Have you ever had deja-vu?

Several years ago, I used to remember doing sit ups in my bedroom while watching MTV music videos. At the time, there was a VJ called Sonia Couling on the channel. I used to see her everywhere in Singapore, on magazine covers, bus stops, TV commercials, the works.

One night, I had a dream about her. I remember waking up feeling confused because she was definitely someone close to me in the dream. She was telling me about her boyfriend, hanging out with me at different locations. It felt so real! But she was a total stranger in real life.

I told one of my guy friends "hey, it's strange you know. I dreamt of that MTV VJ girl Sonia...I felt like I KNEW her" and he cut me off "Nothing strange about that. Lots of guys have dreamt about her. She's hot what" he reasoned.
"Give me a break. I'm not a guy. I wasn't dreaming about her like that (eyes rolling). We were hanging out, you know...like friends. It felt da*n real"

"Look whatever it is, you better introduce me if your dream comes true okay?" ;)

As it turns out, I got confirmed for a fashion show for a Japanese brand (this was unusual for me coz I'm really too short to catwalk ;) and Sonia Couling was also doing this show so I met her backstage when we were getting our make up done. We didn't have much time to chat so I figured the dream had no substance to it.

VJ Utt and Sonia hosting the 12th Asian Film Awards

After that job, I ran into her here and there but we didn't have each other's numbers. It was not like the dream where we were almost inseparable.

A few years passed and I ended up forgetting the dream altogether but when I was modelling in Bangkok, Sonia and I REALLY connected. We just clicked and we saw each other almost every day. I didn't know many people in Thailand and she made me feel right at home.

Sonia and me training together at the gym

She was also getting fit for an action movie and her trainer taught me a couple of moves. It was just a short sequence but crazy tiring. I have a new found appreciation for fight scenes in movies lol ;)

One night, we were having dinner together in an outdoor restaurant and I was taking in the stones on the ground, the mood lit tables and my hair kinda stood up. It was like deja vu. I had been there before yet I hadn't. The scene felt sooo familiar.

Then, I remembered the dream (the one I had BEFORE I even met her). It was exactly like this. So bizarre. In my dream, we were friends hanging out everywhere and this was one of the scenes in my dream!

I hardly have dreams that actually happen but this was one of them. The total stranger I dreamt of who became my friend in real life! :)

Metinee, Sonia and I attending F1 Malaysia

I find dreams fascinating. Sometimes, they can inspire creativity which is why you should write them down when you wake up. Sometimes, they're fantasy or literal but the scary ones make you appreciate that "it was just a dream" phew ;) People who dream they're being chased or happen to be falling from the sky often wake up feeling sooo thankful they're alive. Even if they have no meaning for you, they can be quite entertaining :)

And in real life, never stop a person from thinking big or dreaming. It's important to have dreams. Most of the people who really make it big believed in their own dreams and never let others tell them otherwise.


Do you know Michael Jordan was told that he would never make the school basketball team and he proved through sheer hard work that he could make it. In fact, his coach was the very impetus to make him work so hard (even doing chin ups to grow taller!) He proved his first coach wrong by being one of the greatest basketball players there ever were.

Not that I'm a fan of Mariah but she was told by her teacher to not waste her time dreaming about becoming a singer coz there was no money in it ;)

Make sure you have dreams in life because if you can visualize something (like how Tiger pictures the perfect shot), you can start making it happen. It's important to visualize whatever goals you have.

so dream on :) just never stop dreaming....