Dancing Daze Karen shared this. If you're a dancer, really, go watch this:Dancers have to an empty canvas, so that choreographers can fill you up.Unlearn what you know, you can't be square.It's not a comfort zone to give your all. To give everything that you have when you're a dancer. And when you don't give everything, you're incomplete."When you're a dancer and you don't give everything, you're incomplete... You haven't given it your all, blood, sweat and tears.""I hate 8 counts, 8 counts keep you in a box.""The thing that stops dancers the most is themselves... It's a comfort zone when you find something you're good at.""(It's fine) to go a class they've never gone before and feel like a complete duck out of water. It's fine, because you've transformed. You've gone into a cocoon and now you're butterflies now. Because now I can do this style and this style and that style, that I never thought I could before."I've been dancing so much these days. I started out living life dancing, I wanted to put to use all that I've learned in Tokyo, my thoughts that I collected when I talk to the dancers, to the boyfriend. I wanted to choreograph for EMCC this time round, but I think I'm not ready.I started out with fervour, hoping I could achieve what I envisioned. Get the groove, get the control, get the chill. Somehow I start to think that I'm getting disillusioned. It doesn't look like I'm getting anywhere.I wanna learn from Karen, how to chill, how to emote - the groove, the control, the damn nice lines. I wanted to learn from Weina her natural groove, the extension, the freedom and ease with which she dance. And of course, the boyfriend, whose control and sharpness and choreography is so amazing. I'm quite blessed in that I get to suggest and take part in the planning and choreography processes, and the opportunity to do some of what I had envisioned myself.But when I'm in the midst of it all, I think back and am horrified that I was actually ready to take up choreographing. I'm nowhere near there. Churning out 4-5 minutes of dancing is too much for me, and I get more scared as the concert draws nearer.I try to practice out of scheduled times. I try to remember the essence of the dance, the lines, the feel. BUT I NEVER GET IT.And I feel like a major let down to Karen. I'm the dance IC but I can't clean steps. I don't know how to say things, and I don't know how to make them remember. I say it again and again, and we go through again and again. After clean ups it's fine. The next practice, everything is lost again. I come late for practs cos my work doesn't allow me to leave. I'm hopeless. Then I try to get Weina's feel. Steps I get, feel I don't. I'm so not groovy and happy lor. Hai. I'm so sorry.And Baby. You've got a great dance. I don't do it justice.Basically. Back to the basics babe. That's where it all is. I need to start my basics session with Baby again.HOW AH. How do I understand my body. I don't want to look square and straight when I dance, I want to look free, emotional, theatric (suitably). Like Reika Ando. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check her out in Kyle Hanagami's videos.Miaow. Just Do It. I've this really pretty dress. From TOPSHOP. A present from friends.But now I've got no time nor occasion to wear it. :(*hint hor* GLEEBERRY07 - Launched! GLEEBERRY07We have a special collection for Chinese New Year - Special in that you can always find occasions to wear these pieces,even after Chinese New Year. (: It's not Cheong Sams, it's not Qipaos, it's stylish, elegant pieces that your relatives and friends would love too. So head on down to GLEEBERRY now to take a first look at this collection.Superb workmanship, quality guaranteed.Affordable and reliable. GLEEBERRY07 - ENTER HEREHi people, please help me to advertise to your friends! (: Indecent exposure Here is a picture of how Pooh ended up while getting battered and dried in an attempt to get clean.My mum does the funniest things. Life's a Crossword "A six-letter word for love, a four-letter word for loneliness. my nouns and adjectives are mixed, but basically my word was lonely. you love, and you leave yourself open to vulnerability; you love, and you end up missing the person/thing not there; you love, and you run a whole gamut of risks knowing full well all the ways you can be hurt in return."I got this from Von, her words for love and life are deep as usual. Puts my thoughts over the past few weeks into perspective.Even though you don't know Von, you've cheered me. (: I'm loving cats! Pizza Hut Advertisement Dream Home Uncluttered, quiet, cool weather and clean air.I would love to live in a place like this. TOKYO Prelude I guess I owe you all a post on my trip from Tokyo, but I can't tell you much now because the pictures aren't with me. They