Tutu Much: The Chestnut Tree Cafe

Happy New Year, people! :)

And so, as usual, we come to my Annual End of Year Audit, in which I round up my life. I doubt many are interested (ha ha!) but for my own reference, here we go. In no apparent order, in no particular form, my thoughts for the upcoming New Year.

1. I resolve to not lose my temper that badly. For example - last night's NYE celebration made me see red (literally) due to this careless girl who decided not to exercise caution and therefore spilling drinks on me and my boy, and I just lost it and stalked out. I'm still very pissed about that incident (our clothes! My bag!) but... Hafta play nice. Must also keep remembering to play nice because you never know when you might be the one to do stupid things like that and be on the other end. And plus I'm just generally a nice person (I hope!), and it was an accident.

2. I need to finally tell this particular ex of mine that it's never gonna happen between us and stop hoping he'll get the message on his own (which I thought he would after all these years!). This resolve comes from several texts on my phone that I got from him between 2 and 3am last night telling me happy new year and that he had a real urge to see me and that he was going to drive down to my place to see me (at 3 in the morning!!!). Nonononono haha.

3. Get more in control of my career. Not gonna talk much about this but I've got a rough idea.

4. Stop being so disorganised about things. Honestly. I'll start small, from keeping my table at work organised, and hopefully progress to big, my wedding. Haha. Considering almost all brides-to-be I know keep a checklist and continually think about details, I must be the most bo chap bride-to-be I know. Which is not a good thing.

5. 2008 has been pretty good for me in some ways. I got together with my boy this year (hurrah!), and that's made a big difference to my habits of dating boys as a time-pass thing and getting rid of them after a while. I also got closer to my colleagues (now friends) at work and that has made me feel that going to work isn't such a bad thing after all.

6. I still miss my baby cat. :( But at least now I can talk about him without feeling a strong desire to bawl.

7. I need to start being more healthy, i.e. do stuff like run, gym, etc. Weight-wise I'm actually in danger of going below the required BMI so I figure I should eat more. But that's unhealthy cos I actually eat quite a bit already so it's time to hit the gym, perhaps, build up some muscles or whatnot. Sighhhhhhhhhh.

8. To start appreciating my room more, considering how my horrible elder sis is going to return from the States in a few months' time full of evil plans to annex my room once I move out. Haha.

And there you go. Maybe more thoughts will come along my way later on.

This sooo classic! Wahahaha. My boy sent me this video just now and I was like - whoa, memories!

From the first time I watched the video, all those many years ago, I was always amused at how the video is such a literal manifestation of the song lyrics - and how that dude in purple can wiggle his shoulders and gyrate his hips to such retro perfection.

Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", people! :)
 

Ahhh. I just looove Craig David. I think people (especially in the UK) went off him after he ran off to focus Stateside after his fantastic first album, but I'm still a fan, fan, fan!!! His voice is so smooth and his music dancey. Whoo.

Here's his latest - "Insomnia".

 

 

 

I looove Beyonce. She's talented, smart, and gorgeous to boot.

And hell, can she perform live!

 

Wow. I mean, wow. Whoo!

 

 

Ahhh, don't you just love the Brits?? Their sense of humour just cracks me up, everytime!

Take that vs Britney Spears

Heehee. ^^

I got tagged almost 2 months ago on Wens' blog, but I've been too lazy to do it haha. ^^ Here we go!



Check out the number. Sigh. And, no, I certainly am not as hot as Katherine Heigl.

2. A place you'd like to travel to:-



My boy's been to Russia. I haven't. There's something seriously wrong with that equation, don't you think?

3. Your favourite place:-



I just love Bangkok. Don't you? 

4. Your favourite food:-



Cheeken rice!!! :)

5. Your favourite pet:-



I miss my cat. :(

But boy and I are getting a cat (or two) after we get married. But I still miss my cat. :(

6. Your favourite colour combination:-




Pink and white!!! :)

7. Your favourite piece of clothing:-




The shirt-dress!

8. Your favourite TV show:-



"Lacroix, sweetie, Lacroix!!!"

9. First name of your significant other:-



Oh dear!!! I have to say, I truly believe my significant other is waaaayyy better-looking than this!!!

10. The town in which you live in:-



Majulah, Singapura!

11. Your first job:-



Moulding the Future of Our Nation. (Corrupting, more like, hehehehe)


12. Your dream job:-



HAHAHAHAHA. Okay, I hope my boy is not reading this. ;p

13. A bad habit that you have:-



I'll elaborate on this later.

14. Your worst fear:-



Other than things like losing my boy/family, having no money etc... I hate worms. I'm super scared of them.

