Week 20

Flying to Cambodia tmr at 1200h. I hope i get some sleep tonight, my muscle ache is killing me...Played tennis yest at Daryl's then went to sch to pack the stuff to bring over.

Tonight, we went out to celebrate Dad's and Leng's birthdays in advance and a farewell for myself. This 12 days has been really packed, rushing to meet friends, settle CCA stuff, pack and module preference exercise. A trying period.

Thur- Piano in the morning. Then went to watch eat at the food centre near the Esplanade and watched Deja vu at Suntec.
Fri- SK meeting in the evening
Sat- met J for lunch, then the sponsors, then SY to buy Des's present and finally to his party.

In no mood to reflect today, will do more of it when I get back. I need some caffine and some anesthetic.

Day 52

I thought i was the only one hard pressed for time - 6 days to Cambodia, but that was not the case. Mum too thought she'd better "make use" of me too and told me to mow the lawn this morning. Haha. Liang and i had to hop over to Shell to buy a can of petrol to feed the monster of a machine. What an unconventional way of getting tanned in the morning, but whatever.... i was bored anyway.

It's nice to finish exams before everyone else, but it's hard to find a playmate if u end early. I spent most of the time playing Mindsweeper Flags & Suduko with Liang....

On Sun, we went to Marina Square to check out the HF store for paintbrush sponsorship. Then we went shopping for accessories for Leng's D&D. Bought this really huge candy floss there, really huge, bigger than Leng's head. Haha, check it out....

Day 51

Fri-- went with Des & SYing to VivoCity. We ate, shopped and ate. Went home and played badminton and then 2-1 soccer with the boys. Must've been mad to agree to it. But anyway the results were far fr what we were expecting. I was joking with SL that playing against him "makes one feel good", cos he sucks at the game. Then again, maybe he purposely let me win? Haha, SL, give u the benefit of the doubt.

Sat-- spent the whole morning packing my table. Really a whole morning. My desk looked so much like a rubbish dump since the time we were deep into the sem. No time to pack. After bundling all the notes up, I had a paper stack that was 30 cm tall. I wonder how many trees died because of this 1 sem, it's not environmentally-friendly at all...

Lastly, speaking of EF, I was watching this Ch8 ancient drama where these girls fr a sacred land had a potion that when sprinkled on someone wld make that someone (dead or alive) vanish. Was thinking, wldn't that be the most environmentally-friendly way to get rid of ppl when they die? No need to pay ppl to dig a grave, no nd for a furnace. Only caveat is the worms don't get to feed. Lol

Day 50

ha never thought this day would come...day 50. And, the end of the exams. Phew! From today onwards till the 12th, I'll commit myself to become a viewser and try to catch up with the episodes of DeathNote. Yay!! PLAY!

feeling lazy now....the mad rush for the sem is finally over. This sem has been the busiest so far, nearly took the breath out of me. just glad it's over. Liang asked whether it was bcos the tests were catching up with me or I was trying to catch up with them. I think it was both ways? but more of the later. Too much commitments. Nx sem, i'll do less.

Day 49

3 down, 2 more to go. Perseverance will see me through.

In addition, my hp has been my salve for this wk and the week before. Have to thank Martin Cooper & Matti Makkonen-- the guys who invented the mobile phone and SMS respectively. But then again, the identity of the sender and the time the sms is received makes the difference b/w it's blight or delight.

-Stressed by some people's persistence.-

Day 48

Realised I need to do sth abt my body clock... I only manage to wake up at 8.30 earliest everyday. Snooze fr 7.30 all the way and still can't get my bum off the bed. It wasn't like that 2 weeks before. Looks like my productivity has declined (of all times, it had to do so 2 weeks b4 the exams). *Sigh*

Another memorable encounter with the canteen vendors today. Was with XX and Daryl at the Yong Tau Foo stall today. XX scooped so much Spring Onions into her bowl and mine on the same tray. "Exams coming, must eat more Cong...." she explains. Finally when her bowl was heaped with Spring Onions, she stepped aside and let me carry the tray. The auntie who was observing her in horror "Why is this girl stealing all my Cong??!!" said to be with a reproachable look on her face, "Liu yi dian gei bie ren..." I wanted to tell her "Auntie u got the wrong person..."

It was a bit excessive of us, but according to Daryl, "Spring Onions r very cheap only" Haha, I guess the HSA/MOH's call for "Healthy Eating, Eat more Vegetables" justifies our behaviour? Anyway it's the last week that the Arts canteen wld be open. We just want to eat as much as we can. Will miss the days when we can call our friends and say "Let's meet in Heaven/Earth/Hell" (as the 3 levels of the canteen is called. Most of the time we meet in Hell :D). Well, and I always support the stalls which says ask for more veggies for free. Can't stand the stall which ask for additional charges for more veggies =X

Week 19

Toting horns = Cat-whistle?

This is something i find really amusing. On Wed when i walked out of the gate, this mini lorry toted its horn. There was only me and the lorry, no other soul or vehicle ard so i guess he was horning at me? Plus the driver AND his passenger, 2 middle-aged uncles had their necks craned in my direction.... This is NOT the first time this has happened. And since I was not breaking any traffic law, just minding my own business & rushing along the pavement.... my guess is that they were horning because their 1) their middle-aged aphrodisiac glands were out-of-order or 2) their eyesight was too poor that they mistook an ugly duckling for a swan or 3) the morning sunlight was too glaring for their eyes that they were seeing things.

Leng says it has never happened to her. The only time she notices more stares is when we're tog, so i really shld feel flattered.... Ya, but how can I be flattered when i'm attracting middle-aged uncles in their dingy lorries or at the kopi-tiam!! It shldn't be working that way! My fairy godmother has got it all mixed up. Where are the young, handsome, charming man out there? Haha, aphrodisiac me.

Not that I would have given them a chance anyway, but it does feel good to be appreciated sometimes.....most importantly it would be flattering........ for my Mum ;-)

But I really want to hear it from the girls.... do they encounter such incidents? Are ppl out there just so "bo liao" or I just happen to have an affinity with these "bo liao" ppl?

This jogs back a memory during Cedar days. Cedarians usu. flood the bus stop at after school hours (looks like a flood cos we're all blue). One fine day I was standing in the crowd and this truckload of lion-dance troopers were stuck in the traffic abt 20m away. They started shouting "mei nu" etc. etc. and whistling at the Cedarians.....AND THEN......

somebody shouted...."chuan jacket de!!!"

There was only me.....and only me, in my blue windbreaker at the bus stop....The trauma from being singled out like that!!! I could only pretend I didn't hear them. That's my usual form of self-defense, "see no evil, hear no evil" They're trying to get ur attention, why give it to them?

The same thing applies to meeting perverts. I remember meeting a flasher at the same memorable bus stop once, but that's another story for another day :D

~ Today i had lunch with J at Engin canteen again. For dinner i was with P at Mac. Yesterday I "dined" with WHao and D at the Deck. I hope i get lunch engagements every other day. Today's an accomplishment because I managed to squeeze a successful study session with P. Will do it again nx wk~

Day 47

No more 4 hr meetings!!! Was trying to talk to zy aft the mtg abt my workshop proposal but i think i came across as pretty incoherent, my thoughts were not focused!! E suggested that maybe zy was too handsome so I was tongue-tied but no lar, it was more because my brain was fried aft the meeting. Couldn't think straight.... Think i left a bad 1st impression...

and then, they celebrated the Oct & Nov peeps birthday. But I was left out, even Tim whose bdae was in Sep was celebrated. Does any1 here realise I was left out? Guess not =( I don't think i'm very prominent in de com, but i'm not too obscure either right? I've been in the com for 2 years....Well prob bcos the new welfare head doesn't know me well enough.... must make sure I "be her good friend" this yr so I won't be overlooked nx yr.... But I got to comment on this, she actually sent me an sms on MY birthday to attend ANOTHER person's BELATED birthday celebration on that day. Ouch!

Today we shared ice-kachang tog. I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I'm ard them. They've become so used to my presence now that they start to make insidious references abt "balls, tadpoles, bannanas" in front of me?? This undisguised interest in them abt the birds & bees is disturbing. They're but so young!!

Week 18

The 'new' neighbour offered us 2 red apples yesterday. Said they we from Japan, they bought it on their trip there. I can't fathom what's so special abt that, aren't the Fuji apples we buy from the supermarket fr Fuji? Japan? No? And it makes u think of the Snow White story, when some1 gives u apples...be suspicious... Furthermore, it's the same lady who tried to knock me down the other day. I was walking past her gate and she suddenly swerved in. I had to jump 3 steps back to avoid her car. Isn't she supposed to look before she turns? She didn't even apologise for it, just drove right in!! So what if you're driving a gold merce?

Maybe i'm just ungrateful. Other than the apples there's cheese pie too... Thing is, after they've moved in so long, I still don't know who's living in the house-nx-door. All I know is there's this auntie peering at us from our kitchen window everytime we cook (and especially when Pa's cooking), trying to "tou shi"... Can't help feeling weird. I know they're really rich, their house is elevated 1m above ours, 3 stories higher than ours, they've given us food a couple of times when we've nv reciprociated.... some inferiority complex here, but they seem to have everything already, what can we offer them?

Generousity, is it always a one-way-street? Fr de well-endowed to de less-endowed?

Day 46

Despite of my resolution to stay away, I'm still blogging today. Feel the serious need to let out all my frustration. I slept at 5 last night. Was trying to create the project website . I'm really disappointed with their contribution, want to kick their a****. The original website created looks a mess!! How can they!! I originally thought that the guy who created it was a comp expert. They all claimed he was. So what went wrong? How can his final product be so shoddy, with tons of broken links, undownloadable images and......did not even include the most impt "definition" page O_o Yikes!! I did like 7 out of 9 pages of the research, excluding making changes to theirs. And the nerve!! They woke me up at 7.30 to ask me where's my template. Now my sleep's distrupted and I no longer feel the urge to sleep...

