Last Day of 2014

My new year's eve. My 6th year anniversary with my dearest.

Lunch @ 老北京. They had this lunch set ($19.90++) that day which includes a variety of dishes. There must be a minimum of two orders for this set, so both of us ate the same thing. This tea, 八宝茶, doesn't really taste like there are eight treasures inside. At first, there is not much taste. Then, it got too sweet at the bottom. Overall, not a good choice of tea (not in the set).

Marinated pickled Si Chuan Cai. I don't know the name, I just anyhow create :P. This is nice. Spicy and sour, very Si-Chuan style. The crunchiness makes this dish very addictive.

Xiao Long Bao. I like, but prefer the ones at Paradise Dynasty.

Ja Jiang Mian! This is super nice. I love it. The taste of the meat is just the right saltiness. Mixed with the QQ noodles is just heavenly. But really very small bowl la :(.

 

Fish Maw Thick Soup. It's slight gooey and filled with goodness. Gets a bit jelat at the end. 

Wasabi Prawn. One of my favorites! The prawn is fried and topped with wasabi mayonnaise. Very good but I guess I was a little too sick to enjoy this dish properly.

Bf says this is hmmm nice *eyes big big*. It's not bad la. But not excitingly awesome kind.

HEHE Black Glutinous with Ice Cream. I love black glutinous dessert so this is good. It is served chilled. Very good ending to the meal.

After Night at the Museum 3, Hoshino Coffee. I don't know is it unlucky or what, there were a few flies flying around at our seats. To not keep worrying whether the flies would actually drop into our food, we changed seats after seeing our neighbours' food being attacked by two flies. Don't sit near the kitchen!

Lobster bisque. I think it's $9. Strong seafood yummy taste. I know its cholesterol filled haha.

Curry Rice. Curry rice is the best out of all we ordered. It's quite a small portion in my opinion. Served in a stonebowl, your food would stay hot longer!

Fuga Fuga, if I'm correct about its name. The top thing is some foamy beaten egg. I don't like it.

The rice within, mixed with pork, beef, bacon, is tasty.

Sakura Latte. This small little expensive cup cost $9. I managed to taste it the first few times, very flowery sweet milky taste. Afterwhich, I might have lost my sense of taste for awhile because I was sick. This is a money waster unless you are really fond of sakura.

 Kopi O. Soury black coffee.

Green Tea Souffle. It's like the beaten egg thing above, this is much sweeter with a pancake taste. Too sweet at the end. Eating two of the same kind of spongey food is too much to handle.

Being pampered by my bf. Gifts from Seacret. I still think he got cheated though because it's too expensive and not something I would buy. But precisely because he knows I won't buy it due to the price, he got it for me to pamper myself :D. The process of guessing what he got me is the best part.

I love you.

RUNNING MAN

28 NOV 2014- I am just so lucky that this year's running man's autograph session is at Suntec City Mall, and the stage is right outside my office! I saw the stage during lunch, if not I wouldn't have known they were coming the next day. Although I am not a VIP ticket holder to their show [only they can get autographs], I can still get to see them from far far hahaha.

29 NOV 2014- My bf supports me all the way. We met at 9am and had mac breakfast until about 10am. When we reached Suntec at about 9.30am, the second level was already filled with one row of people seated down on the floor. Wahhhh, I was actually feeling panicky and preparing myself to be disappointed. At 10am, we went to look for a spot to chop. We just sat at the "second row" behind two ladies. The autograph session starts at 12pm by the way, so we were actually pretty early. Just sat there listening to Kjk and haha's songs playing in the background.

While baby went to buy movie tickets, I safeguard his space.

his grateful face

while everyone was seated

At about 11.30am, as more people start to stream in, the crowd queuing had to stand up to make space. The ladies in front stood up, and I managed to squeeze into the corner for a clear view wahaha, while baby's view was partially blocked. But I'm the crazy one, so my view is more important to him heeee. And the cast came late, only arrived at about 12.20pm or so.

Each running man member picked a scroll to determine their colour. Fans below the stage will get the autograph of the members according to their wrist band colour. And the signing starts. Nothing so special actually but I first time chase idol kind ma. Won't be so crazy to wait so long unless Jae Suk comes the next time. Didn't see them leave as our movie was starting. Waited so long for that few minutes haha. And there I was just pretending I took a photo with them, in the background. :)

Today is such a happy day! Not just because of RM. It's because of love.

"That's what I love about you, being so emotional. It makes me want to love you, and protect you." 

What I Want

I am taking reference from this post on "7 Things Women Really Really Want in a Relationship". It's written from a woman's point of view and I think the points are so true. They reflect what I want.

1) Time

This is no surprise. Every girl wants attention and time from her other half. Honeymoon period? We didn't have any. That sucks, but I have moved on. The amount of time couples get together is really dependent on their lifestyle and preference. What is more important is the understanding from each party to accommodate to each others schedule. And if the time you spend with each other is already so limited, please keep away your phone and pay 100% attention to your girl when she is in front of you. Some couples talk on the phone regularly too, but we can never pass this thing.

