To learn

I forgot how amazing tea can taste. (Falling sick, so.) Not that I've not been having tea for such a long time. Japanese and Korean dinners call for green tea. And I had both this week, spoiled girl that I am. Plus, I just got a new phone. A 'smartphone'. Ironic name cos it makes me feel silly, hooked on it for hours on end. And then I felt really bad because I haven't been posting anything here. So to end the dry spell, I've decided to do a post in reply to Goodnight Little Spoon's post. Yeah, because I'm so creative. Creativity bursting from every crevice of my body. 

(image source)

I realize how much it looks like Bianca's but I can't help but want to learn the same things.
Plus, came across this chilled out song this morning. (Krissy makes awesome mixes, by the way.)

peace&love

beached

I just remembered about the time my cousins and I rented an apartment by the beach. We drank alot and then went to the beach for a swim and a banana-boat ride. I remember I was finding it really hard to climb up to the boat (it's not a real wooden boat or anything, it's more of a fun-time air-filled float). I just kept falling off instead. I guess I was a little tipsy. It was so fun. I'm just glad I didn't have to see myself, though I did later (from the photos). 

Now I feel like a beach holiday. It's been too long. 

Plane Ride

I love Singapore. I don't know if I can live there, but every time I take a trip down south, I decide for myself that I should settle down there. Stuff like this little skatepark just outside an MRT station across a shopping mall makes me feel like I'm in New York (though I've never been there). There are, however, too many malls but I'm sure there are nice quiet, secret, awesome places waiting to be discovered.

Okay my Singapore trip was crazy. It's my first time travelling by plane to a place for a few hours and then sleeping in the airport waiting for our early morning flight. But it was awesome. My feet hated me for it but it was worth it. I was just dead by the end of the day. I felt so dirty and was aching for a bath like a smoker aches for a cigarette in a no-smoking zone. But somehow I managed to survive not washing my hair. Just told myself to suck it and assured myself no one cared if my hair wasn't washed. Lucky for me I packed my facial wash. It felt so good washing my face and I will never take it for granted again.

That brings me to the subject of public toilets. I'm so lucky we went to Singapore for the concert and not any other place nearby because the toilets were so clean and there was enough space for me to imagine that I was at home in my bathroom brushing my teeth. It was awesome. I didn't even bother about people coming and going while I brushed my teeth (quite messily) with satisfaction.

And I think the trip would not have been as awesome if not for my two travel buds Adeline and Jonny. They kept me entertained (sometimes I just dozed off in my brain) and I helped avoid multiple time-outs (according to Adeline).

Lykke Li's concert was AMAZING! It's my first concert where I'm sitting down and far away from the stage. But it turned out damn well. The lightings and the stage setup played a good part of it. I learnt that Singaporean youth can also get a little unruly and unbecoming. Nice. A super fan actually got up on stage and freaked Lykke out abit. 

Good show. Also, I didn't know the lyrics to any of her songs, but mind you I know most of her songs. It's just that I can't make out what she's saying. So I usually make up the words. Probably not the best idea to do it at the concert, though.

Jonny took a nap during the opening song, Jerome. The opening song, really, Jon?!

peace+love

time for change (again)

hey there internet-surfing people, I've changed my blog template thingie so hopefully it still appeals as it did before (self-flattery much eh)

Anyway, once again, I've stumbled upon some cool blogs and decided to share here because they were too interesting for me to keep all to myself. Really, I'm not being sweet or anything but it was really too much of nice stuff so I wanted to mention about them here.

First up, it's Goodnight Little Spoon. This cool girl, Bianca Jagoe makes mean postcards and envelopes. When I say mean, I mean super awesome-looking paper put together. And then she sends them to friends and people she meet through her blog. To make it just a little bit more better, she sends cool stuff in the envelopes! It is just too good. I wish to explore that side of me soon. I can't even think about doing any of that now. Only because I know I would spend days working on creating a pretty postcard, time of which I don't have right now. But definitely something I look forward to when I'm on holiday :)

just one of many of Bianca's works

Next, this blog, Meet Me At Mike's has inspired the granny in me to learn how to knit. Yes, you read right. I want to learn how to knit. Pip, the woman behind this inspiring blog, shares many tutorials on how to knit and crochet stuff and that got me interested :) I have to warn you, you will definitely spend a good half of the day reading her blog. And it will leave you all inspired and geared up to make and create nice things :)

Yup, there's a Meet me at Mike's Store :)

