Wednesday, May 23, 2007

And Then There was Light


Wow I must finally have peace of mind, coz after several nights of restless sleep and heart racing nightmares, last night, I dreamt I was surrounded by baby animals of every conceivable species! From wolf cubs to ladybugs! I slept through the ENTIRE night and woke up this morning with this warm glow and a mixture of contentment and happiness.... Oh it was such a nice feeling! Nothing could've ruined my day. I had to interview 3 potential sets of parents who wanted to send their children to our kindergarten and while I would usually freak out at the thought (seeing how I'd never done it before), I was so relaxed it didn't faze me one bit. Parents walked away happy, and one immediately decided that she'd send her youngest to us instead of another school she was initially considering. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! What a great day!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Spanish National Ballet


Oh wow! The Spanish National Ballet will be performing on the 29th of this month!!! Damn need to get tickets, like RIGHT NOW!

Friends, anyone? 2


Well I must say lunch went very nicely... Chatted for about 2 hours about random stuff, travel, life in China, our jobs... Seems like great friend material, so hopefully there'll be another 'meet up'. Sigh, still can't believe I'm doing this..

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Friends, anyone?


I've done one of the things that I never thought I'd do... I registered with the Personals in order to find new friends :p After 6 months here, the people I've met just seemed too much like floozies and pot heads, and since I rarely go out nowadays, I've resorted to advertising myself :p Just had a chat with someone who sounds pretty interesting. We like similar stuff including the outdoors, travelling and reading. So we're meeting up tomorrow for lunch to swap books hahahahaha.

Choices


There'll always be points in life when you find yourself caught between a rock and a hard place. Two options you're simply not keen on but are faced with anyway. About a year and a half ago, I found myself in a similar situation, trying to decide if I should stay in Singapore where everything was safe and predictable and, just go insane; or pack up and leave to go do something I'd always wanted to but was just too scared to do coz of the uncertainty my life would take on if I did. My boss said something to me that I will always remember: "Pick the option that you're most afraid of doing because that will show you what you're capable of and how far in life you'll be able to go." I got out of that dilemma pretty easily though coz a third option materialised and I'm now in Shanghai.

Unfortunately (or maybe it's a good thing), right now, I've got a mountain on my left and a ravine on my right and I already know which one scares me more. So this time, I'm gonna go down that ravine and I'm gonna prove to myself that things will indeed stop being scary coz all i have to do is look it in the eyes and just believe in myself....

Run Run As Fast As You Can...


Awwwww man! Just watched the season finale of Scrubs and I just wanna kick Eliot! JD I can understand if he's getting cold feet about Kim, but Eliot doubting if marrying Keith is the right thing to do?! What's wrong with her! She's got such a good thing going for her, a guy who loves her like crazy and would do anything for her (I mean seriously, the kind of control freak that she is, I'm surprised Keith even stuck around that long) and what does she do?? Freaks out and starts questioning herself... is Keith the right one... am I doing the right thing... And now from the looks of it, she's about to mess things up. Great! Fabuous! Well I hope she does, I guess she's one of those people who needs to keep messing up to the point it gets so bad she finally wakes up and realises that you can't run away from life! GOD!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Arrrghhh!! I'm a masochist!!



OMG! How annoying is it to be in the middle of a series and not be able to find a particular episode!!! Arrrrghhhh!!!!

On a side note, I can't believe JD and I have such similar tastes in music hahahaha....

"Just a small town girl, livin in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin anywhere
Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train goin anywhere..."

~Journey~


Friday, May 11, 2007

Across the Continent Once More


When I get upset, I usually change my hair. But after spending 720RMB once before on a perm that didn't even last, I figured I might as well put that money to better use... like a HOLIDAY! Granted the satisfaction is a little delayed but what the hell, being in a different country lifts my spirits no matter how low they are!

