Photobooth and Hazel

Hazel isn't doing so well. She's losing weight and still breathing too heavily even after 2 different kinds of antibiotics. I've started feeding her fresh fruit and veggies in the hope that she will get back her appetite. I don't want to jinx it but after I started with the fresh food, she's been eating just a little bit more, even though she's still losing weight. I've another vet visit scheduled for next Monday and I really hope the vet can do something to fix this. I've been to 3 different vet clinics already and I'm starting to lose hope... Wish Hazel and me luck.

xx.

The Liebster Award

Thanks Rong (stillness-gravity) for nominating me! This isn't a real award so don't go all like "Omg Sam got an award?!" hahaha. It's like a chain message, bloggers who are nominated must answer the questions set by the blogger before them and then nominate another few blogs. It's something like the 20factsaboutme tag on Instagram. So here are my questions and answers!

1. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging a few months before 'A' levels. I guess blogging was a way for me to de-stress and relive the happy moments in my life at that time, like eating good food. Hahaha so many of my earlier posts were about cafés. A's were super stressful for me and I think if I didn't blog I would've gone mad.......... or done a lot better. Either.

2. Who are your top 3 favourite music artists?

My music taste constantly changes so if you ask me in a few months my answer could be different haha.

3-A Great Big World- Their music is so chill and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy. :') Admittedly I only know a few of their songs but from what I've listened to, they're definitely among my top 3. Favourite song: Already Home

2-The Glee Cast-Awesome voices omg. My favourite singers are Naya Rivera and Lea Michele. Most of the Glee covers/mashups are better than the original songs! Favourite song: I feel pretty/Unpretty

1-Marié Digby- She is my all-time favourite and I don't think I will ever fall out of love with her voice. ♡ Favourite song: Avalanche

3. If you could travel anywhere regardless of the costs, where would you go and why?

This is a tough one. I would want to go to so many places! But the place I want to visit the most (which is also quite expensive) is VENICE. I really want to see it before it gets submerged due to global warming. From what I've seen in pictures, it's beautiful! *_*

4. What fictional world would you choose to live in if you were given the chance?

I would live under the sea in a mermaid kingdom like in The Little Mermaid. Don't laugh but it was a childhood dream of mine! I used to play mermaids with my sister and neighbour in the swimming pool and we would wear flippers and pretend we had tails haha.

5. Do you believe in soulmates?

I do believe in soulmates but I also believe that love is a decision. So even if someone is not your soulmate, you can still make the decision to love him/her. I also believe that one person has many soulmates and is the soulmate of many other people, if that makes sense haha. Because I think it would be really hard to find your soulmate if you only had one... yeah.

6. What is your favourite flower and why?

Baby's breath. You know how in bouquets, baby's breath is always used but it's almost never the center of attention, instead it enhances the beauty of the bouquet. I like it's quiet beauty.

7. What do you think happens after we die? Do you believe in a life after death?

Here's what I believe happens after someone dies: Firstly their soul leaves their body and searches for a white light. Sometimes they see the white light immediately but they often have to wait days, months or years before it appears to them. Then they follow the white light to the gates of heaven where they will be judged by God. Most people have to go to purgatory, which I believe is roaming the earth as a ghost to purify them and prepare them for heaven. While others (probably saints) will go directly into heaven and others go to hell. Yeah this is what I believe at least, nobody told me that this would happen, I just kinda formulated this idea on my own lol.

8. If you could spend an entire day with your idol who would it be? (it could be an actor/music artist/writer etc.)

Hmmm I don't really have any idols that I would like to spend a day with. I would much rather spend it with my friends... But if I had to choose, I would pick Lang Leav. I just love her work and would like to ask her what inspires her, and about her experiences in life and love.

9. What is one thing that you would change about your life if you could travel back in time to change it?

I would have taken things more seriously in JC1. By taking things seriously I don't mean mugging or studying, I mean joining in more meaningful activities, other than playing cards every time I had any free time. I would have tried out for the OCIP to Nepal or Laos and I would have done more CIP in Singapore as well.

10. What is something that you've always wanted to try/learn/pick-up? (eg. learning to play an instrument/dance etc.)

Tennis! That is quite a lofty dream for me because when I hit the ball, it flies backwards haha plus my hand-eye coordination really sucks. I think it's a really fun sport and can help me burn some calories too. Plus Gen and Su Lynn both play it so we can all play together! 

