when push comes to shove

12.07pm

you know the meaning of - when push comes to shove? simply put, if/when faced in a difficult situation, you will take action, somehow someway. most of us as we know it, live in our own little bubble. we have our families and friends around, our secured jobs etc. but what happens when you are suddenly removed from that equation? what happens then? will you fall apart? what will you do?

take my situation for example. i have lived with my parents like forever, until i got a job as a cabin crew with our national carrier and had to move to cross country so to speak. now, the thought of being away from my parents and friends really scared me. and at that time, i was already engaged to my husband. leaving all of them behind and moving to some god forsaken place drove me nuts. how was i to cope?

thats when the saying comes in - when push comes to shove. i had no choice but to pack up and go. that was the first time being away from home. the bright side of it was that at least i would get to see my parents and hubby-to-be, a couple of times a month when we get our night stops back home. long story short, i endured it and pushed on until we were all sent back to homebase within a year, thankfully.

nevermind that, the second time was when i had to move away was when my husband got relocated to jakarta, indonesia for a couple of years. at least this round i had my husband with me but i really missed my folks. and a decade later(wow!) im here in singapore. during all this time spent away from my real home, i have learnt to do things that i never imagined that i would be doing. 

well back home, my mom usually does all the cooking and she would plan the meals or ask us what we like to eat and she'll whip it up. living on my own, i have learnt how to cook, clean, bake, handle the household and to top it off, we got a dog! mind you, i've never liked dogs before and they can sense that i dont like them either. everytime i go by a house that has dogs, they would come charging towards the gate and start barking at me. i swear the hairs on my arms would stand and i get goosebumps all over. dont ask me why. but when i had my own lil furkid, i grew to like dogs. from not knowing a single thing about them like how to take care of them, what are their likes/dislikes etc, i had to learn from scratch and  learning thru trial and error. so, this is when the meaning push comes to shove applies.

let me share with you another story. a close friend of mine has 4 kids. her husband works out of town and only comes home every fridays to sundays.  now how do you think she is coping? she has to juggle the kids ie ferrying them up and down to/fro from school, thinking of their meals, doing some household chores, making sure the house runs smoothly etc. and all this mind you, is done without the help of the husband or a maid. a million things runs thru her head daily (i can imagine) but yet somehow, everytime when we do meet up, she's always in that cheerful mood. i've asked her before, how does she do it? her reply was "bev, what do you want me to do? sit and cry?" and for that, i do salute her! so you see, somehow when push comes to shove, things will get done for sure. whether you've given it 100% or 50%, you've have do it. nobody can do it for you. most of us arent born with a silver spoon in the mouth. there's no time for us to get sick (rarely) as we cant really afford to fall ill. otherwise how? 

both my parents worked for the government(until they retired) and their salary wasnt much to shout about back then. we've had our struggles and hardships but with my mom leading us, we somehow miraculously managed to pull through and well here we are today, thanks to her. and thats why i did mention in my older blogs that she is one of the people whom i admire most in my life. 

well i hope you guys have learnt something today. think about how many times you have faced with a difficult situation and you managed to come out of it? its you who did it!(with or without any help) this only makes you a stronger person and that you believed in yourself, and therefore you can do it if you set your mind to it. there are many people, im afraid who are still living in their own safe haven, haven't  come face to face with a tough situation. (hopefully they wont). but they will never "grow" and never knowing their capabilities. sometimes staying inside your "security blanket" is not always good thing. its too comfortable and should anything go wrong, the question is what will you do then? how will you survive it? 

ok peeps, ttfn


1.01pm 

year of the horse 2014

1.35pm

wow i was just looking thru my older posts and i remembered writing about the lunar new year and explaining to you guys what it was all about and now another year has come. so how did you guys celebrate it? (for those who do celebrate it)

for me, every year i celebrate it in kuala lumpur, malaysia and up north, penang where my husband is from. my mom would do a pre-reunion dinner for us together with my family members and then after a few days spent back home, we fly off to penang island to have the real celebration there. 

its usually really fun gathering around with my husband's family members and relatives. they are indeed a bunch of jokers, from the old to the younger ones. then, friends from afar are all back too, to be with their loved ones as well. what usually happens is that most of us will have our own family dinners and then later go out we'd all go and hang out with our friends to have coffee or to a pub for a drink or two, to catch up with each other. or sometimes, we'd go to a friend's house and gamble. 

