Tiff, if you want to grow, you need to embrace change. 

Embrace wholeheartedly

Go away. I'm still 25 😌

Repeat x10

Ended today not with any sign of lacklustre- it's an amazing feat, not sure when the last time I felt like that was. Decided that it's best to do a simple analysis of my weekend to determine what changed, and replicate it for future enhancement. 

Friday work exhausted me. Ended the day with a looong evening of chilling and drinks. Visited a nice rooftop bar w palz (Tiger's Milk at Ann Siang) but it wasn't enough to stop me from dreaming about my bed. 

Saturday was my decisive relaxed weekend. Went to Capitol theatre mall's food court for (possibility 1) Hokkien Mee. Either I was too hungry, or the dish (and possibility 2 Chilli) was perfect. I'd have paid up to $25 for this dish, but it was only 5$. #shutupandtakemymoney

Watched We Are X at the beautiful theatre and was completely intrigued from start to end. There was something in the way the main character, Yoshiki, spoke, the documentary cinematics, the tragedy surrounding the band and the way the fans formed a bond with XJ that drew me in. Yoshiki's brilliance over XJ's creation and management inspired me. After the doc ended and we were filing out of the theatre, a fan shouted 'we are' to which others spontaneously responded 'X', sealed the deal for me. There was definitely hesitation in response, but that accentuated the tension I was feeling inside. 

Sunday's lunch was good dimsum at Hua ting. Eduardo S was at a neighbouring table but I wasn't aware (of his portfolio Nor how he looks actly) till Al pointed out. Despite that, I was highly captivated by him throughout my meal. There was something about his presence that struck me. That was a powerful message of how presence can be so subtle yet alluring. 

Finally, I'm done with my wbts! 🙄

I'm a user of Snapc and ocbc mobile too (I admit, I just downloaded both Apps and learnt how to use them). I felt empowered. Hahaha. 

'He didn't do small talk'

-MBY

So eloquently put. !!!

This is what it means to live on. When granted hope, a person uses it as fuel, as a guidepost to life. It is impossible to live without hope.

1Q84, book 3, Chpt 5

'Just go with the flow. Things like this don't happen all that often in one lifetime. This is the magnificent world of a picaresque novel. Just brace yourself and enjoy the smell. We're shooting the rapids. And when we go over the falls, lets do it together in grand style!'

Chapter 16, 1Q84

'You can have tons of talent, but it won't necessarily keep you fed. If you have sharp instincts though, you'll never go hungry' 

1Q84

Interesting questions !

http://www.businessinsider.sg/airbnb-interview-question-2014-6/#.Vznmxvl974Y

My greatest takeaway from watching Korean variety shows was this: a group of newbies and a group of (entertainment show) veterans were on set. The veterans shared that one of their trainings involved thinking of their own identity and amplifying it - so that people identify you with it. And people instantly think of you when they encounter it.
Then the veterans threw out random words, and the newbies had to go in a circle and respond with a word/phrase associated with the random words.

The audience then saw that the newbs whose responses stood out belonged to those with a running theme, and that the theme matched the speaker's image.

Made me realise that you need to choose an image when you meet others, be consistent about it, and it needs to match who you are. You cannot choose an image that doesn't suit your look/personality as 1 it will not stick 2 it will not sell.

Baking with Chef Alexander

Late night shenanigans. Yesterday was the first day of our Long weekend break (May day holiday on Monday :D) 

Wanted the day to be more fruitful so we spontaneously (truth: Al forced me out of the comforts of my home and packed me into the car) drove to the nearest Phoon Huat @ Bouna vista mrt and got some baking supplies to bake - a chocolate cake and 'Super chewy chocolate cookies'. 

After 3 hours of shopping, preparing and clean up, we finally ended up w a molten choc cake and 5 lil bags of cookies. 

It's always an exciting experience baking because while al prides himself in his culinary skills, he is very afraid & cautious when it comes to baking. Love watching him following instructions to the decimal points (125grams mustttt be strictly followed to. I will use a spoon to flatten the flour to Ensure its 125 grams 360degree view around), and to the exact description (stir sugar and butter till soft and fluffy. POWER RAGE MODE ONNN, soft and fluffy!!!).

It's very kewt when he chides me for not following these instructions precisely (did they say to add the flour or sugar first?!) ... Does it matter?? His logic gets trampled upon when he is faced with a baking task. Good on him to want to expose himself to such arduous processes. 

Some pictures for laugh's sake. 
Mixing thoroughly. Yes I get great satisfaction hiding the electric blender and promoting the 'manual labour produces the best cookies'. 

He's pissed that I forgot to add in the egg before mixing it all up 😂

All in all, 18$ and 3 hours of this is probably not as delicious as a 20$ pack of awesome famous Amos cookies... But ,damn... This is yummy. Round 2 tonight?

http://motto.time.com/4182722/ivanka-trump-negotiation-skills/

http://youtu.be/m2ua3O_fdCY awww

This morning I woke up feeling so spritely because I had a very good walk with Pepsi the previous night. 

We raced up the hill together, I taught her to walk by my side leash-less, she looked remorseful when I got so worried about her dashing across a car.

I felt good about the increased levels of dependency and understanding between us. But I didn't expect to wake up with a smile and my first thoughts on her.. :)

oh. and i lost 2 kg during this one week.

