rude singaporeans

me. i am. melting.

i was out today and i saw this guy wearing
a woolly sweater over a turtleneck.
does he know it's like 35 degrees celcius!!
good lord.

i realised today that i complain a lot.
not that i mean to.
nor am i some unhappy person or something.
it's just that it's this personal pet peeve when
things aren't up to standards.
or when you meet rude people.

i hate bad service.
rude sales-people.
rude waiters.
people who can't string a proper english sentence together.
parents who do not discipline their screaming children.
people who blatantly cut queue and pretend they didn't.
i hate them.

maybe, i had been living in a too-polite country
for too long.
but singapore is just getting ridiculous.
i've been back here a little over 2 weeks now,
and every day i meet people who deserve slapping.

like when we went to lunch about a week ago,
to tonkichi at isetan scotts.
my family and i go there pretty often because
it's the only place we know that serves proper tonkatsu.
although i could understand that it was family day and
i do expect for there to be kids around,
i cannot believe that parents can let their children run free.
it's a restaurant, not a fucking park!!

for goodness' sakes,
make your children shut up and sit down!!

there were kids running around and screaming and
playing catching and climbing all over the seats!!
it's not the children who are at fault, but STUPID parents
who fail to reprimand their own kids and keep them
under control.
they obviously have absolutely zero respect for others!!

when i was younger, my parents made sure i sat quietly
at the table when we were out.
if we were at home and i wanted to run around naked,
sure, who cared??
but not when you're out in the public and disturbing others!!

kids nowadays have no manners and it's because
their own parents have none either.

at the same restaurant, we had the lousiest service
by this waitress who obviously chose her own english name.
if i remember correctly, her name was alicious.
no, not alicia, but alicious.
you know, like delicious.
alicious came to take our order, but just as my sister,
who was the first to order, opened her mouth to say what
she wanted, alicious, who obviously wasn't paying attention,
turned to say something to her colleague.
she then turned back and said,"sorry?"

then my sister said,"i want a..."

alicious, failed to pay attention (again),
cut off my sister (again),
and turned to say something to her colleague (again).

my sister said,"are you going to take our orders or not?"

alicious,"oh sorry sorry, what did you say?"

i had a good mind to whack her head.

thank god for the manager who saw me glaring.


then there was this other incident at singtel,
where i went to sign up for a mobile phone connection.
i patiently waited for my turn, standing there for at least
10 minutes because there was only one miserable guy
serving behind the counter.
then just as the previous customer walked away and
it was finally my turn, this other guy came out of NOWHERE,
and started asking questions to the guy behind the counter!!
i was so pissed off!

so i ignored him and told SingtelGuy that i wanted
to sign up for a new line.
RudeGuy interrupts with another question.
SingtelGuy decides to be of service to BOTH of us,
and checks answers to RudeGuy's AND my questions!
so i asked SingtelGuy, "is there a reason i had to queue up?"

SingtelGuy,"i'm sorry ma'am, but i'm also checking for you."

"yah but why are you checking for him?? i've lined up and
waited for ten minutes!!"

"yes ma'am, but i will check for you first."

RudeGuy cuts in with another fucking question.

"then why did i have to queue up if people barge in from all over!!"
saying it loud and clear for that RudeGuy to hear.

"yes ma'am, sorry ma'am."

that asshole looked at me with a stupid i-didn't-do-anything-wrong
face, then his girlfriend comes over and looks at me as if i was the
one who had cut their queue. i widened my eyes and glared right back.

bloody hell.

so you see, i think i complain a lot.
like how i'm really peeved that many younger singaporeans
cannot speak proper english.
(but that's another story)
but i feel i have grounds to be irritated.

thank god my parents made sure i grew up with manners.
thank god i know how to say "please" and "thank you"
and "have a nice day!" and thank god i know how to smile,
even to strangers.

shadow is in doggie dreamland

as i type this, she's sitting by me, and making all sorts of funny
sounds. soooo cuuuuuuute!! she had a haircut yesterday.
but i was a little peeved when i went to pick her up from the
groomers'. they cut her hair really weird. i prefer her hair long,
just because she looks prettier, but in this heat, i know it's better
for her to have it short. but the haircut is just awful.

nah-ah.

they cut the hairs at the back of her neck so short, but left those
at the front of her neck long?? and at the back, instead of having a
smooth slope from short to long, it looks like... a step. (you know,
from stairs??)

oh god. i can't even describe it.

my baby's growing so old, her brown outer coat is hardly even
growing anymore. with her hair cut short, she's almost all white.
she looks like a lamb. hmph.

