Ambush-ed by Paella This. Is Paella. It is a lip-smacking good dish which reminds me of the very awesome and addictive risotto I kept stealing from my friend’s plate had in Melbourne two years back. Pardon the yellowish tinge for the photo. I am still experimenting with taking photographs without the ugly flash and have them look alright. I am far from a foodie-fan who travel obscure places to seek out great cuisines and finds, but I do love my food, which is why my waistline is.. er.. still expanding. Ambush - a casual European dining restaurant. We gave this place a try one day as I wanted a change in dining places and the variety of food on the menu looked appetizing enough. Boyfie caught sight of paella in the list, went ‘ok!’ and marched into the restaurant happily. He had said dish when he was studying in Europe and was crazy over it, you see. Paella is a Spanish dish of rice cooked with onion, tomato, garlic, saffron, vegetables, and various meats, including chicken, chorizo, and/or shellfish. A closer look. We had a great dinner there. Three days later, we returned to Ambush with some friends because we are suckers like that and couldn’t resist it. Smoked duck and orange salad which will never fall into my category of ‘rabbit food’ [ie; raw, sometimes unappetizing vegetables that make people hungry after 30 minutes of eating them] because it is zesty and tangy and so un-rabbit-food-like. This was me channelling my ikea-meatballs craving to Ambush. Clams in white wine sauce for the rest of them. I don’t fancy clams so I didn’t eat them, but the sauce was nice and flavorful. Three different types of Paella, sitting pretty in a row. The four of us demolished everything in sight. Our waiter was amazed by our appetites. *grin* The bill came up to $107 with GST, which was reasonable [to me], considering that we ordered enough to feed an army the following: 1 glass of summer peach tea [which has real peaches in it] 2 glasses of hoegarden 1 bowl of clam chowder soup Garlic bread 1 large plate of salad Meatballs in brown sauce, with chips 1 large bucket of clams in white wine sauce, and more chips 3 woks of paella A fresh-looking restaurant with a whimsical feel, friendly non-intrusive staff, affordable tasty food… What’s there not to like? I have been there twice and both were good experiences. I will definitely go back to try their other stuff! If anyone knows of good paella [or risotto for that matter] elsewhere, please let me know! Ambush (Casual European Dining) Jurong Point Shopping Centre 1 Jurong West Central 2, #02-24 (S) 648886 Tel: 67959606 Authentic Thai Food If you are craving for some atas authentic thai food, you can try ThanYing Restaurant at Amara Hotel which prides itself for its Royal Thai cooking. Royal Thai food is supposedly more refined for the palates and has recipes which are more luxurious than normal Thai cuisine. Apparently ThanYing is an award-winning restaurant but I wasn’t aware of that when I dined there; afterall, I’m no hardcore foodie who keeps track of stuff like that. =) The restaurant has been around since 1988! This is tom yum chicken consomme, which burned all the way down my throat to my stomach. And I mean it as a compliment! I’m not a tomyum-loving person and spice isn’t a necessity in my daily fare, but the soup was so addictive that I was halfway through it before my body told me to s.t.o.p [because I was still recovering from a stomachache]… and then I went on sipping on it. Heh. Guess what that round thingie is? It is otah! I was expecting it to be a lil spicy, but it soothed my palate instead. Maybe after all that tom yum soup, everything taste normal. Delicious but not spicy. I lurveee this dish.. probably because the gravy was plentiful and it went well with rice. Pardon the blurry focus. I took this shot hurriedly as the people I was dining with were unaware of the existence of my blog [I hope] and were curious as to why I was taking all these photos for. Not one of the fish’s better days. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. This also soothed my burning but satisfied stomach. It was green in colour! Ok wait.. See, I wasn’t kidding! Looks like zhi char food in one glance. Fruit platter, with artfully-cutout shapes. As we were leaving, one of my lunch mates pointed out something at the dessert spread. How did they do this?? I guess Thais are really good with carving elaborate and intricate details on things. Man, this is beautiful.. I’m getting really hungry just writing this entry. =( ThanYing Restaurant Level 2, Amara Hotel 165 Tanjong Pagar Road Tel: 6222-4688 IKEA Heights is the new [insert-any-sitcom's-name] In the States, things work differently. Apple and Microsoft shoot each other down in their advertisements, guns are legal, people get away with things people here cannot. Along comes one of the most