ADVENTURE COVE (/*V*)/

It's been a while, but at least I'm posting before February ends, right? ;D hee hee... Anyhoo, last Sunday a whole bunch of us went to Adventure Coveeeeeeeeee~ MUCH EXCITE. It's actually the first theme park type thingy that I've been to in Singapore. Seriously. I'm so behind hahaha. Maybe one day I'll get my butt into USS. If my wallet ever agrees... Either way, LOOK AT OUR HAPPY SMILEY FACES IN THE SUN.

Above, L-R: Jen, Hazel, Me
Below, L-R: Sebas, Liling, Steph

On to my Adventure Cove experience, I had a really good time in the water, though a lot of the time we were just standing in line. I'm not very good at taking roller coasters and rides, so I'm actually quite proud of myself for TAKING THE PLUNGE. HAHAHAHA get it? #sopunny. Usually they let you go in twos so it was just right, considering that we were a group of six. Hazel and Steph typically went first so Jen, Liling and I could get confirmation that they lived and therefore be marginally less scared. But then that also kinda backfired because we'd hear them scream all the way down... And Sebas would just be with us, laughing... At us. MEAN PEOPLE. It was genuinely very fun though. We even went on the Big Bucket ride thing multiple times, which was actually meant for little kids. Young at heart, am I right?

had to remove my specs for the rides... @__@

We also had a great time at the wave pool, and some of us stayed at the deep end (1.6m without the waves) the entire time. Being ~167cm tall I wasn't particularly afraid of drowning, but there actually were times where I had mini freak outs. I though the wave pool would have tiny kid-friendly waves, but at the deep end, they were really quite big, and I went under quite a bit. I even swallowed some of the pool water, ICK. Eventually, we wised up and got (somewhat ill-fitting) life jackets for the next round of waves and had a great time just bobbing and floating around. MORE HAPPY FACES!

orange, yellow, orange, yellow, orange, yellow...

There were so many tiny kids around me, and some of them weren't even wearing life jackets! I felt so worried for them, especially since their parents were out of reach... Maybe I'm just a worrywart? I DON"T THINK SO. Watch your kids, guys. And by watch, I mean be within arms reach so that you can get to them before they actually drown. Geez. Oh well, I'm not exactly in the position to comment I suppose. We also swam/snorkelled with the fishies! Saltwater tastes disgusting though, and breathing via snorkel is actually pretty difficult. Even so, we managed and saw lots of pretty and not-so-pretty fish at the Rainbow Reef. It's actually a whole lot bigger and deeper than I imagined. Overall, a really cool experience.

(part of) the SA gang at Sentosa, hee hee

The only thing that really sucked, I must say, was the food. Or the food prices, rather. "Bangers and mash", or a $1 cup of 7-11 mashed potatoes with one sausage cut in half to look like two, cost nearly $7. SEVEN. SEEEEVEEEENNNN. And a chicken burger and turkey leg cost about $12 - $13 each! I know it's a tourist spot, and price inelasticity and all that, BUT STILL, the prices nearly gave me an aneurysm...

eating sad food, but still smiling!

No regrets though, I had a lot of fun with some really awesome people, and got to see a beautiful sunset on the way back. All in all a good day, I would say.

ain't it puuuurty?

Signing off with a sunset, sparkles and sakura petals,
Andrea ;D

SHOPPING HAULS AND ECONOMICS

Shopping has got to be one of my favourite things to do, even if I don't buy anything. Just trying on pretty things, affordability and cash flow notwithstanding, makes me all smiley inside... :D Of course, when I DO get something, that fuzziness is magnified, followed inevitably by a pinch/pang/slap/stab of guilt. Following that logic, it's then natural for me to go crazy whenever I visit Malaysia, because in that scenario, the original stab becomes downgraded a few levels, sometimes to the point of being negligible. YAY exchange rates! Also, when I say crazy, I MEAN CRAZY. I'mt not just talking about buying more expensive items. I'm talking about extra facial cleansers, toners, creams, necessities, GROCERIES. Because why not? Obviously, this is also contingent on my parents having driven up north with enough boot space for said craziness. This time around, I also bought a bunch of clothing apart from the above that I am 99% sure you don't want to see ^^

yes, it is an instagram filter, becasuse WHY NOT?

