4 seasons instead of tropical weather

How do you know Spring/Summer has arrived?
When EVERYONE starts asking: "OMGEE WHY HAVE YOU BECOME SO SKINNY?!?!"
No, I didn't "become skinny", I just shed off 4 layers of clothes and my poofy cat-eared leopard hoodie. :D 

So.. I've been here in Arizona for 7 months now. Arrived at the end of autumn (HOT!), went through months of winter without turning on the heater, danced through spring after shedding the layers of clothes and now roasting in the soon-to-be all out summer heat.

Speaking of which, I haven't been under the sun much for the past 5 years, so the moment I arrived under the blazing Arizona sun, it literally took me the walk from the shelter of the airport to the coach to start peeling. And the next few days (and months), the walk from the parking lot to the shopping mall or my house to the gym to turn red.

Naturally, I've been hiding from the sun the past seven months that I've been here.
(Yes, even in the winter!)
Another reason apart from sun burn is that I'm allergic to most sunscreens and I hate turning tan because I'm Asian and there will be this horrible yellow phase before I turn back to pale white.

And if anyone is going to advise me to stay tan... NO.
Back to the above point about sun screen, and also no thanks to premature aging, wrinkles, and skin cancer TYVM. Plus, I'm puny and being tan just makes me look smaller. So, no.

Back to the point.

Basically, I've been cowering in the comfortable shelter of my apartment and blasting the air conditioning to fend off the summer heat, not going out into the sun and wind and general dryness of the desert.

And then I did the unthinkable one day. I've always wanted to jog outside but because the guys have been training for their IPPT and I can't keep up with them if they run at the passing time pace (WHAT? I'm not a born runner okay?!), I haven't been able to join them apart from when they train at the gym.
In fact, I can't even complete the 2.4km run here because of the dryness and lower oxygen levels.. I just get so breathless I'm afraid I'll pass out and the furthest I've ever run here is only about 1.6km. And that's in the humid, cool gym!

So, when my friend got called up for a training run in the base stadium and asked my husband to join him, naturally I jumped at the chance and went along. After all, if I get tired, I can go rest in the shade somewhere right? Doesn't matter if I run just 400m or 4m! They can come get me after they finish their run in 12 minutes! :D

When I got there....... They decided to run around the base using the actual IPPT route. Having nowhere else to go and really wanting to get some exercise, I joined in...
...10 minutes later I was seriously regretting my decision and considering sticking up a thumb for a hitchhike back to the starting point.

I've never seriously considered myself as living in a desert because I've been so sheltered but HOLY CRAP did that run drive the point right into me!
It was blazing hot, 40ish degrees celcius, the sun was shining so bright it was glaring off the pavement and I was running with my eyes nearly shut, the air was so dry my nose and throat hurt...

After the first 400m (I estimate) of keeping up with the guys, I fell back and went into a slow jog.
And then my body started shutting down slowly, forcing me to walk.
At about 800m to 1km I was so far behind I could barely see the guys to find my way back.
I started taking short cuts in the shade and cutting across field and gravel.
When I blinked and re-opened my eyes I could barely see.. My vision was fading.
Forcing myself to walk fast in one of my shady short cuts, I could see that the guys were about to turn a corner and I was going to lose the trail soon.
I was desperate for water to rinse away the goop forming in my mouth, to cool my face, arms, and everything else.
I started looking around for a bathroom, or anyone driving past to see if I could catch a ride back.

... And then someone came back to look for me.
He was waving me on to the trail, but I could barely walk by then, my chest hurt, and I was nearly passing out.
I was having a heatstroke but I didn't know it at the time.
I followed him the best I could, and took a few more short cuts.

When I was about 800m away from the starting/finishing point, I spotted my husband who came back for me!
All I wanted to do then was to just get water and perhaps lie flat on the floor for the next 5 hours, so I tried my best to walk quickly back to where we came from without passing out.
I mean, it was already bad enough that I was finishing a 2.4km "run" in like 25 minutes so I was really determined to at least arrive conscious!

