Long Read - February 2019

The Lunar New Year fell on 5 & 6 Feb this year. We got Monday off and thus it was going to be a long weekend for us. Of course we have to make use of the long weekend 😊

The Planned Visit to S.E.A Aquarium

Where we marveled at living things under the sea. It somehow is therapeutic watching the fishes swim in the waters especially when the stingrays glide through. 

   

The jelly fish are also fascinating bobbing with their colourful bodies. 

                          

These moon jellies which change colours every now and then is mysteriously enchanting. 

The Planned BMS turns Family Visit to Art Science Museum

We visited Future World which is a permanent exhibition with changing installations. 

Nature

Town

 

Sanctuary

Park

  

   

Space -  My Favourite!

The Unplanned Visit to Universal Studio

                   

        

      

No matter how many times I visit, I will always marvel at this castle.

The first time we visited USS, the naive me thought that we would be able to walk through the hallway and bedrooms in the castle to have a feel of how royal it is. But this castle has no stairs for us to visit 2nd level onwards.. You get what I mean. 

I guess I would have to visit a real castle one day!

Long Read - More Drama!

I was just thinking about the malay drama that I have watched yesterday  and realised I have missed out a few in my not so recent post on all the dramas that I have watched. So here's a short recap!

Sekali Aku Jatuh Cinta
Lepas tengok Syafiq Kyle dalam Suami Aku Paling Sweet, he became one of my favourite actor. And because of that I googled all his work and dramas and came to this older drama. Jalan cerita dalam drama ni ringkas dan cerita dia pun gerak cepat, takde buang masa and meleret-leret. I can't stand drama or filem yang lembab and meleret-leret! Part-part kelakar dalam drama ni mostly is when Syafiq Kyle bermonolog. He is so chirpy here which is totally opposite character Izz Haikal. I also think I fell for Izz Haikal and not Syafiq Kyle 😛

Rahsia Hati Perempuan
Started this drama sebab influenced by my adik. I'm not a fan of any of the casts so lama jugak nak decide if I wanted to watch this drama. Adik pressure and the drama being shown as having some similarities as the Hindi film Mujhse Dosti Karoge dengan made me watch this drama. Lepas separuh jalan follow drama ni, I kept saying tajuk drama ni should have been Rahsia Hati and just drop the word "perempuan" from the title sebab all the characters has a secret of their own which somehow affects another person! Sesiapa yang tengok gambar kat bawah confirm boleh agak the complication in this drama kan?! Ellie is such a selfish person in this whole entire mess! Sambil-sambil geram tengok character-character dalam drama ni nak berahsia sebab nak jaga hati perasaan orang lain, boleh cuci mata jugak tengok pemandangan cantik kat Australia which is in first half of the drama. The main 4 casts wardrobe also somehow compliments one another so it's pleasant to see all 4 of them when they are out together. We're still guessing if there is season 2 for this drama since the ending doesn't provide any proper closure..

Cinta Fatamorgana

I have became an Aeril Zafrel fan since watching him act in some drama serial. This drama started great, became a drag in the middle and bounced to being great at the end. This drama is also one of the longest I endured with 27 episodes in total. I have long became impatient with drama that has so many episodes so don't expect me to be watching a 50-episode or 100-episode drama.

Cerita dalam drama ni bagus tapi tak faham kenapa semua nak sangat orang yang dah kahwin rahsiakan pasal perkahwinan dorang. Sampaikan kawan baik yang tak tau si isteri dah kahwin ajak keluar pun si suami boleh izinkan. Apo! Drama tak akan jadi tragik dan boleh diselamatkan kalau semua berterus terang! Nak sembunyi sembunyi pun lama-lama dapat tau jugak kebenaran.

Mr Grey
Drama ni best! Cuma kat hujung cerita macam tak masuk akal bila suami tinggalkan isteri yang sedang mengandung dan suami kena "kurung" sampai tak boleh nak call atau balek jumpa isteri. Part ni memang nampak macam "kau dah kenapa?". Tapi cerita ni jalan cepat dan yang paling menarik kebanyakkan dialog pelakok-pelakon cakap utara. Lain dari drama-drama yang dah tengok sebelum ni. 

Hikayat Cinta Si Pematah Hati

Drama antara penyanyi! Hahaha. Jalan cerita ni not bad la but again, conflict antara suami isteri boleh dielakkan kalau la si isteri tu jujur dan berterus terang dengan suami dengan ugutan yang dia dapat! Tak boleh faham dengan jalan cerita yang si suami atau isteri sanggup ikut cakap si jahat bila kena ugut jangan cerita apa-apa dengan pasangan masing-masing kalau nak selamat. Kalau korang husband and wife dalam bilik kongsi masalah, siapa yang boleh tau?! Pakai akal jadi bijak sikit la please. Dah tau "rahsia" besar tu pandai-pandailah berlakon depan si pengugut supaya dorang tak tau yang kau sebenarnya dah tau apa yang dorang ingat kau tak tau. Kau tau tak apa yang aku cakap ni? 

