The City of Shopping, Shopping & More Shopping

Central Business District skyline from Marina Square Foodcourt

The Singapore Flyer (all tickets for its premiere on Valentine's Day 2008 has been snapped up).
Road from ECP (East Coast Parkway Highway) into the Marina centre (where great shopping is!)

The shopping begins. And we are in a frenzy to buy most of our stuff before the Great Singapore Sale ends, and of course, like most Singaporeans, to avoid the GST hike. TS is right, the increase is small, but not to a kiasu Singaporean like me. While moving around town, we soaked in the Singapore skyline. We make a conclusion yesterday.

Singapore is fast becoming a globalised city but are the people ready for it? Are we ready to be gracious and socially aware, are we ready to be civic-conscious?

If Singapore were to succeed as a globolised nation, we need to work on that. And this time, no more national campaigns please, Education is the key.

The Bourgie

Shopping begins for the new place! Here is the Bourgie lamp, 'the Baroque lamp'. It marries the classic with the modern. The revolutionary invention of this lamp is that it is made entirely in transparent polycarbonate. The quality of the material and its extremely high quality processing makes it look like a precious, crystal lamp. Think it will be a real conversational piece, an art on its own.

Designed by Feruccio Laviani, 2004 for Kartell, it comes in smoke black, crystal clear, tinted gold or chrome. Cannot resist the gold and chrome ones but the price is also very 'attractive'.

The Bourgie Lamp (Kartell)
Winner of 2005 Design and Decoration Awards for Light Product Design
Lamp can be assembled as a table, desk, or floor lamp
Features a touch sensitive dimmer

Ebony & Ivory

Introducing the new addition to the family! Sad that my Yamaha has gone to another pair of hands but elated to welcome the new baby. Have waited the longest time for a grand. I kept thinking that my Yamaha could hold out a few more years.

Bought the GM 10 Kawai 2 months ago. Now, I am still in the waiting game for it to arrive right before my eyes. It is now sitting in the warehouse but because I am only moving to my new place in August, it has to put up at the 'temporary home' first. Would really love one with ivorite keys but couldn't bear to pay so much more. So have to settle for the smallest of grands. But it is okay, nothing beats a grand piano, the immensity of sound and power!

Statistics of Kawai GM 10 length in cm 150
weight in kg 287
pedals: 3
surfaces: black polished

Dawn: This dearie is arriving in mid August at my new place. You will get to meet him when you are back.

In Memory of My Piano

Today, I dedicate my blog to the memory of my dearest piano, who have been with me by my side for the past 25 years of my life.

Dad bought me the Yamaha U1 25 years ago and since then, it has seen all the ups and downs, happiness and sorrows in the family. It has seen me through countless hours of practices from the frst day I tinker on the piano keys. It is everything to me and it stayed with me in good times and bad.

One of my teachers used to say, "Treat the piano like your lover, treat every note and phrase ever so thoughtfully." Indeed, it has a soul. It is able to express my innermost feelings and emotions whenever I felt words cannot fully describe. It has endured my frustrations and manics moments on the piano keys.

The feeling of losing a piano is strange. It is your lover, but not in the true sense. But it sure feels the same. I am getting a new piano, a brand new one. But I guess it will never be the same. It needs time to understand and know your piano. And it will have to begin all over again.

You can say, I have outperformed my piano. But if not for my dearest piano, I would not have been who I am today. It has, in part, shaped my life.

My next holiday destination

Yesterday, SK, D and I met up for a dinner at Miss Clarity at Purvis Street. Soon, we realised we are the oldest in the restuarant, the crowd are mainly youngsters! And the dimmed lights, noise chattering and undesirable acoustics of the place gave me a headache. The food was quite good and value for money. I had the Chicken Ballotine, not bad. But the calamari side we had was a total letdown. It was obviously those frozen ones that you can buy from the markets.

In our discussion, we decided we would go on a road trip together like those good old days, yes, those good ooooooold days. The Avillion Group seems like the place to be for this long awaited vacation. Looking at those pictures makes me want to just get away this very weekend!

Music+Logical Reasoning = Insanity

When the same tune plays over and over again in your head, you will get a really pissed Momo. Ever since one of my colleagues in the office sings the Elmo's trademark song, it keeps recurring in my mind.

la la la la, la la la la, elmo's world (2X)

My mind operates in music mode most of the time, if Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences applys here.

This reminds me of a meeting in my previous office. The boss wanted to multi task by listening to a compiled CD while having a meeting (and a really fire-fighting style kind of meeting, mind you). Not only could I not concentrate, I was $%^& darn frustrated. There you are talking about some non-music theory about 'The Seven Habits', and there you have music (some classical music for an event) right next to your ears. What do you want to hear? The affective or the logic?

I looked around, the others were not facing the same frustration as me. Whoever says classical music puts you at ease also doesn't apply here. The meeting was quite an opinated exchange between many people. Please tell me that there are people like me out there.

Dama

This is a game called 'Dama', think it originated from Kuwait. But got to watch this!

Call Me 'Mister Dramatic'

Ryan has been looking at too many violin concert pamphlets...it was quite amazing how he posed with his violin after a practice at home. I didn't tell him how to pose but in seconds, he picked up his violin and bow and created the 'can-you-see-I-am-cool-with-the-violin?' look.

Fish Out of Water

I feel like exactly like a fish out of water now. First days at work are never fun. I never like this kind of scenario; meeting shaking hands, saying 'hi, I am Pauline, you are?" 20 times over, remembering new faces and names, sitting at an unfamiliar place in unfamiliar surroundings...and the boredom of creating your own work on first days. Gosh, I hope I survive 'today'!

By the way, time passes extra slower on first days.