are still with lazy soozey dearie. *hint hint hint HINT*The trip started on 16th Dec with a flight to Tokyo, transiting at KL, with Malaysian Airlines. Mum was being the usual worry wort, and passed me various woollen sweaters and thick jackets for a 10 day trip, that threatened to explode my luggage. But I tossed them out anyway, to make space for my dance shoes and an extra pair of booties I had recently bought. :P and of course my new soon-to-be purchases.One of my main concerns was my wardrobe in Tokyo. I didn't want to look touristy and Singaporean, mainly because I'm mostly embarrassed by the Singaporean tourists' antics when they are overseas... spoilt brats, naggy and complain-ish middle aged people, all complete with the all too cringeworthy accent. I can't recall how many times I've recognised a Singaporean family from a distant from the children's loud rants or whines for something on the street.On the other hand, maybe looking touristy wouldn't warrant the nonchalant looks cast at us, because we look too much like the locals. Salespeople and registration staff chattered away happily in Japanese when we approached them.Anyway, for the first time in my life, I took the plane trip by myself. Again, my worrywort mum toyed with the idea of making dearie wait for me at Narita Airport at 10am in the morning before I told her the trip takes around $100. Ok, slightly exaggerated, but still... I'm old enough lor haha.On the plane from KL to Narita I sat beside this big, cheery American, although we slept for most of the way till the last hour. I was grumpy and was wondering whether I should just be anti-social and not speak to anyone beside the stewardesses. Just before the flight landed, we talked for a bit and he told me how it was good to have a stay at a ryokan, just for the experience of it. He said we'd have the best time in our life. He'd seen me desperately studying a map to K's House (where we were bunking at) and offered to take me to the train station and explain the routes to me. (Yay! I was secretly relieved)His name was Glenn, and he's a businessman who'd travelled between Singapore, KL and Tokyo for over 15 years, and held double citizenship (US and Japan). And he was so nice. He waited for me at the checkout counter, because my luggage was checked and I was frisked. =.= All the time I was thinking.. Do I look like a terrorist to you? Glenn spoke in rapid Japanese to the train station staff and checked out the train schedule for me. Then he gave me his Suica (similar to Ez-link card) and bought the train ticket to Kuramae for me, saying that it was his gift to welcome me to Japan. Then he sent me off to the gates at the platform.Yay!!! Thanks so much to Glenn.. I felt really welcome in Japan already. This was also the incident where I decided that, if I should get lost in the streets and there is some Caucasian guy who looks like he's at home, he's probably the best bet to ask for directions. Another incident reaffirmed my guess (:It was an early train ride to the dormitory just after peak hour, so I had mostly a pleasant ride on the train, riding through the backgardens and backdoors through the residential areas. It was surreal, just thinking that I'd already arrived in Japan.Ok , time to get off work. It'd be my first day of internship tomorrow, and I'll be back with more stories about Japan!! To break the monotony Mixed BlessingsLoving the eclecticism & juxtaposition in this picture, and the retro and dreamy colours of it.Feeling really bored, and extremely distracted, so I'm posting on this blog one of my favourite pictures from the photography module I'm taking. The original picture didn't have colours like that, and there wasn't any wite vignetting. (: All touched up in photoshop. As with the colours in those Esplanade pictures that I tested on previously (:Btw those eggs are painted in acryllic, no one had a month-old-baby, and no those eggs cannot be eaten.Hope you like this! It's my favourite in the project. GLEEBERRY05 is HEREEEE! COME ON IN! Credits:Photographer: Z. XuWe are undergoing some revamp on the management side hence the irregularity of the posts. In the mean time, I'd really really appreciate it if you could all go to the GLEEBERRY FB page and add all your female friends, and add in a personal message as well. Help us grow!Just click on the picture on the left, and go to "Invite people to join." It's as simple as that.Just send me an email (at gleeberry@gmail.com) of the screenshot of the confirmation page for 50 adds, and you are entitled to 10% off your next purchase. That's our thanks to you for helping us grow. (: GLEEBERRY05 Coming up! The GLEEBERRY SALE is here!Give yourself a little lovin' in this season.We're also giving discounts for our selected apparel.Click HERE to start