I have 2 options,

i) to go in August during the school break
ii) go in October during the week long National Day Holiday here

Now, WHERE to go... Very important question. Because this holiday is meant to be one of soul-healing, it has to be either a very zen / back-to-basics place or with friends and family... so my options are:

i) finish my backpacking through Vietnam since I wasn't able to the last time.
ii) backpack through Cambodia (colleague did that last week and she said she loved it!)
iii) visit my sister and friends in Melbourne (which was the original plan anyway)
iv) go home to mummy & daddy, then make a trip down to S'pore to visit friends

Might have to toss a coin on this one :p



"When The Lord Closes a Door, He Always Opens Another..."


... according to Julie Andrews at least in the movie, Sound of Music. For the first time in my life, after having a door slammed in my face, I prayed, asking God what plans He had for me, what I was meant to do, where I was meant to go, to give me the strength to accept what life has dealt and to take with me the learning I got out of it... and then begged Him to tell me that no matter what happens, that everything will turn out OK.

Today as I was about to leave work, I found a door opening. First, I was told that I'm being considered for a promotion, secondly and the most exciting, would be a potential move at the end of 2 years... or thereabouts. Without going into too much detail, if everything goes as planned and should I choose to accept, I might find myself in California, or more specifically, San Jose. It's not Spain, I know, but seeing how the majority if the population speaks Spanish, it would be right up my alley... But 2 years is a long way away and everything's still up in the air. For all you know I might end up in bloody U.K (No offence to my English buddies) :-) For now, I'm not gonna fight life, but let it take me where it feels I should be. It's tiring to keep wanting something so badly and then not getting it. Maybe I should just chill for awhile, and not take life too seriously. *shrug*

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Tuesday Morning Blues... cont'd


OMG YES! It worked! Drawing my curtains worked! Actually, I think it worked too well coz now I don't wanna get out of bed :p

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

World Politics...


... or politics of ANY kind simply do not appeal to me. I vaguely remember names of presidents and prime ministers, but most of the time am unable to place them to the countries they govern (though if they're famous enough I can :p) I switch off almost immediately and all I hear is white noise which gradually fades out and is replaced by what sounds like the surfing of radio channels, you know, like in the movies... Actually it would be wrong of me to say that politics do not appeal to me, it's actually quite interesting IF I don't have to read about it. But, as long as there's someone who's willing to just sit and blab to me about the different ideologies, I'm quite happy to sit and listen... just don't expect to draw me into any bloody debate about it.

Am currently being enlightened by my 19-yr old darling on the relationship between the U.S & North Korea, as well as the political state of the latter. Apparently, he's got a big big interest in the U.S, N.K WWII and the USSR and I have a feeling I'll hear about all 4 before the end of our conversation tonight :D

I really should read more journals related to my job, instead I'm scanning biomedical journals and browsing scientific research papers... I MISS SCIENCE!!! hmmmmm apparently there's gonna be a new kind of supernova...

Tuesday Morning Blues

Yeah the not so great thing about summer is that the sun rises much earlier, and if automatically waking up at 0730hrs on weekends is crazy enough, try waking up at 0500hrs on weekdays because of the light that comes pouring into my bedroom in the mornings :p. I really should start drawing my curtains... Sleep is such a precious thing... sigh

Monday, May 07, 2007

Picnic Weather is Here!!

Had a lovely decadent Monday at one of the very very few parks in Shanghai that actually allow the general public on the grass. So with a couple bottles of wine, water, orange juice, choya and cookies and crisps, we lounged and lazed under the afternoon sun reading tarot cards and 'predicting' our futures. The two that i did came out eerily accurate to a certain extent of course... but whatever it is my 'future' is pretty bright and cheery... yay!

Preen, ladies, preen...


