Most of you probably know that grad day is long over (exactly one week today!), but I only JUST got around to returning my gown (major procrastinator). And with that, the realisation...

that my school life, as of now, is officially over!

Three years of torture hard work for an hour-long ceremony (that I was late for by the way, oops!).

That's me receiving my certificate!

The only photos of me in my gown that you'll see. I’m the second gal from the left(in case you don’t already know what I look like! Hmpf!)

I think I was one of the few girls who didn't wear heels( which is why everyone towered over me more than usual.  I ACCEPT THAT I AM SLIGHTLY HEIGHT-DEPRIVED, OK?!). But the point is:

It was my last day in school and the future is ahead of me and there are so many decisions to be made and things to be done -ahhhhh!!

While JC had been my choice until Sec 2, I decided at Sec 4 that I was too tired to go through with subjects such as Maths, Chemistry, Geography and PE anymore and chose Ngee Ann’s Mass Comm. It was the perfect stepping stone for a career in art and design! With the course being one of the most prestigious media courses here in Singapore, I’ve had soooo many opportunities to work with REAL world clients (scary for a 19 year-old like me, but sooo exciting!)

But so many things have changed now and the decision to make after polytechnic life is so much harder because your next move is basically the last before you go out into the working world. Oh god! Before this goes into melodrama-land, I'm gonna talk about something happier.

Spot me in my crazy group of friends!

Just looking back on some of the AWESOME stuff I did in NP:

My JC friends sometimes tell me that poly life looks so much more colourful than theirs. Welllllll.... Not to sound smug or anything, but.... haha!

1. I LOST WEIGHT!! (Yes! Stress is actually good for something. Haha!)

2. The friendships made were, of course, mostly awesome. There were problems, many of which I look back on and slap myself for, BUT it's been mostly smooth sailing so far.

3. The fun projects were, well, fun (case in point - picture above is from our Journalism module called “Feature Writing”. The magazine that we had to produce in a crazy short amount of time turned out super duper cool!) Plus, I actually enjoyed my 2+ months stay at the Loft (who doesn't enjoy complete independence?).

4. I got to do a lot of things that many people wouldn't be able to do - attend press conferences and special movie premieres!

5. Meet celebrities! OMG LADY GAGA!

6. Do design work, produce magazines and newspapers and radio shows (interview MPs!) and Advertisement campaigns.

I miss those times!

It's been a really long journey and sometimes you just really want to die or give it all up (trust me, I've felt like this way more times than I'd like to admit) because it feels too hard - but I can't say there haven't been any fun times. Because there has been lots, and I would not give it up for anything. Have a great time in you crazy people in NP, and cherish the most of it!

For the past few weeks, this Shrek Forever After poster has been up at the bus stop near my house:

I liked it! I thought it was pretty cute, so I thought, hey maybe this last installment of Shrek will be better than the last, which I didn't really like and also can hardly remember, except for a couple of details... Like Prince Charming! Loved him and his narcissistic self, but mainly because I love Rupert Everett. Though the hair flip when he went into the tower was pretty fabulous. But yeah, forgettable and overall kind of lame. 

I didn't have high hopes for this movie, but, you know, 3D! Last installment! You kind of expect something super amazing and epic. But then again, series that go on for way too long usually don't go over well. I still think they should have stopped at the 2nd one! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN OKAY. Curse Hollywood and it's lack of originality, they keep reusing plots and characters and all that. I still remember Sam Raimi wanting to have 10 Spider-man installments. MADNESS.

Anyway, the plot of Shrek is pretty simple: Shrek is bored of being a second-rate ogre and wants to be 'real' again, so he signs a contract with Rumpelstiltskin (hope I spelt that right, I can never get it correct!!) to be a real ogre for a day in exchange for one day in his childhood. But, OH NO!!!!! THE DAY TAKEN AWAY WAS THE DAY HE WAS BORN. So the land of Far, Far Away has become all screwed up and everything has changed. Rumpel is king, Fiona is still as cursed as ever and there's now an underground ogre resistance. Lots of things happen, lame jokes recycled, another ~~true love's kiss~~ that didn't really work and, well I won't spoil it for you but I think it's safe to say that everyone knows how it'd end.

