Day 10

Went to MWH coffeeshop outing today ;) it was drizzling and we had to carry umbrellas for the residents while holding their hands...tiring but fun. Was attached to this resident who didn't like to speak....so it was a quiet afternoon.

Day 9

This entry would have started with me gushing about the beautiful sights I would have seen tonight. After hanging around in school for 4.5 hrs for this would have been star-gazing opportunity, I would have thought that the heavens would favour us for our patience and hold back the rain. It did... it wasn't raining up till 7.15 when Daryl and I finished dinner at Engin canteen, it wasn't raining up till 7.20 when we went to YIH. But alas it had to rain at 7.40 when we headed for the field. So much for star gazing, we were caught in the rain and had to go home! Can't help feeling cheated cos there was so much I would have done instead during the afternoon if I would have known earlier it would rain.

Gentle Night pictures

Picture taken on Saturday, 20/1/07 at Gentle Night Concert, raising funds for the Vietnamese kids. Amelia, Duc, myself.

Day 8- About Motivation 2

Yesterday had dinner with Thiha at YIH before Camp meeting. Surprised to find out he's Burmese-Chinese! Told me the whole family immigration story......how his ancestors like many others only thought of coming to Nanyang, with no specific destination in mind, then landing up wherever the ships took 'em. Wow, I can't imagine having such life-determining decisions left to Fate just like that. Think our ancestors are really brave to have the resolve to live their homelands.

Another reflection that came out of the dinner: It's surprising how these ppl want to initiate community projects out of the blue. I'm having a bit of trouble getting my butt to move already, after con spirito..... After meeting Thiha i was motivated to send that application to the Young Changemakers Youth Panel that I've been putting off for so long.....Finally.

~Make haste while the sun shines...~

Day 7- About Motivation

My heart nearly sank when i got the call from the PS dept today. I thought my appeal for the NM mod was rejected and i had to settle for my 2nd option. Luckily i was in the middle of a class and told the lady i'd call her back. After class i went to the NM dept and yes! they had vacancies for the NM class! Thankfully, because the PS mod i was planning to take as backup is quite difficult and taxing.

Felt better then and I went CL to zap all the readings. While photocopying, I met William there. I think ppl in their last sem look visibly more stressed. I saw the same look on QW the day before.... resigned, rugged, sleep-deprived.... but still optimistic! This sounds a bit bad but now I'm yr3 and seeing all these fellow yr3, knowing that there r ppl subject to the same paper chase, same pressure cooker, you feel a tad less alone. haha

While zapping, I overheard these group talking. 1 girl told the other guy "What did you do to your eyebrows, you look so different! You look like a freak." I looked up unconsiously and the guy in qn was quite embarrassed "Why you say that so loud, you see now everyone is looking at me!" and he looked at me. Everyone in the group followed his gaze and looked at me. Hahaha all I could do was smile back. This guy just had to drag me into his little embarrassing moment..... Haha guys these day are also becoming more vain. I remember 1 friend asking me where to go for eyebrow trimming cos he wants to have it trimmed before his birthday party. Omg, I personally do not visit these places.... this is like a reverse of gender roles! I think I'm quite stuck in the mud over these things....am I?? (Horrified)

Met Merle on the way to the comp lab to upload the workshop website. I took 1 day to rush this out because I wanted to send the link with the debrief letter to all the participants. And waaa.... HYuan wrote on the tagboard that I abused QW again.....Poor me! My hardwork goes unrecognised....lol. I've made a mental note to tell him that the nx time I see him. Oh yes, Merle and I were so funny at the comp lab.

We were trying to read the thumbdrive but the stupid computer couldn't detect the drive. So I logged to the terminal beside. Still couldn't read. Then......wala! after what was like 5 minutes Merle's folder opened on my terminal! We nearly fell off the chair laughing. We got it wrong from the start. The CPU that belonged was to the right of the monitor and we thought it was the left. Of course the computer couldn't read the drive! It was the wrong CPU....Duh!

The team went for dinner XO mee fen at Holand drive. We finally got our reimbursement from Amelia so our pockets felt a bit fuller. The whole meeting was dominated by complaints of exploding telephone bills. I count myself lucky cos mine was $65.68, probably the lowest in the group. But I didn't make much calls la, not like those with gf and bf to call every other night, I only bothered once or twice to send an sms back home.

Day 6-- Con Spirito, Success!

Friday: Forced to drop 1 module today. (Very unhappy about it).
Why make the students run all over the campus when they know right from the start they are not going to help at all. The system is stupid, the people are inflexible and stupid. How to take 1 more module when I have missed 2 weeks of lecture? Wasn't in much of the mood for the MC mtg in the evening.....Stayed in sch till 10+pm....Dead beat.

Sat: Workshop Day!!! yippeee.....Reached sch at 8.10 this morning to carry the stuff to KR. Really glad YShu helped us book the venue, couldn't have wished for a better place. Everyone showed up and it was great. In the end we didn't finish the "very ambitious" program we had in mind, but it was enough. Success! This was my 'brainchild' since Sept last year, glad I persisted and was given a lot of leeway by Tim to organise this. Never dreamed I could head sth like that. Furthermore, for many years the club wanted to organise such a workshop but it never materialized. Like Nim said, "we're pioneers!" Yayz =D

As organisers we don't really get to enjoy the whole thing, but I quite liked the Tower Building segment. Teamwork at its maximum! Plus the balloon sculpturing + dialect learning session. The late nights spent on the scripts paid off. I really admired 1 guy YRen who came up aft the TB session to apologise in front of everybody for raising his voice. I don't think anyone took offense to begin with, but it sure too a lot of guts to do that. This is what i call the marks of a great leader!

Day 5

I'm back from mwh....Today there was a concert performance by Voices. It wasn't very good as the sound system there was very echoy. Throughout the performance i was talking to this old man who said he used to sell Hokkien prawn mee. Then he lauched into the whole story of how he courted his wife, story abt his family etc. etc. Quite funny. He also sang me 3 songs-- 天黑黑，one 贺年歌 and another “黄色歌". I didn't know last time there were 白色歌 and 黄色歌. The latter I found out were prohibited songs during that time, either anti-govt or pro-communist. What a revealation!

After concert was free interaction so we continued to talk to the residents. I've not been there for some time and some of them actually remember! 你久久来一次....(actually i think that's their common line when they see strangers lol but nevermind)

And so now I'm back, don't need to cook today cos Pa's the chef tonight.

2 "Extra-ordinary" lecturers I have this sem... 1 is quite nice, keeps joking during lecture, her analogies even involve calling herself a bitch... It's hilarious because before i took this mod, my friend told me she was a bitch. Then to hear that from the horse's mouth (repeatedly) during the 1st class was so ironic! I quite enjoyed it a pity i'll have to watch her webcast when tutorial starts bcos lessons clash =S

But the real bitch is the other lecturer! Daryl used "bitchy" to describe him and I was shocked. Well this other lecturer is very flamboyant, wears his shirts very tight and has this huge belt buckle "screaming for attention" as it had the brand's name emblazoned across it. I was trying very hard to pay attention during his 3hr class....but....when he said "I'll wrap up in 15 min", I actually dozed off!!! Terrible, terrible, terrible way to start the sem...

Day 4

Yesterday was a very good day, depite the downcast weather. After lectures ended at 2pm, Pearl & I walked to YIH. It was nice catching up with her dicussing abt Econs stuff & abt semester break... "Wa, you've grown much tanner since Cambodia!" It was the first lecture we had together since sch started. And luckily, we had quite a charming Korean lecturer for that module. I say charming cos his lectures were the best among all the mod I'm taking this sem. A pity both of us only hv 1 common mod this sem.

Then I met CHui & Edwin for Jux07 mtg. Haha quite funny planning for fright night. We shared some things that happened during SK. Looks like more or less we felt e same way abt some ppl.

Thiha came by to say 'Hi' twice! This is a great feat that deserves mention because we finally cleared the air 2 days ago online abt why we never greet each other when we meet. Sometimes you just have to bring up such topics and Bingo! Everything turns out well! Suddenly we not only greet each other...we can joke together! That's the great thing abt MSN....

Ok, then Esther & I met to discuss VD Wkshop...turns out our trainer (alumni) has sth on that day. We were thinking omg...how? how? Do we need to reschedule? Luckily he kindly re-scheduled his work so that he could come in the morning! So touching! It's nice how some ppl go all out of their way to help you even though you don't know each other well.....

We got caught in a massive jam on the way back cos it was still raining. But we chatted (gossiped) a lot and it was fun! Felt a bit 38 then but hmm...nice to find a friend in her. This yr I think i managed to establish quite a few friendships with some ppl w/in the club. It's really nice cos we don't have to be always talking abt work, work, work when we meet =)

Sigh, got to rush now for MWH....Signing off!

Day 3

This post is commemorate the living area lamp which was broken today by Leng.

It was a classic example of carelessness, not paying attention to your surroundings. Numerous life-taking car accidents happen on the road everyday due to this kind sort negligence. People really need to learn responsibility. You don't have to go through a road accident to appreciate this fact and to experience this tremendous sense of loss. I'm pretty angry that the lamp was broken, and heartbroken. What was worse was that I should have seen it coming.

The lamp served us well. For 40+ years. It was there ever since the day I was born. Made of glass and with intricate flower designs in gold, which had turned to bronze. I am feeling regrettable because I keep having the impression that 爷爷 had hand-picked that particular lamp for the living room when he built the house 40+ years ago. The house is the only tangible thing he left us. This sturdy house he built is the only safe haven that I know. We should try to preserve it well.

Day 2

This afternoon when we were buying the water heater at Farrer Park, I initally thought that the "hokkien-spewing" boss was being 敷衍。 It was as if he was "entertaining" pa, telling him that all water heaters are the same and you just need to buy the most basic. He wasn't even familiar with the controls and wrongly explained them to us. Then came the funny part...you had to pay $8 more to get a receipt, else it was just cash-and-carry.