interesting, out-of-the-box [and funny!] concepts I have came across in a while. Gotta thank sister for introducing the website to me! Wait for it.. Wait for it….. Ikea Heights - “a melodrama shot entirely in the Burbank California Ikea Store without the store knowing.” Mmm, can you smell the hilarity and cheekiness in the air already? Imagine the creativity of the cast and camera men as they dart through different sections of the Ikea store filming whatever they need to in record time, using whatever are available at the scene of crime,  and having to act all melodramatic while being discreet and normal [what an oxymoron the last bit is]. *rofl* [Some scenes reminded me so strongly of 500 Days of Summer. Hmm, too much of a coincidence?] I could barely stifle my laughter at certain parts; passerbys peering curiously at the cast, the hanging price tags, the “but I want you more than ever, right here”. IKEA Heights from DaveAOK on Vimeo. Will this catch on here? Imagine the cops coming on to the crew in record time… Catch Ikea Heights here and read about it here! Awe-Inspiring Sand Animation I am a little late in posting this up. It is the winning performance for Ukraine Got Talent. I remember watching it and being so entranced that for a while, I forgot about everything that was happening in my life. How does she do it? And what haunting music that accompanied her riveting performance. It is amazing how every sweeping movement she made, every dance of her fingers, is ‘unwasteful’ and purposeful yet natural. The progression of her story, each ’screenshot’ - unfinished, yet unfinished, is rich with emotions and unspoken words. If a photographer is to capture each of her picture, done, or in the process of being so, the essence and magic of it will be totally destroyed. Art at its finest. [and she just has to be gorgeous...] The Clabber Girl Boyfie: Oh look. Are you a cleber* girl? If you are cleber girl, you can eat this. Me: *roll my eyes as far as I can into the back of my eye-sockets* Omg… that’s so coOORnnyyy… Boyfie: Yup, you’re right. It is corny. *points to the yellow cans* Me: *wilts from his lame-ness* *a mockery of the word ‘clever’ like how some Singaporeans pronounce it / baby-talking. Daze of Our Lives It is a little scary knowing that time is unstoppable, like grains of fine sand slipping past the cracks of your fingers. Oh, to be 20 again, and back in university days ['daze of our lives' as how Iv-gor and I joked in the past]. Friends playing with baby D who has a gentle, quiet disposition. Tumbling D. Iv-gor and girlfriend with baby C who has the sweetest closed-mouth smile. Trying to get baby C to warm up to him. She was wary of all of us, but took to Gene very well. It seems like only yesterday when I sat down with her for the very first time for lunch at NYDC after classes. Look, now she’s a wife to him, mother of two and still as beautiful as ever. You have no idea how long it took for her to warm up to me and sit on my lap like this. My friends, they are all growing up, and so must I. It’s scary.   Fristers Dearest best friend, I’m glad you have found your happiness. His words during the solemnisation made me realise just how momentous the step of marriage is. I mean, I have always regarded marriage as a huge step towards… the-rest-of-your-life, but this is the first time I hear someone pronounce and break down everything to the finest details, in the most succinct way possible. No holds barred. Raw, gritty, matter-of-factly. All that I could understand, even with my mandarin being so lousy. I’m sorry we haven’t been very close for the longest time. I know you have been trying to reach me and I have been so ‘up in the clouds’ at most times. It has been an honour to be invited to grace your big day. I hope I didn’t ruin it with my nervous emcee-ing; that is probably the first and the last time I emcee though! Dear best friend, I am really glad you found your happiness, and your future. Lots of love, me Hilarious Drunk Guy Video As far as my memory goes, this has got to be one of the funniest video I have ever watched. The world must have been spinning for him! I know it’s really mean of me, but I couldn’t help laughing when I saw this. Worst Shopping Run Ever - Watch more Funny Videos [By the way, did anyone notice the time? It's 10+ in the morning on a Tuesday!] It Will Be Sunny One Day I have 17 drafts in my liquidblade account, all of which contain only words, thoughts. Musings. Maybe some day, I will release them slowly, but not now. For today, I’ll leave you with this, a link from Joe, for all the people who are depressed, or are suffering from depression and need a ray of light in this seemingly endless darkness. It is a letter from writer [also actor, tv presenter, comedian, film director] Stephen Fry to Crystal Nunn, a lady who was having depression