Jasmine. Me.
Recently I got quite influenced by the old Chinese music played around at convenience stores or in the car of the driver (that drives us to work every morning). Hence, started looking around for oldies. I used to listen to these songs whenever they were played on the radio when I was quite small. Below is the list of songs currently in my playlist (mtv123.com is a good place for listening to Chinese music).
Anyone remember anyone of them? 🙂
19 July Horoscope:
You continue to move forward with your life with great intent, but it’s wise to stop long enough to take stock of what you have accomplished. Take the necessary time to analyze what you truly want and reevaluate your plan to reflect your adjusted desires. Don’t worry if joy seems out of reach now. Do what you must while believing that the good times will return.
What have I accomplished in life? What does accomplishment means anyway? The awards you have won, the people you have helped or the things you have done? Indeed, this is a difficult question to answer.
How many times have we questioned ourselves to whether we are on the right path in life or accomplishing the correct stuff? How many times have we wondered if we are a good or bad person and what others think of our behaviour?
I guess there are no right answers to these questions. It is up to us ourselves to decide our accomplishments, whether we are on the right track, with the guidance and advice of others. We don’t live alone in this world, and therefore it is important that we seek others opinion to improve on ourselves. Of course, I’m not saying that what others say would definitely be correct and that we are definitely wrong. Learning to adapt to the majority is important, but staying true to ourself is also just as important. If we listen to how others think you should behave and betray our own principles and values, then what is the point?
I’m digressing I guess. Anyway, I realised that whenever we ask about others accomplishments/achievements, the first thing everyone would think about are the awards they have won. Hardly we would think about the people we have helped (unless it’s a major case like preventing a person from committing suidcide or something) or the things that we have done to make the difference.
I’m guilty of that too I guess. So I shall not spend my time typing out the awards I have won or similar stuff (lest people think I’m showing off).
Things I want to accomplish by the end of this year
That’s all I can think of for now. 🙂
P/S: My 100th day away from SG!! 25 more days to SG!!
Went on a day tour around Chengdu 2 Saturdays ago. We’d signed up for the tour as we had some places of interest like Wu Hou Ci and Du Fu Cao Tang, that we haven’t visited.
Yong Ling Mausoleum
This was our first stop. We met our tour guide there – this young woman who is a third year university student. I forgot her name, but well, this tour group was kind of small, hence they didn’t rent a bus for the whole group. Instead, we travelled in smaller groups in mini-buses.
Anyway, the Mausoleum was a memorial place for one of China’s emperor. I can’t remember his name =X But that Mausoleum’s kind of cool.
Wu Hou Ci
Next stop was Wu Hou Ci – a memorial place for Zhu Ge Liang, Liu Bei and a few other people who are mentioned in 三国演义 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms).
Qing Yang Gong 青羊宫
Basically a Taoist Palace where you can get your fortune told by priests. Directly translating the name would mean “Green Goat Palace” and there really was a “green goat”.
The green goat
Zodiac
Then we had lunch. 13 Sichuan Dishes! What happened was the waitresses kept serving the dishes, one after another and we had to hurriedly finish those that were served before so that there would be enough space for the other dishes. lol.
Du Fu Thatched Cottage
Du Fu Thatched Cottage! It used to be the former home of Du Fu, a poet.
The tour guide gave us discounts for a Sichuan Opera show at night. Glad that I didn’t miss it, coz it’s an experience of a lifetime!
There were Chinese musical instruments ensemble, Sichuan Opera, Skits, a puppet show, Er Hu and Suo Na solo performance, hand shadow performance and the best was “Bian Lian” – the famous show where they change their masks very quickly.
View all the photos and videos here.
When I was 7 or 8, I went for swimming lessons every Saturday afternoons at the neighbourhood swimming complex.
When I first started learning, I remember going for lessons with my mum’s friend’s son who’s one year older than me, share the same religion and we studied at the same primary school.
He was like a big brother to me and after swimming lessons, my sis, mum and I would sometimes go to his house and play computer games. There was this hotel game where you build a hotel and manage it – very similar to the Roller Coaster Tycoon / Zoo Tycoon series of games. He taught my sis and I how to play it and all 3 of us would always have fun.
After a few months, he stopped these swimming lessons. I continued these lessons. I’d only see him in school. But we wouldn’t talk at all.
Well, life’s like that, you stop talking to people, you grow up, and you aren’t friends anymore.