bib and i went to meet our cousin again last night. she took me to
the latest hangout in singapore. it's called the cannery, right where
clark quay is. it used to be a really DEAD spot but they did it up with
lots of new clubs and bright neon lights. we went to kandi bar.
well yeah yeah it was kinda cool and all but i couldn't believe it when i
ordered a lychee martini and it came in like a wine glass.
BAH. i was not impressed.


however i've heard a lot about this fashion bar and you know me,
i love all things fashion, so i'm waiting for a chance to go check it out.

after some drinks, we went to this arsenal fan club-ish place.
there used to be this manchester united bar in singapore a few years
back too, but that closed down. which surprised me because there are
thousands of man u fans here in singapore. (err, for those of you who
are lost, i'm talking about the english premier league!)

i'm suspecting this arsenal bar is still standing because it's owners are
just about one of the richest families in singapore, so they don't really
have to worry about paying rental and all!!

we went to watch the uefa champions league finals between liverpool
and ac milan. i was rooting for milan.

as a former man u fan (i worshipped eric cantona),
there is NO way i could have cheered for liverpool.

did anyone watch!!?

unfortunately, i thought milan played really poorly in the first half.
like hardly any possession! but kaká is just SO talented. i became
quite a fan after the last world cup. he had this one move in the
first half of the match that got me saying a really loud "OOH!!"

and was that first goal almost a hand-ball? well it was a
upper-arm-ball. kinda tricky but heck! they put in another one to
silence those liverpool players anyway! HAH!

anyway, today i went to play badminton with my coach, nordin,
and rilaini. it was so funny. i hadn't played badminton since
primary 6!! (12 years old)

my juniors from my secondary school had training after that,
and i joined them for a short while. i had aching muscles for
a day after training on monday. well, i had expected that, since
i haven't been exercising for like, 3 years! the last time i ran
was when i last came back to singapore, last year in august!!
(when i joined the team for training.)

by some kind of miracle, my muscles stopped aching today
and i could run and walk.

hooray!

i've put on a lot of weight the last few years and it's almost
disgusting. i'm not in the overweight bracket yet, but i'm just
leading such an unhealthy lifestyle, it makes ME sick. so now
that i am back here i'm determined to lose some weight and
start exercising again. and hopefully get my hockey skills back!!

anyway, after training, i went for my first ever oil-painting class.
i've never been properly trained in the fine arts and before
attending fashion college, where we used color pencils and
watercolors to sketch our designs, the last time i had ever held
a paintbrush was when i was 12. so i had LOTS of problems in
college just attempting to paint a simple design, so i thought
i really needed to get trained. i've always wanted to try
oil-painting, so since i had like 2 months free here in singapore
i decided to have a go at it.

i joined a weekly class at the nanyang academy of fine arts.
there were just about 7 or 8 people in my class, so i was pleased
that it was small. but i was kinda nervous since i'd never done
anything like that before. since it was the first class for fellow
beginners like myself, our teacher got us to do a painting on
blocks, where we would learn undershading and lighting,
err, that kinda thing.

it was really interesting and i really enjoyed myself. although
i'd have to admit that half the time, i didn't really know what
i was doing. haha. my teacher commented that he noticed
that i don't look at the object very often but i'm kinda getting
it right anyway. i wonder if that's a good or a bad comment.
he also said he doesn't know what i'm thinking cos i was
expressionless. which i thought was hilarious and made me
laugh, cos i have always been miss exaggerated-expressions!
well i guess it was a room full of strangers and i needed to
warm up before letting all my crap hang loose. heh heh.

the lesson went on for about 3 hours, with a lot of "what do
i do next?" thoughts going through my mind. it was really
interesting though, how we all look at different angles, and
even if it were the same angle, how we would look at it in
a different way. don't you think the brain and how we work
is just fascinating?



yeah yeah i know, not very good at all. well cut me some
slack cos i only had 3 hours!! we'd be working on this
again and finishing it up during our next lesson.
hopefully, it turns out much nicer! yikes!

