I'm All Over It Now

Okay just a random post title. Currently listening to this song by Jamie Cullum. Alright let's jump straight into the great music discoveries of August! Unlike July, I discovered some great songs :D

Great Music of August:

- Travel by Matter Halo
- Kamulah Yang Terindah by Matter Halo
- Working Song by Difang Duana 
- Elders Drinking Song by Difang Duana
- Lauren by Men I Trust
- Break for Lovers by Men I Trust ft Helena

Right! More songs discovered now right haha. Anyway lets begin with Matter Halo. I actually discovered this band and song I think back in January. In YouTube or something. But I chanced upon the music video for Travel again and damn I love this song! It sounds familiar so I must have listened to it before hah. Anyway yup I discovered another wonderful Indonesian band! Bought their album and I'm excited for the road ahead of them. Hope to see them live one day :)

Discovered this great folk song of the Ami people of Taiwan while reading about Enigma's song "Return To Innocence". I searched for their song on YouTube and chanced upon Difang Duana! I really really love the original song and the other folk songs that they have. I bought them off iTunes right away. There is something about traditional folk songs that make me feel attracted to them. I think folk songs are music that truly comes from the heart. Hence they are beautiful in many different aspects.

Last but not least I discovered Men I Trust from MorIndie again on YouTube. I really love how smooth the bass passage of their song "Lauren". Upon more searches I discovered their singles. Excited for them! Looking forward to hearing more new materials from them.

Alright that's all from me for this month's wonderful music discoveries. Anyway so many artists and bands are announcing the releases of their new albums in this year! EOTS' Two Vines on 28th October, OneRepublic's Oh My My on 7th of October, and Enigma's new album as well coming later this year. Man 2016 is another exciting year for the music industry. I can't wait for all of these! :)

Goodbye August! You've been kinda nice. September, let's make you superb baby. 

And The April Shower

Okay I'm doing a blogging prompt today which goes like....

"Take the third line of the last song you heard and put it as the post title"

So the last song I heard was Lighthouse Family's Liften and the above is the third line haha. Well it's August now but it's still raining! Urghh. I was so happy that it was all sunny and hot last week. I was hoping that the weather will finally return to "normal" but nope, it decided to rain since Saturday.

We can never really predict the weather I suppose. I mean we had 6 months of no rain last year and in this year it hasn't stopped raining (kind of) since November last year haha. So to those who still say that global warming is a scam, I hope you wake up from your dreams. Or nightmare.

Anyho, can't believe it's the last week of August already! It feels like yesterday when it begins. August has been kind of an exciting month I guess. Things are picking up again after a month of inactivity in July thanks to the Hari Raya holiday. I feel that September is the month in which things are going to fall into places. The year-long project we're working on is finally coming to an end! Exciting times.

Alrighty that's all for now. Time to share with you the great music discovery tomorrow! :)

Restless Souls

Hello! Today and yesterday were two interesting days I suppose. It was my first time taking part in a 7th month prayers. To those who don't know, the 7th lunar month is also known as the hungry ghosts festival. It's celebrated in different names, for example Buddhists celebrate is as Ullambana, Japanese as Bon and for east asian countries, it's known as hungry ghost festivals.

Basically we believe that the gates of hell are opened in this month and there are many spirits roaming around earth. Spooky? Haha. Well in east asian culture we pray to our ancestors. So in this month we pray for the spirits who don't have anyone to pray for them (for whatever reasons). And for spirits who died suddenly, and so on. It's believed to cultivate good Karma to pray for them.

In the temple of my hometown we celebrated it by doing prayers and also having this food donation drive where people donate rice/noodles/food goods etc to make offerings for these spirits, and then they are donated for people in need. The prayers took two days, yesterday and today. Yesterday we began praying at 7 PM for about an hour and then continued today at 8 AM.

It was raining super heavily last night so there were not many people who attended the prayers. Only seven! Haha. I feel bad actually, cause I was planning not to go for the prayers today since it started so early T_T but last night one of the monks was like "See you tomorrow morning!" and I was like alright hahaha. Well with only 1.5 hours of sleep, I survived 5 hours of chanting and prostrations! :D

Anyway we chanted (I think) part of the Diamond Sutra and along with the name of about 300 Buddhas. For each name of a Buddha we did a half prostration, since we're kneeling on the floor. The ladies (on the left) will do a prostration, followed by the men (on the right). We take turn for every Buddha name. It was quite tiring. But I feel it was quite a meditative process. 

And we chanted other Sutras too like the Great Compassion Sutra and Prajnaparamita. My habit of chanting every night for a year has paid off. I memorised them mwahaha.Then we went to chant in the room where there were offerings as well. Not sure how to explain it but I always feel like the room is very crowded even though there were only 7 of us last night inside. 

Perhaps there are lots of other "people" inside the room. If you get what I mean.

We chanted from 8 - 10 AM for the first session, break for an hour, and then 11 - 12 PM, lunch break and then 1 - 3 PM. It was a great time chanting to be honest. Just hope that whatever we do today will bring benefit to all beings on earth. Especially in this month. May all being be free of Samsara!

Well if you ask me whether I believe in spirits and ghosts.... Yes I believe they are there. I've seen and experienced some unexplainable things before, and I believe in the afterlife. To whether they truly exist or not, like what I read from Faithfully Religionless, some things cannot be explained and it's really okay not being able to get the ultimate truth in this unexplainability (new word!).

So yup. It's such a Buddha-ful day today. New experience, and I'm glad to have joined in although I was planning not to (oops). Well perhaps it's my karma to join in! And it's my karma to cultivate good karma for them. May all beings be happy and wishing you a wonderful last week of August ahead! :D

World Photo Day

 Photos from Tibet

So yesterday was World Photo Day (WPD). Thanks Facebook for the notification! I didn't know such a day exists haha. Many photographers and Instagram users are sharing photos and posts about what WPD means to them. They share about the importance of photography, the power of a photograph, and also their wishes for other photographers around the world and for the future of photography.

Well I'm not a photographer but I still enjoy photography. Although I don't take my girlfriend (AKA my camera) for dates as much as I used to, I still take photographs using my iPhone haha. Well it's more convenient I guess. Imagine me lugging my girlfriend to the office everyday. I've always enjoyed photography. Because I love the idea about freezing moments you can never return to.

I'm a very sentimental person. So photography helps me a lot to treasure and save these moments. I wish I could start early back when I was in secondary one. I was only beginning to get interested in photography while in secondary 4-ish. It was when I got my Nokia N82. My phone opened up the world of photography to me. I even documented my trip to Sweden using it! I still have the photos.

Anyway I just finished putting my Tibet photos that I've printed inside the album. Err I actually printed them way back in July haha. But I always kept on forgetting to put them inside the album. Looking at the photos made me feel really good and sentimental inside. All the good and sweet memories of the trip were playing inside my head like a movie reel. Every photograph remind me of a story, or a moment that I experienced while there. Which brings me to my aspiration for WPD...

I think we should all keep up with the tradition of printing our photos! We live in a digital world today, where we take photos in our phones or digital cameras, and then just leave them inside our computer. Well I've been printing my travel photos so far all the way from 2011. And there's really a sense of sentimentalism whenever I take a look at the albums again. It feels so cool.

Like I've always believe, your photos look better on prints, than on screens! :P

I often wonder how I will feel when I look at the photos again ten years later.

Oh well, here's wishing you a happy World Photo Day! Keep shooting and keep showing the world how your world looks like from your lens! :)

Dirgahayu Indonesia!

The world is a beautiful place, but there's no place like home.

Dirgahayu Indonesia! 

We have a long way to do, but we will get there. 

Sore Tomatoes

This is really a random post but gotta tell you about it. So on Saturday and Sunday, I have been eating lots of tomatoes. And when I mean a lot I go by a plate full of tomatoes (uncut!) for lunch on Saturday, and another plate for Sunday dinner. And a few more tomatoes here and there. No rice, no noodles, nothing else. Just pure tomato goodness on a plate! Very healthy right?

Of course, with the high lycopene and vitamin C level, it is very healthy.

But since Monday I've been having sore mouths! It feels like having ulcers without the bumps. So I went to search online if this is some sort of allergic reaction and people are experiencing the same, after a long period of time of tomato consumption. It's canker sores, caused by the ascorbic acid of the tomatoes. It's not only on my inner cheek/bottom lip, but also my tongue.

In fact from Monday, it feels kind of painful to talk because my tongue would brush against my tooth and that's where the sore at. So I've been keeping quiet the past two days. I just hope people around me won't think that I am on a bad mood or something haha. It's just annoyingly painful.

Alright that's all for this random post. Tomatoes are good, just don't eat too many of them.

Life Is A Rollercoaster

Currently falling in love with this great song from the 90s by Ronan Keating again! I was randomly watching videos on YouTube a few days ago when suddenly that song just pops on my recommended tab. I clicked on it and bang, it feels like I took Doraemon's time machine and returned to the first time I listened to the song, and falling in love with it! I can even still remember making a mixtape with that song in it on Febi's computer. And yes I still have that mixtape CD with me hah.

But well yes just like the song title, life is indeed a rollercoaster. Sometimes we go up high, and then low. Sometimes we go through a crazy, heart-falling part of the ride and sometimes we go through a not so scary part of the ride. But all in all, at the end of the ride, we feel it's worth it. Okay sometimes we tell ourselves we'll never come back to the ride, sometimes we wanna ride again.

In this life however, we'll only ride it once and for all.

Life is one crazy ride that we go through. But no matter how crazy, exciting or calm it is, I think it's going to worth everything. The past 24 years of my life has been quite a crazy ride and well, up till now I think it's worth it! Haha. Life is all about learning to just give your heart to everything. So even at the end of the day, when a tinge of regret hits you, you're going to dust them away.

Can't believe we're halfway through August and soon September is going to be here. August has been going great so far. As usual it hasn't stopped raining. Wishing for some blue skies and sunshine soon! My flowers want to bloom and they need to bloom. Alright smell you later! (Pun Intended)

Short Trip

Alright so let me blog about my really short trip to Singapore! Anyway I was planning to go to Singapore on 4th - 6th August. Well I did, but my plan to leave Singapore on 6th night was changed cause I had to attend a wedding in KL on the evening of that Saturday. Hence I left Singapore in the morning for KL. Oh well nevertheless, it was a great trip back to Singapore!

Anyway I reached Singapore at 2 PM. Met Syaz for lunch at Changi first! Thank you so much for taking your time and going all the way to Changi to meet me for lunch :') We grabbed a bite at Coffee Bean and it was quite good. I had salted pistachio frap but it tastes... Weird haha. Chatted a lot about life after uni, now that both of us are working adults haha. Congratulations on your graduation anyway! :D Man it feels so weird, back in poly we used to drink teh-peng together and now, we upgrade our drinks and talk about the future haha. Time flies so fast man, I wish we can be poly kids again.

 Thanks Syaz for the afternoon! :D

After that we went to walk around the airport for a while, and then we shared a cab to our respective places. Once again thank you so much for that short afternoon! All the best for your job search and I really hope that we can meet again soon! :D It was really a great catch up session.

I went to drop my luggage and bag in my hotel room before heading out to town to meet Neal, Jeslyn and Leon. Anyway I stayed at Studio M hotel for a short staycation with the two of them. I really love the hotel! It's so nice and beautiful. The minus side is only the distance between the hotel and Clarke Quay MRT hah. Dropped my bags, and went straight to Orchard!

 View from the hotel room!

Got the stuff I need to get for my mum and sister. I met them at Taka and then we went to Far East for dinner. I'm so happy to finally reunite with Neal again after two years! It's so good to see him again. I think he had a great time during his missionary. At Far East we went to eat at a nice restaurant. Now that I'm a vegetarian I only have the veggie dishes haha. But they're good! The salted egg pork ribs look so damn tantalising though. Too bad I can't eat them :P

Walked to 313 for some Korean Bingsu for dessert! We were having a debate to see which one is nicer. Jes and I are team Injeolmi while Leon and Neal are team chocolate brownies haha. Had a great chat with them about many different things. Man I realised how much of a grown-up we all are. We talk more about "serious" stuff hah. Well, it's just time flying quickly I guess.

Made our way back to the hotel. We were all so tired and.... We're hungry again after reaching haha. Jes ordered food from Food Panda. I was hungry so I ordered Aglio Olio and also truffle fries to share. After that all of us knocked out and... We woke up at like 10 AM hahaha.

 Some prata finally!

And then our food hunt begins! First stop was Prata at Spize. Damn I miss that place! And I miss prata. So we bought two pratas and a murtabak to share. Next stop was Tiong Bahru Curry rice. Man I can still remember us talking about it back in 2012 I think... And we finally get to try it! The curry was awesome. And next was... Plain Vanilla. My favourite cupcake in Singapore ever. Their salted caramel cupcake is so awesome. Spent quite a long time there to talk for a while. 

My favourite cupcake in the world. Serious.

Wanted to go back to Tanglin but we decided not to cause we're worried that we couldn't go in hah. So we went to MBS instead cause I was looking for a CD but... They don't have it. And then we went to Holland V to chill at Starbucks before meeting Adeline for dinner in Clementi. We had dinner first before meeting her and we went to Macs to accompany her to eat. 

 Thanks for the meetup guys <3

It's great to be reunited with them again. Ten years ago we entered Tanglin. Still on checkered skirts and short grey pants. And here we are now as working adults (except for Neal who's entering Uni soon!). I feel so fuzzy inside when I was talking with them. Time flies so so quickly.

 Thanks for the weekend, glad we spent it like we used to!

The whole of Friday afternoon and Saturday reminds me of the spontaneous outings I always had with Jes and Neal. The two of them are probably the most spontaneous friends I ever have. Back when I was still in Singapore, we can simply text each other to meet for dinner somewhere in 30 minutes, and we will be there haha. I'm glad that we spent the short two days just like the good old days. Now that Neal is leaving for his university, I really don't know when the three of us can do this again :(

After that we all went home and I went back to the hotel to pack up. My flight to KL was an early morning one so yep. Thankfully I packed my bags after that cause I almost woke up late hah.

 Clementi

Anyway this trip back to Singapore was indeed a short one. But it was also such a memory-revisited trip. I went to places I always go to back when I was still studying in Singapore. Holland V and Clementi. You know it feels so weird seeing poly and secondary school kids loitering around Clementi. Thinking to myself that I was one of them 4 - 7 years ago. Being in HV starbucks - a place where I always write my journal every Sunday after going to the temple. 

And here I am now, no longer in Singapore. My weekly routine has changed drastically and obviously, I'm no longer in Singapore hah. This is why Singapore will always be a special place in my heart. Walking around the sunny island like as if I just left the island yesterday. It's crazy to think that three years have went by ever since I returned home. Yet the memories still linger, like I never left.

Well I'm always looking forward to my next trip to Singapore. Reuniting with old friends and so on. It was indeed a great albeit short weekend. Thank you to everyone whom I've met and I really hope to see all of you again. Take care and all the best in everything we do okay! :)

Recall The City

 I will always recall the city

Hello hello! Sorry for not blogging for so long, I just returned from Singapore on Sunday for a short trip over the weekend. And August has been busy for me so far. Today's the 9th of August which means it's Singapore's National Day so here's me wishing you a happy 51st birthday! Singapore will always be a special place for me. And hence this day will always be a special one for me too.

It's been 3 years since I returned home and the 9th of August has been a special day that got me reminiscing the good old days that I spent in Singapore. Those days spent singing national day songs in school, and then watching the NDP on TV at night. I'm not a Singaporean but well, having lived in that beautiful sunny island for 11 years, it will always be a special place to me.

To be honest, a trip back to Singapore never feels like a holiday for me (except when I'm traveling with my family I guess). It just feels like a trip back to... Singapore. Walking on streets I used to walk on, looking at familiar sights and so on. So when people tell me "Wah so good you're going for a holiday to Singapore", I don't feel like it's a holiday. You get what I mean? Haha.

Just like Kit Chan's Home, I will always recall the city. I will always remember Singapore. Thankfully I still remember the bus routes whenever I come back haha. Although nowadays I always double check the MRT lines. Since there are additional lines now! Going back to Singapore in the past weekend feels so weird. To think that I once walked and strolled in this neighbourhood and so on. So much has changed but the memories I shared are still vivid like as if it happened yesterday.

Alright I'm going to blog about my trip soon! Although it was a short trip, I really enjoyed it cause I finally got reunited with some people that I haven't met in a long time. See ya soon! :)