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  <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya</id>
  <title>Tutu Much: The Chestnut Tree Cafe</title>
  <subtitle>A Peculiar Kind of Magic</subtitle>
  <author>
    <name>ichaya</name>
  </author>
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  <updated>2009-01-01T18:16:38Z</updated>
  <lj:journal userid="1422727" username="ichaya" type="personal"/>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:206518</id>
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    <title>New Year thoughts.</title>
    <published>2009-01-01T02:54:49Z</published>
    <updated>2009-01-01T18:16:38Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Happy New Year, people!&amp;nbsp;:) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3. Get more in control of my career. Not gonna talk much about this but I've got a rough idea. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4. Stop being so disorganised about things. Honestly. I'll start small, from keeping my table at work&amp;nbsp;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6. I still miss my baby cat. :( But at least now I can talk about him without feeling a strong desire to bawl. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And there you go. Maybe more thoughts will come along my way later on.</content>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:206212</id>
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    <title>Spin Me!</title>
    <published>2008-12-26T16:25:52Z</published>
    <updated>2008-12-26T16:26:24Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This sooo classic!&amp;nbsp;Wahahaha. My boy sent me this video just now and I was like - whoa, memories! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dead or Alive's &amp;quot;You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)&amp;quot;, people!&amp;nbsp;:)&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;lj-embed id="36" /&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:205921</id>
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    <title>Insomnia.</title>
    <published>2008-12-26T16:08:25Z</published>
    <updated>2008-12-26T16:10:49Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here's his latest - &amp;quot;Insomnia&amp;quot;. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;lj-embed id="35" /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:205734</id>
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    <title>Single Ladies!</title>
    <published>2008-12-18T07:02:26Z</published>
    <updated>2008-12-18T07:04:00Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;I looove Beyonce. She's talented, smart, and gorgeous to boot.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And hell, can she perform live!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;lj-embed id="34" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wow. I mean, wow. Whoo!&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:205462</id>
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    <title>Take That vs Britney Spears.</title>
    <published>2008-12-17T16:56:33Z</published>
    <updated>2008-12-18T07:07:15Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Ahhh, don't you just love the Brits??&amp;nbsp;Their sense of humour just cracks me up, everytime!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7750388.stm"&gt;Take that vs Britney Spears&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Heehee. ^^&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:205306</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://ichaya.livejournal.com/205306.html"/>
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    <title>Tagged!</title>
    <published>2008-12-05T14:48:14Z</published>
    <updated>2008-12-05T14:48:14Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I got tagged almost 2 months ago on Wens' blog, but I've been too lazy to do it haha. ^^ Here we go!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Instructions:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;a) Answer the questions below, do a Google Image search with your answer, take a picture from the first page of results, and do it with minimal words of explanation.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;b) Tag 5 other people to do the same once you&amp;rsquo;ve finished answering every question.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;1. The age you&amp;rsquo;ll be on your next birthday:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a href="http://bombshellwithin.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/mpa27dressesposter.jpg"&gt;&lt;img height="406" width="269" alt="" src="http://bombshellwithin.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/mpa27dressesposter.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Check out the number. Sigh. And, no, I certainly am not as hot as Katherine Heigl.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;2. A place you'd like to travel to:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="width: 423px; height: 552px" alt="" src="http://www.bestwaytoinvest.com/UserFiles/Image/Russia-c.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My boy's been to Russia. I haven't. There's something seriously wrong with that equation, don't you think?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;3. Your favourite place:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="width: 484px; height: 354px" alt="" src="http://www.airportsuvarnabhumi.com/images/bangkok_suvarnabhumi_map.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I just love Bangkok. Don't you?&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;4. Your favourite food:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img alt="" src="http://nutriweb.org.my/general/calories/images/recipe_001.gif" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Cheeken rice!!!&amp;nbsp;:)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;5. Your favourite pet:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="width: 281px; height: 440px" alt="" src="http://static.dropline.net/cats/images/Muffin-cat.