Blessed birthday

B L E S S E D

Never have I felt this way before. Personally, I always feel that there's a huge difference between feeling happy and feeling blessed - Needless to say, I feel extremely fortunate for the existence of certain people in my life at the moment.

I'm pretty sure it's not new to you guys that I'm not a really happy person - Mainly because I dwell on useless things pretty god damn often, and I tend to think the worst of things due to my past experiences. Small little things could affect me the entire day, especially if it's an issue related to someone important to me... I don't know if happy is the right word though, cos the irony is... I'm usually in a really buoyant mood, but I can easily get emotional out of nowhere as well.

Well, that's not the point anyway... Cos I think I'm a much happier person now compared to how I was one-two years back. Even my close friends agree.

I guess it's partly because my priorities have changed, and also how I've learnt to focus on the right people.

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I honestly never had a really memorable Birthday ever since I became a teen... I used to think having a party with a huge group of friends and receiving a ton of gifts would define what a perfect Birthday would be. I guess I was proven wrong this time.

Many would wanna party the night away on their 18th, and I won't deny I had the exact sentiments initially. I was expecting an extravagant house party, a huge pool, hundreds of guests, so on and so forth... It wasn't until 2 weeks before, when I realised that's not a Birthday I'd wanna look back on thinking, "Oh, it was just another wasted night which I woke up to, not remembering what happened the night before."

After much contemplation, I finally decided to celebrate it with my best friend, group of friends who have always been there for me, and my family (separately) And I swear it was the best decision I've ever made.

I really enjoyed myself, and it's a moment that will be kept in my heart for the rest of my life. I'll always remember this feeling, where I tear up a little from the bliss I'm overwhelmed with.

I'm so glad for once, I could finally say I had the time of my life and I'm really grateful for the presence of all these people.

Alright, I hope I don't appear to be flaunting... But it's my way of showing appreciation and gratitude to all of you who made an effort; whether it's a wish, gift or surprise, thank you so much. Love y'all from the bottom of my heart.

Two lovely videos made by the best people on this planet.

Last Thursday night at Hai Di Lao, pre-celebration with Fred and Aud. Great place for steamboat!

Two surprises from the best classmates in school on the eve.

Lol, if you were wondering why's the container (below) on the left filled with a bunch of weird stuff,

1) It has a really "deep" meaning behind it... Eggs, hotdogs, tako balls... It's okay if you don't get me. Hahaha.

2) All my fav stuff! I was kinda touched, although I'm not really sure if it's pure coincidence or they remembered these were my favs, but I shall give them the benefit of doubt and choose to think the best of it lol.

Spent the rest of the night with my bestie.

Had dinner at Fremantle Seafood Market and she brought me back to her place where the huge surprise was.

I can't believe I got tricked the whole time, from the moment this girl told me she didn't bring my present out cos something messed up the plan, until I followed her back to her place after dinner.

I was really happy though! I guess the best surprises are those that come unexpectedly after all haha.

Love you Trix!

Sat morn Dim sum with my family.

All these wouldn't have went smoothly without my parents, dad for helping me with the hotel and payment... Mom for conspiring with my friends :p Thank youuuu daddy and mommy neo!

Last but not least, spending the rest of the day with these bunch of amazing friends. The surprise kinda failed cos I sorta guessed it when my mom acted really strange the entire morning... But appreciate the effort. Hehe.

Stayed in 3/4 of the day, and headed to the beach till around three or four the next morning. Quality time indeed.

Once again, thank you so much everyone! Ending this off with Danial's retarded face... Lesson learnt, never take selfies with my camera hahaha.

Electrified

Finally made a trip to Salon Vim, after weeks of procrastination. Sat in their Bugis outlet for more than 5 hours because of how tough it was to get rid of my red pigments. Bleaching, and more bleaching. RIP hair, I love you.

Thought you guys are probably familiar with the entire process by now, the usual bleaching, washing and dyeing. So I'm not gonna go in depth on that. 

The top part is actually Electric Blue, and the bottom would eventually fade into a light shade of grey/platinum blonde colour. You can see a few purple streaks, (which are a little more obvious now after a few washes) cos of my previous red pigments that have combined with the blue.

Guess I was hoping to be like Queen Elsa... Hahahaha kidding, so far from it. She doesn't have blue hair, but I must admit I had the inspiration after watching Frozen.

Alright, picture time! 

235 Victoria Street Singapore 188027 Tel +65 6837 0073 / +65 6837 0045

Do contact my hairstylist Jamie Seah and quote my name for 10% off :) Time to pamper your hair before CNY and V's Day!

P/s Birthday in 5 days... Perhaps something new too. Wondering what I'm talking about? Stay tuned! ;)

Two cents worth

I don't usually bother much about all these online drama that's going on

1) because they don't concern me

2) I hate being a part of a cycle where people just keep biting one another's heads on Twitter (especially) It's never ending!

