A conversation with a colleague over lunch one day set my mind thinking about how people peg certain memories and emotions to things. She’s on the arty farty account people like me dread. I’m dead horrible at describing plays, theatre works and movies. Nice or not nice? That is the question.

We must have been talking about flea markets or something but she exclaimed “Maybe it’s just me, but I peg memories like first dates to a certain top, or an eventful moment in your life, and what you wore, like every piece of clothing has a soul!”

I have definitely thought of things that way, but not so much as to say it out loud. I do remember the top I wore on my first date with someone special, and the jacket I wore on the very last day of exams for my entire schooling life. She went on to say that, each piece of clothing to her, has almost a soul, like a treasure chest of memories.

Maybe these statements took a while to sink in, but later on that week, I told her, I agreed that I do peg memories with the clothes I wore, which is why I find it so hard to toss away old clothes.

I hardly ever, if possible borrow anyone’s clothes or even wear them. Someone else’s clothes always smell different, feel different, even if they used the same detergent. It’s almost a second skin, maybe that’s why girls like wearing their boyfriend’s shirts. It makes them feel like they are a part of the person.

And also maybe why guys like to give girls their sports jackets or shirts.

Memories and clothes, maybe if we want to forget some experience in life, traumatic or unpleasant, the closet is where we should start.

We heard CL2 had opened, and we missed the opening day for members, so we decided to head down this weekend to see what’s there. Now Level 7 and 8 are open, but the high wall’s gonna take a while more before its up and ready.

But first a picture of Pixie! Since it’s my parent’s weekly routine to bring the dog somewhere new every weekend, they decided that following me to Kallang would be a good idea, also because I was already late and needed a ride.

We had breakfast at Loysel’s Toy which is at the same building as CL2, 66 Kampong Bugis (it’s as ulu as it sounds). Turns out, it’s along my JC training running route at Kallang! Oh nostalgia… those days I could barely run 2.4km without feeling it was the greatest accomplishment of my life, I’m glad to say you can swop those numbers around and x10 to it and add at .195 , then I will feel like it’s the greatest accomplishment of my life.

My cafe latte before the climb and carrot cake, cost me $9.50. Honestly, not really worth the money, but there’s no where else to eat. But I guess it’s normal for these kinda places. Was pretty surprised by the crowd on a Saturday morning. Lots of yuppies (as my mom would put it), lots of fancy cars outside too, audi TT amongst them…

Anyway, while waiting for the boys to arrive, the cafe owners told us to keep Pixie away from food and eating places nicely, actually really subtly, so then we decided to bring her for a walk somewhere else.

Or maybe more like see the water.

Eventually the guys finally arrived…

8th Floor, parts of it. Also, the place where I got my multiple scratches. The walls are pretty rough, handholds too…although it’s a little low imho.

Walls on the 7th level are slightly higher, overhang and er, well, I spent most of the time watching obviously haha!

Me sweaty and gross, and my skin still having some issues with the redness hai…

Also, changed my braces colour to transparent things that hold the wire down. The pink from the last trip totally faded, so kinda realised there’s no point putting colour anyway.

The chalk bags!!

like mine, I think quite cute sia this mini boxing glove.

Looking forward to the next climbing trip, the May 1st weekend! Camp 5 at KL and Batu Caves if we have time!

Yangshuo! The first climbing trip of the year for me. The last time I went on such a trip was in end 2009, and I must say that I have rekindled my liking for the sport. Moonhill, the highlight of the trip and probably the most iconic place in Yangshuo, but we’ll get to that later.

Putting my seriously underused domke bag to good use. My halfjacket oakleys (that were almost NOT used at all), The Girl Who Played with Fire (currently my read out of the trilogy), Klipsch earphones, my specs, G11 with leather casing, some other personal items and belay device that eventually I decided to check-in with the rest of my luggage.

There’s only flights into Guilin, China on Saturday and Wednesday from Singapore. So 2-9th April it was for us working people with limited leave. Lucky students who went on the 30th of March. RAWR!

4 hours later, we land at Guilin Airport!

And some goodies for the 1.5hr bus ride to Yangshuo, this town that would be our home for the next 7 nights.

Our room! at Jiangyuan/ Riverside Lodge.

