Yesterday was a pretty unsatisfactory day.

Exam was unsatisfactory. But let’s not go there any more, since I already briefly blogged on it here.

Lunch was unsatisfactory. I ate with Xin, at Siam Kitchen. Xiaoli joined us later. The food at Siam Kitchen really sucks. My glass noodles with seafood was really really below satisfactory level. The glass noodles were clumpy, the fish wasn’t fresh and had a weird taste, the overall taste was as if it came from a pack of instant food.

Movie was unsatisfactory. I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with Xiaoli. Let me begin by saying that I went in with pretty low expectations (though still rather excited, as I am a big Harry Potter fan, afterall) but this movie really was the worst of the 5 HP movies so far!

If I were to rate it, I would have given it a mere 1.5 out of 5 stars. The acting was inadequate, but Dolores Umbridge and Luna Lovegood were pretty good. Plot cuts and absence of impressive special effects aside (imho), I felt that David Yates did an extremely lousy job. There was no transition between scenes, as it jumped from one place to another. There was no clear differentiation of which was dream, which was memory, which was reality, nor which was Voldemort invading Harry’s mind. The plot changes were also too much for me to swallow, having read each HP book at least 5 times.

I know that movies are never exactly like the books on which they are based, but Yates and his team took it a little too far. I’m not going to elaborate on this any more, as I’m sure there are much better reviews out there, except to say that I came out of the cinema feeling upset, unsatisfied, and even a little angry! Shame on you, David Yates!

High tea was good! Thank god, this actually saved the day!

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant
200 Victoria Street
#02-53 Bugis Junction
Singapore 188024

We ordered the Deluxe Set high tea set, which cost us $8.80++ per pax. Although one of my favourite dishes, the chilled tofu with preserved vegetables was replaced by a rather strange tasting beancurd skin with preserved vegetables, the meal was still the best thing that happened yesterday.

Beancurd skin with preserved vegetables

This dish would have been more pleasing to the palate had it not contained so much of coriander. Not a big fan of this herb, I found the taste to be overpowering, and not at all a good mix with the preserved vegetables.

Steamed soup bun with pork filling
Steamed soup bun with mushroom
Steamed soup bun with pork and shrimp filling

I loved these 3 steamed soup buns (more commonly known as xiao long bao 小笼包)! Much better than their Crystal Jade counterparts whose skin breaks when you lift them up from the bamboo steamers, the skins of these little buns were actually thick enough to hold the soup in, but also thin enough to avoid that doughy texture of other restaurants’ steamed soup buns.

While the bun with the pork and shrimp filling was my favourite, I savoured all three with equal enthusiasm. Xiaoli liked the mushroom filling the most. The soup contained in the bun was extremely tasty, and it was served to us steaming hot. We waited for a few moments to cool it down to a temperature that would have been safe for us to put into our mouths.

Spring roll with crab roe
Cake with sweet bean paste
Steamed bun with vegetable stuffing

Of the three, the cake with sweet bean paste was the most forgettable, to me. Xiaoli liked it though. I much preferred the triangular spring roll and the steamed bun with vegetable stuffing.

This spring roll had a light skin that was deep fried to a perfect golden crisp. The filling consisted a savoury combination of tofu, carrot, shrimp and some sort of leaf. It was different from the usual spring roll you get, of vegetables filling, but this was very tasty.

This steamed bun had the most perfect pillowy soft dough. It was pure delight biting into the bun, which was light and fluffy. The vegetable stuffing was also quite delicious, although the dough was the unarguably the highlight of this dish.

Almond jelly with longan

Perhaps the most forgettable dish due to its overpowering sweet liquid which masked the fragrance of the almond jelly, this cold dessert was still a good way to end the meal.

All in all, I feel that this meal was a good deal, and for the price, it is pretty affordable, if not exactly cheap. The food I have had here is quite authentic in its taste (none of that fusion crap), having originated from Shanghai, and I would definitely recommend it if you’re a big fan of Chinese cuisine, as I am. Wouldn’t mind visiting it for this high tea set, although I’ve had it twice so far. For the three different high tea menus, click here, here and here.

Item: Deluxe Set
Cost: $8.80++
Rating: 4 out of 5

High tea is available at Nanxiang from Monday to Fridays, 2:30pm to 5:30pm.

