Taking a walk down memory lane

Nothing could express the eagerness to see them again at that night’s dinner..
No matter how much we drifted apart, my heart has always opened to them..
I love them, they moulded my past..

I saw them at the wedding, and could practically visualise the faces ten years back.
Yes, we are old enough to have a couple of ten years..
Yes, ten years to the people whom grew up with me, whom slogged out projects together, whom skipped classes together, whom failed exams together, whom cried together..

Albeit living different lives now, we understood each other at a distance..
That point in time when we met again, priceless.
The realisation how much we grew and matured sent a bolt of static down each and everyone of us.
We were not the best of friends, but worthy friends enough.

Adelene and I

She was already very pretty then, and started designing her own prom gown..

But I was horribly charcoaled and chubby..

Hated that bee hived hairstyle they did for me during prom..

Since then, I have never really trusted studio makeovers..

Geraldine and I

An end of the year J1 chalet by the late Ms Hamimah..

I once thought that I looked nice in that 8 years ago picture..

-,-

The Folks

I thought the past is always a sweet memory no matter how ugly ducklings we were..
Worth looking back =)
Hope they wont kill me for it..



Birou and I

We knew each other for 12 years..

11 years ago, our first outing to Victoria Concert Hall..
And we both thought that ankle-cut black shoes were very cool..
现在打死我都不穿..

10 years ago, YTSS held its very first Retro Musical Night..
We began carrying the similar clothed bags and wearing my very first pair of jeans..

First time in my life letting my shoulder length hair down..

9 years ago, we organised our first time outing to Orchard in high socks and high cut shoes (again), all because we were too poor to afford a real pair of boots.
We thought that high socks can make the legs look slimmer, donning weird looking sunglasses, planning to take nice pictures for all graduating autograph books..

8 years ago, at a JC chalet trying to do an Indian movie out of that palm tree..

We happened to be studying for the following Monday's bombshell Econs test..

Not surprising, those who turned up at the chalet flunked badly..

*****
This, is a real classic

My project mates..
Still remembered we did the project of which liquid took the least time to freeze.
All of us were really goofy then, with huge specs and stiff hair.

And I was ultimately extremely incredibly black and baked!

Gosh..

Time and tide wait for no one..

Bro said beauty is a hyperbole..

Perhaps it is..

Maybe ten years from now, we'll be auntish and then back to the same old look and hairstyle, envying the now pictures..

Or maybe we will look back at the now pictures in morbid mortification..

Change is a metamorphosis not to be underestimated..

It is unnerving and appalling!

Photography is sometimes a sweet reminiscence, and yet sometimes an indicator that we are aging fast..

*****

The Princess Event

She kept it simple, so pretty like a little princess.
Set in a corner of the country club, the room was adorned with little white flowers, garden themed.
The room wasn’t claustrophobic like most hotel ballrooms were.
It was spacious and fairy taled like.
That was because Arts students are always bright and brimming with ideas..

I don’t really know exactly how to describe my feelings when I saw BR march in the aisle to the stage.
Brides marching in the room down the aisle to the stage to cut the cake never fails to give me the goosebumped sensation..
This was the second wedding where rich emotions filled me to the brim threatening to overflow.

We grew up together, went through secondary school to JC together, got good results during the Os and yucky results during JC together..

*Hearts*

A very valuable group photo at the end of the day..

*****

irony @

9:30 AM

Saturday, December 22

Lunch

Met Suki for our connoiseurs meal again..

Check out the Manhattan Fish Market..

Desserts

Art
Meant to be subtle and appreciated.
The beholder understands it, nothing else said.
I wished I went deeper into the world of art back then..

We stared in awe at those masterpieces..
Every single piece carries a dimension, a concept, an emotion..

To release the innermost sensual spirit..
Some prefer to read and daydream
Some prefer to write
Some, in the form of Art..

irony @

12:31 PM

Tuesday, December 18

Food food food in Taiwan..

Shall let the pictures do the talking..

irony @

7:09 AM

Saturday, December 15

MY Taiwan Trip

Checked in T1 with much excitement..
Finally NO WORK!
Saw the beautiful sunset from the plane..
Very nice..

First time to TW, I was impressed by their Metro Line.

Loved this little blue plastic coin you used with a "dit" sound to enter the station..
Very efficient, very user friendly..
The frequency of the trains are definitely faster than our very own..

But the 士林夜市 was sort of a culture shock to me..
Every food you find there is upsized.

Taiwanese are a petite group of people but they like to make food servings BIG.

The chicken cutlet is huge, the bubble tea is huge, their desserts are huge!

Kinda made me wonder, where's the quality and hygiene?

Furthermore, the hope of finding good quality bargains diminished the very minute we stepped into this night market.

Things are far more expensive than our expectations, and the lack of quality did nothing much to induce buying..

*****

Went 龙山寺 the first thing in the morning..

The waterfall was pretty nice, and the fishes were really fat..

Since 西门 was just beside on the Metro Line, we went there for some shopping hoping that I would get some good deals.

But again, aint any..

I cant really fathom the fetish of putting GOLD chains or shimmers on every piece of clothing.

Colors can vary from bright pink to bright green, prints can vary from leopards to disastrous stripes.

Rather, 西门町 was a place for kids.

But but 西门町 had Dunkin Doughnuts, to which the variety was defintely much more than SG's Munchy..