FINALLY, I reached the cool air-conditioned building, barely able to walk straight and still clinging on desperately to the edge of consciousness.
I let my husband lead me to the bathroom where I quickly rinsed my mouth and then made a beeline for my water bottle.
I instantly felt so much better in the air conditioning and with some water in my system.
Did I mention that the weather was so dry I didn't even break out a sweat throughout my entire ordeal?!
I only started perspiring when I was in the bathroom!
Anyway, that aside, since I was feeling a lot better, we decided to go out and join the rest who were resting and chatting.

BIG MISTAKE.
After about a minute in the summer heat, I felt even worse than I did during the "run" and started blacking out.
My husband quickly bid farewell to everyone and guided me to the car...
Where my body decided to have a bit more fun and made me puke 3 times before letting me RIP on the passenger seat.
Only then did I figure out I was passing out from heatstroke. -_-

SO. Moral of the story: If you're going to be a sheltered baby who screeches in pain when the sun touches your skin for 2 seconds, DON'T make your first outdoor run in the desert during summer!

 ... This seems like TOO much dramatization for a simple 2.4km run! Doesn't it seem like I "ran" a marathon instead?!

The best part of the story?
The friend who asked my husband to join him for the run didn't turn up.
*FACEPALMS*

On the bright side, I found a way to not sun burn even without sunscreen.
I slapped on a whole crapload of moisturizer before going out in the sun and I didn't burn at all!
Not sure if it's the brand I used (Vaseline) or anything, but it is a great penetrating moisturizer so I guess it really helped. :)

Why even bother?

I don't understand why people still bother to keep up pretenses after such a long time.

I see your 'happy' pictures, shallow people, and I'm tired of the fake-ness of your words and actions.. or lack of.

Real friends or true friends are there forever, regardless of the distance and time spent apart. Circumstances and situations caused the distance and we are all mature enough to understand, forgive, and still be able to chill together when we need each other.

If you happen to feel that, maybe this post refers to you, then it most probably is. :)

Whitening my teeth

Been wanting to do it for ages but was waiting till my teeth were fully straightened before I did it but I wanted to look good for my wedding (who doesn't?) so I decided to do it one month earlier.

Okay it didn't go too well for me because I've got extremely sensitive teeth.
I guess every part of me is sensitive so I should have expected it but I NEVER expected it to hurt more than a freaking surgery!
I gave up after the first round (there are 3) so my dentist got me some toothpaste for sensitive teeth and tooth mousse to prepare me for the next two rounds.

I even had painkillers before we started, I can't imagine how bad it would have been otherwise. It's hurting even a few hours later.
-_____-

My dentist suggested injecting the gums before we start again and I said hell yeah why not!
I'd willingly take 4 jabs in my gums than this shit all over again. :(

Upset! This is the first time I've given up something because it was PAINFUL.

Okay I'm going to roll around on my bed now because it won't stop hurting.
It feels like I just got deep fillings in all my teeth all down to the back. Grr.

Oh, on the bright side, even with one round of treatment I can already see a huge difference!
I couldn't stop showing off to my mum while she was eating just now, lol.
*BIG GRIN*

Cafe Epicurious

After reading the rave reviews about their all-day breakfasts and affordability, I found out that they had an outlet near me at the Rail Mall and decided to give it a try....
MEGA FAIL.

Was pretty peckish so BF and me both decided to have the Full Monty sets.
I guess maybe I've been spoilt by hotel room service breakfast sets but this was definitely not worth the trip, time and money.

For $22 you get: toast, 3 eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, half a tomato, baked beans, orange juice and tea/coffee. Sounds pretty good right?

The eggs I had sunny-side up and BF had scrambled and were probably the only okay items in the set, and not even better than what I can produce in the kitchen myself (and I am no regular in there!).

His scrambled eggs were extremely normal and not salty enough, much like the fast food breakfast type except we were not given seasonings on the table.
My sunny-side ups were a little uncooked on the top (Salmonella anyone??) but I still ate it anyway because I was hungry.

