picture perfect

some highlights of america through the lens..

new jersey <3

the princeton bunch and chan on the beach

picnicing outside our house.
all those secondary school memories came flooding back.

piggy and i. always so enjoyable company.
these pictures and going to make me sad tonight...

the girls on the trip.
we then bid cape may goodbye as chan, ren and i head forth to conquer boston.

BOSTON
i think i need a sunrise
i'm tired of the sunset
-
i think i'll go to bostonnn
i think i'll start a new lifee
i think i'll start over
no one knows my name

the harvard coop (dad are u reading this? the one and only..)

boston and the many traffic lights. so quaint.
all those generic american tv backdrops.

it was restaurant week in boston. we had top-end food for low-end prices.
hotel @ MIT. delicious seafood.

at the start of the freedom trail - looking slightly worried about our navigation.

finding the christopher columbus waterfront park. which looked like it came out of a postcard. we spent many a minute photowhoring..

the singaporean spread at the dinner party serene hosted on our last day in boston.
reminded me of home so much..

NEW YORK CITY

the subway was confusing, but i liked people-watching across the tracks.

at the museum of modert art where i found THIS!
les demoiselles d'avignon - something close to my heart and my inspiration for that 'O' level art project oh so long ago.

at battery park, where there were the memorials for all the wars america has been involved in.
a spot of reflection.

the MUD VAN! dad note: gourmet coffee in a van! it was fantastic! i had one just for you :)

and who goes to new york without seeing the statue of liberty?
my token shot. she wasn't that fantastic tbh, i'd much rather go visit the guggenheim.

only in brooklyn will you see cool grafitti like this. new york itself is too proper for such artistic talent.

the brooklyn bridge - should have seen it during sunset. apparantly it is amazing.

ooh. the new york stock exchange! all you financial people, eat your hearts out.
gosh, you wouldn't know it's american, would you?

ground zero.
a sombre moment. you can just imagine how it was like 7 years ago.
can't believe time flew by so quickly..

our happy stuffed selves at the best steak house in all of new york.
our not-so-happy wallets hiding away in vain

seriously the best pancakes i have tasted in my LIFE. i would go back to new york just for these.

chinatown, where everyone assumes you speak cantonese. i say it must be the best chinatown in the world. definitely beats london's hands down.

ahh last day dimsum with the girlies.
i miss them so.
: (

i want to go back..

back to bedlam

just got back from america. and i miss it so already.

i left for america expecting a busy schedule with lots of sightseeing, expecting also to come back with a whole load of shopping and spending lots of time with friends in america, all of which i haven't seen in ages.

i came back from america with sub-optimal sightseeing, spending time with friends and friends-of-friends, which was good in a way and not so good in a way. ren was with us the whole of the first week, so that wasn't so bad in terms of catching up but mandy's little double room served as a hostel for the 4 of us plus her roommate. tight squeeze so we moved into the lounge where i found out to my surprise that late-night american tv is very entertaining! the next supermodel, top chef.. but we should have hung out more in nyc. blame bad timing.

three words to describe each city i went to:
princeton - scholarly, cambridge-esque, apartment-style dorms
cape may - relaxing, surreal, pleasantville
boston - COLD, brighter-and-cleaner-version of london, beautiful
new york - perfect-foodie-haunt, shove-and-push, overwhelming

there was quite a bit of individual exploration of the crazy city that is new york, which was very refreshing, no limitations, no waiting around for decisions, just me and my plans. taking in the sights in midtown, trying to find my way around the grid-map of newyork wasn't as easy as i expected. the newyork subway made me miss the tube, horror of horrors. but the craziness of times square, the hustle and bustle in chinatown, the quaint history-laden litarary streets of greenwich village, the no-nonsense seriousness in wall street and at ground zero, the majesticity of the brooklyn bridge and what little i saw of central park made up for the confusing transport system. also, after the epic trip to woodbury commons, i find i shop best alone. and yes, i came back with a whole shopping bag full mostly of clothes, which goes to show just how much of a rugged traveller i am inside.

food-wise (and yes, this deserves a whole paragraph), america ranks as one of the top destinations. the food in cape may was amazing, thanks to all our chefs, impromptu recipes and of course, the internet. there i was, stuffed like a turkey every night, any movement was effortful. it was restaurant week when we were at boston, as if welcoming our arrival. all the top restaurants for less than half the price. serene our host was the most sincere and helpful person i have ever met! she went to extremes to make us feel comforatble, giving up her bed in the process.. makes me ashamed of myself sometimes. the final day dinner party she hosted could very well be the top dinner party i've been to in terms of the amount and variety of food served - all home-cooked too! big singaporean gathering at harvard made me think of home.. all the rendang and satay helped too. i have come to a conclusion that america has wonderful desserts. there was finale in boston and a million good dessert places in nyc. there was also grimaldi's famous pizza under the brooklyn bridge, good enough for any renowned italian chefs, good enough for me. peter luger's steakhouse: steep prices but oh-so worth-it. i don't think i have appreciated steak properly until that dinner. perfect desserts at bottega del vino recommended by the peninsula where we posed at hotel guests. magnolia bakery where cupcakes and sweet things ruled the world, and our stomach's afterward. clinton st. baking house - in my 20 years, this is the first time i have enjoyed a plate of pancake sooo much that i have vowed to learn how to make pancakes as good as those. they were seriously a STACK of pancakes, all fluffy and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. and not to mention all the great chinese restaurants they had in chinatown, which beats the one in london. it's much larger firstly, and so authentic they even have wet markets on the streets! everyone speaks to you firstly in cantonese, then in chinese when they realise you're not from hk, then maybe a splattering of english if you're lame and not a chinese-speaker as well. we ended off with dimsum which was dirt cheap.. i couldn't ask for more.

