Christmas in SF

Not quite christmas itself, but close enough..

Things I love about San Francisco at Christmas:

Hot peppermint lattes at Starbucks.

The best pumpkin cheesecake in the WORLD (literally) and amazing lunch lovin on the patio of The Cheesecake Factory.

Christmas sales & shopping at Union Square.

The giant Christmas tree and holiday lights outside Macy’s.

All of the above with you next to me.

x

Note: SCARF I’M WEARING IS INDEED THE ONE THAT WAS KNIT BY YOURS TRULY. It was awesome and kept me toasty and warm while we fought the wind and cold. Go me!

:)

Its officially five days till Christmas. Gosh, this is starting to scare me a little bit.

Potpourri two

Its a cold and wet day in Berkeley.

Random thoughts:

I want a warm cup of Starbucks Gingerbread Latte but its too far away and too cold :(

x

I watched Serendipity (OLD SCHOOL) last night in Andrew’s room. I’ve been going back and forth over the fairytale vs realistic aspect of it.

x

YJ and I bought Peace Chains on the way back from lunch. This dude has made 400,000 ceramic pendants over the past 18 years in multiple languages. We got ours in Arabic.

x

The last episode of Glee Season 1 has been aired. It was amazing :) AND I LOVE WILL&EMMA MORE THAN EVER!!!!!!!!!

x

I am in love with city for reasons I do not know.

Give

Today we had the Best Meal Ever In My Life at The Cheesecake Factory while dining on the patio of the 8th floor of Macy’s overlooking the Christmas tree and ice-skating rink.

Factory Burger.

White Chocolate Raspberry Latte.

Original Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake.

World Famous Pumpkin Cheesecake. (INSERT FACE OF SHEER BLISS)

I really wished I could’ve brought back the cheesecake to Singapore, esp for my family cos I know they would’ve LOVED it :(

But I think I could’ve died on the patio, happy and content.

x

To top it off, we made someone happy today :)

There was a little girl with a Happy Birthday headband sitting at the table across us, eating with her mother and her grandmother. I decided to go over and offer to take a polaroid of the three, and then give it to her as a birthday present. They were REALLY thrilled and surprised and I felt like TEN MILLION DOLLARS for actually acting upon my impulse :)

Then the grandmother shared with us that the girl was the youngest of 11 grandchildren and it was her 7th birthday. They were going to watch The Nutcracker Ballet later on, and she said the polaroid captured three generations of females. The grandmother’s name was Claire. And so was the little girl’s :)

Aww man I love it when someone lets you into a little bit of their life through random chance encounters.

x

We walked out of the restaurant into the rain and Bay area cold, feeling exactly how Christmas should feel like. Receiving so much more when you give.

:)

I’m going home to a city by the bay

I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill, it calls to me
To be where little cable cars
Climb halfway to the stars

My love waits there in San Francisco
Above the blue and windy sea
When I come home to you, San Francisco
Your golden sun will shine for me

:)

You’re sure to meet some gentle people there

My last time in San Francisco, we went to Golden Gate Park.

I hadn’t gone the last time with the rest cos I was away over the weekend in LA visiting Rochelle. AND HOW ABOUT I TOTALLY MISSED OUT. I LOVE GGP. I just coined it that.. GGP. HAHA. Anyway the park is awesome because it is truly the heart of SF, where you find all the hippies and homeless and quirky people sprawled everywhere. Under trees with stray dogs running around, frisbees whirling in the air, the smell of weed over the entire hippie mountain, random girls tanning, and my favourite bit, THE DRUMLINE party of random people with their bongo drums joining in this massive drum performance which very much after awhile sounds very hynotising and trance-like. Woah.

DRUMLINE! Love the assortment of people. Apparently people just go there with their own drums and join in the fun. How cool is that.

Here are some videos. 1. Listen to the drumlike TRANCE. Hoho. 2. Spot the woman dancing. She is high on weed, drumbeats, and life. 3. SPOT THE UBER FLEXIBLE MAN doing random splits and crazy gymnastics.

Peace out.

If you’re going to San Francisco..

Everyone’s favourite line.. here it comes!

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair.

Introductions

Here you go DAKORKOR. I will now (quote) “post photos of our fine dining and reserve a separate post to extol your virtues as an elder brother and person”. HAHAHA.

Dinner in San Fran on Friday night. At the SALT HOUSE, which was the restaurant selected by Dakorkor’s atas banker/onlinegamer/hwach/army friend, who didn’t even join us for dinner but had the privilege of doing the reservations for us. Ahaha.

And our fine dining food, courtesy of the brother – or rather, courtesy of the Singapore Armed Forces :) Aha. OOH AND I KOPED THE SING CITY MUSICAL 2 NOW I HAVE THE WHOLE THING! HOHO cannot wait to watch it with the rest.

SF Giants vs LA Dodgers

This is one week overdue. Last Sunday we went to watch a baseball game in SF! The SF Giants vs LA Dodgers. HOHO sounds so cool right. I know NOTHING about baseball so I honestly just went cos it was cheap and IT WAS MY FIRST BASEBALL GAME. In the end I fell asleep.

