too many in the world to help

by

I was watching a documentary on the HIV/aids situation in Myanmar. The focus was on shelters set up by a volunteer for people diagnosed with the illness. As these people are shunned by neighbours in their villages, they make way to the shelters to seek medical aid and refuge. All of them are also poor and can barely make ends meet.

The sad fact of life is that medical supplies are expensive and thus, only the rich can afford to keep up with the payment for these necessities to keep them alive for the rest of their lives. The poor just look to their governments for aid and rely on the goodwill of the rich. To make things worse, their government is just not very smart when it comes to such issues. It makes me really sad and angry to hear that their government does not do anything to help these people. In fact, they make things worse by creating trouble for the volunteer, threatening to close down the shelters. They have even ordered Doctors Without Borders to stop their work.

It is said that the medicine the patients need cost USD30 a month. If for any reason, the patient stops taking the medicine, when they start to take it again, they need a second dosage which brings the cost up to USD60. For such poor people, they cannot afford this.

A family was featured where the husband passed the HIV virus to his wife, who in turn passed it to her baby girl. The couple have a healthy three-year-old son as well. Doctors have advised the mother to stop breastfeeding her baby girl as they believe this is aggravating the virus in her daughter. However, she sadly told the camera crew that this is not possible as they are too poor to buy a substitute to feed her daughter. It is heartbreaking to hear this.

I am angry. Why doesn’t their government do anything? Is setting aside USD30 a day to ensure someone else gets a chance to experience life too hard to ask of a rich government official?

It’s at times like these that I wish I could save these people from their misery. They don’t deserve to die just coz their government is incompetent. But there are just too many people in the world that needs to be saved.

And so, I go to sleep feeling frustrated.

brothers conflict

by

It’s here! It’s here! The kyaa-ing post for Brothers Conflict. So the story goes where main character, Ema goes to live in a mansion with her 13 step-brothers after her father remarries. All of her step-brothers develop feelings for her (I think it’s coz they are just surrounded by guys all the time and suddenly a female enters in the picture!) The anime is adapted from the otome game, but I honestly think such anime exist for girls to kyaa over hot bishounen.

The brothers in their birth order:
1: Masaomi Asahina — Paediatrician who supposedly cannot stand the sight of blood. He is closest to youngest brother, Wataru. Father figure of the Asahina household.
2: Ukyo Asahina — Lawyer and mother figure of the Asahina household. He cooks for the family.
3: Kaname Asahina — Monk? I wonder if he’s really a monk or a host? Has a casanova attitude.
4: Hikaru Asahina — Novelist and fashionista. Into cross-dressing. He is rather observant and knows that his brothers have romantic feelings toward their step-sister.
5: Tsubaki Asahina — Seiyuu. Eldest triplet; has an identical twin and a fraternal twin.
6: Azusa Asahina — Seiyuu, like his identical twin brother Tsubaki.
7: Natsume Asahina — Works in a game company. Lives apart from his brothers. He is the fraternal twin to Tsubaki and Azusa. Has two cats named after his triplet brothers.
8: Louis Asahina — Hairstylist. He is an adopted son. He is the only brother who can communicate with Ema’s pet squirrel, Juli.
9: Subaru Asahina — College sophomore who is the most athletic of his brothers. On the basketball team. Closest to Natsume? Or rather Natsume acts like his strict manager.
10: Iori Asahina — High school senior with a prince-like behaviour. Loves flowers and knows the meaning of them.
11: Yusuke Asahina — High school junior (a delinquent) and Ema’s classmate. Has a crush on Ema even before he finds out she is his step-sister.
12: Fuuto Asahina — Famous pop idol.
13: Wataru Asahina — 10-year-old kid.

Continue reading →

helter skelter

by

I don’t watch movies nowadays (especially at the cinema), but I do enjoy Japanese movies. I’m not being bias here and I’ll say that I have watched a Japanese movie or two which sucked. I like thought-provoking movies, the kind that would make me want to share my thoughts/opinion…like now. *Note: There may be a few spoilers in my commentary.

