Holiday greetings...no...i mean meetings :P

Started going back to school on Monday, when we had a retreat session (of course, contact time before that). It was quite fun, because we got to mould something out of clay, which I have never tried before. The main purpose was to foster a bond among the group members, and to promote teamwork etc. Our team won! :) Partly due to the ingenius presentation which made everyone crack up. :D

The next day, we had EL meeting...My new mentor is a bubbly lady, warm and approachable. :) I aspire to be like her in the future, though I may not have her cheerful character. :)

As for science meeting, the atmosphere was more amicable, and we have a new female boss! We had this sumptuous spread of food from 933 Golden Pillow for lunch :D The golden pillow is just a packet of curry chicken/fish wrapped in curry. The outer layer is buttery, very appetising and is delicious on its own. Dip it into the savoury curry and you will grab for more bread. *drooling* I also tried the sweet and sour chicken and some fish fillet..both were palatable, I won't strongly recommend them :P

That's all for the pre-school-reopen prep...and I have tons of worksheets to settle...Have to settle the filing before I go for countdown+sleepover tomorrow night...

How do you know you are too FAT

You know you are too fat when:
1) You can feel a ring of meat around your tummy, even when you are sitting up straight.
2) You can feel the inner sides of your thigh rubbing each other when you walk.
3) You can eat a whole Extra Value Meal (to the last drop of coke) and still crave for an apple pie.
4) Your face still looks like a mooncake in the photo however hard you try to tilt the camera from the top.

The first two scenarios happened to me recently (my face looks like a mooncake in EVERY photo anyway), and that is why I need to slim down. FAST. But healthily, of course. It doesn't help when I pigged out for last night's bbq dinner.

I suggested to mom that we can have one vegetarian dinner every week, just one night. Mom looked at me incredibly as if I had just suggested to migrate to the moon, and she shrugged. Feeling a little dejected, I decided to heed a celebrity's (so sorry to whoever that is, I still can't catch her name though I have seen her on TV for 1 zillion times) advice: eat more wet food, that is, veggies and fruits high in water content. And I try to eat for veggie, which aids in digesting food (probably some enzymes working down there).

So...let's try this for 4 weeks, till the Chinese New Year comes.

p.s. Fat is the new f-word.

X'mas gathering 25/12/2009

Instead of having turkey for dinner, we headed for turf city to have steamboat + bbq for dinner. Thinking that there might be a lot of people, we went there super early, just to find that there actually weren't many people at 5.30pm ahaha. The buffet reminds me of the hawker centre near my old flat at Bukit Gombak, where we usually went for bbq+steamboat dinner (before Seoul Garden came along).

After a few rounds of satay/pepper/sesame chicken pan-fried in planta, I felt a bit full (not yet bulging). I swallowed a few stalks of choy-sum to sort of neutralise the heatiness and grease from the bbq food. The chilli crab gravy was quite appetising; I couldn't help but dip a few more man-tou in the gravy (too much carbo already!!). Not yet exploding, I allowed myself to wolf down two chicken wings and two cups of root beer (fried food+soft drink = slow suicide). Well, it was xmas, a perfect excuse to over-indulge XD

After the buffet, it was still early (8+) so we headed down to KAP's macdonalds for gift-exchange session. Weiwei was supposed to give me my present, and I was a bit paranoid at first. To my surprise, she gave me a pair of Stitch slippers!!! ^0^ That was thoughtful :) and I love them so much! They make a squeaky sound when I walk, and kitty is sort of scared of them because of the colour (he hates blue, I realise). I gave Yiyi a Winnie the Pooh plushie, which costs less than 15 bucks. Amazing ahaha and those retailers dare to charge it at HKD225 initially!

p.s. Mac's chocolate milkshake is too sweet for my liking.

After a 5-month long hiatus, I am back blogging. Seriously, I need to practise writing from now on. If not, my English is going to fail terribly. :(

A few updates on what I have done over these 5 long months:

July 27: Deployment@ WGSS

Aug-Nov: working@WGSS

Dec: rotting @ home

And to add on for the month of December, my sister finally got married! *applause* And being the luckiest couple on Earth, the newly-wed has purchased a flat near my house!! (a stone's throw away, literally)

Shall update more about my new life...soon.

We are made for loving. If we don’t love, we will be like plants without water.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner

Xmas Preparation

I am not much of a holiday person, nor am I a generous person. However, the holiday mood is slowly creeping in, and I, too, have adopted to the tradition of holiday gifting.

I don't object to gifting, after all, it is a season for telling our family and friends that we love them (awww~). But I do like to be told (or in a more subtle way, hinted) what to give, so that it will make the job easier for me, and it can bring out the maximum satisfaction in the person who receives the present.

Cute Xmas deco at Takashimaya:

Kids and teddy bears are inseparable, isn't it? :)

top ten thoughts going through my mind when i was on the operation table last night

#10 The male nurse/doc is so cute. *hearts*
#9 It is weird that my feet are the coldest part of the body when the warmer is blowing at them.
#8 Man, I can feel the blood squirt out.
#7 Here he comes again!!! *hearts*
#6 4a.m, 2 men are fiddling with my fingers, but i don't feel a thing, literally.
#5 Why is the microscope THIS big??
#4 His hands are so warm. *hearts*
#3 Can they switch on the radio or something? It is getting bored...and dead quiet.
#2 I should distract myself from the damn arm vest by thinking about his dazzling eyes. *hearts*
#1 Are we done yet?

top ten thoughts that ran through my mind when i was waiting at the A&E area

#10 Shouldn't ve let the nurse rip the bandage off my finger and let the blood drip to the floor.
#9 Harry Potter and the goblet of fire is showing on Ch5 this Sunday,must watch!!!
#8 Why are all the docs male and the nurses female?
#7 Do I ve to wait for another 2 hours before a doc attend to me?
#6 Can I go SGH instead?
#5 Tin Man is a weird show.
#4 Why is Ch5 showing the Potter ad every 5 min?
#3 Why are there 11 rooms but only 1 doc available?
#2 Has anyone died of cold at the A&E area before?
#1 When is MY turn?!

Reading club: The Boy in Striped Pajamas

Today I switched off my computer after lunch (no RC for a day!!) and had a good read. Bought the Chinese version of the book, and finished reading it in the evening. After I put down the book, and though I already knew the ending beforehand (damn it, wiki), I was quite stunned by the ending.