when she wrote to him. It’s real. You can’t change it by wishing it away. If it’s dark and rainy it really is dark and rainy and you can’t alter it. It might be dark and rainy for two weeks in a row. It really is the same with one’s moods, I think. The wrong approach is to believe that they are illusions. They are real. Depression, anxiety, listlessness - these are as real as the weather - AND EQUALLY NOT UNDER ONE’S CONTROL. Not one’s fault. BUT It will be sunny one day. It isn’t under one’s control as to when the sun comes out, but come out it will. One day. Paint The Sky Black And Red when a dam of tears this cold place of x let’s try again, shall i? if   i..    could… if i could paint a mural now, i would awash the sky black and red; sweep arching bold strokes of despair and fury snap the ground with gnarled tangled vines, prickling rose thorns and decaying leaves and in the middle of the unyielding chaos, twirl my paintbrush of unmixed thick grey and black circle it round and round, press harder, harder, faster, faster a maelstrom of rain pain hurt dust this is me, why, why, you, i, they, do i stop, can you please… dig impressions senselessly round and round and round and *breaks* the pieces of wood fall from my fingers, and my hand to my side as i stand, anguish defeated alone. Too Many Thoughts there is supposed to be something else in place here. candy-coloured pictures, happy stories which people will find easy to read, perhaps countless photographs of me in similar poses, plus minus x degrees of angling. afterall, those are what draw readers in in this superficial voyeuristic online community, but it seems that i am not one to bend over backwards in the pursuit of ‘fame’ and ’stardom’ which is inherent in many blogs these days. far be it for me to discount the power and influence of new social media, especially since i have witnessed, with my own eyes, the way people’s lives changed drastically with the help/’help’ of said media, but no, no, this place cannot be what i am not. faced with this page, i have, on several counts lately, mechanically typed on about fun things i have done which deserved fun entries but for the life of me, i could not dredge up the same energy and emotions as when the incidents happened. with each try, i feel myself fading, withdrawing into my self, i become disinclined to write a word further, so it is best for myself and everyone that some things should never see the light of day the internet world. right now, i would like things, people to go back to how they were in the past, but how can they, ever? too many thoughts have been running though my mind - swifter than i can type out, fleeting as dreams. unable to hold them in place, i write my stories in the burning tears that fall at night, in the tentative smiles bestowed to loved ones, in the deep recesses of my mind, whenever. there is sadness in this post, maybe you cannot sense it, but it does not matter. so ultimately this entry is about nothing, yet about almost everything dear that i hold on to. Numbers 1. Work has been so crazily busy I barely have the time and energy to think. And thinking is crucial these couple of weeks. 2. I am very tired. Mentally. 3. Emotions have been volatile lately. Snapped at poor boyfie for different reasons. Heart at the soles of my feet the moment certain thoughts cross my mind. Tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes at night. All because of my atopic dermatitis issue. It has been getting me down, really down. Accumulated frustrations. I cried for 3 hours last Saturday. 3. friggin’. hours. Sobbed my heart out [yes, really loudly] and scared boyfie [and myself] to helplessness. 4. I am very tired. Emotionally. 5. With the little time I have apart from work and sleep and getting ready for work / sleep, I have been following “Ghost Friends”, a Japanese dramedy about a school girl who is able to see ghosts and helps them fulfil their wishes. A nice drama to get away from life [oh boy, what a pun here.] 6. I am very tired. Mentally. 7. Muse songs are omg-put-me-in-a-trance-addictive. Was introduced to them years ago when a friend [then] introduced a favourite song of his to me. I liked it, but our friendship turned sour and I didn’t feel like listening to Muse thereafter. Started again recently, and I simply cannot stop now. Have been looping “Time Is Running Out” say, maybe about 923840 times the past week. Urm, the last time I loop a song like that was some years back with Delta Goodrem and Brian McFadden’s “Almost Here”. Trance-y and awesome music. 