when i was studying in poly, i took up photography and learnt how to do black and white film processing (loads of fun trying to slot the film into the spool in the dark!) and bot my very first (and only) SLR camera from canon… my first digital camera was also from canon (powershot to be precise) as it allowed me to fiddle with the important things – which i end up not fiddling wif but my sis did so it was good. in fact i’m so used to canon stuff that when the currently digi cam started having problems… i told myself i would get another canon powershot…

actually i got a pretty good camera with my sony ericsson phone (k800i) so the digi cam was more used by my sis and parents when they go on holiday… and wif them going on holiday soon i decided that i better not risk it and get a new digi cam… and so off to the local PC and gadgetry show i went… after gathering some rudimentary survey results (from two or three friends) i narrowed my search to canon, sony and panasonic… i’m just not a big fan of the rest (and that includes nikon) when it comes to small sized digital cameras…

i went on the first day so there wasn’t so many people and i could look around in peace… but as i really had the idea of getting another canon camera, i just walked to the other two booths in a ‘cursory’ manner… first i checked out the sony booth where they had the cybershots (same as my phone camera) but i didn’t like them coz the colours were a tad too red for me… and the camera seemed really dainty and come in saacharine sweet colours of pink, red etc… plus the zoom button was a beeeet too small on some of the models

then i went to panasonic to pick up a brochure… coz there was just a crowd of humans in front of the counters and then went over to the canon booth… where there were more salesmen than people… i managed to get my hands on one of the powershot models and realised to my great disappointment that it felt a bit cheap plasticky… and i didn’t really wan an ixus… and the sales person didn’t really promote more of the features of the camera… and so i walked away feeling a bit…. =/

my fren then suggested that i check out lumix as she has heard that it’s not too bad… and so we did… the crowd at the counters had cleared out by then so we were able to take a closer look at the cameras… of course it was all made better by this pretty cute (geeky) guy who came over and helped me narrow down the camera choice to just one… the panasonic lumix fx520 (touch screen, adjustable functions of shutter speed, aperture etc)!!

unfortunately when i went back again on sunday (yes i was crazy enough to do that) wif my sis in tow… that particular model had sold out!! >_< because i didn’t have a second choice.. i spent the next half hour walking ard the same 3 booths to check out other camera models… and once again… i was not exactly thrilled wif the people at canon (they didn’t seem to wan to sell me their cameras) and so decided to buy a panasonic lumix dmx-fx38

why? coz i tot out of all the cameras i looked at, it was pretty light and handy to carry (ixus was a bit heavy) and the colours were quite close to what i saw with my eyes (sony’s was a tad too reddish) but i still wasn’t too pleased that i didn’t managed to get the camera i actually wanted… until i took the photo above! it’s a shot of the view i have from my window – taken with the lumix’s intelligent mode (read: idiot-proof point and shoot) wif autoflash… WOW! it is truly amazing coz the real thing isn’t even this gorgeous!! fwahhhhh…

therefore i’m now a fan of panasonic’s lumix range of cameras (and so are a few of my friends and colleagues!) ;D

• crabtree and evelyn’s stuff are very the expensive
• crabtree and evelyn’s staff (at ngee ann city) are not very the helpful nor friendly – none of them approached the people browsing in the store… i bought a pack of three mini scented pillows, and when i asked the cashier how do i use them… she gave me a look that was like ‘huh you shld know what why you asking me’ and proceed to reply me with the answer i gave… sigh
• one can start off eating the very yummy mushroom linguine from bakerzin and end up swearing off the dish for the next two weeks by the time one sees the bottom of the plate
• the queue to get takashimaya’s wrapping paper is longer than the line for wrapping the actual presents…
• there’s this manager guy who wrapped one of my present and he only used a piece of scotch tape for the whole thing… ONE PIECE… he basically just held one corner and fold fold fold… tadah! present wrapped!

