Categories: Friendship, New stuff, Personal life, Shopping
I went to ACrysty Co new store opening today and Public Gardens. I wanted to get a pair of pearl hoop earrings from Stories in Jewellery (a Taiwanese handicraft jewellery shop) and is very glad that I found it. I actually saw it in an Instagram advertisement but forgot the name of the shop. I only know got the one “stories” in it. So I walked the entire Public Gardens to try to find it. So glad that I found it. It’s quite expensive though because it is made of real pearls. Most likely is freshwater pearls given the price lah… It costs S$75 and it was the last pair. So glad that I managed to get it. Pretty sure someone tried it on because I saw a hair strand stuck in the earring but I really like the design so I just took it.
I went to ACrysty Co and did their AYO (ACrysty Your Own). Basically I customised my own earrings. I picked silver rutile and a chinese knot as design. It’s quite pretty lah. Took me some time to decide which crystal to use though. It’s a dangling earrings which I know will look good on me. Hehe. It costs S$32.40 after opening day discount.
I also got a new pair of pearl ear studs for S$43.20 (after the opening day discount). Somehow all the costume earrings I got these days all have pearls (freshwater pearls or faux ones) in them. I’m definitely in my pearl era. LOL. ๐
Something happened this morning and I am very glad that I have supportive friends around. People like Zijian and Rui Yun agreeing with me and Alex and Jin Quan for hearing my morning rants. It lasted quite long lol. The grand award for gratitude goes to Gulabi who took the call and was advising on the spot while the entire thing unfolded. Thanks to her advice and reassuring that my gut feelings was correct and stuff, I was able to elegantly handle the situation while still holding back my power and at higher ethical/moral grounds.
I’m definitely improving my gut feeling. All these internal self work and healing is definitely helping! ๐
Categories: Friendship, Personal life, Pictures, School life
As I mentioned earlier, I went to NUS with my university friends. We started off the journey from Kent Ridge MRT then walk to Faculty of Medicine through National University Hospital. Then we explored the NUS Medicine museum before heading to Faculty of Science. That’s when we got really lost there and it was quite hilarious. Byron, Kuei Ni, Geck Keat and myself just laughed out loud at ourselves. It’s quite refreshing. It’s totally giving Las Vegas vibes – whatever happens stays within ourselves at that moment. ๐
Then we found our way and took bus 95 when it came to Yusof Ishak House before walking to University Town. We had this really amusing conversation when we were walking over.
Me: The tree is still there! (not sure of the tree name but it is at the entrance of University Town pathway)
Byron: Erm….. (fully judging me)
Geck Keat: Because of bai nian shu ren! (literally translated to it takes a 100 years to build the tree/human)
Byron: Wow. Simply wow.
Me: Wow (shocked expression and started shaking hands with Geck Keat for her action of defending me haha)
We had our lunch at the korean restaurant, Hwang, which was there for over a decade. Even the soondubu soup tasted the same! It’s definitely deja vu. It’s the best comfort food I have and it’s very nice to be able to revisit it. I never liked to dine alone in my school days but I will dine alone at Hwang. It’s also my comfort food when I am feeling really stressed with school and home. I also have my meals before my orchestra practice after it moved from CFA to University Town.
After lunch, we chatted a bit before heading to find Chicha San Chen. It’s quite cool that they actually have the self service machine too. I think that’s the only Chicha San Cheng store that I know that has the self service machine. So cool! Rayner and Yi Lin joined us after lunch.
Then we walked out of University Town and went to NUS Museum. It’s actually new as I never seen the exhibitions before. Glad that we followed Geck Keat’s recommendation for it. ๐ We also saw the new residential buildings that is probably like condo for faculty staff (aka professors). It actually looked quite nice from outside. So nice of NUS to provide such luxurious looking residential units for their professors. Although I don’t think the inside looked that nice lah. Haha. Well, I am just guessing. Lol.
We then proceeded to Faculty of Engineering and was quite shocked at how much have changed. We can recognise the older buildings but the newer parts is really shocking.
We can no longer recognise the Engineering canteen and it is extremely sad. I really love the old Engineering canteen. ๐ So much memories there.