"in the spotlight"

i got tagged by kim at laketrees for this meme.
however i have to apologise to kim for taking ultra-long
to complete this, cos err... i had no idea how to!! haha!

well for this particular meme, apparantly, everyone
and anyone can participate! woohoo. all you gotta do is
to have a look at the rules, and you're all ready to start!
there are a whole bunch of questions that you can choose
to answer. here are mine:


1. When did you start blogging?
i started just over a month ago, on april 19, my birthday!

2. What makes your blog unique?
to be honest there are millions of blogs out there,
i don't think there CAN be anything unique! but
i'm just blogging about me, my thoughts, and things
going on in my life. so *hopefully*, fingers crossed
and all, that's unique enough! hehe :)

3. Is this your first meme?
yessir!

4. What are your feelings on the "blog popularity" issue?
well everyone loves being center-of-attention and if
you say you don't then i think you're bluffing. sure i would
love for more readers, but i'm not going all out to get
them. i admire some blog owners for having huge followings,
but i think i'm ok with where my blog is now, and if you're
reading this, please email me and be my friend. +grin+

5. What is your best quality?
i love to laugh and i love to make my friends laugh.

6. What is your worst quality?
i throw a temper when i'm very hungry. i mean hey!
who's got the energy to smile when your tummy's growling,
right? +innocent look+


i'm supposed to tag 5 people to continue this meme...
but i'd rather not. if you do read this and decide to do
this meme, let me know ok? and link-love me. :)

photo diary

i am in the search for a bloody charger for my digital camera.
yup, i STILL can't find mine!!
i also went to sim lim yesterday,
singapore's answer to tokyo's akihabara,
except akihabara is an entire town and sim lim is just
one measly building, filled with all things electronic.
but they took a look at my camera, and said,
"don't have".

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

it's driving me crazy.
i usually take a million pictures all the time, and because
my camera captures videos too, i used to take plenty,
and transfer them to my computer everyday!!!
being unable to do that is really irritating.

in my earlier post , i mentioned that i had stolen
my dad's canon 30d.
yeah i've been using it,
but unfortunately, that father of mine keeps stealing it back.
so we're like constantly stealing on each other.
can't he let me have it!!!

anyway. i finally borrowed my sister's boyfriend's
multi-card reader/writer, and managed to extract my photos.

woohoo!!

so now i only need to find something to charge those
camera batteries!! yikes!

so here are some photos from the past week or so,
from when i was just leaving tokyo.

may 11

that crazy reiko. everything and anything that she got her
hands on, she put on!! i was like, "aren't you hot!!"
hahaha it was so funny. we ordered pizza and she opened the door
like that. and asked the pizza guy if he wanted my feather mask!

may 13

sasan and me in the taxi, on the way to the station!!
that's the notebook that my friends made for me.
with these drawings of me on the cover. it's disgusting. haha.


the famous singapore changi airport.
in a not very well-taken photo from the back
of my taxi on the way home.


my swollen eye. except that when i transfered the photos
to my computer, it didn't look that bad. but it was actually red
and swollen and the nerve below my eye kept twitching and
irritating the hell out of me!! i wanted to take photos of my
face when i got home, but it was itching and i was scratching,
and my hands refused to reach for the camera.

may 15

we had lunch at a hawker centre at zion road, near my
house. my aunt and cousin, nicole, came to join us.
she's huge for her age and really cute!! i haven't seen her
for a while and she really grew. i hear she's quite the devil
though. at least she's cute. haha.


we went to palm beach seafood restaurant for dinner.
we've been going there for years and always order a big
sri lankan white pepper crab. yummy!!
it's what i call finger-lickin' good. the fried prawns in
almond flakes and nestum cereal is really good too.
but prices have gone crazy the last few years and it's not
really worth going there anymore. the food is pretty
average for the price, and you can probably find equally
good meals elsewhere for much cheaper. and besides,
i give them fail fail FAIL for service. by the way don't
attempt to go there without a singaporean if you are a
foreigner. for many reasons.


palm beach is lucky because they relocated to the
pretty cool one fullerton. i saw pretty cool because it's
right next to the waterfront, and next to the merlion.
you can also get a pretty good view of singapore's
commercial district (i like it at night). across the bridge
is also "the durian", what locals call the esplanade,
singapore's performing arts centre.
(by the way, say "singapore" to a japanese and they
reply "merlion". it's weird!)

may 16

shadow's already 13. she's really old and her senses are
slowly failing. she's even got grey cataracts clouding
her eyes. and she's gotten skinny over the years. i hate
feeling her bones. she has a breathing problem due to
a collapsed windpipe. i hope she stays healthy for many
more years. i can't lose her just yet.


at hard rock cafe for dinner. i love hard rock. good food,
good service. and good food. plus, the one in singapore is
SUPER near to my house. very convenient. i wore a
really colorful anna sui dress and cowboy hat, and felt
very loud in boring singapore. HAH.

