I'm at a place in my life where peace is priority and negativity cannot exist.

Lack of updates because I'm busy preparing for everything sighs. I am done with both my internship reports and have submitted them. Yay! I can finally breathe! :D 

Previous week's happenings.

1. Intern lunch @ Standing Sushi Bar

Guess who's feeling rich that day that we all decided to Grab all the way to Bras Basah for our sashimi fix? No wonder my monthly expenses were doubled that of Amanda's. With that said, I haven't gotten my pay yet LOL. T.T

(Plate of salmon sashimi)

It is quite a good deal actually! They have a promotion on Mondays, and so it only cost $3 for 5 sashimi slices! I paid $7 for mine, including service charge and GST. It is cheap and good, yumz! :D

P.S. The restaurant must be so happy to serve us. We only ordered salmon sashimi and we only stayed there for 30 minutes or so. But they earned ~$75 from us. LOLOL.

2. Mother's Day celebration

Belated celebration because we refused to squeeze with the crowds on the actual day itself. Blame it on me because I forgot to reserve any restaurants. Oops. But ohwell, in my defense, I managed to get a great deal! :D

(Big platter)

(The legendary pot)

(Cheese sauce)

So I booked The Flame Cafe using the Eatigo application and I received a $5 Capita mall voucher. Say whut?! I am a happy kid. LOLOL. (:

With that said, I didn't actually like the restaurant. The waiter tried to 'con' us into getting some expensive set ($38 per pax), but lucky the sharp-eyed me found a $20 set. The two sets were similar, just that the more expensive option includes expensive seafood such as Tiger Prawns. But the cheaper option serves prawns as well, so I don't see the reason why I should pay more...?

Shortly after we were served our food, the soup started spilling out. I guess they didn't tighten properly or the pot might be cracked, I don't know. We had to request for a change. T.T

There was a wide variety of food available, and the best part? It is free flow! From vegetables to the different types of mushrooms, different types of meat to different types of seafood. They do serve drinks such as Thai milk tea and fruit punch, and ice cream which is damn nice.

But wait, I haven't gotten to the problem yet. So despite the wide array of food available, the waiters forever cannot get my order rights. One moment they served me the wrong food. The next moment they missed out some food from my order list, and it still didn't arrive even after I submitted my order list twice. There was also once when they lost my entire order form. I have waited for so long for my food to arrive and now they were telling me that the order list was gone?!

This restaurant is featured on a lot of platforms, and is endorsed by many bloggers. However, customer service really means a lot to me. So my verdict for The Flame Cafe: not worth the hype.

3. Dinner @ Griddy's with Amanda

Finally met this girl after what seems like eternity. Hahahaha! She's always too busy to make time for me tsktsk. Popped in to Griddy and gosh, the both of us started coughing non-stop. The smoke from all the cooking is really $('&) :&=% terrible. T.T

(Soup in a cup)

I like this idea of serving soup in a cup. And their cups are so minimalistic, very aesthetically pleasing. Thumbs up! :D

(Sides)

The set meal comes with a side as well. It was quite worth it - $10 for the three-course meal. I approve :D

(Chicken steak with Aglio Olio)

It is not spicy, thankfully. But I didn't really like their main course. It is lacking somehow. Hmm... And dry I would say. Ohwell, wouldn't come back again unless I'm feeling broke yet still craving for atas food. Hehehes :D

(Mango Shaved Ice)

After the recent Bingsu craze that took over Singaporeans, I'm sure many of us would have forgotten the taste of one of our all-time favourite Taiwanese dessert - mango shaved ice! :D Glad to find this shop selling mango shaved ice in Westgate, Jurong East. I forgot the shop name. LOL.

(Teriyaki Squid)

My favourite food ever. Hahahas, super stroked to chance upon the Japan festival (?) after dessert and they have a discount for this because late at night already LOL. We got this box at $5, and it is really a huge portion! :D Yessss!

This was never meant to work.
I was holding on to nothing.

I'm going to make everything around me beautiful - that will be my life.

(Ripped from Tumblr)

End of Week 5 internship. 

Time flies and I only left one more week to go. Gosh. I got new tasks to do and I'm feeling pretty excited about it. Hehehes :D I embarked on this project, but it is quite saddening because I cannot follow up on it so T.T Sighpie.

