One drink too many

How many times do you recall yourself having a bad or funny experience with alcohol?

The first time where I got myself really drunk was probably two years back, with the PSC (i'm so going to call the primary school clique this from now on) at one of the playground at Gardens, after a really bad quarrel with Doug. We had too much whisky + coke / juice as forfeit for the Black/White Sheep game, and when our bladders couldn't take it anymore, we realized there's no toilet in sight. We ended up settling our business in one of the nearby bushes, stifling laughs in between.

When Jon decided to send us home, I forgot whose idea was it to wind down the car windows and shout at every random passing Ah Neh (again). I learnt from the rest of the PSC that I'd been really enthusiastic in shouting that night (usually I'm the quiet one) alongside Siaos, Jon and Rob, though I can't really remember what I'd been shouting. I remember sleeping at the backseat when everyone else went to the toilet at Macs (after we left the playground), apart from Jon, and he let out a really (understatement lol) smelly fart because he thought there was no one else in the car wtf. Everyone ended up having a good laugh bout it when they heard it.

Anyway, I've only just realized that I party and drink too little! There's never been once where I totally lost my mind, passed out, or had to be carried out of a club (or anywhere else for that matter). Yes, it's easy to get high and all (its easy at a place where beers go for 1USD per can and comes with a free shot), but nope, no passing out so far. I've been a really mild drinker but I am actually looking forward to getting myself dead drunk one of these days. Will tell you guys when that happens.

ps. The last episode of The Little Nyonya's disappointing, to say the least. After everything that they've been through, why can't the two of them be together already?

Taking flight again!

Tiger's return airfares to Bangkok in March during Recess Week are only going for $180++ (inclusive of airport tax and all), really tempting!

Silkair's fares to Cebu in May at $730+.

Philippines here I come!

Christmas Eve & Baking Fun

Last night's mash was great! Food, drinks and great company, what's there not to love? Headed down to Wine Company and surprisingly, the place wasn't crowded (must've been the rain). Caught up with Nee (someone's spotting long hair now lol), Mark (been back for 9 months now), Benjamin, & Nigel's still working there too. Harry's after, and we made our way down to Holland Village's 2a.m. Dessert Bar seeing that Ben & Jerry's were closed. Settled at Swensen's in the end and we ended the night with a chicken baked rice. Gosh.

I think it's not going to be easy for me to lose weight at the rate I'm eating, but hey, I don't mind doing it again!

JX and I messed up the kitchen today; we made cupcakes and sand cookies (whatever they are). Plain cupcakes turned out really nice this time round, save for the fact that I filled the cups with too much batter (think overflow!). Guess I do know what the problem was the last time round now, I'd used plain flour instead of self-raising flour. The cupcakes tasted really nice on their own; only slightly sweet with a hint of savouriness. Recipe's definitely a keeper; I got it from videojug by the way.

As for the sand cookies, one out of the three batches baked turned out kinda burnt. We found it really hard to make cut-outs from the cookie dough even after we've refigerated it; it turned soft real fast. Guess we'll just have to learn to work quicker the next time round.

Hope you guys had a great Christmas too!

5 days past by just like that. I'm back home now.

I love Penang!

So much's changed here in the past 3 years; my little cousins are all grown up, and new giant malls are springing up all over the place, but everyone's still as friendly as ever. So 383 miles away from Singapore last night, I stepped into my grandma's place after the longest break ever, and the first thing that came to their mouths were: "an zua luh an ni orh?!", and my grandma was like "za bor kia an ni orh bo swee la!" I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

It's only my first day here and I have a super bad feeling that I'll be going back heavier by at least a few kilos. 

Dinner last night consisted of: Penang char kway teow, kway chup (duck version lo!), yong tau hu, geng geng (do you know what's this?) soup, braised chicken feet, tau huay (with black sugar syrup), and some other really yummy dishes I can't remember what!

