The past is a foreign country; They do things differently there.

January 29, 2012

Brain Mush

I can now safely say that I have survived the SATs. Why did I put myself through a month of daily grind to prepare for a 4 hour exam I most probably don’t need to take anyway? Well, because I can. Because I can. And because I am completely insane. 3 hours of sleep, 2 grande coffees on an empty stomach, 3 toilet breaks and 8 sections into the exam, my heart rate shoots up and all I feel like doing is jumping on the table and shredding the answer booklet. Damn caffeine.

Now that that’s over, I have one week to get my act together. It seems surreal, to finally be leaving this place. Having completed my last A Level exam in June ’11, February ’12 seemed faraway. There was impatience, sure but mostly nonchalance. I wasn’t in a hurry to prepare myself for the journey ahead and now, I’ve got just over 7 days to up and fly the coop. Where did my 9 months go? Why did I waste it the way I did?

It’s funny how, when I was plenty younger, I couldn’t wait to finally leave; to be independent and to finally live on my own, free from any parental restrictions. But now, as I draw closer to the day I finally get on the plane, I grow more and more reluctant to leave. This place, this has been my home for almost 18 years. Home is where the heart is and in it, my family. The longest I have been away from my family was during my 2 week Beijing/Inner Mongolia school tour and now, I’ll be away from them for God knows how long. The friendships I’ve forged throughout all these years, will they last the distance? All my friends who stood by me when I was in need, I can’t leave them either. If only I can take everyone with me.

I am afraid but in a way, excited. Excited to finally start anew, doing something that I really really like. Finally doing something that I want to do. Ahead of me is a huge unknown and I don’t know what awaits me. Jump in!

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January 5, 2012

Defying Gravity

Wicked explains so much.

Ms Pat bought Alan and I some pretty good tickets to catch Wicked, for Christmas and we were really really excited to finally be able to watch it. The show was spectacular (even though there were a few things that could be said about the theatre itself) and like I said, it explains so much.

Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked, is a genius, I will give him that. I would, however, like to know how it was possible for him to publish Wicked in the first place. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in 1900 and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West wasn’t published until 1995. To write a whole book based on another and publish + have it get so popular, how did Maguire manage to stay out of getting sued for copyright infringement. Yes, Baum is long dead but I am sure his estate or someone else would own the copyrights to the source material. But I guess they manage to sort that out. 95 years on however, I still don’t think Baum would have liked to have his work and characters seen from a whole different perspective. Not that he’d be around to object, really.

Back to the story; Wicked is the story of the circumstances behind Elphaba, Nessarose and Galinda becoming the Wicked Witch of the West, the Wicked With of the East and Glinda the good, the origins of the ruby slippers and the twister that brought Dorothy (and her house) to Oz and the back story behind all of Dorothy’s companions; the Cowardly Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow. Also, the origins behind the flying monkeys and the real reason why the Wizard of Oz ran away in his balloon.

Having never read the book, I experienced plenty of “OH! SO THAT’S WHY!”, light bulb popping above head moments. And also, lots of sympathy for the Elphaba. The play held plenty of lessons, the obvious one being not judging anyone by the colour of their skin and always looking at both sides of the story before judging. Elphaba, she wasn’t born Wicked, but the the circumstances of the establishment pushed her to be. Idk if this makes any sense heh. But how many people have been misunderstood because of the way that they try to cope and handle certain situations?

After all these years of reading and watching the many movies based on Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, we’ve always just taken for a fact that the witches are well, wicked and everyone else are victims fighting against the wicked witch of the west’s evil plans. But having watched Wicked and hopefully, read it one day, it makes one wonder; what if everyone else is evil and Elphaba is good. Really, the line between good and evil is up to your own perspective. She is what she is because she goes against the so called evil plans of the Wizard and in response to that, false announcements of her succumbing to wickedness was made and all of Oz turned against her. Everyone else is evil by association to the wizard since everyone worships him so is it really everyone else following the Wizard’s evil plans = evil vs Elphaba’s rebelling the system in the name of good? I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

Overall, I did enjoy my evening and I would LOVE to watch it on Broadway. The Australian cast is lovely and Jemma Rix (Elphaba) is just phenomenal. She’s beautiful with a slightly wicked quality and her voice is amazing. Every single time I hear her hit the high notes, I get goosebumps. Defying Gravity brought tears to my eyes, legit. In any which case, watching it on Broadway would be a dream but if I never get the opportunity to do so, I’d be happy with this. Who’s to say, maybe the absence of Jemma Rix on Broadway makes it not as good. For me anyway :p

If you have the chance to catch Wicked, please please please do so. Wicked will be playing at the Marina Bay Sands Theatre till the 26th of February. Tickets range from $55 – $250. We got B Reserve tickets we still got a pretty good view, even though we were right at the back of the first floor. I’m sure even the E Reserve seats would be great.

