music has always been a very big part of my life - i eschewed the traditional piano (though i can tinker around with it a little) and went for the violin. in fact, i learnt for more than 10 years and attribute the fact that i enjoyed most of it to the fact that my mother never pressured me to go for any music exams (thanks, ma!). if it hadn't been for uni, i probably would have continued on. in some little dark corner of my mind, i had always hoped i could get into the SSO or something like that. but of course, there'd be no way that could happen since i never took any of the exams...

in uni though, i always wanted to get into radio - i loved the idea of being able to interact with music the whole day and share the songs that i really loved with everyone else. though i studied radio production (i really enjoyed it!) in the end there wasn't any fate for me to take it up as a career.

but i digress. what i want to talk about now is music. songs, in particular. there are some that resonate very strongly with me through the years, and i always prefer to have some sort of background noise going in the form of the radio or my own music. even with S, i find i'm always singing some song or another, so i was pleasantly surprised when i sang, 'we all live in a yellow submarine', and she continued on 'yellow submarinneeee, yellow submarine.' she also can sing along to 'do you know the way to san jose'. very funny.

this evening, i've been taking a little musical trip down memory lane with all the songs i used to love while i was in high school. it's amazing the emotions a song can conjure up and i have a lot of songs associated with different people.


one of my all-time favourite songs. it seems to come back into my life when i need it the most...

i love jewellery - not necessarily the super bling type, but i love all sorts of accessories, from earrings to rings to bracelets to necklaces and pendants. i think it's because i dress fairly simply. i'm not into bright colours and complex designs, so i use accessories to really jazz up my outfits.

i also love etsy. etsy is evil. i spend too much time and money on etsy, but i always end up with amazing accessories from there. recently i've been looking at trinity rings - it combines several things that i love in one. 1) it's something unusual. 2) it's something i can wear. 3) it comes in threes (my birthday month is a three). i've always loved the cartier ones but they were a little out of the price range (make that a lot out of the price range).


i love trinity rings and i love stars. win-win!
though this does seem a bit OTT

but what i love about etsy is that they have so many different types of trinity rings (also known as russian wedding rings, apparently), and some of them are so wonderfully unique.


a simple three coloured band


ones with lots of bling


ones that are a little more drama


and my favourite kind - the ones with just a touch of bling


and you can even get personalised ones! how cute is this?

as long as i can remember, i've always been fascinated with photography. i'm not entirely sure how or when it started, but one of the memories i have of my childhood is playing around with my mom's old minolta cameras. it was super old-school and completely manual and i remember the pictures that came out were fantastic.

recently i've rediscovered my love for shooting, especially since i started using an iPhone - yes, i've gone the 'easy' route but it really is quite convenient having something that was quick and easy to whip out whenever inspiration struck. truth be told, i think i'm still a more unconventional photographer. i love my old-school type of cameras, but also the ones that are a little quirkier, especially when they're lomo cameras. i've never believed that you needed a big huge DSLR to be able to take good pictures - i've managed to snap quite a number using just the cameras that i have or just the iPhone alone. currently i have a fisheye camera (with an underwater casing), an action sampler and recently was gifted the amazing holga by the BFF (thanks sweetie!)


this is from the action sampler



this is from the holga

i'd put one from the fisheye but i can't seem to find the shots. i'll have to dig them back up again sometime soon.

i also signed up on 500px and put up some of my pictures there. i like that i'm slowly discovering this amazing world of photography and hopefully there'll be a lot more pictures to come. what i'd really love to do next is go travelling and shoot my experiences... but let's work on that plan slowly eh.

(this also explains the new avatar - the pop art holga!) oh snap!

now... the VW Golf Cabriolet!

i didn't have high expectations for this car - not that i don't think it's a good car but just that i've never quite been a fan of cabriolets. i love the golf through and through but convertibles always seemed a little flashy to me. but when VW asked if i wanted to try it (knowing that mrA didn't want to go near it), i thought, ok why not?


here we go!

so i picked up the car on a friday and zoomed off in it to meet some friends for lunch. VW cars are really quite lovely to drive and this one was no difference. i'd been warned that the C pillar (the one between the rear door and the boot) is thicker because of the fact that it's a convertible. but the fact that there was no B pillar (the one between the driver and passenger's door) made it much easier to look around at blind spots or when i was parking.

one of the most important factors i take into consideration about cars nowadays is always the space at the back seat. not because i have long legs and need plenty of leg room, but because S' car seat needs to be able to fit in there comfortable. i'd opted to use the slightly less bulky combo one this time and surprisingly found that she had more than enough space, plus that the roof of the car was high enough that i could step into the car comfortably enough to put her into the seat. most other convertibles have such low rooflines that i always end up banging my head either getting in or out - but that was never a problem with this little beauty.

