りょこう Travel!

It has been forever since I last blogged so why now? Because I'm so excited that I have to just get it out. Between mid June to July, I will be traveling to THREE countries! Holy moly.

#1



TOKYO! (restagram)

Mr D messaged me after my 2nd Japanese lesson of the day, asking me how's my schedule for June. I told him that after my major event in May, June is a piece of cake for me. And before I knew it, the flight was booked! The itinerary has been more or less firmed up, we are definitely going to the usual Shinjuku, Shibuya and Harajuku, but on top of that, we will also be going to Disneyland, Hakone and Kawaguchiko. Our accommodation at the latter is a ryokan with private onsen. HYPERVENTILATES. So right now, I'm trying my best to beef up my Japanese. As of today, I am an elementary 2 student. Thank you everybody for your support! Siao.

#2

SHEFFIELD.

No photo cos most of the photos are meh. I'm there for work and it's in the UK so think old English buildings.

#3



GREECE

I will be flying down from Sheffield to meet Mr D who will be there a week before me. We will be bunking at his cousin's place so accommodation is settled! We were thinking of heading to Santorini but it's pretty expensive. Anyhoos, visiting Athens alone is more than awesome. (^o^)V

Work has been really intense so I'm looking forward to Tokyo and Greece. And I know I hadn't been blogging for a long time. I have mixed feelings about it. In A Tale For The Time Being, Nao wrote about how pathetic writing a blog can be. There are tens of thousands of blogs out there, each carrying the voice of someone who wants to be heard but who actually bothers to hear them? Unless, you blog for yourself and make obscurity your goal. But then again, Yojiro in Sanshiro did mention that even though the words may not carry much substance but the fact it has been penned down gives it more weight than mere thoughts.

Ok, I think I'm getting sleepy. Happy Labour Day!

This blog is still alive!

And so am I.

Here are the pictorial proofs:

I made Ohagi! It's a type of wagashi (Japanese sweets and yes, I am obsessed with all things jap) and is made up of glutinous rice and azuki. I used the chopped peanuts from those frozen tang yuan packs.

The ingredients looked quite gross, that I admit. And I must have developed arm muscles from all the pounding and mashing.

Ta-da. Ruby attempted to make a Hello Kitty one. 

Keeping to the Jap flavour ~ I went to a jap restaurant which specialises in Miyagi cuisine like Gyuutan and Zundamochi. We first had Nantsuttei ramen for dinner so the intention was to have some drinks. Maybe like a teeny bit of sake. But thanks to a special offer, we got pretty tipsy, on a Tuesday night. (The next day at work was hell.)

Miki and Ah Pek were in charge of choosing the drink. I had zero experience with shochu.

And this was what we ordered. IKR. O-O

Like damn ginormous. When we saw it, we figured we'll probably finish it in 3 - 4 trips, maybe we'll come back for my birthday or my birthday eve or my belated birthday but YA RIGHT.

I am Big Sho(w) chu.

That's how big it is.

Zundamochi!

Anyway, guess how much we drank?

HALF.

WE DRANK HALF OF IT. 

No wonder we were a goner.

Before I was white.

After - I am red. I represent the Singapore flag.

Ah Pek likes his shochu.

Moving to more jap stuff...

My order from NoQ arrived! 1Q84 and Sanshiro. Yup, I completed 1Q84 but I really love it so I had to get it in this edition. (^O^)v

And I finally got myself the Emoda inspired Meow sweater.

Looking back, everything was jap related. Ha ha ha. Anyway, gong xi fa cai!

Like That

Finally found the time to update this useless blog that documents useless bit of my useless life. I'm stranded at my home because my knees are hurting again so I took time off to head to the sinseh later. I really don't want to waste today so I'm thinking of wobbling to Orchard to get more Murakami.

I've been on a rampage.

After completing 1Q84, I wolfed down Norwegian Wood, and upon Sun-chan's recommendation, finish Sputnik Sweetheart. #likeaboss

Wanted to read Hard Boiled Wonderland but I'm allergic to anything remotely sci-fi ish.

Thinking of getting After Dark and A Wild Sheep Chase at HMV. Yep, they are selling his books for 2 for S$25! BUY BUY BUY.

Siao.

Useless pictures from the week:

My new Muji lunch box with thermal pouch in it. Detachable!

I use it as a mini handbag when we travel to Paya Lebar for Coffee Bean.

New Muji Bento. The heat retention capability is すごい! Plus it was 50% off. MUAHAHA.

Impromptu dinner with Ah Pek at Chinatown. He wanted satay but the satay uncle 改行 to sell bak kwa during Chinese New Year. S$7 for 3 pieces!! Siao.

But it's soooo good.

The only reason why we head to Chinatown. Craft beers at The Good Beer Company.

Awesome claypot rice. S$12 for a gigantic bowl. Only at Chinatown.

Guess what. We scattered bak kwa over the claypot rice. Mindmuthafuking good can.

Oops. Everything was about food. Too bad, I'm a Singaporean. Nothing else is nice about this place except the crowd. I love how we have 5.9 million people squeezed into a tiny island. I feel so surrounded and warm and touched (literally) and angry and annoyed and I DON'T SEE WHY WE SHOULD AIM FOR 7 MILLION!

Kay. Calm down.

Did I mention that I signed up for Japanese lessons? Burnt a big hole in my pocket though. T_T

Pressure

That's the key word for today. I kind of got into an argument with my boss today. I was trying to point out to him that we need to look into job allocation because why on earth would you ask your Assistant Director to send out 100 EDMs one by one?!

Anyway, he started raising his voice about how we all need to work regardless of pressure, there will always pressure, yawn, we must work 24/7, he has pressure too, he is stressed too, yawn. Actually, who is the bugger who mentioned 'pressure'? No one. 自导自演.

