okonomiyaki love

we had an okonomiyaki party on friday. written お好み焼き in japanese, "okonomi" means "favorite" or "what you like", and "yaki" is "cooked" or "grilled". basically you mix whatever you want into the batter. usual ingredients are stuff like shredded cabbage, prawns, pork, eggs, cheese, whatever.

it's a pretty cheap but really yummy meal. there are expensive restaurants for okonomiyaki in japan, but that's when they use premium ingredients like kobe beef. my friends and i used to go for okonomiyaki pretty often because it's fast and fun. you just mix everything you want in a bowl, then pour the whole batter over the hot plate, turn each side to cook, and you're just about done!! then you've got to add the japanese sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes, and aonori.

it does get kinda heavy (can't eat too much of it) but it's yummmmm.

we had the party at yvonne and roger's house (my ex-bosses), and stayed there laughing and talking nonsense till 2am.

it was so good and i wanted to eat more but my stomach would not allow me to stuff anything else in it. dammit.


also, i've started on another still-life painting. this time, my angle was really difficult. we had to draw a pot and some watering can, and all the damned spouts and handles were pointing their asses at me!! i'm not very good at that and took some time to get things right, but i was quite proud of myself.

my teacher, raphael, says he's now teaching us the proper methods of under-painting (?), or was it monochromatic under-painting. as we start to use more oil pigments we would realise why he's making us go through his steps. well, according to him anyway. but i'm getting the hang of it (i think) and i'm having a lot of fun.

except my clothes get dirty and i get black fingernails that won't get cleaned, even if i use the olive oil brush cleaner to wash my hands. they finally come away clean after i take a bath. in the meantime i keep feeling really gross and dirty and i hope i get used to that soon! haha!


in the meantime, my bright pink highlights on my dark red hair, is slowly fading. now it's kinda-pink highlights on a WHAT-IN-THE-WORLD-COLOR-IS-THIS hair.

i found a dreadful picture of myself, back when i first got my highlights done. excuse the mess, i was sweaty after hockey training. but ugh i want that pink color back!! well truth be told, on most people, pink wouldn't last very long. most of my friends would get crazy colors like that and it wouldn't even last a week. mine has lasted a month. i think i'll hold out for a little while more and get a touch-up done. i wonder if there's anywhere that i can buy the color to diy though. does anyone know where i can buy l'oreal nuancelle?

my parents keep telling me that at the rate that i'm dying my hair (and sometimes perming), i'd be bald in no time. the thing is, i have extremely thin (considerably fewer than normal) and thin (each strand is very fine) hair. amazingly, all my coloring hasn't zapped all the life out of my hair yet. but because i have such thin hair, i'm already convinced that i'd probably go bald by the age of 35 anyway. so i might as well make full use of it now. hahaha.

a tribute to fandi and abbas

i started watching soccer at the age of 4. my dad had been a soccer fan since forever, and he'd bring my sister and i along to watch soccer at the national stadium. (for some reason, my brother hardly ever went?) back then, singapore was playing in the malaysian league and malaysian cup, our country against the different malaysian states. well, basically because we're already such a small country, we joined in malaysia's league.

we used to buy season tickets to watch soccer. we'd go to the national stadium and scream ourselves hoarse, then drive up to malaysia for the away games if we could. especially if it was the malaysia cup.

somewhere along the line, my sister had somehow made friends with singapore's favorite football son, fandi ahmad. fandi was the nicest, most generous person ever and it was hard to imagine it even possible, because of who he was. in those days, singapore soccer was really something that people talked about all the time. fandi was the prodigy child who had returned to singapore to play for his country, and he was a super huge star. through fandi, we also got to know many other soccer players. he and abbas saad, soon became family friends and we would often meet for meals together. they were the nicest people ever.

in 1993, singapore made it to the finals of the malaysia cup, and we drove up to malaysia. it was so exciting and a totally intensive atmosphere. unfortunately we lost 0-2 to kedah and at the age of 10, i remember being terribly disappointed!!

