mel...

- is eating so much chocolate she's going to look like one soon. you know, one is what one eats. i wonder what a choc-human will look like. hmm.

- is amused at her new cotton candy lip balm

- is thinking of her girlfriends back home, especially the Ss and the D.

- is wishing that they're here.

- is letting the pot cook bak khu teh tonight, thanks to spices flown from home.

- just ironed an extremely stubborn pair of pants.

- just washed teddy. (photos later of he/she/it looking totally traumatised.)

- is loving her first home together with the babe.

- is praying for God's guidance every day.

- is thankful.

What i saw the other day and what i made today.

Saw a police horse!! =p .. trotting around outside the church i work in.



and... mel k.!! guess what i made!!! =D

The colours God used to paint the sky..

.. are so vivid and marvelous that this photo can only capture a fraction of its beauty.

my pineapple tarts attempt 1.

ok. i've got some post-oven photos, just haven't uploaded them. They may not look really much like pineapple tarts, and may not really taste like pineapple tarts either... but someday! they will be! =p .. on a more sentimental note, despite their semi-failure, eating them still reminded me of my grandma. =)

Updates: meeting Ziming; and Shuming; and work.

Ziming came over for about 1 day on on the 12th of Jan. (ziming, i know you arrived on the 11th but 10pm at night and not doing anything doesn't quite count for a day; and i know you left on the 13th but early in the morning doesn't count either. =p ) .. Anyways, it was a fun night of meeting in chinatown, getting a little lost at first (then discovering that zm brought his compass!) , met wenyong who's doing his exchange in birmingham, AND went to Four Seasons for duck! =D ..





Then met Shuming and Gerald on monday after work for dinner.. and they brought me to this place with hawker food! had hokkien mee! and it was not bad at all! Shuming had BOO BOO cha cha.. heheh.. what a funny typo. =p .. great catching up.. =D



Now. about work. Work was a little boring the first few days, mostly because there wasn't much for me to do, but menial work (because both the pastor and the cantor were both on leave, so the poor administrator was frequently at a loss as to what to let me do). But the people are all very very very nice. Very sincere, very friendly.. one feels at home straight away in St. Anne's. (and i'm not saying this only because i'm working there or they're bribing me to say this or anything.) The home-liness of the church is just so inviting that one warms to the people easily.. Just played a few hymns for a council meeting today. Truth be told, i thought it was really awful playing (as compared to the fantastic playing they're all probably used to), partly because i wasn't used to the organ yet, not enough practice and also because my hymn-playing ability is generally limited. But everyone was just really thankful that i played at all! so. ya. really really nice people. =)

British Museum and Cartoon Museum

The first two photos hail from the British Museum: very many pottery and mummies. =p

and the Cartoon Museum was simply fantastic. Spent quite some time reading the comics, really good satire.

Lyrics - Defying Gravity

GLINDA
(spoken) Elphaba - why couldn't you have stayed calm for
once, instead of flying off the handle!
(sung) I hope you're happy!
I hope you're happy now
I hope you're happy how you
Hurt your cause forever
I hope you think you're clever!

ELPHABA
I hope you're happy
I hope you're happy, too
I hope you're proud how you
Would grovel in submission
To feed your own ambition

BOTH
So though I can't imagine how
I hope you're happy right now

GLINDA
(spoken) Elphie, listen to me. Just say you're sorry:
(sung) You can still be with the Wizard
What you've worked and waited for
You can have all you ever wanted:

ELPHABA
(spoken) I know:
(sung) But I don't want it -
No - I can't want it
Anymore:

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes: and leap!

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down!

GLINDA
Can't I make you understand?
You're having delusions of grandeur:

ELPHABA
I'm through accepting limits
'Cuz someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I'll never know!
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost!
I'd sooner buy
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down:
(spoken) Glinda - come with me. Think of what we could
do: together.

(sung) Unlimited
Together we're unlimited
Together we'll be the greatest team
There's ever been
Glinda -
Dreams, the way we planned 'em

GLINDA
If we work in tandem:

BOTH
There's no fight we cannot win
Just you and I
Defying gravity
With you and I
Defying gravity

ELPHABA
They'll never bring us down!
(spoken) Well? Are you coming?

GLINDA
I hope you're happy
Now that you're choosing this

ELPHABA
(spoken) You too
(sung) I hope it brings you bliss

BOTH
I really hope you get it
And you don't live to regret it
I hope you're happy in the end
I hope you're happy, my friend:

ELPHABA
So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am
Defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No Wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!

GLINDA
I hope you're happy!

CITIZENS OF OZ
Look at her, she's wicked!
Get her!

ELPHABA
:Bring me down!

CITIZENS OF OZ
No one mourns the wicked
So we've got to bring her

ELPHABA
Ahhh!

CITIZENS OF OZ
Down!

Wicked the musical!

Wicked was fabulous! The music just consumes you once it starts. The intensity, the mystery, the nuances... everything.. How everything was framed and presented. And the costumes and the set were so elaborate! A true feast for the eye. =D .. No words can truly express the experience. (or any experience for that matter. mm.)

So ya. Go watch!

Tower of London. =)

Really interesting experience. Hee. i've got funny stories to tell about how i tried to get the guard to take a photo with me, and about the very very many many diamonds and bling bling... and about the instruments of torture and traitor's gate. But right now, I'm just so lazy to type. heheh..

So. Let me just leave you all with a quote from King Edward I said after his dear wife's death:

'... whom living we dearly cherished, and whom dead we cannot cease to love...'

=) .. (now everyone go: awwww...)

the 'attractions'

it's strange, really, like how everyone goes: 'oh, you MUST see [this], you MUST see [that]...'; then you realise that when you actually see it, it's like: ok. so this is it. mmm.

oh well. for what's worth, here're some pictures for you all to 'wish you were there' at. =p

(so evil right.)

but the truth is, i wish you were too.

For Good

'I'm limited
Just look at me - I'm limited
And just look at you
You can do all I couldn't do, Glinda
So now it's up to you
For both of us - now it's up to you...

(Glinda):
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

(Elphaba):
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
[For Good lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]

But because I knew you

(Glinda):
Because I knew you

(Both):
I have been changed for good

(Elphaba):
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for

(Glinda):
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share

(Both):
And none of it seems to matter anymore

(Glinda):
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood

(Elphaba):
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood

(Both):
Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better

(Glinda):
And because I knew you...

(Elphaba):
Because I knew you...

(Both):
Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good... '

...

This song gave me goosebumps, is giving me goosebumps, and will be giving me goosebumps for sometime. It's so nicely done by the original cast of Wicked. So so so poignantly done.. and the lyrics.. just as the person in the youtube video said: 'it can be said of anyone who comes into your life.' ... and it's so true. And I think of all of you my family and friends, I do believe that, because of all of you, I've been honed and changed for the better. =) ..

(PS: I'M GOING TO (HOPEFULLY) WATCH IT THIS COMING TUESDAY!! =p .. heheheh!!!)

=) ... enjoy!

the latte boy

this is really good.. =)