Wonderlust ♥

i love the cards that i've been dealt
do you feel the same as well

I've been blindsided by laziness once again . and ... missed out on 2 posts as a result .
sorry bout that . here's a run down as to what i've been up to:

October: eating . mostly spending money on food
November: travel and celebrations . korea and birthdays
December: relax and celebrations . stay-cation and birthdays

this is my backdated october post . did i mention i'm 100% serious about those captions ?

7 Oct: ps cafe
12 Oct: tomi sushi
14 Oct: Sushi Bar and montana brew and bar
 20 Oct: B cafe and the providore
 25th oct: craftsmen

as you should have figured by now , my food photos are shot in a bizarre manner and tend to feature incomplete / half eaten foods . so don't expect too much . drinks and desserts however , are a-ok .

When i was young , i used to be one of those people who decided that , if i ever had a wish , i would use it to wish for an infinite pool of wishes .

my first wish thereafter would be to wish that my wishes can only be used after uttering an activation word ; valar morghulis anybody ?

religious studies taught me to pray ; for forgiveness , guidance , and for what I really want . God knows best and he would answer my prayers if they were good and meant to be .

and so , my first prayer was to be a boy . i assumed, there was always a possibility i was wrongly misdiagnosed . my second was to be legibly wearing glasses . guess i thought they were cool at the time , but i thank my lucky stars now that that was never answered (though my eyesight isn't what it used to be) .

you can see that my childhood preconceptions were rather misguided .

i always had the idea i would end up marrying my cousin and i had this notion people live with their bestie if they don't get married ... i realize now that things are not so simple .

well , going back to my first prayer , older = more comfortable as a girl . but i admit , if i was given a choice of gender roles from the start , i would have never chosen to be a girl .

what with the gender typical roles and expectations .

some people still have the mindset that women were made to look good , cook , clean and give birth . it's a good thing that it's vastly lesser now , having come so far .

even when studying the bible , women are never lauded nor have any achievements worth mentioning . my studies are not extensive so forgive me if i err but so far that seems to be the case .

i believe i was made to be much more and i was never one for procreation .

okay , so it takes some spelling out to show how first world these problems are . but i just wanted a place to rant , so here you have it . till next time ! xoxo

I come to this page determined to write a post but get writer's block . let me try my best anyway .

Fast forward three months later and it'll be my birthday ! Nothing extremely special or noteworthy but it's still a milestone . Cuz life is short and milestones are deadlines so to speak .

My standards and expectations don't often match up in terms of meeting my life goals , then i start questioning my goals . But because i'm stubborn and refuse to lower my standards and expectations ,  i worry that my goals will never be met .

But that's just reality check for you .

Well , it's finally a rest day for me after a super tiring weekend . My list of things to do include:

- Finishing stuff for office
- Clearing my emails
- Painting
- Sketching
- Running errands
- Finishing GOT book 1

Good luck to me seeing i'm nowhere near done . Good thing Fridays' a PH as well.

Catch you guys soon ! 

retrospectively it's so easy to see
i was trapped but now i'm free
nothing's ever going to be easy
but nothing's ever going to be too hard
not for me

you make me feel differently
i never can decide

found you in the unlikeliest of places
where I was searching for something else
from the moment I found you I was inexplicably drawn
like a moth to a flame
but what's a moth to do
when the flame is gone
just like you

This post took me some time to write but I told myself to get with it anyway.
When I don't write, I regress; and my goals start to seem further than they were yesterday. That's the power of motivation thrumming, making us feel alive; for what's the point in being alive without looking forward to life? Motivation need not be ambitious, broad or long term, it could be as simple as looking forward to completing a book, learning more about a particular subject or spending time with family.

Aha.

Here is another prime example of a paradox. There is power to be found in simplicity, yet most seek for more. And that's not a bad thing. It just means we know we are capable of more, and rightfully so. It doesn't matter if we try and fail, what matters is we manage to find it in ourselves to channel that drive to something else, eventually finding our calling.

When you are in the negative, standards are set to zero. When in zero, it's set to a positive and when in positive, the higher the number the better. So always remember, it is already a blessing where you stand and try to be grateful for what you have.