shopping.and...GLEEBERRY05 Coming up Wednesday, 11 November, 10pm.www.gleeberry.comThis week's photoshoot was directed by the BF (: and editing by myself, as usual.Thanks dearie! I ♥ the shots!You guys can pop by the shop to see the rest of the shots after Wednesday, or to Soozey's FB when he uploads the pictures to his "photoattempts album", as tentatively named by yours truly, haha. This shoot was so fun, I had a really great time working with him.Been discussing with dearie about possible improvements for the website as well. I never noticed till he said the website actually looked a little confusing and rather cluttered. Ok, maybe it's personal preferences, but after listening to that comment, I stepped back and looked, yeah maybe it's rather cluttered. So, besides working on the new collection and the sale, I had been working on the website as well. You can pop by to see the pristine new look. Haha. I actually love this more than the previous one! (: Update: Photo Projeckt Here's another from the same series.Credits: Xu ZiColour rendering: ME!Unfortunately, yours truly isn't model material. BUT luckily for me (& you), there is one avid amateur photographer, and a REALLY good camera. (:First time I see myself look this good in a picture. I think I look really different here, unless this is how I look everytime I space out, i.e. glamorous, but I really doubt so! Thanks dearie for this great picture! PHOTO PROJECKT ...another one on the sidelines that was too lovely for me to resist perfecting. :P@ the Esplanade. After HTC flashmob. variant/deviant? and I promise to go PA with you next week. (: New Musical Experience My iPod earphones have served me well.. I think it's about year and a half since I got them, but the due to wear and tear the rubber coating's come off. Dearie also needed a pair cos his precious Crossroads spoilt.So we went shopping today for new earphones between dinner and class time.I started out looking for a pair of cheap and pretty earphones like the ones that Karen recommended sometime ago. The bling bling ones that cost only $15.BUT we discovered a new shop selling only audio equipment, ranging from the cheapest of about $14, up to $600 for a personal listening experience. $600! What could be so good!We wondered around the shop in amazement at the assortment of earphones, headphones, speakers, and iPhone accessories that this store stocked. Of course then I discovered Audio Technica's pretty designs, and started wowing at them. Hehe. I was worried that it would be pretty only but far from the target in the design department, but Soozey, being the techie, assured me that Audio Technica's products are good.We wondered around somemore before I asked for something that has deep bass - Sony was introduced, and was on the verge of getting it for $39, then finally the bf asked about Creative EP-630. We compared the sound quality and decided that, at $45, he would fork out for it. But it took me some time to convince myself - $6 difference isn't a lot for the amazing improvement in sound quality. And so I bought a pair too. I bought the pink one! He bought a pair of all black one which I thought was damn cool, but not easy to dirty, but it just wasn't me.So now I'm "burning in" the earphones - Dearie taught me - to blast some music for 10-12 hours through the earpieces so that the audio experience after that would be richer. The earphones are so good, that its now acting as speakers when I turn it to the highest volume.Now I can finally enjoy music complete with bass and sound surround. It's my first set of in-ear earphones and I hope I get used to it on long term wearing. Anastasia B. Recently been poring over Anastasia Barbieri's works. And her recent fascination with blending stylishly chic feminine elements with masculine looks really intrigues me.I'd been raving over the new boyfriend blazer that I'd gotten, and pairing it with almost anything girly/sexy that I have. Now here's what I'd really like to be wearing. (: I need a little more bling in my wardrobe. And I'm guessing it would be good to invest in a pair of stylish knee high boots, for both the purpose of my trip to Japan with BF at the end of the year, as well as future fashion shoots and, whenever I feel like dominating the world (; . And. I want to get skinny belt and harem pants.Will be looking out for her works in the near future. Lovin' it and lappin' it all up. *slurp* PROJECKT SURVEYYY Helloooos people,can you please help me complete THIS SURVEY for my marketing projeckt please?Click HERE also can. (:If you have friends who are in the working world,and are also in their 30-50s, please please help me get them to do ok?It's a REALLYREALLY short survey. Thanks!