My sister's 18th birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOANNA! :)

This silly girl didn't have any plans for a party but she did not inform me earlier.. She said that she's going out with her friends but at the last minute she SMSed me to ask if she can join me and my friends for dinner at Liang Court cos she's only going for a movie with her friends.. 

On her actual birthday and she has no plans!! When I told her "YOU ARE ONLY 18 ONCE!!" She replied "I have another 364 days to be 18!".

FML. My sister is more matured than me.

Birthdays are a big deal to me because it's the day you are born.. the day you came into this world and who knows whether if you can celebrate your next birthday? Life is short and we have to find reasons to celebrate and be happy!

We met up at Central and before she arrived, Wany & I went to hunt for something to buy for her as a surprise because I did not plan to meet her and I have no time to shop for a proper birthday gift because I am working during the night shift and most places are either closed or not yet opened when I am free.. I refuse to shop at Mustafa Centre for my sister's 18th birthday present!

Anyway, I decided on buying a balloon for her since she loves balloons a lot! :) We hid in the corner and waved at her when she was walking towards us.. then I went "TADAH! SURPRISE!" and showed her the balloon.. ^^

ELMO BALLOON!

She loves Elmo for some reason.. I just think it's gay but Wanwen says it's sexless. My sister likes Miffy more, but for some reason it's very difficult to find Miffy merchandise in Singapore. Do you know Miffy is from Holland? I always thought she was from Japan! I went to Amsterdam and one of the shop assistant was so pissed when I asked "Isn't Miffy from Japan?" OMG. More on that later when I blog about my Europe trip (Real soon! I promise!)

We met up with Nathaniel and 4 of us went for Ramen Dinner!

Two little girls sitting beside my sister was like eyeing her balloon with envy. LOL! Too bad! Ask your mama buy for you!!

Ramen with two eggs! Yums!

Later we met up with Santi & Welly and went for pudding!! Our favourite pudding from Tampopo! Super yums! I thought they can finish a lot (6 of us) so I bought 13 cups of Pudding.. I wanted to buy 18 but they were like O_O "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"... Hahahahhahaha!

I also bought 3 slices of cake to be my sister's birthday cake.. Sorry I didn't give her a complete whole cake, but they only sell the cakes by slices and my friends were like "Ehh! 8 slices to one cake! How to finish!?!?"..

In the end we only ate 1.5 slices. 1/2 was thrown away -- wasteful! And I made my sister bring home the other uneaten one.

Why my friend's appetites so small one? Tsk!

My sister with her new mascot!

I bought this Miffy in Amsterdam for her.. she requested for a mascot of her own because I have my own Hello Kitty Mascot.. This Miffy is the smallest doll I can find.. I also bought her a bigger one. :)

Her birthday celebration may not be as grandiose or fun as I would have want it to be.. since it's only a simple dinner and dessert session.. but I hope she enjoyed herself.. 

Dear Joanna, I want you to know that no matter how shitty life can be sometimes, you always have a friend/sister you can turn to and rely on. What goes up must comes down. Everything goes around, comes around. Live life to the fullest, embrace change, grab hold of opportunities, don't live in the past, be strong and always remember to "Hope, believe and achieve"!  I love you now and forever! (And I mean now and forever.. like "until the day the ocean doesn't touch the sand" kind of forever.) MUACKS!

And... I still owe you a proper birthday present! :)

Brunch at PS Cafe

I went to PS Cafe on 3rd December with Brendan for brunch.. 

It's a lovely place to just sit and chit-chat and enjoy the scenery.. that's if it doesn't rain!! We were there for a few hours and left minutes before a thunderstorm hits! Super lucky..

Food!

Food!

Giant plate of truffle fries! 

We always order the fries but always end up not finishing it cos there's just so much!!

My Chicken Caesar Salad

The salad and egg is yummy but I don't like the chicken.. 

I forgot what this is.. but it's some brunch set he order.. 

That day was a super busy day because I had to go for my braces in the morning, wait for Chloe's food delivery, go brunch with Brendan.. Also, Wayne fetched Chloe home (she stayed at his house when I was in Europe) and we went to the airport to meet up with Nathaniel and Welly and had dinner at Sakae Sushi while waiting for Santi guniang to return from her Korea trip. Mad rush but mad fun.

Oh! I will post pictures of my braces soon! I thought I can remove them but my dentist who is a super perfectionist insist that I leave it for another month for her to consider the next month to remove because ONE BACK MOLAR is crooked! One!!! OMG. She went for maternity leave for 2 months and two of her colleagues assisted her to change my bands and she's not very pleased with the results. Kinda like me.. like to do things by myself and having high standards.. but it's so anti-climax! I thought I can remove them before the New Year! So they gave me a 31Dec appointment and if the last tooth is cooperative, I can be braces free before 2012! :)

Journey of healing..

It's been a month since Pipimon suddenly passed away..