Eva ♥

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December 30, 2011

“Snuggle up and keep on your gloves”

The holiday season has been nothing but snuggly. There really isn’t a better word to describe it. It’s been raining quite a bit and the only option to really combat that is by hugging something warm and napping on the couch. Snuggling.

The past 2 weeks have been a flurry of activities. Alan came home for Christmas, followed shortly by Dana. We’ve had 2 picnics so far, one comfortably on the floor of his parent’s apartment due to incessant rain and the other, at the barrage park where we escaped more rain, just in time. We’ve spent an afternoon preparing some delicious cookie dough and eventually baking it into even more delicious cookies.

I hosted a very random movie marathon + Kinect games party for some of my friends on the eve of Christmas Eve. 18 people all crowded in the living room while it was raining outside – quite snuggly I would say! Ended off the evening with Love Actually, cleaned up and snuggled in to welcome Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was spent braving the crowds at Vivo City for some last minute shopping followed by even MORE last minute shopping at Mustafa Centre that evening. At least the gifts were very well received!

Christmas Day itself was a very lazy affair. Alan and I only crawled down to the living room past noon and we all settled in for random hawker fare that my mother brought home after Christmas mass. Matching leather jackets for all and this Alien baby (even though I’ve been using this for a while now and have since completed Portal and Magicka).

Following their celebrations, on boxing day instead of Christmas day, Alan’s family and mine met up for some nommy dim sum and us children went on an expedition for ice cream! The crowds were quite insane.

This monotonous account of my week aside, my Christmas has been exciting and very, very, snuggly. I had the opportunity to spend it with two amazing families; Alan’s family who’ve so warmly accepted me in and of course, my own, dysfunctional yet all round loving one. At this point, life is good.

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you guys have an awesome one.
♥

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October 26, 2011

19 ♥

October’s flying by and it appears, chronologically, I have aged another year. Mentally, I’ve aged aplenty. The experiences I’ve had between October 2010 – October 2011; priceless.

Average at times, completely nutters at others and at the lowest point, nothing but pain. But I wouldn’t have done it any different if I had to do my 18th all over again. I’ve learned to appreciate what I have and love myself. I’ve met new people, experienced changes to my lifestyle and overall, had a ball.

And to celebrate another year – a week’s worth of celebrations.

A not so good evening at Paulaner on my birthday followed by amazing after dinner drinks at The Martini Bar. Drunken dinner at Itacho, a failed attempt to head to the beach but a successful adventure around Chinatown. A day at Universal Studios and about 6 times on Cylon followed by a 2 hour luxury spa at the Amara. And a completely unexpected day at the Shang’s Valley Wing.

Let’s not forget the completely amazing POTTER PARTY ♥
Followed by more alcohol at Chupitos.

All these amazing things, none of which would have been this amazing without mother’s birthday gift. Sweetie flew all the way down from Redmond just to be by my side. Love you darling and thank you mom ♥♥♥

“Hit the snooze button, keep the dream alive.”
Eve: -poke-
♥ you, silly boy

Never in my life have I ever planned a party. Not just a dinner party but a whole large, okay medium ish gala, with food, music, venue, games, the whole thing. I couldn’t have done this without the help of my co-conspirators Reggie and Swati. We joined forces (together with Reggie and Swati’s mothers) and we had an amazing Potter Party. The venue was amazing and it suited the theme so well, the food was good and the company, even better.

This amazing work of art that apparently everyone knew was going to be gifted to me. Even when I offered to buy it from Swati, I got a “Nah, it’s not for sale.” Cheeky.

I really cannot thank everyone involved in this week, enough for making it such a success. Without any of you, I’d probably be sat on the floor on my birthday, moping about. The whole week, it was just amazing.

Unforgettable
♥

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October 6, 2011

“Art is best appreciated with a spot of alcohol.”

