Friday 13 December 2013

New Town?

If anything, as of recently at least, I realised that the popular places to hangout, for teenagers, is always Orchard, Somerset, which is coined with the umbrella term, 'town'. But nowadays, the place itself seem 'too normal' and boring, even I think it's a hassle and effort within itself to even go there. I mean, I've been there way way wayyyyy too many times, and it's like what's the point of going there anymore? Ion, what do people go there for, H&M, F21, Topshop, Uniqlo(Except me. Plaid and basics, who wears them anymore honestly?). In the past, it used to be a place I'd love to go, with great looking clothes at crazy cheap prices, but now, H&M's apparels are just an eye sore, plaid, plaid and guess what? More plaid, soon enough it'll be a subsidiary of Uniqlo. Hah, but to me at least, Orchard, or ion, is really just a place I rather not go. And I realised that whenever I have to go there, I would always be late, by choice or not, you can decide. Actually no, I'll tell you straight, it's DEFINITELY by choice. Now that I think of it, it just irks me more and more. Another one is Cineleisure. THERE IS NO PLACE MORE ANNOYING THAN THAT. I till today still don't understand why so many teenagers want to go there. It is so fucking small, that the only thing I can compare it with is Singapore's most pathetic mall, Sun Plaza. And the shops there are super limited, with people only going to Fred Perry? Which is famous for polo tees that nobody wears anymore.(Wtf is wrong with me and polo tees?). On top of that, after the infamous slashing incident, I make it a point where, if I can not go, I'll not go.

But with that said, I realised that most of us, us meaning teens, we're steering towards hidden places and small little eateries and cafés, which I too really love. Cafés in Holland Village, Haji Lane, or even heartland areas like Serangoon. Despite my hopelessness in humanity, I think this steer is one of the best yet, considering the bullshit I've heard this year.

Anyways, few days ago, finally managed to meet up with my Stayover group and Shi Min. The last time we met was like eons and eons ago, last holidays actually. And we were suppose to meet at 2:30, and XiYun had to run some errands, so she had to come late. And I was intending to leave the house at 1:45 or something like that, and thanks to Poly, I became so terribly vain, I spent 30 minutes on deciding if I wanted to bring my bag or not. So fucking stupid and irritating, now that I think about it, I really want to just slap myself. After all that stupid contemplation, I decided not to bring, and just strap my camera on my shoulder.  HOW STUPID. By the time I left my house it was like 2+ already. TO make things worse, my face was for some reason super dry, and I decided to not put any soothing cream and just go out into the hot sun and burn my face even more. Absolutely well done. But anyways, met Jane first. At where? Orchard. I know, absolutely hypocritical and contradicting, considering how I just condemned Orchard. But, Jane wanted to get some dress from Topshop, and clarify some stuff. And I didn't know, IF YOU SPEND MORE THAN $150 in Topshop, you'll be their member and stuff. But anyways, to me pleasant surprise, they were having this 20% off, STOREWIDE. SO better catch it before you miss it! Out of all the apparel shops that they have in ion, I always preferred Topshop's because they are always really nice, and their varieties are always changing and just super love it. Unlike F21, their men section is just, PATHETIC. The only sad thing is that Topshop's stuff is always more expensive. Boo hoo. But whatever it is, manage to buy this gorgeous gorgeous sweatshirt, actually, not THAT nice, but it has leather sleeves. So yeap. After I'm done, Jane wanted to find this dress, and we went on and on trying to find it, and then what did the sales assistant say? 'We don't have it.' Haisss, all the trouble. But Jane, being a girl, just had to buy something. So she got this striped dress. And OMfG, she took damn long to in the changing room, honestly thought she fainted or something. Even buy the time XiYun reached, she was still inside! Turns out she got the sales assistant to get another size for her. Woah, speaking of which, I always loved Topshop's staff, always so friendly and nice, not like H&M's. But finally got to it and bought it.

After we're done, I had to change into the new shirt I bought, not because I loved it so much, but because my top that day just cannot make it, sweatshirt still, but the colour, mis-match. By the time we were done shopping, it was not even 4, and Vernice had exams that day and Shi Min had to study, so they would only join us at 6. How to spend the 2 hours?! Walk around in Ion non-stop? NO WAY.

Me being the innovative person that I am, suggested to go to some café and just chill. And then we all thought, HOLLAND VILLAGE. Since hatched was there as well, might as well find some café there and chill then have dinner at Hatched.

