Sunday, September 28, 2014

Two Special Saturdays, Back to Back

Okay so last last Saturday (20/9/14) was very special. I'm going to stop here.

And yesterday was also very special, thanks to my two dearies Wendy and Brielle. They treated me to North Indian food at Zaffron Kitchen (@Westgate, Level 1), to a movie, and then even got me a fabulous dress.

The food was amazing. I'm not being biased okay, Brielle said he really liked it too. I think it was a tad bit too spicy for Wendy though, oops. Haha. The ambience was great too! :) Brielle got the Tandoori Chicken set, Wendy got the Butter Chicken set and I got the vegetarian set. And we all got Tea, mine was ginger tea, I think it was called Teh Halia. So basically food was really good.


You may drool, I won't judge

And then we went to catch Babadook, which was actually not bad in terms of creepy-factor and edge-of-your-seat moments. And there was actually a happy ending, which is quite rare in horror movies. But I found the concept of Babadook stupid as hell. Who came up with that? Poor Wendy was so scared, pulling on my arm and all. HAHA. Sorry Brielle and I forced you to watch it. 


THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL DAY GUYS. :)

Friday was also a special day, Brielle graduated as Sergeant! I can only imagine how hard NS life is and Wendy and I are extremely proud of Brielle for fighting through! Woohoo!! OK now for pics.




Proud Dad

Ran into Priyanka at the grad parade!


After the parade was over, Wendy and I went to eat at Ministry of Food (MOF). Food was awesome again. I got the Salmon Bruschetta with Mushroom Frittos. YUM. Need to go there more often. 
It's always a good time Babe 

I would so go back for that

OK that's all for now. Been a good few days. Hope things continue this way. So much inertia when it comes to studying for my exams. :( It was the last day of lessons last Friday, here's a pic with the class lovelies! 
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Friday, September 19, 2014

Can I have a cup of "I love my friends"?

So what have I been up to? Watched the Maze Runner with Mag and Sora. It was one of the better movies that came out recently. Always love a good sci-fi adventure movie. Plus cute actors are a bonus. Everyone's fangirling over Dylan. HAHA. WHY YOU SO CUTE DYLAN? Can't wait for the next movie now. Also watched Blended and Jodi Breakers at home. Blended is so freaking hilarious!! I kept laughing at almost every scene, it's such a feel good movie. Loved it.
Sora on the left and Mag on the right :)
Also met up with Judy after ages. It was so nice catching up over frozen yogurt. It was my first time trying IIao IIao (apparently pronounced Lao Lao) and I quite liked it. :) I tried to go as healthy as possible with my toppings, choosing Dark Chocolate over White Chocolate. Can't wait to meet Judy again. :)

Judy and I, me unglam face


Also, met up with Reetz, who is going off to study in Oxford in Oct. Gonna miss her man. Thanks for being such a great listening ear always friend. And you have always been my health motivation, continue to be healthy. We'll be #Teamfitness together, focusing on the fitness rather than just the looks. Let's keep a look out for each other so that we may never forget the real reason why we watch what we eat - for health. Like the song "All About That Bass" said, boys like a little more booty to hold at night. Hehe. 


And I have been reading Life Without Limits, written by Nick Vujicic. I'm sure you all know him right? Nick never fails to inspire. Just seeing the cover of the book is enough to inspire me. A guy born without any limbs, but yet he is smiling cheerfully in all his book covers. Hey, if we got functioning arms and legs, shouldn't we be smiling as well? Something to feel blessed for right? In other news, I got new glasses. One of those black nerdy frames to declare to the world that I am a bookworm. HAHA.The question here is, can I pull it off? Of course I can, I can pull anything off. (Where did this shameless Jaslin come from?)

