ESCAPADES

Through twists and turns, we end up here.

2009-05-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

Things change and occur in such fascinating ways sometimes it just blows me away. Be it the fate of life, the work of God, or me changing as part of the growing up process, things really do change very quickly. I don't know if it's good or bad, but I'm beginning to feel that through all the twists and turns in life, the only things that really maintain constant is family, God and me. Wherever I may be in the future (which I'm beginning to feel that it is really all over the place), these are the things that will never change. Recently I am talking to myself a lot, which is kinda freaky, but I realise somethings you really have to face alone. At the same time, I feel myself growing everyday.

Thoughts aside, the labour day holidays was pretty awesome! We visited the suburbs of Beijing, to this place called 十渡。 While I was there, there was happiness, and there was calm in me. Perhaps it's because of the scenery, or the company, the happy people, or maybe I saw the works of God again. If my plans to Korea had worked out, the one thing I wanted to do was to cycle on the river boats along the Han river. Last weekend was the very weekend I was almost gonna be in Korea...and look where He brought me to:

Above pictures: numerous river rafts on the calm waters, cycling on the duckie-boat along the meandering river amongst the mountains

Not too long ago, I hated to order a plate of fried rice/noodles cos I always thought it was boring to have a whole plate of the same thing in every mouth. I also thought people were weird to just want to have fried rice/noodles for a meal.

Today I had fried noodles in the noon and fried rice at night. I craved for them.

As I said, I have no idea how we ended up here. How I thought cycling at the Han river was the one thing I wanted to do most, yet never knowing a place called 十渡, and never knowing there was so much more.

On a side note, I am finally appearing on screen as the reporter! How I have missed the reporting days, I’m back!

(Coming back from Shi Du has plunged me back into a slight depressing mood again but I’ll walk through it no doubt! I am still looking forward to that one morning, when I truly feel like I am so joyful and ready to jump into the day.)

It's a beautiful thing

2009-04-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Ever since leaving Korea, the memories of it have constantly been on my mind. The exchange was really awesome, I took so much out of it. I can almost say it was the best time of my life (except I'm still young). I miss the place, the culture, the language, the school, the food.. but they say these are not the most important. What usually makes a place in your heart, above all, is the people, the friends you made there. They make such a difference to everything.

I have to admit that Beijing hasn't been as much fun to me. True, I have been experiencing a lot of new things, seeing a lot, trying a lot. But there's always a niggling thought at the back of my mind. I have yet to let go of the memories I had in Korea. I keep holding on, hoping that they will never end, hoping that somehow, I can go back to those times. I know it is a matter of my attitude, how I choose to deal with things, but I can't control myself. Whenever I go to visit some place, I think to myself how fun it would be if I came here with the friends I had in Korea, there was never a dull moment with them. There was always something new and exciting to be discovered, and I always enjoyed myself so immensely. I consistently think back on those trips we had in Korea and compare them to now. But what good does that do?

So this has to be it. I know the chapter needs to be closed, memories need to be kept (and taken out when it's good to think back the old times). I can't go on being stubborn, I have to let go. So today, I'm going to look back at the pictures, the times we had for as long as I want, and then, I want to concentrate on the present. I want to enjoy what I have now, and make the most out of it. I want to put in my full in the things I am doing now.

Good times. =)

Beijing is in WAR!!!

2009-02-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

Today marks the last day of the Chinese New Year and it really feels like Beijing is in war! There are at least 8 different spots around my house putting out fireworks. Everyone is taking chance of this last day of the new year to clear all the explosives in their house. It is really simple to light fireworks and firecrackers here, reasons being they are really cheap and you require a license. As such, the whole Beijing is reeling in heavy smoke today and the noise pollution is...... unbearable.

The last day of the New Year also coincidentally marks our first day of work. The three of us (me and my housemates) went for our first day of work today and we exchanged stories over dinner. For me, I'm pretty glad that I'm actually doing a lot of stuff that are directly related to what I've learnt in school. For a start, I watched a live radio broadcast today and I've also been assigned to do video editing of a news package. So it's like putting what I learnt in newspaper writing, audio editing, broadcast journalism all into practice!

Well, interning in China is really a very different feeling compared to when I worked in Singapore and HK. One of the main things is the outlook of the office. I'm so used to getting my own nice and big table for my use. I'm so used to spacious, pretty and clean offices that I was quite disappointed when I reached my office in China. There's so many people in the office that I didn't even have my own seat and table. I had to squeeze in between two of my colleages. The office wasn't exactly clean too, and I don't even want to mention the toilets. But the people there are really the most hardworking bunch. My supervisor also repeatedly tell me that I will have to work overtime on most days. I can already foresee a very tiring journey ahead... but it's gonna be fulfilling, I hope!

As for the first few days when I was in Beijing, I did A LOT of grocery shopping with my two fun-loving housemates. I'm so glad they are here with me, otherwise I will really cry everyday in China!!! We are finally settled down comforatble in our little apartment, and I'm enjoying staying with them! Check out facebook for pictures! Laters~!

Where do we go from here?

2008-12-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

This week has been one helluva week. So many things have happened and changed and it's gonna different from here on. I don't really know where we're heading but right now, I feel happy and it feels so right. Although onlookers may not seem to see it, but I know we share that something they don't know. As we open ourselves up to each other, we're both so caught up in the fact that we share so much in common. It would be so exciting if we could live that out together, but I don't want to think that much. So where do we go from here... let's just see where it leads us. =)

Classes in Yonsei officially came to an end at 5pm on Friday. Even at this point, I'm still living in self-denial that it's not. It just feels so weird that the semester is over, except that exams aren't. We went to Lotteworld again yesterday night. The first time I went to Lotte was when school haven't even start. I was there again yesterday when the semester has ended. Can't even begin to say how long a time it has been, yet how short I feel it is.

Right now, there's one thing that keeps bugging me at the back of my mind. THE PARCEL THAT I HAVE YET TO PACK THAT NEEDS SHIPPING BACK!!! ugh. It fustrates me more than my exams. Cos I will have to pack things that I don't need so urgently, as shipping takes quite some time. But I can't decide which things to put in! There's just too much stuff in my room.

On a separate note, I got my confirmation of the China company last friday. I got posted to Beijing!!! I was kinda shocked when I got the news. That was my third choice, and it's actually a good thing I got that choice as that's the company I wanted most, 中国国际广播电台. It's just that I was so sure I'm going to go Shanghai no matter what. So this company is mostly reporting international news, most through radio and website. I hope I get to do radio broadcasting and maybe even a little TV broadcasting. They said that I would be posted to the international division, so hopefully I don't need to use much Chinese, cos they've deproved soooo much. lols. "Anyone else going to Beijing for internship next sem????? I need to know you!!!"

Time is slowly slipping out of my hands... I want to grasp every moment tightly, but I can't.

Exploration, just me and my track shoes

2008-11-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

Finally got down to some serious workouts. After months of (too much) good food, it was time to put a stop to that incessant procrastination and burn those fats.

Put on those track shoes at about 5pm and started to jog towards the other side of the campus I have yet to check out. The late afternoon weather was cool and not too chilly. The sky was a mix of blue and orange and the graduate students were heading back to the hostels. Dry leaves covered most of the road and made a soft crisp sound as I trotted on them. The autumn colours captivated me once more as I jogged along the side of a hill that overlooked the Seodaemoon village. I passed the Yonsei milk factory and the group of sports class students playing baseball in the fields. I passed by the ahjushis and ahjumonims who were back from hiking the hill behind the school. I passed by groups of students dressed chicly in their autumn wear and chatting loudly in Korean. I passed by some kids who were choosing the most beautiful red maple leave to bring home. How I love this kind of feeling.

I jogged unknowingly to the Yonsei Severance hospital and passed by the dental school. I went further and realised I was out of the campus. I got tired and started brisk walking down the small alleys that I didn't know existed at the back of the campus. Numerous student hostels, cleaning services, cosy and distinctly designed cafes, winebars, family marts and restaurants lined the alleys. In the warm lighting of the cafes, people were enjoying a cuppa and reading a book. I caught a smell of coffee as I went passed the Princeton. I went into the family mart and was immediately greeted with a loud "An nyeong ha se yo". I bought some snacks, the English paper and my favourite Korean ice-cream waffle.

It was getting cold, I stuffed one hand into my pockets, the other holding out the grocery bag. I recalled my time at Everland yesterday together with the friends I have made here. A smile crept onto my face. I thought about the Jeju trip which will be happening in two weeks. I felt excited. I walked and walked, with just me and my thoughts.

I entered the I-house with the fingerprint detection machine which I have a love-hate relationship with. Warm air greeted me as I reached the place I call home in Korea.

I realised I have immersed into the life here. I realised I have grew to like living in this place. More explorations till next time. =)

Kaleidoscopic Korea

2008-10-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

I really admire how the people who were on exchange last semester manage to blog regularly. From what I see, none of us in Korea has the time to blog! We even have trouble uploading our pictures promptly. It's so weird how we are so out of time.... :/

The semester at Yonsei has just reached mid-point. Last week was the mid-term exams and that was probably the only week people studied. My time in Korea is depleting at a turbo rate and I can only imagine how sad I will be when it's time to leave the place and my friends whom I've spent 4 solid months with... everyday.

Anyways, I had the most interesting and nice dinner on Monday. It was a dinner with my broadcast production professor and my classmate from Germany and we had dog meat for food! I'm deeply sorry to dog-lovers but I really must say the dog meat soup we had was absolutely delicious! I'm definitely going to eat that again. Koreans call it a tonic soup because it is supposed to be really good for health. Dog meat is easier to digest compared to other meats and it can keep your body warm.

Dog meat soup - known as bo shin tang in Korean

Our conversation lasted for 4 hours that night... talking about the different cultures of our country, from traveling experiences to sharing our thoughts on social issues. It was nice!

Ever since coming to Korea, I have hardly had any dull weekends. I was doing up my schedule just now and I counted only having 3 weekends free in Korea so far. Even the next few ones are all lined up with activities. Even so, we find ourselves not having enough time to travel to all the places we want! Last weekend was a 2D1N trip to Soraksan - Our first experience in hiking in Autumn. We basked ourselves in the cool weather and the autumn colours and had a fantastic time.

Autumn sceneries

The last part of the hike, and the toughest part.

At the peak! First batch of people

Go to my facebook albums for more pictures on Soraksan!

- to be continued -

My brain can't contain 'em anymore

2008-09-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

So this is week 3 in Seoul and the first post I'm typing about it. Yes, things have been so packed, there's always so much to do that I've been putting this off again and again.

But today, my brain officially says that it's too much and it's about time I pen then down.

Seoul has been seoul exciting and great! haha, very cheesy I know. But really, right from the first day till now, there has never been a dull day and I'm discovering new things every step of the way. Sure, the holiday mood is not really here at all since I've been holidaying in HK since June. So the sightseeing and touring are fun, but not that much of an excitement to me. What excites me the most is the school life I'm having here. Meeting people from all over the world, sharing that Yonsei spirit during the university games, getting out every other night to our happening university street just outside of school and the weather, and the food, and the drinks that come after almost everytime are just too good!

I'll probably give a brief introduction of our location here. We live in this area called Sinchon. One station down is Ewha Women's University. Two stations down is Honggik University. The entire geographical area that these 3 universities share is like Clarke Quay plus Orchard and you multiply it by at least ten. We have everything right at our doorstep (ok, maybe that's exaggerating cos I need to walk 20 minutes to get from my dorm to the main gate of the school) . But out in the streets, there's everything you need and want. Eateries be it Korean or western, good and cheap shopping, Kbox everywhere, coffeehouses everywhere, dvd rooms everywhere, pubs, clubs, and we have 3 donut outlets on the same street(Dunkin, Krispy and donut planet). It is honestly what I envision a university area to be.

Which explains why we get out there every other night to eat and be merry. It's hard not to, when all these things are so accessible! And there's no transport needed, cos we just need to walk back to our dorm after the night out! I'm really loving the life here.

So I've rambled long enough about the school and I'll post some pictures for now!

Snapshots from around the campus:

Underwood International College

Theology College (I'm taking one theology course this semester. Sounds kinda intimidating I know)

Business School Building

The Eagle represents Yonsei

My room @ International House

This is the long road that leads to the happening stuff outside!

Sinchon - the University Street

Heading back "home" after a night out

The church situated right outside of school. This is what we use to recognize our way back. "Follow the cross!" hahaha

Maybe one of the biggest achievement by far is overcoming the space drop during our visit to Lotteworld last week! Despite many past persuasions to go up that freaky thing, I've never never been able to overcome that mental barrier. But at Lotteworld last week, I don't know what got over me and I had the bracery to try it. I've already in fact crossed out that ride way beforehand. But I'm so glad I finally managed to try it! Because after that ride, I could do almost any other rides and feel perfectly good about it! Hurray!

LotteWorld with the girls

Spot my leg dangling up in the air!

(More Lotteworld pictures can be seen in my facebook photo albums!)

In actual fact, our exchange didn't start out perfectly smooth. We arrived in Seoul 4 days before we could move into our dorm so we booked a guesthouse in Korea to stay. We were lucky to meet two very nice guys who helped us lug our 70kg (in total) luggages to the guesthouse. It would have been impossible to do it by ourselves cos we realized the walk to the guesthouse was actually pretty long. All of us have not slept at all the last night and we were just so eager to get to the guesthouse and rest. But when we reached there, we had a very unwelcoming sight. The room was really too small for 3 people PLUS our gigantic luggages. And the room wasn't ready by the time we arrived due to an overlook by the management there. This was our living conditions for 4 painful days.

Two beds pushed together to fit the three of us.

Making use of every single space we have, including my luggage being on the top of the TV.

Luggages lining the doorway. Only one person can open their suitcase at a time.

And I don't even want to take a picture of the sad state of the toilet. GOSH. I was just so glad when the day came when we could finally moved into Yonsei.

Stop here for now cos I've got a class soon... Will stop being so lazy when I have free time from now!

Just for laughs

2008-08-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

An afternoon after lunch in the office, I stared at my table and the eraser laying in the middle of it caught my eye.

"Removes blackheads effectively"

what??

On a closer look, "removes black lead effectively".

LOL! Am I too tired, or too vain.

Adrenalin Overdose

2008-08-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

mood: can't-get-out-of-the-house-kinda-bored
music: HK drama serial in the background

So! Typhoon #8! No work! Extra day off! Yay!!!

Which is why I finally have the time to blog about my happenings again! Let's start with today. Basically, I couldn't get out of the house cos of the weather, and so I stayed indoors and played mahjong with my cousins. And I just thought to myself how weird this was... I mean, my CS friends are probably in school having lectures or sitting by the benches and chatting about their holiday, while ME! I was playing mahjong on a typhoon day in HK! hehehe

Getting down to the Saikung trip. My friend, who grew up at Saikung, took me for the weekend and brought me for such a wild night. I don't remember having been to Saikung, though I've been to HK so many times. He brought me to the town of Saikung, where you see the most incredible seafood market!

The wide array of seafood to choose from. Not cheap though!