may 17

i went out with my sis, bib, and her friends to some karaoke bar,
and had two vodka cocktails, before ordering a whole bottle
of absolute vodka to share with my sis and one other friend.
we paid like SGD140 for it. that's crazy because i can buy it for
SGD17 at the airport!!! why can't everything be duty-free!!
the 3 of us finished the bottle. it was crazy. i haven't been this
high for a really long time.

may 18

chocolate fondue at stella's house!! i LOVE chocolate.
my sis is sometimes disgusted with how much
chocolate i can eat. put chocolate in front of me and
i'll eat it. fry some cardboard and cover it with
chocolate and i'd probably eat it too. you'll know
when a restaurant serves really bad chocolate shakes
or cakes when i don't finish it (hardly never, but
when it's really bad...)

may 21

a night out with bib and my cousins. they are from my
father's side of the family. we had half a bottle of hennessy.
it was a bit too strong for me. haha. do any of us look alike??
they are children from two of my dad's sisters. it's so hard
to get together like this with everyone busy or abroad.

crescent hockey club. and shrek?

i went to watch my juniors from my secondary school
(equivalent to middle school i think) play hockey today.
no it's not ice hockey (no ice in singapore, duh!)
it's field hockey.

i've been playing since i was 13,
and by my own standards,
have had quite a good hockey career,
thank you very much.
unfortunately i also went to japan,
stopped playing,
continued eating,
and ballooned 10 kilograms. YIKES!!

so anyway. i left my school, crescent, at 16,
but i've always had a strong attachment.
not that i loved the school that much,
but i loved my hockey life in that school.
so much so that rilaini, one year my senior,
nordin, my coach, and me, the 3 of us,
formed our very own crescent hockey club.
i left for japan right after we started the club,
but each time i come back and go support the games,
i have this immense sense of pride.
many of my juniors don't know who i am,
but that isn't the point.
the point is that we love the game and we love
each other, enough to make this team happen.
the club has really taken off and considering
where we came from and how we started off,
(and plus, we're only like, 4 years old!)
i think we're doing tremendously well.

it was so hot today, and just standing there and
cheering them on, i was sweating like a pig.
i know it must have been really tough for them;
i remember when i had to play under the hot sun too.
the sun eats up your energy and totally fries you.
yeah, no amount of sunblock would work. really.

they are 10 years my junior, which is really almost
disgusting cos i can't believe
time has gone by so quickly,
and i remember it like it was yesterday:
how at 13, i played my first game,
how at 14, i cried when we lost,
how at 16, as captain, i cried when we won the gold.
i will never forget those moments,
how we trained together almost everyday.
and even though my team-mates and i have
since drifted apart,
those moments will always
hold a special place in my heart.
it's something that can
never be taken away from me.

i also went to watch the club play in the
singapore hockey federation's
womens' premier league last night.
it was my first time since coming back
to singapore that i went down to support them.
it was quite exciting. haha.
i was squealing and shouting;
it felt good to be back.
i had really missed hockey.



so after watching my juniors play today,
i followed nordin and rilaini to our training from 7pm.

i used to be fit and tanned.
but now, i am miss fat and fair.
not a pretty sight.
i saw some really old friends from junior college at training.
first thing sam said when he saw me was,
"is that...?"
and rilaini went,"yes it's gilda."
then desmond said,"gilda you are damn white."
wahahaha.

i nearly had breathing problems after warm-up.
i mean, i haven't been exercising for years!!
and haven't been playing hockey either.
the last time i touched a stick was in august last year
when i was back in singapore for holidays.
so i really wasn't much good at training today.
i guess it can't helped because
i simply haven't been training.
but even though i was making a huge joke out of it,
it did make me rather sad.
almost all of the people at training today,
started hockey later than i did.
and there i was making a fool out of myself.
damn.

i also slipped once.
my hockey shoes, with a proper grip,
is still in one of my many boxes that i've shipped back.
so i wore my adidas stan smiths.
and fell and lay there laughing.
the damned artificial turf really poked me.
ouch.

it looks harmless but it stings.

i'm probably gonna ache like hell tomorrow.
wish me luck.




on another note:
my sis and i went to yvonne's house on saturday.
roger and yvonne are my ex-bosses.
but before they were my boss, they were my friends.
or rather, my customers!! haha.
i worked at a nail shop for just 3 months
(yeah i'm mad about nails) and yvonne was one of
my customers. we became friends after that,
and she gave me a chance to work at her design company,
and i really loved it there. the company is her's and
roger's, her husband.
i love their whole family.
they have amazingly intelligent children
and i always love hanging out with the whole family.

so anyway we went to their house with stella,
my sister's friend.
yeah we're all friends. heh.


