the happiness factory

my most asked question in a restaurant here in shanghai
is "你的可乐是百事可乐还是可口可乐?"
if the answer is the former, i'll have a 雪碧(sprite) or 七喜(7-up).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/arts/design/30muse.html?ex=1343448000&en=c67734c6e6c901c4&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

for this reason, i'm a believer (and an addict)

my third last weekend

last weekend was a blast! went to 太仓 to stayover at rohps'

it was a dead town.loads of space on the roads and nobody,no cars

headed to 苏州 the next morning, it was hot as hell- 39 degrees

and we followed rohps to CLIMB the pagoda.

unlike 雷锋塔 in 杭州,

this one had no lift!

then we went to some garden which was nice

i felt like a tang dynasty poet
walking around the chinese villas, book in my hand

lily pond and pavilion outside,

flipping my long pig tail and twisting my beard in my fingers

anyway, to satisfy the cravings of rohps and jes,

we had kfc for dinner at 5pm RIGHT after we had jap food for lunch!

no wonder i put on 6kgs since i arrived

then we headed to monsoon at suzhou creek with ben n amy for wine : )

so sunday was set aside for photo shoot with the 马当路-ers

it was some crazy idea sam, amy n i came up with one night at 泰康路

to print the "in sh" tshirt which we saw at a shop there

and take cd album shots for keeps.

one of the destinated venues for the shoot was at 浦东-上海科技馆

where we could fly kites

it was then that we realised two things:

it wasnt as easy as the locals make it seem
and we ALL suck at it

these are some of my favourites from the shoot : )

sunday goodness

book cafe for breakfast, vienna cafe for dessert

photo collage stolen from jes' blog

im counting down and there are 21days left till i return to sunny island (not that shanghai isnt sunny...) im not exactly looking forward to it, apart from seeing my family again, cuz... maybe im truly shanghainese.

central perk

cabler has become our Central Perk because they have such pretty cakes, that comes free with a drink. if not, the cakes cost 15Y-20Y each, served on a huge glass plate dripped over with chocolate and strawberry sauce in fanciful treble-clef-like designs.they also have kick-ass couches meant for 8 big men but they very generously let 4 tiny girls sprawl (actually only jes sprawled) their worked muscles (only jes had worked muscles, the rest of us have swat-mosquitoes kinda jobs) over the space for 3 men.

then jes and i adopted samo as our little sister because jes is sisterless and i miss binx&renn. also because samo is o-so-cute and we could do with someone who'll wash our clothes and cook our meals (samo pls note: all written and signed in black & white)

we are such a happy family (big grin to samo)

photos courtesy of jes

of rohps and ingo...

at house of blues and jazz..

at which jes enlightened me

about the origination of the word "jazz"

its from jazz-sm ~ orgasm

no wonder it's so...what's the word?

anticipating? and then there'll be some climax.

photograph

see naked sprawled clinging in pleasure,
in a frame she'll put the adventure
she wants told
to the one who will look and believe
the lies that hide in the frames that follow
left to his imagination to weave
a form of art, modeled to deceive?

10th July

yesterday morning, we all woke up at 915am
jes shut her alarm clock cuz she told amy to wake her up
amy forgot to turn on the alarm...


so we had a conference in our room on:
1) whether to go to work
2) whether to go to work late
3) what excuse to give

here're our excuses:

jes: sick
me: still sick and cant talk from a sore throat
amy and sam: amy passed flu to sam so both sick
(they work at the same co.)
ronald: my housemate is sick so i have to cook porridge for her...

for more on our memorable holi-workday, check out amy's post:
(didnt realise it was a private blog...sorry ames!)

i love shanghai

madang lu girls at taikang lu's street party except it wasnt a party
just the street with special opening hours that night.

jieyang joined us later on, ronald abandoned us for we-all-know-what-reason

wendy,jes & rohps at royal le meridien for dim sum with greg too
but the pic of greg is too act cute so it's not up.hee.

新疆人，上海人

rohps and the fish tank and the praying mantis made of grass

rohps getting excited abt the fish with greg in the background
analysing fish behavior and he found out that the red fish
gather at the top while the orange ones are at the bottom.
fish-crimination.

riverside cafe with the family+jieyang
pic taken after sam's 50 failed attempts

i cannot promise my heart would beat
in tune with what you yearn,
that it would pump and bleed
in your concocted crimson.
or fear and love and joy and pain
are crystal blue or green like rain.
for fear cannot be fear alone,
nor pain the blade cut to the bones.
but black or white the rest are two
connections whirled entwined.
the touch of love as what it seems
should be chromatographised.
and you'll find
that pain and joy and fear and all
are colours in that red
that spins my heart and emits the love
in rainbow coloured waves.

express

the smoke washed away the words
that would have
the lights darkened her smile
that meant she could have
sat cross-legged, in black on red
plush that compressed at her weight
to sip on the taste
that should have

numbers

They stand ahead, stoic faced
speaking our names, holding our ways
we reach for the biggest
or smallest of them all
to prove some kind of worth.
The banker's dream
a teenage girl's nightmare
the sound of death
life and its despair
they stand and march and switch places
till you reach out and touch their melting faces
merging and sewing with your form
till you are what it is
and nothing more.