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skyping

The story behind this is:

My brother was wearing his super duper old t-shirt that has red and white stripes, like Waldo's, except that it's short sleeved. And I suddenly exclaimed that he looked very much like Waldo, with the tee and the hair and all. But he denied it. Then he asked me if I was taking any photos, because if I was, he was going to "change into something nicer" (that t-shirt only sees the artificial light in the house). So yes, that was when he went out the frame to change into something slightly more presentable.

Family Day Out

My dad got free passes to the River Safari and it was the day after internship was over so why not wake up at 8am to see the pandas? Hahaha the waking up part wasn't that fantastic but at least the pandas were awake and moving. Visual post cos well, what else can you do when you're there with a phone?

Hello from the Chuis!

Aren't these creatures just majestic?

They had an entire souvenir shop just for panda merchandise. Unbelievable.

I think my brother and I had more fun in the gift shop at the end of our journey than throughout the journey itself.

For some reason, the first photo my mom takes of us is always unfocused. But I quite like it that way.

That's my brother's birthday present. It was a stuffed hedgehog called Spikey Spike. I said it looked more like a Pete than a Spikey Spike and my cousin agreed and told him in a very matter-of-fact manner "You need to up your name game man".

I guess this makes up for not being able to take a photo carrying a live panda.

(Mom actually thought she could carry the panda and take a photo like she did with koalas in Australia. I think she forgot the pandas here are probably 3 times her weight)

Ps. Anyone knows why the photo border gets wider when I have more text in the captions? Is there a way to have it all the same throughout the post, regardless of the amount of caption I have?

Lantern Festival

It's kinda strange because I remember doing a post on Lantern Festival last year. But I can't find it. So, oh well. This year, we attempted making GIFs. While playing with fire, of course. Who's going to pass up the one chance each year to play with fire? Certainly not us.

They're not the best GIFs around. But it was fun making them. My little cousin (the one in the first GIF) was exclaiming "well done!" and "nicely done!" to my other cousin throughout our entire 'shoot'.

Rainbow Looming

Soooooo I gave in. I was in Bangkok and well, they were selling it at SGD $3. So why not right?

My little cousin was teaching us how to do it because well, we never did it before and she has the most experience (I think we did pretty okay for a first try). Youtube and the rainbow loom website was very helpful. I guess depending on you and the people you're doing it with, it can either get really boring really quick, or kind of addictive. Try at your own discretion. (If you need a loom, mine is up for borrowing. If you want to rent it, by all means, please contact me!)

Open Doors

I wasn't going to blog about this but I felt a need to do so. So, I'm doing it now.

This post is about doors. Doors being opened and doors being closed. It’s about blessings. And about trust. It’s also about my brother. And my family in general.

To mom and dad: Please don’t kill me for sharing this.

To my brother: I’m sorry if you wanted to stay anonymous. And you have a purpose going to where you are going. Don’t forget that yeah.

For those who don’t know, my brother is going to start a new phase in his educational journey.

It started out with my brother receiving a certain score and wanting to go to a certain school. My parents had other ideas though. This ended up (after a lot of discussion) with their school of choice being put first and the said certain school my brother wanted to attend as the third in the list submitted. When the posting results came in, he was posted to his sixth choice. This was when the appeal madness started.

To cut the entire 3-4 week saga of going to schools for interviews, calling up teachers, talking to aunts and uncles and cousins, as well as attending CCA trainings and the like, my brother got a call a few days ago. It was from the school he had originally wanted to go to. They were asking him to go down for an interview.

He did. And after his third tour or so around the school campus and an around-5-minute long interview, the interviewer looked up and said ‘okay, we’re going to accept you’. And that was it. My brother is now in the school that he had originally wanted to go to.

He whatsapped everyone in the family group chat “im in”. That was, honestly, the best news I probably had ever received. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s better than getting grant money or launching a project/festival. But back to the point about this story being about doors and trust.