If anything, fast forward to the last part. PUSS!!

Puss in Boots makes everything better! I'm not a huge fan of 3D (it's so inconvenient when you wear spectacles like I do), but yeah I think it's pretty worth it to watch in cinemas. Though I mean if 3D's no big deal for you, don't bother. It's just Shrek. Save your money for something more epic like Ip Man 2 or Iron Man 2!

It took me forever to listen to this band, but I am SO glad I downloaded the free song they had available on their website like a couple months ago, because now I'm hooked. When I heard that The National's 2007 album The Boxer was one of the best albums of the decade, I thought they were just another "alternative/indie rock" band and I didn't bother to listen to them, and oh man I really should have. The lead singer Matt Berninger's voice and baritone is AMAZING.

OMG THAT VOICE. The video is so, so, so bad but I love the song.

Anyway, the reason why I'm blogging about them (because it's not like they're a new band, haha) is that their new album just came out!! And by just I mean a week or so ago, but hey I haven't been able to keep up with anything these days. High Violet was released on May 10, and it's really awesome. Needless to say, my favourite song from the album is "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (the song above!), so I hope all of you like it. Though it's like, the first time I heard it and heard the word "bloodbuzz" (is that even really a word?), WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?!? Honestly, I still don't know, and the google results prove useless, lol, they're all results about the song.

And! And! And! I know some people are going to complain about them 'selling out' or whatever, like how everyone complains when a band gets too popular (cue eyeroll), but they staged a live youtube concert last night, which was amazing! Okay technically it happened kind of in the middle of the night for us here in Singapore, but it was great anyway! I hope they post up the real thing sometime soon, but for now I'll just leave you with the STRONG SUGGESTION to start listening to them and this trailer for the live youtube concert:

Ahhhhh I hope the Esplanade or somebody brings them to Singapore sometime!

The title of this post was how I stupidly read the sign of the ramen place I visited today. FINALLY HAD SOME FREE TIME TO DO SOMETHING INSTEAD OF JUST WORKING. Yes, my life has been absolutely packed, but boring, because all I've been doing is working - sleeping - working - sleeping - working with nothing in between! I just got home after a harrowing shift and picking up my brother from the airport!

Anyway!! Ramen! So 8 Days has been having this promo coupon in their magazine or something that gives you 1-for-1 ramen at Ramen Santouka's new branch over at Cuppage Terrace (behind Centrepoint - yeah, I didn't really know that area existed until recently either). Being totally Singaporean (hello, discounts!), I jumped at the chance to use the coupon (offer ends tomorrow, so I'd better use it today, yes?). Plus who doesn't love a nice bowl of Hokkaido ramen once in a while?

This is the place! We sat outside because it was so crowded - a 30-45 minute wait for an indoor seat, WHAAAAT.

It's not a bad area. Sitting there kind of felt like we weren't in Singapore anymore because it's pretty much away from the hustle and bustle you normally get when you dine in town. It's so much quieter and surprisingly cool despite it being a generally humid day, as always! Though the weather today wasn't as unforgiving as it's been the past few days, SO THANK YOU GOD. I really hope this hot(ter) spell of weather goes away soon.

The discount was only applicable for the $19.50++ bowl of Tokusen Toroniku (Choice Pork) Ramen, so I ordered the Miso base, while my friend had Shoyu. I don't like Shoyu though, it's normally saltier and I prefer the thicker Miso soup. The description said it was "roasted pork cheeks" and all I could think of was... which cheeks? D: I know, I'm dumb, but hey I don't cook/buy pork at supermarkets, so I really had no idea. I still don't! I added an egg for another dollar, which was kind of ~extravagant for an egg, I think. So that made it $20.50++, and thus I expected a lot. When the dish came, I wasn't too disappointed...

SO MUCH FOOD! At least they're pretty generous.