15. What you would like to do before you die:-



Mera Bharat Maha!! India zindabad! ;p

I henceforth tag:

Kaknga
Rudy
Kay
Liz
San

I usually do an end-of-year audit on my life, but am thinking back on this year now, whilst sitting in my room, and so I shall do a mini audit right now.

***

Gained

1. The most major one, obviously - a fiance. Haha. Such is God's will that just when we give up and decide that it's never gonna happen, it does. :)

2. A god-daughter! In line with my "no extremely personal information unless necessary", I'm not putting up her pic nor did I announce it the day I got one, but yes, sometime last week I acquired for myself a god-daughter thanks to Nat finally popping. :) Whee! Me and Wens are super happy to be joint Godmums to that precious little tot. Altho it has (and this is just the beginning) already cost us a (rather expensive!) trinket from Tiffany's hahahaha.

3. A new direction to my career. More information to be released (at least publicly) next year. Haha.

Lost

Hmm, to be honest, nothing really. Not that I can think of. At least nothing very important haha.

I would, however, like to lose some weight off my arse. Sigh.

***

I'm sure I'll remember more things as the year comes to a close. But as for now, I shall go read a bit before my boy picks me up after his solat Jumaat. Toodle-oo!

(Btw am I the only one who finds the latest release on radio from High School Musical 3 highly frightening???)

A special message to my elder sis currently halfway across the world in New York:

KEEP YOUR GRUBBY MITTENS OFF MY ROOM.

Hahahahahaha. Cos my evil sister has plans for my room, horrible horrible. So far away and can still think of evil plans!!! Tsk tsk. *shakes head*

Been longing for those days again when I enjoyed peace, quiet and calm. The only time in my life when I felt all that at the same time was in Calcutta, sitting on the rooftops of Pallisathi, looking at the bright lights that were shining from some distance away and wondering what those lights could be. Some of my friends thought the lights were shining from a harbour, I personally thought it was Calcutta town area itself.

I know I've mentioned that before on my blog some time ago, but it's an image that stays in my head and heart and such experiences are something I value very much.

*shakes head to clear memories*

But onwards and forwards to new memories, I say. :)

New memories... Such as those with my boy. We went looking for wedding bands today and it really, really hit me that next year my life will change. My Mum keeps telling me horror stories of what will happen after I get married, such as - "He'll no longer text or reply your texts!" (after which I made him promise to not become like that haha), and "You'll have no maid to iron your clothes!!!" (I iron myself lor. I hate ironing but bo pian! I certainly won't die from it). Financial responsibilities, familial responsibilities, social responsibilities... Gyahhh. Life was sooo much easier as a swinging single (or an "attached but don't really care about boy" girl, which was pretty much always the case haha), there's much less expectations to juggle, but I have to say I now wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Anyways moving on swiftly, boy and I think we've found our wedding bands. It's a bit early but it's not like wedding bands really change designs and all, plus we want the really simple, classic wedding band kind. My boy wanted us to get rings that, in his words, "make us look really married", and the ones we found fit the bill perfectly. His is just really a simple platinum band (Muslim men can't wear gold), and mine's the same except with a miniature tiny diamond in the centre (when we started looking for wedding bands, I stipulated that I wanted one of those with a little diamond in the ring hahaha, it's so pretty!). No fancy designs, nothing, whoo. We haven't bought the rings la, still gonna look around at the other shops and all, but I think we've pretty much decided. :)

And with some coaxing (and after seeing how good Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan - my two favouritest Hindi actors - look in them), boy has also agreed to wear ethnic costumes for occasions. *yes!* This from the chap who made a career out of avoiding any form of ethnic costumes for any sort of occasions saying they made him look stupid. Hehehe. I luuurve ethnic clothes and will wear them at any formal occasion (kebayas, baju kurungs, Punjabi suits, sarees, etc before I started wearing the tudung), and so I am now well pleased with my efforts. Yay! :D

I also need to clean my room... Sigh sigh. Too much paper/unopened mail/general junk lying around. And my wardrobe audit awaits!!! I've pretty much given up finding decent clothes I can wear, thanks to the fact that I wear a tudung and thus finding long-sleeved stuff is a problem here in sunny Singapore (plus the colour coordination is HELL). What I actually went and did is boy and I picked out some material in Arab St and we sent it to a tailor to make into shirts I can wear. I just did that over the weekend so waiting for the time when I can pick them up. If that works out well I'll just tailor my clothes from now on.

Okays I need to sleep. Toodle-oo!
 

It's Britney, b**ch!

I've never hidden my love for Britney Spears and her cheesy, radio friendly songs. I love Britney. She doesn't have the world's greatest voice but she knows how to work with what she has. Plus she always looked great. I was so so sad when she went downhill after that whole Kevin Federline thing.