The author uses simple words, and writes from the POV of a nine-year-old, yet it is so powerful. There are no graphic descriptions in the book, yet it invokes a sense of horror and despair. A moving story indeed.

The book is accused of falsifications of history by the critics (about the existence of small children in the Auschwhitz camp). But the book does have a good message in the end: this kind of thing will not happen again, at least not in our time. And may us not meet a fence like that.

I have watched a documentry on NG (title is album from hell, not quite sure) some months back, which showcases the photos taken at the camp. Some of the photos show the hours before the people were ushered to the chamber and gassed. They probably did not know what was about to happen, and some of them are shown sitting on the grass in the sun, probably enjoying the fresh air which had not been available on the trains earlier on. Little did they know they had hours to see the sun for the one last time. Those images are chilling. No matter how many holocausts books or films I have been exposed to, I am still appalled at how such atrocities could have really happened, and at how some people who knew all of these and still lived normally.

All these information is not meant to stir up sentiments, but to remind people of the atrocities which should not have happened in the first place, and not to let this kind of thing happen again.

late night radio

managed to catch the broadcast at 2am last night, and i didn't sleep throughout the night. seriously. it is because last night's theme was JAPANESE DRAMA theme songs!!

nostalgic. and probably feeling a bit poignant when the familiar chord struck and resonanced in the silent night. classics like "can u celebrate", "totsuzen no love story", "la la la love song" were chosen, and the DJ commented after half an hour, saying that why nobody requested for KinKi Kids' songs. lol is the DJ a kinki fan??? or is kinki really that classic?? (omg, that makes kinki sound like someone in the past)

responding to the comment, i jumped up from my bed and posted my virgin comment on the forum, stating a list of kinki songs which are theme songs for dramas. and i realised they did starred in a LOT of dramas in the 90s. and dramatically decreased output in the millenium. koichi especially, starring in only one drama in 2002, then another in 2007, which flopped, sadly. tsuyoshi has better luck with the audience, and boy, everyone likes watching him act. but sadly he prefers playing music to acting in dramas.

speaking of tsuyoshi, seems like hk ppl watched Summersnow. the response was overwhelming last night, the DJ even talked about it for 5 minutes, which was quite significant considering the limited time given for each segment. Summersnow, another classic churned out by tsuyoshi (the first one is "to Heart"). memorable, as the story is too beautiful. the music too. though not sung by kinki kids, the music is so beautiful that it is almost painful to listen to. it brings back a lot of memories.

glad that the DJ put in two kinki songs. wow. two. by the same group of singers! haha. i suspect he is a kinki fan himself :P

here is one he missed, which is a pity, cos a couple of listeners requested for it. a real classic by tsuyoshi:



there is no other kindaichi!!!

[HK trip 2009] Day 1 - The Peak, Victoria Harbour at Night

The sky was still pitch black when my dad and I dragged the luggage at 5.56am. I was not going to HK with my family this time round, and to be honest, I was feeling apprehensive, probably a little homesick already. To maximise our time, we took the 8.30am CX flight to HK. *yawns*

As usual, the plane food was inedible, the in-flight entertainment didn't have my favourite songs/movie, but I laughed through He's Just Not That Into You. After an tolerable 3 and a half hours, we reached HK on time and oh boy, we were so early that the immigration officers waited for us instead of the other way round. First time! Normally I would ve to wait for, erm, 20 minutes at least? to clear the immigration check. We got off from the airport at 12+pm, and the airport was virtually EMPTY. I should take CX710 everytime I go back. Save me the hustles.

By the time we checked in the hotels and settled down, we were DAMN hungry. So we went to this pioneer centre (a small-scale shopping mall actually) for dim-sum :D It was having tea-time promotion and each big, medium or small dimsum cost less than 2 sgd. The quality was so-so, but good enough to feed the hungry souls. After billing, we found that we were the lone table, as the tea-time promotion period was ending and the staff had to prepare for dinner time. oops.

Fed and energised, we made our way to the Peak and took the tram uphill. 6 sgd for a less-than-5minutes but unique experience.



Kennedy Road. I lived in Kennedy Town last time XD


The scenic view from the top. Not exactly the top, because we didn't go to the tower. Anyway it was foggy, so it was best not to waste another 3sgd to go up and take foggy pictures.


The Lion Pavilion is another good spot for photoshoot. See the prcs camping there.


Me, Lulu and Alps.


The IFC


Conference Centre at Wan Chai


1: This pencil like structure is the Clock Tower 2: HK Cultural Centre 3: HSBC HQ


Bank of China Tower

We descended the Peak at 6+pm and made our way to the ferry pier to cross the harbour. Unfortunately, it was peak hour :( The central area was filled with people, and the traffic was getting heavy. I made a crazy decision and decided to WALK to the star ferry pier. Really crazy idea. My original plan was to take the tram (ground) to Wanchai and then walk to the Conference Centre to view the Golden Bauhinia. But the swarm of people might make us late for the Symphony of Lights whcih starts at 8pm.

So we walked. For 20+ minutes at least, till we were dehydrated and almost crippled. The rocking star ferry didn't make it better. But the light breeze was soothing enough.


Finally we reached the harbour, and it was dark. All eyes were set on the night view. Tsim Sha Tsui offers the best view, I must say.

Of course, it looks MUCH better with raw eyes. Enchanting, really. It isn't voted as one of the best night views in the world for nothing. The view was so mesmerising that the pain on my feet was forgotten.


Left: IFC, right: Star ferry pier.


the Clock Tower.

the Symphony of Lights was okay only. It would look much better if more buildings were involved. By the middle of it, it looked kinda lame with IFC standing there luminating the skyscape and the Hop-Wor building sprouting a few beams. But during the firework display every CNY, it complements perfectly with the fireworks, not stealing the limelight. Anyway, the buildings themselves make the night.

After almost falling asleep during the show, we walked along the harbour to the Avenue of Lights. It is the lane where handprints of famous celebrities who contributed to the movie industry in HK lie.


The statue of the lady who is always at the HK Film Awards (she is the...mascot?)


The platform where tourists always take pictures.