first off king lear: what can i say… it is the first shakespearean play i watched in the flesh… and by none other than the world renowned royal shakespearean company!! even though i did not read the play prior to watching it (my literature book was midsummer’s night dream)… it brought me back to the times when i had to dissect the plays for an essay and i had to keep telling myself to stop… lol… in anycase all the actors in the show were amazing! they avidly portrayed the various emotions of the play and i was totally immersed in the whole experience… especially towards the end when cordelia reunites wif lear and they hug… the atmosphere was almost intense in the entire theatre… noone made a sound…

sir ian mckellen is a great actor… i was very much honoured to be in his presence… i can totally imagine him being both gandalf and king lear… he caught every nuance that an old king shld have… like how he did in LOTR as gandalf (both grey and white)… amazing…

second most happening thing (at least for fans of potter) was the release of the final installment to harry potter on saturday (21/07 at 7.01am)… i had preordered the book since february (!!!) and it was with much trepidation that i stood outside borders, queuing for the book with my sister… the queue snaked around the building and we had to stand in line for two hours before reaching the cashier counter… first thoughts upon getting the book was ‘wow thank goodness it’s not as thick as order of phoenix!’… and i couldn’t wait to sink my eyes into the story immediately… but of course i let my sis have a go first and she had to irritate me by making surprise noises… tsk tsk…

anyway i went over to his pl and literally PARKED myself on the bed and read and read and read for a good half a day… it was that intense… i was a bit iffed to have to stop for dinner but i managed to finish the book at around nine-ish that night… i had a moment when i realised that that was the end… there were no more harry potter books in the future… i felt lost and really weird… den i started re-reading the ending bits of the story… =P mmm i shall post my thoughts of the book probably in another post…

loads of photos but no blogging.. hahah i know been really slack about it… but after staring at the comp for more than 8 hours a day… all you wanna do when u’re back home is to not stare at the comp… =P

the past week was just filled wif late nights at the office and a general lack of sleep… however i did managed to squeeze in some time for nice dinners and a bit of gashapon ‘twisting’… what’s a gashapon? its actually little toys that you can get at a machine (check out wiki’s definition)… and its all about luck coz you don’t know wat you’ll get when u insert the coin and twist the knob… hehehehe my colleagues and i have been spending alot of money on the toys… they’re all very cute!!

been wearing my threadless tees almost everyday to work… they’re very comfy and the tees are actually longer than the ones i can find in sg so they’re great wif hipster jeans… kekekeke can’t wait for the next round of sale!!

also known in ikea as a pair of hedda rak cushions… i’ll take photos and upload soon… anyway… being such an ikea visitor (they shld give more privileges for members who visit often…) i was there on sunday juz so i could eat meatballs… and of course after dinner… you’re too full to do anything but walk around the store…

originally i wanted to get two red cushion covers to replace the ones that i have at home… unfortunately they were sold out (singaporeans love red version white i guess…) and hedda rak was the other one i would love to buy only if they came in stripey versions for both coz the checkered box version juz looks yucks… and i’m not gonna pay 10bucks for a cushion cover i din like… n i’ve been aiming at it for quite a while…

so we continued walking and i picked up an oven mitt (stripey pattern… hrmm), a couple of display postcards and as always i HAVE to visit their as-is corner… basically as-is items can be items that were once display sets… or used in the ikea office or spoilt in one way or another… or leftover stock etc for fabrics…

and to my greatest surprise and happiness (i couldn’t believe my eyes at first)… my stripey cushion cover was amongst the items in the as-is corner!! woot~!! okies both stripey and checkered were there and i immediately grabbed the stripey… which was going for 5 bucks!! good great fantastic deal~!!! =D also got a pillow case which was good quality material but i think a bit bigger than usual pillows… the best deal is still the stripey… hee

right now stripey is being used as an ibook cover… ahhaha put the ibook in the cover… fold cover in half and place into bag… the stripes are in a refreshing green colour… =D *beams*

wat did you do in this long weekend? did you go to church? or did you stay at home and watched tv… perhaps had a family gathering?

me? i stayed home and watched tv for most of the mornings and went out in the afternoon… having a long weekend is so enjoyable… u have an additional day to do watever you wan to.. haha…

in any case yesterday was a pretty enjoyable day… met up wif babe in the afternoon and found that the threadless tees that we ordered came in… the material for the girls’ tees were much better (softer) than the guys’ but all in all we absolutely lurvvve the designs (that’s why we got them in the first place!) especially this one called bad teddy… ahhahaha made me very very amused indeed…

another of my tees which is like a star-lit sky, is printed out frm glow-in-the-dark ink!! hahaha we didn’t realise that it was until we switched off the lights in the room going out… righteoussss… and i’ll tell u abt the third tee another time… its called “procrastinators“… these tees were like frm the threadless 10 dollar tee sale… so make sure u grab one when it comes round…

