Purple Confession

I am an escapist

2011-03-14T23:01:00.002+08:00

Sadness and tragic has been in the air these few days.

Everyone is talking about the Japan Earthquake/Tsunami and last night scenes of unfortunate people were on TV's charity show.

I choose not to watch the news or read articles about the Japanese tragic incident and I stopped watching the charity show after half an hour.

Not that I am heartless or least concerned about them, but it's just that there are too much sadness for me to bear. I felt heavy-hearted when I watched the personal encounters of the SPD beneficiaries. I felt helpless when I saw images of elderly huddled together on the streets because of the earthquake. These feelings are too much to bear.

As such, I chose to stop watching the charity show, trying to ignore the cruel reality that such unfortunate things do happen. I chose to listen to second-hand accounts from friends about the Japanese incident instead since the impact is lessen as compared to seeing real images.

Before I can have the courage to face such despair and tragedy, I am an escapist.

After a long break...back to blogging

2011-03-13T22:57:00.002+08:00

It has been eons since I last visited my blog. I totally ignored its existence for a long time. How long has it been, I was thinking.

I was surprised to see my last post dated 2 July 2010. That is like 8 months ago! That also marks how long I have been working. I have stopped blogging on the 2nd day of work.

I read through a couple of my previous posts and those seem foreign to me. I don't remember writing like that and I am not sure if I can write an entry again. I think I have lost my writing ability.

Why do I have the sudden urge to blog again?

I was watching a show (can't remember what was it) the other day and I had the sudden realization that I am getting shallow. I have not been using my sociological imagination. I have not been reading and keeping up with current affairs. I have not been in deep thoughts.

All I have been doing are working, having fun with friends and following Suju news updates.

I hope blogging can re-generate my thinking.

Officially an OL

2010-07-02T08:31:00.001+08:00

Yesterday marked the end of my freedom :(

Weekdays no longer belong to me. How sad is that. For the next 2years at least.

Luckily I have enjoyed my last 5 days of freedom before I started work. Be it singing, porridge buffet, late night soya beancurd and milo dinosaur, mahjong, shopping, choc fondue, surprise party or just a simple dinner, I have enjoyed them all!! Thks friends for all the great times spent! Thks for the well wishes too!!

Just a sidenote, don't be mistaken that I am having a hard time at work. Don't worry work is alright. Just not that fantastic as having freedom.

DM was fun!

2010-06-20T22:37:00.004+08:00

I can't wait for next week and next next week to come! There are so many things happening recently that I need a planner to jot them down!

Anyway, I had my first and last event with the cdc. It was held at the supreme court. My first time into supreme court!! I guess not many people have been there too right? There's not much of a reason to go there. The place is really big and it does not feel like a court at all. The only things that remind me that it's a supreme court are the paintings of chief justices and the strict security clearance.

Somehow this event reminded me of my internship stint. I missed those times whereby I was running around making sure that the models were ready for the runway and talking busily into the walkie-talkie. Events are fun! They are a good way for bonding too!

Back to the event held at supreme court...here are some photos taken that day.

Short stint

2010-06-18T08:20:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I told my supervisor and the head of the dept that I will be leaving next week.

Somehow I felt bad. Some staff there had taught me quite alot. They put in alot of time and effort explaining to me not only the scheme but also teaching and guiding my thinking process. Everyday there will be someone guiding me on how to assess the client, whether to give assistance and what kind of assistance to give.

During the days whereby I have already signed the contract at the other side but have not informed this side (bcos my supervisor was not ard), I felt bad sometimes. That's when they taught me and photocopying lots of notes for me. They really trained me as a perm staff though I have not accepted their offer.

Although my whole stint there will only be 3 weeks or so, I have learnt things. And I have also wasted alot of manpower and paper resources.

Job-hunting is vexing!

2010-06-13T13:01:00.002+08:00

For the past one week I was in a deep dilemma. It was such a dilemma that I became very vexed.

Job-hunting is seriously very frustrating! In this week, I really could understand the Chinese principle of "tian shi, di li, ren he". All factors must work together and in my case they did not; especially timing.

I got a job offer from this A company but I wasn't really interested to take up this job offer. There are pros and cons of this job. Therefore, I was hoping that other job offers will coem soon before I have to make a decision on this A's job offer.

True enough, another offer from B came few days later. But once again, there are pros and cons of this job offer too. I have to weigh both offers and I was confused on which to accept or even to continue waiting for other jobs. To make things worse, I have very limited time to consider for this B's offer.

There is also one unofficial offer from C, my internship company. But this did not really bother me because I know that this is not something I want to work as.

Since A and B offers are lacking in one way or another, I am contemplating whether to reject both offers and wait for better offers. But yet again, I am worried that further job offers may be worse or worst still, what if no more job offers come knocking?

If only all the job offers come at the same time and I can assess all and decide which one to get. If only I can have a job offer whereby there are only pros and not cons.

But of course, all these ideal situations are not going to happen. Perfection is impossible.

After discussing with my parents and some close friends as well as thinking it through, I guess I have a better idea on what decision to make. Haiz hopefully I will not regret.

Working life...

2010-06-07T08:17:00.001+08:00

It's so early and I am at bedok! I want to sleep more but need to come early for an exercise to meet the residents :(

I have alot of things to blog about...meet-ups with Suzhou clique...meet ups with elders friends...new working envt...but I am just too lazy to blog.

Work is making me lazy to blog. Everyday minus off work left me with little time.

Relinquishing childhood moments :)

2010-05-31T14:15:00.005+08:00

About two weeks back we had a welcome party for QB. It was supposed to be a surprise party but I guess the surprise element wasn't there at all. Instead, it became a time whereby we were brought back to childhood days.

We had a water bomb battle around Seet's neighbourhood in the late night. We were practically running around the neighbourhood seeking shelter from QB. He was armed with dangerous insecticide! I can still rmb how QB was walking down the corridor hunting for us. It was scary!

All in all, we had fun at our usual place. Denise made delicious cheese cake for us too!

I like Korean music festival!

2010-05-28T21:57:00.001+08:00

I like Korean music festival!

It's fully filled with nice songs and dance performances!

Malacca trip with Elders friends :)

2010-05-24T20:51:00.004+08:00

This post is long overdued as one week has passed since returning from Malacca. The heat was scorching over at Malacca. I had a tan but not too obvious though. I guess it's a result of us walking over long distances under the sun. We really walked ALOT. We went everywhere by foot. Imagine walking 20mins to reach our destination and a couple more hours walking while doing sightseeing.

Haha I would grab at every chance to enter an air-conditioned place and find a seat (Haha I can so imagine Ching giggling when she reads this :D). I didn't expect myself to know my way around Malacca that much! I was amazed by my sense of direction over there :p

I saw alot of old and new sights of Malacca intertwining together. At this instance, you see old streets lining up with Peranakan houses with real old couples living in them and at the next instance, you are greeted by sights of "new tourism". We took a river cruise and 2 words screamed at me immediately - staged authenticity. The sight of "traditional houses" totally exemplifies these 2 words.

Great time spent with Suzhou chums

2010-05-19T22:54:00.003+08:00

I wanted to blog about this few days back but was tired and lazy. I met up with some dear friends and had a great time! Everything was perfect except that Ching and Dajie could not join us. We were quite disappointed that they could not make it. Hopefully the next time round all will be present. I made a pact with Dajieda and Erjie that I will be the organiser the next time round. So girls hear from me soon! :D

Every meet-up with this group of girls is fun. There is always alot of laughter. Charlene had tickled us alot with her topic of moving into a proper house. While reading Dajieda's blog entry, I was smiling. I could "taste" the sweetness of our friendship.

Cheers to our friendship!

Totally enjoying holiday!

2010-05-14T15:31:00.003+08:00

No studying + No working = Enjoying life!

I am totally enjoying my free time now~! How I wish this will never end! I know I have to look for jobs and start working soon. But let me enjoy first!

I am leaving for Malacca tmr and hopefully it will be a great trip. Yes I know there's nothing much at Malacca but I shall make the most out of it!

Alright more meet-ups when I am back!

Suju's new song!

2010-05-10T23:14:00.000+08:00

Suju's new song!! Bonamana!

Exams over + got tickets to Jay's concert!!

2010-05-09T23:35:00.002+08:00

Yeah!!! Exams are over!!! And I join the rank of jobless :(

Haha my exams ended a few days back but was lazy to blog. This time round, I don't think I will fare well for my exams. Alot of uncertainties in my answers but...it's over!! I was so exhausted after the papers! Haha a friend even commented that I did not look like my exams had ended. I was tired!

But still went to different parts of campus to take photos with Ching, Denise and Esther :) That should be our last chance to take photos around school and capture our various memories we shared in the past 4 years. Abit disappointed that convocation will be in the evening for us because we can't really take photos around campus then.

Oh ya! I have tickets to Jay Chou's concert already!! All thanks to Agnes and her friend's friend!! I was quite prepared that we will have to miss the concert again because sales have been crazy. Really crazy! I have a friend who tried online sale and hotline booking with his girlfriend simultaneously and it was only after much luck and effort then they got it. Many others weren't so lucky! Luckily Agnes's friend has 2 extra tickets!! That totally made my day :D

After such a long exam "curfew", I long for good food badly! I went to satisfy my craving for pizza with Agnes, japanese cuisine with elders friends and also BBQ with my family! Ah I want to eat but I need to be on a diet too! Dilemma!

Time is running out

2010-04-28T17:28:00.001+08:00

7 more days. Study Study Study.

Last preparation for exams!!

2010-04-25T23:23:00.004+08:00

This is the last week of preparations for my last exams! Must be motivated!!

Ah...I have been indulging myself in drama serials and music too much again. What a bad time to do this! I need to study for my exams, especially whereby I have so many readings to catch up with but I am VERY distracted by a couple of drama serials and songs. I find it very tough to stop watching a drama serial halfway, always wanting to continue with the next episode. It's an addiction!!

Anyway, let me post some overdued photos. These were taken on my last meeting with PK, Pris and Rach, before starting for exam preparation. Had a sweet evening with the gals and shared many good laughs with dearest PK.

Gdbye to Jay Chou!

2010-04-22T10:57:00.002+08:00

Oh man! Did not get the tickets again!! This time round, Agnes's friend tried helping us to get the tickets but could not get it. The website was jammed with so many users and he went to an outlet but the queue was crazy. Till now, 2 hours after it has opened for sales, the website is still jammed! Ah!! Can't go again!! :(

Getting hooked on online shopping

2010-04-20T16:28:00.003+08:00

I was never a fan of online shopping but soon I will be.

