I....can give you everything...

The song is cheesy, alright..but with Takuya Kimura in it, who cares! This advert is hot hot hot...only he can pull of an advert like that. And with lyrics like that to those Kimura moves, I just want to fly down to my mama shop (mimimart) downstairs and tell my friendly Blue Horizon Indian minimart shopkeeper, "Give me a Kimura Gatsby!"

This advertisement is totally working, Gatsby must have paid a good fortune to Kimura for this.

I am dedicating this post to two dear friends, Mich and Liz who cliqued instantly through a connection called the "Kimura Phenomenon". Ya, tell me about it, it is a phenomenon in Japan. He is, according to them, a national icon and no one else is even close!

Well, in my tai tai toweled up hair at Liz's cosy Kobe home, I was introduced to Kimura, but only after the retort, "You don't know who he is? How can you not know him?!!?".

Tobey, the Reader Rabbit

Tobey, at 8+ years old, loves to read. I am thankful for that, that I don't have to make him read. When asked why don't he go outdoors and do some sports instead, he would say, "I am not an outdoorsy kind of boy, I am more of a homey boy."

Haha! It was so funny that I burst out laughing. Whoever taught him to say that? But he surely knows himself well.

By the way, that beautiful pair of legs is not mine, in case you are wondering.

Japan Snapshots #2

I am suffering from Japan fever. Still missing its food! I think 1 week in Japan is grossly insufficient and I am totally missing the food! So upset I am that I nearly booked another trip to Japan for June. We were about to book when news of the earthquakes around China and that region broke out. And TS was like, "okay, we are not going there. The plates are all connected." He has done his research. He googled and found that for the past weeks there were more than 10 earthquakes around Japan (though small and insignificant tremors). Mich says for all he knows, he can jolly well choke on a fishbone in the hawker centre (touch wood). But that guy is not convinced, so we are not going Japan to have my sashimi and ramen. Instead, we will be having coquettes, quiches and baquettes.

XOXO Paris

Really excited, just booked tickets to Paris for ten days of rendevous in Paris! Always wanted to go Paris from young but never got the chance. Till this day, I still have with me the Lourve Museum's art book which my father bought for me when he was there on a business trip long long time ago, when I was a little girl. I remembered I was so happy with the gift (he knows me well, hehe) that I signed on the cover! Come to think of it, he really knows me well somehow, cos he didn't end up buying me a French doll.

I figured we (TS and me) need to go on a vacation together. We need time out to really spend quality time together. The last few weeks have been difficult and we just had to look forward to life ahead! And a week ago, I also heard about some sad things (regarding marriage and relationship) that happened to my friend that made me wonder if it is really so hard to sustain a marriage these days...life has become too complex and unpredictable.

Paris...can't wait to soak in the fashion, food and history!

Death Note Meets CJ7

Lately, Tobey began drawing using TS's PC which has a tablet for drawing and editing. I thought it would be good to start Tobey on using such software to draw since he likes to create animations so much. He wants to be an artist but when he learnt from his teachers that artists don't earn much and usually have disturbing lives, like Van Gogh who snipped off his ear, he decided an computer animation artist would be better. He was quite excited to know that he could create animation for movies! Here, CJ7 is haunted by Death Note demons.

Koyasan

One of the most memorable part of Japan stay was at Koyasan, a world heritage site in Japan. Perch on top of a mountain is a religious and sacred place founded twelve centuries ago by the priest Kûkai for the study and practice of Esoteric Buddhism.
Surrounded by a thick forest of massive cedars, the area known as Okuno-in, or the Inner Sanctuary, is the setting for a vast cemetery that features the mausolea of numerous famous Japanese, including that of the samurai ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi as well as memorials to the spirits of soldiers killed in the Pacific War.

When one is there, a temple stay is a must. The monks there were extremely hospitable. They looked after our every need from the moment we entered to the last seconds into the cab to the train station. We woke up early in the morning to attend their religious prayers and had vegetarian fare. The peace and tranquility cannot be described, have to go there to feel it. It is a place where one can put down all worries and burdens and feel released from all earthly pressures and tasks.

Expect the Unexpected

Life's many mysteries. Things that you thought would never happen, will happen and must happen, for a reason.



















Fushimi Inari Shrine, a shinto shrine near kyoto with thousands of torii gates, one of the filming locations of Memoirs of Geisha

Food for the soul

Did I say I love Japan? One of the things I like most is the food. From sashimi at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo to the vegetarian fare at koyasan temple, everything dish was immaculately decorated and prepared to perfection. Can't help but feel a great sense of satisfaction because you can really appreciate the effort that the chef put into the dish. This is life. I have not touched a plate of chicken rice or cha kway teow since I am back. Not in a hurry, though! But one thing for sure is, I will never walk into sakae sushi or sushi tei again in my life.

Creme de la Mer

Bought this really expensive "Miracle" Gel recently from Duty Free Hong Kong. What was I thinking? For this amount of money, I can buy a return air ticket to Hong Kong again. But I gotta try it, since it was given so much hype about it and has a devoted following. I think I would try anything haha, for beauty's sake. It is a really great cream for Singapore's humid weather, just a little goes a long way.

The ingredients are all natural, from the sea...extremely light and non greasy. The marketing strategy is amazing too.

http://www.cremedelamer.com/miracle/miracle.tmpl

Darkest (waking) hours

What is life?
What is love?
When life and love comes together, it is like a sweet lulling dream
one day, one is awaken
to find that life and love is but a passing dream
for there is a larger life that exists
just that we cannot see it

One wrong turn, one wrong move
everything changes
you look down
and there is nothing
Nothingness...
this is reality but is it?
Must we wake up?

Many questions, no answers
caught in a web of complicities
entwinned in hopelessness
A moment of folly
A life-time of guilt, remorse, pain
Pillow tears and suffocated cries

Life's final journey
Love, Life and without each other
remains not with you
but with the others.