 However, even if I do have an opinion, it's not a habit of mine to blatantly share my views on how I feel... but somehow there's something about this huge, contentious issue this time that makes me feel disturbed. And it bothers me so much that I'm writing this at 1.45 in the morning.

Disclaimer: I'm only writing this based on how I truly feel. No hard feelings, so in case it isn't catered to your liking, I apologise in advance. And no, I definitely do not have an ulterior motive behind this post, cos...

Ain't nobody got time for that.

Alright, back to the main topic - Stephanie Koh, better known as Steph Micayle.

You can watch Steph's first video (here) and her response video below.

Before I begin, this is how I feel about Steph - I personally met Steph once in person in late 2012, however the meet up wasn't exactly long enough and nothing too drastic took place in order for me to set a permanent impression of her. Hence, I wouldn't even say that I "know" her.

We do have quite a number of mutual friends and I've heard the nastiest stuff about her attitude, but to give her the benefit of doubt (since I haven't exactly interacted much with her), I still continue to remain rather neutral about this and I've nothing against her.

Won't go in depth on her points made in her videos, cos you can watch it and form your own opinion, but here's what I've to say in general after watching those two videos with overwhelming responses on how she's not proud to be a Singaporean:

I'm not a fan of her attitude, but let's not get too personal, cos that aside... You can't deny she does have some valid points, but they aren't entirely right in my pov.

Firstly, what she said about Singaporeans are not only unique to us, but in fact exist in many other Asian countries as well.

Why so?

"No place for an artist" - This doesn't only apply to us, cos let's be practical here, as a matter of fact Asian people are brought up to pursue academic studies to ensure that we get well-paying jobs, rather than artistic and creative pursuits - These come from having to survive in a competitive environment.

However, on the other hand we are beginning to change. Look at the rising number of Art schools there are today, and it isn't true that we don't have Arts & Craft implemented in our education system, because I personally had Art classes during curriculum times since pre school. Anyway my point is, times have indeed changed throughout the years. It's no longer as rigid as the past, and I'm pretty sure there would be more opportunities for creative people to grow, it's just a matter of time.

Talk about Australia? How many centuries did they take in order to be where they are now? To be fair, Singapore only has about half a century of modern history - How could you expect things to change overnight? All these evolution take time.

"Not nice" - Well this is something rather subjective, because a friend from China remarked, "I love Singapore for how the people here are cultured and polite than back home." The same way we would say towards Australians when we visit their country.

It's by what standards we are judging people based on.

Indeed many people working in the service sector have room for improvement in terms of their working attitude, but you might also wanna consider the fact that many of them aren't local.

Have you even been to a local McDonalds outlet with senior service staff? Cos I've met plenty who are not only courteous, but give some of the best service on uncountable occasions.

What about Japan? Are the people there rude or unfriendly? Hell no! They are probably the country with the most courteous people, but do you see them greeting passer-bys like in Australia? NO.

Fact is, we are too caught up in our daily lives, everything moves at such a fast pace. It's just our lifestyle.

You shouldn't generalise all Singaporeans based on the people YOU have met elsewhere.

"It's not true that Singapore's pay rates are better than minimum wage" - Compared to Australia, this statement might be true, but if you were to compare us to countries within the region? For instance, Malaysia. We are paid almost twice as much.

Then again, all these are based on our different cost of living.

Realise all these points are really subjective?

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We are definitely not under the Top 10 list of countries with the highest suicide rates to begin with.

If you wanna make comparisons, why not think about how fortunate we already are to be living in a country with no natural catastrophes, hardly any racial discrimination in spite of our multi-racial culture, and higher employment rates?

On the contrary, many Western countries like Europe has fallen behind in terms of economy, because the people choose a more leisurely lifestyle; it doesn't help that the welfare state policy pays them money even when they do not work.

So my question is, it's all about choices isn't it?  You can't always have your cake and eat it. Would you rather be living in a rat race or lie on the couch and not do anything at all?

I guess majority would pick the second, but at what price? Paying higher taxes or turning your country bankrupt, like in Greece?

Do you know Singapore being the smallest country, has one of the largest reserves in the world? Because we save for a rainy day.

By the way, has it ever come across to you what's the total opposite of being submissive?

Freedom?

Thailand? Philippines? Look at what have their given rights turned into? Riots and demonstrations, living in fear and uncertainty everyday not knowing when their life may be at risk.

You can be in a country with total freedom, but only in exchange for chaos.

Do you wanna live in prison in your own home? Think about it.

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It's undeniable that there's indeed a lot of things we could improve on, as Singaporeans, but what's the point of complaining and not doing anything to make Singapore a better place? Why not let us be the generation to make a change? Instead of brushing this responsibility off our shoulders time and again saying, "I'm not the one." (Like running away, and leaving the country...)

John. F Kennedy once said "too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought," maybe we should all give some thought in the things we say before we pass our judgement.