And this is the seafood market by the sea, literally! So people will shout down to the aunties saying what they want and they will start bargaining. When decided, the auntie climbs up and passes the seafood to them. People can then bring these fresh seafood straight to the restaurants and get then cooked immediately. Freshness guaranteed.

Thereafter, my friend says that there's this "must-try" dessert place at Saikung that specialises in durian desserts. Any of you people who went HK for exchange ever been here?

Durian pancake, Durian ice-cream in coconut milk and grass jelly

And then comes the highlight of the night! This might sound crazy, but yes, car-racing! Friend of mine, ardent fan of cars, has a bunch of friends who kinda like races every now and then as a hobby. They are into the car-modification, racing around the hills that kinda stuff. He invited me to join them for the night and being in the "I'm on a holiday, go try everything" kinda mood, I agreed. I've not felt such exhilaration and such rush of adrenalin in a long long time. Of course I knew the dangers involved, but my friend, knowing that I felt insecure, made me feel very safe in his hands.

We drove to mid-level of a hill in Dai Po, where we saw many other car-fans standing by their cars, watching whoever races past the hill. We raced up too, and then stopped and watched others. I tell you, I felt exactly like I just stepped into the Initial-D movie. What I saw looked exactly like the movie. People challenging each other, cars drifting at the roundabout, other car-racers cheering their friends on... and then at about 1am, the police came and people dispersed.

The next day, I visited the Goldfish Market at Mongkok. I don't know why HK people are so hyped up about rearing fishes. There's a whole stretch of street that sells fishes and stuff. Is it something to do with good luck, wealth, or something?

On a different note, Since almost everyone is doing it, I had to join in the fun. Haha, here's me, doing THE Karen Cheng.

Till next post! Tata!

p.s: Having all the time in the world today, I started reading blogs. I realized I haven't been updating myself through my friends' blogs for ages. Stuffy! call out to you here! I just read all the posts during the period while I was gone. I just wanna say, no matter where I am, I am just an email away! Miss ya!

In rainbows

2008-07-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

hey everyone! Just a quick post here..I'm going to the HKUST main campus together with my supervisor and the other intern later...to help out at tommorrow's CONVOCATION! So exciting! I know NTU's convocation just passed (as kokyew so excitedly pointed out to me), and now I'm going to help out at HKUST's convo! My supervisor tells us that we're supposed to get the attendance and help them out with the robes and hats before they step into the hall. I think it's so fun! I heard that the robes are flown in from England, cos this particular course has a partner university over there.

Yesterday I finally moved to my 表姐's place at Whompoa (there's a whompoa here too). I think it's like my 3rd time shifting place in HK. I feel like I'm packing every other week to leave to another place! It's tiring, and it's fun. I can't decide which.

Alrights, I'll try to update my trip on Saikung soon. It was an eye-opening experience where I had encounters with seafood-trading by the sea, car-racing, big black dogs and what nots. It was SUCH an exhilarating weekend!

Everybody hit the flow

2008-07-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

mood: "I want to go sailing in the sea I'm facing right now!!"
music: Witch day, Alvin and the chipmunks

I made a visit to the HK Uni of Science and Technology this afternoon, and I am now seated in the library of the university, laptop on my laps, lucozade in my hands.

What greeted me when I arrived at the university was this great sea view and the amount of activities happening there. There was a line of sailing boats. I'm guessing maybe it's the sailing club's weekly meet-up. There were lots of powerboats, yachts (I still needed to check the dictionary for this. Never could spell this right.), and people dipping in the sea right across the island. This is what the university looks like from the opposite island:

Well the funny thing that happened here was, I needed to scan some stuff quite urgently. But only hkust students are allowed to use to use the equipments here. So I approached the staff and pretended to be an exchange student here, and the staff gladly helped me out. haha! my little escapade of the day.

I've been feeling a little disoriented after returning from China. Slept 12 whole hours and lazed through the whole weekend before I was geared up for more action in the city. My cousin and I visited the "Around the world" exhibition at the central library. It was funny looking at all the miniature cardboard models of famous places in the world. (I've reached the monthly limit for flickr, so using blogger to upload photos temporarily)

Colosseum@Italy
Weird carvings@EgyptThis is me, shooting a movie, somewhere in the future. (nah...kidding)hooga shaaga~!

To all genre narrative students, I visited MOUNT RUSHMORE. What does this mountain remind you of?

HK central libary:

Words of wisdom carved onto the steps.

And then we went grocery shopping, or should I say, junk-shopping. Haa!

Backtrack to two weeks ago, it was my grandpa's 80th birthday and my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary banquet. All the close relatives, distant relatives, super distant relatives and friends were invited. It was SUCH an extraordinary gathering.

The full family...in god-knows-how-many-freaking-years. It is a great photo.

The five children. In order. heh

Granddaughters united.

The banquet tradition, where the host family goes around all the tables to cheers.

Back in the office, things are going great. I had a dreamweaver crash course by the IT personnel there. And this is the temporary website I created in 4 hours. My first website right here. Nothing fantastic, but still proud of it. It's gonna be down in a few weeks. =(

ok, my stomach just growled.. I have to be here till 7pm, that's when my colleague knocks off. I'm heading off to the cafeteria for some french toast.

Even with life pretty rocking here in hk, I'm missing family and friends in Spore. Sch starting 4th Aug in NTU? I'm missing SCI for the first time! and church! and my very own bed.....

Here's to more adventures! =)

Yesterday once more

2008-07-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

Huddling my laptop in my arms and a bag of gums in my bag, I finally set my heart down to a quiet Sunday afternoon at the HK central library where I will spend the day managing the million photos from the past month and writing about my trip to China.

While most of my friends in Spore are living it up with the rush of activities that usually comes right before the start of a new semester, I myself have been on quite an adventure. Let me start with the recent trip to China, where a great deal have been learnt, and great friends have been made.

My job in HK as a summer intern at HKUST (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) has been a godsend. I couldn't have wished for more. I was hired to take part in a camp, which is held in China, Nansha. The camp is meant to teach the participants more of the Chinese language and the Chinese culture. I was hired mainly because I have experience with children and I can speak Chinese.

The ferry trip to Nansha, just a short 80minutes ride where I took the opportunity to know the kids better.

This is where we spent 90% of the time at. Nansha Information Technology Park. It comprises of a hotel and a conference centre. The conference centre is where the lessons are held. The two buildings are separated by a big and peaceful lake. We take the zig-zag bridge every morning and afternoon to go over to the other side for lessons.

When we arrived at our rooms, we were welcomed by big comfy beds and superb window views. My roomie is this other summer intern who is currently studying at Washington. Like me, she has come back to HK for the holidays and will be her for about two months.

We stay at the suite where there is a living room and two other rooms. I stay at one of them and my supervisor stays at the other.

Lunchtime! Those in blue are the teachers from the Beijing Normal University. They are the one who teach the lessons while me and the other intern are teacher assistants.

First lesson.

My personal favorites! =) gosh, I miss them!

Calligraphy lessons

Art and craft! The children's favorite.

Outing to the Nansha museum.

Breakfast is a spread!

A child's impression of the lotus pond and frog we saw during the outing

Night view of the IT park.

My very nice colleague here helping the girls to blow-dry their hair. haha. And allowing the plump boy to give him a very cosy hug.

My colleagues and I photo-whoring on the last night.

The kids' performance on their last day.

My summer internship will stretch all the way till aug 15th, right before I leave for Korea on the 20th! I really think I'm very lucky to have found such a job in HK. It's already not easy to find a internship in HK, let alone one that allows you so many learning opportunities and fun!

Ther are lots more to update. Later! My cousin is asking me to stop and get out for some roadside food. heh.

p.s: sorry I haven't been replying to those who left me messages on msn! I am currently eating on my neighbour's wireless network because my grandparents' house has no wireless. The connection is weak and I'm always getting cut off the internet. So I couldn't reply you all..sorry!

This is for the roomie

2008-04-01T01:37:00.000-07:00

music - norwegian recycling - how six songs collide (kokyew, direct quote:"best recommendation ever made". haha)
mood - amused

I wasn't planning to revive my blog until I embark on my (one-year?) journey but my roomie just made it impossible for me. She's always making me feel like I give the most absurd remarks in the world?

Please check out how much she loves me by reading her blogpost DEDICATED TO ME here. omg! Where else can I find such a fancrappytastic roomie??? =)

Awwww...I'm going to miss hall and roomie! She's the only one I know who doesn't eat broken biscuits and doesn't mind me sh**ting on her bed and have so much undergarments that I can build a sandcastle with it. haha!

p.s: dragonfruit was nice. Thank you sheemun!

So since I alr created a blog post........
This semester just flew past, feels like the fastest sem I ever had since I entered uni. School feels so fun and enjoyable when you get to do the modules you like! Year 1 has been spent taking all the compulsory mods... And I still can't quite wrap my mind around the fact that I'll only be seeing ntu again in my final year. I mean it's all great, but still intimidating. This semester is also probably gonna be the first and last time I have such a relaxing timetable. 3 days week! 4 days weekend! But it's proved to be quite a vice - cos I'm not one with good self-discipline and the weekends have been spent hanging out too much! =/ *rush of guilt again*

Tuition has been good too. The Korean mums are really cute and the most hardworking students I've ever had? They bought all kinds of primary school assessments to practice on top of the work I gave them. I really marvel at their determination to master the language. As for the kids, still getting along fine... still find it quite odd that I get all the boys and cheeharn gets all the girls. I mean, most Singaporean mums prefer their children's tutor to be of the same sex. But I wouldn't swop jeongbin! He already looks handsome at his age. wahaha!

"I'll be back!"

Kidding me??

2008-02-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

Received a facebook message from this crazy friend of mine and it so wonderfully says:

"HOLAAAA!!!!

how's it goin ya'll?! haha anyway you are cordially invited to my 21st Birthday Celebration at SPAIN! but unfortunately i know you confirm plus chop can't make it :(...haix anyway if you still wanna, you know (hint hint) send me presents or cards ar haha can kindly do so by sendin it to:

Lynnette Lee
MV Oceanic II
c/o MacAndrews Cruise and Travel
Placa duc nde Medinaceli
5 Barcelona 08002
Spain
Agent Telephone No.: 34.93.344.2503

p.s. forget about gettin any souvenirs if i don't hear from you in spain...no la haha kiddin la usually my skin not this thick one..maybe hangout with those gross angmohs for too long kena infected with their big egoism waha all right adios!
oh btw, have to send at least 2 weeks in advance i.e.by 9 March 2008!!!! (latest by 12 march)

XOXO,
Lynnette / lylyli"

Seriously? Ahh~~ my eyes are burning with injustice! when can i celebrate my bdae in Spain too?? *looks upon the sky and prays hard*

Estoy enojado!!

On a side note, so sorry for the lack of updates! Too many things on hand at the moment, later alligators! =)

Everybody's happy now

2008-01-21T01:58:00.000-08:00

I saved the world today - Eurythmics

Monday finds you like a bomb
That's been left ticking there too long
You're bleeding
Some days there's nothing left to learn
From the point of no return
You're leaving

Hey hey I saved the world today
Everybody's happy now
The bad things gone away
And everybody's happy now
The good things here to stay
Please let it stay

There's a million mouths to feed
And I've got everything I need
I'm breathing
And theres a hurting thing inside
But I've got everything to hide
I'm grieving

Hey hey I saved the world today
Everybody's happy now
The bad things gone away
And everybody's happy now
The good things here to stay
Please let it stay

Doo doo doo doo doo the good thing

Hey hey I saved the world today
Everybody's happy now
The bad things gone away
And everybody's happy now
The good things here to stay
Please let it stay

Everybody's happy now

Mana sor panga woyo!

2008-01-19T00:06:00.000-08:00

Whaooo! I have a lot to look forward to after this sem!
I feel: jumpy and excited! =))
Revelations another time!
A nio hae kae se yo!

I've been freaking depressed but no, I hate emo nemo posts. A random post it shall be.

2008-01-13T20:20:00.000-08:00

I'm really supposed to be doing my reading right now. Genre and narrative strategies. Sounds complicated to those ppl not from mass comm? Simply put -> script-writing. Yes, you get it now.

But I end up surfing... and I was browsing through the blog of the WKWSCI 15th CI club...when I came upon this post:

"This is Kenneth. Kenneth CHEW. and no. i’m not buying BS803 for $100. i’m buying it for $50. if your pretty, let’s go for dinner. how does a night out at Rochester sound? super atas. if your a guy, you can have my Fandi Ahmad CD. classic, timeless collector’s memorabilia. i swear.

no. really."

LOL!
Looks like BS803 is really a super hot module huh? Thank goodness I got it...and I like it a lot! We watched the movies fantastic voyage and inner space on our first lecture. Both movies involving the miniaturizing of a submarine and the doctors inside, and inserting the submarine into the bloodstream. So it's like we were traveling inside the body. And since biology was my favorite subject back in sec sch, this is great! I get to watch movies, and study bio again!

Off I go to the cheap cheap sushi bar near my house! yay! =) Oh, and since I know you will definitely be reading this, I might as well say here again: Happy 21st Birthday ZhiCheng! Cya all at the sushi bar nooowwwww............ heh.

Imagining Imprisonment

2008-01-11T22:09:00.000-08:00

Imprisonment is commonly defined as the place it takes place in - the prison. However, I learnt a new definition of imprisonment in class yesterday - It refers to anything that results in the deprivation of space and a surplus of time. This gives a whole new dimension to the meaning of imprisonment.

I realize we are all prisoners of something. Prisoners of our environment, prisoners of reality, prisoners of a disease, prisoners of the heart, and the list goes on. Deprivation of space - space is abstract. Surplus of time - time is abstract. Some people fall trap to the circumstances they are in. If willpower is not strong enough, they will never get out of it. Instead, they might fall deeper and deeper. Only they themselves have the key to the lock of their "prison". Some people fall trap emotionally to something they hang on to. If unwilling to let it go, they become prisoners of their own heart - they'll never be able to open up again.

Another part of this module (imagining imprisonment) deals with imagination and the arts. In this case, we're looking at prison art. Some forms of art which has a direct linkage to prisoners include tattoo, body piercing, and body alteration. Why do prisoners typically have such things? In prisons, prisoners often have to move from one cell to another. The only thing they can bring around with them is their own body. By creating such art on their body gives them a sense of identity and belonging. Moreover, they enjoy the pain and the thrill they get from these works of art.

Relating this back to the people around us, I do have a friend who enjoys scarring herself. The reason why she does it is so that the physical pain will take away some of the emotional pain she gets from a broken family. Also, inflicting such physical pain on herself reminds her that she is still alive. More often than not, her heart is so dead that she has forgotten what it means to be living.

Sometimes, life gets so messy and crazy that we become prisoners of it. We are subjected to the harsh realities of life and we are not strong enough to rise above it. By holding that grudge, by hanging on to that emotion, by lamenting and feeling sorry for yourself - you are putting yourself into prison. However, there will be some who are willing to take the step, unlock the prison gates, and walk out of it. It is the hardest step to take - to let things go. It takes a lot of mental strength, willpower and discipline. But once taken, these will be the people who will enjoy true freedom.