8. Can. no. longer. function. auto. shutdown. zzz. Wait Waiting, I’m tired of it. I Got A Feeling… I know most people don’t like watching videos put up on blogs, but this is really cool. I wonder how they did it! Now the song is stuck in my head. I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night, that tonight’s gonna be a good night.. Her World Clinique Celebration Party ALRIGHT I hear you guys already. Time to stop being lazy, and update my blog. Emcee of the night was Wong Li Lin. Not so long ago, I was invited to a Her World / Clinique party. Felt shy to go alone yet I wasn’t sure if bringing friends for the ‘closed door’ party was allowed. Yikes! Drinks I didn’t take. Several activities were offered to the guests prior to the official start to the party - free makeovers, hair-styling, hand paraffin wax, and, not forgetting, food and drinks for us hungry souls. Ghostly hands mid-way through the paraffin wax experience. I felt like a mummy for a bit. Awesome stuff. A pity I lost the namecard! Q&A session. Clinique had a Project Makeover campaign which spanned over a couple of months and the celebration party that night was to crown the winner of Project Makeover. The 10 finalists on stage. Celebrity spotting! She was really sweet and attentive to the boy [son? nephew? errmm..?] next to her the entire night. While waiting for the results of the 10 finalists, Li Lin gave out prizes to the audience. Most of the prizes were given out after a short Q&A about Clinique products, but one of them went like this: Li Lin: The next prize is a camera… [went into specifics of the camera] Ok, who wants to come up and take a challenge? *I wanted the camera but didn’t dare to step up. Another gal went up enthusiastically.* Li Lin: Ok… Strike a pose! Gal: *immediately went into a funny pose* Li Lin: Congratulations, you just won yourself a camera! WHA-A… I want too! I can do many poses! *morphs into camwhore monster* Announcing the winner of Clinique Project Makeover. Winner was one of the two ladies in blue. More celebrity-spotting. I remember Randall from a teen drama series back in the good ol’ days! Everyone got a Clinique goodie bag when they left. The most useful item in the bag for me was a bottle of Clinique eye cream. I wanted to get one a couple of days before the event. Good timing! WhhOosh! Last Friday, I went to Oosh at Dempsey Road for a product launch [work stuff, not blogger stuff. I'm not some big blog star!]. The place was beautiful. Serene, quiet, cosy. T’was a pity I was unable to go round snapping photos of the place because I was there for work. At the end of the night, there was a lucky draw, and guess what? I won one of the three prizes! I have never won anything like that *snap fingers* before! I could hardly believe it. Lalala~ I thought of giving it to my mum, then I remembered that boyfie and I had given her something similar for her birthday last year. Sister has something similar, brother has his mobile phone and dad doesn’t use stuff like that. My second thought [which was not an afterthought] was, hey, boyfie was lamenting about how the function in his mobile phone ceased to work just a couple of days ago. What good timing! It was a little heartpain-ish to give away something like that, but since I already have my iphone, why not give this to someone who appreciates music and will use the ipod nano constantly? I excitedly messaged boyfie after the event. “!! Darl, you are a lucky boyfriend! Do you know why? Hahaha.. Whee!” The dude replied almost immediately. “Because you gave me your heart..” Woah. Killer line.. Melbourne Photo Short-List! Lately, I have been asking some of the barflies about cameras as I toy with the idea of getting a prosumer or a DSLR, and some of them are knowledgeable and avid shutterbugs. The barflies started plurking about photography and cameras on www.plurk.com. [For the uninitiated, Plurk is something like Twitter, yet more. It encourages communication among people, not just narcissistic 160 character updates about oneself as per Twitter (I'm not putting Twitter down, I have an account there myself!).] Today, there was a host of plurks about photo themes where plurkers share photographs they have taken. It was so interesting I went into my old Flickr accounts to dig out pictures for some of the photo themes, and then I saw this mail. Dear starmist, I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the fifth edition of our Schmap Melbourne Guide, to be published at the end of this month. While we offer no payment for publication, many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and link to high-resolution originals at Flickr. Our submission deadline is Sunday, July 13. If you happen to be reading this message after this date, please still click on the link above (our Schmap Guides are updated frequently - photos submitted after this deadline will be considered for later releases). Best regards, Emma Williams, Managing Editor, Schmap Guides WOW!!! I never received anything like that before! It isn’t as if I am some professional photographer, goodness, I’m not even an amateur. It got me soo excited. I