My-SECRET-Corner

Why some people do beading ?

Beading is not just an act of doing simple crafts or considered a simple hobby to a few. For some people, it's a way of expressing how & what they feel and think. Beading is also the end result of an acquired knowledge or on the other hand the by-product based on the blessed natural talent of the lucky ones . It's a form of career as well and can be a person's stepping stone to a dedicated journey & personal ambitions in life.


Some may get into it with reasons to relax their troubled minds in a quiet corner as a therapy . Just like I do until now. A craft that can also lead to soul & self-searching . Where we can find out what each and every one of us is capable of doing when given the chance or opportunity to create something in our own space & time. A simple means to meet and connect to more people around us. As a way to share ideas with each other and be a part of a social community or merely as a way to support one's self financially . For home based mothers like most of us, the earnings from sales of the end products like women accessories / jewelries is always a good source of extra income while in the comfort of our home . It gives us the flexibility to manage time between family life and work without leaving home at all.



Beading is not just an art. It's a passion for some people including my students and myself . Life without beads would mean a sudden death for me ... no kidding and I'm sure I won't be alone to feel that way !  I had seen from my previous students the seriousness and their goal to polish ther creating skills to a more advance level . Upon seeing what they're up to, I'm happy to be with them every step of the way. Beading with them made me happy so much that the happy feeling gave me more energy and boost to teach as much as I can do.

The Cosmos is October's Birth Flower


This lovely flowers are abundant here in Perth Australia as well. They are a pest free plant which helps keep bugs at a minimum in gardens and green houses, and grow very well in dry, hot climates . If planted in rich, fertile soil, tall plants will grow.  Because it is one of the easiest plants to grow it can be planted at various time including the spring for summer blooming or mid-summer for early fall blooming.

There are so many beautiful flowers growing in the wild here in Australia. So I make sure I have my camera with me wherever I go all the time just in case I spot some real nice colorful ones.


Another Photo I had taken with the view of flowers growing before the surfing area in Busselton, Western Australia ~ Oct 9, 2010
 
 
Flowers just give me the inspirations I need inorder to create something unique. Their colors , their shapes , are simply fascinating.  The way they're formed gives a strong influence in what I do as well . What can I do without them ?

Experiences in Perth so far are not that special especially when the cold wind blows on my face which I hate so much. I'm not the winter loving human being but my complains about being cold is getting better now that I see the sun blaring during the daytime and I can now wear short sleeves without any pullovers unlike a few weeks ago. I could now start to see the magnificent sunset I managed to take snapshots of, from the service apartment's terrrace.




The amazing sunset colors including the waves of the sea are always an awesome view from where I stand.


Panoramic views are aboundant here but, life in general for me is quite very basic around here . Compared to the fast moving , ever busy Singapore , here is very slow with things & time to do things outside home is very limited . Shops and offices close at 5pm some even as early as 4pm and nightlife party for me is super duper doomed here. Time to set aside my dancing stilletos and get some knee lenght boots to keep my feet warm. Boots are quite cheap around here ( thank God ! ) and I managed to find a good place for it in Carrillon City, Perth.

Talking more about shopping around here, not all is cheap and not all is available unfortunately. I just can't buy / get everything I need for the kitchen in one place , no matter how I try . What a pity ... How I miss the real wet markets to buy fresh fish / seafoods too. I had been to Subiaco weekend market but not impressed at all .They only have fruits & vegetables and some asian spices. Today I was in Innaloo ( Kingkong Market ) to check the seafoods place but still not impressed as well but I would say, the seafoods ( at last I had found some real fresh fish ) are better than in Coles and Woolworths which carry mostly frozen ones or already cooked prawns / shrimps. I had once tried the cooked shrimps from Coles but they're not good tasting at all. Things around here ere expensive too. Oh well , I better get used to it with a never ending sigh ...   hhhaaaayyyyy !

 Also, I'm Getting used to driving a speed of 40km/hr ( makes me fall asleep behind the wheels ... so pinch me real hard please ! ) in designated school areas and 60 to 70km/hr on normal roads. The only time I can drive 80kms to 100kms for a change is when I come from Perth CBD and passing the freeway to go back home.

