What's NEW this month?

1. NEW nail colors!

The inspiration? Passion! Because red is striking and purple is elegant.. and glitters? Well, they are fun and sparkly, just like moi! (cough cough)

2. NEW hair color!

Earlier this month I finally dyed my hair lighter! A few years ago I decided to go black, but I think lighter color suits me better, so I went ash-copper brown. It's not terribly light, but bright enough that my curls looked better under the light and I love it!

3. NEW experience!

I had the opportunity to go to Kuala Lumpur for training in our KL office and it was awesome! It's always great experiencing another culture in different branch and just see how the team works and it's truly inspiring. It made me feel proud to be a part of this big family and I'm grateful to be able to play my part in spreading more love to singles out there!

4. NEW friends!

During my visit, I got to meet the KL team and they are so friendly and welcoming too! I think on normal circumstances, we don't really get the chance to meet them in person and during retreats, usually only the managers come around. So it's really great meeting everyone there and thank you for your 'northern' hospitality!

5. NEW motivation

Let's make it happen.

Toodles!

Hello May!

It's been a while. Hello! I've missed you, blog. And what better way to start writing again than in this brand new month where change happens? Changes! I believe in changes! Tina for President, y'all!

Okay, just because I keep yelling 'changes!' doesn't exactly qualify me to be the next Obama, but hey, I'm embracing changes for once. If you know me at all, I'm usually terrified of changes and surprises. But because it's the new month and all, well, let's try to change that mentality, shall we?

Of course this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm starting a new job tomorrow in 4 years. How am I feeling, you ask? Well, honesty? Nervous. Very nervous and excited at the same time. After being a senior, I'm back to being the newbie who doesn't know where people keep their papers! You know what I mean right?

I'm also excited for that, though. I'm looking forward to the things I can bring to the table, to the changes and ideas that I can offer, to the new colleagues and supervisors that I'm going to work with. And most of all, I'm excited for the new challenges and opportunities in the months and years to come. I am!

I guess having these butterflies in my stomach is normal. I am looking at the positive side of things and I believe that the next job will be better. Now, will you ride along this new journey with me?

I will try my best to update this space more often. I'm sure I have a lot more stories to tell, and I will have more time on hand too (hopefully) because the office is quite nearby and I won't spend 3 hours of commuting every single day, so I think I will be more productive and efficient with my time.

So let's raise our glass and cheers to change!

RIP Old Mp3

So I'm deeply ashamed. Okay, let me tell you from the beginning.

I got my mp3 player around four years ago, give and take (I believe it was more than 4 years ago, but I'm not gonna talk statistics here.) and it's been working well for most of those times. Sure, there was a crack on it (little crack!) after I sort of dropped it on one occasion (one!), which means, well, it still worked, but I had to practically hold it together if I needed to pull out the USB port (to transfer songs from the computer) to prevent it from falling apart. But hey, aside from that, I had no complaints.

I thought it was impressive that despite the crack and the old age, essentially my mp3 player was still functioning well. I even patted myself on the back for being such a good owner. (Of course, the world revolves around me.)

But that's not exactly unjustifiable. My sister's phone recently died and she had to take it to the store to get it fixed, and she just had that phone for less than a year! Her previous phone wasn't that much luckier either. For some reason, they just couldn't last for so long, and I can proudly say that I've had very long-lasting phones in my record. So, well, I guess that pat on my back is somewhat appropriate and not at all self-centered?

Back to the mp3 story, though. Somehow during this past year, I hardly used it anymore for no particular reason. Well, I enjoy listening to music while I'm commuting back and forth to work, or to school, but since I graduated last year and I haven't exactly been working, I guess there wasn't much a point to use my mp3 to listen to music when I was mostly at home, and could easily just use the laptop. I also have gone back to my reading-frenzy mode recently so I was obsessed with reading on the train instead.

It could very may be, that my mp3 was spoiled because it hadn't been used in a long time. But now that I'm working again and my office is really bloody far, I'm in dire need for serious music again to keep me company through the long journey of commute (especially in the morning! I need upbeat songs to wake me up, really.) That, and the fact that my reading-frenzy mode has mellowed a bit.

