help

I desperately need someone to accompany me to Faye Wong’s concert.
I have with me tickets to very decent seats and it costs only $135, a far cry from the original price of $150.
Ya, its very decent even for the seats in the same price block.
Please somebody out there, consider this deal carefully.
Its Faye Wong... ...

help

Faye Wong World Tour Concert
2 June 2004 Wednesday 8pm
Anybody wants to go and watch with me?
Its $148+2 but I can pay using citibank credit card so there will be a 10% discount.
Its Faye Wong!!!
Okay, please, please, somebody, stand up and volunteer to accompany me to the concert, please! Hey... I can get 10% discount leh...

ting wen

Well, I have decided not to find work anymore. I will just lounge around until the Taiwan trip and make further decisions after. In the meantime, I will probably be rendering help to Adeline for the upcoming Temasek Nite Lu Yuan Zhi Ye, people, must go and watch hor...

While helping Adeline look for suitable music, I went through my cd collection again and listened to some music that I had seemed to have forgotten. Sharing with everybody some really nice listening pieces,

*In the Mood for Love Original Soundtrack
Good to listen at night cos the lounge music of Yumeji’s Theme, the dadada dadada dadada daa very popular one and the Ang Kor Wat music relaxes your mind and body and puts you to an easy sleep. The Shanghainese Operas on the other hand adds to a sad night of recollections if you are still not sleepy.

*C’est la Vie – Chyi’s English album
As we all know Chyi soothing voice is for easy listening and in this album where music is kept o a minimum, it is easier on the ears and is good for relaxing at any time. My recommendations, Forever, and At Seventeen

*Pocahontas Original Soundtrack
A Disney classic. Need I say any more?!

*Fearless vs Future – an Aaron Kwok ep
A very Aaron Kwok mix of a few songs in both Cantonese and Mandarin so its only for die hard fans like me. Most people know I am like crazy over Faye Wong and Wubai but not many people actually realise that I am also a die hard fan of the Heavenly King whose dance moves are to die for. I think I must have surprised dear Jiadai when I sang a whole lot of Aaron’s songs when I went ktv with her and Zihui...

*Golden Flower – a Karen Mok Cantonese album
This album is completely produced by Wubai who used about only a synthesiser, only occasional tracks include proper instruments, bta, ya. It is a very experimental album which I dont think will appeal to many, but one thing can be very surely concluded, Lin Xi is a godsend genius! And Karen is a weirdo, like who would wrap oneself in Clingfilm as a photoshoot outfit?!

Try listening to the above albums! You can borrow from me, ya?

47 48 47

47kg
Thats my weight in the morning.
48kg
Thats my weight after dinner.
47kg
Thats my weight before bedtime.

Boy, I sure do need help!

But somehow for me, the fats dont disappear as my weight continues to plunge... Theres still the humongous thighs and the protruding tummy even though Im now a size S (big S though)...

Or are the fats that I see only just a facade?

Boy, I sure do need more help than Id thought!

And the thing is that even with my mum administering my diet and my regular once a week bowel movements (its so ever since I was young so its nothing to worry abt), there still seems to be no improvement in my weight...

Help!

Elaine

Just 30min ago, this girl Elaine called to the radio station wanting to dedicate a song to her friends cos she could not continue befriending them. Upon probing, the deejay found out that Elaine was detained by her boyfriend in his house at this very moment. He had also disallowed her to continue meeting her friends or talk to them over the phone. To ensure her obedience, he beat her up and even used cigarette butts to burn her. The deejay advised her to report this matter to the police immediately. A while later, Elaine SMSed back to the radio station that she had called the police and the police would be arriving to rescue her.

This set me thinking. What is love?

Females have always been disadvantaged in a relationship ever since the beginning of time. They have been the subject of violence and abuse when the relationship goes wrong. They suffer both emotionally and also physically.

Man?!

Here, I would like to dedicate a song to Elaine. This is one of my favourite songs, but here, ive translated it. I think id still captured the essence of the song... Any idea what song is it originally? hehe...

*If Only I Were You*
I’d used all my heart to hug you
Willing to love you and put your interests before mine
Thought you’d taken over the whole of me
Suspicions mixed with faith
Our present also includes our past
Time is not enough for you to commit yourself
You would always leave me at the wrong moment
Distancing from our relationship
For me to take the initiative and look for you
If only I were you
I’d relief you to love me wholeheartedly
Every moment from the bottom of my heart
And when you look back at me
I’d still be at where you’d left me standing
Really, can you ever pay me back?
More courage than what I’d put in
If only I were you
I’d continue this long path of love
But I am not you
And whenever I think of this
I can only try and understand and keep the tears to myself
Loving you, Never giving up
We’d been through many rough patches
It’s not my intention to beg you to come back to me
Just to let you know the pain I’m suffering
And every time I think of this
Not a slight hope is left, Only tears
But I can never be you
***
Although this situation is quite different from Elaine’s, I can say that her life could have been better if she was him, but as the last line, she can never be him... Well, on a lighter note, since she has called the police, that guy would probably get into trouble with the law; Elaine can live a better life now!

I would like to use this opportunity to wish Elaine all the best for her future (without that guy)!

What Shall I Do Now?

Im officially unemployed now that my contract with John Little has ended and I have absolutely no interest in extending it. It is not that I dont like working there, but I really need a break to slowly ponder over what I want to read in Uni and to settle all the administration stuff which Im really bad at. Id really like to take this opportunity to thank all my superiors and fellow colleagues at JLPP for their guidance. Now that I left, Id also promised them that I will be back... as a disgruntled customer! Now that I now how things work in there, haha, I try my best to make life difficult for them! haha...

With all the time on my hands, I think I will also write a book titled How to Do Well in Exams with Minimal Studying. I think I have every reason to succeed with that book cos I can just put my whole personal experience in that book! Okay, Im not trying to gloat, but thinking back, I think Im really lucky!

For Maths, I didnt study complex numbers, differential equations, ap gp, applications of integration, applications of differentiation, pdf cdf, and a whole lot more, but I got an A for Maths! How amazing!

*To my dear juniors, the trick behind is do specialise, pray hard, and dont make mistakes*

For Econs, I studied like 4 topics to do 3 questions, only Labour Market didnt come out, but the rest was just as I spotted. Considering that for two years in JC I never got more than a 9/25 for my essays, the B that I got for Econs is really a godsend. This I must thank Ms Leong for spending much time with me going through MCQs and the Case Study.

*So, the trick is to concentrate on what you can score in (note: I didnt waste my time studying essays), make your teacher work (you didnt pay your school fees for nothing) and pray hard that you spotted correctly*

My Hist was quite expected, so there isnt really any trick being the score that I got except hard work, a hardworking Mr Thompson (thanks) and a well, Mr Hasim, whom Ive got nothing to say about.

Maybe I can write another book called How to Spot Questions Correctly...

On Top of the World~

Very pleased with my results. Especially for Econs. Thank you very much, Ms Leong!!!

Now that Im quite certain about my future, I can start making plans for the rest of this nice long hols without much agony. After the John Little stint, I dont want to continue any more. I would probably want to bum around... Ya, Vic, you too, bum around with me, the unity of the voluntary unemployed!

Maybe I wld want to try out for relief teaching... Sounds pretty slack, quite easy money... Say, let us see how.

I will also want to try find time to meet up with all friends I havent met up for a long time. That reminds me, I have yet received ANY birthday present!!! This is so so sad... Where are my friends?! If you, my dear friend read this, and acknowledge that you are my friend, you get the hint? Peiting, hope you dont forget, it is double this year hor... hehe... so bhb...

Another incentive for me to remain unemployed and meet up with friends after leaving John Little... Ahhh... Cant wait to be free!!!

A Bad Dream

I had a bad dream. I dreamt that I received my A level results and got a D for maths, so devastating. My total points were also so low that I could not make it into uni.

Anw, I had a good talk with my parents after receiving my SAT scores which surprisingly was not as bad as I thought it would be. But then again, it is pretty redundant liao so I guess it would only come into use if I fluke my As. My dad has a friend who has two children studying in Australia, so my dad would probably send me over if I cant get into a local uni. I would then do some arts course, hopefully meet some rich guy and get married so that I can use his money to further my dreams...

As what my father said, I am not Eric Khoo with a multi-billionaire father to support my drama dreams, so I can only rely on either myself or a rich husband. Maybe I can hook up one of the elder Khoo grandchildren...

Well, I am feeling quite better now that I have an alternative plan of my future, not really that stressed on receiving my results. Must have confidence in myself! *determined* Like what a colleague said, worse come worse, sign on to be a perm staff lor... Quite looking forward to receiving my results liao...

sucks...

I have been trying my best to prevent my life from falling into a routine, but somehow certain aspects of life seem to have been mechanised.

I have been trying my best not to think about the release of A level results, but a nagging sensation at the back of my head seems to have planned for the worst-case circumstance. My blog entry for that day will consist of four letters only—F U C K.

I have been trying my best not to procrastinate, but I have just been procrastinating this resolution.

I have been trying my best not to feel lonely, but sometimes I just cannot help but feel lonely and I need something more than physical company, some sort of an emotional company to prevent myself from falling apart.

I have been trying my best to enjoy life to the fullest, but it seems the more I try the more empty I feel. 19 years of life, I cannot think of one thing that I can be proud of.

I have been trying my best to plan ahead for the future, to map out my whole career path, but the one thing I am striving for seems to be so distant and I cannot help but start thinking of alternatives. The singer Jewel once said that it was by not preparing any alternatives that made her even more determined to succeed in her singing career because she knew that once she made backup plans she would tend to fall into that trap. If so, am I destined to fail?

I have been trying my best to put all the unhappy memories behind me and start over again, but there is no one there to stretch out a helping hand. And I just fall deeper into a vicious cycle of my emotional blackhole.