Just did some sprucing up of my Blogroll, because I realised that there are:

1. many dead links
2. many links of blogs I don’t read
3. many boring blogs
4. many links of people I don’t give a rat’s ass about

Too bad if your link disappeared from my blog list. Gonna add in more Pingsters’ blog links now.

Still feeling ill, and have no mood to study. But I know I must. Yucks. On the bright side, though, I am going to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) with Xiaoli tomorrow! I’m glad I’m going with someone I care about, rather than just some random person, because I would be damn sad after that.

Looking back, I realised that I watched the Harry Potter with a different guy every time:

Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (2001) – Kangwei
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) – Benjamin
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) – the Bastard
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) – Weichiang

Okay! This year I’m going to watch it with a girl! Xiaoli, are you honoured? You’re the first girl I’m watching Harry Potter with! Haha.

I have actually been feeling extremely lazy to blog. It’s not that I have nothing to blog about. But I am just too lazy! Anyway I’ve been staying at BB’s place for the last 1 week or so. Am finally going home today (after I blog, and after I pack up haha).

Today I received my beloved Florida Kimono Red Birkenstocks! Haha! And I cannot resist showing them off:

It came in a pretty pink-purple box!

And a close-up of the design

And the shoe the shoe the shoe the shoe that I love

Whoopiesss!

I’m wearing ‘em right now, while sitting on the chair in front of the computer, blogging about ‘em. Haha! They are so comfy. And they make my feet look smaller than they already are.

So exciting. Hehe. I’ve been waiting for them for so long. Actually, they arrived in Singapore a long time ago, but I just didn’t have the time to go all the way to Tampines to pick them up. So I got the spree organizer to post them to me! Hehe. She’s really nice. I totally recommend ordering through her if you wanna order from Tobias Mayer!

Well, okay, let’s stop talking about them.

I’ve been watching movies and going out a lot since my exams ended last Wednesday. Haha! All you NTU, NUS and SMU suckers – eat my dust! Haha! Okay, I’m just kidding. You all know I still love you, although my exams ended last Wednesday! Haha!

So far, I’ve watched (from BB’s endless inventory list of movies in his computer which doesn’t include those he actually burned onto DVDs already):

The Curse of the Golden Flower (黄金甲) – Gory and twisted, but I like!
Miss Potter – Very sad show, but it’s about female power! Haha!
Charlotte’s Web – I like pigs
After This Our Exile (父子) – Slow, but there are good parts (not the sex scenes though, haha!) I love Gow Ian Iskandar!
Cinderella Man – 200 stars! It’s a very moving and exciting show!
Friends With Money – Bah. Completely forgettable.

And I am going home to start on my 39 episode Taiwan drama serial marathon of The Hospital (白色巨塔). Haha! I can’t wait. And there are 2000 things I need to do within this 1 week before school begins! Hehe.

Oh, next week I will be attending the HR Congress 2007! Haha! I am super excited (although I have to do a project about the congress after attending it) cos I know I will be learning alot from it!

Anyways. I need to recount my pre- and post-exam activities before they completely melt into oblivion. Haha.

I had exams on Monday and Wednesday, and here’s my Wednesday 爱心面包 from BB: Ham-cheese-lettuce sandwich! Yums.

BB also made us sandwiches on Tuesday morning, when we went to the Library to study with Lis and Gerald. Heh. Studying with Gerald is always fun. Talk and study and eat junk food. Haha! Sounds like what I used to do with XY. I miss those days studying with XY at JP, KAP, everywhere. Haha.

We all had dinner together (with Xun in tow) after we wrapped up studying for the day. Hehe. I drew many pretty mind maps while we were at the library. But still… It didn’t help that much. Cos the paper sucked.

And on Wednesday (after the horrible paper which I’d rather not recount), I met up with Lis, XY and Junior at Bugis. We watched *drumrolls* The Last Mimzy! Hahaha! Not exactly the type of movie we’d choose if the cinemas decided to show less horrible movies, you know. But still, it was a laugh. Although I spilt our drink even before the movie started (I’m sorry, Lis!)

Junior loved the movie so much that he couldn’t stop imitating the mimzy sounds. Haha! It was an okay show. Too far-fetched and out-of-the-world, but it was quite funny – and the girl in the show was uber cute. Hehe!