11. Who are you going to nominate?

I don't know many people who have blogs so I'll nominate 3 of my friends :)

1. charisfabulous
2. evelynpsujin
3. wonder.cook.eat

Questionsssss for you:

1. What made you start blogging?

2. What is your favourite thing to do when you're feeling down?

3. What is your most memorable birthday celebration?

4. What is your favourite café/restaurant/food place of all time? (Can be in Singapore, can be overseas)

5. What are your 3 favourite songs?

6. If you could be an animal for as long as you want, what would you be? And why?

7. Where do you see yourself in 20 years' time?

8. What is one thing you would change about your life if you could travel back in time and change it?
9. What are your top 3 favourite foods?
10. Where would you travel if you had unlimited funds but only 1 week?
11. Who will you nominate and what are your questions for them?

xx.

SPR•MRKT

Finally a post dedicated to food/cafés! I just got home from dinner with Van and Cheryl and I'm so excited share (pictures of) the amazing food we had! Hahaha

We first went to SPR MRKT for dinner. It wasn't crowded but the place wasn't very big so there weren't many empty tables.

Van's eggs florentine! I didn't try it but the egg white looked kinda watery. The hollandaise sauce was super delicious!!! It tasted like sour cream mixed with butter, good stuff.

The truffle fries were really good!

Out-of-focus picture of Cheryl's eggs benedict ($14) haha. The egg whites also looked quite watery but when Cheryl broke the yolk, she said it wasn't that runny so I guess... looks are deceiving?? Hahaha

My croissant teriyaki beef and crispy onion sandwich ($14). It was pretty good! The beef was yum and the croissant was really nice. (Lol at my great range of vocab: 'yum' and 'nice')

Two embarrassing friends went to great lengths to take the perfect photo hahaha from standing up to arranging all the things on the table. And trying to hold the truffle fries basket at an angle hahaha

More pictures of the food:

After that we decided to go to Tsujiri at 100AM mall for dessert. It reminded me Nana's Green Tea but less well known, still good nonetheless! I think the owner is a japanese woman who studied in Singapore because there were 2 teenage girls interviewing her and I overheard some of it hehe. #eavesdroppingqueen lol

Van and I shared the Maccha Shiratama Parfait which is this thing:

And Cheryl had Maccha soft serve ice cream cos she tried the parfait before. Then Cheryl had to leave so we walked to Tanjong Pagar MRT and parted ways :'( I hope we'll get to meet again soon!

The other day I finally tried Cake Spade with Su Lynn! The shop is really small! And we were quite disappointed that they didn't have all the cakes on the menu because I mean they're a cake shop! They only sell cakes so they might as well have the full selection right? I ordered the peach tofu cheesecake ($5.90/slice) and Su ordered the dark chocolate banana cake ($6.20/slice).

The tofu cheesecake was really good! I was really impressed. Usually cheesecakes would get gelat after awhile but this one was nice and light cos it's tofu I think. I tried a bit of Su Lynn's cake and it was super rich :o

Anyway if you're interested, I accepted NUS FASS. kthxbye.

Good vibes

I haven't blogged in such a loooong time! Because I thought I had absolutely nothing to blog about... But when I think more about it, I actually have quite a lot to say! 

The first thing would be about my my 4-day relief teaching job at IJ Kellock. I found it really enjoyable being a teacher. I love to interact with the students, and seeing their excitement at having a new teacher was very heartening. I don't know if it was because I was teaching at my old primary school, but I felt very welcome and at home not only because of the other teachers, but also because of my students. They were very well-behaved and didn't treat me like an outsider. I taught a p5 and p6 class throughout the 4 days and on the last day I took on a p2 class. The p2s were much more difficult to handle than the other classes I took because they didn't listen to me and it was extremely difficult to get their attention, but somehow I managed hahaha. If given the opportunity, I would definitely go back to teach again! But I'm not sure that teaching for the rest of my life appeals to me though... sometimes it can be draining and there is the constant nagging worry that you aren't a good teacher and that all your students secretly hate you haha.

Ooh and I also went to the Magnum popup store with Tiff and Grace :D You can customise your own magnum for $7. You get to pick 3 toppings, the chocolate coating (dark, milk or white) and the chocolate drizzle. It was super delicious because I love chocolate the chocolate coating was really thick :P We also ordered a tiramisu dessert, but it wasn't as nice as the customised magnum imo, and quite pricey too.

I also went for the NTU sociology interview and written test. It was horrible! I totally had no clue what I was writing. And during the interview, the interviewer asked what current affairs had caught my attention, and I PANICKED because I haven't read the newspapers in a looooong time. So I just talked about the MH370 -_- But in the end miraculously I got offered a place in NTU.... which I probably won't accept because for some reason I'm more inclined to NUS (which also accepted me into FASS). Sigh but I didn't get the MOHH scholarship :(( So I rejected Nanyang poly because my parents are dead set against me going to poly. I also finally applied to Monash. But then I realised that there will be an IDP Australia uni fair on 3 May and they waive the application fee for you!!!! So I effectively just wasted AUD$100 of my dad's money :'(

Anyway, until next time, :)
xx.