Lucky I can drive around and navigate the area. Of course , big thanks to the GPRS included with our rented AVIS car. What a relief during the 1st week I was driving around Scarborough to take the kids to school and hubby to office. Although the said GPRS had failed to take me to the right places a few times ( IKEA most especially ! ) , I had then decided to buy myself a Road map for a whooping AUD$29.95 in the nearest convenience shop I found beside the Coles supermarket in Scarborough Beach Road . It's a must to have a road map in the car at all times. I should say so I can really see all the streets and check where I'll be going before I step in the car & hit the roads.

Slowly, I'm getting familiar of the places around me and what I can get from there. Spotlight is one of my favorite places here in Scarborough . Why ? It's full of arts and crafts materials that I need to keep me busy and entertained during the day. I love the collection of yarns & threads they have in stock. I already had created 2 sling bags for phones / camera just like this one from the yarn I had bought from Spotlight and still making a crocheted wool scarf I'm hoping would be finished before this weekend .


Only Set Available !
Retail Price = AUD$25.00
( pair of Earrings included + free shipping within Australia only )

Today, I was lucky to get AUD$40 Off from my AUD$100 purchase entitled only to VIP members. I became a VIP member only last week during my 2nd visit there. Great savings I got today and thanks a lot to an Italian lady who tipped me off about the VIP savings I didn't know about when I went in the shop this morning. The nice lady Eena, even gave me an address of a bead shop named the Bead Co. located in 12 Howe St. , Osborne Park which is only a few blocks away from Spotlight. She was so helpful and looking forward to seeing her again knowing she is also beading as a hobby. I found the shop she told me and checked what the shop have in stock. Quite a lot but beads / parts are sold by piece & weight mostly ! I just bought some seed beads to try then I went home with a big smile on my face knowing I had discovered some good places today. Yiipppeeee !

More positive news is, I found some new friends from the kid's school . For the moment, I only hang around with them for a few minutes when I pick up the kids in the afternoon. They're from mixed nationalities ~ Filipinos, Thais, Singaporeans, Dutch, Scottish, Americans , etc. They're all nice and friendly and the Australians are very warm people as well. In the end, I'm happy here in Perth.

Sapphire is the official birthstone for the month of September as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. It is also one of the birth stones for the Zodiac signs of Pisces, Taurus, Virgo and Sagittarius. This stone symbolizes prosperity and sincerity




Blue is by far the most popular color for sapphires, but they can be almost any color, including yellow, green, white, colorless, pink, orange, brown, and purple. Padparadscha is the name for a rare orange-pink variety of sapphire and has a higher value than blue sapphires.


Folklore, Legend, and Healing Properties:

Its powers include spiritual enlightenment and inner peace. Sapphire is believed to offer healing properties for rheumatism, colic, and mental illness. It is also considered an antidepressant and an aid to psychokinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance and astral projection.

Our sudden and rush move to Perth is kicking hard this August. I don't really want to go and leave my paradise here in Singapore but things had gone really far even for family matters. Getting resolved with iron hand though and looking forward to more solutions to all the grievances I have had the last few months . Just by being far, far away from everything would give me more space to move around at my own space and time . As far away from everything that could lead me even more serious undertakings ! Not easy to mend a broken marriage but I just stick to the fact that life has to go on for the sake of my kids.

I had travelled in a rush last week to Philippines so I can attend to my sole grandson's baptismal party. Staying a night over at the posh Shangri-la hotel in Makati to meet up with hubby who was there on a business trip. I travelled to my province in Laguna the day after via local bus transport costing Php150 from Manila to Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Since I had 3 baggages with me, I paid for 2 spaces ~ 1 seat for me and 1 seat for my bags so I can secure all of them in one place. While the bus was moving out of the terminal in Buendia , Taft Ave., a teenager handed over a piece of paper to me . I thought it was my bus tickets ... he's too young to work as bus conductor I said to myself. I read the note on it and it says :


My heart sank and I turned around to look for him. He was at the end of the bus giving out the pieces of papers to as much people as he can and selling his candies . When he came back by my side, holding the packs of candies, I quickly took the opportunity to touch his arm and raise a few questions .

I asked : " How old are you ? "  He politely replied in a low toned well mannered voice " Mam, I'm 17 years old."
I asked: " Where do you go to school ? "
He said with the sad look in his eyes : " Mam, I used to attend the University of Rizal in Binangonan, Rizal . I was taking Hotel & Restaurant management. "

 Ok, I told myself, this kid is not joking at all. He's very sincere and very serious I just didn't want to ask him anymore questions and waste much of his time, although I'm so curious about him. One thing is for sure, I really admired his guts. Going out in public places away from his home just like that and asking help directly to people he has no idea at all who they are ... just amazed me. He was surely that desperate !