sadly, this year there wasnt any gambling at all. im not a gambler but once a year especially during the chinese new year, alot of people would be gambling in their own homes with friends or family. even though its all for fun, but we use money to play. hahaha this is an incentive to play your best coz you want to win the "pot". 

the weather up in kl was hot hot hot! even in penang! having said that, although it was hot but oddly enough, i never sweat. and since coming back to singapore, it has been pretty cooling. like from late last year, the weather here has been pretty good. even though we've got the sun shinning,  i dont have to switch on the ceiling fan (which i normally do) at all thruout the day. i read online that this is probably because of the cold winds blowing from southern china or something. well i hope it keeps on blowing and who knows one fine day, we'd get some snow even! but you know come to think of it, some part of indonesia(not up in the mountains) had some light snowfall sometime in late august 2013. strange but true! 

anyways, all the holidays are over and im so dreading it, having to look for a part time job. i may just ring my ex boss lady and see if she needs me otherwise i have to go look for something to do until end of may. oh yes, im very pleased to announce that my brother has gotten married(late last year) and will be having his wedding dinner in june, therefore yours truly has to go back for this occasion. one thats not to be missed! and i dont know if i have mentioned this to you lot, this ex boss lady is getting married in november this year and she has already given me a heads up and expects me to be at her dinner. hehehe... perhaps this year, 2014 or as the chinese folks call it, year of the horse, is a good year to get hitched. 

so to those who are indeed tying the knot in 2014, i wish you nothing but the best for your upcoming marriage and congratulations! as for the rest of the world, gong xi fa cai, kong hei fatt choy, happy lunar new year to all of you, may this gallopping year bring you much joy, fun, good health, tons of wealth and happiness! 

god bless. ttfn


2.01pm

p/s ive only had 2 "yee sangs" so far and im dying for another one!  i am hoping to buy the ready made ones sold at cold storage with fresh norwegian salmon! yummy!! fingers crossed that there's still some stock left!! selling like hot cakes ok!

teddy's twosome+ cafe in hongdae, seoul

11.48am


this is the continuation of my adventures to hongdae area. in my blog before this, i was telling you guys about haha's restaurant over in hongdae. so after that, i trekked all the way to teddy's twosome cafe. you cant really miss it unless you are that bad with directions. hehehe well here, let me show you.

now if you head towards the hongik university( you definately cant miss it!), which is the huge glass building and was pretty amazing if you asked me (as shown above), just in front of the entrance of this building, look for the 7/11 shop, which is at the street corner. sorry you cant see it from this angle.( i was coming from the opposite direction). when you have found the 7/11, a couple of shops down is teddy's twosome cafe. its facade is black in color with bright red wordings that read - twosome+ coffee. 

i took this from across the street. that's how it looks like.

and inside, you will see a staircase leading to the upper floors of the cafe and on the first level, there's this signage (as above).  pretty cool huh. unfortunately though patrons arent allowed on the 4th floor. i saw a staircase leading down to the basement and there was a sign that read "private area" as well. hmmmm...

a popular korean designer mina kwon, friends of teddy's and big bang, promoting (or selling) some of her art illustration pieces. im not sure though if its really sold or not coz i never bothered to ask. could be expensive. there were some  of her pieces up on the wall, on the upper floor but there were people sitting around so i couldnt take any photos.

an area of the cafe that is selling teddy's merchandise. its just near to the entrance of the cafe, which is on your left hand side from the moment you enter. some of the stuff sold are not cheap. but it all depends on your budget. sadly though, there wasnt any big bang items sold there. which you know, i think they should since they help teddy to promote this place.

thats the counter and cashier area. and as you can also see more merchandise being sold here.

i decided to grab my brunch there. nothing like a freshly baked scone( that comes with jam and some cream cheese) and a cup of hot chocolate with a dollop of whipped cream. yummy not to mention delish! go try it. there's other yummy stuff sold there too but i wasnt superbly hungry so i opted for this instead.

the scenery from where i was sitting in the cafe on the 2nd floor. you can see starbucks just across the street. what a lovely day that was. bright and sunny yet oh so cold!! brrrrrr

ok for those of you who dont know who teddy is let me just give you a brief run down from what i know. (much thanks to the internet). so i'll just save you the work of googling. well basically, teddy park was in a group called 1TYM back in the day (circa late 1990) and currently he's one of the main producers of YG entertainment. (home to big bang, 2ne1, psy etc). you see, twosome+ cafe is a franchise and its not owned by teddy. you could say that he just collaborated with them on just this one cafe in hongdae. apparently, he did the deco of the place. and that is that.