Furthermore, why in the name of holy panties would you burst in front of your employee who is only 21? Lack of self-control? Too much pressure? No blessing from the holy panties?

Which leads me to...

Men who can't control their emotions, who loses their cool and crack under pressure are not cut out to do great things. 

Look at the hokkien mee uncle. Maybe his wife was being a pain the entire day and there were customers who kept complaining that they order without tau gay (bean sprouts) but why still got tau gay, and the queue was long, the weather was hot, he found out he don't have minimum sum in CPF but HE STILL CARRIES ON. He doesn't crack and yell at everyone: I GOT PRESSURE ALSO CAN.

That hokkien mee uncle is a great man.

Anyway, I don't what I'm rambling around. I'm too traumatised by what happened today.

Okay, this post is getting too angsty. Think happy thoughts. Don't pick up that parang.

Photos from the week ~

Made Bento for Ah Pek and myself when he joined me for lunch.

Tried making a breakfast bento.

Cherryade popsicle. Love Pasar Malam.

Omg. I finally had the chance to try Coco Ichibanya, and although the service staff was meh, the kare was too awesome. 

The lady beside me kept peering at my plate. Never see Cai Curry before ah.

Ah Pek's. He chose Spicy Level 4 and it didn't affect him one bit. Bless his baba blood.

WANT. To Wuby: this can be peanut's new home.

Angry Bird Star Wars. I don't know how they can outdo themselves with cute retardedness. 

And guess what, the Muji bento box, which I have been eyeing on for ages, was on 50% discount!!!

Of course, I bought it. Ahem. Together with a bento bag. Happiness! Kay now I can forgive all men in the name of holy panties.

今日は

Too tired to function. I don't understand the point of a feedback session when he does the total opposite of what we said. Singapore bosses...

Applied mask because I feel so worn out. Omgg.. I'm only in my early twenties.

Bentos from the past two days..

I felt cold for the onigiri so I gave him a coat. Now he is in my warm intestine. I found a really great book on onigiri so I'm on a rampage now! 

Changed my nail polish too. Funnnn.... and nightsss.

Privileged or Privileged

Today I had a first hand encounter with the new species. It was said that contact with them will leave you shriveled and devoid of hope for the future. And it's true. I've seen them from afar. They are recognisable by their odour, upturned nose and voice. Yes, their voice. It rings clear to send shocks down your spine. Indeed, contact with them is nothing but misfortune.

They are...

THE BLOODY PRIVILEGE KIDS CAN. (not all. some. D says: don't generalise. Listen to Ah Pek.)

You know what's worse, I met one who wants to study English Literature. Another privileged kid who knows no hardship in her life but wants to write hipster emo poetry because she feels. Don't make me barf. And don't give me the shit that 'we have our own share of hardship'. Yeah yeah, your boyfriend broke up with you, you didn't make it into the band team, you forgot your F math (or whatever) homework, your dog shat on you, your teacher shat on you, you shat on yourself.

Give me a break.

Okay. What got me so heated up.

First, the kid had the cheek to email 'you said you would send me the form'.

I say I am the Queen of the Muthafuking Universe. Bow down now. Thanks.

Someone has to teach them email etiquette.

Second, she gave me a bunch of dates that are out for her because she has a PT job, medical check up and shat-on-thyself session. Oh and one particular date for her is out because she will be overseas and she 'MIGHT BE SUFFERING FROM JET LAG'.


That's not all. She has total confidence in her capability and the job market that she requested for a poly grad salary. Hello, dis ish intern position.

The fact that these sort of kids are the pillar of this country really makes me want to shat. Oblivious, self-seeking and zero EQ. Hey... this sounds familar. Right, the kids* will go on to be the leaders of this country.

Why?

Because they have the talent...

To shat on themselves and not smell a thing.


*only this special breed. Not referring to all JC kids. If you want to know whether you are one of them, check your pants. Kthxbye.

** Again. Only some, not all. Ah Pek says: don't generalise. It's like saying all chickens are genetically modified like KFC's. The real kampong chickens will feel insulted. Kay, that bit came from me not Ah Pek.

Rainy Saturday

Singapore felt like London yesterday. I actually seriously considered getting a pair of wellingtons to brave through the muck. Thankfully, my trusty converse (which survived the acid rain of Beijing) rose up to the occasion again. D and I headed down to the Handmade Movement Craft Fair at Fort Canning. Tsueki was saying that she was expecting sunshine and balloons and bringing her bunnies down. Well, there were sunshine (behind the clouds), balloons (deflated and lolling around) and doggies (in a tote bag).

Umbrellas everywhere and everyone was squeezing into the large gazebo. 

With D the Ah Pek. Ah Pek was very tired yesterday.

Tsueki doing her business woman thang!

Crafts from Tea Party. So cute can.

Woohoo~

She was selling coasters and placemats. 

Ah Pek and my ootd.

We bought them coasters cept Ah Pek opt for the ones with red polka dots which leads me to...

So we were manning Tsueki's booth when this exchange student came and to strike a convo:

Student: Oh look at these things.

D: Hi! These are handmade coasters.

Student: (points at red polka dots) Ooo.. you know what this reminds me of? *sniggers* *bro-to-bro talk*

(-_-)

He was referring to lingerie. Honestly, I would think if you are going to bang someone who is wearing red polka undies, you'll find it funny and not provocative. Don't understand men.

Heh.

Random illustrations dotted the fair.

With Tsueki! Don't forget me when you make it big! T__T

And then dinner!

Mentaiko Pasta ~~ 

That's it for Saturday!