Like. Don't Like.

I like being able to help my customers.

I like being able to answer my customers’ questions.

I like it when after asking if my customer has Robinsons’ card, he takes it out and thus being able to enjoy special discounts.

I like it when my supervisor asks me to help her.

But then again,

I dont like packing stuff.

I dont like folding clothes.

I dont like making mistakes.

I dont like customers who think they are the king and/or queen of the universe.

work. sian.

I have started working again. I dont like it.

I thought that perhaps I could do more cashiering this time, but I am so so wrong. I ended up doing more packing than ever. I had to pack bottles after bottles, tubes after tubes, boxes after boxes of facial wash, shampoo, shower foam, hand cream, masks, blah. Lunch was staggered, so poor little me had to have lunch alone. Luckily, the people there are quite nice and understanding and I was also let off on time, without having to complete what I was doing.

The best thing is that I am off today and tmr. What a nice duty roster... haha... I hope when I return back to work I can get to do more cashiering, but I dont think that would happen. We are now preparing for our sales and need more manpower to do the horrible packing and arranging and blah, the cashier counters are left unattended, only when there are customers then the cashiers will rush over to the counters and even then it is usually the more experienced staff that do the cashiering. haiz...

If only I can strike the lottery, or marry some rich guy, or something similar, then I can spend the rest of my life slacking around in luxury... ...

Christmas time is a sad time

Memories can be most painful yet dear to us.

Last Christmas, I took a friend out of my annual Christmas Card Mailing List because I wanted to wipe that person out from me. I want to just forget everything and carry on with life without having a constant unhappy feeling at the back of my head. Like what is the use of being friends when they are only for betrayal? If so, why bother being friends at all? Haiz... Until now, I have quite succeeded in removing that friend from my life.

After Christmas, I had decided to erase another person out of my memory and take out that name from my annual list end this year. When I make friends, I would always put my heart and soul into that friendship, but sometimes what you put in is not what you get. If that person really doesnt want to remain friends with me, I dont see a need for me to be so thick-skinned.

Lately, I have deliberated over the issue of friends again. I have finally made another heart-wrenching decision to take another person out of my end year list. After being on the list for 7 years, the decision to pull that name out is not for me to forget but for the other party to forget. A card represents much care and concern, especially at this digital age. By ceasing the reception of future cards is to put an end to the reception of care and concern. Some people might think this will be very mean of me to do so, but after much consideration I think that it would be meaner for me to continue showing that care and concern when it has the potential of becoming a heavy burden. I have decided to ease my friend’s burden and shoulder it myself... ...

Maybe if I can remove the latter from my memory, I would live a more cheerful life, but this action would also remove some of my most treasured moments. Deciding between two evils, I can only do what I do best, procrastinate. By procrastinating such an act, I more tend to fall back into the past and live in a pseudo-utopian world I created, and then I would continue procrastinating... A vicious cycle which I am still trapped inside... The only possible way to escape from this vicious can only be an ending from fairy tales. In Sleeping Beauty, the Prince fought with the evil Witch and finally kill her to remove the curse and save the Princess from eternal unconsciousness with a kiss... ...

Wherefore art thou, my dear Prince...

On the Trail of Wangfei

One of my New Year resolution was to be a more ardent fan of Wubai and Wangfei which until now I am proud to say I am doing it. Friends who have had their birthdays have seen my fanatics, poor Victoria and Yanling should also understand after accompanying me on a disappointing queuing up expedition at Plaza Singapura on Sunday and at Junction8 ytd. I would really like to send my utmost thanks the both Victoria, having to endure sun and horrible PRCs, and Yanling, having to endure 9hours of boredom and an evil PRC, for queuing with me just to see dear Faye.

Sad to say, I am utterly disappointed with the PRCs in Singapore... ... They are like a bunch of kiasu (really, who said Singaporeans are kiasu is totally wrong!), queue-cutting, evil-mouthed, self-centred assholes man! Cant wait to boot all of them out of my sight! But have also met some other more decent fans who really are able to queue for longer periods just to support Faye. Way to go!!!

Although in her 35th year, Faye doesnt boast the looks of her age. She seems to have put on weight in her cheeks yet her legs are just as thin as ever. My legs are just monstrous beside hers... She is now sporting a short haircut, but I think a longer permed one looks nicer on her, well, just my thoughts. She is still not very fond of speaking and has an embarrassed look every time we scream out her name. Just as the Faye we know... ...

Last Life of the Universe

An introduction of a fascinating movie I watched yesterday.

Title:
Last Life in the Universe (in Japanese, Thai, and English with Chinese and English subtitles)

Directed by:
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

Starring:
Asano Tadanobu (a film actor who so dedicated to film-making that he never acted in any TV drama which is most unlike the typical Japanese actor)
Sinitta Boonyasak
Laila Boonyasak

Cinematography by:
Christopher Doyle (an award-winning cinematographer favoured by dear Wong Kar Wai

Basic plot of the story:
Kenji, a suicidal and obsessive librarian, after killing someone goes off into hiding with Noi with just knocked dead her own sister. Being with each other for 3 days, Kenji and Noi slowly finds light in their lives.

Other draws to the film:
* Very solid acting from the cast. Asano Tadanobu even won the best actor award for this film in the prestigious Venice Film Festival. Highly engaging interaction between Asano Tadanobu and Sinitta Boonyasak as neither speaks each other’s language and had to resort to using a third language which neither speaks well. This language handicap greatly brings out the best of their acting.
* The use of comic relief in this film adds a jarring and disturbing effect which, too, heightens the presentation of the ideas the director wants to bring forth
* The seed for this story, the reason for the title of this film, was from a children’s picture book entitled The Last Lizard which is the basis for this film. A lizard wakes up one day to find that all the other lizards were gone. He was the last lizard left. His family was gone; his friends were gone; and even his enemies were gone too. The lizard felt lonely and there was no one, not even an enemy, for him to talk to. He would rather have his enemies around him than be all by himself. Perhaps both Kenji and Noi, and even Noi’s sister, Nid, saw themselves in a similar position as the lizard.
* The Straits Times Life! movie correspondent, Ong Sor Fern, gave this film a five-star rating.

$1million

I would really like to share with all my friends news that I am one of the lucky 11 ppl who won the group 1 prize of today’s Toto. Although the prize money is $9 000 000 short of my expectations, I must admit I am absolutely delighted with my win. I will still spend the money according to the proportions I had previously meted out.

***
No matter how much I would really like to share that above piece of news, I am afraid I cant do so as I can only like what the title of this blog suggests, I can only build castles in the clouds.

Maybe I should change the title of this blog to reflect what I really want, not so much of building castles in the clouds, but building solid castles with stable foundations... ...

musings~

It is always good to meet up with old friends and have a good afternoon chat. Meeting up with the cds ppl ytd made me realise how fast time have past and how much our perspectives of life have changed. Most of us are working liao and somehow during our catching up, issues of our work were always brought up. I wonder if that would become the main topic of our discussions for years to come, especially if we still meet up regularly after our uni ed.

I wonder what will become of us in 10 years. Will I be happy with my job and able too feed myself well with that job? Will I manage to find a suitable beau and get married and have kinds? Will I grow wrinkles or put on weight or start wearing ah-soh kinds of clothes? Or will I just end up as a pathetic lonely soul, fed up with my work but yet need it to live? Or maybe life is so unpredictable that I might just die in an accident or contract some fatal disease like bird flu and leave the world before that 10 years... ...

Haiz... Really shouldnt be that pessimistic leh... Okay, to be more optimistic, maybe I will just win this Thursday’s Toto and become a multi-millionaire and need not work for the rest of my life! When (note: the use of when and not if!) I strike Toto, after tax-deductions, I will put 80% of it in a fixed-interest deposit to ensure that the money can last me as long as I live, 14% will go to my education fund. With the money, I can pursue my dreams of furthering a performing arts education at a nice liberal arts school, maybe in US or Australia or even UK. Then I will spend the remaining 1% on luxury goods to really pamper myself. A Louis Vuitton bag, a Burberry trench coat, Chanel underwear, Salvatore Ferragamo shoes and most importantly a nice dinner at Jade for my family!

this tone of voice...

There is this tone of voice that I sometimes would use to retort. At its very best it is a dismissive tone, rather nonchalant, but at its worst it is more of caustic and biting. I use it when I am unsure if a remark is supposed to be sarcastic or just a friendly joke. I also use it to test out if people are having negative thoughts about me through their reaction to my tone of voice. But using this tone can sometimes prove to be dangerous as it can easily lead to a communication breakdown.

There was this one time I used it to Zihui. She said something to me during a Maths lecture which I supposed it to be a playful sarcasm, so it used that tone to retort back, but she didnt take it well and continued the banter which didnt go well with me although we werent exactly in a badmouthing stage. Luckily, we managed to use clear up the mess of that communication breakdown by the end of that lecture without much damage to our friendship.

I didnt learn from my mistake and still like to often use that tone of voice to test grounds or when Im pissed but dont want to offend the other party. But there was another communication breakdown again with another person. This time it was because I was unsure if my friend’s remark was supposed to be sarcastic or just a friendly joke and I was a bit pissed that those words were said, so I used that tone. It turned out that that tone didnt go down with either of us and I became very very pissed. I dont know if my friend meant those words, but it really pained me. Sometimes people would say things they dont mean, but to the person who hears those words it might have been very painful. Just like I took my friend’s words to heart, my words might also hurt other before. I would like to just let every one of my friends know that Im sorry, if my words ever hurt them in any way.

Maybe, I shouldnt use that tone of voice anymore... But then again, not using that tone of voice would make me feel quite vulnerable... ...

Oh purple rain, please don't cry...