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I miss my cat. :( &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But boy and I are getting a cat (or two) after we get married. But I still miss my cat. :(&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;6. Your favourite colour combination:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="width: 294px; height: 253px" alt="" src="http://www.clipartof.com/images/clipart/xsmall2/13695_cute_girly_pink_and_white_unicorn_rearing_up_on_its_hind_legs.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pink and white!!!&amp;nbsp;:)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;7. Your favourite piece of clothing:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="266" width="218" alt="" src="http://www.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/24/e/AAAAAj6qRrIAAAAAACTl6Q.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The shirt-dress!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;8. Your favourite TV show:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="520" width="369" alt="" src="http://www.cardcow.com/images/absolutely-fabulous-ab-fab-celebrities-29007.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;quot;Lacroix, sweetie, Lacroix!!!&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;9. First name of your significant other:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="width: 245px; height: 292px" alt="" src="http://www.senate.gov.pk/images/Members/SyedMuhammadHussain.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh dear!!!&amp;nbsp;I have to say, I truly believe my significant other is &lt;em&gt;waaaayyy&lt;/em&gt; better-looking than this!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;10. The town in which you live in:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="width: 388px; height: 272px" alt="" src="http://www.singas.co.uk/sits/Singapore_1969.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Majulah, Singapura!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;11. Your first job:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="width: 280px; height: 282px" alt="" src="http://www.dorisday.net/assets/images/doris-day-teacher&amp;#39;s-pet3.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Moulding the Future of Our Nation. &lt;span style="font-size: smaller"&gt;(Corrupting, more like, hehehehe)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;u&gt;12. Your dream job:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="width: 373px; height: 156px" alt="" src="http://taitaifilms.com/img/tai_tai/home.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;HAHAHAHAHA. Okay, I hope my boy is not reading this. ;p&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;13. A bad habit that you have:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="274" width="372" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2272/2228672609_613e245c2e.jpg?v=0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'll&amp;nbsp;elaborate on this later.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;14. Your worst fear:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="193" width="191" alt="" src="http://mascot.crystalxp.net/png/banana-boy-worm-from-worms-2992.png" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Other than things like losing my boy/family, having no money etc... I hate worms. I'm super scared of them. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;15. What you would like to do before you die:-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="277" width="381" alt="" src="http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Taylor/Visit-India-by-Rail-Giclee-Print-C10113100.jpeg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mera Bharat Maha!! India zindabad! ;p&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I henceforth tag:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kaknga&lt;br /&gt;Rudy&lt;br /&gt;Kay&lt;br /&gt;Liz&lt;br /&gt;San</content>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:204875</id>
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    <title>Mini audit.</title>
    <published>2008-11-21T02:59:12Z</published>
    <updated>2008-11-21T02:59:12Z</updated>
    <lj:music>Womanizer - Britney Spears</lj:music>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;Gained&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. The most major one, obviously -&amp;nbsp;a fiance. Haha. Such is God's will that just when we give up and decide that it's never gonna happen, it does. :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2. A god-daughter!&amp;nbsp;In line with my &amp;quot;no extremely personal information unless necessary&amp;quot;, 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!&amp;nbsp;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3. A new direction to my career. More information to be released (at least publicly) next year. Haha.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;Lost&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hmm, to be honest, nothing really. Not that I can think of. At least nothing very important haha. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I would, however, like to lose some weight off my arse. Sigh. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;***&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(Btw am I the only one who finds the latest release on radio from High School Musical 3 highly frightening???)&lt;u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:204676</id>
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    <title>A special message.</title>
    <published>2008-11-20T15:09:43Z</published>
    <updated>2008-11-20T15:09:43Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;A special message to my elder sis currently halfway across the world in New York:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;KEEP YOUR GRUBBY MITTENS OFF MY ROOM. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hahahahahaha. Cos my evil sister has plans for my room, horrible horrible. So far away and can still think of evil plans!!!&amp;nbsp;Tsk tsk. *shakes head*&lt;/p&gt;</content>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:204402</id>
