People close to me would know how much I love Katy Perry so when I heard that she's going to do 2015 SBHTS, I was so excited for her (and me)!

Katy Perry is known for adding some (fun and sassy) twists to her shows (although, sadly, I've never seen her perform live yet). And for the halftime show, she didn't disappoint! From costume(S) to set/stage, to songs, guests.. basically the whole performance! Everything was just crazy fun!

One of the stills when I did a Night Time-Lapse on the bridge.

 I was supposed to meet my two friends yesterday but plans changed. And since I was already ready with my outfit, make-up and all, I might as well just go out. It was almost close to 5 in the afternoon when I left house, it was a little gloomy and I still don't know where to go. Marina Bay kept ringing in my mind and that's when I thought of going to Marina Barrage to (hope) take a sunset time-lapse despite the gloomy weather.

Like what I said, I left home quite late, so I rushed to be able to catch some sun. And still undecided with my location, I ended up alighting at the wrong train station, I walked quite a distance until I Google Searched for any possible bus to bring me to my destination. Wait! Where was I heading to again? Oh yeah, Marina Barrage. I really have no clue where I should be alighting, so I just followed the crowd! Luckily, they were heading to the same place as I was.

Here's my very first Peppermint Mocha Frappe for 2014!

In the Philippines, Christmas "season" start as early as first September. Christmas lights and lanterns will fill the streets. Christmas shopping list will be made. Christmas traffic will frustrate more drivers! These are the things I have been missing for the past three years since I moved out of the country.

Christmas here in Singapore is very different and far from home. (minimal) Christmas decorations will only be up second or third week of December. The spirit isn't as festive as what I've been used to back home.

Here's where Starbucks comes to the rescue! I always say that Christmas is officially around the corner once Starbucks releases their annual Christmas drinks. I hurriedly visited the nearest branch to get a feel and taste of my first Christmas 2014! I go crazy over Peppermint Mocha. Like really crazy! I don't drink coffee, thus, not being a fan of coffee shops. The only time you'd ever see me sipping through coffee cups is when it's one of those mocha flavoured drinks or really just for the Peppermint Mocha Frappe!

But wait, there's more! 

When we went there around 8:00, Selena and Helen were quite surprised how "empty" the place is. They told me that the dim sum place would normally be packed and crowded. When we ate there, there were only 3 tables occupied. I asked them to take the honor of ordering as they would know better what to order. Here are what we had FOR BREAKFAST.. Did I mention these were for breakfast? Yes? Breakfast!

These were the beancurd skin with shrimp. $4

I can't recall if these are the Fried Yam Cake or Fried Carrot Cake. $3.50

Golden Custard Bun $3.50

Above: Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gao) $3.30. Left: Siew Mai $4.50. Right: Xiao Long Bao (I suggest you to go to Paradise Dynasty, Crystal Jade or Din Tai Fung for your Xiao Long Bao fix, not here.)

Fried Prawn Dumpling! (I've been craving for these since I had it on a Noodle shop at Expo) $4

Our bill for 3! It's all written in Chinese so yeah.. yeaaaahh.... When I was reading similar reviews/blog posts about 126 Dim Sum place, I found out that it is being described as something similar as to some "Hong Kong road-side style dim sum". For a newbie on food blogging, it was a great start! The food didn't fill me up easily as the serving were of mini-portion you'd have enough to try (almost) everything in the menu.

Image from Google Search

The iPhone 6 release {which I'm not getting anytime soon} is just around the corner. And normally, Apple will release the new iOS days before the phone release {and of course I'm always excited for new updates so I got it already minutes after it was out}. I was a little unhappy with the downloading time as it took about almost close to an hour just to download it. If I'm not mistaken, it only took me 15 to 30 minutes to download and install last year's big iOS update (could be my internet connection too). Anyway, I didn't fiddle through my iPad after the update was done as it was already 5 in the morning then. There were no major display changes, just the keypads. The rest are fine. Here are the things I like and, well, not like about the new iOS update:

It's been a while since I last posted here. I've been very busy with a lot of things lately. Good thing my sister came for a visit and I was able to take a leave for one whole week. It has only been two days but it felt like we've been to a lot of places already! On her first day, she joined me and my housemates for a lunch out at Buffet Town.

Technology has been a part of traveling nowadays. We use our phones or tablets to search for places, take pictures, convert money, and/or translate words. But these won't last the whole day, that is why I am very thankful that power banks come in handy now. You can charge tablets, phones, and even (some) cameras.

I am not an expert when it comes to this beautiful small country but because of friends and relatives asking me for some of the whereabouts here in Singapore, I've decided to compile and make a list of places I've been or heard which you must check out. Places are grouped according to their location:

1. Orchard Road. A stretch of shopping malls. One can find designer stalls there and the basics like H&M, Forever21 etc.

2.1 Sentosa Island. USS and Sentosa are actually in one "island" but 1 day will never be enough for these two places. Here in Sentosa you can find more rides/attractions, there are museums too. You definitely need to check out Luge, Segue, and the iFly (a bit expensive though). There are also several beaches here. Check out sentosa.com.sg

2.2 Universal Studios Singapore: No description needed here lol

2.3 Vivo City: Mall where you can take the train going to Sentosa Island and Resorts World Sentosa for USS.

2.4 Mount Faber: I haven't been here yet but it's on my list when time permits. This place is know for hiking as it is a hill about 105 metres. You may take the cable car here.

3. Botanic Gardens: 74-hectare botanical garden. Definitely for those who have green thumb. There are two entry/exit points: Botanic Garden (Circle Line) and Orchard Road (Red Line).