Heard a very old but nice song on tv. Chyi Chin’s Purple Rain, Zi3Yu3, its some old tv serials ending song. I remember Id used to like that song, but when was it, I cant remember. Possibly the mid-90s when there was a blossom of nice songs, the golden era of Chinese music when music was about great melodies and meaningful lyrics. Which album was Purple Rain from? Anyone has that CD?

Chyi Chin used to sing rather well, from what I remember of his songs. His songs also remind me of the Wubai kind of music, except that Wubai has a complete band to play music for him. Another thing I remember of Chyi Chin was his romance with Joey Wong. During the decade they were together, there were numerous reports that they had secretly got hitched in America or something similar, but all along, they never got married. Then there would be reports that they broke up and others would say they got back together and so on. Finally, that was it, a report revealing that Chyi Chin had a son borne by an ex-girlfriend. All along, Chyi Chin had this devoted lover image, no matter how badly Joey Wong spoke of him during their “off” periods, he would still say that Joey Wong was the person he truly loves. After that damned report, which Chyi Chin finally acknowledged, there were varying rumours that the couple was going ahead with their marriage plans and that Joey Wong dumped Chyi Chin. Only God really knew what was going on between them. Some time later, Joey Wong publicly admitted that their relationship was officially over. Even so, Chyi Chin still openly pined for the fair maiden.

Did Joey Wong dump Chyi Chin because of his past? Or were there really irreconcilable differences between them? Well, everyday folks like us will probably never know and it will never affect us personally in any way...

Sometimes I wonder, really, how does a relationship end? Especially relationships that lasted for many many years, I mean, after that many years wont you have fully understood and accepted that person? There is also the case of Ekin Cheng, he too ended a decade-old relationship for another person... Why, even after that long a time period, the relationship is still so fragile? In Japan, statistically, middle-aged people who have been married for over 20 years have registered the highest number of divorces. Why?!

My Chinese Birthday

Today the 6th day of the first lunar month is my Chinese birthday. Well, according to Chinese belief, I should have eaten longevity noodles with an egg for lunch just now, but instead, as nobody had remembered my Chinese birthday, I ate fish fillet and sausage omelette for lunch. I even had to cook the omelette myself! What a pathetic way to have lunch on a birthday...

Then again, who actually celebrates their Chinese birthday? I mean, like how many people even know when is their Chinese birthday? Or their Eight Characters? Ancient Chinese have a belief that everything on earth is predestined when one is born, so, our Eight Characters actually holds the key to our whole meaning of existence on earth. Our Eight Characters includes the year of our birth, the month, the day, and the time, each denotation consists of two characters, hence its name, the Eight Characters.

sian sian sian!!!

over with the dumb SATs liao... dont think i will actually do well, but deep down i do hope i can do well, at the very lest better than my previous score.

i went to acjc, not knowing anyone, not knowing what to do, but luckily i met these two tj students who were very friendly, sunni and nikita, from 0103! thanks! it turned out that there are many tj people around, at least 20% of the people there were from tj, and were wearing school uniform. i can only guess that there were many more in plain clothes. the rest were ac students, but mostly ex-ac students, ya, the whole lot were retaking that dumb test.

from now on, i am very free liao. and i badly want to go out!!! friends, where are you?! can any little body ask poor joan out? shopping?! lunch?! dinner?! anything?! i am damn bored!!!

gongxi gongxi

gong xi fa cai!
wan shi ru yi!

i wore the racial harmony day outfit with the oriental wooden slip-ons to the hyatts grand reunion dinner just now. well, 50% of the guests there wore mandarin or pseudo-mandarin outfits, of which 70% of the female guests wore that and 95% of the kids under 12, so i didnt look out of place in that outfit. took a whole lot of pix, of me and my family and of the glorious food. will be putting them up on my blog asap after i learn how to do it. my father recommended me to do it through frontpage, but well, i will have to see how far my limited computer knowledge can bring me to. till then... ...

for now, its pure word descriptions! heehee... first dish, yusheng, need not say anything about it. second dish, golden suckling pig, with sweet sauce and egg wrap like those for peking duck kind. oh man, cant wait to show the pix... third dish, you people are so so going to envy me, sharks fin soup with fish maw, the soup is the clear soup kind, not the starched kind and the sharks fin is the whole piece kind, not the individual strand kind, wow, you should see it man! well, pix coming out asap... fourth dish, abalone in coconut, its a very tropical looking dish, but fell short of expectations, only one (quite thick though) slice of abalone with sea cucumber, crab meat, dried scallops and white fungus, okay lah, still a top dish, only that i would prefer it if the abalone was whole... there was also oysters with whole mushrooms, fried prawns in wasabi mayo sauce (only a tinge of wasabi taste so it was just perfect!), korean-styled noodles, and of course the dessert buffet!!! i took a whole lot more photos, cant wait to let everyone ee the wonderful chocolate fountain, strawberry cheesecakes, tiramisu, chocolate mousse, mango pudding and a whole range of icecream. not forgetting other desserts such as tangyuan, berry pies and traditional new year snacks... ...

the whole atmosphere there was very festive as the hotel invited acrobats, a magician (a very lousy one though, his tricks were all seen through by my cousins and we ended up dissing the poor magician throughout), a chinese orchestra, and a lion dance troop. each guest was also given a 200g 4 by 7 white/milk chocolate bar as door gift. really, this dinner, priced at approximately $90 per head was like 10 times more worth it than our pathetic prom dinner (though they are of a different kind of atmosphere). interested? next year perhaps can suggest that to your parents/grandparents?

Fallen Angel Cries...

this is it.

the name of this blogskin coincidentally is a wong kar wai movie title. 1996, starring leon lai and takeshi kaneshiro, it is one of two wong kar wai movies without tony leung chiu wai involved. fallen angels, or duo4 luo4 tian1 shi3, is about hong kong prostitutes, and like most other wongs movies, the plot is forgettable. the blogskin was done by someone called wah_biangz, due credit must be given. i dont know if wah_biangz is a guy or girl, only that that person should be 18 this year, and i strongly suspect that wah_biangz is a singaporean. i mean, which other peoples in the world would call themselves wah_biangz man. here, im bowing three times to wah_biangz in gratitude of this wonderful skin which i think really expresses my deep felt sentiments. with a blog titled castle in the clouds, this angel is now degenerated, only able to pine for the clouds... ...

okay, enough of all the introduction. i hereby proclaim myself yet again unemployed! im done with the stint with john little, made many new friends, some others would be jerlin, julius, jin rong, willy... but ive also met some really qigek people, like this dumb sub packer whom i dont know his name, and dont want to know anyway. he was me and sherrys sub packer for 45min on sunday when our packers when for dinner. in the first min, he had already pissed me off with his lack of common sense. i had this customer who bought over $200 worth of items and my counter was overflowing with lots of small items, so i asked the dear dumb packer to help me pack the stuff first since sherrys customer had only bought a single bag which sherry could easily pack it herself, but my dear dumb packer started ranting that since sherrys customer had only one item, he wanted to pack that first. nevermind that, but he continued ranting that i treated him as if he was a thousand-handed guanyin. like come on man, what your problem?!

okay, i didnt mind that, but not long after, i needed some help with the nets machine as it ran out of paper, and i could not fit the paper in, i asked him if he knew how to do it, he tried but couldnt do it, but later muttered under his breath that feeding paper into the nets machine was supposed to be my job and why wasnt i able to do it. i was so shocked when i heard that, so i asked him what did he mean by that, he was like ohh nothing, i was just talking to myself. hey, if you are not happy say it out lah, what do you mean by saying in that manner?! like you are so great meh?

being a cashier, i had to retain my composure and smile to all my customers even though i was boiling inside. but i did almost lose my cool at one point in time when i was almost done with a customer, left with only one item to scan. my dumb packer was like telling me to just press 3. i mean, press what 3?! only one item was left why did i need to press 3? he went over to my keyboard and pressed function 3, repeat line, cos that item was the same with the previous item. he said that that would have been much faster, but really, walking to the key board and pressing that button was slower that me scanning that item. i told him off, he was damn displeased and started ranting under his breath. really, if there werent many customers, he would have been dead meat!

xumin was also pissed off with him when she came by my counter to collect the used plastic shopping bags and asked him if he could compress those bags when he dumped them in her bag. ya, he started ranting again. sherry was also quite unhappy when our place was filled with plastic bags (my legs was literary buried under those plastic bags) and he ranted that our counter was like a rubbish dump. in actual fact, he was supposed to be the one clearing the bags, but he didnt do it. he blamed us. but when we have long queue of customers behind us, we really couldnt do anything about it. thanks a lot im never seeing him ever again!

but luckily, that 45min was the only bad thing that happened to me during my 8 days of work. also, i got the chance to touch and see a $1000 note, purple in colour, with a picture of the government house on it, and a US$100 note, a true greenback...

looking forward: dinner at hyatts tmr night. chocolate fountain, here i come!!! but then again, i recently gained some weight again, my pantes became tighter. damn scared leh... sekali after tmr night i cant wear my new clothes then how arh?! die... i think i better not eat lunch, keep my stomach empty for dinner, so so looking forward to it! poor friends, i promise to give a full account of my meal in great detail asap so you can imagine yourself eating them. till then, you may quench your appetite with my 12 jan's piece! *giggles* *more giggles* *most giggles*

Warehouse Sales at the Expo

my arms and back are so so tired from all the heavy manual work setting up the wares for sales. my legs are tired from all the walking and standing around over long periods of time. my butt aches from all the long periods of time sitting on the cold hard expo ground. the term cashier was in fact a farce as basically i didnt do much cashiering, i did do some, but most of the time is doing odd works and trying out different ways to skive off work while apparently doing work.