Then we went to School of Design and Environment (SDE) and was a bit lost there. Well, I wanted to find the spot where the hornbill which YJ mentioned was spotted. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it then we gave up. We discovered a very different side of NUS though and the entire vibe is quite different. I think the most epic is this “Bee Hub” which we literally thought is some bee related stuff but it turned out to be some workshop place. Lol.
We also discovered there are like at least 5 wild chickens roaming around in SDE too.
We then went to Central Library and wow, the entire place looked really different. You can now enter the library from ground floor. ๐ฎ Anyway, we proceeded to go to School of Computing. Yes, we skipped Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences because it is about to rain and is getting late. We are also old and is getting quite tired. Jonathan and Si Hui joined us at this time too.
COM1 building is still the same and wow, there are many students around, unlike other buildings. Well, I’m glad that School of Computing is making their students work really hard because when they go to workforce, it will be even harder. Lol. Just look at me. I literally work till 1am almost daily. ๐ Anyway, we went to the new Biz/Computing canteen and it looks quite different. NUS really renovated all their canteens. We cannot recognise Science, Engineering and Computing canteens. I feel the saddest when it comes to Engineering canteens because of all the memories there. My core memory from university days. :'( Anyway, we were trying to find COM3, the new building and it took us some time before we found it. It’s like in between COM1 and COM2. It’s quite interesting because it adopted the circular architecture. To be honest, that’s what attracted me to want to come to NUS to explore. It certainly does not disappoint. What we noticed is that for the new building, there are a lot more research labs and tons of PhD students there. Then we walked past 1 out of 3 staff offices there and noticed how between every few office, there is a balcony like area. Not sure why though. COM3 also have a rooftop garden and there’s even steps/staircases to climb up too. Not sure why the staircase is there. It’s as if it is enabling people to jump down from the building? Creepy. I didn’t go there and see because it was raining which was a pity. The rooftop garden does look quite interesting.
I don’t know why the professor/staff offices are like all glass. It’s like no privacy for the professors. I texted Alex and Jin Quan about it and they are like… maybe it is designed this way? So cannot do anything intimate behind closed doors? Well, given all the sex scandals related to NUS, I can certainly see why it is designed this way. LOL! Even some of the bigger research labs for PhD students are also in glass walls/doors at COM3.
It’s a pity that it was raining when we were there. COM3 will look quite nice with sunset though. I love the circular architecture and I can see potential in taking nicer photos if it is not raining. I do like the rooftop garden. Will I go back again? No. NUS is simply just way too far.
So that’s it. That concluded our NUS hiking tour and gosh, we were so tired after the entire hiking journey. Lasted about 5 hrs? That’s intensive. I took more photos but didn’t upload all of them on my Instagram.
Let’s see which university we will go visit next! My friends were thinking of NTU or SUTD but let’s see. Haha. Definitely loving to explore my home country like a tourist in university campus – especially without the school stress. Haha. ๐ I already have my Bachelor and Master degrees. Definitely not going for more degrees and also not going for PhD. Unless I relocate to US or Canada, then I may consider taking a part time PhD to pass my time. Lol.
I am on my way to NUS to do some hiking. Well, itโs planned 1 month ago with my bachelor degree friends hoping that everyone can join. It ended up only 3 of us are going for it while the remaining 2 will join after lunch. Oh well. At least they are planning to join?
I am wearing my Alo Yoga leggings. Yes, my most expensive but also the most aesthetic leggings. Alo makes Lululemon seems like a steal lololol. Then I match it with a mini skirt (like my shortest ever and can see the bum) from Shopee and my workout top from Muji. Then I added my UV protection jacket from Uniqlo – specifically from Haneda Airport hahaha. Of course, not to forget my trusted and handy hiking sling bag – Hermes mini evelyne bag and my backpack. I really go hiking everywhere with my mini evelyne. Haha, donโt ask why I always bring a Hermes bag for hiking. I just love how convenient it is and there is no other bag that looks so good yet so functional for hiking! Best purchase ever lah. Can go shopping, travelling and even hiking with it! Hahaha.
I told Ahrah (my personal trainer) that I am going hiking today and she made sure we do not do any leg exercises yesterday. I was really tired yesterday so she reduced some of the weights too. It was a real struggle for the session but she has made things significantly easier for me for sure.