So I dug around for my old mp3 player again, and got really encouraged that it still worked...for about a day. Today as I happily slipped the headphones to my ears, no music came out from the player, and it could not be turned on. I sat there, feeling defeated and dejected. I am ashamed because apparently I'm not as good as an owner as I thought before.

And if even that absolute fact is shaken, who knows, I may not be as charming and adorable as I thought so as well. *grim* Oh. Shucks.

So, I'm gonna get myself a new mp3 player! And this is so exciting because I just got my first salary and I can buy one on my own! Aren't you all proud of me? Little Tina is growing up indeed! Yeah, so hopefully by end of day tomorrow, I will have already gotten myself a brand new player to survive me another day of commuting to work!

Right now I'm swaying towards Sony Walkman mp3 player. Yeah, I'm excited!

the best!

(500) Days of Summer is not a love story. It is a story of boy meets girl", begins the wry, probing narrator, and with that the film takes off at breakneck speed into a funny, true-to-life and unique dissection of the unruly and unpredictable year-and-a-half of one young man’s no-holds-barred love affair.

I am so in love with this.

This film far surpassed my expectation, and boy, didn't I have high expectation. I have been looking forward to see this, probably since early of this year. And I had to wait all this time (plus, having to hear my US friend boast about how awesome this movie was a couple months ago, when I could say nothing but 'you lucky bastard!')

Seriously, though, I could make a list of the things that I love about this movie, but you all should see it yourself! And I'm sure you're gonna report back to me with nothing but exceedingly great reviews!

I'm so happy!

Weekends : Big Ball of Awesomeness!

So I'm writing this at the library. Before you cast an impressed-glance at me, setting the record straight, no, I'm not studying and I'm not reading intelligent books. Not so impressed anymore, are you?

Well, I'm just fed up at being home so I went over here, simply because I like being in a library. It provides a real me-alone time, which otherwise I seldom have. Especially when you live with your sisters and cousin, not that I'm complaining. But still, sometimes you just wanna be alone, you know? And here, with the trickling water sound, the pure silence, and the endless choice of books, what more can you ask for?

Even though I'm just pretty much doing the same things I would do at home with a computer, (facebook? twitter? blogging?) still the ambience's all different. Anyway, don't blame me, I'm a geek.

So, I thought I'm just gonna write a bit about my weekend, which in short, is just a big pure ball of awesomeness. On Friday night, I met up with my high school friend who just moved in town to work for a couple glasses of Tiger. I met another friend after that for yet another couple glasses of Tiger, seriously, there's only so much beer you can take at one-go. That was slightly..excessive. But it was great, especially seeing an old high school friend whom I haven't seen in over four years.

The next day, I met up with another group of friends at the beach, and it's official! I wanna live by the sea! I totally love being near the water. Being at the beach itself was awesome, but catching up with friends was even better. We took loads of silly pictures and goofed around by playing frisbee and laughing at kids who got stuck in the middle of 'flying fox' ride. The weather was perfect, since it has been cloudy the whole day. It was cold and windy, but definitely better than scorching hot.

Towards late evening, we bid goodbye and my little sister and I went over to meet our older sis and cousin for sushi and tepanyakki dinner. Albeit tired from being outdoor the whole day, on our way home we still stopped by Chinese Garden to see the lantern-festival. The whole place was decorated by hundreds of colorful lanterns, and it was so crowded. I didn't know lantern festival is such a big deal, but hey, anything for anything worth celebrating.

On Sunday, all four of us ventured out to Bedok Reservoir to climb trees. Well, don't you know? Once every blue moon, we have desires to play Tarzan for a day. It's kinda our thing. We don't get enough actions in real life, I suppose. *chuckling* No, actually, my little sister and I were up for something new! My older sister and cousin have been Tarzans once before, so they're slightly more experienced up there in the trees.

Me? I just looked so awkward and out-of-place. It's not my habitat. But I tried, and I finished all obstacles! So I'm damn proud. Even though my whole body ached after that, I finally could scream that trademark-Tarzan's-yell with pride.