Bacon was streaky bacon terribly cooked, not crispy at all, pretty flat and soggy. Some of it landed in the baked beans which I hate because I don't like my food to mix!

Sausages were terrible. Tasteless little pieces of things fried in too much oil..
Never had such terrible tasting sausages before in my life.

Mushrooms were tasteless and just... slightly charred without seasoning.

Grilled tomato was sour and unseasoned. I've had better even though tomatoes aren't my favourite but I've raved about some at other restaurants.

The baked beans were probably okay because you can't really screw up canned baked beans right?

The orange juice at least was freshly squeezed and reasonably nice but the tea was weak and tasteless.

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You know sometimes service and ambience can sometimes rescue a place if their food wasn't so great?

Nada for Cafe Epicurious.

Ambience was terrible. It was okay when I got in at first then later on larger groups of people came in and it became squeezy and terribly noisy with uncontrolled kids shouting and making noise.

Service? I've seen other reviews that stated service was good.
Well in fact actually service was good... only initally.

I had intended to stay a little longer after my meal to relax (my intended time of stay was maybe 5-10 minutes) but I hadn't even finished my tea before some larger groups of customers needed some seats (there were other empty chairs around) and the staff started hassling us with the bill.
Anyway after the group with the kids came in and sat next to us I was already preparing to go.

It's just unfair that they serve families, groups and people older than us with more respect and give them better treatment.
Isn't my money of the same value as theirs?
I get this problem at most places in Singapore, not only at this food outlet so I'm pretty pissed off by now.

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I finished off my meal with dessert at another restaurant nearby with MUCH better service and ambience.. The dessert wasn't too bad too.

Judge for yourself if you ever want to be tricked by reviewers and go there for a disappointing experience like me.

"Good Parenting"

Me: I don't have enough table space to study...
Mum: Sit on the floor and write lor.

t(-_______-)t

*lies flat on bed*

BF had an off day for our medical check up (there are so many!!) so we decided to head to the Science Center one last time before we leave.

I was foolishly thinking it would be quiet on a weekday but NOOOOO there were so many kidssssssssss OMG.

I noticed a pattern while walking around the place (last time I went there was 4 years ago so it wasn't too fun for me, plus kids' screechings were really annoying me)- the PRCs tend to just try to elbow us out of the way regardless of whether they are young or old, couples or families. WTF?

Come to our country still want to try to push us out in any way possible!
Definitely will not stand for it.
No matter how many Singaporeans they managed to push/nudge/ram out of the way I refused to budge for them, because everyone waits their turn, I waited mine, I was there first so they can bloody hell WAIT like everyone else!

-------------------------

Since I've been inactive like an inert gas since last year, the walk around SC took it's toll on me... In the later part I was whining already 'cos my legs were so tired!

So BF decided it's time to get my ass out for some exercise (AT LAST!!) and the next day after work he took me out for a jog.. Which turned out to be 70% walking but at least I'm aching today lol.

I need to get out more! :(

New addiction

Anyone who knew me in my secondary school days would have known that I was crazyyyyyy about earrings. I couldn't stop buying and in fact now I have a huge rack full of earrings (but don't wear anymore because I switched to non-costume jewellery a couple of years back).

Apart from my crazy make up purchasing recently, I've also been indulging myself in bags. *sigh*
I just can't seem to get myself to stop even though I still have quite a few completely untouched bags.

My room is freaking filling up with bags! I guess it's time to clear them out again..

Help?

Make-up Madness!!

The moment I was released from Hell (AKA exams), I had a meet-up with my godparents where we went for a little shopping and hit Sephora.

... And there the madness started.

I had initially only wanted to get 2 MAC lipsticks, brush cleaner and a glitter eyeshadow from Urban Decay.

THEN my godparents spotted a sign stating we'd get a free bag if we spent $180.

I added on a concealer from Too Faced and 2 pairs of UD eyelashes.

THEN my godparents saw the same sign stating we'd get a $40 voucher if we spent $240.