Suddenly regretting signing up for summer school because I want to extend my internship but I cannot. Zzz. Ohwell... I will miss everything. My job, my friends, the work environment. Most importantly, I want to see my project materialise. x.x

1. CBAC with Yan Lin

Took a half-day leave to join this Criminal Behavioural Analysis Competition and it was quite an interesting experience. Thankfully YanLin is free to join the competition with me, and it was quite fun and enriching as we were given puzzles to solve.

(Buffet lunch organised by CBAC)

Didn't know we could get replacement for our missing teammates (LOL, they couldn't get here because of work), if not we would have gotten other friends to join us instead! But ohwell.

I realised last year it was also only me and Yanlin who attended LOL because the rest have lectures/tutorials during the competition time. LOL, me and Yanlin were jokingly saying that maybe for the next year, we could just sign up with both our names will do :P

2. Lunch with Boss

Went out for a shoot that day and I had lunch with my boss alone. Thankfully it wasn't that awkward. LOLOL, I realised Winnie love taking photos of food also! Hahaha, that moment when she went "this angle good, this angle!" I got a shock of my life. Hehehes :D

(Omo Omo Food Concepts)

(Boss ordered three different types of chicken)

Aesthetics 10/10

Taste 10/10

Worth checking out this eatery. It is $8 for this bowl of goodness. Would totally go again if it is not located at Kallang Wave Mall which is 100,000 miles away from my home. Hahahaha! T.T

(Getting our Starbucks fix)

Slacked in Starbucks for a good 1.5h because we were waiting for the crew to arrive. What an excruciating wait because we have nothing to do. But I'm thankful for the aircon and the one-for-one Starbucks promotion. My boss even thought of a caption for me in case I wanted to post the picture on Instagram. Isn't she cute! (:

3. Lunch at NTU with family

Back to NTU again. This time we tried the Szechuan food stall and I wasn't that impressed with the food. LOL, should have just stick to our usual Ayam Penyet.

(Egg with tomato)

(Greens)

(Pork with celery)

A lot of greens this time. I feel healthy LOLOL. I have been eating so much junk food these days, thanks to intern life. Time to cut down, hmm...

4. Bingsu with the sister

The sister decided to extort money from me again. LOL, this time round she brought me all the way to Hillion Mall to satisfy her Bingsu cravings. And guess what? We found this cheaper alternative at the food court at Hillion Mall!

(Hillion bingsu)

Injeolmi bingsu which costs $8, it tasted fine! Next time can go visit again. :D But someone please control me from eating too much bingsu. I'm having an overdose now. LOL. 

While trying to be, still subconsciously
thinking how others may want us to be
ask yourself: are you doing it for you
or are you doing it for them
it's okay to let it all go
the constant journey
and battle for growth

It's all about taking a deep breath and telling yourself it'll be okay, because eventually, it will.

Thoughts on Y2S2

Gone in a blink of an eye. Things began to take flight, and it was my best semester thus far. I hope my lucky stars will continue to shine for me. I am really grateful for everything.

(Ripped from Tumblr)

Thank you for being my constants in life.

To Amanda, Huiqi, Vivian and JJ. Even though we do not take any/many modules together / different schools totally, thank you all for staying by and giving me moral and emotional support. Throughout the entire semester, I was bombarded with overwhelming workload, annoying projects and inefficient groupmates. On top of that, chasing after deadlines and dealing with high expectations of myself. I was constantly worrying about anything and everything. Thanks for lending me a listening ear and having to put up with my rants.

To Dewei, Chermin, Jamie and Licheng. The only thing that I do not regret taking NM2212 is meeting you guys. Thanks for making the unbearable module bearable. I guess ranting about McGee together brings everyone close. :D But nahs, I'm never taking his module again. Once bitten, twice shy. LOL! Thanks for treating me like the little sister you never had, for pampering me and giving me life advice. Even though you guys always bully me, but thanks for giving me the opportunity to learn to be strong. HAHAHAHA.

To my NM3215 project mates - Sarah, Elodie, Jakob and Chiuyi. I guess we all had a rough start (and rough end) LOL. But I guess despite all the mishaps faced, everything turned out to be fine in the end. I had heard a lot of horror stories about exchange students, but thankfully my groupmates were not like that. Thanks for being enthusiastic for our project work!

