moulting.

Why, hello there! It’s been a long while.

So I was stopped in my tracks by this amusing sight one sunny Sunday afternoon, outside Marina Square.

Just this lone pigeon, peacefully pottering down an empty corridor. An odd pigeon strolling through life.

I have been gone for a year now, chiefly dealing with life and work and its many roller-coasters. Much has happened. My absence coincided with a need to disappear into the seams of my life, to privately deal with the stuff that was impossible to articulate or share publicly.

You see, M and I decided peaceably to go our separate ways. We are still friends, but we are no longer together. We are both fine, in the bigger scheme of things, and healing in our own time.

On top of that, 2015 has been pretty rewarding work-wise, with many new challenges and opportunities to be thankful for. Projects like Checkpoint Theatre’s “Normal”, or The Studios : fifty’s “Selected Works of Tan Tarn How”, or doing a voice-over for a children’s animated series, or being drenched for 7 hours straight for a TVC shoot. You get put in front of this crazy challenge, and each time you go “Oh fuck I have never done this before, will I be able to do this?”, and then somehow you do. With varying degrees of success, but you do your very best, and you learn your inner critic is the one you need to please; not anybody else.

Despite these projects, there have been typical freelancer-style nail biting moments of “will I get work this month?”, but I have more often than not heaved a sigh of relief because some small (but no less treasured) job comes along and stacks upon the others and tides me through the month.

… And I turned 30 this August. 30 used to scare me but now I’m glad I can claim that age. To validly own its weight and its heft. Was it Anna Kendrick who said something like, “I love turning 30 because I feel in your 20s you stay out late and you kinda feel you have to. But now I can say, I’m 30 dammit and I’m heading home at 11 to kick off my heels, snuggle under a blanket and watch a TV show.” Yah.

So yeah. Here I am. Doing this thing. This theatre thing; this life thing; this new beginnings thing. And it’s scary, joyful, heartbreaking, uncertain. And I’m feeling everything keenly. Soaking it up.

And hey, thank you for sticking around ;) I treasure the company.

p.s. I am planning to continue writing here instead; I’d love it if you would join me there.

a wise man* once said, “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.”

I like how serenely this girl watches us, with that little half-smile and a bird perched on her shoulder.

(Plus, I’m dying to have her dress.)

Hello! How’ve you been? It’s been so long since I checked in, I’m sorry about that.

After I came back from New York, I harboured this crazy desire to return sooner than later. I just wanted so badly to be back in New York, for a variety of reasons. And somehow in the weeks after I returned, things lined up such that it actually became possible financially and logistically to do so, in October! :)

The main reason I’m headed back there is to pursue intensive singing lessons with a wonderful teacher by the name of Jeff Stanfill, whom I adore. I met him during my trip in June, introduced by a couple of teachers I have here in Singapore. Two lessons with him, and I knew we’d found something here, together… something that could be so helpful to my growth. (I’ve been feeling like I’m struggling to get across the “hump” with my singing for some time now!)

The other (also main) reason is to get away from it all, and recharge my acting / singing mojo. This year’s been tough – I really appreciate being given the chance to audition, but rejection does wear you down over time, try as you may to stay strong :) I made the decision to go to NY at a rather low point, and it’s given me something to look forward to as I recalibrate, even in the months leading up to it, my attitude on this life-long journey :)

I’m still working on the “let it go, let it be” thing. In the meantime, it’s lots of freelance branding work to finance the NY trip, rehearsals for my next show in September, and auditions here and there.

Oh, and I turned 29 yesterday! It feels funny to be 29. I just feel like I have to be even more grown-up than I am now, or something. But boy am I happy to have my twin with me in Singapore to celebrate with :) Finally! After many years, we are united again at birthday-time. Ah. All is as it should be.

M and Yibs decided to surprise me with go-karting – which was another post for another day. SO FUN. (Also, I thought I was going to die.)

Have a lovely week ahead x

(Etsy print, from IrenaSophia)

*Steve Jobs was said wise man.

Our New York adventure, in thumbnails. Part 1.

Our New York adventure, in thumbnails. Part 2.

fail better.

Wise words.

And it rhymes! Double score.

(via Pinterest)

I would like a grey cat. I’d call him Bob.

(Pinterest)

When Paris goes on a charm offensive.

We were blessed with great weather in Paris. Paris just looked like it was very proud of itself, and rightly so. It was toastier and sunnier than London, requiring just a light jacket at certain points of the day, i.e. perfect walking weather.

Champs Elysees was pristine in the sunshine.

Vintage shopping in Marais was fun. I bought a couple of dresses and a skirt.

We crossed the bridge to seek out Berthillon near Notre Dame but alas it was closed for summer! Damn vacances.

The other Berthillon-supplied shops nearby stayed open to satiate the hungry tourist crowd. We settled for one, and ordered sea salt caramel, vanilla, and praline. It was gooood.

We watched the Eiffel do its dazzling dance of lights.

Had Parisian breakfasts in cafes near Madeleine.

The very last meal we had before boarding the Eurostar back to London was at Royal Madeleine. This was the total highlight of our Paris sojourn.