This is already considered tame, okay. 2 pairs of shoes, 3 crop tops, a dress and a skirt. We didn't have much time to shop this trip, so these were only from 2 stores. The shoes were RM120 for 2 (~SGD23 each) from Carlo Rino and everything else other than the skirt was RM19.90 (~SGD7.40) from Kitschen. The skirt was RM30 (~SGD11.15), I think, also from Kitschen. LOOK AT THE BRACKETED NUMBERS. DO THE NUMBERS NOT MAKE YOU HAPPY?? THEY MAKE ME SO HAPPY. SO, SOOOO VERY HAPPY. -insert mildly creepy smiley face here-

Conclusion? Shopping good. Shopping in Malaysia, very goooood.

BUT, there's always a downside, as with anything. I have lots of family in Malaysia, so the relatively weak position of the ringgit doesn't make me all that happy. As someone who (attempted) to study economics (to debatable success), I do understand the negative implications of some of the economic goings-on in the country. Logically, and economically, the decreasing real value of the ringgit >>> decreasing purchasing power >>> aniticipated inflation >>> increased costs of production >>> and increase in prices not matched by an increase in output/labour productivity that is potentially long-term >>> cost-push inflation. And no, I did not consult my econs notes, so if there's an error... OOPS. But still, Ms Chong, I hope you're proud of me. My brain hasn't completely wasted away yet. So.. Yeah... Even as I'm happy about it, I'm concerned, though I'm not sure what good that'll do. At least I'm aware right? And now, so are you, if you weren't already. Yay! Always look on the bright side of life~~ But pay attention to the dark bits too so you don't fall in a hole and die. Yup. LIFE LESSON, RIGHT THERE.

cute foam tiger cat thing to end on a good note!
IT EVEN HAS FISHIES.

Hope everyone's year has been going well so far. If not, go MAKE IT GREAT. Yeah!

Signing off with sunshine, sparkles and sakura petals,
Andrea ^^

OMBRE HAIR @ Number 76

So.... FIRST HAIR APPOINTMENT OF 2015! ;D Can't call it a haircut, since nothing actually got cut, haha. Anyhoo, I decided to get my hair coloured a really long time ago, and I really wanted to do an ombre dye job. I figured it was adventurous as I could get that I would be: a. Comfortable b. Not locked out of the house XD I also wanted to go to a better, more reputable salon because my hair has always been pretty dry (my grandma alternates between calling it grass and a lion's mane) and I really wanted the ombre to be done properly. What I didn't want was a dip dye, where you could see the line of colour going straight across. I also didn't want to kill my hair and turn it from grass to dead grass, so bleaching was not an option. The options I did consider were several Japanese salons that seemed to do lots of colours and ombres and dip dyes and all sorts of funky things. Their customer reviews also seemed really good, praising the quality of their services, etc, etc. Unfortunately, they were also pretty pricey. Then, one fine day, Andrea had an idea! DING! My father is Malaysian (as is the rest of his family), and because of school, I hadn't seen that side of the family in a year or more. Since I was going to visit them anyway, I figured I could find a good salon in KL and get my hair done there. The exchange rate is about SGD1 to RM2.65 now, which is greatly favour of Singaporeans.

Anyway, I decided to try out Cheesie's salon, Number 76. Several of my friends and I follow her blog/insta and her hair always looks sooooo good. And healthy. DESPITE the happy rainbow that has adorned her head and instagram feed. So when my family drove up to celebrate the new year, I had my mum make an appointment. It was between the Midvalley and Bangsar branches, and eventually I had an appointment with Shaun from the Bangsar 2 branch for a consult/perm/colour. I arrived early and immediately liked the decor. It was warm (lots of wood and red brick), and had pretty and well placed vintage elements.

the cosy reception area

green tea + a caramel biscuit ;D

Anyway, I got into a really cushy chair with my mum next to me. I showed him pics of what I wanted, and he showed me what I could get without bleach. Turns out, I would only be getting my hair coloured, cause my damaged ends wouldn't be able to handle the perm, according to Shaun. It would be RM280! Which is pretty much dollar to dollar what I would've paid in Singapore. So off we go!

