|C|andid |K|aleidoscope

Why do people have to talk during a movie?  Why do people have to comment on every single scene that comes on?  Why do people have to ask so many questions about the plot even though it is unfolding right before their eyes and they will soon understand?  If only these people could be more patient and spare a little more time concentrating on the movie!!

I met Miss Yap for a dinner-cum-shopping-cum-movie session on a lazy Thursday evening.  Dinner was at the foodcourt at Scotts and we were surprised that majority of the shops and stalls have ceased operation… Talk about being uninformed… and as usual, we could not resist any sale so we went on a browsing and trying frenzy… With my growing waistline, I only managed to find one skirt to buy and it costs only $5.25!

We bought tickets for the movie Confessions of Pain starring Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro and were seated beside this old couple.  During the entire course of the movie, the old man kept making comments about the show and kept asking his wife questions…  What’s more, he had to always repeat his questions at least three times and always end off with a couple of "huh’s"…

When a car exploded, he had to say "Oh! The car has exploded!"
When Tony leung killed himself towards the end of the movie, he had to say "He commited suicide!"

Yeeesss… we all can see and hear for ourselves the car had exploded… and it can’t be mistaken that the loud bang came from the gun Tony was pointing towards his head.  We do not need to hear a live commentary of the movie.  Thank you.

It is just so annoying and distracting, having to listen to someone else’s opinions and narration about the movie and that is not what I paid for.  I love to enjoy a movie by watching the story slowly unfold and any thoughts or doubts I have about it, will be left for discussion after the movie.  Only then will we have a full understanding or otherwise of the movie, and be able to make sensible and well-informed comments…

So, people out there who love to talk during a movie, please spare a thought for those around you!  If I want to hear what you think, I would definitely ask you…  Or else, please just sit back, relax and enjoy the movie quietly…

I love the month of December!!! 

There are more than a handful of happy occasions to celebrate…

1. ROM anniversary
2. Bubbs’ birthday
3. My birthday
4. Xin’s birthday
5. Pam’s birthday
6. Christmas
7. Eve’s birthday
8. New Year

and alot of shopping to do during the last month of the year!

Every shop, brand, mall will be having their year-end sale and it’s difficult to resist buying all the items that are going at half or more off their usual prices!!

However, I nowadays have to struggle with the two voices in my head whenever I see something I fancy…

Voice one: "This top/skirt/pants will be such a great addition to your wardrobe! If you can’t wear it now, you’ll definitely be able to wear it by at least mid next year!"

Voice two: "Please do NOT waste your money!  What’s the use of buying that pair of heels when you know it’ll be left untouched in your shoe cupboard for the next six months?"

So, the only things left which I can buy are bags… But my roving eye has somehow moved to more expensive tastes and once again I’m bogged with the two voices…

Voice one: "This is so exquisite!  It’s great to have a couple of brands in your collection!  Everyone else does!"

Voice two: "Oh no no no no… You need whatever savings you can have now!  You have an extra commitment and expenses will definitely increase over the next half of your LIFE!"

The ‘battle of the voices’ usually ends with Voice two winning… So the only shopping joy I get during my favourite month of the year, is from buying gifts for friends and family, to celebrate the above mentioned occasions.

I love walking along Orchard Road with both my hands full of shopping bags, although the items in them are not for myself.  I love wrapping the gifts up with pretty wrappers, although I suck at wrapping.  I love the feeling of satisfaction, when I know I got the right gift for the right person, although that may not happen all the time… but you don’t lose anything from receiving a present you don’t need, loathe the sight of, have no idea what to do with, etc. right?

December is the month of giving and also receiving.  So, give thoughtfully and receive graciously!  An advanced Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to anyone who is reading this!

Sitting on my new desk, I wondered if I am now fit to be doing this.  A switch to the corporate environment was what I wanted all along, but I didn’t expect to be sitting here when I am undergoing a really exciting change in my life right now! 

The work load will definitely be heavier, the job will definitely be more stressful and I certainly didn’t need any of those right now… The only perks are shorter working hours, weekends free and doing what I have been doing all the while - Marketing.

After working at the retail and operations side of things for the past seven months, I have grown to love the working environment and the job… I guess the reason why I wanted vehemently to do Marketing was because I just don’t want my education to go to waste and I thought the working hours in an office environment will be better for me now…

However, a change is always good.  People are always resistant to change but it may bring along new perspectives, new ideas and definitley new experiences!  So will a new life, which entails a new beginning…  Life will only get more and more exciting!