however in 1994, fandi captained the team. i guess it was the mixture of the right players and the right timing and luck. we won the league AND the cup. i'll never forget watching the cup finals against pahang where we trashed them 4-0. it was amazing. the singapore boys were so fired up that night, they were unstoppable. halfway through the match, even the malaysia/pahang fans started leaving the stadium.

right after we won both the league and cup, for i think the first time in history, singapore's football association had a tiff with the malaysia side. according to the news as i remember it, they wanted us to reduce the number of foreign players, or to have no foreign players at all; something like that. so singapore withdrew from the league, and i remember seeing fandi and abbas and the rest of the team's pictures splashed across the papers and it was really sad.

a whole lot of saga happened after that, and for a while, my dad and i did continue watching soccer, after singapore started her own s-league.

but somehow it was just different, and slowly, we stopped going.


today was the national stadium's closing ceremony. there were two matches played. the first featured ex-singapore and ex-malaysian internationals, and included players from back then, when my family used to be soccer mad. except that most of them are at least in their 40s now, some in their 50s and 60s, with big tummies and not-very-fast legs!!! it was good to see them again. old as they are, some of them still showed glimpses of their old selves. fandi and abbas were not there, being in indonesia and sydney respectively. i did wish they were though.

the match after that was another friendly between the current singapore team and the australian team. i took one look at the sizes of those aussie boys and decided it was impossible. plus, a few of them actually play in the english premier league!! like hello, so impossible??

then i found out that the singapore team now comprises of some, err, foreign imports. foreign players who have been playing in singapore for a long time now, and were given citizenship.

i was quite impressed. the first half ended in a 0-0 draw, but the aussies were really physical. and huge?!?! it was a hard, contact game, and our small strikers were starting to limp around.

i thought the singapore boys played well, and had just as many scoring chances, but they failed to connect and the goals never came. even open goals!!! it was exasperating. in the end, we lost 0-3.

it was so freaking hot today, especially throughout the first match, i started getting rashes and heat bumps. yes, i am allergic to everything. but it started getting cooler as the sun went down, and i had such an enjoyable night. it was a really good match to watch, but more than anything else, it brought back memories of my childhood. memories of the hundreds of hours i must have spent here, more than a decade ago. the cheering, the stamping, the waves... the tingly feeling i used to get down my spine from all the excitement.


i just wish i had the chance to see fandi and abbas play one last time, before the national stadium gets torn down and rebuilt.

i know they might probably never read this, but i hope one day i can tell them so:
thank you for all the lovely memories. thank you for making me realise, at my young age back then, that when you believe in something with all your heart, when you give your everything, you can make it happen. i saw it with my own eyes in 1994, and i have never forgotten.

as gross and mushy as this may sound, you two have always been my two favorite soccer heros.





me, in all my double-chin glory. i sulked all the way till sunset because it was so hot and humid! notice my portable electric fan? it's a gift from heaven. i carry it everywhere.


gawd, i was so unglamorous. it was too hot for comfort, and i did the unthinkable....... push up my cargo pants to around my knees. eeps.

reasons why

i received some emails after my post about smap. some were really encouraging (arigatou!), and some had questions. questions about whether it was even "healthy" that i am so in love with smap at this age.

if it makes me happy then why not? i don't have a problem with it and i don't care what you say.

i love smap and takuya and here are my reasons why.