I only did online shopping a couple of times and those were because the items are from overseas and hence, I had to do online shopping. I always preferred to see and touch the real things before I buy. I did not trust items online as I always think that there is a risk that they may not turn out like what they appeared online. The quality may be inferior and the sizes may not fit.

However, I chanced upon this website whereby I bought a birthday present for my friend a few months back. Ever since I knew of that website, I have started shopping online! The items arrive real fast! Most of the sellers send their items like immediately after they receive your purchase and within 2-3 days I get them! Quality not bad too!

But of course I will still like offline shopping! :p

No more school for me!

2010-04-17T21:18:00.002+08:00

Yesterday was the last day of classes for my entire life!

On the way to school, I was feeling abit emo about it. I love sch! Or rather, I love uni's life!!

Reasons:

For my entire study endeavour in uni, I always have less than 5 days of classes! Only uni life allows me to have so much free time! I love the flexibility of uni classes too! The flexibility allows me to skip classes and avoid doing readings (haha I am very much guilty of these bad practices).

I have also learnt to be more aware and critical of issues happening around me. I enjoy studying Soci. Always studying familiar things making it unfamiliar. Even doing essay assignments can be enjoyable, even though I am always in a rush to finish up.

Life in uni will not be as fun as it is without good friends! I am thankful that I have made alot of good friends in uni! These friends have made my uni life much more interesting and memorable! Elders gang, Soci gals, AFTH friends, Interns and Suzhou chums!! These friendship bonds are very valuable and hopefully will last for years to come.

But of course, it is not all a bed of roses. I dislike FYP and exams. But all in all, the rewards have outweighed the costs. I will miss uni's life very much!!

Anyway, yesterday we had a nice surprise end to our last tutorial class. One of our tutorial mates had a birthday surprise from her friends. It was very cool! They even treated all of us in the tutorial to free donuts! Cecilia, my Monopoly Deal star ally, gave us a small gift too!

The last class of my school life ended on a sweet and happy note!

Bad Day

2010-04-15T23:43:00.001+08:00

Haiz...

That sums up my feelings today.

When can I get to go Jay Chou's concert??

2010-04-14T15:59:00.000+08:00

So sad!! I want to go to Jay Chou's concert!!

This morning I went to buy the tickets half hour before the counter opens and yet I did not managed to get the tickets at all! Irritating! :(

When I reached, there were about 20 people in the queue before me. I started to panic but like what Agnes said, there are more than 20 tickets so should be can buy. But! The first person in the queue bought like 20 plus tickets and after the 2nd person bought 4 tickets, everything became sold out!!

My heart sank when I heard the salesgirl shouted ALL TICKETS SOLD OUT!

It's so crazy! There were easily 60 people in the queue and yet only 2 people managed to buy only!

A couple in front of me in the queue tried all ways to buy the tickets but failed. They kept calling sistic hotline and even brought a laptop to book tickets online but all means failed them.

Everytime when got news that Jay Chou is coming for concert I get so happy and excited and yet EVERYTIME my hopes were dashed. It always get sold out like once it's out.

Haiz.........

Amazing innovation

2010-04-13T17:29:00.003+08:00

Guess wad the above is for!

It is......

Can Opener!! Wahaha bet none of u got it correct! It's so amazing! Just place it on top of a can and press a button then it will start to open the can on its own! No hands needed! U can press the button and leave it there! Once opened, you just press the button again and it's switched off!

How smart are the inventers!

I passed my driving on April Fools' Day!

2010-04-04T22:59:00.010+08:00

Yup, I have started driving my Dad's old gold car. But only for less than an hour! Today, I ventured onto PIE and I somehow lost the confidence in my driving. Okie, I know many of you do not have confidence in my driving :p Before I got my license, I wanted so much to drive and would always persuade my Dad to let me drive (only succeeded a few times) but now that I am qualified to drive, I start turning down offers from my Dad. Irony.

It was a dream come true when I saw the word "Passed"! And I have 8 points only!! (Haha let me be proud for a while lah :p)

After passing my driving test, I went for a celebratory lunch with Andy and Ben. We walked into this Thai restaurant that served quite good food. It was a pleasant surprise that it is an award-winning restaurant and yet the prices are reasonable.

After lunch, we went to sing and Denise, the karaoke queen, came to join us too. It's really cheap to sing now sicne there is members' special. But it is only till end of April :(. We even made a surprise for QB. Shall not reveal it here since I have not uploaded it. Ended the day with Seet joining us for dinner. As usual, Seet always make me laugh for no particular reason.

I must thank Dajieda so much for giving me the probation plate!! She wanted to give it to me during my first attempt but too bad I failed. Now, finally I have passed and she gave it to me. I still remember that she went searching for this plate made by 3M and it was not an easy search. I met her for breakfast and although time was short, I enjoyed myself and had alot of good laughs from her. Don't worry Dajieda, I will practise driving and be careful even though I have passed.

I met up with friends from elders for steamboat dinner too. We went to our usual Chongqing steamboat and sat at the same table again! Haha think we have been there like 5 times already? Every time we were allocated to the same table! Guess it's because our group is quite large. Steamboat buffet + delicious desserts + fun Daytona races made it a great evening.

Yeah!! I have passed my driving!!

2010-04-01T23:39:00.003+08:00

Today is one of my happiest day in recent weeks!! Reason: Passed driving test!!

I am ssssoooooooo happy!! So happy to the extent that I almost cried tears of joy!

Haha what an irony...I cried when I had failed and now that I have passed I almost cried once more! While taking the test, I thought I would have failed again. It was such a pleasant surprise when I heard that I have passed.

This is something that I have been working hard for the past 8 months. But frankly speaking, I enjoyed the whole process ALOT. The only ugly spot was when I failed my first attempt. That had discouraged me and I somehow lost interest in driving. However, soon after, my interest in driving was reignited again.

Now that I am tired after all the excitement and emotional ride that I had today, I start to wonder how will it be like driving on the road. No more instructors by my side to help me correct my steering technique and giving me advices. I have to be independent and make my own judgements. No more simple "turn left, make u-turn ahead" directions anymore too.

A few years back, I would never have thought that I can drive. Driving seems to be something reserved for others. Driving a car was something too huge for me to handle. But now, I am going to make it part of my daily life. Hopefully, I can handle it well.

TMR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-31T21:56:00.002+08:00

Oh man!!!!! It's tmr!!! Coming once again!!!

I am getting nervous over it once again!! Hopefully history won't repeat!! I am trying hard to remind myself of Dajieda's advice - Don't have expectations.

Ah!!! Think tonight will be a sleepless night!

Sad news from Suju

2010-03-27T22:58:00.002+08:00

I had a presentation yesterday and luckily it went alright. It was so nerve-wrecking! We had prepared for it the whole week (I mean it) and yet I wasn't very confident about it. I guess it's because the benchmark has been set high by previous presenters and hence, we have high demands of ourselves. Luckily it's over! But one more presentation to go again~

By the way, there's sad news coming from Suju. Hangeng, the Chinese member of the group has left the group. He has some disputes about his contract and is now pursuing solo career. Haiz so disappointing.

End of FYP is not the end of work!

2010-03-23T20:27:00.002+08:00

I have watched a HongKong movie recently called Another Pandora's Box and it's super hilarious and brainless. I had a good laugh!

But sad to say, presentations and write-ups are dampening my mood. Haiz, post-FYP is not equal to freedom how sad! :(

My happiness after FYP was short-lived. I have to worry and think hard for my presentation this coming friday. It's a tough presentation! After this is over, I have another presentation next week and a write-up to submit in the same week! By the time all these presentations and write-ups are over, it's time to study for exams. What a sem!!

Luckily I have meet-ups with friends to de-stress and music to entertain me! I think that I am fast becoming a super junior fan! Oh and driving is one of my pleasures too! Haha I am looking forward to driving classes once again! Hopefully I can keep my hopes and excitement in check so that history won't repeat.

The higher your hopes are, the greater your disappointment will be. I am trying HARD to remind myself this!

End of FYP!!!!!!!!

2010-03-19T23:23:00.004+08:00

I have been waiting for this day!!

Finally I bade goodbye to FYP!!

I don't care whether can I get an A for it or just a D for it. I am just satisfied and proud that I have done it! Writing a 10,000 (or rather mine was just 8,500) research paper had always been thought as a mission impossible for me. I always have trouble writing enough words to reach the word limit (even now for FYP :p). I used to lament "Wah, 3000 words assignment how to do?". Now, that is nothing!

Wahaha that day Pei Kiat and I were talking over SMS and we said that we will miss FYP and better "enjoy" it while we can. I think I will miss it after I graduate. Really memorable in terms of academic work.

After submitting our hard work, Esther, Denise and I could not wait to show our disgust with it! Here's the proof!

After school, I went for a drama skit with Seet, EK and Andy that Seet's bro acted in. It was great! I was surprised and amused by their terrific acting skills. What surprises me most was that the directors are all around our age! I admire their passion for drama!

One more week to hand in report + Kukup with family

2010-03-15T19:38:00.003+08:00

Countdown to the end of my misery! 5 days!!

I am so happy that FYP is finally coming to an end! This afternoon I met up with my prof to discuss about my FIRST draft (ya abit too late)and luckily not many big changes to do. I just want to get it over and done with!

Over the weekend, I went to Kukup with my family and relatives. It was a great trip! This is our second time to charter a bus to Malaysia together. We stayed a night at a chalet with hotel-styled rooms and it was carefree!

We ate aaaaaaaalot of seafood and gambled most of the time! Too bad I was lousy at MJ :( We even set fireworks and put off a total of 6 Kong Ming laterns! This was the second time setting off the lanterns for me as I did it at Sentosa during Ching's birthday. Haha but still I was very excited! This time round, if it fails, it will go directly to the sea and I had a scare at first as it was going downwards before our shouts "brought" it upwards. It was fun!

FYP 1st draft finally done + elders cny

2010-03-11T16:38:00.003+08:00

Finally I have submitted my 1st draft of FYP!! Woohoo!! A super huge load off my mind!! Now I feel so much lighter...seriously!

Right after I was done with my FYP, I met up with clique for dinner and movie. We watched the 3D version of Alice in Wonderland and I think it's good. Considering that it could keep me awake throughout 110mins even though I was tired.

I saw a video clip yesterday that was taken during the CNY celebrations that elders had about 2 weeks back. I do not know how to post the video here cos it's on FB. While watching the video, I had a heart-warming feeling. The elderly had enjoyed themselves and the smiles on their faces really mean alot. It makes all the time spent worthwhile.