On the left is a plate of the infamous "roasted pork cheeks" that apparently melt in your mouth, yummy bamboo shoots, some japanese pickles and spring onions. My $1 egg on top and the noodles with miso on the right. My thoughts? The pork was WAYYY salty. Sure, it melted in your mouth, but there was so much fat! And I don't like fat, even though Japanese people seem to LOVE it on their meat, so I'd cut it out, which kind of defeats the purpose. I guess I was supposed to dump all the toppings onto the noodles, but I ate it separately instead. The soup was nice though, but a little oily. The egg was the normal ramen egg.

I kind of felt that it was a little costly for normal-ish ramen though. Everyone was pumping it up to be this AWESOMEOMGOMG ramen place with mindblowingly good pork and whatever, so I guess I was a little disappointed when I ate it and it wasn't that great. My favourite ramen place so far will still be the Yoshimaru Ramen Bar at Holland Village. It was pretty cheap at around $12, and it was SO good, I ate EVERYTHING, even the noodles. And I never finish the noodles. In fact, I only drank the soup and ate the ingredients in Santouka. To each his own, I suppose!!

CASE IN POINT - mine (on the left), my friends' (on the right). I just can't finish the noodles!

One good thing about this place is the relatively cheap side dishes ($4 for a plate of chahan/fried rice!) and the fact that they seem to be very liberal with coupons!! My friends and I got a bunch of free drink/egg 'delicacy' (lol it's just an egg, no matter how fancy you try to make it sound) coupons, so I guess I'll be using that sometime soon! I'd hate to waste a good bargain.

I've blogged about Glee before, but I was so excited for it's return!! Yeah, it's a little late because it's been back for... what, 3 weeks now? But I REALLY love how they're making use of my favourite character so much more now...

Kurt Hummel!! Love him in this, he's so fierce. I love his lower singing voice!

My other favourite is Puck, who they SERIOUSLY need to use more. The only thing I remember them using him for was when he sang Sweet Caroline ages ago. HONESTLY?!?! He needs more singing parts, please. I'm so sick of Rachel and Finn's voices. Finn can't even sing that well though.

Sorry if I go on about characters if you don't watch the show. But then again, you SHOULD be watching the show. Also - for those of you who HAVE watched it and have yet to start the second part of the season, do so! They actually start tying up some loose storylines this time instead of just leaving them hanging, like the first half of the show (especially the fake pregnancy storyline, whaaat). Oh, but they really need to work on their consistency. Quinn, who has been pregnant for FOREVER suddenly (and mysteriously) lost her baby bump in a dance sequence, which was a total 'WTF??'.

And now that Glee's become available on Mio, my parents have become a fan too, so I can now look forward to watching it on my TV instead of a smaller screen. Plus, at least now it'll be HD! Can't wait for Wednesday when the new episode comes out. :D

Yet again, I'm so sorry for the late post! It's been a horribly busy week. I mean, it's currently 5.20AM and I just got home. Oh, the pains of working life!

Anyway, I thought I'd blog about the season finale of Project Runway today because I just watched it yesterday (even though it aired on Thursday, technically - like I said, busy! Work!) and I WAS SO HAPPY OMG so I thought I'd share the same joy with all of you! :D This is the first time in Project Runway history that I actually REALLY REALLY loved the winner and had rooted for since episode one. And this winner, if you don't watch it, was...

...this guy! AKA Seth Aaron from Vancouver, WA

Now before you think he's some old Hot Topic freak (yeah I know it's not hard to make that comparison, what with his styling and all), he's so much more than that. I will admit that I am a total SA fangirl because he is the sweetest guy on Project Runway right now (he made a 'snow angel' on the Bryant Park runway and, despite his image, he's the perfect husband/father), but his collection was amazing. He's an impeccable tailor and he has such a focused point-of-view. The other contestants held nothing against him.

If anyone is as avid a PR runway fan as I am, you'd probably have pegged Emilio as the winner (anyone remember that Emilio<3Seth Aaron print?) due to the editing, but oh how happy I was when Seth Aaron won. Sorry I can't stop gushing, but I absolutely love him and his work. He is honestly the nicest and most likable person in PR history, beating even Austin Scarlett, who has always been my #1 on the show. Let me share with you some amazing pieces from his (Seth Aaron) final collection:

Flawless!! His workmanship is perfect and I love his aesthetic. Can you imagine wearing this here, or around NP? Lol.