One of the famous celebrities: Siao Fong Fong. Those celebrities who died before they can make their handprints had their plates reserved, but the handprints are replaced by a star. One of whom is Leslie Cheung. For fansof the 4 Heavenly Stars, good news. They are all on the Avenue of Stars, alongside with Jackie Chan, Eric Tsang and many more.

After walking through the Avenue of Stars, we called it a day and went back to the hotel. I need to nurse my feet haha.

under the pool~

rewatched stitch(2002) again on youtube, and enjoyed watching how lilo swim like a fish in the Hawaiian waters, making me yearn for a cooling swim under this horrid hot weather.

and i swam like a fish in the pool, after 1 yr or so without doing so. after 13 laps, my muscles felt like they were coming apart soon, and my stomach rumbled as if there was a typhoon ripping up my stomach walls and eating the energy out of me. so we went to have my favourite hokkien mee :D guilty food, but it was rewarding. what is the better way to end the day than eating hokkien mee for dinner?

back home, i washed up and hung my stinky, Cl + S smelling swimsuit. dad cooked beef milestrone soup for dinner, when i was not at home for dinner :( i hit the sack at 8 30pm haha, too early but i was too tired to stay awake until the news came up at 9pm.

after in coma for 5 hours, i woke up feeling groggily but managed to watch two episodes of CSI:NY before sleeping again. *yawns* good life. dun ve to worry too much abt waking up early next day.

i wish everyday can be swimming day :D

johnnys fever

my comp just hates me and refused to play code 3 DVD, which means i cldn't indulge in edward cullen's sexy voice. so i re-watched koichi's solo concert (to commemorate the pending solo concert in august?) and endless shock ver. 05&08 AGAIN (dunno how many times).

somehow i like the older ver. maybe is becos of the cast. i like the gd old times when the four members of MA were goofing around, especially akiyama, who was always "bullied" by sadistic koichi(haha!) and the other members.

of course, the female lead is MEISA.kuroki. this girl, i know one day she will make it big (oh, yea). she was 17? 18? when she took part in endless shock. i thought she was 24 haha. too bad she looks taller than koichi, though her profile states that she is 167cm (puberty, i guess). and wat a princess. her recent performance in Subaru, Dance! has won many praises from critics. i rmb when endless shock first came to stage, some k-fans commented that she cldn't really dance. her role is just somewhat like a damsel in distress, a female dancer who loves the star of the show irrevocably, not much of a character (even though she has a pivotal role which builds the climax). perhaps she was young and inexperienced, but she put in a lot of effort over these 4yrs to improve on her skills. and now she wow-ed the audience with her brilliant, professional-looking dance moves. too bad the female lead dun do endless shock the second time. if nt i wld like to see the meisa X koichi combo again.

nt that the 08ver is all bad, i do like the changes(yes, there ARE changes, they are nt exactly the same). the storyline is the same, but this time round the cast explores more of the broadway shows, and re-enact some classic moments from those classic musicals (west side story, for instance). the shows in the show have employed better illusions, and transformations are smoother. some stunts are stepped-up (e.g. flying to the second storey), fortunately the number of steps for the infamous staircase stay the same (the number of steps STEPPED up this yr, omg). the drumming section is more captivating, and koichi has learnt more moves.

sometimes i wonder if koichi is a genius. jack of all trades, yet master of all (though his voice still a bit shaky..stop smoking, koichi). that's wat i look for in an idol, who constantly upgrades himself/herself and improve on his/her crafts. under the glamorous veneer, this guy has talent. tts why i followed him (and tsuyoshi, of course) for...9 yrs? ya, since 2000. but i like koichi since 2003, after i discovered :P he is humorous (i love jokers). and he can dance haha. hmm. and he can write songs (nt much of a singer, but sometimes he does sound nice). love him (& him).

and those new johnnys idols, so called, are like puppets. young, dance, and sound horrible, but have huge fan base made up of screaming young girls. mb i am old, but i really can't find much joy in watching those off-pitch dudes dancing or posing on stage.

so, kinki, nt kids anymore, still have a few more years to strive before i really get tired of them (can i possibly be tired of them?).

destination: hong kong

fel finally contacted me for the hk trip next week haha. and mr.brain wondered if we r still gg to hk, since we still have nt updated him with details when the day is nearing. yup, and i shld be planning for the trip now...this will be my daily programme for this week (while i am managing my rc)

fel has gone to hk the week b4 with her family, f&e, and she missed it alr haha. so far we decided on some spots:

1) the peak (at night). i want to go there, since i have nvr seen the harbour view at night. if the weather is good, we can get an awesome shot of the world-famous night view.

2) H&M. fel n her mom spent a grenade at that shop. mark this as one of the shopping destinations :)

3) ngong ping 360. shld we be gg to see the buddha by cable car? this can be more ex but more fun(and dangerous). the only prob is that the cable car is life-threatening at times and it has an irregular schedule.

4) shenzhen(day trip). i nt fond of china, though it is cheap and is just across the border. i guess i will make my trip to wanchai and meet up with my relatives while my frens are up there happily having their SPA treatment.

so far, no suggestions to disneyland or ocean park. haha. i can always go there when i go back to hk, or go to some 3D2N disneyland resort promotion. or wait till disneyland@hk expands to the size comparable to the tokyo disneyland (i guess i will ve to wait for another 10 yrs or more). shopping wise...will causeway bay area be costly? my budget is 1000+ hk for shopping. hmm. ve to tink abt it.

used the interactive itinerary machine provided by the hk tourism board. and it keep suggesting disneyland over ocean park. hmph. personally i tink ocean park is much more interesting and can really spend a whole day (or one and a half, if queueing takes half of ur time). i scorn disneyland. \(-_-)/

meanwhile i shld do some more research and discuss with them on sunday :)

lazy summer afternoon

went out with nat for lunch at LOT1, and had a good chat for the whole afternoon, hovering between the dessert store in the basement and Ah Wang coffee shop. she is not doing hons too, and had alr signed on to moe and shall be enrolled into nie in late june.

then we talked abt what if we become tchrs. she suggested we can go starbucks and mark the papers. haha. by then we can afford to starbuck. and mof (japanese dessert cafe).

i told her abt the j.tan n his still-no-show reply, she told me not to worry and allow him 3 working days to process it. well, if i keep sending him mails it will look like i'm spamming him or wat.

and after slacking at ah wang for too long, we went to popular and browse at some O lvl texts, and i realise i can't ans wat is greenhouse gases. lol. and the stupid electrochem stuff. i guess i can ans tt. mb. ahah. i better invest in a 10-yr-series n mug b4 i commence teaching.

though we may nt go to nie at the same time, at least i can ve some company, nw tt my closest pals r off doing hons. :( guess it is time to be REALLY independent, lah.