america was fantastic. i feel so lost now without a plan of where to go and what to eat for each day. it's back to boring cambridge, where there's not much choice either-way. i also found that i've missed the annual snowfall here. : ( what a waste. i wanted a proper snowball fight this year too!

oh boy. tmr marks the day i start my mad dash to the finish line of tripos. i hope it's a mad dash all the way and not just a jog. or else i'm screwed.

counting down

lady liberty awaits ever so patiently. i'm getting increasingly excited, planning all these eating, shopping and sightseeing trips around nyc, to the point where the only useful thing i felt i got out of my dos meeting with zoltan today was the weather forecast in newyork - snow!

i'm attempting to pack for america together with just plain old vacation storage packing. it's not going too well i'm feeling so lazy. i have this amazing playlist on itunes and it's distracting me, not to mention also the facebook aftermath of abacus annual dinner last night.

these next few days are going to be crazy. i will not get any sleep after friday bop. sleepover for all us crazy souls catching insane coach/train timings on sat morning. and then, before i know it i will be in then land of the free! gosh, everythings' moving a bit too fast now.

brighter than sunshine

the weekend was eventful. but i'm not feeling that chatty atm.

sometimes i wonder if i only choose to see the good side of people, whether naively or just unconsciously. it makes me quite uncomfortable seeing people when they're not in the normal light, or when the worst in people shine through. i should learn not to be such an idealist, just because nothing in this world is perfect (cliched or not).

my london escapade was timely, had a chance to break away from the unpleasantness of the previous night and just spend some quality time with the girls. sing night was surprisingly good, so was the london food! i'm so tired from the lack of sleep these few days, not that i'm going to get any break from now onwards. i've had a record number of people i had to put to bed in a week, and the week's only just started. it just goes to say how responsible cambridge people are.

but i'm not letting anything dampen my good mood these days. my boredness has ceased due to the absurd amount of stuff i have to get done this week, stemming largely from the fact that i've done nothing whatsoever the past few days. i get what i deserve..

this one's for you..

happy birthday daddy!

wish i could be there
lots of love from millions of miles away
xxx

who's to blame

today, i realise exactly how untalented i am.

i do not have the courage right now to do humanitarian medicine, no matter how heart-warming it is and how i think it's all for the best cause. the photographs of the utter helplessness of war victims and the innocent kids didn't help matters; it made me feel even guiltier that i wouldn't give up my safety to reach out to help them. such a pampered fool i am.

i do not play the piano/any musical instrument well, and by well i mean great. i define great as playing with such feeling you move the audience, performing without a care in the world, reaching a standard that the perfectionist in you will be proud of. throw in being fantastic in cool dance genres and here you have the ultimate all-rounder. i admire such people, to be able to go the unconventional route and do so well in it too.

i also cannot and will not be able to stand in front of an expectent audience and complete a stand-up comedy act. kudos to the 6 people who actually dared to.


we are compelled to do what we have to.
we are compelled to do what we have been forbidden.

i light my own fires

in the midst of planning the trip of a lifetime (hopefully). it may not be as bad as i thought it would be - i do have more friends then i remember ha.

easter seems to be coming up too quickly. time flies when you have nothing to do. but i don't foresee it passing any faster now. good thing really.

i hate this cyclic workload. the worst part is knowing that the essays are looming but not having a clue what they are, just waiting to be buried under the inevitable sudden enthusiasm from supervisors. ok, i lie. that's not the worst bit, because what's even more infruriating is that london beckons this sunday, as does m night formal (which is shaping up to be an EPIC night) on sat, which just means i have to get these work done literally on the day i get them. to think that last weekend was absolutely work-free, so much so that i had to think long and hard for things to do to occupy myself. obviously, timing doesn't favour me one bit. and that feeling sucks.

lazy hazy crazy days

so much free time set me thinking...

do i really need to be involved in societies/clubs to occupy my time? next year will most probably be a copy of these few days - just for an extended period of time. (i say this now but will look back and regret it for sure) it's definitely been great not having to do anything, basking in the sun and lazying around in the market, but can i keep up with this freedom long-term? seems like a silly question: i've been provided with a luxury in the stress bubble that is cambridge and i'm complaining.

maybe i'm one of those people who seeks to be busy so that i feel wanted.
or being busy keeps me occupied and my mind from wandering.
i'm still in the process of self-discovery...

i had better see the light soon.