Step 1: colour the ends

crazy witch hair

heat for 10 min

Step 2: colour the rest

After that, the one and only thing I was "sold" was a treatment that was on sale for RM158, to help the colour last. I got that too, and it felt really nice ^^ All in all I'm pretty happy, except that I wish the top was a little lighter! It's really dark brown to hide my white hairs (T^T) but it pretty much looks black, sigh. That and no perm... I think ombre looks best with curls though, guess I'll have to be a little more hardworking and do them myself? The ends came out super nice and obvious and gradient-like though, YAY.

temp curls
CAN'T WAIT FOR MY PERM!!!

Service wise, they're pretty awesome too, really taking care of you. They let me know what they were doing and how long I had to wait at each stage, and were overall super polite. Every time the guy applying the dye tugged on the tangled mess that is my hair, he would smile apologetically and say sorry (pretty much all my fault, though). They also had ear protectors during the dyeing process and eye protectors (for makeup?) during the washing stage. So meticulous... And he was also very careful not to get the chemicals on my skin, which I was extra thankful for, because I have pretty sensitive skin. When it did touch my neck, he RAN to get a wet towel to wipe it off like his life depended on it. So yeah, I well taken care of o(>v<)o AND NO STINKY SALON SMELL. ME LIKEY.

look at the mini shower cap ear protector thingy!

All in all, love this salon, prolly gonna get my hair done there as much as I can(: YAY FOR PRETTY HAIRRRRRRRRR~ Hope everyone's having a great 2015 already!

 

Signing off with sunshine, sparkles and sakura petals,
Andrea \o/

INTO THE NEW YEAR

Well, nearly all 365 (and 1/4) days of 2014 have passed, and that means... RESOLUTIONS. -gasp- I have an overarching one this year, which is simply to be more consistent. Those who know me probably also know that I am notoriously flaky. The only thing I've ever really stuck with is Aikido (a super cool super awesome Japanese martial art) which I've been doing for 8.5 years and counting. Other than that, I tend to get bored once the novelty of things wear off and disappear into the horizon, never to be seen or heard from again. Hopefully, this blog will show my ability to stick to this resolution instead of the total opposite /: AH WELL...

The end of the year is also a time of reflection, and I can safely say that while I don't regret 2014, I never want to repeat it. EVER. LIKE, NEVER. Even more times than Taylor Swift sang/said it. Seriously. There were so many trying moments this year, and I shed lots of tears and made a ton of angry dragon noises. Even so, I think I did what I could under the circumstances, hence the "no regrets" bit of the statement. I won't say I did my best, because I genuinely never know how people can say that. Hindsight is 20/20, after all, and I can probably be declared legally blind in terms of my "in-the-moment vision". There's always the "I could've started earlier" or "I could've been more productive" or the "I should have done more", even if you spent months in several libraries and Starbucks/Coffee Bean branches drinking endless cups of tea and chocolate for hours on end as you tried so hard to cram everything in. So how do people say they've tried their best? Perhaps I've just never reached that point? Either way, I'm proud of my efforts, though I'm also disappointed as I don't think I'll have all that much to show for them.

2014 has also been kind to me, in that the people around me have stayed and supported me. The friends I made, be it 1 or 5 or 10 years ago all offered what they could in terms of encouragement and even physical notes. SO TOUCHING OMG -insert crying emoji here- and I had so many study buddies, HTHT buddies and crying buddies it's actually pretty funny. There were people who were in more than one category, of course, but the point is that I HAVE FRIENDS. WHO ARE LIKE FAMILY. MY FRENMILY? (TvT) <3 These people should honestly get awards for existing, because their lives are like giant beams of sunlight minus the glare, but with all the warmth and fuzziness attached. You know who you are. I LUBB CHOO MANY MANY.

I'm not sure what 2015 will bring but I'm 99% sure that with the aforementioned individuals (plus my real family, of course), I'll be able to get through it just fine.

PS. The 1% is any apocalyptic event. In those instances just die la. That, or the rapture. Does that count as apocalyptic? Dunno. But same same la. So bring on 2015, and bring on the twenties, hahahaha

On a random side note, I'm so amused by how this is both my first post (ever) and also my last (for the year).

HAPPY (ANG MOH) NEW YEAR EVERYONE! ;D

Signing off with sunshine, sparkles and sakura petals,
Andrea(;