too solemn
i think my previous entry was to solemn.

moving on, people are wanting me to do another killer birthday party. should i?
perhaps a small one?

i've made up my mind, definitely gonna go look for a pilates class. no hip hop for me, thanks V. i dont think i'm the 'yo, yo!' kind..haha

it feels good to have caught up with ms eileen. and after so long, she fits right in and we gel so well. the only difference is that she's married. never expected that. our dear sweet blur eileen. congrats!

a different church
today was one of the few times i dared to venture out of my own church..
i guess being brought up in my church has taught me to be wary of what they teach elsewhere. now this is not to criticize anyone, any type of teaching, but just to chronicle my experience (and for all those not so interested, i shall not go too much into all the religious stuff)

stepping into the place was weird..loud band music blaring; the drums, keyboardist etc, looked like a karaoke session going on. the sounds wasnt so bad, but to see people with their hands in the air, so openly indulging spiritually was kinda awkward. but i'm here to learn and experience, although reserved, i observe with an open mind.

bibles used were different. the NIV sort of translates the verses into some modern version, easier to understand, but somehow, i think it lost its meaning along the way. 'fornication' was now 'prostitution', and that is a whole lotta of difference. (pls go figure this one out, it's too much to explain)

the one thing that got the alarm bells ringing in my mind was when he said that as christians, we are 'free' i.e we have the freedom to do what we want, as long as it doesnt hurt ourself, others, GOD. smoking is not a question or 'can or cannot', but 'should or should not'.why can we eat unhealthy food, but cannot smoke? he says that's cause we get addicted to smoking, not fried chicken. sounds funny to you? logical? maybe to you, but not to me. so i asked, 'does this mean i can smoke as long as i dont get addicted?' friends out there who know me, know that i smoked, and i was never addicted. does this mean i can continue being a 'social smoker'?

it's hard to stay off what i've been doing. but i believe it when i hear that 'our body is the temple of GOD'. i am trying not to do anything that harms this body that GOD has given me. that includes piercing, tattooing, smoking (even 2nd hand smoke, which i am trying to avoid), drinking (plain water pls!). call it a conscience attack, call it an awakening of some sort, call it GOD's guidance.

my church has always been a serene and peaceful one. no need to shout your devotion whatsoever. all those who've been there, i believe, found it really calming. i like that i grow in my own way (which is really slowly), and i dont try to be what i'm not. if i cant afford not to drink/smoke/swear, i do my best. but when i stop, it stops for good.

to be baptised means alot. it signifies that you're a changed person. wholesome in His eyes. i know i'm not. i cannot carry the purity in me. i'm not ready, but i'm working on it.

'Fear the Lord'

Pictures Galore
Just felt like uploading some of my fav random photos.

keeping it simple
hey you..thanks again for yesterday..didn't know you read my blog too..haha..
and yes, i am feeling extremely sleepy right now, but i'm still holding on still..
and if you don't already realise, nobody knows ('cept for my gf, my bf and my bff lah)..so let's keep it that way..cause i can't stand the barrage of questions they will deliver..

cheers to your next phase!

New York Day Part II
Total New York Recap - Part II

22 April 2007
we rushed to sbarro's to have breakfast, and i had the chicken parmigalio or whatever that was. one thing i found out about NY; never get the chicken, it is always breast meat. yuck.
then, we rushed back to change hotels. Milford Plaza Hotel at 45th street, between 7th & 8th ave to Portland Square Hotel at 47th street, 7th ave. sounds near enough? dragging my huge luggage killed both my arms. i was the tiniest person there, but i had the biggest luggage among all. my arms muscles (or what was there) were shot, and i couldnt bend my hands afterwards. each avenue was 10mins of solid walking, and each street was at least 5mins. there's not HDB block and you can cut beneath. in NY, you had to walk according to the grid structure it was built in.

but after we checked in, it was Time Square in daylight!!
MTV store
Planet Hollywood
Hard Rock Cafe
M&M store
Hershey's store
Toys 'R' Us
more pizza!
more burgers!

need i say more? i bought 2 packs of M&Ms..so many colours, so many sizes..arghhh! going crazyyy. there's the damn big Shrek M&M, dark choc M&M, every colour had 2 shades, M&M merchandise, Elvis M&M statue, Liberty M&M statue..but the one thing they dont have? my mint m&ms..............

PACHA
by the stroke of genius in Ryan, we had the address of a good club from the chinese cab driver..12th ave, 39th street, PACHA!
we walked there in my fancy new boots, my feet kinda hurt but think of all the angmohs and i drool.
the club was quite intimidating with about 5 bouncers plus staff guarding the entrance. it was a dark building with nice red spotlights, and the mascot of the club were cherries, as in 2cherries. it looked kinda posh though, but i cant compare it to anyplace else, cause i didnt see any other clubs around, they're quite scattered. back to the queue - either enter normally and take the long queue, or get 'table service' (which i take to mean 'open bottle' lah) and take the really short queue. i told the guys i was afraid a bottle will cost like usd120 or something and we'd have to wash puke from the toilets afterwards, so we decided not to go..haiz..wasted trip no. 1 (i.e. more to come). Ryan was quite disappointed..he didnt mind queue-ing for an hour. siao!

last minute dash in a NY yellow cab to Hard Rock Cafe where Malik thinks is still open. turns out, it wasnt..so i just took some pictures with a picture of young kurt cobain..malik strike 1.