Auoooooauuuuauuuuauuu will never sound the same ever again.

Dinner at Bedok was awesome too. I found this really delicious chicken curry that's just super heavenly. It absolutely breaks my heart that I will have to go all the way cross-country to Bedok again just to have that curry.

I have loads of pictures from the weekend, and I'm gonna post them here in the next post!

I still need to write more! It's like, I'm losing all my creative juices these days. I just have a lot on my mind, it's hard to keep up the positivity and upbeat attitude all the time. Who wants to read about depressing stuffs, right?>But I miss all of you! =) Don't give up on me yet! And yeah, the drama-queen is back!

Test, The Fountainhead

Today two things happened.

I passed a dustbin on my way to class, and it was yellow.

Oh no, they weren't the things that I'd like to say here. I thought that was a good build-up? Okay, sorry.

As you know, I had my first chinese test last Friday. Everyone's supposed to take the test when they have been in the school for a month, and I guess I fit in to that particular category. The day before, one of my classmate approached me during break.

“Look. Here's what you got to study,” she began, flipping my book. “Here, here. Here. Oh, and here too. You'll be given pictures and you should know the chinese words and the right quantifier for each object.”

I quickly took notes, a rise of panic started building up. I thought it's gonna be all written? All multiple choice questions? My voice was nothing more than a silent muffle in defeat.

“Of course not. There are listening and speaking test also,” she said. I thought I noticed a pleasure in her voice, but I must have been imagining it. When I looked at her again, she almost looked radiant. Gloating.

“Oh, don't forget to learn these and these too. Memorize all the words. You also should know how to ask for price and bargain in conversation.”

I jotted everything down helplessly, there was so much to learn in just a day. It's official, I suck at this. I should just stick to what I know best, like posing or something. Chinese? What was I thinking?

After class, I took my baby sister to Holland Village for dinner so it was safe to say that I didn't do any studying at all that day. The exam was less in 6 hours away when I woke up on Friday morning. Scrambling, I just tried to memorize everything I could, to not much avail. I guess I just had to bullshit my way to the test again, like any other tests I've ever done before. It gave me a little comfort.

Of course, I was in denial.

Anyway, to make long story short, the exam turned out to be all so very easy. Even at the rate that I studied (if you could call it studying at all), I felt like I've overstudied!

So today I got the result, and I got a perfect score. “Very good!” my teacher wrote it at the front page of my paper, she was grinning broadly, expecting me to scream, shriek, cry, laugh, and possibly faint. Well, of course I was delighted, but I almost felt as if I cheated. As if someone's gonna come out from under the desk and yell, “GOTCHA! That was a fake paper! Now HERE is your real exam! You don't think for a second that the exam's gonna be THAT easy, do you?! DO YOU!”

The other thing is this: this afternoon I finally finished The Fountainhead. I was on the bus, and I wish I were at home, because then I could probably let out a big, loud, happy sigh. The fact is, I'm utterly satisfied by this book. It's an experience in itself. The part when I simply couldn't stop reading it during the first chapter, how I was almost scared to continue because I knew something big was gonna happen in the story, how I consciously slowing the speed at which I was reading because I didn't want it to end, and that it was just like everything I wished it would be during the climax. Overall, it's been more than enjoyable, engrossing, and stimulating.

Was I just being a complete nerd for 3 seconds there? I'm serious, don't you just love it when a book can make you feel that much emotions?

The next book that I'm gonna read is so gonna fall short in comparison. I don't like it, but at the same time, I hope nothing else would come remotely close. I realize the irony in that. But we don't have to be logical all the time, do we?

Flu, nails and goatmilk soap

Hey world!

(Or rather hello to me, since I'm probably the only person who's gonna read this)

I'm now in a better position to write, compared to last night, or rather, this morning, so to speak. Last night I was as better to write as a giant penguin if you ever try to give it a pen. Why, you ask?

