Is all about memories, I guess

Many of my friends are finding it difficult to understand why I am so infatuated with scrapbooking. To them,scrapbooking is just another expensive and impractical hobby, at least in Singapore. For some of my shopaholic friends, they find shopping for clothes a better excuse to splurge their money on as clothes are "more essential" than spending so much money on craft.

Well, I suppose the one thing which really attracts me scrapbooking, on top of the lovely, interesting array of products available for all paper crafters, scrapbooking is one hobby which complements my other hobbies perfectly. For a decent scrapbook layout, in addition to all the materials needed, photographs are another important "must have". I love photography and after graduating from Melbourne Uni 10 years ago, I have been looking for a perfect "journal" to document the memories of my undergraduate days. I saw my fellow American hostel mate having a very interesting "journal" and had been hunting high and low for one when I came back to Singapore in 2002. I did not realise that the journal which my American hostel mate was holding, was, in fact, a scrapbook album.

I enjoy reading and writing and now, blogging. Scrapbooking incorporates "journalling", and I find that this makes scrapbooking more meaningful because together with photographs, this will make the memories more vivid than ever.

And before I log off, here's a cheap alternative for fellow scrapbooking hobbyists in Singapore or anyone else out there who live in countries or cities where the Japanese Daiso is available. Daiso sells foundation/make-up sponges which are good for distressing. They are much cheaper and makes distressing easier, especially if you are new to scrapbooking or are unwilling to part some money for those foam applicator. These cheaper alternatives work just as good and are able to endure the Singapore's weather slightly better. Unless you want really clean fingers while working with your projects, try these cheaper alternatives.

So, do check out those sponges when you can.

Scrapbooking with Grannies

Last year this time, I was at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, enjoying a spectacular performance from my favourite Mandarin Rock band - Mayday. How time flies indeed.

And a year later ... ...

Well, did something meaningful today. My scrapbooking friend, who is also a scrapbooking instructor, was invited to teach scrapbooking to a group of elderly ladies. Gosh, imagine my excitement and abit of fear when Jenn asked me if I could help out. Excited - well, is all about sharing my hobby with more people for a good cause, Fear -  the elderly ladies sometimes only speak their own dialect, which could mean, I will have difficulty communicating with them. Besides my now very very broken Hainanese (I used to speak much better dialect when I was a kid as that's the dialect I spoke with both sets of my grands), I speak a haphazard collection of Hokkien and Cantonese vocaubulary!!! Horror, I know.

Thank goodness, the grannies all know bits of Chinese here and there and after getting all the more complicated parts completed for the grannies, it is interesting to find the grannies find joy in cutting some of the finer details with a less precise scissors. (Note: for safety reasons, the organizers have given the grannies those child-safe scissors for the grannies) They even requested that they wanted to cut the finer details themselves! Lovely! And it is also interesting to see the grannies helping each other out too!

So, on a very stuffy and scorching Sunday afternoon, I have a meaningful time spent doing meaningful stuff. Just that I am kind of dehydrated now. Drowning myself with water now.

Alright, hope to be involved in such interesting activities again, be it in the near future or far future.

Yes, as long as the dates do not clash with my concert days or "out of town" days, I will always be able to help out.

Now, facing a difficult Monday tomorrow.

Cheers!

Coming Soon

Wow! Just realise I haven't been updating for such a long long long time.

Is not that I have been having a very boring life - NO WAY! How could I be leading a boring lifestyle if I have made it out to Europe, caught numerous Mandopop concerts and Classical concerts?

Truth is, I have been very hooked on Facebook... ...

Alright, I will try to update soon.

Meantime, good night.

There's a Nodame and Chiaki in each of us

I got myself a pair of free movie tickets to catch "Nodame Cantabile - The Final Score" part 2. Prior to catching the movie, I had never read the manga, watched the anime, the drama series, the shinshun special series as well as part 1 of the movie. So, without any so-called "background reading or watching", I went to watch the finale with my friend and by the time the movie was over, we had become Nodame fans.

Watching the series and movies, I came to realise that there is a Nodame and Chiaki in each of us. For instance, when Nodame first entered the music conservatory, she had difficulty in getting used to the teaching system and was depressed. Having gone through such situations numerous time, be it in school, at work or anywhere else, it brought back many scary and sad memories.

Fortunately, with the help of her own  strong will, friends and fellow classmates, she was able to overcome the difficulties and excel in what she does best.

Hmmmm, it will be a long time for me to find my own strong will to overcome what I am going through.

Will update again soon, I promise.

决定放弃

2010年6月1日，2358

我决定了，
我决定放弃。
我决定完全放弃小熊，
因为，我不想在看完一场演唱会，尤其是跟“死党”一起High翻天后，还来不及慢慢地回味着演唱会带来的快乐，就得知小熊已经有要好的女朋友或要结婚的消息。

我承认，
我非常自私。
我已经不能忍受好心情再次被破坏，
再次，被某些人取笑。

反正最近也听说了
很多人都在替小熊找个门当户对的女生，
所以，在还没投入很多的喜欢时，
我，还是放弃吧。

感情，本来就不能强求。

不过，小熊，
既然，我们还在一起工作，我们还是保持同事之间的距离吧。

最后，希望以后关于任何感情上的坏消息，请在演唱会之前通知我，
这样，我可以借着演唱会，把一切的不快乐与任何的伤悲通通发泄掉。

Happenings in May

We are 12 days into the month of May. And May is a very exciting month for me.

Exciting and busy.

Here's a recollection of what I have been doing since Mayday:

1st May 2010 - Attended Sam's Wedding in Ipoh
2nd May 2010 - Chelsea beat Liverpool
3rd May 2010 - Received call from Kinokuniya @ Orchard that 《下课后，怪兽家点名》 is ready for collection
4th May 2010 - Caught "Ice Kacang Puppy Love" 《初恋红豆冰》
5th May 2010 - Bought 《下课后，怪兽家点名》
6th May 2010 - Buy microstars and Match Attax Cards - World Cup series
7th May 2010 - Microstars and Match Attax cards shopping continued
8th May 2010 - Attended Scrapbooking retreat at Simei CC
9th May 2010 - Mark Webber won the Spanish F1
10th May 2010 - Dinner Pizza Hut and Applebee
11th May 2010 - Sales of 30,000  五月天DNA Unlimited Final Show @ Taichung, Taiwan completely sold out in about an hour's time
12th May 2010 - Going to work zombie-fied

More excitement to look forward to:

15th May 2010 - Another match
22nd May 2010 - Show Luo's concert at Singapore Indoor Stadium

That's it for now.

我们订婚了

Date: 27.04.2010


Time: AM吧



那天

跟着他一起工作时

他说

“我们已经订婚了。“



我嘛，

就这样地回答：

“哦，那就恭喜你了！”

“而且，也是给女生的一种交代和肯定。很好啊。”



那天，

他什么也没多说

他还是跟往常一样，很“姐妹”地聊着。

只是，从头到尾，他没怎么谈到他的未婚妻。



他没说是什么原因让他看上她

他只说他和她已经交往了四个多月

他没说他们婚礼的筹备

他只说他和她将到那里去玩。



整个谈话中

只觉得他决定踏入后青春期

以前，那个“想当和尚”而不想结婚，觉得女人是很麻烦的他

最后，还是跟着其他人，决定结婚去了。



只记得当年，

我曾经向他“发出挑战书” -

他，会为了钱途，而辞职

他，也会结婚的。



当然，

这一切发生时，

我，也选择“移情别恋”

我，也跟着五月天，一起唱着“我又初恋了”。