*MUACKS*xoxo,elln The light Ms Momo has taken her camera back! Thanks Mo for your camera these months, helped me a lot. That meant I wouldn't have to rush to book the NM camera every week, hee.I was actually panicking for a while, like how to get a camera to complete my projects from now on. But I was overjoyed when my uncle agreed to lend me his baby, complete with wide-angled lenses! Yay!And I also did this effect with the new gradient layer and blending stuff that Jing taught last week, just to recap how to do it. (: Consumerism Guess what I found when I sifted through some sites online?Gold iPhone,with the a DIAMOND apple! £22,995.00This is, in dearie's words. "Omg so opulent!"Note: I seem to have run out of vocabulary and only Poonie and the BF can supply such words. I shall quote extensively from now on.This atas craftsman set up a company that recreates the bodice of normal consumer goods in gold and diamonds. What's could be a common phone right now is given a brand new, lavish look.You have an iPhone too? But mine is exceptional. It's gold and comes with 53diamonds encrusted in the apple icon.Yours is US$299? Mine is £22,995.00.Go take a look and be amazed by how the really rich spend their money.Eh this brings the idea of elites and consumerism to a whole new level. If you have this much excess cash give even more to South African children leh, also not like that spend one mah. A phone is a phone, and I'm sure Vertu phones are already lavish and reliable enough, and with its 24-hour concierge service, it's way better than having a £22,995 iPhone.But I have to admit that it's very chio. Haha. I'm sure there are fake iPhone cases out there in "gold-plated" exterior and bling apple, lol.image from: bakingfiend.blogspot.comOn another note, my parents are getting funnier. Last night my aunt went to the new Lim Chee Guan (for the uninitiated it's this famous bakkwa shop) opening at ION and brought home free samples for my mum. My mum distributed the golden coins (the small round ones) to us. There wasn't much. My dad took one and slowly ate, thinking that we'd leave a lot behind for him. So when he finally came looking for it an hour later, of course there wasn't any left. We all love bakkwa to bits.He kept harassing mummy: Eh 肉干咧?Mummy says: 没有了。只有一点点。Daddy: 真的？你藏在哪里了？Mummy: 没有藏啦！没有了！Daddy: 真？！ 还不快点把它拿出来！Mummy: 哎呀真是的，你很烦咧。都跟你说没有了！But Daddy doesn't seem to believe her. He keeps cajoling her for next 3 minutes to surrender the rest of the bakkwa. Hhaha. Cute or not?This morning, I found one big square piece of it sandwiched between my bread for breakfast.:PYums. Fab find at SONG&SONG! Bought some winter wear for Japan trip, from, of all places, Song & Song, lol.ADIDAS (the best stuff!) - Adidas Originals Russian JacketThis was the best picture I could find online. Finally they had my size. I hope I don't put on any weight at the girth while mugging, cos I fit just nice in it... Haha.It's ivory in colour with gold buckles, and faux fur in white at the collar, made of thick fleece and has thin inner cotton lining.I'm very tired. Cultural Liberation My own liberation. YES! Finished a gargantuan essay that required lots of summarising. I thought 2,500 words was a lot, but I ended up with 4,000 plus words. I thought my essay was flowing pretty well, but, oh well, that required some some slashing. :/On another note, my Firefox Personas just got an update, and I found this new skin - brushed metal. I'm in love with this!And there is another purpose for this screen shot. On that screen is a really cool flash website promoting music from Soytuaire Labuat. Poonie you'll love this! The website takes a while to load, but it IS worth it. Click here to get there.If this kind of website interests you, visit Leo Burnette's website, with the theme "Big Ideas come out of Big Pencils". Similar design concept. Both are ingenious. Leave us some notes Hi everyone, here's a really short poll to see what are your thoughts on my shop so far. Please take some time to fill in the form so that we know how we can improve! (:Loading... DANCE REFLECTIONS 2009 Last Friday, 25 September was the last combined Dance Reflections that the CFA would ever hold. The preparation was tough and rushed, but I do like the way we all looked (: Kudos to Eva for her "Dead" Violence costume coordination haha.I like our item, though I wished we had time to clean it up more and we would blast the audience away. It was one of the best runs overall I think, but I know my best run was at the full dress rehearsal, where the nerves did NOT get the better of me. I was little too careful on not making mistakes. Hai.Here are some pictures! For more, please go to facebook. (:Hair curls and eye makeup done! THANKS Karen for the wonderful hairdo! I thought this look was good enough already, since my hair is already red. But I thought wrong, 'cos when I dropped by