2) Spontaneity and Surprises

This might be lacking in our near 6 years relationship. We have been to almost all the attractions in Singapore, and I know it's pretty hard to plan some date day because we don't know where to go. But I really don't like hearing "Singapore is too small". Our meetings are so routinized nowadays. Routine is actually a good thing [Running Man every week is fun], but it gets boring. I am not saying there is no spontaneity or surprises in the relationship, but more should come, in a more regular stream. One can't keep harping on the past old surprises that happened.

"Surprise her with an impromptu getaway for the weekend; hide sweet little notes in her bag; turn up with flowers when there isn’t any special occasion to do so; tell her to get dressed immediately because you have just booked a table at her favourite restaurant."

Baby, I realized you haven't given me anything related to what you are good at. Relating to computers, you can compile songs, pictures or create a mini game. Or animation kind of thing? 3D figures. Build something for me which lights up [I am thinking about your electrical board]. And now you can video yourself too haha. Or a maths theme puzzle? If you can't draw, you can write me a story. But you know, your lobster drawing is the cutest lobster I have ever seen :). There are so many possibilities.

3) To be understood, in our language.

Yes, do not take our words literally. You need to observe the overall situation and her expression too. It takes time and effort to master this skill. Ultimately, she's your woman. You should be able to figure her out as time goes. Why do women not say things directly? I guess from my point of view, I want to see whether my bf understands me deep enough. And also, many things are not meaningful anymore when it's said out loud. 

"Can you buy me flowers?" VS The flowers magically appears on your office table. Well, this can be put under the spontaneity and surprises category too. 

Baby, I think you do relatively well here. 

4) To be praised/ To feel beautiful.

I think women should learn how to feel beautiful herself. However, it wouldn't do good if the other half tend to put her down or doesn't praise her at all. We feel beautiful because you remind us that we are. Don't do any comparisons or contrast though. How do I say this? Don't tell your girl she is not fat when she feels like she is, tell her she is beautiful despite how she feels. My bf telling me I am not fat doesn't make me feel less fat actually [I have those "I feel fat today" syndrome, although I shouldn't be agreeing with the societal defined beauty], especially when I can't fit into those old pants anymore. And if your girl is sensitive about say, her bust size. Don't even try to convince her that she is big [because she knows she is not], or the opposite. Just don't even mention anything about size. Get it?

Tell her she is gorgeous for herself, don't tell her she is prettier than whoever.

5) To be heard.

Sometimes, I don't feel like I am heard. My words are not taken in seriously enough dear. An article I read before stated that men tend to propose solutions to women when they complain about something. While it seems logical to do so, women just want you to listen to them instead. Some things cannot be solved, and they don't want to solve it, so please just be their listening ear. It's better than they don't tell you anything at all [because they give up on talking to you to feel better]. And when they tell you about their experience, sometimes it is not good to insert your own experience and then compare.

6) To be your princess and to feel special.

I have no complains here. Bf always makes me feel princess. :D

"Give her pet names; show her off in front of your friends because you are proud of her; do things for her and only for her; draw the line clearly with your female friends so she feels secured."

7) Consistency.

Continue to do the things you have been doing since the start. That's probably how she even fell in love with you in the first place. Everything seems pretty consistent in mine, but maybe that's because there is no honeymoon period [you know, the time when you do a lot more stuff] in the first place. HAHA. Bf still holds the door for me, carries my bag if it's too heavy, sends me home every time... I think it is consistent :D.

With that said, don't do too much at the start. You will have a lack of things to do afterwards. And when you do less, it seems like it is not consistent anymore.

8) Effort 

This last point is added by me. Women want men who show that they put in effort in maintaining the relationship. He should put in effort to be on time for her [too important for me]. 

He should want to keep in shape for her. Many guys slack off in appearance especially after marriage thinking that they already have their women. There's always advice for women to maintain their shape to stay attractive for their other half, so I think it should apply to men too. We want to fall in love with you again and again. We want to stay attracted to you. And that's not to have some super muscular body. It's the effort that counts. 

And also, women like to dress up because we think you would be proud to have us looking good for you. Hence, putting some effort in your dressing is very important. If you don't know how, learn. Youtube or Google is there to help. We also started from scratch. Appearance may be secondary, but appearance can make us be so in love with you.

I know this might be hard, because sometimes I don't even understand myself.

Just don't give up, you will soon master the skill of understanding YOUR woman.

This is Life

Recently, I met up with my two bestest girlfriends. We intended to go ice-skating but oh my, there were too many people on the skating rink. Our guess is because it was still the June holiday for the students. We decided to see if we could catch a movie, preferably "The Fault in our Stars". We have been hearing many comments and seeing the posts on facebook and it's time to check it out. It was a bad timing at Jcube, so we watched at Jem instead. However, it was a bad seating, front row, too close for comfort. The movie is that popular. 

 

The story depicts how two lovers knew each other from a cancer support group program. Gus and Hazel fell in love after some time. Both of them should be cancer survivors, Gus lost one of his legs while Hazel continued to have lung problems. They visited Hazel's favorite author in Amsterdam and had a happy trip.  However, cancer was found in Gus again and it was spreading like wild fire. He died very soon. She was devastated. 

