You know, I was looking forward so much to the sch hols during term time, but now that it’s sch hols I feel so empty. I’m sick of eating the same food at the neighbourhood mall everyday, yet it doesn’t make sense to cook lunch just for one. There are many things which I’m supposed to do, but I don’t feel like doing them at all. I feel lonely, bored, low, unmotivated and OLD. I envy my students for being young, surrounded by friends, having lots of fun and time to have fun. Well yes I have the time now but no one to have fun with. I know, I’m fortunate to have sch hols and free time on weekdays when everyone’s working. But I miss the days of being a a sch girl, hanging out in a big group, talking nonsense with friends, just letting loose. As an adult, no one seems to have the time for that anymore. Instead, we have worries, work stress, bills to pay, children to take care of, housework to do, turning us into frazzled old hags.

Life! It makes everything so ordinary and humdrum.

Have been down with flu the past few days so couldn’t go out and play

You see, I never learnt Japanese, so although I know how to say a few very simple Japanese phrases, I basically can’t read, write or speak Japanese. However, the Japanese language does use some Chinese characters, and I am Chinese, so what I do is try to guess the meaning of the words on Japanese products by reading the Chinese words and using a little common sense. I’ve even managed to cook pretty decent dishes following some Japanese instructions in this way. However, this method is not fool-proof, as you will see here.

First, the Kose Seikisho Pure Brightener. What I wanted to buy initially was the Mask White. But I’ve never seen the actual product before, only pictures of it. Not that it would have helped anyway. I happily bought what I thought was the Mask White at a Japanese drugstore, brought it all the way back to Singapore, and tried to use it one night. I squeezed it out and applied it thickly on my face (ps: both products are black in colour), and wondered why the texture was so weird and why it didn’t dry. I suspected something was wrong so I quickly went online to look for Seikisho products, and then realised… what I had was the Pure Brightener instead! Urrrgggghh! What happened was the 2 products have similar packaging, are about the same size, and I spotted the words “black” and ”skin-brightening” on what I bought and assumed it was the same thing. I felt like such an idiot that night…. :S The only good thing is, it makes quite a good scrub, so my purchase wasn’t completely wasted after all. But I still want the Mask White!

2nd silly incident: I wanted to use the Shiseido Rosarium Rose Aroma Oil this morning, so as usual I “tried” to read the Japanese instructions and spotted something that said “Usage amount: size of a 10 yen coin”. So I enthusiastically poured out a 10 yen coin amount and tried to use it all on my face. But it was really too much! No matter how much I tried to massage it onto my face I couldn’t finish using it. Then I read the instructions again and I noticed it said “Usage amount is for the face + arms + legs + butt + breasts”. Arrrggghhh I almost fainted when I saw that!

Moral of the story: I should go learn Japanese and maybe then I’ll be able to really read the labels and instructions properly and not feel like an idiot making mistakes like this

So here are the beauty stuff I bought from Japan, for your viewing pleasure. 

Perimeter clockwise from top: Sunkiller UV gel SPF 27 (this is for my DH), Sunkiller Kireihada SPF 50 X2, Sofina Raycious Creamy Foundation (Blue cover), Shiseido Lipbalm Hokkaido edition X3, Majolica Majorca (MJ) eyeshadows in Silver and Violet, MJ Customise case, MJ Skin Lingerie, Kesalan Patharan (KP) Micro Pressed Powder refill, KP Micro Loose Powder, Ma Cherie Night Essence (for hair), Kose Seikisho Pure Brightener (Facial Scrub)

Centre clockwise from left: Shiseido Rosarium Rose Aroma Oil, MJ Honey Pump Lip Gloss, Makemania Curvy Lip Silicone, Hokkaido Pure Lavendar Horse Oil

My DH says the girl in the Curvy Lip silicone picture looks like me when viewed upside down. Haha! For me, I think I have darker eyes and a slightly rounder face than her.

For those who are waiting for pictures of my holiday, stay tuned! They will be coming up soon. For now though, I’m going swimming! Wheeeee!

A photo of an individual cake:

Now, for the adult toys…. not what you were thinking about! Here’s a sticker book for adults:

Notice anything strange about this Shisedo counter?

