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Christmas 2012

Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Remember I mentioned clearing my 2012 Europe pictures by 2014? (I say it like it's normal...)
WELL, ALMOST. I'm still left with my Norway pictures from the days after Christmas. 
But at least I'm not blogging Christmas 2012 in 2015...?

Back to topic. Christmas was spent at my half-sister's countryside home about 2 hours away from central Paris! Imagine my horror when I got there & realised... THEY HAVE NO WIFI THERE.

So... I paid $150 to Singtel for 5 days of data haha.
#wortheverypenny

Here's beginning my last post of 2014 with a selfie:


With my half-nephew, Hugo!




What do people normally do in the countryside? Go for walks...








View of the house from the very end of the garden!

And some cows on the opposite side of the fence.

Some festive cuteness! But #adoptdontbuy #dontbuyapetjustbecauseitscute #bunniesarehardtocarefor

IMPOSTER #1 Spot the guinea pig hahaha

IMPOSTER #2 "Christmas Day. No one has noticed I'm not one of them"










WHAT HAPPENS EVERY TIME A YOUNGER RELATIVE GETS THEIR HANDS ON YOUR PHONE & DISCOVERS THAT IT HAS GAMES. #goodbyephone


I brought Santa hats! I have a ridiculous amount of festive-season-related novelty items.


L'aperitif! Champagne for the adults & sparkling juice for the kids.
I loveeee the crusty toasted baguettes with the various toppings. Major yummy.

Looking at my flip-out screen instead of the camera lens #basicallyeverypersontousemycamera

Random Hello Kitty lock I got from a turn-turn machine at the supermarket!


Began the last post of 2014 with a selfie, ending the last post of 2014 with a selfie.

May or may not do a "summary of 2014" thingamajig...
May or may not do resolutions... (I never do any because I know they'll fail LOL)

Have fun with yours! 
Till then,

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

♥ ♥ ♥ 

Behind The Scenes

Friday, December 12, 2014
I don't usually take my pictures at any specific place. Most of the time I try to simply wear out whatever item I want to feature for an #ootd (lol) & snap it with... my iPhone.

On this particular day I headed out with my DSLR (Canon 700D). Which I don't really know how to use either. I mean I roughly know ISO & exposure, but frankly most of the time I just use Auto mode...

Anyway, went to a (what I thought was) deserted & quiet stretch of road near my home, although I generally hate large amounts of greenery in my pictures. Look at the damned things below. So bloody much... green. And yellow. Idk! I don't like warm/pastel tones either, but I'd pick that over cold tones.



LOL

#noshame








So this is just a random update because I was tired of posts needing hours & hours of editing.

Life has been alright so far, though I've never liked the festive season that much.
I know, can you say Grinch?

But really, I feel the festivities have become so commercialised. May also stem from the fact that I hate giving & receiving gifts! Thus, the worst season ever for such a person haha.
I hate stressing over what to pick, will they like it, how will they react...

Me: "Shit it's pouring so I should wear slippers but I'm wearing jeans & then I'd be committing that deadly jeans + slippers sin" -> #firstworldproblems

Also, 2015 horoscope predictions are out already so I've spent my time reading mine & selectively remembering positive traits. Oh wait, is that one of my negative traits then? #inception #leo
#muststophashtaggingthisisnotInstagram

It's that time of the year again

Sunday, November 23, 2014
Dug out my diary (my actual, pen-to-paper-one) & flipped through entries I had long forgotten writing. Many struck a chord with me as much as the day I wrote them... which was probably a bad idea since they made me feel as shitty as I was feeling then. One in particular stood out to me today:

(30 July 2013)

I'm a mess. I'm all over the place. I don't know how to be, how to act, what to do, because being me just isn't good enough. I'm just not right & I don't know why & I try so hard to be & that just makes things worse. I don't know how to be the person you want & that you won't get sick of. I feel like... I just don't have much to offer.

I read that & crumpled into tears, because I've never stopped feeling that way or worse, BEING that way. I'm always trying to be the perfect fit for every kind of person, or group. I try never to be too this or too that, because I have to fit into so many roles at the same time. I try to play it as safe as possible, so that I can please as many as I can. Online, I'm a bit bitchy, a bit girly, a bit emo, a bit aggressive, a bit passive, a bit hipster, a bit mainstream... "will I seem too this if I do this?" I'm a bit everything & all nothing. If you asked me who am I really, or what am I like really, purely, wholly... I have no clue. And I thought we were taught that we can achieve anything if we try hard enough. So I did & I do. I push & change & scrutinise & obsess, & then I break down when I realise that no matter how hard I try, I will never be the right one, no matter how much I want it.


Being 24

Thursday, October 23, 2014
I've been employed for over a year now. I finished my 4 years of university in May last year & began work a few months later. I bought insurance. Started taking over bills. Began thinking about things like investments, housing, loans... basically the future. So officially, I've technically become an "adult". Doing "adult" things. Being of an "adult" age.

When you were a kid all these terms (bills, work, insurance) were like... WOAH. You're all big & grown up! You've made it! You've finished being a child, being a preteen, being a teenager... Turning 21... was still meh. You JUST hit the "official" legal "adult" age. 22... ok you're a year wiser than before. No big deal. 24... oh shit, you can no longer consider yourself on the edge of adulthood. You're now closer to being in the mid-twenties than you are to that long-awaited big 21.