God give me strength today~ I need to finish my econs essay!

Day 45

WARNING: Viewing may cause immediate loss of stress, uncontrollable smiling, and a disobedient desire to wear shorts to work.
_____________________________________________

Thought i'll share this interesting msg found on the invitation to watch "A good year".

Today's friday and i'm feeling an immediate loss of stress despite not having watched e movie yet.

Got to say a big TY to WHao for sending out the post on Yahoogrps abt our class gathering yest. I think many ppl wld be shocked to see e post in their inbox today. I mean he's such a quiet character in class, I hope most ppl will not be able to guess I bullied him into writing it=p But he owes me la, last time in class keep borrowing my notes....and then keep expecting me to "entertain" him with lame jokes else he'll complain I "not funny anymore".... But I really wanted someone to post something. Me being the moderator is so "pai seh" when the group is so quiet. Let's keep e group active man!! ~I dislike cheerleading~

Today I also have e feeling of "yuan qin bu ru jin lin". For the first time in 3 yrs of NUS I found someone to go to sch with and have lunch! "3 types of black hole", "event horizon", "Mass of Sun makes space warped", "the moon has many holes"...Wow. Trapped in the tiny world of FASS, I seem to be missing out on a lot of things, no? The cosmos is so big....I need to see more of the world. Why is it that we have to specialize in one major? Why can't we learn just everything? I miss taking 9 subjects!

This writer's taking "time-off" for the nx wk. My posts are getting a bit trivial nowadays, but it can't be helped since nothing much out-of-the-ordinary strikes me on during semester time. I don't want to embarrass myself and be accused of "losing my sense of humour". There r 2 kinds of blog, narrative and reflective. Maybe after the vacation I will come back as Gandhi or Carnegie.

~There's nothing wrong with grey shirts~

Day 44

It's wicked! My sore throat is back and in its full fledged furry, I was sent into a coughing fit during lecture today. Non-stop for 5min, I was practically choking. And since I was trying to suppress it in order not to disturb e class, it got so bad I was tearing!! Utterly embrarrassed tt I didn't dare look at the ppl sitting ard me. Hai*

Plus I felt a bit dumb and cheated as I bought a packet of Straples which were herbal-flavoured. The Chinese say "Liang yao ku kou"...but this yao is too ku... I offered to HEn to try and he refused my later offers (not even to help me finish the packet...). Hai* This is a perfect example of how attractive packaging can influence consumers' buying process. I was dupped.

Anw we went for lunch with the 02S43 ppl in NUS. Fun meeting them. By chance, even those who weren't invited joined us cos we "bumped into" each other. Fated.

Day 43

Today feels like a day out of a comic strip. I was about to leave e HOPE Bazaar at Sci when it started pouring. I couldn't bear getting stranded so I dashed across e road to e bus stop in the rain. Picture this: A girl dressed prettily, in a nice white top and flouncy gypsie skirt running in the rain across the road.

I don't know, but I felt it was quite a ditzy thing to do. I was all dressed up because I was initally supposed to go for piano but lessons were cancelled. Think it's all because when you feel happy, trival things like getting caught in the rain doesn't get you down. You know sometimes when ur day is bad, these little things can get at you easily. So the lesson is be optimistic =)

Health report: My throat's back to normal again, but my left arm aches fr e 3 jabs we had yest!!! 3!!!

Day 42

Having a sore throat today. The germs are having a field day at home since we have 3 men down.

However, I still persisted on at flag day today selling flags for the Children's Aid Society. Today's Deepavali btw and there were many Indians or maybe Pakistani at Jurong East. Many of these foreign workers were curious abt why there was a girl holding a tin can, standing at e foot of the escalator with a smile "perpetually plastered" on her face. But many were forthcoming with their donations, while others just looked a mixture puzzlement and bemusement. Coincidentally, the last time I sold flags was for the Pakistani earthquake in school. It was much more embarrassing standing along e arts walkway although the money collected was much better...(You can't really avoid donating to ur schoolmate can you?). Today however I realised that e really charitable ppl wld automatically come up to you if they see the tin can, you don't really need to ask them at all. Those who u actually nd to open ur mouth to ask them, chances are they'll decline. Flagselling is afterall not hardselling.

Day 41

Finally, a reprieve from all the mid-term tests! It was nice playing badminton with Leng tonight. Nothing much to blog today, maybe I'll just share a beautiful story:
____________________________________________

一天, 小狗狗问妈妈 ： “ Mummy, mummy, 幸福在哪里？”
妈妈 wisely 回答：“幸福不就在尾巴上！”

不久, 妈妈看见小狗狗追着尾巴绕圈子... ...

Amused, 妈妈问道：“ 孩子，你在做什么？”
小狗狗傻气地回答：“ 怎么也追不到幸福！”

妈妈 knowingly 说：“傻孩子，只要你往前走，幸福就会跟着你走！”

____________________________________________

This story is pretty much about 生在福中不知福 ... ... but sounds less cliche =)

Week 17

Hmm...feeling pretty high now although exhausted. First, a friend was very nice and walked me back home right to my doorstep (usu my friends drive me home or drop me off a cab but this time we actually walked!! for one stop so it was a pleasant change). We were back from NVAC appreciation dinner onboard a boat!! Extremely novel and exciting. The boat was called "Fairwind" and our CCA booked the whole ship which took us out to sea to e nearby Sisters island. We had buffet dinner at the seas, had lots of interaction, took tons of photos, exchanged lots of pirate jargon, watched a consolidated photo video and got "wooden plank" momentos. It felt like graduation night!

Secondly, I'm happy to be blogging tonight marking the end of the week. A long eventful week. We washed cars for PS on Mon, Wed and Fri. On mon i reached sch at 7am, about the earliest I reached in all my 3 yrs in NUS, to wash cars and deliver my sweetest sales speech so as raise funds ok?!! And just last night after FinE mid-sem and 4.5hrs of car washing, I attended the NUSSU Appreciation Dinner. Wonderful night as we had a huge haul, biggest being the first best standing com!! NVAC reps toasted and toasted 3x in front of everyone. It was e few rare occassions tt our "unitedness" stood out. Just now on the boat, we also toasted with sparkling juice and gave a loud resounding "yam say". Funny. I think ppl at the pier were shocked to hear our "warring cries" and wondered if a pirate boat had arrived at the peaceful shores of Spore (Pirates of e Carribean 3 came a yr early??).

Both dinners turned out better than expected and I'm glad.

Thirdly, yest someone at e dinner recognised me fr KCPPS. I think he was my ex-classmate but I really couldn't put a name to his face. Asked ard at e end of e dinner but cldn't find him. Curious. I think i roughly know who he is now so hope to see him again so I can confirm my guess.

Fourthly, I met Shirley and gang at Sakae Sushi for lunch after PS meeting in school. It was to celebrate my belated birthday and Jac's birthday. Finally I got to satisfy my cravings for Jap food which had plagued me for quite some time already. We shopped and shopped so as to waste time before I headed off to Marina Bay for the dinner.

Fifth-ly, there was a joke just now which I can't get out off my mind at present. SMin was telling LYong n I that she used to go "chong" and LYong asked her what she usu. drinks. SMin said she'd carry a glass of Volka around. Think LYong misheard her and so he said "Mocha??" I couldn't stop laughing then. It was hilarious the puzzled look on his face, "I was wondering how come got ppl go pub and order coffee?" haha that guy is genuinely innocent 180 degrees from the party-animal-type! (Finally found an 'angel' just like me.....hahaha)

As i'm typing this, my head is still not clear.... the laptop seems to be bobbing up and down....serious. Think boat rides don't come often and as we spent 3hrs onboard tonight, i still feel a little like i'm out at sea. It's as though i live on ship and i'm typing my biography about my sea-faring days. Hee=) watch it mate~

Day 40

A nice girl was queuing at the ‘tau hway’ in the arts canteen the other day.
Ah girl: 豆花。
Auntie: ok.

(Background: Auntie scoops the tau huay) Meanwhile, Nice girl sees a sign that says Tau huay and ginko nuts.

Auntie: 七毛。
Ah Girl: 可以加白果吗?
Auntie: 你要啊？Ok.

Auntie goes back to scoop the ginko nuts. She returns.

Auntie: 一块钱。

Ah girl eyes widen. She is in disbelief but she quietly pays and leaves.

Later…
Ah girl counts the 白果. 1,2,3,4,5. Exactly 5. Not hard to count at all. They were small, shriveled, brownish, worst of all very hard. Totally not like the usual ginko nut Ah girl is used to eating. Most likely they were canned ginko nuts.

Five shriveled nuts for 30cents extra.

L : why you don’t ask her “Auntie, 为什么你的白果这样的？”

Y : No lah, the best way is next time it happens…..

Ah girl opens her doe-eyes wide and asks in her most innocent voice just audible so the others in the queue can hear her:

“Auntie….., 这个是什么？”

Day 39

Another meaningful day spent :D As part of NVAC MC, I went to IMH today for mooncake festival celebrations. They had a skit and I 'ke chuan' as e 'beautiful' Chang-e. Haha, haven't been involved in skits for a long long time and this was quite fun. Was quite 'on' for it since it's for a good cause. But a Chang-e with short hair, I wonder if the audience were disappointed. But I think not la the residents were just having a good time interacting, making loud noises, think nobody was watching intently...E main character was Hou Yi btw not chang-e and there wasn't a Jade Rabbit (somebody told me i had to carry a guy who was e rabbit!! I'll be squashed, when did rabbits come in XXXL sizes??)...

