Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Happy birthday or whatever 
"I was going to have the best birthday ever. It would start with a parade- a dizzying spectacle of floats, prancing palominos, and the country's loudest marching band."
- An excerpt from "Happy Birthday or whatever" by Annie Choi
Some photos from my last-minute birthday dinner-bowling-drinks night-
My beautiful Zara silk dress was a birthday present shipped all the way from Tokyo from Mellie. Much love!
Labels: australia, birthday, friendship, love, memories, photo
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Saturday, January 2, 2010
Shakespeare in the park & NYE
E and I wanted to do something different for my first New Year's Eve in Melbourne, so we got tickets to watch "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the Botanical Gardens.
The weather that day was as hot as summer days come, and we were both eager to sit in the sun and do nothing.
I had to teach as usual, but I met E after work and he had packed us an elaborate picnic with garlic and chilli chicken, salami and ham, cheese, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, stuffed capsicums, dolmades, salad, bread rolls, crackers and dips and a bottle of sparking red!
We found a shady spot under a giant tree, laid out our picnic mat and wined and dined the afternoon away.
And then the lights went off.
Unbeknownst to me, his parents had bought a tiramisu cake for my birthday, and his mum came out of the kitchen holding it in her hands with lighted candles. Awwwww ;)
And that was how we spent our New Year's Eve.
Labels: australia, birthday, holiday, love, memories, park, photo, summer
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Scrum-dilly-umptious!
E and I are pretty adventurous when it comes to food- we'll eat almost anything except hairy tarantulas (they were black and hairy the size of my fist, no thanks!).
Some of the more exotic dishes we've had are raw horse meat, frog legs, fried worms and crickets, stir-fried river snakes, pork tripe and yellow eels.
As much as possible, we try to eat as the locals do when we travel- which means no touristy places or fancy restaurants, and better still if the menu is only available in their native language. :P
However, on my birthday I was craving for good old Chinese cuisine, so he booked us a place at Gold Leaf restaurant in Burwood and we stuffed ourselves with dim sums. We love our chicken feet- I pretty much asked every waiter that pushed their cart by us if they were serving them! :P
My birthday yumcha treat
Labels: australia, birthday, food, love, photo, travel
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Friday, January 1, 2010
From Jo, with love :)
It certainly brings back a flood of memories!
Labels: birthday, friendship, japan, memories, photo
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Thursday, September 10, 2009
I've got you under my skin
"... wealth does not involve having many things. It involves having what we long for. Wealth is not an absolute. It is relative to desire. Everytime we seek something we cannot afford, we grow poorer, whatever our resources. And everytime we feel satisfied with what we have, we can be counted as rich, however little we may actually own."
- An excerpt from "Status Anxiety" by Alain De Botton
"I don't know, it just feels like you're a part of Melbourne," Juls remarked as we sat ourselves down at the famous creperie on DeGraves Street.
It was his 29th birthday and because everyone else was at work, I offered to take him out. Even though he's from Melbourne and I'm the international student.
"What do you mean, is it because I blend into the walls?" I replied playfully.
"Yes, that too... It's just, it doesn't seem like you've only been here 2 months! It's like you've always been here. You seem to know your way around."
I took it as a compliment.
Labels: australia, birthday, confession, friendship, life
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Sunday, August 30, 2009
Of Asians and Angmohs
There is a danger in birds of the same feather always flocking together.
If nothing else, my time in Japan has taught me to embrace differences and diversity, and my greatest nightmare has become to find myself in a homogenous social circle.
Here are some very belated photos from Elaine's birthday when I first got to Melbourne-
We all look the same, don't we, except we are made up of an angmoh, three Malaysians, two Singaporeans, a Vietnamese, an Indonesian and a Shanghainese (and others not captured in the photos).
But I really couldn't imagine being in a room full of Singaporeans here.
In my class there are four Chinese girls who always sit in the back of the class and only talk amongst themselves, insisting on discussing everything in Mandarin as the classes are conducted in English. A few of us have tried to talk to them on separate occasions, only to be met with awkward responses and blank stares.
The other day, we had to attend a talk at the Melbourne Museum and I had arranged to meet A midway on the tram. As I got on and sat down next to him, I noticed the Chinese girls waving at me from the other end of the tram, the first and only time they have ever made contact. I waved back politely.
"Did they wave to you when you got on?" I asked A, who is as British as one can get.
He shook his head and we spent the rest of the ride pondering why the girls ignored him, and why one of them was carrying a huge stuffed Elmo and a beach towel to the museum. (We never figured out why.)
Yesterday I had dinner at Ant's Bistro on Little Bourke Street. There was me the Singaporean, two Americans, a Eurasian Aussie, a Brit and an Irish. Our dinner conversation was animated and lively, spanning from politics to climate change to travels to personal experiences.
I couldn't help but wonder how different the dinner might have been with my Singaporean friends here.
Labels: australia, birthday, culture, food, friendship, life, photo
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Saturday, June 20, 2009
The art of self-shots
It's E's birthday today, and while making his card I finally got round to uploading the random photos taken on my Ricoh from our trips earlier this year.
Someday we will get down to looking through the thousands of photos we took on our SLRs, but then again, we didn't even finished the set from Cambodia last year. :P
Click on each photo to see more from each city-
Click on each photo to see more from each city-
Vietnam
Laos
Malaysia
India
Melbourne
Happy Birthday Angmoh!
Labels: birthday, love, memories, photo, travel
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Friday, January 2, 2009
You're only 26 once.
I had a very happy birthday indeed.