Royal Madeleine was charming in every way. The decor was old school but not stuffy; the service warm but elegant. The food was delicious and generously-portioned. And to top it all off, they have a handsome grey restaurant cat (I think his name was Oscar) who would slip out into the dining room sometimes then slink away just as he got your interest.

If I do return to Paris, I’ll definitely be eating at Royal Madeleine again.

 

Take me to Bath, take me to Paris.

 

 

Going back to Bath was about coming full-circle. I started this blog when I first went on exchange at the University of Bath in 2006; 7 years later, I still missed my time there and was eager to relive the memories.

Of course when you have such hefty expectations, invariably the experience lets you down. So I returned to find the Bath high street transformed – the old Sainsbury I did my groceries in, the Topshop where they had a 40% fire sale (literally – there was an actual fire in the store and they needed to clear “defective” merchandise) were now replaced by All Saints and Aveda within a new mall.

It felt very odd, like I’d gotten the address wrong and landed in the wrong town… Thank goodness our meal at Same Same But Different salvaged the trip.

We were led to it by the great reviews on Tripadvisor. Those reviews were warranted, alright.

The menu was small but interesting; the food flavorful and generous.

The next morning before we left via train, we went back to Same Same But Different for breakfast. It did not let us down. Hearty, tasty, warming.

We got back to London, hastily repacked, and then headed to Gatwick Airport for our flight to Paris.

After getting hopelessly lost while trying to find our hotel in Poissonnere, we were exhausted and grumpy when we finally checked in and settled on a diner a street away.

Little did we know that Hugo was a real gem – it had great rankings on Tripadvisor city guides, and the place was chockful of locals. Our luck finally returned when we scored the last walk-in table outside. It was 9pm but still light out! Lovely.

The savory dishes were decent – M said his seafood platter was delicious – but my favourite was the tarte tatin with ice cream.

 

 

Our hotel for three nights was Hotel du Temps – a beautiful compact boutique hotel tucked away in Poissonere. In summer, the surrounding area was pretty much dead but I bet it’d be much better in other seasons when the restaurants and cafes nearby would be open and bustling.

The hotel room was small but very comfortable and clean. Poissonere is a bit far out from the typical tourist areas – and the Pink line seemed to have a lot more crazy people on it than the Yellow line (? haha) – but overall it was a cosy home base to explore the city from.

The next day we ventured into the Marais area – and got horribly lost again. This time thanks to my lack of preparation and dogged determination to not plan (a huge departure from my travel norm) and just “enjoy the moment”.

 

Eventually we found our way to Merci and met up with a couple of our Singaporean friends who were also visiting Paris at the same time.

London, you have a piece of my heart.

 

London is one of those cities that I keep returning to and continue to love.

Every time I go back, I ask myself, “Could you set up home here?” … I’ll miss my family and friends, but it would be so easy to love and live in London. It’s such a brilliant city with a never-ending list of things to do, places to discover, delicious grub, and so much character.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and were warmly greeted by the lovely  Jo and Kai at Jo’s brother’s apartment where we were putting up for a few weeks. I was delirious with exhaustion and jetlag and wasn’t much company during dinner I’m afraid… Sorry Jo!

The next morning, we headed to Spitalfields Market, ravenous and looking for a good British breakfast.

To our elation, we realized St John Bakery was right opposite Spitalfields – and it was open for breakfast.

Spotted this spiffy gentleman complete with green tweed suit and boater! Money shot.

It’s a really simple, beautiful environment. Wood, tiles, steel, white, airy.

The breakfast we had mirrored the environment too – the simplest things, elevated to perfection. Bread, honey and butter. And a bacon sandwich.

THE best bacon sandwich I’ve ever had, by the way. And hat’s saying quite a bit for someone who usually doesn’t go for bacon (give me sausages any day and I’ll take those instead). But this bacon sandwich … fluffy buttered thick toast, smoky fragrant bacon, and homemade tomato sauce on the side.

I still daydream of this meal, 2 months later.

But the eating had only just begun.

We next headed to Covent Garden to catch our Matilda Sunday matinee show. A quick fuel-up pre-show at this charming cafe consisted of a veggie quiche and iced coffee.

 

 

Matilda was a stunning show with lots of great ensemble numbers. I am a huge fan of the Roald Dahl book, and sort of identify with Matilda. But I was a little let-down by the girl playing Matilda during that particular show. She wasn’t quite as engaging as some of her other peers, and since she is the protagonist, it made it that much more challenging to connect to the overall story. The Aldwych Theatre is also rather old, grubby, and super stuffy. It was so warm! Nonetheless still happy I caught it.

After the show, we wanted a spot of shopping and easy walking-around. Alas, everything closed by 5 or 6pm on Sunday so we were forced to eat, yet again.

The Five Guys burger queue wasn’t that long, so we joined in, hoping to see what the fuss was.

The burgers were good, fries so-so – but still a good quick meal in the cool and sunny afternoon breeze. I’d say… have a go if the queue’s manageable but not worth an hour’s wait. :-)

On Tuesday, we caught A Chorus Line with last-minute tickets. So glad we did, because it was one of my top 3 favourite musicals we watched this trip! I was mesmerized from start to end. So brilliantly acted, danced, sung – simply a masterpiece.

Here we are, beaming after the show.