it was really fun going around on my own, getting a bit lost finding my way but its an experience in itself. i mean it would have been even better if my husband was with me but i cant always rely on people tagging along with me all the time. if i waited, i wouldnt have done so much. and frankly, sometimes the things you want to do, others may not like or enjoy it and so the saying goes - one man's meat is another man's poison. 

so my dear readers, the next time you want to do something, just go do it. dont wait for others to join you. if they do, then its a bonus but otherwise, go and explore on your own in a foreign country, get lost its ok. you'll learn from experience. but more importantly, google and check first before venturing out. some places could be dangerous. 

ttfn


12.40pm

my trip to haha's restaurant(a member of running man) in mapo-gu district, seoul

11.55pm

let me start off by asking you this - have you guys seen any episode of the korean variety show call running man? well if you havent, please please i beg you to just go and watch a couple of the episodes and you tell me if its bloody hilarious(or not).

how i started liking this program was by pure co-incidence, or perhaps written in the stars that i'd be sucked into this so called korean phenomena thingy, um..not that i mind! i remember i was at a friend's place one chinese new year( i think which was more than a couple of years back) and so happened my friend's kids were watching this show on tv. so i joined them to see whats it all about and omg it was just so funny. from that day onwards, i  started following the program and even managed to get my mom hooked on it too!

anyways, since i was heading to seoul, i found out that one of the cast members named ha dong hoon (@ haha or haroro) had opened a restaurant over in hongdae. its called paljamakchang. it serves korean bbq if im not mistaken. this was another objective of mine on my to do list when in korea. and so off i went on my adventure on my own (hubby had to work). 

i set off to the subway and headed towards hongdae university station and i got a bit lost. thank god i found the information kiosk and asked them. and then i set off again in the right direction, hopefully! so after walking for like almost half hour, i found the restaurant. unfortunately it doesnt open in the afternoons. only after 5pm till late. ho hum. oh well at least i found it, thats what matters and so i snapped a couple of shots there. 

i cant believe i was actually standing in front of the restaurant, where haha frequents(as well as some of the other members of running man) and helps out, serving people, taking orders or cashiering. for what its worth, i think its great that he does that, very humbling. 

so anyways, after snapping some photos i proceeded on to hongik university area where teddy's twosome cafe was located at. that shall be my next blog. so kindly stay tuned ok??

haha's restaurant just at the corner, you cant miss it. but you gotta know your way to get there.

see, the restaurant is closed. only opens after 5pm! boo hoo hoo... no chance to try the bbq!

front entrance of the restaurant. check out that cute cartoon character of haha as the signage

guessing that that must be the telephone number of the restaurant. i dont know, i cant read what is written in korean. if you know, please tell me lol

along the way, heading towards the restaurant, i quickly took this shot. which means i was on the right track. tee hee

well ok folks, this is it for me. i bid you adieu until my next blog which is about teddy's twosome+ cafe. oh and by the way, im reminding you to GO WATCH RUNNING MAN. start off with episode one. you can always google it ok. dont be lazy! and i really hope you enjoy watching it!!

ttfn


12.33pm

my trip to YG entertainment building near hapjeong-dong, seoul

12.21pm


i had a couple of objectives that i had to achieve once i got to seoul and that was to go to the YG entertainment building near hapjeong-dong, mapo-gu area where big bang's recording company was located. "home" to also 2ne1, PSY etc. 

 thank god one of my husband's colleague who was so kind enough to take us around over the weekend, took us to the YG building. you see, just so happen he likes big bang and 2ne1. (i was like YES thank you very much!! that saved me a trip on my own trying to locate the building without getting lost). he had GPS  so we found the place in no time. 

before heading over to YG, we had our lunch in a tiny but popular dumpling restaurant called jonny dumplings(that served different types of dumplings which is to die for!) over in itaewon, (which i think wasnt very far from hapjeong-dong.)

here's some shots that i managed to take in record time. oh and by the way, not too far away from this building, we saw a couple of girls loitering about and taking pictures in hopes of catching a glimpse of any of these famous artists popping out of the building or heading in. hahaha..now thats what i call die hard fans (well including myself of course!)

