back in those days…

Hope everyone had a great Christmas break over the weekend! It was a wet and cold Christmas eve but after that, Christmas and Boxing days were pretty much dry and a little humid but generally still windy and cool to a certain extent. It was already kind of warm today with the sun bearing overhead. I just hope that the cool season is not over so soon because if so, coupled with the start of 2012, it’s really going to make me more depressed than the Londoners are over the gloomy seasons.

Couple of weeks back I caught a Taiwanese movie called “You Are the Apple of My Eye” (also known as 那些年，我们追过的女孩。 I think). My friend mentioned that it was said this movie would bring back past memories of school days, although I wondered how and when, because obviously our school days and their school days were so different. But then I saw one of the songs from the soundtrack on AMPed and downloaded it, and while listening to it, indeed bittersweet memories of the school days, probably mostly from my JC days, started popping into my mind. It isn’t so much the movie and what transpired in it that brought about the flashbacks but perhaps lyrics of the songs that did it for me. I had quite a bit of fun over the two years I spent in the school that was predominantly hailing from Chinese schools, although in each year, the kind of memories I had were vastly different. In the first year, it was all over the newfound freedom of being in a JC as compared to being in secondary school, hanging out with new friends and doing lots of silly things together. Then in the second year, I think we all moved on and I made new friends, and together with my new friend then whom I’m glad to have kept until even today, we did quite some fun things together as well. There were the happy and sad times that I recalled but that was all part of growing up.

So this post wasn’t meant so much as a reminisce-the-past post as it is supposed to be about the Christmas break that I just had. I had been lazy over the last few days so I haven’t been blogging. So much for my initial resolve when 2011 started that I’d have one post per day. I realised it was going to be too tough especially with me travelling so often, sometimes without proper internet connection to do any decent posting… but there are really days when I have nothing much to write about.

This was a rather peaceful and quiet Christmas that I had. Friday evening was spent sitting till my butt hurt in a hair salon in town. The entire town was abuzz with activity while I just parked myself in the salon for 3.5 hours, getting my hair done with something I hadn’t planned to. No, I didn’t perm it or anything but it got shorter though I think maybe I can still have it shorter now since the hairdresser decided to go ahead to rebond my hair. I was mad pissed for a while because I had not asked for that, and am now not exactly a fan of flat lack-of-volume hair because it makes my face look rounder and plumper than it already is. But what’s done cannot be undone, so I can just accept it and move on and be glad that yes my hair is now more manageable.

And could you imagine that on the morning of Christmas eve, yours truly was up at 7am and out for class at 9am? Indeed. The school doesn’t close for Christmas eve so half of my class gathered for lesson and then after that I was off to shop for a last-minute gift for an exchange and also lunch in the Orchard area that started to get grossly crowded from about noon.

Had dinner at a ramen stall in Central mall before heading to the sake place for the Christmas meet-up, where I realised that some people don’t really fancy receiving chocolates in gift exchanges. What do you guys think, is it a bad gift to get for an exchange where you aren’t sure who are the people attending? We played Bingo after the countdown and I won a Starbucks card preloaded with $30 of value! Isn’t it the perfect gift for a coffeeholic like me? 🙂

This picture is anyhow taken in November last year when I was on holiday in Hong Kong! This year the Christmas cups are different.

And this too.

It was interesting how my friend mentioned just now while sending me home that it seems like a long time since she’d driven me home. It’s true we haven’t met in a while, and I blame it on the travelling. Maybe I also haven’t been conscientious enough in trying to meet up too because some days I just get so tired from running errands and doing some personal stuff when I’m home that I tend to neglect the people around. Sorry guys, my bad. You are all really important and I will try very hard ok? We were just talking about New Year resolutions and I was still telling her how I think I can cut down on some of the things that I usually list in the resolutions because there is no point, either because they will be fulfilled anyway or they will forever be an outstanding item. But now… hmm, I think that’s something I should consider working towards.

