A Closure To 2017

As 2017 is coming to an end, I've decided to write down some of the highlights that has happened. I know many have already posted their yearly recap/reflections on instagram or insta-story, but personally I feel its better to write it here and leave it as it is. 10 years down the road, I can come back and read at my hideous grammar and vocab. LOL!

Let's take a look back at what I wrote for my new year resolutions back in January 2017. http://www.donnlicious.com/2017/01/thank-you-2016.html

1: Continue To Stay Fit & Maintain My Physics
2: Travel At Least Twice
3: Keep In Contact With My Friends More
4: Continue To Blog More
5: To Attend More Events
6: To Achieve Something Great In Life

I can't help but to feel ashamed of myself. HAHAHAHA! Cause I barely even achieve half of it. But I'm glad that I manage to travel 3-4 times this year, that is if you wanna include army overseas exercise as one of it. Haha! And also putting in more effort into my meet up with friends.

Now let's have a quick recap to some of the 2017 highlights shall we?

How To Fix Your Photobucket 3rd Party Hosting Issues

Today's post will be more for people like me who is constantly online using photo hosting websites to share our photos via embedded links etc. Until about half a year ago, Photobucket decides to shit at us without giving us any warning. *Note* no user were informed prior to them replacing all our images with what you're gonna see below.


Everyone who uses photobucket as their main photo hosting platform were furious. Lucky I had switched to Flickr at the early 2014. So only my photos embedded here before 26th Feb 2014 were affected. I had tried several method and researching solutions to it but only found disappointment. Until I came across this video on YouTube which was posted only about a month ago. I immediately went to try it *BOOM*! It really works. So now I am gonna show you guys the solution to making your pictures appear again.

DM Chicken 分米鸡

Back in the month of September, my friends (Poly Year 3 Clique) celebrated my belated and Garey's birthday in advance. You know as we grow older, we tend to pretty much used up all the tricks up our sleeves and we sort of got not much creative juices left. That's why when these years we just forgo all the "surprises" and just straight up ask what the birthday boy/girl want for their birthday. This year, my friends manage to find a cool place to hang out and have our dinner at.

My Army Story Part 2

Here's the continuation of my army story. If you haven''t catch part 1 of it, here's the link to it: http://www.donnlicious.com/2017/08/my-army-story-part-1.html

So after our POP also known as Passing Out Parade, all recruits are entitled to 1 week block leave. So in this 1 week leave most of us will be going overseas, hang out with friends, etc. For me, well I'm pretty much the latter cuz I'm too broke to go overseas. LOL!

On the last few days of our block leave is the day where the army tekong group chat become super active. Your alert/notification is constantly flooding with messages one. Because this is when we'll receive our postings on our next phase of army life. Whether you get posted to SCS (Sergeant Cadet School), OCS (Officer Cadet School) or Unit (basically a trooper or driver or medic). And guess what?!?!?! I was posted to a unit. A BAD ONE SOMEMORE!!! Its more like a dumping ground when you're nowhere good or bad. I cried, I cried so bad cuz I really didn't want to spend another 1.5 years going outfield and having to CHIONG all the way. It's like BMT all over again but at another level higher.



UNIT LIFE DAY 1
Can't remember its 21st or 22nd December that I got posted to 4th Singapore Infantry Battalion (4SIR) yeap the dumping ground that I was talking about earlier on. Who would have thought, I so "nua", can't even barely get Silver for my IPPT already, yet I'm posted to a "CHIONG SUA" unit. So together with some of my Gryphon Kias, Matthew, Ben, Jeffrey just to name a few, we were all super reluctant to report to camp. Firstly, the camp is right opposite a fucking cemetry. Secondly, we all went to google information about this camp so that we have a heads up of what to expect. Basically, nothing. LOL! We only found some information on hardware zone from the previous troopers who have already ORD saying that the cookhouse food is awesome, the bunk is haunted, toilet is haunted etc. I mean, what do you expect??? We're staying in 24hrs, 5 days a week opposite a cemetery!!!

IMPACT Mints Blogger's Party

[Media Invite]

Back in July I was invited by Matrix Star Marketing to attend the first ever IMPACT Mints media party held at Bread Yard Café. If you don't know what Impact Mints is, it is flavored mints that comes in various different colored tins that packs a punch to every bits when you pop it in your mouth.

My Army Story Part 1

It has been so long since I last posted an entry and I guess its about time to update this little online diary of mine. If you have been following me on my instagram/snapchat, you would have probably know that I've ORD almost a month ago. After a long consideration and procrastination, I've decided to search high and low for all the photos that are related to my army days and do up a timeline of my 2 years of serving the army.

30th July 2015 (BMT)

Like most boys who have just finished their tertiary education, I was enlisted to Pulau Tekong for my Basic Military Training. There are some who are of "special case" where they'll get posted to Mono intake also known as unit directly but I'll get to that at a later part of this story.