OK so far, that's about it. Oh yes, this past weekend I spent my Saturday in KLPac for Urbanscapes, an all-day art festival. There was music, food, fashion pluses and minuses, shopping, photography, movies and collaborations. It was a good day.

peace+love

turning 23

ah yes, Monday is indeed here and it's already half gone. Anyway, I had the desire to write a little bit about my birthday (growing older - it's inevitable, I've come to terms with that). It started off a good few hours earlier by me going out to dinner with a few of my good friends though the anti-climax came soon after (our food came a tad too late). And at midnight, I was online and who else was the first to wish me but lady J (altogether - *awww*). It's like she's getting sweeter and sweeter by the day or something, it's insane! Anyways, my boy whom I love planned to take me out the whole day but as they say, Man plans and God decides. Right? hope I got that right. So we planned to go to Central Market (no, it's not the real market where you buy chicken and stuff, gramma! I still love you!) a.k.a Pasar Seni, and more specifically the Annexe Gallery. But then I almost got a ticket for parking in the wrong spot and we decided to go somewhere else :( We ended up in the Bukit Bintang area where we ate at a Moroccan Restaurant :) It was the best!! And it was the boy's first time trying Moroccan/Arabian food and it was good!! *happy* (cos I suggested some food haha) I do have to point out that the price was oh so high. But it was worth it :)

Later that night, my lovely boy threw me a BBQ party at his house and it couldn't get any better than that :) I felt extremely spoilt and pampered. Got lotsa presents as well :) Photos will come much later. Too busy now :(

All my close friends were there, even the boy's parents and my lil ol' gramma :)

And yes, for once, I did not get hammered. Yay, 23! Don't hope too much for 24 though.

{pics from weheartit}

peace + love

merry-go-round

I couldn't help but post about this. Last Friday was one of the best days of the year so far. I made a spontaneous decision to go watch a local band perform and I have to say, it was the best decision I've made in a long time. I went with weird-but-lovely Adeline (it's a compliment and you know it), because thanks to her I had the chance to go in the first place. Adeline drove - good idea. I gave a bit of directions - not so good idea. We ended up being caught in a nasty jam where Adeline was getting fidgety and I was feeling claustrophobic. But we managed to entertain each other til it cooled off and we arrived at KLPAC early. can you beat that? haha. The concert started a little late but that's normal :) it was worth the wait.

Anyways, we went to see and hear SevenCollar T-Shirt. And I have to admit that I've not really followed them and wasn't familiar with their songs. (I do however remember listening to 'Faith' on the radio). Until Friday. Now I feel like I'm a born-again Christian or whatever. I'm a fan. Period. And just to be a little more girly: I like the singer! and his hair!

OK that's done. This is my first time, ever, writing (or attempting to, anyway) about a concert by a local band. I'm quite proud about this. Bonus points for it being totally mind-blowing :)

The concert was called The Battle Protocol. And they really made you feel like you were in a battle, fighting the bad guys of pop. The singer Yuna also made an appearance for their acoustic session. Another important thing was that my lecturer, the coolness that is Justin Lim, was their keyboardist for the electro session! It was too good. And he also played this instrument called theremin. It's this super awesome instrument that doesn't look all that attractive but produces killer sounds. Electronic and high-pitched sounds. It was like home for me. Like what the world should be. Yes, I was impressed. I think I was too impressed that night. It was almost over-whelming.

Justin: Hey, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at some classical gig instead?

Me: *speechless* (followed by) *laughs*

I'm quite happy I've rediscovered a local band to listen to. And Yuna, omg, her voice is just too good. really good.

{sevencollar t-shirt}

peace + love

Surprise, Surprise

You wouldn't believe what I got for Valentine's Day. Actually, I couldn't believe it myself.

A Diana F+ special edition (it's called CMYK, cyan-magenta-yellow-black, the 4 most important colours to print designers)!!!! Finally!!! it's so pretty! Thanks to my amazing boy, I can go forward with dabbling into analogue photography :)

{how cute is it, seriously?}

I have yet to get my 120 film so it will take some time before I get to post my "work" here haha..but I can't hardly wait.

oh btw, if you haven't noticed, I've made a 'list' for the song/songs that I'm listening to every day. Only the ones that I think you should experience with me :)

love + peace

I met the Walrus

Check this out guys :)

Paris, j'arrive!

Wow, I feel like the worst sloth in the world..It's been too long since I last posted :(

feeling really bad...