I added on a moisturiser and sleeping mask from LANIEGE.

--------
The next day: Bought a contouring and highlighting powder from Too Faced, using the $40 voucher.
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Following Sunday: Benefit blusher, 4 cleansing foams, Sephora blush brush
The next day: 2 MAC brushes (got the $40 voucher again), Sephora mask, Fekkai shampoo (using $40 voucher) (and a Kiehl's toner + Shu Uemura eye concealer)
--------
I'm still lacking: Stippling brush, foundation brush, stick concealer, face primer, body moisturiser.

Total spendage on make up + skincare: $700ish? WTF.

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*has been looking up DIY skincare products to avoid bombing out again*

:(

I can't wait to get to the US where I can get organic stuff to make DIY masks and also where I can get skincare/make up cheap off Amazon!
(Will be too far from town so free local delivery is WIN!)

Parents' Meet-up!

Okay backdated entry from 10 July. :)
(The same day I got the bloody cabby.)

I'm guessing there were 6 nervous parents as we prepared to meet at the lobby of Mandarin Oriental hotel.

BF and me cabbed over to pick up his parents before heading over to the hotel.
We were early. Damn Singapore traffic- if there had a jam we would have been just on time, but in any case it's more polite to be early than late.
My parents and godparents arrived soon after, but again we were still 30 minutes early for our reservation at the restaurant.

There was a blood-curdling-ly awkward wait around the lobby as the parents kept switching around their chat partners and taking turns to walk around to admire the hotel decoration.

Finally the time arrived for all of us to head over to the restaurant for some yummy food and less awkwardness.

At the restaurant:
The initial plan was to let everyone decide on what they wanted to eat but they ended up pushing the responsibility around until it landed on BF and I.

Fortunately for us, I had already examined the menu online beforehand (I mean I had to pick a place with good food what right!) so we managed to quickly settle the orders.

Then, another thumb-twiddling wait while waiting for the food to arrive.
The parents seemed to be getting along well.. The table was getting a little too noisy.
I looked around and, oh shit, there was this dude from another table glaring at us.
>.<

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Okay to cut a long story short, the food was pretty yummy, I think I'll go back there for their dim sum buffet (KUROBUTA CHAR SIEW OMG!!!!!!).

Um, so I guess the parents all know each other now and are set for our ROM! :/

Medical exam!

Went for it on Tuesday (12 July) so that I can go on the detachment with BF. :)

I was pleasantly surprised when the medic managed to draw blood at the first stab (I had been vigorously pumping my arm with a bag of drinks beforehand) but because my veins are so tiny the flow kept stopping with every pull of the syringe.. So what ended up happening was a little jab further in every few seconds. The medic was being very careful though, I could feel his hands trembling because he was trying hard not to hurt me.

The vaccinator (new term eh!) was nice too! He carefully explained all the stuff I was going to get, what could be the side effects and then did the injections very painlessly. Most of the pain I felt was purely from the volume injected. In fact the pain lasted till today, but it's almost gone now!

All in all I would say they were extremely well-trained for such little experience (the blood tester told me he's only been here for 3 months) and very caring guys.

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So why did I do a blog entry about such a mundane subject?

I really really wanted to compliment these young boys for doing such a good job, in fact I would have written in to compliment them if I had remembered to get their names. :( Unfortunately it was early in the morning so my brain hadn't really woken up yet.

Seriously that was the least painful blood test even compared to qualified doctors/nurses who are stabbing people all the time, non-stop! And also very quick and painless injections done even though I had 3 simultaneously done, as compared to some (I'm guessing non-qualified) doctors who manage to make me hurt for more than a month!

Aside from the skill, their attitudes were also really good, being very patient with all my nonsense questions, checking everything thoroughly with the doctor before proceeding and explaining everything properly before we started. And as mentioned above they really put in the effort to be good at what they do.

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I can't help but wonder at the difference in the behaviour of young Singaporeans like those guys and the ones I meet outside. And they say youths are the rude ones?

bloody cabby

BF pre-booked a cab last night.

