Monday, December 29, 2008
I was sick and tired of shopping in places that were crowded, so I decided to make my way around the West side of Singapore. I was avoiding Orchard Road like nobody's business. The weather is hot and humid and you have to jostle with people coming at you from all angles. You get the idea.
Unfortunately there is NO place in Singapore where you can shop which is not crowded. It's virtually impossible. If anyone knows where that place is please let me know and I'll start making my way there now.
I decided to spend some quality time alone so I started from Clementi and made my way down to IMM at 12pm. IMM is one of my favourite shopping places because it's HUGE and there are many shops and lots of yummy things to eat. I Most importantly the building is huge, so it doesn't seem THAT crowded. When I got there I dived into the Espirit outlet (which is always cheaper than their normal stores) and emerged with a skirt and a top. I love Espirit but their clothes are often wayyy too pricey.
Next stop was lunch at MOS burger. I actually missed their sweet tea and their chunky fries with sweet chilli. I originally wanted a cheese burger (recommendation by a chef in The Sunday Times) but noticed that they were promoting their Oyako rice burger, which they claimed was back by popular demand, so I had that in a meal instead. It's actually very clever. They managed to make an omelette patty out of eggs, onion, sweet brown sauce and chicken, which they wedged in-between 2 rice patties. Very satisfying.
I took awhile to roam around the whole building. Most of their shopping stuff is located on the 1st and 2nd floors, even though they have 4 floors I think. After I got bored, I took the free shuttle bus to Jurong East Station and then the MRT to Bukit Batok station which connects to Westmall.
Westmall used to be one of my favourite hangouts back in secondary school, but it's now sad and small compared to the rest of the new shopping centres. I still managed to find strawberry and lollipop earrings though. The shops are basically a repetition of what IMM has to offer so I browsed around for a bit and then left and took the MRT down to Boon Lay station, which connects to Jurong Point Mall. I love the way Singapore is connected - it makes everything so convenient.
I didn't realise how much I missed Singapore until I hit Jurong Point.
When I came back in mid-June, Jurong Point was still undergoing renovations due to expansion. Now my friends - Jurong Point is the place to be. Uh huh. All you East-siders. I'm telling you, the West is now up and happening man!! Jurong Point is FREAKING huge I tell you. It had so many shops I was amazed and kindda got lost. I kept going round and round and discovering new shops and new areas. The variety of food, clothes and services is just AMAZING.
Oh, and I saw Shaun Chen (local actor) too. He was just talking to a friend outside a random shop. I had half a mind to stop and congradulate him on his pending marriage to Michella Chia (local actress) but decided not to be cheesy and walk off instead.
It is SOOO hard not to spend money in Singapore. It has TONS and TONS of just about EVERYTHING you can dream of. If I had the same number of stomachs as a cow, I would spend all day eating in Singapore. In Jurong Point especially. Now they've opened up their new Marketplace section. Oh man...the smells were enough to draw me and make me stand and salivate at all the types of food that were on offer. Damn this MOS burger. If I wasn't so full I would have snacked all day.
I came across this very cute place called The Icing Room which has the prettiest little cakes, macaroons of every flavour and beautiful pastries up for sale. Apparently it's a part of Bread Talk and it allows you to design and decorate your own cake. Read this blog for more information & pictures: http://iluvjasminetea.blogspot.com/2008/12/icing-room-place-where-you-can-decorate.html
The boys were there just to stand and stare at the pretty young salesgirls in pink and white maid uniforms.
At 6pm I had finished roaming the place and made my way back to Clementi MRT. I met a couple with their 3 children who were tourists here from Indonesia. They were asking me all sorts of questions from where to go and how to get there. As their command of English was poor and my grasp of Bahasa Indonesia is virtually ZERO, I tried my best to tell them that almost every MRT station is connected to a shopping mall and recommended Clarke Quay for the river view. Which reminds me, a new shopping centre, Central, has opened in Clarke Quay and apparently there are lots of Japanese shops & eateries there. Ahhhh. Time to make my way around the NEL (purple line) of the MRT another day.