we had really yummy steak for dinner
and plenty of good laughs.


roger, mr camera geek, has a new hobby.
he makes the weirdest camera accessories
out of foil and rubbish bags.
i couldn't stop laughing when i saw them.
nor could i stop laughing when i saw him using them.


the photos turned out super cool though.




their baby is super cute.
she also put my hair in her mouth when i carried her.


we played wii for a while before going home.
i sucked but it was so fun.
the kids love it.

and here are some things i love looking at.
the birkenstock collection.
no, this is only PART of it.
in sunny singapore, owning sandals are a must.
however, some people *ahem* have too many!



i also really love this lady.
please meet miss prada.

one thing i hate about japan

i'm here in sunny singapore. actually, what i meant was, really-hot,
i-need-to-dunk-my-head-in-a-bucket-of-ice-water,
sunny singapore.

it's really hot.

so it's been about 4 days now, since i've been back here.
everything has happened so fast and i've been so busy and tired.

i nearly went crazy on saturday, the day before i left japan.

i had to call up all the gas, electricity, etc companies,
to tell them that i was leaving, so bill me and stop the service
the next day (i was leaving early morning at 7 am on sunday).
i think i quarreled with almost every single one of those idiots.

i'm telling you, i love japan, really i do.
but the whole country is SO GOD-DAMN ANAL.
they have a certain rule book that they HAVE to follow
and if you ask them to just deviate slightly from the normal route,
they get lost and don't know what to do!!

the country is supposed to be one of the the most
technologically advanced nations in the whole world,
but they have got to be the most backward
in terms of the way they think.

like when i do things, i like to go directly from point A to Z,
cut all the crap in between and get things done asap.
but nooooooooooo. if you are japanese, you basically like to travel
the ultra-long route and go from points A, to B, to C...
before finally arriving at Z.
everytime there is a particular procedure to be done,
the whole thing could take hours,
when it should have been completed in under half-an-hour.

take for example: i wanted to cancel my internet and phone line.
so i called up the number that was written on my bills.
"for change in address, moving, cancellation of lines:
in osaka, call xxxx1
in hokkaido, call xxx2, etc etc,
in tokyo, call xxxx3."

so i called up xxxx3 for tokyo.

the lady at the other end asked for my name, my customer id,
and to confirm that it was me calling,
i had to tell her my phone number and my address.

but because i was calling from tokyo, TO the tokyo line,
when i told her my address, i omitted the words "tokyo prefecture"
when i said my address.

there was a long pause, then she asked,"are you calling from tokyo?"

"yes."

"would you please repeat your address, and say that you are from tokyo?"

"what?"

"we need to make sure your address is in tokyo."

so i repeated my whole entire address,
and told her "yes i am from TOKYO TOKYO TOKYO!!"

but guess what? after she made me confirm all that crap, she said,
"thank you, miss gilda. now that i have confirmed that you are
indeed miss gilda, i will give you the phone number to call
to cancel your internet line."

WHAT THE...

"then what number is this that i am calling now?
it says here on my bills, to call this number to cancel my lines."

"yes, this number is for canceling of lines."

"so why do i need to call another number???"

"you cannot cancel your internet service here."

i swear i could have killed her.

so i had to call ANOTHER number, and again go through
the stupid procedure of name, customer id,
phone number, and address!!

that's not all. after that, i called the water company.

i told them the same story,
that i was leaving early sunday morning, so bill me till sunday,
but to please come around today and collect the money.
they told me they wouldn't do that.
they couldn't bill me extra, and that they would come
and collect on sunday before i left.
so there i was rolling my eyes and asking the guy on the line,
if he was coming around at 7 am cos that's the time i would be leaving.

he said,"no, we do not operate at that hour."

"fine, so come and bill me today and i will pay extra till tomorrow."

"no, we will come and collect from you tomorrow."

i think i nearly started shouting after that.
"DID YOU HEAR ME!!! I SAID I WAS LEAVING AT 7 AM!!!"

"but miss, we do not operate at that hour."

GOD I HATE JAPAN.

so after like 20 minutes he finally agreed to get someone
to come and check my meter, and bill me on the spot.
but then after that, he started a new round of questions.
"between now and tomorrow when you leave your apartment,
are you going to be using a lot of water?"

"well i will take a shower and i will wash my face when i get up."

"will you be taking a long bath?"

"no, like i said, i will only take a quick shower and wash my face."

"so you will not be taking a long bath."

"NO, I SAID I WON'T!"

"so will you use a lot of water when you take a shower?"