in fact, i ended up having so much fun with the car that every night after putting S to bed, i'd climb in and go for a drive. most nights it usually ended up being at least an hour long drive. the first night i left the top up - like i said, i thought driving around in a convertible with the top down seemed a little flashy and i couldn't get over my initial trepidation at being labelled a show-off for having the top down while cruising along. but after being told by a few friends that having the top down was really half the fun, i decided to go for it.

and boy were they right! now i wouldn't imagine doing this all the time. it's too hot during the day and there's just too much pollution everywhere to want to breathe in the air during a traffic jam. but at night when the air's so much cooler and there's not as many cars on the road, a convertible is absolutely perfect. i felt, kinda free in a way, as i drove up and down all the different roads in the west. in fact, even during the day when i had S with me, i ended up letting her fall asleep in the car so i could keep driving around.

now it's not a perfect car. aside from enough space to put a car seat in the back, i also like a big boot because we often haul a lot of things around. you can pretty much forget that with a convertible, especially this one. i'm told it already has a bigger boot than most others but i couldn't help but burst out laughing when i opened the boot and had a look. i think my mailbox might be a little bigger than the cabriolet's boot. good thing i didn't have much to bring around that weekend!

by the end of the test drive (which was from friday afternoon to monday afternoon), i'd driven the car 427km and still had more than a quarter tank left. it's a fun little car (boy did i really have fun driving it), though i think i'd still prefer the scirocco over this any day.

if you want to see proper images of the car, go here. i was too busy driving to snap more pics!

see all about the tiguan here, and the scirocco here.

next, the E35. yum yum.

i know it's crazy, but i tend to keep fairly late hours.
by the time i've got S to bed, and i've finished doing all the little chores here and there, it's already close to 11pm. then i either settle in to do some work (erks) or just random surfing (okay) or shopping (not so okay). i'm tired all the time, but i think that has more to do with all the things on my mind than my actual physical state.

march has certainly been an interesting month. i say this in all senses of the word, and it might not be a month i'd care to repeat. my birthday over the last few years has been drama, to say the least, so i'm not super keen on celebrating nowadays. then it's just been what feels like a mad rush through everything else that i haven't had time to actually catch my breath.

i have a strong feeling that 2012 is going to be a year of a lot of change. i'm not sure i'm entirely ready for it, but it's probably going to come whether i like it or not. i can only hope that i'll be prepared enough for it.

Quote that seems to sum up my life a little at the moment, from Californication:
'I'm just tired from keeping it all together for someone else. I want to be the crazy one for once.'

It's been a very up and down few years but 2012 marks a new time in my life.

My resolution for 2012 is simple:

To let go, and to change.

To let go of the emotions that are there, only because I allow them to be. And to change, either the circumstance or situation to make it work for me, or to change my mindset so that they do not become negatives in my life any more.

That, is what I'm going to make 2012 about.

And try to workout a bit more, I've kind of slacked off a bit there.

i just found this article on parenting.com and think that it probably describes me, and my newborn experiences, almost perfectly.

i'm putting it here as a reminder that i also need to let it go.

When Postpartum Depression Lasts
( One story of why the experience of new motherhood resonates in our lives - even years later. By Susanna Sonnenberg )

one of S' all time favourite songs is the wheels on the bus.
now when i say all time favourite, i mean, she really really loves this song to bits.

she calls it 'wheels ah bus!'
and she makes me sing it over and over again. mostly in a whisper (don't ask me why, she likes me to whisper songs to her)
'mommy issper?' she'll ask me.

'wheels on the bus go round and round..'
'mommy issper!'
'ok ok, *whispering* the wheels on the bus go round and round..'
'wheels ah yee-yow taxi?'
'*whispering* the wheels on the yellow taxi go round and..'
'wheels ah pink bus!'
'*whispering* the wheels on the pink bus go round and round..' (sometimes i can't even finish the first sentence before being interrupted)
'wheels ah truck!!'
'*whispering* the wheels on the truck go round and round...'
'wheels ah purpur bus!'
'*whispering* the wheels on the purple bus go round and round...'
'wheels ah blue digger!'
'*whispering* the wheels on the blue digger go round and round...'

this can go on for quite a while, but the other night was an epic wheels on the bus singathon.

it was wheels on the pillow
wheels on domokun
wheels on the bolster
wheels on mommy
wheels on dada
wheels on tita
wheels on yee jiong
wheels on dua yi
wheels on ge ge
wheels on di di
wheels on the bed
wheels on the head
and even wheels on sophie

in a way i'm glad that she's really come to love music and songs...

but sweetie, mommy needs something other than wheels on the bus soon ok?