merry christmas

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS US - TRISTAN PRETTYMAN FT. JASON MRAZ

it's christmas eve!

Christmas resolution: I hope I'd find my soulmate soon, to share with the remaining christmas seasons

I am spending my Christmas eve by a poolside, with my mom and my two grannies. As I stare at the groups of youth scattered around the neighbourhood, playing games and having drinks, I am not one bit disappointed with my Christmas this year. Cause I know that He has a plan for me, hence, I will be patient. I will look forward to spend every Christmas with my friends and family; and hopefully one Christmas, I'll have that certain someone by my side too.

I tell myself all the time that I feel unwanted (the romance kind), and I am desperate for love. But on the flipside, the fact that I have yet to be in a relationship before, may make it easier for me to just spend the rest of my life without a soulmate :)

What a load of over-thinking! Minutes to Christmas...!

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS - COLDPLAY

bushidō; the way of the warrior

In 1701, the emperor Higashiyama sent imperial envoys from his seat at Kyoto to the shogun's court at Edo (Tokyo). A high shogunate official, Kira Yoshinaka, served as master of ceremonies for the visit. Two young daimyo (feudal lord), Asano Naganori of Ako and Kamei Sama of Tsumano, were in the capital performing their alternate attendance duties, so the shogunate gave them the task of looking after the emperor's envoys.

Kira was assigned to train the daimyo in court etiquette. Asano and Kamei offered gifts to Kira, but the official considered them totally inadequate and was furious. He began to treat the two daimyo with contempt.

Kamei was so angry about the humiliating treatment he wanted to kill Kira, but Asano preached patience. Fearful for their lord, Kamei's retainers secretly paid Kira a large sum of money, and the official began to treat Kamei better. He continued to torment Asano, however, until the young daimyo could not endure it.

When Kira called Asano a "country bumpkin without manners" in the main hall, Asano drew his sword and attacked the official. Kira suffered only a shallow wound to his head, but shogunate law strictly forbade anyone from drawing a sword within Edo castle. The 34-year old Asano was ordered to commit seppuku.

Ordinarily, samurai were expected to follow their master into death rather than facing the dishonor of being a masterless samurai. Forty-seven, 47 of Asano's 320 warriors, however, decided to remain alive and seek revenge. Led by Oishi Yoshio, the 47 Ronin swore a secret oath to kill Kira at any cost. They set out on a carefully planned road to revenge.

The ronin reassembled in the mansion's courtyard. All forty-six were alive. They had killed as many as forty of Kira's samurai, at the cost of only four walking wounded.

At daybreak, the ronin walked through town to the Sengakuji Temple, where their lord was buried. The story of their revenge spread through town quickly, and crowds gathered to cheer them along the way.

Oishi rinsed the blood from Kira's head, and presented it at Asano's grave. The forty-six ronin then sat and waited to be arrested.

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO - MERRY CHRISTMAS MR.LAWRENCE

your blade might be too sharp

I was very ill for the past two days, been vomiting bile since sunday morning and the day through. I visited an old doctor only during dinner and ate my medicines during the wee hours. Hence, it took me the whole of monday to fully recover. The transition from sunday to monday morning was torturous; my stomach felt like there was a war going on and I couldn't sleep well. Thankfully the vomiting stopped upon my visit to the doctor and the injection which he gave me. Thank God for the recovery.

Recently, I saw this quote posted on twitter. Found it very true and I hoped that one day, I will be able to find a man who treats me this way.

"The woman is a reflection of her man, if you love her to the point of madness, she will become it"
(Brad Pitt)

P.S, It still hasn't snowed in Singapore

KATY PERRY - UNCONDITIONALLY

Secret

I think I'm a masochist. The addiction that I have for melodramas and those heart-wrenching pain I felt, feeds to my wonderland (the imaginations of how being in love would feel). Previously, it was An Innocent Man. And I've rewatched the drama, a rare thing that I would do. And now Secret had me feeling the same urge to do so.

Secret revolves around a deep hatred which the male lead has for the female lead. His way of revenge is dark and psychotic, slowly torturing the subject, channelling all his guilt towards her at the same time. But as the story progresses, it'll be a situation where the two characters, worlds apart, will learn how to let go of their sadness, forgive the selfishness around them and appreciate each other. Mostly, it's the male lead who will see life in a new light as he plots revenge around the female lead but receives positive energy from her instead.