This module doesn't really touch on the philosophical side of imprisonment. It focuses mainly on the technical side, and the arts of imprisonment. But while attending the lecture yesterday, these were some of the things that popped into my mind. It is really an interesting and thought-provoking module. Next week, we'll be looking at women imprisonment. A topic that made me cry when it was taught in General Paper in JC, when my teacher showed a video on the prison of mothers.

I mentioned Grey's Anatomy is a very therapeutic show right? Just nice, I was watching this episode and they ended off with this quote, which is aptly related to this blog post.

"We're all damaged, it seems. Some of us, more than others. We carry the damage with us from childhood, then as grownups, we give as good as we get.” - Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy.

Life do suck at times. The more I grow up, the more I see the world, the more intimidated I get. Growing up doesn't seem as fantastic as it was ten years ago. Knowing too much isn't always a good thing. Ignorance - sometimes - is bliss.

I'm so hooked onto Grey's...but this post has nothing to do with it.

2008-01-06T19:09:00.000-08:00

And so! It's back to school. I'm so happy about my timetable this upcoming semester! It's the first time I'm gonna have a 3-days week! And the days are tue, wed and thurs...which means.. no Monday blues plus long weekends! yay! I managed to squeeze 21 AUs, which is equivalent to 6 modules, into 3 days. Whoaaa. And the best thing about the timetable is that...I have no 8.30am morning classes! So I dun have to get up so early and squeeze the shuttle bus!

Started working at the tuition centre last Saturday. Once again, it proved my point that the kids at student care centres and the kids at tuition learning centres are vastly different. I've no idea why. Yea, teaching a class filled with 10 over primary sch kids is no mean feat. But still manageable. But handling a bunch of kids over at the student care after their school is definitely pull-out-my-hair-kinda-crazy.

Back to Grey's! It's such an entertaining yet therapeutic show! Why did I not watch it earlier?

LOOK HERE

2008-01-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

Somehow, a bbq with fellow mass comm mates just doesn't turn out quite the same?

Check out this cool vid by lynette...I laughed, then I laughed some more, and then I wanted to tear.

I'm so proud of my friends! Rock on.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

I am honestly grateful for the people and friends I have. It is when I see them that I'm reminded, there's more to life to whatever there is now.

'07 didn't end off on a particularly happy note. Though there were still gatherings and countdown and laughters, I carried with me a heavy heart. Why do unhappy things always happen in a bundle? Things just don't go right once it starts going wrong. I can't help but lament, are all these part of a big prank on me? Despite that, I am thankful for everyone around me. At least when I felt ready to fall, there is always a smile, a pat, or a word of wisdom from somebody.

There's nothing too difficult to conquer.

Here's to a new start.

In a flurry of activities

2007-12-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

music: my grown-up Christmas list on repeat
mood: burned out

Christmas Fiesta!

They decorated the Christmas tree not with the usual balls and bells, but with tiny old soft toys! I thought that was quite creative. This is me and my chair, literally. heh.

Hall3's very own Santa! My biggest discovery of the day: Jiajing made the Santa costume all by himself! I'm totally amazed by this future house husband.

Finally saw Jianrong at the Christmas fiesta..I haven't seen him in ages and I miss this funny guy.

jr: flora! I was almost going to miss you...but when I see you, I dun miss you anymore...hehe

tsk tsk tsk. =)

Babes' lunch

A nice rainy afternoon spent at Seah Street Deli catching up with the babes. Haven't ate there before and it's very cozy and warm place. It has a very cottage-like feel and the food there is yummylicious! Though the serving is way too big for me. I'm definitely going again for high tea or something. I dunno why high tea, it just seems like a place for tea. LOL

Other than Daph and Cheryl, we're all gonna be separated for the next 6 months..! =( leigh, I await ur Indian bf k!

The crazy pre-christmas cum pre-departure cum pre happy 21st BBQ

Q: What happens at an all-girls BBQ?

1. You get a whole LOT of food. Cuz we're all closet kiasu aunties. wahahaa

2. You have vegetables to make BBQing less unhealthy.

3. You get desserts ( I think I ate BBQ banana with melted choc more than anything else. They were real gooodd!)

4. You carry an umbrella with you even if it's just a small drizzle while poking sticks into sausages. (disclaimer: It's huang shang! she's so dainty.)

5. Well, and basically lotsa photo-taking. HEE

A futile attempt at trying to act emo kids. Can't stop smiling.

Joyce's head - covered in ash! bleah

Lynette's very high-class Christmas cake for us. =)

The bitches!

Carolling

It was nice to go into the neighbourhoods for carolling, rather than the usual shopping centres. We brought the sound of Christmas into the marine parade estates on Friday and it was really fulfilling to see the residents, esp the old folks there enjoying our music. The kids performed Christmas songs too. Thank God things still managed to go rather smoothly despite the big rain.

Christmas meals - good food and good company

Pre Christmas eve lunch over at the newly-weds' place. Sometimes I get quite excited thinking about the future. When I get to share a cosy little home with a someone, I will choose color themes for the different rooms and decorate it nicely. I will cook and bake and invite lotsa good old friends over for fun nights. hehee...But then, I sidetracked.

There was turkey and I'm still not a fan of it. Turkey only taste good when it is a ham. But I loved the chicken salad! Thank you auntie yoyo!

@Al Forno where their pizzas are baked traditionally over fire. To pizza-lovers, this place is a must-try! Dun be mistaken! The one you see in the pic is the starter, baked foccacia bread (not the pizza), which is why it has no toppings. haha

oh man, do I hear a detox calling? =/

After all the fun, I've got my vacation job. And it's really dull and boring work. I realize that the offices at the airport are damn ugly?! But for the sake of more moolah....

The Onion and the Christmas Tree

2007-12-24T01:20:00.000-08:00

Family is sitting at the dinner table.

The son asks his father, "Dad, how many kinds of boobies are there?"

The father, surprised, answers, "Well son, there're three kinds of breasts. In her 20s, a woman's breasts are like melons, round and firm. In her 30s and 40s, they're like pears, still nice, but hanging a bit. After 50, they're like onions."

"Onions?"

"Yes, you see them, and they make you cry."

This infuriated his wife and daughter so the daughter says, "Mom, how many types of 'willies' are there?"

The mother, surprised, smiles and answers, "Well dear, a man goes through three phases. In his 20s, his willie is like an oak tree, mighty and hard. In his 30s and 40s, it's like a birch tree, flexible but reliable. After his 50s, it's like a Christmas tree."

"A Christmas tree?"

"Yes dear, dead from the root up and the balls are for decoration only."

ROFL! Merry Christmas dear friends! Bask in this season of Love and Joy! Fa la la la la la la la la!! =)

Just dropping by

2007-12-23T01:18:00.000-08:00

I've got so many things I wanna blog about but I've been so uber busy!

And to top it off, I've got to work on Christmas eve!!! Which, is today.

I gotta sacrifice my Christmas eve plans....but on the other hand, kinda looking forward to work cuz it'll be at the airport! And I love to work at the airport!

Well, really wished I had the night to sit here and blog about the interesting stuffs that happened the past couple of days...but i really needa sleep.

later!

An unexplained fear of being trapped

2007-12-18T12:43:00.000-08:00

Claustrophobia.

Physically trapped - in a space, mentally trapped - in memories.

Sometimes staying in hall can really get quite claustrophobic and lonely. Especially times like now, I feel such a sense of emptiness that it really makes me shudder. There are many things around here that reminds me of things I wish to forget. Going for training puts my mind off things, but sitting in the room with only my laptop at night plunges me back into a sense of lost.

Everybody have different things we want to achieve in life. Different expectations of life, different standard of living. The definition of happiness doesn't equate to the same thing for everyone. As I was talking to a friend who is having some problems with her friends, she comforted us by saying: Well, even if all things fail, I will always have my cow moomoo and you will always have your mantou. (my tortoise)

I'm sure leigh and cheryl can understand this stuff toy affinity thing. HAHA.

Check this out! When I came back to my room after training yesterday, I saw this image on my bed.

It almost seems like they were playing some kind of game. Like as if mantou was calling out for the little one. oh no...I feel like Cheryl now. hehe

Whatever it is, I'm sure looking forward to going back after the hockey match and putting into plans my crazy schedule. ahhhh.....I'm gonna get real brokeee. But I shall dedicate the upcoming semester to working and studying!!

wed - hockey match
thurs - lunch w babes@ms clarity, interview, christmas fiesta
fri - kbox w steph and gang (?), the crazy cs bunch meetup, tennis match
sat - del mar w patrick n gang (?)
sun - christmas lunch w church frens and carolling
mon - christmas eve events at church
tue - merry christmas! =)

Off I go for tennis training! tata!

Discovering new territories

2007-12-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

What I thought would be a peaceful Friday night spent at home after a long day turned out otherwise. Got called out of my comfortable spot by Stan to go chill out. Guess Friday nights are just not meant to be spent at home huh? LOL

Turned out that I got introduced to some cool supper places I never knew existed! Drove down to Loyang and guess what? Hidden among some thick bushes, a narrow winding road leads you this place: Changi Chapel and Museum.

I really don't remember this place being tucked here. And what's more, there's a really cool cafe here. It's called The Bark Cafe. I know the picture doesn't tell much, the camera in my phone can't do much. I really needa get a camera soon. Anyway, this place is the perfect place to have a late night drink with your friends. They have a bar, a pool table, good music, really friendly staff and sells a variety of finger food and what nots. Only thing is: you need a car to get there.

Went on to Thomson Road cuz Stan says there's this place that sells fan-tass-tic prata. And true enough, the prata is the best crispy prata I've had so far. Even at 1am, the place was really crowded. Two thumbs-up for the plain prata...as for the honey paper prata, I'm not a fan of it. Somehow honey and prata just don't go too well?

After supper, went to the macs near my place to prepare for my debate today. And of all people, I bumped into Stephanie! So unlike her to be out at this hour. We were both commenting on how we felt we were in a dream. HAHA!

mental note: I need to get more clothes from hall. I don't have enough clothes at home! Keep wearing the same few ones. bahh

My grown-up christmas list

2007-12-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

"Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies

Well, I'm all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I'm not a child
But my heart still can dream

So here's my lifelong wish
My grown up christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal the heart
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up Christmas list

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath the tree

But heaven only knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
Oh, This is my grown up christmas list

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, oh
This is my grown up christmas list
This is my only life long wish
This is my grown up christmas list"

This is one of the most meaningful songs I have ever come across. It really reflects the true meaning of Christmas. A season of thanksgiving and caring. There are too many sad things happening around the world that reminds us to treasure what we have now. There are people in other countries fighting wars, families are separated, lives are taken, and we see the tears of the brokenhearted. The world is indeed unfair. The sick don't deserve to be sick. The poor don't deserve to suffer. The strong, though not always right, always triumph. Why do they get to do anything they want? Why can't the right always win? Reality stings.

That blue is getting me high

2007-12-12T04:06:00.000-08:00

music: Avril Lavigne - Nobody's Home
mood: on a high

Swim training + hockey training = I feel so dead.
And to think that I only went for 1/3 of the swim training... but I still feel so beat! And my muscles are accchhhhingggg!!
My left thigh hurts the most. Cuz in hockey, somehow I work the muscles in the left leg more often. And then I have driving lessons, which I need to hold down the clutch most of the time (especially in the circuit...all that waiting time), which is also using the left leg. So climbing up the stairs and sitting down has become such a torture! =(

It rained cats and dogs during hockey training yesterday, but we still continued practicing our passes. The whole pitch was flooded with water and all of us were drenched to the skin! But it was all so fun! We slid our sticks across the floor to splash water at each other, and we just ran about in the rain. I conclude that we really shouldn't practice flicks when it rains...cuz the ball goes so sllloooowww...and it's so demoralizing!

My shoes and bag was soaked right through and when I reached back hall, I realized that the bean hanging from my phone has swelled to twice its original size!! It "grew" in the rain! HAHA

The smiley face is bigger now.

And the words are popping out..

Sigh...and it started to stink. So I guess I have to throw it...but before that, I just had to take some last photos with my Mr.bean.. hehee

I went to Mount Faber for dinner today. Thank God we went there in the end. Because the atmosphere there is just soooo different! What with the rainy season, the cold weather, looking at the greeneries from atop, the Christmas lightings and the sound of Christmas songs, I felt so ironically warm in my heart!

@ Jewel Box

My first taste of foie gras. It is indeed gastro-orgasmic. =))

And we managed to catch the snow show!

How I love this festive season. Let me end off with my favorite Christmas song. It never fails to touch me, and remind me of Christmas in hk... where it gets really cold and we would be cuddling around the table eating a piping hot Christmas dinner. If only there's winter here in Singapore..LOL

I'll be home for Christmas
"I'm dreamin' tonight of a place I love
Even more then I usually do
And although I know it's a long road back
I promise you

I'll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents under the tree
Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light beams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams

Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light beams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams
If only in my dreams"

p.s: countdown to driving test - 1 DAY! shit, I'm freaking out...

[snippets][buddies][food][christmas]

2007-12-09T23:35:00.000-08:00

music: alicia keys - if i ain't got you
mood: feeling lost

mental note to myself: sleep early and wake up for Othello. so exciting! my first hall rec competition...teeheehee

A life goes by

2007-12-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

music: enchanted OST - that's how you know
mood: festive

Hall doesn’t feel so much like hall anymore. It feels more like a training camp now. haha. I’ve got myself into all kinds of training. From swimming to hockey to tennis, and now even Othello. No longer late hours into the night but sleeping early, and waking up on time for training. Having regular meals and exercising myself physically and mentally.

A good chat with leigh opened up my mind on some things. For one, let the feelings manifest, no use suppressing them. It's just like chicken pox. You gotta let it all out, before it can heal properly. It's funny how this holiday seem to creep by. Holidays usually whiz past for me. But it's gonna get busy very soon. IHG, christmas coming up, work at tuition centre starting soon i hope, and I'm gonna start volunteer work. =)

Flip the situation around and things don't look that bad. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. A necessary stage, a learning experience, a level of maturity gained.

Anyway, my driving test is just around the corner! Preparation this time is better than the last. But I still feel all jittery at the thought of it! Wish I can pass, then I can drive my family to church this sunday...hehee

Went out to Orchard today and realize it is really a BAD choice. Everywhere is so crowded, every restaurant needs queuing. BAHH. Well I don't know if it's because i haven't really been to town for quite some time. Wanted to go NYDC at wheelock, but no more? Wanted to go crystal jade express at wisma but also no more? Wanted to go the starbucks beside california fitness and ALSO NO MORE?!??! oh my, am I really that behind? LOL. Today's outing brought back bittersweet memories. It's so odd how my friends and I went to the exact same places we went just last week. The same place for dinner, the same stretch of orchard road, the same baskers, the same shopping centre, the same place for drinks.

I wanted to type a funny conversation I had with steph here. Something about chicken wings but I can't remember what was it about. Anyway, I should turn in. Night world!

Call out: charlene ho!! where are you??