To myself. Congratulations on surviving this horrible semester. A terrible decision to overload again, but I guess I find joy in torturing myself. LOL. Glad to find back my inner extroverted self bit by bit - I guess I have been too suppressed over the past semesters because I have no friends to go crazy with. Hahaha! But yeahs, I believe my future will be even brighter than before!

It was a journey of self-discovery as well.

I decided to take a leap of faith and take a design module this semester and found the other side of me: I actually love designing! Maybe not design-design, but more of creating collaterals and coding for webpages. Hehes, it was tedious because I'm a beginner (noob), but it was fun so I enjoyed the process very much! Wouldn't mind doing all over again so long I get my hands on the softwares. Hahaha! (:

Grades weren't everything, but I'm glad that my hard work paid off.

I did better for this semester than expected, so I guess that was something for me to be proud of. But then again, it is not an excuse for me to slack. I need to continue working hard to even out the bad grades that I have gotten over the past few semesters. Hmm... Lesson learnt after four semesters in school: take modules that you enjoy rather than taking them because your friends are taking them or because you think that the modules are very beneficial! Oh and another thing, I am so glad that I finally broke the curse of getting super ridiculous grades for Psychology. LOL! Just as I was playing with the thought of giving up my minor, I guess I should continue to trust myself.

But of course, your teachers/professors play an important role as well.

For this semester, I am super glad to meet nice teachers along the way. Special thanks to Mr Aaron Ng, he is very detailed in his teaching and ever so willing to help. There was once I screwed up my coding for my website assignment, and he sat with me to go through it during the entire tutorial session. Thanks for fuelling my passion and interest in designing. (:

I'm grateful to Mr Kelvin Yeo as well. He really went out to the extra mile to help us in our project. With a vast experience working in the different fields, he is really knowledgeable. He gives us many tips and draws a lot on his personal experiences when he lectures, so I really gained and learnt a lot from taking his module. He is easy to talk to as well, which is no wonder why we don't feel ashamed for annoying him with many queries regarding our project. Thanks for being such a gem!

With vision, stardust and heartstrings,

bridge the gap between

dreams and reality.

Travel far enough, you meet yourself.

End of Week 4 internship.

Two new interns joined us last week and our lunch group just expanded to 9 of us. LOL, what a big group. Grateful to all of them because it has been a long while since I have such a big group of friends. Hehehes (: As the internship is coming to an end, I can't help but feel sad. I really like this bunch of intern friends. Wouldn't trade them for anyone else.

(Udon)

I forgot which eatery I went to, but it was a small shop tucked in a corner at Square 2. It is beside Pastamania to be exact. This bowl of goodness costs $8.90. It tasted not bad!

Spending way too much for lunch as an intern. LOL, I compared my lunch expenses with Amanda the other day, and it was horrifying to find that I actually spent double of hers?! Wth. Consequences of having male intern friends who eat like there's no tomorrow. After lunch, there will always be desserts and tea. Gosh. And I will join them in buying also, because temptations. Ahhh.

Work-life balance. I scheduled a lot of meetups with friends as well, :D But it is tiring to go out after work. Sighs.

1. Meetup with the NM people

First group of friends I found in NM. Thanks for making me believe that making genuine friends in University is not impossible. I'm glad that I can continue walking down the rest of my University life with y'all. :D

(Ripped from therantingpanda.com)

Went Koh Grill and Sushi Bar for dinner and I finally tried Shiok Maki! It is really Shiok! Advantage of going out in big groups: you can order more variety and pay lesser. Hahaha! We tried their stir-fried noodles and seafood fried rice as well, and really, it was the nicest rendition that I have ever eaten! I finally understood what all the rave is about HAHAHA.

(Ice Lab)

First time trying Ice Lab, and hmm, I felt that it was overrated. LOL, definitely prefer Oma'spoon or Nunsaram over this!

2. Meetup with Vivian Phang

My good old secondary school friend. Hahaha! It's funny how we are both in the same major yet we seldom see each other in school. Hmm, but always a good catch up session with her.

We headed to Sunday Folks for dinner. Waffles for dinner? Hahaha yup, we are insane. Vivian said she has a craving for ice and waffles, so off we go!