Breakfast for today was made up of apom (some damn shiok pancake), hokkien mee (prawn soup noodles yum), wanton mee, lum mee, curry mee (shiok shiok shiok! finally had a taste of curded pig's blood again), and lor mee with chicken feet. Treated my grandma, mama and Aunt Peggy to xiao long baos and Shanghainese fare at some Chinese restaurant a few hours ago, and the food was not bad too.

ALL the food here taste so damned good and it doesn't help that they come in servings half the size of Singapore's. And guess what, I'm heading to Gurney Drive later in the night with more relatives and I'm looking forward to all the yummy stuff; asam laksa, lok lok, more apom, ice kachang and chendol, deep fried chicken skin (!!) and so on. *salivates*

Staying at Aunt Peggy's (greatest hosts ever) new place currently and it's a really nice place, and really near Queensbay Shopping Mall. We just got back from the mall with a few bags of clothes/lingerie/shoes, etc. They have the furriest pomeranian around and it's name is Bingo. Poor Bingo's got his right hind leg injured (for whatever reason) and he's hopping around on three legs; let's hope it'll be okay soon.

Penang, I missed you so!

ps. My grandma just said I've put on weight gahhhhhhh!!!

Time for bed

I'm so screwed once more.

Happy Genting-ing shir & jon!

First shots

Here's one of the first few shots I've taken with my Holga baby. Will be sharing more in time to come, I love them all, and I hope you guys do too. Leave comments about the pictures if you wish, but be friendly even though you need to criticize? Thank you people!

having fun with the multi-coloured flash. with xue and hammy at one of Orchard Rd's BK when she just got back from aussieland.

Picture was printed and scanned onto the computer, hence the quality's not as good. 

Saigon Moments (i)

A little overdue but I hope it'll still be an interesting read. Did Vietnam with a few fellow windsurfers two weeks after the exams've ended. On this trip, I managed to get my contact lens solution confiscated at the customs checkpoint (forgot all bout the no-liquids rule, $%^&*#$%^@&#), learnt to appreciate coffee a lot more, had a couple of really cheap beers in Mui Ne, learnt that I'm not the only one who can really eat, and the list just goes on.

So, let's just start with the first day!

After one big bite of Ben's McGriddles and two hours of flight, we arrived at Ho Chi Minh International Airport. Met up with our guide, Ko, who gave a brief introduction and we were off to lunch!

It was early when we arrived, and the roads were not as congested as they'd usually be. Ko explained that was because it was a Sunday morning, and many people didn't have to go to work. We were pretty intrigued with the new sights and sounds; if you ask me, I'd say it's a little different from the other Asian places I've been to.

really tall trees along the roads

Saigon's got a human population of 8 million, and a motorbike population of 4 million. 

nope, no refrigeration. and no flies, now I'm really curious.

Motorbikes started filling up the streets in throngs with each passing minute and we learnt that honking of the carhorn's really a common affair. It took me around half an hour to get used to our van overtaking on the left (left-hand drive), and you can never ever keep track of how many times the driver's honked the horn. I lost count, and couldn't be bothered after.

lunch check-point.

river-side restaurant; where the waitresses are all clad in white, translucent ao dais, revealing whatever sort of bras they're wearing underneath.

first course; no idea what fish that is, tilapia? anyway, it was so deep fried that the scales could be eaten.

a waitress came to our table and rolled up some fish, thick bee hoon and pineapple slices with the rice paper.

first of many springroll dishes that we were going to encounter. I like spring rolls.

big headed prawns; waitresses did the shelling for us. not that I minded.

celery and carrot soup, with thin pork slices. homely feel. 

great ball of rice. ball, not bowl! haha

great ball of rice cut up and flattened.

After lapping up the last bit of soup in the charcoal steamboat, we hopped back onto the van and the driver took us to the part of Mekong Delta where we were going for a boat ride.

local and offshore fishing vessels, local ones have 'eyes' painted at their bows to scare away any monsters that might be lurking beneath the surface of the waters.

what lurks beneath...?