Categories: Friendship, Japanese related, Personal life
This work week has finally ended. Wow, this week is like so busy for me. I think I had 3 interviews on one of the days along with vendor calls and work meetings. It’s quite crazy. Lol. I also visited Google office and Krislab Innovation Centre this week for work too.
I had my 1-1 with my Japanese mentor, Ryuji, and I asked him about my Japanese name. He took 15 mins to give me a crash course of Japanese language and the 3 types of writing. I showed him the Wikipedia page and we went through the 3 different characters and confirmed the meaning of my Japanese name. I also showed my Chinese characters of my name and he confirmed that it is the correct translation. Wah, not bad for my friend to tell me and it turned out to be correct. ๐ He is probably more Japanese than Taiwanese. Lol…
So yes, now my online name has a second part to it. I’m now known as Sakura Reika. Can call me Sakura or Reika haha. ๐ I have been using Sakura for more than 2 decades so it’s kind of too late to change it now so I am just going to append Reika to it. My mentor, Ryuji, told me I should use the first character on Wikipedia as that’s the most common way for Japanese natives to communicate. Looks quite difficult to write. I’m going to ask my violin teacher, Mrs Masako, to teach me how to write it before/after my violin class this Sunday. Hehe. I need to ask the equivalent for my surname too.
I told Gulabi about it and she added “Sakura Reika” in front of my real name and sent me a screenshot of it. LOL!
Categories: Friendship, Insights, Japanese related, New stuff, Personal life, Rants
I feel like recently I am blossoming more into a flower. Especially with my new Pleats Mama cherry blossom bag. Sakura is carrying her new sakura bag and dressed in sakura colours today. ๐ Well, I wore my cream pleats blouse from Uniqlo with my pink linen shorts from Muji today. Oh I picked my black merino wool cardigan from Sezane as well. So it definitely matches the bag colours that I got. You can see a photo of the bag in here. I matched it with my VCA Sweet Alhambra necklace in rose gold and it is a perfect addition to the entire outfit. ๐ I’m definitely blossoming well and beautifully! I took a selfie of my outfit of the day and all of my friends (probably biased haha) praised my outfit choice. Whee!
Okay, except for Alex who commented that I look like an auntie who is going to wet market to buy vegetables (all in Chinese). Rude! -.-
I used to be a dehydrated flower but now that I am refocusing everything on myself, I’m definitely blossoming well. A flower needs water to grow well. The same for grass too. I should always focus on myself and direct the water to myself to grow well.
That reminded me of something that a friend told me. My real Chinese name can be translated to Japanese name “Reika”. I just checked and whoa, Google translate did translate it accurately.
YJ*: Sakura actually fits you well because hua means flower
* Not going to put the name of my friend because he is listed as a public figure on Google and I don’t want my blog to appear when his students googled for his name…
Me: yessssssss
Me: not bad, you are smart
Me: your PhD has come in handy hahahahaha
YJ: also btw your Chinese name can pass as a Japanese name
Me: eh is it???
YJ: yes
YJ: rei ka
It was an old conversation but as I am blogging about blossoming more into a flower, I decided to google about “rei ka”. Apparently it means “beautiful, lovely, flower, petal”.
Perfecto lah. All these glowing up is actually inline with my name. *acts out a pretty pose* I’m vain and I’m not even going to deny it. Hahaha. ๐ If I knew my Chinese name can be translated to such a beautiful Japanese name, I would have called myself Reika instead of Sakura. Lol…
No idea why no one ever told me about “Reika” name… Not even my friends, who knew both Chinese and Japanese. I am not exactly sure how to write it in Japanese characters though and my friend didn’t type it for me. Luckily I got a Japanese mentor and I have my 1-1 meeting with him tomorrow so I will definitely ask him about it. Otherwise, I have to ask my Japanese violin teacher this Sunday during my violin class. If I like how the characters looks like, then I might add it into my online name. Haha.
On a side note, will I recommend anyone to buy Pleats Mama bag? Probably no. I already see some design and quality issues on my first day of use. To be honest, I haven’t had a bag brand which I do not complain, except Hermes. LOL. I also have complaints about my Hermes bags but Hermes after sales is always able to address every single concern I have. So no complaints about it. No wonder I have the most number of bags from this brand so far. I don’t think I ever bought so many bags from a single brand/shop before in my life…
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