Alright, ending off with several photos to mark my memories this week.

Sorry Sorry! Inmates version

2010-03-07T13:34:00.002+08:00

I watched a performance by super juniors on tv recently and I started searching for their videos on youtube. See what I found! It's a dance item by prison inmates to the music of Sorry Sorry! Wow what can I say about super junior's popularity!!

I need inspiration!!

2010-03-05T13:45:00.002+08:00

Help! I need an inspiration badly!! Desperately!!

Oh man! It's going to be the end of recess week and yet I am still at 1000 words only!! How am I going to submit 10,000 words by start of school?!

I have already dedicated the whole week to this report and yet not much progress...sian.

But still thks to friends who make me feel that I am not alone in this! Thks to Dajie and Dajieda too for suggesting studying at library otherwise I would not have gone there for literature!

"Don't push yourself too hard. Take a rest if you're really tired" - I am tired but can I afford to take a rest now?

Interesting Video by Xiao Zhu

2010-03-04T16:39:00.002+08:00

I came across this music video by xiao zhu on mtv and I find it very sweet and fun. There are alot of guest appearances made by artistes who have helped him in one way or another over the years. Enjoy the clip!

Countdown to next driving test...

2010-03-01T23:25:00.004+08:00

Exactly one more month to my driving re-test...

Arh I need to resume my driving lessons again soon. Till now, I still feel abit disappointed. I am no longer excited for driving lessons. In fact, I dread the test.

Anyway, now I should not be thinking of my driving but my FYP instead! Oh man! I just dislike FYP!

Headaches faced in usual writing essay assignment x 100 = FYP!!

One thing to cheer about...iphone!!

I am enjoying the companion of my iphone everyday! There are so many games that are threatening to keep me hooked and I am always tempted to download new songs for my iphone. I should have got it earlier! :p

Backstreet's back alright!!

2010-03-01T01:00:00.002+08:00

Wow had a great evening with Agnes at the BSB concert!

Perhaps it was FYP that was bogging me, I did not feel very excited for this concert at first. Agnes and I were still thinking of sitting down throughout the concert but the moment the music came on, we were up standing on our chairs!

Haha super high throughout! I sneaked a few rests on the chair when they showed some funny videos though.

This concert is really much better than the one they had previously. BSB danced ALOT, had dancers with them this time round and changed many outfits. Their singing was super good and dancing was super stylish!! One word to describe it all - high!!

I can't wait to go for another BSB concert with Agnes next year and also Jay Chou's one!! Arh! Pray hard that can get Jay Chou's concert tickets this time round!!

But for now, back to reality...crack my brain over FYP :(

Finally owner of iphone

2010-02-23T22:13:00.002+08:00

Yeah!! Finally I own an iphone!!

But I am abit disappointed that I could not trade in my old phone. It's faulty but it could be switched on and so I was hoping that I can trade it in for a further $100 off. But apparently, a black screen will appear awhile after it's on and it becomes hanged. So got rejected.

Hopefully the journey with iphone will be smooth-sailing!!

CNY '10 + First Experience of Tour Guide!

2010-02-21T21:20:00.003+08:00

From my last entry till now, I have a few highlights to blog about.

First up is celebrating Ching's birthday with my beloved group of gals from Suzhou trip. We had dinner at Gaia (pronounced as Kaya) Korean restaurant followed by a picnic at Sentosa.

The picnic was very fun and we seem to have the whole place to ourselves. We ate delicious Bakerzin mango cake, drank champagne, wrote our wishes on the Kongming Teng and opened up the presents. It was very exciting and fun when a group of gals tried setting off the Kongming Teng without any prior experience and even wanted to get it back. Whenever I pass by the spot, I will be reminded of our adventure!

On the eve of CNY's eve, I went for a hotel stay at Conrad with clique. We walked to Clarke Quay for some drinks and the guys took turns wearing our heels after the alcohol effect set in. It was hilarious! Heels are just too painful for me and Seet. As a result, we changed out of our heels once we were out of Suntec and wore our comforting slippers on the way, before changing back to heels once we reached the mouth of Clarke Quay. Below are some photos taken that day. More hotel stays to come!!!

CNY was full of food and Blackjack games. I think that the visitings are getting more mundane as it's the same routine every year. The things that excite me still are the food, gambling and hongpaos!! Huat ar!! :D

Right after CNY break, I acted as a semi tour guide for a group of my Dad's friends. It was fun but tiring! I went to places that I have never been before because these are places that only tourists would go and locals like me would never want to spend so much money on the admission fees. I went in for free! That's the benefit of being a tour guide. Maybe I can be a tour guide next time?? Being a tour guide needs to be able to talk for the whole day and I can do that! But the drawback is that it is really a very tiring job and heard that the pay is not really good. But anyway, this time round it was rewarding!

Power of Photoshop!

2010-02-07T22:50:00.004+08:00

The other day I tried doing photoshop and it was fun! Haha I remembered what Dajieda taught me in using liquify and I experimented with 2 photos! Here's the outcome...

See the difference in the last 2 photos?! That's the power of photoshop. But too bad I forgot how to change the colours etc, otherwise it will be even more different! Hey you who is reading this, let's take more photos and I can do photoshop (b4 my trial ends)!

Failed.

2010-02-04T21:30:00.002+08:00

Failed.

That's the word that marked my day today.

I was very upset when I received my practical driving test result. While driving, I knew this would be the outcome but of course, I tried holding on to the glimpse of hope till the very last.

I made some stupid blunders because of my nervousness and I know that is totally my fault.

My sadness and disappointment overflowed the moment I told my Mum the news. It continued flowing while I broke the news to my Dad and Seet. It was just like a pandora's box, without any end to it.

Luckily, Dajieda arrived soon after to pick me up. I am very glad that she was there. Really. She made me smile again. Once again, she has touched me deeply. Thank you so much for today, Dajieda. I will get the present from you in my 2nd attempt!

Stretchmarks are a bonus in Mauritania

2010-02-01T09:25:00.002+08:00

3 more days to driving test!!! I shall not have high expectations for it but I am excited!!

Yesterday I went to have a haircut and while waiting for my turn, I came across an interesting article in a magazine. It's about how Mauritanian women are trying to be fat so that they can be loved by others.

If you are thinking about the ancient Chinese notion of beauty whereby fat is beauty, hm I think it's about the same idea but not sure if the reason behind it is the same.

Apparently, Mauritanian women, from the young age of 14 are sent to camps whereby they are "trained" to be fat. They would drink full cream goat's milk, have heavy meals and sleep or lie around most of the time. They are watched by "teachers" called the fatteners whose job is to make sure that these girls put on alot of weight. Force-feeding is a common practice in these camps because of the aim of making them fat.

And the most alarming thing is that stretchmarks are a bonus! Literally! One fattener said that she will receive bonus from parents if a girl has stretchmarks!

The reason behind this tradition of theirs is that the size of the women will signify the wealth of their husbands. A bigger size woman will show that her husband is able to provide for her even when others are starving.

This tradition of course met some threats when Western images of beauty slipped into their country. Girls who were under the influnece of western media did resist this tradition once before but with a new political regime in place and the encouragement of back-to-basic lifestyle, such camps are in vogue again. Interesting isn't it!

Yellow Ribbon

2010-01-27T23:02:00.003+08:00

Today went for the career fair with Ching and Esther and I must say that it wasn't very constructive. I only left my resume with one organisation and didn't even take a single name card. The reason - applications and information are all done through online.

Anyway, today I had dinner at a hawker stall that is owned and operated by former prisoners. They serve huge portions of western food for average prices of $5 and are very popular among customers there. While having my dinner, there were endless orders from customers and these guys made the effort to serve every customer well despite being very busy.

While having my meal, I was reminded of the yellow ribbon project. The image of the advertisement came to my mind. A guy with tattoos all over his back was trying hard to reach for a tag stuck on his back but he cant seem to remove the label.

These guys at the hawker remind me of the labels that people always stick onto others, with or without their consent. To me, these guys totally do not fit the label of ex-convict because everytime when I see them, they are always very hardworking and trying to serve good food to their customers. It's only their tattoos that remind others of their past.

If only we do not fix labels onto others. Labels are misleading. I admit that I am guilty of doing it.

Feeling emo :(

2010-01-26T16:52:00.003+08:00

I always wanted to blog about events that happened but I was too plain lazy.

Anyway, just now I was feeling emo while browsing through photos developed for Suzhou trip.

I seriously miss the wonderful friends and those good times we spent there. To me, it's those small nitty things we did together that are most memorable to me.

I miss climbing with Ching to our room on the 4th floor. I miss having instant noodles cum tea leaf eggs party at Dajie's room. I miss being childish with Dajieda (the long xu tang incident especially!). I miss shopping together at Auchang supermarket like a family. I miss searching the whole Guan Qian Jie for Papa Johns pizzarie. I miss getting excited over delivery hotlines. I miss looking out for the other girls when the other bus passes by. The list goes on...

Memories still flash through my mind everyday even though the trip had ended like more than 1 month ago.

Yesterday, I met up with Dajieda and she drove me to develop some additional photos and also her house. I enjoy her company alot. She and Dajie are always very funny!

Message to...

Dajie: Thanks for organising our next trip! If you need help tell me hor! Hopefully it will materialise!

Dajieda: Hurry finish your 5 chapters! I want to know the answer soon!

Ching: I have done my part in fulfilling your wish today! Btw are u excited about Mission 0902?

Erjie: Check your email! Left u haven reply!

Dread

2010-01-21T22:09:00.001+08:00

What I have been escaping from is here...within a minute it has upset my mood :(

First week of school = Holiday

2010-01-16T10:48:00.002+08:00

It's so sickening that my appeals for the comm studies modules got rejected and now I am camping in front of my laptop hoping that some kind soul will drop the modules and I can add them in time.

Second week of school is starting and I am getting nervous. I am not at all prepared for the start of school. I was totally living my first week of school just like I was having holidays. FYP is the greatest monster which I am trying hard to run away from.

I have heard of friends who spent most of their Dec holidays going back to school almost daily to do their FYP. While they were toiling away for their FYP, I was enjoying in Suzhou and Taiwan. I deceived myself that it's because they are from engineering and hence different from mine. But that lie is not working anymore. I need to wake up from my holiday mood!!

This holiday had just been too wonderful, making it difficult for me to wake up.

Not only were the trips terrific, meet-ups with friends in Singapore were great too.

Of course, I met up with clique and it's always fun to be with them. I miss Seet's randomness and her crazy ideas. We went to Sentosa and had some fun under the sun before we headed to Yangtze and also to tea chapter. What diverse activites we had for that day!