And… this year I don’t think I’ve gotten myself any proper Christmas gift. I don’t count the stuff bought in US or the Netherlands as Christmas gifts because they just don’t feel like it. I’d wanted to get myself a necklace but popped into Tiffany both in the US and also in SG and found nothing nice. Considered Bvlgari or Cartier but I think I can’t afford that. Then I thought about a watch and gave up thinking because I still can’t make myself splurge on a proper watch. So no, I’m still present-less. One of my friends got me eyeshadow from Paul & Joe though and another got me word magnets! Thanks dears! I also got some chocolates and cookies from the office peeps that will ensure I pile on the calories while trying to stay awake on those dreary afternoons.

parched

I wonder how long it’s gonna take this time, to recover. I hope it’s soon though otherwise I’m really not sure how I am going to survive the flight.

I got myself a new pair of earrings! Actually, I stopped buying earrings as fervently as I used to. In the past whenever I travel somewhere I will always try to return with some accessories, with earrings being the top item that I will buy because they are the things I wear on a daily basis. Recently I cut down on that a lot because I realised I have a lot of earrings that I don’t wear, not because I don’t like them anymore but because I am just lazy to have to dig them out from wherever I have kept them, so mostly I just wear whatever is within easy reach.

You can see how bad a state my camera is in, or maybe it’s just my lousy skills in photographing the gift. Anyhow, it’s a pair of custom-made earrings, a combination of black onyx and pink rubies, yellow sapphires and mandarin garnet. I only knew when my friend told me, that as I knew it with ruby being the birthstone for July, the traditional birthstone is actually onyx. She knows me well in thinking I probably am less inclined to wear a red stone on me on normal days and so I got the black onyx for the main stone for my earrings!

I haven’t worn it yet since as I mentioned before, am still being lazy even where accessorising is concerned. Which kind of also puts in the group of can’t-be-bothered people where fashion is concerned. My cousin has a fashion blog and she’s really into fashion and all, together with a lot of her family too, and sometimes when I read her site and various other fashion sites I feel a tad bad for always taking the easy way out where dressing-up/right is concerned. Maybe I just don’t have the fashion bug in me, since I already profess to have very potent travel and bag-shopping bugs in me, perhaps they leave little room for anything else. Ok, I know, excuses. I do think of trying on many occasions but I still found the courage to overcome discomfort (due to the sweating induced by our very unfriendly climate) from trying to walk the fashion way.

Xmas is coming

See this very cute present that I received yesterday; the reason why it became my present was because it resembled a dumpling, i.e. 小笼包 , which I had been having a strong craving for of late. Hmm. Another addiction. Haha. And also a double disc of Christmas tunes! But I haven’t had the time to listen to them yet… maybe I’ll do it on the flight later. (:

So just now after having a late lunch of quite-nice Hainanese pork chop rice, I went to get this pair of boots from Metro. I’d tried it on yesterday and quite liked it, but hesitated on buying it because of its princely price tag of $249.90, and I know no one who has a Metro card, which would have entitled me to get a 10% discount. So anyway, I still decided to get it, although I do have some problems… Then last night, when I was trying them on, I threw the sales assistant a random question, “May I know what leather is this made of?” And her answer totally floored me, “Oh, it’s leather lor.” Hmm. I wondered if she didn’t hear the key words in my question. So I exchanged a look with en, and then the young sales assistant went on to say, “Hmm, I think it’s calf leather. Ya…” I wasn’t already interested in her response, because I am not convinced of what she was saying anyway. But I was keen enough on the boots to return to get them, ‘cos if not, she would have missed the sale, assuming she earns commission from customer purchases.

It feels pretty comfortable, but they’re a humongous size 41, which is actually a tad loose for me. I hope that the socks that I wear can make up for the extra space, and also, that maybe it can be more comfortable with my toes having some space to wriggle about (they don’t have 40 anymore). But I think they’ll make my feet look like Ronald McDonald’s feet, just that I’m wearing black and not red. *sobs* Big feet v.