum souvenir! They were for sale at the museum's souvenir store too (about 12 bucks!)

The free Third Class mug! I love it!

That's the end. If you haven't already seen the exhibition, I'd strongly urge you to go! The ticket price was worth every penny! You may like to skip the documentary if you have no interest for that sort of thing. And the museum souvenir is nothing that big of a deal. But it was pretty worth it for 5 bucks!

Ariana Grande: Put Your Hearts Up

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 13:05:00 +0000

I'm a huge fan of Ariana Grande! She's Cat in Victorious, has her own regularly updated Youtube channel and is an awesome singer! She just released her debut single, "Put Your Hearts Up"! Below's the official single artwork! Love it! It looks so vintage-ish.

A short preview of the song... You're gonna have to buy it from iTunes (or download it illegally) to listen to it in full!

Buy it on iTunes here!
Can't wait for her music video that's coming up! Possibly for this single! A still from her music video:

Click to enlarge!

How I Spent Christmas Day

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:10:00 +0000

Well, once again, it's been more than an entire month since I've last blogged! But there'll be a whole slew of new posts coming up! Wouldn't wanna keep my non-existent readers of the blog waiting! Anyway, before I forget...

... And have a spanking new year! I love, love, love Christmas! Here's what I love about it!

I usually begin listening to Christmas songs from end of October... I know, crazy right? I get into the Christmas spirit waaay too early! Here are some of the Christmas songs I'm currently listening to!

"Baby It's Cold Outside"

"Chestnuts" by Ariana Grande and Liz Gillies

Christmas shopping in departmental stores and anywhere else for Christmas presents! Also, the thought of receiving Christmas gifts as well!

Good ol' Saint Nick living right in Finland's Laplands on a fell named "Korvatunturi", according to my Finnish penpal! One Finnish Christmas tradition: Finland families with little children usually hire someone (a relative, etc.) to come over on Christmas Eve dressed up as Santa Claus to deliver the bought presents to the kids! How adorbs!

Christmas cookies, and any other type of food that signifies Christmas! Especially...
Gingerbread men!
Also, holiday sweaters! Well, my taste for Christmas sweaters ain't exactly like this one... I prefer those with reindeers on 'em! A little like this one:

Besides, what would Christmas be without a REINDEER sweater? ;)

Hoping... and hoping to get a letter from Santa from the one you sent him months ago!
Reading funny ICANHAZ cats captions, especially on the topic of Christmas!
Wooden horses
Having a good laugh at photos of kids getting scared of Santa Clause! (This particular Santa looks like an ape, anyway.)
Christmas lights!
And you can't forget the Christmas tree! I recall I bought a small Christmas tree (one of those commercialised ones without a branch but a knitted box as a base) last year, but I'd no idea where my mother placed it, but I'm far too lazy to bring it out to decorate. No one ever drops by my house for Christmas anyway. Next Christmas, then!
You may think I'd have a wonderful Christmas, seeing how much I love so many aspects of it right? Truth is, I don't even have a Christmas tree decorated at home, nor have I hung Christmas lights, or even bought a Christmas sweater for myself. But I have been watching Christmas movies, wrapping Christmas gifts and listening to Christmas songs! That's just me trying to convince myself I'm having a wonderful Christmas...
Anyways, I went for Christmas service at Glory Presbyterian Church close by with Elaine and her "friend"! Becky was supposed to come to, but not surprisingly, she overslept and missed it! It was pretty all right though. Nothing I didn't expect! Singing hymns, a Christmas song, listening to a sermon and reading scriptures... I went home after that!
...And opened Christmas presents I'd already received and was saving for Christmas morning! The first one I opened was from Becky! I got 3 presents!

A mini glitter lamp! It has an on-off switch at its base! Pretty!

Where should I put it...?

An owl necklace!

And the wooden mannequin from Typo I've been aching to have for AGES! Becky got it a month ago. She did a great job pretending she hadn't gotten it for me already when we went Christmas shopping this week.