After having a bite or two, we proceeded to the underground mall..

Seriously speaking, I'm spoilt rotten by the online sprees.

Because I got really good deals online, my expectations were sky high..

The clothes here were really damned expensive.

Then we tried to shop free and easy through 中孝, walking without an aim and ended up getting lost.

After having the dessert recommended by Jacky Wu, we were still lost.

After non stop of more aimless walking, we finally found a MRT station..

*六张犁 station*

(Where the hell is that)

Upon returning to the hotel, dear was munching on chips cos we did not really eat much at those places which we visited.

*****

Went 新北投 for our first experience of hot springs..

At least this was something new to us, but still the expectations of how a hot spring should be were not really met.

Still, we felt refreshed but sleepy..

And finally had a taste of white sulphur..

Had a nice tea break after that.

Enjoyable.

Off to 淡水鱼人码头..

Dressed in a tee shirt beneath, the wind still managed to pierce through my thick wool turtle neck and stung my hands.

We were very underdressed.

It was freaking cold..

The violent and merciless wind hit us vigorously..

We went there in hope to watch the Sunset, but the sun was sleeping..

-,-

*****

We had Starbucks for breakfast.

A nice one.

Loved my green tea latter and cinnamon pie.

Then it was up the tall tall swaying tower..

We were awed by the speed of the elevator..

1010m/min

Again, the outdoor observatory was freakishly cold at a low of 6 degree celsius..

The shopping area near 101 reminded me of Suntec City..

Then they happened to have this IT show nearby..

The show girls were really hot and pretty..

Plus the response of the crowd to the promoter was awesome..

Unlike the dead cats in SG..

五分埔, the place I had been dying to go.

Albeit a complicated place, the things were slightly cheaper..
But I ended up being so in love with this trenchcoat that I bought it regardless of it being priced at NT2000

-,-

Felt guilty when dear's legs gonna break..

I made him walk so much..=(

*****

Overslept and missed the hotel breakfast..

We originally had wanted to go 九份, but the lazy us decided to go for another round of shopping..

Or rather a place where the Metro Line could access to..

After having a sumptuous breakfast at Dante Cafe, we went 五分埔 again..

We chilled out at another Cafe..

This cafe amazed us with a HUGE mug of milk tea..

Like I said everything was horribly huge..

After an hour, the tea was not even half finished..

We shopped for a bit at Sogo, and went to da bao vegetarian at the food court..

Went back to 士林夜市 after dinner, nope, not the food section, but the clothing section.

This was the second time I tried to look for the mango milk dessert but they told me the mango season was over..

-,-

Dear finally bought something..

At the Puma shop..

*****

Weet.

Finally got my mango milk dessert at 西门町, but aint fresh mangoes.
Still, better than nothing..

Proceeded to the airport and shocked to find a super long queue..

It led to Jetstar.

-,-

Went T2 in such a rush that we had to stuff our dinner down to catch our flight.

We made it to the gate just in time.

*****

On the overall..
Not as expected.

We went to TW full of great expectations.

These rosy outlooks derived perhaps from the overrated commercialised TV variety shows, perhaps from my brothers and friends..

TW seemed a place for good food, play and hot chicks.

Perhaps it was poor planning on my part too..

We kept turning in circles amongst those areas that were accessable..

Overwhelmed expectations actually oozed slight disappointment.

On fashion

There was too much benchmarking in this industry..

They loved to benchmark the designs of branded stuff and then sell as their own at a not much cheaper price either.

On food

Maybe they really need to appreciate small varieties of quality food, not huge quantities.

Not that the food is inedible, just that they like to make everything sweet.

LOTS of seasonings and spices are used to make the food taste stronger.

The bottom line: SG food is still the best.

Of course there were things that I appreciate there..

Travelling to foreign grounds is always fun..

The weather is something you can never squeeze out of SG.

I missed the weather, I missed the walking, I missed chilling out in the cafes with dear..

I missed walking down the quiet streets in a chilly weather.

I would walk the whole day and still be energetic at the end of the day.

I missed not having to work =p

*****

I sneaked a picture with him and his pretty mommy..

He did not cry when dear carried him..
He cried when I did
-,-

A king is always a king..
High and mighty, always refused to look straight into the camera -,-
But he retained a tinge of professionalism to the incessant blinding camera flashes..
He blinked for a while and then posed again.

Look at the multi facets of this little king..
Adorable, aint he?

*****

After having a piece of his cake, they became mischievous too..
They tied my hair to the helium-filled balloons to see if my hair would fly..

~It did~

2 men and 1 woman in black, 1 more inside playing majong

"I'm nobody"
Bleahz

These looked like some cakehouse, but it can actually house people..

Pretty pretty

*****

It was a night of gathering for the young moms..
Seeing all Sharon’s sisters with their babies, made me feel time really spared no tide..
They came with their babies, some new borne satisfied in their mothers’ arms, but mostly ran about.
They were still her dear sisters when Sharon got married..
Very eligible bachelorettes then..
Now each of them had kids tagged alongside them..

I saw Sharon through her wedding, her having Dyllis and now Dylan..
Emotions and sentiments held raw..

It brought me back to the time when I used to be the baby where mommy and daddy brought me to such parties..
Showed me off to so many friends..
Exposed me to those camera flashes..

Life is, simply too short and transient a cycle..