If you haven't watched this season's PR, please do! I can't promise that it's as exciting as the first few seasons, but Seth Aaron makes it all better. :D Time to stop fangirling! It's really late so I'd better sleep. Don't forget! Project Runway! Seth Aaron! Can't wait for the next season.

This post is super late because I've been working nonstop for the past few days. I'm currently working at the Esplanade (no, not what you're thinking, I work at a restaurant/bar) and so I've been hanging out there a lot more than usual. The Esplanade, its shops and library has become a second home to me almost, what with the amount of time I spend there! So I've been exploring the other parts of the area I usually miss out on.

Picture stolen from this blog!

For example! The Cookie Museum (website is here!) is a place I always walked pass while rushing to the bus stop outside but never actually checked out, and man I really should have checked it out sooner. My friend is a huge fan and used to always buy their cookies, so I'd heard so much about it but never actually ate there. DID YOU KNOW THEY HAVE SINGAPOREAN FLAVOURS LIKE NASI LEMAK, HAE BEE HIANG (or however it's spelt. I still don't really know what it is), LAKSA AND CHICKEN RICE!?!?!

Best thing? They REALLY taste like the foods, and weirdly, THEY TASTE JUST FINE. Sure, you'd be a little apprehensive at first but it's really worth the tense SHOULD-I-REALLY moment before you actually try the cookie. Word of warning though, the laksa one is pretty hot.

Another place I've been hanging out at is the Kopi-O on the first floor, right opposite The Cookie Museum! Commercialised coffee shop snacks at its best. It's always nice to sit there and chill over a coffee/teh O (or whatever it means) and some kaya toast. Mmmm. I haven't eaten today so just thinking about that is making me so hungry!

Well, the next time I'm working is only next week, so yay for day offs! As much as I love the Esplanade, I love slacking at home too. And having free time to do things, like this post, which is REALLY late. By the way, if anyone wants to join me in working life, The Cookie Museum might be an option, just so you know ;) Free cookies and tea! Yum

Last week, some of my friends and I got together for a night of awesome food, board games and cards! I hadn't played board games in forever so I was pretty stoked before the whole thing. We played all my old favourites - Monopoly, Cluedo (omg love this game so much!), Game of Life... And I learnt Texas hold'em, finally! As well as how to play real poker and 21. All very safe and with monopoly money, of course.

So, who else really likes Cluedo? Because it's got to be my favourite board game of all time. I remember playing it at my friend's house a long long time ago and I kept winning (heh). Maybe that's why I like it, but hey, it's really fun! I would always play as Miss Scarlett or Colonel Mustard, just because I like red and... mustard. And it seems like people really like this game too, because it even spawned a movie adaptation called Clue. Then again, Monopoly is being made into a movie (I seriously think this is weird, at least Clue has a storyline). I guess Hollywood is REALLY out of ideas right now.

But anyway, the whole night was really fun! We seldom do this kind of relatively free hanging out (anyone else guilty of frequenting cafes and restaurants WAY too much?), so that was awesome, especially since I'm trying to save money for my upcoming trip! If you guys have some free time and have nothing to do, you should definitely set up a games night for yourself and your friends.

P.S. The title of this blog post? Because I was being my bimbo self when we played Taiti (Daidi? Taidi? HOW ON EARTH DO YOU SPELL THAT GAME) and when I reached just one card, I said: "Uh.... we don't have to say UNO! or anything, right?". They didn't let me off after that comment.

I'm supposed to have been working on my art/design portfolio all week, nay, all month (since school ended in Feb), but I have to be honest. I haven't really done anything so far. But! I felt bad and whipped up something just before this post. 15 minutes, mechanical pencil, no eraser, and all I could produce was this shoddy piece of work:

Hehehe, guess who! Props if you know.

If you're wondering why it's so... empty, it's because I'm not done. Anyway, give me a break, I haven't drawn seriously for over 3 years. My last piece of work was a quickly whipped-up 'fanart' (ironic, since I'm not even a fan) of Michael Jackson that was desperately needed for the Aug-Oct 2009 issue of HYPE (you can download it here by the way! Lady Gaga's on the cover), which, the more I look at it, I can't stand anymore. It wasn't such a great picture choice, I'm afraid. If you're too lazy to download, you can see the aforementioned pages here, here and here! Yeah, even had to draw the glove - can you believe it!? Sigh, copyrights.