1. they love to make fun of each other, and themselves

and that's why i love them so much. even my parents, who can't stand that i spend so much on them, watches their shows with me sometimes and they laugh too. they have no problems with picking on each other's weakest points, and making it a laughing matter. and they do all sorts of impersonations. and it's always hilarious!!!

here's a clip from santaku, an annual 3 hour show of takuya and sanma, one of japan's top comedians. they are great friends and that's the only reason for the show. they meet and do stupid things. last year, they decided to imitate beyonce in one of her videos. we're talking about a 33 and 50 year old guy here. it started out with takuya being the director and sanma being beyonce, but roles were switched sometimes when takuya had to "show" him how to do it.


i've watched and rewatched this show a million times and can never get enough.

then there's shingo who had a character (for a tv show) called shingo mama, that became crazy popular. he continued with that character for many years before he had to stop because he said he was becoming too woman. haha! everyone loves shingo mama. she's so funny!!


and one of my favorite episodes of smapxsmap was the one-time sma-court. where they decided to pick out problems with each other and "sue". it was so freaking funny!! *warning, this is almost the entire episode, so it's pretty long. but it's worth the watch if you have some time!*



2. even hollywood loves them

i can't tell you how proud i am of them. they have group or solo shows on tv, everyday of the week, be it starring in a drama, or hosting a program, or doing a variety show. their weekly smap program, smapxsmap (read smap smap), has been on air for 10 years now, and averages ratings of above 20%, sometimes as high as 27%. in fact, because smapxsmap has its time slot at 10pm on mondays, and it's usually a drama starting from 9pm before that, you are considered to have "made it" as an actor, if you make it into a monday 9pm drama.

they have a cooking segment in the first half of their show, called bistro smap. then it's usually different skits, before a talk and song session at the end. almost every hollywood star would go on as a guest in smapxsmap when they go to japan. why? because smapxsmap is a program that reaches out to people of all ages, male or female. it's the best publicity.

here's a list of some of tinseltown's A-listers who have been guests.
michael jackson, janet jackson, madonna, will smith (at least twice), whoopi goldberg, cyndi lauper, cameron diaz (twice), jude law, black eyed pea, fergie, justin timberlake, backstreet boys, the stylistics, the temptations, the supremes, stevie wonder, haley joel osment, quentin tarantino, david beckham, daniel powter, nicholas cage, elijah wood, tobey mcguire, james brown, richard gere, jackie chan, jean leno, destiny's child, lenny kravitz, tom cruise, steven spielberg....... and these are just those i can remember.

i mean, madonna and michael jackson!!! i don't think i've ever seen them even appearing on variety shows like that!! i'd never seen madonna laugh like that before, especially when shingo danced hung-up for her. and michael jackson appearing on the show was just amazing.

i tried to find a clip of shingo auditioning for madonna but couldn't. but you can watch her in bistro smap.


tsuyoshi, who speaks fluent korean, has been doing extremely well in korea. takuya and shingo have also made it to cannes!! takuya went once before; i think it was last year, for his role in 2046, directed by wong kar wai and starring some of asia's biggest stars like gong li, xhang ziyi, maggie cheung, faye wong and tony leung. this year, takuya and shingo went to cannes, each with a movie in hand. takuya went for hero, a movie remake of the drama, which set a record in japan's tv history with ratings as high as 36.8%. shingo went for saiyuuki, also a remake of the drama, about the monkey god.





3. takuya is so bloody gorgeous

here he is, singing his song, "ha" in concert. he did a jazzy version and i loved it.


if i remember he was also levi's first asian model for its engineered jeans campaign some years back.


i also found this video that a fan made of takuya. ohhh he has the nicest smile.


i mean, shit, have you ever seen anyone so darn sexy?

but after all these years, it's come to a point where i've grown to love all 5 of them. because of their different personalities, because they are doing what they love, with people they love. it's so refreshing from the usual western crap where stars are so fake, you don't know if it's the image or the real person you're looking at.


4. he picked me up when i was down

it was this song, "shiosai" (meaning, "the sound of the waves"), that i listened to nonstop when i was having my own problems. it helped me get back on my feet in so many ways.