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    <title>Memories.</title>
    <published>2008-11-18T15:10:43Z</published>
    <updated>2008-11-18T15:10:43Z</updated>
    <category term="w.prep"/>
    <category term="india"/>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Been longing for&amp;nbsp;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*shakes head to clear memories*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But onwards and forwards to new memories, I say. :) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;New memories... Such as those with my boy. We went looking for wedding bands today and it really, really&amp;nbsp;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 - &amp;quot;He'll no longer text or reply your texts!&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;(after which I made him promise to not become like that haha), and &amp;quot;You'll have no maid to iron your clothes!!!&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;(I iron myself lor. I&amp;nbsp;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 &amp;quot;attached but don't really care about boy&amp;quot; girl, which was pretty much always the case haha), there's much less expectations to&amp;nbsp;juggle,&amp;nbsp;but I have to say I now wouldn't have it any other way. :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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&amp;nbsp;wedding band kind. My boy wanted us to get rings that, in his words, &amp;quot;make us look really married&amp;quot;, 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&amp;nbsp;one of those with a little diamond in&amp;nbsp;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. :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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&amp;nbsp;before I started wearing the tudung), and so I am now well pleased with my efforts. Yay! :D&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I also need to clean my room... Sigh sigh. Too much paper/unopened mail/general junk lying around. And my wardrobe audit awaits!!!&amp;nbsp;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Okays I need to sleep. Toodle-oo!&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:204113</id>
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    <title>Britney!</title>
    <published>2008-11-11T16:46:20Z</published>
    <updated>2008-11-11T16:46:20Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/ichaya/pic/0009br72/"&gt;&lt;img height="240" width="200" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/ichaya/pic/0009br72/s320x240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's Britney, b**ch!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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 &amp;quot;Womanizer&amp;quot; video. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Whee. Britney's back! :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:203835</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://ichaya.livejournal.com/203835.html"/>
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    <title>Nov 4, 2008... The day America voted for change.</title>
    <published>2008-11-05T05:51:34Z</published>
    <updated>2008-11-05T05:52:14Z</updated>
    <content type="html">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.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can't say I agree with &lt;em&gt;all &lt;/em&gt;his values and beliefs, and I'm a Lady Clinton supporter, but the Republicans' hawkish and conservative nature disagrees with me. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Eye on the first 100 days.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:203444</id>
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    <title>In which my vanity suffers.</title>
    <published>2008-10-16T13:26:54Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-16T13:26:54Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;And so it has begun... Unfortunately... What I call the dreaded &amp;quot;PW&amp;nbsp;Effect&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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)&amp;nbsp;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The PW&amp;nbsp;Effect occurred in 2006, 2007, and it looks like it's back for 2008. Whoop dee doo. &amp;gt;.&amp;lt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:202866</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://ichaya.livejournal.com/202866.html"/>
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    <title>Eid Mubarak! :)</title>
    <published>2008-10-01T01:18:14Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-01T01:19:06Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;div style="text-align: center"&gt;&lt;a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/ichaya/pic/0009arc0/"&gt;&lt;img height="162" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/ichaya/pic/0009arc0/s320x240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And so the month of Ramadhan says goodbye to us once more...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please do forgive me if I've said or done anything that may have offended you in any way. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Eid Mubarak!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:202526</id>
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    <title>Miss Independent.</title>
    <published>2008-09-30T13:31:11Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-30T13:31:11Z</updated>
    <category term="song of the moment"/>