Some people envision the sweetness of growing old with someone they love. I double take and survey such words with an air of bewilderment. Being full of life now, contemplating a time when life is running out?

Still.

I wonder, are these the people, who find power in simplicity? It's funny, I would've pegged myself to be one. But once in awhile with my head in the clouds, I find myself contemplating existence in general, and then I suppose not. Existence is a strange thing, probably even more so for atheists. When you leave this earth, compared with when you came to this earth, what would you have left behind? Probably, the difference you make to someone else's. Hopefully, to inspire someone to be a better version of themselves.

Is this the reason why I'm still hung up? It's laughable how I can't understand myself sometimes. Perhaps I'm just tired and I just want to give up on things that don't feel right.

sailing into uncharted waters, my heart full, boat empty
capricious waters, safe harbor, boat full, my heart empty
too late, i thought i rather, my heart full, boat empty

for my resolutions, i'm on a roll with my monthly instagram worthy posts,
but i've feeling terribly boggled by foreign tax credit for the past couple of days.
after figuring it out (on my own- hey gimme some credit), i think i can come out with a better set of conclusions.

so, summary:

• generally compute based on gross basis unless company is in loss position
• pooling only applies if the foreign country's headline tax rate is at least 15%
• else do it seperately
• compare between 1. foreign tax paid and 2. singapore tax to be paid on the amount of foreign income
• of which the formula for 2. goes: foreign income / total taxable income from all sources x tax payable (before rebate)

there. here's my celebratory post. idk what this blog is becoming even. pardon, it'll past. the next thing i'll be blogging about would probably another game guide, mood boards, a cryptic post or something out of the world random, like this one. till next time :)

hello , it's me again .
purpose of this blogpost is to realign my goals and to be more productive .

first up though , i got to start studying for my exam upcoming in 2 weeks *shivers*
that starts at 4pm till 6pm , giving me about 15 minutes to complete this post and other miscellaneous things i would like to do .

so , it's a little late but here are my goals for 2017 !

i'm gonna set a target for at least one instagram worthy piece of art to be published each month .
i'm also gonna self-publish an ebook ; well , you know , an author was always one of my considerations and i got to admit that i need to work on my creativity . let's sayyy end 2017 or early 2018 ? i'll be reading up on investments as well , because i feel the need to broaden what i read so i don't stagnate . furthermore , you've got to have knowledge to apply perceptiveness to *ahem*

cheers and RIP my long weekends T__T

but what do you do ,
when you have issues ;
remembering to give up ,
remembering to forget ,
remembering it doesn't matter ,
remembering it shouldn't be present .

Wow . i'm actually pretty diligent with my once a month blog post . though it's such an abysmal figure , considering that gives us only 12 blog posts a year . still . it's quality over quantity wouldn't you say ?

ironically , i'm going to be writing about writing since i just completed a writing course .

nope , this isn't work propaganda . i'm going with categorization of fresh information for better retention .*shrugs*

for introduction's sake , although i have some aspirations to be an author in the upcoming future , i absolutely abhor writing in work context . it's terribly dreary having to draft , re-visit and re-write correspondences . and in all honesty , in my opinion , it's too much time spent when writing doesn't directly help with your KPIs , neither does it with your performance evaluation .

however , i admit writing is integral and imperative in getting things expedited and getting certain things completed , therefore it correlates indirectly to a certain degree .

so here's to getting rid of the negativity and trying harder !

for a start , i realized that my struggle with drafting replies and/or proposals arises mainly from lack of structure , and my style of writing , which sways more towards nominal as opposed to verbal .

starting with sentence structure , we went through the SVOCA model ; which broken down translates to ; subject , verb , object , character , adverb . the concept is pretty interesting and scores a plus point in helping me remember the meaning of verb and adverb , which are on normal occasions classified as technicalities i cannot be bothered with .

generally , applying the concept of SVO is enough . meaning , you start with the subject , verb and end with the object . i.e. john saved a snail (sorry , i just read an article on saving snails that left me deliberating). C comes in when you use words to characterize the subject or object (brown) and A comes in as a modifier for your verbs (in a fit of empathy). you get the idea right ?