the only thing good that came out of this stint was the friends id made. the girls ive befriends on tues and wed, rose, felicia, andrea, jaime, colleen, it was fun hanging out with them thinking of ways to do work when we werent doing anything at all. confused? an example, packing and folding clothes allowed us to have an excuse to sit of the floor, so we took a box of clothes, tagged them, folded them, sorted them in designs and colours, packed them neatly into the box, all at extremely slow speeds, then emptied the box, and packed them all over again. another example, when we were supposed to put up signages, we took the different signs and walked all around the expo hall looking as though we were finding suitable positions to put them up when we were in fact just blindly walking around and chatting. okay, i aint that lazy! it was just that most of the stuff we were supposed to do had been done and there was nothing to do but we cant blatantly just sit around and do nothing so we had to think of these ways to occupy ourselves!

finally, today i got to touch the cash till and serve customers. n i hell screwed them all up man! i broke down on the first customer i served. i was like so damn slow, made a whole lot of mistakes, and had to trouble my poor in-charge siew geok to help me clear up the mess while i had to endure pissed look of that dear customer. i fumbled on my first customer paying by nets too. id just blanked out on how to operate that stupid machine and had to call in siew geok again. luckily this customer was very easy going and he n his friend actually could joke with me being a pathetic greenhorn. well, to redeem myself, my cashiering skills actually improved along with the number of customers id served. yay!

n i did make more friends today. there is fellow cashier sherry whom i slacked around with today after id got ridden of my cashiering duties, my dear packer ser yang from ntu who had to work for his hostel hall, some other slacking merchandise clearer thian boon and his friend who took sherry and i on a slacking expedition around the expo hall, a poor san who had to sort out ladies wear all by himself until sherry, colleen and i went over to skive by apparently helping him, and many more other fellow slacking souls. another redemption was that john little really employed too many temp staff this time.

working at this expo sales really introduced many different kinds of people to me and it let me see how unreasonable some singaporeans can be. there was this old malay woman who wanted to buy a whole lot of crockery and insisted to the cashier that it is cheaper than we thought so when we knew matter of factly that we were correct. that woman insisted on seeing our in-charge, and when told over and over again the correct price, she decided to leave that big box of breakable items with us and continued shopping while thinking if she still wanted those goods. she came back to that same counter again with another box of similar crockery and said she didnt want the previous box when basically both are of the same items with the same price. really damn kanasai one!!!

the most head shaking people are those women who pick up bags and bags of clothes over to a corner then slowly pick and decide which ones do they really want, then just dump the rest of the clothes around. some women are even more impressive. since this john little sale is not equipped with fitting rooms, those women would pick up bags of clothes over to one side and try them on over their clothes, under their clothes, and when picking out clothes for children, they treated the whole expo area as one big fitting room. those poor kids. by the mid day, most kids were visibly bored stiff. one little boy around 2 years was so fed up with his mother that he kept walking away from her to sherry, colleen and me picking up hangers for us. like duh?! but because we were as bored as him, we humoured him. like even more duh?!

if only there were like some shuai ges around, maybe work will be more fun. but basically the guys there are like so so pathetic, not to mention short, like double the patheticness. haiz...

daydreaming of cny eve

the eve of chinese new year, reunion dinner at hyatt.

hahaha... just thinking about it makes me feel so so good! yu sheng. waited one whole year for it and finally i will be eating it like soon. sharks fin soup. still thinking of the one i had at the oriental last september/october when i went for a wedding dinner and now i can have it again. abalone. with all those skylight, new moon, fortune, blah blah adverts on tv, i want mine too. but the one thing that im like so so dying for and which is a speciality of most hyatt dinners is their dessert buffet! i remember one reunion dinner at hyatt, there was this chocolate fountain a la charlie and the chocolate factory... ... aww... *joan floating somewhere in heaven liao*

okay, earth to joan! the present most important thing is to come up with the perfect outfit to wear for the occasion. my mother wants me to wear what i wore for racial harmony day cos its a chinese new year celebration, for those who cant remember what i wore or didnt see me in that outfit, its a light pink sleeveless qipao top with a baby pink ankle length skirt. well, now the only thing im pondering is what shoes to match. should i wear my silver daniel yam heels or a reddish brown wooden craved with patterns slip-ons with silver finish. the daniel yam heels would be classy enough for the event, i mean, its at hyatt! but the wooden slip-ons has an oriental touch to complete the cheena look my mother want me to have for that day. comments?

well, either shoe i put on will still allow me to indulge in my favourites... really, who cares if sharks are facing extinction. really, who cares if you will see two joans after cny. okay, joan cares for the latter, but she will lose the extra joan straight after all the cny dinners.

sian day

want to scale new heights of the art of procrastination? learn a trick or two from the master herself. can you beat this procrastination record? id just sent my prom dress for drycleaning ytd, after one month and five days! then i went back down to tj to pass a book to my junior. seeing the newbies and the poor year 2s, i felt a certain sense of achievement, finally, i need not suffer like them anymore! hahaha...

after that, i could have went straight back home and slack another day with my tv set, but after talking to eunice, hearing her planning to go shopping for black skirts with yingling, i decided to go with them. they were going to the robinsons sale at the expo to get black skirts to wear for their banquet job at some hotel, kudos to them for finally finding a job! well, i didnt get any skirt, but being one who really likes buying things, i got myself a pair of jeans. okay, to redeem myself, the jeans was a necessity because now i can only wear one pair of pants out of all those my mother and i own. in a way, id treat it as a good piece of new as it meant that ive lost weight! yay! my waist is slimmer!

but yingling and eunice couldnt get everything they needed there so we made a trip to tampines. and the inherent shopper inside me got the better of things and i bought a pair of boots there, from everbest. the original price of the boots was $79.90 but the shop was having a 10% storewide discount, and as there was some marks on the shoe(which were cleaned away after some wiping so it wasnt a big deal), the salesgirl gave me another 10% off. but the story didnt just end there, cos the salesgirl in the end charged me $69.90 for the boots, which after the 20% discount costs only about $55. what a steal! i will match my new boots with the esprit outfit my aunt bought for me some weeks ago or with the esprit dress i bought on a 20% discount, or... suddenly, i cant wait for new year, i can get to wear all my nice new clothes...

speaking of nice new clothes, ive got this pair of op boardshorts free from my sisters friend. my sisters friend (a guy) likes this girl and bought a whole lot of gifts for her for her birthday, but as she didnt like him, she only accepted a pencil case from him. faced with the rest of the items, he can only give them away. and inheriting my maxim of no take whit no take(translate it into chinese literarily), my sister brought home the boardshorts, but as it wasnt her size, haha, it became mine!

counting my new clothes, blouse from esprit, miniskirt also from esprit, cotton spag top from 37degrees, boardshorts 37degrees, black dress esprit, boardshorts op, pink polo longsleeved top from ralph lauren polo (a gift from my uncle who bought it cheap from vietnam), tinted jeans bum (the one i got today), a red handbag from bum (a gift from my sister which she got in malaysia where i horibly didnt want to go), studded boots (the one i got today), pink shawl (a christmas present from an aunt), well, i think thats about it. wow, cant wait to wear them! umm, must start experimenting them and see what i should wear on the first day of cny, maybe picking out the outfit for the reunion dinner is more important if i get to go to some hotel or restaurant for dinner this year, and the 7th day dinner, that definitely will be at a hotel or restaurant... ...

bags, shoes, clothes, no one girl can ever have enough of them... a very good tagline used by a shoe shop that i came across in a book for advertising, “theres always a little Imelda in us”. note: Imelda Marcos, owner of over 1150 pairs of branded shoes, wife of Ferdinand Marcos, notoriously corrupt ex-president of Philippines who was toppled over by the people in the late 80s (die, cant seem to remember the exact year when i even used it for my history a levels exam less than 2 months ago, this is very bad!)

dear friends, please come and meet up with me after the cny so that i can parade round in my new clothes. thank you.

Job Job Job and some Resolutions

ive found a job. with john little at the expo for 8 days. its sort of like just the right kind of work for me, near my place, very short tern, working in shits so i wont fall into a routine, but early enough for me to start sleeping well. i wont say the pay is good, but it pays reasonably well for me to want to take up the job offer... hee... they are even paying us for the orientation session and our training session...

this job interview was nothing i expected other than the extremely long queue formed. from the last john little job interview they had and what i heard from people, large numbers of people swarmed the interview area during the time slots, so my friend and i decided to go there super early. still, the was already a lot of people there at the time we reached and had to join the long queue. about 20 min in the queue, my friend and i were segregated out from the queue. it seems that john little was only taking in students waiting for a level results and the jobs were filled on a first-come-first-serve basis. i dont know if i completely agree of their selection of temp workers, but i just feel lucky that ive finally found some work.

john little is offering another 3 weeks to a month stint at their various outlets in mid feb for their sale. i verbally gave my consent. well, the timing is just right, after the expo stint, after the cny and my dumb SATs and with an adequate 2 weeks rest before working again... quite lucky to land this john little stint, opened up other paths of working routes for me without any sort of interviews. now to think of it, other then the robinsons one which i backed out just during the queuing up, i didnt go for another other job interviews and since the john little one didnt have an interview, i dont have any experience of interviews at all! dont know if its good or bad...

and in the meantime, i still have my SATs to worry about... im like so damn pissed lor... ive got to go to a gawddamn faraway place right across the country in acjc to take that stupid test! id better do well for it, or id be like even more pissed than i am now which would be very bad... i wonder where is everyone else taking the test. it had better not be that im the only one taking the test in acjc, that would be like so sad...

anw, at this bright start of the new year, ive set myself some wishes. not resolutions since not all can me achieved by my sheer effort and i dont know if i can actually keep them, its more of wishes, hopefully procrastination doesnt step in and i can fulfil these wishes by the end of the year!
1. earn money
2. learn diving
3. get good a level results
4. get good SAT scores
5. find a boyfriend
6. become prettier
7. finish up everything im doing halfway
8. be a more fanatical fan of faye and wubai
9. perm my hair
10. get my ears pierced

well, that reminds me, when are we going to get our ears pierced?!! and friends, i will start evangelising all of you to fall in love with faye and wubai, so better prepare for it! anyone interested in diving? please let me know, then we can go for lessons together.