Did a few stop-overs along the long stretch of Mekong Delta, had some honey & lime tea at a small bee farm (?), petted a giant python where we had fresh fruits for our afternoon snack, visited the place where coconut candy is produced, hitched a pony ride, sat in a rocky sampan and so on.

tea-time

tea-time snacks, preserved coconut strips, lotus seeds and ginger pieces. coconut ftw.

mini tea cups.

the tourists...

the old lady who powered our sampan. strong woman. 

and our pony was way ahead of everyone else. what's the rush, pony?

passed by this lady while we were on the carriage; how's that for retro? love the bright red!

one coconut drink awaits each of us when we got back to the boat. neither cold nor sweet, but still a good end to our Mekong Delta visit.

doesn't this remind you of bowling pins? 

expressway's limit is 70km/h (wtf?) and there were many humps along the expressway, good idea to stop people from speeding eh. 

The Mekong tour took us one whole afternoon, and we headed straight for dinner after. Chinese fare lor; braised pork belly, stir-fried lala, omelette with springies and fried squid. Our group can really eat, compared to the other group from NBS that was there too. Nothing left on our plates and none of the other tables (all from NBS) could finish up everything on their tables. Weak! hahaha.

We only got to our hotel after dinner. The hotel where we stayed at is called Lien An; there's a few more 3-star hotels along the same stretch of street, 'aquariums' disguised as salons just beside (and the girls have a standardized uniform can), and a shop selling Singapore food (super not cheap) just across the street.

i had lijun & mel as roomies. big rooms ROCK.

We idled for a short while in our rooms (the usual channel-flipping, bouncing on bed stuff luh) before heading out to Ben Tanh Night Market. Lots of beaded pouches, cheap clothes and imitation goods, especially Polo and Adidas tees. Brands like LV, Gucci, Channel abit cannot-make-it. Sidenote: guess once you've been to Bangkok, shopping elsewhere is never comparable. Back to the market, it's a rather popular tourist spot, so, you must always remember to bargain. Street snacks are sold here too; coloured-glutinous rice with durian/sugar/bean-paste toppings, kinder surprise (will blog bout this the next time round), zhi char stuff, and so on. I had a jolly time stuffing myself silly with whatever snack we bought while waiting for the rest to finish their shopping.

entrance/exit of ben tanh.

First day of Saigon? The tourist spots (nothing really impressive yet) did not really appeal to me, but the food and the laidback vibes from the people did. The people there take things slowly as they come and never seem to be in a hurry (apart from on the roads, I still remember the aftermath of the accident on the expressway) I became known as the-girl-who-eats-a-lot. Later in the night, I sucked on a watermelon-flavoured ice-pack that I got from the supermart before finally heading to bed, satisfied. 

Visit again for the next few parts soon.

ps. I think my hard-disk's down. knccncbcb. All my pictures are in there, I hope I'd be able to get it fixed soon. Please let it be fixed. I hate worrying bout this kinda stuff. argh.

The aspiring baker

After so much procrastination, I finally got myself an electric mixer and the necessary ingredients from Phoon Huat beside Burlington Square. I must admit I did a terrible job on my first attempt at Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. Cupcakes turned out a little too hard, but I thought the buttercream wasn't as difficult to make as I thought it'd be. The cupcake mixture seemed to be a little too dry but I can't seem to make out where I went wrong; I'm quite certain I stuck to the measurements. Ohwell! Let's keep fingers crossed and hope the next batch will turn out to be more well-made.

The wait is long and agonizing.

I can't get to sleep. Just finished watching the 22nd episode of Little Nonya on mobtv, you can say I'm addicted. Shall not comment on the acting and despite the predictable plot, I find myself going back for more. Yeh, sucker. Agh, I wish they'd upload the episodes faster!

Met up with the tri-team for a steamboat dinner tonight and Ah Chew Desserts after. Nothing remarkable bout the steamboat place but dessert was Great! & I happened to meet a really unpleasant person at Ah Chew's. The initials' SC; guess it's not that difficult to figure out who. Anyway, it was a really nice evening spent catching up with some of the tri senior members and coach PY!

Sent 3 rolls of film for developing today, after such a long wait. Was a little scared that the uncle might not be able to process my roll of black & white since I didn't roll the spool properly and the film appers to have been exposed to light, but he said "no worries!" Now I'm really keeping fingers crossed. Hope to receive everything in the CD tomorrow afternoon.