the toilet and stood beside the rest in front of the mirror, I totally disappeared in the mess of hair and bright red lipstick.So when I got back to dressing room, I inched towards sink (while taking millions of pictures with everyone else) and sprayed streaks of red on my hair. PLUS bright red lipstick.TA-DA! Punk or not? I like the look.And Alvan christened Tracy the face dirty-er. Thomas the train came to visit. Skinny liao hor someoneeeee? Hhaha. Eh let's go for sheila's together soon!Was talking to Chun and Daryl H. when he suddenly became amazed by my falsies and had to take a picture of it. Lol. I like my lashes too (:And here's my favourite part. Daddy came to fetch, so I drove the car home. Just as I was turning out of campus, a DE dancer in a cab glanced around a bit and saw this mad driver, got stunned for a while and laughed when he recognised me. HAHA. This should be a good deterrence for any aggressive drivers who were trying to cut my lanes. DONNNN MESS WIMME ARH :PI wanna dance some more. But it's time to continue my essays and projects. :/ The XCBs again! Jiatian This was supposed to be up ages ago as well (: We went to Lot One to celebrate JT's bday, and as usual, not many photos were taken. But there ARE a few gems (: Attn: Xuefen, look out hor. :b Our 6 times a year meeting. (: Jiaying you better be in the next picture we take together hor. :PXuefen, you remember the all blue picture?I made you look damn pretty here.You better use as FB profile ok! Hahaha. I miss you all! BINTAN - Arrival! We just arrived at Bintan for our weekend trip. it's to make up for missing the one year anniversary mark last week cos of DR practs and rehearsals. The weather is freaking warm. We'll just nua in the room for the time being.xoxo,elln GLEEBERRY04 is here! Yay! In classic hues of blues, blacks and whites, we bring you Collection 4 - ClassiColours.Timeless pieces for you to enjoy.Everyone please go take a look! I've revamped the webpage as well, please go see and comment ok? (: I'm loving the new layout and design. (Spent the whole of last night doing)On the other hand. I'm really tired. Dead tired. DR is in 2 days, and I'm far from feeling confident. The more I watch myself dancing on videos, the more I feel lousy. I should be in my best state now, but yet, like what Fred told me eons ago during EMCC, I have this state of drifting in and out, like in the midst of all this action I seem to get lost for a while, then I'll drift back in.It still happens now, though not as often. I don't know what's preventing me from doing my best all the time. Maybe its just a simple question of confidence."If you don't give your best now, when would be the best time to do it?" - sth along the lines of what a friend told me.And I feel like such a lousy person. Person. Not a dancer. Just a person. A friend, a buddy, a gf. :(This whole dance business is really a matter of challenging myself. It's all thanks to soozey that I'm rising up to this challenge, and thinking of ways to improve myself. This is a period of "tired satisfaction", if you know what I mean. But I still do feel rather mediocre, yes no matter what you say dearie, hha.But yet sometimes when I'm confident of what I've learnt and try to let others know when they ask, most of the time they're doubtful of my interpretation, and most of the time they just don't believe what I say. Why ah? Why ah? Why ah? Perhaps its simply a matter of confidence again. It's not just in dance. It's in everything. Why do I feel doubted all the time? It's this weird situation where they try to encourage me, but yet putting me down in way when they doubt what I say when they ask for my opinion. So what is it that these people are trying to tell me?What prompted me to write this post was this: Clem's friend from DE said to me while I was koping clem's hall dinner after tech run just now, that he liked my performance and presence on the stage.Thanks a lot, stranger. (: It's really encouraging. It felt really good to know that someone does enjoy my performance even in the midst of myself feeling lousy. Of new and old Key's from my parents last year, when they bought me the necklace just because they were at the jeweller's. :P They said. "No more for you this year le har! It's your 21st present!" But they still willingly forked out some cash for my party this year, haha.The name plate from dearie. Stainless steel. Going strong! (: For those who haven't seen it yet, it was on the zipper of a handphone pouch that the boyfriend made for me a little more than a year back. Just before we got together. He secretly went to buy a pouch and customise a steel tag when I told him I needed a phone pouch. (: on it was "Ellen".Here's why the words on that plate now is not "Ellen" but "毓雅":...BUT. Scattered-brain me