One who used to see no meaning in life and is vulnerable in face of setbacks, while the other is one who grabs at every opportunity that passes, sees the end point as another new beginning and smiles through adversity.
Hatred transcends into an obsession, and fascination evolves into love.

"Seeing her hurting, why do I hurt more?"

MIKKY EKKO - PULL ME DOWN (EMPEROR REMIX)

happy birthday bingu top

“The thoughts of members pulling pranks are for the comforting of one another. Because we can feel the exhaustions without talking. It is for each other and comfort to each other”
(Choi Seung Hyun)

HELLOGOODBYE - HERE IN YOUR ARMS ACOUSTIC

Kids, MGMT (2009)

I think the meaning of the song kind of revolves around:

Kids have dreams and are curious about the things around them. They are adventurous, so much so that they are unable to handle the consequences. However, their parents are too protective over them and provides for them their choices, not wanting them to get hurt. The kids become over-dependent. The parents do not see that sometimes, it is their over-provisions for their kids that are obstacles for the children to grow. The parents only sees what they want the children to be and the children have no space to dream or achieve their aspirations. No freedom of choice.

WEEZER - KIDS (MGMT COVER)

happy birthday mom

Thanks for being so childlike. So that I could treat you like a friend. To just squabble with you, share my troubles & secrets with you. And thanks for being such a daydreamer, who gave birth to me, an even greater daydreamer. To you who loves the sea, and I who loves the sky, I hope we could live together this way for many more years to come.

KATY PAERRY - WIDE AWAKE

the peach keeper

Walls of Water, North Carolina, where the secrets are thicker than the fog from the town’s famous waterfalls, and the stuff of superstition is just as real as you want it to be.

It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots.

But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it.

For the bones—those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago—are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town.

Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied the grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living.

Resonant with insight into the deep and lasting power of friendship, love, and tradition, The Peach Keeper is a portrait of the unshakable bonds that—in good times and bad, from one generation to the next—endure forever.

I was led on an emotional roller coaster ride while reading this book; but not so much due to the main love story. Rather, I find that it is the strenuous relationships of the characters which affected me the most: the adverse friendship between Willa and Paxton as well as the conflicted love between Paxton and Sebastian.

THE NEW FRONTIERS - STRANGERS

Slump

After months of successfully focusing on my studies, I strayed again. And again, I so happen to lose focus 3 weeks just before my finals. So be it. My life may be meant this way.

Two days ago, I was in my brother's car driving down the expressway. The sky was capri blue and he had these alternatives kind of music playing. It made me forget my troubles and to just relax myself as I basked in the dreamlike portrait.

WOLF ALICE - WEDNESDAY

Secretly Greatly

A group of spies called the 5446 Corps were trained by North Korean elite special forces since their youth, ostensibly towards the lofty goal of unifying Korea. They are ambitiously dispatched to South Korea, where each disguises himself as a fool, an aspiring singer, and a high school student.
Due to the events of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, South Korea demands the names, location, and rank of 30 North Korean spies active in South Korea, promising financial aid to the North on the condition that Pyongyang turns in their spies. To prevent the elites from falling into enemy hands, the North Korean government orders dozens of active duty spies to take their own lives. Meanwhile their North Korean army instructor Kim Tae-won crosses the border to eliminate those who refuse to follow.

DAVID KEYS - LIFT (DEMO-ROUGH MIX)

embrace

it doesn’t make sense to call ourselves ugly
because we don’t really see ourselves

we don’t watch ourselves sleeping in bed
curled up and silent
with chests rising and falling with our own rhythm

we don’t see ourselves reading a book
eyes fluttering and glowing

you don’t see yourself looking at someone
with love and care inside your heart

there’s no mirror in your way
when you’re laughing and smiling
and happiness is leaking out of you

you would know exactly how bright
and beautiful you are
if you saw yourself in the moments
where you are truly yourself.