As you can see, everyone’s pretty excited.

It’s also a climber’s place to lodge!

So this is Day1, not too bad weather, around the mid 20 degree C. But the next few days saw the temperatures plunging below 10 degrees C. We were so not ready for that haha!

OK enough of street photos. Now time of the real reason why we came to Yangshuo.

Day 2: Setting out to The Egg Mountain.

The boys already belaying.

My new rockpillars and my old 5-10s. I think 5-10s fit my feet better though, the cut of rockpillars hurting my feet like I duno what.

Seeing which routes are what etc etc etc.

The view from above!

CU belay glasses, so you won’t get a headache and neckache from staring at pple’s butts. We also call this the cheekopek glasses.

And then we all started to get really cold. Yiming and his balaclava. I didn’t realise that’s what it’s called. I always thought a Balaclava was a pub at Suntec City.

FIRE! we burnt any form of paper we could find.

After a not-so-hard day’s climb.

Day 3: Because the weather really got quite cold and wet, we decided to take a day trip up to the limestone caves

Touristy photos!

It actually got pretty cold during this period of time, but we managed to get cheap jackets. Costing around 200-300 RMB.

Hot drinks are a luxury! I don’t know how the small boy can tahan all this cold weather with just a windbreaker.

OK,

Back to more climbing photos

Day 4: White Mountain. Really an awesome place, I only wish I were a better climber

Going through some one’s farm. We heard that the farmers tried to extort money from climbers, so beware if you’re there.

The 8a climber starting his ascent.

Later on in the week we headed to Twin Gates, once again because of the rain, we had to go to mountains that are sheltered.

Moonhill! 800++ steps up!

Apparently the really good climbers come here on their off days to the Stadium at Yangshuo to boulder.

The rest of this post, miscellaneous photos Enjoy.

The group

Had a great time in Guilin, Yangshuo. I’m sure we will meet again!

On Friday night, I came home to find Pixie coughing, like as though she wanted to puke something out. Was rather frustrating for her, and we all thought it was just something she swallowed, ok, more like something not dangerous thinking that she’d wake up the next day fine.

BUT

Saturday morning came, and she started vomiting out pretty much anything that went in. So we brought her to the doctor, and got her X-rayed. Turns out there’s some metal object in her! OMG seriously. Pixie, what did you eat?!?!?!

So the usual blame game starts. (this is a really summarised version of what went down from Friday to Saturday)

Anyway her op set us back $1,200. Ironically, I got Pixie for $900, and I’m sure it brought back memories to my Dad about the hamster’s medical bills costing $70 when the hammie cost only $12.

Lo and behold….

She swallowed a toothbrush head. like WTFZOMGCOOKIES. The little bugger went into the toilet cabinet, stole the toothbrush meant for cleaning gaps in the tiles and chewed off half of it, and swallowed it. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Visiting her after my Sunday trial Crossfit class…Poor baby…on drip and machines all hooked up to her….aiyoooo

Decided to skip my Monday work out, and head down to the vet to pick her up. We had to leave her there from Saturday to Monday. Sigh, poor girl, must have been super lonely, sad, scared….really heartbreaking.

and TADA!! she’s home. can’t you tell she’s so visibly much happier

And her little leg bandage… from the drip

Time for Pixie to sleep on her bed. She can’t really walk just yet as she’s uber weak still. Get well soon girl!

I dare not take photos of her stitches. It went right down her whole tummy…*shudders*

Been feeling a tad under the weather for a while, but thankfully at least it’s before my very first real long holiday into working life.

8 days away from civilisation, I hope it’ll be good, plus this group is quite big, so I’m expecting a fair bit of fun!

I got my braces for several reasons. First, I just really wanted to bring in my teeth a bit, and also close the gap between my front two teeth. The gap’s not particularly noticeable, but I can tell you, it’s there. Food gets stuck in it all the time! Secondly, sad to say, with age, your teeth tends to go out of place, and I didn’t really take care of my teeth when I did my braces at like 9 years old.

I know it’s not very noticeable, but actually, I can’t really close my lips.

And my teeth protrudes a fair bit, the front two especially.

Braced up! So soft foods diet and all for the next 1.5 years. That includes icecream and cakes! Sadly, those are two things I’m not the biggest fan of unless I’m in the mood No more steaks, fish crackers and all….for the time being at least!

