Guess where the first Uniqlo store in Singapore will be?

That's right. In Tampines.

Not that I think we need three malls here but if the new third mall is gonna contain Uniqlo in the mix, I'm not complaining. I would also like Topshop, Kino, Cold Storage, Venezia and Marutama. Surely that's not too much to ask for?

This furry little Monchichi purse is a birthday gift from Aunty (a friend, not a real aunt, but who is rather auntie cos she likes to nag...).

According to Wiki here: Monchhichis were monkey-like creatures who lived in the forest land of Monchia at the very top of tall trees well above the clouds. The tribe's leader, Wizzar, was a magical wizard who could make up spells and potions to defeat their enemy, the evil Grumplins of Grumplor.

Naturally, Monchichi is Japanese. I think my love for it stems from a small Monchichi soft toy I owned when I was a kid. I don't remember who gave it to me or whether I asked for it. I just have it and when I see Monchichi toys, I think of the one I had when I was young and I feel vastly cheered up adding to the collection.

First glimpse of cyberworld in days. The laptop has been down and I've been completely disconnected to the world for about a week now. Sucks.

Check out what this Etsy seller has on sale. I just cleaned windows yesterday and all the dust trapped in the nooks and crannies really annoyed me. The apple trees on this bed are gonna be a bitch to clean. But still, it's kinda cool.

Spent a few days gutting my room and it's now at its tidiest since I moved here almost a decade ago. I now have one wall lined with books and magazines, which pleases me immensely. I still need to arrange the books but just the sight of shelves and shelves of books makes me happy.

Norman

I spent the whole of today clearing out my room. There's a mountain of stuff packed into plastic bags and stacked in the living room waiting to be thrown out tomorrow. Old bills, bags, skincare, papers, boxes... I don't even remember what I threw out anymore. I don't know how and why I accumulated so much stuff.

I was clearing out the drawer. And I found a note from you. It's written on a red square piece of paper and your small handwriting fills both sides. I think it came in a green envelope, because there's a loose green envelope hidden in another stack of paper with the same handwriting. You chose the red because I had told you then that I was going to paint my bedroom door a bright, flaming, fire engine red.

There's also a Christmas card. In it you write, among other things, that you will remember me eternally. In jest, of course, but I think you meant it in some sort of way then. I hope you've forgotten by now. I'm sure you have, and are happy now.

It's a decade later, and I'm still really sorry. I've apologised many times over the past many years, but always in my head, in my heart, and under the invisible cloak of cyberspace.

I didn't finish reading your letter. The one that was bitter and painful and full of reproach. I tore it up and tossed it away angrily. I was so mad I was shaking, but only because I was so full of guilt. I no longer knew how to face you.

Teenage melodrama. I should confronted your anger, you would definitely have forgiven me then. But it was years later before I wanted to face it and by then it was way too late.

I was actually right there when you came into Borders that night. You went past me and I hesitated. In a pivotal moment I walked out and I think that might have changed my life. It's laughable really, but I think you might be the single biggest regret of my existence.

I should bury your note and your card and your cheeky Geography George bookmark. I hide them amidst all my piles of paper but I think that's not enough. Still, I can't throw them away. They are my punishment. One day it will be enough and I will be able to look at them fondly, or indifferently, and I will be able to bury them where it matters. Just, not yet.

Tokyo Love Affair #9

15 November is Shrine Visiting Day for the kids in Japan. Clad in their finery, boys aged three and five and girls aged three and seven are brought to the shrines to offer gratitude for growth and good health.

Meiji Shrine on that day was filled with adorable, rosy-cheeked Japanese kids stumbling around in their traditional costumes.



There were also tonnes of wedding ceremonies taking place. Family after family kept filing into this spot to take portraits. They dump their bags into the white trolleys by the side and obediently get into neat roles and smile for the photographer. Lots of bystanders like me surrounded these happy people and snapped pictures of them, as if it was an exhibition. But it was all very harmonious and joyful.

Family after family kept filing out from where the (very grand) ceremonial hall is and I was among the paparazzi who could not resist taking picture after picture of them.

Every time someone posed for a photo, if there was a bride or a cute kid involved, several cameras would rapidly raise and fire away. Parties involved were very obliging though, especially parents who were more than happy to show off their children by letting them pose for strangers who asked.

I couldn't tell the brides apart because they were all wearing what seemed to be the same thing. But I liked how out of the world they looked, like an ethereal version of their real self.

This is the entrance to Meiji Shrine, behind Harajuku station. Meiji Shrine is beautiful and peaceful even when it was crowded. Like your heartbeat slows and your breath deepens and you can afford to be contented.

