party for one

Posted by: lemonbarleystrawberry on: June 24, 2011

In: Uncategorized
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last moments on campus…

but kitty doesnt want to make friend.

whoever this poor chap is, hope he has a sense of humour.

that’s a lot of teeth.

goodbye ntu.

goodbye smelly boon lay.

to celebrate the end of my exams (yes this time, for real), i had a date with the best company in the world – myself.

destination: (disgusting) bugis.

wanted to pamper myself with some quiet time at a cafe i read about online but i lost my way.

the good thing is…I LOVE GETTING LOST!!!

wanted to look for shaw towers but i got disoriented and ended up at…

near toy museum which bffs and i visited some time ago.

depth?

nice courtyard.

i wanted to look into the distance for a more hmm… pensive look, or maybe do a more “candid”, non-static pose, especially in such an artistic place.

but i was afraid the passerby would mistake me as being not ready and just pause and wait for me.

that would have been real awkward.

contrast?

singapore’s chinese name in the 出路 era.

that’s how old this erm…association is.

hainanese 会馆.

i’m a hainanese.

contrary to popular belief, hong kongers =/= cantonese ok, gross!

after half an hour of exploring, i finally found what i was looking for.

caramel cafe.

couldnt stop grinning to myself when i stepped in.

the whole place is just sooooo CUTEEEEEEE!!!

wrong timing though. the lunch crowd only dispersed in the late afternoon, by which time i was ready to leave myself.

but wont you just look at these?

so cute.

oh so cute!!!

HAHAHAHA.

i ordered spaghetti in tomato sauce with bratwurst sausage but it wasnt really that nice.

i wouldnt say i can do better because from past experience, it’s obvious i cant.

but i would say jiamin can do better.

still, who cares if the food isnt fantastic?!

everything is so cute i’m gonna die!!!!!!

and i was very lucky to get the window, sofa seat despite the lunch crowd.

cute.

cute!

oh so cuteeeeeeeeeeee!!!

hahaha.

and what’s better than a cafe that offers set lunch specials?

after about three hours of food, tea, feel-good songs, good books and my favourite ME time, it was time to move on.

wanted to revisit arab street but ended up getting lost again because…i didnt know where i was in the first place.

or maybe i was subconsciously trying to get lost, so that i could explore more, hahaha.

saw my favourite car type TWICE in a day, lucky lucky me!!!

passed by three old men sitting by the road, painting the mosque on arab street, so i stopped to watch.

i once read from somewhere that if a street performer is good enough to make you stop and listen, you owe him a buck.

i guess it works the same for artists.

but they are not performers, so i decided to just strike up a conversation with them.

asked one of the uncles if they were doing it for some on-the-spot art competition, like those colouring contests kids always participate in.

learnt that they were there just to paint for their own leisure.

and apparently, they do it quite often in different places.

sweeeeet…i wish i have the time and talent to do the same.

finally found my destination.

a lot of construction works going on so i couldnt see the exact street i wanted to get to.

but because of that, i got lost (again) and stumbled upon…

the compound is not very big, and there are still parts under renovation, but it’s apparently very well-maintained and oh-so-pretty, no?

the very friendly security guard then explained that the place would only be open to public some time later in june.

oh well then, moving on.

finally found the street i was looking for.

stepped into a shop named children’s toy museum. though i’ve already been there once, the owner was way friendlier this time.

he kept offering to take photos for me everywhere in the shop, which kinda freaked me out after some time.

havent seen anyone quite so enthusiastic.

he asked me where i’m from (usually, people see me roaming the streets alone with my camera and automatically assume i’m a foreigner) and when i said i’m from hong kong (technically true), he started speaking to me in cantonese.

wah lao eh my cantonese is super half-past six one, can?

worst comedy scenerio lor, zzz.

fortunately, just as i’ve always predicted, desperate circumstances can evoke a hidden ability in me to do things i’m usually not confident enough to do.

like in this case, to speak cantonese fluently.

i think i managed to smoke through. in fact, he enjoyed talking to me so much in cantonese he couldnt stop talking.

to stage my escape, i quickly bought some mysterious toy which is supposed to be very popular in olden days.

something like kinder surprise, but without the chocolate.

and then i inched my way out of the shop.

fortunately, a group of malay girls was coming in so they served as a good distraction.

strangely enough, the owner could immediately switch to yakking in malay fluently and he pretty much left me alone after bidding me farewell with a superfastandlongstringofcantonesewords which i could hardly catch.

tsk tsk tsk, really gotta give it to him.

so that’s the end of my adventure in bugis today.

love spending time with myself, exploring, getting lost and finding new places.

love listening to my favourite feel-good songs on ipod and getting smiled at or being approached by friendly strangers for spontaneous chatting in the middle of the street.

when i’m alone, strangers tend to be kinder and friendlier, probably because they think i’m a tourist.

when i’m alone, i pay more attention to everything around me and that’s when i rediscover the beauty of places i thought i know like the back of my hand.

when i’m alone, i get to enjoy quiet time where i hardly think of anything other than concentrating on enjoying the here and now.

so yes, i have to say…i’m a pretty AWESOME company for myself, hahahaha!

now that there is nothing more – no more summer school, exams, TAKE*5, holiday etc – in my path to stop me from stepping into adulthood; it’s truly time to think of my next stop.

but no worries.

the voice of my dreams says…