(Still looks good)

However, I guess it has been a long time since I last stepped in Sunday Folks. Everything changed omg. The counter now doesn't display the different ice cream flavours. Instead it is replaced by a display of colourful cakes. And we have problems deciphering the menu, so there are some hiccups in the ordering process. LOL.

(The Red Turtle)

After dinner, we travelled all the way to The Projector for a movie! Omg, it is a place whereby I have always wanted to try just that it is very far so I'm lazy to travel. Excuses I know LOL. $11.50 for the movie ticket, I think is quite pricey but for the experience, it is worth it!

The movie plot was about this man shipwrecked on a tropical island, and how he fell in love with a turtle-turned-woman. Hahaha reminds me of the recent drama that I just watched - Legend of the Blue Sea - whereby the male lead fell in love with a mermaid-turned-woman. Hahahaha!

3. Dinner with Vivian Ng

Dropped by Bugis to meet this babe! Cheapskate us ate Eighteen Chef for dinner because there is the $6.40 student meal deal. (: Ordered my favourite baked rice with the mango sauce. Hehehe :D Save money for dinner, so can get dessert! 

(Nunsongyee)

First time trying as well. It is not bad, but it is on the expensive side. So I still prefer O'ma Spoon or Nunsaram! (: Got our favourite chocolate banana flavor!

4. Tea with the sister

Went out of office last Friday and lucky me got to knock off earlier. (: The sister decided to jio me for bingsu because she was in the vicinity. Geeez, always make use of me to pay for her cravings ehs T.T

(Nunsaram)

Got the large Tiramisu because there is 20% discount hehehes! I like the cake, but nahs, my verdict is that tiramisu don't go well with bingsu LOL! 

But yeahs, I think I may be insane for eating bingsu three times this week. But I'm never getting sick of it. Especially if the weather is going to continue like this - damn hot. (:

You make me feel like I can
never get close enough to you.
As if our souls were trying to
hold each other, but our bodies
got in the way.
-Zachry K. Douglas

Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud.

(Ripped from nancylovephotography.com)

"Darling.

There are those who will light up your sky.
And those whose sky you light up.

There are those who will love you for who you are.
And there are those who you will crave being yourself around.

There are those who will dive into your ocean.
And those whose depth you will want to drown in.

There are those who will make your heart flutter in happiness.
And those whose hearts will flutter at your sight.

There are those whom you will love.
And those who will love you.
And if the ones you love love you back,
Darling, you will forever see joy.

But if they feel the same way you feel about them towards someone else,

Darling, that will be a disaster.

You may be a disaster for a day,

A month.

Or a year.

Just don't be a disaster forever.

Find the harbor of safety.

And find the one who feels about you the same way you feel about them."

-Najwa Zebian

Late night conversations.

Last week was super hectic, I swear. Did more field trips at work, and after work was just endless of meetups with friends. T.T I'm so drained. Signs of getting old, x.x Can I just nua at home...

1. Caught a movie with JJ

(Guardians of the Galaxy)

The movie was okay luh. The typical plot you get from all the other movies. There will be evil forces trying to destroy something, then a hero will interfere and after all the fights, the hero will win and save the everyone. Hahaha, cliche much.

I was just so tired that I slept during the first half of the movie. What a waste of money LOL. But at least I managed to wake up and catch the second half, which has all the exciting fighting and action scenes. But still, reached home late at night and immediately concussed out in bed. LOL.

2. Dinner with Hui Qi

Went to eat Mad for Garlic with Hui Qi because she got discount again. Hehehes! One of my favourite restaurant thus far. To be honest, I didn't know it was a Korean restaurant until I come across it on sethlui.com LOL jialat. Then went I scrutinised the menu, I realised there's actually Korean translation at the side. Oops!

(Gorgonzola Cheese Pizza)

The waiter kept warning us that this cheese is very stinky and not everyone will like it; it is similar to blue cheese (or is it a type of blue cheese? LOL, I have no idea). But we don't care, just whack and order and pray that this better be some good stuff.

But hehes, it was a hit! We really love it so much, (: It comes with a honey dipping sauce, but I prefer eating the pizza without the sauce.

(Crab and lobster pasta)

Plate of goodness with crab and lobster meat, cooked in garlic cream sauce. Damn delicious, this is our must-get dish whenever we head to the restaurant.