Before the movie. XY the glutton, hogging the huge popcorn bucket

We wanted to eat at Basil Alcove at Middle Road after the movie, but it was closed! So we settled for this place called HK Causeway Bay Cafe, which was near my old office. Haha. The food was okay, the service sucked. Bla bla bla. Here are some pictures:

Blurred cos Jr’s hand shakes

And I’m too lazy to go and kope XY’s photos from her blog

My 鸳鸯 (tea and coffee drink) came in a jar! Haha! So cute!

My claypot tofu seafood noodles

Lis and XY and Junior had baked rice

Afterwards, we headed over to another shop for dessert! Haha!

Oh no! I just realised that it looks like Junior wasn’t there at all! Haha! He is in none of the pics! Okay, next time must take photos with Junior! Hehe.

After eating all that stuff, we went to swim! Haha! Yeps. At least we tried to burn some calories that we’d consumed. So it ain’t as bad, you know! Haha! I don’t even remember the name of the place where we always go to swim. Haha. Erm. Goldfish memory. And XY always drives us there, so it’s not like I actually need to know what it’s called. Oops. Hehe.

On Thursday, I met up with XY for bubble tea, and Andersen’s ice cream at Jurong Point, our old haunt! Hehe. XY was hungry at 5pm (after consuming the bubble tea, and ice cream) and then she wanted to eat something, so we went to the food court on level 3. This is her tea-break food:

And one wonders how she keeps herself slim. @.@ *sigh*

Then we headed back to BB’s room, and disturbed him a bit, before traipsing off to look for Jiaming for dinner at the Quad Cafe in NTU. Haha! The food there is awful. But it still beats many other NTU canteens. Haha!

And then on Friday, me and XY and Junior went to town. XY had an appointment with her dermatologist at Paragon, but she didn’t actually get to see him. So infuriating! The nurse/clinic assistant there was completely inept. She didn’t inform us at all that the doctor was performing a procedure for another patient, which would take like 2 whole hours. And we just waited there for nothing, for a whole hour! And then XY decided that she doesn’t really wanna see him if she’s gotta wait for so long – so we left. The nurse/clinic assistant really should have informed us! What is the point of having an appointment if the doctor can’t keep to it?! Bah.

After we left Paragon, we headed down to Takashimaya, bought some skin care stuff for myself at Watson’s, as well as our dinner, before we went to the condo to swim again. Haha. It rained when we got there, so we had dinner at the pavillion by the pool, then we went up to Junior’s aunt’s place for some card games, before swimming. But I think I didn’t let my food settle before going to swim, and I got stitches. So I went and sat in the steaming hot jacuzzi for a really long time. Haha! I love jacuzzis!

Oh ya! I also got a new pair of goggles! It corrects my myopia so now I can see clearly in the water, and I won’t bump into anyone while swimming anymore! Haha!

After swimming, I walked back to Lis’ place with her, cos XY stayed at Junior’s aunt’s place to play Mahjong haha. So tai-tai-ish.

And Saturday and Sunday and Monday were spent slacking in the room, watching above-mentioned movies. I’m so tired now! This is a long long long pointless blog entry which is just a recollection of my boring life. But I’m not sad about it! I’m happy about my boring life cos I got great people around me! Haha! Can’t wait to go swimming again, but not for now cos I got my horrid menses. Haha.

Oh, wait, I need to blog about my horrible KFC delivery experience!

I ordered KFC on Saturday night cos I was really really hungry. I missed dinner cos I slept through it. Haha! So typical of me. So anyway. I called the hotline, and got this big bimbo to take my order down. Sigh.

One of the initial parts of the conversation went like this:

Bimbo: Can I have your postal code please?
Me: 639810
Bimbo: Oh, okay. This is your phone number, right? Okay, 639810… what’s the last 2 digits of your phone number again?
Me: Hello! You asked me for my postal code, so obviously this is my postal code! Why would I give you my phone number?!

Okay. So after that, she finally got to the part where she asked me for my order. I said clearly, “1 couple meal. Original chicken please.”

And she took it down. And then suddenly she went, “Ohmygosh! The system is down and I can’t put your order through! Could you just wait for awhile till the system is back up again?”

And okay, normal people, sane people, and good customer service people would now proceed to put the phone on a mute, right? Or let the customer listen to some music or whatever. But nope, the bimbo customer service person decided to let me listen to her hyperventilating and breathing heavily into the phone receiver. Which is what she did for the next 3 or 5 minutes. And she kept going, “Ohmygosh ohmygosh. It’s still down. Argh!”

