Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Tea-kipedia is Happy


心情超好。

今早吃得饱饱的，心情好。

再来泡杯好茶，心情更好。

无意发现好茶竟是上等工艺茶, 心情真是超级无敌好。


能活在这世上真是… 太好了。:-)


NOTE: 工艺茶 is also known as 香片 or 开花茶 (flowering tea or blooming tea). It is a delicate form of tea art where dried tea leaves and flowers are bound together into a ball. As the ball of tea is steeped, it will slowly unfurl like a blossoming flower. Such teas are usually steeped in clear glass teapots or cups to allow for the designs to be seen. You can keep the blossomed tea as a display piece in a glass cup after finishing the tea. If you change the water regularly, the tea can be displayed for about a week. Depending on the design and the type of tea or flower used, the cost for each ball of tea ranges from SGD$4.00 onwards (Yes, it is an indulgent form of luxury). The more complex the design, the more expensive the tea is.

There are various poetic names for flowering teas with different designs, such as:
一见钟情 (Love at First Sight)
秋水伊人 (The Beloved)
旭日东升 (Vibrant Sunrise)
金元宝 (Gold Ingot)
双龙戏珠 (Two Dragons Playing with Pearl)
迎春飞雪 (New Year Snow)
八仙过海 (Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea)
蝶恋花 (Butterfly Longing for the Flower)
七仙下凡 (Descent of the Seven Deities)
百花争艳 (Blossoming of Hundred Flowers), etc.

Please note that these are my literal translations of the words. The meaning of each phrase is much more profound. :-)



NOTE: Tea-kipedia is a nick given to me by musume-chan on account of my great love for tea and that I’m relatively well-acquainted with the different types of tea, haha~~


I realized another good function of this blossoming art piece: it can also act as a humidifier in an air-con room. ;-)

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Carol @ 1:15:00 PM
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Monday, February 01, 2010

A Day at a Church Wedding & the Aftermath


Being a bridesmaid has its perks. One of which is being reminded of your age and the fact that you're still cute, wah-hahahahahahahahaa~~~

Admittedly, it's exhausting to be a bridesmaid with the super-early morning preparations and constant running up and down in dainty heels to run various errands and usher guests.

With blistered feet and trembling legs, my good friend JY and I were too exhausted by the end of the day to take photos of ourselves. We even had to keep ourselves from nodding off to sleep in the car while on the way back.

But all the sweat and pain were totally worth it to make sure our dear long-time good friend looked her best for her wedding day. :-)

Of course the morning started with the usual joking exhortations by the relatives to introduce single men to the two other single bridemaids. (=_=)"'
(Luckily, both JY and I were safe from such impromptu matchmaking since she's married and my main priority was to be the bride's runner.)

As we were getting ready for the bridesmaids' "welcome" games for the groom and his 9-men entourage, one mother saw me. Upon realizing that I'm also part of the four bridesmaid team, she hurriedly borrowed powder foundation and eye-shadow to doll up her young 16-year old daughter (whom I thought was already sweet-looking and pretty enough… (=_=)""" )

I wonder why...

Maybe because I looked too good and threatened her daughter's chances with the men? WAH-HAHAHAHAHAAA~~~
Ah… what can I say… I still look young and cute for my age?
Ok ok, getting a little too BHB and 得意忘形了, haha.


The wedding was beautiful, our good friend looked wonderful, JY and I fully enjoyed ourselves despite the tiring day. I went to bed that night in a good mood, got up from a happy full night's rest at 11.00am on Sunday and proceeded to… chop wood.

Yes, here you have a real modern-day Cinderella, namely me.

I can't tell you how 心酸 (heart-wrenchingly sad) it is to transform from a cute lady who's all nicely made-up and dressed to the nines to become an obasan-y wood-cutter in less than 24 hours…


Anyway, yes, I did clear a huge pile of tree branches and heaps of leaf litter before I left for Australia on New Year's Eve.

What I did not mention was that less than two hours after I had finished clearing the last remnants of the debris, my dad proceeded to chop down another huge pile of tree branches…… *灵魂出窍-ing*

Since yesterday was the only free day that I had since the start of the new year, I got down to clearing this pile of mess in the front yard. Seriously, when will I ever get a real full day of rest???