Another thing: WHY does everyone speak to me in Mandarin?! Every single person I spoke to yesterday who served me in shops spoke to me in Mandarin. Even the post office people! Hey what happened to speaking good English?!
That's all for today folks. Till next time, Happy New Year!!! :)
Yinny was Joshing around @ 6:46 PM
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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Ahhhh...'tis the season for Josh Groban :)
http://www.class95.sg/contests/others/ArtistintheSpotlight.htm
I love you Class 95 FM.
Has everybody got their Noel CDs yet??? XD
It's not Christmas without Josh!!!
Yinny was Joshing around @ 8:43 PM
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I've been going through a particularly trying period in my life recently because of my aunt's illness. Today I was reading Joel's blog and came across one of his posts which I thought was of relevance to what I was going through.
I've always been a big believer of faith, but never eloquent enough to put what I thought into writing (my mother believes this is because of my lack of reading widely). Joel sums it all up nicely:
"I’m still searching and praying for my answers, but I’ve also realised that it never is about expecting or obtaining the goodies from above. Rather, there comes a time in our faith where God expects our surrender. It’s also not just about letting go of something into a black hole, but rather allowing God to deal with it, with no strings attached.
It’s very easy to become control freaks, to go into a logical ‘If not A, then B’ mode of choice-making. Far too often, we give the Man above our conditions, without ever waiting for his side of the deal. In Genesis 22, we get a relatively controversial case of letting go. After old man Abraham is given a son right smack at the most infertile period of Sarah’s and his life, God tells him to sacrifice the boy at the altar of Moriah. In my humble opinion, it’s a rather insane request for the following reasons.
God personally promises a son to the aged couple in Genesis 18:10. Does he really plan to break it this time?
God does not endorse human sacrifice.
Abraham makes 0 complains (Wow…way to go old chap, the thing you wanted the most is going to be taken away and you just keep quiet?!) and actually takes the knife to kill the kid off.
So I’ve been pondering about what it means to actually let go of the promises we can rightfully claim, or the very things that we should have faith in. One of the most striking (or perhaps in the secular sense, schizophrenic) aspects of Abraham’s character was his faith—or if I might move on to suggest—a radical belief in the unseen things that he continued to hope for. It’s one thing to pray in our state of lack, but quite another to actually give away the things that we can visibly see and touch, especially when we feel justified to believe that God gave those things to us. Can blessings ever be given or sacrificed to God? I find it hard to believe that Abraham knew that God would provide the sacrificial lamb at the end, so to raise the knife on his own son could only prove that he was really mad, or was really certain that God’s promises were way beyond the body of his only son. Yet right after we are relieved of the possible filicide, we come to witness a powerful declaration from God to Abraham. It’s not just a sheer promise of sweet-nothings, but an oath taken by God, so powerful and binding that it resonates even within our present time.
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” — Genesis 22: 15-17a.
Is surrender, therefore, about losing everything? Or does it lead to new possibilities?"
This Christmas, my only wish is for my aunt to get well.
I believe that with God, all things are possible.
Yinny was Joshing around @ 10:27 AM
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Sunday, December 21, 2008
Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy with moving house and buying furniture. It's exciting yet very, very tiring at the same time. I couldn't have done it without Juin, Terry and Syl. They have been extremely patient and very helpful.
A BIG congraduations to all my friends who have graduated:
Amy
Joel
Prasad & Jai
Diane
Cassie & Yoke Mei
It's been a hell of a year.
Yinny was Joshing around @ 9:28 PM
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Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Happy 4 months baby :)
ps: I just found out that the Singaporean who passed away in the Mumbai terror attacks recently is the sister of my ex-schoolmate. May her family rest in peace.
Yinny was Joshing around @ 9:05 PM
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