Zahir Tak Terucap
Honestly, bila dapat tau drama ni ada Aeril dan Saharul Ridzuan, I was so excited sebab minat dua-dua pelakon ni. Tapi bila start tengok drama ni, aduhai mendaknya la cerita. Meleret-leret. I will be honest here. I skip most part during the drama especially bila pakcik miang tu berdialog. I just can't. 
Part adik-beradik bergaduh tu, mula-mula okay boleh diterima. Tapi bila asyik diulang dengan si adik tak buat apa-apa walaupun marah meluap-luap, rasa bingit pulak walaupun faham kenapa dia macam gitu. Balasan kat si abang yang jahat macam eh senangnya dia lepas tangan. Adik jugak kena tanggung masalah dia. Ending dia pun macam "Eh senangnya macam tu aje korang boleh terima?!" Drama ni drama yang paling lambat nak dihabiskan sebab episod banyak dilambatkan lagi dengan jalan cerita yang merangkak.

Long Read - Thread. Not about the sewing thread.

Twitter. Thread. Plenty of threads.

I use thread to keep track of similar things that I tweet. 

I did not realise there were way too many thread until I stalk my own account. 

Here is the list of threads hidden beneath the thousands and thousands of tweets on my timeline. 

#salsread 

About books that I have read. All fiction. Has way too many Malay novels and mostly are all cintan-cintun stories. Need to read some English books. 

I digress a little here. Last time before there was twitter, facebook and all these social media, I used to write reviews of books I have read, useful and meaningful quotes from the book and my opinion of the story, characters and book. Wrote quite a lot but sadly all those books I wrote in needed to be get rid of. To start all over again is just too time consuming. For some time I wanted to record books I read so I turned to twitter. Initially I will just take pictures of the book's cover and then I remember I am not getting any younger. I tend to forget faster now and so I try to write mini reviews when I post on twitter. 

#salehatweetsaboutfood

One of my proudest thread ever! Started this thread when I wanted to document the different types of food we could get here in Singapore. I feel grateful and blessed that we can have food and cuisine from other countries all in our country though sometimes you need to explore further than your comfort area to reach out to them. More tweets added to this list as we are foodies and there's still plenty of food out there waiting to be eaten and photographed.

Tv shows catch-up https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/1065275979398995968

The latest thread I created to document and keep track of shows I have watched. Not sure why I think this was necessary. Probably because I have to prove that I have watched them and thus I'm very aware and updated on the gossip and rumours.  

Drinks https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/887239819524308993

Started this thread when I wanted to document the different types of drinks I have been able to get. To show my appreciation for my favourite beverage that I frequently drink.  

Sandwich https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/1027125733674500096

Realised I love sandwiches and thus created this thread to document different sandwiches I have eaten. May have been influenced by the 300 sandwiches blog. 

Salman gifs https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/1000383549126553601

Thread started because I was amused by Salman gifs that a dear friend sent to me upon discovering them on the gif section in whatsapp. Thinking of turning this into an appreciation thread for Salman as I remember I did one thread before but cannot locate it anymore :( 

Edit: The appreciation thread for Salman has since been found! https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/851449756790411264

Appreciation tweet https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/973911755477807105

Started the long thread to show my gratitude and thanks for pretty things that I was blessed to receive within that short time period. 

Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/963081444233916418

This thread was started when I somehow was searching the gif section for this film. Wonder what triggered the search but I vaguely remember it was to find a gif of Kareena that I wanted to post as a reaction. Ended up using all the gifs from the film that I could find to somehow talk about the film from start to end. I'm proud of myself for this thread. It's very entertaining. 

The forgotten thread https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/948184510327377920

Okay this one here was started when I notice I may not like the actor or actress but somehow has a film of theirs which is in my favourite list. Not an active thread because as the title suggest, I forgotten all about it!

Clouds obsession https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/884242042913644545 and Colours of the sky https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/1115415643602317314

I am surprised I forgot about this thread since I am very obsessed with clouds! There should have been more added to this tweet considering the amount of pictures I have related to the clouds and sky. Have tried to take less pictures of these objects and simply appreciate them. But I get jealous of people when they managed to capture pretty pictures of the clouds and sky especially. 

Salman's films appreciation thread https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/729807662611763200
Sometimes when I have the luxury of time, I will watch short clips of films I have watched before to simply enjoy the films again. 

Edited: Found the original thread! - https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/851449756790411264

I question if it was validation that I seek when I create all these thread or tweets or post pictures on Instagram? If yes, from who? But upon further pressing, I don't have a particular style that I adopt when I tweet or post on Instagram. I just post what I feel like posting. Even now I have stop sharing pictures on Facebook. It just fizzles out and I post more random things on twitter and memories that need and ought to be remembered on Instagram.

Random Hindi Songs https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/1163287949418438656
Somehow I listened to the songs and like them but I have never watched the film. In order not to forget these songs as it would be a waste, I decided to come up with a thread indicating the title of the song and also why the song stuck on me.

Sultan https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/790154354028191744
I don't recall this thread at all until recently in Sept 2019 as I did super random searches in twitter.