I am eternally grateful to my group of best friends who stood by myself during this period of sadness & lost. A millions thanks to Brendan, Welly, Santi, Nathaniel, Elson & Wany for always being there for me whether if I need someone to talk to on the phone, a person to rant to on Whatsapp or to meet up in the middle of the night because I am lonely and crave human company..

Many other friends also expressed their condolences to me by messaging me on Facebook, Twitter, SMS, Whatsapp and calling me.

It is hard to lose someone close to you, regardless if it's a friend, lover, sibling, parent. Especially when you are the one who found the body.

We had plans to go to Europe from 13Nov-25Nov, visiting Paris followed by Amsterdam. Our initial plan was to go to Hokkaido in October but my leave was not approved and I had to cancel the trip. I thought of Europe cos it's the low season during winter and I always wanted to go to Paris. My next choice was Italy, but he wanted to go to Amsterdam and I can't change at the last minute cos accommodations  train tickets and flights are all booked.

Instead of cancelling the trip, I sent his ticket for refund and I went ahead with the trip alone. Many people said I am brave to go to Europe all by myself but to me, it's not just a holiday. It is a healing journey. The 2 weeks in Europe alone probably saved my sanity, because I was in a different place and had so many other things to think about other than dwelling on the unhappiness and shock of Pipimon's death.

It's a free and easy tour so I have to make all the decisions and arrangements by myself..

1. Where to go?
2. How to get there?
3. What to eat?

In a different environment, you are too preoccupied with experiencing new sights, smells, tastes, etc that you won't really have the chance to think about unhappy stuff. It feels like I am on one of my tourleading assignment, staying in the hotel room by myself and wandering around by myself without Pipimon.. only difference is I don't have to face any customers or report to anyone. My time, all the time.

So I am really grateful that Brendan spared the time to video conference me for a few hours everyday when I was in Paris. Wany also skyped with me a few times.. And a few of my other friends who constantly whatsapp me to make sure I am still safe and alive...

During the 2 weeks in Europe, I did not manage to stay in constant contact with my friends because Europe has a 7 hours time difference to Singapore. When I sleep at 10pm in Paris, it'll be 5am in Singapore.. So usually when I reaches home there is no one to chat with.. I only managed to chat with Wany once when I was in Paris because I went home early (4pm local time, 11pm Singapore time).. The only person that stayed in constant contact with me was Brendan cos he is always online during the day as he needs Skype to  conduct his work with his overseas counterparts.. Usually I will wake up at 6am local time and spend the first 2 hours of the day chatting with him or just sharing about my previous day before getting ready to go out and explore Paris. I was unable to skype with him in Amsterdam cos I woke up really late, like 11am or 12noon cos Amsterdam is basically a nightlife city where most of the shops open late so I will stay out really late and wake up late. 

Surprisingly I enjoyed myself a lot in Paris even though it has a reputation of being a place full of stuck-up locals.. the food was great, the weather was lovely though on a few days it's really cold and windy, Eiffel Tower looks much better in real life than in pictures and the locals were very friendly and nice to me. I had one of my braces band fell out and I searched on google for a dentist and she fixed it for me even though it's closing hours and she did not charge me a single cent!

Amsterdam was horrible at first because the place I booked initially is in a super dodgy place where I have to climb 4 flights of narrow stairs up to the apartment where the room I lived in is super smelly cos it smelt of cannabis and cigarette.. :( I endured one horrible night there before I managed to find another place to move.. The first few days were really foggy and there's nothing to be seen.. It's like a scene from "The Mist" and I kept imagining giant insects flying out of the fog and attacking me.. Instead of giant insects, I got dodgy men who were drunk or high on drugs harassing me at the first place I stayed in. 

I am really touched that my "Rah-rah Team" came to send me off and meet me when I return from Europe! Brendan came to my house to pick me up and Welly, Santi & Elson came to my house to meet up before 5 of them went down to the airport together to meet Nathaniel there. Brendan also sent me home when I came back to Singapore.. I am so happy to see all 5 of them when I came back because I touched down at 6am and it's freaking early to be at the airport at that time! 

Even though Pipimon left me, I am lucky to be surrounded by friends and people who love me. I am blessed that I am not alone and there are always people who loves me and cares for me.. Nothing comforts a grieving girl better than a good support system.

It's been 2 weeks since I am back but I am busy with work because I am working the midnight shift now for the extra allowance.. the allowance is 50% of my basic salary so that's a lot of extra money.. I need to work really hard to support myself and Chloe since I may have to move out of our apartment soon as the contract is void with Pipimon's death (he signed it, not me) and I have to find another place to live in a few months time. As I have Chloe and lots of stuff, I need to find a whole apartment to rent by myself and with today's market.. it's quite difficult to manage by myself.. But we'll see how it goes.. 

Wish me courage, luck and hope. :)

17th Braces update!

Blue and Pink!

I pretty much ran through most of my favourite colours and I am at a lost of what to choose now. Hope this will be the final braces visit and the next time I can remove it!

Batam Trip!

Had another fun trip with Nat, Welly & Santi! Too lazy to blog so I am just gonna post pictures! :)