Then we rushed down to MWH. Tight schedule. And it's another mooncake festival celebrations! This time we brought the residents out to the nearby coffeeshop and they had a chance to carry lanterns, play with sparklers, eat mooncake and "shang yue"....what "yue"? The moon was not out yet since we ended at 7pm and I doubt we'll see it throught the haze with a PSI of 140 even if it's after 7.

Anyway, went with the MWH gang for dinner. We went to the newly opened VivoCity and funnily, we got lost in the place. So much for the 'biggest shopping centre in Spore'. We wanted to go to e foodcourt but after walking the whole sprawling big complex, we found out that it was not opened yet. Then we had to find a way out of e maze to get to HarbourFront to eat. So in the end, it was only SMin, Gary, YChong and I left. It was a tiring but fun day where I got to know a few new friends fr imh and mwh. Another round? Not so soon....my legs are crying out loud already!!

Day 38

This is one HAZY mooncake festival. I'm actually wearing a mask now in my living room, windows all closed to block the acrid smell. This is all because I have a nose of a dog. Super powerful. The hazy is really bad this week cos of all the irresponsible slash & burn-ers in Indonesia. Damn them. Don't they love this world? I'm wearing a mask now because of them. Ppl are suffering from respiratory problems because of them. I'm sounding so critical of things today because the haze has got into me. I was at Sangkhem mtg in sch till 8.30pm today and the campus was like blanketed in the haze when I stepped out. To boot, I had to sit a non-air con 151 all 4/5 of my journey home. I breathed in too much of the pollutants that i'm feeling sick now.

Last night I was down pretty bad. My body just gave way, probably cos I only slept 5 hrs in total for the last 2 days. I could do anything right, I couldn't even read the piano score properly as I tried to play my favourite tunes. I was breaking out in cold sweat and the haze only made things worse. In the end I lost the battle, took 1 flu tablet and was out cold.

Day 37

A : I'm not looking.
B : That's ridiculous, everyone's looking. You just haven't met the right one yet.
___________________________________________

This is a line from Stories of Love on e blackbox. When i heard it, i thought of the girl's answer and thought how I might probably have said that if someone were to ask me. But then the guy's honest reply struck me as quite true. Some of us may be in denial? or just looking for an excuse to cover up for our singlehood. But that was my initial feelings.

On further thought, I thought that it might not be so true. Something closer to the truth would be: Some of us are really not looking. But if that one right guy comes along, he/she might just sweep you off your feet and make you forget all your other priorities. Forget the fact that you were putting it off. Forget everything and just take the pluge.... But that is only if the right person comes along else we're happy with status quo. And that one right person must be really "powerful" to do just that.

Birthday Post

13 new messages. It's my 21st birthday today. All r wishes from friends.

My feelings today, 4 words: "Xin ru zhi shui". I feel TOTALLY at peace with myself today. I don't know why, I walked around in school feeling super calm. Think it must be because I had only 4 hrs of sleep. But I'm not tired, have to push myself further.... Lessons fr 8-8 as usual plus a Malay test!! Today wasn't a good day to celebrate. But I was pretty glad many ppl remembered my birthday.

We had an advance celebration yesterday. Steamboat, fruit cake plus lanterns! Ah yi, san yi and family we invited too! Ah yi bought me a whitegold pendant too fr SK. I feel quite like a 'rich' lady cos it adds to my collection of 3 jewellery haha, including e one fr mum & dad and e one I won at the company's D&D last yr. 'Rich' in the sense that I've got many ppl around me this yr too.

Reaching 21 is a milestone. Last yr I was feeling a bit sad that I hit the big '2' and was "old". But this yr, supposedly 'older', I don't hv last year's uneasiness. Maybe it's the first sign of my passing into adulthood? You come to acccept everything in life gracefully, including your age?

Day 36

Today we celebrated Grandma's birthday. Surprisingly this year we did not eat out but ordered buffet at her house! It was such a wonderful change cos after that we had time to play majong! Leng played for the first time and won 3 games. We only played 6 rounds la. Beginner's luck! It was my 2nd time at majong and I didn't have much luck however I managed to reprise gd ole' memories of the 1st time I played... Had to tear myself away from the table to go home and start on my financial project proposal but it seems the stars are not on my side today. I feel really distracted and I don't know how to go about doing it. (reason i'm blogging)

My Ah ma suddenly appears very funky to me. Yest, she told me "Bang har-ze-lian, kar buay wu pim-ple" This comes as a surprise cos Ah ma only speaks Hokkien! But her sentence has 2 English words! And she observes my (super bad) complexion! Not only that, during her birthday she gladly posed for photos, 1 which Ah gong held her hand. And a few of her daughters n grandchildren kissing her!! Ah ma, you really make our heads turn today =D


I decided to wear sth funky too. A Blue tie! Everybody.

Day 35

Feeling quite exhilarated now, think i'm going to have a late night tonight.

Firstly, Mum & Dad bought me this gold necklace for my birthday (which is not here yet). Yes, gold is a bit tacky but what really mattered was their effort. It's my 21st birthday and they bothered. They made the trip down together and bought me something they think I'll like. Something of value that I can keep as a momento and look back on this day 50 years down the road. Mum says if I feel down next time and they're not around, I can still feel their love for me. Gawd, I can't imagine life without them, I hope that day never comes. I love you all Mum & Dad!! I really appreciate the gift and the sentimental value that comes with it!

Secondly, I went out with the 02s43 group this evening to celebrate my birthday. We went to Curry Flavour at cityhall for dinner then proceeded to Haagen Dazs at the Esplanade for desserts. They got me this very exquisite colourful umbrella ornament that doubles as a box. Very nice.

Then we went to Esplanade and took many crazy photos!! Jumping poses, fighting poses and all. We jumped so many times to the camera timer that we were all panting after that. Not to mention I got wacked my YLynn in the chin during the first take. Lol. It was super funny and I think we all had a good time! We're all 'photowhores', everytime we meet we take LOADS of CRAZY photos!

Day 34

Last night Leng & I went to watch the play by the Necessary Stage called "Fundamentally Happy". It was the best play I have ever watched. It had a brilliant cast. They portrayed the characters with such conviction. 'Alin''s character showed so much steeliness in her. Her trademark laughter was filled so much mirth yet with a cynical/sacastic undertone, I think she must have practiced in front of the mirror at least a hundred times else she's a natural actress. "Enjoyed myself" is an understatement. I think everyone in the audience was "in awe", "inspired". I told Leng that if the cast had not exited the stage after they bowed, I'd have ran up to hug the female lead. I was so ready and set to do that just before the play ended.

In the words of Chun Enlai, the male lead in the play featured in today's newspaper, "plays are so organic", every moment and facial expression is so valuable, so real. They have to emote correctly at every second throughout the play, using their facial expressions and body language. I feel there's really a lot of hard work and practice behind that 100 mins or so stagetime. Kit Chan said the same thing of musicals, "There's no cheating there".

I wish to discuss abt the audience who turned up for the plays, but i'm running out of time. Will come back to it later.

Day 33

Swooped my long "tresses" for short hair. As Mum says, need less shampoo now.

Nina says she wants tuition too....I'm so popular lol

Week 16

It's mid-sem break this week but my schedule is fully packed so much so I wished there was no mid-sem break.

Went to watch Spore Idol live at the indoor stadium on Sunday as well as the results show live on Monday. It's a really different atmosphere there, watching with thousands of people instead of sitting on the couch at home watching alone. When the performance starts, it's electrifying. Not to mention deafening as you feel the seats vibrate because the sound is SO loud!! haha. Besides that, you also get to see how the crowd is managed so that they get good angles on TV, in other words, you get to know how they cheat.

Someone keeps chasing me to go for the retreat....I don't wanna go!! I feel so pressured as I look at my timetable. Everyday I have sth on....and in view of all the tests when sch starts, I'm fried.

Day 32- Miami Vice

I totally do not recommend watching Miami Vice. Last night, our whole family took a London cab to Great World to watch the movie. It was a sponsored event so we had a buffet reception waiting for us. I was quite embarrassed standing in the crowd cos I drank a glass of red wine and my face was the colour of the huge prawn we ate. Then the boys got chased out cos the show was NC16 and Meng's bdae was 1.5 wks away... A pity. But maybe not cos they got to watch no-brainer comedy Chris Tucker instead. Miami Vice on the other hand was B.oring. It one of those 'FBI agents going undercover' shows but mightily boring, even the fighting scenes were just a audio dollop of crossfire and on screen, you just see cops+thieves rolling on the ground or taking cover. But there were many undercurrents in the show, romantic tango b/w Colin Farrell and Gong Li. I think only Gong Li's acting deserves applause. De other leads acting didn't stand out, not a bit. But after the whole show, I felt that it deserved a M18 rating instead of NC16 cos there were quite a lot of sexual scenes. Luckily the boys were 'caught' and chased out=p

Day 31

Just finished the GEK project proposal. Wonder what's happening to my group, the group leader's sleeping-_- Weird guy, I don't think he even knows my name. Doesn't even bother to talk to me. *Sack him* (Dustbin swinging/ housefly swat sound)

Met YLynn, WLiat and SYing for lunch today. Got 'suan' by WLiat again... Think it's going to be a every Wed thing since SYing and I are very free after M&B. Was late today by 20 min! I drove very quickly already but the jam on the PIE was soooo loooonnnng....

Then I went for another lunch session with WPing and PYi at 2pm after Intro to Comp. Those girls really tickle me, every time I see them they're so hilarious, "mo qi shi zhu". Then as usual, it's mugging time at the Central Forum...At least this week's tutorial ain't that difficult.

(Oh man, what am i writing??! Everything has no link at all!!?)

Day 30- Little Miss Sunshine

Despite the stack of assignments on my table waiting for me, I went to watch the sneak preview of Little Miss Sunshine at Prince. A humourous, true-blue America movie about family troubles, sucide, drugs, death, gay issues, emotional issues etc. It was on a certain Hoovers family, every member of the family had a unique personality and their banter is so clever and witty, I laughed so much that tears came rolling down. A good example was when Steve Carell (Frank) said when pushing the broken-down van, "Did I tell you that I'm the no. 1 eminent Proust scholar of the United States?" I like it when his character so unabashedly declares himself as a genius.

This guy is hilarious as he digs at his bro-in-law with sarcastic remarks, as he breaks into a "stiff" run and as he copes with his sexual identify makes him my all-time-favourite character.

Grandpa (Alan Arkin) told grandson Dwayne (coolest name of the year!), "Son, trust me, F*** as many women as you can, not just one....As many women as you can....."

Meng and I were doubled over in laughter for at least 5 mins. He sprouts so much F-letter words I think it got the movie a NC16 rating (can't think of other valid reasons). My goodness, this funky grandad makes all pubescent teenage boys and maybe girls wish our grandads were like that!

Of all the family-centred shows around, this one breaks the mould. Instead of the usual tearjerkers, this one manages to touch on many social issues and simultaneously bring out the essence of family though comic relief. In a particularly touching scene, Dwaye writes a note to his sister that says "Go Hug Mom" just after their grandpa died. And in a good display of sibling love, Olive manages to get her brother out of his despodency by just hugging him! Sometimes, a simple hug says much more than words.

I think the scripwriter's a genius. I thoughly recommend it as "whole family entertainment"

http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/littlemisssunshine/

Day 29

Been to the elections. i'm now volunteer mgt manager. having mixed feelings.

CF received a complaint letter in the ST Forum. i feel the things mentioned are quite true. Shld i stay true to my Chiro dreams? Actually i've not wavered. But i feel tt they shld be more responsible and ethical.

Day 28

Project S meeting yesterday. I'm gg to Cambodia in December! Woo hoo! Although it's the first mtg but it got me quite excited cos suddenly it seems so real... and I met a junior fr Cedar who's going too. But i didn't get to talk to her.... nx time 'terrorize' her a bit. Haha I'm mean. I think I used to have this effect on my juniors back in those days. No? It's a 'first child' syndrome. But then after a while I think they get used to my wkg style and get to see the fun side of me too=)

I also went to WHan's party last night at this very chic bristo cafe along Bencoleen Street called Secret Garden (it's really Secret). Think it was the best party I went this yr. The food and ambience were extremely tasteful. WHan's a hopeless romantic, but romantics hv their gd pts, they get to appreciate the simple joys of life and once in a while indulge in romantic things that remain etched in their minds like having a fairy-tale theme party at a hidden-away nook called 'Secret Garden'.

We then went to K-Box to sing till 1pm. Meanwhile, I was super peeved by 1 ex-classmate who made many thoughtless comments and he does that every time I see him. This 'flaw' in his personality had been a widely discussed topic among the girls during our school days and to see no improvement after so many years it's appalling (and nauseating lol).

Anyway since yesterday's anti-climax, I've decided to swear of party for at least 2 wks.

Day 27

Expo is officially over, Everyone heave a sigh of relief. *Celebratory dance* We went for dinner at Ikea. Expo was a great experience, from planning to seeing it actually unfolding. The satisfaction is immense. Although we met a few setbacks like poor response fr RSPs and terrible blood-sucking creditors haha, we managed to overcome it. Through sheer determination and hard work (really hard cos we had to do everything personally due to shortage of manpower). But I'm really glad that there were many who were very forthcoming with their support and came to mend the booths during their breaks. Expo showed who were really e ones we can rely on and who we can't. I'm also glad that the team became tighter as the week bore on and I got to know several new faces in the course of the Expo.

Yep, and now we can focus more on other stuff.

Week 15

I can't believe it, this week has flown past so quickly. I don't remember sleeping much so y did it fly by so quickly??

Mon was an exhausting day, I stayed in sch till like 3am to set up the Expo booths. We were doing so much last min stuff like drawing billboards, arranging tables, packing goodie bags etc. 3am!! Until they had to send me home in the NUSSU van.

Tue saw a lousy start to our Expo cos most of booths were as white as sheet "literally and figuratively". Many projects didn't show their support... But we won't let this keep us down. We'll do sth to it.

Wed-Fri it got a bit better, we managed to decorate it a bit on Tue night. Taking things easy this 4 days and waiting to make an impact nx wk.

Better concentrate on my schoolwork first. Been rushing through Financial Econs as usual. Didn't manage to grab a friend fr the class. I tried asking a China girl, apparently fr Shanghai, why I didn't get the ans for some qns and she was quite reluctant to help me. These PRCs really know their schoolwork. I think they mug very hard. They understand the stuff that the lecturer and tutor r trying to put across easily. And it's not only the PRCs, it's the foreigners in general. They amaze me. While the locals are trying to catch what the lect is abt, desperately clinging on to every word the lecturer says, and equally desperately trying to jot them down, the foreigners just sit back confidently and listen. AND ask questions!!

If you pay close attention, when locals raise their hands it's to ask "Can u pls push the slide up/ can u pls put back the previous slide?" but when our overseas counterparts ask qns it's like "So what happens when beta is -ve? / What if...." or it's to answer the qns the lecturer pose to the whole hall.

QWei says he has long given up on the PRCs who don't want to share answers cos they see us as competition, if we do well, the bell curve will wk against them etc. etc. Well, I've decided to be an optimist. I think not all PRCs are like that. The girl that I asked did answer my qns afterall in a nice manner. Maybe she thought I was those expecting her to pass me her paper and let me copy wholesale which I know many ppl in class do (which is quite sick). Pearl and I rem our Micro class test when everyone at the back of the class was copying fr one another. We were so amused because one guy just blatantly looked over my shoulder at my answer! Tck tck...We don't resort to such things, we struggle very hard for our grades especially when we only know each another in the whole Econs course... Copying is not an option for us and neither is the option we want to choose.

One day, I'll get the Shanghai girl engaged in a intellectual debate abt the topic on Portfolio Analysis, I'll get "let down her guard" and we can exchange intellectual questions and answers =D

Fri night- ended at 12 pm and took a cab home...$24.70 Sigh* We're trading money, hard work and time for it....

Week 14

Stess levels ran high this week. Was rushing through all my tutorial assignments and the stupid t-shirt design (which kept changing and changing and changing). Even when I was finally satisfied with one design, they had to change the t-shirt color!! Sigh, in the end I kept my hands off and let them decide the final design. It was Friday and i was supposed to hand in an impt assignment by 5p.m. which I only managed at ahem...5p.m. I'm feeling the heat now as it's only week 3 and I'm way behind in my readings... After expo, i must buck up

Fri night, I attended the Yellow Ribbon Concert. It was a pretty cool affair though the turn-up was not that good (I was trying to sms more of my friends to come down). There were sharing by the organisations which help in the rehabilitation of prisoners, a useful panel discussion and some simple plays and performances. I guess the success rate was fair and what really counts is the volunteer effort cos I saw them selling ribbons throughout the week at arts walkway....


Yest was Sat, I went to MWH to help them fold hearts for the President's Challenge. Nothing eventful except on the way there, I met this old man at the bus stop who asked me for directions to NUH. I kindly told him that he had to change 3 buses to get there but he was more interested in going there by cab and hinted that I pay his cab fare for him, saying that he was dropped by a cabbie at the bus stop because he had no money to pay. He was going for physiotherapy at NUH and walked on crutches but he was dressed quite nicely and though our conversation (where he asked me where I was going, where I lived, where I studied, how many siblings I had etc...so many...) he sorta doesn't seem like the down and out kind w/o any money. Seeing that he wasn't making any effort to follow my kind directions I ignored his hints. But later leaving him at the bus stop when my bus came, I felt a kind of moral conflict, maybe I shld hv just sponsored his cab fare la afterall he's a old man, gg to the hospital...er...But it was too late to turn back. Xuan later assured me that it's fine there ARE some old ppl out there who like to cheat ppl, just want freebies etc. It's a moral dilemma that happens everyday like when u see those old woman selling tissues at high prices, those blind buskers, those youngsters selling collecting donations for old folks home... You can't help them all...

Last night the gals went to celebrate SHui's bdae at Swensons Marina Sq.

Day 26

Met FYu today and she told me that it's not v. nice to put MWH client's photos online. Yep gal, I had it replaced. Thanks for the reminder! This pic was what I originally wanted to post, if not for Blogger.com super lousy 'photo upload' interface, it feels more deeper, more touching =)

Yesterday was my free day but I was ard in sch for the whole day, putting up banners and posters for Expo as well as waiting for the delivery of the 10000 tissue pks and 2000 postcards! So tired again... but it's all worth it. Expo publicity is gg to be a success!! QWei and I worked really hard for this, even now i'm still trying to rush T-shirt designs although i'm way behind on my tutorials =p

Owing to all the 'sweat and blood' I poured in yest, today I wasn't in a mood to dress up so I went to sch dressed quite shabbily in an oversized T-shirt. Looks like Carol's analysis is coming true. Whenever I'm in such a mood I pray to God that nobody sees me lol. And definitely not any guys=p But what the heck, tertiary students don't usu dress meticulously too. I'm just blogging abt this to emphasize how shagged I feel today.

I tried appealing for change in tutorial but they said there were no vacancies avail. I think it's a lame excuse, surely fitting one more person in the class of 17 won't hurt? They just refuse to help... So yicky yucks, my Wednesday sucks. Class fr 8-10, then 12-2 and...6-8!! The horror...

Our 3mx1m banner at Sci

Day 25

Sat and Sunday were spent at Forum Roadshow. If it weren't for the money ($10/h) I won't be in this. Nothing great happened, just the usual, did spinal screenings and had to tolerate a notorious manager. Only found out yest that she was notorious, I thought it was only me who couldn't stand her.

Opps and the Poems stock challenge finally started. I logged in to check it out and realised that I know close to nothing abt investing in shares. But i'm really reluctant to ask her cos I know she'll use it as an excuse to play more. Sigh* I just have to try to uncover my hidden gift (may or may not exist) in this....

Week 13- I got my liscence!

This week I barely have enough sleep. Fri, sat, sun, mon, wed, thur got tuition. tue was welcome tea. I've got these huge tea bags beneath my eyes.

But, i've got an achievement to report!! I passed my Driving Test this morning! 10 points! Phew, i almost thought I couldn't pass as 4-5 times when changing up the gear from 2nd to 3rd I got stuck! And another heart attack came when I was assigned a test route that I hadn't done b4! I did 9 out of 10 test routes with my instructor except THAT route.

The balloting process of test routes as done in the order: Test Route 10, 1, 2, 3, 4..... and i was praying for my name to be picked for the ones b4, and when it finally reached Test Route 9, and my name still wasn't picked, I knew I was so 'suay' (unlucky). But well, not that I remembered the other test routes well given my Super Short Term Memory, so I just went, and got my liscense! I got to give my driving instructor special mention here, Mr F Kok from Comfort Driving Sengkang is such a patient and jovial instuctor who keeps nagging but you still don't find him irritating. Anyways, Yipee!! I can drive the 'kids' to school now...

Day 24

Went to Moral Welfare Home today to help bring the old folks out to the Botanical Gardens. I find this kind of outings really fun and meaningful. Feel like joining MWH but I have commitments in HopeD and Main Com at the moment, notwithstanding all the tuitions and piano I've got. I love old ppl!! They're so 'he ai ke qin' it's so heartwarming. It's not just any other stroll in the park! Everything is so memorable, sitting tog with the residents on the bus, wheeling them in their wheelchairs, engaging in small talk with them, holding their hands as we walk tog...


Most ppl wld think com service is like doing something for others. Actually it benefits yourself too. Otherwise how often do u think u can take a leisurely stroll in the park, enjoying the beautiful scenery? How often do u speak to others as if there's no boundary although u're only meeting that person for the first time? How often do you feel so relax and exchange smiles with everyone you see as if you're one big family? I don't know abt others but to me com svc is "killing 2 birds with 1 stone". You help yourself and you help others.

Sometimes you look at these ppl and you think they're unfortunate. They nd our help. But actually if u look at it in a philosophical kind of way, these 'unfortunate' ppl have reached some state of 'Nirvana' where they are free from worries. We're the ones who need them to grace our lives, who nd their help to find our purpose.

I'm quite glad I joined NVAC with the opportunity to do all these "good deeds" and yea, even to spread the volunteering spirit to others through NVAC Exposition!! Coming up soon!!

Week 12

Went to Shirley's hse on Sat for her 21st Birthday party. Met an old friend HFang. It's such a small world. Everywhere u go, someone u know knows someone else. It was an uneventful party, we were trying to entertain ourselves. But they were all talking abt Jap anime as usual and I know nothing abt the topic. So I just kept my mouth shut and tried to look entertained.

I don't really understand the craze with all things Jap. Don't watch much jap dramas nor anime. Don't read comics. I think it's a bit over-hyped. Ppl rushing to take the Jap module in school such that the bid pts are sky high. It's a bit crazy. However, there's something jap that I like- Sushi!!!

Hope someone wld invite me to Sake Sushi soon. I like that place. Better than NYDC where we always hang out.

Week 11

Went to ZHao's farewell cum birthday party at Amara Downtowneast. Only 4 from our JC class turned up. Quite sad, what happened to our class? The no. keeps dwindling at our outings. Even so, I think the party went ok. We managed to keep ourselves entertained by taking photos. This month I've went to so many parties I'm feeling a bit broke. What I've earned has went to all these social engagements, presents and transport (so many cab rides this month). But, I'm still looking fwd to all the other parties coming up...

Got the results for Piano on Sat night. I passed my G8 piano exams! HSee wanted to appeal cos the examiner made some serious mistakes in the marking but well, a pass is good enough. Don't think I want to waste more time taking again. She said she couldn't sleep cos of the fall in average grades of her students. Relax lady, exams conditions are hard to predict. Maybe the students did falter during the exam but their parents don't know. All those parents who support the appeal need to do some serious thinking.

Day 23

I've just had a haircut last night. Nope, you didn't hear wrongly, it was at night cos I have a 24hr hairdresser- My Dad. He has been cutting my hair for me all my 20 years so I don't spend money on hair salons where girls spend tons of money on hair styling, hair dye, rebonding, straightening... I'm very lucky because I've got really straight black hair so I need none of those chemical treatments which spoil your hair anyway. I'm cool with letting my Dad cut my hair, he cuts the hair of all 4 of us. He's not terrific, instead very slow, but it's presentable.

Just this week, we got a new refrigerator and microwave, but what abt my new hairdryer??!! I realised that it is the most essential e. appliance in my life. I can't go out with my hair all dangling wet! My hair takes ages to dry and I don't feel gd when I go out without my hair tied. I blew 2 of them this year already and this time Pa dug out a red ancient looking National one from the garage. I think it's been ard for yrs and smells funny. I want a brand new one please!!

Also contemplating joining the Clariol Herbal Essence school girl's 'pagent' to see who has the best hair. But it's so 'pai seh' need to post your photo on the site and ask ppl to vote for you...

Moove Media

I saw the cows painted red and white by Moove Media along the road. I swear I must get a pic of them soon.... In the meantime, found this on their site:

Day 22- Ppl know me...Oooh

Do i have such a recognisable face?

Yest at Matric fair 1 or 2 pple came up and said they recognise me from somewhere. Today, I saw my old neighbour's father who also recognised me! Even more surprising, I went to top-up the card for my driving lessons and the instructor at the service desk just rattled off my user-ID when he saw me walk in!!! During Matric Fair I met CKang, fortunately he recognised and greeted me, unlike the other pri sch classmate which I complained abt in one of my previous blogs. It's pleasant to know that pple remember you lol.

I think I was pretty much out-going in Pri and Sec sch. Only in JC then I hid in the shadows. Too many "stars" around at that time.

but well lets discuss a bit abt "faces/looks" cos recently I was quite put off during some incidents when someone I knew kept talking to the friend/s beside me and totally ignored my existence! I don't quite understd these ppl. If it's someone u know how hard is it to start a conversation? Even if you don't quite like the person, surely you can still make some friendly chat? To ignore that person is disgusting. Don't you think it's all very superficial if you keep talking to the cute pretty girls/guys only?

Back to being recognisable. I'm not the cute/pretty type, definitely not. I'm the tough cookie, hard to crack kind. But I think my 20 years of experience has shown me that I do have quite a distict looking face. I don't look quite Singaporean. Many ppl have guessed Chinese, Philippino, Eurasian, Malay etc. At CF, LYen introduced me to the uncle and had to add that "She's Chinese, don't worry". Leng's friend once asked her "Your maid ar?" All these goes to show. Recently a friend commented that my face is quite "chi xiang", I'm not very sure what that means but I think it means "sinks well with others"/ maybe "recognisable"?

Since I'm so recognisable, I think I shld pay more attention to my dressing. One friend wrote in her blog that I've got "no dress sense at all", "wears in old school t-shirts etc". How cld she say that?! I don't wear old sch tees except at home. but yeah, I think i really got to start worrying abt my wadrobe cos I realise I dressed REALLY bad at camp as well as when gg for driving lessons...which sums up as most of the time :-(

Our booth at MF

Day 21

SQi is showing signs of breakdown. She dreads tuition. QQ and Nina says so, but she has denied it. But I see that she's evidently stressed. Although I'm fierce at WQuan's tuition, I'm not fierce to the girls so I don't think that's the problem. Think the problem lies in the education system, it's too competitive. Primary sch kids nowadays have so much tuition on top of sch work. I don't remember tuition being so popular when I was that age. I've never had tuition all my life, but neither did I often hear that my classmates had tuition. Why is it that our system has changed so much that there's so much work andprojects to do and yet kids are becoming more rude and rebellious to their teachers and parents? Makes you lose faith in the system. I'm contemplating bringing the girls out to the zoo or something for a change. Try to change their perception of tuition...

Spent the day at matric fair today, trying to get pple to sign up. Running the booth is like doing sales you need a "san chun bu lan zhi she". Through observation, I also realised that many pple are easily swayed when you talk to them. Esp young pple, they don't know how to say "no". It's good for the salespple like me, but it's not a good trend. I'm a born cynic, so I usu. turn the salespple and promoters down. This is not always good because sometimes you got to listen to pple more and be more receptive. This is something I need to change. After going through so much at home, I realise the importance of giving and taking. Sometimes you know that pple are taking advantage of you or have more to gain than you do, but you still bite the bait. A bit like the altruism parents show towards their kids, but probably of a lower-order. To sum it all, just be less "zhi zhuo"/ unwilling to let go. That's impt in life.

Week 10 - CLaSs GatHeRing

Japanese Ice Desserts!

On Sat we had a class gathering. Half the group went to Billy Bombers and half went to Cafe Cartel cos we couldn't decide what to eat. But later we went to some Jap restaurant to eat desserts. It's been a while since we had class gathering and GXin came this time. But I think girls' gathering are a lot more successful, nx time we'll just have girls' gathering.

On Sun I was in sch for MF setup at 9!! Told me to be there at 9 but they came at 9.30! After which we went to Jurong East for Charity Fiesta and I spent the whole day helping to sell gelato ice-cream. Not that I was really needed at the gelato booth but it was like every other booth was filled and the guys were more useful than girls cos they could carry the heavy stuff about. It was just like taking part for the fun of it, just to be part of it. But I thought overall it was quite well organised and the concert was really good. I'm hearing some bad news from the Expo side, heard that they're cancelling the V-Concert. I don't know what's going on there...
We left at abt 10+ . I had about 3 FULL cups of gelato that day cos the boss kept offering. He assured that it's low fat but still I feel that it's going to be a big forfeit. Lol

This morning I couldn't wake up. Had to be in school at 7 but I only reached at 7.30 to help set up the NVAC booth again. Have to be there the nx 2 days.

There's too much going on my mind again, like the MF namelist, don't understand why there are so many changes again. It's so hard to coordinate. And there's module bidding too and everything I want to take clashes. And I hate to be stuck at home with those 2 pple who r quarelling all day. I'm once again sucked into the tornado without warning. I want to fly to America......

Day 20- LaSt Day

Whoosh! I'm full of energy today! Cos boss came in b4 9 today and i finally got to report all my stuff to him. Plus I got an adjustment fr him (really gd, I feel so much relieved). And then my colleagues treated me to Pizza Hut in the office! Nice pple, owe it to them I saved some lunch money. I'm on a mega saving project now, cos I still want to study Chiropractic!! Although Mum and Dad are not exactly in favour of it now because i've been to busy to explain everything to them, I hope I can convince them one day, because this is one of the rare moments that I feel like I've finally found a direction in life and know exactly what my heart desires....

I'll blog again on the cost of this 6 yr course of study...

I feel a bit sad though that once again i'm leaving the company for school. Boss says he hope to see me ard to do his webpage. I hope he really means it because he's been a great inspiration to me so I hope he does think that i can help out and not just to do "sai kang"- a term I learnt recently fr Shirley which means odd jobs/ jobs that nobody elses wld take. Also, I managed to see (a sad looking) Dr A today on my last day. It feels exhilarating to declare that it's your last day. IT'S MY LAST DAY! Hip hip HURRAY!

I also brought HKhai and WQuan along to Poster C. Had to rush back otherwise AhGong wld think I'm irresponsible and "dunno bring HKhai go where"... He was looking out of the window awaiting us when we reached home. I wonder how much of my credibility has been lost.

Day 19

Feeling happy today. Manage to get to work on time.

I'm happy because I sent him and email yest to ask him when he's coming in. And asked for a testimonial and an adjustment. And he said Yes! to all my "wishes". Yes! Yes! I can finally quit with a peace of mind. Better contain my excitement a bit, cos Fiona said I keep smiling since yesterday. And I've waited 3 hours since and still no sign of him. Jo said she doesn't think he'd be coming in. As usual, she's the one rain on my parade... Never mind, still 6 hrs to knock off, so I still have a chance.

Day 18- Majong Shifus

Aye aye, skipped my chalet just so I could see boss and tell him that I want to quit....but he's been avoiding the office. How, leaving soon and haven't seen him. Sobz....

Went for post-camp retreat yesterday evening for bbq. Wil and WEn taught me how to play majong and i stuffed myself with lots of satay and otah. It was a nice relaxing chill out but I was a bit drained on reaching home and I've got to work today.

If I survive this week, i'll be a true survivor!!

Week 9- RoAdShow AfTerMath

I slept like a log yesterday after standing the whole day at the Health & You Roadshow. As usual, the queue was non-stop and I didn't get any rest at all. My feet were so sore and I could feel them giving way already. When I reached home, I immediately hit the sacks and 'snored' (figuratively) all the way till I pulled myself out of bed at 7 this morning. The roadshow experience was fine except nearly losing my voice at some point and getting scolded by 1 or 2 unreasonable customers. But it still felt different at the RS. It feels different working with people you're familiar with and people you're not. The new staff are doing quite a good job as it is now but I rather go back to one year back, working with Carol and Xiaoxuan. And the satisfaction in seeing it a success. My experience yesterday kept reminding me that I was a "temp" staff only. While the older drs tried to catch up a little, the new drs attitude were pretty discourteous. The way they handled the patients were also very patronizing. If I were 'checked' by them I don't think I'd be convinced to sign up.

One dr asked why I wasn't under Chiropractic Care after so long. Well, it just doesn't come across to anyone that I need some help here on my spine... When the whole office went for free X-Rays this "temp" staff was sloughing away in the office.

And this "temp" staff received a sms that day saying that the poster she created was "full of grammatical and syntax errors". Well, the poster only had about 30 words and only 2 slight errors were pointed out 'member' not 'members', 'complimentary' not 'free complimentary' so how can it be "FULL" of errors?! And, it was the boss wrote and approved the message. The sms had to pass through 2 other pple b4 it was fwd to me and I was told "not to let the boss know they fwded the actual msg to me..." Great.

But Saturday was better I guess cos I managed to do some shopping at the Hereen after the very long Econs competion which took up my whole afternoon causing me to miss Huiqi's musical performance!!! *Sigh* The competition made wonder what I was doing the whole of my 2 years in JC. How nice it would be to be selected to rep. your sch at inter-sch acadamic competitions. But most of the time I was trying to break the "C/D" barrier and get into "B/A" group so maybe I should just wish I was one of those brilliantly clever pple who ace exams w/o studying... If I were them then I could rep the sch.....*faraway look in eyes*.... But back to shopping at Heeren, I bought a top and a hairband, lip gloss and some facial masks that day. I'm a firm believer in retail therapy. It really does wonders in lifting spirits...makes you forget (momentariliy) the problems that have been plaguing you the whole day.

Day 17- Temp Staff Status

I'm very overwhelmed by work this week. Been at IP since Thur taking photos of Xrays and downloading them into the computer. Quite a mammoth task, each patient has about 7 or more shots and there are like about 100 patients. And you have to put them up on the lightbox and then take them down again. Such repetitive actions caused me a lot of 'subluxations' in my back and neck. My back was so VERY stiff that in the end I decided to "hou zhe lian bi" and ask the new Dr to adjust me. But that was not before he gave me a talk on adjustments&Xrays. Well, I was quite willing to accomodate his talk (although I can regurgitate everything myself) so long as I get adjusted!! He's quite charming really although he reminds me of another certain Dr..... And yes, he agreed that my back and neck were REALLY stiff, "you've been doing a lot of studying there :D" Not studying la, sloughing more likely. I feel like a workaholic, "tuition queen". I've got tuition on Tue, Thur, Sat, Sun and piano on Fri, on top of working at the clinic where things are quite over the top.... How can my spine be stress-free?? I really want more adjustments but a bit too pai seh to ask afterall my job status is only "Temp Staff". Yeah, I temp staff who worked for >1 year. Still temp??

I'm back at Prosper Hse doing designing stuff. He doesn't want me to go to the other clinics to help scan Xrays although Morrie kindly invited me to PP. I feel quite inclined to say Yes because she's really so friendly and likeable. Like a nanny!! But I dare not disobey boss' orders. It's not too bad at Prosper Hse too, I think they kinda missed me cos they were being real friendly today. Also, I just spoilt his Panasonic digicam and he's in a bad mood today I heard. I don't really like it when pple are in a bad mood, whenever somebody is in a bad mood, I really wish I can do sth to ease the mood but then again my 'powers' are limited.

But I managed to let my hair down a bit last night when we went to celebrate Xuan's birthday. We went to Fish&Co. at Wheelock Place. Girls' night out. But we weren't too happy with the service there: late in serving the food although we asked so many of the waiters..., late in refilling our glasses, so hard to catch their attention even when you actually want to PAY them for the bill, and worst still, they had such a elaborate birthday celebration for the birthday girl at the next table, even did a "rah-rah" cheer and gave her a complimentary cake and balloon. And there we were with Birthday Xuan feeling none too pleased.

Girls' Night Out

Week 8

This weekend, AhMah came to stay. We went with Auntie SHoon to Best at Hougang to shop for a microwave. Wa, cheated my feelings. I was told we were going to Hougang Mall, in the end ended up at some ulu "Hougang Sth Market" and there was almost no shops there except a foodcourt. And....I was expecting to partake in the GSS when....Horror of horror, They had a litenary in mind....Best Denki. The night out was quite a disappointment but at least we got to eat some supper. It sort of made up a little for it (less than half).

Then, on Sunday, I tried driving Papa's car, but the turning in our garden was so difficult. I got the car stuck/wedged diagonally between the gates. We had to carry the car "literally". I know Pa was angry, he had such a straight face, but he didn't flare up or say much. Luckily =p

A recall: Last Friday, boss was angry and shouting over the phone and there was only me alone... I had to pretend nothing was wrong and go on doing my stuff as usual. Luckily my acting skills are quite something Haha. On reflection, I think that i'm quite lucky, after working for so long he hasn't flared up at me yet :D Vio says she thinks boss likes me better than my friends. I can't tell for sure if that's true, maybe it's just I have a knack of evading trouble but if it's true, good for me!!

Day 16- Pirates

"Johnny Depp's antics as the inimitable Captain Jack Sparrow make up for Pirates' convolted plot"

Couldn't agree more. Last night, we went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Enjoyed every minute of it, savouring in the sights of Johhy Depp. Terrific acting again, please let him win an Oscar this time... Even Orlando Bloom who was a "hua ping" the last time was no longer "hua ping" this time. He "bloomed" or "blossomed" to the extent that Captain Jack Sparrow was a bit overshadowed, or rather the script made CJS out to me a bit of a cad. One show, two heroic characters.

There were many hilarious scenes no doubt but the story this time didn't flow as well as the first. It was a bit of a patchwork of scenes the director thought would go down well with the audience? Anyway I still would want to watch the next sequeal, hear more references towards Singapore (heard there'd be more). Even without the 30sec cameo by Geoffery Rush, I still want to see the face-off between CJS and the sea monster (they'd better include it!).

Day 15- When Old Friends Meet

Happened to meet some old friends...

Sherry (a.k.a. Shirley's friend) at Aljunied yesterday. Lo' & behold, she's taking Econs at SMU. Even better, she says it's "funky".... What am I doing in NUS?? If only I've got deeper pockets...

Then this morning, I met Lucas on the bus (or I thought it was him). Just take it that it WAS him, cos I saw a flicker of regconition across his face when I saw him. Which I think disappeared from his face and was passed down to his behaviour. (I wasn't looking at his face no more)

Ahem, his behaviour... suddenly so stiff like he dared not make any noise to startle me and give me a cue that 'You know this guy sitting right beside you, yes?' LOL. And he cleared his throat multiple times... is he trying to catch my attention so I'll be the first one to open my mouth to ask if it's really him? So I played along, we didn't acknowledge each other.

I think it's really amusing, to be sitting beside your primary school classmate and both not talking. This isn't the first time I saw him, think in JC I met him before at VJ Soccer finals. Well, it's probably a problem with young people, lack the courage to even say "Hi" to somebody you know, in case....that isn't the person you think it is.

Next time, I shall make it a point to be the one to break the silence. It can't be that hard....

At Twilight

This is a nicey blog. At Twilight. The owner writes prettily with reflective, piquant wit. Does this come with age and experience? He's many times older than I am. I wish I were half his standard.

Day 14- Chee Koh Peh Uncles

Another uncle was "looking at me for very long" at the coffeeshop. Geesh, can't they be more discreet? I swear I wasn't doing anything provocative...he then smiled at me and said "Thank you"... When he wasn't even the one who took my order, cooked or served up the food. I thought he was some nobody sitting around. Is it so rare to see young pple around? Can more young pple out there reading this frequent coffeeshops more so that we don't "stand out"? Or must I next time send someone to buy my food for me?

Playing mindsweeper in the office. I can finish 10 brochure designs in 1 day. But if your pay is $60/day, I think i'll be spoiling the market if I worked too fast. So I aimed for 1 a day, but still, you can't work like a snail the whole day, and surf the Net for the whole week (you run out of things to surf, can you cannot keep clicking the 'Refresh' button for new mails. Besides, when everyone in the office is so busy or acting busy, it's difficult. I bet the whole office knows I'm doing unorthodox stuff in the office everyday but who cares?? I'm now doing 2+ a day...

Someone in the newspapers classified bloggers as "Civilian journalist". Cool name. Thank you.

Week 7- World Cup Finals

This weekend was supposed to be rejuvenation time, but why do I feel more tired?

Last night, Channel 5 was showing Pirates of the Caribbean. It's the 3rd time I watched it. Loved Johnny Depp's character in particular, the flamboyant Captain Jack Sparrow. Mr Depp has a way of bringing out the personalities of the characters he plays to the 'T', every Johnny Depp movie is worth the money you put in to watch it.

And....World Cup Finals. Italy vs France. I was rooting for France but I knew from the start Italy was going to win, with their track record and stuff. But the French put in such a good game, especially after the 2nd quarter, there was so much action from their side, the Italians paled in comparison. I thought it was such a pity. During penalty shootout, my heart sank when the French guy, don't know what his name hit the X-bar. Goodness! that practically guaranteed the Italians the title. Too bad Zidane was out-of-order (red card) during that time, else could things have been different??

I'm still surviving this morning. But some pple in the office look a bit petered out. I'm trying to guess which ones watched the finals last night, and which ones are due to monday blues...

Day13

My blogs are always on yesterdays. I have no energy to stay up late at night just to blog. So this was how yesterday went....I went to work in the morning and then in the evening I went for driving lessons. Then the instructor sent me home. He's such a funny person always so worried when I go too fast or near to the curb, so many times I want to tell him "Don't worry I know what I'm doing..." Ya, and when he sent me home, he mounted the curb and the whole car jerked violently. Then he said "I didn't see the curb" and laughed. That was how it ended.

My whole evening was spent working on the poster designs samples for expo. I think it came out pretty well, for the first time I experimented with the posterize and fresco funtions in Photoshop and the final results were pretty impressive.

Day12- Piano Exam

Just came back from NVAC-Expo mtg at Suntec Mac. There's write-ups to do and stuff...heralds a busy week. Plus I'm going back to work tmr. I'm kinda hooked onto taking leave now, be it for camp/ driving lessons etc. I don't want to work!! Have caught the lazy bug already.

The examiner today was a beardly, over-sized Caucasian. Quite friendly, reminded my of Santa Claus, there were some slips along the way, but I think should be able to pass. I don't hold very hopes for high pass, just a pass and I'm satisfied. It's been a long journey, time to mark an end...

Because our stupid microwave oven has broken down, plus I was chased out of the house, I had to desperately call up all my Marine Parade friends hoping to borrow a microwave to heat up the hotpack. In the end, I decided to pop by CF clinic to warm it up. Don't feel very good abt it initially cos I thought better "Gong si fen ming", but then it was the only solution cos my Marine Parade friends deserted me! Boohoo...

Oh and this week, I suddenly begin to feel that I have a night-life. It's like 7 days a week I've been hanging out till past midnight. My taxi fares are like record high this week. Today I took 1 to Marine Drive and the cab driver was talking to me about traffic jams/COE/LTA etc. He says that 5 years ago there were 20000 cars, the road has 3 lanes, today there are 50000 or was it 70000 cars and still 3 lanes. In 10 years time, 100000 cars and still 3 lanes? How not to have traffic jam? Ans: ERP....Anyway, taxi drivers have a way of keeping the journey entertaining, he also told me about female taxi drivers being more "hiong" or gutsy than male drivers and charge incredulous amounts to tourists......Ya....

I went to the hawker centre for lunch. There was this drink uncle, keep calling me "mei nu" non-stop, even when I refused to buy a drink from him (fruit juice). Then not only does he keep calling me that, even behind my back, he referred to me to his stall partners the same way.... I think enough is enough, do business you need to sweet-talk pple sometimes but I felt pretty awkward when he didn't know when to stop. When I finally did order watermelon from him, and he served watermelon juice instead, much to my dismay, he still kept calling me that, even when returning my change.... Hai* some pple never see pretty girls before...=p

The weather is sweltering hot these days. I feel like a hippopotamus. I don't know why but I'm reminded that the hippopotamus with their thick skin can get skin cancer under the sun. Can't shake the thought and whenever the weather is hot I'm reminded of the hippos (and they must be powder pink)...

Day 11- Sleuth outing at KBox

Something unfortunate happened during camp. I lost my phone in the girls toilet outside MPSH1 on Day 1. That was just before dinner, after dinner I went back and it was gone! The person who took it sure was fast, switched it off immediately. Esther and LYen tried to call many times, so did I, but all we heard was "there is no response from the subscriber's mobile phone, please try again later"...I'm the unfortunate subscriber....

That left me quite helpless for days. It was first day of camp, how was I going to last for the next few days without my phone? Anyway, yesterday 2nd July I got a new phone! It's a Samsung E730 with capabilities far exceeding my previous Sony Eriksson K300i. Blessing in disguise?

But the lesson I learnt and is going to propagate now is never to use those squatting toilets!! Sure it saves time if there are no other cubicles available but the price to pay is so high... As the always practical me, I just went into the only available cubicle. But....heaven knew what was going to happen....when I was done, the flush splashed on my jeans and my immediate concern was to go out and dry it by the hand-dryer. So I forgot my dear phone hanging behind the door. Usually I'd not be so blur but that unfortunate miserable cubicle made me so flustered that I forgot it. So here I repeat the lesson: The 2nd last cubicle in the girls toilet outside MPSH1 is cursed!! Don't ever use it!! Then there's the irony, at the SP game, my SP guessed my phone was Samsung, but I said Nokia....now i really do have a Samsung, so we shouldn't have gotten booted out. Ha.

-----screened out-----

SiHui was commenting that there were many guys at camp who looked like Ah Bengs. You wouldn't expect them to have such a kind volunteering soul behind that Ah Beng exterior, but they surprise you! Well yeah, there were many at camp and we mustn't judge pple by their appearances. It's like the Prisons Ad on TV, pple who look like ex-convicts can live a decent proper respectable life. They can give to society, be volunteers too! WEn must thank me for this free publicity for YRP....

Ok then there is war ranging at home, or rather a strike. She's in one of those moods again, persuasion does not help. I cannot help by clash with her, it's something inexplicable, she picks on me I feel she does so, she picks on me but thinks I'm picking on her. Sacarcism flies, I have a sharp tongue...there's no way of picking up the pieces. I see no point anyway and no way to do so.

Wooo.....on Sunday Sleuths met up at KBox cinneleisure and sang till the wee hours. We were celebrating Irene's birthday. The enthusiastic group of 10 went to Long John's and ordered 10 combo 1s. Then we went to KBox and sang from 7 to a bit past 12. Had to share cabs home. Can you imagine how enthu we are, meeting so fast after the camp? We really miss each other so much, more bonding sessions are in the pipeline already! I'm really heartened by the group's "On" attitude.

-Jason and Fang Yu. -Taken with new Samsung E730

Week 6- Juxtapose06

This week I got to relive the excitement and fun of being at camp.

Juxtapose 2006, the yearly NVAC camp kickstarted on Sunday Day0. I was counsellor.

We played many ice-breaker games. I'm really amazed at the no. of them. Before that I only knew Wacko....how sad. Now I know so many! It was really fun. And seeing how everybody was so game, even at forfeits, the team spirit was so evident. There was a 'I love cards' game where we were supposed to suck the cards and pass them down a row. My goodness, it was so hilarious, i had to try so hard to stop laughing. Because once you laugh you let go of the air and the card will drop. We tried for some time before we suceeded.