-no snacking
-no perpetual sitting position

best feeling ever.

company aint doing well so i had to take unpaid leave from christmas to new year's break. it was such an awesome break (10 days, whaddup), i got to catch up on my personal to-do items, spend more time with family, read up some, get inspired by daily musings... i was ready to lead this lifestyle for long term.

i'm still uncertain about life, but i've heard that to know what youre passionate about (which i feel is a key ingredient to excellence), see what you do during your free time. with that, i want to document down my break to the new year.

Monday, 28 Dec
made breakfast-brocs, mash potato and sausages, all boiled & took me an hour still. it's all about practice, which i hadnt done in a while right... naturally i was exhausted, and napped. i dont know what got to me wheni woke up, proceeded to clean up the pool of the fallen leaves, played w ryan & did some gardening. then i packed ryan's 2016 school bag, cleared up his study area and threw 3 big black bags of things. the place is less clustered now. dinner was at a terrible jap restaurant at liang court w rach, ryan and al. came home, finally tried on my zalora goods and decided to return all except 1 dress and alex's christmas present.

Tues, 29 Dec
lunch at AS seafood with Vine and Jolly! recommendation success, always a pleasure. headed to Farahss after to visit the newborn twins. so adorbs... dinner was at shaw tower's thai eatery, dapao some ice cream and had THE TOUR. the lego tour. enjoyed the experience immensely... would be the greatest pleasure to work there, seems like the product of great minds.

Wed, 30 Dec
followed dad and ryan to office. chatted up the office ladies. lunch at burger king with the boys (ugh), got anderson ice cream with bro. atas taste leh... successfully visited mum's condo for the 1st time. quite a cosy place i must say. the achievement for that day was taking care of the 3 resident cats. i.used.to.be.terrified of cats... cola changed me. alex came over and we went to grandma's hawker for dinner (it's shit ass boring, but i kinda love how it's our go-to place when we have no inspiration for others). ryan cleaned the car's windscreen at home, i did some spring cleaning at the basement, alex sought to fix the bikes. eventually, alex rode a half-assed bike, ryan rode his hoverboard (?) and i ran, exploring the neighbourhood in orange valley. it was spontaneous and fun .

Thurs, 31 Dec
picked my outfit for grandma's Shanghai night bday celeb (1 jan). spring cleaned master bedroom, dad's area (behind the door) and the helper's room. a pity i'm too sentimental to be objective about my items... did massive lifting, shifting and throwing (awesome feeling). played quite a bit with meitu xiu xiu which is an amazing app. cleared a keystone module /edit 4jan-of which i learnt is not relevant to my step1 wts!!!/. couldnt decide what to do for countdown, al was really tired... we ended watching channel 5 with ryan. i fell asleep half way, alex woke me up to go to my room, he went home and that was it. HAHA. oh no.

Fri, 1 Jan 2016
I must say that by end of this week, i was v productive with my time! i did massive spring cleaning for most parts of my house. it's a great first step to revamping and beautifying my home. i woke up late on this day, did one more keystone (still irrelevant) and decided to go for a swim. called Al, and ended up at kepz with dad to golf. i didnt get my exercise done but i liked that Al got to do something he always wanted to :) we had to rush home to prepare after that for Shanghai Night! i was going for an extreme makeover with a rose cheongsam, full head perm and pinned fringe to a side. Bethy was a great help with the perm, so much so that i was so reluctant to wash my curls off after! everybody loved the curls, and ahma was happy. we still have not deduced her accurate age but she's almost 95% confirmed older than 87..

Sat, 2 Jan 2016
Late lunch wedding reception for Cel&Jas. it was lovely catching up with the sec sch girls. one of the more touching moments was seeing how one of the couple's grandma was looking on at them so radiantly, laughing at their cute speeches. this coupled along, with grandma's grand bday celebration yesterday, made me remember a promise i forced ahma to make maybe in 2010 - to be around for my wedding. if she's gna work on her end of the deal, i need to work on mine too.. anyway. after lunch, dilly dallyed at tangs for a bit (omg, alex is really into expensive purchases like crazy coffee machines). and headed to Sweet's for steamboat dinner. somewhere along the way, Al and i decided that we needed a short getaway before the new year started - so we decided to go JB. there was a lot of hesitation and going back and forth on the decision. but Al made his mind to go ahead when i was having dinner, it was the most spontaneous we have been in a while! dinner was a great gathering of uni friends. thereafter Al and i headed to customs. it took a grand time of 30min from Sweet's to entering JB (whuddup.). i booked a hotel night stay at Mutiara's just before 4G got cut off (note: don't go Mutiara's again lol).

first thing we did after check in is to go to Big foot for massage (whoa.... always a joy to get pampered liek that). then his fave wonton mee meal and loklok! lok lok is terrible, compared to Shanghai's lu4 tan1 lok lok.... i miss Shanghai. headed back to hotel and it was 3am when we started watching The Intern. it is an amazing show, and i feel like i learnt so much from it :) :)

Sun, 3 Jan 2016
bfast at soonsoonheng bakkuteh as per usual. walked around ksl - fixed up my glass protector for phone for 5rm, bought my contact lens necessities, did our auntie anne's run, did a fuel and tyre pressure refinement and we rushed to the customs at 4pm. we cleared it in an hour and got home. dinner with ryan to end the day. rach spent the longest time chatting about her friends, washed up and headed to bed to start the new year - today.

it's been a long time since i did such long posts :o glad i did it, but not much satisfaction with my poor expressions. read that one of Mark Z's resolutions was to complete 2books/month. seems doable and exciting to try :)

to end off as usual....

NEW YEAR, NEW START