4.1 Marina Bay Sands: One of the very famous landmark here in SG. It's a world-class luxury hotel with casino and high-end shopping mall. You can find Cut by Wolfgang Puck here.

4.2 Merlion Park: In the same area as the MBS (above mentioned), there is the Merlion Park. There are 5 Merlion statues. 2 are on that park, 1 is at Sentosa Island, 1 at orchard tourism board and another at Mount Faber.

4.3 Makansutra Gluttons Bay: It's an open-air food centre which offers different dishes in Singapore (and other Asian Cuisine). It's almost always packed so better be early but I guarantee you good choices of food here. Don't forget to try Chili Crab, Cereal Prawns, Satay.. Oh the list will go on.

4.4 Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay: It's a waterside building. A must visit at night for its good lighting.

4.5 Singapore Flyer: The famous giant ferris wheel to have a panoramic view of the central area of Singapore. I'd say night time would be the best to get a glimpse of the night lights.

5. Clarke Quay: Riverside kind of village where pubs, clubs and some restaurants are found. Check out their G-Max Reverse Bungy & GX-5 Extreme Swing!

5.5 Chinatown: Haven't heard any must see here and I have yet to explore this area.

6. Mustafa Centre: It's located at Little India. This place is a good bargain shopping place. It is never without bustling crowd of customers. Oh, and it's a-24 hour shopping centre. Just be careful here as it is really really crowded so mind your personal belongings.

The list will go on but I've given you the top places to visit here. Hit me up if there's a place you'd like to know more.

It was in 2011 when I first read the trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey. Let me just say that I hardly read books. Before this, I was just recently hooked to The Hunger Games trilogy and I think for the longest time, these were the only books I finished in 3 weeks! The same friend who introduced me to THG, introduced FSOG. And in 2 weeks (mind you, it was also my finals week in college), I finished the three books.

I remembered that it was only few people who know about the trilogy. Books weren't even displayed under bestselling then. Before I continue, I wish to say that I am not defending Fifty Shades of Grey. I am clearly just sharing my two cents from reading the books.

I consider myself a fan of FSOG (Fifty Shades of Grey in case you didn't pick up). And no, that doesn't mean I am for BDSM. There is a conflicting argument about this and I feel sour seeing people react with disgust when they hear "Christian Grey" or "Fifty Shades (of Grey)". Yes, more than 50% of the book consists of sex scenes -vanilla and/or kinky f**kery but I say there is more to it than just the (one too many) sex.

So, what's more to it than those lusty sex? Well, you see I am a hopeless romantic and sucker for love stories. And I do not consider Christian and Ana's love story to be different, odd; yes, unusual; yes, conversational; very. Let me give you a quick rundown of the book.

Christian Grey is a gorgeous, hot, handsome 27-year-old billionaire. He is emotionally & psychologically closed off because of a rough start in life. Christian cope up with life through BDSM relationships. On the other hand, Anastasia Steele is a simple college girl. She was still a virgin when she met Christian. She became sexually and romantically involved with him. As the story goes on, they would fall madly in love with each other.

Here are some of the general conclusions I came up with after reading the book. Some or most might even contradict to my love for the book (refer to my post's title again when confusion kicks in):

1. REAL LOVE
Most of the time I would squirm out of excitement when Christian surprised Ana with his unexpected efforts. But parts of the story would also make me shake my head. For starters, Christian is highly controlling. He is very possessive of Ana. He easily gets jealous and has a very uncontrolled temper. Are these the traits of the modern ideal man? Does love nowadays equal control, jealousy and possessiveness? Yes, it's a little cute when guys get jealous, when he shows that he has you but Christian Grey has shown that emotions like needing to control, possessiveness and jealousy are all rooted in fear. There would even be times when Ana's subconscious mind would say that she's afraid of him. Tsk.


2. LOVE IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR
Determining the grounds of real love, I have to vouch for Ana. Christian is a difficult guy to love. Ana could just easily give up and find love from someone else. But she did not. She knew she was where she's supposed to be and what she's supposed to do. I can't speak for guys (and I'm not trying to be sexist here) but I know girls, especially me, would try and try to stay and fight for who they love. Ana was initially intended to be Christian's submissive, but she fought for how she felt about him. She waited. She had all the reasons to run for the hills, but she stayed. Was it worth it? Read book #3.

3. EFFORT
This is something I really appreciate from the book. Both characters showed great amount of effort for each other. Christian has raised my standards from guys when it comes to effort (argument #1, my post title is very apt for this). No, I don't expect a guy to fly me in a helicopter or to send me first editions of books I love (er, I don't read books lol) or to give me a Macbook and/or a BlackBerry phone but I believe that people who want to make things work out need to put in equal amount of effort to it.


4. LOVE IS PAINFUL
In all sorts of ways. And no I didn't need Fifty Shades to realize that. Bam!


5. SAFE WORD/HARD LIMIT
When Christian goes 'dom' on Ana, he insists her to use a safe word (to stop any harsh sexual activity at once). In one of their first few (sexual) encounters, Ana tried seeing how far she can go and didn't safe word. As an effect, she was overwhelmed and walked out from him. Christian is blaming Ana for not using the safe word and claims he can't trust her. Communication in a relationship is very important. Couples should determine what and how they should go on with their lives together. Don't be afraid to consult your partners. Be open and be comfortable with one another.

My point is not to give "justice" to the book because for people who think it's rubbish, their opinions can't be changed. I am a fan of the book and since 2011, nothing has changed in my outlook as people claimed that the book is a bad influence. So to end my post, I leave you with this thought:

If the book didn't have BDSM in it, would you see it differently?