Christmas

ive added a quote from clamp. i dont know if i really agree with it and i dont expect many people to agree with it, but it well worth a thought. think about it, what kind of person are you? are you one who belives in fate, or one that believes than humans triumphs over fate? whether there is destiny or life is just a series of mere coincidences?

i spent this christmas with dear adolf hitler. okay, i spent just over 3 hours this christmas watching hitler: the rise of evil. if anyone wants to buy that vcd or dvd, really, i wouldnt advise it, but you can borrow it from me. its a stimulating watch due to its leading actors and actresses who put in a commendable effort and its artistic direction is almost flawless. however, as it is a story pieced by the victors, the story over focuses on hitlers evils and even so, there are many loopholes in their view of hitler. the flow of events is also rather inconsistent with several characters not having a clear role in the show. i would call it a show cos it doesnt really reflect what hitler was like. really, i dont think anybody can really interpret the true nature of our dear dictator.

after watching the biased view of hitler, i didnt have much christmas spirit left in me, but i did spent some time coming with new year resolutions which i would probably break some time soon. i resoluted last year that i would take down my daily accounts and keep track of my savings. i did that dutifully for about 8 months then it ended in a fiasco and now im like horrible in red, especially after buying that black dress, the camera, the phone... ... whoahahaha... so totally like looking forward to chinese new year lor...

ive my whole outfits for reunion dinner, the first and second day of chinese new year, and the seventh day dinner prepared... clothes... okay, its not fully prepared cos im not done with my shopping, but i do have a vague idea what i want and will work towards that shopping goal as soon as i have money. that means, i need a job real soon. i musnt procrastinate any more, i musnt pick on any jobs, i musnt give myself excuses for not finding work. haiz... suddenly sianz ½... cannot! cannot sianz ½ then procrastinate!

im going to cross my fingers and hope for the best to turn out.

well, another reason that i wish to find a job soon is also cos i want to get my biological clock back to normal. ive been sleeping and awake at the wrong times lately and i didnt realise the extent of the problem until i looked into the mirror and spotted (pun not intended) a whole lot of volcanoes among a sea of acne. if i dont get back into a proper sleeping routine, i will totally freak out relatives during cny. my aunt bought me some products from the natural source and natalie hoping that it will help ease up the acne problem. havent tried them yet, but if its good, it will earn some advertising space in this blog, so till then!

Lalalala~

i just lurvvve christmas!!! i love receiving christmas and i better love sending them... all the writing and thanking friends for being there over the past year, catching up with those havent met for a long long time. id like to take this opportunity to thank all the friends who have sent me christmas cards and or other forms of christmas greetings! thank you.

id also like to thank mr kwan for the lunch he treated our class ytd, even though only half our maths class went. we went to secret recipe at siglap, i ate their drilled bbq chicken which was served with buttered rice, but their mushroom soup is well worth mentioning. most other places prepare their soups with onions which i dont really like, so it was very appetising to learn that secret recipes mushroom soup is done without the icky yucky onions. served with half a toasted bun, the soup is best drunk warm. strongly recommended by joan.

also visited the acm (asian civilisation museum) at armenian street ytd with eunice. really learnt a lot from this trip down there ytd, cant wait to make a trip down to the other acm at empress place some day.

today went town again to do some shopping. wisma and taka was like absolutely filled with people and more people that yanling commented that it seemed similar to a scene of the flooding of chinese immigrants into singapore at the end of the 19th century. seeing the number of couples on the streets today, wahaha, i also want a boyfriend! wahaha! haiz... really, if i can find a nice guy, rich, loves me, can take care of me, i dont mind getting married right away.

but clearly, im just dreaming, so never you mind me... haiz... anw, at kino today i bought a new comic series, the first two books. tsubasa reservoir chronicle, by clamp... havent read it yet so cant introduce it today. so, until after i get started with the comic... ...

Goodbye Blossoms!

Good bye, Blossoms!

I will miss you...

ytd, in a good bye ceremony, i undressed blossoms of her usual pink garb and removed her pink and yellow slippers headwear to put on her original stoic blue and white uniform. from then on, it will be eternal farewell with her... ...

blossoms has weathered much with me. she was the one who consoled me when i entered tjc much against my wishes; she was there with me whenever i needed her; she lever really left me when she cranked out on me those couple of times. blossoms had to leave. she was dying, but at the very least, she didnt die on me when i sent her away, or it would bring much disgrace to me. when blossoms first came over to me, she often blanked out and when she was feeling real bad, she wouldnt work some keys, but as time passed, she came to be at ease with me and gave me fewer problems. then recently, she totally malfunctioned twice for a whole week, forcing me to borrow my mums. and when she blanked out more frequently without coming around automatically, i just knew her time was up. at least she died for $200 by not throwing tantrums when i passed her over.

byebye blossoms... ...

blossoms replacement cost $298 after the trade in. a hundred was paid using what my grandmother gave me, another hundred was paid using what my grandfather gave me and the remainder was forked out by my dad who knew clearly that blossoms couldnt make it anymore. the replacement is a nokia 3200 which i dont seem to click with that easily. it isnt my first choice replacement model, but it was on promotion. anw, my line will be expiring in 6 months time, so i most probably get something i really want then.

the salesman attending me at the nokia shop at parkway helped me transfer all my contacts over to the replacement, but i had to give up all the messages i had kept in my outbox and some of those it kept in my inbox. my heart bleeds every time i think of this. blossoms, i really miss you... please, blossoms, believe me, i really didnt want to give you up, i just didnt have much of a choice left... ...

well, the replacement is still charging up, and i have to let it (mind you, i still cant determine the gender or personality or whatsoever of the replacement yet) charge up throughout the night, so i can only let on its features and assess it tmr.

once again, i would like to bid blossoms a very sincere farewell.

sian...

its now been one month after my last exam paper, but some how it seems like its been ages. ive did so many things since then and went out like almost everyday to feel tired and prolonged. before the exams were over, id many plans made for this long vacation, but after this one month, quite sad to say, i have yet done much.

im like so behind time for the christmas cards!!! i HAVE to complete them by today, send them out by tmr or it would be horribly belated. last year during this time period, i told myself that i had to learn from past mistakes and start earlier this year, but due to the big P problem, even though i did start a month ago, im still way behind time... haiz...

i also need to pack up my room for the new year. sianz... really, what can be more putting off than tidying up your room? okay, if your room was something like those picture-perfect ones you see on tv, indeed, there would be nothing to pack and you only need to just freshen things up a bit. however, if you still keep your primary school textbooks, along with your pile of 8 years worth of study notes and another 5 years amount of magazines, packing up can be a herculean task. my mother wants me to throw away my primary and secondary school stuff and all those mags, but thinking how much money id spend on those really dampens my heart to throw them away. even notes dont come in cheap okay! and all my effort listening to lectures, copying notes, they are all my hard work! how can i bear to throw them away?! then again, looking around my room, 1 clothes cupboard, 1 large book cupboard, my computer table, my desk which the table surface cant be seen due to all the books, cds, radio, stuff, are all piled high on it, 1 plastic cupboard containing odd shaped ornaments which cant fit anywhere else, 1 standing fan, 1 plastic kids table which the table surface also cant be seen due to even more odd shaped ornaments, 2 movable desk chairs piled high with a years worth of mags, 1 bed, 1 leisure mattress id just got from my grandmother, 1 clothes stand, 3 plastic big boxes of notes and textbooks, 1 paper box of even more notes, basically, now you cant even tell if the colour of my room floor much less walk in my room... haiz... i need a professional packer to help out in my room if i want my mother to be happy with my room... haiz...

on a happier note, wubai has released a new album, leiqiao!!! i really admire wubai! he is talented, composing songs, penning lyrics, making music, producing albums, doing shows. not only can he write songs for himself, he can write for other artistes, even tailor make songs for them. not just any ah mao ah kow would want his songs, but big names such as andy lau, jacky cheung, faye wong and such have obtained songs from him! the direction of this leiqiao album is slightly different from the feelings of his previous albums, playing down on the noisy bits of rock music, but still retaining his signature wubai style of music. rapport between him and his band, china blue, is also as strong as ever and in a couple of songs, their background vocals adds a wholesome sound feeling. lyrics wise, wubai is still so tragic and beautiful.

i mean, to pens words like “sweet images/ are shed like leaves and petals/ from now on my life/ have become dust”, “i have no head/ but i have blood/ no eyes/ but have tears/ no mouth/ but have words to say/... my blood is flowing on the ground/ my body is thrown into the sea/... i have no head/ and no body/ no eyes/ and it doesnt matter/ a gust of wind/ through my clothes...” all comparable to his “in my life, there was never you” kind of acute sadness...

i sincerely hope that wubai and china blue can make another trip down singapore to promote their new album.