The vision of our future used to be filled with flying cars, robots mingling around us, teleport machines, etc.  We are now six years passed 2000 A.D., and the roads are still jammed with cars; the only things flying in the sky are still the birds and planes and we still require a considerable amount of time to travel from place to place.

I doubt it’ll be in our lifetime when a scene from the movies iRobot or A.I. happens on our streets. 

Can someone quickly invent a time machine and teleport machine for people of our time, please?  If given a chance, I’m sure most people will definitely love to turn back time and return to some point in their life to make good certain things or just to relive the good old days.

My motto in life is to never regret anything cos everything happens for a reason.  However, I sometimes try desperately, in exasperation to follow this guiding principle of mine.

So, if there is a time machine, I can go back to whichever year I want, enjoy to the fullest the good times I’ve had or change the bad times I’ve been through!  Then will I be able to come back to 2000 A.D. and cheat myself into thinking I’ve succeeded in following my motto… cos there is nothing for me to regret anymore after having put everything in place…

6:45am - Woke up to help Yvanna close the door. She is working half day today, so we’ll be taking a bus on our own and meeting her in the city at 11:30am.

8:30am - Woke up with a start!  Del all of a sudden shouted my name as she realised we had overslept.  The alarm was set for 7:30am but I hit it off when it rang and went back to sleep.

9:30am - Left home and walked to the bus stop.  We found out we had just missed the bus as there was specific time intervals between each trip.  Had to wait for about 45mins for the next bus to arrive, so we entertained ourselves by taking photos and laughing at silly things.

10:15am - Boarded the bus and paid the student price as the driver thought we were students!!  Paid only AUD$0.60 instead of AUD$1.30…

10:30am - Arrived at Wellington Bus Station.  Wandered around, taking photos and came upon Cotton On which was also having a great sale with everything going for below AUD$20!!

Made a round in Target and Sports Girl.  Accessories there were going at a really cheap rate so we bought more!!  Went to Jays Jays to try on some clothes and Yvanna called to say she is around the corner.

12pm - Went for lunch at a small cosy Korean restaurant.  The food was great!  We were lucky we arrived at the restaurant earlier as about a half hour later, the place was packed.

Went back to Wellington Bus Station to take a bus home via the train station and lingered awhile to take photos.  We were happily strolling along when Yvanna exclaimed that the bus has arrived!  We quickly made a dash for the bus.  The driver again thought Del and I were students…

1:30pm - Finished up our last minute packing and proceeded to take silly photos again… I guess we all tried to linger around awhile longer to prolong our moment in Perth…  It started to pour quite badly as we were leaving the apartment… Even the Perth sky was weeping together with us… The wind was blowing and we had trouble lifting our now bloated luggages out of the apartment and into the car.

2:15pm - Arrived at the Perth International Airport.  Del and I went to check-in while Yvanna went to park her car.  We were told by the guy that we were to go to Gate 01 immediately for boarding…

Waited for Yvanna to come and we went to the departure gate together.  All of us were so unwilling to part, but we knew we will meet again soon… We hugged our good-byes and Del and I entered the departure gate…

At Gate 01, we waited for awhile, bought a magazine and nougats to be brought back for family/friends and boarded the plane…  Onboard, I watched "Before Sunset" and although it was full of dialogue, I thought it was really good and reflected very well the meeting of two people who were very distant yet bonded by a chanced rendezvous they had a couple of years back.

8:45pm - Arrived at Changi Airport.  Bought some alcohol and beer for my dad from DFS. 

As we were stepping through the boundaries of the customs, we were at the same time stepping back into our daily routine life, which is always craving for and looking forward to another wonderful holiday…

Our luggages are now filled the things we have collected from all the shopping we did… and our minds are now filled with the bagful of memories we have collected from the great times we have spent together… [SOS, Nick Lachey, Robbie, Shakira, Paris Hilton, Yap Chao Chao, Yap Ah Meng, Mariah Carey poses, garlic smell...]

Collection for the day: one jacket, one top, one necklace, one bottle of Chivas, 2 packets of nougats, three cans of Tiger

8am - It’s our last full-day in Perth!!  As with every holiday, I didn’t want it to end so quickly!  But all good things will come to an end… will just have to make the best out of every waking moment!!

We got ready for our tour of Swan Valley and finished watching SATC.  It almost brought me to tears seeing how sweet Smith was to Samantha and how everything worked out for Miranda and Steve in the end…

9:45am - Arrived at Burswood.  We hung around waiting for the bus to appear.  When it was about 10:15am, we panicked and started having paranoid thoughts like: Did we miss the bus?  Did they forget about us and leave?  Did we actually book it for today?  What if we made a mistake and booked ourselves for yesterday?  Or worse still, for next Sunday?!?!  Yvanna then decided to call her friends for help to get the contact number and she left a voice message for tour company.  After awhile, they returned her call and informed us that the pickup time was actually 10:45am and NOT 9:45am!!  How silly could we get?!?!