O.o”

Finally it went through, and she was like, “So, I’m going to confirm your order now, okay?” and an irritated me said, “Yes, please do. I didn’t call in just to chat with you.” And then she said without skipping a beat (maybe she really didn’t notice the sarcasm in my voice), “Okay, your order will arrive in 45 minutes.” And I was like, “So long?” (thinking that McD delivery takes only 30 minutes) and she confirmed again that it would take 45 minutes.

So we hung up. And I waited, while watching a movie.

And I waited, and waited, and waited. After 1 hour, the order didn’t arrive yet. So I checked the status. And they told me that it takes 1.5 hours. Waitaminute! She said 45 minutes! I told the person to check with the supervisor, and get back to me. Which they did. And they kept apologizing profusely, which did nothing to appease me. And it got me even madder when the supervisor offered me a measly 10% discount on my next order!

WTF?! Seriously. My orders usually amount to about 15 dollars. So a 10% discount would be a $1.50 off my total bill. Hello? $1.50 doesn’t even buy you anything in Singapore.

But argh. Whatever. I was so pissed already. So I hung up. And waited some more.

The food finally came after 2 hours! What happened to the 1.5 hours promised (and the original 45 minutes)? I was hopping mad. Went down to get my food, and it was cold, soggy, and wet. I was boiling mad by now. And then I realised it’s the wrong order. I wanted original and this was crispy! I marched back to BB’s room and then I punched in the numbers 62353535 and demanded to speak to a manager about my order.

They said they’d call me back, so while waiting, I tucked into my food (I’d been waiting for so long for my food that I didn’t care anymore). When they called back, a guy apologized for the food condition. He said, “I’m really sorry. I think I packed the food too early. And the order on the form clearly states crispy, so maybe the person who took your order got it wrong.”

(speechless for 2 seconds) “Okay, excuse me. Are you a food packer? I’m sorry. I wanted to speak to a manager and I don’t think you are qualified or in the position to even apologize to me.”

So the manager came to the phone, and he offered to send me a new meal with the correct order. He apologized for the condition of the food.

I said, sarcastically, “So I’ve got to wait another 2 hours for the next packet to arrive? No thanks! I’m too hungry already, and I’ve waited so long for your delivery person to arrive!”

And he apologized once again, and said, “No, Ma’am, if you’d wait for just 15 minutes, we’ll send you a fresh and hot meal by cab.”

Whoa. Points scored, and I relaxed a little, “That’s not necessary. I’ve already tucked into my food. I’m just really angry because I’ve never had such bad service from KFC before!”

And he explained that there was a shortage of riders, bla bla bla and the food had to come from Jurong East branch (and I interjected, “So is that my fault that you have insufficient riders?”) and he apologized again and said that they will refund me for the food. I still wasn’t appeased, but then I didn’t know what else I could ask them to do for me. So I let it go, and they are crediting the amount back to my account (cos I had paid by Visa for this meal).

I’m waiting for the amount to be credited back to my account now. So I hope it won’t take too long.

It’s just a stroke of bad luck, one after another. On Saturday afternoon, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my eldest sister, Doreen, from this website but they also didn’t deliver it on time! Reason? They don’t process orders on weekends, and don’t do delivery on weekends! WTF?! Have you heard of florists who take weekends off? Argh! They finally called on Monday morning, and told me that they are very sorry that they didn’t get my order earlier, would I still want to send the flowers now? I said, “No, of course not, because the flowers were meant for my sis who was performing in a play, and was meant to be delivered as you promised, on the same day of the order, and the play has ended last night!”

No where on the website did they state that they do not process orders or make deliveries on weekends! I’m so peeved. I had put in my order and asked them to send it to KLPac, where my sis was performing. Some companies are just so retarded. First the florist (in the afternoon) and then KFC (at night). It just wasn’t my day.

And now, I’m going to pack, to go home to my lovely queen-sized bed, my Hello Kitty, my darling Piggy (whose furry body and snout, and furry and fat paws I miss so much), and of course, to my books that await me! Haha!

I watched Eragon last night! It’s a very good movie, and the website is also very impressive! Hehe!

BB says that Saphira is “so cute!!” and he kept gushing over her. I would be jealous, had Saphira not been a fire-breathing, blue-scaled, white-taloned dragon. Haha!