T

im so totally pissed off with someone! let that person be a generic T to keep that persons gender and identity remain anonymous to prevent embarrassment...

as all my dear friends know, i really treasure all of them and i do want to remain in contact with each and every one. even though we may not be as close as before, i really keep all my dear friends close in my heart. this holiday, i tried my best to meet up with all my friends i havent met for a long long time. first there was huijing i met up with to buy her prom dress, then there was huising, both of them i havent met in more than a year. and i will be meeting up with lirong, an extremely close friends in my early secondary school life, but slowly turned distant over the years...

then, these couple of days, i tried to call up that certain T to arrange a time and venue for catching up, but to my absolute disgust, i found myself hearing endless pathetic excuses for not meeting out. that was still not that bad. the worse was when i continued to call on other occasions, i found myself calling to a phone which receives no response and when there is finally some response from family members, i hear more weird excuses why my dear friend is unavailable to the telephone, always after i left my name with them. and when i left my name and contact number with the family members, yes, there is no return call! am i so not pissed?! if this goes on, well, T, i would think that you do not want to be my friend anymore. it pains me to write this as i always treasure all my friends...

okay, maybe my dear T really has something on, and i should be more understanding, i sincerely hope that we are still friends. at least call me to chat.

really, sometimes our world can be filled with many regrets, about people, about love, about opportunities, and about life... when was the last time you wanted to buy something but decided to put it on hold to come back to find out that it has been cleared off? when was the last time you wanted to say something to a friend but put it off to come back and find out that you have lost contact with the person? i always treasure my friends because of this very regretting event that happened when i transferred schools back when i was 10. i never said goodbye to my friends. i even had the opportunity which i wasted when i was invited to one of my best friend then birthday cum housewarming party, i was supposed to get from her her new telephone number, but i didnt. my other close friends back at that time have also moved house, and the rest of them, i dont have any of their contact numbers... sad... i really missed them...

ng shihui, elaine wong, christopher see, derrick kong, back from 3ff nanhua primary school class of 1994. if anyone happen to know them, pls contact me! thanks... i mean singapore is so small, only about 4 million, finding 4 people, the odds is about one in a million (?!)(pun not intended)... umm... okay, seeing the statistics, i must admit, it doesnt seem very encouraging. i will have to strike top prize in 4D 1 1/100times first because the odds for 4D is one in 10 000 which is 1 1/100 times less than the one in 1 000 000 odds... umm... not sure if my maths is right, but this will have to do...

anyway, i have a great deal to introduce to everyone out there. promotion at bodyshop, for every makeup item purchased, you can get a lip item absolutely free! the best part of this deal is that the makeup items are not really all that expensive and the lip items are not really all that cheap. i bought a concealer at $16.90 to receive a lip colour + liner worth $20.90 free! i dont know if the offer is extended to all bodyshop stores, but just to let you know, it was indeed so at the suntec city store.

shopaholics out there, namely jas and shuhui, i will keep you informed of great offers out there and do remember out task of shopping down the mrt line! btw, my aunt passed me an esprit privilege card, so... heehee...

Ashes of Time and Battle Royale

ive added a couple more quotes up by the side. the quotes are all taken from ashes of time, a controversial stereotypical wong kar wai period full length major motion picture. this movie received wide ranging reviews from critics all over the world, either saying this movie is totally nonsensical or saying that this movie is so thought provoking and can be regarded as an all time classic of art house flicks.

the movie starring a-listers such as tong leung chiu wai, tony leung kar fai, jacky cheung, maggie cheung, leslie cheung, carina lau, joey yeung, and lin ching-hsia (note: there is no other actors or actresses involved in the show other than the above mentioned), has a basic storyline that depicts the tale of all of the sadness of all the different characters. other than that, i honestly have to say that i dont understand what else is going on in the movie. its amazing how a single director with less than five movies to his name at that point in time can command all the above mentioned stars to come together.

anyway, back to my main point, the quotes. the script is written by wong kar wai, which makes those quotes written by him. from circumstances of my personal life, i really agree with many of his lines, especially those quotes by the side. frinds who know me should understand what i mean... ive always wanted to forget this one person, i told myself not to think of him, but he never left my mind, instead i found myself increasingly missing him... i long for one day when i could be relieved from these memories and images of the past and look forward to a fresh new future but i guess that wont come so soon...

ashes of time, a film from 1994 venice film festival, its vcd can be found from joan ang own personal vcd collection, bought at $6 from the heeren shops hmv on sale when one of the lead actors died (you know who...), so interested parties of wanting to expand their thinking on such issues can either borrow it from me of check if hmv still stocks it...

another thought provoking movie i watched and would like to share is battle royale, a japanese, manga inspired, violent and disturbing movie. it was shown in singapore a few years back under an ra rating due to its over disturbing violent content. i dont think you can get it on vcd dvd original or pirated in singapore. i managed to watch it from a friend who downloaded it before the closure of a particular file sharing website, so interested parties can visit peiyi...

battle royale, a class of 15 year olds are abandoned on a deserted island where they are given weapons to kill off one another and the last alive would then be able to return back to civilisation. when faced with this sort of circumstance, some friendships crumble while some manage to remain strong as ever. people also react differently to problems, some evade it, some attempt to overcome it, some tackled the problem from its very root.

i was asking zihui if faced with such a situation, would she kill a friend she was once so close with, she didnt know. neither do i. ponder over it, in a time of crisis, how much do you actually trust the friends around you and do your friends trust you the same way...

battle royale is said to be inspired by lord of the flies, but personally, i think that battle royale is more direct, more brutal, examines the foundation of friendship more explicitly as there is no real need for the boys in lord of the flies to kill off one another and there was no guarantee of them successfully returning to civilisation. they were also not given dangerous weapons and were also not exposed to violence that stressed them out and pressurised them to kill. battle royale (the movie) is based totally on battle royale (the comic) and the movie is also rewritten into a novel form.

if interested in battle royale, the comic, i have not found the chinese or japanese version around singapore, so if you know, please let me know. instead, theres a US english translated version of the original japanese manga being sold in some places in singapore like takashimaya kinokuniya and the comic shop opposite bugis kino. it is out to the third book now and costs $20 per piece because it is US imported, so the price cannot be compared to your usual taiwan published comics. ya, and i do not own any of them due to the fact that i have a not very well endowed wallet... sad...

note: i didnt mention anything about my prom.
over-hyped. over-priced. over.

This and That

these few days have been rather eventful... in chronological order,

ive got a tan, although it is not a very nice one. at this very moment, my skin is peeling from the sun burns, and it itches terribly. maybe i should get a proper sun tan lotion or something like that, then again, a lazy person like me most likely would not have the determination to maintain the tan even though i have a swimming pool downstairs... haiz...

i bought a digital camera. okay, i didnt really buy it, i shared with my father... its a canon powershot a80, 4.0 megapix with a rotatable screen, powered my 4 aa batts which can last quite a long time, definitely better than the ixus rechargable batt kind... well, im not the tech savvy kind of person, so if anyone out there is interested in that kind of digital cam and wants to know more about it can contact me, that is if you have yet heard me brag about my new camera... *giggles*

the girls came over my place to model their dresses that they are going to wear for prom. id want to describe their dresses, but i dont think its very nice since its their dress, so let them describe it themselves, or id describe them and their whole look after the prom. hopefully, by then id have learn how to upload pix onto my blog and i can upload the whole lot of my prom pix! anyone wants to teach an idiot how to upload pix onto the blog?

i went back to dunman high and met up with a whole lot of people from my cca then. meeting my juniors, i realised that ive grown old... the sec2s from my time is like the graduating batch now! just think about it, in a 3 months time id be 19 which is like almost 20 which is like so old! argh!!!

eunices mother passed away. after learning about this and reflecting upon it at home, i really must be thankful of my family. id always taken all 4 of my grandparents for granted, not to mention my parents, so i must be thankful! i resoluted to myself that i will try to visit my grandparents as often as i can make it and i would try not to lose my temper to my parents and my sis no matter how irritating (okay, maybe i shouldnt use that word, how about chatty?) they are, especially my sis.

there was another 4b outing. this time we went to the airport. we met at the mrt station and surprisingly the staff there didnt mind us sitting around and chatting. then we went to swensons for dinner. the staff there was damn polite and patient even though we took like 20 min to finally confirm our order, he didnt get irritated, singapore should have more of these sort of people in the service industry. after dinner, we found a corner at the airport and sat down and chat. its quite sad only 12 people went to this outing, it seems like the class population is dwindling...

i bought a bag for prom. id wanted to use my mum’s silver bag, but i couldnt fit the camera in, so i bought a nicely sized bag to put all my stuff in. its a white glossy pvc bag with a buckled small pocket at the front, about 25cm in length, round sides thats about 7cm in diameter and is hand held. its $29 after discount from topshop, if interested, you know where to get a bag like that. my only problem after buying the bag is that id be totally in whit for my prom except for my shoes which is silver. would the shoes look out of place? haiz...

things id have to somehow or another find time to do: make my choker and arm bands, like by tomorrow!!! but im still deciding if my ribbon should be two-winged or four-winged... and i need to finish writing my christmas cards. ive written only one out of the 50+ im preparing to send! and ive not finish buying enough christmas cards, only 20, one box! this year im really way wayyy behind schedule... im blaming the loss of my electronic organiser for all the addresses, but using my pathetic brain, i know the main reason for my not keeping up with schedule is only due to one word. procrastination. the biggest evil of the modern world...

guess i should continue with the cards now, do the choker tomorrow morning while watching my video of last friday tv programmes, then go over eunices place, continue with the cards when i reach home, do my nails at night, sleep early for the big prom the next day, then buy more cards after the prom, continue writing the cards, send them out by the 17, get a job, and most most importantly, not let the big BIG P-word get any way!!! watch out for further entries to find out the failures of joan angs determination, or rather, the lack of it...