让一位青春洋溢的可爱女子在烈阳下干粗活实在是太太太... 不。人。道。了。

In the midst of chopping up stubborn branches, picking up rotting leaves and avoiding strange scattering bugs and snails, I even managed to cook two types of sweet soup, 薏米百合羹 and 苹果红枣白木耳甜汤, for the family.
You know, 有时我觉得自己还蛮神的，哈哈。


The piles of wood, the bags of leaves and the trusty chopper knife.
And this was how my Sunday afternoon was spent. (=_=)…………

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Carol @ 8:23:00 AM
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Monday, January 25, 2010

I Went into "花样年华" Mode Yesterday


I was going to post a grouchy entry this morning about how abysmal Singapore traffic & public transport are becoming, and how valiant I was in loudly commanding a group of young guys to move further back into the bus to make space for other people to get on.

But I decided not to.

I decided to be shopaholic and show off two of my happy Sunday shopping splurges instead. ;-)

The day started with the intention to get a funky bridesmaid's dress at Far East Plaza. It ended with an extremely tightened budget for the rest of the month, haaaa......

And the culprit for my financial ruin was Danica, a small shop on the second level that offers contempo-traditional cheongsams and kungfu outfits.


Another outfit for my eclectic wardrobe~~

I can't tell you how hard it is to get a nice cheongsam or kungfu outfit at affordable prices. I'm very particular about my traditional outfits and it can take me years to find one that I like.

And yesterday at Danica was the year.


Love the cheerful modern jade-green color and the elaborate embroidery.
Love the energetic elegance of this piece.

I must emphasis that it is necessary to be particular about traditional outfits. The wrong textile or design will make the outfit appear costume-y or plain tacky. And an inexperienced cut makes the wearer look utterly uncomfortable, shapeless or worst, bloated.

Unless you're willing to splurge on a custom-made cheongsum, you have to try them on to make sure the cutting fits you.

Luckily Danica offers a variety of cheongsums with very good cutting. My jade-green number comes in a nice stretch silk material that molds to the body curves. Very Maggie Cheong in 花样年华 (In the Mood for Love). :-D


My FAVORITE outfit and buy of the day
(with 50% discount, haha~~)
The Maroon-brown ends of the sleeves add a clean, modern finishing to the outfit.
AND it actually came in size M! It is almost impossible to get good designs in size M!!


These Chinese coin details were the deciding factor for this purchase.
(plus the 50% discount too, haha)

Kungfu outfits are a permanent item in my wardrobe.

Reason: I LOVE wearing them, that's why. In fact, I'm going to design and custom-make several for daily wear once I have enough money to splurge. :)

In case you're wondering, none of the above is my bridesmaid outfit. I'm wearing something else for that day: a fun and bubbly cream dress accessorized with purple velvet belt, deep purple stockings and hair accessory.

Yes, I'm young enough to carry off this funky outfit. ;)

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Carol @ 1:23:00 PM
1 Comments:

I like the white one too!!!! How much did you pay in the end??

By Blogger min min, at 29 January 2010 00:53:00 GMT+08:00  

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

When can I hug Sharleen and James again? sigh...


I just heard my niece's voice on the hp!

I miss her and my godson SOOOOOOOOOO much........ o(T^T)o

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Carol @ 4:34:00 PM
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Monday, January 18, 2010

SOUP.


That’s the only thing on my mind when I came home from an amazing vacation to a yard that’s blanketed with at least 3 inches deep of fallen leaves.

Isn’t Singapore supposed to be in perpetual summer mode? So why do I get the honor of experiencing autumn fall (sans beautiful autumny colors and cool weather) here? (=_=)***

After 4 huge bags-full of leave sweeping, I desperately searched for a miso packet and even instant Campbell soup packets in the kitchen closets.

None to my utter dismay and total depression.

So I settled for a third of a beef soup stock cube and a handful of 玉竹 (yu zhu, Polygonatum odoratum(Mill.)Druce: dried slices of a herbal rhizome) to make a comforting hot bowl of clear soup.

Then I went to unpack my luggage, clean my room, prepare for next day’s work and make myself stop missing my adorable niece and godson. Sigh………………………..

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Carol @ 1:02:00 PM
1 Comments:

Okaeri~~~I'm so glad you are back! End of my miserable days at work alone :P

-musume chan

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 18 January 2010 23:01:00 GMT+08:00  

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

My Last Day of 2009


It is done.

