the monster

i'm sure it's a kind of sign. if my body is reacting this way. and everyday i'm waking up with a dreadful feeling. and everyday i'm counting down to 6pm. and wishing that nothing happens in the 15mins before it turns 6. i get absolutely long headaches lasting for more than a day, i'm aching in weird places like the palms of my feet, and my ankles, i'm even having sore eyes. i can't sleep and wake up at least 5 times every night, and i'm now getting flu and sore throat.

and then when something happens, it just gets me so angry. it's as if the great big monster is there just to torture us for the remaining days. and he can't keep still. he can't just stop going crazy. we're all living our lives in some kind of trauma, having to be careful and suspicious all the time, and having him doubt and accuse us just out of the blue.

it's been almost a week, yet i felt it is almost like the longest week ever. i still have another week and a half to go, but i'm not sure how long i can stand it now. and i keep telling myself to just stand in there, don't let your past 4 years go to waste, and just bear it for the remaining days. all because i have to get my final paycheck before he could claim that i'm not doing my job.

whatever did the 4 years i slogged for mean to him? it's all gone to the waste now. the great big monster is no longer someone i had once respected and followed, and i could no longer do that anymore. i cannot trust this person who tried to put words in our mouth and made us suspect our colleagues, who attempt to make us blame each other for his own benefit. he is no longer protecting us, not on our side, because he is only concerned with protecting his own life, his own reputation and his own good.

i did respect you once. but i resigned because you are no longer deserving of it. not because i'm going away, but because i can no longer work with you. for whatever is left of my respect for you, please at least keep it that way.

120119 BBQ... steamboat? 1.0

went to clean my new house in the morning and almost died. scrubbed like every corner of my room. the interior designer really did a horrible job with all the paint flecks and holes they left. pffft. would not recommend them to anyone now.

the window panes were a pain because there's so many of them. =___= argh!! and it was the first day of my good friend visiting so i was in pain and slogging at the same time. even so, i look forward to moving in my new room!

about 4pm i went home to prepare to go out. it was raining the whole day so the bbq at Timmy's was cancelled and changed to a steamboat dinner at orchard instead.

we only remembered to take picture once we came out cos we were all so busy eating. hurhur. mr security clicked so many times but it was still all blur. saaad.

was nice to see everyone again - and all the shocking updates! whoa. had a bit of drink (didn't have any since i was still in pain) before we left for the day.

120118 Dinner with Rob

On Friday night, we went to have dinner with our partner company, Catalyst. Their meeting room is so cool, there's alcohol everywhere. *w*

Since i wanted something sweet, Rob let me try this lemon thingy. It tasted like medicine. ughh. so in the end i drank green tea instead.

We went for dinner at this pizza place where we often go to for company lunch and gatherings. Me and MW shared a vegetarian lasagna. not too bad.

it was a good talk. but too bad out of the 5 of us who went, 80% have already resigned so there's really not much to say. Rob will be a good boss if we should stay on. 

Autumn Jacket

ok so i supposed it will be too much to say this thing can withstand winter, because it just can't so i guess the only thing it can withstand will be autumn/spring. heh. so the last i left off it was almost 2-3years ago and i only managed to finish it recently.

this is just the very basic form

then i added the collar, the mandarin pin, the sleeves edges and seamed up the ends behind. also did a few folds so the shoulder doesn't look too broad (although it still is)

and i'm finally done! still some flaws at certain places.. but oh well!

continued a bit more with my dress and added the trimmings and laced/ribbon edge. arghhh but it's so short!! damn...

DIY day

i spent my saturday customizing my clothes. was looking through the pile of fabrics i have and realised i have this very nice leather velvet thing that i'm not sure what to use for so i created a tube dress and a jacket out of it. it's still not done, as the edges are pretty raw but i have no idea what to add on to it for now.

also picked a black top and modified from this

to something like this

ok because you can't see anything without flash and flash makes the thing looks so awful, it ended up looking awful. zzz. tried to do some photobucket filters but it still doesn't look decent.

here's the back anyway. i like my tassels.

think i will use those bias tape to seam the ends so they don't look so raw.

i also dug out one of my very old jacket i bought cheaply and never wore.

the brown is sort of old though. added some buttons to hook the further and folded the collars in another way.

actually i feel it's still missing something. bleah. perhaps it should be shortened?
hmm nothing seemed to finalise today...