5. "sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana"

which means "the one and only flower in the world" was named 'song of the year' in japan... for two years. it's a song about not having to be the number one in everything. why do we humans have to fight for everything? we're all different, and we should celebrate that, but yet we all want to be number one. we're all just one flower in the world, but we have different kinds of seeds. to make that flower bloom, it's enough for us to just do out best. whether we are a big flower, or whether we are a small flower, as a flower, not one of us are the same. we don't have to be the best; we're special just the way we are. we should aim to be the best unique individual that we can be. the only one.


this song had a huge impact on japan, when it was released. it was phenomenal. japan was in an economic slump. there was also the iraq war, and the japanese people used the song as an anthem, a plea for peace.

this song was also selected as the wake-up call on the space discovery mission STS-114, on flight day 13. some jails in japan are currently using this song as an anthem, where inmates sing it daily/weekly. the song has made its way into some textbooks, and some schools are also singing this song as their graduation song, in hope that their students will grasp its message, and go out into society and be better men and women.


6. i love their songs

they aren't really good at singing. takuya and shingo are quite good. tsuyoshi and goro are pretty alright. nakai, one of japan's top tv hosts, appearing on tv almost everyday, has spoilt his voice from all his hosting. he tries, but sometimes it doesn't go too well. as for their dancing, err, let's just say it's a known fact that they aren't that good and they don't hide it, but rather make fun of it. they can't syncronise and goro is usually half a beat too slow.

but hell, they started showbiz 20 years ago (shingo, the youngest, was just 10!!). it's not about having to perfect their singing or dancing like any other pop group anymore. they've gone past that.

if you go to their concerts, most of the audience are women. some of them have grown up with smap, and now bring their daughters along. smap concerts are a family event. grandmothers and grandfathers go too. families go together. most of the dads i see know all the songs as well as i do. in recent years, they even closed off sections of the venues just for male fans. and there are usually tons of celebrities who attend their concerts as well.

why?

because it's pure entertainment. they don't just sing and dance, they have a talk session, and they put up a real show. a 3.5 to 4 hour concert. i've been to so many concerts in my life and theirs' have got to be the most fun.

here are some of my favorite songs (that i could find videos for!)

freebird, original smile, orange (this is like a cult song in japan. just about everyone i know sings it in karaoke.), zutto zutto ("forever"), dawn, easy go lucky, summer gate, yozora no mukou ("beyond the night sky" - another song also in textbooks all over japan), and arigatou ("thank you"). freebird and original smile, are must watches!! they just make me so happy!


oh god i have so many other reasons, but if you've even gone this far, i'd say most of you are bored by now. heh heh.


peace and smappin' love,
gilda

today's get-up 29june2007

"i can't give you anything, but my love..."

this song by the stylistics has been stuck in my head for DAYS. but not really the original version. it's a remake of it, used in a television commercial by gatsby, a really popular range of toiletries and hair products in japan. it has been playing over tv for ages in japan... i come back to singapore to find that they are promoting the product here as well, and surprise surprise, they managed to get the rights to use the same japan commercial here.

it's EVERYWHERE. and yes, i'm proud to also mention that takuya is fronting the commercial. HAHAHA. you can watch the whole thing and the many different versions on the gatsby website.

or you can also watch a version here... of nakai, the leader of smap, dressed up as a tpical japanese salaryman (it's for one of his variety shows). at first, he imitates takuya in the commercial. it's hilarious. then when his co-hosts ask him to do the commercial as if it were his own, he did his own dance.

• t-shirt by undercover
• long vest by comme des garcons
• striped pants by me
• stud boots by junya watanabe

i've been in a really good mood lately and have been singing and dancing around. i must be high on something.

i'm going to watch soccer tomorrow and then stand-up comedy on sunday.
what are you guys doing this weekend?

i miss you

会いたいよ．．．
本当にみんなと会いたいよ！！

i'm dying, i really am.

everywhere i go, i get reminded of my times in tokyo. i miss my friends, i do. i've been emailing them, exchanging photos, sending small video clips...

it's killing me, and everyday i regret making the decision to leave.

it might have been the right choice, given my circumstances. but sometimes, right decisions are hard to make, and to put it bluntly, really suck.