Featuring my rainbow tie-dye shirt
My eyesight got worse though. It's 650/550 now. Calvin Klein glasses though, thanks mom for splurging on me. Love love. I'll try not to drop these glasses as often as I dropped my previous ones. Coincidentally when I was reading Life Without Limits in the washroom this morning (too much information?), I came across a story of a woman, an award-winning photographer who is legally blind.

"Laid off from her job of twenty years, and all but blinded by failed surgery and a hemorrhaged retina, Glennis could not be blamed for despairing and giving up. You might expect her to grow bitter and angry. Instead, she was grateful to soar higher and farther." How inspiring is this? So I shall be grateful for my eyes, no matter how bad my eyesight is, I can see. I can dance, I can sing. I am alive.
I actually have a classmate in MDIS who has really poor eyesight and he told us that he may even turn blind one day. I heart broke when I heard that. I'm not really close to him but I always say "Hi" and "Bye" with a smile before/after class. He seems socially awkward and reserved but a group of my classmates actually included him in their group, made him a part of them and that's really commendable. Usually people don't bother interacting with the quiet ones. So kudos to them for being so nice, really. :') 

As I turn 20, I only have these wishes: To really grow in maturity, wisdom, to understand and empathise with people more, be a better daughter and friend.  Oh and Shah Rukh Khan. Another one of my wishes. HAHAHA. 

I want to learn to be selfless
And wait let me panic for a while. I AM GOING TO BE AN ADULT. NOOOOOOOO. Who else is freaking out about becoming an adult? Adult by age, child by nature. Yep, that's me. Next few weeks are going to be hectic. One presentation, one assignment to be submitted, followed by four exams. Wish me luck. That's all for now, need to prepare to go out. :)

P.s. Also met up with Wan Ling and Zhiqi, it was lovely girls. :)
P.p.s. This post was written in a rush and so I apologize for my grammatical and spelling errors. Peace.

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"I can take a lil bit of pain for you"

Monday, September 15, 2014

My Thoughts on Relationships

Relationships scare me. If you like/love someone, you want to be in a relationship with them. But at the same time, there is always this fear. What if it doesn't work out? What if it ends in tears and unnecessary heartbreak and drama? If you were friends before, what if it destroys your friendship altogether? But then again, if you don't try how will you know?

If you have been scarred by previous relationships most likely you'd be scared to take the plunge again. Also, there will be this constant pressure on your shoulder. "I mustn't make the same mistakes I made in my previous relationship." These kind of thoughts may make us wary of every statement, every gesture we make towards the new person in our lives and may prevent us from just being natural.

One thing I learned from my past is that being possessive is a bad idea. What I mean by possessive here is not over-reacting when you see your boy with another girl. What I mean is that I think we need to respect the other's space, know that they may need some alone-time once in a while. Girls can over-think it sometimes, interpreting lack of replies as him not being interested anymore. I have been guilty of having such thoughts. But I guess that's where self-confidence and security comes in. I think it's important to be confident in yourself and think that your boy won't leave you for someone else so easily. And knowing that he will reply you eventually. The insecure ones will fret over such things the whole day while the secure ones will have more peace.

I was on elitedaily.com and I came across this article. I quote: "But working relationships — the type that really work — all share something in common: The two people involved are rarely — if ever — possessive of the other. They understand the need to live freely and to belong to themselves first while also belonging to each other.They’ve given up on the popularized definition of romantic love and have created a three-dimensional relationship that focuses on ideas and beliefs rather than emotions alone."

I think what is said above is really true. Yes we have a certain amount of right on the other's time but we can't expect them to be there 24 hours. Maybe at marriage level, yes. But not at our young age, where everyone is busy finding themselves, carving out a career for themselves, ticking things off of their bucket list, etc.

I think for me though, on a very busy day, just saying "Good morning" and "Good night" at the bare minimum is something one can do to let the other person know that even when he or she is distracted by other things, their other half is always on their minds. It's similar to how you don't see your parents the entire day but you see them in the morning and wish them a good morning and see them at night and wish them a good night. That's just how I see things. 

