gosh, the whole week has been quite hectic, if i must say. or maybe it’s because i have extremely poor time management. or perhaps because my math is horrible. or maybe even because, as much as i try, i’m not paying enough attention in class and therefore forget whatever that was taught and when i get home i am not able to finish my work on my own.
okay, either way, i just haven’t been sleeping at my usual time. for this whole week i have been dropping onto my bed at 12.30. every day. and you know i’m not the type who can function well even if i have insufficient rest. well anyway, enough about it. i shall force myself to learn how to get my work done on time and make sure i will be able to keep awake regardless of how boring the lesson is (especially Social Studies).
since i’ve been so pffffft the whole week, i suggested going to the library on Friday after our HMT class. shiming, clar and xueling were rather enthusiastic about it, but in the end it was only shiming who could make it. clar had piano tuition and xueling was going to buy her bag with her mum. all of us walked to White Sands and on the way we were talking so much crap and laughing like maniacs (but not so extreme as compared to the time last year when Zhihao keep imitating 赵老师 speaking Japanese). and i kept saying ‘retarded’! stupid. i have to control myself. shiming and xueling were sucking on lollipops all the way there. i’m not sure if shiming passed on her LAD (Lollipop Addiction Disease) to xueling.
xueling went off to the interchange while shiming, clar and i went up to the foodcourt. clar actually suggested KFC but i was having sore throat. isn’t it nice of them to eat healthy stuff with me? (: up we went and there we met renee and samantha s. eating. we got a table next to theirs and went to look for food. we were feeling quite unsure as to what to have for lunch and then clar recommended the hokkien prawn mee. she said it was really good and they gave quite a big amount (therefore the slightly more expensive price). so i said, ‘okay’ and we went to line up.
when we went back to the table we saw shiming at the rice store, the one where the food is on this wooden thing? initially she’d told us that she didn’t want to eat. anyway we sat there and ate and halfway came along clar’s sister. she reminded clar of her piano tuition and ran off soon after. then shiming and i looked at clar, perplexed, and asked, ‘who’s she?’ clar looked at us and replied, ‘my sister.’ seriously, both of us couldn’t see any resemblance.
later clar went off with renee and samantha to buy some stationery before heading home. shiming and i continued eating and sat there and began chatting. there is something really funny. whenever i meet up with someone that i haven’t kept in touch for reaaaally long, i find that the conversation will be filled mostly with long, uncomfortable silences. but with all my good friends the conversation just goes on and on, peppered with lots of laughter. anyway, it was like that with shiming. we went to the library and shiming wanted to change her clothes, so i went with her. instead of heading for the toilet, we caught sight of a Chinese book and before we knew it we were looking through for nice 小说s, particularly romance ones.
i think it was about 15-20 minutes and i finally told her to hurry up and change. i found the Chinese version of The Phantom of the Opera! i think Andrew Lloyd Webber made the musical based on the book. so exciting. i think when i finished the current book i’m reading then i’ll go find the book.
on the way back from the toilet, we found this book: Ultimate Shop Design. and that’s where all the fun–and gawking–begins.
first design theme: Deconstruction. this theme is really modern, like those chic shops you see with very bold patterns and colours that stand out (or jump out). i didn’t really like this one cos i think it’s too modern, not really my type, probably. we liked:
1/ Marni in London, UK
2/ Ras Gallery in Barcelona, Spain that sells clothes, books and collectibles
3/ Gucci in Paris, France
Minimalism was the design theme that i really went ga-ga over.
1/ Zumtobel Staff in Berlin, Germany (the inside of the shop was realy fabulous as there were different lights that made the interior really pretty)
2/ Yauatcha (丘记茶苑) in London, UK that sells cakes (this one shiming practically went wild. worse than a madwoman)
3/ Bellucci in Grosseto, Italy that sells clothes
4/ Christian Lacroix in Tokyo, Japan that sells clothes
5/ Michel Guillon in London, UK that sells eye apparel. now, this is the most unique optical shop i’ve ever seen. every pair of spectacles or sunglasses has its own compartment in the wall. the whole wall behind the counter is full of compartments. Some of the display holders are jutting out. really cool.