My thesis is finally in for its final submission yesterday and I can look forward to getting my graduate degree next June. :-D My Ph.D. application is also finally out so I just have to wait for the results in April. :-)

I've been busy for the past two weeks and particularly so for the past 3 days.

Busy to the extent that even though my boss's away for the holidays, I've been arriving at work earlier than usual and staying later than normal. On the average, I spent around 10 hours at my workplace just trying to finish my stuff, whew...

So by right, today, 31st December the last day of 2009, should be a holiday for me.

By left... well, my "holiday" was very well-spent: I spent 3 hours in the morning chopping down tree branches.

And broke a pair of industrial stainless steel scissors doing so before I decided to switched to a medium-size chopper instead. Sometimes I wish my house has a parang knife. It'll definitely make things much easier.

RIP to this pair of heavy-duty scissors

The battle-scarred chopper

The culprit: Tree branches that were about 2 inches thick.

A couple of weeks of neglect resulted in serious leaf litter extravaganza in my home's front yard. So this morning, I prepared a bunch of huge garbage bags and went down on my knees to pick up every leaf from its rotting pile.

It got to the disgusting point where I gave up using my bare hands and actually had to get surgical gloves.

Imagine digging through a few centimentres thick of rotting debris with 3mm long wriggling maggot-like creatures and a host of other unknown... erm, things?


Sigh... so this is the end of my 2009... Quite an Oshin feeling.

该怎么说呢... 我们家里庆祝节日或喜事总是比较另类的?

haha-ha... ha.... (_ _)""""""

The end product after 3 hours:
4 garbage bags full of leaves and a pile of wood.

You really can't blame me for being unmoved or unsympathetic when friends complain about household chores. I've been there, done those and in fact, am doing even more than those normal chores.... (=_=)""

Anyway, during my woodcutter frenzy, my dad hurriedly came out when he spotted me welding the chopper at more hapless plants in the front yard.

So there I was, covered in perspiration, wood splinters, sticky tree sap and a colony of tiny unknown entities. My hands were trembling uncontrollably from the 3 hours exertion marathon, my fingers were red and blistered, and I had just jumped out of the marauding path of an angry 3-inch centipede.

As my dad surveyed my glorious hard work and sweat-soaked person, he agitatatedly exclaimed, "Ahh.... you chopped it down! That plant was really hard to grow!"

I looked at him, took a slight breath and calmly replied,

"Is it...? Next time, I'll torch down the entire garden."


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Anyway, I have good news: I'm away from earth tonight to welcome the new year coz... I'll be on the plane to see my eldest sister in Australia~~~ \(^0^)/

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Carol @ 6:06:00 PM
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Monday, December 21, 2009

APEC-arol


I’m getting a major kick out of confusing people with my ethnicity and nationality.

Today, I have another perplexed person asking me if I’m a foreigner. When I asked her where does she think I’m from, “Indonesia?” was the answer.

LOL~~ Her reasoning was that I just seem like “someone who has lived overseas.”

So now I have people thinking that I’m from Indonesia, Mongolia, China, Korea or Japan… Maybe I should try asking more people and see whether the answers can list out all the APEC members. ;P

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Carol @ 4:08:00 PM
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Thursday, December 17, 2009

How much more to go...??


This is the umptieth time that I'm reading through my thesis before the final step to getting my degree...

To anyone who has ever said this to your friends as part of a casual conversation topic, "Oh, I'm also thinking of doing Masters some day." : It is not something to impress people or to joke about.

Be prepared to spend tons of time, energy, effort, HARD work and finally, your S.A.N.I.T.Y. on a MA degree.

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Carol @ 3:51:00 PM
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我爬，我爬，我爬爬爬!


Nearly 30 storeys worth of stair-climbing yesterday. And before lunch time today, I have already conquered 12 storeys of stairs.

No wonder my legs are feeling weak. (-_-)~*

If you’re thinking that I’m on a masochistic mission to lose weight, you’re absolutely… wrong.

The reality is I’ve been compiling reading materials for the new semester and Mr Bizhub, our dear temperamental printer/copier/scanner has decided to go on strike for the past few days.

Which leaves me with no option but to continuously travel over to the next block to find a more amiable machine to help me complete my task.

