Training for Mt Kinabalu, a belated blossoming Nodame fandom and a newfound appreciation for classical music led to a nice soothing 4 km jog yesterday. Hmmm, never thought I'd see a jog as soothing...have been trying to do more weight training but not very wise to go to the nature reserves alone. Think I'll just climb a HDB staircase or something.  

Hello dear reader, it's been long, yes? Am still muddling along, and am looking forward to climbing Mt Kinabalu in early April. Let's hope some climbing is done, and not just gawking at how high the summit is and throwing in the towel.

Work-wise have gotten a little promo, tiny little pay rise, and life trudges on. Am mid-way through the annual festival madness, hoping I can catch up with my already dwindling social life. am also fairly exciting about my Japanese classes - which I am taking so that my life doesn't revolve around work more than it already does.

Tried alcohol a little while back, and decided I can live without it. But not without Coke though, and chocolate, and well-written fanfics.

Am now reading On Writing Well by William Zinsser, which I had the greatest fortune of stumbling upon at a book sale. A wonderfully funny and endlessly useful guide to writing non-fiction. I'm learning new things with every page! (Ok, so mebbe my reading habits haven't been very good...)

I hope that with this post, Adelines gets back in the saddle of living and not just existing, which seems to be the case when I stop writing. *shudder*

Music Movie Musing

Watched August Rush just now and while the collective cuteness and blur-ness of the three leads was charming and did much to draw me into the whole I-know-it-in-my-heart-via-the-music-freeway fairy tale vibe, modern audiences would have found it hard to suspend their disbelief. The movie seemed almost allegorical, wildly fantastical. Yet the stark longing of young Evan/August for his parents was never far from the minds of the audience, his music and determination to find them perhaps challenged as he mentions at the beginning by life, the people around. And it seems that yes, by faith, as remarked by Louis Connelly, Evan’s father, everything does turn out fine. Whether it is the faith of Evan/August that his parents can be found, the faith of the social worker Jefferies that led him to trust and help desperate parents like Lyla Novacek, the godly faith of the Reverend James, and even that of Arthur in defending the friend he had previously betrayed out of jealousy. I guess the director of the film decided that faith was the most important thing in the movie (beside music that it). So much so that audience departs from the end, mildly wishing that they got to see Evan/August reunite with his parents, but having faith in the fact that he does.

Wonderful music by the way. And very nice and pretty and a well-handled undertone of not-evil-but-corruption. And old gossipy women like me want to see the happily-ever-after, but I guess we can't all have what we want. Think I am at a point in my life where in many aspects and facets, I do need to keep the faith that everything will turn out alright.

Watched Vexille with my movie-kakis yesterday and it was awesome! Rocking techno soundtrack and action sequences, decent plot and clever playing with expectations. Must get soundtrack – especially the haunting “Host of Seraphim” by Dead Can Dance and “Together Again” by mink, which lent the wistful air which stays with you even after the movie ended. I guess with the cool CGI sequences and build-up of mystery at the start, I was expecting more earth-shaking discoveries and conspiracies with the unveiling of Japan behind the electromagnetic field. The end was rather predictable after a certain point and villan a little disappointing. But yes, I think wistful was the point the producers wanted to bring across and that was done very well, IMHO.


Anyways, all the best wishes for the New Year. *trundles off to watch Kyou Kara Maou loaned from a friend*

*Sigh* was pretty angry just now - over old and still-festering hurts that suddenly overwhelmed me. Good thing I channelled the feelings into a poem and after a while, it sorta went away. Have done this a number of times, sometimes really to record the good times as well as the bad. Getting it out really is therapeutic. Guess I officially have a hidey-hole of poetry. Heh.

Well, it is back to work tomorrow and I am currently in my room - alternating between cleaning it and making like a slug. Bluuuuump....

Oily green, soon to-be-dusty fingers

More indulgence in my hopeful hobbies today.

1. Fourth try at tamagoyaki resulted in a slightly sweet normal-egg tasting version. Have decided the only thing I don't like more than dashi stock in my tamagoyaki is crabstick.

2. Also did some green-fingering (though they wound up brown anyway)
- planted 11 small pots of cherry tomatos seeds. (Although the weather is a little too chilly...)
- transplanted my keep-in-office houseplant into two pots - one twin isn't doing too well unfortunately - and also a new cute cactus from Ikea.