6/ Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris, France that sells clothes
7/ ArtQuitect in Barcelona, Spain, selling art pieces. this shop is simple but very cool.
Renovation and Restoration: this is not bad too.
1/ Unto This Last in London, UK, selling furniture
2/ Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido in Paris, France. this shop is absolutely fabulous, beside Gucci and Zumtobel Staff. the staircase looked so damn grand!
3/ Chantal Thomass in Paris, France, selling female apparel. shiming went berserk over this shop because it had a very girly interior (pink).
4/ Le Boudoir in Barcelona, Spain that sells lingerie. i love this one too! the design of the shop is very Victorian or Edwardian or Elizabethan or whatever you call it. so pretty.
5/ Nuevo espacio Julie Sohn in Barcelona, Spain, selling clothes
Contemporary and Classic: this theme seems to have rather original designs.
1/ Dolce and Gabbana in London, UK
2/ Amaya Arzuaga in Madrid, Spain
3/ Chanel in Paris, France
4/ Louis Vuitton in Paris, France
5/ Tateossian London in London, UK
the last theme we went through was Trash-Chic. there were others but shiming had to go for her 古筝 lesson. anyway she borrowed the book home! it’s 527 pages. so heavy.
1/ Desigual in Barcelona, Spain
2/ Junky Styling in London, UK
and there you have it, all the shop designs (so far) that we simply adore! haha. i’m sorry if this post was way too long, but i haven’t been writing for at least a week. it’s enough to drive me a bit mad.
yesterday we went for my mum’s primary 6 friends’ barbeque. i think all her classmates were there. can you believe it? they haven’t seen each other for 3 decades!
and i realise that 5 women are very noisy and are able to break all the glass in a house if they just laugh.
i don’t know how my mum managed to find them after so many years. i simply can’t imagine my mum in a little uniform, sitting in class and listening to the teacher.
my sis and i met my mum’s teacher and he told us about her. she really does have the smartie-pants genes. if she put in effort for her exams, she got first. if she didn’t, she got second or third. either way, she was always one of the top 3 students in class and standard. every year she went up during prize-giving ceremony. the teacher always arranged the papers according to the marks. those at the top got the lowest and those at the bottom got the highest. and my mum’s papers were always at the bottom. and the boys would boo at her instead of clapping and cheering for her cos she was so smart.
how come my mum’s so smart but i’m not?
my dad’s smart too. in primary school, though, he was very naughty and mischievous and never studied. but after that, in secondary school, he began working hard. he went to Catholic Junior College and then on to NUS, where he met my mum. love at first sight? i don’t know. but i know my dad was always very nice to my mum. my dad was a really excellent runner. just at the end of last year we moved house and we were packing our stuff. my dad wanted to throw away all of his trophies and plagues that he’d won when he was younger. my sister and i took the boxes and were about to dump it down the rubbish chute when we found this plague that said our dad had came in first when running 721.7 km.
unbelievable?
yes, i think so. most of us already feel exhausted when we complete our 2.4km.
my dad always got second for chinese somewhere along his journey of education. and one of those days when we were packing, he came in with the Catholic Junior College Yearbook 1981 and showed us this poem, 雨. the author was 古浪. anyway, my dad was that person who wrote the poem. (he kind of translated his English name to Chinese, but can you imagine calling yourself Ancient Wave?) my dad was in the CJC choir and therefore he can sing really well. not many people can vibrato when they sing right?
mathematically,
positive + positive = positive
[clever dad + clever mum = clever children?]
does it make sense?
i’m not sure. because i’m not brainy.
but my sis is and my brother is good in sports. which shows that both of them are inclined in some way or another.
i don’t know what i’m good at.
alright, enough divulging of information on my parents’ history. if i continue i’m going to tell you even more stuff and then this post will go as long as it will.
comments please? thank you!
until then, readers (there aren’t any).