I’d often see him at some SSA events and all, but unfortunately, except for that few seconds of staring that shows recognition, I didn’t get to talk to him at all.
I also saw him at the last IT fair (where I got my Samsung YP-T9) working and he did a double-take when he saw me. I wondered why.
So yesterday, I found his blog and then friendster and I must say, I’m glad that he’s doing well in photography.
Anyway, I’d blogged about this because of the many friends that I had when I were young, and he’s like the only one who I treated as a big brother. And when I was a kid, you feel cool when you have an older friend around. Maybe one day we will be friends again and he can share his photography tips with me. 🙂
You know how sometimes you look forward to weekends because of certain positive factors? Well, last Friday I was looking forward to my weekend and it really didn’t disappoint.
Friday was good. Went to Peter’s Tex-Mex Grill for dinner. Had this tortilla beef salad which was just the right serving for me. You know how sometimes you’re hungry but not that hungry to finish one whole meal? That salad was just right for me. Plus the amount of vegetables in there made the whole dish healthy.
Went to Ikea – Chengdu on Saturday morning. I’ve been quite interested in going to Ikea Chengdu for quite a while as I missed eating the Swedish meatballs there (=X) and I always have fun visiting Ikea. I haven’t been to the Ikea Tampines store since it’s opening, but the location of Ikea Chengdu always reminds me of it.
Our first stop was Ikea’s Restaurant and Cafe where we had our lunch. Just like the one in Singapore, you pick your food before queuing to pay for it. And in the menu, they included a few local dishes. Over here, the dishes are stuff like Kung Bao Chicken Rice.
The whole Ikea is almost the same as the one in Singapore, except for the fact that everything is in Mandarin. I guess the Ikea standard’s the same all over the world. Had great fun there. Lol. Innocent stuff like soft toys became obscene after Henry‘s doing. Let the pictures do the talking =)
Went to this place called 锦里 Jin Li after that. It’s mainly a tourist attraction I guess, since it’s situated next to Wu Hou Ci. Since the Chengdu Day Tour, we’d planned to go there to do some shopping. So there we went.
Made this pendant thing where they write your name out on a rice and put it in to a bottle. It used to be quite popular in Singapore a few years back but was quite expensive back then and now. In fact, when my sis checked the price of it just a few days ago, it cost SGD$12 + whatever amount for the string. Over here, the lowest price was SGD$3 + whatever amount for the string. Cheap eh?? Huzz and I made one each with both our names on it 🙂 Though for mine, the glue kinda came off, so I’m planning to visit the place again and hopefully the person would be able to fix it back properly. Unfortunately, mine dropped off somewhere in the house 🙁
Also bought a 笛子 (di zi: Chinese flute, usually made of bamboo) for SGD$36. Those professional kind. Quite cool lah. And it’s way worth it compared to the not-professional one my aunt bought for me in SG (which costs SGD$50).
Had a blackout on Sunday morning. Many of us thought that it was because we didn’t pay the electricity bills. The internet went off the night before and we also thought it was because of the bills =X We’re kind of interesting eh? Only pay bills when the electricity’s cut off. =X
Played badminton after that.
Happy 2 months! 😀
Today’s horoscope:
It’s quite likely that you have experienced many distractions over the past couple of days. Although the busy pace may not settle down yet, it’s time for you to refocus your energy and pay less attention to those things that prevent you from doing what you must. It may take extra concentration, but accomplishing more now will give you extra time for retreat over the coming weekend.
How true! Recent events have drained my energy away from me. The advice given is quite clear to me I guess. So that’s what I shall do 🙂 Why make myself annoyed/irritated? Just 2 more days till the weekend (which i really really am looking forward to since 6 weeks ago). 🙂
Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix movie out in SG today and out in China tomorrow!!! Should I? Should I? Should I?
Today’s love quote:
Loving someone is giving them the power to hurt you, but trusting them not to.
🙂
Have a great day people!
I know I’m supposed to be blogging about my Chengdu day tour, but oh well…
Carried about 2kg worth of stuff with Jia Hui and Yi Long from the office to this “Business Centre” in the morning. It was a great walk there, because when we reached there, the lady told us that the nearest place to send a parcel was at 紫荆广场 (Zi Jing Square), which is basically near where we live. -_-” Oh well, partly my fault for not checking out the place before hand even though Henry said that we are able to send parcels there. 🙁
So changed plans and I ended up following Jia Hui and Hwa Swee to collect the rest of our passports. Of course, we went to the post office to send our stuff first. Mine weighed about 2.8kg. Much heavier than expected I guess. I hope everything will get through, else it’ll be very troublesome 🙁 .