Shop Till I Dropped

i like shopping. i like buying clothes. i like buying a lot of clothes. but, i dont like spending money. nor do i have the money to shop and buy a lot of clothes.

haha! i still had a great time that day shopping, buying 2 sets of clothing, spending about $240 in all, because basically, i didnt pay for anything. my aunt picked the tab for my shopping. and my sis and my cousin. so we 3 little girls who always dont shop till we literary drop did shop till we collapse with sheer happiness this time round.

the first set of clothing i bought is kind off rock chic, a pink long sleeved printed blouse which edges are slightly frayed with an attached printed tie (available at esprit, sgd99), the bottom is a low rise denim side-zipped miniskirt with an attached tarnished-looking metal chain by the side (also available at esprit, sgd79).

my sis got herself a black sleeveless tee printed with a large female face in front with glittery stones stuck on her brow (also available at esprit, sgd49), her bottom is a low rise side buckled miniskirt of a shimmery grey material (also available at esprit, sgd89). if interested, you can always go and look for it! heehee...

the next set of clothing i bought was from 37degrees. i never bought anything there before because the clothes there are really miniatured. i once spotted this really nice top there, but to my horrors, i couldnt fit into an L size (even though im M for esprit), i also couldnt fit into their XL bottoms. but now, after my successful dieting regime, after shedding 10kg off my total weight and 3in off my beloved waist, im an L and L at 37degrees (at esprit its still an M and a slightly smaller 36, from previously a 38).

to further my point of the exceptionally flattering gauge of singaporean girls of 37degrees, i will use the example of my little sis, 13 years of age, tipping the scales at 42kg, 160cm (shes really skinny but since she is the outdoorsy person, the 42kg is mostly muscle weight, shes REALLY skinny), shes thinner than all my friends, even the bit-sized people like peiting (sorry for the description). okay, my sis wears an XS and 32 at esprit which is damn small, but at 37degrees, shes an M and M! need i say any more about the range of clothes produced by 37degrees?!

anyway, back to my main point on shopping. i bought a set of beachwear consisting of a white top with a small stitched blue flower at the top left corner and blue elastic band-like spag straps and a pair of board shorts which is pink with blue trimmings by the side. my sis and cousin bought a whole lot more clothes there and since its 37degrees, i think you can get the kind of idea what the clothes are like, so if you are interested in getting that such of clothes (and you are bit to my sized, sorry to those people who are of a more regular size, you can either patronise other shops or go on a diet like me), ya, 37degrees is the place for you!

btw, we saw these pair of LV pink $1000 boots which my aunt promised us if she struck 4D. if she really did, id definitely wear that together with the esprit clothes id just bought for prom... really, greek goddess-like white dress, daniel yam $100 sliver slippers, who cares?!

Joan's Top 10 Screen Couples

star awards have introduced this new award, home viewers favourite tv pairing, so what makes a good pairing? especially for two actors to come together for a romantic scene... well, technically, the looks of the two artistes should be compatible, then there must be chemistry between the two of them. to pull crowds, these two artistes should preferable be, well, superstars.

over the past 18 years i’ve been watching tv and movies, there are some great screen couples that are just legends, some interesting artistes that have never paired with each other, but i personally think that they would look great together. hence, my top 10 list of romantic pairings that i’d like to see (for some, again)

1. takeshi kaneshiro & faye wong
i’ve once seen them together presenting some award for a certain golden horse award ceremony and they looked just great together. their personalities seem to be very much alike too and when put together just oozes charismatic appeal. i think that the only person who can bring the two mega-stars together would be wong kar wai, so i don’t suppose i can get to see them on screen together in the near future seeing the pace of his 2046... then again, isn’t chungking express starred by the both of them and tony leung and lin ching hsia? pity they weren’t paired together then...

2. chang chen & rene liu
they’ve never acted together, but individually their acting skills can never be undermined, one a protege of dear wong kar wai, another a multiple winner of film awards. both have eyes that relate a whole range of feelings that words cannot be use to express, the high foreheads and cheekbones of the both of them would further make them look good on screen together. well, if the both of them ever come together for a movie, it would most probably be an award-winning one, like all others they’d done separately.

3. tony leung & leslie cheung
they had (note the tense) acted together as a gay couple, they had shared a kiss on camera after one of them won a best actor award, but they can never come together in another show ever again. still, of all other gay couples i’ve seen be it real or reel, none can beat the above pair in terms of suitability of looks together or the charm they could together use on the crowd...

4. leonardo dicaprio & claire danes
i’ve always thought that a male should always have darker hair than a female for them to look great together, but after romeo and juliet, and my recent hitler aryan race craze from studying too much history, i think young blondes should mate with their fellow counterparts. okay, other than their hair and eye colour, the above pair’s youth also plays a part in them looking great together. i really think that their looks drips out essences of r&j, really.

5. christopher lee & fann wong
after the almost a hundred shows they did together, i mean, need i say anymore to further my argument? if you say yes, pls watch channel 8 both 7 and 9 pm slots. (as in the show after the exponentially rolling downhill holland v)

6. tony leung & maggie cheung
in the mood for love. i dont suppose id need any more explanations for this pair too.

7. pierce brosnan & nicole kidman
a blonde with a gentleman in a tuxedo would look ditzy, more like a prostitute than a bond girl; a brunette with a gentleman in a tuxedo would look too serious, i mean who would want to watch a move when you can can watch the various ministers with their wives on cnn? and i personally think that halle berry is like the worst bond girl ever. so, that would leave a red head look just so perfect with the tux! her tall slim built looks nicer against the strong and sedated look of dear mr bond.

8. aaron kwok & jacqueline ng
jacqueline ng, or wu chien-lien a starlet of the 90s, but not so sure where she is now, once did a pathetic tv serial with channel 8, but more remembered as some flower vase with top hong kong actors. so why aaron kwok? they did a typical hong kong hun-hun movie together, but it is the facial shape of the both of them that’s very striking, the thick eyebrows just accentuates their passion together.
(nb: a hun-hun movie is one where the male protagonist happens to be a gangster and would appear when the female flower vase appears in need of some sort of help thus making the male protagonist having to severe all ties with the underworld and having both the underworld and the law enforcers being after his life. usually ends with either one of the leads dying, sometimes both. often a genre of movie linked with people like andy lau, aaron kwok, ekin cheng and the likes of it, usually people also dont remember the female lead.)

9. keanu reeves & annie yi
annie yi, better known as mrs harlem yu is the embodiment of the typical taiwanese cute girl, but because of her age and the length of her career in the showbiz, she is more suited to be placed beside this silent man of 40. his emotionless expression really needs to be very much soften by the energy of a giggly girl, if not, he would become a piece of concrete statue in a few years time. ya, and sorry mr yu for thinking that your wife don’t look compatible with you even when she’s your first love. (fun fact: she’s his first love, but he’s not her first love)

10. wubai & tarcy su
ever seen the mv of bei4dong4? if you’ve seen it, you’d understand. not only that, her songs done by him just seems to be really great that he always takes them back to sing, so there’s this rapport between them already, so just move over from behind the mic to the centrestage!

Faye Wong

i absolutely adore faye wong!!!

i admire her talent, for singing and penning her own songs, though her own compositions sounds very alt, but it's just that that i find her amazing. she doesn't care much about the market, producing what she likes and want to share with us all. i remember her fable (yu4 yan2) where she wrote this set of songs that are somewhat interlinked, but each retaining their separate identities, and the lyrics, needed to be accompanied by a glossary... very alt, very character...

she's going to have a new album!!! i can't wait, it has been like 2 years plus since the last album... really, she puts time and effort into producing every one of her albums that time is not a factor nor is the publicity. i believe that if a singer produces like 3 albums a year, quality would be traded in.

not only will there be a new faye album for me to fawn over, there 2046!!! it's touted to house the most interesting on-screen couple in recent film history, faye and takuya... well, something to wait for, though i personally think that faye and takeshi kaneshiro looks the best together... seen them together on screen for some golden horse award ceremony before, oh man, they just ooze attraction... actually, directors johnnie to and wai kar fai also think so too, and they long have wanted to pair the couple together, but, well, it became gigi leung...

not only is the recent news of faye hyping me up, WUBAI'S COMING TO SINGAPORE!!! i just can't wait!!! that reminds me to collect 24 abc stout bottle caps... friends, where are you when i need you?! pls, anyone possible, lend me a helping hand and collect the bottle caps, if not i'll sing wubai's song into your ears everytime i see you! (frowning, with hands on my hips and pouting)

all my favourite people... ahh... *in bliss*

Totalitarianism

i've just finished making notes for totalitarianism... it's amazing how a sole person like stalin can hold up his whole nation on his two bare arms... hitler has his right hand men ard him, like himmler, goebbels, ya, but stalin, absolutely amazing... well, mussolini's a weakling compared to stalin...

some people are attracted to power, like soong mei-ling... i'm not saying it's good or bad, can't speak evil of the dead anyway, but it is said that power is aphrodisiac, or the chinese emperors wouldn't have like 5000 concubines...

but then, stalin has i think two wives only (i'm not very sure if there's the first one, actually), one died young, he remarried the other who committed suicide because he purged the university she taught in. after her, he never fell in love again, or maybe that's because he was too busy, or maybe he became a workaholic to numb himself of the loss of his wife...

hitler had one childhood sweetheart who committed suicide with him the night they got married after Germany was on the verge of losing in wwii... are those women attracted to the totalitarians because of their power, i serious doubt it...

i don't know much about mussolini, except that he was indeed a women's man, so maybe the italians are a bit more different?

okay, i'll be continuing with my econs now... through trial and error, i think that the best time my brain works is from 10 through 6, with short breaks in between like what i'm doing now, then i'll rest from 6 to 12, or maybe 1, then i'll slack, read the papers, go for tuition... aftns are so sian... studying's worse...

exams' the nadir...

...

HELP

in less than 2 weeks, i'd be stepping in quasi-hell.

only one word floats in my head, and have sunk to the bottom of my tummy:

HELP

the only revelation i have is that all would be over in 3 weeks,

but the thought of it being all over is extremely dreadful...

when it is all over, it says the same for me...

finished, period.