Putting holes in happiness

2007-12-02T00:08:00.000-08:00

music: marilyn manson - putting holes in happiness
mood: drained

[ The sky was blonde like her
It was a day to take the child
Out back and shoot it
I should have buried all my dead
Up in her cemetery head
She had dirty word witchcraft
I was in the deep end of her skin

Then, it seemed like a one car wreck
But I knew it was a horrid tragedy
Ways to make the tiny satisfaction disappear
[ Blow out the candles
On all my frankensteins
At least my death wish will come true
You will taste like Valentine’s
We cry
You’re like a birthday
I should have picked the photograph
It lasted longer than you

Putting holes in happiness
We’ll paint the future black
If it needs any color
My death sentence is a story
Who’ll be digging when you finally let me die?
The romance of your assassination
If you’re Bonnie, I’ll be your Clyde
But the grass is greener here
And I can see all of your snakes
You wear your ruins well
Please run away with me to hell

Blow out the candles
On all my frankensteins
At least my death wish will come true
You will taste like Valentine’s
We cry
You’re like a birthday
I should have picked the photograph
It lasted longer than you ]

He may be creepy no doubt, but I can't deny his lyrics are great, so relatable. It doesn't says things out blatantly, but you know what he's saying, if u know what he's going through. Of cuz it gets a little extreme, but it's kinda therapeutic at times.

Anyway, I know it is really really late to do this already. But I shall just try my luck, and spend that next half a yr in the place I'm familiar with. God help me, I really wanna get out.

sleep-monitoring

2007-11-29T23:26:00.000-08:00

A visit to steph's workplace @ CGH today where she works as a sleep technologist. I'm so tired from talking and talking (cuz a lot to update each other on), so I'll let the pictures do the talking! =p

steph's souvenirs from Beijing. I can't believe she bought key chains with Mao Ze Dong's face on it.... brrrr

hehee...i need sleep monitoring too. I sleep-talk too much.

fooling about in the sleeping rooms

buenas noche, world! why am i so tired?

nightmare

2007-11-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

It has been past 24 hours since the five national dragon-boaters went missing.

This is why we should always live each day to the fullest and live with no regrets, cuz we never know what might happen next.

This is such a nightmare...

Happiness is when...

2007-11-24T18:18:00.000-08:00

mood: blissful
music: Colbie Caillat, Bubbly

....exams are over!!! hehe
And it's time to spend some time outside of NTU and back at home. =)

Just two weeks away from home and when i came back today, and things are already not quite the same! Tampines Mall and Century Square have put up their Christmas decorations (so exciting!). Century Square has been revamped with many new shops. The condo opposite my house was just laying the foundation before i left hall for the exams, but when i walked past it today, it is already 7 storeys high. And...my sister had a haircut - plus she got attached (I highly believe it to be so).

There was some inline hockey competition going on at the park today as well. The whole park was just full of people and ice-cream vendors and screaming.

And doing my favorite activity at home - plopped on the sofa watching random shows on the television - is just bliss.

Feels good to be home!

food entry

2007-11-18T13:47:00.000-08:00

What's the one thing I craved to eat when i woke up this morning?
- pepper lunch.

What's the one food I STILL haven't got round to trying even though I've wanted to since forever?
- Cedele's blueberry pancake.

What do I wish my study table was made of?
- milk chocolate.

Yea, it's time to stop dreaming...!!!

Back to hypnotizing myself... "broadcast journ is cool, broadcast journ is fun, broadcast journ rocks my socks off"

Don't be mistaken! I really like broadcast journ though. Just that the exams are getting to be a pain in the neck.

Unveiling the pre-conscious

2007-11-17T23:09:00.000-08:00

mood: kinda down
music: the sound of music - my favorite things

The weather has been really weird lately. Really hot in the day, but it starts pouring in the middle of the night. It never rains, but it pours.

Anyway, in the span of one week, I've heard of three friends whose grandmother just passed away. This brought back some of my deepest, inner fears.

My grandparents are more than just grandparents to me. There are almost like my best buddies. I can have a great hearty laugh with them, tell them everything under the sun, and totally bare my heart out to them. I love them, but it just happened that I don't get to see them as often as I want.

It has always been on my mind that my grandparents are getting old. I'm fearful of taking them for granted. They have been there for me for the past 20 years of my life, but this does not mean they will continue being there. Anything can happen, and I know that when it comes, my world might just crumble. I have no idea how I might react to it. They are just too close to my heart.

The only resentment I have of migrating is that I have been separated from my relatives. I used to question my dad why we had to migrate. I used to tell him I will go back once I have the abilities. In fact, I still don't quite understand.

The plans to go back for a visit has always been pushed back because of reasons among reasons. There's always a reason. And once again, I find myself taking them for granted. I do miss HK a lot, but more importantly i miss them.

The plan to go back this December holidays has been pushed back yet again, till next June. Ironically, it was my grandmother who pushed it back because next yr would be my grandfather's 80th birthday.

The irony of it.

One week, and three such stories of grandmothers passing away. It never rains, but it pours.

Somewhere in between =(

2007-11-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

Today marks the day that I will end ties with 207 - communication history!!! I never could stand history. The feeling this time is much better than the mid-year exam. At least I could answer the MCQs smoothly, which boosted my confidence. =) And I guess luck was really on my side, I managed to spot the questions that came out - though how well I answered them is another thing altogether. =/

Another thing made me really happy today. I finally managed to get a decent grade for my journalism module!! B+!! I suddenly see some hope in studying for this module. Tmr will mark the end of all journalism modules I will ever take again in CS. I can't write what they want for nuts.

Thursday is coming soon. And it will end as soon as it comes. 2 papers tomorrow which I need to get over and done with. I will be a much happier girl by then.

Press on!!

My hideout

2007-11-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

I'm stuck in the living room because my mum is dying to show me her kindergarten's graduation video.

I'm so not going to be spared.

Anyway while she's at it, I recalled what I saw on the LCD screen on the way back to hall today.

Word of the day:
Bete Noire - something or someone particularly detested or unbearable.

Ugh.
Some things I keep at the back of my mind but they like to crawl out and irritate me just when I don't notice.

I had my last 221 tutorial today....YESSSS. It turned out to be the most pleasant and smooth tutorial of all. Thank God. And now, to brave the exams.

Just a little more. There's a beach just down the road. =)

In between my books

2007-11-03T00:32:00.000-07:00

Last wednesday marked the last day of Nanyang Spectrum productions for this semester. There were two episodes to be done in a night and I only reached back hall at 11pm! Nonetheless, the whole process has been fun and enjoyable. We even got to interview the band, EIC, in our second last episode! They are one of my favourites. =)

So there were a lot of photo-taking on the last day. Quite glad I was the floor manager that day, so I could hop around to take photos with those that are stuck to their positions. Hehe

The presenters. Absent - Shannon. Poor Shannon, his face swelled up after some allergy to some medicine.

This is him. And Zak. Imitating him. heh!

Erica - the very nice exchange student from San Diego.

Ruyan - got to know her better through spectrum. She tends to make me...laugh. hahaha

Spectrum seniors. The group of people that worked the hardest.

Haven't had dinner since 5. We were starvingggggg! Grabbing at the biscuits and drinks that are part of the exam welfare package. We were desperate for any food at all.

A random photo with Zak during break time.

So yes, no more long Wednesday nights and fast-food dinners (though it's not all that bad). People has been asking if I will still be doing spectrum next sem. Ermmm.... I dunno!

So anyway, the sem is coming to an end soon. It has been one hell of a crazy sem. Still regret my choice of taking up 221. But anyhow, it's already in my basket, I just got to try to at least...pass? Oh no...it is so depressing.

On a side note, after dinner at Eastpoint with my family today, my sister and I wanted to drop by pet safari to look around. Alas, the long stretch of shops that used to be filled with animal accessories, animal grooming centres, animal clinics, animal showcases, and all that has been reduced to a single pathetic shop housing only a few hamsters, ONE rabbit, fishes and a couple of dogs. One of the showcase windows contained a pair of 3-mth old male maltese. They were so tiny and cute! Can u imagined how small they were when they were just born? Immediately, I got extremely excited over thinking about what Bubble and Sarang's babies will look like if they really mate. (Bubble and Sarang are two malteses that two of my hall frens have) They are really planning to let them mate! I really can imagine one basket of small bubbles and sarangs!!! omg! I even entertained the idea of adopting one of them if they gave birth to too many. I told this to my sister and she got all excited too. I've never thought of having a dog before but the small maltese in the window bought me over. =))

On another side note, Zg: remember I said I wanted to show you something that day?

Here it is!

HAHA I kidnapped your cap for a brief moment. Cuz I was really tooo bored!

Time to hit the books again. I need more motivation.

When reality hits you in the face.

2007-10-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

I'm crumbling under school work. Why is it that there is never-ending things to do??? And why is it that the efforts put in is not proportional to the results? Worst of all, why on earth did I even take 221???

Seriously, I need to let loose. All these pent-up stress is causing me to stray from school. People say that they haven't been seeing me around in school. Among other reasons, I think I'm starting to detest school.

What with people counting down to exams when the recess has just passed. And the load of assignments and projects due when exams are just next month.

God, help me. I need to stay strong.

Something good =)

2007-10-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

[Maria:]
Perhaps I had a wicked childhood
Perhaps I had a miserable youth
But somwhere in my wicked, miserable past
There must have been a moment of truth

For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

[Captain:]
For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should

[Maria:]
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

[Maria and the Captain:]
Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could

[Maria:]
So somewhere in my youth
[Captain:]
Or childhood
[Maria:]
I must have done something . . .
[Maria and the Captain:]
Something good

I have a surrogate mother

2007-08-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

Lunch with Ziliang had me laughing hard at the way he described Hedwig's classes. She totally destroys you, breaks you into pieces. And slowly, she rebuilds you from your debris, putting bits and pieces of you back together. Her lessons - the rebirth of you. She's almost like your surrogate mother.

HAHAHA. This is by far the most vivid and amazing description I've heard about Hedwig's classes. I'm so tickled!

Went out for dinner and grocery shopping with the roomie at night @ the new Sheng Siong near school. Yay! That is our new stock-up station!

Don't walk away

2007-08-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

I could never leave you
Even if you asked me to
I could never say goodbye
Make you cry, Oh

I could never stumble
With you walking by my side
I could never love you
more than I already do

So don't walk away
Don't walk away
Don't lie, tell me that youre gonna stay
Please don't walk away

If I made a promise,
I would stay by your side
It's only the beginning
I love you

So don't walk away
Don't walk away
Don't lie and tell me that you're gonna stay
Please don't walk away
Please don't walk away

Oh, when all the road is dark and dreary
You know my nature, does not swell
This disposition must be washed away forever
So, please don't walk away
Please don't walk away
Please don't walk away

But I could never leave you
Even if you asked me to
Now I could never say goodbye,
Make you cry, oh
Oh

Thoughts running through my head

2007-08-04T21:11:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to this cd that compiles the national day parade 2007 celebration songs now. And although I'm probably stating a very obvious fact, Kit Chan is dammmmnnnn good.

God, I really love her voice. It is a weird concoction. It sounds crystal clear, at the same time warming and ironically, it sounds sexy too.

Last day of hall camp. And we're proudly left with ONE freshie. Haha, where did it go wrong? But anyway, we seniors are still enjoying the camp ourselves. I mean it's not everyday that we get to sit in a circle in comm hall and start playing stupid games like Toong Gak or 007Bang. Campfire later on and we're gonna celebrate xiaoming's bdae even later. And damn, I've gotta wake up at 645 the next day for church.

The cd is playing "Singapore Town" now, by Dim Sum Dollies. This song always brings back fond memories. It is a song I performed during a particular year's national day celebration back in primary school. At that time, we were really lousy and the committee wanted to pull our item out of the celebration. But our form teacher asked for another chance, used whatever time was left to teach us and asked us to pray for a miracle. Indeed, the miracle happened. Our item was delivered flawlessly on the stage. One of the things I will never forget.

Ok, I have something to say to Mr. President here actually. I know you're tired from making everyone happy. And I really hate to ask you about stuff regarding my room also, or talking about room-related stuff to others in front of you. I know you don't deserve all these. Just want to let you know that I really appreciate whatever you are doing to help me out. And seriously, I don't doubt you LAAAA. Sometimes when you think I'm cold or what, it's cuz I thought the discussion is over. not because I'm pissed ok!

What other thoughts do I have now? Oh well, I'm so happy that both my workshops were great. I've learnt a lot from the workshops and I'm really glad I went for them. Sense of satisfaction!

Gonna watch The Simpsons with some of the CS people after school on monday. Heard that it's really hilarious! hehehe. A great start to school! Auntie leigh and charlene, swimming session? I want to resume swimming regularly alr.

Time to go for campfire. Tata!

A Glimpse of Paradise

2007-08-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

Months of planning - deciding where to go, finding a time that suits everyone, dealing with the flood of emails contributed mostly by daph and prowling through travel agency packages. At last, the girls' trip did materialize and we had a hell of a time at our beach holiday. The superb travel company and the beauty of the beach - what more can I say?

I've always wanted to visit Redang. Every time my friends who just went tell me how good it is, I've always wanted to go take a look and try out snorkeling for the first time. Although the place is indeed heavily commercialized (they played the movie "summer mo mo tea" 24/7 in the hotel room), the beach and its surroundings captivated me.

my travel mates and I: cheryl, daph and leigh

Setting off in the coach: cheryl and I are well-equipped with snacks!

After a long journey of ten hours from Golden Mile Complex to Merang jetty, there was another 1 hr boat ride to reach our resort - Laguna Redang Beach Resort.

All smiles - can't wait to see Redang!

First activity on the list was lunch after we have reached Redang Island. We were all starved after the long bus ride. The food was good - chinese food, western food, indian food and nonya desserts all included in the buffet spread. We didn't dare to eat too much as we had a snorkeling trip after lunch.

The eating area:

Went to our room after lunch to put down our stuff and get dressed for snorkeling. The room was really big with 4 beds in it. This is the first time all of us stayed in a quad room. We had chosen the pool view for our room and I absolutely loved the view from our window!

Our quad room:

Unpacking and resting:

The view from our room:

All set for snorkelling!

This was my first time snorkeling. I've heard many stories from leigh and my friends about how snorkeling is like. Fishes nibbling on your body, swimming through your legs and sea cucumbers that look awfully gross lying at the bottom of the sea. I was a little anxious while waiting for my turn to jump into the sea, but once I went inside, the feeling was fabbbbbulous. The cool sea water, the surrounding hills, and the excited faces of everyone else in the sea. The seawater was crystal clear. I could see what was below even without dipping my head into the water. I wore my snorkeling equipment and dipped my head into the sea. Not knowing how to breathe properly through the tube, I immediately sucked in a mouthful of extremely salty sea water. The next time I dipped my head in again, I saw the seabed properly for the first time in my life. Whao~

And this is me taking photos with the soft corals. For some personal reasons which only the girls and I know (heh), this happens to be my favorite picture from the trip. WAHAHAHA. This photo was taken by the photographers from Laguna. We had to pay 5 ringgit just for the soft copy!! damn ex.

Leigh - I think she looks like a puffer fish in this photo. LOL! And she claims that the two soft corals looks like her boobs. hahaha

After the snorkeling trip, which turned out to be pretty tiring, we went to the pool. What was supposed to be a tanning session turned into a sleeping session on the beach chairs by the pool. erm, actually I dunno about the others, but I did fall asleep. haha. We went to visit the famous mo mo tea inn after that. "It looks exactly like the movie!"