Ans: It’s a paper model that I made. Cool, huh?

Sorry for the lousy picture, I took it with my handphone camera, our digi cam being at my mum-in-law’s. It tastes better than it looks :p

I love eggs, they are such a convenient food. You can store them in the fridge for ages and you don’t have to defrost them or plan ahead.

Recipe

2 eggs

4 button medium mushrooms (I used white but I prefer the flavour of brown)

Shredded mozerella cheese (I love it!)

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash and slice mushrooms
2. Beat eggs with some salt and pepper
3. Heat pan and add some oil to it, then lower to medium heat
4. Sautee mushrooms till light golden brown
5. Distribute mushrooms evenly in the pan and pour in egg, making sure it’s spread evenly
6. Cook till egg is semi-solid and add mozerella cheese
7. Fold omelette into half, cook on both sides
8. Voila! Lunch is ready!

I like to eat this with Maggi’s low salt extra hot chilli sauce :9

My nose is acting up yet again. Bleah. It started with a pain in my sinuses, so I knew they were getting inflamed again. So off I go to the sinseh (I’ve been faithfully going to the Chinese physician and taking TCM for months) and the medicine makes me feel a bit better. So yesterday I went out to Raffles Place to pay the balance for my honeymoon trip. Then I passed by this shop selling unique clothes (I’m so sick og the same clothes they sell in every single shopping centre) and delightly went in to try on some clothes. BIG MISTAKE. The shop was dusty and I started sneezing and my nose just ran non-stop. And that was it. The whole of yesterday my nose went crazy. I must have killed a tree with all the tissue paper I used up blowing my nose and spitting out the mucus. Arrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!

The TCM didn’t help this time. I even took a Clarinase last night but it did nothing for me too. And I’m even developing a cough! As I speak, the pile of “wantons” next to me is growing. Only they aren’t stuffed with meat but with my mucus. (Yes, I’m disgusting.)

The only good thing that has come out of this is I discovered 2 interesting blogs today, by fellow Singaporeans: siapudding.blogspot.com and stickgal.blogspot.com. Cool but they didn’t cure me.

Somebody help! I feel miserable…

this is so funny… you might catch the joke better if you are familiar with the Bible :p

I’m sitting in my study feeling hot cos we have no fan in the study yet, and though we have an air-con there’s no use turning it on cos we haven’t installed a sliding glass door yet. (Right now the study has a totally open concept.)

I am debating with myself whether I should go to the IKEA-GIANT area in Tampines, Ikea to look for nice photoframes and deco items, Giant to buy food to cook for tonight’s dinner, but it’s so hot out there and I’m not sure if going out will make me feel better or staying at home feeling bored will make me feel better. Of course there’s always housework to do, 101 mirrors to put up (DH and I bought 24 small mirrors from Ikea to stick together to form a BIG mirrored area in our dining room, cos all the affordable big mirrors we’ve seen are nothing special, and the special mirrors all cost way too much… hello, $1,000+++ for a mirror?), masks to slather on my face, television to watch. Or maybe nothing I do can cheer me up now.

Got news from the poly that they may not have any teaching hours for me next sem. Made me feel kinda angry and sad, like I’ve been used. Turns out the subject I’ve been teaching is only taught once a year (every other semester) so next sem it won’t be taught. I really don’t want to go back to working full-time in an office again so DH and I are thinking of bringing our baby-making plans forward instead. The thing is, I’m not sure I’m ready to be totally financially dependent on DH yet, but I’m really disillusioned with the HR scene in Singapore. Honestly speaking, the only job I would like to do now is go back to flying, but my age and my family plans are really against me in this aspect. Sigh. I really miss flying.

I know I’m really fortunate not to have to go to work everyday doing something I dislike, but sometimes it sucks too that I can’t go to work everyday doing something I like either. I know, I made the choice, I want to have a family, I want to have my 1st child before 30, but I also want to have my cake and eat it too. I miss visiting a different country every few days (for free!). Now we have to scrimp and save and plan just to go for a holiday. Well, I’m just whining and being discontent with my lot but it’s probably because of my MS… stupid hormones why do they act up every month?