As Natalie so aptly put it on Facebook – “Workaholics winding down for the day”. Maybe it was simply because we had our planners out, trying to schedule in exhibitions, over beer. This, of course, comes before the ACS Art Exhibition and a quick round of shopping in which I didn’t buy much for myself (besides $81 for two bottles of vitamins and 40% off blush/bronzer in Sephora), I bought a lovely vest for my sister to match mine from H&M. I still don’t see the hype behind H&M.

Anyhow, some beer, a quick bite to eat and some greetings to teachers we ran into at HV and we were off, down Jalan Hitam Manis and up to the art rooms for the exhibition.

I was thoroughly impressed with my friend’s work. This is a display of what they’ve been up to for about the past 21 months or so and the results are astounding. I will never be able to rise to that level of creativity and produce such pieces.

Just a couple of pictures of my friends with their work;

Swati

One of my favourite pieces. Corporate shoes for a high earning job vs ballet slippers in pursuit of passion and dreams. Love this. I’ll buy it off you!

Rachel

Zech

Faiyaz

Quang Hai

Nathaniel

Sarawadee aka Kieng

Random Shots

My friends are amazingly talented and this exhibition was perfect. I’ve never expected any less from them and am extremely proud. Great work my darlings ♥

Eva

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October 4, 2011

formspring.me

I have managed to retrieve my old account! Joy ♥
http://formspring.me/burgundydreams

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October 3, 2011

Tea for 4, please!

A little cup of friendship
With a bag of tea
When you drink this
Think of love from me

Grandma was due to leave Singapore this evening so mother, Eve and I decided to take her out for some tea. Tea at Regent Hotel followed closely by Rose Veranda at the Shang but unfortunately, both were fully booked for the afternoon. The Fullerton Bay Hotel’s offering for high tea was amazing but fully booked as well, that is, until mom pulled some strings and got us a table.

I really, really like The Landing Point. The very first time I was here was the day after Valentine’s day. Garry and mom had stayed the night while Eve and I joined them for lunch at The Clifford the next day (amazing food btw). Mom went off for her siesta, Garry and Eve were exploring the pool area and I settled down at TLP with a book (I think it was one of Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s Alexander books) a tall glass of cold lemon, lime and bitters and a smoke. It was a nice sunny day and the venue was quiet. The view was quite alright, overlooking the Marina Bay Sands but personally, nothing too special.

Unfortunately, I had to run some errands before tea; beard papa cream puffs and Bee Cheng Hiang Bakkwa (barbecued meat) for my aunt -.-’ By the time I got to TLP, our tea time platter was clean! Apparently Eve was so hungry, she inhaled most of what was on that platter. No matter, I settled in for a Mango and Avocado Salad with Grilled Prawns and a tiny bucket of French Fries with Truffle oil. And a tall glass of lemon, lime and bitters. Never forget the LLB.

And now, the tea is all gone, grandma’s arrived all snug and safe and I am comfortable in my bed. Not a bad Sunday after all. Till next time grandma ♥

Good night everyone!

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September 30, 2011

Adventures with Mother

Three words: I was bored.

It was about 8pm in the evening and I had nothing to do. Alan was still asleep so there was nobody to nag at and annoy, I had already cooked dinner (prawn and bacon fried rice) and I was stuck in the living room, vegetating on one of the bean bags. Mom was next to me, flipping through the channels. We looked like couch potatoes.

Me: Bored.

Mom: Me too.

Me: Bored

Mom: Go run naked down the road, I’ll sell tickets.

Me: -.-’

For some reason, we came to a consensus to go to one of the few places in Singapore where one could shop at all hours of the day.

Smack in the middle of Little India, Mustafa Centre boasts to have in stock most everything and anything you could possibly need/want. Armed with a basket (and eventually a trolley) we set off to battle the crowds. Even past midnight on a Wednesday night/Thursday morning, people were constantly streaming in and out. I wouldn’t say it was awfully crowded as compared to say a weekend, but there was definitely a lot of people around.