It’s one of those where the impression you have of someone when you first knew them, then lost contact with them, then look at their profiles now, you’re inclined to remember to what your first impression of them was.

Long ago, in the days of IRC, I chatted online with this particular girl, not in some lesbian way, but more out of mutual interest on topics. She told me how she was sort of bullied in school and a little ostracised by a more popular prettier classmate for some reason- I can’t remember. This popular prettier girl turned out to be someone I would come to get to know somewhat well a couple of years later. This IRC girl, even though she and I attended the same JC, and a few class rooms away, I didn’t really talk to her much, or nearly at all.

I only knew her as a little aloof, very smart, and some would say she would lie about certain facts about herself. Nothing of which could be proven, because it was all hearsay.

In JC, I mixed with a fair bit of people, the CCAs, the activities, the mixture of groups of friends, so I did get to know this popular prettier girl. It’s no mystery this girl had an influence on people.

I don’t think I ever took sides in my head of who I thought was the victim or in the right or wrong, but I could understand why this mysterious IRC girl was set aside from the rest, and why the popular prettier girl had a control over her peers. But nonetheless, turns out the IRC girl’s  life seems pretty great from what I can see on facebook. I must admit, I’m actually really happy for her. Sometimes, I wonder if she remembers me from those years back. I think it’s been more than 10years.

Strange how we confide our problems in strangers, yes pun intended.

Happy Bunny Year from Pixie and me!

Too bad she’s looking a bit evil-eyed.

I got my dress from this shop at Square 2. I was telling my mother that I was quite embarrassed to try it on at first, because this ah-ma was looking at it, and also took it into the changing room….zomgcookies.

Nonetheless, I bought it, and love love it. hehe.

Here’s the rascal on our way to my grandma’s place. Everyone’s first reaction to carrying her… “Wah, your dog is heavy”. Yes, she has put on weight. She’s no longer 0.9kg. More like 5kg or something.

Well, Pixie, that makes the both of us, will be heading to the pool for a swim if the pool’s open tomorrow!

Happy Early Chinese New Year!! I bought this, not for Pixie, but because it’s quite cute.

They’re kinda about the same size too!!

Back to things I must have in my bag now. I realised, working out with make-up will make my skin age pre-maturely, and I’m already looking pretty old for my age.

I work out almost everyday after work, so I decided to give my skin a break instead of waiting till after the work out to settle it, when the damage has already been done.

I bought this, Neutrogena wave duo to get rid of my make up just before I start jumping around on the step board.

The refillable cotton pads!

Attach it as such…

Add water, and start using it on your face!

You can even remove the thing that you attach the cotton pad on. A new one comes in the refill pack.

Although it’s a bit pricey, about $39 for one 30 refillables and the Wave Duo+14cotton pads. It’s pretty compact, and I think I need to take more care of my face outside of home. Travel friendly!

I have my Seaweed Clarifying toner that I got from one gift pack in small size, thanks to a very very impromptu splurge at Bodyshop with one of my gym friends…Terrible because that day we spent like $80 in products and the week before or so, we bought those seasalt and body butter stuff, cost me another $120…*gasp*

Lancome make up remover, I took from my mommy

Clinelle Skin Smoothing Scrub from a colleague *beams*

and Maybelline eye make up remover

the newest addition, the neutrogena wave duo!

My current companion in my bag wherever I go. I think my bag’s going to be getting much heavier and bigger soon. I don’t bring make-up along with me just yet, but I got a feeling that’s going to change.

I also bought this L’Oreal eye lash serum after my extremely traumatic incident with my permanent false eye lashes. Because they’re permanent, and my eyes were really really itchy and I felt like there was a gunk of dirt caught in them, I started to scratch. And my skin’s like uber oily, so slowly the eye lashes started to separate and each last started to drop off. So because it started looking lob-sided, I started plucking them out. Not surprisingly, my actual lashes got pulled off in the process. So my inner lashes were really sparse for a long period of time.

So let’s hope this eye lash serum works!!

My lashes, they look decent here, but not like they’re former glory

I’ll give this a try for a month, and will update soon!

Uber short week for me! 2 days out of the office! whoohoo!!!