Okay, let's retrace the steps. The whole day yesterday I was out, having a good time, being perfectly normal and healthy as the Hulk. I even did sit-ups and a little bit of rope-jumping at home. (Okay, I made that up.) I had my greens (technically, there were lots of veggie in my noodles I had for lunch, but then I gave them all away to Cous, because I'm nice that way.) At night, in yet another act of kindness and selflessness, I cooked everyone spaghetti for dinner. (which everyone praised, not that I'm boasting or anything.)

Everyone knows I'm the master chef in the family. (But just because I'm the only one who ever cooks. Quite a deluded, undomestic bunch we are.)

I didn't have enough sleep the night before because I only went to bed at almost 5 am. (I don't know whether this would affect the story, but thought I'd just put it out there.)

I probably went to sleep at 1 am last night, which is normal. I had to stop reading my book (“The Fountainhead”, I can't stress it well enough, that it's the single most brilliant story I have ever come across.) because I was afraid I would finish it. Weird logic? Well, not really. (I had to stop myself from reading it too fast, I would very much like to prolong the pleasure.)

So everything was good up until this point. But then suddenly, at 4 am, I got abruptly woken up. Not by the rain, lightning, or loud noises in the house, in fact, it hadn't rained then, and the only voice I heard, was just a quiet hum of the air con. But I snapped because my nose was running and I kept sneezing.

I stood up to grab a tissue, and blew my nose. In my half-asleepness, I threw the tissue to the trash, and crashed back to bed. A few seconds passed, and I sneezed again, my nose still running. Now, imagine this happened for about, a hundred times. Okay, fifty times. All in a matter of seconds. By this point, I was wide awake, loudly cursing at nobody in particular. Just right after I blew my nose, I already had to grab another tissue because it just wouldn't stop.

I turned off my air con (although it wasn't cold), and sat silently with my puffy nose. I looked around, but it was freaking 4.30 am, what could I possibly do? I simply couldn't go back to sleep so I logged in online, and tweeted about it. I talked to my friend, another nocturnal creature who was still awake at such hour, god bless him. We talked for half an hour, and decided I should try to lay down again.

You have to know that I have quite a good resistance to cold, at least probably compared to most people. This works the opposite way too though; I have little resistance towards heat. I sweat a lot easier too. I have to have my air con to sleep (although I know I shouldn't, especially with my condition.) I turned it back on, but set the temperature to solid 25 degrees, and gave another attempt to sleep.

It took me probably another half to an hour to do so, because my nose would still be running and I would still sneeze but I have ran out of curse words to mutter at this point. I was just, tired, for goodness' sake.

I'd like to think that this is just a series of unfortunate, unlucky situation, that I'm just having a terrible flu, and that in no time I will be as good as new. Of course that's the case, but I don't know why I would suddenly catch this flu at 4 am without no sign and warning whatsoever.

Maybe this is just a sign. The really rare occasion of me trying to be domestic, and I got slammed with a massive flu! I have a feeling this is the universe's way of telling me that I should just stick to slacking. Oh, excuse me, I simply have to blow my nose again.

Okay, end of story! No more nose-blowing talk any more! Now, it's time for the bimbotic portion of the program, if you don't mind.

Yesterday I had a great time with the family, and us girls had mani + pedi at JP! (oh the perks of having sisters!) I didn't know we would be getting those when I went out of the house, though, and I was wearing an closed-toe wedges. (A disaster for the newly pedicured toes!)

The attendants all looked at me sympathetically, asking me if I brought another sandal! Why would I go around in the malls wearing shoes and bringing another shoes?! I'm not that busy nor famous. I almost cried when I saw the colour on one toe was starting to smear when I just started trying to wear my shoes!

My sister bought me a cheap flip flops, in the end! So my toes were saved!

I wasn't so crazy about my fingernails colour yesterday, but it definitely grew on me since! So barbielike! I'd post the picture later on, since Blogger is messing about again. Ggrr.

Also! Just a random question, why has nobody ever told me about goat milk soap before? It smells absolutely amazing! (I warned you about this being random) But yeah, it smells very milky, a bit like Dove, just cheaper! I was bathing in it with my shower puffs and I still smell like milk! Wouldn't it be great if we all smell like milk? Hahaha.

