Fan of Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki's (宮崎 駿) latest work - Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (崖の上のポニョ) is a must-watch! Suitable for all ages =) This is the first time for a looong while I went on a movie outing with my brother and it was fun! So it was not as long as his other works but still full of innocent wonder and finely crafted animation.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea 崖の上のポニョ


I always enjoy Hayao Miyazaki's animations. The detailed and bright drawings enchant me and the story always seem so meaningful. My favourites are all here!

Spirited Away 千と千尋

I was amazed at my first sight of Haku, something about him just seemed so cool, then I realized it was the subtle way his eyes were drawn from other characters that gave him the distinction. Well, his true form is a dragon, which are river spirits in the movie lol

Princess Mononoke もののけ姫

nice MV by a fan but I think I'd prefer if the words were in Japanese, which would sound more natural and hmm, some things are better felt than said.

Kiki's Delivery Service 魔女の宅急便

I like the upbeat song!

Howl's Moving Castle ハウルの動く城

Too bad I could not find the scene of Howl, a vain foppish wizard, melting into a puddle of goo when he was devastated at his hair turning from blond to black due to Sophie's meddling. This movie was inspired by Diana Wynne Jones, who penned the Chrestomanci series, one of my favourite reads.

Whisper of the Heart 耳をすませば

This movie is nostalgic and littered with references to his other works, so watching it was like recalling all his other much-loved movies. (The sunrise was beautifully drawn)

...and of course, the signature work

My Neighbour Totoro となりのトトロ

Happy Birthday Lixiang (& a lot other ppl)!

Happy Belated Birthday Lixiang! And to a whole bunch of other 13 babies (people born on jan 13 like Lixiang, Venus... and Xianhong's brother, Xianwei)

I only msged Lixiang though... cos I lost Venus's number!!! Wish he'd enjoy his last semester in school and hall because it isn't so fun in the working world =( I've been so stressed out that I've taken an MC. My eyes are bleary and nose runny, imagine, all wrapped up in a thick woolly blanket sitting in front of the computer, sniffing and typing away... a pathetic sight but I'm secretly enjoying it compared to work... oops

Don't think I'm moping away! I'm just frustrated now because of a subordinte who doesnt seem to get it despite my patience (which has all but evaporated). It's hard learning and doing the work but even harder to teach someone, I feel I really suck as a supervisor.

However, there are a few bright points. I started of the year with a course in fire patroller, so am now a bona fide fire warden! I can identify fire types, determine which fire extinguishers are for which types and can operate them! Real, the only problem is the fire extinguisher is rather heavy, so I have to plonk it on the ground to squeeze the handles before lifting it up to aim at the fire.

Do you know Singapore has NO firewomen?

I've just discovered a happy place at my work place -- the butterfly garden! When I feel really down, I go to the garden and see butterflies flying around. Once, a butterfly landed on my finger but flitted away before I could photograph it =) it really made my day. I don't know, but seeing something so beautiful just cheers me up tremendously.

butterfly cocoons...

feeding area...

see the green butterfly among the ferns?

Keeping busy

To make good on my promise to brighten up the blog... I've been doing lots of stuff! Archery, wake-boarding and taking part in a concert!

Shall start with the last first... Dancescape concert!

Thank you very much Lester, Yien Mei, Joan, Huiran, Alwyn and Lydia (so cool to see you at the airport, hope your conference went smoothly)! Really very touched they came to support, hope it wasn't too boring for them. Also must thank my colleagues for coming =)

Must thank my brother too, I "volunteered" him to help out with the lighting and at the end of it all, he was heartily sick of the items! The items I liked were the ones I was not in (maybe not going through the dance made the dance looked more fun), I was in the "seafood" item and the modern item and the disco item. Ruodan took a photo of me backstage (without the terrifying "shin chan" eyebrows Adam delights in adding).

The process was hectic. Sometimes a bit aggrieved that laoshi is so fierce but it was his passion and I suppose the strictness drove us to do better. Generally I dislike performing but this performance was a way of thanking SFA, I think I would have been a lot more mopey without them around. (A lot of them 讲义气，a trait I admire immensely) I am glad that our paths crossed.

Still met up with other friends despite being busy with rehearsals, like Sinlong and Zibin. As usual, the fault with Zibin, is to disallow me from treating him ever! I really owe him lots of treats. He went doll hunting in Taiwan and bought 妈祖娃娃 souvenirs from Taiwan for my mother. Was pleasantly surprised at the effort =) See, I didn't want anything but my mother did so I casually told him if he has to get something for me, get the dolls for mummy and he did! Shall ambush a treat for him in future...

Tried wakeboarding with Sinlong, his friend Alex, his friend's cousin, Fangjing and his friend's cousin's friend, Yee Shin. Out of this motley gang, only Alex had any experience so we all approached the waters with some trepidation.

I needn't have worried because apparently girls get the hang of it easier because we're not as strong as guys! Sounds strange but true, the trick is to let the boat pull you up from the "toilet squatting" position and not tug against the bar. Also, smaller people with lower centre of gravity can balance better, so I think I got the easiest time! (Let me brag a bit, I got up on my 1st round 2nd try)

Don't know why the photos are so small. First one was the training bit on how to get up from the water, second one was me in the boat's wake (I'm really much bigger than that but the handphone camera and high boat speed made me a spot). Will definitely go again, waiting for SInlong to organize... lazy me!!!

Archery was a FREE session from the company's recreation club, so the cheapo in me could not resist!

The bow was heavy! My right arm was trembling after a few passes and my right eye was blurry from squinting. (Which indicates wrong usage, because apparently it's back muscles and less arm muscles) Usually the aiming eye is the hand you're more comfortable with but there was a guy there who was right-handed but his aiming eye was left!

How to determine the aiming eye:
1. Make a triangle with your both right and left thumbs and index fingers

2. Choose a target with both eyes

3. To test the right eye, shut the left eye

4. If the target stays in the triangle, then your aiming eye is the right; if the target moves out of the triangle, then your aiming eye is the left!

5. To double-check, repeat step 3 with the left eye open and right eye shut

For a newbie like me, the exciting part was all the interesting gadgets: the leather tab to prevent the arrow fletch from cutting the fingers when the shaft is released. Below is my result!

Not spectacular but quite respectable, with 2 in the bulls' eye!

Warring words

Sigh, I haven't returned here for ages and I saw rather uncomfortable comments.

Erm, I don't think they'll come back because I think I have abandoned this place pretty long. Although I don't quite know who is who, I hope nobody is too upset. I am sorry for the injuries, mine is bewailing the fact I'm not slim beautiful or cute!!! Anyway, I think actions are more important than words. Here's a quote from somewhere: We should believe only in deeds; words go for nothing everywhere.

I've been really painting someone really black but here's a place to vent my unhappiness. Assumed that nobody really visits, it's more like a place I could go through in the future to see how I grew and got over stuff.

Sure, I'm not kindly disposed towards Xianhong but I have made a conscious effort to find out if he's doing well, like I do for all my friends. I don't know his girlfriend but she is special to him and I have accepted that no matter how unfair I feel the treatment is, there is nothing I can do about it. Sinlong told me that guys treat the girls that they think special differently. So what I can do is can care about the people who care.

Shall try to post more cheerful stuff. Like my new haircut, which I got mixed reviews.