Really nice Bay Bridge. And the baseball stadium at AT&T Park.

THE STADIUM. Hohoho. It was a REAL HUMONGOUS STADIUM we walked like forever to get to our seats. And it was almost like a whole town within the stadium selling every imaginable kind of food. And of course we had to buy souveneirs. I got a SF Giants cap!

The hugeass stadium. And our puny view.

This was all taken when I was awake. I’m pretty sure I was asleep for more than half of the game.. Ahahahahahaha.

THE MORNING AFTER.

Teeth sinking into heart

My life is possibly one step closer to being complete now.

Thurs night was RACHAEL YAMAGATA IN CONCERT at Slim’s in San Francisco, and Greg Laswell opened the show for her – he played quite a few songs actually and surprisingly I think I enjoyed his segment more than hers, because 1. she played most of the songs from her new album, which were faster and more angsty – and everyone knows I love Yamagata for her sad slow heart breaking songs and 2. SHE WAS TOTALLY DRUNK ON STAGE. HAHAHA. She was rambling on and on about all sorts of things (which shall not be mentioned here) and we all concluded that she was drunk.

But THEN AGAIN THAT DOES NOT MATTER. SHE WAS STILL STELLAR.

Greg Laswell opened the show with What A Day.

What a way to say goodbye
What a wonderful life now all aligned
And what way that you survive
What a day to say goodnight

Bring on the evening hours I cried
Bring on the evidence of my life

AND THE FIRST SONG MY HEART PING PING PIANG ALREADY CAN.

At the beginning segment I was standing at the back of the crowd in isolation, feeling utter bliss of emoness by myself. Hoho what an awesome feeling. He also played his version of GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN – which is the first Greg Laswell song I had heard (thanks to Quentin Lee) – AND EVERYONE SHOULD GO LISTEN TO IT NOW AND CRY THEMSELVES TO SLEEP. YAY.

The pictures arent very goods but who cares. I took one video of Greg Laswell but none of Rachael Yamagata. Because I decided, screw it – I need to enjoy myself IN THIS BLISSFUL MOMENT OF AWESOMENESS instead of worrying about getting a good documentation of it. GOOD CALL DEBORAH.

YAMAGATA OPENED WITH. ELEPHANTS. *PIANG PIANG PIANG*

I stole Raphael’s beanie. SO NICE. I want to steal it permanently.

I love this photo. Please look at the symmetry. And how retarded Raphael looks.

But anyhow, these are the people who willingly paid 20 bucks to accompany me to watch the concert even though they had NO clue who Rachael Yamagata nor Greg Laswell was, and had never heard their music (okay, technically Shamil and Jackie tried desperately to cram in listening to a few songs on the train there hahahaha). I have such awesome friends :)

Later on the same night, we ended up in the 6th floor lounge eating 3 packets of RAMEN and falling asleep while Shamil and Raphael went on for AN HOUR playing a stupid “GUESS THE TITLE OF THIS SONG/INSTRUMENTAL OF A  MOVIE” game. Ohmygosh. Which just revealed how ancient they are with the era of their music. Shamil got very nostalgic when Ghostbusters was played. And Raphael has the STRANGEST collection of music, ranging from Beethoven to Star Trek theme songs to German folk tunes to Pink to PET SHOP BOYS. Aiyoma.

xx

It’s not about geography, or happenstance
You need to fly, & take a chance
You don’t need to soar to emptiness
Float on high, & forever dance alone

THE GREAT PILLOW FIGHT

So.. Valentine’s Day this year was spent in SF with hundreds of other people at the square engaging in a massive MASSIVE PILLOW FIGHT. And seriously, this is the first HARDCORE SERIOUS PILLOW FIGHT I HAVE BEEN IN MY LIFE. Hundreds, of people, okay? HUNDREDS. OMGED. When the clock struck 6pm it was LIKE WORLD WAR FOUR OR SOMETHING. WAR ERUPTED IN THE SQUARE. And everyone, armed with their pillows, just started whacking at anyone and everyone in their way! IF YOU DIDN’T MOVE, YOU WOULD DEFINITELY DIE THERE. There was pushing and shoving – it felt like a human mosh pit you couldn’t even control your direction unless you shoved back – and HEAT (sucks to be short in this country like I said before) and lack of fresh air – but despite all the odds, IT WAS WAR. AND I WAS SOME DAMN GOOD SOLDIER. IT WAS UNREAL AND BEYOND FUN.

Waiting for the clock to strike 6…

AND GO! After taking this photo I dived into the madness.

Shamil was my wingman (as usual hurhur) so he was looking out for me to make sure I didn’t like disappear under the heaps of people and pillows.. and we were looking for the rest of the Ihouse people and we found them slowly along the way. We found Sarah first!

Anyway I maintain that after this photo I look like CRAP IN EVERY OTHER PHOTO and that is because I was engaged in all out war man.. and well, in war, everyone looks like crap.

RANDOM AMERICAN PHOTO CRASHERS that we do not know. Hurhur.

And so began the ASCENT OF THE FEATHERS. This is the part where you know you’ve been really whacking hard.

There was this dude holding the sign “SAVE THE GEESE! DON’T KILL FOR PILLOWS!” and he was just standing there with the sign in one hand, and a can of beer in the other.

AFTER DARK. ITS SNOWING.

Because we went to get pillows really late, cheap pillows were all sold out and I REFUSED to pay so much money for a pillow for it to be destroyed. SO I went to the dollar store and got my SMALL PURPLE PILLOW! And I FOUND FELLOW PURPLE PILLOW FIGHTERS! I am awesome. My pillow also drew alot of comments from random people – “Thats NOT a  pillow!” “That’s the smallest pillow I’ve ever seen!” – but HEY, IN WAR, WEAPONS ARE SECONDARY, ITS ALL ABOUT SKILL.

And we found MORE IHOUSE PEOPLE! Anders and Ulf!

This was SO FUNNY. Randomly this bunch of people holding the UN flag and dressed in all the weird SELF-MADE UN GEAR came marching round the side and the guy  had a loudspeaker and was like “We are the UN peacekeeping force.. please let us through..” HAHAHAHAHAA SO FUNNY for a split second I was so confused and then suddenly someone was like “SCREW THE UN!!” and a hoarde of people descended upon the guy with pillows. HAHAHAHA. Not in a malicious I WANA KILL YOU WAY but in a funny way. SO FUNNY.

More Ihouse people! Michael and Erik (WHO IS EVERYWHERE I TOLD YOU). And Truls is lurking the corner I do not know why.

This was when the Ihouse people started attacking Erik. HAHA. There was a Stanford vs Cal game that day, and Erik was like, hey! we should look for people from standford and beat them up! And then suddenly Michael was like, WHAT YOU’RE FROM STANFORD!? HAHAHA and oh hoho that was the end of Erik. But he’s still everywhere.

Featherssss! So pretty. But after what Truls told me about how they pluck feathers off geese in Norway I don’t think I’m going to buy a feathered pillow for a long time.

A small part of the aftermath.

TONS of funny things happened while we were there. There was this dude who was holding A MOP!??! in the middle of the fight, and he was like defend the mop! DEFEND THE MOP! And there were tons of people wearing weirdass head gear and HELMETS (there was even one motorcycle helmet) and GOGGLES HAHAHAHA and Shamil kept going GET THE GUY WITH THE GOGGLES THE GUY WITH THE GOGGLES!! SO funny. And suddenly out of nowhere random music started playing and it was really fun cos it was almost like a concert HAHA but then the music kept moving to different places (someone’s bike I think).

IT WAS AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE, hands down.

After the pillow fight, GREATER THINGS HAPPENED.

After dinner, ROCHELLE FLORES CALLED ME COS SHE WAS IN SAN FRANCISCO WITH HER FRIEND IN A CAR so they came to pick me up from Union Square IN A SWANKY BLACK CONVERTIBLE and I was like OMGED this is the first time I’m in a SWANKY BLACK CONVERTIBLE and we drove around San Fran up and down VERTICAL HILLS (not kidding. It was VERTIKAL AS VERTIKAL CAN BE. SO SCARY AND SO AWESOME). The entire time it was just me and Rochelle chitter chattering to each other in NANYANG BAND LANGUAGE and they fed me leftover DIM SUM so now my life is well lived and talked about EVERYTHING and laughed about EVERYTHING and the quote of the night was, “THIS IS SINGAPORE RIGHT HERE” uh huh uh huh. Love it. Then they drove me all the way back to Berkeley (awww) and came to visit the Ihouse and my room like some suakuzz and then they drove off into the sunset (okay not quite). ROCHELLE FLORES I MUST VISIT YOU SOON IN THE O.C!

I live for the weekends, srsly.

Vday plans

Les Joulins Jazz Bistro

I can’t give you anything but love, baby
That’s the only thing I’ve plenty of, baby
Dream awhile, scheme awhile
We’re sure to find
Happiness, and I guess
All those things you’ve always pined for.

Hookah

In New Zealander language, last weekend was MEAN EY.

I tried Shisha for the first time – here they call it hookah which really sounds misleading when you say you’re going to a hookah bar. HAHA oh well. It was pretty crazy with the weird arab music videos and strange head and heart thumping music in the small little crowded cafe tucked away in one of the street alleys of San Francisco, but it was THE shizznizz of a fun night.

But of course kids, THIS IS NOT A VERY HEALTHY PRACTICE SO IF YOU WANT TO YOU SHOULD JUST TRY IT LIKE ONCE OR TWICE IN YOUR LIFETIME, just for the experience I suppose.

Shamil looks like a dragon. With the green shirt and all HAHA.

The badass roommate photo, featuring Shamil and JARVIS. We were saying they should print this out and put it on their door.

I rock at this.

Hello parents who are reading this, I AM STILL A GOOD GIRL :) Thanks.