90-min yoga lesson later… we went to ikea for dinner… and grabbed a few items as well… got a big pillow wif a lovely patterned pillowcase in turquoise and green/yellow patterns… he got a dimmer switch for his kartel lamp and a lint roller… hahaha…

sunday? hrmm CSI and more CSI… think abt afternoon later…

omg finally i can get access into my wordpress… urgh.. apparently my server load was quite high and it caused a bit of timeout when i was accessing my blog… but hopefully its now fix… still a bit wonky but oh well…

its good friday today and a public holiday so spent the day wif family instead of going out… did something vaguely interesting yesterday… wore my pjs in botanic gardens… ahaha yeah ikea was having their gala pajama night at the gardens yesterday and if u wore ur pjs and brought along their ad, you get to have a 50% disc voucher off bedroom stuff… and a $20 voucher for anything in ikea… and of course a goody bag (which is a mini version of their blue tarp bag)…

so i dragged babe down together wif me and we got dressed in our pjs feeling a tad awkward… but that’s till we saw many families doing the same (only difference is that our pjs were flannel and the others came in cotton)… din stay for the free movie though… went off right after we collected our vouchers (changed back to civilian clothing of course!!) and walked all the way to orchard to buy hot cross buns frm marks n spencers and cheeky monkey egg cups frm paperchase… yumz…

that’s how i spent my thursday night… ahhaha

in surfing news…

• sprinkles cupcakes: check out this really lovely cupcake shop in the US… they have a really strong identity system goin on wif their flavours… absolutely loving the site!! so pretty!
• where company names come frm: i never knew ikea is actually an abbreviation… hrmmm…
• kyurii wardrobe: online store set up by a hong kong-based art director and her friend… i bought two items frm their yahoo auctions!

going to pulau ubin tomolo for a spot of cycling i think… =P love long weekends!

i must say i’ve been pretty slack in updating my blog… but i’ve been more hardworking in uploading photos to my flickr account!! =P so if you’ve not been thru my flickr photos… let me give you an update of what’s been happening since bintan almost three weeks ago…

• i’ve returned porkchop and katsu to their mummy…
• bought new clothes for biggy t and he absolutely loves it!
• had mexican food and enjoyed it totally (restaurant located at holland village)
• pimped my phone to the sony ericsson k800i with its 3.2mp cybershot camera… its da phone of the moment! (though i’m still trying to figure out how in the world i can take better photos…)
• got two NSMB NDS card holders from a gashopon machine…
• read up on the history of absolut vodka in their exhibition at marina square (and took a few gorgeous photos too!)
• bot a tee from zara (at full price *surprise*) that says: “believe me… i’m incredible“
• been playing loads of mario kart, elite beat agents and silly mini games wif like-minded, ds-lite touting colleagues…
• little india’s a treasure trove of surprises… from yummy foods to detailed decor on the architecture (and we’re not talking indian decor!)

anything else? oh yah… i found out another of my uni schoolmate’s getting married next year… yet another’s working in the UK as an exhibition officer wif opportunities to curate exhibitions and do up her own… and she’s been liasing wif major fashion houses for that!

starting on my final project for my long-drawn course… trying to think design design design all the time… and wondering whether it is worthwhile to start a design blog focusing on the singapore scene…

till the next happening update (i will try not to be such a slacker!) hope you have a good week ahead! i’m looking forward to friday already… ahahhaa

i just got them today~!

i saw these pair of tealight lamps at a shop (called the touch house of art and design) in millenia walk… they’re frm this brand called holmegaard glasverks in denmark… and the lamps are called “fire ball”… it comes in coloured transparent versions as well.. but i personally prefer the opaque version coz its juz so much more unique! when you light the tealight.. the entire lamp glows… almost like an electric version would… but much softer and dimmer… i could stare at this all day… like a glowing moon in the darkness of the room…

so i bot the big one as a pressie for babe… but couldn’t resist and went back for the smaller version… hehehe….

since the last time i blogged (meh)… i’ve:

• gotten my lashes curled for a day… wif a eyelash curler and mascara lah..
• ate the delicious and famous katong laksa (at katong…)
• went to wisma to have lunch (and the famous fried prawn noodles)
• went to a korean restaurant at bugis for dinner to celebrate my mum’s bday
• did bodyjam class and yoga at the gym!
• went for a relaxing day at the spa (complete wif massage, scrubs and a good soak)

it was a good week… heheheheh…