"what?? i don't know. i might also use the toilet a few times."

"will you use a lot of water when you use the toilet?"

my god. i didn't know how to answer all those questions.
"do YOU use a lot of water when YOU go to the toilet??
how much water am i allowed to use?
if i go over that limit, do i not flush??"

really. by then, i was sick of all those stupid questions.
my friends who had come over to help me pack,
were laughing and giggling, and saying,
"hahaha. singaporean quarreling in japanese."

SO not funny.


but i think the worst came about with the international calling line.
(in japan, the international phone line is different
from the regular one.)
that bugger on the other end, obviously didn't know his job,
and kept putting me on hold while he checked the answer
to my questions with someone else.
even though that company was the biggest in japan, he insisted that
there was NO WAY for him to check how many calls i have made,
and that i could only be billed at the end of the month.

i was like,"yeah but i'm not gonna be here after tomorrow!"

"but we will bill you at the end of the month."

"are you going to send my bill to singapore?"

"no miss, we will send your bill to your japan address."

"but i won't be here so who's gonna pay?"

".................."

"are you telling me that the biggest phone company in japan,
does NOT have a proper computerized system,
to tell me my phone usage?"

"yes miss."

what?
"so what do i do now?
wait, don't you have many foreigners who have signed up with you?"

"yes we have millions."

"and what do they do when they leave the country?"

"that's true..."

"what??! so you don't know either?"

"many of them don't pay up."

AND I KNOW WHY!!!



seriously.

i wanted to bomb all of them.
thank GOD the electric company was nice and quick.
my phone call to them was over in 5 minutes.
an hour later, some guy came over to collect my bill
and it was all over.

why couldn't everything be as easy as that?

does every foreigner go through this headache when they leave japan?

the saga continues.


anyway.
my last few days were basically spent going crazy
and trying to get everything into boxes.
3 of my friends had stayed over since friday to help.
then when i had to leave,
eri and reiko went to see me off as i hailed a cab,
and sasan shared the cab with me to the station.

just as i was about to get on, she handed me this book.
apparently, the last week or so, she and a few friends had gathered
goodbye messages from all my friends in school.
they had compiled it all into a little notebook for me to take along.
i think i nearly cried right there.
but i bid eri and reiko farewell and got on the cab.

everything was in a blur from then on as i had to hurry to the station.
but on the bus to the airport, i had 90 minutes with nothing else to do,
so i started to read the book. i think i started bawling.
thank god i had a little face towel in my bag.

reaching the airport, a million emails came flooding in
and reading them made me cry.
i called up a few people and said goodbye.
took a picture of the plane i was going to take,
posted it up on my japanese blog, wrote a long "thank you" post,
and got on the plane.

i think i made another mistake of watching a really sad movie on board.

basically, 30 minutes before we were about to land in singapore,
my left eye decided enough was enough, and started to swell.
it started with a small, mosquito-bite look-a-like spot,
right under my left eye. then two, then three,
then they all started joining together
to form the mother of all eye allergies.

i checked in the mirror and got a shock.
i looked like a goldfish.

i've had these before.
i knew what it was going to become.
and god, i looked like shit.

i tried to hide behind my hair and scarf.
but nothing helped.
i wish i had an eye-patch.
but i looked like the devil.
or the fishmonger from hell.

well me and my rotten luck, i landed to find out
that we had arrived WAY ahead of schedule.
so when i called my dad on his mobile, he said,
"huh! you've landed? i'm still at home!!"

so i took a cab back.
it was the first time i had ever taken a taxi home from the airport.
and all by myself!!

i can't believe i didn't get picked up!
so me and my bright gold backpack and
duty-free yummy japanese cookies, my huge suitcase,
AND my mannequin (my torso that i use for creating
3-d designs.yeah i carted it back.), we all climbed into a taxi.
i was carrying so many things,
the driver asked if i was running away.

har har. very funny. shoosh and just keep driving.

we were supposed to go for dinner, but with my eye like that,
i didn't really want to go.
it had pretty much settled down with the help of anti-histamines,
and many drops of eyedrop.
but it was still swollen.

so i hopped into the shower and washed my face.
but my entire face broke out in a weird allergic rash,
and it itched like crazy and turned into an angry red color!

i swear, i'm allergic to singapore!

my sister ran over and gave me some cream for hives
and i was frantically rubbing loads into my skin,
all the while asking if it were safe to use on the face.
at that time i REALLY didn't wanna go for dinner.

besides, i had initially planned my flight so that
i would arrive back in singapore,
in time to celebrate mothers' day with my mom.