My excuse: it's the holidays..I tend to do nothing but watch lotsa tv

(more like tv shows on the computer..)

It's about 2 days to my flight to Paris.

Yay!!

My mum, aunt, aunt's friend, and me will be going on a 7-day tour after being in Paris for 2 days

We'll be going to Italy - Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence...; Switzerland - Basel..; Monaco - Monte Carlo; and also other places in France like Cannes (!!!!), Nice (!!)

Aaahh this would be my first time in Europe and first time ever going on tour while I'm there :)

Oh, I will be visiting Disneyland too! should be awesome

I will tell you much more about it after I've come back from Paris, def ;)

On another note, I've come across more beautiful websites =)

Enjoy these:

The Next Page (a collaboration of DaydreamLily with English Muse!)

Lily and the Muse (another collaboration by the dynamic duo!)

The Boo and the Boy (there are some really good decorating ideas)

My Dog-Eared Pages

{Paris, you're in my dreams}

~All Photos courtesy of Tina from The English Muse - through WeHeartIt~

*Please click on the photos to go to Tina's WeHeartIt page to enjoy loads more of beautiful pics*

Thank you, Tina!

oh, by the way, i just joined WeHeartIt cos it was just too good to resist :)

~bliss...for now~

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas (soon) & Blessed New Year (if I don't get back here by then)

love and peace,

di

A New Day

Hello Tuesday!

News Flash: I have just decided to take up photography! It's so exciting, although I don't have my own DSLR yet..BUT - I'm so lucky because my good friend Arvind (Thampy) had his old SLR lying around (it's a film SLR btw - even more exciting! - Canon EOS 300v), so I'm loaning it from him for now (shameless..)

Arv's is in black though - cooler :)

and hopefully I will get it up and running by Wednesday because I will be too busy today, with all the graduation recitals going on..(about 6 of them!)

oh gosh I'm so excited..but I am really strapped for cash right now..it sucks so badly! ughh

Also, I haven't really learnt or read up on photography (e.g. the basics) just relying on pointers by my two favourite boys :) but don't worry I will kick my own ass to start reading up...soon..

.Joachim.

.Arvind.

(No, I did not take these photos.. haha..please check them out tho)

Peace n Love,

di

When We Were Young

I just found this hiding in my adolescent journal, and thought I would share it here to show how bad at writing I was. I miss it, though.

The Streets

In the city
Where everything happens
The streets are packed with people
businessmen, lawyers, beggars,
and me.

The streets. . .
comprise of the park and great buildings
The park. . . a peaceful place
The buildings. . . a busy place

It's funny to know that two different places
can get along well
Even though criminals from the streets
commit crimes in the park,
these two places can actually get along. . . well

In the city
Where the streets live in,
Where the beggars live in,
Where the people live in,
and me.

I love the streets,
And those busy people and beggars,
The park and the great buildings,
I love the streets.

haha. This was heavily inspired by the book series Fearless by Francine Pascal (of the Sweet Valley series fame). The series made me fall in love with New York and that was what I had in mind while writing this sad excuse for a poem. Oh by the way, this is my FIRST EVER poem :)
so maybe I should cut myself some slack(?)

click on this photo to be treated to a piece of feel good music :)

Actually I have to say I was very much influenced by this series. I kinda got all of the books EXCEPT for numero uno. Which kinda sucks. I used the main character's (Gaia Moore) name for my email and stuff. Freaky. I kinda wished I could be her. Kick bad ass and be cool. Oh I was maybe 13? haha good times.

peace and love

Just a Minute. . . in October

Hello everyone! this is my first time at J.a.M. so here goes...

Reading... Paulo Coelho's Veronika Decides To Die and also Orhan Pamuk's Snow. Yup, two at the same time, although I did start on Paulo first ;)

Watching... Adventureland. Again (oh yeah..). Right now I'm craving for cheesy rom-com movies I don't know why. I feel really pathetic. But (yay) looking forward to Inglourious Basterds and tons of other movies out there.

Listening... to random music introduced by my beloved friends and also other bloggers. So, recently I listened to Oi Va Voi (a British band, please check it out!) and Passion Pit :)

Buying... bought, actually. A dress and a new wallet! yayyy

Loving... the fact that it's the holidays and two trips abroad are waiting for me in December :)

Wanting... to be better at piano. And more money. In my dreams.