i'm emailing my friends almost everyday these days. which is something we used to do anyway, just that now we can't meet up and hang out like we used to. and it's really hard keeping in contact with about 81 people (that's the number i counted in my address book) but i'm trying. especially with my handful of really close friends.

i miss them, i miss my japan, i miss speaking japanese, and i miss smap.

god i miss smap.

i can't even explain to you how much i do, but i do.

a long time ago, a friend once asked me why i liked them so much. my reply was,

"i can't explain it, but they are my medicine box."

yeah, laugh all you want, but it's true, and i'm never ashamed to admit it.

a while ago, when this blog first started out, i talked about some very low points in my life. between the time i was 18 to 20 years old. my darling misty, was dog-napped, badly abused, and had died. i could not, and would not, come to terms with her death, and spent days just crying and asking "why?".

then my family started having its own problems, which left me hurt, sad, and above all, angry. furious. i would go to work then come home, and we'd all be arguing, and i'd cry almost everyday. i was so, so angry with so many things. angry that my family was fighting, angry that we couldn't stop fighting, and angry with myself for losing my dog.

the devil was living in me and nothing, absolutely nothing could take away the pain.

after my dog died in march 2001, i started watching sad dramas, just so i could have another outlet to let myself cry. for the first time in my life, i watched a japanese drama, and one of it was called "beautiful life". i almost died watching it... you might think that's an exaggeration but it's not. i cried like mad, and i couldn't stop, and if people could die from over-crying, i would have.

takuya kimura, member of smap, was the leading actor in that drama. it wasn't a love at first sight thing... but maybe because my dog had died, and because there was death in the drama, i felt such a connection, because i could feel the pain that the actors felt, and that pain was real, because it was in me.

well i found out he was a member of a group, and bought their latest concert dvd to have a look. i couldn't understand a word they said, and i knew none of their songs, but i was hooked. hooked because for the first time in months, i could smile and for the first time in months, my mind was free from all the shit that had been going around in my life.

smap became my drug.

those 2 years of my life were the worst times i had ever experienced, and many times i did feel like dying because i just had nothing to live for, nothing to look forward to.

i love my family so much, but things happened the way they did and we were arguing nonstop. i think we managed to somehow hurt each other as much as we did, only because we loved each other that much. and it was painful. the only things that kept me going were shadow, my other dog, and smap. i remember hugging shadow with tears streaming down my cheeks, and saying sorry. and i remember crying myself to sleep at night, with earphones on listening to my favorite smap song.

i bought a million things of theirs'. albums, concert dvds, tv shows, anything i could get my hands on, anything i could afford. i grew to love their tv shows and their pranks and antics. i couldn't figure out what they were saying, but just watching was enough to make me laugh. and at that point in my life, they were the only ones who could put a smile on my face.

my sister, who was going through the same shit i was, got hooked as well.

everytime we had an argument at home, we'd go to the tv room, pop in one of their dvds, and with all our swollen red faces and tear-stained cheeks, we'd laugh.

smap became my escape from the hell that i was in. a haven i could go to when i wanted to forget. they were my angels when i felt like i wanted to die.

so i fed my addiction in anyway i could. my sister and i would fly all the way to japan to watch their concerts, and trust me that ain't cheap. but we figured, what's the point of saving all that money when it's not gonna make you happy? they aren't that good at dancing, and they're probably worse in singing, but none of that mattered because they are such great entertainers.

we spent every last cent on smap, laughing and enjoying ourselves through every minute of their concerts, carving those memories in our minds. because when we came away from tokyo and went back into the real world, when we felt down again and thought that it was pointless to go on, we'd remember how we laughed and had fun in japan, and we'd push ourselves to carry on. because of smap, we had a tomorrow.

while i was still in school, plans to go to new york to study came to nothing, and i gave up that idea to work and gain some experiences. at the height of all my problems at home, i had been working for two years after junior college (high school). i was tired, and drained, and i needed to just go away. i told myself that i couldn't take it anymore, and that if i didn't go away, i really might die, one day if i ever had that "courage" to try and take my own life.