ヘルタースケルタ (Helter Skelter) is a film adapted from a manga series about uber fabulous supermodel Ririko (played by Sawajiri Erika), who has the perfect body and face that every girl dreams of having. However, what those girls do not know is that Ririko is “manufactured” — every inch of her body and face except for her “eyeballs, ears and pussy” (as her manager states) is the result of plastic surgery. Of course, there is a hefty price to pay for the body and looks that every man and woman would die for, which comes in the form of treatments and medication to keep her body functioning even as it struggles to keep up. On the sidelines, an inspector is investigating a series of suicides and organ thefts that point to the shady practices of the beauty clinic that services Ririko.

Continue reading →

desserts and cupcakes

by

We have booked the place for our wedding reception. Yay! Though I’m a little sad that I can’t get my ex-colleague to do a dessert table or even bake some cupcakes as wedding favours. I kind of knew that a dessert table was out of the question, but the place said “strictly no outside food”. Orz.

There aren’t many shops or places that I would strongly recommend for cupcakes (except for that place in New York), but Des bakes good stuff. I have high standards for desserts. They can’t be too sweet (such that they taste artificial). Twelve Cupcakes is good but mainstream, and I’m usually afraid of chain stores. They can be good, but once they start rapidly expanding, their quality goes down. Besides, Des has some stuff that is different and she doesn’t stinge on ingredients.

So, if you want a good cupcake, I’ll recommend Des’ business called Pretty Delish. As the name suggests, her cupcakes are pretty delicious. My favourite is her lychee rose cupcake.

 

office habits

by

This is another one of those posts where I make comments to something shared on Facebook.

17 Things You Suddenly Start Doing When You Get an Office Job

My Comments:
#1: YES! Lunch was the most sacred time where we could all stop thinking about work and actually socialise. Our lunches ended at 2pm no matter what time they started, never changed. But the lunch bell rang later and later, from 12pm to 12.30pm and finally the ultimate 1pm.
#2: YES! I never felt so deprived of sleep during school days. Waking up at 6.15am and ending work at 7pm or later (with no naps in between) every day is no joke.
#3: Yea, I always signed off with ‘thank you’ in my emails until one day I stopped to think whether I really needed to thank people or not.
#4: Haha, it doesn’t matter whether I’m at home or in office. I have at least five tabs open. 60 is just overkill. At home, the permanently open tabs are Gmail and Facebook. I kid you not. I think this is about the only multitasking I can do.
#5: Yup. When I’m stressed and snacks are within reach, I WILL SNACK. I know it’s bad, but I can’t help it. I need to make myself feel better.
#6: I get locked in vicious breakfast cycles instead. Three for a dollar nuggets are way better than facing work.
#7: Please, hell no. I don’t want to be caught in this. The use of acronyms at work is INSANE. The engineers use them a lot for technical stuff and I’m like “WHAT???”
#8: I treat my co-workers like friends. What are you talking about?
#9: Didn’t happen to me.
#10: *sigh* Yes, I cannot switch off if something’s bothering me and it’s work-related.
#11: This doesn’t just apply to the office. If it’s free food, it’s good.
#12: It’s the saddest thing that can happen to someone and yes, it happened to me before. Thank God for wonderful colleagues. They bought me my favourite hazelnut latte from Starbucks to cheer me up.
#13: Nope, didn’t happen, but we did have a growing playlist specially for the department. Our theme song? “Titanium” by David Guetta. Not hard to figure out why. My theme song was “Carcrashes” by Standfast.
#14: Didn’t happen to me.
#15: Wished it did happen.
#16: Omg…yes. It became like an after-school party…in the office. WTH.
#17: Didn’t happen to me.

kirei sakura

by

I know Starbucks has been releasing their popular Sakura goods for quite a few years now, but newbie Starbucks fan here has got to make a post now.

The goods are so cute…and pink! My favourite colour! Here are some of the goods I like. *big hint*

I like the two pink hot water tumblers behind. I can’t decide which I like better…maybe the one with the flip top cap on the far right?

Then there’s the regular Starbucks mug on the left with the special Sakura print. 超きれい!