this is the main entrance to YG entertainment building. no frills. lots of black cars with heavily tinted windows. im guessing that the big vans probably belonged to big bang or 2ne1? hahahaha

you know come to think of it,  i didnt see any kind of signboard saying that this is YG building but everyone(fans!) knows that this is the real deal. but it makes me wonder now if there really was some kind of signage anywhere around indicating YG entertainment

thats me there, poorly dressed. hahaha hey, you know  i was "unprepared". gimme a break ok guys! anywho, just directly across from the buidling, there was a whitewash wall where fans wrote or spray painted their messages to big bang, 2ne1 etc. i read somewhere on i think someone's blog that every couple of months, some kind soul would get white paint just to repaint that wall and messages that had been written would be wiped off. too bad. i would've loved write something but i didnt have the correct pen or ink marker or a spray can with me as it was an impromtu visit. oh well.

the side of the building. frankly if you asked me, there wasnt  much to look at in this area. its very low key if you know what i mean. no frills about like no restaurants or big shops etc,  the street was pretty quiet and not much activities going on. i only spotted a tiny convenience shop just at the corner of the street and that was pretty much it. the building is located just off the main street, away from all the noise.

that's jonny dumplings in itaewon. if you ever make it to seoul, just go there. you wont regret it, trust me! having those hot dumplings on a cold cold day was absolutely food for the soul. believe you me.

oh and just in case you want to try and go on your own (to YG entertainment building) and have your own little adventure, here's the directions on getting there. (please google it again before going just to be doubly sure). note - that this is just my rough guide.

1. get yourself onto the seoul metro line 2(light green color line) or line 6 (brown) and alight at hapjeong station.
2. use exit 8. walk on until you see SK gas station
3. keep on walking on till you see a CHEERS convenient store (i think) which is on your right hand side, then keep on going. you are on the right track.
4. now not too far after that, you will come across a light brownish building which is the Circle Hotel and yet another SK gas station thereafter.
5. continue walking straight on till you come to a crossroad. once you've crossed the road, you'll see like a 2 storey building(there's a restaurant which has an orange and white signage).
6. keep going on and moving forward and you'll see a white apartment buiding (reckon more than 10 storeys). you're almost there
7. once you see the white apartment building, make a left turn and you'll slowly see YG building in a distance, which isnt very far away. 
8. finally, make your last left turn again and you will see YG building. well done, you've made it!! 
9. the address is - 397-5 YG building, Hapjeong-Dong, Mapo-Gu, Seoul, South Korea, 121-886.


well ok, thats my story on how i achieved one of my objectives or should i say, on my to-do list. my next blog would probably be about my trip to teddy's twosome+ cafe and haroro's restaurant(a cast from a very popular not to mention hilarious korean variety show called running man) which is i think called phaljamakchang (팔자막창.) 


alright then, i shall be off now. hope you enjoyed my blog for today. stay tuned for more of my adventures in seoul. hehehe

ttfn

1.29pm

p/s -  i had a lot of "homework" to do before this trip. had to do some research and stuff plus i had to plan a rough itinerary for the weekend because my husband let me take "charge" as he doesnt have any clue whatsoever when he's in a foreign country and if im with him, he'll just follow me everywhere. thankfully we're usually on the same page most of the time! lets just say we wont waste our time going to museums or art galleries unless there's ample time. (which we didnt have much of anyways)


pp/s - 5/8/2015 - just a heads up. i heard that YG is planning to build another YG building. i cant confirm it yet but i think i read somewhere that thats the plan. when and where, i dont know. so if you are planning to pay a visit to this current YG building, please do so before they all move out. 

seoul, korea, what a beautiful city

1.02pm

i just finished plonking some photos on to my facebook album on my seoul trip. doing that, it brought back fond memories. i dont even know where or how to begin to tell you my story of the trip.

basically in a nutshell, the first 2 days there, my husband and i went around and the next 2 days i was on my own. it was an adventure! thankfully i didnt get lost whilst trying to figure out which subway line goes where. a couple of times i gotta admit that i was going the wrong direction but in the right line. so obviously i had to get off and backtrack and get myself to the opposite side of the platform. huff huff!

it was freezing, it was cold, it drizzled the entire day, it even snowed lightly and best part is, there was some sun and blue skies! simply magical to me. the weather didnt bother me so much or the temperature only when the wind blows, oh boy, its shiver me timbers! 

we tried the local food there as i told my hubby that i dont want to eat fast food or anything american or english (not if i can help it). let just GO KOREAN all the way.but you know somehow the taste there is slightly different, more authentic compared to when we eat korean food in our own country for example. 