but.
my mother had been in koh samui and her flight was delayed,
and so she called and said she wasn't in the mood!
so we went for our mothers' day dinner, without my mom!!

does that make any sense??



to top off a bad week,
i've lost the charger for my camera.
it was a stand that my camera would sit in,
and i needed to connect the wires to charge it,
and also the usb cable that goes to my computer.
i've lost that stand, and so all my pictures can't be uploaded,
nor can i charge my camera!!

it's driving me mad.

the only thing that is consoling me now is that
i have stolen my dad's canon eos 30d.
yippee!!

also, my mum seems a little pleased
with the jacket that i'd made for her.
she wore it to the office today and she said everyone loved it.
well if it made her smile a bit, then it was all worth while.

anyway i hope i manage to find that camera stand in the stores soon.
have loads to upload!!

i've got a tiring day up ahead tomorrow.
gonna be meeting up with my juniors from my field hockey club.
pretty excited.
well i should probably be sleeping now. it's like 6am!!

how are the rest of you doing??
email me!



with much love,
gilda

leaving on a jet plane

it's 5:30 in the morning here.
i'm leaving my house at about 7,
and taking off at 11am in the morning.

yeah... the only song stuck in my head is...

"all my bags are packed, i'm ready to go..
i'm standing here outside your door,
i'd hate to wake you up to say goodbye...

cos i'm leaving on a jetplane,
don't know when i'll be back again,
oh babe, i hate to go..."


i don't even know if i got the lyrics right.


3 friends, eri, reiko and sasan came over to help.
they're sleeping now, poor things;
they must be exhausted.

i have such wonderful friends.

my heart is breaking and i'm about to cry.

i can't believe i'm leaving japan.

i dreamt of coming here,
wanted to come here,
came here,
lived my dream here,
and now...

it's all going to be in the past.


but it's not going to be sayonara (goodbye)
it's going to be mata-ne (see you again).

arigatou.

bonkers

i'm goin' nuts.
i'm leaving japan on sunday morning.
for good.
holy.
i can't take that thought.
i mean, sure, i'm gonna come back again to
watch a concert in summer,
so i know i'll be back again every year.
but, the thought of me leaving all my friends here,
and all the wonderful japanese food,
and oh the fashion, the beautiful clothes...
you can't get clothes like japanese clothes anywhere.
they say paris is the fashion capitol.
for high-fashion, yeah i guess so,
but if you stand in the middle of harajuku,
that's a fashion catwalk in everyday life.

i'm gonna miss all this.


the other reason i'm going crazy is,
like i said i'm leaving on sunday morning.
early morning.
at the moment, it is 4:35am tokyo time,
friday morning (the 11th).

i haven't finished packing.

my house is a junkyard at the moment.

i'm dying
and will probably have a panic attack tomorrow.


i also have a million pictures i wanna put up
but i don't have the time.

plus, tomorrow my computer will be in it's box,
and put on a ship.
two days without a computer (that is also my tv)!!

seriously. i might die.

in any case i've gotta go back to packing.
but i have so many things that i haven't used
for ages and ages but i can't bear to throw them away!!

there are so many things left to do.

i'm in big big trouble.

i'm still trying to get there

denim warrior
Originally uploaded by queen.gilda.

i was organising photos in my computer and looking through some of my sketches, and some of the clothes that i have made.

well, those i had photos of anyway.

and 2 years worth of my fashion-student life just whirled on right by me.

hmm, no it wasn't that colorful. but fun though. loads of it.

but for someone who had never had proper training before entering fashion college, in neither designing, drawing nor sewing, i'd say i've come pretty far.

2 years ago if you asked me to draw a girl in a dress, i would have drawn a stick figure with a triangle on her body.

pretty sad huh.

so you can imagine how pleased i am, not because i'm good (because i'm not) but because i'm learning and i'm happy.

some of these pictures here, amongst others, were submitted in my online portfolio for parsons. i think they were looking more for someone who could really draw. you know, the fine arts kind.

but thank god these made it for me.
as childish as they look.
phew.

take the plunge and view the rest?

ps: i have never ever shown my work much before, so if you have any comments, good and bad, please let me know. i would really appreciate it.

today's get-up 07may2007

i met my friend for coffee today.
except i don't drink coffee.
so i drank hot cocoa.



then we walked around for a while,
and i bought another drink,
a dark chocolate decadance from godiva.
basically i had 3 days' worth of chocolate fix
within about 3 hours.
it was so delicious thank you godiva!
i slurped it up in like 5 minutes!

