Farewell March, you've been kind enough.

I can't believe it's already the end of March! A quarter of the year has gone by just like that, and even though I know this phrase is used way too often, I still wonder: "Where has the time gone??".

March has been a rather interesting albeit tumultuous month. Started the month with school, made a promise to myself for change, failed in some aspects but I have to remind myself that I have to keep on trying. Has this happened to anyone else? You know, you make a promise to yourself to change some aspect of your life but you end up failing. And it's not such a big failure too - although at times the consequences may be rather big - but you deny yourself any form of pleasure because you know you don't deserve it. You beat yourself up harshly and it takes you nowhere but this huge downward spiral that doesn't promise a way out. Well, that was me then and I know that I have to forgive myself yet at the same time punish myself too for misbehaving and failing to carry out what I had promised. I don't know why I fall back into this same pattern, things go well and just as it's about to turn into a habit I give in and it's back to square one. Take deep breaths, stand up straight and march forward. That's all I have to do.

Anyway, the month soon progressed on and before I knew it the second week saw me gracing my birthday with loved ones here down under. It reminded me that love and friendship is always nearby and to count my blessings. School continued, and the weather continued to be in my favour too. I'm always a happy goober here when the weather chooses to be happy too :) (in other words, lots of sunshine and cool breezes).

Towards the end of the month things took a turn. My former Prime Minister passed away and for a long time up till now I am still mourning his death. I believe I have said all that I wanted to in my previous post, but I forgot to mention the unity I felt amongst the people of my country throughout the entire week leading up to the procession of his death. Never have I felt so united as one with the people of my country, bearing the same thoughts as well as worries for what lies ahead in the future. It was a time that I found no comfort being around people who weren't from Singapore because the truth was none of my friends from other countries would understand or feel the same amount of grief as I did. I suppose it's the same elsewhere. I won't deny that my grief over the death of the late Princess Diana ever surmounted to the level of the people of England. That is to say, neither do I treat the late Lee Kuan Yew as a king, I'm merely expressing my inability in expressing and sharing my grief with those who may not understand.

That said, there is light at the end of the tunnel and albeit the sadness that clouded the air, there were some good things too. Firstly, I think I most probably exhausted myself by attending three concerts over three consecutive days. Attended the Miranda Sings concert with a friend, watched Cirque De Soleil with a group of friends and finally, attended Ed Sheeran's concert with some friends too :) I enjoyed myself thoroughly at all three events, and it definitely helped to perk me up from all that sadness.

Anyway, here are some photos from the past week :

I fangirled a whole lot that night. I love Miranda so much, she's my inner soul. 

We customised our own t-shirts!! It was so much fun dressing up pre-concert with my girls, it made the whole experience a  lot more fun :)

And, randoms snippets from the week:

Love the smoothies from Five Plus Smoothies!! So delicious and filling. It's slightly pricey so I only ever purchase it if I've gone through a really good workout at the gym. Plus, it doesn't help my case much considering it's located just next to my gym...

Yummy gelato from Dex2Rose, a nitrogen gelato store co-owned by my friend. I'm not being biased, but I genuinely love the gelato from his store a lot more as compared to the others that I've tried. The flavours suited my palate, the price was reasonable and the location is fantastic. 

In case you wanted to know where it's located, here's the address:

Dex2Rose Nitrogen Gelato

377 Little Bourke Street

 Melbourne VIC 3000 

I love waking up to this view :)

Well, I guess that's it for March. I will be ending this month with another delightful meeting at Toastmasters and then perhaps getting groceries because I am starving myself at home due to the absence of food. Tomorrow shall be the start of a new month, and hopefully the continuation of good habits and the start of better ones.

Hope you've had a lovely March, and I hope you're as excited as I am for the coming weeks to come! :)
Xx

RIP Lee Kuan Yew.

Source: Pinterest

I contemplated writing this post over and again for various reasons. However, I felt that I needed to address his death and give respect to this man who moulded and shaped the beautiful country I call home.

Before I begin, please, to anyone who may be reading this post (Singaporean or not), please know that there is no political intent behind this post. With all the posts that are coming up online - both good and bad - I just merely wanted to express my feelings towards his death. 

I grew up in Generation Y. I was old enough to only remember Goh Chok Tong as my Prime Minister. At that point in time, the late Lee Kuan Yew was the Minister Mentor for the country. However, I definitely grew up learning about Lee Kuan Yew and the contributions he did for the country. As a child in primary school, these pieces of information were too much for me to process. My inability to understand political lingo disabled me from fully understanding the extent of the history of Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. So like a child that is taught what is left and right, I accepted the fact that he had to be respected because he had sacrificed a lot for the country.

Growing up, my family was never one that discussed political issues. Neither did we ever complain or compliment the government. The only time the government came up was when new policies were made. That said, within my family some of us share different political views. We don't force one another to agree with our views on certain issues. Neither do we force one another to support a particular political party. My understanding of the government and its political ideologies were shaped from my personal education as well as debates and discussions I had watched and had with my peers. 

However, as I grew up I learned some things about Lee Kuan Yew that I ultimately did not like and at some point wish I never discovered. Some decisions he made in the past questioned my respect for him. The wall that had separated the child and adult in me was broken and I now realised the reality of what it really was. I questioned why he carried them out. As the say, you can't make quick judgments when it comes to politics without reading from a wide spectrum of articles. I had to carry out my own research to at least try to understand why he did what he did.