I forked out a 100 peso bill from my pocket and handed it to him. He tried to give me a few packets of candies for that amount. I simply gestured to him, not to bother. I don't need any of the candies. I'm happy just to give the money to him.


 I advised him to sell the candies to other people instead so he can gain more money for his fund. He was so grateful. It seems like, noone had ever given him that amount. It was not that much for me but for him ... it was such a big deal. I'm happy to see him so happy. I felt something different when he moved away to attend to other passengers. I just sighed ... I just hope he gets lucky with the other passengers too.


Good Luck Kid ! 
Your parents must be very proud of you ...
You deserved to reach your goal and hoping you're not the only one with that kind of guts ... he's really one amazing young person I had never encountered all these years.

Over 2 days had passed since I'd been to the "Brawlfest" ( that's how my friends like Alicia the founder of DEH Singapore ( Desperate Expat Housewives ) and I nicely call the recent Beerfest 2010 here in Singapore ) It was a gathering of people from all walks of life having a mixture of reasons for coming over to the event. Either to watch the on-going football games on the big screens, watch the skimpy clad ladies walking & parading all over the place, listen to various guest bands performing everynight, to simply savouring the wide variety of beers the venue was meant for or to just simply narrow down to their main goal of creating nuisance to attract public attention . A lot of people are mostly proffesionals , expats and can afford the prices no matter what. I was just extremely surprised with the behaviours some of the white foreign men were capable of doing.
Here's my story :
I'm 45 years old. I don't drink alcohol and watch over my drinking friends and husband all the time. They call me an angel for taking care of them and sending home coz I drive all the time. I'm a reliable storyteller everytime a party is over coz I'm forever sober ( coke, ice tea or If I get lucky I can get coffee ! ) and I see everything that happens... simply every single thing ! I could tell the most minute details no matter what coz I see everything happening right infront and at the back of me ... the whole nine yards.



The beerfest is such a huge event were people get down to the last drop of beer. Sometimes, the beer is still pouring but the man itself is alreaday down . Tsk-tsk. It happens a lot of times anywhere. There's nothing unusual about that. What's so unnatural during the beerfest was the group of foreign expat males standing on the table, shaking their cans of beer and spraying the people dancing and watching the Hells Belles ( American Female Band version of ACDC ). They happened to be just right behind me and my Australian friend Karen. Yes they're having fun ... no one bothers to try and say anything against them coz they're big enough to scare the locals and other foreigners to respective corners. Especially the women.

Karen was wet all over her back , my hair was soaking in beer but we can't move away from our position coz we're both short and standing , tip-toeing on chairs just to see the Hells Bells Performance infront of us. Our husbands were on the other side of the table infront drinking and dancing. These guys behind us , 5 of them in total but 2 of them are ok and gentle with one just right behind me offered to take a picture of me. See this shot ?

 He took a pic of me with my camera . Nice guy I said to myself.


Althoug the 3rd one beside him who was sporting a heavily tattoed shoulder down to his elbow ( he thinks he's super cool dude ! ) plus the other 2 are getting even more wild throwing big ice cubes from the buckets of Jaz Beer to peoples' heads on the dance floor. I saw a young caucasian lady got hit on the forehead real hard and few guys hit randomly. What a pity ! Karen made a move and said to one of them to just drink the beer and don't waste it ~ in a nice way. The guys just laughed at her ( typical a-holes ) and moment she turned around, the guy behind me in his black formal long sleeve shirt ( such a formal office guy looking person you won't expect to do anything wrong ! ) started shaking his beer can and opened it behind the 2 of us. My mind flipped seeing a new splash is coming and seeing they just don't give a damn and won't stop at all. So I tapped his hand and said " Hey, 1 time, 2 times , 3 times to ask you to stop is more than enough ok ? His can went flying off his hand. When I turned around to watch the concert again, the guy just pushed me so hard that I went crashing on top of the table full of bottles and glasses infront of me. What the #$@ is this guy doing laying his hands on me ? I got on my feet in seconds, and went up the chair again and went right straight to him with a push ... he went flying on the next table behind him. Big hell broke when his friends helped him up and he got up to punch me . He brushed aside Karen who was standing on a chair blocking his way. Karen fell crashing backwards on top of the table and he ran towards me . I'd readied myself to fight back and was quick enough to give him an upper kick on his stomach ( lucky i was wearing my denim pants & loafers and not stilletoes! ) and he went crashing back to where he came from. That's the time our husbands saw the commotion.