For this door (brother’s ideal school) to open, my parents had to accept that their first choice was not the plan He had. After exploring and crossing out other routes (international school, going overseas, etc) and accepting that he was going to the sixth institution of choice, to have the school call him up and then to be accepted by the school was (and felt like) an even bigger blessing than if he had been accepted into the school in the first round of posting. Being rejected twice made his acceptance into the school so much more appreciated. Really, no one can close the door(s) that God opens. And no one can open doors the way He does. My family learnt to trust His timing and His plans.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

Little Opportunities

Since I've finished my assignment already (finally) after a 2-hour sleep night earlier than planned, I'm going to reward myself and make full use of my 'extra' time to blog. This post comes a little late but it's never too late to show some gratitude. I love Christmas. There's something magical about it. And having spent Christmas in Taiwan, I realised how much I enjoy Christmas because I'm in Singapore.

1. Your're celebrating the most joyous, giving occasion of the year with the people you know and love.

SSM Dinner at Em's 

2. There are Christmas decorations and festive songs everywhere. (No such thing in Taiwan)

3. Singaporeans, or at least, people in Singapore, take Christmas very seriously. There was this thing about putting reindeer antlers and the red nose on cards last year. It was kind of cute.

4. You know where you are. Even is this isn't home to you, you're familiar with the place. You're comfortable with it. (My cousin, mom and I almost spent Christmas shopping for supper at a mini mart in Taipei that we discovered while almost getting lost.)

That's us after we got our supper. Not hungry people = happy people.

5. Everyone is generally more cheery and giving. You'll probably never see Singaporeans so giving unless it's that special jolly season. (The students were having their exams on Christmas and there is no holiday. Talk about depressing.)

Dinner with F8 at Mu Parlour

So yes, I absolutely love spending Christmas at home (even if it means I have to put up with attending my parents' celebrations with people I'm uncomfortable with). Here's to no longer skipping Christmas by going overseas!

And here's a song to go with the post:

A Day To Remember

I've been having this itch to post something.

So anyway, last Saturday, in the midst of design madness (we have a design assignment due on Wednesday), I learnt that sometimes, giving means receiving/giving is receiving. My grandpa has been talking about getting me a sewing machine recently. And last week, while he and my aunts were out, they saw a few on sale. So he was really bent on getting me one. I didn't understand why. I actually think this is the first time he's verbally said that he wanted to buy something for me.

So I was a little confused. It's not like I really wanted or needed a sewing machine. It's more of a 'if I don't have it, it's fine. But if I do, cool' kind of thing. So I didn't really want him to spend that kind of money on me. But after dinner, walking to the store, I asked my aunt why he wanted to get me a sewing machine so suddenly. And she said something like 'oh, because popo (my grandma) has always wanted to get you one'. Now, if you didn't already know (which I'm assuming you don't), my grandma passed away quite suddenly early this year. So she never got the chance to buy me the sewing machine that she wanted to. I guess this was my grandpa's way of paying tribute to his wife. And his way of saying he loves me.

Now I know I've always wanted to give my grandpa something. I just didn't know what he wanted or needed so I never got him anything (except for a mandarin book once). So on Saturday, I learnt that by letting him buy me a sewing machine and by accepting it willingly, I was giving by receiving.

On a side note, I really felt loved. He actually already had a sewing machine model in mind but we were looking around and we saw one that had a lot more functions but came a higher price (while still on promotion). He turned to me and said "如果你要这个, 我们就买这个" (meaning we'll buy the more expensive model if that was what I wanted). I was just like, wow.

So, thank you gong gong. (I'll try my best to learn all the tailoring you know and can teach! (My grandpa used to be a tailor last time))

Mothers' Day

Mothers' Day is coming up!
My cousins and I had dinner together just now and the younger one came with a craft he had done in school during the day. It's the yellow and red paper thing you see in the photos below. He said it was a bracelet for his mom for Mothers' Day but it was too long to be a bracelet. So it became a crown instead. He was so excited about it and so I asked him to teach me how to make it. He did. Though I did most of the folding and cutting and stapling. Either way, it was fun.



He said he had used 6 strips of paper to make his crown but I think the strips were a lot longer than the strips we had. Ours turned out quite short and small. He was laughing and saying how "it's so short" and that it could become a flower. So of course, that lit a bulb. We made our too-tiny crowns into flowers and viola! I have found what I want to give mom for Mothers' Day.


This boy here was too cool for flowers so he made a plane instead.


The little one with the (originally a crown) flower he made for his mom.




Check out the instax photo the older coussie took (the photo on the left). I think he's possibly a photographer in the making. hohoho

Happy Mothers' Day, mom <3