Couldn’t wait for my favourite shop at Paradiz, where I get all my nail stuff to get its stock, so I went down to Metro to buy one bottle. Anyhoo, my favourite shop sells OPI nail polish for like $14 *gasp* I know… and you don’t have to wait for shipment etc etc.

I’m pretty please with my nail result

The thing is about using this nail polish, its that…

1. When applying, your nails need to be completely dry. Otherwise the black will just seep in with the base. And you need a base colour for it to work.

2. You can only go across with ONE swipe. Meaning, you can’t brush over several strokes like how you would with applying nail polish as per normal.

You can’t really see it in the photo, but there’s quite a few lines rather than nice shatters because of applying several layers.

3. Depending of what effect you want, a thin layer will give you small cracks…

4. And a thick layer will give you blotchy cracks…

My colours look pretty much like I’m going out to party hurhur… I quite like them.

As for my base colour, my current love, Essie I much prefer this brand to OPI. Not to mention, also cheaper. It’s not as harsh on my nails, and for some reason, seem to last longer and chip less often. It glides on just as well as OPI too!!

My conclusion: I think the black shatter’s quite a bit of fun. But from what I’m noticing so far about how it dries up, I hope about a month from now, I can still use it. Otherwise it’ll be pretty expensive for a novelty item.

Problem is, ever since my late teens (omg, I can’t believe I’m already in my mid 20s), I have had the issue with cellulite. It wasn’t that obvious previously because of the amount of time I spent in the sun.

But recently, age is starting to catch up.

This is not my ass. It’s a random photo I took off the net.

Anyway, I’ve spent quite a fair bit on products, but it wasn’t really working much until lately.

Like it or not, diet is the most important. I exercise regularly, run regularly, do a hell lot of leg exercises, but I still had rather obvious cellulite.

The most effective way, is having a good diet. lots of clean foods, eliminate all processed food, this includes chocolates, cakes, sweets, canned drinks, and I’ve gone to the extreme of even avoiding hawker centre food.

It wasn’t really a deliberate attempt to eradicate cellulite, as I recalled.

I remember sometime last month, I just wanted to detox, and lose a couple of kg. Unfortunately, in the past 14 years of my life, I have hovered around the 55kg to 57kg. That probably means I was a rather fat kid, or I have been maintaining. Strangely, ( and according to people) I’ve lost and gained quite a bit over the years.

Anyhow, I basically ate only salad and sushi for 2 weeks, and not only did my complexion clear up, I lost the bloated-ness, and my face shape became sharper.

Since cellulite is the dimply appearence of the skin caused by fat deposits just below the surface of the skin…

Here are my tips.

1. Exfoliate regularly. If you’re using creams, the best way that your skin can absorb your moisturizers and lotions is by removing the top layer of dead skin cells.

2. Exercise. Needless to say, if you want to shrink a flabby part of your body, you got to work it out. Please don’t tell me rubbish about, being scared you’ll bulk up. Your legs are your biggest muscle groups, and muscle cells constantly burn calories. Unless you’re doing squats of like 50-100kg sets, I seriously doubt your legs will bulk up. Anyway, I think it’s uber sexy to have toned hamstrings on a girl.

3. Clean foods. Lots of fruits and vegetables. No one’s saying that’s all you should eat. In fact, if you get used to cutting away all the fried food, fast food, sweets for just 2 weeks, you’ll see the difference, or even just a couple of days. The good part is, after eating proper food, fresh, unprocessed and all for a couple of weeks, your body will soon begin to reject the “bad stuff”. Like eg, “lao sai” and stomach upsets. It takes about 2 weeks of discipline before your body starts to adapt to that lifestyle, after that, you’ll come to realise it’s must easier to eat healthily.

My current favourite place is Salad Stop, and it’s so near the gym! I heart Cesar’s Salad, although I know it’s not exactly the lowest in calorie count, but it’s definitely a start.

4. Massage. Awesome right? Yeah, massage your problem areas regularly to stimulate circulation.

In order to look good on the outside, you’ve got to take care of your insides. I’m still working on keeping up on this.

I guess to some extent I should be lucky I’m not blessed to be naturally thin. This way, I take extra care of what I eat and don’t eat and also the way I look.