so i packed up my bags and left for japan.

because it was where smap was. because they was my heaven.

but it was tough at first. i had no friends there, and i had never lived alone before. i was lonely, and i still had a huge hole in my heart that only time could heal. but everytime i felt down, everytime i shed a tear, i could turn on the television, and on one of those channels, smap would be on television, and i could forget everything again.

i spent almost 4 years of my life there, doing what i had always dreamed of doing. i mastered a new language, which i never though was possible. i made a whole horde of foreign friends, which people told me was impossible. i learned how to use a sewing machine, i learned how to make my own clothes, i learned how to use the washing machine, i learned how to cook my own dinner, i learned how to wash the plates, i learned how to do housework.

but most importantly, i learned to love myself.

it's been 6 years now, since i've become a fan. and it's a love that will never fade away or die.

it might sound corny, but many things in life, i owe to smap. my life even.



leaving tokyo was really hard for me. i 'd left everything i had here in singapore, and went to tokyo to start anew. and i never thought i would be leaving tokyo, let alone come back.

it's been 46 days now, since i said goodbye. to my friends, to my home there, and to smap.

i cried so hard on the plane i had allergies.

ever since i got back, i've been keeping myself busy. with hockey, with various errands, with both my english and japanese blogs, with anything that can keep me busy. because the moment i stop doing something, my mind wonders back to how much i miss japan and how much i miss smap, and how lost i feel without them.

on the plane back from melbourne, smap's album from last year, pop up smap, was playing on the plane's audio system (we took singapore airlines). i listened to it the whole 7-hour ride. i was so happy, i was almost delirious. i was smiling and singing along and almost dancing in my seat.

i love smap. i really do. i've watched so many of their tv shows, enough to know that although they all have a "media" face, they are the sweetest, most wonderful boys inside. (most japanese variety shows force their stars to portray their true selves) i miss them, and i hate being so far away, and although i'm looking forward to a new life in new york, i hate that that's even further.

but thank you god, for letting me find smap.
because when things inside me are all torn apart,
they were, and still are, my solace.

ps: and thank you gala, for your recent post, that reminded me of how important smap was to me, and how, through them, i learned to how laugh again.

lychee love

because i'm sitting here in front of my computer, eating away at the kilo of lychees i bought this afternoon. i wish i could be bothered to get up and make myself a lychee martini *slurp slurp* but nope, i'm like glued to this chair.

psst: don't be a pig like me; try making one!!

use lychee liqueur, vodka, and a dash of lime juice. alternatively, you can use fresh lychee juice if you don't have the liqueur. shake with ice, and strain into glass. top off with one or two peeled and pitted lychees and enjoy! oooh and try adding a stalk of lemongrass to your martini. it adds a totally different flavor and is totally yummy!!

many things have been happening lately, and i've been doing a lot of thinking. my friend tells me i shouldn't think so much. HAH. that's easy to say.

i painted another still-life thingy the other day. it was my second ever oil-painting attempt, and i think i'm getting better. well the first was an absolute disaster; i don't wanna even think about it! i've never had formal training in art or drawing. back in bunka, we had weekly design classes, but that was more of training us in the design (clothing) factor, and nothing concrete in the real "art" part. but yeah, i'm actually really enjoying myself in class. i missed a lesson while i was away in melbourne, so during the lesson i only had time to paint the objects and couldn't go into the details in the background. i'm quite pleased with it though. heh heh. (ok for those of you who are pros, just let me pretend i'm doing ok, ok? ;D)



i'm not sure how it happened, but it's suddenly almost 2am. i've had a long day today. i went to the doctors, went to buy fruits for the family, went to my juniors' training, then went to the club training. honestly, i'm kinda tired, and it's been quite a while since i've been this tired.

it's raining outside. like totally pouring. i love to sleep when it rains, so i think i'll go to bed soon.

sweet dreams, lovers. and tell me what you dreamt about.

