A list of books to buy

1. Love and Misadventure by Lang Leav
2. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
3. The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories (Volumes 1/2/3) by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Muss es sein? (Must it be?)

So I spent my one week break reading, amongst other things. Browsed through the row of books sitting on my desk, unread, half-read and collecting dust. Many were bought on impulse at book fairs or sales, painstakingly wrapped in book wrapper after I lugged them home and then arranged neatly on my desk. I believe there is a Japanese word for this; tsundoku ("つんどく") - it's a noun and essentially means to buy books and not read them. There is no English equivalent that I know of.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, and a hot cup of mint tea in a cute mug

Somehow I decided on this, a book twice abandoned, unfinished. I was determined to finish it this third time.

I must say it took me much longer than usual to finish a book of this length; it's not a very thick book after all. And I'd be lying if I said I understood everything the author wrote about. I don't think I have a very philosophical turn of mind, and there were parts I struggled to understand. Some quotes that resonated with me:

"We can never know what we want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."

"Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which is bad is that in a given situation we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third or fourth life in which to compare various decisions."

"He suddenly recalled the famous myth from Plato's Symposium: People were hermaphrodites until God split them in two, and now all the halves wander the world over seeking one another. Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."

"We can never establish with certainty what part of our relations with others is the result of our emotions - love, antipathy, charity, or malice - and what part is predetermined by the constant power play among individuals. True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can only come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy."

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~ 

THE HUNGER GAMES

only one word for the trilogy: AWESOME

somehow it plays out like a movie in my mind. hopefully the actual movie will do the books justice.

i've been procrastinating. as usual. i guess that's all i ever do really, run away, when i think things won't go my way.

but i promise i will start doing something about...all of me. my messy room, bursting wardrobe, resume, applications, my attitude, my life in general. i will take stock and revamp everything after christmas. after this weekend.

for now i will just continue lying in bed with my genmaicha and good book.

我们都是大时代中的小人物。

那是教授曾在课堂上说过的一句话。我觉得这句话非常有意义，而对此也有些感触，但不知从何说起。嗨。中文语言表达能力还是这么差。在过一个星期就是中国法律制度与法律中文的考试了，该怎么办？？T—T 从今天起，为了让我的表达能力有所进步，我将用中文来写博客！希望有点帮助。（其实也没时间三更半夜在这里写博客啦，嘿。但是银行法真的是太闷了！）可是法律中文毕竟还是与普通华文有所不同。在考试中时间紧迫的情况下写作文与在这里轻松写博客也大有不同。啊，想起就紧张！只希望自己不会写太多错别字，或把法律词汇给忘了。

真希望考试能快点过去！！有股冲动，想立刻跑到书局或图书馆去，横扫书籍，再回家泡杯好茶，悠闲的阅读。那该多好。可惜考试结束后的两天，我就得到律师事务所实习三个星期。其实也没什么不好的，只希望他们会给我事情做。最讨厌的就是在那里闲着，没事情做却得装做一副很忙的样子，什么也帮不上。总觉得自己在那里浪费宝贵的时间。我宁愿忙到晕头转向，至少那代表我有学到点东西。

几米又出新书了！超喜欢他的绘画。虽然晚了点，可是我要开始收集他所有的作品！

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"By believing, Peter. Just believe."

"What's it like, Neverland?"
"One day I'll take you there."
listening to: big bang - somebody to love
this has been on replay the whole night; i like the tune a lot and now it's stuck in my head

newly redecorated corner of my desk. those are coasters made of cork stuck on the walls.

my most recent books! i haven't had the time to finish 4 of them ): and my tokyo disneyland popcorn eggbox masquerading as a wastepaper basket.

and real polaroids instead of polaroid photocards.

finding neverland is an awesome movie; glad i bought it. johnny depp is awesome too.
okay that's all i wanted to say actually.
i shall go back to reading equity now.

"...it's like the ticking crocodile, isn't it? Time is chasing after all of us, isn't that right?"

the feeling of infinite.

a good afternoon = cup of coffee + blueberry muffin + good book

i finished the perks of being a wallflower. very interesting book. i recommend. reading nice books always makes me happy.

/edit i just wanted to add that i took the picture with my bb. it's quite clear, no? even though the phone camera's stated to be 3.2megapixels...

birthdays last a week.

i am very happy with my new shoes! :D finished them yesterday, after buying more buttons from chinatown. looking at them makes me happy (: ...and yes, i've revived my craft blog. more photos there.

more birthday presents! i'm receiving a lot of books this year ♥ cookie got me a pretty version of alice in wonderland - no illustrations inside, but the cover's pretty enough (: and yd and soonae got me the vintage-looking book. it has brown paper inside! :D ♥ brown paper. it's a bit too small for my polaroids though...maybe it shall become my next journal.

and i got my blackberry! ♥ not pink though. oh well. i shall change it sometime.

wonderful people, friends.

tangtang and mar treated me to dinner at ma maison today (thank you dears!), and they got me the book i wanted!, along with all the other cute things in the picture :D (tang - see i included the envelope to show i appreciate your artistic attempt at my name! hahaha) i am super excited about the book, 'cause the cover is pretty! stupid reason, i know. oh well can't be helped; i judge books by their covers. but i shall wrap it up first before i read it. i'm anal like that.

and then i proceeded to town to meet char 'cause the darling girl baked a whole box of tiramisu for me (: cream, rum and coffee goodness. and i intended to lose weight before i fly off to taiwan...
p.s. and you may admire my nail in the picture - it's pink/gold and handpainted by me. hahaha.

this is my joy ❤

lazing around and reading the whole day = ❤

"This is how it is with insomnia. Everything is so far away, a copy of a copy of a copy. The insomnia distance of everything, you can't touch anything and nothing can touch you."

"You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you."

"If you don't know what you want, you end up with a lot you don't."

"There will be mistakes, and maybe the point is not to forget the rest of yourself if one little part might go bad."

"...if people thought you were dying, they gave you their full attention. If this might be the last time they saw you, they really saw you. Everything else about their checkbook balance and radio songs and messy hair went out the window. You had their full attention. People listened instead of just waiting for their turn to speak."

"Advertising has these people chasing cars and clothes they don't need. Generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy what they don't really need."

"On a long enough time line, everyone's survival rate drops to zero."

"We are not special. We are not crap or trash, either. We just are. We just are, and what happens just happens."
memorable quotes from fight club.