RC

re-read my last post and found that it is full of vengence. :P shld tame it down with this light-hearted one.

I got my first taste of entrepreneurship at this little online game called Restaurant City. It started out as a small, cosy family restaurant, and over a span of 2 mths, it expands to some kind of CHINESE SEAFOOD JUMBO RAMBO. haha. and it is still expanding.

I am starting to like it, because I can see FAT HARD CASH rolling in (at a pathetic rate of $2 per 5 seconds), my orchestra of chefs performing a wonderous symphony using woks (yes, who doesn't love that ching-chang?), and patrons scooping up the last of the kiwi sherbet (I hate it when people waste MY food).

The only (visually) unsatisfying about RC is that THE RESTAURANT EXPANDS TOO SLOWLY. The floor grows by strip (note: no "s"), to be exact. It is stretching at a painfully slow rate of 1 strip in 2 days (depending on how fast you churn out your gourmet points). And I can only emply 8 staff. EIGHT!! how can I expand my empire and spread the wonderful taste of Chinese cruisine with just 8 human beings??? I need an army of at least...500. But I dropped that idea because I don't even have 500 friends haha.

Maybe I will get tired of it when I start work, because by then I will not have all day to watch my dearly chefs dishing out bowls of ramen to those hungry souls (or zombies shld be the better word, since those patrons streaming in look like zombies).

and speaking of hungry souls, I have to pull out the noran because they are overwhelming, and my poor staff is too fatigue to entertain them.

stay tune for more updates.

i am so jealous

hmph. pooh intro me to archie's blog and found out that archie, the joker,got *ahem* all AAAAAAs!!!!! hmph.

moreover, he played with N2!!!!!! i have been dying to do that ever since i saw the programme "Kitchen chemistry". and archie wil be visiting the niagara falls!!! (it is Niagara Fall"S", nt niagara fall) hmph.

well, i will go to NF and the grand canyon and disneyland@florida when i save enuf $$$.

still haven hear from tt J.tan. pls email me, if nt i will be living on needles.

exam results 2009 sem 2

finally, i can graduate fr nus and 15 yrs of education...with a not-bad-not-excellent result slip. average, lah. better than what i had anticipated haha.

sometimes when u see others achieving better than urs, though u were initially contented with ur results, u will still feel a tiny wheeney bit of sourness/bitterness. but thinking back, it may nt be tt bad, and u ve done ur job. plus u din noe how hard tt person has tried, so dun be envious/jealous of their achievement. be happy with what u have. dun compare urself to others. and live ur life u want it to be. it is hard not to fulfill others' expectation of urs, but if u r the one living ur life, nt ur parents or friends.

right nw i am gg to file for graduation. goodbye nus. goodbye my school (as a student)days.

stupidiness

went for the moe briefing ytd, and decided to hold on and sign on ltr, cos pooh n wei seemed hesitant abt it. wanted to slap myself for holding myself back, and my character of being easily influrenced. i am determined to grad this sem and move on to another phase of life. so why am i prolonging this uncertainty? and now i ve to email this jason/jacob plus make another trip down to sign the papers. some troublesome biz.

results will be released tmr, actually, 12hours ltr. i shld be living tmr as a normal day. spend the uneasy hours browsing my fren's status on fb or reading tabloid news. the irritating thing is that the hk radio reports the time every 5 min, which means that i will be reminded of my death row every other 5 min. hais.

barca won the champions league 2-0. finally some gd news.

tw trip prep - 2

planned what i am gg to wear for each day and packed 80% of my load (clothes, toiletries, undergarment). so far the luggage is 55% filled. cables and stuff shld occupy another 10% or can fill in the cavities in the clothes. so, abt 60+% filled. not bad. that shld be the way.

i hope i dun ve much to buy in tw. my shopping list has only books which dun occupy much space (i doubt i m getting a library of books there though i m a bookworm). nat's pineapple tarts and mom's kaywah biscuits must be hand-carried. i m a bit worried abt disneystore@hk airport, what if i see a really cute stitch there?

sis n i bought abt 2 hand-carried luggage on board last yr, cos japan n hk had too many things to shop, we almost wanted to packed some stuff back home via fedex or DHL. but tw...i guess some knick-knacks? haha...

dickies & wii-fit

got myself a dickies hacksack today @ causeway pt. for the tw trip, and also any trips ahead :) qt colourful, doesn't look my style, but bought it anw. a contrast to the tone of my wardrobe haha.

sis bought wii-fit today, and was slapped by the fact that her wii-fit age is 42. +15 yrs of who she is now. by definition, her stamina is "much weaker" than her peers of her (real) age. her kenneth is +5 of what he should be. me? haha...for a person who just had some hard exercise schedule the day before, it is pleasant to know that my wii-fit age is 20!!!!!!!!!! optimum age for a person, i tink. my body is still in its 20.

and my balancing skill is purr-fect, spot-on, bulls'-eye, not even fei zai can beat me to it. but so weird, i am always slouching and not getting to the perfect posture (my spine is doing a spiral-twist right now) maybe this system is not tt reliable, leh. my bmi is 20.65, while people with bmi score 22 are said to be least likely to fall sick, statistically. according to them, i need another 10 lbs or so to get to bmi=22. well, i just wish to maintain my weight, and tone my body.

:D exercise is good for the body, never undermine this universal fact.

preparation for tw trip

things to bring

For the luggage:

Section A: garment
1) clothes for 7 days (do i even ve 7 outfits???) this part is tricky.
2) disposable undies
3) bra bra X 7 (so many???? can wear for two days or nt...)
4) hat
5) jacket
6) swimsuit!

Section B: personal care
1) toiletries: toothbrush, dental floss, facial wash, toner
2) mask?
3) for outdoor trips: dettol handwash, sunscreen, wipes
4) my own (stitch!) towel...dun like to use hotel ones.
5) wet weather: umbrella, poncho?