生日

27 歲
我的媽啊 真是有夠老的﹗

想念年少時的輕狂囂張
那種什麼都好像是八點黨的感覺
沒有後悔這回事的自以為是

但 我也的確希望那一段一段的記憶完全消失
統統都沒發生過
偏偏 我的記憶力可是異常的好
什麼人 什麼事 什麼話
我都記得一清二楚
什麼屁嗎
世界都變了樣 那些人和事很大部份根本就對我來說不重要了
腦細胞他媽的幹嗎那麼執著?

27 歲的這364天
我要放下後悔

Tokyo Love Affair #8

The day we went to Odaiba was the first day of fine weather we had in Tokyo, and it was an amazingly beautiful day. There were all these little puffs of clouds dotting a very blue sky and the colours of everything looked fantastic.

Odaiba is a rather futuristic looking place. Lots of spheres and long, sharp objects piercing into the sky. I saw two or three twin tower buildings in the area while gaps in buildings also seem to be a very poular design feature there. The combination of blue sky, gorgeous natural light, glinting metal and space age-esque structures made me think Odaiba on that day could easily be the set of a love story taking place light years ahead.

The above is the Fuji TV Building, which is just one of the several architectural structures you will see mentioned in Odaiba guides such as this one. Other cool buildings that I did not go to include the Telecom Center and the Tokyo Big Sight.

But my main aim in visiting Odaiba is the ferris wheel at Palette Town.

Took a clear cabin which was all see-through and actually, it was kind of nerve-wrecking. I don't think I do very well with heights but it was really cool up there (even when the wheel stopped when we were right on the top and when the cabin started swaying in the wind...) because it's just so pretty all around.

I clutched the handle bar with one hand the whole time while the other hand held on to a camera. The Ferris Wheel is 115 metres tall and one of the highest in the world. It is also magnificently adorable because all the cabin colours are so pretty. Yes, I love ferris wheels.

Another really cool feature in Palette Town is Mega Web which is actually a jaw-droppingly humongous Toyota showroom. Actually, it's not jaw-dropping because of its size, more of its features. It has tracks running all around it and cars travelling on those tracks (think you can actually take rides on those cars). I thought that was amazing. I mean, I've always thought car showrooms were tiny, boring things teeming with salespersons. Well, now I know that they are so here but not in other places. (I don't have any pictures of Mega Web cos I was too excited to get to the ferris wheel.)

Odaiba is pretty flat and spacious compared to other places I went to in Tokyo. Lots of walkways flanked by trees.

Outside Aquacity, which is a mall near the Daiba train station. Just outside of it, you can stroll on the boardwalks and see a downsized Statue of Liberty,

Rainbow Bridge,

and a kickass sunset, complete with a bunch of ducks swimming along. Wonder where they went.

Above are shots taken with Blackbird, Fly on Lomo Slides. Below are all by Holga 135BC on mostly Kodak Ektachrome 64, with a handful of Lomo Slide shots. I was really trigger happy that day - way too ecstatic to have so much gorgeous sunlight. I wish all sunlight could be that way and not the harsh, scorching reality I'm so used to here in SG. The Holga shots are more random, perhaps due to the nature of the camera - more snap as you wish and no thought-provoking viewfinder to contend with.

Me clutching on for dear life while on the ferris wheel.




"Passengers cannot specify the color of the color gondolas"




Can't see very clearly but there's actually a bunch of cranes and tractors or whatever heavyweight machinery you call them. There was actually a tradeshow. Could have gone in to buy one of those things!



Humongous carpark.

To go to Odaiba, you should definitely take the Yurikamome elevated train and you should also squeeze your way in to the front of the train to check out the awesome view - glinting water, bright and shiny buildings, schoolboys playing ball games on hard courts, Tokyo Tower, the sexy, curving train tracks, and the first glimpse of the bright and cheery ferris wheel.

On the way back at night, you should also squeeze to the front to get a good look at what you're saying goodbye to. The ferris wheel and some of the buldings have fancy, dancing lights so it's still quite cool.

Ah. I miss Japan.

(Oh, the basement of Aquacity was where I had absolutely delicious piping hot - microwaved - cinnamon buns. You know the ones that are actually long strips of dough rolled into a run and that used to be one of our infamous food fads? You can no longer find any decent ones here, but I adore them. You can actually get them from this place called American Bakery or something like that at Amara Hotel and Great World, but those are just really shit. I love cinnamon rolls. Apart from the cool architecture and gorgeous daylight, I shall also fondly recall yummy cinnamon rolls when I think of Odaiba. )