Packing my bags

I've moved to www.dayre.me/alykatxx

To love

Very often, we do not realise that it can be the most difficult to show love for the ones that we care for the most. It can be easy for us to thank cleaners, buy tissue paper from old grannies, and offer kind words to children unknown to us; we do all these things easily, without much thought. But then we come home and we do not thank our mothers for cooking a meal for us after a long day of work, or our fathers who fixed the front door lock, or our siblings who turned down the covers for us - the list is non exhaustive. Sometimes we even take our anger and frustration out on them, because we have to perform for the world, but at home "who cares?" It's somewhat sad to realise that the reason why you yell at someone is precisely because you know that they're not going to yell back. Some things need to change.

October 6th-12th Pictorials

What I've been up to the previous week in images:

Spent the PH on Monday having brunch and getting some work done with the boy at Holland. Mu Palour was having a 1 4 1 breakfast deal which was too good to pass up. I can usually only stomach about half a portion so having one full portion to myself took an extended period of time to finish, hahaha. 

hi faShioonzx pose, bahahaha. 

I can't remember what was happening in this moment but if experience serves well, he was probably trying to avoid my camera. 

Finally wrapped up during the evening and journeyed to Buona Vista for dinner.

Had Taiwanese fair, the boy brought me here because I had a massive craving for sweet potato fries. 

Then my favourite kind of dessert :D

Always a good time with my qtpai.

Not feeling as perky as I look on Tuesday. Took a terrible terrible midterm first thing in the morning. 

Had to seek comfort in friends. 

The day was so terribly long that I needed some shaker fries to save me in the night. 

It was a good dinner date with my juligirl :3 

Wednesday was blazing. 

New kicks. 

Attended my cousin's graduation ceremony which was followed by a family dinner/celebration. 

Le dinner

And the celebration that followed. 

Drinking with a pug. 

Thursday morning back at school, the day passed really quickly, that was godsent. Coaching and then a good study session in school before heading home to crash. 

Friday spent studying, cleaning, cooking. 

Then grocery shopping with the boy in the evening. 

To buy loads and loads and loads of food for our steamboat and weekend! 

Steamboat was immense, it lasted us till dinner and then the next day, my lordie lord. 

Spent most of Saturday eating ourselves into a stupor and then hanging out in bed with movies, twas good. 

Spent Sunday by myself at home doing absolutely nothing but cooking and eating, it got kinda lonely. 

So the juligirl came over with snacks and we had a nice evening hanging. Ah, apart from the terrible midterm, it was a pretty damn good week (: 

Happiness vs Contentment

I posted this photo a few months back when I was in Sweden. This was taken at an air B&B that I was staying at in Stockholm, it was a sunny evening though there was a chill in the air and I was enjoying some strawberries while waiting for my friends to get ready for dinner. I captioned this, "Don't know if I'm ready to go back to my real life yet." A few days later, a friend told me this:

"I saw the picture you took the other day, the one at the window sill; and I felt so sad. I wanted to tell you that your real life can be anything you want it to be, it's not just some thing you have to 'go back' to." 

This happened perhaps 5 months ago or so, I've arrived home since and have gotten back into the sync of life over here. On exchange in Europe, life seems to be at a standstill. Sure, we go to school and do assignments, we travel and experience exciting, exotic places, but a veil of transience seems to blanket everything. Enjoying the peace and quiet in Sweden felt pretty magical, but it also felt unreal - "this is not real life." Back home here in Singapore, we're so used to the hustle bustle; everyday it's go go go go go. 

This begs the question, what is real life? To me, to you, to people all over the world? Often times Asians compare their lives to Westerners (using this statement very very loosely and generally) and we find ours wanting. It appears that a large majority of "our kind" work far harder and enjoy much less in comparison. This may not be true across all cultures but lets just say so, for argument sake. Yet despite this feeling of discontentment, so to speak, we pride ourselves on our hard work and tenacity; we say that the Westerners are "lazy". 

Is this true? Could it be that we are simply too ardent when it comes to work? The fact is that we could argue all day long and not come to a firm conclusion. We could blame this on culture, upbringing, history, geography, but it does not and will not change what it is. The true knot in my heart is a question - having hankered after the seemingly more quiet and relaxed pace of life (perhaps somewhat close to what I experienced living in Sweden or even Australia in my younger days), would I truly be happy living that way? Or is the grass only greener on the other side? Am I too used to this fast pace of life, would I feel unfulfilled and bored if my reality changed? 

Our lives are what we make of them, but then again, how much is conditioned? How much of a choice do we have? 

Desire

"The desire to go home that is a desire to be whole, to know where you are, to be the point of intersection of all lines drawn through all the stars, to be the constellation-maker and the center of the world, that center called love. To awaken from sleep, to rest from awakening, to tame the animal, to let the soul go wild, to shelter in darkness and blaze with light, to cease to speak and be perfectly understood."

- Rebecca Solnit

Recess week pictorials

As the title suggest, here's a series of pictures depicting my recess week:

 Spent most of my first day off (after a lovely weekend with my boy) lazing around a lot before heading out to celebrate Yulin's birthday! 

Linlin the qt :3 

Tuesday brunch with Kanika before 4037 meeting. 

Havent had this for forever, it was so delightful to taste it again. 

Met my love for dinner after, I don't have other pictures but we had a super full meal of sushi and LJS and dessert story :D

Wednesday study date with.. 

Juli! 

Thursday was spent at the Commcube after which I made my way to the Esplanade. 

Having a short breather alone while waiting for the boy. 

Not too often that you get to sit down and enjoy the city, sometimes you kind of forget how pretty it can be. 

Adorable Japanese children, I later helped to take a full family picture for them. 

We attended a party event at Sauce Bar, free cocktails and lucky draw - it was awesome. 

We chose our own ingredients and then passed them on to the bartender to concoct yummy cocktails for us :3 

We were also starving. 

One of my favourite people was also in attendance. 

:3 

Friday soup rehabilitation at home. 

And then a short and sweet reunion with primary school mates (: 

Saturday study date with the boy at Woodshed, our new favourite study place because it's so peaceful. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA.

I like to share food. 

I also like food shaped in cups. 

Competitive couple. 

Had to get waffles for motivation, it was a tough afternoon. 

My hardworking sweetheart <3 

Saturday night activity with the meimei & mami. 

Bubbly makes me woozy. 

Sunday funday. 

Steamboat time with crazytown. 

Loads and loads of food, we were so stuffed. Good week :3