neon pink kisses,
gilda

today's get-up 20june2007

i went for a barbeque on wednesday. my junior from the hockey club invited me over cos the girls from their batch were having a get-together. well they were seriously MUCH younger than me. by like 7, 8 years!! god i felt old.

apparently i was the so-called "special, secret guest" and she didn't tell the others that i was coming, and only 2 of them knew. (2 who had gone on the victoria tour)

i got a little shy and only started "warming up" to them after an hour or so. how juvenile!!! *tsk tsk*

it was a roof-top bbq. roof-top being the 36th floor of her apartments. since there were no other buildings that were as tall in that area, we were towering over everything else and it was really pretty. except that i tried to look down and got a little frightened so i reminded myself not to do that again.

• pink straw hat
• aviator shades
• pink singlet by topshop
• blue dress by kastane
• washed demin vest by dotti
• blue jeans by rna
• chunky necklace by sunao kuwahara

you might realise that i keep wearing the same pair of jeans. yes, i do like it a lot... but it's also because it's my only pair of jeans! and yes, i do wash my jeans. but i really need to buy another pair!! but it's just so hard to find jeans that i really love. okay okay, i actually own at least 5 other pairs but i just don't wear them. when i do wear something else, i always come back to my rnas. it's bad. bad bad bad.

on another note, it was just recently international dress up day!

this month's theme was to dress up as your evil twin or alter-ego.

and here's my alter-ego... who's basically "me" trapped inside:

Meet ギルダ (read: gi-ru-da) who has been living in Tokyo for 4 years, and loves it so much, she doesn't wanna go anywhere else. She passes her days making fantastic new clothes, and her nights drinking sake with friends and getting terribly high. Her weekends are spent prancing around the streets of Harajuku, spending loads of money in the backstreets, laughing madly with friends, and eating terribly sinful chocolate and peanut butter crepe. Ultimately, she's a Harajuku Punk at heart. But shh, don't tell anyone that she's also in love with SMAP and is a secret teenybopper. She takes photos with a peace sign, and never leaves home without her lipgloss or her skeleton ring. There's nothing more she loves than going to karaoke with her friends and singing herself hoarse till morning.

after living in japan for 4 years, i've actually grown to like kneeling down. i kneel everywhere! it's crazy!

a friend saw these pictures and commented on how much make up i had on and i was like, huh? i didn't even have any foundation on or anything. all i had on was black kohl eye-liner, and well my cheeks were super glittery. they have a dot of red eyeshadow on them, as well as a smudge of ultra-fine glitter eyeshadow... yeah, just the way my tokyo friends and i do it.

somedays' get-ups 12,16,18june2007

well with no internet access in victoria, i couldn't upload all these photos.
so here they are all at a go.


[12june2007]
at the anarchy fairy park.

• bomber jacket by lowry's farm
• wool, striped penguin pants
• stan smith adidas sneakers

and on the inside...

• weird, deconstructed shirt/jacket by undercover
• aviator shades

[16june2007]
in melbourne city... err, somewhere.

• checked muffler by ne-net
• white t-shirt
• blue tweed jacket with custom buttons by me
• blue jeans by rna
• brown pigskin boots by topshop

[18june2007]
in a changing room heh heh.

• green mode jacket by h&m
• white t-shirt by undercover
• grey dress by minkpink
• soft toy necklace by mercibeaucoup
• black jeans by dotti
• blue jeans by rna
• brown pigskin boots by topshop
  

i wore this outfit to the airport. while i was hurrying to the plane (really late for boarding!), this girl stopped me and said, "i really like your necklace. can i touch it?" she reached out and gave my necklace two pokes. it was quite funny. "thanks."