Karen's husband seeing her getting up from the table immediately drew punches on the guy's face. OMG! It was a horrific scenario to see our drunken hubbies getting into the fight too . My hubby couldn't even stand straight coz he was already very drunk and I was afraid our opponents' hooligan friends might join the brawl and punch him & Peter too. Even bigger trouble. I was yelling at him to go on the side and assured him that I can defend myself against the guy. Lucky the other hooligans just stood and watched us . The tattoed guy was laughing while his friend was getting mauled. Anyway, security finally came after Alicia had been frantically screaming security ... security ! But the guy still got his eye on me despite of his bruised face with cuts on his eyebrows and nose. I managed to give him 2 hits of beer bottles on his head (  the bottles just bounced off his head one after the other ~ good quality Corona bottles I should say ... tsk-tsk ! ) distant punches from me and my American friend Akicia before he tried to escape from us . As soon as he looked for cover in the crowd, I chased him and told him he's a coward who could only pick on helpless women and could only fight behind our backs. Now face to face with someone sober like me and with other men & women around, he was running away for his safety and shielding himself among the crowd. Shame on him ! Suddenly, a punch from my right side landed on my face. So hard that I was totally knocked over and fell to the ground . I saw everything cloudy white. I felt like I was instantly blind ! But my immediate reaction was to stand and watch out for anything else coming. ( Lucky I had watched J'Lo's movie about self-defence on how to react when someone knocks you down ). To get on your feet as soon as possible !



 I was dizzy and my nose was bleeding heavily. Who the hell was that ?  One of the hooligans had hit me on my right side of the face just below my right eye. Too bad I din't see who exactly that guy is. Karen just told me later in the First Aid tent that she saw the guy who sneaked from behind and punched me. She had kicked the guy who punched my face after seeing that I fell on my back and he was ready to kick me when I was getting up. Can you visualize what kind of man this guy is ? How can he do that to a woman like me when I don't even have anything to do with him ? Probably, he just wanted his friend to be able to run and escape from the crowd coz his friend had already been mauled enough by my friends. But still, why punch me ? He can just push me or pull my pony-tailed hair to stop me from chasing his friend .

Oh well ... what an experience for me ~ my ever 1st night in a Brawlfest !
The security didn't do their job well enough to help the victims just like me.They didn't even have the guts to keep the guy who attacked me . They let him and his bunch of footy friends go and roam around free !

What worst could have happened to other women and people around just leaving these hooligans to stay in the venue ? I don't wanna think of it at all ...
I was scampering to pull my husband to the side for safety while my face was covered in blood and this one security staff even shoved me to the side which angered my husband even more. Saying you don't push a woman ... she's my wife .. she's bleeding! No one dared to assist me immediately that I need to grab a bucket of ice from the tables myself and soak my hands in there and wash my face with ice cold water. I put ice cubes on my face immediately coz I could feel my face was starting to swell. My face was numb that i didn't feel anything on it at all. Not even feeling the bleeding cut on my nose ! I was so angry my whole body was feeling no pain despite of blood rushing out of my nose and I was already spitting clots of blood stucked from my throat.


This is how these expats behave in a foreign land . Unfortunately, they had landed in Singapore. One of the best places in Asia. Such a shame that they considered themselves well educated but got no respect for women at all. Just for a lost can of beer, they can rip  you apart , no mater who you are , whether male or female young or old. Just doesn't matter at all . Think about them ... How much more they can do in their own native homeland ?

Singapore is now starting to become a haven for these type of maniacs. Security lapses had been so bad in so many ways the last few weeks and months. Not a good image for Singapore known to be the most safe country to live in Asia. Yes, Singapore is a beautiful country .. but would not be anymore soon if these kind of people gets well spoiled here.

I guess our move to another country next month just came at the right time. Oh well... 11 years of ups and downs and I got into trouble the very last moment. But I admit that I'm happy to go. I need to see the other sides of the world not just Singapore.  But I'm truly thankful that I gained a lot of friends here who  made me get thru it all ! I'll miss you all ...

We're leaving For ~
Perth, Australia !