Teenage I Pledge Campaign

Teenage Gorgeous You Café Trail

Last week, Teenage teams organized a cafe hopping session together with the Teenage Gorgeous You 2017 finalists. As we're waiting for everyone to arrive at the venue. The team drop a huge surprise challenge for us, and that is we need to shoot, film, and edit a video by the end of the cafe hopping session and submit it, and it be used as our video and instagram submission. To add on to the difficulty, we will be doing the challenge in pairs and I'm paired up with Tyler (@Tylomere). Good thing I paired with him because he's super easy to work with. We split up the workload with him taking/editing the photos while I shoot/edit the videos. And I must say we worked really well as a team. :)

Debunk Your Skincare Myths With Dr. Belmeur

This week's challenge is all about skincare. The fellow team from Teenage have given us finalists the task of finding 5 skincare myths and have them debunk to our followers/readers. Before we go on any further with this post, do take a look a this video that I've did in collaboration with THEFACESHOP.

EAT.SHOP.PLAY at 313@somerset

Wow, in a blink of an eye it's already the 4th challenge. For this week, it's all about spending the day at 313@somerset aka the Lifestyle Challenge. But there's a twist, the finalists were all given random alphabets and are required to only go to shops with those alphabets on it. So for example if I got "O" as one of my alphabets, I would have to go to shops starting with "O". For instance, "Old Chang Kee", and/or "OWNDAYS". In addition, we need to come up with minimum 4 activities to do at 313@somerset.

For me, I've gotten the alphabets (C. D. J. L. U. Y). It was hard initially because most of the shops with the alphabets that I was given revolves around F&B, so it got me thinking quite hard as to how I'm going to come out with 4 activities to do at the 313@somerset, because I can't be possibly eating for the whole entire day right? But thanks to my friend Angie (@YourApplePie) who happens to be a lifestyle blogger herself, she manage to give me some ideas as to how to make the idea and plan flow. So without further ado, let's get started with this post shall we?








What Is Tring 313?
Tring 313 is a mobile application that brings users a revolutionary service that utilizes location-based targeting technology. It is available on iOS devices (iPhones, iPods and iPads) and helps users discover exclusive offers and promotions from over 170 retailers within 313@somerset, within walking distance from your current location.

How To Use The Tring 313 Mobile App?
First you have to download the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play, (Tring313). Then, you can sign up via FaceBook account (which I did), and allow it to detect your location. Voila, you're done.

Most importantly, the app is FREE for download. Browse offers/deals and to receive application alerts. Once the app has been installed in your iOS device, you will be able to search for offers/deals that you would like to download/purchase. Payment can be made through PayPal or Credit Card.

For more information about the Tring 313 Mobile App, you can click on the link here: http://www.313somerset.com.sg/general/tring-313-faqs to find out more.










That summarize my day at 313@somerset. It's definitely a fun experience shopping with only the alphabets given to us. Furthermore, using the Tring 313 mobile app has allowed me to receive and check for deals and offers whenever I'm near 313@somerset's vicinity.

So to conclude this post, here are the list of activities that I did at 313@somerset.
1. Have breakfast to start off your day
2. Shop for a head to toe outfit for the next day of work and/or school
3. Take OOTD at Instagram worthy place
4. Lunch break at Basement 3
5. Great deals from Tring 313 offers and coupons.
6. Stress relieve at Cocoa Colony
7. Gather your friends together for some catch up session
8. Takeaway food to get ready for the next day

Shops Featured.
C - Cotton On, Coco Ichibanya, Churro101, Challenger, Cocoa Colony, Chir Chir Fusion Chicken Factory, Candy Empire, CHARLES & KEITH (In Video)

D - Duke Bakery, Deen Xpress (In Video)

J - JiBiru Craft Beer Bar (In Video)

L - LE Underground/L.E WAY, Love Bonito, Lacoste (In Video)

U - umisushi (Post and Video)

Y - Ya Kun Kaya Toast, Yayoiken, Yoogane, Yoshinoya (Post and Video)

Before I end off this post, here's the video that I did for Challenge 4. It's the first time I step out of my comfort zone to sing and act in front of the public, so pardon me if I look like a awkward penguin. So anyways, here's the video. Enjoy. :)

What's Your Style

For challenge 3, the finalists were given a specific style to embody, and for me, I got Athlete as my theme for this challenge.

So today I will be sharing some of the tips and tricks as to how to achieve that Athlete/Sporty look. For me, style is a personal preference, different people have different style and I can't force you to follow what I'm about to show you in this post, but I do hope that my tips and ideas will be able to give you some inspiration as to how you want to style your pieces next time. Remember, dress to express, not to impress.