It is actually a gift shop now. We expected the things there to be very overpriced, but it turned out to be pretty alright. Cheryl and Daph bought sarongskirts and leigh and I bought beach dresses!

So we ended up becoming 4 sarongskirt ladies. Walked about everywhere wrapped in our sarongskirts. I loved it!

More photo-taking by the beach:

crystal clear waters

Beautiful! Never been to such beautiful beaches before

We spent the rest of the day admiring the beach, camera whoring and just, u know, enjoying the sea breeze.

At night, we went by the beach bar for a drink and to listen to the live band. The live band wasn't fantastic, and the drinks tasted a tad too sweet, but the company made up for everything.

The next morning after breakfast, we got ready for snorkeling again! This time, we visited the marine park. It was FULL of fishes. There were really really a lot of fishes. We bought bread to feed them. And the fishes just crowd around you when u hold the bread out! It was a very funny feeling to have fishes of so many kinds all nibbling at your hand, all at once. We also saw huge fishes that looked the size of 3 basketballs. I loved the ones which are yellow but have glossy red lips the best. They look so ironically seductive.

Went to the pool for a swim after snorkeling. The freshwater felt really good after being in the sea for so long.

And more sun-tanning:

Cross over to the beach after we got enough of the pool. For a moment, I forgot that I was swimming in the sea. I thought I was still swimming in the pool until the fishes reminded me that I wasn't. This is how clear the water is. It was amazing! I've never swam in the sea before. As in I'm really swimming, not just playing around in the seawater. I remember that my goggles slipped off my head while I was in the sea, and we just had to look around the seabed to find it. SO CLEAR!! And because the seawater is extremely salty, we could stay afloat even without paddling our feet. It was like as if I wore an invisible life jacket.

At night, we did more shopping at the mo mo tea inn to get souvenirs and went down to the beach bar again.

more photos:

Taking photos with the mo mo tea inn and recreation centre before I leave it for good:

Boy, am I getting sick of the show.

The trip was a good get-away from the hectic schedule. And a good "energy-regainer" before school starts again. The beaches, the marine life, the atmosphere, the hills and THE guy all had me captivated. And most importantly, it was a good bonding session for us girls. We now call ourselves the mo mo tea fan club. HAHA. Such fanatics of mo mo tea that Cheryl almost bought the mo mo tea earrings. Sorry babe! Can't stop being amused by that! I wouldn't have enjoyed the trip as much if not for them. Love u all!

More to come babes!

Pictures Talking

2007-07-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

A new week, another workshop, hall camp going on as well. So fast!!! 3 mths of holidays have flew past. school is starting next week. BAH

Anyway, I'll let the pictures do the talking. These are some of the stuff ChrongMeng and ShiXiong took on the last day of the workshop. The last day was really good. The two respective groups prepared an half-hour program each. Shannon and I were the presenters. Ian Olliver was good enough to burn the two programs onto DVDs for us. He even said he might do a bit of editing with them to correct the imperfect parts. Cool stuff.

An overview of the place, tt's the live interview:

This is Ian, our instructor and a very experienced director:
That's me, doing the national day special program, heh! :
This is what I read from:
Review session:
And nothing like a good lunch to reward ourselves =) :

Great Discoveries

2007-07-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

After living for 20 years of my life now, I only found out today that a photocopy machine STAPLE as well!!!

AHHHH!!!!

Closer to Dreams

2007-07-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

School started for me this week as I have to attend a production workshop. We only found out that the workshop was actually about Nanyang Spectrum (NTU's channel) after we went for it on the first day. Some people felt that this wasn't what they expected and was expecting to learn more about multi-camera filming instead. For me, I was really thrilled! I have always wanted to learn about the production going on behind the scene in news programmes. In fact, I chose to study communication studies as I was really interested in this area. Everything from presenting the news, to the cameramen, to what goes on in the control room. And I got to learn everything I wanted to at the workshop!

The TV studio @ SCI:

The control room:

On the very first day of the workshop, I tried, for the first time in my life, to present snippets of news in front of the camera. Lights glaring at me, words on the teleprompter scrolling down, instructions from the floor manager shouting out to me, cameramen asking me to stand straight, people in the control room testing my mike and asking me to put a big smile on.

"So, this is what it is like. " It feels so different from what you see on TV. On TV, there are all these graphics moving behind you, forming the illusion that all is lively and cheerful in the TV studio. But no, when you are presenting, there's only you and you standing in front of all those scary-looking cameras and lights. Everyone else is in the dark watching you. And you have to put on a lively front so that people will feel confortable watching you on TV. Otherwise, like what Shannon says, it's like a photograph talking.

So, presenting was great. I was freaking nervous, but I pulled through. And enjoyed it very much. For the next two days, I tried presenting other materials as well. It gets better, I don't feel as tense in front of the camera now. But I'm still having problems bringing out what I intend to with that big fat camera glaring at me.

Tried out other roles as well. I was Erwin's personal assistant. Basically, a personal assistant times everything. He/she can throw away everything BUT the stopwatch. It was damn stressful! Erwin was pretty stressed out being director for the first time as well. It was kinda funny seeing everyone looking lost and stressed. And it doesn't help that Ian Olliver (the instructor) was looking at everyone from the back. Being helpful at times, giving sarcastic comments at other times. I was frightful of him on the first day. He is super ANAL about punctuality. But he's actually alrite and very funny. Tried out being the cameraman and doing the autocue as well. The job of a cameraman doesn't interest me very much. Guess how much one of those cameras cost? A freaking 150 000. I don't like handling expensive equipments cuz I can be really clumsy. hahaha

Didn't expect myself to enjoy the workshop. I was still dreading for school to start. Oh well, I guess all is well then! =)

I'm feeling so worn out after 9 hours of workshop everyday. Guess the post on Redang will come over the weekends. Meanwhile, photos have been posted! check them out. I'm outta here!

FOC rocks!

2007-07-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

After 5 days of the absolutely fabulous NTUWKWSCIFOC'07 (my favourite abbrievation ever), I had another 2 days of camp back in hall which totally tired me out. It's hard to be in the right state phyically after 7 days of madness. My shoulders are peeling like mad and I can never seem to get enough sleep for my brain to function normally.

FOC was a HUGE success! All that canvassing, planning and meetings @ starbucks have paid off. The freshies had a great time, I thoroughly enjoyed myself too. I want to thank all my beloved subcommers again! Couldn't have asked for more. You guys made it all work.

My pillars of support!

My favourite game - World's most sadistic water captain's ball. heh heh.

Preparing more and more and more waterbombs! War games!

Amazing race was a really hilarious day. Casie and I swear we have elongate our lives 10 yrs longer because of all the laughters we had at our station, which all seem to stem from Philip.

Casie and I

Us playing black jack while waiting fo the OGs to arrive. The yellow nuts are our bets.

Philip aka as Shrek. His forfeit for losing to us in Black Jack was to wear two leaves at his ears. WAHAHA!

Fright night - my first time participating as a ghost! It was a lot of fun but I realised it is damn tiring to be a ghost! I crawled till my knees had blue-black and I screamed till my throat sored. But I enjoyed the cheap thrill of scaring the freshies when I knew I was a lot more worse than them.

The hospital.

The doctor and his patients. I was supposed to murder Kester with him lying on the floor. But halfway through, I got really tired and we decided to switch places. I laid on the floor, and the story changed to him saving me. Haha

The children's ward.

FOC ended on a really memorable note. Starry starry night was so good! The skits by mee tai mak and the OGLs had me rolling on the floor with laughter. Three cheers to everyone who contributed in one way or another. I'm glad I was a part of it!

Heading off to Redang tonight!! Off I go for some last minute shopping. Tata!

The fascination of childhood

2007-07-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

The little rascal I saw a year ago.
The boy who rides his toy car with a proud smile on his face,
who screams and kicks when his mum leaves him an inch,
who gets food everywhere but in the mouth during meals,
who loves talking to himself on the phone,
who gets on my nerves at times,
and many more..
that was my little cousin,
when I first saw him.

A year from then,
a handsome young boy.
I could almost see the man he would grow to be,
still as fun-loving and cheeky
but with a tinge of the attractiveness of a guy.
When did he grow up?

Childhood never fails to fascinate me.

Truly blessed

2007-07-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

I'm so blessed to have who I have in my life. I needed to give out the publicity package on saturday night. My dad offered to drove me around since having to travel to those unknown places on my own was a rather intimidating thought. Stanley offered to accompany me so that he can go up to the flats with me as it was night-time. And my mum offered to follow us since she figured my dad would be pretty bored. In the end, it was the four of us in the car, poring over the street directory and figuring out blocks that were hidden behind schools and hidden in the midst of many other similar-looking blocks. Yes, Tampines can be big at times like this.

Stanley: "This is quite fun! It is like amazing race!"
Dad: "What games you all playing ar? How come must send to the doorstep?"
Mum:"oh...this reminds me of when you were going to university at this time last year."

And the freshmen's responses had a pretty wide range as well.

"OMG! I've been waiting for you guys to come! Definitely, I will definitely make it for the camp!!"
"erm....why do u come up to people's house to give out the packages? cannot post meh?"

erm...because we want to invite you personally? duh.

And so we ended our "amazing race" with a nice little supper.
I am a lucky girl.

No Bien, no bien.

2007-06-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

I seem to be really down in my luck recently. Subject registration didn't go well and my computer had a system crash. I'm still hanging on that tiny hope that all my data can be recovered. Seems like the crash had quite an effect on my hard drive. But I'm really comforted by friends who are willing to go out of the way to help me out of my crappy situation. Thanks so much Chris!! I can't imagine my plight without your help. All that bullying since young is worth it after all. LOL! =)

Well, looking on the bright side of things, my babes and I have finally booked our holiday!!! We will be heading off to Redang in July! I have always wanted to visit that place ever since one of my colleagues went there and told me all about it. We have chosen Laguna resort, the place where "Xia Re Mo Mo Cha" was filmed. I'm so gonna check out that little pink hut! And of course, not forgetting all that snorkelling, tanning, swimming, late-night disco-ing and basically, just having a hell lot of fun with the babes. I'm going to find NEMO!! It's ten hours worth of traveling time there and I'm so looking forward to spending the night on the coach with the chats and snacks.

I'm trying to think of more good things, but nope, I'm still feeling pretty down over my computer. This document I have prepared for days - wonder if I can still get it back. Damn.

I feel like pulling out all the grass in the garden now. I can be violent, HAHA.

tough choices

2007-06-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

The whole subject registration thing gave me a tough decision to make the night before, and made me all flustered on the day itself. Doesn't help when the school is undergoing a curriculum change and I happen to be the transiting batch. I spent the whole afternoon in front of the computer getting things straight. Kinda miss the days when everything was decided for you. There are so many choices surrounding us, now that we have grown and learned to make the right choice. But then again, right is subjective.

So after a bad day dealing with all the subject registration nonsense, I wind down with some good company, music that wasn't what we had expected (EIC only played for a while when some random band took over) , and drinks to wash away all that fog in the brain.

Tequila sunrise isn't as nice as the fake one I had when I was in primary school.

Oh god, grant me my 206 please....! *prays hard!*

Food diary entry III

2007-06-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

Dinner @ Arab Street. Nice ambience, very hilarious friends, exotic food and great chats.

My lamp chop wrap and Yiqing's dunno-what rice which looks very messy in the picture. Wasn't very good according to her.

bentoh - the now date-able guy (wahaha) and kenny - the very dedicated boyfriend

Headed for a drink thereafter. ahh...reliving the jc days when we sat at the canteen table while waiting for all those extra lessons, make-up lectures, whatever stuff... Has been a long long time since we last met up.

This week, my mum flew off to HK, my dad to Germany, my sister going off to Taiwan in another while's time. I need a holiday too!! =((

Food diary entry II

2007-06-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

The most long-awaited merchant court buffet @ Swissotel. Turned out to be the stupidest buffet I've ever eaten! haha...seriously, I think we are the only ones who would make that kinda mistake at a buffet??! We actually missed out the whole section with all the sashimi, oysters, scallop, prawns......omg!! We felt so cheated. We only realised that we missed out that section when we've paid and were leaving the buffet. And to think we were complaining that the variety isn't very wide. haha, it's quite funny actually.

Nevertheless, the food was still good. Their salad was really yummy.

And lobsters!

And not forgetting the famous (as said by daph), durian puree

Eating one bowl of this is like eating one whole durian. lol

I loved the desserts! They had a huge variety of hot and cold desserts, cakes, tarts and my favourite chocolate fondue!

Our one-of-a-kind bdae cake for cheryl dear. Cheryl! You will never find another cake like this! don't be too touched. lol! notice the one forlorn marshmallow lying on top of the chocolate cake. leigh's masterpiece. Her weirdness acting up again. HAHAHA

Cheryl - trying to be funny. lol

BAH... I want my sashimi!!

Next up girls - timbre!

Food diary entry I

2007-06-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

wakhakha...I've been eating many many this holiday. I'm positive that I'm getting fat. seriously.

Oh, before I begin on my food entry, the IT show I was talked about previously was absofrigginlutely waste of my time and energy. hai!! i have nothing much to talk about it. nada. Simply because I had to promote the most un-sellable thing at an IT show - projectors. From Acer some more. When did Acer ever sold projectors? The only good thing about the job? I got to watch a lot of movies. on the wide screen. heh

okok! so on sunday, Jiun Hui who just received 200 bucks from the govt treated us to pepper lunch! And as usual, being the cam whores we are....

Look at how we've grown since sec sch =)

oh! I just realised that this is the first time I'm posting pics of my new haircut on the blog. hehehe. Some people have said it gave them a big shock when they saw me with short hair. Got so kua zhang meh...tsk...

So, pepper lunch was good, but not good enough. Our stomachs were not satisfied. I was still hungry!! And so we headed to...

Crystal Jade has the best red bean pastry. And guess what? Jiun Hui has never eaten a xiao long bao b4! How can tt be??!!!!

And that's not the end. We craved for the chocolate cake from secret recipe. so we went ahead with it. haha...I'm amazed by steph and I's appetite.

muchos delicioso!!

Workaholic on the loose

2007-05-23T23:47:00.000-07:00

I went to watch Phantom of the Opera last Sunday and it was splendiddddd!!!! It was really captivating and the live music just makes it all the better. I can't believe how they can sing so well while acting at the same time. There were many ballet dancing incorporated in the musical and I enjoyed the Masquerade in Phantom the best.

But what actually left me most impressed are the costumes and props. The props were fantastic, they depict each scene with such precision. You would really think that they swapped the entire stage. The scenes were changed seamlessly from one to another. I really marveled at the one during the Masquerade scene. It looked so grand and beautiful. I really enjoyed the musical. =)

Work started today. Luckily I made full use of my time before work started. I managed to watch two Korean dramas! Hehe, both with the same male lead. I'M SO INTO THIS KOREAN HUNK!! Check him out.