2am walking back to the hotel i saw this: Church of Scientology of New York take picture take picture! woah..think tom cruise~

23 April 2007
9am Tourist Sight-seeing Day
early in the morning, first stop - Empire State Building! on the way, we walked past Macy's, Victoria's Secret, Dunkin' Donuts etc..
Cost us usd 18 to go up the Empire State. you guys are so luck, you don't have to pay to enjoy my pictures..bah. nice view, couldnt spot ground zero (aka what's left of the twin towers). can you tell i'm not a sight-see type of person? i enjoyed the penny collector machine there though. haha!

next stop - Statue of Liberty (SOL)! we walked for ages, from west NY to east NY. that is one helluva walk man. but 2 pictures made it worthwhile: the street signs for 5th Ave, and Madison Ave. we took the last ferry to SOL and what we didn’t realize was that we could only drop off at one location (either Ellis Island or SOL) due to the lack of time. So when we hit the first drop-off, Ellis Island, we happily got off. The Selera Rasa people actually waved us good-bye and headed to SOL, not telling us that we wouldn’t have the chance to get there. grrr. so, the morale of the trip is that Ellis Island had lots of people, diseases, more penny machines, and also to keep your ears on the ferry MC’s explanation. the only plus point is that I took a picture of the most beautiful child ever. picture to be up soon.

At night, we tried to go to PACHA again, but this time with Raman and Ryan’s mom. got turned away as Ryan’s mom was in the correct shoes. they MUST have heels. such snobs. (later did I realize that HMV in Singapore actually sells PACHA CDs..woah) so, we never got to see the inside of PACHA.

24 April 2007
10am oh my gosh, oh my gosh, WOODSBURY. the factory outlets of the top brands gather together. all the gucci, ferragamo, bottega, coach, ralph, micheal kors, dior, tod’s, miss sixty, fcuk you want, it’s all there! shop shop shop shop (but I was low on cash, damn all the sight-seeing) we spent most of the day there, and I was so tempted to leave with the last bus at 9pm. LOL. imagine walking into a store that looks like Seiyu, thinking ‘this store looks harmless enough, affordable enough, I should poke around one of it’s many clothes hangars. first thing I touched was a USD70 t-shirt. Hmm…okay, how about that ugly looking coat? USD1,500 The jacket? USD2,150WHAT THE ****!! And all these are packed like rats on the hangar, with absolutely no respect to the price tag! I crept out of the store.

I came away from Woodsbury at 6pm, feeling like I missed a chance of a lifetime to splurge. I should have brought more dough. Just got a Coach wallet, some no name handbag, a/x keychains and a belt, 2 pairs of skinny Levi’s and a top. I left behind the Esprit wooden weave bags, fancy Coach keychains, really fabulous and cheap Coach bags, the Coach store, Ralph perfumes, the cheap MAC & Bobbi products amongst many others. Please come back to me…

25 April 2007
8.30am Pack my bags, today is the day we leave New York in a stretch Limo, complete with tinted glass windows a la Laguna Beach style. But first, a quick dash to Macy’s. I had forsaken Victoria’s Secret (never stepped in), Bath & Body Works store (never got past the first shelf) and I wasn’t gonna leave with just pictures of the Macy’s building. It’s like Taka, but with the enormity of Vivo. By this time, money was so low, I needed to skip lunch. I saw a Micheal Kors bag I really wanted, USD300+, saw the latest range of Coach (even at a place like Macy’s, they sell at a much lower price than in Sg. The latest bag costs SGD400 there, but SGD512 here.) what I liked was that I saw a section of Baby Phat. Great clothes.

Time to head back to the hotel. Hop into the nice stretch limo and leave for JFK.

Before the New York Day entourage arrived in NY, they were experiencing the worst thunder storm in over 10 years. When we were there, not a drop of rain…the sun was so strong, we had good a sun-burn and tan. When we left for JFK, it started raining. Heaven didn’t want us to leave, but we had to.

But I’ll be back someday.

THE END

Visit www.singaporeday.sg

Tagged By Chriz
Rules of the game: Each player of this game starts off with ten weird things or habits or little known facts about yourself. People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names. No tagbacks!

1. as wild as i may seem to people, i close off to discussions about sex (as a topic) and my romance life. i feel as though the papparazzi wants to invade my life.

2. i want to be a rich tai-tai, so that i can choose to work, and spend money on my friends and family.

3. i am serious about owning a Mini Cooper. really.

4. when my boss asked me 'what do you want to be when you grow up?', i just gave him a blank stare. i.e. i have no direction in life.

5. in school tests, when i believed the answer to the question was wrong, i refused to write anything down even though no marks will be deducted. that's just how i'm built.

6. i can use my tongue to tie a knot in a cherry stem. doesn't mean i'm a good kisser though.

7. i can move my head side to side like an indian. a result of watching too much A-mei MTVs.

8. i hope to throw a kegger for my birthday party every year. i just need a sponsor.

9. i have abit of an alpha-male in me. showing affection to my bf in public makes me look weak.

10. i am a very good friend if need be. just dont get on my nerves.

You're tagged ok? dont scold me.

Evie
V
Kev
Jac
Jermaine
Shan