Playing...along? Easy! Just add your name and link to the blog roll here so that other lovely bloggers may check you out :)

peace and love

Pretty painting courtesy of Derek McCrea :)

been a long time

And here's why: I was busy finishing up my term paper for Music History. And then I fell sick. Yup. Was down with fever, and then because I didn't eat properly, I was attacked by gastric pain. It was such a bad experience I never want to get it, ever again. I don't even want to think or imagine or describe it. ugh.

BUT - Thanks to my loving boyfriend, Jo, I'm alive and well :) what would I do without you?

anyways on to some good stuff.

Exams are over (although I did miss my one and only History paper due to the crappy sickness, which I will have to sit for only next year, which in turn becomes a pain because I hate to sit for papers and now I have to wait so long and it doesn't help to think about how everyone else in my class have already sat for it)

Anyways - I went out today, with cousin Meens, because I felt like spending money and it's been too long since I did..I think the last time was in April? but I spent it on something I desperately needed: a wallet. And also something else I didn't need as much: a dress :)

Yep, it's from Roxy :)

check out the ribbon detail, it's awesome :)

yeah, that's about all I spent on..besides a java chip frapp and tempura in Sushi Zanmai heheh..

Now, it's back to being poor :(

Scrounging time is here again, oh too early..

xo, di

Blue Days Blue

its been awhile eh..
It's the hols for now, until the 1st of September fer me..
what have I done so far, since exams were done with? hmmm...practiced piano (not half enough as i should be...), watched movies, started watching Bleach (anime), washed my car, spent quality time with cousins (not ALL of em but a fair share :D )
yeah, thats basically it.. haven't done recording with daphne yet..hmm
and..i have to go back to uni every monday for piano class..which i am thankful i have because if i didn't, there would be like a 78% chance of me failing next semester (at piano).. so that's good..
I'll be going to Paris (yes.....Paris!!!!!! a bit too early than expected, but nevermind) in December! wooohoo~! good news: mum will be coming with. bad news: joachim can't come :(
but it's ok because i plan to go back there with him.. i don't think ONE trip to PARIS is enough...less than 14 days..totally NOT ENOUGH
so yeah..and Paris is one of the places i hope to settle down in..yeah..dreaming big.. XP
anyways, yesterday was cousin's day out :)
yogz, hemz, arvind, sucin, meens, shubz and joachim :)
it was good! we walked around in The Curve, watched a movie (The Orphan), and had dinner at TGI Fridays (first time for me!)..the orphan was awesome..its a thriller not a horror movie..was good although i was flinching most of the time...sometimes its good to scare yourself i guess..the movie was filled with so much tension, i was close to getting emotional...but thats how i am with any movie you throw in my face..so yeah..the story was really good! quite original actually..to my surprise, Leonardo diCaprio was one of the producers! he wouldn't just decide to co-produce a movie if he didn't think it would be good right?? so yeah, if you can, check it out for kicks :)
-deez out

cold iced lemon tea

On Saturday, i hung out with my dear friend and cousin Siok Leng and Meena :) we were out for quite long, about half the day from 3pm to 12.30am! the best part was i didn't feel it at all. cos that's what happens when you're having fun :)
anyways, we had chinese dinner and then went off to meet two more friends for supper (almost right away cos we took quite awhile for dinner) to this sad little place called CoffeeMug. so we were ordering our drinks and my charming girlfriend SL asked for "iced lemon tea, please. Oh can you make it cold? (she thought she ordered hot iced lemon tea....)" i may have changed her exact words,but that was what it meant LOL i was laughing so much tears were just streaming down my face and i feared a sore throat was coming along but lo it didn't :)
On Sunday, i went to my gramma and grampa's house for lunch and also to spend time with them cos i haven't seen them in 2 weeks. i ended up sleeping after lunch for about an hour and a half. i felt so bad! then my everloving pohpoh made me tea and showed me rambutans that she picked from the tree in her garden,asking me to eat some. and then she lamented about how she couldn't pick some really ripe, nice-looking ones that were growing too high up the tree. so i decided to TRY to pick them with a stick-n-hook my grampa made (omg i tell you, he can make anything from scratch, anything to do with the outdoors just ask)
and i did manage to get a number of 'em down (yayy) it was so fun.it was my first time doing this! it was quite hard as well. it made me really happy that i could do that for my grandparents. cos most of the time i feel useless really. yeah...it was a good day. then at night i watched this show called 'Samantha Who?' it was really good :)
today, back to uni :(
peace n love,