I can't stop dreaming about him la............. I kept watching his dramas over and over again. Es muy muy guapo y deportista! =)))))

It's great returning back to my old company to work. I met all my old colleagues again today and the feeling was great! They could still remember many stuff about me which left me really pleased. haha...I'm really quite determined to work as much as possible this hols. Two more roadshows coming up, plus current job plus surveyor job at night. LOL. Hello moolah, I smell u! But anyway, I know this money would be sucked up by my driving... BAH!

Alrite, I'm turning in. I've got into the habit of sleeping early alr since I would be like a dead log at work if I don't. But I know this habit would be destroyed once I go back to hall again, provided if I can.

Buenas Noche!

Holidays are never enough

2007-05-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

There is seriously some epidemic going on. I went for youth choir and out of the 12 of us, 8 were sick. This morning, I woke up with a splitting headache and runny nose. Seems like I can't run away. The germs are ubiquitous. Is it the freaking weather that is causing all these. The afternoon sun is really unbearable. So many times I felt like stripping in public. WAHAHA just kidding.

From next week onwards, I probably will be busy like mad already. Work starting. I have like 3 jobs on hand now. Good thing, cuz I'm really broke. But don't worry! I'm still very free at night for whatever activities that are going on. I still want to fulfill that merchant court dinner! And wala wala! Lao step, shall we go eat steamboat??

Anyone want to buy lightbulbs and lamps? Turns out the roadshow next mon to wed @ Caltex house is selling Osram products. Yea...how interesting. But I'm still looking forward to it cuz I've never worked at a roadshow before! Immediately after the roadshow, I'll be working at an advertising and marketing firm. That is good internship if I'm gonna specialize in PPC (promotional public communication). Aiya, I don't know man. People have been telling me that EBM (electronic broadcast media) is a dying trade, long hrs low pay, etc etc. But I'm still very intrigued to know the workings of that industry. It somehow really attracts me. I think I'll still stick to it if that is really what I'm interested in. Then again, I might become interested in PPC after that job.

Seems like this holiday is going to be more fruitful than I expected it to be. =))

Phantom on the 20th! excited!

Enjoying every bit of the holidays!

Hello auntie, this is for u =)))

2007-05-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names.

1. I dislike the process of bathing but I like the result of bathing. Hmm..sounds weird. But I find bathing a chore and will only bathe at most once a day - meaning, it can be less than one. haha! But that's only if i'm at home the whole day! Don't freak out

2. I'm the total opposite of a health freak. I just eat what I feel like eating, and at any amount I like. Oh no, now that I say it like that, it sounds bad!! oh ya...can I just say something. I'm eating 6 meals a day now.

3. I prefer tanned guys to fair guys. JUST a preference.

4. I will hiccup once I laugh too wildly. without fail. I got kicked out of class once during sec sch days because I couldn't stop hiccuping. I will never forget!!!

5. I can sneeze 30 times in a row. real ones!

6. The moving out of Louise (my ex-roomie) actually helped me to overcome the fear of dark.

I tag: charlene, jiayi, daniel (lcor), benedict, jeanette, janice

I met up with yiqing again today!! After not seeing each for like 1.5 yrs??!! Terrible! Me, her and Stan are going to work together soon! It's actually my first time working with people I know. I think it's going to be quite fun. We went to mustafa where yiqing bought a watch for her bf, and went to eat at zam zam! But the bryani at zam zam was a bit off-standard today. super salty. =(

I have such a craving to eat steamboat nowadays. I love tom yam soup steamboat!

What a July it's gonna be

2007-05-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

I just realised my july is gonna be packed packed packed!!! packed like sardines and tunas! let's see...

6th or 7th of July - stop working
9 - 13th July - SCI freshmen orientation camp
13th July - DRIVING TEST!!!
13 - 16th July - Hall 3 senior's camp
17th - ?? July - holiday with the girls
23 - 29th July - production workshop
30th July - 4th August - Hall 3 freshmen orientation camp

As seen, there's not a single day of rest. everything is back-to-back.

I must be mad...but I'm actually looking forward to busying myself with all these. It's gonna be fun!!!

Most importantly...im so looking forward to our girls' trip!!!!! can't wait!!

Hitting the big 2-0

2007-05-08T22:42:00.000-07:00

Haha! I'm back!! For almost a month, I've been gone - savouring the freedom that I've been so yearning for. I'm so terrible. When I'm supposed to studying, I end up blogging. Now that I have all the time in the world, I procrastinate blogging. aiyooooo. But the procrastination shall stop here. Because there are so many things I need to write down, such that I can no longer contain them. So many thoughts and memories to mark down.

The holidays have been awesome! Met up with people I've been dying to meet, sat down at my favourite couch at home with a novel to pass the time, senior's camp, TV!!!, and basically, just go out and go out and go out. WAHAHA. I'm a happy girl. Oh yes, and i did something drastic to my hair. Which I'm quite happy with, because that curly and dry hair was getting on my nerves.

But first, let's start with my birthday!!!! =)))) This birthday is very different because it is the first time I'm spending bithday away from home, the first time it falls right in the middle of the exam period, and the first time I've actually given up hope of celebrating it since I was already so behind time in my revision schedule. BUT...it turns out....

The hall peeps beat all others to be the first to wish me. (xiaoming, I wasn't comforting u all ok... heh) I had opened my door to study because my room happens to be extremely hot and stuffy due to the position of it. So halfway through dozing off amongst the pile of books, I heard shuffling of footsteps outside. I kept looking out to see who will pass by but nobody did. Deciding between stepping out to see and minding my own business, I was in fact too lazy to even move myself. Turning back to that ever-so-irksome broadcast media textbook, I was taken aback when I heard that song that will only be dedicated to me once-a-yr. "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." The whole gang was standing outside my room with xiaoming holding a cake. Oh my, it so warmed my heart.

Haha..look at my face. it reads "you've been punked".

xiaoming and me. And I made my birthday wish - which I can't remember what it is. oh dear...

All the peeps in my room. jianrong is missing in the picture because he's the cameraman. He complained afterwards that he's not in the photo. so xiaoming took his complains and took a photo of him and.....

Alvin took all the limelight..... -_- haha!

the girls and the cake

The peeps upclose

So I thought that was it for the night. but I was wrong. Received a pseudo letter from the pseudo hall office saying that the student affairs office had prepared a goodie bag for those whose birthday falls within the exam period. Like what???? I should have known at first glance that this is fake right? But no, I actually believed. hahaha

So, it was benedict behind the act.

The grab machine, with its many teeny weeny cute toys within.

The next day in school, I received a pandora's box from Roxy from the FFLOOSH peeps. So sweet! leigh was actually spying on what I want for my birthday while we were choosing charmain's present. haha! Thanks guys, I like the pandora's box a lot! =)

The babes then threw yet another surprise for me at caffe express. After spanish class, we were going to caffe express for a cuppa and to study. I didn't want anything so I sat at the table. And those two secretly bought me a cheesecake and sang me a birthday song! It was charlene's second birthday song for me in fact. Sorry babe! I couldn't recognise your voice!

Us! The babes who shares my ups and downs in school, swims, tans and have horny mondays together. lol

As you can see from my not-very-good complexion, I was under exam stress!!

And then the cheesecake disintegrated, and I started playing with it.

Charlene's idea. *wide smile*

Of course, not forgetting best wishes and presents from my family and friends!! These people never ever fail to remember my birthday. I am so blessed to have them in my life!

Magic potion from beeesstteeessttt fren for yrs! (photo grabbed from lao step)

From meimei. She painted the box blue herself. good effort! lol

The tarts are fabulous! Thankssss louise!! I love u girl. And sorry again for forgetting urs!!! I hope my cookies made up for my carelessness. heh

From mum and godma. mooooolah!

Stan is irritating. This tortoise actually holds a certain meaning which I'm not going to say cuz it's so embarrassing!!! BAH. But I love the one-of-a-kind card a looott!!

And this - my birthday dinner I made for myself. HAHA. sorry, i just gotta post this to show how pathetic I was.

Thanks everyone! You guys made my otherwise mundane birthday a most happening and happy one! =))) Told ya it would be a super long post. hehe

The rojak entry

2007-04-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

What an unlucky unlucky day! First I woke up at 840am for my exam at 9am. I almost puked when I woke up and saw the time. My initial plans was to sleep from 930pm to 230am before I start studying again till the exam. But probably because I was too nervous, I got up at 1230am and couldn't get back to sleep. So I thought I might as well get up and start studying. At 530am I felt so tired again and went back to sleep. Stipulated time to get up: 7am. Jiayi came to my room at 715 to wake me but I was so tired that I didn't even know. I thought it was a dream. In the end, I got up at 840am!!! Luckily hweeteng the kind soul was in hall and gave me a lift to SRC for my exams. OTHERWISE....omg, don't even want to imagine.

When I got back to hall, I was about to bring my laundry down to level 1 to wash. I waited 10 minutes for the lift!! u tell me, which idiot waits 10 minutes for a life that is working? ok, me. When the lift finally came 10 minutes later (omg, I feel like I'm talking about a bus haha), a mechanic came out and hang the sign - lift under operation - on the wall. I felt like puking again.

On a different note, come to think about it. I've completed one year of uni already, and I'll be leaving this room next sem. This is the room that Louise and I started our uni life in, the room that our relationship grew and blossomed. Feelings are mixed.

Anyway, I recalled at exactly the same time last sem (exam period), Louise and I stayed in for the weekends in hall to study. I remembered it was a terrible terrible time for me and her. I dreaded staying in for the weekends, I also remembered that I packed to go home immediately after my last paper. This time, I stayed in again for the exams - But I do not feel any feelings of dreadfulness at all! II thought it will be quite bad since Louise has left. She was my source of energy during the exams. =)) But in fact, I'm quite happy here. Jiayi and I have become pillars of support for each other, haha, because her roomie has gone MIA as well. And the friends I have here (my OG mates and other new found friends) have definitely made staying in hall so much more enjoyable. I'm even contemplating to stay after the exams for one more day to pack my room and accompany Jiayi, since she'll be leaving hall next sem already. This are the last few days we'll be in hall together.

Oh yes, I will blog about the many happenings on my birthday soon! It's gonna be a long one cos I want to document every single thing that these lovely angels have done!! Thank you EVERYONEEE. i'm really - a blessed child. HAHA

2 more papers to go! Just half a step away to freedom! YAYYYY!!!!

My after-exams to-do list is already out. heh.

This is love.

2007-04-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

After hours of mind-boggling espanol,

Nothing beats this.

Muy bien! muchos delicioso!
Bagels are love. =)))))

2007-04-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

I never thought the words in my blog were hard to read until billy pointed it out. and thereafter so many people actually agreed with him! my gosh..anw i changed it to this temporarily cos i don't have time to do this now. Is this slightly better?

Of metaphors and a piece of cupboard

2007-04-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

My head - it feels heavier every time I study for hours non-stop. As though the information that goes in has a weight to them.

Just like how I always think my handphone becomes lighter, every time I delete 500 sms from it.

And how I think my ipod gets heavier every time I add more songs.

And how I know I must be damn tired - because I'm talking nonsense.

Swimming tmr with the girls! Haven't touch the waters for a loonnngg time! Oh, today, I did something really embarrassing. I walked from hall to the bus-stop with a piece of cardboard offered to me by the kind cleaning auntie. Cos I was stuck at the gate with no umbrella and looking very sad. omg! I must have looked so pathetic and unkempt with that cardboard on my head! And it continued to rain the whole day while I was holed up at pacific coffee with the loser. (cos I'm the champ. haha!)

Random thoughts

2007-04-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Music: The Corrs - I never loved you anyway

I just know that there's such a song by The Corrs. Found it on Yongjie's itunes. (haha!) Don't read too much into it. There's nothing going on with Stan and I, just thought that this is a great song for the broken-hearted out there. I like the shrewdness in its lyrics:

You bored me, with your stories.
I can't believe I endured you for as long as I did.
I'm happy, It's over.
I'm just sorry i didn't make the move before you.

When you go, I want to remember.
I want to remember to say - I never loved you anyway.

Not that I'm being sadistic. But I think it's a nice change from those wishy-washy love songs about how I regret this and that. Of course, the person is probably lying to herself saying that she never really loved him anyway. But it's a white lie, thinking this way is better than crying over spilt milk, no? Sometimes, we should just be all nonchalant about it, and let it go.

HAHA I'm being totally random. 105 is driving me crazy.

Back to the books.

At the threshold of innocence and womanhood

2007-04-06T23:22:00.000-07:00

Turning 20 seemed like such a faraway thing - yet now, it's only 5 days away. This is the first time my birthday falls during the exam period so my parents decided to have an advanced birthday dinner with me tonight. AND - i just realized I won't be able to celebrate my 21st bdae proper too - if plans to go for overseas exchange goes well.

All of a sudden, I find having to be an adult and having to carry more responsibilities all so real. Such things have always been thrown to the back of mind. They seemed like they will never happen. But suddenly, it occurs to me that they are gonna hit me real soon. One year of university has passed. And then there'll be overseas exchange, and there'll be internship and there'll be FYP. And then, we would be stepping into the real world.

I know that I'm thinking a little too far. But I find myself thinking: Soon, I can no longer be the child I am anymore. Running to mum and dad when I'm short of cash or when I really want that mp3 player. Standing at the threshold of being that little girl and womanhood, I'm suddenly intimidated by that next step of my life.

At this point in time,
Just before I turn 20,
I'm just thankful for my family and friends - friends I can count on for life.

Pisssssssssed.

2007-03-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

FINALLY I get a reasonably good grade for 816. I'm so pissed! Now I finally know that all he wants is a simple and easy-to-mark piece of work. The previous lab reports we did were so detailed and we got such bad grades. For this one, we kept it short and brief and we did well. WTH????
.
.
.
.
.
Such injustice.
.
.
.
.
.
.
He and his bunch of assistants suck all my interest for 816 DRY.

Cycling through the enchanting night

2007-03-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

Elites night cycling rocksss BIG time! This is my first time doing night cycling. It was unfogettable. I never knew what the west really looked like, what's more the west at night. I was impressed with the NYGH campus, I finally know what SIM looks like (okok, i know i'm slow), and I experienced the peacefulness of the roads in the wee hours of the night. Cycling along with the group, occasionally talking to that person who catches up with you, calling out to take a short break because your legs are about to cramp soon, and eating supper after supper are just some of the snippets.

The cool night breeze blowing against your face and the soft sounds of peddling, the exchange students singing campfire songs in the background and the group leaders calling out instructions. This is indeed a memory to keep for a lifetime.

Hall 3: Elites Night Cycling '07

Gearing ourselves for the night

Our first stop was The Cheese Prata Shop beside NUS. And we found this wierd drink: introducing - The Bandung Dinosaur. Eww...we're so not a fan of it.

Second stop: Newton circus! Checked out the famous BBQ stingay and squid there.

Third stop: Merlion. Took advantage of the night where no one was around. We climbed the merlion and walked all around it. HEHE

Fourth stop: cosy bay.

Last stop: East Coast Park. It was sunrise when we reached the place we rented our bikes. It was beautiful.

And we all went back to hall with jelly legs and eyelids as heavy as gold.

night cycling - love it! =)

The calling of a detox

2007-03-20T00:36:00.000-07:00

music: Corrinne May - save me

The weekend was a series of piggin' out sessions. Charmain and leigh, I'm officially joining the detox club.