But Baby Saphira is cute. This movie will be a good watch if you like fantasy movies like the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings movies. I do! Haha.

BB has so many movies, and all the new movies too! I wanna watch them all! But I don’t have an external HDD to transfer the movies to bring home to watch. Hehe.

Went to Gerald’s and Stella’s houses yesterday. Thanks to both families for playing host to me and BB!

Finally home, after being away since Thursday. I’m getting a bit tired of working, so I think I gotta rest for now. School school school, work work work. And polytechnic open houses are so noisy! My eardrums need a rest, even if the rest of my body don’t.

Just watched The Dance Floor on Channel 5 with Mom – not that impressed. But I do like watching people dance. And I adore Wong Lilin! So yep, I’m gonna continue watching this show.

Over the weekend at BB’s place, I managed to catch another 3 movies, besides reading the book, Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver. The first was The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the second Confession of Pain (伤城) and the second, and old Meg Ryan movie, Sleepless in Seattle.

Five People was wonderful, for its story. The movie, based on a book of the same title by Mitch Albom, is about an old Man – Eddie “Maintenance”, who works all his life in an amusement park, Ruby Pier. In the story, it says that everyone who dies and goes to heaven will meet 5 people who have had ties to their corporeal existence, and who have 5 lessons to teach the deceased, to help them understand the meaning of their lives. It was beautiful.

Confession of Pain was rather bland. The story didn’t make much sense until two-thirds way through. The punch didn’t come until the last scene of the movie, where Takeshi Kaneshiro’s character revealed to Tony Leung’s, what he had uncovered about the latter’s past. And then the movie ended. Quite baffling, I must say.

Sleepless in Seattle was a re-watch for me, but a first for BB. Many witty lines which had us roaring with laughter. But well, it was weird watching Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks so young. When Tom Hanks first came onto the screen, BB went, “Hey, Forrest Gump!” Haha. Other than that, it was, at parts, slow. But good to watch – it was like a first for me all over again, cos I was so young when I watched this movie (only 11 or 12) that I don’t remember it anymore.

I love spending time with BB like that – I do wish, though, that we had more comfortable chairs! And that BB wouldn’t go and lie down in bed halfway through the movie. Haha!

Well, sometimes the movies get draggy but I still love watching ‘em! Wish I had more time to spend with BB – got back from work only at 7pm yesterday, and left his place this afternoon. Factor in all the sleeping hours, that would work out to be less than 9 waking hours together

Miss you already.

I feel so tired. Seriously, my eyes are stinging due to the lack of sleep that I had over the last few days. Wednesday I went to school early in the morning (after a mere 3 hours of sleep due to studying)expecting a full day of classes, but I was mistaken about my class schedule. Classes were held only in the afternoon! Wah, I wanted to slap myself then.

On Thursday, I went to work at Ngee Ann Poly Open House, at the SingTel Wireless@SG booth. After work, we went to IKEA. Had meatballs! Haha. Actually we went to IKEA only to eat the meatballs. But BB ended up buying some drinking glasses, and a rubbish basket. BB also went to collect his lenses for his Rudy Project cycling sunglasses, and we went to meet this guy whom BB gaffered camera lens for. Forgot to write also, that BB has sold his Nikon D70 DSLR camera. Then on Saturday, he went and bought a digital camera: The Panasonic LX2, which is like damn fantastic cos I see already I also want to buy! Haha!

On Friday evening, BB and I cooked pasta (fusili with beef and mushroom bolognaise sauce) and we watched Blood Diamond! Gruesome movie, but I thought it was pretty good for the plot and story. Remember girls, it’s up to us to insist that the diamonds we purchase are conflict-free! Hehe.

Worked till Saturday, and nearly died after that. The NP Open House was terrible – loud music blaring from the speakers which were very near our booths, and suffocating atmosphere made worse by the throngs of people that never seemed to leave the Atrium. Oh yeah, managed to catch up with Huey a bit, though. She was at NP too, and we went back to Boon Lay together

On Sunday, my Study Day, I managed to do more movie-watching than actual studying (sadly). We watched Unknown over lunch of pasta (yes, again) and Flyboys over dinner of rice and some dishes (and fried guo tie). I liked both shows too! Haha. I think I was very agreeable with movies this weekend because of the company that I had I really enjoyed myself watching those movies, and they all made me think alot.