Then there is this thing where people talk about their future together. Wise? I think not. This is the part where romantic old me gets all practical. I mean, we all do it. But does it not set up unrealistic expectations? And imagine the amount of pain you may go through if you break up and you think of all those things you had said you would do together. I mean yes, it feels special to talk about your future together but even the surest of couples break-up sometimes. I mean look at Naya Rivera and Big Sean, they were about to get married and they just canceled their wedding last minute, for what reason I do not know. So I guess what I am trying to say is, yes it's okay to talk about next month, but try not to talk about five years later. I'm not saying that you can't have faith in your relationships, I'm just saying that one ought to be mature and not give the other crazy high expectations.

Next, the issue of intimacy. What the heck is intimacy? Dictionary.com says that it is "a close, familiar, and usually affectionate or loving personal relationship with another person or group." I saw something on Instagram that really struck a chord though. 


But the annoying thing about this is that girls and boys view intimacy differently. SO while a girl may think that they boy is being intimate by sharing his problems with her, a boy may feel that he is being intimate by holding hands. The male and female species are rarely on the same frequency after all. I guess the key is to strike a balance so that both parties are happy. 

I am actually doing my graduation project on the subject "Interpersonal Attractions and Close Relationships" and I guess that is what is making me reflect on such things. With that I think I come to the end of my ramblings for today. Till next time. :)

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Trials, Tribulations and Tests

After such a long break from blogging (no time yo), I don't even know where to start. Okay, as promised in my previous post, my transformation picture:
Last year vs This Year
Soon after my previous post was written, I found out that my mom has a tumor. My mom had actually gone for a blood test in January at a clinic just as a routine checkup. After my dad passed away, she decided to be more careful. And it was probably the best choice she ever made. The blood test revealed that my mom had really high platelets count. As such, she was referred to Singapore General Hospital. Over there, we found out that the reason for her high platelets was actually a tumor. It was called a Gastro-intestinal Stromal tumour (GIST), which is cancerous most of the time. However, they did not inform us that it was cancerous as they wanted to do a biopsy on it. 

But first, we had to remove it via surgery. May and June were two really tough months. My mom kept worrying that she might die because of the surgery while I, being more practical, kept thinking about what's going to happen AFTER the surgery, if it turns out to be cancerous. Aunty Lay Leng, Mabel, my aunt who had flown in from Bangladesh the night before the surgery, and another uncle followed my mom and I to the hospital on the day of the surgery. 

It was a nerve-wracking 2 hours during which the doctors were taking out a football-sized tumour from my mom's stomach. I am not kidding, I have a medical report and a photo which the doctors took and sent me to prove it. Shall not post it here because one may vomit. So glad that my soul sister Mabel was there when I was bawling my eyes out in the washroom. After she made it through the surgery, my aunt and I had to sleep over at the hospital some nights (on sofas or four chairs put together) to give my mom some moral support and also because you can't count on the nurses to give the patients 24 hr service. 

After the biopsy, we found out that it is cancer and then had to wait for a nerve-wrecking week before we found out what stage it is at. Thankfully, thank God, it wasn't at a very bad stage due to its localized nature. So now she is on medication and will be on it for the next 2 years at least to ensure that the cancerous tumor doesn't grow again. She is okay now, no hair dropping, no weaknesses or other symptoms. I just never thought any of my family members would be affected by Cancer. :( I cried so bad when I watched The Fault In Our Stars because I could relate in a way.

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Now to less bleak topics. It's already semester two in school. Time flies so fast. I must admit I wasn't really in the mood to study for my Sem 1 exams due to mom and also because I was having a friendship problem at that time. I get affected by things easily. But luckily I did not too bad. Time to buck up this semester. Ok time to meet my gang in school:
From left to right: Teeq, Pavi, Sora, me
 One of them, Mag isn't in this picture, I'll upload a pic of us later. :)                            
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