Unwrapping it!

Tadaaaa!

And from Alleyne! She told me its price, but I shan't reveal it here~ ;)

Pretty wrapping paper! It's really thin though.

A Scrapbook Kit from Precious Moments! How precious!

Always wanted a scrapbook... but couldn't afford it! I shall start scrapbooking with it as soon as I have the time! Thanks, Alleyne!

Also got a package (that I had to personally collect from the post office again since no one was home when the postman came!) from my Korean penpal, Jenna! Love all her presents!

The package.

A pig-rabbit! I told her I loved the Korean drama "You're Beautiful", and she gave me this cell-phone holder with a stuffed pig rabbit by its side! The pig-rabbit was a symbolic character in the drama series! So cute!

Closer view for you to get envious of it!

She also gave 2 boxes of instant noodles - the best and favourite brand in Korea! Can't wait to try 'em!

That's all the Christmas presents I have for now! I'm expecting 4 more! Hurrah! (I hope that didn't make me sound at all conceited - HAHA!)
Once again...(I just had to say it again)

Random Musings of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:13:00 +0000

Amazing, I've actually got the blogging mood after my last post about 20 days ago, amidst all the assignments that are due comin' up. Needless to say, feelin' the pressure, but not feelin' up to actually DOING the work. I've seriously gotten WAAAAY lazier over the years. I swear, I wasn't as lax as this in secondary school!

Okay, it sounds pretty boring up to here, so I shall talk about the photos I've got for today's blog post! It is surely way more exciting than my mundane life.

This is one of the pretty recent photos I took at Suntec City's Convention Centre with my lousy camera phone. It's ain't too shabby, I reckon. SO. PROUD. Still, some people thinks I have lousy photography skills. Bah. They are pebbles surrounding a huge column extending to the ceiling with water slipping against it to the circular water bed around it! So purdy!

Sorry about the lighting. That was Swensen's bad lighting. My mother treated Elaine to Swensens when we planned to head to Esplanade to do our radio project! Awesome~! We had this lovely concoction of ice cream, marshmallows in fudge, and Oreo cookies! I only disliked the banana in the center.

I put all the sweets I had in my refridgerator into this sweet ol' plastic jar. Everything else (even candy corn!) stuck to the caramel toffee bonbons I bought in Paris. This makes me think of a beehive. Yuck.

Wondered how THIS came about? Alleyne came across the left photo of the baby girl while she was bored in Feature Writing tutorial. Then she got bored during Public Relations tutorial, and combined these two photos together (the right one courtesy of the Cow's newly-activated FB account!). HILARIOUS! She posted this edited photo to Facebook, and boy, did it get some popularity (not that much really - just a coupla people)! There was even an in-class advertising of that photo on FB by the teacher, when A spilled to her when she was asked what she was laughing about (most teachers seems to be asking her that these days...) The photo is totes adorbs! AIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!

The final thing I'm gonna show for this post is about the newest function for Apple's newest version of the iPhone (4S!) - Siri! It basically helps you send texts, call someone, Google search something, make notes, the list goes on... The cool part is it does all that by responding to your voice! Check out the hilarious video below of how Siri really helps in a relationship. You won't even have to face the person with the help of Siri! Peace out! xx

Of Weddings and Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:13:00 +0000

I've completed an assignment way ahead of time (just 2 days early, really) so I'll start blogging again for now! I've yet to reply emails, write letters, study a li'l bit of Français... So much to do, so little time! And it's mostly just photobombing the food I ate recently too. I should really re-evaluate my diet and spend my moolah wisely - I spent 50 bucks a day for the past TWO days!

Anywho, I went to a wedding the last 2 or 3 weeks or so, and my mother's longtime friend's daughter (who's also my ex-tuition teacher) got hitched to a Filipino guy! I went for both the church service for the wedding ceremonial ties and all that and the dinner at the hotel (my memory is failing me so much - I don't even remember the name of the hotel!). Both times I went just for the food. I'm not proud of it.

