Life is a result of intentional habits.

"If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives."

- Lemony Snicket

Read: why you should travel young
"Traveling will change you like little else can. It will put you in places that will force you to care for issues that are bigger than you. You will begin to understand that the world is both very large and very small. You will have a newfound respect for pain and suffering, having seen that two-thirds of humanity struggle to simply get a meal each day."

Miki of the day: just hangin' out under the dining table

Sometimes I wonder what she thinks about as she stares into space, as I so often do. What kind of cat thoughts does she have? Does she even think? She looks like she does. Is she happy? Or is she bored? Mummy says I should buy a leash and take her out for a walk. I'm not sure if she'd like that. She's such a timid cat after all. Maybe I should bring her out in her carrier.

Some days it feels like I'm just an empty shell moving around in my daily life. I'm physically here but my heart and mind are miles away, somewhere. I hear and see things around me but I don't really process them, because I'm too busy thinking about everything and nothing. There's a certain vagueness about everything, like when the camera lens is out of focus, or when a myopic person takes off her glasses. thoughts flit around, meaningless, fleeting. I suspect if you really look into my brain you'll find it filled with cotton candy...

Life in pictures

One rainy tuesday afternoon, like we had nothing to do

(also, notice my new bangs)

Fav x'mas drink from starbucks - peppermint mocha (NOT toffee nut latte)

Happy things

Spot the bird!

A collage of cat and trees

This pretty tree with white flowers stands by the roadside just in front of my apartment block. Once a year it blooms and looking down from my room window it always looks really pretty, standing out from the rest of the trees. Then flowers die, as they are wont to do and the tree just goes back to being a normal roadside tree for the rest of the year.

"What is essential is invisible to the eye"

The beautiful sunrise I caught as I attempted to finish my comparative corp governance paper...

Speaking of which, I finally completed the paper after a very inefficient 20 hours. Which consisted of lying on the bed for short rests, compulsively going to the kitchen and eating chocolate, playing with miki, etc.

Portrait shots

Daddy offered to make coffee for me at 5.50am as I was finishing up my paper. And for the first time in my life I truly felt caffeine jitters. My hands were shaking so badly, my heart was racing and I felt like my mind was racing from thought to thought without focusing ('ー'*) Afterwards, I tried to take a nap before I headed out for lunch and wine fiesta, but I couldn't fall asleep so I basically tossed and turned in bed for two hours before giving up.

Wine fiesta! (*^∇^)ノ∀*∀ヾ(^▽^*)

Big thank-you to ms sim, who invited us for the event organised by her company. It was rainy and we took a while to get there, what with Jen and I both having to buy new shoes 'cause our shoes fell apart, but it was pretty fun trying out all the different kinds of wine from different countries (●´▽｀●) (emoji that looks a little tipsy)

今日のミキ (^・ェ・^)

So there was this day we couldn't find Miki (happens very often now that she doesn't wear a bell collar) and I searched high and low. She only answers to her name when she feels like it, even though she knows you're calling her (her ears will flick towards you when you call her, but she doesn't bother turning her head #haughtykitty). Then I opened the door to my parents' bedroom and I see her like this, lying quietly inside the pillow, peering out to see who'd notice her.

For the month of November, I will work hard and I will try to stay happy.

-----

"So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."

- Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

忘れないだよ：肝心なことは、目に見えない (星の王子様)

Food for thought: things you can change vs things you can't

I put the pro in procrastination.

Happy Halloween~!

"Frightfest...may not be suitable for...the faint hearted, the timid, the scaredy cats, the weak" - exact description of me right there.

And all my creative juices are flowing at this highly inappropriate period of time. My head is full of crafty ideas of things I wanna do and make and all. WHEN I SHOULD TOTALLY BE MUGGING FURIOUSLY AND MEETING DEADLINES. Which is why those close to me have been the recipients of various handmade and homemade things. This is not good.

Cookies and cream cupcakes that I baked late one night

Baby beanie #2 - 'cause Tailin informed me that the first one was too small OTL

日本美媚 Tangtang with her 阳光笑容, wearing the cream-colored beanie I made her. I made one for Jane as well~

今日のミキ

Close-up - cute pink nose and sharp tooth

Favourite Starbucks x'mas drink and cheesecake deliveryｏ(〃＾▽＾〃)ｏ small joys in life.