    <content type="html">&lt;lj-embed id="31" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My new current favourite song... Finally, a song about a man revelling in&amp;nbsp;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyways, this is Ne-yo's latest song, &amp;quot;Miss Independent&amp;quot;... Paying my bills on time has never sounded so sexy. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ooh is something about &lt;br /&gt;Just something about the way she move &lt;br /&gt;I can't figure it out &lt;br /&gt;It's something about her &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Say, ooh is something about &lt;br /&gt;Kinda woman that want you but don't need you &lt;br /&gt;Hey, I can't figure it out &lt;br /&gt;It's something about her &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;'Cause she walk like a boss &lt;br /&gt;Talk like a boss &lt;br /&gt;Manicure nails just set the pedicure off &lt;br /&gt;She's fly effortlessly &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And she move like a boss &lt;br /&gt;Do what a boss &lt;br /&gt;Do, she got me thinking about getting involved &lt;br /&gt;That's the kinda girl I need &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She got her own thing &lt;br /&gt;That's why I love her &lt;br /&gt;Miss Independent &lt;br /&gt;Won't you come and spend a little time &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She got her own thing &lt;br /&gt;That's why I love her &lt;br /&gt;Miss Independent &lt;br /&gt;Ooh, the way you shine &lt;br /&gt;Miss Independent &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ooh there's something about &lt;br /&gt;Kinda woman that can do for herself &lt;br /&gt;I look at her and it makes me proud &lt;br /&gt;There's something about her &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Something, ooh, so sexy about &lt;br /&gt;Kinda woman that don't even need my help &lt;br /&gt;She said she got it, she got it (she said she got it, she got it) &lt;br /&gt;No doubt, there's something about her (there's something about her) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;'Cause she work like a boss &lt;br /&gt;Play like a boss &lt;br /&gt;Car and the crib she 'bout to pay 'em both off &lt;br /&gt;And her bills are payed on time, yeah &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She made for a boss &lt;br /&gt;Only a boss &lt;br /&gt;Anything less she telling them to get lost &lt;br /&gt;That's the girl that's on my mind &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She got her own thing &lt;br /&gt;That's why I love her &lt;br /&gt;Miss Independent &lt;br /&gt;Won't you come and spend a little time &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She got her own thing &lt;br /&gt;That's why I love her &lt;br /&gt;Miss Independent &lt;br /&gt;Ooh, the way you shine &lt;br /&gt;Miss Independent &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Her favorite thing to say, don't worry I got it &lt;br /&gt;And everything she got - best believe she bought it &lt;br /&gt;She gon' steal my heart ain't no doubt about it, girl &lt;br /&gt;You're everything I need, said you're everything I need &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She's got her own thing &lt;br /&gt;That's why I love her (that's why I love her) &lt;br /&gt;Miss independent (independent) &lt;br /&gt;Won't you come and spend a little time &lt;br /&gt;She's got her own thing (she got, she got) &lt;br /&gt;That's why I love her (that's why I love that girl) &lt;br /&gt;Miss independent &lt;br /&gt;Ooh, the way you shine &lt;br /&gt;Miss independent &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Miss Independent &lt;br /&gt;That's why I love her &lt;img height="1" alt="" width="1" src="http://www.metrolyrics.com/images/l/2136679866.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:202272</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://ichaya.livejournal.com/202272.html"/>
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    <title>^^</title>
    <published>2008-09-23T03:50:31Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-23T03:51:39Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;p style="text-align: center"&gt;Just when I start getting a little too serious about life, Edward Monkton saves the day and puts it all into perspective for me:&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: center"&gt;&lt;a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/ichaya/pic/00099bhh/"&gt;&lt;img height="240" alt="" width="195" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/ichaya/pic/00099bhh/s320x240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A little bit of ridiculousness always does everybody good, yes. :)&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:202172</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://ichaya.livejournal.com/202172.html"/>
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    <title>Just one of those days. Urgh.</title>
    <published>2008-09-22T14:49:10Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-23T02:54:06Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;And so it's one of those days, one of those &amp;quot;everyone has a better life than I do&amp;quot; days. I haven't had any of those for a long time, so it sucks when it happens. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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&amp;nbsp;to remember that my life could be so much worse. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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,&amp;nbsp;Ra's Great Indian Adventure:&amp;nbsp;Part 2 will have to wait then,&amp;nbsp;since that's the case. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:201858</id>
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    <title>Life in pink.</title>
    <published>2008-09-13T16:24:25Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-13T16:34:34Z</updated>
    <category term="song of the moment"/>
    <content type="html">&lt;lj-embed id="30" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyways, here's the grand lady Edith Piaf herself singing &amp;quot;La Vie En Rose&amp;quot;.&lt;br /&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:201619</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://ichaya.livejournal.com/201619.html"/>
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    <title>Wake me up when September ends.</title>
    <published>2008-09-12T04:58:18Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-12T04:58:18Z</updated>