On Day 1 we replayed ice-breakers again. Then there was mini-war games where we played the 'I love cards' game again. The campers had better luck & skill with it. And there was the sandwich game....with forfeit of eating wasabi sandwiches. *Cool* We had this impromptu group cheer "Wasabi sandwiches....Sioh, Nutella sandwiches....Di, Salt sandwiches....Giam, Sleuth.....swee ah!" And then 'Captain's What?' and the candle game at the basketball court. Our team didn't pay attention to the briefing and only when our raffel string got burnt then we realised that was the objective of the game. So dumb, we didn't even defend it was an open goal! But no matter, we resumed our team's fav game 'Murderer'.

My fav part of camp was NightO. We had to go to various stations around the campus to play games. One was the TangYuan game where we got our hands dirty with flour. One was the water bomb game, where the 4 guys had to carry the girls on their shoulders and catch the water bombs thrown by a blindfolded Fangyu. Boy did they complain that their shoulders ache, and we found out who were the strongest and ahem...weakest guys who offered the least sense of security. haha. Another was the numbering game where we had to call out 1-40, and where I got my face painted like a red Indian....Then there was the slidedown game at the track, where we had to climb a slope with soap water generously spilled. And finally we slided down it, getting our pants all wet! But again, it was in the name of fun!! And finally the Nutella/Kaya game, where we passed the Nutella/Kaya down the row using our cheeks to make a sandwich, and then share it! Yew! Next morning all of us were terrified of bread and Kaya. It was the most memorable game....
Then at 11/12 there was Lost movement where campers were thrown off the bus at some distance from the chalet and had to find their way there themselves.

Day 2 morning we set off on Amazing race which brought us to Bugis, Nat'l Lib and Suntec, final stop was Sentosa, Palawan Beach where we played many water games. Everyone got wet in the name of fun. Our team Sleuth played until so late that we were late for Fright Night back at the chalet. It was scary for some, but to me it was ok. I'm the kind who gets kicks from being scared. It was funny seeing pple i know posing as ghosts. 'Fresh Meat' was the tagline for the night and the next morning.

Day 3 morning.......we played some team building games. The colourful flags game which demanded concentration as well as the Charater name game which was pretty interesting because my team was so dead-set on not losing that we named ourselves after PAP MPs. S. Jayaratnam, Tharman Shamugaratnam made it a mouthful to call us....and no, we didn't win that game, first to lose all the subsitutes.

In the afternoon was Spirit of Compassion, SoC, where the campers did well in acting as counsellors! Thumbs up to their performance, I hoped they learnt something from it just as I did at pre-camp when I was in there place. It was followed by Disabiliy Challenge, where the group had to perform some tasks with each member suffering a different disabiliy. Team spirit shone through as we completed our tasks quickly and efficiently. Then there was BBQ and skit where the campers put on a good explanation skit on 'Who killed Anna Suay'.

Day4 i missed the morning because of piano. Went back in the evening for D&D. We had games and fun and our SPs were revealed. It was more like a Chirstmas party again, and we played pass the parcel and walk under the bamboo game, which I hadn't played in ages already!

There was so much camaradie during the camp. I really would want to go again nx yr. I think credits go to the camp com, they did great, although Ken kept insisting that there was a lot of last minute work.

I was glad I made many new friends. Not being in Weien's group was ok, all the people at camp were like old friends although for many it was the first time meeting, but we all hit off. Especially Sleuth group!! Man, 4 days with you guys were great! And we even won most vibrant team! Not to mention ChenKoon and FangYu won Mr & Ms Juxtapose, doing our team proud. Well done =D We all got to know each other quite well. Esp for ChenKoon it was like revealing his true self day by day.... And our team's favourite game....Murderer!!! And our all-time murderer was Allan, who picked the Murderer Ace card 5 times in a row. Was it luck? Fated? Affinity?

My, it was a truely meaningful way to spend the hols! And the excitement hasn't worn off me yet......I'm still in the midst of posting the photos online.....

Group photo on Palawan Beach

Week 5- Siam Kitchen

I realised I didn't post anything last week so this is to make up.

The sunday before we went to Auntie SYen's house warming party. It was very fun, first time I realised she could cook, even if most were finger food. To be honest, I thought she would be a lousy cook. Everyone was fascinated with the Osim UZap she bought, even Mama haha. Then we played with the cousins till very late.

When we went home, we still watched VCD Seoul Raiders with ShuQi and Tony Leung. Whoa, their acting were great. I always like both of their acting.

On Fri I met up with SHui, SYing, XX and HQi at Suntec to celebrate HQi's birthday. We went to Siam kitchen. I think that place has a very nice ambience, clean cut look, the food is served in white pocerline dishes which looks extremely palatable. It's my 2nd time there and I think I'd go back again. Then we took a walk along the Singapore River at the Esplanade. Stayed out so late that by the time my train reached Toa Payoh Interchange, the last bus had left and I had to take a cab home....

Well this is a bit pointless, gushing about TV and food. But it sums up what I did over the weekend.

Day 10

Yay!!! I passed my Advance Theory Test, now I can book my practical test. But not before I was humiliated by the test instructor for not bringing my I/C. But I brought my student pass, and it has my photo...His voiced boomed across the classroom "You should bring your IC for any test....blah blah" it went on for about 1 min. And they took turns, 2 of them. I could feel 50 pairs of eyes boring into me. Why can't they keep their voices down? You would think they colluded and intended to humilate me. But well, thanks to 1 of them, after I produced another card with my photo, they relented and let me take the test so the matter is rest.

Something else irked me today. The cab driver who drove me to the centre. I gave him some money, was still fishing for some more change when he got so anxious and said "$10.90". Please, was he trying to accuse me of cheating him? I was still in the cab, digging into my purse, any blind man could see that. And I have no intention of cheating a poor, impatient, anxious cab driver who is only middle-age. Still young, why so impatient?

Day 9- 2 "Shou Xing Po"

It was Juliana's birthday on Saturday. Met with Shirley at J8 to buy a present. I think we know her taste quite well, we got a bag that suits her and she liked it. Think it was a successful party. Met with old sec' school friends and talk talk talk. Juliana's dad recognised me immediately, Shirley said it's because I didn't change at all, even though my hair is longer.....Oh no does this imply I've been looking old all along?? Arhh...Noooo.......

Then it was SYing's birthday party yesterday too. Met HQi's boyfriend at the station, and SHui's boyfriend drove us there. Funny thing happened. He beat the red light on the way!! 2 flashes!! Was he irritated that he had to wait for us for so long? WLiat was late. The girls wanted to dump him and ask him to find his way there himself. I think that seems mean, can't hurt to wait a little right? And boyfriends should be more 'feng du' right? The Chinese is better at this, at least they have a word for it, the closest I can think of in English is probably 'non-petty'? 'generous'?

Talking about 'feng du' probably the 2 guys from our class who went scored better. One of them drove us home. We packed 8 people in to the car!! It was pretty hilarious such a tight squeeze that some of us were sitting on each other's lap. But yeah, at least we tried, showed some team spirit Lol.

Also went for driving etrial yesterday, but before I walked more than 4 m out of the gate, I was totally drenched. It's a disaster walking along the main road on wet days, you get splashed even if the car decides to slow down. But many drivers are not as considerate. I couldn't make it to the bus stop safely so in the end, Dad gave me a lift. WLiat said Elaine saw me there, why didn't she call me? I'm pretty friendly, aren't I not? It's a small world, smaller Singapore...

But all and all, this weekend was simply Great.

Week 4- NVAC Pre-camp

Got a new tution kid, JJing. Whoa, China girl must translate for her everything....My mind was like "How to translate Solar System in Chinese?" Then there's so much to do, it's supposed to be a crash course, but we do so little because the foundations are not there. I'm trying to beating the clock every lesson, luckily the pay's not bad (managed to bargain Haha).

Then there was Pre-camp on Wed with fright night at Aloha Changi. Left me hungry for more fun. Made some new friends there, it was quite an experience. Is this self-console? Cos when I was trying to recruit participants I told all of them how good it was...blah blah...."Tian Hua Luan Zui" But nope, it was really fun, cross my heart. Then I missed the email too so I had to find my way to the chalet myself, Bus 92, luckily I made it. I always thought I had quite a good sense of direction haha.

Day 8

Good news today! My 'disciples' did very well for the piano exam. 2 got distinction, 1 got pass but quite a good one. Better than I expected, really glad.

3 pple's birthday at the office today. Gab&Julia came to the office, so funny the kids, only eat the cream on the cake and not the cake itself. And yet, grown-ups are create ruckets about the "fattening cream". Lol

Day 7

My stars today say "turn down your volume of work.....rejuvenate your soul." Exactly what I had in mind. That's why I work up bright & early this morning, feeling super relax. Best day I've spent in a week.

Managed to grab hold of Stardust by Neil Gaiman from the Sengkang Library. There were 2 copies! Now I really think Toa Payoh library is so lousy.....Anyway, I was there because I was 1/2 hour early for driving. Did changing lanes today. The same ole' instructor who likes to preach a lot.....but better than the one that slammed the breaks de other day when I didn't check for cars during the left turn. Gawd, that juction is now deeply engraved in my mind. If that's the test route I'll sure remember to check.

Anyhow, I think that I drive better when I'm feeling confident. It sorta sways with my mood.

Yet, this week I feel that I've not been very modest. Feel like kicking myself on the behind sometimes when I make some really self-important comment. I realise it but it always comes out before I know it. Sigh*

Day 6

______________________________________________

"I know why families were created, with all their imperfections. They humanize you. They are made to make you forget yourself occasionally, so that the beautiful balance of life is not destroyed."

______________________________________________

Day 5

Wow, today we did a lot of work! Went to Kent Rd to learn how to make dumplings. It's really harder than it looks, trying to wrap it properly in pyramid shape, and not let the fillings fall out! You may think you know how, but when you actually get to doing it, things are a lot more difficult.

Day4- Expo 1st Mtg

Wednesday. Today is really hectic. Expo Meeting @TCC Citylink. Got home at 11p.m. Dead beat and there's work tmr...