The notion of beauty

How many times have we felt like this..



like you are never skinny enough to fit into that "sexy" category which society decides. But HOORAY to those who strongly object to this idea of beauty, pack your bags and fly to MAURITANIA!!!

Wiki:
Mauritania (Arabic: موريتانيا‎ Mūrītāniyā), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest. It is named after the Roman province of Mauretania, even though the modern state covers a territory far to the south-west of the old province. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.

The Mauritanian cultural idea of beauty encourages consumption of high fat foods such as camel's milk, to ensure that young women attain sufficient size. Overweight individuals would be considered attractive in this culture. Stretch marks are also considered attractive, as are large ankles and bottoms. Obesity is so revered among Mauritania's white Moor Arab population that the young girls are sometimes force-fed to obtain a weight the government has described as "life-threatening". Force-feeding has now been officially outlawed but still takes place in some areas of the country.

I mean finding plump women attractive is not all unreasonable, but STRETCH MARKS?!?!?! Oh well, perhaps it's the only place in the world that you like enjoy donuts (which equals to 5km of jogging) while reading magazines like..


Why do we all love to confine beauty to an extreme? And don't appreciate uniqueness among individuals? Why do we shape ourselves according to the mainstream, when we know we would only end up looking identical?

To distinguish necessities and wants.

When do we know that we are asking too much?
How do we know when to stop?
When do we let go? and when to be wary?
How much is enough? how much is excessive?
How do we know when there is never a limit to our wants?

All i know is that if what you are doing makes you BETTER OFF, it is a NEED
But if what you are doing makes you VULNERABLE, FRAGILE and INSIGNIFICANT
you are probably losing youself.

I'll be smart and secure my standing.

I ALMOST FORGOT MY PASSWORD

it's been so long since i last logged in. well, you see blogging is a major distraction to me and i see how the number of entries and grades are inversely related for the past months. relatively strong i must say. haha! guess it's not just the writing but the waiting time for the pics to upload etc etc. FINE. one word. LAZY.

Anyway! so much has been going on for this semester! we've been exploring much more places in aussie since it's gonna be the last year. oh well, mixed feelings here. you know like how you hated this place so much initially and now that you have adapted to the way of life, you look back and know that you have already wasted 2/3 of the time here complaining and being all homesick. My advice is to make the best out of anything, even when you are forced to (ok. it was my choice in this case). Nevertheless, i'm still looking forward to my graduation and what's waiting for me back home!

So anyway, we've been on road trips to great ocean roads for the sunset (sadly we couldn't wake up for the sunrise) and phillip island for the penguins early this sem! and of course, my most favourite place in aussie, SYDNEY!! How i wish i was studying there instead. then again, i won't wanna miss out what's in melb too:) well, probably considering a post-grad in syd! somehow later, that is. Better work for my own expenses first. So sydney was really good. a busy city, very much like sg but with much better weather (melb is just too coldddd for me). The habourside was so pretty, shopping everywhere in the city was just great (from low to high end), and most important the fresh sashimi, lobster and crab at the seafood market which you don't get in melb. Mich and her love one were really nice to bring us around for the best food, shops and scenaries! Weiling and i had such a good time that we gotta drag our feet up the plane back to melb. We were like "back to reality", once we touched down.

ok. i better get down to work again. i gotta finished up most of my assignments before my mom comes next week so that i can accompany her around. shopping time again!!! haha..did i say my mom's the best shopping buddy around cos she's the craziest shopaholic i've even seen? yes. she beats anyone hands down for just this one incident. She was found SHOPPING at the gift stores at the hospital right after DELIVERY. She'll never miss out on any kinda shopping really. oh! can't wait for her to come!!! and i just realised that it's mother's day next sun! sweet:)

she knows it best to scare DRACULAS off

Cherie says, just scream right into their faces!! HAHAHA..


the LOVELIES






The lovelies planned a surprise dinner at the draculas despite their busy exams schedule to celebrate Cherie's 19th, Lea's 20th and my STILL 19th but going 20th birthday! Apparently, they invited our friends along and kept the guest list from us, though along the way some info was leaked out. haha! but I STILL LOVE IT. EVERY SINGLE THING THIS EVENING!!! It's AWESOME, like you girls! I'll miss you all (even for that few days)! THANK YOU VERY MUCHEE and I LOVE YOUUU.. (Gowri's way)



I'm lucky that i'm coming home tonight.