In other news, I am currently in a shoe craze where I feel like buying up all the shoes I see and everything sets me off. I am a materialistic, superficial girl ( ; __ ; ) I will repent...after I've ordered those shoes.

Food for thought: the peter pan generation

Art, food and friends

SCHOOL IS STARTING IN A WEEK *hyperventilates*

I'm so unprepared I feel like booking the next flight out and hiding out the semester somewhere else like a fugitive. Just thinking about what modules to select saps my energy. Somehow I just cannot muster up any enthusiasm for the coming academic year OTL

What I've been up to since I returned from europe: for the most part I've been lying around the house like a sack of potatoes, reading and occasionally getting up to annoy my cat while she naps. The few occasions when I actually gathered up enough energy to drag my lazy arse outta the house:

Tea at TCC with Tang and Jane, and then sushi

Harry Potter and Andy Warhol's exhibitions with Ling and Kitt

We got the all-access pass and went to both exhibitions. Andy Warhol's exhibition was interesting, to say the least. He seems like a weird person, but then again I suppose all artists are weird in some way or other. There was a photobooth in the exhibition hall but it was under maintenance! I was so disappointed ): they even laid out wigs and props for you to take quirky photos.

The harry potter exhibition was okay. The Warner Brothers studio tour in London was definitely more comprehensive (we got to see more of the movie sets, props etc), but the exhibition was more interactive in a sense, 'cause you get to throw quaffles into the hoops, pull up mandrakes and hear them squeal, and sit in Hagrid's chair in his hut. The merch shop at the exhibition was definitely smaller and had less merch than the one at the WB studio, but one thing in common is that the merchandise is equally expensive!! I gave in and bought a tiny chocolate frog for $6. At least the collector's card I got was Dumbledore I suppose.

Miki (taken by Jen); ootd for my movie date with Keetee; mocha and matcha latte

Had a spontaneous movie date with Keetee today, 'cause we were both so bored and I had a movie pass for two free tickets! Watched total recall; it's a pretty cool movie. Had dinner at food for thought, and chilled at Starbucks after the movie.

I do not want to go back to school ;___;

Up and about town

As you can tell, I've gotten lazy. And this crazy hot weather has not been helping. It makes one feel so lethargic all the time, so much so that you just end up doing nothing but feeling very tired at the end of the day. So much has been happening/not happening since I came back from Vietnam, I don't know where to start updating. Imma just talk about today first and update as and when.

Tian and Tang 

We decided to meet up before I go off to Indo and then Europe and Tang goes off to Taiwan and Tian goes off to Japan. The agenda for the day consisted of shopping and food. As always.

Tang suggested this relatively new place at Ngee Ann City. She calls it a boulangerie aka a fancy synonym for a bakery, pretty much. But you know what, I forgot to try its bread! D: when we entered I thought to myself that I would get some bread at the counter on the way out, but we were so stuffed after our meal there that I completely forgot. Oh well.

What I ate: I forgot the name of this, but it's some salad.

 ...and that is why I will never become a famous food blogger; I just do not have the memory capacity to retain the fancy names of the dishes. Besides, it's french, so pardon me. The portion is really huge and it's very 丰盛; it had like walnuts, raisins, green apple slices, chicken breast, emmental cheese, carrot and assorted veggies. Healthy and quite yummy, except for the purple veggies. I do not eat purple veggies.

Millefeuille! the chocolate one.

I do not think there a glam way to eat this thing, you kinda have to massacre it. But I love flaky pastry I could probably eat flaky pastry every day. Anyway this was quite nice imo, not too heavy on the palate even though it was cream-filled.

The tea set: choice of tea (earl grey), two macarons, mini creme brulee and brownie-like cake; we each ordered one of this. Yes, after one main each.

The bill came up to more than a hundred for the 3 of us, so it was a rather pricey random tea/dinner. But I guess it's 'cause we were kinda eating two meals together, what with a main course and a tea set each. And a slice of millefeuille. Service was excellent though, the staff were friendly and polite and enquired about how we liked the food etc.