But I have to say, I think Britney's back!!! I just found this picture of Britney making an appearance at a Madonna concert very recently. She looks FAB!!! This on top of her super-duper-hawt bod in the "Womanizer" video.

Whee. Britney's back! :)

 

And so America has spoken... So ends (or shall we say, begins) the historic journey of one Barack Hussein Obama, the first African-American to be voted into the highest office of the world's most powerful country.

I can't say I agree with all his values and beliefs, and I'm a Lady Clinton supporter, but the Republicans' hawkish and conservative nature disagrees with me.

So welcome, Mr Obama, and let's see what change you can do to repair a country (nay, a world) damaged by 8 years of Republican rule.

Eye on the first 100 days.

And so it has begun... Unfortunately... What I call the dreaded "PW Effect".

This time of the year is when my stress levels over my Project Work groups reach an all time high, as their Written Report (WR), Oral Presentation (OP) and Insights and Reflections (InR) are all due about the same time, all of which constitute roughly 87% of their grades in total. So I switch modes between marking WRs, go sit in OP rehearsals, then go home and mark InRs.

And what this stress level does is it wreaks havoc on my skin. I'm stressed and sleepy, and tired all the time. I usually have good skin (thank God), such that lots of people have actually asked which brand of foundation I use when I don't use any. But now it's all blotchy and splotchy and I have this big zit on my left cheek. :( And I attribute it almost solely to my stress levels with regards to PW.

The PW Effect occurred in 2006, 2007, and it looks like it's back for 2008. Whoop dee doo. >.<

My new current favourite song... Finally, a song about a man revelling in a woman's independence and brains rather than simply her body (Akon, are you listening?? Although I have to admit I love Akon songs too, for shame, for shame). Other than the great lyrics, the beat of this song is fabulous too. Ne-yo's just really talented.

Anyways, this is Ne-yo's latest song, "Miss Independent"... Paying my bills on time has never sounded so sexy.

Ooh is something about
Just something about the way she move
I can't figure it out
It's something about her

Say, ooh is something about
Kinda woman that want you but don't need you
Hey, I can't figure it out
It's something about her

'Cause she walk like a boss
Talk like a boss
Manicure nails just set the pedicure off
She's fly effortlessly

And she move like a boss
Do what a boss
Do, she got me thinking about getting involved
That's the kinda girl I need

She got her own thing
That's why I love her
Miss Independent
Won't you come and spend a little time

She got her own thing
That's why I love her
Miss Independent
Ooh, the way you shine
Miss Independent

Ooh there's something about
Kinda woman that can do for herself
I look at her and it makes me proud
There's something about her

Something, ooh, so sexy about
Kinda woman that don't even need my help
She said she got it, she got it (she said she got it, she got it)
No doubt, there's something about her (there's something about her)

'Cause she work like a boss
Play like a boss
Car and the crib she 'bout to pay 'em both off
And her bills are payed on time, yeah

She made for a boss
Only a boss
Anything less she telling them to get lost
That's the girl that's on my mind

She got her own thing
That's why I love her
Miss Independent
Won't you come and spend a little time

She got her own thing
That's why I love her
Miss Independent
Ooh, the way you shine
Miss Independent

Her favorite thing to say, don't worry I got it
And everything she got - best believe she bought it
She gon' steal my heart ain't no doubt about it, girl
You're everything I need, said you're everything I need

She's got her own thing
That's why I love her (that's why I love her)
Miss independent (independent)
Won't you come and spend a little time
She's got her own thing (she got, she got)
That's why I love her (that's why I love that girl)
Miss independent
Ooh, the way you shine
Miss independent

Miss Independent
That's why I love her

Just when I start getting a little too serious about life, Edward Monkton saves the day and puts it all into perspective for me:
 

A little bit of ridiculousness always does everybody good, yes. :)
 

And so it's one of those days, one of those "everyone has a better life than I do" days. I haven't had any of those for a long time, so it sucks when it happens.

Everyone's somewhere else rather than in this stifling place, everyone has a better job, everyone's furthering their studies, everyone has more money, everyone has more more more... It frustrates me. And annoys me like the blazes.

But then I remember I have my fiance and the things he does to continually entertain me and get me smiling again. I used to scoff disbelievingly (thinking he's just trying to butter me up for whatever reason) whenever he told me that whenever he's had an absolutely rubbish day, it's the thought of me that lifts his spirits and makes life bearable. I totally get what he means now, my poor misunderstood baby.