was curious to see which photograph of mine made it. Photo in question was this: St Kilda. Eh, looks normal. Nothing spectacular. But guess what, the mail was sent in year 2008. Deadline for submission was 13 July 2008. Ahahaha! Oh dear! Secret Garden Last weekend, boyfie brought me to a place which is magicalgorgeousbeautiful and.. pretty much undiscovered by the general public. There were 2 - 3 levels of secret garden which were carefully created to make a person feel like he entered an entirely different world. It was quiet, far away from the crowd and filled with lush greenery. I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland in a mini maze. Very unfortunately, it was dark and I only had my meagre phone camera with me. Bleah. Lousy handphone camera. If I reach out, can I touch the sky? Sneak peak! Some parts of the place are still under construction. I think it will become a place for atas people and atas events when it officially opens to the public. From now til then, it serves as a romantic ‘getaway’ for couples. ^_^ Otaku Alert! Ok, so the picture looks rather kiddy-ish… Out of Japanese dramas to watch, I have moved on [or back?] to Japanese animes. I was introduced to Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple by boyfie who follows the manga [yeah we work this way -  he reads manga, I watch animes, then we get together to discuss them. Heh.]. Since I am up to date with Bleach and lost somewhere in Naruto Shippuuden and Inuyasha, I desperately needed fresh animes to enjoy or laugh over. Kenichi is a relatively old anime which was screened some time in 2006. The story focuses on Shirahama Kenichi, a student who gets bullied all the time. He befriends a mysterious transfer student, Miu Furinji, and discovers that she lives in a dojo with six masters of different fighting abilities. Driven by his desire to become stronger and protect those around him, Kenichi follows Miu to Ryouzanpaku, the dojo, and becomes the disciple of the six masters of Ryouzanpaku. It’s hilarious! I found myself literally laughing out loud at times, especially when Kenichi underwent hellish training from his masters or when he got cornered by people who sought him for fights. Japanese humour is simply one-of-a-kind. I’m on episode 12 and counting. Over and out, starmist the otaku [To Hina: Watch it! :P] Why I Should Be Banned From Walking Sometimes When you trip/slip and fall in public, do you 1) sit there and cry pretty shu nu tears, and hope for a dashing guy to come by and extend a gallant helping hand, 2) get up as fast as you can despite feeling that your leg can no longer function properly, and pretend nothing happened, 3) curse so loudly such that people within five metre radius can hear you, 4) curse beneath your breath and wish the ground had swallowed you in, 5) laugh it off hysterically and crazily? My mum winced and rolled her eyes almost at the same time when I showed her my bruises. =( I did 2 and 4. Orthros No Inu I’m back from the gates of Hell, and alive. Many thanks to all concerned people who smsed, emailed, tweet, plurked me. Sorry for replying late, and deeper apologies to those whom I didn’t reply. The truth is.. I don’t know what struck me. It may have been H1N1 but the doctor whom I saw twice didn’t want to give me Tamiflu and refused to do any tests to ascertain if it was H1N1 and I was too sick to argue with him. Spent five days at home not doing anything except sleeping and feeling terrible and sleeping and waking up to fever migraine shivers cough and sleeping and — , you get the idea. Anyway, I’m pretty much alright now although my appetite has not recovered [which is good!] and the cough is still showing little signs of abating. Hope I didn’t spread this mysterious sickness to anyone who went to Joelle and Gavin’s birthday party that night. :/ Prior to the whole suspected-H1N1 saga, I have been blazing through a lot of Japanese doramas, so many such that I tweeted that I was amazed I still have a boyfriend, friends and a life. Laughs. You know you have reached Japanese-drama Wisdom when you can identify the actors in a show and the dramas that they have starred in before. This is one of my favourites which is currently airing. A must-watch! Starring Hideaki Takizawa [My Takky!!!] and Ryo Nishikido [from One Litre of Tears], this drama is about Ryuzaki Shinji who possesses God’s Hands, the power to heal wounds and illnesses just by touching the patient. He is in fact a dark introvert who does not reveal his true self to others. On the other hand, Aoi Ryosuke who possesses the Demonic Hands, the power to kill a person just by touching him, is as kind and pure as an angel. When the Demon meets God, a fatal battle begins. Also in the show are Asami Mizukawa (from Nodame Cantabile), a detective caught in-between the games of the two men, and Sasaki