And so it hits you. You're now that freaking ADULT kids like you used to imagine the lives of. From being a kid yourself, you're now at the age where you can be trusted to look after other kids. As a kid you'd see the responsibilities & expectations of an adult & suddenly... you're that adult.

But somehow... I don't feel a day older than I did last year. Or the year before. Or the year before before. The digits of my age increase, but I feel the same. I feel like I'm in exactly the same spot. Nothing's really changed. I sit around & wait for that "adult-ness" to happen to me. But what defines it really? Is it finishing school? Is it starting work? Is it getting married? Is it having children?

People around me have done a variety of those things at varying ages. Are they more/less "adult" than me? What makes an adult? Is it just the number? Is it the things we do, or the way we think? Other than my age, what am I?

Willocq Time

Saturday, October 11, 2014
Omggg these pictures from... dare I say it... 2012 are SO overdue!

I was having a little dilemma because in my entire history of blogging (like... 8 years), I've never intentionally skipped blogging about something because it happened too long ago. I mean firstly I never faced such an issue till the last 1+ year & secondly, I just... find it unnatural to bury my pictures somewhere. But I know some people do that, so I thought maybe I should just give up on these, right?

NO.
I will blog all these pictures if it's the last thing I do! *whatsapp bicep emoticon*
Ok I don't want that to be the last thing I do, an old lady in a hospital bed with a Retina 4D Holographic Touchscreen Motion Sensor Whatever Else Macbook Deity, but you get my drift.

So yes anyhow.
I was leaving Munich that night to Paris, where I was to meet the rest of my Willocq troupe for Christmas! My half-sister lives in Paris, but goes to her countryside home on weekends & holidays (very common for city dwellers cause having a house - not an apartment - in the city centre is too expensive). So we were spending Christmas at the countryside home!

But first up, I had to take an overnight train (which was like, 10 hours long) from Munich!
These are sleeper trains, with beds & a washing area.

Here's the view from my upper deck bunk! 
I took the liberty of claiming the top bunk since I got there first.

I had a major concern for this City Night Line train: SAFETY

It's not like a plane, where it's "public". On trains you are in individual cabins.
YOU DON'T KNOW WHO WILL BE IN YOUR CABIN.

The cheapest ticket is for the 6-sleeper bunk.
Great for friends, but terribly frightening travelling alone.
You have no idea who the other 5 in your bunk may be! Scariest part - the bunks lock from inside. And, no one can open them from outside. Even the train attendants. 
That's the only way to prevent thefts I guess?

I'd say that for travelling I'm already pretty adventurous/game for most things. I'm not the average Singaporean that won't stay budget, won't go out after dark, won't eat street food blah blah. But this scared me. I mean... worst case scenario... you're the only girl in a room with 5 other guys. Wtf.

I do know of one or two friends who travelled in this 6-person cabin before & it went perfectly fine (cabin wasn't even full) but you never know. So despite the rather large price difference, I got the 2-person cabin (cost 120 Euros I think).


Soooo in the end... my cabin partner was a sweet old lady hahaha.
She was probably even more concerned than me! What if she gets a cabin with a young hooligan blasting music & throwing down potato chip bags from the top bunk? Lolol.

Luckily she gets sweet, ol' me :D

The area opposite to put bags (see the blue netting) but no way I can heave my suitcase up there.

The doors open to reveal a sink area!

Anyhow, it was a very uneventful & actually very comfortable train ride to Paris.
I slept well (I mean you get an actual BED instead of a seat) & would definitely consider it for any future trips! A flight might be shorter, but getting to/fro the airport can be mega inconvenient.
Sleeping through the night to your destination is not too bad too!

So I arrived in Paris & was earlier than the rest of my family members!
Dropped my suitcase off at my sister's place then went down to Champs Elysées myself.

Look at this grand entrance! Can you guess where it leads to?

Yep because you can't have topless boys all year round.

Famous for their desserts! At this Ladurée on Champs Elysées you can sit down & have a meal (rather than just buying sweet treats over the counter) but there's usually a long queue.


Met up with the family & after a 2-hour drive we were at the countryside home!



This was my first time seeing a Facebook Games Gift Card & it made me super excited because... I sometimes buy things (yes I spend REAL money on fake virtual money) in online games.

Damn, "I spend real money on fake virtual money" should be in my bio somewhere.

Also my first time ever seeing a car actually roll downhill on its own O.O
This is unheard of in Singapore because firstly I think the car needs to be a manual drive one (also super rare in Singapore), secondly the owner needs to have forgotten to engage the handbrake.


Anyway that day was all about Christmas grocery shopping!

Christmas with my French side of the family is still pretty traditional. And overall getting groceries in France is a little different because people still go to the individual artisans. The bakery for bread, the butcher's for meat, the fishmonger for seafood & so on. So it can be quite a task LOL.






A form of log cakes! You usually have to order these in advance & the popular bakeries may require advance notice of a few weeks. And on collection days there's a long queue snaking outside!



NUTELLA COOKBOOK
Quite common now, but again, first time seeing it 2 years ago.


Got oysters for Christmas, which were opened by hand by my dad & sister's boyfriend!



(half)ASIAN TAKING SELFIE.

Reaction to my flip-out screen -> "what is this contraption" - imagine in French



Also quite common to get flowers to decorate tables & all that.


Orchids!

And also the biggest dog I've ever seen in my life!
Huge Great Dane! Its head is literally bigger than mine wtf.

Ok next update should be Christmas itself. 
Following that would be visiting Vivaleng in Norway & then I'm finally done for 2012! *confetti*