But later when I got back to the car, I thought well these are the shopkeepers who really know how to do business. A customer comes in, be practical. Cut the sales talk short. Give him what he wants. He pays, he's happy you're happy. Actually there's not much need for the airy fairy sales pitch for the most expensive product down to the cheaper range. Chop-chop. Anything else it'll be handled by the Warranty ticket.

And so my initial aghast was replaced with deep admiration. I feel it must be that textbook writers hole themselves up when they write textbooks, else how come the books preach the opposite stuff?

Anyways, this kind of breezy transaction you observe, happens usu. b/w 2 men. And esp. when the good is an appliance or one of those DIY items.... Women on the other hand spend too much time on the unimportant...

At 5pm, we got back, helped to drill the holes, fit the heater and there.....warm water once again. Nice teamwork once again b/w Meng, Leng and Me =)

I didn't know Cambodians commonly ate fried tarantulas only until I watched a National Geographic clip at Bishan Popular Bookstore today. How come i didn't encounter it during my trip?

Day 1

Bidding's a very numbing and traumatic process. I got outbidded today for Malay2. Firstly, I don't know which mod to take. Secondly, the mods I finally decided I might take.....either I get outbidded or simply can't bid cos they are super-duper expensive. With such a "modest" platter of modules, I really don't feel NUS is a world-class university, we're still short of it (a few km short, not inches short)... If I were the dean I'll feel really inadequate abt this and fear losing my school-fee-paying students and my position. But well, I'm not the Dean. Today I have the sudden urge to file for graduation just because there aren't any modules to take.

Morning spent typing email announcements on NVAC workshop. I'm Co-PD for this so I really hope this thing turns out well. But no fear, I think I have a good team, just that it's a pretty quiet team. (Fingers tightly crossed, hope 20th passes w/o glitches)

This evening, 8 ppl from 02s43 met up at Miss Clarity Cafe on Purvis St. for dinner. It was to celebrate Daryl's belated birthday and a farewell for SYing. Short mtg to catch up on how we've spent the hols, it appears many of us travelled this Dec. Some slight embarrassment occurred because we didn't pay enough money and the bill was returned. Tertiary students who cannot count!!

Sad way to end the evening coming home to realise that I was outbidded. I must try harder tmr!

New Year Day Post--- Happy 2007!

Yoz, it was great 2006 and yes! I'm back :) 12-29 December were the most wonderful time I spent in 2006. It was a blast! 17 days in Cambodia & subsequently Vietnam with the best team there could possibly be. It left a lasting impression in me. Sangkhemers rock, I say!!

Ahem... (trying to regain some composure here, my throat's still sore too), anyways when i was leaving Prey Veng that day, I thought, "no words can fully express how i feel abt the place, what i've experienced there, the hospitality of the ppl and kids there, the greatness of the team, the warm feeling that i've contributed something to the place, and the familarity that has grown within us abt the ppl and neighbourhood."

I'll blog again elsewhere abt the trip or create a website for it. we need to saving the good things for another day :)

I haven't thought of any new year resolutions yet. But it's the same every yr I guess, wishing to do good in my studies, be a better person etc. etc. *Yawn* I've heard ppl say resolutions are meant to be broken, esp when they're things you didn't manage to achieve the past year. It doesn't make a difference to me cos every yr it is the same. Maybe i shld try to break this chain and surpass myself this yr? But the lazy person inside me is saying.....just wait till something beyond expectation happens during the year and then declare it as THE resolution that you set on Jan 1st.

Taking a look back at 2006, it was a pretty tough year for me esp Sem 2 as I had a bad kickstart, being thrown off the right academic straight As path due to NVAC Exposition. Not that I'm complaining.....wait a minute....I am. Whatever. I blame it on my stupid self not being able to realise soon enough the damage incurred and when I finally realised it, it took the life of me trying to pick up the pieces. But well, I didn't do too badly just not as good as I hoped. Malay and Computing only got B+....(trying hard not to curse on NYD).

And so, my whole of December's gone. NYD was celebrated without a bang unless you consider dvd marathon watching Friends Season 1 which is way passe like a few years back??? Hellooo there.... why did I wait so long to watch it? I just...... haven't watched it yet.

I need some time to consolidate my thoughts abt Project Sangkhem. After coming back, I've been trying to squeeze time replying my mails on the VD Workshop (pss....VD stands for Volunteer Development) and bidding has been such a numbing experience. Imagine coming home realising you've spent 908 pts on one stupid elective module which you only took because there was nothing else to fill the blank. And then have your mind all jumbled up trying to figure out which last 2 modules you shld take. I've been loading up on sweet stuff: ice-cream, tangyuans, chips, instant noodles etc. ever since I've been home. *Stressed*

Tons of things to do again...and no time. I desperately wish I was back in Cambodia where life was charmingly slow. Everything was sweet about the place. Even our blood grew sweeter as the days wore on, the mosquitoes attacked us with greater ferocity and left us momentos/battle scars aka "Pig Trotters".

As a final note, I'll like to end with the grossest thing I've seen in 2006. This was sth we picked up at a mobile stall in Vietnam....*Drum Roll....please*

The poor duckie that went down Ken & Duc's throat. Yeeeew...