Section C: Entertainment
1) lappy? charger, thumbdrive, necessary cables
2) twilight DVD :D
3) ishuffle
4) books? dun need ba...since i will be buying a lot in tw. :P

shall update it when i ve any new ideas.

sweet freedom

I FINISHED EXAMS!!!! for real!!!! i have completed my 15 years of education. can u believe it?! lalalalala~ and now i just want to relax...till July. So many things to do in these 2 short months! for now, i need to pack my bag for my TW trip. YEA YEA YEA i can't believe i am gg to TW~ lalalaalalala~

getting crazy alr. hee.

first, i need to recover from my flu which struck me at an untimely period when i was furiously mugging for my final finals. i think i will recover soon with the antibodies and Vit C by my beloved pooh. then, i am gg to exercise! my daily timetable for the next week:

8-9am - wake up
9-10am -watch tv/breakfast
10am - walk walk, read newspaper, go play at playground
12nn - lunch
12.30pm - radio time! :D
1-5pm - watch tv, go out with friends or what.
5pm - jog.run.weightlifting exercise
7pm - dinner
8-9pm - tv
9-11pm - surf net

YEA YEA YEA~
i love the exercise part. really exhilarating. and can help lose weight too!
ahhh, that is life.

walking on thread

i received my confirmation for the most noble profession in the world. actually, it is a half-confirmed offer, cos i am not sure if i can survive after 12/18 mths. well, no harm trying anyway.

called my aunt immediately when i got the letter. she is as happy as i am ahahhaa. and we went on discussing the graduation. speaking of which, i tink i shld go n order my robe. is it too late? haha..the deadline for robes will be 29 May, and deadline for registration of attendance will be 9 june.

haha, i cant wait to take my photos with mcmug! :)
and my aunt shld be flying to see me in gold robe!!! :D that's the privilege of chemists, who purified GOLD centuries ago. muahaha. and music is deep gold. weird. how do the shades differ??? i wonder.

AQ: 200

my AQ score should be over 200, which means that even if the warplanes start dropping bullets or shells, my first instinct would be fleeing and finding a CD shetler to hide instead of shrieking and shaking in fright.

and the shell hit me yesterday, unfortunately.

i made a mistake of going to the techno edge for lunch, despite the hellish heat radiating from the granite path i was on. and i made another mistake by choosing to sit at that particular spot.

i was indulging in my fav. indonesian chicken chop when THAT THING hit my head. thinking that it was some careless wasp which failed to steer clear and hit my hair, i asked yiyi whether it flew away. but the petrified looks on my girlfriends' faces told me that it was NOT A WASP.

horrors to horrors. IT WAS BIRD POO!!!!!!!!!!!

poo on my head. great. according to chinese tradition, i shld go and invest on some toto/4D cos i got the tou jiang. ARGH. sighing, i silently pulled out my dettol hand sanitizer and went to the washroom with yiyi to get rid of the white flaky stuff tangled in my hair.

i hate birds. and scared of them. i wld go crazy if i am in a room full of birds (second in the list: a room full of rats). yet i tortured myself by watching BIRDS by hitchcock. masochistic sia.

i guess what is more overwhleming is the prospect of carry the bird shit on my head for the rest of the day. i can argue that it is the new fashion statement, but having poo on your head is not that glamorous, however u wan it to be. and is EXTREMELY UNHYGENIC. wat if i get bird flu???? that is the most scary part.

shitty birdy. i hate u ever more. and i m nt sorry that u guys are exterminated.

daddy's recipe

due to my mom's fractured wrist, she is off the kitchen for quite some time, so my dad is in the sous chef for two weeks from now on. and his culinary skill is no worse than my mom...in fact, i find his cooking way much better. but, well, men don't belong to the kitchen, and my dad is LAZY. i wonder where my lazy genes come from :P

so far, the meals i had were B+/A-/A+ quality.

4/5 - the day my mom went to NUH for the whole afternoon and did not cook

Dinner: luncheon meat and sausages
grade: B, but it was an impromptu meal, lah.

4/6 - first day my dad held the wok

Dinner:

1. fried egg with minced pork & tons of chopped spring onions added (a bit too oily, but the onions made up for it: B+)
2. minced pork + potato croquettes (a bit burnt, but taste good: B+)
3. braised beef tendon in chu-hau sauce (soft and gluey texture which i LOVE: A++)
4. pork rib soup (usual soup, a bit diluted though: B+)

3.5 thumbs up for this dinner :D

4/7 - second day of my dad's new-founded hobby, getting creative here

Dinner:

1. stir-fry: pan-fried fish cakes + fried salmon bits n pieces + asparagus (i LOVE the salmon bits!!! it has a layer of gluey collagen/fats-like gel under the skin. yum: A+)
2. fish in green pepper (pan fried, the green pepper a bit burnt: B+)
3. salmon head soup with tofu (simple soup, with salmon bits swimming in it: B+)

4 thumbs up!

keep it up, dad. so glad that i dun ve to cook for the family this time round.

i dun like PDA

read this article in mypaper, dated 30-3-2009. i like ms shenton's column, and today's article is a spot-on. it really expresses what i feel sometimes...

she was saying, "PDA (public display of affection) is as indecent as digging your nose in public. it demeans yourself and ignores the others around you. some things are private and shared between you and your partner, even if you do not mind, PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE TO US PASSER-BYS. [...] you can tell your partner your emotions in private/discreetly, but please DO NOT STING OUR EYES. "

ya, i feel weird, if not disgusted, at PDA.

sometimes i have to endure sessions of PDA while waiting for the bus, which makes waiting for the bus extra agonising.

maybe one of the agonising moments was when i was back in JC, when i had to shift my eyes from the class couples, who were *gulp* touching each other or whispering words into each other's ears.

it made it worse when the guy was my crush. *sigh*

this is not paris, guys. this is singapore. an asian city with conservative values mind you.

and i really HATE IT WHEN PPL PDA!!!!!!

not that i am jealous or love-deprived, but...it just doesn't look good when i can see saliva exchange going on and little kids are staring at you, or it doesn't look good on the guy when he is baby-talking and acting as if he is in kindergarden. i am trying to savage your dignity, guys.

hais.

the story of democracy

daddybear coughs delibrately and the family turns round to look at him. mommybear and babybear stares at him in anticipation.