Anyway. I did manage to squeeze in a bit of studying over the few days by bringing some notes to the Open House where I worked, and by studying some on Sunday, *ahem* while also reading Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook and The Wedding *ahem* Haha.

But I must defend myself and say that the test went pretty well despite the distractions. After the test, we had lunch (I ate alone cos everyone else left the exam venue early, and had lunch by themselves – I was the last to leave, I think – and some left as early as 45 mins into the 2hour paper! Gosh!) and then I had another 3 hour lecture, which was kinda siannifying. I was trying so hard to stay awake, and when the lecturer concluded the class, I practically bounded out of class at lightning speed!

Hmm. You know what?! I’m so so so so tired! Last night we all slept really late, and I woke up this morning at 5:30am to study!  Gosh. Terrible thing to do, cos all I wanted to do was to crawl back into bed and snore my way to 10am. Haha.

Yawns. It’s time for bed. 10pm! I like my bed.

Thanks to my sis Serene and UrbanWire, my friends and I had a chance to watch independent film Quinceañera* at Plaza Singapura last night.

I must admit the acting wasn’t very good, especially at the beginning, but I liked the movie on the whole, for it’s underlying message, and the somewhat witty lines. What I liked the most was the very sweet act of protectiveness that family blacksheep Carlos did for the pregnant virgin Magdalena at the very end. I liked Uncle Tomaz too. He was a jolly good fellow!

Family support. That’s what the whole movie is about. Although there were some major generalizations and stereotyping in the movie, I think it’s recommendable – I’d give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

I had 4 tickets, so I dragged my housemates Hong Hai, Yew Fai, and our common friend, Yizheng, to the movie. Well. I think they liked the movie. The sexual innuendoes and the gay sex scenes! -.-”"

Okay, before you run off thinking that I live with pervs, they’re not. They’re fairly decent guys – when not irritating the shit out of me. Hahahaha. We have pretty good fun together and they listen to me rant when I need to. Erm. So. I’m going to miss them when I move out lah! Sighs.

My housemates have their quirks at times, but I guess if you take the whole picture into account, they are good housemates! Cos they don’t get drunk, have wild sex-booze-n-drugs parties, aren’t super calculative, aren’t noisy, and they aren’t weird (though HongHai loves to sing at the top of his voice in the bathroom and Yew Fai talks to himself all the time while gaming). Haha.

Well, an enjoyable night out. I am hungry. Can I go off for lunch now? My nose is runny. And my cough is… well. It’s still there.

*Quinceñera – What is it? Read more here. A very good review, without spoilers.

I downloaded a 988MB file of the Da Vinci Code movie, and it turned out to be an effing record from the cinema screen! Bloody hell. And I was so looking forward to watching it tonight! Bah!

But maybe I’ll just watch it anyway. *sigh*

ETA: Am going to make a more conscious effort to update this blog. It’s been sadly lacking of updates cos I’ve been working on a secret project! Hehe!

I’m so blessed because my BF and I have survived one month apart (Beijing and Singapore), and are still going strong despite my countless bouts of paranoia (which smooths over quite quickly).

I’m also blessed because I’ve had friends like Shang and Melly to bring me to their respective churches in the last 2 weeks, so that I can renew my faith again.

I’m blessed because our internet connection at home is finally set up, and we’ve survived a whole month without internet connection!

I feel blessed because I have a job now, and it’s all because of my portfolio in Union as Publication Officer, which gave me some experience in advertising and publishing, which is definitely relevant to my job now!

Heh. Today I went to Mel’s church, NLCC. Got to meet some nice people bla bla bla. But the most important thing is that I learnt that sometimes we are so caught up in our lives and the fun that we are having, and we don’t realise that what we need aren’t the material things, but finding true contentment within ourselves. We keep saying we want more, that we don’t ever know what is the limit.

Anyway, that’s what made me feel blessed about what I have in my life today.

On a totally unrelated note, last week I watched a Korean drama called “Tree of Heaven” aka 天国的树. I really liked the drama series! The best part was that it’s only 12 episodes, so it’s not too long.