Enough with the sap. Other than that, I also continually remind myself that - hey, I've done volunteer work in a village whereby people literally live hand-to-mouth; in a neighbouring village a man earning 500 rupees (roughly 20 SGD) a month was considered to be earning a pretty decent amount; so what the hell do I have to complain about, eh. If I wanted to compare myself to all the other rich Singaporeans out there, I'm really poor. But in general, God's given me pretty much a good deal and I have to remind myself to remember that my life could be so much worse.

Perhaps it's time to pay Calcutta a visit again. Or maybe not now, since my boy has decreed I can't travel to dodgy places without him and that can only be done after we're married. Alas, Ra's Great Indian Adventure: Part 2 will have to wait then, since that's the case.

One more thing to be happy about - I get an off-in-lieu tomorrow thanks to me having worked full Saturdays in school a couple of times. So I can sleep till I can't sleep anymore. Whoo!

 

I've always loved this song... I can't sing a word of it, of course, never having an affinity for the French language (why they can't just pronounce things the way they're spelt is beyond my comprehension). But I've always randomly broke out humming this in the middle of hallways walking wherever, on the way to classes way back in uni, and now in between classes that I teach. Kinda like Tourette's for bathroom singers hahaha.

Anyways, here's the grand lady Edith Piaf herself singing "La Vie En Rose".

And so I sit here in the freezing cold staffroom, getting more and more ill by the minute. Ramadhan's been good spiritually for me, but physically this year it's been harder for some odd reason. I have gastric problems, and usually during fasting month, despite my normal need to eat at least something every 2 hours or so (I kid you not), I get by pretty fine. I don't even think about it actually. But nowadays, I get bad tummy rumblings, I'm lethargic at times and I get very light-headed. It's nothing serious tho, and plus no way am I gonna skive off fasting for (what I deem) no particular good reason, but it just means I have to take things slow a bit.

In other news, the fiance and I have managed to get a unit for ourselves over at the new development over somewhere north. They just called him last evening about it. Balloting for the unit's only next week tho, so we'll have to see whether we get a decent unit then. It's a little bit far from my parents' place, and I've always been a west end girl ("in a west end town in a dead end world, east end boys and west end girls..." - haha this song just popped into my head as I typed that), but hopefully I can adjust to the area. It's pretty central anyways. The boy had brought me to the area a couple months ago on one of our dates, in a bid to convince me that applying for that unit was a good idea. It's near food and a library, which pretty much satisfy my basic needs in life haha.

Now to get over my impossible to get rid of, perfectly justified resentment in having to pay so much for so little. I generally believe our gahmen does a good job overall, but, seriously, how on earth do they expect us to have 3 kids or more when there is just NO SPACE?! Incomprehensible. Illogical. Where are we going to put the children? Or do we have to squeeze all the girls into one room and all the boys into the other?? Ish.

Work is same same, it never changes. Am worried for my students (as always, at this time). Last week of lessons next week, gotta think of good revision stuff for them. Then after marking etc (or concurrently, I should say), it's all systems go for Project Work, all the way through till November.

I'm going to look like hell once PW is over. @_@

Yay!!

Indulge me my strange taste in movies, will you. Hehehe.

Looky what I found. This Jung type test thingy is very similar to that of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test, and I, as expected, emerged as an ENTP.

And see what the Jung Type Descriptor has to say about my personality traits in general. Pretty much accurate overall I would say, whoo (except for the "not into organised religion" thing, of course).

risk taker, easy going, outgoing, social, open, rule breaker, thrill seeker, life of the party, comfortable in unfamiliar situations, appreciates strangeness, disorganized, adventurous, talented at presentation, aggressive, attention seeking, experience junky, insensitive, adaptable, not easily offended, messy, carefree, dangerous, fearless, careless, emotionally stable, spontaneous, improviser, always joking, player, wild and crazy, dominant, acts without thinking, not into organized religion, pro-weed legalization

And look look what it says about my favoured career options.

dictator, computer consultant, international spy, tv producer, philosopher, comedian, music performer, it consultant, figher pilot, politician, diplomat, entertainer, game designer, bar owner, freelance writer, creative director, strategist, news anchor, professional skateboarder, airline pilot, comic book artist, college professor, private detective, mechanical engineer, lecturer, ambassador, astronomer, research scientist, judge, web developer, scholar, fbi agent, cia agent, electrical engineer, assassin

I like "dictator". That suits me just fine, yes. :D

And as for disfavoured career options...

personal assistant, wedding planner, travel agent, secretary, interior decorator, clerical employee, government employee, social worker, pre school teacher, copy editor, child care worker, hospitality worker, occupational therapist, home maker

Alas, quite clearly the life of a tai-tai wasn't meant to be for me ("home maker"). And, hey, whaddya know, "government employee" doesn't suit me either!!

Dang, I'm definitely in the wrong line of work. ;p Heeheehee.