Students better start appreciating the fact that they can now purchase course-packs instead of having to go through the traumatic and time-consuming trouble of photocopying the notes on their own.

Yes, they better worship the course-packs that have been painstakingly chosen by their lecturers and tirelessly compiled by their lecturers' assistants, grrr.........

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Carol @ 10:41:00 AM
1 Comments:

WELL SAID! We are the ones who have to painstakingly photocopy EVERY SINGLE page, making sure they are clearly and nicely photocopied~~

-musume chan

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 18 January 2010 23:09:00 GMT+08:00  

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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

25 More Years for the Eternal Optimist


我无颜面对乡亲父老，我愧对列祖列宗啊~~~

我怎么可以犯下这么蠢的错误呢?!! 就因为没拿捏好时间而弄到这么丢脸的成绩，我实在是... 对不起我自己的努力啊~~~

真是蠢啊~~ 笨啊~~~ 呆啊~~~~~~!!!


Ok, end of my histrionics and drama-mama-ing.

Of course it’s not as serious as that. My GRE scores were a disappointment but hey, life still goes on and deadlines are still approaching.

And I still have a ton of things to settle.

After realizing that I probably only have another 25 more years to prance around in this world, it has become even easier to take things in my stride (Ok, ok, I know I’m already a bit of a マイペース (My-Pace: at one’s own pace or way) person but it won’t hurt to be even more relaxed about things, right? ).

So I’m moving on and concentrating on what needs to be done next. There’s just too much stuff to do to be hung up over lousy scores.
Besides, I don’t believe my abilities and talents are quantifiable, wo-hohoho~~~~

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Carol @ 8:29:00 AM
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Sunday, December 13, 2009

A New Companion at Work


Welcome to 小叶 (Little Leaf), my new partner at work!

She’s a bit on the round side and still too young to take root, but I think she’s taking very well to her new environment… which is an elegant white plastic bowl.

小叶 (Little Leaf)
Yes, I still insist on naming any pet based on its most obvious trait. ;-P

Right now, Little Leaf is having a comfortable time soaking in the cool water and resting her small heart-shaped head on the edge of the bowl. :-D

I try to take her sunbathing every morning but apparently, she's more of an air-con lass, sigh....


My workstation
The central part of my roughly 2m x 2m cubicle.

Actually, this is one of six main places that I can choose to work in. Yeah! Haha, the beauty of portable work.

I normally station myself here since it’s easier for my boss to look for me.

My preferences tend towards an austere, zen-like environment for my living and working area. Somehow, I find that a clean and empty space is better for thought-processes.

Simply put, I hate clutter. Or at the very least, there should be no mess where I work or rest. ;P

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Carol @ 11:24:00 AM
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Friday, December 11, 2009

Life is very 囧 now


Maybe I’m losing my appetite… or maybe I just overdid it on the honeydew? Because I’m feeling STUFFED like a pre-bake turkey right now.

It’s my normal 2-eggs+fruits breakfast but I discovered that I can’t down my usual cup of soya-bean milk. But come to think about it, the two slices that I had was about a third of a whole honeydew… hmm…….

Anyway, I’m back to my two-meals-a-day habit, thanks to regulated working hours. And interestingly enough, my stomach adapts very well and automatically switches off in the evening.

But the problem is my brains also automatically switch off together with my stomach, haaaaa. So forget about me engaging in any decent form of conversation at night because all my major bodily functions would have already tuned off to LaLa Land.


----------------------------------------------------------------

Let me just state that I have been very hardworking for the past few weeks, and exceptionally so for the past few days. Any rest breaks that I can get during my bus-rides to and fro work, lunch-time and after work, I’ll be studying.

Yes, studying.

All for the sake of the GRE (General Record Examination), a pre-requisite for most graduate study programs. My first impression of GRE was that it’s a 超级变态 test but once I got the knack of it, it’s actually… quite… fun! Hahaa

Of course it’s no guarantee that I can score for this exam. Especially since there’s a section that deals with a subject that I haven’t touched since JC (and will most happily continue to avoid it): M A T H S (brrr… nightmare).