left the pouch on the train when I stood up and didn't notice that it slid off my lap. It's the first time I felt so sad losing something, so I had to call him and confessed and apologised profusely. :(2 days later, another pouch came, this time even nicer, sleeker, and with my chinese name carved on it. (: I was rather surprised that he knew how my name was written, haha.And the reason why it's now on my necklace is:I bought a new phone recently. It was my favourite model from the past, and now that I'd gotten a little tired of my swanky (albeit rather useless) Samsung T480, I thought hard and finally decided to sell that and get a brand new Nokia 6300. IN WHITE! (((:YAY!I am really quite lucky to get such a good deal for this phone that's out of production already, since it debuted 2 years ago. I found a brand new one at a shop, complete with warranty, for $238. There were cheaper prices at others, but none in white. I had to get my hands on this one, HAHAHA.Alrights, now that I've finished sharing with you all my joy and pride for my purchase last week, I shall continue with the story.The shop owner gave me a free pouch (made of felt, with some geometric lines, really pretty!), and I thought I'd replace the zipper tag with the one dearie gave me, BUT the metal arm broke while I was tweaking it. ): So now the new pouch can't be used.So I just put it together with the diamond key pendant. It looks really good doesn't it?Thanks dearie.Happy one year in advance!ps:/ hope the photog course is doing my photos some good! I took these myself! (:ps:/ who is this strange "ellen" posting on the tagboard? Don't tell me is ellen kim? Stupid things tired people do 2 I can add another point to the list of stupid things I do when I'm tired.5. I left for work happily thinking that I didn't miss out bringing anything. But before I boarded the bus I realised that I had brought with me my dance shoes, 3 tops, and NO PANTS. Sia la how to dance like that. I had to double back, which means I missed the bus and I was a little late for work. Ellen Kim!!! Mariel Martin! Swagg Out is here!Ok I've only attended Ellen Kim's class and will only be attending this one. But I am so happy!!!!!Ellen Kim is a ball of energy, and though Mariel was only the assistant for this class I can't stop looking at her dance. Wah utter fangirlism. First time I see my youtube idols in flesh. ^_^Mariel:More inspiration to dance better. (:*********On another note, I just got to know that United Square is the haven for taitais and their rich kids. Like really rich kids. I was there on Friday after class waiting for Soozey before he sent me to Ellen Kim's class. And in the mall I saw lots of shops for kids - tuition, supplements, atas apparel and game shops. And I thought United Square will be deserted and conducive for studying. The place was teeming with screaming kids and young parents. It turned out that there was some carnival for children in the forum.So I headed to Mac's, cos I was craving for shaker fries [they didn't have it though ): but that's not the point] I found a good spot at the sofa, and one pair of young mums and their children came and went. The conversations, both pairs, talked about:1. Their children2. Their progress in school3. The school management4. Parking at the school compounds and parking problems5. The school prefects and how to get past being late.6. NUtritional problems etc.The mums were around 28/29? I sorta shudder to think that this is how I would sound like once I become a mom and meet other young mums, and all we talk about are our children and the children's lives. :S Stupid things tired people do Over the past few days I was really tired managing so many things all in a week. Things like dancing (just realised there are 6 choreos to remember), rehearsing and reblocking, giving tuition, going for classes, managing assignments and readings.So here is a list of stupid things that I've done over the past few days:1. Changing my shoulder bag to a bigger duffel to contain all costume and clothes changes, and effectively leaving my wallet, keys and card holder in the old bag. SO. All I have is my iPod and phone, all the way from classes in the morning till dance finished at night.2. The next day, I took out the iPod to charge. I put the iPod back into my pouch. without the earphones. So theoretically I had the music with me, but I didn't?3. I made breakfast and lunch sandwiches for myself one day, so I could save some lunch money. But I left all of it at home. =.=4. I thought I finished all my readings for the week. I was so happy. Then I checked the workbin and saw that there was an assignment due the next day. Omg. And I had practice till 11 that night. Rarh. I slept at 4 that night and had a lesson at 10. I dunno whether to laugh or to cry.