Kuranosuke  (from Absolute Boyfriend), a researcher who was interested in utilising the powers for his own personal selfish gains. Other dramas I have blazed through the two - three weeks before I fell sick are these: Takuya Kimura is Tsukumo Ryusuke, a quirky, yet brilliant neuroscientist working for the National Research Institute of Police Science. Wielding a unique perspective and psychology, Tsukumo tackles the nation’s most baffling crimes and scandals, going head-to-head with the most brilliant and twisted criminal minds. But his eccentricities and poor social timing can also aggravate people and circumstances, further complicating matters. This was recommended by sister before she flew off to Indon and I completed it within two days. Hiak hiak. Some parts are quite disturbing so people with weak hearts shouldn’t watch it! Takuya Kimura stars as an elementary teacher who moved to Nagano because he wanted to live in a place with beautiful stars. Well-liked by children and satisfied with his beloved star gazing, Asakura Keita [Kimura] has no interest in the world of politics. However, with the deaths of ruling party’s Fukuoka Member of Parliament and his eldest son, his heir apparent, in an plane accident, a by-election had to be held right away and, Kanbayashi Masaichi, the House secretary of the ruling party, conceived the idea of fielding the second son, Keita, and sent his secretary Miyama Rika to complete the task. At Rika’s persuasion and the pressure of his family, he reluctantly agreed to run for office but with no intention of winning. However, with the help of Nirasawa Katsutoshi [Abe Hiroshi], an election strategist, he went on to win by a narrow margin of just 164 votes. Boyfie saw me on my first episode and settled down to watch it with me. Guess what? We completed the entire drama in one Sunday! HAHAHAHA! Gotta say that’s my best record so far! Though politics can be tiresome, the drama was directed in an interesting and amusing angle. Boyfie was so taken by Abe Hiroshi [the guy on the right in the poster] that he decided to catch more of his shows. Sakuragi Kenji, played by Abe Hiroshi, is a destitute lawyer and one-time member of a motorcyle gang trying to guide failing high school students with an average score of 36 into Japan’s most prestigious educational institution, Tokyo University [Toudai]. This third rate lawyer soon becomes the homeroom teacher for the special advanced class aiming for Toudai University entrance. In addition to revealing essential test taking techniques for everyone who wants to know how to get into Toudai, Dragon Zakura will also teach the essentials of living one’s life. Having achieved his life-long dream of being a pilot, Hajime [Kimura] is first officer on an international jetliner and is now working to become a captain. He can’t seem to please Captain Koda, who has become an exacting taskmaster since an air incident many years ago. To complicate matters, he begins a relationship with stubborn and straight-talking mechanic, Ayumi, whose parents died many years ago in the plane crash for which Captain Koda feels he is responsible. At some point, Irie Manato [Takky!!] began to withdraw himself from the world. Even when picked on, it’s not the real Irie, but an act. However one day he meets a strange girl - Misawa Yui [Kyoko Fukada]. Yui, who finds the tedium of everyday life unbearable, teases Manato with her almost too upfront and honest manner. Alone and afraid Manato wavers but finds himself drawn to her. But his feelings for Yui are doomed to be unrequited. The Chills Blogging will have to be suspended til further notice. As of the past couple of days, I had/am having: mad painful migraine ear drums which felt like bursting cold and a leaky nose cough which rattles my lungs the shivers dizzyness and as of five minutes ago, my fever read 39.6 degree celsius. My brain is frying and hurting so badly. *whimper* Is this H1N1? And when should the red flag be raised to go to the hospital? Want Free Laser or Facial Treatments? [This is not a paid advertorial. I am writing this to share a WONDERFUL thing with you readers! Afterall, who wouldn't want great skin??] This entry is a little long, but if you guys are interested, I hope you will take the time to read through it. It started off innocuously. A lady added me on Twitter and my attention was immediately drawn to her latest tweet about free laser and facial treatments with absolutely no strings attached [ie; signing up of packages, aggressive pushing of purchasing of products, hidden costs, etc]. I contacted her and she very quickly arranged for a treatment for me according to my skin’s needs. As most of you know, I suffer from bad acne and my acne takes a long time to heal, sometimes leaving unsightly depressed marks on my face. =( Plurkers, especially, know how much I try to