Consuming Fire

I just came back from church confirmation camp! This was my first time facilitating for a confi camp and it was definitely a very intense experience. Even though I wasn't a participant, there was healing for me, and affirmation of faith. I felt spiritually drained, especially after the pray over and one of the sessions. But at the same time, I felt so so empowered by the holy spirit.

This was the loudest batch of confirmands I have ever met omg haha such the opposite of my own class last time. But I just know that God will use their voices for good, to glorify Him and to proclaim the good news. This batch also came with a lot of hurt and scars, some not even aware of them, and some refusing to acknowledge them. During one of the sessions on Sunday I suddenly felt a rush of emotions and I just broke down crying. I suddenly felt all of their pain and a strong desire to just open their hearts and let God show them His love which heals all wounds. It's something I cannot explain but I just want to lift up to Christ.

This was also my first time praying over someone and I was so worried. What if I ran out of words? What if the person I was praying over didn't rest in the spirit? When should I stop praying? But prayer prep was powerful (a little too powerful) and I managed to just let the spirit take charge of me and my fears just evaporated. I just prayed, "I love them so so so much Lord, send down your spirit to teach me how to love them." And God did.

As a facilitator, I think I did pretty well for my first confi camp (definitely with a lot of grace from God), and I feel and hope that I managed to connect with at least 1 participant, and touch their life deeply. I'm immensely thankful for my co-facil Antaeus. He guided me through so well and his strong faith and great wisdom are such an inspiration to me, I have much to learn from him. Although I was surprised at how God was able to speak through me to the participants, I know that I can really improve on my listening skills. Not listening to the participants- I can do that pretty well.. but listening to what God has to say to them. I struggle with words and it's hard for me to totally surrender to God but there definitely has been progress in this area ever since I started facilitating 2 years ago :) I just pray that I won't stop hungering for the Lord because I've learnt that if you truly yearn for Him, all other things will fall into place.

With Ally! Where am I looking uh.

Then came Fawn

My group!! #perfectredeemer #PRT (missing Jerome Sim sighpie)

Camp shot!! Can never get one with everyone looking at the camera haha.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back

xx.

Blessed

So many little things have been happening in my life that make me feel like I'm really very blessed.

1. I was called to go for an MOHH scholarship interview. If I get the scholarship I'll be able to study locally (which is what I want) and not be worried about not getting a job in the future.

2. I was given the gift of tongues for the first time during a prayer session yesterday.

3. I found a buddy (ie Vanessa) to go for kickboxing and pilates classes with me! 

4. I'm stopping work at TMI on Thursday so I'll have more time to myself and to settle Australia uni applications.

5. I finally found a shop that sells really pretty phone covers. (kinda superficial but wdv hahaha)

6. I am learning how to accept myself and my body and how to be comfortable in my own skin, and just being myself :)

7. Hazel seems really happy and healthy now, which I am extremely grateful for.

8. And of course, I and all my loved ones are alive and happy and healthy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went for latin jazz class on Monday and it was really a new experience! The dance requires you to move your hips and arms a lot which I'm really not used to! I was like a fish out of water and I bet I looked really awkward... I think I'll stick to my ballet and lyrical jazz lah haha.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also went to eat at Ssikkek Korean Grill at Novena with the ex-ODACians. It was meat heaven for me omg... It's buffet style so you can take as much as you want and grill it on a small grill in the middle of the table. I loved the beef!!

xx.

Strangers' Reunion Café

On Monday, I was pleasantly surprised when Xin Hui randomly asked me to go out for tea/dinner with her :) We decided to go to Strangers' Reunion Café near Outram Park MRT. 

The waffles there are the BEST. Xin Hui said they might be even better than Wimbly Lu.... (but more expensive also). We ordered scrambled eggs on english muffins (which we soon regretted because the portion was small and it looked like we could make it at home pffft) and a waffle with strawberry and ice cream. Wish we'd ordered 2 waffles instead :( 

Then we walked around and I brought XH to The Provision Shop (another café) and we went in and ate chocolate cake.............. #dontjudge #fatdieus Hey at least we shared hahaha

My food photography sucks so I insisted that we take a photo of ourselves so that I could post on instagram hahahaha

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday I didn't have work so I decided to go back to that area and walk around because the old peranakan architecture there is beautiful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a side note, Hazel is doing much better now! Her eye infection is clearing up and she's eating and behaving normally except for the minor head tilt. I'm so happy! All my efforts are paying off :))

Ending off with a cute picture of Hazel <3