"i'm thinking of having a family outing this weekend, any suggestions?" daddybear asks.

"the zoo!!"
"the beach!!"
"let's go hiking and have a picnic afterwards!"

daddybear nods as he listens to the wave of suggestions. undecided, he asks everyone to cast a vote. mommybear raises her hand for the picnic, babybear raises his hand for the zoo, and daddybear raises his hand to..."fishing at the dock".

"but we haven't been to the zoo in ages!"
"the dock is too far, dear"

daddybear closes his eyes and contemplates for a second. then he announces:

"we're going to the dock!" beaming at the disappointed faces of his family.

mommybear grudgingly packs lunches for the family and babybear sighs in resignation. daddybear whistles as he digs out his fishing rods.

and the bearbear family go on to a fishing trip at the dock on sunday.
guess who enjoys the trip most?

AH CHOY!!!

wah..it's so amazing hw a person's look can change so drastically w/o plastic surgery. bt i guess it's 4 e better nw. wink* :P anw AC wld b a source of entertainment aft a day of boring lecture. looking at him brightens up my day. my friends notice that he has 'eyes' for this special guy in our lecture. i guess he's not the only one cos EVERYONE'S attention will be on him whenever he creeps in sneakily and dash across the lecture hall while ah yip is seriously crapping on his trans effect etc. he's my GOOD FRIEND! haha..i enjoy his entertainment, but i hate him for snatching AC's attention towards him. hai~ AC better not be 'that' type.. so sad :(

-----above entry penned by dumbie & double double u--------

wah. sometimes ppl can be so imaginative hahahaa. i din realise that AC milan has eyes for tt weird guy in lecture. it shows that my dear frens are into AC milan cos it does take some level of affection to notice ah choy notice the weird guy.

anw, AC milan is a thinspiration to me. everyone can be macho or beautiful, it depends on the effort u put in.

well, tts it for nw, dumbie has to shut down the laptop.

humpty dumbie

haha currently using dumbie's laptop to blog this...

actually i have nothing much to say...

haha had another boring soci lect, and someone wore all black today hahaha

see how bo liao i am, ve to resort to writing about trivial details of sch.

jya ne~

stormy day

the thunder grunted periodically, adding suspense to the overcast sky. when is it going to rain? how long can i withstand the storm? can i reach the haven safely before it starts pouring? questions ran through my mind endlessly as i raced with the nature call.

it was not as bad as yesterday, when i nearly succumbed to the tremour that was about to break through the thin earth. i gained resistance to the monster that was threatening to tear my abdomen into pieces. Still, my mind was dazed throughout the day, hearing not listening to what people said, while i fought silently with the rumbling thunder inside me, about to erupt into a storm anytime soon.

man always questions fate, or destiny, when he is suffering from catastrophe like this. i ask myself what exactly happened to get me into this deep SH*T (literally). i did a bit of shelock-holmes analysis and my biggest suspect seems to be the shrimps on sunday. or was it the pork porridge?

how should i describe my excretion to the doctor? "at first it was a gooey yellow, a shade lighter than ferrocene, then the colour was a bit of dirty green..." hmm...but i am too weak to even crawl to the clinic, so i shall wait till tomorrow morning and evaluate the situation.

ouch. the pain is creeping again...

mental block

took a long nap from 4:30 to 8pm, that was like, 3 1/2 hours?! i think i am suffering from chronic fatigue, or maybe the weather is just too hot. speaking of the weather, today was SWELTERING HOT. i felt like melting under the merciless sun. there was no clouds in the sky, maybe just a flimsy flim of water droplets swiping across the clear sky. whenever i look up to a clear sky, i have this premonition that an atomic bomb is going to drop down on me. the weather was like that on 6 august 1945 in hiroshima (according to real-life accounts).

i can't believe i am blogging about the WEATHER. LOL

anyway, today is fruitless. except for a few purchases on pet society (note the word "few", i didn't buy the whole shop ok, just "a few" of the items...). i should be doing my physical chem tutorials while waiting for the survey results... (i din realise it is so difficult to find 30 married female teachers!!) but i dun ve the notes with me, so...and i finish copying from fishee's soci notes for the lecture i missed last thursday. and after that, i went to watch the second-last episode of Land of Wealth...and came back to wait for any other survey results...

that was how i spent the day. fruitless and feel like a useless bum. should be using my time more wisely when deadlines are pending. i sort of panicked when valerie asked me how my projects were coming along.

"u shld be wrapping up right? mine is submitted alr.."

"..." cold sweats. i haven even started on the introduction part YET.

dies.

well, i hope tmr i can get some work done, hopefully. and fake some survey results...

my first interview

i had my first interview in my life this morning.

when i was approaching the castle, the gloomy sky loomed over my head. maybe this was the omen? surprisingly, my main concern was not on the interview later, it was my feet that i was most worried. it seemed that my black heels were about to burst open under my porky feet. and my feet were so blistered that they would make an old warted witch run away in shame. how long could my feet last??

when i managed to step into the building, i started to get nervous. i was practically in a daze from the moment i entered the podium to the moment i knocked on the door. i remembered i greeted the interviewers with a weak "good morning", and sat down without tripping over the table. i tried to answered most of the questions as calm as i could, but my trembling voice betrayed me. my expression must have looked blank and possibly idiotic. and for most of the time i was staring at the black eyeliner of the chairman (who looks exactly like a typical HOD/principal) without looking rude. the only thing that kept me awake was the pain resonating from down under. ouch.

when i was finally done, i mumbled a feeble "thank you" and stepped out of the chamber, joining my fellow warriors who were waiting outside. i got the flunked-it look and looking as pathetic as i could get. sighing in relief/resignation, i settled down with a cup of warm tea to sooth my soul.

i was actually looking forward to catching Suspect X on the big screen, but i decided that i needed to rest my poor feet which were almost dying from the hideous blisters.

my dad gave me the ok-i-wouldn't-ask-more look when i got home shagged.

"it's alright, you can always continue studying"

i nodded half-heartedly.

my dad almost sang the "look on the bright side of life" song when i stared blankly at the tv.