do, the things I buy, to improve my skin. I am constantly on a quest for good skin! The treatment suggested for me was an Aqua Peel and and IPL [Intense Pulsed Light] from ClearSK. I have never done an IPL before [due to the cost] and was really excited about it! One of the therapists with the lady who arranged for the session for me. Check out her cool tatt. The waiting lounge. The comfy rooms. Right from the beginning, I was concerned about whether treatments will be done properly as I had lousy experiences with a wellness centre previously; they actually caused some of the scars on my face! Pearlin, the lady in question, assured me that she only work with doctors and is careful about which aesthetic places she work with for this project of hers. Okie, fugly tak-glam photos of me now! This was how bad my skin has become lately due to all the stress and bad sleeping patterns. Whatmore, this is my good side! I had an evaluation with Dr Shiau and the Aqua Peel treatment was recommended. It consists of three main steps - diamon microdermabrasion, lactic acid peel, and vitamin infusion. My diamond microdermabrasion step which was very comfortable despite the suction effect. Had Pearlin and Hazel not been there watching me, I would have fallen asleep at this point. Haha. Lactic acid was gently sprayed over my face, causing a mild tingling sensation. To be honest, I was expecting pain because erm well, acid, you know? But I was pleasantly surprised that the pain factor is very minimal. After the multi-vitamin infusion which was also sprayed over my face, came the painful bit - extraction! My therapist, Eve, did a quick one to minimise the agony. Yes this is me with futuristic goggles and some kinda gelly substance on my face to prep me for the IPL! Haha! Dr Shiau did two different types of IPL for me - a blue light IPL for my acne and the photorejuvenation IPL for my scars. At this point in time, Pearlin went “ooh! I managed to catch the light [on her camera]!” Laughs. Again, pain is minimal. My threshold for pain is quite low and I was taken aback when Dr Shiau expressed her surprise about how I can tolerate the pain well. But but… there’s no pain..! My treatment ended up with a soothing tea tree mask, and Eve applied Vitamin C serum on my face thereafter [which was not in the package]. Happy me with slightly reddish bits which will heal as time goes by. My face was significantly brighter after the treatment and I was really glad I could try it out without paying a bomb for it [el cheapo alert!]. If any of you are interested in improving your self, you can write in to Pearlin to request for different types of laser treatments. She is looking for people [yes, males are welcomed too!] to review treatments and there is no deadline for this! She is a very pleasant person, and I can say it has been a breeze ‘working’ with her so far! My only request is that you guys can quote me when you contact her for the treatments. She knows me by my name as well as my nickname so don’t worry about calling me ’starmist’. Haha! =) Pearlin’s review of my session can be found here. UPDATE: Ooh! Pearlin is looking for bloggers as reviewers! iWant! Coca Cola Happiness Has anyone noticed the latest design of Coca Cola cans? I feel it is a really clever emotional-marketing strategy. One can almost taste it upon reading this. Feeling as if I am entering a happy little coke land. “There’s a cheerful voice on the other line.” They sure aren’t missing out anything, are they? A happy pill drink. Stay tuned for my next entry, there is something awesome that most of you will probably want to give it a go! Helter Skelter I’m dragging poor boyfie everywhere for stuff these days. Ahem. Thanks to Nuffnang for picking up my previous UP entry, I received two free tickets to the said movie. Yippee! UP was touching. I love the part where the love story of Carl and his wife was told with no conversation and only with music, as well as the scene where Carl discovered what his wife did with her scrapebook. Sweetness. Next up was an invite to Chilli Padi’s buffet dinner at its newest outlet - Heng Mui Keng Terrace. I didn’t know where the place was exactly. Turned out it was at some really ulu part of NUS which I have never known exist before. I do not normally eat Peranakan food. It doesn’t look very appetising here does it? But it was not bad at all! Though the location was ulu, the outlet was packed with people and there was a queue of people waiting for tables during the time when boyfie and I were there. My honest opinion? The choice of food available for catering is wider and taste much nicer than what was displayed at the buffet that night. We didn’t think very highly of the drinks there, but all in all, it was a good meal. Still, the catered food beats the buffet hands down! I can hardly forget how my colleagues