second star to the right, straight on til morning

MOVED

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:03:28 GMT

hi i have moved because i have reached the max limit for photo uploads

Http://etheleats.livejournal.com

add me, friends! :)

the brothers bloom

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:45:48 GMT

Cornell has an old-school cinema with a wooden ticketing booth behind plexi glass, with someone sitting on a highstool behind the counter, the musty smell of wooden seats, and the fragrant waft of buttery salted popcorn, wooden stage with velvet red curtains and rope tassles. The setting for a friday night movie after class, The Brothers Bloom.

Ingenious.

Thanks Kelly, for raving so much about this movie that it piqued my interest enough to catch it on a cold, wet friday night :)

stay indoors when its wet, Cornellians.

ohh i hate this drastic, erratic change in weather.

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:17:36 GMT

the scariest thing right now, is the fact that it's happening all too fast.
and I need something tangible to make it all feel better.

flow

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:06:36 GMT

missing a lot of things.

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:09:45 GMT

I haven't exactly had the time to really blog about being in the US. so here's an attempt to summarize what it's been like.
crazy, for one.
its a whole new culture, okay maybe not totally new I mean we are obviously quite influenced by pop culture in Singapore, but it's now IN YO FACE and it's everywhere. I think it's just been a little overwhelming for me, being immersed in it 24/7. I like to take refuge in my Singaporean and asian buddies here, let loose with the singlish and chinese for a bit. Even the occasional "wahlaus" and "lahs" are so comforting to hear.

Cornell is a beautiful campus though, amazing. Better than anything I could have ever pictured or imagined, From the brick buildings to the ivy creeping on the walls, to the green green grass and the massive trees, and the clock tower, to the suspension bridges over waterfalls and gorges. I cannot believe people say that Cornell is boring, I'm discovering something knew and something I love about it every single day.

I can't wait til classes start on Thursday, Yours truly is taking Italian and Intro to Architecture along with my core courses in hotel management. So exciting. I think I only started to appreciate the US system now, the fact that they give you the liberty to really take anything you want, learn anything you want and tailor your own schedule and your own future.

Can't wait :)

it's laundry day

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:11:38 GMT

just did my laundry, on my own, for the very first time in my life
hahaha
typical singaporean kid overseas for the first time :)
this is cool.

sunkissed

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:49:25 GMT

lovely lovely day spent at the state park having an american style bbq, and a few games of ultimate frisbee, barefoot on the long grass :)
and a walk to the waterfall, too bad I had to pass up the chance to swim this time.

last night, i looked up while walking back to my dorm and wow, the sky was just glittering. This place is so scenic, beautiful. i hope i don;t discover everything so soon though, i want the next four months to be continual surprises and "wow" moments.

Ithaca is Gorges

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:46:22 GMT

Mmm. Ithaca is amazing.
Cornell is massive. Its a workout walking from my dorm to my school, or any area outside of north campus. Orientation has been fun so far, I've met so many people from all over the world, quite literally. :)
It's been an interesting first few days :)

I have actually exceeded the number of photos that I can upload on this livejournal account! Haha I couldn't believe it myself. Time to start a new one (because I am a cheapskate at heart and refuse to pay for an account)

Let you guys see my room in a bit! :)

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:55:28 GMT

honestly.
right now
I want out.

big red cornell

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:27:50 GMT

From Singapore to Tokyo to New York to Boston to Niagara Falls to Toronto and finally, we're in Ithaca

Moving in tomorrow! :)

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:42:26 GMT

Thanks for the send off, everyone :)

Konichiwah, btw.

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:40:41 GMT

You know this isn't Goodbye :)

the final weekend

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:43:46 GMT

Des and Nad stayed over on Friday night after we sent Ball, Huimins and Shu home. We were all cramped up in my mess of a room there was literally no walking space at all. With my huge ass unfinished packed luggage, clothes packed for a flea market in basket and boxes, more crap and boxes and things in between here and there. But twas fun, thank you for helping me pack and for the awesome company you guys. And the next day was another mad rush, send desmond to Ubi, make pancakes for ball's birthday (HAPPY 19TH AND A DAY BIRTHDAY ANNABELLE LEOOWW!), drop Nad off, go to Balls house and meet polly, SURPRISE!

Rush down to the flea market at SMU unpack arrange pack pack pack reaarrange yada yada.
The flea market didn't go too well for Kelly Zara and I :( The worst part is packing up, after you've realised how much you still have to bring home! :( I always feel so horribly guilty at flea markets, for buying too much junk that I no longer use or just don't want to use. We did however, relieve some very horrible fashion pasts, (not always ours) faux leather pants, shinyyyyyyyy, wierd puff sleeve dresses, bright skirts, dresses with colorful prints, and then you think to yourself, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING WHEN YOU BOUGHT THAT?!?!