A Deep Regret

i dreamt of someone i havent met for a very long time ytd... this brought me back to an incidence a couple of years back...

i once did something very terrible, i accused a classmate for something he didnt do, and got him into deep trouble. when i found out about my mistake the next day, i apologised to him immediately, and admitted the mistake to the teacher. i thought that that was enough, but i was so wrong... my classmate never forgiven me... my teacher, well, she didnt reprimand me for wrongly accusing my classmate, and instead told him not to create any more trouble that would make people have the wrong idea about him... perhaps, if she had punished me, he would not hate me that much... and i would definitely not feel that bad...

ytd, i dreamt of him. i think that somewhere deep inside me craves for his forgiveness. but, really, what right do i have to seek his forgiveness? i was totally in the wrong... okay, to be fairer to myself, he sure did something that would lead me to think that he did that incidence, but for me to accuse him without evidence, i'd really ought to be shot...

still, to be forgiven will be like given a new lease of life... i dont think i'd ever be seeing him again, so i guess, this incidence would be one of my greatest regret...

hope you are now living a better life, and all the best in whatever you do, with me always sincerely praying for you, my classmate...

2046

read in the papers that wong kar wai's picking up pace for 2046 again, and takuya's back... he started 2046 in like 1999, so it's like 4 years liao, in the mean time, in the mood for love came out, tony lueng did a dozen of movies, takuya had 2 daughters, een faye produced an album, tony did one too, maggie chueng got divorced and found a new beau, chang chen met brad pitt in hollywood... nicole kidman's waiting for him to be done with this to start on a new production together, time's everchanging...

it is said that 2046 is sort of a sequel to in the mood for love where tony plays a lovelorn author writing about the future, the other actors play his fictitious characters...

in the mood for love is one show that touched me greatly... love is not about possession... now thinking of it, don't know if anyone noticed it, but the hotel room where tony stayed in after leaving his wife was room number 2046...

reading about 2046, brought me back listening to the ost of in the mood for love... and listening to that, reminded me of a faye wong song in her 2001 album... here's a loose translation of it... one thing to note is that the number of syllabus in my translation mirrors the number of words in the actual song... if there's a chance, do listen to it, esp if you were touched by in the mood for love...

rendezvous

because of that unknown ring
once again remeasured your long finger
the fingerprints you'd sent
the hidden thoughts i'd owed
i'm afraid at this night
will be returned

coincidental joy
tears need not be stubborn
finish this path of route
return to each own worlds

forgive you
and your that forth finger
you let me believe
in this world there are emotions
luxurious memories
can only envy
the innocents

neon lights are dying out
cinderalla's clock's becoming history
the past be forgotten
it doesn't matter much
there isn't any time
reunderstand

in a coincidence
one will be determined
return to the starting
back to the same city

february 13 we shall end then

...

try and picture maggie and tony, you'd get basically in the mood for love... linxi's a genius...

Sealed in Time -- Explained

many people have complained about the ending of my story... well, i don't like the ending too, but for this story, the ending came out before i started on the story, so, such an ending was inevitable... the idea of this story came from a poem of the same title that i wrote one august sunday after listening to jolin's bu4la1ge2guang3chang3 and harlem's chun1ni2...

an english translation of the original Sealed In Time... (pls don't ask me why a chinese poem has an english title)

when every was fine
when you said forever

every's life was in abundance
each poured true feelings

father having a stable job
you stood through tough times

mother taking care of baby
i gave you all mine

if fineness can persist
if all can last

but a disaster at any point can cause ruins to blessings
deeper, in fact, when time stands still
we live in a world of two, oblivious to every
without negatives, forever without negatives
only until much much later when others unseal the passage of time...

but every is late
happiness was made forever after passing of time
memories last
negatives morphs through
my memory, because of you, under the seal of time, will be blessed, and be prided
worry not the gossips of those who unsealed us...

---

hmm... one thing i like about the word "seal", is that it is not only a verb but also a noun... now to think of it, it's also an animal... hee... gives life to the word...

Sealed in Time II

okok... its finally out... instead of just reading it, i think it would be better if you try and picture the images in yor head... try animated characters, if possible... heehee...

Sealed In Time II

“Dora, who are you? Why can we only meet at night?” Benedict finally plucked up the courage to ask, for he knew that there was one more question he had to ask.

Princess Isadora pondered over he two questions carefully. On one hand, she was tired of hiding her true identity from him, while on the other hand, she was afraid that her identity would bring about complications in their relationship. She knew for sure her parents would not approve of Benedict.

“I, well,” Princess Isadora slowly picked the right words to use and frantically searched for an excuse. “I don’t really think, well, you see...”

“Dora, I don’t really care if you are a fugitive or a rich lady, I love you. And I need you. I want to marry you. Would you forget about your past and come with me?” Benedict frustratedly cut Princess Isadora and proposed to her. It was obvious to him that Princess Isadora was hiding a secret past that she did not want to reveal to him, and that did not bother him as long he she could assure him of a future together.

The proposal came as a shock to Princess Isadora. She stared hard at Benedict, he was handsome, yet kind, very understanding towards her, and most importantly she loved him. Every time she thought about him, her stomach would flutter. When she saw him, her heart would beat faster and she would feel flushed. But never once did it cross her mind that they could be together.

Just then, the silence between them was broken by shouts of “Disaster! My dear village people, please flee for your lives!” As the shouts drew nearer, Princess Isadora recognised it.

“Princess Isadora!” shrieked Jasper who emerged from behind the woods. A few weeks having not seen him, he seemed to have aged quite a bit. He was covered with rotten fruits and vegetables apparently thrown by his “dear village people”, and looked worse than the state of a beggar. “Your Highness must listen to me! Your Highness must convince the King and Queen, too, that disaster is drawing closer!”

As Princess Isadora greeted Jasper, a stone fell heavily into Benedict’s heart. The beautiful girl he so wished to marry was not a fugitive nor a rich lady, but one of royal descent, the Princess of his state. Immediately, a wave of inferiority filled him. He was a newly freed bonded servant who grew grapes for a living.

At that time, Jasper noticed that they were at the woods where the Princess was not supposed to be. She was supposed to be in the palace, and definitely was not supposed to be with a young man.

“Aren’t you the guy at the market place the other time? Why... Oh my God, Princess! Don’t tell me you have been sneaking out of the palace to meet him?” Jasper cried out in disbelief. “What would His majesty say about it?”

“Savior, from the bottom of my heart, I really thank you for saving me. I, I know what I’m supposed to do,” Benedict’s inferiority got over the better of him and he silently made a resolution. “But please, don’t get Dora, no, don’t get the Princess into trouble over me. It was entirely my fault.”

With that, Benedict turned away and, without looking at Princess Isadora, the started walking away. Princess Isadora was stunned by the sudden turn in events. she could not react to the changes. However, as Benedict’s shadow slowly faded into the darkness, her heart and mind came to a single conclusion.

“Ben! Don’t leave me!” she burst out as she ran over to him deeper into the woods. “I love you. I can’t live without you!”

“Scandalous!” wailed Jasper. Quickly, he turned towards the direction of the palace. He needed to let the King and Queen know about this matter immediately as he knew that they would be devastated if the Princess disappeared and never returned.

However, as he was reaching the palace, he remembered the decadent lifestyle of the King and Queen and how they had totally disregarded him. He stopped in his tracks. Did he really care about their feelings when they had totally ignored him? Indeed, they were his King and Queen. Then he thought about Princess Isadora who had everything she could have had – except freedom – since young. He could see her innocent eyes asking him what hardship was. He saw a future of nothing if he allowed her to elope with Benedict as he thought that Benedict would never be able to take care of the Princess like how the palace did. He continued his journey to the palace.

“Sire! M’am!” Jasper cried out as he forced his way into the palace after being stopped by the guards.

“Have you come to sprout nonsense again?” boomed the King, with a touch of hope in his voice, a hope that the answer was not so. The King did not like being interrupted during his entertainment time, be he still had some compassion for the person who cheered him up whenever he was feeling down and never failing to give some witty comment to anyone who came close to looking down on him. He did not bear to see Jasper being thrown out again.

“Sire! The Princess has run off with a guy!”

“Nonsense!”

Several of the guards let go of Jasper and rushed to the Princess’ chamber to check on her, just to be on the safe side. To the King’s horror, they returned reporting that the Princess was nowhere to be found.

“Quick, Sire! Come with me to get her back.” Jasper urged.

The King and Queen and all the guards in the palace followed Jasper. A tinge of regret flashed past him, but there was no way he could back out at this point in time.

As Jasper led them in a frantic search for the Princess, she had caught up with Benedict and kissed him. At once, the inferiority vanished inside him. He knew that it did not matter if she was a princess of a beggar, he would love her as she was and she would likewise love him with all her heart.

Meanwhile Jasper and the search team had arrived at the woods. As everyone split up to search for the Princess, a loud roar came from behind them while the ground shook. A sense of dread flitted by in Jasper.

“Dory!” screamed the Queen as she caught sight of the shadow of Princess Isadora. “Get the man!” she instructed furiously. She had not been that angry until now, perhaps the loud rumbles had affected her.

A gust of smoke rose from behind as Princess Isadora and Benedict tried their best to outrun the trained guards. However, they were soon encircled by the guards who grabbed hold of Benedict and tried to pull him away from the Princess. Princess Isadora screamed and cried, but the commotion was not heard by the others as the rumbles and roars became louder.

“Oh no! The disaster!” Jasper cried after seeing a ball of fire flying up into the sky and burst.

The King looked up at the sky. Thick ash fell on him. Jasper’s previous warnings of disaster echoed behind his mind. Suddenly, he felt remorse. If only he had taken heed of Jasper...

Princess Isadora struggled with all her might and broke free from the guards who were afraid to hurt her and rushed to Benedict’s side. Ash and lava rained down on them, screams of terror of everyone else there was cover by loud explosions. In the next few minutes, what previously was a thriving town of Pompeii turned into a flat land of volcanic ash.

Thousands of years later, was one to excavate the area of Pompeii to see the remains of the Princess with her love. Their love had passed the test of time... ...