My mother and I drove to the Catholic church bright and early. There were already quite a few Filipinos (related to the groom of course) and some other people related to the bride. Long story short, it was pretty romantic and all, and it was a little weird since most people there (even the Filipinos) were Catholics and did that head-shoulder-shoulder hand movement thingy Catholics do. I guess it's an extra action they gotta do after they say 'Amen'? And when they kneeled to pray, my mother and I continued sitting on our pews. I kinda felt like kneeling down then, too, so I wouldn't feel so awkward, but my mother would have scolded me anyways.

The interior of the church!

After the whole ceremonial thing was over, we moved outside for catered food! The food wasn't all that, honestly. The only thing I enjoyed was the cupcake! There were tons of 'em displayed on a table, and my mother took one for us to share. She really watches her weight 24/7. I ate practically the whole cupcake, while my mother took a few bites. The decorative 'metal balls' on the cupcake were delish!

At night, we left for the hotel! My mother circled the entrance of the Orchard area (by St. Regis) about thrice, and only managed to find the hotel on the 4th try! Hilarious. Turns out it was just a building away from St. Regis Hotel! And it was really dark out so she couldn't see the tiny path for cars towards the hotel lobby.

The set-up in the room was really pretty! Looked pretty elegant and classy, and I loved the wedding favors! Little trinket boxes (different designs!) and a box of 2 chocolates wrapped nicely in ribbon!

My mother's, grandmother's and mine! So pretty, non?

I was bored and I took a chocolate out to eat. Taken with my lousy camera phone...

A live band assembled at the stage! They sang pretty cool songs throughout the event. Some Adele, a little Bruno Mars... I loved it!

A (rose?) display on the ground. All the vines remind me of 'Beauty and the Beast'!

Okay, that's it for the wedding. Pretty short, but I can't remember that much about it anyway.

I had my first Alliance Française lesson last Saturday! Bec's dad drove us to the nearest train station, and we walked there with loads of time to spare!

Our teacher was called 'Bernadette' and she was pretty good in teaching I suppose! But I find learning out of a textbook pretty snoozy. But perhaps that's because we'd already done that chapter she was teaching then. And most of our classmates were adults! Only 2 other females in the classroom looked around the same age as Bec and I. And we were hoping the class would be filled with adults too, so that we could be "better" than them! HAHAHA. But their French wasn't at all bad.

Anyway, the lessons were a lot like the ones at Cavilam! The teachers talked mostly en Français and asked us questions in French, and we were supposed to answer back in French (of course). Lots of thinking involved, for sure! Bec also saw 2 French teachers who she attended classes with previously at Alliance! I guess most French teachers teach at Alliance for some extra ka-ching!

We had a half-hour long break in between, and the café, Olio, sells some pretty expensive stuff! Pastas start from $11.90 and 2 cold tortilla wraps cost $5++ (which I later bought after class!) Definitely bringing my own food from this week onwards!

Our seats and in-built tables. Pathetic.

I shall post about the petanque competition I went to after Alliance that day in a separate post...

My Bronze medal!

A buttery croissant and cookies & cream whoopie pie at Starbucks! Yummers.

Sogurt I ate yesterday with E! I tried to take a lot more this time 'round, for fear of the wrath of the Sogurt employee! I'm pretty sure she was shooting me daggers the last time 'round... Mine was about 5 bucks after a $1 discount!

E and I went up to Swensens afterwards for dinner! I blew off the rest of my money there...

Cow translated my blog to Chinese in Feature Writing tutorial today. We LOLed at the silly translation from English to Chinese. Double-click to view the picture wider!

B.I.N.G.O

noreply@blogger.com (Issie Kay) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:43:00 +0000

I don't usually step out the door on public holidays... but I did on Deepavali two days ago! I love public holidays!! Gives you (at least) a day to rest and relax, and get away from school and it all. There's another public holiday coming up in 2 weeks, and boy am I stoked for that!