anyways, it was a very good experience for me and i will definately make a trip back there again, this time a bit longer. it was good while it lasted. i achieved what i wanted so that was good. here let me share with you some photos. 

myeongdong shopping area

traditional costumes of korea called the hanbok

of course i had to take that picture of GD who is promoting BSX brand in korea

korean street snacks all around. yum-myyyy!!

the next time i go to korea again, it wont be in winter. i didnt shop much as i would have loved to coz they were mostly selling winter stuff and honestly i dont need winter clothings or shoes for that matter. hey, i live in a hot and humid country remember!

anyways, sorry to keep this short but i have to run. will plonk more photos soon! meantime stay healthy and keep calm!!

ttfn

1.27pm

merry christmas and to a better 2014

12.34pm

ho ho ho merry christmas everybody! how was your holidays? i hope you guys have enjoyed yourselves as much as i did. nothing like spending time with our loved ones during this festive period. i dont know about you but there's always something about the month of december that i feel like that its kinda magical and yet slightly melancholy. i dont know how to put it into words exactly. you know its just a vibe, a feeling that i get almost every year end. 

anyways, enough about all that. im back in my home country( for the past 2 weeks) as you already may have suspected so thats why i've been rather quiet in my blogs. sorry about it. i have been really busy! honestly! with all the rushing around trying to catch up with cousins and friends, getting last minute gifts and not to mention all family luncheons and dinners...oh boy. not sure if im coming or going!

 well i dont know if i've mentioned  this to you guys before but i realize that alot of people have just taken christmas for granted. like christmas is not all about the giving of presents and receiving them. its about family, getting together, being united and reflecting on all that has happened throughout the year, be it up or down and learning how to improve on mistakes made etc.  to also count our blessings that we can still walk, talk, laugh, eat etc. unlike a lot of folks out there who do not have these sort of  privileges. its quite sad and unfortunate really. i feel for these people and my heart goes out to them.

as we go about happily with our lives do we ever stop to give a thought about the starving in ethiopia? what will they getting this year? imagine parents losing their kids and vice versa. everyday people are just dropping dead like flies over there and here we are living in a lap of luxury(so to speak) and wanting more. thats where greed, power and envy steps in. i do realize that sometimes that is inevitable because thats how society in general is but seriously why must we keep up with the joneses? isnt it hard to keep up appearances all the time? why cant you just be yourself? why must we seek other peoples approval? why all that bullshit?

you know, those days when i was a kid or when i was an adolescent, i never really given it much thought about the under privileged or people less fortunate than me. my mom always taught me(when i was growing up) to have a heart and that i dont always need to have material things in my life and often told me to think about those who dont have what i have and to be thankful. but you know, when you were a kid/teen, whatever your parents say just goes into one ear and out the other. its only when im an adult, i see things in a different light and perspective. and unless something tragic or traumatic happens to you, only then will you wake up and really smell the coffee. i also noticed that only when something bad happens to you, only then you will learn from that experience. now,if everything runs smoothly in your life(like being born with a silver spoon in the mouth) what will you learn? will you know what sadness is or living in poverty, being jobless? one fine day god may takeaway what you have and then how? what will you do?

thats why i say we should take a step back and look hard into our lives and see how blessed we already are. just take look around. family checked, friends checked, roof over the head checked, food on table checked...the list goes on...we have almost everything. but reminding you once again, theres alot out there who dont have what we are having and wishing that they had something. christmas has been "spoilt" by all these giving and receiving of gifts. spending lots of money on gifts and getting annoyed when its not reciprocated. is that how we are these days? is it all about the material things?

just look at this image that i took off the internet. this should speak in volumes to everyone. and mind you this is just the tip of the iceberg. we all should do something to help. and when we do that something (ie helping others in need or doing charity work) we shouldnt brag about it or "announce it to the world". when you do that, it means that you are trying to tell everybody - "oh look, see! i have done charity and donated x amount of money" - seriously, is it necessary? do you need that kind of recognition? why must you let the whole world know what you have done? just do the deed, keep your mouth shut and trust me, deep down inside you will be proud of yourself and you will have that feel good moment. god will know if your "work" is sincere. you may fool others but never yourself or to god, remember that.

right i have got to go now. i wish you peace and lots of god's blessings for 2014 and may it be a good year for everyone and hopefully things around the world will improve for the better! take care and god bless!

ttfn

1.41pm