That's a very short summary of the plot. I think the storyline is good but the whole movie just did'nt touch me as much. It was quite boring at first and there is'nt a very good climax. I know the movie is adapted from the novel, and maybe the book would be better at conveying the touching story. I thought I would cry [I was prepared to cry after seeing the sad fb posts and hear stories from my sister], but I did'nt. 

The only time I teared was when I imagined myself as her. Or him. What would happen if one day this happens to me? If I found out that I had some illness that would take me away soon. Or if I know someone is going to leave me because of some illness. My bf and I have discussed about this topic before. We don't want lies or hiding of the truth. No matter what happens, we want to spend the rest of the time left happily with each other. It would hurt, whether is it now or later, so why not treasure the time together.

Of course, I certainly hope this day would'nt come, at least not so soon, not until we are 70 or 80 years old. Then, I will most probably leave with no regrets. But now, the thought of leaving chills me. I can't bear to leave my love ones. And I don't want them to live with grief. That's why, I always cherish my health. It is the one thing that is irreplaceable once damaged (apart from relationships). You need your health, even to enjoy the times with your family and friends. Although many times, it is not up to us to determine our health conditions, but the least we can do is to take care of ourselves the best that we can.

This reminds me of the recent youtube video of a wedding in a hospital. The groom was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and his only wish was to marry his true love. He did in the end, but he died soon after, leaving his wife and child behind. It was supposed to be a happy wedding video, but I bet it brought tears to many viewers. It's heart wrenching to know how some couples who are truly in love cannot be together because of such unexpected circumstances in life. 

We must always, always remind ourselves to cherish what we have. This brings back to what Mr Won have told us "The best happiness is to be with each other". You will never know when things would be taken away from you. This is life. 

Lessons from Emergency Couple

"There's no such thing as a perfect life. As you live, unexpected accidents occur, and irreversible mistakes are made. However, every time we fall and get hurt in life, we find ourselves always changing for the better. Only by learning about the pain of others, can we mature bit by bit.

Could that be where love starts? Even though we may make mistakes and fail again, we will continue to grow and try."

This is the dialogue in the last episode of "Emergency Couple", just right before the drama ends [Subtitles from Dramago.com]. In the medical way of seeing, it seems to suggest how our life is unpredictable and there's only limited control over it. One moment we may be chatting with someone dear to us, and the next moment we may be gone due to an illness or injured due to an accident. But the key to living our lives, is to learn how to stand back up again. We learn and we change. As doctors, by understanding how their patients are hurting may also help them to grow.

Does love work the same way?

Yes. There is no such thing as a perfect relationship. As we progress as a couple together, unexpected conflicts and disagreement will occur. Unintended words or actions of hurt to the other party may result. The harm is done even after we regret or apologize later. These are the irreversible mistakes made. Yet, through these bad experiences and mistakes, we learn. As the ones who got injured in the process, we learn to forgive and let go. The wounds will heal with time. As the ones who inflicted the pain, we learn to control our emotions and think deeper before anything is done. We change, to love better. By understanding how the other party might hurt, we learn to reduce the overall damage or even totally avoiding it. In turn, it will help the relationship to grow stronger.

In the show, Jin Hee and Chang Min were married when they were younger. Within a year, they got divorced because they could'nt stand each other anymore. 6 years later, they met each other during an internship, in the same hospital, and in the same department. They kept their divorce news a secret from others in the hospital because divorce is negatively thought of. But others knew in the end. Through the time spent together, Chang Min and Jin Hee felt that they still had feelings for each other. Families disagree to them getting back together because they have already made a mistake of being together once. Furthermore, Jin Hee was afraid that the relationship would end again.

In the plot, we can see how people were placing judgement on them because they were divorced. If they decided to get back together, why divorced in the first place? However, we often fail to see how circumstances and people can change. Jin Hee became a doctor just like Chang Min after they broke up. If it was'nt for the divorce, she probably would'nt have upgraded herself [She wanted to be a doctor so she can know the feeling of being one, how great that status can be that people despised her in the past for ruining the future of Chang Min]. After they worked in the same field together, they communicated more and understood each other better. They realized that they may be able to be together again. Furthermore, they were young and possibly reckless when they got married. They did'nt bother to find out more about each other when disagreements arise. They just thought they were incompatible. But 6 years later, they found each other again. They are destined to be together.

Well, I may be immersed in my own fictional land, but these things do happen. Couples get together and break up. Couples divorce and get back together. But we should'nt be quick to judge since we don't know their story. There's no right or wrong in relationships. It's just a matter of making choices. 

My choice, 3 years ago, may not be the best decision. But now, both of us have learnt to communicate, to compromise and to make effort in keeping our relationship strong. People will judge me, and I know they are. I don't care. Without that obstacle, we would'nt be what we are now. I am only truly thankful that he did'nt give up on me.. even when I did.

Marriage is a commitment

Baby's friend got married today. It was held at Trinity Christian Center.