LANA DEL REY - YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL

Captivated; drawn into

A song can’t change the world. But the song can change his three minutes. His three minutes can change his three hours. His three hours can change his three days. His three days can change his three months. His three months can change his three years. His three years can change his life. His life can change peoples’ lives. And people can change the world.
(Kwon Jiyong)

GD - THAT XX

young & wild

My second concert after SuperShow3. This kind of made up for Big Bang's ALIVE TOUR, which I was not able to purchase the ticket at all. SOLD OUT :( But this made up for it :) Although GD wasn't my bias, he's as charismatic as ever. And the oh so beautiful music that he creates, kept me touched half the time and HIGH throughout. The audience also changed my view on how Singaporeans are less active during concerts for everyone was off their seats. It was a grand sight as well as a magnificent atmosphere with all the singing along by the audience. I think I'm getting more and more drawn in by GD alongside all of Big Bang members.

LANA DEL REY - QUEEN OF DISASTER

hallucinations, I heard the wolf call my name

“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be –the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.”
(Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf)

“I could have screamed, but I didn't. I could have fought, but I didn't. I just lay there and let it happen, watching the winter-white sky go gray above me. One wolf prodded his nose into my hand and against my cheek, casting a shadow along my face. His yellow eyes looked into mine as the other wolves moved me this way and that. I held onto those eyes for as long as I could. Yellow. And, up close, flecked brilliantly with every shade of gold and hazel. I didn't want him to look away, and he didn't. I wanted to reach out and grab a hold of his ruff, but my hands stayed curled to my chest, my arms frozen to my body. I couldn't remember what it felt like to be warm. Then he was gone, without him, the other wolves closed in, too close, suffocating.
(Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver)

LANA DEL REY - BORN TO DIE (MONSIEUR ADI REMIX)

the edge of a sleepy soul

It's been a long while since I last daydreamed. Largely due to the constraints I had on myself during my exam period. So now that my exams are over, I regained my daydreamer mode and had lots of weird theories and scenes reenacted out in my head. Here goes:

The world where Supernaturals exist. And humans have no knowledge of their Therianthropic form, half human half animal. Though most humans have no such ability unless it is bestowed upon them. It was a typical day in Northwood College, as it is the same for Jess, a 19 year old ordinary girl. Like in any other novels, Jess is an introvert, who has few friends and prefers to keep her thoughts to herself. Her only goal in life is to find a stable job and to meet her Captain America/Ironman or have powers of her own. The first thing she would do would be to eliminate all the popular kids who'd mock her daily for her boring fashion sense and geeky friends.

Besides living in her own world and studying, Jess has a crush on Dallas. But she has no knowledge of the crush Lance has on her. So it happened that the earth of Northwood College splitted and out burst an evil. He seeked three victims of which he will bestow upon great powers upon them. Without sane and proper control, these powers will devour the human for good and will forever be under the control of great evil. However, with teamwork and wise usage, the trio may have the ability to overthrow the great evil himself. Hence, it is of no knowledge as to why the great evil would seek to destroy himself. It happened so that when the earth splitted, Jess rammed Dallas out of the path before he would fall in the abyss and their heat meter reached a high. This aroused the great evil's interest and he granted Dallas the powers of the Alpha and Jess with the powers of the Charlie (probably due to the fact that she's female). While this situation played out, Lance witnessed it and his jealousy, rage coupled with his concern for Jess shot his heat meter up. Thus, he was given the powers of the Bravo.

Alpha - ability to transform into a humongous White Tiger
Bravo - ability to transform into a humongous Black Jaguar
Charlie - ability to transform into a humongous Gray Wolf

MUSE - MADNESS

An immaterial thing

Her firmly closed lips only formed a smile when absolutely necessary. What she most wanted was to blend in with her background by changing colour and shape, to remain inconspicuous and not easily remembered. This was how she had protected herself since childhood.
(Haruki Murakami)

Today, I met up with them girlies and we reminisced on chung cheng as well as shared our plans for the future. We still looked and are pretty much the same. I guess that's what brought us together, our never-changing selves, unaffected by what the world brings to us.

Bought a sling bag from Mango for my mum too ^^

HAppy MOther's DDAy!
Although you are very temperamental lately, I still love you cause you love me too.

Hmm... University? Job? I think that some parts of life will scare the hell out of you. But if you pull though it, undeterred, you will think, "I did it, and it was nothing much. Ain't I brave? :)" And you do not change your mindset, but move against the currents and stay who you are.

CAT POWER - WONDERWALL

stop living, to truly live

She brought you something special when she came here, didn't she? That's what you hold onto. That's how you keep her alive.

Recently had the urge to rewatch all fairytales, and so I did last night. Thumberlina :) Followed by Bridge to Terabithia.

