This is gross! Where did the week go?

Yesterday I had a meeting at Geylang area and I was waiting for Baby to pick me up. I was standing sheepishly by the road. A couple of cars passed, a couple of them slowed down to peer at me. Should I be relieved or insulted that not a single person asked for my price? One has got to wonder.

Anyway, I want this in my room.

Taken from his wonderful website. Enjoy.

PS: I’m graduating this July. My grades are fine. Yay!

I’m trying to understand my seclusion from this blog. This is no longer a place for my thoughts on daily trivials, unlike the tabulas days. Have I stop smelling the roses altogether? Anyway, just a random post on things happening.

- Months ago, I find myself getting a little caught up with stuff. Literally. Especially frivolous overpriced fashion thingamajigs I used to ignore. But those interests have mostly evaporated, since I found renewed interests in books (my interests ebb and flow, but I hope this one sticks). I kept a book list before but I’m looking for a “social” platform where I can share reviews and recommendations with friends and so on.

- On bad habits, the incessant partying kinda ceased. My Dad has been very pleased, I can tell. Still, I see no harm in having a little fun once in a while, as long as it doesn’t end in some form of alcohol treatment later on.

- My boyfriend found a job after a long hiatus of wondering what to do. On top of that, he is learning how to live frugally through my positive influences. I’m not the best example for being economical, but I’m at least a few notches above him. Hah.

- I received few job offers after news of me leaving MINDEF spread. Now, if someone would offer unlimited resources, I will consider! At the meantime, I’m in MDA’s Interactive Digital Media Programme Office. I didn’t want to write about it before, lest I feel miserable and decide not to settle. But it’s been interesting so far and I’m definitely staying.

- I’m getting my exam results on the 30th. Fingers are crossed. If my results are alright, I’ll be graduating this July!

- I’m utterly hooked on Pride and Prejudice. The last book that captivated me this much was Stardust by Neil Gaimen.

Poppytalk Handmade is a monthly online street market to showcase, buy and sell handmade goods of emerging design talent from around the world.

Might find some treasure there for Aileen. Anyway, here’s a recent discussion.

Me: Any ideas on what to get her?
Meimin: We can get her linden dollars? (Currency in Second Life)
Me: That’s a good idea except….she owns the freaking bank!

As usual, summary of my weekend.

Creamy Ricotta Cheese Ravioli, Fried Cheese Sticks and Caesar Salad at Sketches + Bugis Village + Social Media Breakfast + Lunch at MOS Burger + Changi Airport + Dinner with his Cutie Grandma + Chanel and Red + Bookworms United + POTLUCK with the Bad Boys II + Cashback (Sean Biggerstaff!!!) + Double Cheese Burger + Goodbye B the BBB + I miss you the second you leave.

One picture from the Social Media Breakfast.

We were talking about movies and books and anything but social media. Heh, go figure. I was hoping to see more people from my industry but there were more bloggers instead, it was fun nevertheless. Read more about the event here.

More pictures from the National Stationary Show, held in New York City.

Source: Here and here.

Work week was fast, I’m getting quite upset with time. Slow down! Why don’t you?
But my opinion is relative, I ought to find some shitty things to do, so that it’ll be crawling.

I’ve thought of a title for my next weekend entry, “One Blink and It’s Gone”.

Happy Birthday Aileen! She turns a super young age for an entrepreneur with commendable success. I better suck up to her now in case I need to pay mortgage in the future. Or something. You know what I mean.

Currently, I’m trying to be uncharacteristically nice to one person, my sister, Miss Chemical Engineer. You reckoned that’ll be enough investment for me to retire this year?

Not really. So I’m choosing a really good birthday present.

Which is nothing. Because Aileen, you’re priceless to me. *wink*

I was looking at a local blog competition. There’s a category for “Best Design Blog”. I can name you a handful of well-designed local blogs and I was expecting to see them or blogs of similiar calibre.

I’m sure you can guess where this is going by now. I didn’t go through the list but I was utterly appalled when I saw some of the nominated blogs using templates designed by international designers. Seriously?

If you want to do a competition, at least do it well!

Stunning Desktop Wallpapers. I’m using a The Farmhouse at home and A Dreamy World at work.

Everyday is a lovely day.

Recently, I did a write-up on ISEA 2008, which is held in Singapore this time. A bit of what ISEA is all about, takened from the website.

ISEA, the International Symposium on Electronic Art initiated in 1988, is the world’s premier media arts event for the critical discussion and showcase of creative productions applying new technologies in interactive and digital media. Held biannually in various cities throughout the world, this migratory event is being held in Asia for the second time in its history, after Singapore successfully secured this bid.

Hello hello! Self-proclaimed Technophile + Visual Arts enthusiast. Isn’t this right up my alley? Yes it is. Writing well, however, is another discipline altogether.

Lunch at Shoduko with the MINDEF people + What Happens in Vegas (sweet) + Japanese Pasta + Robinson Sale + Daiso Shopping + Sukiyaki! + Animal Documentaries + MOS + Redbull Vodka + Garlic Mozzarella Toast + Instant Pumpkin soup + Aston’s Specialty + Pride and Prejudice + 21st Birthday Party + Horse Racing Fun

One more day to go!

Today is the last day of the National Stationary Show. I love looking at stationaries. Haha. You can check out this guide to look at some featured booths and their respective websites.

I bought an LV organiser recently but I would really rather get one of these babies.

Moleskine is a brand of notebook that has received cult status. This website sells laser engraved moleskine notebooks. You can choose from the artist series or better yet, design your very own.

There’s another thing I want to rave about. I’ve been reading Chubby Hubby, which is fast becoming my favourite foodie blog. His recent review on Tonkotsu Ramen left a deep impression on me.

The cloudy white soup, made with crushed pork bones, is sinfully rich and always satisfying. Served with firm, well-made noodles, perfectly roasted slices of pork, and a ni-tamago (a boiled egg with firm whites but a soft yolk), and I’m in heaven.

Yesterday, I stumbled into the place he visits when he’s in Singapore and ordered a bowl of tonkotsu ramen. Oh my, it was absolutely divine! Ni-tamago have officially become the best way to prepare an egg (it was scrambled before). I don’t even like pork but the slices of pork were full of flavour! Soup was super addictive.

Speaking about food, Baby made breakfast for me this morning. Garlic butter and mozarella cheese on toast, cheese sausage and 3/4 boiled eggs. I’m picky about my eggs but he did them perfectly! Thank you sweetie! You’re a total sweetheart. Love.

My Dad threw away the box Fafi signed.

That is the box on which she signed and wrote my name, after trying to pronounce it a few times before I gave up.

Fafi: Pricuasadsdfe?
Me: Uh. Yes, exactly like that.

So I was talking on the phone with my boyfriend when I caught a glimpse of my Fafi figurine looking stark naked without her box. I was all “Wait a minute! Where is my box?! Hold on, I go and ask my Dad something very important.”

I hung up and rushed to the dining room where he was reading the papers, blissfully unaware of his hideous crime. I asked if he threw the box away. He said “Oh No!” and gave me the most guilty sad puppy look he could muster.

Ahhhhh! I totally flipped. Because. AHHHH!!!! Was the box offending him in any way?? No right!? So WHY are you so damn itchy fingers!?!?!?

Pfffffft. I’ve considered not speaking to him for 5 million years but I’m not angry with him anymore. There is a name for this act of graciousness people, it is known as unconditional love. And my Dad is one lucky fellow.

Three reasons for this post.

- Supporting local artist
- This is how I feel about my Bunny!
- I met up with Stickgirl earlier and she paid for dinner (that is always good in my books).

Weekend Summary
Newton Circle Hawker Food + Ice-cold beer + Great World City + Vivocity + Rendezvous Nasi Padang + Shopping + Afternoon Nap + Awesome Crab Tang Hoon at Ya Guang in Geylang Lorong 37 + Juno + Sunday KTV! with friends from college + Thai Express + Life Stories.

The weekend was definitely too short. And it ended with a not so nice note. More about that in my next entry.

Five days gone by just like that! To be honest, my first day was tough because I missed MINDEF like mad! Thankfully, it got much better. I’m in the right industry (Interactive Digital Media), art surrounds me, so much good food around here, I’m getting circulars about the local Arts scene instead of Defence News in my inbox. Haha no offence PAFFians!

Aileen said “You’ll be happy anywhere, it’s just you.” I’m glad she’s right!

Weekend so far. Dinner at Newton Circle + Drinks at Ice Cold Beer + Lunch at Hotel Rendezvous + Shopping. Gonna meet Aileen for dinner at Geylang later. KTV with my college friends tomorrow.

This weekend is far too short!

Little Pretty Studio and Autumn to May.

Lovely, but I’m not doing any decorations around my workspace because we’ll be moving to another office in July. I sit by the window, the rays of the afternoon sun is pretty enough.

Although highly inconvenient, I love the place. The ground floor of my building is filled with art galleries and shops. I haven’t venture into any of them, one of these days I will.

Today I walked over to Paisley and Cream for a cheesecake. Cheesecake was dense and rich. In fact, it was one of the richest cheesecakes I’ve tried, and I’ve tried many. I saw a wide variety of pretty cupcakes and bread and butter pudding! Lovely place, pretty food, charming name. I like it!

Intricate black and white drawings. Not a lot to see for the time being, I’ll probably check back again later. Designers should consider creating RSS feeds for their portfolios.

I love RSS. Conveniant. Easy. Almost immediate updates.

Sometimes, I’ll message my friends right after I receive their feeds and they’ll be all “What!? I just posted that a mere second ago!” I know they don’t say it but they are all calling me their personal stalker. It is really the google reader I stalk, so they are indirectly correct. Hmm.

I just noticed horizontal scrollbars (the horrors) when I look at my website in a lower resolution. I will try to do something for 1024 but if you’re using anything lower than that, please change your resolution now! You’ll find that the world has become a better place. Honest.

My first day at work!

First of all, I miss MINDEF terribly! I think I’m even more patriotic now, I was already patriotic. Weird huh!? Probably incomprehensible to young boys in service. I saw a lot of dedication invested into safeguarding our nation, championed by smart and brilliant people. I have nothing but good things to say about MINDEF.

Anyway, back to my first day at work. Today was all about new hire orientation and getting my workspace set up. The people seems nice. I’ll know more about my department tomorrow, so not much to update for now.

I actually have a lot to blog about, but here’s one first, before it’s too late.

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar for May 2008

Prosaic yet poetic. Realistic, optimistic and hopeful. One of the most romantic unromantic songs.

I recently found out that Joy.nu is listed in Blogged and I’m thrilled that the editors classify it under Art instead of Personal! My current ranking is number 6, right after Art MoCo (which I love)! It is actually rather odd to be listed with all those art blogs. But anyway,

I have a new layout! Some information about the layout.

This is the base theme I’m using to code my design. I kept certain elements and threw in some of my own. This layout is rather similar to the previous one and you’d think it’ll be easier if I edit from my old theme. Truth is, I wasn’t very good with css then and my codes were all over the place.

I’m not completely done with this. I’m still thinking of better ways to display blog categories and rss feeds. I might add in my twitter feed as well.

The illustrated girl in the masthead is a fafinette. The rest is the result of being rigorously anal. I’m a messy and careless person. But when it comes to design, a pixel in the wrong place can make me ridiculously antsy.

Added a new links section, something I’ve been wanting to include. This is where you’ll find links to my favorite artists, websites and blogs.