    <content type="html">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 &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; 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.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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&amp;nbsp;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 (&amp;quot;in a&amp;nbsp;west end&amp;nbsp;town in a dead end world, east end boys and west end girls...&amp;quot; - 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&amp;nbsp;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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&amp;nbsp;SPACE?! Incomprehensible. Illogical. Where are we going to put the children?&amp;nbsp;Or do we have to squeeze all the girls into one room and all the boys into the other?? Ish. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;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. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm going to look like hell once PW is over. @_@&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:201275</id>
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    <title>Yay!</title>
    <published>2008-09-09T03:09:35Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-09T03:09:35Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;a href="http://star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/8/movies/1891927&amp;amp;sec=movies"&gt;Yay&lt;/a&gt;!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Indulge me my strange taste in movies, will you. Hehehe.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:201048</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://ichaya.livejournal.com/201048.html"/>
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    <title>ENTP.</title>
    <published>2008-09-06T05:47:40Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-06T05:50:24Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Looky what &lt;a href="http://similarminds.com/jung/entp.html"&gt;I found&lt;/a&gt;. 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.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And see what&amp;nbsp;the Jung Type Descriptor&amp;nbsp;has to say about my personality traits in general. Pretty much accurate overall I would say, whoo (except for the &amp;quot;not into organised religion&amp;quot; thing, of course).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;em&gt;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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And look look what it says about my favoured career options.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;I like &amp;quot;dictator&amp;quot;. That suits me just fine, yes. :D &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And as for disfavoured career options...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;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&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Alas, quite clearly the life of a tai-tai wasn't meant to be for me (&amp;quot;home maker&amp;quot;). And, hey, whaddya know, &amp;quot;government employee&amp;quot; doesn't suit me either!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dang, I'm definitely in the wrong line of work. ;p Heeheehee.&lt;br /&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:200786</id>
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    <title>Happy!</title>
    <published>2008-09-05T16:06:33Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-05T16:06:33Z</updated>
    <category term="w.prep"/>
    <content type="html">Happy, happy day. :) Only blighted by the fact that it's actually technically the last day of our holidays, sigh.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After my boy did his Friday prayers, we headed off to In'Vogue Photo Studio to check them out for our studio shots next year. My eldest sis actually used them all those years ago when she got married (him, actually, Lim Ching's the principal photographer) and her photos turned out really good. I also checked out the - I hate to admit this - singaporebrides forum - on photographers and he comes really highly recommended as well. My intent was just to let my boy see his work and then decide later on whether or not to take him, but we were so impressed by the shots we saw (it seems Lim Ching's gotten even better than when my sister used him!!) that we signed for him on the spot. :) So hurrah!&amp;nbsp;One more thing off our to-do&amp;nbsp;list!&amp;nbsp;My boy even stopped grouching about the studio shots and even sounded quite enthused about them after seeing Lim Ching's work. Plus it helps that somehow he's very familiar with Muslim weddings. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After that,&amp;nbsp;my boy and I&amp;nbsp;headed off to&amp;nbsp;the Singapore Flyer (the London Eye Singapore style). Teachers get to go on the thing for free this week so we figured we'd make use of the opportunity to camwhore and enjoy ourselves up on it. It was pretty fun!! The camwhorage, I mean. I would upload pics but I've gotten wary of random people looking at my pics, so only the generic ones will do. But even then, I can't really be arsed to upload any to my blog right now hahaha. So you all have to use your imagination. ;P&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After the ride, we popped in to the Kenko spa for some foot thingy. We stuck our legs in to a pool of water full of what they call &amp;quot;doctor fish&amp;quot; (garra rufa being the actual name&amp;nbsp;of&amp;nbsp;the fish&amp;nbsp;apparently, they help with skin conditions and all, eating away at diseased skin it seems) and let them eat away at the non-essential bits of our skin. Sounds gross but that's what these fish eat, apparently. It was super ticklish at first (I was giggling like mad), but you get used to it and my legs actually felt much cleaner (ewww haha) and more refreshed after (cos these fish provide some kind of mini-massage every time they chomp on you). Try it!!&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After which my boy came over to have dinner with my family. He's still suffering the healing process post-tonsillectomy so my Mum made him porridge, but even that was hard to swallow, my poor darling. Observed my nieces attaching themselves to him like limpets, which was highly amusing considering how tiny they are and how tall my boy is. Hahaha.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Okays I'm off to sleep. Toodles!</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:200492</id>