Here's the video I did for this challenge.
Hope you guys enjoy reading this post and stay tune for more upcoming challenges that I'll be doing for this competition. :)

For more information about Skechers D'Lites 2 Sweet Monster, you can click on the link here: http://www.skechers.com.sg/Sweet_Monster_Product_Catalog.pdf

Teenage YouTube Challenge

For this week's challenge, we are task to do up a Chubby Bunny YouTube video so as to compete against the past Teenage Gorgeous You contestants to see who's video can come out on top.
Initially when given the challenge brief for this, I was quite skeptical as to how Chubby Bunny and pick up lines is going to blend. Reason being, we had to make it funny and yet engaging at the same time, so at that point there were many thought process that was going through my head.
In the midst of brainstorming for this challenge, my mind immediately think of Ben (@BenVoda) from TGY 2016 where he did a YouTube lip sync video with his alter persona - Bennita. So after much discussion, we finally made out some time to film for this challenge video.

To balance out "Bennita's" outgoing and vibrant personality, I had to go on par with "her" and dressed myself as "Donna". During the filming process, we both could not help it but to feel scared that people might just walk in and see 2 guys wearing wig and filming video in front of a camera, we just can't. So thank god Noelle (@NoelleMikazuki) who is nice and kind enough to push away her busy schedule just so she could help me with this challenge.

Overall, it was a fun and enjoyable day of filming, and because of this, I also get to meet up with both Ben and Noelle after a long time of not seeing each other. We all laughed so hard when filming and both Ben and I had a tough time trying to say out those pick up lines with all the marshmallows in our mouth. We both even teared a little. 😂

Now for the final production, the video. It's about 9mins long but I will break it down here so that you guys will know what to expect and which scenes to keep a lookout for.

Intro:

00:00 - 02:08

Challenge Start | End:

02:09 -07:40

Forfeit:

08:03 - 08:25

Closing Runway Walk:

08:38

5 Surprising Things You Didn't Know About Kaplan (Wilkie Edge)

Be it shopping or dining, I'm pretty sure Wilkie Edge is not at the top of your list. My experience there has definitely gave me a different view and perspective of how this building is. Today, I will be showing you some of the interesting facts that I’ve found, and also the things that Wilkie Edge building has to offer.

Satisfy your wanderlust with promo codes and more with Shopback!

[Review]

Me being a shopaholic, I'll always be on the lookout for cheap deals whenever I'm buying my stuff. Be it online or at the malls. Recently, I've been doing alot of online shopping for clothes and accessories at ASOS and what made me realise is I could have saved so much money if I've used ShopBack.

New Years Eve Outfit

Sinpopo Brand

When was the last time I really sat down and write about my visit to a café or a restaurant?!?! I decided to write about this particular one is because I really like the food and aesthetics about this café. How it came about was a few weeks before I visit this place, I was doing my duty in camp with one of my army mate whom I really considered as a REAL foodie. He loves exploring places in search of finding good food. So as we were resting I asked if he has any recommendation for good food for friends to hang out and chill. This was when he whipped out his phone and showed me some of the places via instagram and google (THANK YOU INTERNET) where he considered to have quite prominent food.

SINPOPO BRAND
Address: 458 Joo Chiat Rd, Singapore 427671
Tel: 6345 5034
FB: https://www.facebook.com/sinpoposg/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/sinpopobrand/
Website: http://www.sinpopo.com/

Nearest MRT station: Dakota (Circle line), take bus 16 from Bus stop "Blk 99" at Old Airport Road towards Bedok Interchange.
5 minutes walk from Marine Parade,
buses available at Marine Parade: 15, 31, 36, 43, 48, 76, 135, 196, 196e, 197, 401, 853C, 966

Thank You 2016

Its the time of the year where I sit down and really think about what I've achieved. To be honest, because I'm still serving my NS, its hard for me to really do the things that I really want cuz my life is pretty restricted. But nevertheless, lets take a look back at what I wrote in hopes to achieve in 2016.

http://www.donnlicious.com/2016/01/01012016.html

- To Be Fitter
Honestly, I really think I've become fitter as compared to last year. I mean, I'm really proud of myself that I make it a habit to run 5km after for at least 2 times a week. So... *Pats on my shoulder*

- Travel at least twice this year
Managed to tick this off my bucket least as I traveled to Korea alone back in June and Vietnam with my platoon mates in November.

- Blog more
Sadly I didn't fulfil this cuz everytime when I book out from camp I'll be so tired to even turn on my laptop. Furthermore having to sort out my photos and edit them and crafting out the content that I want to write. Even if I do, its some "CHAPALANG" kind of post which I kinda regret posting them. But oh wells.

- Spend more time with family
Thankfully, army made me so tired that I don't really want to get out of my house. All I want is just to "nua" at home and spend some quality time with my family. This year, I manage to spend my Christmas and New Year holiday with them, so I'm really really proud of myself on achieving this. :)

- Start thinking about what I want to do in life
This is the one that keeps me thinking. Cuz till now, I still don't know what I want. My friend(s) have all asked about what I want to do after army, any thoughts on further studying, etc etc. Frankly speaking, I really don't know...