"sure! see ya."

photos from victoria (part2)

psst. did you see part1?

june 16th
we reach melbourne and head first to the markets. i meet up with my cousin who's staying just nearby. it's been like 2 years since i've last seen her!! each time i go back to singapore, she's not there, and when she goes back, i'm in japan. so we basically talked nonstop and updated each other about our lives.

i found gala's blog about a month ago, and have since fallen in love with her. well she talked about this shop in the markets called madame pompadour. (145 victoria street, west melbourne. tel03.9326.3344) when i saw her pictures i knew i had to go. well i love pink and i love fabrics and i love bright colors, and this shop had all that. i had to stop myself from buying too many things.


we headed off to the city and i just loved all the little alleys with cafes and beautiful little shops. ooh. we shopped till 6 when everything closed. DAMMIT. WHY WHY WHY do shops have to close so early in australia?? i just don't get it.

my cousin brought me to this little place called cabinet (11 rainbow alley. tel9654.0915) for some food and drinks. the people there, alan and ben, were the cutest, sweetest things ever. we had some really yummy dory fillet, and ben made us some gorgeous cocktails. ben creations. one of it was called waterworks. it was the yummiest drink i've ever had.

watermelon martini, topped with basil, and a dash of balsamic vinegar to bring out the sweetness in the watermelon. i loved it.


we went for a last drink at this place called murmur, in like the darkest, scariest alley i'd ever walked into. really. is it even safe?? and though that was like some dead alley, murmur was like super alive-and-kickin'! wow! really nice!


after 4 tough games, today was rest day. i think i might have been really tired this whole trip, because just after a beer and 4 cocktails, i'm actually almost a little high. god, i must be aging.

june 17th
we headed to footscray for our final game. they were good. and big! really tough. i think one of the ladies in their team had to be like at least 190cm. when she collided with one of my girls, she literally stepped over her??? seriously. we played a good game but we lost to better opponents, 0-3.


after the game, we went to a hockey shop. they had this humongous hockey stick there, obviously not for playing, but none of us could resist trying to dribble a ball. it was so fun. it was longer, or taller, than some of us! haha!


the whole team went for dinner together, after which we went into little groups. i had a real long talk with some of my juniors, and it made me really glad that i did go for this trip, because if i hadn't, i would not have had the chance to get to know them like this.


i went over to my cousin's house around midnight, and spent the next 5 hours chatting with her before finally passing out on the sofa.

june 18th
i made plans with my cousin to go speed shopping for 2 hours. we were supposed to leave for the airport at around 1, but i had a meeting till around 11. so i told her to sleep till around 10, and i'll let myself out, go to my meeting, then meet her in town later.

when i left her house at 8:15 (located right in the city), i couldn't figure out why helicopters were hovering. all i knew was i couldn't get a cab and i was late for my meeting. when i finally went back to the hotel and start asking what time we could go shopping, the girls were like, "didn't you hear? there was a gunman in the city."

i went, "WHAT!!!"

i didn't turn on the telly when i woke up, so i had absolutely no idea! my god!!! it happened just a street away from my cousin's place! that's why the helis were there! that's why i couldn't get a cab, cos the roads were all blocked off!! i called my cousin and told her something like, be careful, there's a gunman in your area!!

since some roads in the cbd area were blocked off, and we had minors travelling with us, our coach decided it was too dangerous to let our girls out in the city, so we went to some suburb mall on the way to the airport. i had to call my cousin to say goodbye, which was reeeeeeeeeally stupid because i hadn't said a proper goodbye yet! when i left her house,she was still sleeping! i mean, we thought we were still gonna see each other!!

anyway, we got on the flight safely and came back to hot ol' singapore. i swear i started like, pouring sweat, the moment i came outta the airport.

i later learn that the guy who fired the shots, had been assaulting his girlfriend on the streets. the 2 passers-by who went to help her got shot at. one, a 43 year old solicitor, died. the other, a dutch backpacker, suffered 3 shots and is in serious condition. the lady also got shot at. i thought it was horrible and really tragic.

i don't know what exactly happened... (did i get the facts right? was it his girlfriend?) but its outcome really saddened me.

brendan keilar and paul de waard, you two are true heroes, and i salute you.