But hey… at least I’ll have fun doing the exam (I hope… ;P)


Ok, just an idea of some of the GRE questions in the Verbal Reasoning section:

1.(Choose the antonym) CONSUMATE:
a. Refuse
b. Undermine
c. Satiate
d. Abrogate
e. Suspect

2. (Choose the analogy) ADMONISH: COUNSEL
a. mollify: intensity
b. necessitate: generosity
c. enervate: vitality
d. manufacture: opinion
e. remunerate: payment


Answers: 1:d, 2:e
(Yeah, I know exactly how you feel. I was also full of 囧 looks when I first saw some of the GRE questions, haha)

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Carol @ 8:28:00 AM
1 Comments:

ok... (disgusted look) I got both wrong!! SHIT!!

By Blogger serene, at 11 December 2009 19:25:00 GMT+08:00  

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Saturday, December 05, 2009

Carol finally Cropped Off her Hair


Well... not all of my hair. Just the front and sides, the back is still past my hips. ;P

I got tired of my short stint with a concave-cut bob front and decided to switch back to my original style.

Bye Kohya (荒夜), it was fun being with you but sad to say, I've decided to go back to...

... my first love, Isao Nanjou('s hairstyle)!

Come to think about it, I've had Isao's hairstyle for about... 5 YEARS! wow.....


Anyway, it was an interesting experience at the hair-dresser's again. This time round, I went to a hair salon recommended by my mum.
该怎么说呢... 我 (的发型) 再次威震江湖??

In a place dominated by shops selling fashion from Hong Kong and Korea and featuring Japanese AND Korean food streets, you would think that the people there should have been used to all kinds of unusual fashion, right?

Apparently not.

All the hair-stylists and customers in that salon behaved as though they have never seen long hair before. Ok... maybe not natural long hair but surely with hair extensions being so common now, there's no need to be so intrigued with the sight of long hair bah...?....

So while I was sitting in the chair, I got people walking past behind me, exclaiming in surprise and wanting to touch my hair..........

Then the head hair-stylist looked seriously perturbed when I showed him Isao Nanjou's picture... I actually had to convince him that I've been having this hairstyle for some years now and I'm perfectly comfortable with it..... ..........

I even had to keep persuading him to "Don't worry, just cut the sides shorter", "Just layer the sides even more", "Just do it!"

Thankfully, he's a patient guy who's very careful with his cutting technique. So now, I'm happily carrying a boyish cropped front with my long hair, à la Isao Nanjou :)

After this experience, my conclusion is that I really think those people are a bit 小题大做 (making a big fuss out of nothing).

啧，真是少见多怪的一群人。Sigh......


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By the way, the head hair-stylist commented that my long hair is worth a lot of money. Especially since it's all natural with no dye jobs and most importantly, long.

I just measured it. It's about 70cm from my scalp (Though personally, I don't think it's long, hmm.....).

He later joked that I'll probably kill the person who dares to cut off my hair.

I calmly told him that I won't do such a ridiculous thing.

I'll just shave the culprit bald and maybe dye the person's scalp a brilliant permanent color. Why let the person off easy with death? ;P

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Carol @ 9:54:00 PM
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Wednesday, December 02, 2009

She’s a man, He’s a woman...


… and Carol is both. LOL~~


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虽然形态上是男人中的女人但事实上是女人中的男人。


During lunch break today, the bunch of us were joking about our temperamental copier-printer being a male Transformer who has the hots for a particular colleague.

The reason is because it’ll only obey her commands and print on demand while the rest of us has to resort to swearing and switching off the machine in revenge.

That colleague naturally protested and insisted that she's not the only available female in the office to be the target of the copier-printer's affection.

Since the only other single lady is me, the topic of conversation quickly shifted to speculating about me having a boyfriend.

The conclusion reached by one of my colleagues is “No” because…

“Carol is asexual.”

LOL LOL LOL~~~ I took it as a great compliment. Seriously, I never intentionally "act" female (or male), or look at myself as a particular gender.

This is just the way I am.

My brother once joked that I am "女人中的男人" (The man among the women)

Ok... so is that his excuse for making me do more work? (=_=)""

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Carol @ 1:47:00 PM
2 Comments:

Nu-ren zhong de nan ren.. Then go find the nan-ren zhong de nu ren type lah =p balanced

Benny

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7 December 2009 14:23:00 GMT+08:00  

Hahaaa, good idea, Benny!

女人中的男人 + 男人中的女人 = 真够阴阳调和的. LOL~~

By Blogger Carol, at 7 December 2009 15:32:00 GMT+08:00  

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