Am now cleaning out my room. The behemoth project started a few months back so that I could have some arts and craft space on my table (which quickly got obscured again with my mags and other junk), has gone on from throwing out junk stage, to packing good junk to give away stage. Wish me luck.

Ade Bags New Rags

On the subject of clothes:

- Adeline doesn’t shop, she buys
- Her best clothes-buys are invariably made in two minutes, four minutes if you include trying
- Adeline’s alliterative guide for clothing acquisitions
1. Friendly towards different functions
2. Friendly towards financial funds
3. Fits (duh)
4. Funky-but-not-too-loud design (i.e. Adeline’s world of fashion)
5. Fulsome frills and spaghetti-straps a no-no, worse if they come together!

Sigh, my feet are tired but it was a good trip nonetheless. Managed to get an item which is ok for the office and also Chinese New Year visits, two fitting cardigans with singlets inside, and a nice office shirt and skirt combo, with the skirt looking good for black-stocking-ed evenings. Think I am finally getting this fashion thing – the key is probably to know your style and what you like, rather than following trends.

Mindstroll No. 1326

Well, this is one of those ruminative, “Oh I am cast adrift in life!” mind pukes that occur literally at Three AM in the Morning, when the whole week’s leave ahead allows one a breath in Mad Whirly Life. Also, of course, when one’s three notches from reaching the big Three-Oh. Sigh, why am I not surprised that the number three has unconsciously slipped in again- like the trail of ants on white kitchen tiles that one just notices suddenly. Mebbe something big will happen when I turn thirty, hah!

So succumbing to this choke-holding urge to vent, here I am, well Not-Me actually. This is the real Not-Me, finally back to take stock of where Adeline is going – or not going really. (Yeech, even the name looks foreign…)

I think my last mind-stroll was around November, November last year when I decides to solidify my plans to have a multi-media portfolio – even as a hobby. My cynical-idealistic years at Uni have imparted to me a rather nerdy-techie image of myself. Not a gadget-workshipper, but someone with the times at least. Someone visual and practical, who understands functionality and human habits. A planner.

Sad to say, my quest towards multimedia self-imagehood is currently a sketchbook-rapidly-turn-notebook-for-various-hobbies, a quarter-formed 3D city, and the occasional urge to read up on city-planning.

I got a chance to participate in a Secret Santa game in the workplace, and leaped rapaciously on the arts and craft aspect, relishing the mind-gnawing design problem, once in a while stepping back to look at the layers to my gifts and intentions.

Recently, it is bento-making – or the whole idea of having a balanced, environmentally-friendly and healthy lifestyle. After my third tamagoyaki experiment – none of them failed, mind you, they just didn’t quite fly – I’ve suddenly gotten a better idea of the distance I am from my self-imagined idea of how a bento-making twenty-something should be.

And once again, I am adrift.

Am I too inconsistent, unable to commit to anything? Still holding out for that One Big Thing – the one thing I want to be that I can spend the rest of my years on it?

I’ve always been rather laidback (if sometimes really wound-up) in life – I don’t believe in holding onto grudges (the really self-destructive ones at least), and try my best not to be rude or malicious – even though witty evil commentary is the favourite in my arsenal. In fact, I believe it is all up to His Will where I go or become. But it absolutely smacks of apathy and cowardice because it seems so easy to do. Or is it others are wrong to cling to ambition, money and power?

*yawn*

Oh my goodness, now I finally know why Megatron sounds so mega-evil - he is voiced by Hugo Weaving! No ones drawls evilness quite like Agent Smith, yes?

In other news, went on a buying spree and now am proud owner of seventeen Staedtler colour markers...hmm, it does take more effort to consciously colour in the doodles, doesn't it? By the time I was 70% done, I was in one of my dumb moods....being alone in my head for more than 45 min does that to me. Kinda like when I am snapping dragonfly pics at SBG.

OMG! OMG! OMG!!! Go watch Transformers! Jaw-dropping action and so very (macho) cool fight scenes! Optimus Prime and Megatron talk exactly the way remember them, hee! I think the movie works on a very different level now, surrounded by electronics the way we are. And Megatron totally has that "Oh shit, it's Sephiroth" vibe from Advent Children going . . . *sigh* of all the movies to reduce me to teenager-hood, it had to be this one, I must confess though, this is only time I felt like standing up in the cinema when cheering when Optiumus Prime came on to the scene, heehee!