And this! I got the Christmas version of this during our office gift exchange, but it was the smaller one. I really wanted the larger one and now they have it with the Sakura print!

Of course, kaypoh me had to go check out what Japan and Korea Starbucks were offering for their Sakura goods.

*spazz*

Japan Starbucks didn’t really have nicer ones but they have this…

A set of glasses, one’s clear and the other’s frosted. The clear one has print that turns pink when cold liquid is poured into the glass. So cute!

And they have a special drink — Sakura Chocolate! Ah…now I really miss having Sakura-flavoured soft cream in Japan…

Korea Starbucks had quite a few cute pink Sakura print mugs too, but they have since taken down some of the pictures from their website. Guess those are sold out already.

could it be

by

Could it be, could it be, could it be that Elisia has returned to the blogging world? *sparkly eyes*

Maybe.

I’ve been out of this for too long. Ever since I got married, got a job, I just couldn’t find the time for anything. Not to mention the boy always tells me to stop wasting my time on leisurely things. To make things worse, work got more demanding with long hours and assignments that never seemed to end. Now that I’ve quit my job, I get more breathing space to do the things I’ve neglected so much. Of course, during this time I’ll also be looking for my next job, but at least I can go back to this place…something that I started years ago and am unwilling to give up no matter how many times it seems it has died.

Here are some things I plan to do during this break:

  • Get back on track with my health
    It’s easy to forget to drink water when you’re really busy. People can tell me that it’s no excuse, but it happened. I would sit at my desk, work on my assignments and just not find the right moment to leave my desk to get more water or even go to the loo. Wait a minute, I don’t even feel the urge to pee coz I don’t drink enough water. As a result, I got constipated. It could be four to five days before I actually felt the urge to go to the loo. I feel my body is really all whacked up. I have this persistent pimple problem on my back which I suspect is coz my body is not releasing toxins as it should be. I also suspect that it’s causing me to put on weight and for some strange reason, not get sick too. Anyway, I’ve been watching my water and food intake now that I’m at home most of the time. Have also started some sort of exercise routine with jogging twice to thrice a week. I really need to watch my health especially since I plan to have a kid later.
  • Keep up with close friends
    I am sad to say that I’ve neglected some of the people who are dear to me. I always knew that both work and friends were important, but somehow work took over my life. This fact only hit me real hard when I attended a leadership course and one of the topics was about self-renewal and relationships. It made me pause and think about the important people in my life and how much time I’m actually spending with them. I do not want to cut out these people from my life as they have always stood by me — through the good and bad times.
  • Plan the wedding reception
    We are the weird couple. We do things in reverse or in any order we like. Even though we decided we did not want to have the usual Chinese banquet, I still would like to spend my special moment with my loved ones. It is my way of saying thanks. Date has been settled…in June. We are also not having a traditional photoshoot/wedding album thing since we decided what for pay so much for an album that’ll probably end up under the bed. But…but…I still want to have beautiful pictures of me and the boy taken and displayed. So I’ve decided to create my own album. The boy has stated very clearly that planning this is my task since he did all the planning work for renovating our place. This is gonna be tough, but I hope it goes well. Yikes.
  • Find a new job
    That goes without saying. Period.
  • Watch some anime
    Or rather plow through the growing list of anime. Compared to dramas, I find anime easier to watch as the episodes are shorter and well…anime guys are so much cuter. Oh no, am I turning into some weird otaku? Anyway, be prepared…coz there will be some weird kyaa-ing posts soon. I’m 28 and married, but I think I can have some private space to fantasise and have some kyaa moments right?
  • Read some books/manga
    I have quite a collection of non-fiction and manga begging to be read. Also need to complete them so I have more space for new ones. I reposted this stats fact thing on Facebook recently. I realised that I’m forgetting quite a bit of what I learnt in Stats class. Got me all fired up to revisit what I have forgotten. It is true that I like analysing numbers even if I’m not like pro at it. It’s comforting to work with numbers and find out what they mean. Numbers never lie. And they are so much easier to handle than people’s emotions. I hate how work became like a game. Those who knew how to play it moved forward and up the ladder, while people like me just seemed to be caught in a neverending loop.
  • Do some cross-stitch
    I have a few kits that I’ve not completed. Hope to find some time to do them…bit by bit. Right now this is quite low priority. We’ll see…

And of course while I do all this, I have my wifely duties to fulfill as well (e.g. clean the house, cook, iron clothes, etc.)