On New Year's eve, E made a reservation for us in Tableux Lounge, a cosy cigar and cocktail lounge in the chic district of Daikanyama, complete with live jazz music. We got the best seats in the house and were the only patrons for a while, before the people started coming in for the drinks and countdown.
At the stroke of midnight, there was a loud bang and out came samba dancers and hand drummers and everyone toasted to the new year with champagne and poppers, while the dancers gyrated around us.
The next day, Jeff and Joe flew in from Hong Kong (on New Year's Day! For my birthday!) and I was so happy to see them after such a long time. E and I picked them up from Nippori station and then took them to Roppongi where I was having my birthday/farewell dinner at Gonpachi.
Thank you to everyone for the messages, the calls, the gifts and the well-wishes!
See the rest of my birthday pictures here.
Labels: birthday, food, friendship, love, memories, photo, tokyo
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Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Of streamers and starfish
A multi-coloured birthday message streamer, which I intend to keep hanging until we leave Japan because everyday should be my birthday! Heh.
I squealed with delight because I already knew what was in the paper bag (we had looked through the online catalogue together and chose the design).
He got me a Tiffany's Elsa Starfish necklace.
He got me a Tiffany's Elsa Starfish necklace.
It's simple, classy and understated without screaming the label, and just the perfect size on me. I love, love, LOVE it and intend to be buried with it, thank you very much.
This is in additional to a gorgeous kimono-print Zara dress and organizing two birthday dinners for me- one for just us both on New Year's Eve, and one for me and my friends on the actual night!
I heart my man.
And thanks to Jo for a wonderful night out shopping for art supplies, dinner and a night of break-up songs and belt-our-lungs-out karaoke. Also dedicated to my beautiful new vintage leather handbag which I will pass on to my children, grandchildren and all generations to come, you know I "can't smile with you".
Labels: birthday, friendship, love, photo, shopping
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Thursday, December 11, 2008
Of birthdays and lost-loves
On my last birthday, I got stupidly drunk for the first and last time in my life. The night ended up with me bent over Jo's lap outside a crowded bar in Roppongi, in freezing weather, weeping incoherently about how much I had loved P and "Why couldn't he love me back?".
Around us people were ushering in the new year, cheering, laughing and making merry, and a few of them would stop in their tracks to look at the girl who couldn't keep her act together after a few drinks, who was obviously broken-hearted on her Unhappy New Year.
In retrospect, I now see that I didn't love P- like Mel said, I was in love with the idea of being in love. We were a wrong fit right from the start, and I am thankful things ended the way they did.
This year, Joe and Jeff are flying in from Hong Kong in time for my birthday (whoo!) and I am so excited to see them both and take them around Tokyo. My birthday dinner will be with a group of friends in Gonpachi at Nishi-Azabu, of Kill-Bill fame.
I had wanted to catch Fukuyama Masaharu's concert on New Year's Eve, but after the hundreds of calls E made were in vain (the first time E has sorely disappointed me in our relationship); the tickets were sold out within 20 minutes and mostly on a pre-sold basis. Instead, E has made reservations for the two of us at a mystery venue. I will attempt to forgive him later, hehe.
I got so excited I bought a new dress from Zara-
Okay, so I just needed an excuse to buy a new dress. Next, for a bag to match my outfit...
P/S: My dad has just arrived in Tokyo and E and I will be spending the weekend with him at the Atami Seaside Spa & Resort in Shizuoka Prefecture. Looking forward to the beach view and hot spring baths!
Labels: birthday, confession, friendship, love, shopping, tokyo
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Sunday, September 21, 2008
Roxy's 26th
Recently I've had four people tell me on different occasions that people gain weight when they are in love, which is also their not-so-subtle way of telling I'm Miss Chubby now.
Even my mother, whom I called last night to boast about the huge pot of bah ku teh (herbal pork ribs soup) that E and I made- her encouraging response was, "Wah you eat like that sure become fat one!" Thanks Mummy.
And photos don't lie.
With my co-workers at Roxy's 26th birthday dinner tonight
Labels: birthday, photo, tokyo, work
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Friday, August 29, 2008
Jo turns 26
Happy birthday to my beautiful girl, we've crossed another milestone!
26 only comes once in a lifetime and there's still so much out there awaiting us, who knows where life would take us next?
I have you, and you have me, and together we will conquer many more mountains.
I love you, always.
Labels: birthday, friendship, photo, tokyo
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Tuesday, June 24, 2008
E's birthday
So I was supposed to buy the cake before dinner as a surprise, but I got so caught up shopping that I didn't put much thought into it and couldn't find it at Atre. Thankfully I called YK who was coming late and he bought a Caramel Pudding Cake and totally saved the night! Except it was pretty obvious when I was conspiring with YK in Mandarin and I kept heading to the kitchen to check on the cake... hehe I'll do better next time.
Can't wait to try out the fancy SLR E loaned me! :P
Labels: birthday, food, friendship, memories, photo, tokyo
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Sunday, June 22, 2008
My weekend
- A traditional Japanese tea ceremony in Omotesando
- An ikebana lesson in Harajuku
- Taking the new Fukutoshin subway line (that just opened on June 14th)
- Enjoying a spectacular night view of the Tokyo skyline on the 38th floor of the Mandarin Hotel with E (and his friends who were performing)
- Shopping with Mellie (and going in a frenzy because my Zara pumps were killing me and I desparately needed wearable shoes)
- Going to the Design Festa exhibition
- Organizing E's birthday party with 17 random people put together in Ebisu
- Meeting up with Tylda and Kenneth
Needless to say, I am spent.
Here are some pictures-
More pictures here!
Labels: birthday, culture, design, friendship, memories, photo, shopping, spring, tokyo
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