Sunday, the DG girls surprised me with breakfast :) it's amazing the kind of food 13 year olds love to have for breakfast. White bread, nutella, peanut butter, oreos, and a whole fat slab of cadbury chocolate with honeycombs. hahaha AMAZING. Good thing you girls aren't just limited to growing horizontally.

and then it was a very nice lunch at Bollywood Veggies (all the way at Lim Chu Kang whoaseh) and then, tea with Shu and Des at PS Cafe :) Shu and I wanted to eat the weekend brunch which lasts til 5pm on weekdays. It was a mega ass plate of sausages, bacon, baked beans and very very nicely scrambled eggs on buttered toast mmm
before we tried the cheddar crust apple pie a la mode with a scoop of vanilla bean icecream mmm.
It was perfect, sitting outside on the verandah with our bench seats overlooking the green everything outside. Sunday perfection :)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:30:54 GMT

taken by justin kon thank you thank you thank youu i love the colours and your awesome camera with its amazing flash and lennnnsssssss (es) MMM

thank you

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:26:25 GMT

Thank you, all of you who came down to my place yesterday and hid very sneakily in the toilet/living room/dining room/tv room in the dark and waited for me to come home to give me the surprise of my life (almost!)
I know my stunned face isn't very excited but seriously, that meant that i was REALLY DAMN STUNNED.

At least I got the chance to see almost everyone before I leave :)

Thank you Nadia Ahmad Samdin, Teo Hui Min, and Chye Shu Wen for being such amazing liars and stall-ers. and for drinking the crappy bubble tea just so we could delay, and shu, for standing in the stinky maconalds toilet cubicle for 20 minutes!

and Thank you Kenneth Ho and John Yeo for the MASCARPONE cheesecake! Damn shiok thank you :)
and for the helium balloons, Pearlyn Tam!

and Miss Chia for the book and postcard! And Amadea Ng for my incase laptop case (which also happens to match the color of my macbookpro!)
and for the flowers and card, Dawn. And for the pretty amazing notebook and post its, mission trip people :)
and daddyhoon and mommy hoon for being so sneaky and stealth and for doing this for me

and to Eve Hoon Li Yan, my amazing younger (although does not act this way) sister, for planning this whole shizzzzz even though you were so busy and being so damn stealth with it. I seriously didn't suspect a thingggg.

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:36:02 GMT

I've actually started packing and it feels so surreal. My room will soon no longer be in it's usual state of perpetual clutter and mess, my wardrobe will be semi empty, everything fitted nicely into my red luggage bag (hopefully)

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past"
-Thomas Jefferson

mmm. Something to mull about to keep things up i guess.

Say hi to Dr Marten Jara

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:30:42 GMT

Hi, Dr Marten Jara,
Thank you for being on proud display at Front Row, and for being the final pair in the perfect fit, and waiting so patiently for me to purchase you and bring you home and I;ll be taking you on all sorts of new adventures through the fall and winter weathers and you'll hopefully get to experience crunching through fallen brown maple leaves and trudging through snow. We're going to be great together :)

and also, thank you for being on sale. :)

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:24:17 GMT

you make it real for me

Happy Birthday Shu :)

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:20:22 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR CHYE SHUWEN
cafe hunting buddies :)

morning 9am (supposed to be 8.30am) macdonalds breakfast with Shu and Mins
mins and i are the birthday breakfast team (BBT) and we were totally dressed as a team :)

toying around with the holga flash that kennth gave to me
love the twilight effect

and then we drove to dempsey for a very very lovely lunch at PS cafe
I really can't capture the essence of this place in words, you need to take a trip down yourself and discover the wonder that is PS cafe. So i'll just tell you what we ordered and let the photos speak for themselves.
I am thoroughly in love with PS cafe. Thank you for the very lovely lunch shu. :)

amazing aromatic truffle fries sprinkled with parmesan cheese

fish and chips with fat fat fries

vegetable lasagne (which was surprisingly really good, even if you love meat)

the ps club sandwich which was so-so, but the bread was amazingly crisp

this is double chocolate blackout cake with chocolate sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream
THIS IS MY FAVOURITE DESSERT OF ALL FREAKING TIME
seriously. the mega ass huge tall cake is just to die for. Shu and I took a look at it in the display and KNEW we had to have a slice :)

banana crumble!

sticky toffee cake with ice cream and extra caramel
the toffee icing is amazing.
very very very sweet cake, if you really have a sweet tooth.

we also had profiteroles which were drenched (as the menu describes) in dark chocolate sauce and flaked almonds. My pictures are all out of focus so I;'ll wait for shu's then upload.
we also had key lime pie which was a refreshing change from the chocolatey desserts we all ordered.