Last minute change of plans for destination so we only managed to tell the cabby when he arrived. When I apologised he went all mad and started saying "you say sorry no use! Your plan change then you don't care my plan!"

Okay fine so to make up for the difference I paid him extra ten bucks.
Guess what? He got too much pride to say thanks but he just kept it rightaway. I felt like boxing him in the face lor. Nabeh it already make up the diff so still so angry for fuck? Some more I apologised again when I paid up! KNN.

So proud and angry then dun accept the extra lah. Bloody Singaporeans always like that one.

*depraved giggle*

I just realised that my dad has been wearing the t-shirt I got him for his birthday super frequently.

In case anyone thinks it's weird that I'm so happy about it..
We're not that close so I just find it really cute! :D

Or maybe attempting to complete my professional ethics module is getting on my nerves because the freaking page loads super slowly and keeps logging me out!! (*%$%^&*

Oh, and I also find it really cute that tomorrow's in-law's meet up lunch are getting all four of my parents jittery. ^.^

P.S. I feel like slapping the designer of the PEM with a smelly fish.

I can't listen to music anymore.

I miss pole too much.. Every time I hear a (nice) song I feel like dancing.

I can see the choreography in my head!

DAMNIT. FML.

P.S. I shouldn't have started listening to music! I haven't stopped bouncing around my room since.

T_______T

New school and MBS!

Went out to register for my online lessons and get books for school, but BOO they didn't have it ready yet so I'll have to wait and then drag my ass to go get them. They're gonna be mad heavy!

But also lucky that I didn't get my books today; BECAUSE I went with my mum to MBS!

A couple of months ago she said she hadn't been there yet so since I was nearby today I decided to bring her there for a walk.

My mum usually doesn't doll up or even go shopping much and never ever had an opinion on clothes.
But amazingly today she managed to pick out a nice bag and a *ahem* lace spag top for me! Fortunately for me all the 3 tops I got today were on sale because they were all in XS! For once I'm loving my size :D

Mum managed to get a nice necklace and shoes as well!
Am happy she's finally buying nice stuff for herself! :)

It's like BAH everywhere I go

Custom made item 1: Wedding Reception Dress

Before my exams were over I had already been looking around online for all my wedding stuff. Of course there were pretty okay designs but because of the shipping charges and shipping time I was reluctant to order them from overseas.

So the moment I broke free from my books I went on a hunt!
... And was extremely disappointed by the lack of creativity in Singapore's bridal shops.
I mean some pieces were so uninspiring I cannot fathom how anyone would want to wear them on their big day. And those were wedding gowns.
It was worse for me because I was looking for short gowns for my reception.
All I saw were hardly fit to be worn by bridesmaids/sisters or even flower girls!
It was appalling and disappointing.

To top it all off the rental was crazy! For such boring pieces (short dresses) they wanted to charge me $580 for just the rental! I didn't even bother to ask how long I could rent it for because they were so blah.

Sure, there were cheap rentals.. Like maybe starting from $150.. But the dresses were in terrible condition, with the cotton piling all over the them. Would you want to wear something like that for a once in a lifetime event? -_-

Fortunately I managed to stumble on a bridal shop (literally, I was looking for another shop but got lost on the way there) who had a designer who totally got me right from the start!
After some consideration I decided to get my gown custom made there as I could see that they had quality designs (though nothing that gave me the OOOH I WANT IT feel).

An hour or two and a broke bank later, I got the design that I wanted!
Can't wait for the fitting in a month!
In the meantime I'd better not get fat. :)

************

Custom made item 2: Wedding Rings!

It's not just the lack of nice designs of dresses in bridal shops that we have over here. The wedding rings too look appalling; and that is even worse because you only wear your gown once (and take as many photos in it as possible) but you wear your wedding ring for life!

So we decided to get our rings custom made as well.
Armed with my terrible drawings, we attempted to explain as well as we could to our lovely .. jewellery store sales manager?