Friday night - chocolate buffet@fullerton. The 4 of us finally got together for a catching-up session. The night passed by quickly with much chatterings and photo-takings. Happy times always sail by. We went into gastronomic orgasm when we sank our teeth into the fullerton chocolate cake. Screams of oohs and aahhs were inevitable.

Check out the cakes, hot chocolate milk and the 5-tier chocolate fountain.

The long-awaited get-together

From left: a self-acclaimed artistic picture, the gigantic strawberry, our desperate attempts in getting leigh to act-cute, the perfect picture - we just need a 75K cartier watch to go along with it. (LOL)

And I think this is such a cool picture. Notice the two waitress talking in the background as well. Charlene, did u take this?

Charlene and I- camwhoring in the toilet.

special performances by charmain and me. (Mine is a fake obviously)

Charlene and leigh - first to K.O

Triumphant winners!

More to come girls =)

Saturday was a day full of doing schoolwork. Another crazy week ahead. I've already not attended driving lessons and youth fellowship for a month. There are so many things going on! For the first time, I'm hoping exams will come by sooner. And i de-stressed by eating.

Saturday noon - lunch at vila'ge

Rosti missing.

Saturday night - dinner at Kenny Rogers

yes! I finally get to eat my favouriteee muffin!

My evil twin sister and I loves Kenny Rogers muffin!

Now, who wouldn't agree with me that I need a detox. I can already see leigh nodding her head in agreement.

HAHA

of mugging and a cuppa

2007-03-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

The time of the day and the weather was perfect for a lazy day by the beach. We were, technically speaking, by the sea. But the beach was so near yet so far. We had to mug for 105 instead - I had a day to get it over and done with.

I'm so glad at the productiveness of our tiny study group! And we're definitely becoming pacific coffee regulars =)

Adrenalin rush

2007-03-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

So exciting!! Just came back from my first ever CHOCOLATE BUFFET@fullerton!! I'm gonna blog about it soon. So many exciting events happened ever since school started. I tried out my first ever night-cycling (which rocks big-time, gonna blog soon too), went to MOS for the first time, learnt spanish and so much more! I've been exposed to so much more things ever since entering uni. Seriously, I do love school and hall. Minus all the projects and assignments and deadlines. BAH.

Leigh, charlene and I are thinking of going to australia for exchange. (I've forego the idea of going to the US or europe for exchange. Too far off and plus, don't have the moolah) I really hope that comes true! And then I can visit my friends there too! Just think of all the fun stuff we can do there my girls!

Gonna watch music and lyrics tmr. Leigh says it's damn good. I hope that our vast difference in taste won't apply to movies as well. HAHA. Meeting up with my much-missed and BELOVED sec-sch bestfriend on sunday night. omg, i just realised I'll be at vivo for the whole weekend.

Does an overdose of chocolate really makes you high?

Cuz I'm really feeling quite high now! Life's good. =)

counting my blessings

2007-03-11T23:43:00.000-07:00

I was giving this really philosophical speech for speech presentation last friday on life. What's the meaning of life, blah blah...

After my speech, auntie layming ask me "auntie man, yuan lai u're so philosophical one ar?" I didn't think much about it at that point of time. But after I went back, I realised that I do sometimes think about such things when I'm on the bus or before I go to bed. Recently, I've been thinking about school. I can still remember I was really scared and nervous during my first day of school because I didn't go to FOC so I wouldn't know anyone there. But I'm really grateful that I met my beloved aunties there. I don't know how I would have survived through school without them.

Dinner@HK cafe.
Without this auntie, my mind would be a mess of boggling thoughts. Talking out my problems to her makes me feel a hundred times better. Thankssss!
(p.s: this auntie here thinks the famous french toast above looks like a taopok. LOL! so wierd!)

Auntie Char and I @ a slice of life.
She must be the cutest auntie ever existed on earth =) Thanks for all the lurrvveee! I believe God has the best for me too.

FFLOOSH - friends for life, oosh! (haha, it's so cheesy! who came up with it ar?)

Rendezvoused

2007-03-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

D&D bash @ MOS.
My first visit to MOS and it was...hmm, an eye-opener. haha, not so much because of the place. But the events that took place. *winks* Well, the place is really big and there are many areas. I took a liking to the retro room where I could take a breather from the much hyped-up atmosphere in the main arena.

clarke quay comes alive at night.

this is the place leigh says we'll be going for our aunties' chocolate buffet!! can't wait!!

in the heat of things...

waiting for the shuttle bus back to hall: flushed faces esp alvin.

And u know what's the most tragic thing? I still had lessons 830am in the morning the following day. Which I couldnt, of course.

Traditions

2007-03-01T16:07:00.000-08:00

The new year was great. The familiar sounds of well-wishing, the meeting of friends I havent't seen for a year and that traditional photo-taking session after CNY service @ church.

These are all my beloved childhood church friends. Look how we grow!
bottom row, 2nd pic: See, i'm almost as dark as my sister already. And she's supposedly really dark. hehehe!

And then there was "bai nian" with my grandparents over the phone. Hmm, haven't been in HK for new year ever since I came singapore. I bet it's much more hyped there.

Second reunion dinner over at Amy's house at night. Another tradition. I always have diner at her house during new year. (Billy, if you're reading this, you know something? You actually have the same bedsheets as me! Which I think is kinda eerie. lol!)

Day 2 of new yr, my family and another 2 families from church went to Batam for a 1-day visit. Had great shopping, seafood for lunch and did something which I hadn't in yrs: played in an arcade!

All set.

In the ship: Patrick's eyes are wide open for a picture FOR ONCE.

On the tour bus.

Check out these really erm, exotic footwear in Batam. The so-not-fake Billabong sandals and that furry slippers. lol!

Lunch: seafood restaurant at the sea, sharks

The coconuts we had were gigantic!

The shrimps looked so cute! I'm not kidding!

Fun in the arcade =)

Lady counting the number of tickets we have. Is there still such things in Singapore? Like you collect tickets when you play a game and exchange them for a gift? Oh I miss it so much!

We exchanged our tickets for a frisbee. =) We only had so much tickets.

Gastronomic orgasm~!! I would say "donuts and coffee" to "donut factory".

Bought these cute musical instuments for youth choir.

Went home feeling very tired but satisfied. =)

CNY '07

2007-02-20T00:33:00.000-08:00

The recent flurry of activities have helped in keeping my mind off some problems. Godddd, how did things turn out like this? The determination to stay strong is sucking up my energy. How long can I last? The myriad of questions and doubts is flooding my mind, I don't even want to try organizing my thoughts.

Anyway, I'm enjoying every bit of my CNY holidays! Happy new year one and all!! Gongxi Gongxi!!!

Reliving vdae'07

2007-02-17T01:05:00.000-08:00

Friday’s freedom
Country roads
Places never seen

Endless cornfields
Village squares
Nothing in between

Hotdogs, French fries
Busy streets
Small town on the shore

Picnic tables
Cherry wine
Quaint, eclectic stores

Chilly water
Whipping wind
Footprints in the sand

Matching bracelets
Tide soaked jeans
Walking hand in hand

Sunday sunset
Headed home
Zeal and money spent

Pictures, love and
Memories made
Happy, tired, content

- Sheila Putnam -

Modern Slavery

2007-02-15T23:42:00.000-08:00

106 speech today went on well despite my pretty last minute preparations. And I'm so sad! I skipped midnight fiesta yesterday because I couldn't finish preparing for my speech. Well, I guess I made the right choice. How bad it will be if I went for midnight fiesta and screwed up my speech. The topic I talked about today was liberty and this is one story that awoke me and made me realise how much I really should be treasuring what I have.

To those reading this: count your blessings! =)

Liberty – modern slavery

Good afternoon. My topic today is on liberty and I will be touching specifically on modern slavery. I’m not about to start rambling on about what exactly does liberty signifies, the necessity of it or whether liberty ever existed in the world at all. Instead, let me share with you a heart-wrenching story – a pair of sisters, Nadia and Zana’s, true account of modern slavery.

When two Birmingham girls, Nadia and Zana Muhsen, were sent out to Yemen by their father for a holiday, they were told to expect an adventure. They were told to expect fabulous beaches, bareback riding and camel racing. Instead, they found that they had been married off, at the tender age of 14 and 15, to boys in the tribal villages of Yemen. In this medieval world, the girls have virtually no rights and absolutely no control over their lives. They are completely within the power of men in their families.

Back in England, the girls, like any other teenagers, went to school, had parties, dreams and ambitions. It had never crossed their minds that their father would sell them off to become wives in Yemen in exchange for 1,300 pounds for each girl. The girls had their virginity, their pride and their freedom stripped of them. They had to adapt to a completely alien way of life, living in primitive stone houses and no running water. They suffered rapes, frequent beatings and the terrifying ordeal of childbirth on bare mud floors with only old women in attendance.

The girls had tried running away countless times but only to be brought back and punished by the men. Their eyes once filled with sparks were now dead. They took in all the humiliation and carried on their lives like zombies.

It took their mother six years to find the girls, hidden away in the mountains, and another two years to find a way for Zana to get out. But neither Zana nor her mother ever gave up hope fighting. Although Zana was outwardly forced to become a Yemeni wife, she has always dreamed of getting back to England and her family. The endless work, the beatings, the diseases, the mental cruelty, the rapes and the agony of giving birth in the raw never once break her spirit.

Nadia and Zana are not the first girls from countries like Britain and America to be tricked into marriages and into lifetimes of servitude in the Yemen. After eight years of misery and humiliation, Zana was the first to escape, with the help of her mother and the British media.

However, only half the battle has been won. Nadia is still suffering under the hands of the men who imprisoned her. She is pregnant again with her third child. According to a doctor in Yemen, the next baby could easily kill her. Zana, her mum and the media are still trying very hard to save her.

Today, up to 800,000 people are transported across international borders each year in a form of slavery. 80% of them are female and about half are children. They are destined for prostitution, forced labour, soldiering and the child sex trade. These people have done no wrong. Maybe their only wrong was to be born at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

By sharing this story, I hope that you will be able to appreciate the freedom that you have in living the life you want. Do not take for granted the simple things in life as often, these are the most essential things of life.

I shall end my speech with this quote: “Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.” So, count your blessings the next time you choose to eat a sandwich instead of a salad, or you choose to watch a movie instead of a football match. Because there are people in this world whose lives are controlled by others, and who are still clinging on to that glimmer of hope that they can someday return to where they rightfully belong.

Thank you.

Flora's first...again!

2007-02-10T01:58:00.000-08:00

Today, i bought my first-ever make-up kit!!! Nobody would believe that I only put on make-up 3 times in my life up to this point. First time during my jc prom night, then my hall's dinner and dance and lastly, my cheerleading competition. Haha... i decided that it was time I start learning! So, remembering my roomie's advice "Don't buy everything from the same band cuz different brands are good in different products", I dropped by all the different brands and checked out their stuff. It was so exciting and fun trying on all the stuff at the make-up counters for the first time. My hands soon ran out of places to try the products on.

Anyway, this post shall end abruptly here cuz it's already 2am and I still wanna do my spanish assignment!

Get me past next week

2007-02-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

A crazy week is coming up. I have 2 quizzes, 2 projects due and 1 assignment due. Argh! These things have been weighing me down all weekend. I have been so busy lately - busy with trainings previously. And now, schoolwork.

Spent the afternoon today with lunch with my parents =))) I'm so happy! I finally get to eat with them after a week. Went to church for band practice thereafter. Today's band prac was kinda inspiring. It was the first time I led and everyone was enjoying their music, smiling as they played and sang along. Thanks guys, you were great! =)

Just came back from charlene's house for our cheerleading retreat! Haha..I had so much fun with them from the drinking game. For those who don't know what the game is about, it's like if you get a black card from 1-5, you need to drink a sip of vodka coke. A red card of 1-5, and you get another person to drink for you. If you get a 6, you do a thumbs-up and the rest must follow. The last person who do a thumbs-up gotta drink. If you get a 7, you get to go the toilet. 8, we must all say words that rhyme. The person who can't come out with a word anymore gotta drink. 9, we select a category and start naming things in that category. The person who can't name anything gotta drink. AND I LOVE 10!! 10, you get to set down a rule for the game! hehe..it's fun! Jianrong set down the rule that whenever we drink, we must say "Jianrong is a shuai ge." haha..damn thick skin.

Then, I got a 10. And I set down the rule that nobody is supposed to smile or laugh. And there was this really hilarious joke from Ronald.

Me: sets the rule
Ronald: What do you mean by cannot smile or laugh?
Me: play with a serious face la!
Ronald: Then can grind?
Me: Har? you want to grind your teeth ar?
TserNi: It's GRIN la!!!!!
Everybody: ROFL

hahaha..so everyone had to drink, cuz everyone laughed like mad! Anyway, they are probably singing kbox now. I'm really too tired to sing already.

here comes the crazy week...

V for victory!

2007-01-29T20:53:00.000-08:00

It was an unforgettable night. We did it, regardless of how hopeless we felt before that. The joy and tears that night will remain beautiful memories - Let the pictures do the talking. =)

Last rehearsals:

Photo-takings in the waiting room:

View of the place (@SRC) :

Hair beautifully done by yirong:

Our sexy and babelicious mascot - sailormoon! :

Pep talk just before it's our turn:

During the competition:

Hall 3 supporters!! :

Upon results (what a totally unglam pic!) :

And..sweet victory =)) :

The celebration thereafter:

Thank you all so much for this exhilarating experience. I love y'all!!!

mixed feelings

2007-01-22T21:52:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ready to go and get my make-up done for our competition tonight. Will be rehearsing at 330 for the final time. My feelings now? Excited plus anxious and a bit of sadness. Excited because we have so been looking forward to this day to bring what we have to the stage. Anxious because I hope things will go smoothly and as expected. I hope I'll be able to perform to my own expectations. But, no stress! And sad because I guess I'll miss cheerleading training. No doubt it has been really challenging and tiring going for trainings, but there were lots of fun times and bonding as well. If not for cheerleading, I wouldn't have been able to do all the stunts I'm able to now. During our pep talk yesterday night, I said that I hope we can bring this sense of togetherness we have developed to the stage tommorrow. And I think we can do it!!

Let's go hall 3!

Hola!

2007-01-18T04:41:00.000-08:00

The past few days have been crazy. I feel like I'm a fast-forwarding tape. 5 hrs of cheerleading training every night on top of lectures, tutorials and my swimming sessions. To make it worse, my lessons start at 830am every morning. Gracias, roomie and leigh for waking me up every morning, otherwise I'll never be able to make it for lectures. But well, it's quite fulfilling. I'm seriously living each day to the fullest. I guess if I can get through this period, I will be able to handle the rest of the semester quite ok? Not really actually, the projects and assignments will come rolling in soon.

Spanish classes have started and it's really fun to learn a third language! I've never went to proper classes to learn a language. I mean, the languages I know now weren't learned in classrooms. I'm still trying to pronounce those words which need the rolling of tongue and that deep " clearing of throat" voice. Need to practice how to clear my throat..haha! I've been speaking Spanish to my roomie and stan and both of them say that I sound like I'm speaking Jap. ....."whhaat???"