Ok, I'm convinced, no matter how laidback or blasé a guy may APPEAR to be with regards to how much effort a female puts in her dressing, (and there ARE such guys) the way she looks still matters - ALOT! Be it long-term boyfriend or husband of donkey years, a guy still likes it when his woman gets all made up. Oh they can complain about how long it takes us to decide on what to wear, or what style of makeup to put on, or if we should wear our hair up or down, and why we insist on spending money on waxing and spas, etc... but at the end of the day, they appreciate what we do. They LOVE the end result. So the next time any of them grumbles about the clock ticking away and how late you'll be for that dinner, ignore him, coz he'd rather be late than have you looking like a disheveled chicken with half-drawn eyeliner... :p

Video & Pics of Desert Safari



Sunday, May 06, 2007

Dubai


Siiiiiiiiiiiigh.... I'm sighing not so much due to my departure from the city as it is for my having to say goodbye to J.... yet again. But still, it was a a perfectly fabulous week in every sense... the weather (which got crazily hot at times), the heavenly beach, having breakfast at 0730hrs and going back to sleep till 1030hrs, riding a camel, driving down sand dunes at awesome inclines, having a splashing great time at Wild Wadi (pics taken
on old-school
camera so must be developed and scanned), and did I mention my tan?!? I was wined and dined at chic little cafes (one I particularly liked called Central Perk... yes after the coffee house in Friends!) and impressive restaurants where you sit in ornately decorated tents and puff on shisha the whole night - VERY GOOD shisha... better than any I've ever had in Singapore; driven around in a boxster... In short, I was treated like a princess ;-)

Though I must say that Dubai wasn't exactly what I thought it'd be. Yes it does have a
certain amount of grandeur, it IS terribly modern and the architecture of certain key structures really are impressive, but on the whole I don't think it really lived up to any of the descriptions I'd read on the net about it. The hustle and bustle I'd been expecting was surprisingly absent, apart from the jams you're unfortunate enough to get stuck in; the landscape was marred by the on-going construction every few hundred yards; the villas appeared to be rather boxed in - like a very spacious cube (I like open spaces, though I must say the villa J lives in is SWEEEEEEEET) and save for the hip and trendy cafes and night spots, I found the city rather low-key in general. There wasn't that buzz and electrical pulse one would usually feel when in a fast-paced city. I guess high expectations will always eventually spoil things for you :p But then again, maybe I misunderstood the articles and Dubai really ISN'T a fast paced city...

And another point I must make here, something I also found not to be in accordance to all the articles I've read online. The women here dress to kill!! Not all of them and certainly not the locas (I guess) but there were more short skirts and cleavage revealing tops in the shopping mall than in Attica. And here I was being all prudent and packing decent trousers and tops and holding back on the shorts and tubes. The advice that kept repeating like a mantra on the websites about being careful not to offend with the way you dress is really completely unnecessary.

Anyway, but then there's old Dubai, which I love, with its souks and narrow alleys, alot like Little India back in Singapore... where you don't see a single Westerner save for the red-faced, sweaty tourists in their shorts and sun-burns. This side of the Creek felt more authentic with none of the fancy-shamsy shingdings that one would see on the other side. I had a lovely time window shopping there. Had a little chat with the merchant at one of the spice souks about Indian cooking (Oh and I managed to find vanilla pods! Hello puddings!!!), brought J up to speed with what to look out for when buying a diamond ring at the gold souk (Was ONLY sharing some information... I swear!), took a ride on one of the many abras that lined the banks, bargained for a camera I could ill-afford (i got the currency exchange wrong :p), bought myself a pair of cute but oh-so uncomfortable pair of Aladdin-looking slip-ons after being assured that the leather would stretch-out once I wore them a few times...

Anyway I could go on... and then I wouldn't have any space left for pics. So here they are... some taken when I was there, some from J's stash when he first moved
over. Didn't think it necessary to take duplicates...

Note: Madinat Jumeirah is definitely a place of note. I guess it could be compared to Chijmes in Singapore in terms of concept and clubs and restaurant, but that's about it. You step into the main archway of this Arabian Resort and
you're immediately blown away by it's opulence... It's like you'd been transported into a whole different world that exists only within those 4 walls, a hidden fairy-land of lights and decadence. People lounging and puffing on shisha, catching up on life, drinking in the night... It's apparently styled to resemble an ancient Arabian citadel, with courtyards and waterways where hotel guests are transported by boat. It simply takes your breath away. Unfortunately I got drunk rather quickly thanks to the fabulous cocktails, and so was unable to truly appreciate the sights of the night time desert as seen from another bar perched at the very top of the building :p Oh well...