So we got some breakfast at Dome before heading back to the pickup point.

10:45am - Boarded the mini-bus and our first stop was Lilac Winery. We could taste any wine we liked on the list given and Yvanna bought the Chenin Blanc which tasted quite good.

The second stop was Garbin’s Wine Estate.  The Verdelho produced by Garbin’s was supposed to be so good that it gets snapped up by retailers in Sydney even before the locals at Perth can get their hands on it.  As a result, Del and I each bought a bottle of it.

After Garbin’s, was a short walk to Jane Brook for our lunch.  It was fantastic!  The salad, spread and cheese was lip-smacking and the portion was so big that even when two of us were sharing, we couldn’t finish it!  I bought honey and fig jam to bring home to my mums.

By the time we reached our third stop, we were all bloated with wine in our stomachs but we couldn’t resist the delicious cheese provided for sampling.  There, we met an elderly man who said he was borned and bred in Singapore, Katong but has now moved to Australia.  He really was hiarious and even understood our lingo!!

Our last winery stop was at Lancaster Wines.  There, we tasted a really sweet Chenin, perfect for desserts, bottled really nicely.  We couldn’t resist not buying it.

Next was an ice-cream outlet called Oggies.  We bought two scoops to share and headed on to The Margaret River Chocolate Factory.

We were surrounded by chocolates and although I am not a big fan, I still couldn’t resist wanting to buy and try the different varieties on sale.

5pm - Arrived back at Burswood where we picked up Yvanna’s car and drove off for some dinner at Nando’s.  The chicken was spicy and delicious and after sharing one whole chicken, we decided we wanted more and ordered another half chicken to share!

After dinner, we went to the Leederville supermarket in search of the spread we ate at Jane Brook.  We couldn’t find it and ended up buying some chips and Nudie juice which I have been wanting to get for Pee, after seeing Del drink it at Subiaco the first night we were in Perth.

9pm - We were all knocked out after the long-day tour and all the wine we drank.  We washed up and had a glass of the sweet wine we bought from Lancaster.  After trying to make sense of "The Ninth Gate" - which Yvanna borrowed from VideoEzy - but couldn’t, I fell asleep hoping this trip would not end…

Collection for the day: one bottle of Verdelho 2006, one bottle of late-picked Chenin 2005, one bottle of honey, one bottle of fig jam, two bars of chocolate, two bottles of Nudie Juice

8am - Woke up to a sunny day!!  Exactly what we wanted for a day of sight-seeing!

10am - Arrived at Freemantle.  We were all hungry, so we started the day with some fresh seafood at Kailis’ Cafe!  The seafood platter Yvanna and I ordered was delicious!  One thing bad was that there wasn’t enough mayo, we all only had one packet each…

A short walk brought us to a bustling market selling all kinds of knick knacks.  Del bought some tea for her boss, while I browsed around, absorbing the sights and sounds around us.  After more shopping, we stopped for coffee and just relaxed under the sun.  But it got too hot for us to bear, so we decided to head back to the car.  On the way, we took silly photos again and laughed our heads off…

2pm - Arrived at Cottesloe.  It was a beautiful place with houses facing the sea and people scattered around taking a stroll or bringing their dogs for walks.  The sound of the sea and faint breeze made me wish I am living in one of those houses lining the beach…

3pm - Dropped by Claremont again for more grocery shopping as Yvanna forgot to get some of her toiletries.  I took the opportunity to show Del SJP’s haggard looking hands…

4pm - Arrived at King’s Park.  It showed a magnificant view of the Perth skyline.  if only we were here in the evening, when the lights will be twinkling against the velvet black sky… The view would be breathtaking.

We spent our time at King’s Park taking photos and attempting to lie on the grass but deciding it will be wet and dirty our clothes…

5pm - Arrived at a market in Subiaco.  Chose some beautiful flowers for Yvanna’s place and headed back for some home-cooked food.

7pm - Yvanna’s cooking is great!  We had rice, chicken and vegetables.  I wish I could cook but somehow I’m just not that interested in learning how… She couldn’t find enough bowls so we had to eat vegetables out of a big plastic tub, while watching telly.

Did some packing, relaxed abit and decided we would go for a drink.