Hanging out with my mother never ceases to be entertaining. I mean, my insanity must come from somewhere! We laughed so much that evening, chased each other around with stinky packets of idon’treallyknowwhatthatwas, chucking random things into the trolley while the other frantically chucks it out, laughing so loudly the whole aisle turns and stares tripping over boxes because we were laughing too hard. Oops, that last one was definitely me :p

And spending about $130 on a collection of the most random things. We bought bumpits, masala chai tea which happen to be really good, mango chutney, ghee lamps, tapioca chips, huge loaf of bread, bottles of tabasco, more bottles of old style soft drinks like ginger beer, sarsapilla, etc, hair ties, bindhis, shampoo, soap, more random snacks, frozen prata, nuggets with tandoori or something similar… and the list goes on. I also bought a little plush turtle who constantly runs away from it’s shell. I was sufficiently entertained.

No, seriously.

We got back home with bags of our junk, showered, I brewed myself a hot mug of masala chai the two of us resumed our position as couch potatoes in front of the tv, to watch the cheesy Street Fighter (it’s terrible). And then I realized, it really wasn’t the outing to a random spot that made me happy, it really was just hanging out with my mother that felt like the adventure of a lifetime.

After years of arguing, yelling, bringing the house down around the two of us and thousands of scathing remarks, we realize that deep down, we really are very alike. And what a waste to throw away this god sent gift that allows us to understand each other perfectly. These recent years, I’ve grown up and learnt to appreciate my mother more and to accept her as not just an authoritative figure, but also as a best friend.

Love you mom ♥

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September 28, 2011

David by Mary Hoffman

Michelangelo’s statue of David is renowned all over the world. Thousands flock to Florence to admire the artistry behind this Renaissance masterpiece, and to admire the beauty of the human form captured in the marble. But the identity of the model for this statue that has been so revered for over five hundred years has been lost .

Source - http://www.bloomsbury.com/David/Mary-Hoffman/books/details/9781408800522

It took me about 3 hours to finish this 250 page book and though I admit it is a page turner, I was quite disappointed. Mary Hoffman is not a bad writer and she’s got quite an imagination. Based on imagination alone and just some historical references, she managed to narrate the story of the mysterious model behind Michaelangelo’s David.

I am a fan of historical fiction. I’ve read books about the Borgias, countless books about the Tudors or members of the Tudor court, stories of Da Vinci and the identity behind Mona Lisa, Nefertari, Nefertiti, etc. When I picked out David during the Borders sale, I was quite excited. I haven’t read a book in the HF genre in quite a while and this seemed interesting. I love reading stories set in the renaissance. I am not usually one for putting books into age appropriate ratings but for the sake of this review, let’s just say I’m more used to reading books that were written for an older readership. Books in this category would usually be more in depth with a little more suspense to build up to the climax of this story. Mary Hoffman categorized David into Teen and Historical Fiction and the content itself does show exactly that it belongs in that category.

The book itself had a very creative and well thought out storyline but as I was reading, I couldn’t help but feel that all Mary has done is scratch the surface of the matter. I wouldn’t say that she only brings half-baked forms of what she offered but that she could delve further into the content; a little more history, more suspense, more emotions. The characters could be developed a little more for one. For example, Gabriele is this young, had working and good looking young man who got lucky with the artists and had “skirts” on his mind. He got dragged into politics and chose sides because the republicans were the first group to say hi to him and Michaelangelo was a republican. That’s it. I’m sure there’s more to him than just all that.

Throughout the book, I see references and implications of other historical figures and her take one some things that they’ve done. For example, she mentions that the painting of Mona Lisa (that Leonardo was still working on) looked exactly like the subject he was painting but it also held the face of one of Leonardo’s young assistants, implying a relation of some sort between the two. This was only mentioned in about half a page but it did enough to rouse the curiosity of readers. She didn’t go back into that or explore that option further. Is she going to write another book that explores this option? She’d be competing with many other books that have done the same and at least two books that were very well written.

But when it comes to other things like description and language, that’s perfect. I’m sure some other readers who aren’t really into the in depth books would enjoy it but for more the bookworms like me, this book wouldn’t be too satisfying.

♥

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September 26, 2011

Booklist

I was very sad when I heard Borders @ Wheelock was shutting down but then I thought, there’s still hope. Borders @ Parkway Parade is still up and functioning And then came news that everything must go by the 24th of September. Pssh.

I popped down to the book store, noticed there’s a storewide 70% off sale and went a little crazy, bought 5 books at an average of $7/each. I got home and I noticed the already messy stack of unread books by my bedside and even more books sitting out there, in the library, waiting for me to read them. Oops.

So I am currently compiling a book list here and will be trying to read through my whole list of sad, unread books. Let’s see if I manage to read them all :p

Eva ♥

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