After collecting the passports (the SG guy whom we saw last week was there as well haha), we took a cab down to Tian Fu Square. It’s been quite a while since I went there, and hence was able to see new clothes on display. I don’t usually shop unless I have something to buy, but since we’re going back to SG soon, and I haven’t really bought anything for my Dad and sis, I decided to go as well.
Lots of shops were having discounts to clear last season’s clothes. Haha! I ended up buying 3 tops – one from Giordano, one from Converse (50% discount!! Dry-fit top!! SGD$10!!) and one from Meters Bonwe. The Meters Bonwe one is for my sis. 🙂
Couldn’t find the Beijing 2008 stuff that my sis and mum wants. They didn’t have it there. Oh well. And the couple rings that the group of us saw before we went to Jiu Zhai Gou was also out of stock there. haha.
I had great fun today, because I’ve never really gone shopping with friends in SG. Lol.
And people are getting pissed off with a lot of matters. I wished it was “peace” instead of “pissed” that I can use to describe the current situation. Why why why are some people like that? Giving others trouble, talking nonsense, one day say hate her another day say like her? Why? Why are there such people around?
Played tennis with 6 guys yesterday. Being the only girl there was quite unfortunate actually, coz guys are naturally pro at sports, so they kept winning and kept having the chance to continue playing. I kept sitting at the side watching them play. 🙁 I dislike playing doubles too – it’s only once a while then I’ll get the chance to hit. I’d rather play singles, whether it’s badminton or tennis.
Tennis wasn’t that bad. Though you’ll have to learn how to swing your arms yet control your strength when the raquet comes in contact with the ball. Too much strength and the ball will fly far, too little and the ball won’t go over the net. How you hit it is also important. For some reason, even though it’s my first time playing, my arm didn’t hurt like what the others say that it will, though it really took quite a lot of my energy yesterday. Maybe coz I didn’t play much?
Took a walk with Huzz yesterday around the area where we stay, and we saw a train!! Quite cool how it’s like what we see on tv – the traffic stopping for the train to pass. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera with me. Had an enjoyable one hour walking around the area with him. 😀 We should do that more often shall we? 🙂
Shall blog about the Chengdu Day trip in my next entry. 🙂 Will upload the pictures first.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANDY!
Felt like blogging, but decided that it is late enough for me for today, so shall post a short entry. 🙂
(For some reason, I find this very similar to how Guangyi updates =X Not intentional)
1. Bought lots of souvenirs for SNCO/friends today
2. Had a Chengdu tour with a tour guide
3. Watched Sichuan Opera/Mask changing show
4. Playing tennis tomorrow! Yes you heard right. Tennis! First time I’m trying this out though. 😀
5. Had been watching KO One and Corner with Love upon recommendation by friends. But I found both painfully draggy and after the 3rd episode for both, I’ve decided not to watch it.
6. Decided to watch Jap vers. of Hana Kimi. 😛
Alright. Good night! 😀
Weather around here’s quite cool recently. Kind of weird how it was horribly warm last week and this week it’s cooler than Singapore. :-/
Missing my Samsung YP-T9B a lot recently. Especially when I see the others playing their PSP to pass time, all I can do is watch them play or just stone. >.< So many things I can do with my mp3! And it’s lying there at home in Singapore. 🙁
On the brighter side of the note, I bought some DVDs yesterday – Lost Season 3 and Il Mare. Il Mare is the original Korean version for The Lake House. 😀 Super happy. And all these only cost me RMB$102 (~SGD$20.40). Recently quite into watching serials. Almost finishing Nodame Cantabile Live Action (one more episode left). :DQuite inspired to be a good musician after watching Nodame. Plus, I’d just finished reading Hui Yi‘s blog on how they’d completed the Grade 5 book and are deciding if they should go for the exams.
Just reminds me of the things I’ve got to do when I go back. Already planning on it:
– Exercise to lose weight: Gained weight eating heavy food over here liao 🙁
– HS Alumni Band Website to be completed
– Rudiments exercise
– Music theory
– SNCO rehearsals
Can’t really think of other stuff right now. But well, there’s still 38 days till I return.
I think I’m getting obsessed with the number of days left to go back to Singapore :S Oh well.
Lots of stuff happening around here actually. 🙁
This weekend, will be visiting some Chengdu’s places of interest with a tour group.