11pm - Arrived at Brisbane Hotel.  The music was blaring and it looked quite packed outside.  But when we walked indoors, there wasn’t as many people around and we could find a table easily.  Yvanna had a gin and tonic, while Del and I tried their local beer from Little Creatures.

12am - Back home to bed!  Another early day tomorrow as it’s our tour of Swan Valley!  We couldn’t remember if we were supposed to be at Burswood by 9:45am or 10:45am but decided it should be the former…

Collection for the day: a pair of earrings and necklace for sis

7:30am - It’s raining… Our initial plan was to take a bus to the city as parking there is expensive.  But looking at the weather, we decided to drive there instead.

10:30am - Reached the city, Murray Street.  Being typical girls, we were off the scheduled time.  We can’t be blamed - three girls who haven’t met in six months, with loads to chat and laugh about, living in the same apartment, sharing one bathroom, nice rainy weather outside - there’s no doubt we will be late…

Yvanna went to do her PR stuff while Del and I shopped around on our own.  Went to David Jones, took some photos, and came across a really great place for cheap shoes called "Shoe Show"!!!!!  At first glance the shop looked kind of dodgy cos it’s down a flight of stairs with no proper signage… But the posters announcing sale on shoes was too much to ignore.  We went berserk ransacking the shop in search of the correct size and for nicer designs.  Yvanna called to say she was done and she too joined in the rummaging…

We then shopped around a bit more, going to Witchery, Nine West and the sorts.  Diva, selling lots of accessories was having a great sale, so we piled on and added a whole bunch to our accessories collection.  Finally, we dropped by a shop selling local souvenirs, so we bought some stuff for family and friends from the adorable cashier boy.

1:30pm - Went for dim sum at Northbridge!  Learnt that out of the three of us, only Yvanna eats the chicken claws…  The food was good!!  Loved the egg tarts and bean curd!  The only thing that turned me off about that place is the arrogant sounding guy mending the cashier… whom I think, must be the owner…

After lunch, we took some photos at a nearby park where Del and I were first captivated by a majestic looking tree, while we were parking the car.  This photo taking session was hilarious, as we laughed and digged at each other.  No wonder the photos taken there turned out really good as we all looked so cheery!

3pm - Arrived at Claremont, the equivalent of Sixth Avenue in Singapore.  Shopped again, developed photos and stopped for some coffee at Bellissimo.  We also dropped by the supermarket to get toiletries and also Cuddly fabric softener for my colleague.  While waiting for Del to get her ‘gold bars’ for her dad, Yvanna and I browsed through the gossip magazines available…  There was a report on SJP and how her hands are turning prune-like and harggard looking… I made a mental note that when we are back watching SATC to take notice of her hands.

5pm - Arrived at Harbour Town, the shopping haven, where we met Sam, Michael and Matthew.  It’s to-die-for there, as everything is at warehouse prices.  We loaded our arms with tops, bottoms, dresses, and queued to try and queued to pay… I didn’t feel like leaving that place…

10pm - Went for dinner at a place serving Malay food.  The mee rubus I ordered was not like our local ones… The portion is so big I could only manage half the bowl.  As usual we reminsced about our good ole’ primary school days… With the silly ‘freeze’ bell after recess, swimming at River Valley Swimming Complex and the three of us running away from assembly but had to sell "coupons" to strangers for cab money to return to school…

1am - Home sweet home… Unpacked our purchases, laughed somemore, continued with more SATC and went to bed…

Collection for the day: magnets for my mum, pressies for friends, pressie for pee, one dress, one bottom, one pair of shades, one bracelet, one pair of earrings, three necklaces, three pairs of shoes and four tops

6:15am - Woke up to prepare for the airport!!  And very last minute packing.  Poor pee had to wake up an hour earlier to send his mum to work…

6:50am - Picked Del up from her place.

7:30am - Carried our half empty luggages and stepped into Terminal One.  The excitement started to surface as reality dawned on me… I’m REALLY leaving on a jet plane with Del to visit Yvanna in Perth!!!  We checked in and got our boarding passes.

8:15am - We said our good-byes to pee and went into the departure hall.  Had to go in earlier cos Yvanna wanted us to buy DFS stuff for her!  We discovered that the SKII Essence at SaSa is even cheaper than DFS.  So don’t think everything at DFS is cheaper!!

9am - Boarded QF0072.  I’m glad we decided to take this flight.  Our initial plan was to leave on Jul 7 via MAS but the tax prices increased overnight by almost $200 and if we took MAS, we still had to transit at KL which will waste alot of time.