and I kept ’stealing’ pieces of fish from one of the trays before the actual tea-time because it was so good and addictive. Hur hur. Looking Forward To.. Quite by accident, I found out that one of  my favourite books by Paulo Coelho will be screening in the cinemas. Awesome!! To add to the greatness, my favourite Slayer, Sarah Michelle Geller from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the lead actress! The story centers around Veronika, a woman in her mid twenties who appears to have everything: good looks, good job and a great life ahead of her. Yet she decides to end her own life. She is unsuccessful and awakens in a mental hospital where she learns that she has five days to live. We learn that the reason that she attempted suicide was that she felt so constrained by the rules and expectations of ‘normal’ society that she had concluded that she had experienced all that life had to offer. However in the hospital she meets people who are only ‘insane’ because they don’t always follow society’s rules. With little left to lose, Veronika embarks on a journey on which she frees herself to experience relationships and emotions and ultimately discovers what it means to live. - IMDB Since we are on the topic of movies, I am waiting OH SO IMPATIENTLY for this one to reach our fair shores. My favourite book in the world, The Time-Traveler’s Wife, will be in the cinemas tomorrow, but only in the States! *pace up and down* I have been waiting for this movie for about two years already! *resume pacing* “The Time Traveler’s Wife” is one of the most interesting, powerful books I’ve read in a long time. Audrey Niffenegger did a beautiful job taking some of the most complex ideas - time travel, marriage, love, children, friends, literary and artistic allusions, religion, death, drugs, childhood, growing, loss, and what it means to be human - and weaving them together poetically and with amazing clarity. Her characters are wonderful, “real” people with strengths and flaws, and I really grew to adore them. Despite skipping around time at the same rate as Henry, the time traveler, the events are sequenced in such a way that you still witness each character’s growth as a person, as well as discover many surprises along the way. Clare and Henry’s story is one of the best stories I’ve read in a very long time. This book also echoes important modern-day questions about the appropriateness of gene therapy, and what it means to be a human being. - Diana from Amazon.com Some people couldn’t understand why I love this novel so much as they deemed it as ‘just another love story’. It is more than just a love story, as illustrated by the above quote I got from another reader, Diana. I’m glad they didn’t cast big names for the movie. Rachel McAdams looks like the perfect Clare, and while Eric Bana as Henry seems suspect, I hope he will not disappoint. Can’t wait to see how all the intricacies of the novel are weaved into the movie! My Funny Friend Work’s been busy and stressful lately, and my mind has been specially noisy and out of control [I have repeated this ad nauseam I know]. That, in turn, made me crave for alone and quiet time, thus my silence on the net and off. I have not been totally reclusive though. starmist has not become a hikikomori yet, no sirree no. Anyway, not so long ago, I met up with ifurin to get sis’ birthday present and we spent the longest time in the shop debating whether light and bright baby pink is still considered pastel pink or if we should just get a simple plain but classy one or if zips are more hip and happening or shall we get the traditional snap-and-go-locks type of……. .. luggage. Thank you to all the sweet people who shared my sister’s present! ^_^ After jumping our choices among four different luggages in what-seemed-like-forever, ifurin sighed in a very cute way and pointed dispiritedly at something, muttering resignedly, “why don’t we just get her that lah.” No prizes for guessing which one ifurin pointed at. My name is Bond, Jamseee Bond. Unsound Minds and All That Things have been hectic at work lately. Amidst all the rushhustlebustle, boss spotted something in this guy’s resume which was sent in for a particular position, laughed heartily and forwarded it to me. Colleagues Fail. Disney Couture Whimsical and pretty little things that I covet. Listen with your heart and you will understand, Up where the wind takes you. I don’t think I am a very dainty person in terms of my accessories [for me, the chunkier the better!], but these are sooo pretty! Costly too, by the way. -_-” Fairest of them all, A dream is a wish your heart makes.  Pocahontas, Think wonderful thoughts. I. want. to. go. Europe. and. buy. fabulous. stuff. back. Reveal I don’t know which hurts more at this moment - my head or my heart. Those words were at the tip of my tongue. So close.