Cheat eats

When you are drowning with work and assignments, the only life you have is when you SLEEP, EAT and SHIT. (oh yes, how i enjoy them all) Anyway, knowing how we should pamper ourselves with a good meal after a long week at school, we started our food hunt with Cherie's award-winning "CHEAP EATS" book, which totally "CHEAT EAT-ED" us away. And that left me dragging my feet home like a grumpy old woman. HAHA! But AUTOMATIC'S CAKES (especially the tim tam cheesecake) at CROWN will definately make up for it!!
So, i haven't been updating but it's basically foooood all the time. Like we had our very own ITALIAN COOKOUT (risotto, italian salad, tiramisu and wine), CREPE NIGHT (both savory and sweet, and of course whatever you want in it, you have it. PLUS I MUST EMPHASIZE NUTELLA WITH CHEEZE IS REALLY YUMMY!!) and shanghainese food which numb our tastebuds and cause our waste(shit is not very demure to say, you know. heh) to turn red. And well, yar, as much as i don't wish to talk about it, the many attempts to search for good jap food. AHHH.. the girls would know. Even till now, Weiling and I would still complain about it at home. haha.. Hey people, how can jap restaurant not serve jap rice?!?! and the tempura prawns were like anorexic ones. and the gyoza are chinese dumplings la! seriously, we need some food quality control!! Maybe i should send in a proposal for a ministry of food (oh right, not that jap restaurant in sg. by the way, the food there is not bad! but of course nothing beats SUN WITH MOON at wheelock) cool, at the rate i'm yaking away about food, i think i should just throw my books away and be a food critic instead. HA!

OOooh..Ok. Lets talk about scones at dendenong. So yep yep, we drove up the mountain that Sunday. I must say Mel's driving skills are not bad. you know, it isn't easy driving up that winding road and keeping within the lanes and speed limit on the expressway with drivers in the passing cars looking strangely at us cos OUR DEAR CHERIE COULDN'T HELP BUT FLASH HER MIGHTY WIDE SMILE AT EVERY PASSING CARS. hahaha.. we should have dropped her at husband road and hopefully marry her off! :D

Yes Cherie, we can't stop you. haha!

anyway, the place opens at 11am and it was already full when we got there at 11.30pm!!!



















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Eh! someone's looking!!

FLASH MY WIDE SMILE!! (sorry, i think my cam couldn't handle that.)





OH!! and CASTZ! specially for you girls.............

ONG SI HUI!!

I'm sure you haven seen her in her short hair and her tongue stud!!
oh. I can't wait to get together!! :)

Start counting your blessings :)

There's this stench of "Emo-ness" still lingering in the air of August somehow. How i wish i could work like an air freshener and get rid of it. HA!
We are left with the last week of winter and spring will be here in no time! Can't wait for the flowers to bloom. My favourite season in the year! Although, my flowers are surviving the winter, quite amazingly. And I have no idea why am i speaking in this manner today! haha..

Oh well, it's almost a month since I'm back from home and i realised that I haven't talked about my hols! It's a fulfilling one, i must say. In that 5 weeks, I..

went on a mission trip to Thailand with the Lions, while slotting in some time for shopping and relaxation with my parents and eli and mel, and meeting up with kim. Afterwhich, i haven't been shopping for the longest time! but somehow, I ain't craving for any. I guess the trip taught me well. haha.. and surprisingly i do like the simple life! farmstay this sep hols ok, my girls?



worked at fish and co. paragon which got all my friends asking, "why are you working when you are only back for a month?!" oh well, i know. Pay is crap. like seriously, 140aud for 3 weeks, is like what one would earn in 3 days in aussie. haha! But i did enjoy myself alot working with mel and cherie in that friendly environment, meeting lotsa different ppl everyday. Which got me thinking of going into the f&b business. haha.. but i'm serious about this since i love food and service so much!


Spent quality time with my love ones, which includes my family, my girls, the gang and yes, errol. (pardon me, i still blush when i mention this name here, strange enough.) But yup! quality time, cos they were all busy with sch, work or ns. That explains my spare time for work, you see. Nevertheless, we are still so tight!
So the girls caught up and finally went karaoke together. And we abandon our image for the night despite the presence of our other half. They saw the power of castz. ha!


And the gang held a farewell dinner to get rid of alas, who didn't leave us until a week after that! lol! (Take care in Penang, ALASTIII!)

Thanks to errol, THE PLANNER, every date was memorable. :) (and i love to leave everything to you although i tease you so!)





Celebrated his 20th. well, this time I'M the mastermind of the day! (many thanks to those who turned up!)


Suprised weiling when we appeared at her door with a birthday cake when she was making some paper kimino doll?? Hope you enjoyed our singing and cherie's very interesting way of "point-point" dance! LOL. (I got the video for evidence!)


Suprised lyn on her birthday at her house(we surely love doing this) with cherie mel ning cindy adi eric and chua. And i challenged my alcohol limits that night at zouk, which i obviously failed. haha..


Went church with errol and his parents every Sunday and received christ the last service before my departure!!! (probably the greatest decision i've ever made) I don't know how to put this to sound appropriate, but thank god, really just thank god :)

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So it's scones at dendenong tmr tmr TMR!! i've been waiting for so long, drooling whenever cherie talks about it.

Yo! people! blessing is good food, good company and YOU!
and all the things i've done in the winter break!




My gardener, you water my flowers.

A smile is the best accessory anyone can put on

I've learnt what a smile truely is :)



And i got him smiling too!



That's one big great smile! :D