*sigh*

nevertheless, this is a valuable experience. and if i dun strike it once, i will give myself one more chance and move one with other goals in life. :)

lucky gal~

*reflections + rant *

i am one lucky girl.
my family loves me.
my friends LOVES me. (well, i hope they do :P, at least i do)

i admit i have a smooth-sailing life, and have not YET encountered any major setbacks. Well, i DO have setbacks, academically, when I barely passed my first math test (20/40) in sec 2. some people may think that this is petty, but to me, at that time, it WAS considered a failure, because i had always passed with flying colours for my math tests, and math was one of my strengths. But what is important is that i was able to get over the initial shock and REALLY buck up, seeking help from my sister (who is a math guru) and practising indices questions every night till i got it. i learnt a lesson from this first "setback" for i should not be complacent with myself.

To others, i may be a lazybum, because i am not visible with a textbook lying on my lap. but I DID study HARD for my exams and 'O's and 'A's, ok? Entering the so-called top JC as a 6-pointer (actually, 2 points, if -2 for HCL and -2 for the first 3 mths policy) is not something easily obtainable without hard work. I am not bragging here, but achievement comes with a price, and opportunity costs (not able to commit to "hard-core" CCA). Doing well in the major exams is not just based on luck (well i admit that the GP thingy comes out surprising o_O), for i have slogged dunno-how-many hours to improving my skills and enhancing my knowledge. the take-home message here is, hard work pays off.

so, i am not as lucky as people think i am. i am blessed with luck to a certain extent, but i also put in effort in ensuring that my life goes on smoothly.

luck, is a constructed myth.

for example, the sky is an azure blue today. i feel lucky and thank god (or whoever up there) for giving me this beautiful weather. but some people may not appreciate this. luck is, therefore, made-believed. i can blame my damn physical chem test on bad luck because i saw a black cat on the way to school on the day i took the test, but what i really shld be reflecting on is that i shld nt ve studied last-minute for the test (i simply dumped the whole heterostructure chapter down the drain cos i had NO TIME).

the lesson is, try my best in what ever i do. if i really screw up, then try to rationalise it. ask myself what went wrong, what i can do in the future to avoid making the same mistake again. and SEEK HELP. if the above fail, then blame the black cat.

closing the gap

i was feeling apprenhensive as i type "liverpool" in the box. i expected some 1-0 or 0-0 while the screen loaded. then...i clicked the LFC website, hands shaking involunteerly...then i took a deep breath and scanned the page. my eyes fell on the score 1-4 and i mumbled "oh well, thrashed" and it was then i realised the happy faces above the headline: Liverpool Storm Past Man United To Close Gap At Top.

Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool

read it here

OMG!!!!!! THIS IS MAGNIFICENT!!!! bloody brilliant. billions of blistering barnacles.
5 years. we screwed up for 5 years and finally we taste sweet victory.

even if we din get the title in the end, this season is the BEST in recent history.

new ipod shuffle

i am nt an avid fan of the apple products, but i have a weird fetish for their ipod shuffles.
and they are coming up with a new version. I WAN THIS FOR XMAS!!

features i am most interested with:
new feature that tells the user what song is playing - nt that i nid this feature (cos i can recognize a KK song when the first sound is played), but this is interested. and "The new VoiceOver feature announces songs and playlists to users in 14 different languages"...but no cantonese. haha.

world's tiniest music player - i like miniatures :P it is smaller than an AA battery!!!


well..that's all. and after giving it a second look, it doesn't look as attractive as i tot at first glance :P well, if my ishuffle die of old age some day, i will consider replacing it with this new ishuffle.

dealing with mid-term sadness

from TIME.com:

"Human infants express despair to evoke sympathy from others. These sadness responses suggest sorrow is genetic and that it is useful for attracting social support, protecting us from aggressors and teaching us that whatever prompted the sadness...is behavior to be avoided. This is a brutal economic approach to the mind, but it makes sense: we are sometimes meant to suffer emotional pain so that we will make better choices."

well, this shows that i shld mug more to avoid failing my tests.
chinese presentation tmr. ARGH!

monday blues

today's lab dragged to ~4:40pm (+washing, writing data sheet)
we gave up on part B and did it in pairs (me with valerie)
some did in three lor...luckily the UV machine is fast and hassle-free. (no nid to grind n mash like IR) if nt, it will drag to 5pm i guess. the yield is damn chui. as usual, i kop from someone else's. i am getting worried of not getting any product during the FINAL LAB TEST. *cross fingers*

received a offline msg from ocean-age. haha. really long time no see. i think we have not seen each other for like 3 years?? that is really...long. well, i'm not sure of a lawyer's schedule, it can be real hectic i think, and the campus is soooooooooooooo far away, hidden in the bushes in BT. And law students have internship during hols? and i m not the initiative kind heehee.

miss her. ya, and i shld mug HARD. (but CM3232 is really disgusting)

Brooding on Saturday night

watched two movies today, despite the two pending assignments that have been hibernating in my PC for a LONG time:

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster and others.
Speak (2004), starring Kristen Stewart

great movies, love them.

Speak is quite emotional...KS can really act, seriously. THE scene almost makes me cry. Strangely, it remind me of twilight the book. Bio lessons, fainting, not fitting in, brooding all the time...is that typical of American high school life??

JaN is...reflective. the story deals with issues like patriotism and justice. i am lucky i dun ve to be someone in that position to judge. And i want to watch the boy in striped pajamas. guess have to wait till the DVD comes out.

sigh..have to get back to reality and start on Chinese project. ARGH!

please let me pass physical...

i dun like ah-loh.
i dun like physical chem.
i dun like sch.
i dun like it when my heart skips a beat.

i dun wan to go to sch tmr :P

near-death experience

i was talking to sis when my hand roamed on her desk aimlessly, searching along the edge until i grabbed the little black box and opened it, expecting to see the mini diamond sitting on the dull silver/platinium/alloy ring. i playfully tried the ring on all my porky fingers, knowing that it could only fit my least porky pinkie.

"why is that you can fit the ring on your pinkie only??" sis asked, with a look of smugness in her eyes. I pulled out the ring and fitted it onto THE finger. Shoot.

"because my fingers are FAT." i rolled my eyes and tried to pull it out.