Cheerleading competition is next Tues. Really pray we will do well and flaunt all that we have so painfully learnt. I hope I can last till then. Right now, I need sleep. Plenty of sleep.

Buenas noches! =)

Back to school

2007-01-10T23:19:00.002-08:00

Meant to publish this a few days ago but blogger was down! I'm so pissed!

School has started, which means I'm living back at hall. After staying at home for such a long time, I feel so restrained living at hall. There's only two places I can be when I'm in my room, on my bed or on my chair. Haha...I'm looking forward to more swimming sessions with my aunties and our sleepover to relieve this boredom.

School will only start full swing next week so I'm still in a lazy mood. The lectures so far have been pretty interesting and I particularly enjoyed EBM and PPC lectures. I think I will enjoy voice and presentation too - except the lecturer is quite boring (and dramatic). Haha..I know its ironic, but it's true! We already have an assignment for EBM. We're supposed to take 4-6 photos relating to digital divide. I immediately thought of Chiangmai when I heard this. I could've taken so many great photos relating to this during the mission trip! There was this whole village sharing one TV and one computer, small satellites in some of the houses...argh!! I don't think I took any of them! What a waste..=(

Cheerleading training tonight. In the meantime, I'll kill time by watching "the devil wears prada". Didn't get to finish it the last time I was at Daph's. Off I go.

What kind of blogger are you?

2007-01-05T14:51:00.000-08:00

You Are a Social Blogger!

Your blog is more of a semi-private affair for your friends.
It's how you keep in touch... sharing stories, jokes, and pics.

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

twisted

2007-01-04T22:41:00.000-08:00

Charlene and Leigh teased and said that I'm twisted in the mind because of some funny comment I made. And last night, I realised my bodyclock has gone all twisted too. I couldn't sleep all night last night! True, I've been going to bed really late but I would usually fall asleep latest by 4. But why?? I felt totally awake last night, not even the slightest yawn. I resort to reading that sweet vally book leigh lent me (purely to reminisce ok), hoping I would get tired from it. And when I've finished the whole book, I felt equally awake as when I started out. The sky grew increasingly brighter, i heard the hall's cleaning auntie washing...and I haven't slept a bit. Well, it resulted in me sleeping through the day.

What have I done yesterday that made me so active at night? Recall recall....

Had a nice little aunties' day out last night at city hall. Ate our dinner at 'new york new york' where I tried out what I initially thought was gross - mushroom cappuccino. Turned out to be a surprisingly nice combination of mushroom soup, froth milk and cocoa powder. I also tried out making my own cotton candy! Wasn't that successful though, the cotton just got bigger and bigger and it got stuck at the machine..wahaha. You should have seen charmaiin's, charlene's and my reactions when leigh told us it's free. We jumped out of our seats instantly. Talk about aunties...heh.

Top left: my mushroom cappuccino (photo grabbed from charlene)

Middle pic: charlene's christmas presents for us! =)) It's a notebook which I'm going to make my daily planner notebook for next yr. yay~

playing with the unfinished cotton candies

Checked out the new Donut Factory at raffles city thereafter where we queued for more than an hour for our donuts. WHAO. But we all agreed it was worth it. The donut is fluffy and fresh. According to charlene, it feels like eating marshmallows. Hmmm...

@ donut factory

Headed back to hall for cheerleading training and I'm liking it! I think I'm beginning to get the hang of it. At least the countless falls I had didn't go to waste. =)) Shannon drove us for supper after training which was already 3am. That's hall llife...it's hard to sleep early even if I want to.

I know! It must've been the tea I drank during supper that caused me that sleepless night. Then again I've never been affected by caffeines. They don't have an effect on me. It's twisted.

looking back '06

2007-01-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

2006 had been the year I was so looking forward to. The year which I would have 7 straight months of holiday, the year which I would try out different kind of jobs, the year which I would have vacations after vacations and the year which I embark on my university life. The list is by no means exhaustive. 2006 has indeed been a very different year.

Despite that, my resolutions for 06 weren't quite fulfilled. Maybe I shouldn't list out new resolutions for 07, I should just stick to working on the old ones. Oh, I should add one more on top of the old ones and that is, to read the papers regularly!! God, that must've been the 100th time I'm telling myself that.

The last day of 06 was spent with my church friends aka childhood mates. It wasn't a noisy, happening kinda countdown night. We just sat at Starbucks, chatting, playing bridge, and taking in all that was happening around us. I do like it that way sometimes. It allows me to appreciate my company more.

As we countdown to the new year, the spraying began. Enxin and I went out to take a look at what was happening on the streets. And we saw the streets filled with B*******. Oh my, this is my first time seeing orchard road with so many of them! And they were mostly the ones playing with those spraying things. Then there was this hilarious conversation between Enxin and I.

Me: Wha, these B******* are spraying all over the place, who's going to clean up for them?
Enxin: Them loh, they will be cleaning up in the morning.

Okay, I know it's very bad. I shall stop.

Caught "stranger than fiction" at 230am. I was positive I would fall asleep during the show. Firstly because I was already very tired. Secondly, we watched this show only because it was the only one which wasn't NC16 (wesley isn't 16 yet) and which suited our timing. I didn't even know what it's about so I was quite sure it would put me to sleep. But alas, it was pretty good! I enjoyed it and came out of the theatre feeling awake. Something I didn't quite expect to be.

The gang decided to wait for the first train so yessss, we say down at mc cafe and played bridge AGAIN.....

I slept like a log on new year's day.

Happy new year one and all!

Look here

2007-01-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

A blessed christmas

2006-12-25T17:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas eve was a bustle of activities and a great deal of fun! Christmas service in the morning followed by a christmas lunch at church.

Caught 'night at the museum' thereafter with stan. An enjoyable and laugh-inducing movie.

Went back to church at 6pm for the long awaited....christmas carolling! I love carolling with my church friends. We always have so much fun visiting our fellow church members' house, singing christmas carols and taking in all the yummy food they prepare for us. Yesterday night's carolling was no different. Billy and company made a helluva noise in the chartered bus but it was really entertaining nonetheless. =) I had the best prawn salad I've ever had and Janice did a touching testimony on her life.

Should really post mission trip part 3 soon. Anyway, merry christmas dear friends!

Mission trip part 2

2006-12-20T02:30:00.001-08:00

Day 3 - 10/12/06
730am

Day 3 is an eventful day. Non-stop activities. It was a Sunday, so we we went to Cha Fang as usual, attended their Sunday service and helped out during Sunday school. After service, the blc youths performed a skit on the birth of Jesus Christ. The response was pretty good, although most of then didn't understand Chinese.

vic's first time on the pick-up

sunday service @ cha fang

their worship band

the children and youth choirs

sunday school, it was really heartwarming to see these girls of only 16 yrs old helping out as sunday school teachers.

Had lunch thereafter. They treated us to their local ice-cream after lunch! I still can't figure out what flavour did I eat. I think it's all just colouring and milk and sugar. yeeeek

red, blue,white,yellow and orange ice-creams

stan and timothy - the joker of the trip =))

Found this! This puppy crawled into the drain to sleep! Probably because it didn't want the kids to disturb. But while I was looking at this sweet little thing, a toddler came over, stuck his hands into the drain and tickled the puppy to wake it up. Haha..so cute!

More activities in the noon: the younger ones played musical chairs and the older ones had a bible quiz.

bible quiz - them surrounding Pastor Yeung for answers

these kids love taking pictures. once I fish out my camera, all of them come crowding around me.

especially this girl! =) she's so sweet, she always comes looking for me and stan.

sun-burnt

At about 5, we went visiting to Nanyang educational centre (supported by NTU!) and Faith Hope Love drug rehabilitation centre. Nanyang educational centre is the place where my mum is serving at.

@Nanyang educational centre

@Faith Hope Love drug rehabilitation centre

The drug rehabilitation centre is a very beautiful place. See the photo on the bottom right? There is farming, fish-rearing and a little prayer hut there. It's almost like their secret garden, hidden by the hills. Oh yes, and not to forget pig-rearing:

it was grunting non-stop when we went to see it!

We also found this lovely plantation there. It's planted in the shape of a heart so Stan and I...

stepped right into it! =)

There was a singing competition at the Liu village Baptist Church at night. Not going elaborate on that, it was pretty boring with the exception of a few hilarious ones. Heh.

Day 4 - 11/12/06
730am

Our last day serving at Cha Fang today. I felt like i had to treasure every moment I spent at the Cha Fang that day. The highlights that day was the talent-time, as well as a solo performance by one of their youths - a song written by him to thank us.

talent-time

solo performance

Took pictures with a couple of the youths there. A lovable bunch.

We didn't eat lunch at Cha Fang that day. A Singaporean missionary serving at Chiangmai offered to treat us to lunch at his place. So we bid farewell to Cha Fang and the people there. It was a long and draggy one, because all of us still had so much to say to one another! There was exchanging of emails, shaking of hands and huggings. When I shook hands with one of the girls there, she passed me a letter, saying that she wrote it for me. I was so touched. This girl actually wrote the whole letter in Chinese, though she's not very good in it. I bet she must have checked the dictionary a dozen times. Content of the letter spoke of how she wished I can continue staying to teach them new songs, to continue sharing with then the teachings of the bible, and how she would miss me so much. Me too!!!

Lunch at Uncle Richard's place:

Uncle Richard's house is fantastic! It's almost like he owns the hills in front of his house. Those hills contained his very own basketball court, his big koi fish pond, his goats, his dogs, his chickens, etc. Very much like an animal farm! His daughter, a pretty little girl, brought us around to feed the fishes and the goats. It was so much fun, something I won't get to experience in Singapore.

Second pic: Uncle Richard is feeding his fishes with termites from the ants nest. everyone is looking in interest.

Lydia and I

I think Lydia (Uncle Richard's daughter) is a very special girl. She reminds me of those stories in Enid Blyton where the character grows up in a farm and helps to milk the cow and collect the eggs every morning. She is very passionate about her home and the pets she has including about 7 or 8 dogs, the goats and fishes. All the dogs have their own names..haha.

Thereafter, we went to Yunnan Yuan (also supported by NTU, and named after the Yunnan Garden). This is the place Enxin and I lived at when we last came to Chiangmai for mission trip in 2000. It was full of wonderful memories.

@Yunnan Yuan

From left: the hostel rooms, behind us are their farming - the vegetables we eat at each meal are plucked FRESH, the dining area

Went back to our hostels after the visitations. It was cultural exchange night that night. The people from Cha Fang came too. It was suuuccchhh a great night! But I'm too tired to continue blogging. Shall continue from here tmr..nights!

Chiangmai mission trip 2006

2006-12-19T02:20:00.000-08:00

Before u guys read this post, I just want to say that I took a really looonngg time to get this out. Had so much problem uploading the pictures the way i want. And it's still not perfect yet, still figuring out how to arrange the photos in a row. Anyway, big thanks to Leigh here. =)) Otherwise, this post will probably never be out. I'm just gonna blog about the first two days in this post, shall continue tmr.
Enjoy!

Day 1 - 8/12/06
6.05am

All 25 of us were set for the mission trip as we gathered at the airport with loads of luggage. We must have seem so weird, carrying things from guitar to projector to dvd player and many more other baggages containing old clothes and stationery to be given to the people there. All of us slept through the flight. I was even too tired to snap pictures in the plane, something that I always do. heh.

Reached Chiangmai airport at approx 840am. People from the place we will be serving at came to fetch us and our truckload of luggages.

Our first stop was breakfast! I feel like i haven't eaten for a long time. Can u believe it? Our breakfast was a buffet costing only S$2. I realized later that most of the buffets in Thailand are really cheap. But the food isn't exactly fantastic.

After breakfast, we went to this really HUGE supermarket called "Makro". I guess it means macro in English. And it certainly lives up to its name.

Looks similar to ikea? This supermarket sells things in bulks, sort of like a place for people to fetch goods. I found this in the supermarket:

Milo ice-cream, popcorn ice-cream and the weirdest of all..thai-tea ice-cream?? Anyway, i never got to try any of those. I wonder what popcorn ice-cream would taste like, not that popcorn have much of a taste.

It was a long journey up the hills to the place we'll be serving at for the next 3 days. The journey by car was at least 5 to 6 hours, but we were rewarded with breath-taking sceneries along the way. Stan opened the windows and kept taking in deep breaths. I guess such fresh air are hardly "breathable" in congested Singapore.

See those red flowers in the third photo? I don't know what's its real name but we call it the christmas flower. The whole hill was blooming with those christmas flowers. It was spectacular.

Reached the place we will be serving at later in the evening. The place is called "cha fang" or teahouse in English. We will be serving at the church there, which is situated at the highest point of that place.

The church is actually very well-equipped with a drum-set, electric guitars and a piano. There was no need for the guitar we brought at all! Now we have no more worries for our praise and worship sessions.

Next stop: church hostel over at Liu village. The place we'll be staying at for the following three days. I guess all of us were amazed at the accommodation we have. Though rural it may seem on the outside, our rooms were complete with toilets, electricity and double-decker beds. It was so heartwarming, it set me thinking: coming to a mission trip may seem like we're here to help others, but seeing the kind of treatment we receive, I feel like the people here are doing even more to make us feel comfortable in this place.

From top: The guys' dormitory, chess, my room and "roomie"

Day 2 - 9/12/06
730am

Woke up and did our quiet-times in groups. I've never done my quiet-time in front of hills after hills. It was great to wake up in the morning and the first thing that greets you is the extraordinary scenery and the fresh air that comes along with it. That is stan's group doing their quiet-times. Just look at the view before them!

Set off for Cha Fang after breakfast for our first day of work. All 12 of us (youths) sat in a pick-up to bring us there. The ride was scary due to the steep hill slopes. And the pick-up didn't exactly felt safe to me, haha. I got used to it though.

At the Cha Fang: ice-breaking games, story-telling, treasure hunt, handicrafts.

Ice-breaker games

Stan and I with the kids

Story-telling

Handicrafts

Treasure hunt aftermath, with forfeits for the last team

After a busy morning, it was time for lunch - curry noodles. yum! We later found out that they bought those especially for us. I felt so bad! Don't know about the others but Billy definitely shared the same sentiments as me.

Head back to the hostels after lunch. The people at the hostels made passion fruit juice for us! Have never drank real passion fruit juice before. All I had in Singapore was passion fruit bubble tea, made of syrup of course.

More pictures of us, the place we stayed at and its surroundings:

At night, we had a "movie marathon" back at Cha Fang. Watched videos on the testimony of two christians. The ride back to our hostels was so cold! We were shivering at the back of the pick-up. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable ride. The sky was filled with a zillion stars and the cold wind beat across our faces. The laughters and chatterings we had made the night come alive. Occasionally, we would even see a fire-fly or two flutter across the hills in the darkness. I engrossed myself in the beauty of it all...

Flora's first!

2006-12-17T23:15:00.000-08:00

My very first post!! I finally created a blog, after contemplating for the longest time. I guess my urge to blog about the mission trip did me good. Shall post a long one on the trip hopefully tomorrow. Nights!