Being "juvenile"

In other daily news, my spree parcel finally came in! I crept downstairs after midnight to retrieve this from the mailbox before mum could discover it. The basement carpark was rather eery, even though I've been home way later many times before. I kept thinking what a good murder spot that could be and expecting something/someone to spring out at me. Like if the security guard had been walking by I think I'd have gotten a shock (-_-") The headlines the next day could have been: "Law undergrad frightened to death retrieving spree parcel at midnight". ...smart way to die.

The haul: four items of clothing, one of which I wore today

Little prince in jap/chinese and JLPT prep assessment book

Tian lugged these back from Shanghai for me! So I shall be hardworking and revise my japanese diligently and pass the N3 test this year-end! ...actually I don't even know if there is a JLPT examination in December.

今日のミキ：

Staring at me defiantly and refusing to budge from my bookshelf

Dozing off while watching me craft

Post-exams activities

What I've been up to since I was set free. First, dinner with the family. Apparently there's now a third level at Millenia Walk. I don't know how long the new wing's been there ('cause I only shuttle between school and home T__T) but there's a new extension wing and there are more shops now. So on Saturday the family decided to go for vegetarian/thai/viet? food, and it was located on the third level along with several other food places.

This was my mushroom soup, which tasted very much like Soup Spoon's...

Mummy's pumpkin soup, which was delish.

 All-sorts-of-veg popiah. I think it's either the thai or viet version of popiah, I can't remember atm (-_-")

Broccoli soup! Daddy ordered it but I tried it and it's actually really yummy. And yes, it's a pale green, like matcha-flavoured food. I was too busy hurrying with the photo-taking so we could all eat to fiddle with the camera, hence the yellowish light setting.

Gado gado. It comes with this peanut/satay-like sauce that I like.

Brown rice that didn't taste bad. I could get used to eating this.

Beancurd with oatmeal and some kind of yogurt sauce. Loved this.

Yummeh ice cream in mango, green tea and cookies and cream

Bro and sis

 Hanging lanterns at Millenia Walk. I think my photo-taking skills need improvement.

Interesting craft idea I saw at Harvey Norman.

Miki looking down on at me.

 Cat hangin'

Bro forcing her to walk on two legs hahah. She actually doesn't mind it, despite the pissed expression in this photo.

See she is getting fatter look at the round face.

So  yesterday I decided to go do some shopping and have tea on my own. Trained to bugis and proceeded to trawl bugis street for a weaved hat that bro could bring laos for his trip. I also bought four rings and a pair of leopard print glasses (^-^) ...then I went to buy my ettusais blusher, makeup remover, heat protection spray for hair, and a box of facial masks. They are necessities! *defensive*

Had tea at TCC (^o^) I swear they have the most affordable tea set! And it's nice 'cause there's a good balance of sweet and savoury. Everything was yummy, but I was quite disappointed with the mini scone which I'd saved for the last, 'cause I love scones. Probably 'cause I've had better elsewhere. This set (tea + tray of food) costs only $13.90++, and compared to other cafes it's really worth it. nd they change it every couple of months, so I always like to go back and try different things. And it's actually quite filling, at least for me. Spent a good afternoon there, sipping tea and reading a book. This is my kind of bliss (^_^)

Crochet shorts at Topshop! So pretty but so overpriced imo T__T Maybe I'll try doing something like this to a pair of my own shorts this holidays.

Floral pants at Stradivarius! So loud but so pretty. Not sure how often I'd wear it though, so I put them back.

Met up with Jane and Tang for a drink at Timbre to mark their end of exams and us surviving the third year of law school. This sem really went by in a whirl. And now all I can do is hope for good results.

But the live band was not very good...so we left after a while and Jane went to eat bak chor mee at Circular Road while we watched her. Had a walk by the riverside then sat down to yak till 2.30am. Our personalities, backgrounds, etc are so different, but we're going through law school together, and I guess that's what makes people bond, when you go through something together. Anyhow, I'm glad I have people with me who can accept me for who I am, idiosyncrasies and all, even though we're so different. 

Some camwhoring shots and outfit of the day, 'cause I looked like crap during the mugging period.

That's right! My remote control~