PLOOP! the ring was under too much force when i was struggling with it and suddenly the reaction force on it disappeared as it slipped out of my finger, making it fly out of my grip and doing a parabolic, whirled down and finally landed on the cold tiles with a soft ting.

the soft ting. it was the last sound i heard it make.

"Nah, i got it, it must have dropped under the drawer," i waved to sis casually.

it was not there.

"I..It must be somewhere in this room..." the smile on sis's face faded when she detected the uncertainty in my voice. i bent down and combed the area, shoving away and breathing in dust as i unveiled all the places that damn little silver/platinium/alloy ring could possibly hide in.

"You better find it or you will be chopped to pieces..by Kenny" my sis warned with a gloating smile. i was already on my knees, scanning the floor for any trace of shine.

"the ring cost 2000+, btw" my sis added.

2000+. FOR THAT DAMN LITTLE BLOOD DIAMOND??? immediately, i could feel ugly businessmen, fugly saleswoman, Kenny with devil eyes glaring at me and HALLELUJAH ringed in my ears.

and then i saw it, that damnit mini-nano-picto Ag/Pt/C/Ru/Mo/W ring sitting under sis's chair, like a child lost amidst of a crowd in a railway station, waiting for his mom to pick him up.

"YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! see?" i put on a i-know-it facade, anxiety dissolving in overwhelming relief.

"good, if not you will DIE" my sis sighed as she stuffed the ring away and continued her work.

i already lived through it, i thought secretly.

i wan u ans me~

initially i was my old childhood fren jasvinda who tagged me for this "i wan u ans me~" note. i tried to ans thoe qns, she commented on it, and found that we ve nt been seeing each other for like, 10yrs alr! it was then i realised how long i ve neglected my old frens.

well, it is diffcult to stay in touch with old frens when we are a sea/an ocean away from one and another. it is HARD. and when i moved to sg 13 years ago, i bid goodbye to them, cried, and moved on. we did write letters to each other for 1 yr or so, and meet up whenever i went back to hk for hols, but it was just different. she has her own frens and so do i. my pri sch frens who are once close to me in hk are scattered all over the world now. well, this is life. u can't be fens forever, even if u wan to. tts how we grow up and meet new ppl!

but i m glad that we still rmb each other and added each other as frens on facebook (i am not advertising for FB nw :P) this menace has its good side. it helps frens to stay in touch and relive those wonderful memories. though it may be superficial sometimes, it is nevertheless a convenient way to keep track of frens and ppl who make a difference in ur life. :)

thanks to those who wrote on my note! :))

confessions of a PS addict

ya, one of the reasons why i ve not been blogging since january is BECAUSE I VE BEEN PLAYING PET SOCIETY on the notorious time-wasting social networking menace called facebook.

and yes, it IS addictive. like heroin. it sucks ur time away without u realising it.

it started abt 2 mths ago...

i created this cute little pet called koichi (duh, who else.) i was not really interested in playing with him though he is cute, and i really wan to get those luxury items for him QUICK. i dun really ve much patience to earn those coins by scrubbing him or washing him or playing frisbee with him...so i sort of neglect him for 3 days...until my sis GOT THIS CHEAT CODE. my koichi became FILTHY RICH overnite...

since then, i/koichi shopped in the luxury shop, buys watever he can get his hands off, changed his teeth for some fangs (they cost me 5000coins!!) after i was caught in the latest frenze for edward cullen, hit a bottleneck when he realised he had bought everything (almost) and he turned his attention to those mystery boxes...

PS is fun. haha.

but the nightmare came when the cheat code no longer cheats.

i was left with only 200000+ coins.

since then, koichi has not been splurging on mystery boxes. he can only look forward to newly arrived stuff each monday. nevertheless, he will wait until some genius to revive that cheat code again haahahhahahahaa.....*evil laughter*

busy^infinity recess week

walao...i tot i can ve a break from all those hassles during recess week...tt's why this is called the recess week right?! BUT. WHY AM I STUCK WITH TWO ARTS PROJECTS THIS SEM?!!!! i can't even have a movie day this week...wat's worse is that slumdog, the boy in striped pajamas and Marely&Me are all showing this week, and i still ve nt watched k-20 (guess ve to catch it on DVD then :P)

I WANNA WATCH A MOVIE RIGHT NOW!!!!!

i nid a break, really.

but i guess that will only come on friday, when we will be gg to sushi tei @west coast plaza. (i hope so) if nt, i really wld like to catch a movie or sth, before i prepare my lab quiz/viva for monday....(and i dun wanna think abt it for now..)

movie fest?!

as i was watching GG live last monday, i took notice of some of the movies...they look quite interesting and are showing in sg soon. there are quite a few i wanted to watch, but i guess i will wait until the reviews come out then i decide which to watch.

2/5 The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (intriguing story about aging backwards...starring Brad Pitt)
2/5 The Reader (Kate Winslet!)
2/5 Slumdog Millionaire (looks moving)
2/12 K-20 (Takeshi!!!!!)
2/12 The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (Really really sad story...must bring Kleenex in)

i will b broke if i watch all of these movies...but i really want to watch The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas...and takeshi's...why are they coming out in the same week!?

the curse of mentaiko

ytd i challenged myself with mentaiko at sakae sushi. mentaiko is basically, *gulp*, marinated fish roes.


[ebi mentai fr sakae sushi]

THE CHALLENGE ENDS UP A DISASTROUS ONE. well, once u get used to the taste it will taste good, like durian and stinky tofu. it is a like-it-or-hate-it kind of food. i dunno whether is the gasoline smell (they kind of make it into aburi sushi by scorching the surface) or the creamy texture that make me want to puke.

fortunately xm gulped down one sushi in one go. *applause* i spent the next 30min trying to put the mentaiko into my mouth and chew the rubber ebi. i found that chewing without breathing thru nose works well if u wan to avoid the taste.

now i can list the mentaiko as the second japanese food that i wun touch for the rest of my life. (first one is nattou, yucks) strangely enuf, i can eat mentaiko-flavoured pocky sticks hahahhaaahhaa.

Happy New Year!!!

it's 2009 already...the year 2008 was full of ups and downs, another eventful year has passed i must say. let's hope 2009 will be another great year ahead. i think it should be, because i will be making important decisions this yr.

a small clip to brighten up 2009:

What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong