talented designer

takagi akemi - a name that's not familiar to most of us. but if you have come across japan cat illustration, you would have seen her work.

view her cat-related work here

i am so going to go bankrupt on my next trip!

i may not like working in a japanese company

but i sure like the way they pamper their pets!

at narta airport, a luxurious pet hotel for your precious babies, you can be sure of royal treatment

petinn royal narita

coco's close-up profile

beware of makeshift toilets

especially in japan

in search of 猫町

the 2 cat town books i ordered from amazon japan have arrived!

cat_aunty, no need to borrow your chinese version liao. since it's mostly pictures and maps...

black cats

last saturday, i visited my occupational therapist in toa payoh, and came across these 2 black cats. very cute butt and slender body, with perfect long tail... i took their pics and sms the other half, "so cute, can i bring home?".

there was no reply...

heehee...

what i have been up to

baking cookies!

since after trying coboypb's chocolate chip cookies, i was inspired to dabble in butter and flour...

so, on saturday, i tried making chocolate chip cookies using her recipe.

alas, i forgot some basic rules which i learnt in home economics class in sec 2, like, must sieve flour, must not press down the dough. can i put the blame on coboypb? cos her recipe didnt say to do all these mah... hee...

the first batch turned out to be flat and expanded (sideways), but father-in-law and the other half thought they tasted not bad... in fact, fil didnt leave any for sis- in-law to try!

i promised coboypb to bring some for her to try on sunday, but didnt do so, as there was something fundamentally wrong with the cookies, they were either under-baked or hard...

on monday, i was enlightened by some baking experts in office that *must sieve flour*. with that in mind, i was determined to make another batch. but having o d on chocolate chip cookies, i changed to bake butter shortbread instead.

there was no sieve at home, the other half suggested using the coffee filter as a sieve. i started at 8pm, and at 8.10pm, i had sieved like, a pinch of the flour.. grrr... called up mum-in-law to borrow her sieve, and thereby completed my baking at 12 midnight (due to i have no oven, had to use a broiler).

realisation

last night, i had dinner with my ex-boss (pakistani indian origin, grew up in uk, worked and based in thailand, in charge of se asia region), an ex-colleague (filipino, worked in home country before moving to singapore last may) and an ex-colleague still in the company 3 of us (and many others) have left.

ok, that's not the main point. main point is : ex-boss asked me how many cats do i have now.

and it dawned on me that, whoever i met after some time, would ask me that question!

so i asked him, why do you ask me that?

he replied, "because you give the impression you're always looking to increasing your cat population"..

haha... well, yes, it's true, but no, unfortunately i have to stop at six.

me, branded by the general public as a cat lady...

meow...

ameyoko

in donwtown tokyo, there is an area which is similar to our people's park. in here, you can find bargains, discounted goods, local delights, conveyor belt sishi restaurants.

アメ横

an illustrated guide on how to enjoy an onsen

here

going crazy....

over cat stuff in japan!

check out this designer bag

a trip to summery flowery hokkaido

is in the making! quite un-planned and unexpected, coboypb and i were talking about japan one day (i think she thinks i am mad for wanting to go japan again :))

and voila!

i strongly believe this trip will be better than the last 2, cos of the company.

coboypb loves cats, hamsters, other pets, and most importantly, she's a chick! chicks do chicky stuff...

so you can expect more catsy stuff to be reported on this blog.

also, since it's summer, cats wil be out and about, lazing in the sun...

since the trip is 1.5 months away, we will have more time to search for all the cat-related places and shops.

we have already decided to go to that faraway catland in chiba (2.5 hours away from tokyo).

through the internet, i also discovered a cat town 猫町 near to where we stay.

stay tuned!

would you return a wallet

containing $2650 cash?

cats keep fit too

i dont have nose cancer

for the past one year (ironically and coincidentally since i joined my present company), i have been having frequent nose bleeds. it occurs mostly when i blow my nose in the morning.

finally my gp referred me to an ent specialist. he suspects nose cancer.

this morning, i went to see him in the premise of mount elizabeth medical centre.

when i opened the door to the clinic, the staff greeted me cheerfully. there was a guy at the reception area too. he greeted me by my name. he was dr goh. i was pleasantly surprised. oh well, i guess that's part of the perks of seeing a private specialist.

i like my doctors to treat me as a friend, and not as a patient.

dr goh was very patient and took the time to ask me questions. when we got to the "do you smoke" question, he knew i was trying to dodge it cos i said, "occasionally". haha...

he poked 2 cameras into my nostrils, 1 small one, and the latter bigger and long one. he said i had a granuloma and it could be treated by "burning" it with electrical current. i said the word "burn" sounded agrressive, so he changed it to "zap".

the procedure of zapping the granuloma took less than 5 minutes, the unpleasant part of it was the injection of anaestesia into the nostril wall.

all in all, i was glad 1) i dont have nose cancer, 2) i went to a private specialist as the staff and doctor were all very nice.

but the taxi fare to mt e killed me at $17. $9 was for booking fee and surcharges. hump...

2006 to-do list (renewed and revamped)

不知不觉已来到了2006的下旬。接下来的214天里，我想做的事件有：

1. 考到 JLPT Level 2 certification
2. 练俞珈
3. 去夏天的北海道
4. 找工作

你定了什么计划或目标呢？

2nd hot yoga experience

last night i went to pure yoga again for a 2nd hot yoga 90-min session.

the class had less than 15 persons, studio looked 60% empty.

it was a more pleasant experience than the virgin trial.

for once, i took up the middle mat in the studio, directly facing the door. on tues, our teacher said the corners of the studio were hotter (which explained my inability to cope with the heat), and that the middle, esp those mats facing the door, were cooler.

so i was very 怕输 and arrived at the club 15 mins before start time.. heehee...

also, on tues, i wore a cotton t-shirt, and my perspiration was absorbed very well into the shirt, and it felt heavy and sticky. and then my bra which was cushioned also absorbed a lot of water i expelled!

last night, i rushed to nike to get a dri fit top (bra support type). it was $51 well spent. i felt lightweight, and not booged down by the t-shirt or bra. i did not feel as hot too.

i didnt even have to drink that much water during class.

i survived, and even enjoyed my 2nd session, to my surprise!

here's kuro-shiro-neko's tips for making that hot yoga practice comfortable

1. drink lots of fluid before class (dont worry, your bladder wont burst, you will sweat it out through your skin)
2. invest in a dri-fit top (sleeveless and hi-cut if possible)
3. do arrive early and choose a mat near the door or in the middle
4. of course, complementing no.3, your mat needs to have good view of the mirror, so that you can check on your pose and alignment

namaste