So yeah. What else should I mention? Hmm, I'll post more pictures on the next post! (As if it needs more) But for the time being, have a great Sunday, you.

Home, away from home

Things have been....craaaazzzyyyyy!!!

Not mental, senile-kinda crazy, but the insanely good kinda crazy! (How vague can I be?)

Well, I'm sure I've mentioned this piece of information excessively often before, and even if not, you've probably seen the valid evidence on facebook! (yes, the fact that suddenly there are way too many unimportant self-taken pictures of myself and a cuter littler version of me.)

Who, you ask?

Eh, I don't know. I found her on the street, she looked exactly like me, just cuter and more innocent-looking, so I decided to adopt her. She lives with me now.

(I have to apologize profusely about the pictures, we took those from her phone camera, and the action itself was surprisingly addictive. Before I knew it, we have taken probably 30 pictures of the same people, doing the same thing, smiling the same smile, posing the same pose. I thought she could just choose one or two good ones to put up on the site, but she uploaded them all! I was fully at blame too. I could have untagged myself, or stopped her from doing so, but well, shame on me.)

Speaking candidly, yeah, my dad and baby sister have been here since last week, and we got our hands full! Home was louder, more crowded, more festive, and more home than ever. I love it! During dinner out together, or even just a simple time spent together at home, I felt very blessed to have them as my family. I couldn't ask for better. We aren't perfect, but it's the most familiar kind of imperfection. Things about them I've grown up with, I'm accustomed to, I've understood without even trying, I've memorized by heart. It's very oddly comforting.

Dad has left yesterday evening, so it's all just us girls here. And Cous, of course, who surprisingly fit right in despite the high level of estrogen. He didn't complain even once. =p

So thus, it's been a great week and sorry for the absence! I'll be updating it more regularly again. I do have lots of other lame rants to spill!

Multiply

'Nuff said. I'm activating my Multiply again.

New things this week

1. I started twittering. Well, I've actually joined Twitter eons ago, but never really updated it since. In fact, my first entry there was in July last year when I wrote, "talking to my wonderful boyfriend, convincing him that Jason Mraz is cooler than ice cubes." Whoa, memorable enough? Anyway, if you do have twitter, please add me up, I wanna follow you! User's name is xteena21. I have to warn you though, that..[see next point.]

2. My life is not exactly exciting at the moment. (Yes, this deserves an entire number in itself. I can't even elaborate. Sad!)

3. I promise, though, that I won't just be writing 'I'm washing my hair', 'I'm having chicken rice for dinner', 'I'm peeing, be back in five' or anything of that sort in Twitter.

4. I made appointment for hair coloring today, and I was informed that the next available slot is on May 4th! What the, son of a biscuit! Who knew hair coloring is such a high demand? It's like, lining up for boob-job or something. At least with that I wouldn't be surprised.

5. One of my dearest friend is leaving Singapore for good, well, it's time for him to head back and make his country proud. How patriotic. That sucks though, because that means losing another good friend. I hate goodbyes.

6. I've watched excessive House lately, the whole first season in two days!

7. I wrote a long post on my thoughts on American Idol, because I love this season, but ended up deleting it 'cos it was too dorky, and nobody would even care about my love for Danny Gokey simply because of his uber cute glasses.

8.

When we met up in town. Hong's got a new haircut and it's funny 'cos we had the whole yellow-black thing going on accidentally enough.

9.

Blowing off some steam at Atticca and Zouk. It was such a fun night, we met other bunch of friends and danced our socks off.

10. I'm in love with the new apartment! I make excuse to go there eventhough there's nothing in it yet! Can't wait to see once it's furnished.

And then there's the great dinner at Dempsey, drinks at Emerald Hill, and buffet lunch at RajahInn. Man, no wonder I gained so much weight. Ah yes, I should put the gaining-weight thing in one of the point, but it's making me embarrassed.

Ah, and there you go, pukes of updates.