i am exhausted and yet i insist to blog

its been a tiring day for me. didnt had a good sleep last nite. thanks to my constant coughing. i slept in till 11am. dragged my tired ass to de post office to send de package that been sittin on my table.

went for a quick bout of shopping around town. de humidity almost killed me. i sorry trees but i HEART air-conditioning. i ran into every friggin malls jus to enjoy de AC.

i also went to i want that stall at poppy. met a couple of people. attempted to traumatise ruth from sparklethots. failed miserably. and i found out she is one of my friends' cousin. and she knows couple of my uni mates! small world.

anyway de point of this entry was that once i started posted pictures of today's event, i got immediate comments from my tiny circle of webby friends. i dun know how to describe this feeling. but i seriously think its really cool how we are connected jus by de touch of a few buttons. we dun know each other except w de pictures we taken. our lives are inscripted onto these images. we dun know how each other look like (once again) except w de photographs we taken (seriously i look better in real life). and de comments they give. gosh. MAKE MY DAY!

so betti, gretchen, thanks for de lovely comments. i will definitely have sweet dreams when i sleep.

fall into places

this whole entire week totally wrecked. literally. its a rare opportunity to get a week break before de start of a new job. i have planned so much things to do and i cun. i was down. i was sick. de entire package - sore throat, cough and flu.

i am not totally bedridden. i was still out but only for a couple of hours. that is all i can manage. i was tellin my friends what a loser i am. whole week of freedom and i was sick! gosh.

yet in a funny way, i am grateful that i am sick. if i didnt fall sick, i wouldnt be at home resting and cleaning. yup. i didnt know how and where i got de strength but i managed to do lotsa of cleaning. i trashed out tons of stuff. sort out stuff to be given to salvo. and its friggin therapeutic. hehehehehe.

there are still lotsa of cleaning up to be there. i wun be able to do it all at once. and i dun intend to do so. sometimes we try to do things as fast we can, we forgot to enjoy de process. we just want to get there. however its not de result that matters. whether i trash de stuff or pass it on to salvo, each piece bears a part of me. a bit of old memory. a part of me is movin on.

movin on is definitely not de easiest thing to do. it means letting go de past; dun dwell and move on. once de moving on get started, its actually pretty exciting. you know de whole sweaty palms, nervous wreck kinda exciting. maybe its de age thing. maybe its de meditation class. i really am lookin forward to de future. de unknown.

to my continuing brushing up my studio. to my re-decorating of my room. to my new job. to my teeny store. to life. to everything.

blk 151 at meiling street

i was asking my friend, andrina if she would like to join me for a sunday meditation session. it was then she shared w me de story of de people at blk 151 at meiling street (whom she helped out every sunday morning).

de folks (i really hate to use the word "old") at blk 151 live alone in their tiny studio bedroom. they have no or little savings; and for most of them, they do not have any relatives to look after them. as these folks are NOT under any scheme or have de support of any charitable organisation, they are dependent on de government to help them w their daily survival aka FOOD. de ministry of community development, youth and sports (MCYS) provides de folks lunch on weekdays. however when it comes to weekends, they have to depend on themselves.

andrina's sister learnt about this and take it upon herself to find sponsors to contribute for these folks' lunch on de weekends. and of course by force of nature, this story is spread to andrina then to me then to couple of my friends.

my first reaction to this was "wow lao, mcys provides for de week .... might as well provide for weekend". and i do my usual "complaining". once that was out of the way, i told andrina i will help w one sunday lunch*.

seriously its not alot. there are 50 of them. one lunch cost only S$3! this bring us to de GRAND TOTAL of S$150! we could easily spend that amount on clothes, bags, shoes, books. if we not buy these stuff, it would make de tummies of 50 people v v happy!!

and i could tell andrina and gang put alot of effort in taking care of them. some of the folks are unable to walk or when they fall sick, they will bring de food to them. in addition, they know that mcys provide economical rice every weekday, they would buy other lunches such as char siew rice, chicken rice as a change for them. they also ensure that if gravy is to be poured into de rice, they will request it to be added aside - de folks actually half their lunch so they can have de other half for dinner!

de folks at blk 151 are a pretty cool bunch of people. if there are no sponsors for de week, they would rally and figure out what to do next. when i was told this, i was speechless.

i am now appealing to all to help these folks at blk 151 (suddenly i feel like a celebrity on tv w my sobbing eyes ... ). one sunday lunch for 50 people is only S$150! we so far managed to get sponsors to cover till 2nd week of june. if we cun find sponsors, they will have to starve!

as this a "strangers-help-other-strangers" scheme, all contributions are NOT tax exempted (moi not charitable organisation). in return, handmade paper flowers (by de wonderful folks at blk 151) will be sent to you.

if you cannot help financially, you can help spread de word by linking this entry in your blog or email de link to your friends, colleagues and so on.

lastly, to find out more on how you can help, you can email me at mnsl@yahoo.com and i will get in touch w you asap.

on behalf of de folks at blk 151, thanks for reading this entry.

*in case you wonder why sunday and what happened to saturday?? de team managed to get sponsor for sat for de next 6 months. thus we now focusing on sunday.

stubby is sick

all my plans of shooting stuff, updating de stores are gone. my plan of shopping at places i hardly visited gone. everything i planned GONE. i am now busy coughin out phelgm and blowin my nose and indulgin in sick people food. sob sob.

earning karma points

think we all know by now, there are tons of people out there who need our help. i am not someone who like to get down and dirty BUT i know i can contribute. well money in this case. in de next few entries, i would share w you some of de people that i am helping. mostly international. however i did not forget about local as well.

there are also tons of organisations that need our help. and i dun have a particular "choosing criteria". i might heard from friends, seen them on tv or just stumble upon them. i can only have faith that my contributions will be used appropriately.

so read on and earn some karma points!

ohhh its another update

yes i havent update de store. i am holiday lagged. i need another holiday to get over de melbourne holiday ... hehhehehehe. anyway this is what i have been up to for de past week.


