Monday, July 27, 2009

No more mess at the create post page

I meant to update more but my "Create New Post" page was in a mess for the past few days; icons disappearing and so on. Looked online for the solution (apparently it's a singnet problem?), and I finally managed to get the page to load normally again after some online help that's been circulating.

Anyway, two of my tutees have finally gone back to Hong Kong on the 23rd; they're not coming back for the next few years so the odds of seeing them again are pretty low. They're my very first students in tutoring, and I have been really lucky to have been able to teach them, even though they can be super annoying at times. I've heard of stories whereby students don't click with their tutors, or parents that are really demanding and stingy from friends, and I can only count myself lucky that I've had it much easier than them.

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we were having breakfast together at the dining table; that's kaka after trying to imitate a dog's way of eating... sigh boys.

My tutees' mum has been nothing but nice to me, always offering to prepare breakfast/lunch/snacks for me when she knows that I haven't eaten, never fails to give me tuition fees on time, hands out treats on special occasions (mooncakes, red packets, dumplings on birthday celebrations) and even gave me a big box of Rocher. She left me her HK number and welcomed me to look them up if I happen to visit Hong Kong in future so that we can go yum-cha together.

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the Chans and me, at the balcony in their Tanjong Rhu condo.


On the last tutoring day I had with them (that's 20th July), I got them some pastries from Emicakes and she insisted that we sit down together to eat them. I gave all of them a big hug before bidding the final goodbyes. Never thought that the time to part will be so soon; I guess I was sort of caught off-guard. Will definitely miss having them around...

On the day I turned 21, I headed down to Orchard Plaza for my monthly waxing appointment... and, visited the tattoo parlour (8 Volts) next door. I've been contemplating (for the longest time ever) on what my first tattoo should be, and I finally settled on Ai (love), amongst a tiny dolphin and a nautical star.

My artist, Jeremy, printed out the stencil and transferred it onto my right hip after applying some cooling lotion; it left behind a purple-blue outline of what and where my tattoo was going to be. I looked at it in the mirror abit, and decided it was a little too big for my liking. Got Jeremy to print a smaller stencil and he wiped the original one away. Once I gave the green light, he got the tattoo chair ready and had me lie down on my side.

He started off with relatively shorter and less painful 'strokes' as he did the outlining. It felt like something really sharp was digging into my skin and I squirmed in the chair for a bit before I got used to that sensation. The shading wasn't as painful because he used a needle with a rounder and thicker tip. He talked to me so that I could keep my mind off the pain a little, and was constantly checking if the pain was bearable for me.

We were done in 45 minutes and he took a few pictures of my freshly inked hip. I thought it was quite cool how the Ai character was imprinted on the paper towel with my blood as Jeremy wiped it away. After so much talk about it, here's a picture!

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can't reallys see all that blood eh?

It's healing right now, but a few of my shirts and shorts have been stained; the wound gets wet everytime after I shower. I've been trying to pick at the dried-up bits but I think it'll take me a few more days before all the scabs fall off.

Headed down to JB the day after with some windsurfers and it was a food-filled day.

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my slice of carrot cake with a candle. cute.

KTOWY night-out on Thursday and I had a big surprise. I thought we were having dinner at Lagoon Food Centre, but I saw them in the little pavilion instead. They'd prepared some food the whole afternoon and cabbed down carrying all that barang so that everyone could have a good time.

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I just realized WJ got cut off.. hee

I know they really put in a lot of effort in all that preparation and I feel really lucky to have them love me like that!

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look at my sushi 'cake'! they did it all by themselves!

I couldn't stop smiling after seeing the 'cake'; I have really cute friends who come up with the most creative ideas.

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all smiles here and tears moments later... haha. got a hair-cut, if you can see!

Instead of a cake-smashing session, they decided that it's a better idea for me to finish up a sushi with a wasabi-smeared bottom. The group was definitely generous with the wasabi and I could feel my nostrils and throat on fire after I managed to shove it down my throat on the third attempt. JM managed to capture the super unglam moment on video, no less. Maybe I'll put it up one of these days; so that you can hear me scream in protest.

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it was a great amount of sushi; I had whatever was leftover from the night for lunch and dinner the next day.

We ended the night in crazy snapping frenzy; rushing for timed shots, jumping around and lots of laughter in between and games with forfeits like sushi-eating, sushi-eating and sushi-eating hurhur. I love you guys!

Oh, and I just discovered the Macro function on my camera after SK asked me about me some days back. Here's a mini dream-catcher that JM got for each of us during his recent Taiwan trip!

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