Before I start crapping away on what I did on Deepavali, here's a pretty cool adaptation of the 2007 movie, Juno, starring Ellen Page (love this girl!) and Michael Cera(saw a female lookalike of him yesterday as well)! Took this make-believe poster from OceanUp! It cracked me up. Not a big fan of Miley, as you can tell.

I woke up pretty early on that day, 'round 8AM, then prepped (and played a little of Sims 3 Pets) to meet Elaine to exercise together at the gym on the ground floor of my house!

We went into the gym, and there were already 2 people on the treadmill (out of the 3 that were available) so we played with another gym equipment - one with 2 leg pedals that you had to step up and down. Possibly to train your leg muscles. We got bored of that one pretty fast since we couldn't figure how to operate it properly.

When two treadmills became available, we got up and started exercising on those. I was expecting I could hold up for at least an hour (continuously) on a treadmill, but both of us tired out about 10 to 15 minutes on the treadmill. I first increased the speed, of fast, brisk-walking pace, then I decreased the speed and increased the incline, so it felt like I was walking up a really steep hill (like the streets in Montmartre or Thiers). We left the gym by 10.50, which wasn't saying much, since we entered the gym around 10.20! Better luck next time, I guess?

We then went back up to my house to get showered and we left for WM to get Sogurt fro-yo! Fro-yo's my absolute guilty pleasure now! Well, THAT and Barbie movies. I took really little fro-yo, but quite a number of toppings, so that somehow only cost me a mere $2.95. And the standard price is $3/100g. I can imagine why the cashier girl looked pretty pissed at me. I shall remember to take more the next time.

Decided to watch a movie since there was too much time before we had to meet Cow, then meet the interviewee for our Radio project - a nurse, so E and I watched a 2hr26min long movie: The Help! It was absolutely moving, and it stars Emma Stone! She was amazing in Easy A. Anyway, she plays an aspiring author/journalist in the early '60s who decides to write about the African American maids who work in White families, and are known as 'The Help'; and reveal what really happens and how they are treated by their white employers. I cried about once and teared up coupla times through the movie.

The official movie poster.

It's a film adaptation of a novel! Apparently, this book caused a lawsuit... The maid of Stockett's brother accused the author of stealing her life story to use within the book!

Check out the trailer of 'The Help'! You won't regret watching it!

We met Cow at Pastamania after the movie to eat! I ordered a plate of Aglio Olio (the cheapest pasta at 4.90!) and cheese sticks (3.90, but the cheese inside doesn't stretch when you bite it - I hate that!).

Waitin' for the food...

Aglio Olio

Cheese Sticks (6 pcs)

Cow went to get sogurt fro-yo as well! Yummers!

We set off to meet the nurse for the interview for our radio show, and took a train station down to the venue! Just after we got off the train, E received a text from the said nurse, saying that she might not be able to make it for the interviewee. Typical, right? We quickly got back up the same train again (thank God it was still there) and went straight back to where we first started. We were pretty much grumbling during the train ride back!

We ended up going to Elaine's house (technically) to re-do parts of our sig tune for the radio programme! I was excited to see Juno, the house dog (a Chihuahua) again! Since it ain't my dog to begin with, I shan't put up pictures here on my blog... The Cow was deathly afraid, and told the mother in the house not to put the dog down on the floor. LOL! We all retreated into E's room to do the sig tune. Cow fell in love with the room. Hints of red and black here and there in the furniture. There was a black sofa bed and a red carpet. Also other pretty nice accents to a room.

We ended up singing a tune in time to the old nursery rhyme, Bingo (they were written by composers eons ago, so it's all public domain now! No copyright issues!) and we finished in about an hour and a half!

Just before we left, we got to pet Juno and play with it a little! I even got to carry her for a bit! Juno's 'mother' was a sweetheart, and was really friendly to us outsiders! When Juno was laid down on the floor, she hounded after the Cow and jumped around her and up her legs! Soooo adorable. Poor Cow was scared stiff. HAHAHA.

***ABRUPT ENDING***