- i have started goin to a healing/meditation class. its not easy. actually its rather emotionally draining. but i truly believe de rewards will be great.

- had an impromptu dinner w mio, diana and mike. it was great thrashing everything out. i learnt some stuff that i did not expect. even till now i am still in shock.

- went to villa halia w kat. it was jus a great chance to get free food but there were way too many people for me to enjoy. but villa halia is v pretty and v nice place.

- kat and i headed over to dempsey. wanted to have dinner at karma kettle. but de moment we found de place and while we were four steps away, de friggin lights of de restaurant went off!!!! KARMA!

- met b2 for lunch. got a wonderful pressie from her. hehehehe a piggy journal!!! woohooo. this girl knows what make my heart ticks!

- once again met kat and jane for some catering function. what a turnoff! de catering co was bought over by a cleaning co and they friggin display some rodent pictures at de place. sigh.

- of course, we ran away and head to villa bali for great food and drinks!! de food at villa bali is pretty good.

- despite de rainy saturday, i head over to wessex village square. IWT is there. got to support.

- also met xin from makisquarepatch. and of course got make friend - cat from homespun! she is hilarious. she was pretty much harassed by me, jess and clara too. but i know deep down inside, cat enjoyed it. hahahahahah.

- after wessex, we went off to cicada for dinner to celebrate shirl, clara and wendy birthday. what a disappointment. de food is blah at cicada and to top it off, its expensive. de only redeeming factor is their dessert.

- ohhh i so glad they finally bring in de neutrogena citrus scrub to singapore. and i discovered T2 is in singapore too!! happiness.

next thu will be my last day at work. i have one week break before i start my new job. this will mean more time for yoga, shopping and de store. woohooooo ...

its alright ... and i am back

i am back people!! miss me?? this trip was good. v v good. and i think i really needed it. i did things that i dun do normally and totally surprised me.

- day one. i was beat (thanks to red eye flight) and my room was not ready. i ended walking around st kilda at 8am in de morning. went back to de hotel and took a nap before i meet jo for late lunch.

- my hotel was divine. though de room was small, it seriously is good (esp for de price i paid ... not easy to find hotel below $100).

- went off to brunswick on a rainy day. my polka dot umbrella was blown away. a man saw what happended and greeted me. sweet. despite i was cold and wet, i feel warm inside. thanks dude.

- brunswick was abit poser for me. i didnt enjoy that much. but did found a fantastic teashop and a cafe!

- and then it was off to sunday market. first stop st kilda market. errr nothing much. i jus cun bear to buy stuff that i know how to make. but i did find this cool stall run by an elderly couple who recycled old spoons and forks, and make de most wonderful bangle, rings and necklace. i bought a bangle and a ring. LOVING THEM!!!

- then its off to de arts centre sunday market. bigger but not necessary better. i enjoyed de basker act.

- lunch was at this place called chocolate buddha. pretty cool. for once, i actually like eating udon noodles.

- ian potter centre was my next stop. it was free but i wanted to see the sidney nolan exhibition so i paid for it. i cun believe de place is free for all. it doesnt have de typical monet, picasso, pollack (compared to moma, mets); it still have pretty impressive local (australian) collection. i heart!!

- the australian centre of moving images was rather confusing for me in terms of ticketing. i ended up only at de gift shop and bought tons of postcards. muahahhaah.

- as i have a bit of time left, i toured de city abit. errr dun like. too sparse ...

- de following day was chapel street day. i went there on my first day but i was too tired to appreciate it.

- i really like chapel. actually love. country road was having sales. i almost wipe out de whole store. ohhh did i mentioned i found salvos??!! they rock. i love. i really wanna buy that dresser. i want i want!!! i also like dinosaur design but too much for my pocket.

- de low of chapel was i went to this talk-about italian place - caffe e cucina. errmmm dun bothered. my pasta was oversalted and de lobster was overcooked. only good thing was de latte at de end of my meal.

- i also went to queen victoria market. so happy there as i bought most of my pressies to friends from there. hehehehehe.

- next was lygon street for lunch. i waited 10 years to eat de chicken spinach pasta at papa gino. i made de silly mistake of ordering a main course. i only managed to finish half de plate and tabao de rest. it was alright for me.

- after lunch, it was gelato time!! i ordered my usual mango and passionfruit. it was v sweet for me. then i saw de blood orange flavour. darn.

- melbourne experienced de worst wind ever. car got banged. people got injured. i was glad i was indoor.

- i was at the national gallery of victoria. once again de entry was free. its good. i managed to catch the myer fashion gallery where i fall in love w a gown by dior.

- of course, i needed to visit at least a garden in melbourne. thanks to de wind storm - the melbourne international flower show was cancelled de day i wanted to go. so i off to fitzroy gardens. love it there. i took really cool pictures there too. i actually so-so w de flowers. i was more fascinated w de gardener who was pruning de conservatory. kinda stalkin him. hahahhaha.

- i ended my trip w a shop around de city. i really dun fancy de city. and most important i was grossed out by koko black. its used to have really good hot chocolate. now i think its mediocre. its cheap chocolate. why why why??

de trip was really amazing. i actually chatted w strangers. i am friendly in emails but when u see me in real person - i am not that nice. hahahhaha. i chat w pple at de supermarket. met a swiss guy whom i bonded. and of course hanging around this aussie mother and daughter.

now i jus hope that it dun take another 10 years for me to go back to melbourne.


p/s: ohhh for pictures ... please click here.