flowers lining the wooden boardwalk in

happy birthday my dear :)
I hope you thoroughly enjoyed your birthday. I know I sure did. I know being 19 opens no new doors, not like turning 18 or 21 but it's still awesome to join the 19 year old club now, with all yo friends. But still, soon we'll all be trooping off to Uni and a whoole new exciting experience will start and I can't wait for us to all get back together again in December :)

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:16:45 GMT

Kenneth bought me the blackbirdfly in red! Thank you so much! and for the holga flash too which I used today! it creates amazingly cool effects, twlight zones. :) thank you kenneth!!

yesterday morning, saw rena and i having breakfast at macdonalds Mmmm still have yet to have pancakes that beat macdonalds hot cakes (sadly) before meeting Shu! A very accomplished day for her, she got two pairs of specs made (yay for your cool frames and colors shu!) and scouted around for watch strap repair shops, and went to FOU DE FA FA (cafe yay at capital towers which will be posted about on cafediares) and getting caught in the rain before taking refuge in 1 Caramel for some hot cappucino and cakes with amazingly friendly and helpful staff :)

BTW, HAPPPY BIRTHDAY SHU
yes today is Chye Shu Wens birthday! so everyone out there who knows her. WISH HER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOW IF YOU HAVENT DONE SO!

viva la victoria

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:59:36 GMT

Mmm I've spent quite a bit of time in the East recently,

feeling all nostalgic again.
Friday, Nad Shu Wanping Kelly and I met up in the morning (or almost afternoon) to cycle and we went to places along the east (further further east) that I have never been to in y 2 years of jc. It is beeyootiful, and the weather was perfect for cycling, windy and cloudy but not grey or gloomy. And we had ThaiPan for lunch which is always a good thing, can never get enough of butter squid mmm.

And saturday evening saw VJC turning 25 years old, mmm a quarter of a good century :)
Dinner under a massive white canopy, jumbo seafood buffet, macaroons from bakerzin, 07a12, photos and videos of teachers in a way that you would never like to see but had massive fun seeing anyways.

I love VJC :)

The History Of Love

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:14:53 GMT

"And if the man who once upon a time had been a boy who promised he'd never fall in love with another girl as long as he lived kept his promise, it wasn't because he was stubborn or even loyal. He couldn't help it."

Yesterday was the start of Ball and my 2 weeks of fitness (if we can keep up). We spent 2 hours at the gym playing with the machines and walking on a steep inclined treadmill to "firm our butts" and then joined pilates class. I really miss doing hot yoga now.
But it's been fun, this whole exercising with a buddy and all. the 3 hours we spent in the gym really just flew by :)

HELLO FITNESS BUDDY! did you know that cold storage has self checkout counters now ITS AMAZINGLY FUN I;VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SCAN ITEMS wheeeeeee
and swipe my nets card :)

first few customers in ION! :)

and i bought this playsuit from topshop :) ITS MEGA HUGE BTW TWO LEVELS WHEEE i love topshop and ive been waiting for the one at ION to open for the longest time. I put in on reserve and thought about it throughout the afternoon adn dinner and i dreamt if it when i slept as well
and the next day, i bought it because it was the only size8 left and i reserved it and i had to get it and also, my mom gave me a topshop voucher :)
YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

yuanyang at fullhouse at far east I LOVE THIS
its only $2.20 for a large cup and the amazingly mindblowingly sweet milk tea goes perfectly well with the coffee. I cannot imagine drinking just the HK milk tea on it's own, blow your brains out with all that sugar

and it was back to ion again with peiyi and shuwen the next day! dunkin donuts for the win! okay, honestly, three of us have concluded that we prefer our donuts soft and airyyy and DDs donuts just aren'.t but you know, we love the novelty of it so we had to buy a donute

CAFE NUMBER 8 (If im not wrong)
telok ayer street china square central
it's apparently a chain of italian coffee stores, but theres only one opened in singapore
its friggin aromatic, i havent smelt better coffee, ever.

more of that on cafediaires!

this is amazing, i'm so glad shu and i decided to take this on it really gives me something to look forward to every week. And I love it how Shu eats, haha and tries anything and everything and ALSO SHE LOVES COFFEE LIKE I DO SO HOOORAYY TO THAT :)
we made a list on a paper napkin of the things we want to do before we both leave.
with checkboxes
so hopefully, in two weeks, most of that will be checked off :)

yilins belated birthday dinner with sandy, yilin of course, and ball at 15 minutes! Mmm don't think I'll ever get enough of that place. and we got yilin ice cream instead of cake because we all know that she doesn't eat cake.
happy belated birthday 19 year old, you!
we've been friends for 10 years now! DID YOU KNOW DID YOU KNOW
DECADE LONG FRIENDS.

dropping them off at serene centre :)

I've received my official drivers liscence in the mail today! :) HOORAH my only wish was that I had taken a better picture and that I had woken up early on the test day to get my hair done properly so that it wouldn't have looked as if I had just gotten out of bed. But ohwell,hopefully i'll never get pulled over by the police and then i'd never have to show it to anyone :)

It's finally Thursday now. Finally.
almost friday.

babysitting 101

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:43:37 GMT

I have about 3 weeks til I leave.