Wish me good luck!

struggles of an international student in USA

by

I would have reposted this on Facebook but I have too many comments to make. Lol.

27 Struggles Every International Student at an American College Knows Too Well

My comments:
#1: I don’t really get jet lagged coz I hardly sleep on the plane.
#2: When I entered college, I was past 21 which made me legal to drink in both countries. I don’t drink anyway.
#3: Yes, in my case it was which group to tag along for a Thanksgiving trip or stay back
#4: No comment, but I must say that clothing from Aeropostale and American Eagle were cheap (compared to when they opened stores in Singapore).
#5: Yup, I still remember some kid in my rhetoric class edited my paper — circled ‘learnt’ and said that word doesn’t exist.
#6: Didn’t have that problem.
#7: Oh yes. The omelette at this pancake place my aunt took me to, could feed at least two people. That said, I put on weight when I completed my four years of college. Enough said.
#8: I remember talking to Wen about this. It’s different talking to people from Asia and Americans. It’s the way we were brought up and what we’re familiar with.
#9: In my case, my parents were too busy fussing around my grandpa. It got quite frustrating at one point when I was talking to my mum and she was just not really listening at all.
#10: Didn’t have that problem.
#11: Didn’t have that problem, but I did have to adopt the way Americans spoke coz they seemed to have trouble understanding the English that came out of my mouth when I spoke normally.
#12: Haha, this is too true. I missed my Myojo Big Prawn Noodles and Nong Shim Claypot Ramyun so much that I asked my mum to ship some to me. KS missed Ayam brand Chilli Tuna. By the way, the instant noodles in the US is crap. Every flavour of Maruchan tasted the same. The only decent cup noodle was the spicy Nong Shim cup.
#13: Didn’t have that problem.
#14: Yes.
#15: I did not maniacally scramble to the International Students’ office to get my I-20 signed before I returned home for the summer, but I remember the hassle of getting it signed anyway.
#16: Didn’t have that problem.
#17: Didn’t have that problem coz I could switch. Anyone who comes home with a weird accent after just one to four years abroad is trying to show off. It’s true.
#18: Didn’t have that problem.
#19: Huh? What’s that?
#20: Didn’t have that problem coz I wasn’t seeking a job there and Illini Media is a mostly student-run organisation.
#21: Nope.
#22: Not really. Holidays are good coz that means no school.
#23: Didn’t use those then so had no such problems I did have a problem of wanting to call someone back home but couldn’t coz of the time difference.
#24: OMG. YES. I’ve to deal with: “Singapore is part of China right?” and that my native language is not English. Sure, Singapore’s national language is not English, but I can safely say that we’re the only Asian country that uses English as our first language and main language of instruction.
#25: How many times have I heard “all Asians look alike”? I am going to roll my eyes at the next person who says this in front of me.
#26: Not really, but I did feel a tinge of sadness when I had to leave. Left behind my good friends Christina, Stephanie, Wen, Owen and Prof. Vargas.
#27: Didn’t have that problem.

memories are made of these

by

Recently I decided to visit my much neglected blog. Went through my friends’ blogs and found (what I think is) a gem on Nad’s blog. She has this link to a scrapbooking site called Project Life by Becky Higgins. Didn’t think too much of it at first. I mean I know Nad is into scrapbooking, and I’m just clicking around being curious and all. But as I explored the site, I started to have ideas. I had no clue that the new age scrapbooking was that easy! There’s also Simple Stories and Echo Park Paper Co. Choices, choices…

Now, I’m thinking of starting a small project. To do up my own wedding album. I haven’t taken official photos yet, but when I do, I’ll rather document the event in my own way rather than pay for something which looks nice but will probably end up under the bed after a few months.