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    <title>Poetry.</title>
    <published>2008-09-04T17:04:11Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-04T17:06:42Z</updated>
    <content type="html">For some reason,&amp;nbsp;I can't sleep, and so I blog.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've been thinking I should go back to my poetry writing. I used to write. Not fantastic, award-winning poetry (not that I've ever submitted any haha but I'm sure of this), but they were pretty decent poems, if I may say so myself. Someone used to write me poetry a long, long time ago, and from that point onwards I always had a thing for meaningful, heartfelt poetry. Linked perhaps to why I stopped my writing, but that story's over and done with. Now poetry's just become a part of me, not surprising considering my love for words.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I should go back to my poetry writing, I really should. Words are cathartic for me; I derive joy from a well-crafted sentence, from the precise choice of words, from the emotions behind the poetry. Perhaps someday I'll go back to my poetry. Or perhaps I should simply revel in the vast amounts of poetry available on the shelves. The former sounds more enticing, though. But the long absence from writing has left me unsure about my capabilities; I may only end up disappointing myself when my poetry fails to convey what I wish it to. Ah.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But for the moment, I share with you one of my favourite verses&amp;nbsp;from Rabindranath Tagore's &amp;quot;Gitanjali&amp;quot;. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Light, my light, the world-filling light, the eye-kissing light, heart-sweetening light! &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the centre of my life; the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love; the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light. Lilies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The light is shattered into gold on every cloud, my darling, and it scatters gems in profusion. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling, and gladness without measure. The heaven's river has drowned its banks and the flood of joy is abroad. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:200275</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://ichaya.livejournal.com/200275.html"/>
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    <title>Duh.</title>
    <published>2008-08-29T08:11:45Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-29T08:11:45Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;table class="tblBorderAll" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%" border="0"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="heading18"&gt;The Rogers Indicator of Multiple Intelligences&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="txtNormal14"&gt;You scored as a &lt;span class="heading14Bold"&gt;Verbal/Linguistic&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="txtNormal"&gt;You have highly developed auditory skills, enjoy reading and writing and telling stories, and are good at getting your point across. You learn best by saying and hearing words. People like you include poets, authors, speakers, attorneys, politicians, lecturers and teachers.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="100%" border="0"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Verbal/Linguistic&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100" bgcolor="#dddddd" border="1"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;font face="Arial" size="1"&gt;100%&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Intrapersonal&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="93" bgcolor="#dddddd" border="1"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;font face="Arial" size="1"&gt;93%&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Interpersonal&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="93" bgcolor="#dddddd" border="1"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;font face="Arial" size="1"&gt;93%&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Bodily/Kinesthetic&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="75" bgcolor="#dddddd" border="1"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;font face="Arial" size="1"&gt;75%&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Visual/Spatial&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="64" bgcolor="#dddddd" border="1"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;font face="Arial" size="1"&gt;64%&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Musical/Rhythmic&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="61" bgcolor="#dddddd" border="1"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;font face="Arial" size="1"&gt;61%&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Logical/Mathematical&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="14" bgcolor="#dddddd" border="1"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;font face="Arial" size="1"&gt;14%&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Test I snitched from Kay's blog... Haha results are as expected. ;p</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:199990</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://ichaya.livejournal.com/199990.html"/>
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    <title>Engaged. :)</title>
    <published>2008-08-27T02:33:34Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-29T13:05:59Z</updated>
    <category term="w.prep"/>