*TIME MACHINE*



Holland Village, the last time I ever came here was NEVER, and I was quite shocked, because my thoughts of this place was that it was super neighbourhood-ish, really noisy like heartland areas in AMK, but no, it was really nice, peaceful, tranquil, and just a nice calming place to be at. Or maybe because it was Monday? Who knows. But there were 2 cafés in the vicinity, one being Craft Bakery and the other D'good Café. Initially wanted to go to Craft since online review gave it 4 stars and D'good only 3.5. But when I saw Craft, I immediately say ''Let's go D'Good". Not saying Craft was bad, but it feels so normal in terms of how it looks, it's like any ordinary restaurant. When we reached D'Good, which is just like a stonethrow away, it really felt very nice. Like it's not just one storey, but 3 or 4. And I just couldn't be fucked to walk the stairs, so took the lift. Oh My God, the lift is the coolest by FAR that I have ever seen. It feels so futuristic and so wow. You know how most lifts the whole cabin moves, but for theirs, only the 'ground' you step on moves. Which again scares me, like what if the machinery malfunctions and continues to go up until it crushes us to death. OMG, creeps. 



Took all the way up to the 3rd floor, and instantly tumble back to the second, because the 3rd floor is like the study area, there's loads of power sockets and big tables for you to  put your work and laptop, since they provide free wifi I heard? The second floor I think is for people who wants to chill, it looks more homely and cosy, which I really like, I think fits more to what I picture a café should be. There is the 4th floor, I remember now, it's an open concept, no air con, which means I would never be there, since it was super hot that day as well. But I think it would be great to just sit under the shelter when it's raining. On the second floor, 2 seats were facing the outside, and the seats were chair on swings, wanted to sit there, but it was occupied. Sad face. But anyway we sat on one of the more normal tables, and each table has this cute thingy, telling people about the studying period. Maybe it's because I'm studying Mass Communications, I think this way of telling people is much better than McDonalds or Ishi Mura, just saying 'NO STUDYING AT (Time)'. So annoyed when I see that. Not that I study at either places





 I think it's so cute that they put in so much effort into decorating the place, makes it look really nice!

 The water dispenser is so cute, like if you want to dispense water, you turn the knob, normally you have the pull up/down to release the water.

The baristas were super nice and friendly, like so rare nowadays to have nice baristas, some more, they're quite young also! Ordered their cheesecake, and chocolate chip frappe? Forgot the name, but you get the point.

 I forgot the name of this cake, but what it is, is top layer chocolate, middle layer cheese, bottom layer oreo, really nice and rich. Not really a big fan of cheesecakes, so I scrapped off the middle. I know so stupid, buys cheesecake but don't like cheese. I don't like cream cheeses in cheese cakes, but I like cheeses in general! $8.50


Chocolate Chip Cream Frappe? Forgot the name once again, $7 for regular size. The taste is actually so so, quite normal, just tastes very chocolatey, and when I was finishing, ALL THE CHOCOLATE CHIP SUNK to the bottom, like so many chocolate, I had to scoop and start chewing on it. Not a bad thing at all to me actually. HAHA. After awhile, the swing table was EMPTY, so took this chance and zoomed over there. The swing seat is really nice, but it takes getting used to when you first sit, I was like wobbling nonstop initially, anywaysssss, PHOTOS.


 Ok, this photo is photoshop until photoshop until photoshop until cmi. But got to admit, looks damn nice and summery right?! Also, the topshop sweatshirt. :)

 The cup on the left, mine, as you can see, loads of chocolate chips at the bottom, and even though you can't see, underneath that tissue, was cream cheese. Jane bought the same, and she didn't finish it, HAHA, Xi Yun bought their carrot cake. Not bad, but to pay $8.50 for it is abitttt. But the consolation is that the ambience is really really nice and just a great place to chill.


Talked about the differences in Poly & JC, and wow wow wow, they are worlds apart! In poly, in my course, or for me at least, as stress as I was, I never, or I haven't worried till I might fail a module. But for JC, everyday is stress-o-clock, papers get harder and harder, theories get more and more foreign, and General Paper are just aren't fit for and 17 year old to do! Xi Yun managed to be conditionally promoted because she didn't do well for GP. I was still mocking them on how hard it could be. But truth be told, given the situation to me, I might not even have made it to grade S, let alone pass! Project work is another thing, for me, projects are really part and parcel, since that's what poly does. And I never really met any problem problems, I mean if I have a problem with any members, we can just tell our lecturers, and they are always more like friends rather than lecturers, and really quite fun people. But for JC, people get lazy and bitchy, and teachers won't do much either. In short, you're left yo fend for yourself, and if you have a bad project partner, too bad. And the question and issue they have to tackle is just ridonkulous! For Jane it's next year, but really hope that she wouldn't get bad Project mates. Speaking of which, Jane is in Bangkok shopping now probably. When can I go overseas?! I digress. But projects wise, I think I'm quite lucky, since the group I get is always not bad, and if one person is lazy, the rest of us just work harder to get the work done, and tell the lecturer. After all the sad sad sad talk on academics, we had nothing much to do, except to take photos. AND I TOOK A WHOLE DAY TO EDIT THE PHOTOS OKAY?! I made it look more summer-ish and nice. 
