I met up a couple of times with Dajie, Dajieda, Erjie as well as Ching and all the meet-ups we had were full of love and laughter. The best place for our meet-ups is definitely dajie's place where we can have a cosy sleepover!

I went out with friends from elders too and always had a nice time chatting with them, especially Pei Kiat who laughs with me for nothing. I visited the auntie at the home too and I am glad to see that she is doing better but worried at the same time that she only opens up to the few of us and not the juniors.

Things that I am looking forward to...BSB concert and more meet-ups with friends!!

Driving again after 5 weeks!

2010-01-08T22:26:00.003+08:00

Arh! I have resumed my driving lessons again...after 5 weeks!

My driving skills were abit rusty but luckily nothing embarrassing happened. Arh! I think that circuit courses are so much more difficult! Aiyo!!

Driving test in less than a month!! I am getting worried!!

Anyway, school is starting next week!! Sian!! As a result, this week was full of meet-ups with friends!

QB is off to HK and we had a dinner together to send him off! It was an expensive but nice meal. We had a mini gift exchange as well and hopefully QB likes our gifts. I finally had the chance to go K too after so long! (Haha the one in taiwan not counted)

I finally met up with the girls from Suzhou GIP and we had a great time! We had an auntie-themed MJ session! Haha it was hilarious and the loser did a forfeit by wearing the most auntie shirt to Orchard where we had dinner. Haha we miss each other so much that we are going to have a sleepover tmr and there's a theme again!

Elders is full of gossip recently and everytime we meet up now, there's gossiping session! Haha during countdown, food hunt and steamboat dinner, there's always new updates. Oh no! We are becoming a gossiping agency...but it's funny! :p

Nice end to year 2009!

2009-12-31T14:59:00.004+08:00

Today is the last day of 2009! That's fast! I had an enjoyable December to mark the end of 2009 and I am happy!

Both Suzhou and Taiwan trips were fun and I enjoyed them tremendously.

In fact, I am glad that I went for the Suzhou trip. At first, I was contemplating whether to go for the trip as it was costly and was not what I wanted actually (I wanted to go Beijing). But now, I am so glad that I went!

It's a trip that will remain etched in my memory forever. I made some very good friends there and had a great experience. Till now, more than one week after the trip, I still miss my friends and the times we spent there.

Taiwan trip was fun as well although Suzhou trip is still unbeatable!

I tried many different snacks at Taiwan and shopped alot! I have heard and seen so much about Taiwan snacks on TV shows and I finally had the chance to try them.

I dislike eating oysters but when I went there, I quite like the oysters. They were sweeter and did not have a weird taste. Chicken cutlet there is really big and clams are very sweet and fresh!

On top of eating alot, I bought alot too! We spent one whole day at Wufenpu and at the end of the day, I was dead. You will never realise how tired you are when shopping until you have finished shopping and sit down. Then, all the tiredness will overwhelm you. Not joking.

We went sightseeing at some of the famous places of interest such as Fisherman's Warf, Jiufen, Ye Liu and Xiao Ren Guo. The scenery there is quite nice and I like the ancient street (lao jie) at Jiufen the most! It gives a very cosy feel!

Alright, I had a nice end to 2009 and hopefully 2010 will be great too (or even better)!

A sneak preview to Taiwan trip photos...

I miss Suzhou!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-24T00:11:00.004+08:00

I miss Suzhou!!

I miss the bunch of girls alot!!!

I miss walking in the cold hooking hands with one another, spending our nights chatting before we fall asleep together and the laughter that we had!!

It's really amazing to me how a group of 8 girls managed to bond so close together after just 2 weeks. We clicked immediately on our first day spent together!!

This group of girls made my Suzhou trip very memorable and fun!! Everyday we would have classes in the morning followed by sightseeing in the afternoon and shopping at night. We travelled everywhere by cab and had meals in restaurants. What a life!!

I am very touched by the bonds that we created and shared in this trip. One of them gave me a musical carousel while another gave Ching a snow globe. We were very touched by their gifts. These gifts were what we wanted and they bought for us secretly!

What can I say about them? They are just so wonderful! When I lamented that I have a sore throat, one of them bought me herbal lozenges. She bought me the musical carousel too when she knew that I wanted it. I walked passed the shop twice commenting that the carousel was very pretty. I did not even dare to walk into the shop as I knew it will be expensive and I was on a budget. Little did I imagine that she would go back to the shop to buy it for me! I was so surprised!!That's the day I teared. I felt blessed!!

I am looking forward to the day that we meet again!!

2009-12-07T23:58:00.002+08:00

Hey peeps!

I am in KL airport now! Haha waiting for transit flight...see u guys next month!!

Driving in the rain

2009-11-20T13:21:00.002+08:00

Warning! Flash floods will be a norm till January!

Thats according to the weather forecast on papers. Yesterday, I was stuck in one of those flash floods in a car! Yup, I was DRIVING when it happened. Haha I always lament to my instructors that hopefully it will not rain when I am driving because I guess it will be tough driving on a wet road.

Ta-dah it happened yesterday and it was one of the worst flash floods so far this month. I was driving along Bukit Batok and Choa Chu Kang area when it started pouring. The rain was so heavy that I panicked. Haha it's the first time driving in the rain for me. The visibility was so low! I could only see the traffic lights and car headlights when I am near them. If a guy suddenly dash across the road, I guess it will be a hit-and-run accident already. I couldn't see anything practically except for those lights.

There were floods in those areas too but not as bad as reported in the papers.Phew! Otherwise I will be pushing the car as what some did.

My instructor threw me a challenge midway through - drive in such heavy downpour during night. No way!

Interesting Video

2009-11-18T18:30:00.000+08:00

Here's an interesting video about SU in school. Haha just 2 weeks ago our prof showed us the same video but with different themes. What he showed was Hitler talking about sg politics and something else. It's funny that the same video clip can be translated into different themes. These producers are good in "putting words into Hitler's mouth"!

Enjoy!

(I can't seem to embed the video here so click on the link!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-wN5-NvC8g

I am so broke!

2009-11-16T22:05:00.002+08:00

Ah! I want to get a camera so that I can capture nice shots in China and Taiwan!! But I am so broke now :(

Haiz...now that my phone is spoilt, I can't take any photos at all when I go there. Sobs :(

Anyway, exams are coming! Mine is starting next week! Argh I still have tonnes of readings to read and FYP report to do! FYP is so ma fan!

I am enjoying driving!

2009-11-12T22:58:00.002+08:00

Wow Pandas are coming to Singapore!!

That's a great piece of news for today. I think that they are an amazing kind of animal, always cute and make me want to find out more about them. Finally I can see them again.

Anyway, I think that driving is fun...for now. So far I have been on the road driving around Bukit Batok area and even went to Clementi. I am still at the stage whereby trying to learn all the turns, overtaking etc. I like this stage. I guess next stage will be what I dread...the circuit courses and parking! But for now I enjoy driving!!

Flying off soon!!

2009-11-09T21:57:00.002+08:00

Today is 9 Nov and I am flying off on 7 Dec...less than one month!!!!

I am getting excited for the trips coming dec. I am excited to experience winter! I have not tried weather that is so cold yet. I can't wait to wear the winter coat, put on gloves and scarf and maybe pairing them with boots??

As for taiwan trip, I am excited about the food! I want to try their night market snacks!

How I wish exams to quickly end!

By the way, Christmas lighting at Orchard is up already! The lighting ceremony was on Saturday and the lights are beautiful, giving a cosy feel instead of the usual icy cool feel. But too bad my handphone camera did not manage to capture it well.

2nd driving lesson was eventful! + Boardgaming with elders friends

2009-10-25T11:01:00.004+08:00

I had my 2nd driving lesson on Friday, 1 and half months after my previous class and it was eventful! Haha I mounted a kerb, forgot how to engage the gear and drove on the public road!!

I should not have stopped classes for so long. Next lesson...monday.

Anyway, went to Minds cafe with some elders friends to have some fun before we start mugging for exams. It's 1 month from now!!

As usual, Minds cafe is always equal to laughter and fun. It was a good time to destress before mugging starts.

After that, we headed to Mr Curry, a restaurant under Waraku for dinner. I like the place deco alot! It has the setting of a home kitchen and it makes you feel cosy. They have cute mascots as well.

Food wise, they serve curry omelette rice, curry udon, curry sukiyaki etc. Everything that is japanese and has curry, they have it. To me, the food was not bad, especially since they have student promotion of 25% off. :p

See the colourful pieces? It's a strategy game called Blokus (think it's spelt in this way). I like this game alot!

Looks like we are in a fanciful kitchen right? It gives me a very cosy feel. Haha we had a fun time "exploring" the kitchen.

Cheers!

The other day, went to Little India and Dairy Farm for some photo-taking and looked for inspirations for my assignment. It's due in 2 weeks time but I still have not thought of a topic to do.

Chanced upon the quarry below and it's a nice scenic place. There was a description of the quarry and some ideas came to mind but they are all floating around in my mind, can't put them down into practical research questions. Haiz. I need to think of a topic soon and this topic must only concern some observation work and maybe photographs. I don't want to do interviews!

Halloween + Canopy lunch

2009-10-18T21:31:00.004+08:00

Hey! Listen to FM 933 on this coming wednesday 6pm! Me and QB will be on air!!

Thanks to QB who won a contest on a radio programme, I had a free lunch and will be on radio for the first time! We did some food reviews and I must say, it can be quite stressful! But it was definitely fun!! So tune in on wednesday!! I wonder how it will turn out to be though.

Here are the 2 DJs for the radio programme.

Halloween is coming!

This year, we decided to celebrate it for the first time and we went to night safari. I would say that it's fun and we had some good screams but it's abit costly.

We took the train of terror and almost fall asleep at the beginning until those "things" came to wake us up. One of "them" even came onto our tram and sat next to QB for awhile, giving us screams and laughter.

The most fun part for me was the forest trail. Normally visitors will take approx. 20mins to finish the trail but we did it in record-breaking timing - 5mins!! Haha that was because we were running almost throughout the whole trail. I was blocked by one of those "things" midway somemore!

We took photos with some of the roaming "things" near the entrance and I really applaude them! They were perspiring alot and yet they still kept up with their acting very well.

Alright...more photos on FB!

Away for the whole month of Dec

2009-10-15T20:15:00.002+08:00

I have handed in my acceptance letter and paid $1K this afternoon!!

It's the GIP Prelude to Suzhou that I am talking about. I have received their offer a few days back and had to make a decision fast. I was contemplating whether to go or not as its around $2K in total! Oh my...heartache!!!