The story takes place in Japan. It’s about a girl called He Na, whose father died when she was just 8 years old. Her mother remarries 10 years later, to a Korean man with a 20 year old son, Yunxi. Yunxi has not spoken for years, since he was a boy when his mother died. Anyway, Yunxi comes to live with He Na because their parents are going away for their honeymoon. Slowly, bit by bit, He Na draws Yunxi out of his shell, and makes him smile again, and eventually, talk. The duo, who live with He Na’s real father’s sister (her aunt) and her daughter Maya, face alot of difficulties. He Na is abused by her aunt and cousin, but her loving and forgiving nature allows her to bear with it, until they evil mother and daughter sell their home and run away. Inevitably, amidst trials and tribulations, the two step siblings fall in love, though Yunxi was the one to admit it first, and He Na keeps denying it.

She even runs away from him by going to Tokyo to work in a hotel, after her high school graduation. Yunxi is heartbroken.

Two years pass, and He Na misses her stepbrother terribly, and realises that she has been in love with him all along. Yunxi has hardened and grown into a young man who has never forgotten about He Na. Instead, he tracks her down, and protects her without knowing it. He has become a mafia leader in Tokyo, and has stopped using his Korean name (Yungsuh, aka Yunxi) in favour for a new Japanese name, Yuki.

When Yunxi finally shows himself to He Na, he tries to keep her at a distance, believing that his position as a mafia leader will endanger her life. She continues to love him, and expresses it openly this time, though he is withdrawn. He even tries to push her to marry her senior from high school, who has been taking care of her while she has lived in Tokyo for the last 2 years.

Slowly, Yunxi warms up to He Na again, and is willing to give their love a second chance. He wants to live the rest of his life with her, but his conscience reminds him that he has yet to tell her the truth about what he does for a living.

Encouraged by his love for her, Yunxi tries to quit the mafia because he wants to stop lying to He Na, but this turns the big boss of his gang against him. The boss tries to silence Yunxi by killing him, afraid that he will go to the police with the information he has, once he quits. Yunxi is aware of this, and decides to break it off with He Na once and for all, and forces her to promise him that she will marry her senior.

On her wedding day, Yunxi comes to the church to watch her from afar. Then he leaves, intending to surrender himself to the police so that he may one day stand righteous again before him. On the way, he is ambushed and stabbed. Grievously injured, he staggers on the roads, trying to get to safety. At that precise moment that he his stabbed, the wedding ring that He Na was going to give to her groom drops to the floor, and she takes it to be a sign that something bad has happened.

She runs out of the church and down the roads. Finally she sees Yunxi on the roads, but a car is coming towards him. She tries to push him out of the way, but both of them are knocked down. They are sent to the hospital, where both lie in separate beds in separate rooms, in critical conditions.

(spoiler ahead)

Yunxi eventually dies, while He Na’s heart is badly injured. Yunxi’s heart is given to He Na, and she lives on after the transplant, still believing that Yunxi is alright.

At one of the final scenes, her friends ask her how she is doing, after her heart transplant, and she replies: “I feel as if this heart has always belonged to me.”

Her friends then break the news to her that Yunxi is dead, and that the heart she has received during the transplant, is his. His heart really has always belonged to her, so she was right in saying so, though it is kinda ironic.

I don’t really remember anything else after that, cos that scene was really very touching. Haha. To me, that was the end of the show. But I really enjoyed it, though I normally hate sad endings! Heh. Okay, some pics from the show!

Excited by the prospect of meeting her Korean stepbrother, He Na learns Korean from a dictionary!
 

Fierce Yunxi!

Their home, a hot springs resort.

At the bicycle shed before going to school.

On the way to school. The other girl is Maya, the evil cousin.

Cinderella-ish He Na, being bullied by her aunt and cousin into doing the chores.

Falling in love.

Young adults in Tokyo.

He Na breaks the pair of heels that Yunxi gives to her as a graduation present. She cherishes that last present from him, and is upset when it is damaged.

Yunxi, a hardened mafia leader. Doesn’t he look so good with this hairstyle?

Lovers as adults. Still riding bicycles!

On Yunxi’s 23rd birthday.

Sealing their agreement for He Na to marry her senior (Liu)

The main cast:

Park Shin Hye as He Na (Han-Na)

Lee Wan as Yunxi (Yung-Suh)

Lee Wan is the sister of Kim Tae Hee (of Love Story in Harvard fame!)

And the last pic, from one of my favourite scenes also:

I think the two leading actor and actress acted very well in this movie. Park Shin Hye is only 16! Can you believe it? Yup. She was born in 1990! Amazing right? She’s good!

Okay! That’s all the pics that I have!