whereas for structure as an entirety , we went through the three factor approach , namely , strategic perspective (why), operational perspective (how) and events perspective (5 Ws + 1 H).
a simplified translation would be , start with why (purpose of letter), how (what is being done) and end with 5Ws and 1 H (small whats and hows).

it's implied that a more verbal style of writing is preferred when drafting replies whereas nominal would be more widely used it speeches (and novels i presume).

painful examples aside , i concur that these three tips may probably help you in a pinch .
although i suspect i lost you after SVOCA .
still , you're welcome .

well , hit me up if you are actually interested in this shit and i'll talk about it a little more .

sorry for the abrupt ending but i'm getting sidetracked so ...
i'll blog another one soon :)


happy V'day errbody !
xoxo

smoked a shitload of my love away
with tender feelings and cherries on top

I did promise to try and blog another entry before the year end so here goes !
psst , it's just a short entry so don't keep your hopes up .

Recently i've been obsessed over a new photo app - makeup plus , i used one of the filters for the above photo . Y'think ? I think it's pretty wicked , in terms of how the makeup application is reallly accurate , and there are so many styles to choose from ! As always with filters , you get to adjust the level required depending on whether you want a glammed up look or a milder one . Just try it and you'll understand what i mean .

I kinda wish cameras would up their filter game too , that would be totally awesome .
Cuz i also finally got myself a mirrorless camera that i've been eyeing on a long time coming .
Got it on Christmas day, so i'm taking it as a self birthday present and a christmas present in one :D

Presenting you the Canon M3:
I have to admit that this took some genuine consideration as i'm not sure if i would really use it .
Technically , a camera is bulky and phones are able to take really good photos as well .

What eventually moved me was my affection (HAHA weird i know) , as i really liked this model - it's similar to my copic markers affection . To have and to own as you may bluntly put it . Regardless ,  it's nice to put in some money (like fuel to a fire) to sustain your interests . no point hording such money amirite .

Anyhoo , i've actually come to terms that i am very much a cynic and i have to work towards slowly changing as it has been quite a struggle . in case you didn't know; believing that selfishness motivates human actions- yup, minimises selfless acts- yup, disinterested points of view- yup .

& in trying to effect a change , one must always initiate it .

So here's to working on views and family relations for 2017 :D

Cheers and have a belated Christmas and advanced Happy New Year xoxo

Hello there !

I've been away for sometime , sorry for neglecting this perfect personal space .

so I'm back here in cyberspace ...

Not gonna bore you with the whys and hows, but as always, my holiday to Korea was a blast .
Holidays are always a blast but then it's back to reality now .

See I try to make it a point to blog about holidays thanks to my abysmal memory (rather , abysmal memory regarding places , a correlation to the bad direction sense) . The Korea trip I had was from 5 Nov till 14 Nov , but we flew at 3pm (ended up in Seoul at 10-ish) , and our return flight from Seoul was at 9am , so we reached Incheon airport 6-ish/7-ish ?

Point being that after all the discounts , the holiday was actually only 8 days long .

It was Seoul from 5th till 8th , Busan from 9th till 10th , and back to Seoul again from 11th till 14th .

For Seoul , half the time was spent sightseeing- nami island , ehwa university , secret garden , and the other half shopping - myeondong , gangnam , underground shopping .

Whereas for Busan , it was sightseeing at the cultural village and taejongdae lighthouse .
I've got to say that Busan definitely feels more rural , yet despite the exterior , the hotel we stayed at in Busan was pretty classy and comfy and high tech . it's worth checking out (YTT boutique) if you are making a trip there - free advertising lol .

So ... being rural , there was much more exercise required , much climbing involved . the cultural village (kinda like Santorini) , made me re-evaluate the sanity of spending a few relaxing days holidaying in Santorini , which is one of my travel goals . well , along with Hawaii and Maldives .

Keyword being relaxing , because despite the mentally relaxing trip , it was almost physically exhausting .

Kinda miss the physical exhaustion now that im back in Singapore though . I feel unhealthy and less well rested cuz i've not been getting enough rest and exercise juggling betweem working , going out and pokemon sun :x

Well , it's already been a month since and i need to bounce back on track .

I need to get this entry out so here goes ! will try to blog another one before the end of this month :)