・ cheap, white t-shirt
・ white cotton top by me
・ black vest by me
・ navy pants by junya watanabe
・ cheap scarf
・ green velvet shoes by mercibeaucoup

i love these shoes



and i really love these pants!

saved by the riceball

ever since i sold off my fridge, oven, and gas stove last week,

i haven't been cooking. i have never been a great cook.

don't get me wrong, i love cooking, but i hate washing the dishes,

so i used to cook only about 3 to 4 times a week.

in singapore, i had never done more than to fry an omelette,

so this is a great improvement. and HEY. when i try,

i'm really not that bad.

i can cook a lot of homemade japanese meals now.

but no homemade singaporean meals. haha.

so the past week, with the moving and packing up,

everything has just been busy busy busy.

i've gone out a few times to meet up with friends and

to say goodbye to everyone, then i've had to come home

and spend hours shoving things into boxes.

my house looks like a tornado-hit area and i hate it.

i hate looking at boring brown boxes.

and i hate that i don't have a fridge!!! UGH!

i'm like drinking lukewarm milk or something.

it better not give me a bad tummy.

plus, i sold off my washing machine yesterday and hence...

i guess it'll be dirty clothes for the week and i'm going to

try not to go out so much so that it'll lessen things that

need to be handwashed!

the worst thing is that i also sold off my table where my desktop

computer used to sit, so now it's propped up on a small

foldable table and i'm sitting on the floor and GOD

my back hurts!

i'm old and i've got old bones and i crack my bones

(i mean the knuckles) which probably makes it worse.

when i don't go out to eat i usually go nearby to grab take-out.

so the last few days i've been surviving on japanese onigiri.

ie, riceballs.

well, there are the bentos to buy but riceballs are

way more convenient to munch on.

i wonder if any of you have ever seen

the onigiris that they sell here.

usually onigiris come in a round or triangular shape,

but sometimes it's like a roll.

so anyway, i took a picture of my onigiri today because

i've always been fascinated with how they came up with a way

to pack the rice and seaweed separately,

so that when you buy the onigiri, you can unwrap it youself,

and the seaweed is always nice and crisp and fresh,

and never soggy!!

brilliant eh?

this particular one i bought was a natto onigiri.

that's fermented beans, sticky and smelly,

for those of you who don't know.

many foreigners and even some japanese can't stomach this.
i LOVE it!

having my lunch. i look like the devil.

ninja in new york and a chicken?

on the 4th, i met up with
my old friends from bunka
for a something like a last drink together.

unfortunately it was golden week here,
where basically a whole list of holidays
happen during the week,
so many office workers take the entire
week off and go on a holiday or go back
to their hometown.

so because many of my friends did
disappear elsewhere, in the end i met up
with only about 12 of them.

so i was looking through
all sorts of coupon books
(they have tons here and all with good deals)
and look what i found.



an izakaya (japanese drinking hole) called
ninja in new york.

i thought,
hey. that'll be me!!
ninja rock star heading to the big apple!!

yeah right.

we did go check it out though,
but the moment we walked it, it was just scary.
a really bad themed restaurant gone
extremely bad or something like that.

so we went to another place where they
have all-you-can-drink for 2 hours.
and we went to another place after that.
here in japan, when you're only going out for a drink,
you really just go for a quick one then go home.
but if you tell your friends you're going out to "play"
then basically you'll go for drinks somewhere,
hop somewhere else,
then on to karaoke.
that's the basic cycle of things.

so we moved places, all 12 of us.
had more drinks and more food and more talk,
then unfortunately many of my friends had to
leave to catch the last train.
cos you see, here in japan, taxi fares are crazy.

so while most of them left,
a couple more friends came and we stayed on
for drinks and chat till like 5 am.

my friend, pero, made me a doll thingy...
of our ex-teacher!!!


pero with kano

all of us kept screaming and
laughing when he pulled it out of his bag,
because i can't explain to you HOW much
the doll's face looked like my teacher!

it was sooooo weird!


seriously! this is creepy stuff!

so anyway we went to mcdonald's for breakfast!!!
(24-hour branch)
it was mad but so much fun.
i couldn't believe that at that psychotic hour,
there would be SO many people having mcmuffins.

but check out this picture
from the shinjuku station platform.
millions of people travel through this
station every single day.
it's supposed to be the busiest,
or one of the busiests, in the world.

but you kinda get that idea, by looking at this.
i mean, it was like 5 or 6 in the morning,
and check out the number of people!
by the way this is how all the 16 platforms look like.



crazy.