But since it's a rare and last opportunity for me, I shall just go. (Hopefully I won't regret *cross fingers*)

That means that for the whole month of Dec I will be away!

I will be departing for Suzhou a few days after my last paper and after that I will be back for 1day before flying off for Taiwan. So actually not really for the whole month, but close. Not sure will I suffer from jet lag anot since I will be back for one day only before flying off again.

After these 2 trips, I will be so broke. Or rather, I am broke already :(

Tuition Craze!

2009-10-09T10:21:00.002+08:00

In the midst of tuition craze now! Luckily it's ending soon!!

I am so looking forward to Monday whereby all my tuition jobs end. PSLE is draining, for parents, students and tutors like me.

I want to fast-forward time!!

Interesting grapes!

2009-10-06T23:03:00.002+08:00

Wow I just chanced upon an incredible kind of grapes!

No, it's not the usual red or green kind of grapes. Instead, it looks something like giant blueberries, with a dark blue hue. The grapes have thick fleshy meat. Chewing the grapes seem like chewing gummies. It's that thick! It's taste is very interesting too, maybe abit like champage?

The most incredible thing is the skin can be removed with ease. Just a little squeeze and the skin gets detached fom the fleshy meat immediately.

Not that I am advertising this grape, but it's really incredible! I wonder whether is it GMF. By the way, its called campbell early grapes from Korea. Go try them!!

Recess week has been fun but its over~

2009-10-05T22:36:00.004+08:00

Ah...recess week is over. :(

I just received an email from my prof saying that he wants to meet THIS FRIDAY for us to update him on our fyp data collection. I am so dead! I have not done anything for fyp. This thursday I have a quiz somemore. How to do fyp??

During recess week, me, seet, ben and ek went to cafe iguana for some drinks. The place has a nice Mexican deco with delicious nachos. But we missed the one-for-one drinks timeslot though. Below was taken inside the cafe and it seems like my face has become red from the alcohol.

Hey readers! There's a good deal at Settlers' Cafe now. It's called recession package whereby its $7 for boardgaming on every monday evening from 6pm to 10pm. 4 hours of fun for $7 not bad right! I got to know this deal after I went there with ex-interns for some fun.

Haha we were trying to imitate the statue outside SMU.

Haha that was a realistic expression! We some sort bid farewell to the guy with the realistic expression as he is going into army soon. While getting a card for him, it was so funny. We got him a "get well soon" card and wrote that it's just 2 years he will recover soon.

Met up with Ching, Esther, Denise and ASK for some post-birthday celebration. Haha I was most surprised to see the word hardworking in the card. They got me the card and cash for me to save up to buy a jigsaw puzzle that I want. Thanks gals and guy!!

We went to this restaurant called Tampopo in Liang Court for dinner and we had free desserts! The desserts were the best part of the food!

We, the sept gals! Ching brought us some interesting cakes and they were hiding behind some pillar to light up the candle. Haha but esther and I caught them! :p

Some friends from elders and I decided to celebrate mid-autumn together and we went searching around Yishun for a suitable place. We drove to a couple of places around Yishun before we settled at Yishun Dam.

Yishun Dam is such a nice place!! The first time I got to know of that place was when Andy drove passed the place on our way to Sunset Grill. This time round, I managed to sit down at the side of the dam and enjoy the breeze. It's a very lovely place for families and friends to hang around and relax.

Below are photos taken when we were there. Oh heard from a friend that some cars do illegal racing at that place at night. We saw some of those cars there but in the end they did not race as the place was quite crowded even though it was past midnight.

Haha colour code for the day was black and that explains why we were all in black. (just joking)

Can you read the word?? Yes its elders!! Haha we had a challenging time trying to do this word using candles. It's no easy feat!! While doing it, I regretted suggesting the idea and somemore I gave up halfway through :p

Lastly a group photo to mark the end of the celebration. Wow it has been a decade since I last took a lantern!! It's fun to reminisce about childhood days! :D

Recess week?

2009-09-28T11:15:00.005+08:00

Recess week is here! But I guess this week will be more busy than normal school week. I will be having tuition EVERYDAY (bcos PSLE is next week)!! Meeting up with friends almost everyday too. A tall pile of readings to be read too. Shall see how.

Anyway, here to post some photos. I won't be posting all photos ( night at clarke quay with the girls and the zi char session are on FB).

Here are photos from the night spent near Seletar Airport. We went to this hidden eatery called Sunset Grill which is located right next to the runway tracks of Seletar Airport. It's really a surprise that such a place exists. It's like you have to explore through a long winding road before you reach the place. As the airport for private jets is just nearby, you can have a close view of the airplanes.

Alright, the photos are all above. Ice cream was from Udders. Their taste is very rich!

F1 Coming!!

2009-09-24T12:07:00.002+08:00

F1 is finally here!!

Finally they all have arrived in Singapore and the practice race is starting tmr! I can't wait to see what drama will unfold in this year's night race. Finally I can watch the race on tv as well.

Not only is the race on, there are many performances going on too! Black eyed peas, Beyonce, Zhang hui mei, Jacky Cheung and BSB!! I want to watch their performances but it's so expensive!! The cheaper walkabout tickets have already sold out long time ago. Haiz.

Have to make do with just listening their recorded music for now. Hopefully there will be another chance soon!

Photos of night out with gals

2009-09-20T22:49:00.002+08:00

Opps I mentioned in my previous entry that I want to post some photos but haven done it...so I am here to post them tonight.

Have been busy recently. Busy with tuitions (3 tuition assignments can be a killer!), meeting up with friends, coping with school work (I seriously need recess week to catch up with my readings!) and whatnot. If one day I lost my planner, I will be so dead!

Last Tuesday, we had the ministerial forum in school and that allowed me to know our PM better. It wasn't really a fun fun experience but more of an interesting dialogue session.

The topic for that night was whether Singapore has room for more and PM talked about room for immigrants and foreign workers in his speech.

That somehow set me thinking.

How do you define an immigrant and a foreign worker?

Immigrant as someone who migrate to live in Singapore and hold our passport for long-term while foreign worker as someone who comes and work only when our economy demands.

I know there are restrictions on foreign workers like how maids cannot marry and live in Singapore otherwise their employers lose their deposit of $5000.

But what about immigrants? Are there criterias that they need to fulfill in order to be an immigrant? Eg. certain educational qualifications, their working expertise which can benefit us or their level of income?

It is interesting that PM made the point that we know intellectually that we need to accept immigrants into our country but it is just that in reality, we can't bring ourselves to do it. I quite agree with him. It seems to be that our minds are in tension with our hearts.

Maybe I shall post the photos other day. Haha another delay because I am sleepy already.

A year older...

2009-09-14T16:29:00.003+08:00

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and presents!!!!!!

I am officially one year older already...thats just so fast!!

I have not been blogging for quite awhile because my internet connection has been down. I realised how technology has played such a big role in my life. I will feel something amiss when I can't log in to internet, when I can't watch TV or when my HP is not with me.

I wanted to blog about some stuff but forgot what they were already.

Anyway, I enjoyed Friday's night out at Clark Quay with the few girls. I missed the ramen at Central alot and managed to satisfy the craving that evening. Yummy! We had delicious desserts and marvellous muffins too! It was nice to chill over some drinks by the riverside as well. Haha I had a surprise when they passed me birthday presents from them and some other friends too.

Alright...shall post photos the next time. Shall talk about how some 22 years old adults, male and female, got excited by a simple toy game too :D

I want holiday!

2009-08-31T23:22:00.002+08:00

I want holiday!!

Over the weekend, I went to the Natas fair with some friends and I am sssssssssssooooo tempted to go on holiday!

I have already applied for GIP Prelude in China for 2 weeks in Dec. Hopefully I get it! I want to go to Taiwan in Dec too! There are some discounts for young tourists in the age range of 15 to 30!

Need to save money!!

I have passed my basic theory!! + tea appreciation

2009-08-24T14:01:00.003+08:00

Woohoo!!

I have passed my basic theory test for driving!! Haha now I am one step closer to becoming a driver! My first practical is starting in another 2 weeks time! That's making me nervous! I am going to drive a car in 2 weeks time!

Haha alright enough of exclaimations. Anyway, I have just handed in my research proposal for FYP and it's really a relief now. I was worried that my prof will make me re-formulate my research questions or make any major adjustments. Luckily there were only some minor adjustments. Now I have to start sourcing for dramas (haha I love this part) and respondents to interview.

Alright, share with you readers a good place to chill. It's not the usual kind of chilling place you all are imagining. No booze, no music. There's only tea. It's a place where you get to learn how to appreciate tea and the proper way of drinking tea. Want to have a feel of "chinese culture"? That's the place to go. It's hidden among the pubs and clubs near Maxwell Food Centre and its cheap, costing only around $6 for unlimited time. You can chill and chat there till they close.

Some photos of that place:

The waiter demonstrated the proper way of drinking tea to us and after that each of us tried. Chinese culture is interesting!

Taiwan's sad crisis

2009-08-15T23:38:00.002+08:00

Oh man! Why is it so difficult to think of a topic for FYP?!

I thought I have successfully come out with a topic until I met my prof. I thought I have a direction for my FYP already but now it seems like I have to re-think it through and I have no idea where to start.

Anyway, yesterday I was watching this fund-raising show on TV for Taiwan's rescue and rebuilding efforts after the typhoon. I didn't realise that the impact of the typhoon was so great until I saw the images on the show.

Some villages were buried by the mud and what replaces them now is just a flat ground. Not much debris, just a flat ground. It does not look anything like a village existed there before. Reports had it that dozens of families were washed away and buried, together with their houses.

It was especially heart-wrenching when I heard an elderly woman in her 70s saying in a sombre voice to the empty ground ahead of her in Hokkien : "I have not eaten. Son, I am waiting for you to come back to eat together."

Hopefully Taiwan will recover soon.

JB trip with Elders Friends!

2009-08-10T17:22:00.002+08:00

Oh no I have been eating too much good food recently, putting on weight le. :(

Anyway, last Saturday I went to JB with some friends from Elders. It was a great trip!! Haha we shopped alot and ate alot too!!

The things there are really cheap! I bought shirts for less than SG $5!!!! Haha in the end we shopped for a few hours but still did not manage to finish exploring the whole shopping mall.

After shopping was dinner time! We took cabs to a hawker centre for seafood and again its....cheap!! We split into 2 tables and for mine, we ordered Stingray, herbal chicken, cereal prawns, vegetables, sotong, la-la and you tiao for only SG $10 per pax!!! The food was nice too!!

The night before, I went to Lau Pa Sat with some friends for dinner and we ordered Stingray too. Haha I am a stingray lover. It costs us $15 for a large one. Over at the hawker in JB, an equally large one costs us around that same price too, but in Ringgit!

All in all, I spent about SG$80 for transport, shopping, Secret Recipe lunch and seafood dinner!! It was a cheap and fun trip!!

What shld be my FYP topic? + van's bday

2009-08-06T10:48:00.003+08:00

Oh man! Less than one week to the start of school!! That's so fast!!!!

Next friday I have to meet my FYP prof for a discussion of my research topic and yet I still have no slightest idea what I want to do. I realise that media is a very wide research area. Argh!! I need to start thinking soon!!

Anyway, a few days back I went to Vanessa's 21st birthday celebration. Haha when I was there, I kept hearing my name and I would instinctly respond to it. But as time goes by, I started not to respond to it anymore. Is this called classical conditioning? I can't really remember the name of this psychological term.

Above and below were taken at Vanessa's birthday.

Above and below photos were taken at NBS convocation. Pei Kiat, Priscilla and I attended the convo of some of our Elders friends. Within a day, 5 of them had their convo. Pei Kiat just came back from Beijing then and hence, the 3 of us had a good catching-up session while waiting for Ailing's convo as hers was the latest in the evening.

2 days back, I met up with Agnes for some shopping before we met up with Seet and Ben for dinner. We went to Ion for dinner and the place is huge! Haha it is interesting to note how the more affordable shops are located at the basement levels while the luxury brands are located at the top few levels!

Reunion with RVPS 6B'99

2009-08-03T23:03:00.004+08:00

It has been 10 years!!

Last Saturday I met up with some of my primary school classmates and it was the first time I met them after so many years. We graduated from our primary school in 1999 and so it has been exactly 10 years since we graduated.

In secondary school days, I did meet up with some closer friends for visits to our primary school but after that, we just lost contact. Thankfully through Facebook I managed to get back in contact with them again. Haha the power of FB!

It was a nice gathering with 17 of us attending and included a special appearance by our science teacher. A couple of my close friends were there too but I was greedy, hoping to see a few more :p

It's nice to reminisce about the good old days and I am glad that these close friends are still the same, enabling us to click just like before.

One of the ladies is a South Korean. Haha the first time I wrote Korean words was when I wrote her address on a letter to her back then. Guess which is it!

The girls who attended!

The guy surrounded by ladies was my science teacher in primary 5.

A group photo!

I am on my way to become a driver!

2009-07-26T22:22:00.008+08:00

Yeah! I have finally registered for my driving course a few days back!

Now I have finally embarked on my journey to become a driver...and that already costs me $150! In less than one month's time, I will take my basic theory test. I was so nervous and excited on the day of my registration. I saw many women students on the road driving L-plated cars. Soon, I will be one of them!

Ta-dah!! Hopefully this BBDC card will make way for a driving license soon.

The other day me and Denise Loh had a one-day working stint at Shangri-La hotel for an event. The place is nice, even the toilets! Our job was quite slack and hence we took photos to kill time.

Guess where were we?! We were in the toilets!! They have chairs and tables at one end for ladies to touch-up their make-up and rest their tired legs after all the high-heels.

Ben had a skit performance last night and it was good! We went and took some photos too.

Internship has officially ended!

2009-07-21T12:39:00.007+08:00

My internship has officially ended last Saturday! I still have to submit a report and e-logbook entries to my prof though.

Anyway, this entry is dedicated to my internship. Here are some photos that mark the highlights of my internship. There are more photos at FB.

My first big event. A 24-hour camp which exposes me to the fashion scene. It was fun getting to know those ITE girls too!

My first punk'd experience. I returned to work one day to find my desk "decorated". That was when I was still sitting with the rest of them at a row of tables with a beautiful scenery in front. I don't have photos of my 2nd punk'd experience. It's in videos.

Above 2 were birthday celebrations during lunch hour. In the end, we were later than usual :x

My flagship event for the whole internship!!

Haha this is the event which I helped out the most, from contacting vendors, performers, planning programme outline, doing an admin programme for Mayor, emcee script to being the in-charge for performances on that day.

From the left, you have the acting mayor, minister and chairperson. Haha we were asked to be the VIPs for rehearsal during an event.

It was our first and only event whereby all interns got to go. It was like an outing to Ikea for interns!

Our karaoke session! We had a great time singing and teasing :p

A place that gathered all of us together! It was taken on our last day in office! We bade goodbyes to all in the morning.

My ally in office! We stand united against the bullies - the guys.

This is my boss. He is a great supervisor and friend!

This is my boss's assistant. She is very funny and crazy. Haha whenever she and her partner are not in office, the place will be super quiet. I could not get a photo of her partner because she is camera-shy. Everyday, they make me laugh.

Lastly, a pair of shoes painted by my boss's assistant. Ya, the one in blue above. She is very good in painting shoes and she did one for me and another for Fifi, a fellow intern, as farewell gifts. She took one day leave to do it for us! The most amazing thing is, the shoes fit us perfectly even though we did not tell her our sizes!

I will miss them all!

Last day of internship!

2009-07-18T00:28:00.002+08:00

Wow today has been a day full of emotions!!

It's my last day in office today! Tmr I will have my last event and that's the end of my internship!

Happiness - I can't wait to wake up late. I can slack and rot at home now.

Relieved - The whole internship went smoothly without any major hiccups from my side.

Grateful - I am very grateful to have such a bunch of fun-loving interns with me and easy-going colleagues, especially a great supervisor.

Excitement - It was exciting receiving and giving out farewell gifts. I had an exciting gossiping session with my boss too.

Sad - It's sad to bid goodbye to fellow colleagues and interns.

Touched - I was touched while reading cards from fellow interns and colleagues.

Nostalgic - It seems just like yesterday when we all arrived at the office together from the HQ and met our bosses for the first time. Jumping jacks in office, silly sticking-notepad game, "cordless phone" and jokes about playing rank are very memorable.

To sum it all up, today was full of laughter and hugs and tears almost spilled.

Sad video + Seet and Agnes grad + Prank in office

2009-07-12T23:19:00.005+08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwNOMREP4zs&feature=fvw

The above link shows a video about Micheal Jackson's daughter voicing out in his memorial ceremony. It's a sad video. When I read in an article about what she said in the memorial service, I was very touched. A daughter's love for her dad was so clearly expressed and she has to face such a deep loss at a tender age.

Alright, to a brighter note...my dearest buddies, Seet Ee and Agnes have graduated!!

We attended their convocation ceremony on Thursday and it was exciting. I am happy for them that they are moving on to another chapter of their lives. Graduation is one of the biggest moments in one's life I think. Next year is my turn!

Some photos that we took that day:

One more week to the end of my attachment!!

I am now having a hard time thinking what I should get as farewell gifts for my boss and the team. Argh! Not much time left! I have a budget too and that makes it even more difficult. Should I get for the fellow interns too? Hm...

Anyway, I got punk'd by them on Friday.

The moment I reached the office, I found a note on my desk asking if anything is missing. I found my mouse missing and that's an old trick from them. Hence, I went to search for it and to my horror, my phone became a cordless phone without me noticing! Omg! It was so silly! My phone rang and I picked it up without knowing that the cord has been plucked off. The worst part is, it was being filmed in a video and put on FB without me knowing! Rise of the Revenge!

Planning timetable + MJ's RIP

2009-06-29T11:12:00.002+08:00

Currently I am in office with nothing to do. My boss and my boss's boss are not in office today. So...I shall blog!

Hm...I was planning my timetable for next semester last night and I was quite upset. I will be taking 3 modules next semester, and that's the lowest number of modules in a semester for me so far. But! I will have 5 days week...sad.

I am sure by now everyone will have learnt that Micheal Jackson had died. I was watching MTV last night and they were paying tribute to MJ, showing his music videos, his rehearsals for performances and also interviewing celebrities about his death.

I was surprised to find out that he had actually started advocating against global warming, wars and so on since early 90s. He had many songs in his belt about saving the earth and making it a better place, such as Earth song, Heal the world and We are the children.

To me, he was someone who was very eccentric, by going for plastic surgery which I did not understand and news about him being a child abuser made my impression of him even worse. But now, I think that there are more unseen sides of him.

First big event, or rather THE big event for aThings to cheer anbttachment

2009-06-22T22:25:00.003+08:00

Yeah its finally over!!

The big event that I have been planning so far with my boss is over! Yesterday's event is the biggest event in my whole attachment. It was the main celebration held at Vivocity.

Things to cheer about...

The event went smoothly without any major hiccups. I was in charge of performances and luckily all performers turned up in time. The only part that my management can pick fault on shall be a delay during our fashion show.

I was exposed to the fashion scene too. I was in the middle of all the action that you usually see happening backstage during a fashion show. Half-naked ladies, designers and bras were all around me!

I had an exciting and enriching learning journey about event management. In the short span of 3hours, I learnt tremendous amount of things. Nothing beats being right in the middle of the action.

The end of the event means that I should have more time to slack now. The next big event for my boss is taking place on my last day! Till then, I should be quite free already :)

Oh! Something sad though. I heard that F1 is facing some problem now and this year may very likely be the last year that F1 race will be coming to Singapore. It seems like the teams are having some arguments with the governing body and these teams may start their own race. Commercial rights and so on may prevent the rival race from being telecasted too. Sad.

I own a laptop now!

2009-06-14T23:15:00.002+08:00

Yeah! I finally own a laptop and currently using it to blog! Finally the internet access is working! Thanks andy!

Updates?

Hm my eyes are red again...sian. I tnk my eyes really cannot stand long hours wearing contact lens. For several days I have been wearing my contact lens for abt 16 hours and my eyes became red. It's the same old spot somemore! Now back to specs...

Hm actually I have things that I wanted to blog about but as days passed I forgot what I wanted to blog already. I shall try to blog more frequently, before I forget.

Anyway, I went to the aged home yesterday and had a chat with my regular auntie. I have not been there for 2 months already and I heard from Pris that the auntie was asking about me. I felt quite guilty. When I talked to her yesterday, I was somehow worried. She is still mumbling to herself now and she looks quite lost sometimes. I kept trying to talk to her, hoping that she will stop mumbling to herself. Hope she will get better.

First leave

2009-06-04T00:05:00.004+08:00

Wow! I finally took my first leave...or rather it was time-off.

Haha I think that after starting working, any time that is not spent working is precious. In the end, I will always go out when I don't have to work or when I am released early from work.

Like what I have told some friends, I have shifted to another desk. That's so sad!! I was seriously unhappy about it and my boss knows. Haha but still, I will try to sneak to the old place whenever I can.

Okie tired...ending with a couple of photos.

I was shocked when I went to work sometime last week. My table was "decorated" by the other interns while I was away with my boss. Kong Guan biscuit tin, Giant plastic bag, chocolates, paper cranes, post-it notes, staples and lots of paper planes were on my table and chair.

This was taken when we celebrated a temp staff birthday. We did it over lunch and in the end, we were late. Heard from an intern that we were being complained today for having too much fun. Don't know how true it is though bcos he is always playing pranks. Haha I will find out tmr but hopefully its true bcos I have a bet with him (cross my fingers)

First outing with Projects

2009-05-28T18:13:00.004+08:00

Wow today is the first time I reached home before 5pm after work! Haha thanks to a meeting which was held near my house and it ended early!

So far, work has been good. I don't like the long hours of work but I enjoy the company of the people there and luckily as an intern, I don't have to be responsible for too many things.

Today, the whole team went for lunch together at Restoran Tepak Sireh near Arab street. I heard that the restaurant occupies a former wing of the sultan's house. Therefore, it is very spacious and traditional.

We had a buffet style of Malay food and it was sedap! I heard that the pricing is about $20-$30 per pax. Fortunately, they (or maybe just my boss?) gave me a treat! Yeah!!

On a separate occasion sometime ago, I went to a restaurant near Arab street with uni clique. We tried Lebanese food and it was nice too! However, the portions are small and quite pricey as well.

Here are some photos taken on that day...(thks esther for uploading!!)

I want a holiday!

2009-05-24T22:28:00.002+08:00

Oh my! I really want to go on a holiday!

I was looking at the photos that my cousin had taken in Beijing and I was really tempted. The food looks good and it seems so fun! Pei Kiat is in Beijing too and I really envy her whenever I speak to her on MSN and see her photos. She is really enjoying herself, going to different cities whenever it is public holiday. That's the good thing of travelling to China. You will never run out of places to travel to for sight-seeing.

So many friends are going for their grad-trips now as well. I have seen photos of grad-trips to Taiwan (alot!) , South Korea and Europe. They are giving me the urge to book a flight and fly there immediately!

Haiz...but I cannot harbour that thought for another 8 more weeks.

Night out with Clique at Changi Village

2009-05-17T22:56:00.002+08:00

A long-awaited weekend break is over...sian. After starting work, I realise how precious weekends are. It's the only time that I can wake up late and don't have to work for 8hours or more.

My first weekend after starting attachment was over really quickly.

On Saturday, I was rushing out the minutes for the meeting that I had on Friday. It has been such a long time since I last did minutes. Was it during PW in JC?

After that, I went for tuition before meeting up with Pris and Rachel. Haha we had planned to meet up way before but our plans were always postponed because of our different schedules. Finally we met up on Saturday.

We had dinner at V8 cafe in Bugis and the food was alright. I think Ashtons serve better food than V8. Over dinner, we did alot of catching up. Pris and I realised that it has also been a long time since we last met up with Elders people. I really should make some time to go back to the home, wonder how is the auntie already.

Anyway, I left later on to meet up with Seet and the rest. We headed to Upper Thomson for supper first before managing to persuade Andy and QB to bring us to Changi Village for some action.

It was really "wow"! Heard alot about this place and the people. I finally saw it that night, or rather morning.

First week of Internship

2009-05-14T21:59:00.005+08:00

Wow 4 days of internship have passed!

It feels like more than 4 days have actually passed. We seem to know everybody there already and very much settled down.

I was totally unprepared on my first day and had a scare. But now, I am more or less conditioned already.

Since the events are still some time away, things are not that hectic YET. I still managed to have some very slack time whereby I could chat on MSN and hang around with the other interns.

I would say that the staff there are very friendly to us and the best part is, we have a whole space to ourselves! Haha that is because they have a newly renovated area which was previously unoccupied. Hence, we interns have that whole space to ourselves and also a panaromic view right in front of us.

Some shots I took today (Haha this reflects how free I was today)

In the above photo, can you spot town buildings? Haha we could actually see some office buildings that are in town such as the UOB building, parkview etc...

Btw I found this photo lying around in my phone too. I think it was taken sometime back when Seet and I visited the Asian Civilisation Museum. Oh! I forgot to mention about the Kangxi exhibition in my prev post. Anyway, it's really worth visiting. We enjoyed it alot and gained alot too.

First visit to Singapore Flyer

2009-05-12T22:08:00.003+08:00

Sometime last week, I took the Singapore Flyer together with Seet, Ben and Andy. It was the first ride for us except Seet who tried it a couple of times already. All thanks to the students' special rate of $10, we gave the Flyer a try.

As it was a weekday night, it was not crowded and we were given a capsule to ourselves. We were busy cam-whoring and admiring the view that 30 minutes passed just like that. I would say that the nicest view would be of the expressway with the mini cars.

Anyway, after the ride, we went for some soya beancurd and we wanted to look out for some "happening nightlife". We were too far away from Changi or Geylang and hence settled for Maxwell market. But in the end we were utterly disappointed! There was nothing on in the market except for usual supper-seekers. We walked along the lanes too but nothing interesting caught our attention. Perhaps it was the wrong location or the wrong day.

Some photos taken on that day.

We had dinner at an eatery called Seah Street Deli inside Raffles Hotel. The whole place was American-styled, complete with waiters and waitresses dressed in football jerseys and food counters just like those you can see in old American eateries. Above is not a copy of newspaper but the menu!

Above was taken inside the eatery. Thanks to Ben for getting us 50% off the total bill!!

Above and below are shots taken while we were inside the Singaproe flyer. We wanted to capture a shot of us with the view as backdrop but our cameras did not allow us to do it.

Haha I think below is the only successful shot of us inside the capsule even though we tried umpteen times.

Sentosa Outing with Uni Girls

2009-05-10T22:54:00.003+08:00

This is a long overdued post but late is better than never!

Last week, me and some uni chums had a potluck outing to Sentosa. We organised it before we had our exams to mark the start of our holiday.

The feast included home-made brownies, sandwiches, seaweed chicken, nuggets, jelly, drinks, KFC and macarons! I am missing the food already!

We spent an entire day at the Siloso beach chilling and playing games. As such, some of us were burnt. Some tried playing frisbee but it was too windy and in the end we played our all-time-favourite games...Saboteur and Taboo!

Sentosa is really such a touristy place. All the attractions have admission charges and they are not cheap for us poor students.

The next day, we made our way to Bugis for a belated birthday celebration for Seng Keat. Blog about it other day.

Here are some photos taken on that day.

Night out with clique

2009-05-04T22:09:00.003+08:00

Today I went to Sentosa and I came back burnt. Haha but I am not the worst victim of all. Mine is nothing compared to Ching's lobster-red back. Shall blog about this other day with the photos.

Anyway, two days back, the 7 of us met up for a night out at Orchard. Seet had her last paper that morning and we could not wait to go out together. We went for some shopping first before meeting the rest for dinner and movie.

We watched Friday 13th which was not very scary. But still, the 2 of us were covering our eyes as usual when it comes to such movies.

As the night was still early, we made our way to 3 Monkeys Bar in Orchard Towers for Kumar's talkshow. He/She was very funny with all the sexist, racist and political jibes. If I did not remember wrongly, the talkshow is only on Friday and Saturday nights starting at 11pm.

Okie...signing off with some photos we took that day.

Exams are over! Trip to Changi

2009-05-01T21:45:00.003+08:00

Yeah exams are finally over!!!! Haha I was freed 2 days back.

To mark the start of our freedom, Andy, QB, Denise Loh and Tan as well as I went to have Korean dinner and also an exploration around Changi.

The Korean dinner was quite good except that the price was quite steep for us students. Even though we were very full, we still managed to squeeze some space for Andersen ice cream!

Then we officially embarked on our exploration around Changi. First pit stop was the old Changi hospital. Haha our exploration was abandoned soon after we started because it looks just too scary and eerie to the girls. I couldn't even see the steps leading up to the infamous building let alone asking me to climb up.

Adding on to the nervous experience was the presence of about 6-7 cats near the vicinity. When we walked passed, the cats would follow us and to me thats quite scary. I was afraid that the cats would keep following us lah.

After that, we made a brief detour to Changi beach before heading to our next pit stop, Changi airport. This place is so much better.

Results of our camwhoring at Changi airport.

Why parents don't send their children to school?

2009-04-21T21:28:00.002+08:00

2 more papers to go!!!! Argh! It seems like this sem I always don't have enough time to finish my exams!

Anyway, recently there was some hype about a couple of missing children.

Not missing as in lost but in the sense of missing from primary school education.

MOE has a compulsory education act implemented and yet there are children each year who did not register for primary school. It is understandable that some parents want to home-school their children but there are some who make me wonder what are they thinking.

There was a singlehood parent who did not want to send her child to school, even though counsellors told her that she does not have to worry about the school fees etc. She was adamant about not sending her child to school at all.

Want to hear her reasoning?

She insisted that education will not be any better for her child since her older child who is a school dropout is managing well on his own. She argued that her older child managed to land himself a job even though he does not have much education and hence she does not see the need to send her younger child to school.

What absurd reasoning right?!

望子成龙，望nu成凤. I thought this saying applies to all parents?

There was one girl who only started schooling around 15 yers old because her parents did not want to send her to school too and now she is lamenting that she wished she could go to school earlier.

Last lecture for emotions

2009-04-07T22:27:00.002+08:00

Now is the last week of school for this sem and the classes that we are left with are mainly review lectures.

Today we had our last lecture for a module called sociology of emotions. Interestingly, we ended the whole module on an emotional note.

After giving us a review of the whole module, our prof did something unexpectedly. She showed us a video that she made with quotes from us. Although it was just a simple video with music and quotes taken from our essays, it was interesting and touching.

It gave me the feeling of "graduating". Do you recall how it felt like on the last day of school, be it primary, secondary or jc?

It was the same feeling.

The feeling that you had learnt alot together, gone through many nightmares and now you are closing this chapter and moving on.

I guess the nostalgia feeling is appearing and may get even stronger as one approaches the G-day, graduation day.

Cherie Moments

2009-04-06T23:29:00.003+08:00

Mango season is back!! Now is definitely one of the best times to scout for sweet mangoes. Haha I am like eating either mangoes or grapes everyday now. It's just too sweet to resist.

Anyway, today we had our last lecture for a module called basic media writing. I totally enjoyed this module. It's one of the slackest, fun and creative modules I had so far.

We do have alot of assignments, in fact 3 of 20% assignments but it is slack as in I always get to surf the net, hang around in FB and etc during tutorials. This can easily be the most enjoyable tutorial for me.

Fun in the sense that we get to do things that are very different from our daily work. We get to write tv news scripts, newspaper articles and even design our own advertisement.

For our last assignment, we were working in groups to come up with a fake company and had to advertise for the company, plan the press release, reply to a complaint letter etc. It was pure fun! Haha it was in this assignment that I was amazed by Esther several times alright! She's REALLY GOOD in doing all these designing stuff. Me and Denise were just clueless about using the softwares and designing.

Let me show you our homepage then you will know how impressed I was. Everything was done from scratch, including our logo.

2009-04-04T15:34:00.004+08:00

10 days to exams!!!!!!

A few days back, DEWV collected our first exam welfare packages! We were always too lazy to queue up for it and were contented by peeking into others' goodie bags. This time round, we were motivated to queue up for it as we have not many chances left. Luckily the queue was not too long this time round.

Here we are with our victories!

Ching is enjoying her macnuggets which is part of the goodie bag and I bought a red hss shirt. I like the logo!

Denise and Esther with their nuggets too and both of them bought a blue hss shirt each.

Here are some photos taken when Pris and I celebrated Rachel's birthday almost a month ago I think.

Me and Rachel. Haha she was wearing my fave colour. Pardon the poor quality of the photos because it was taken with an old samsung phone.

Pris and I with beautiful lightings as backdrop.

Finally the 3 of us after dinner at Aston. I remember that we waited for an hour before it was our turn to be seated.

Grandma's health scare

2009-03-26T23:27:00.002+08:00

Haiz...

Horrible week.

Too many things are going on within this one week. I had sleepless nights, tears, worries, false hopes and assignments.

Hopefully it will be better next week.

Nice Bloom

2009-03-17T15:14:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, we had a meeting with our head of division and a couple of profs who gave us some advice for our Graduation Project (GP).

I felt so dead after the meeting.

There are so many deadlines to follow and so much work to be completed within such a short time! And it's coming real fast! That's the thing that is scaring me.

We have to decide our research topic by next fri. That's like what?! I am still enjoying my third year and have no slightest clue on what I want to do about.

Gender? Family? Tourism? Food? Migration? Globalization? Religion? Social Inequality? Health? Social Stratification? Consumption? Identity?

And seriously, I have to think about my research topic with the consideration of prof's specialisation. Haha of course I hope that I can get a prof who I am quite comfortable with. Imagine working with a cold and fierce prof for 7 months on GP! It will make the whole process even more dreadful.

Recently, there are some flower blooms in NTU and they are really pretty!

There are quite a number of trees near canteen 2 that have very pretty pink blooms. The pink blooms coupled with the fallen petals on the green grass on a slope just makes it seems like its in Japan or Korea kind of country.

Someone can go take a photo of that!

Met up with Ting

2009-03-10T00:05:00.002+08:00

Yeah! Finally I have my phone back!

And that's after waiting for more than 3 weeks! Seriously, their service is way below standard.

I even had to call them up to enquire about my phone otherwise it would still be lying around in their cupboard.

But since they have repaired my phone, I decided not to lodge a complaint. Hopefully it can lasts me till my plan is up!

2days ago, I met up with a long-time friend from secondary school.

We met up for a movie and chatted abit. The last time we met was about 3 years ago. It seems like we always meet up only once in a couple of years. But still, we do keep in touch occasionally.

I am glad that she is enjoying what she is doing now.

Incident on campus

2009-03-04T21:42:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, one day after the guy committed suicide, I went with Esther and Denise to somewhere near the bridge where the guy jumped off from. It was eerie to me though bloodstains were gone.

Haha we were curious about it and wanted to have a look and hence we went. Quite a few people were there looking down as well. While walking down the corridor to the bridge, I already felt gossebumps.

If anyone was walking along that corridor at the time he jumped, that person will definitely have a clear view of all the action. It felt quite scary to be near the place.

Luckily we were at the other corridor of the building on Monday. We were there around 45mins after he jumped off and we saw quite a few police cars. We were thinking that something big must have happened but we did not know what.

If the guy had jumped 45mins later, we may have become witnesses! That's so scary!

It's always difficult to start writing

2009-03-01T18:33:00.003+08:00

It's the last day of recess week! Instead of resting, I am doing my assignments. As usual, it's last-minute work for me again.

Not that I have been enjoying myself so much that I did not do my work; I only went for KBox session once and a movie, that's all! I guess I was just avoiding my assignments, till there was no time left.

It's always a torture to brainstorm, plan and start writing. Starting to write is the most frustrating part of writing to me. I can spend hours thinking of how just to start while it takes much lesser time for me to complete the remaining writing.

Now, I have to get back into the most dreaded part again...

Movies

2009-02-23T21:33:00.002+08:00

Wow Slumdog Millionaire has won 8 Oscar awards!!

That's amazing! I think it truly deserves the honour!

The scenes are still vividly playing in my mind and the music still lingers around my ears. It's definitely a very different kind of movie. I like the way how the director added dabs of social issues without making the whole movie too heavy. It was still quite light-hearted, especially with the classic Indian music and dance. Easily 5 popcorns!

On the other hand, the curious case of Benjamin Button was not that terrific. It still managed to garner a couple of Oscars though. To me, the movie was quite draggy and it didn't really have a lasting impact on me.

But still, Oscars is a time to credit the hardworking movie-makers!

Sick

2009-02-16T16:54:00.003+08:00

1 quiz down but 2 more to go for this week.

The quiz was alright just that the prof phrased the first question quite badly and we didn't quite get it. Luckily my fever was gone this morning otherwise I would have had a hard time doing my quiz.

I think my illness all started from the sore eye. Even though it has already been close to 2 weeks, it still has not recovered. Instead, the other eye started to have it too, with a very bad sore throat and fever coming on.

Hopefully next 2 quizzes go well.

Pissed Off

2009-02-13T22:46:00.002+08:00

I was quite pissed off earlier in the evening.

I received a phone call telling me to go down to the service shop to sign a document. I went with the impression that I was going to collect my phone since it has already been 5 days that I had sent it for repair.

When I reached, a service staff told me that I have to sign a "letter of last repair". I was baffled. She explained that my phone has "liquid damages" (damages caused by liquid such as dropping it into water, hand sweat) and I have to sign that letter first before their technician could try repairing my phone. I was thinking, after 5 days already and they tell me they have not started repairing my phone ( a service staff told me earlier that it would take 3-5 days to repair my phone)?

She informed me that by signing the "letter of last repair", I cannot send in my phone for repair anymore. I was even forfeited of the 90days warranty after each repair. Since my warranty is about to end soon, I was not quite bothered by that.

I was still alright then. Here comes the part that I think is ridiculous.

This is my last time that I can ask for a repair for my phone and it's not guranteed that my phone will work. In other words, they will try their best to repair my phone one last time but there is still a chance that my phone will still be dead and I cannot ask them for servicing anymore. Isn't that irresponsible?

Doesn't "repair" means fixing something and making it works?

Therefore, this "letter of last repair" should mean that this is the last time that they will make my phone works right?

But no! They are just doing to attempt to make it works and if it doesn't, I have the "option" of replacing components that are faulty (ie. pay money).

I couldn't not sign the letter because without signing it, they won't even look at my phone. But even after I signed it, my phone won't certainly be fine. What bad options I have.

I feel like lodging a complaint. Should I?

AFTH event was a success!!

2009-02-09T19:39:00.002+08:00

Yeah! AFTH event is over!

As a result of the event and also an assignment due today, I had 2 days with only 3 hours of sleep each. Just now during accounting lect, I practically dozed off several times.

It all started on friday morning whereby I went to school to help moving AFTH things that we need for the carnival. After that, clique came over to my house for cny before heading out for dinner together. Then, I made my way to tpy hub for preparations for the carnival which took 6 hours! By then, it was already 4am in the morning! Luckily Loon Siong drove Ching, Jac and I back to my house for a 3 hours sleep which was really much needed.

HahaI was quite excited about the event at first before tireness took over. By late afternoon, we were all very tired. There were times that I was really frustrated as well but its over. Luckily the event went well!

Then, yesterday went for tuition before going to the elders home. I have been missing alot of sessions and I was getting quite worried about an auntie. Haha I was absent for so long that my friends were surprised to see me there.

This morning I was in a total wreckage. I slept for 3 hours only last night to complete my assignment. I only managed to complete it at 9am and I had a lect at 9.30am. Imagine the rush and panic state I was in! I took a quick shower and I was out of my house in a jiffy. My dad drove me to school and I was half an hour late for lect! Luckily the prof didn't lament on my late arrival.

It's very tiring rushing around here and there. Haiz, I should really get rid of this bad habit.

Soci profs are good!

2009-02-04T22:37:00.003+08:00

Wow I realised that most hss profs are generous!

2 days ago I went to approach our humanities profs with Ching and another friend to sell our tickets for our upcoming event.

We were surprised that our sale was not bad. We managed to sell a total of 15 tickets! I guess that can be considered good since I heard of friends who approached 3 business profs and was rejected flatly from all 3.

We approached our soci profs first and they really boosted our morale!

There was this prof who taught us gender last sem and she was really kind! Haha she was not around when we knocked on her door and I told my friend that we have to try again for her because I think there's a good chance that she will buy. Just as I expected, she agreed to buy! She bought $20 of tickets!! She is the best of all!

However, there was this prof who I shan't identify. This person is quite a prominent figure in our sch and yet was quite stingy. I think this person donated because of his/her status lah and not because really wanted to...gave us $10 of coins alright!

Happy CNY!

2009-01-29T22:26:00.002+08:00

Happy CNY!!!!!!

It's only the 4th day of CNY and yet I am no longer in the fe4stive mood. It's back to school again...sian. When I went to school today, everything was just as per normal, you won't even realize that CNY has actually just started a few days ago. It seems like CNY happened eons ago.

Anyway, I had an one-hour break today before a tutorial and I was stuck in library busy trying to squeeze 500 words out of my mind. My tutor has actually uploaded a journal entry for us to do but we did not check and only knew about it yesterday.

It was a crazy time. Denise and I were rushing to finish it up on time and it's no easy job. I was particularly worried as I had not started at all and didn't even have an idea of what I was going to write about. Luckily, an idea about politics in Singapore struck me and I just wrote all the way, without any time to edit. Haha halfway through, I was thinking whether the topic was too sensitive but I just didn't have the time to bother about it. I should stop doing assignments in a rush.