Gifs https://twitter.com/diwaniladki/status/769165770626469888
I honestly love this new creation. There's just so many of them and big thank you to everyone who created these gifs and uploaded in onto twitter library for all of us to use. It's truly A-MA-ZING!

Long Read - FOMO

According to Urban Dictionary, FOMO means Fear Of Missing Out. 

I think I just properly learned this term and it's meaning a few nights ago while watching Karan Johar share his fear of missing out during an episode on BFFs With Vogue.

I have recently started to catch-up on plenty of entertainment shows which I have been seeing on my social media feeds months ago. It was only recently I think I feel like I have the time to spare to watch all these shows.

While watching, I usually have in mind plenty of things that I would want to write for each episode on my twitter account. I just want to record these thoughts and keep track of what I have been watching. Sometimes I feel like I just fear missing out or forgetting what I have watched.

It isn't just for shows. I felt the same for films, for drama serials and for books too.

Last time I used to write summary and review of every novel that I have read. It became like a hobby/obsession that I remember I wrote plenty of them which amounts to about 2 books-full.
I remember painstakingly writing summary and review of each book after I have finished them. Sometimes when I read what I wrote, I would be impressed with myself for writing well 😝

It's such a waste all those writings are all gone now thanks to the mass cleaning required at home not long ago. I don't think I will be able to re-create those honest book summary and reviews anymore. There is just not enough time nowadays.

Somehow poly education started and I seldom have the luxury to read as much as I would have love to and writing became boring. Boring mainly because I would no longer write passionately as I used to. I also started questioning why I spent so much of my time doing all these writing and for whom.

Thanks to twitter, I now write short description or feelings after reading any particular novel just so I remember what I had read. Then it went on to malay drama serials which I was hooked to not long ago and even went on to write blog posts about them:

Cinta Jannah

Love You Mr Arrogant

Drama-drama Melayu

I love reading blogs related to Bollywood/Hindi films. While reading them, sometimes I wonder and am just surprised why I did not have filmography of sorts on all the films I have watched! Especially Bollywood/Hindi films as I think I might have watched quite a number to be able to create a healthy long list of films that I have watched!

There seems to be a lot of emotions going on while I'm typing this post. It is so evident by the jumbled contents in this post. 

I have to learn to let go a little! Hanging to memories of books, what I read and watch can be very tiring sometimes. 

Long Read - I left a little of my heart in South Korea

Was checking my blog posts and I noticed I had only 1 post in 2017 and 5 posts alone for August 2018!

Browsing through my phones, a folder titled Korea will always stand out among all the folders I have. Honestly I've been lucky I guess that the previous workplace brought our team and I for overseas trip as part of the yearly incentive. During my time there, I got to go to Taiwan, Beijing and the final trip to Korea. You've got to count your blessings and here's one though it was a bittersweet memory remembering the reason I'm no longer there.

Anyways, let's chuck those bittersweet memories for now and revisit the pleasant memories while in Korea..

First stop was to this strawberry farm. Surrounding area was nice and there were some tall trees around which gave the impression of being in some mystical jungle.

While overseas, I find myself attracted to keep looking at the mountains. Probably because we don't have one here in SG!

 

    

Strawberry picking time! We were taught how to pick them strawberries and were allowed to pick as many as we could within the given timeframe. I pluck some juicy, sweet strawberries but it was such a waste that we did not consume them and had to throw the fruits on our last day 😟

Our hotel was located nearby Myeondong, a shopping area which in my opinion has too many cosmetics shops! Rows after rows of cosmetics shops selling what else, cosmetics and masks and I get tired after visiting a few shops as I'm not much of a beauty-product person.

 

Besides cosmetics and beauty-product related shops, there are cute cafes here and there including The Line Friends Store & Cafe!

                                         

 

Plenty of push-carts selling food and spotted some Halal ones too!

 The simple yet very nice egg bun! I don't take egg yolk when it's not mixed with white and was apprehensive to try the bun initially. Luckily Nisa was there to help me with the yolk 😋

 

One of the itinerary set by the department was to put on the traditional wear: Hanbok and walk around Gyeongbokgung Palace.  

 

Most of the time it was free and easy and we went exploring other places.. 

Mainly to shop till we drop!

We went to Common Ground. A cool concept shopping area made from containers that are stacked up. Looks very cool especially since it's in my favourite colour!

We also went to another shopping district - Hongdae.

The shopping street looks so pretty with all the colours from the banners.

The Train Map which is so much confusing and conplicated than the one we had back home.

A view captured while inside the train.

Night view in Dongdamun.

While in Korea, we took trains to go to the various places. I will never forget that night we had mini adventure at the train station. We went out shopping and return quite late and panic that we will miss the last train as it was midnight so we ran to catch the train but turns out it was not the last train! 

Some of the snacks we bought from Lotte on the last day.

While at the Korea Airport

I end this post with some pretty in-flight pictures of the sky on our way home. Gimme window seat next time we go travelling! Oh, I would definitely LOVE to return to Korea again next time!