Mmmm meaningful weak began yesterday with Shu :)

I headed over to her place in the afternoon to watch the bigger sister in action! BABYSITTING!!
Everyone, meet Shulin and Weijie :)
Two very hyperactive and constantly hungry kids with very short attention spans, but still pretty well mannered and very easy to get along with. And also very eager and helpful with baking

SHO CUUTE
that is weijie trying to do his handsome face!

"i wanna mix the egg"

awww Shu was reading to Shulin!

and we made bread and butter pudding! :)

Ahhh okay Shu, hats off to you for being able to do this so often. I was quite tired at the end of the day and I barely spent 4 hours with them. Shu does this quite regularly. Feeding, making them take naps, watching over them, tending to their little needs, playing with them, reading to them. Wowza shu, I would love to have you as an older sister.

I also got my VISA done done done done HOORAY :)
Officially have a student visa sticker on my passport

and then it was dinner at a hidden cafe (cafe diaries again!) at OG orchard. quite literally hidden, right in the corner of the 3rd floor. I think you mgiht even miss it just walking past the entrance.
Hemispheres cafe!

egg mayo sandwich

im guessing pumpkin soup
darryl just ordered "the soup of the day" without asking what it was haha

chicken pasta!

muar otah
definitely recommend trying this if you're in the cafe
and if you like spicy food

It really is a hidden gem in the middle of orchard road. A real quiet sanctuary overlooking Orchard and all the hustle and bustle, you're in but you're out :) which is always nice sometimes when the noise just hits you too hard
Nothing great about this place, except that it provides that escape. The food is so-so. but everything on the menu is nett priced, no gst or service charge Hooray to that!
They have a very nice corner facing Robinsons which they have decorated very nicely, and have amazingly comfortable armchairs. You can just imagine sitting there for hours with a nice cup of freshly brewed coffee just staring out at the window at all the hustle and bustle and just being away from it. It's lovely. :)

and then we hung out at Gloria Jeans and it's always nice meeting up with people you haven;t met in a while. Thank you darryl and shuwen, dinner was simple and thoroughly enjoyable.

YAY to an awesome monday!

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:47:21 GMT

Choosing uni courses online is really confusing, all these codes and big fat cheem words like "managerial communicaton", "business computing", "organisational behaviour and interpretation skills". Hmmm
All I know is that I really want to take
culinary theory and practice
introduction to culinary arts
introduction to wines
wine and food pairing principles and promotions

Speaking of uni, I've ordered my macbookpro :)
that baby arrives at my place ont he 27th of August! MONDAY! Excited much!

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:23:29 GMT

Steamboat beach road dinner with Yuxiang and Usarin on Thursday night! Mmm we stuffed ourselves TTM and I gobbled down so much chickenrice garlic and chilli yumyumyum. and in the usual fashion of trackers, we ate more! AH BALLING at beach road market, yuxiang and i still think the word "ahh balling" is wierd and crude and sounds really, gross. Tang yuans sound so much more appetising!

and Usarin left yesterday. Mmmm everyone's leaving, it's so wierd I can't believe we're already 19. When we are older and successful and rich one day we will gather back together and share our success stories! :)

Friday night! Irvine Wine Dinner at SCC MMMMMMMM with the family and shannon tay!
heaven!
6 types of wine including a sparkling Meslier brut (which according to the commentary tasted like granny smith apples!! yum!)
and 6 courses of dinner. absolutely heavenly!
The menu for the dinner was pretty lengthy, and I always read the menu and think, wow the portions are going to be huge, because of the descriptions. For example:
Marinated Hokkaido Sea Scallops Timble with Salmon Roe, Poached Egg and Honey Mustard Dressing.
and you think, wowza how the hell am i going to finish all of that. But honestly, it's just because they list every single ingredient down. They cheat you like that. But it all added up and 6 courses made me sooo full. I even gave most of my meats to Shannon.
Dessert was to die for
"crisp fried milk chocolate croquette and masala mascarpone, espresso ice cream"
OHHH heaven heaven! I wish the croquettes were freshly fried and piping hot, the chocolate oozed out of the croquette as you broke into it. Heavenly. and the espresso ice cream is absolutely to die for, I like coffee ice cream but this was really THE BOMB. Theres a strong kick to it, but still not overpoweringly bitter.

Mmmm. Sometimes it really is nice to just have a pampering dinner like that. Whheee, thank you father hoon!