Design-wise, I guess I haven't done much since Advertising, for which I have to thank for most of my work so far, I suppose. I mean, I've always dabbled in Photoshop and web design here and there (I think I had a website when I was younger, just for the fun of it), but I only went to it more seriously during NP. And it's why, now that it's the holidays, I've been slacking off majorly. I really need to plump up my portfolio for work/school. So if you've been following this blog, yeah, first SATs, next portfolio work, THIS IS NOT A HOLIDAY.

Set of posters/postcards for the last Advertising project; forgive the colours - I forgot to switch it to RGB.

Yeah, that was probably the last thing I did. Working on a portfolio isn't easy because you can make so many excuses for yourself, like, my favourite: "Ugh, NO INSPIRATION. I need inspiration to work. You know writer's block? Yeah, I've got artist's block." Total BS (well, okay, not completely), but you know it's an excuse, yet you use it to justify your actions anyway. But in order to get anywhere in life, if you're not already blessed with God-given talent/good looks/money, you need hardwork. And work is what I should do. Got to continue on my very poorly updated online portfolio as well. Wish me luck!

And some advice: don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today, because if you do, you're never going to do it in the end... Take it from me, I KNOW.

This was meant to be a post about two concerts (Kings of Convenience and Shugo Tokumaru), but as much as I love Shugo and his quirky/weird multi-instrumental music, I loved KoC so much more that I'm just going to blog about them. Especially since KoC is a duo consisting of one of my favourite persons in music - Erlend Øye. I am sort of convinced he's a genius. I have listened to everything he's done so, yeah, I'm a little more than obsessed. And he's cute to me, regardless of what anyone else may say. OKAY I MUST STOP RAMBLING BEFORE I SEEM LIKE SOME KIND OF WEIRD FANGIRL.

Cute! Erik (left) and Erlend (right) :D

I'm really happy that the Esplanade decided to bring KoC back another time this year, because I missed it when they came in 2006. Back then, I was only a poor secondary student and had $0 to go for concerts, except free ones like Baybeats. I heard that concert was much better but, hey, this one was amazing too, so I have no complaints. Random fact, but Erik and Erlend met when they were kids at a geography contest. How dorky/cute is that!?

Not the actual version at the concert, but this was the one with the best quality!

This was my favourite segment of the night: when he sang Thirteen by Big Star. To tell the truth, it's not my favourite cover (Elliott Smith's version will always be my absolute favourite, because it's just so heartbreaking), but it was awesome because it's my favourite 'romantic' song and it was completely unexpected! I didn't think he'd do it, but I suppose it's because of Alex Chilton's (from Big Star) very recent death (RIP!). My other favourite was when Erlend danced during two songs, Singing Softly to Me and I'd Rather Dance With You, because he's adorable. But that's just my inner fangirl talking. I REALLY hate that I forgot my camera, but it's okay because people took vids.

SO JEALOUS OF THE PEOPLE AT THE FRONT. You can't really see it from the video but he climbed over the seats. I KNOW. And where was I?! ALL THE WAY AT THE SIDE.

KoC is dear to my heart because of all the memories I have with their music. There was one part, during the concert, when Erlend asked if the crowd knew their new album (Declaration of Dependence) and, when everyone cheered, he said something like "Good, I didn't want our songs to just be memories from when you were 15" or something like that. BUT THAT WAS THE CASE FOR ME.

I developed music tastes kind of late in life and their CD, Quiet is the New Loud, was one of my firsts. I used to listen to it all the time (on my old school CD player!) before school, after school, on the bus, while trying to study for my prelims/O levels. Okay, enough of walking down memory lane for now. For those of you who haven't listened to them before, YOU HAVE TO.

I'll leave you with two of my favourites from the night, Cayman Islands and Homesick (both from my favourite album of theirs!):

So what do you think of them? Let me know in the comments below!