(O'ma spoon)

What's new. O'ma spoon again, this time green tea bingsu. I love the branch at Marina Square, because it was located in such a ulu area that it was always empty everytime I patronise the dessert shop. But yeahs, we have to walk damn far to get there T.T

3. Dinner with Jiaying

She waited for me for damn long because I was caught up with things. I'm so sorry! We patronized the Kanshoku Ramen Bar at the Somerset branch. It was not bad, but expensive LOL. But then, it is Town, so hahaha!

(Signature Kanshoku Ramen)

Added the ramen egg because it is the most fantastic thing on Earth. I finished the bowl empty, I think the broth is damn nice.

(Truffle Edamame)

This was so epic. We didn't know what was edamame so we asked the waiter. We should have googled omg. He said it was "bean pot" then we were like okay... But you cannot go wrong with truffle rights! So we just ordered and got a shock of our lives.

I think the waiter meant "bean pods", is just that we have listening problems / he has pronunciation problems. But I was thinking about a pot of beans. LOLOL. But yeahs, I don't like to eat beans, and neither do Jiaying. However, to our surprise, the dish was actually nice after we tried it. Thankfully, if not it would be another $5.90 wasted. Hahahaha!

Strolled around Orchard after that and we just kept getting lost. LOL, no sense of direction. How to survive in Korea like that?!

Have you ever noticed how
streetlights turn on too early?
They remind me of our soft
hearts and how, in spite of
the coming night, they glimmer
and let whoever is out there
that we are still breathing.

We are here to heal, not pretend to be perfect.

(Vlog: Celebrating the 21st)

So I turned 21 last month.

I know it was a great deal, because I am finally a legal adult and am 'big' enough to make my own decisions. However, everything just feels surreal to me... There's no flamboyant parties. Just a simple celebration with my loved ones - my dearest family and friends. You can check out my vlog above if you are interested. I put in effort for it. Hahaha! :D 

Come to think of it, I have toned down quite a lot. Since young, when I was still a primary school kid, I really love birthday parties. I'd hold one every year, and I'd invite everyone that I know to my party, be it close friends or mere acquaintances. I really would like to thank my parents for helping me prepare for the parties, from the preparation of cake and food to the packing of goodie bags as thank you gifts. Now that I think of it, it was really quite dumb of me. Hahaha! I remember being on cloud nine for lugging a whole bag of presents home, and sometimes I even have to rope in the help of my friend if the presents were too heavy for me to handle it alone. Yes, presents meant a great deal to me then.

Then comes secondary school. Birthdays meant spending the entire day with your family and friends. I'd go play activities such as bowling, pool, table tennis or even catch a movie. The day would then end off with a lavish dinner (during those days when I am just a poor secondary kid, and yes, Swensens is my definition of lavish). It was still fun, and I still received many presents despite the significant reduction since primary school days.

And then junior college. I realised we spent most of our birthday celebrations at a KTV, either Teoheng or Kbox. Every time someone's birthday comes, it would be a pretty standard procedure. We'd go singing after school, followed by dinner. I remember that we have a fun element as well: either smashing cake/flour on someone's face or hiding someone's stationery and books everywhere in the classroom. The most memorable event that I remembered, was the day during my birthday, my clique actually spoke to my lecturer (who was also my Maths tutor then), and in turn he kept picking on me during the entire lecture. HAHAHA. "Birthday girl, please answer this question." And me being me, I didn't pay attention to lectures, so you would have guess the outcome. LOL!

University days. Friends come and go, and with my much smaller social circle, I stopped feeling as enthusiastic as before for my birthday. Since the start of university till now, it has always been a simple dinner celebration with family and friends. Everyone, including myself, is just too busy with school/work such that we can only meet for dinners. And yes, my birthday fall on the last week of the semester, which clashes with all the deadlines. This makes it even harder to do anything much. But I am ever so grateful for those who stay by, and help me celebrate. Thank you.

Ahh, those were the days.

I'm not sure if it is because I am turning old, and hence I kept reminiscing about the past. But I guess I like where I am now. Turning old comes with more responsibilities, but it shall be a journey of learning and gaining knowledge.

Happy 21st to me.

Life can be so busy at times,
that we forget about taking care of ourselves.
Today, make sure you take some time just for you.
You deserve it!