9:15am - The plane took off!!  I love being on the aeroplane!  One reason is because being on a plane means going on a holiday, which of course makes everyone happy.  Another reason is because being on a plane somehow makes me feel free…  free from work, free from the usual monotonous lifestyle, free from familiarity, free from reality…

I watched "Yours, Mine and Ours" and half of "King Kong", while Del watched "Casablanca" on the in-flight entertainment system.  The movies featured were quite new blockbusters, with some classics and arty films.  Had fish for lunch and after dozing off a little, we found that we were approaching Perth.

3:45pm - The immigration officers were so chatty, trying to make the travellers feel at eased.  When we walked out of the airport entrance, it didn’t even feel like I was ouside.  The temperature was lower than in the airport and it felt so good!!  I love the cold; well, and also the hot scorching sun when I’m on the beach…

Del and I were standing around waiting for Yvanna when suddenly I heard, "Cen!!"  I turned around and saw Yvanna there waving at us!!!  We finally met after not seeing each other for about six months!!!  Hugs were exchanged, struggles with the luggages were made and we finally got into her car to head straight for some shopping in the city!!!

Everywhere on King’s Street was on sale!!  We visited her at the right time as the "End of Financial Year" sale was on!!  I wanted to get so many stuff but according to Yvanna, there would be more to come at even cheaper prices!!!

5pm - Late night closing in the city are on Fridays, whereas the suburbs’ late nights are on Thursdays.  We left the city as shops were closing and headed back to Yvanna’s place to deposit our luggages, freshen up and head on down to the suburbs for more cheap shopping!!  Also watched abit of a game show, "Deal or No Deal" which is really quite exciting.  We all thought the couple taking part would definitely breakup after the show.

7pm - Arrived at Westfield Carousel Shopping Centre.  Traffic was quite slow and parking limited as there were loads of people there…  We were lucky to find a lot after a while.

Stuff there were of course much much cheaper than in the city!!  We spent almost an hour in ValleyGirl trying on clothes and browsing as most things seemed to be going for less than AUD$20!!!

The news in Perth is now on an 8yr old girl who got sexually assaulted and killed in the washroom whiel out shopping with her brother and uncle. We got worried for awhile when Del went to the ladies alone for quite some time.  But of course she appeared safe and sound after a couple of minutes…

9pm - Got out of Carousel and went in search for some dinner.  Yvanna recommended this little restaurant at Brisbane Street, Northbridge offering Vietnamese food and it was delicious!!

10pm - Quickly finished our food (cos Trah Vinh, the restaurant closes at 10pm) and headed down for some coffee at Oriels located at Subiaco with Samantha.  It started to turn real chilly and before long, my teeth were chattering.

12am - Went back home.  Took turns washing up and watched a bit of telly and SATC.  You can never get tired of watching SATC…  Hilarious!!

2am - Went to bed.  It’s an early day tomorrow as we need to be in the city by 9am!!!

Collection for the day: one pair of shoes, one bottom and two necklaces

The inevitable has happened… The laziness has crept in… I am always at a lost for words now and never seem to be able to sit down and type a few sentences onto this blog of mine… But I decided to take a real hard stab at this today and try to revive the initial enthusiasm I had…

I got the job at the spa company but am based at the sister company, which specialises in waxing!  So if any of you, my friends, want to have your hair removed, come look for me!  But sorry, no discounts!
I am enjoying my job, although the working hours are definitely much longer than what I had before.  My colleagues are a hilarious crazy bunch - all with their own antics and idiosyncracies - so everyday at work is filled with joy; but when it comes down to real work, they are all serious and responsible, so that’s great!

I just realised something as I’m typing this: my command of English has deteriorated.  I guess it’s due to the fact that I no longer need to type emails, write newsletters, proof-read collateral on a regular basis and also because I am no longer under the scrutiny of the most detail-oriented, most nicky-picky pairs of eyes.  This is bad… I better really start blogging more so that I don’t lose my one and only avenue for improving or at least maintaining my writing and English skills.

Aside from my new job, there isn’t anything else interesting going on.  All I’ve been doing alot is sleeping and watching movies.  Ms Lim has become my movie kaki and we would meet almost every week to catch a movie.  Any movie that seem nice will not be let off by us.

This pretty much sums up my life for now.  My waking hours are literally taken up by 3/4 work and 1/4 movies and rest.

Keep your fingers crossed together with me and hope something interesting will come up soon.  Otherwise I’ll very quickly become a bore, which I already am and my dear friends who already find me expressionless and unperturbed will all run away to seek greener pastures!