HAPPY HOLIDAYS! AND A DEATH...

Greetings from California! I haven't blogged in such a long time, been so busy uploading vintage goodies for my jewelry shop as Chinese New Year is just around the corner!

Anyhow in my title the death refers to my bf's family dog. His name is Jojo and he died at abt 4.30am on 27 Dec, due to old age. He is about 15 years old. The photo below was taken on Christmas and shows him waiting patiently for scraps! We congratulated him on passing yet another Christmas as he had aged considerably since I last saw him early 2008. However he had suffered from a strange bloated stomach for a few days already and sits for hours looking at nothing (spooky almost) so we wanted to bring him to the vet but before we could do so, he left.

What was amazing about this dog is he waited for his owner to turn up at the kitchen before he died. He even managed to walk alittle to him  (as the area was barricaded and Jojo had somehow sent a 'psychic' message because really it was just by chance that my bf went to the kitchen area in the wee hours). After his owner turned up he couldn't do so anymore and I don't really want to go into the sad details but he died several minutes later. In fact I really felt his pulse was gone and he somehow managed regain a few last breaths as we waked the rest of the the family to say goodbye.  

Jojo was rescued as a young dog from a cage in a school where the school children were presumably abusing him, although I thought he was obese from all the table scraps, he was happy, loyal and smart. Farewell to Jojo~

I'M FLYING OFF!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning, so see you guys in California, I hope everything goes alright. The photo is a snapshot of sunset from my room heheh.

THRIFT STORE SNAPSHOTS

This is one of my favourite haunts - the Salvation Army thrift store on Upper Serangoon Road. It's close to my home (used to be even closer) and it is located in an empty hospital (how cool is that!) It's really easy to find it too if you'd like to visit; it's opposite the Biddadari Cemetary, or the large plot of grassland that used to be  the cemetary until they dug out the graves for the train line. In the past there were plenty of easy good bargains as people didn't know the hospital became a thriftstore. Nowadays there's a steady stream of visitors.

This is the 2nd floor where all the fun stuff are. 1st floor contains the large furniture. In the individual ward rooms you can find many wierd things by sections. Oh yes and notice the fans, there's no air-con so be prepared for a little sweat-out. Just a side note that I'm not surprised why that disco dress is donated lol.

Manga & chinese comic books section, it's a nice bargain if you don't mind the edition differences/ yellowed pages. I once bought an early publication by Yumiko Igarashi (author of Candy Candy) here. 

Wall decorations, I fancied that mock Qing Dynasty wood plaques. The Last Supper one on the left was.. interesting.

These little wooden figurines are awesomely gloomy. They're in a set of 4 or 5 I think, but saving my cash. S$18 each excluding the 30% off for Christmas.

Aaah! Kinda creepy. They are maidens washing their hair.

The most common kinds of horse figurines available on earth I think. Chinese porcelain horses.

Bronze and brassware.

Lots of donated clothes; you can find some vintage pieces here, alot are gaudy and reek of mold. Some make you itch some make you sneeze some are new or overstocks and occasionally you find a gem! Just launder it well.

CHINESE PAINTING CAT POSTCARDS

These are some postcards I got from the Salvation Army thriftstore, it is a 5-piece set made by Ikea. I don't know what Chinese painting has to do with Ikea but they are so adorable and such a great find for a nice price too =).

They are painted by Chen Dehong, a renowned chinese painter who mixes Chinese and Western methods of painting. Love the dexterity of the strokes, and how a few dabs and smudges portrays kitties so well.

I've always planned to take up chinese calligraphy/ painting but learning the technique takes years of practice; the simpler the artwork, the harder the technique. Also I'm guessing since handling the brush & ink will show how amateur (or pro) you are, it's just better not to get embarrassed because my chinese handwriting in pen is atrocious.

One of the cards was used as a trade with my mailart friend in Italy. Yes I totally mangled it - we had to have our personal touch on it so I had to wreck it up a little =)

DOULOS VISIT

I decided to visit the MV Doulos, the world's oldest active ocean-faring passenger ship and largest floating bookshop, while they were stopping over in Singapore for a few days! The day was cloudy, warm and humid. MV Doulos is an evangelical-based, non-profit organisation, and none of the crew on board is paid a salary. They stop around the world at ports of call. Of course I had to bring my camera along and here are some snapshots.  

http://www.mvdoulos.org/

Doulos' frontal view docked at Vivo berth outside Vivocity, Singapore's largest mall complex... convenient! The Star Wars-like structure at the background are the cranes for the containers at the Keppel Harbour.

These are the only ways up and down. They aren't exactly stairs, I had a hard time climbing those as they aren't edged steps; more like round metal trunks to ballet all the way up. It's high, it's slippery and I shouldn't have worn flip flops..

 

After the climbing ordeal, this is the deck towards the bookshop.

The bookshop on deck.

This is Vivocity outdoors; it poured heavily after we came off the ship and while walking through the shelter to get to the other side, we came across this 'waterfall canopy' blocking our way. Someone should really redesign the sheltered walkway. Either you head out in the rain make a big circle to avoid it, or you make a mad dash across the waterfall (which we did with an umbrella but still got wet). I can't imagine how the 2 foreign businessmen we passed not get their expensive suits wet.