 What is that on the iPhone?! Ewww, oh it's my fucking black roots, taken by Jane. Ewwww, it's so gross, I can't can't wait to go and get it bleached soon! I didn't know that the blonde turned so sallow! WHY HAIR WHY?! I'm already using shampoo to counter this. But only the tips of my hair is seeing effect. Times like this, I thank god that I'm quite tall.















































I know some of you are annoyed and tired of my face, but you got to admit, my camera is AMAZING. The video it takes is even better! Even my lecturer says so! SO CLEAR it makes me want to cry. For once in my life, I made a correct purchase. And also, I seriously think my photoshop skills improved miles and miles. Like, I look from fucked up to not so fucked up on social media. From the pictures, I'm sure you can see the swing as well, great spot to sit if you managed to get one! Some of the photos look so photoshoot ish, don't deny! HAHAHA. Overall experience at D'Good Cafe is really good. Food was not bad, ambience was great, baristas are great. AND ONE THING I HAVE TO COMMEND, their toilet is SUPER CLEAN, omg, never seen a public toilet so clean before. Like, just, ughhh GREAT, totally recommed people to go, if you have nothing better to do with your friends, just want to chill, or have homework and projects, free-wifi and huge tables! What are you waiting for? Right? 

Holland Village in a few months/years time, is gonna be the hot spot confirm! I mean, an abundance of cafés, and eateries, including Starbucks and CBTL, and they are big 2 stories outlets, and just walk by Holland Village Hawker Centre and you'll be led to a STREET of food places, which is just great! 

After we're done chilling, we went to search for place for dinner. If you remember earlier on in the post, I talked about hatched? I then realised IT'S CLOSED ON MONDAY. FML, out of the times we hang out, it has to close today. So we continued to walk and find dinner spots before Shi Min and Vernice arrived. So funny, because as you know small boutique shops always have waiter/waitresses outside so if the customer come over to see the menu, they'll try to get you a table. Since we can't decide what to eat, we sneak up to few places and when the waiter/waitress comes over, we walk away! SO FUNNY. But the food street there is absolutely amazing! The night life and street ambience makes you feel like you're no longer in Singapore! I was just loving it the entire time, it probably is because of the 2 storey shop houses, and it reminded me of some olden streets in paris or something. Stepping, but it was great! Couldn't decide on what to eat, so waited for Shi Min & Vernice, and they finally reached! The last time we all saw Shi Min except for Xi Yun was I think results day, which was almost a year ago! After flipping menus and restaurants, finally decided to settle down at Crust Pizza. There were no inside air-con seats, so we had to sit outside, but considering it was already night, and also it was quite cool that day, (thank god) I had no complaints. 

The pizza flavours that they have is so interesting, but finally settled for Peri-Peri chicken, which totally reminded me of Nando's, and Hawaiian. Also ordered their wedges! 








I think the pizza is so cute, because it's not the conventional circle kind, but rectangular ones, for the hawaiian, every piece has a slice of tomato on it, which I think is really cute, but sad thing, I don't eat tomatoes. The peri peri is not bad, it's basically chicken slices as base, and then peppers and cheese on top. Initally I thought it was quite small, but after eating all of us were really full and filled up! Hah!


The Holland Village nightlife is just everything, and the ambience was just ughhhh, AMAZING. Once we're done with dinner, when to jem, because XiYun wanted to go to Sephora, which we forgotten to go while we're at ion initially, and the journey on the train was so irritating as it would go past my school, and it was my HOLIDAYS. Speaking if which, how scary the first week of it is gone already! NOOOOO. Jem feels quite funny, as in how familiar I am with it, as compared to Holland Village, which I am a total stranger to it. When we were at jem, went to Kino, and Shi Min is joining the run for your lives marathon! How cool! 5km! It's like one of my wish list to run in a marathon, but obviously I got to start running before hamd or else I might get cardiac arrest and die there and then. And no, not those boring as fuck Standard Chartered ones, those cool ones, like colour run, illumi or something fun! HAHA. By the time I reached home I was soooooo tired. But that day was so fun I just had a wonderful time, really missed those times back in secondary school when everyone got along with everyone and everyone was just so close and real to each other, where we all journeyed hard towards the 'O's. Seriously don't mind and want to go back to that time. Can't wait for the next outing, but god knows how long we will have to wait till the next. 










This is like the longest post I ever ever did in a super long time. But really enjoyed writing it! And if you've made it here, you can make it anywhere! Hah!




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