    <category term="engagement"/>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;WARNING: SEMI-SAPPY STUFF COMING UP.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I got engaged over the weekend, on Saturday to be exact. To my lovely boy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/ichaya/pic/000985pg/"&gt;&lt;img height="240" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/ichaya/pic/000985pg/s320x240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pretty? :) Looks good on my finger, no? :p My boy is well pleased with himself hahaha.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's a strange feeling though. I've run through a whole host of boys from the time I started dating, and none ever made me feel&amp;nbsp;the slightest desire to sign away my life to them, except for the first one, who I promptly forgot once my (then future) fiance came along and started going after me, hahaha.&amp;nbsp;I've never been one of those people who wanted to get married, I always thought it'd be something nice but not necessary for a happy life. I was perfectly happy to date boys as a time-pass thing (okay that's such an India Indian phrase hahaha) and then go on and do whatever else I wanted, plus I've always been comfortable in my own company anyways, even without a boy on the scene. Whenever people pointed out to me that it must be great contsantly having&amp;nbsp;so many guys after me (I don't know why they do, but they do haha), I've always told them that, seriously, it's overrated, and these boys are often more trouble than they're worth (which they are). &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As such, I managed to shock loads of people with my (easily made) decision to agree when my boy proposed, even though I've only been together with him for a few months. As one of my students pointed out on my Facebook wall, &amp;quot;You're engaged?!?! HAHA and YOU'RE the one who told me to remember this always: &amp;quot; boys. they're hopeless.&amp;quot;&amp;quot; Heh. ;p&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, this&amp;nbsp;boy is different though. Quite obviously. Hahaha. I must say I've dated and gone out with enough boys to know when the right one has come along. Similar situation&amp;nbsp;for my boy, who used to be quite the ladies' man (grrr) - he managed to surprise all his friends too, for about the same reasons my friends were surprised.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So yes, there you go. :) Ta-dah! I've agreed to sign my life away next year. Who would have thought haha.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On a random note, I'm thinking of moving my blog to wordpress. Hmms.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:ichaya:199918</id>
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    <title>I blog again!</title>
    <published>2008-08-21T03:05:41Z</published>
    <updated>2008-08-21T03:05:41Z</updated>
    <category term="w.prep"/>
    <content type="html">I am resolved to blog more frequently, yes.&amp;nbsp;And so once more I shall bore my readers with details of my remarkably boring personal life. Ah, the thrills and spills of being a civil servant, eh. Makes for such gripping reading indeed.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am once again pretty much ill. From what, I have no clue. My throat is one thing tho, it has not resolved itself ever since I came down with a sore throat about two weeks ago (and we all know sore throats are just not the thing to get when you're a teacher). I had to cancel (and thus&amp;nbsp;make up, sigh) some classes last week cos while I wasn't ill enough to stay at home, neither was my voice up to teaching noisy babies. It was better for a short while but I seem to&amp;nbsp;be croaking again so I'd better watch it. What to do tho when I still have classes to teach? :(&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Engagement coming up (very soon, actually). Can't say I've done much (except spend a lot on gifts! But cannot compare to what&amp;nbsp;the boy&amp;nbsp;spent on the ring, watch, our dates&amp;nbsp;etc so I shall shush) for it so am really really grateful to my family for rallying around. *mwah mwah!* I'm usually half dead by the time I get back from school, plus I'm in that in between, almost having flu but yet not ill&amp;nbsp;so stage so I get tired extremely easily and all I want to do is just sleep.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Clothes wise for that I'm pretty much settled, except I have to say I'm never going back to that tailor again, no matter how good her workmanship is, cos she's a real bitch. I asked her to alter my clothes for me (the ones she tailored, and I wa spaying her for the alterations, mind), and initially she insisted that I didn't know my kebayas and that kebayas are MEANT to look that way (ie small waist huge arms). Uh, I don't think so, lady! I know my clothes and don't try to pull wool over my eyes just because you're just too lazy or you feel I'm insulting your workmanship or whatever.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Makeup wise I have Lizzie the Whizzie to be my mak andam for the day! Haha. She's great! I love buying makeup (altho I still abhor foundation) but unfortunately have no clue with regards to the actual application of said makeup, whereas Liz knows loads. Whoo!&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People also keep asking me whether or not I feel excited about the upcoming engagement (and implicitly, marriage) and while I have to say I'm happy about it, day by day the reality that I will no longer be able to live my life the way I've been living it now sinks in a little bit more. I'm not unhappy about it (am very happy with the boy, actually, duhhh, I accepted his proposal haha), but I suppose I'm one of those people who, rather than entering marriage wearing rose-tinted glasses, I'm actually getting quite paranoid about all the upcoming changes to my life. Aaargh.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Okay work work I shall not indulge in paranoia. ;p</content>
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