Because of my demanding specifications he had to personally source the stones I wanted and pick them one by one (out of a hundred) because I noticed that some of them were flawed.
I bet he was cross-eyed for a bit after that because our stones were small and we had a total of 64 used!

Anyway, we picked up our rings recently from the very sweet manager and he told us that our design was so 'Very nice' his colleagues wanted to suggest them to other customers.

I was actually a little bit not happy about that because you custom make your stuff to be unique right! What's the point if many other people are going to have the same thing! Plus it's MY freaking design so how can they just anyhow use it!

HAIYA. Anyway I'm very happy with the results but just a little bit mad about the idea stealing thing. Want to use my idea then at least freaking pay me! *scowl*

Exams are over and (*&^%#$%^&

Initially I was like YAY I'm FREEEEEEEE!

Then was the mad sleeping because of lack of caffeine after exams.

After that was the "I'm so used to studying so I'm still going to study": I went mad and started on my Professional Ethics online module (which has been left hanging halfway ever since hahaha).

Then the weekend arrived and BF brought me reception dress-hunting.
I always thought it'd be a breeze and I'd be spoilt for choice but NOOO the only dress I liked had to be booked already!
It would have been much much easier for me to get a long dress but it's like a bit crazy to do that for solemnisation? Even though I won't be having a chinese wedding dinner but still... I might have to reconsider.

So now I'm messing around trying to find out where my lecturers are going so I can register at the same school and at the same time going nuts because my BF is involved in NDP and isn't allowed to take leave to accompany me to hunt some more! Grr.

Don't tell me to go myself. Who the hell looks for a wedding dress by herself!!

MY exam answer to your stupid exam question

*question gives a few absurd proposals made by the finance director of the company and asks to analyse/evaluate and comment*

My answer?

Your finance director's proposals are terrible, will lead to the downfall of the company and he's an idiot. Why don't you sack him and replace him with me? :)

***********

I'll probably fail the paper if I write that down though. :(

It has started...

Okay I am so unprepared for this.

Couple of days ago one of BF's buddies called me "da-sao" and then last night another one of them called me Mrs Poh!

YIKES.

I'm afraid of what's going to happen after 13th August. >.<

ARGH

I have had so many reactions to my coming ROM... There are quite a few that are quite annoying really.

Most annoying from my side:
1. Wow how come so fast?!

Which is just code word for "Is it shotgun??"

2. Wow, congrats, finally!

Finally what? Have I been left on the shelf many years?

**UPDATE**

3. Why so early?

There's no such thing as early or late or too young or too old to make mistakes. Anyone can make a mistake at any age. Plenty of examples all around us, no need for me to state any. Besides we are both mature enough to make our own decisions.
My parents, godparents and even grandparents approve, are happy, and give us their blessing. So who are YOU to question me?

4. Some nonsense about why not wait for him to be back or other baseless misinformed questions by strangers.

We are leaving Singapore TOGETHER.
So how about you ASK and get your facts straight before asking me dumbshit questions?

Most annoying from his side:

1. Is it shotgun?

Well I guess guys are more direct.

*sigh* No it's not.

I'm going to get a cinch-waist corset dress for the day itself.
A picture is worth more than a thousand words in this case...

Exam fever and wedding

I've been preparing for my June exams since the beginning of the month *groan* and it has NOT been going well. I hate my Performance Management and Financial Management modules AND lecturers, have not been attending classes because it's a complete waste of time and I didn't feel like I was gaining anything from the classes. Add being extremely sick for the first four months of the year to that equation and that means I haven't actually been studying at all for the past 4 months.

To add to the chaos, BF told me we might be going on his work detachment to the USA for 2 years so we have to get married before that.. So we've been doing all the preparations along with my exam preparations.

Never knew a simple solemnisation would be that troublesome and costly.

And also, I can't believe I'm getting married already.. I haven't turned 22 yet!
O_O

On a happier side note, we went to get our wedding bands made yesterday.. And I side tracked and bought a necklace as well. OH MY MONEYYYYYYY! But it made me really happy. Super worth it and I've always wanted a heart shaped diamond. :D