It’s 14 hours before my Dear comes home! I can hardly wait! Lalala!~

Edited: Comments have been disabled for this post due to the large number of spam messages. Thank You for reading this post!

Tuesday. Tuesday seems so much better than Monday. Tuesday I have a newfound zest and I will re-blog (in summary) what I blogged (and lost) yesterday.

So here I am, with my mug of kopi, feeling happy and renewed. Haha.

Friday: It was a bad day for me, and I was feeling upset again. Then the lowest point was when I cried while at work while talking to Chaoyi on MSN. Yup, you heard it here first – he made me cry. Of course it wasn’t those drama type of wracking sobs, I just teared while hiding behind my computer. That was, maybe, oh, 11 tear drops. Anyway, after work, I went back and met up with the-guy-who-made-me-cry-while-at-work and we had dinner at Canteen A (I had mee sua, which was quite good) before going to SAC to study. I felt like dying btw, SAC was so freezing cold and I was sleepy and icky, cos I’d rushed out immediately after work to meet him.

We went back to my Hall after a while, and I got to shower so I was xiang-xiang and feeling happier. And so we watched Nottinghill. It was my fourth or fifth time watching it, but I still cried anyway. Julia Roberts is one helluva great actress. Hugh Grant is so lovable in a dopey kinda way. Haha.

Saturday: It was NTU Open House, and I went down to the Quad to cover the event as a reporter and photographer. Which was retarded, because I had to use Chaoyi’s D70 after having a 2-minute crash course the previous night, and I was still extremely clueless. And because it was too bright outside, the pictures taken inside the tent were dark. Haiyah! Whatever lah. I’m sure at least one or two can be used.

After Open House, I went back to Hall and nua-ed for a while before heading out to cap the Capgirl for dinner and a movie. We watched Nanny McPhee. Thomas Sangster is so adorable I wanna pinch his fat cheeks! Haha. It was fun, the movie. I like kid movies.

“She’s a witch!” Hahahaha!

Met Chaoyi for a small bite after that, cos he hadn’t had his dinner yet. He’d been working all day at the IT Fair at Suntec (at the SingTel booth, of course, Haha) and it’d been quite a traumatising day for him. In fact I would say that all IT Fairs are traumatising – no matter how experienced you are, you’ll still be traumatised by the hoardes of hungry vultures there. 0_o

Sunday: I spent the day like this:

12am – 5am: Surf net and play Zuma on Popcap
5am – 1pm: Sleep
1pm – 2pm: Lunch, arrange delivery and distribution of OCBC flyers
2pm – 4pm: Watch Bruce Almighty on computer, play Zuma
4pm – 6pm: Sleep
6pm – 7pm: Out with Huiying to CHC food centre
7pm – 11pm: Slack, surf net, MSN, play Zuma
11pm – 12am: Accompany Chaoyi for dinner

And so my Sunday was whiled away just like that. Boo.

Monday: I don’t really remember what I did at work all day, except that I blogged twice and lost the entry twice. Went to meet Woon at her company, with Lik, for some telemarketing position that she wants me to fill. I really like telemarketing (no, I’ve not gone mad) and I like working with Woonie. But I’m lazy to work. I want to sleep. I want my mid-morning naps, afternoon naps, before supper naps, and 10 hours of sleep at night. Haha!

Anyways, it was alright. We were ‘interviewed’ by her colleague. I’m glad for all the sales experience I’ve had in all my temp jobs thus far.

After that we headed back to the west, and I was kinda upset cos Chaoyi didn’t say that he wanted to eat with me.  I mean, I eat with him everyday right? And just cos I was back late on one night, he didn’t want to eat with me?

But no lah, he didn’t say he didn’t want to eat with me (though he didn’t say that he wanted to eat with me either).  That sounded like a tongue-twister. Anyways. In the end, after I got upset for nothing, he said that he’d eat with me at the usual place. Heh. Can you imagine my elation at that point in time? Hehe. From upset to elated within a 1-minute span.

I feel good this morning. I had a breakfast of a small pau, and half a grapefruit. Had 2 cups of cafe mocha from the pantry. The coffee machine rocks.

Black coffee? Press 1. Cappucino? Press 2. Cafe Mocha? Press 3. And so on and so forth.

It doesn’t taste too bad either. No where near gourmet coffee, of course, but not bad, really. Not bad.

When there’s coffee, life is good.