Day 10 Incheon

actually woke up at several intervals, 5am... 7am.. 8am... and finally decided that we need to get prepared at 815am. sighs. i so don't want to leave. got out and had breakfast at lotteria, before leaving on the bus at 940am.

slept pretty much to the airport. chen was coming to send me off so we met her at the airport. so glad i got to see her once before i go! she just got back from japan the previous day too, so it was really nice of her to drop by. even got some little gifts from her!

we rested and chatted for a while at a nearby cafe, for about 30mins before i checked in. hugged my 2 lovelies goodbye and walked super fast to my boarding area, as i only had less than 30mins. the plane took off like half an hour late in the end. so much for rushing. since chen helped to tell the check-in officer that i needed a seat near the toilet, i got a seat that was just in front, with lots of leg space. heheh. the entertainment monitor was spoilt though, so i played my ds instead. love the meal onboard!

when i touched down at beijing, didn't realise that it was already 3pm, and the boarding time for BJ-SG flight was like 325pm!!! holy cow. the queues were like long everywhere but thankfully the staff let us cut the queue so we could board (not on time, a little late, but still able to board). the buggies around took us to our boarding gate, but they demanded 10 yuan. i wonder if it's pocket money for themselves? didn't have RMB so i gave the guy 100TWD instead. the other guy riding with me didn't even give any and just thank you-ed his way out. oh well.

the plane took off around 4pm in the end. i watched a couple of nice movies - Step up Revolution, The Amazing Spiderman and Bride War. the curry seafood was a bit bland, but i still like airplane food.

reached changi around 1030pm, and took the mrt home. man, what a looooong flight.

Day 9 Lotte World

to be honest i don't really know what i was doing for the better half of the day.

but now that i'm typing, i remembered i was washing my socks.

sometimes i don't mind waiting, but give me an accurate estimate of when you will be done, so i can occupy myself with things while i'm waiting. if you're gonna take half an hour, don't tell me 10mins. because i could have finished an episode of my anime instead of watching the crowd go by. and if you're gonna take 2 hours, i'd sooner go watch 2 episodes of my drama. that kind of thing.

so we woke up, headed over to the office and i was told to wait 2 hours. i mean after yesterday's endless waiting, at least now i've learnt to ask before i wait into nothingness. so since it was such a long time, i decided i would wash my socks. my socks don't exactly stink, but it's stuck with random dirt. the good thing about winter is nothing you wear will stink because you just don't sweat. so you can wear the same pair of socks for a week and it will still not smell bad. not that i'm gonna do that... =_=

so we set off around 2pm thankfully, and reached lotte in time for the 4pm entrance.

it was surprisingly, super crowded. every ride requires at least a 20minutes waiting time, even the lamest ride of all. so we started out by eating popcorn. ahhaha. shucks. think this was a lotte food trip more than rides.
after we watched the very super short and mini parade, we decided to go for viking.

and it is a 20mins ride. and we got the middle seats (which is so not fun). the kids were all so not scared.

ooh but there was this very cute guy who looked like a mini jung il woo sitting just opposite at the corner. the camera can't quite capture him. he seems about 15. SO YOUNG.
we went to get the magic pass for sindbad while queuing, which is later on, not very necessary. but still.

we then went out to magic island to take the rides outside.

but horrors of horrors... everything was closed!!! except this 3D theatre. and we had to wait like 15mins before the next show started and it was freeeeeeeeeezing. perhaps that's why all the rides were closed.guhhh.

so this theatre is where you look at bizarre scenes (that are supposed to be scary) through a cat's eyes. but the storyline is just not interesting at all =_=

went back in thereafter since there's just not much to do. ooh passed by this mirror maze. this was the girl 00 went gaga over the last time!

and korea really has a lot of these visual interactive panels. here you can write your notes on their samsung notes, and it gets projected at the bottom layer screen.

we went on another 3D ride that's in the egyptian period, where cleopatra appears frequently. zz reminds me of my isis cos.

and it seemed that sindbad's queue was really short so we joined the queue when it's like 10 mins to 7pm. (magic pass starts at 730). managed to get in within 5mins, and came out just in time for the parade!

took a clip of almost all the floats here:
the onslaught of LEDs were really dazzling. i particularly liked the egyptian wings.

there was also this very cute dog running in front of us. just looking at it makes me laugh. hahaha.

right after the parade there was a kpop musical so we sat down to have a look.

they performed pieces from SNSD, Big Bang etc and had soundracks from Queen Seon Deok, F4 etc. it was pretty hilarious! i like the last singing/dancing battle, where they used synchronised with the digital background to enhance the effects. pretty neat!

since there was not much further to do and the good rides still needed at least 40mins, we decided to head out and have dinner. didn't get to take a single roller coaster! T_T oh well.

spotted lotte mart and did all my ramen and kimchi shopping there. ended up with a hell lot of stuff to carry. we also ate our dinner there, at a sushi conveyor belt. at just around 10+ plates (less than 15 plates i'm sure). however the total went over 36k. omg. remind me to never have sushi again in korea, even if it's nice!!!

with all our plastic bags, we went to search for our bus station (oh why do we always end up doing this?!). i bought a pair of boots on my way out since my sole was falling out, and threw the old pair away. then we walked out and back and realised we were lost. finally managed to find the bus stop after like 15-20mins to walking/running about. T_T i must remember my route next time...

i ate the spiciest cup ramen that night - yes, you finally get to torture me, so happy eh... =_=

Day 8 Yongsan

finally resuming the normal sleep and waking regime.
went out for breakfast at this seafood place. it was really nice!!!

we had saba fish, corn, seaweed soup served with porridge. and i thought that was all until the main dish came. roe rice (or al-bab). even though i was almost full, i still finished everything. kwaaaaah.

and 00 ordered another salad-like thingy cold rice. that's 2 main meals you're eating...

we then headed down to yongsan. yongsan is basically sim lim. or many many sim lims and funans together (since there's so many buildings of the same things around).

randomly walked around looking at electronics, then saw this super expensive socket. damn, i didn't realise sockets (or multi-plugs) can be gold plated, looking like a speaker, or that audio cables can be purchased in an expensive looking gift box. O_O or that playstations can be arranged so elegantly.

there was also some game and figurine shops, but since animes weren't that popular in korea, there wasn't really much to see. akihabara would score better for these stuff. there's a gundam base here though!

walked over to watch les miserables afterwards. i was ready for the 2.5hours of movie. we bought caramel and cheese popcorn, and some tea to drink, and popped in for our 530pm show.

and anne hathaway is suprisingly good at singing! the emotions of the people portrayed when they sing.. is so touching i nearly cried. it was definitely something worth watching!

there was an interactive touch wall outside so i played with it for a bit. you could take a picture of yourself, decorate it and send it to your cellphone.

and if you drag your picture and move it out of the borders, it would enlarge on either sides of the walls. pretty fun!

we had shabu shabu for dinner, and it brings back memories of when i had my first shabu shabu in japan.

even though i was really full, i had to eat the porridge that was prepared at the end. it's the best part!

took some pretty lights just outside the station.

we headed back via a bus for the night. i was really pissed later on for waiting and waiting, but it couldn't be helped. not going to explain much here but it was a disappointing night, at the very least.

Day 6/7 Diva shoot + Countdown

got up around 9+ to prepare for the shoot. arghhh what was i getting myself into, shooting in the cold!? but oh goooood i love these lenses!!!!

me with ta-sem

took a super long time to prepare because my hair was not behaving. gwah. finally when it was done, we headed out to find a nice tree spot, and i had to climb up to get a decent view. after getting some shots, we headed back and i realised that m wig was slightly pulled back so all the shots couldn't be used. ARGHHHH. had to reshoot again. the cold! the cold! my hands and legs were freezing like mad. T_T and the blood i brought couldn't be used properly because once you splash them they get downed by the thick snow. what a waste. bleahs.

in the end we went into this greenhouse like place to shoot and got a pretty nice shot. to be honest, it wasn't the diva shot that i want (all evil and bloody), and this looks like it was shot in the spring and not in winter. haha. but i like it SO WHAT. pretend it's saya cosing as diva la huh.

we also shot some indoors before we finished up. waiting for the snow shots now...! uploaded a shot on fb for an advanced new year greeting since it looks like i won't be having internet soon after i get out.

00 was out snowboarding, so i headed out with aryeong, kyungmin and d-man. ta-sem didn't wanna join as he was tired from the shoot. boohoo. (and it was probably a good decision on his part, that i found out later). we went out at aroun 5+. the guys can really sleep. omg. had oden and this crispy taiyaki-like thingy before we took the 1hour ride to our countdown destination.

had a nice streetfood kinda dinner. dokboggi, oden, some egg-sushi thingy and fried stuff - pretty interesting. had to stand and eat them but it's actually waaaay better than all the samgyeopsal i've eaten (probably because i've been eating so much meat for the past few days i'm getting sick of it, can you imagine... x.x) while waiting, i managed to do some shopping at various cosmetic shops - and i shouldn't have had @.@ carrying stuff around in the countdown crowd is a big mistake. but poor 00, he had to carry his snowboard around. (eh no one told you to go snowboard before that you see hurhurhuhr)

had to wait another hour or so for 00 and some others to reach, so i went to shop for some cosmetics. didn't really have much time to shop, and actually now wasn't really the best time to shop, but it doesn't seem like i'll have much opportunities to do so later anyway. i don't know how these people can just stand lazing around mac, but i guess nobody feels like moving when it's -12 outside. well, i think i prefer to be frozen than to do nothing. absolutely dislike waiting.

when we came back, 00 was there but it seems we had to continue to wait for some of his other friends to reach. sighs. bought the coffee affogato for 00 and jimin (since he got me one the the day before too heh) and rotted.

when we finally moved out, it was 1030+ and so cold outside. the crowd was already starting to fill, and rows of police barriers started to form.

there was some random groups of korean traditional dances going on though. hur.

poor 00 had to lug his snowboard stuff around and kyungmin kept crossing his path to hit his gear just to disturb him. hahahah i swear this pair is awesome to be around with.

we then shoved our way nearer the screen. look at the policeeeeee

just look at the crowd... the crowd!! can't see any floors!!!

it was actually already 11+ when we stood in front of the stage. and guess what. we have to wait an hour before the countdown. duh. of course. we needed to shove our way here early to grab a place ma. actually i wasn't aware that we had to come early to 'chope' a place so that we can see a bit of the concert and the fireworks. thought it was something like our country where you could just go up some hotel and watch it from a safe distance. bleah. so my poor feet was freezing for an hour+ before anything happened. but i couldn't really see much =_= oh i did see a lot of couples kissing, and this lonely old man just beside me. wonder how he feels to be surrounded by the kissing fishes.

the concert was interesting because they sing circle of life and this polka miku song. otherwise... not much to see. i was glad when 2012 was over. but i didn't really feel the 'hey it's 2013!' though. x_x

yay. oh look, fireworks. nono, not the one on the left, that's just a streetlamp i think. you mean you can't see? neither could i. it was like specks of light. bleah. so not what i had in mine.

so just a minute after the countdown, we had to quickly shove our way out before we begin to be crushed by the human army. but all the same, we were being pushed around. kyaaaa. somehow it was much better to be pushed around in the freezing cold than in the hot sunshine. at least you don't feel each other's sweat, and you will keep bumping into soft cushions (just see the amount of clothes we had on, jeez). and no stinking strange men. hurhur.

we stopped at mac for a bit of rest before we decided to hang around and have a round of drinks at a nearby liquor shop. it was funny when the attendant pointed out some of us to check our age and 00 was one of them! hahah. and how strange that they let me get away just by saying i'm a foreigner. we sat down and ordered some food thereafter.

man, for some reasons, everything we ordered was red in color - kimchi stir fry, kimchi jjige, some funny snail cold noodles and the only proper one was probably the tomato scrambled eggs (which, to 00 is the one food he dislikes because of the ketchup). the makkgoli and this lemon liquor was awesome though. 19% but it totally didn't feel like you were drinking alcohol! but... don't spicy food NOT go along with alcohol!?

at about 3am, we headed to a pc room typing my last day because we still have some time to kill before the crowd disperse and we are able to take our first bus home. it's 4.25am. and remind me never to go into korea's pc shop again because it's not a non-smoking zone and i was unfortunate enough to have some dudes just stinking his socks outta me. pffft... nehhhh guess i'm gonna spend my better half of 1st jan sleeping later on!!

we finally finished off around 630. ughhh. my poor lungs. and eyes.

oh it was also snowing. so nice. see all the blurry specs?

when we finally reached yong-in, it was nearing 8am already. the taxi wouldn't drive us in due to the snow and the slippery uphill so we had to walk in. well, it was good for me since i get some picture taking time! wished i could have taken more but if i stop everyone will start to wait for me and i know how super cold and tired they are now. oh well.

fell asleep only at 9-10+am. what an 'early' time to sleep...

woke up only at 4+. wow. 00 was called to a family meeting so i had to entertain myself. boo hoo. d-man prepared cup noodles for me, so i ate it, then snuggled myself to a corner sofa (as usual) to continue sleeping, since i had nothing to do anyway. when 00 was finally back, it was impossible to go out as no taxis wanna come over, so we ended up ordering takeout. takeout came in 30-40mins. had jajangmyeon finally!

it was already 8+ when we were done. since there's nothing much to do, ended up sleeping after some movies...