Source: Google Images

At the time this happened, I was in high school. By then, I had been given the opportunity to take up leadership roles. It was through this that I came to realise that being a leader is no easy feat. One is not born a leader but rather moulded into one. Your beliefs make you the effective leader you are but above all, choosing the make the right (albeit unpopular) decision is another. I was a leader in my school, Lee Kuan Yew was a leader in a country. The impact of the decisions made in parliament weighs so much heavier than the ones I ever made in school. I respected him, and slowly began to understand why he may have carried out those unpopular decisions in the past. He was not perfect, but his tenacity, passion and willpower towards a brighter future for Singapore is something that cannot go unnoticed. At the end of the day, I now have a home that provides me with security, opportunities as well as a vibrant culture that makes it uniquely Singapore - my home. 

Ultimately, everyone faces death. The mistakes he may have made towards people in the past is not for me to judge but is between him and his Creator. As a human being, I mourn his death and am terribly saddened by his departure. The world has lost one of their best leaders. The context in which he led my country may not have been similar to other notable world leaders across the globe, but he definitely was a man that deserves every ounce of respect that comes his way.

***

When I was 10 I found a book in my school library about Lee Kuan Yew. It was a book that described his past, from childhood to prime minister. It was a simplified and illustrated version for children. But one thing was for sure. I knew then and there that there was no reason to not respect him. A man who treats his wife like a Queen and who loves her so dearly as he did is a man of great character. That in itself spoke great volumes of him. 

Source: Google Images

‘For reasons of sentiment, I would like part of my ashes to be mixed up with Mama’s, and both her ashes and mine put side by side in the columbarium. We were joined in life and I would like our ashes to be joined after this life.’ (Source: The Sunday Times , October 2, 2011)

Thank you Lee Kuan Yew. Your contributions to the country will definitely be shared to the generations to come. I am honoured and grateful to have lived when you did. You have taught me so much as a leader and for all that you have gone through, I will always respect you. 

Source: Google Images

May you rest in peace.

Updates + Writers Block

Source: Me

The term "writer's block" has never been more applicable to me today than less than half a year ago when I decided to make this blog. It's one thing to be blogging about your personal life and another when it comes to blogging about things that you genuinely want to share about. Pardon me for expressing my woes with regards to this platform once again, but at the current moment I'm still so lost as to what I want this space to be. An inspirational platform? Suits the wishy washy me very well. A beauty platform? I do love my products and I love to share some of the tips that I find have worked for me. That said it's not every day I'll have something beauty related to share. Hmm.. I'll need to figure this out sometime soon.

Meanwhile, the plague that's taken over my creative juices has me worried. Why do I lack inspiration? It's true that most of the inspiration behind my posts come from personal encounters and experiences. I wondered if my lack of inspiration possibly signified me being in a good place in my life at the moment.

Living overseas has been quite a tumultuous ride for me and be it unfortunate or not, i'm still going through the ride. As i've mentioned in a previous post, 2014 was a terrible year for me after experiencing depression and anxiety. There was no doubt that 2015 frightened me to bits prior to my departure from home and my family. You never really know what life has in store for you, you can only pray for the best really.

Well, as far as I can say, life has been treating me well so far :) Albeit it only being three weeks since I've been away from home, I can safely say that I am genuinely happy. It may be too bold of me to say that I'm the happiest I've been in a long while since my trip overseas with my family, but it certainly comes close. Friends who are no longer down under with me are still in my mind, but their departure has allowed others to make way into my life. Acquaintances are now friends, and friends are now good friends. The biggest contributing factor to my happiness here definitely has to be the club I'm involved with in Uni, it takes up most of my time in all the good ways possible :)

However, the sole reason why I know I'm as happy and grateful as I am now lies in only one reason - faith. I don't like talking about religion on public platforms like these in general because I understand that not everyone believes in the same thing as I do. Needless to say - and in no way are my intentions to preach - faith has helped me to overcome all the darkness that has plagued me the previous year. I lacked prayer and faith the year before, and despite knowing it was an issue still lacked the discipline to change my habits. I promised myself I'd put my faith above everything else this year, and to strive to be a better person of my religion. Like said, it's only been three weeks but I'm confident of proving myself wrong that I'll fail to accomplish this.

Source: Pinterest

Truly, there are so many things I'm afraid of. But with faith + hard work, I know I'll get there eventually :) 

Anyway, here are some snippets from what I've been up to the past three weeks:

(L-R): Frozen Yogurt from Yo-chi, Hotcakes from The Kettle Black, Charlie's old fashioned Quencher, brunch from Mart 130

Also, I turned 22 last Friday! Happy Belated Birthday to me :) Unfortunately (and I hate myself so much for this) I have no photos from that night!! :( I had a wonderful and lovely day nonetheless, and it was perfect just the way I liked it with people I treasure in my life. Perhaps I'll share a little bit more about my birthday celebration in another post. 

Till then, have a lovely week ahead and I'll see this space very soon :)

xx

Sick!?

Source: Pinterest

Howdiddlydoo. A lot has happened since my last visit here - I took a plane back to Australia, school started, I met up with friends, attended meetings... and the most recent addition to the list is contracting shingles!! 

I don't want to get down to the nitty-gritty details of my illness, but after my visit to the doctor today concluded that I currently have shingles and am on medication until I've completed it.

The reason behind the image above is because I was complaining to my parents about how I happen to fall gravely ill / injure myself / contract a new illness / spoil my phone when I am away from home. My mum responded with the above message (also tied it to the obstacles and failures that I had to overcome). 

So on the bright side, falling sick has definitely made me less reliant on my parents. Cause there ain't no way my mum's gna be able to take care of me and feed me when she's so far away :'( It is true, you miss home when you fall ill. Furthermore, I think I should add that my doctor was impressed that I had the same inkling on the diagnosis of my illness. Hooray for me! 

Till then, I'll be busy taking my medicine and hiding that affected area just beneath my ear. 

Xx