Thumbelina was cute and hilarious with all the comical cartoon characters but at least it reminded me throughout the show, "Nothing is impossible!" Even when you start lacking faith or feel like you're on the verge of your ill fate, there will be miracles. That bird Jacquimo was the hero of the show and it ends with a happy ending :D

Bridge to Terabithia was plain sad. The beginning was beautiful, whereby the hero & heroine meets and create a world full of their imaginations, which was what I'd hoped for my life to be like. I've always wanted a place where I could hide from the world and just "keep my mind wide open". Though the ending was terribly wrong & sudden, whereby the female lead just passes away, leaving with all her positive energy. It just tells me that too much daydreaming might just lead me to that ending. I cried loads as the introvert male lead reverted to his old self due to the loss of his best friend and new found love, kind of similar to the show My Girl, 1991 American film.

In conclusion, the moral of this story is to cherish your loved ones because for some others out there, they will just have to keep their loved ones in their memory.

GEMMA HAYES - WICKED GAME

happy birthday stuart

One day, you'll touch her soul and she'll make a home in you.
(David Collins)

All the best to your pursuit in love! :D

JAY PARK - JOAH

happy birthday wally :D

A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.
(Elbert Hubbard)

Thanks for believing in our friendship and accepting all my weaknesses :)

RUSSIAN RED - GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN

happy birthday sunny one ♥

“Although I’m afraid of waking up because each day seems like a dream… I’m currently really happy. I will always happily and cheerfully sing.”
(Lee Jung Hwan)

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - SUMMERTIME

happy birthday patricia

Be soft, do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.
(Kurt Vonnegut)

Thanks for being such a great friend!

TWO MONTHS - ROMANTICO

Summer is here

happy advance birthday dear patricia

Had a wild day of singing, cooking and celebrating Pat's birthday today! :D
Tho, Pat had some misunderstandings with her closest pals too :(

I had my ears pierced, as requested by our birthday girl :P

My first, given to them, this faithful bunch of friends ^^

JUSTIN BIEBER - BEAUTY & A BEAT

sprinkled silent dust all around

The wind was the edge of the world. An inescapable retro colour filled the place. It made me feel as if I were being quietly swallowed up by an alien reality, something foreign and just out of reach, vague yet strangely gentle.
(Haruki Murakami)

Finally, some time to myself besides work. In fact, I have always been keeping to myself, other than the occasional excited displays with my friends and family >v<

RACHEL YAMAGATA - QUIET

memories changed shape

FINALLY! The exam are over!! ^^
Had a dinner meet up with my buddies too
Wanna thank them for the treat and the belated birthday presents




Exams are done & over with
Will now prepare for travels

KELLY CLARKSON - I FORGIVE YOU

sealed inside a glacier

"What do you see on my back?"
"Nothing at all," she said with a smile.
"I see only you."
(Haruki Murakami, A Poor Aunt's Story)

I am patiently waiting for the right one. When will 'it' appear?
If I am not meant for this bliss in receiving 'it', then I would wish to escape by myself. I would rather enjoy all the magnificent beauty around the globe and not care about being different from others.

NEON TREES - CLOSE TO YOU

Life is purposeless

as the child crosses the street as deep sea divers
dive as the painters paint-
the good fight against terrible odds is the vindication
and the glory as the swallow rises toward
the moon-
it is so dark now with the sadness of
people
they were tricked, they were taught to expect the
ultimate when nothing is
promised
now young girls weep alone in small rooms
old men angrily swing their canes at
visions as
ladies comb their hair as
ants search for survival
history surrounds us
and our lives
slink away
in
shame.
(Charles Bukowski)

KINGS OF LEON - COLD DESERT

eventual nothingness

Something in me vibrates to a dusky, dreamy smell of dying moons and shadows
(Zelda Fitzgerald)

Despite knowing each other for the past 19 years, as they have watched me grow, I still am clueless of how to approach them. I am a loser, a failure in the realm of interaction. I am a blur, insensitive introvert who can't even spend happy times with my relatives.

DONAWHALE - RAINY NIGHT

Unforgettable

HAM SWISS & GUACAMOLE from O'BRIENS

A random post here, and just to announce that I'm going on hiatus for 3 weeks, cause of my upcoming EXAMS (DoD") oh, and
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

CLAZZIQUAI - GENTLE RAIN