& today made me really glad bout the little interest that I might have in fashion. Thank goodness for all that money not spent. Now I'm that teeny weeny bit closer to getting my 2nd-hand DSLR and my dream holidays. must.prevail.must.not.give.in.to.temptations.

Siaos if you're reading this, let's go get our ipods on Christmas Eve when I'm back from Penang? I'm quite sure they'll be having some special last-minute promotions on that day.

Let's do a re-cap

Don't we all love recaps? Now's probably a little too early for one, but who cares! I probably won't have much time for one anytime later than now, with the Penang trip coming up and all.

In the year of 2008, I...

# completed my 3-year long journey at Temasek Polytechnic,

# taught inline-skating for a couple of months,

# was accepted by NIE,

# picked up windsurfing and joined the club,

# donated blood for the first time ever,

# visited Phuket upon graduation,

# did Saigon & Mui Ne beach with the windsurfers,

# went for my first leisure dive,

# did a trek up Stong,

# tried Salsa Dancing,

# stopped working at the Wine Company,

# broke up with my ex of nearly two years,

# attended his passing out parade still,

# baked a batch of cupcakes together with shir and jon for siaos' birthday,

# tried to pick up inline hockey too,

# got my holga,

# visited eateries (that I've never heard of) with damned good food,

There's been both laughter and tears and I'm glad I came across all the people that I've met. Only yesterday, it felt like I was going to get abs from all that laughing at Bliss. I'm blessed, and I know it. 

The end is near

The months crept by quietly and once again, we've come to the last month of the year. A rather happening year, I wouldn't be wrong to say. Time to reflect on things that have happened so far eh?

Anyway, I've just uploaded the Vietnam pictures on Facebook, go take a look when you guys are free!

I tried to sleep earlier but nope, my mind just refuses to. Damned those eyebags!

Family dinners & change

It was the first time my aunt ever talked to me like that; telling me how great being single is, how I should really see the world while I can (before I get tied down with marriage and kids); because holidays after you have your own family can get kind of different.

The past 2 nights were spent away from home. First night of surf camp was spent at the Sea Sports Club, and we were out on the roads for night cycling on the second. Set off from ECP to Old Airport Road Hawker Centre, followed by Novena Square, Thomson Road (The Prata House), Bishan, Potong Pasir, Bugis, Esplanade (where we rested for quite a while) and finally back to the park.

Excuse me now while I head back for more bed time. loves.

Life as it is now

Great, and I won't be making any changes to it anytime soon (read: next 4 years). And I'm going to stop blogging with so much ambiguity in my entries. It's not going to be easy but I'll try okay. Do a proper update on my Saigon visit soon, after surf camp! 

Lined up for the month of December

1. Surf Camp from 9th to 11th - lots of surfing, a night of barbecue, night cycling (it's going to be my first night cycling experience), and karaoke!

2. Penang from 19th till 23rd - haven't been back in a long time, I'm going to whack all that Penang laksa, Char Kway Teow and Hokkien Mee I can get my hands on when I'm back.

Lots of things cluttered up in my mind, but I won't say them here. You know where to find me if you know.

Things I feel like doing right now

1. Paint a kick-ass mural on my wall

2. Ice-cream!

Charmed

It's our fifth and final day here in Vietnam and despite a few hair-raising experiences on the roads, I can already feel myself missing this place; the never-stopping flow of motorbikes and honking on the busy roads, awesome coffees, (fluffy) baguette sandwiches, yummy pho in clear broth, friendly people, people lazing in their hammocks along the roadsides in the afternoon sun, and (read damned) cheap beers. I have to admit that Vietnam was not on the top of my t0-go list; I just thought it'd be a good opportunity to get to know the windsurfing peeps better and at the same time, see what Vietnam's got to offer.

I'm really digging this place and I've decided to put it on my to-go-back-to list now. I mean, what's there not to like about this place? Okay, maybe 'cept for the mosquitoes buzzing around where I'm typing this entry now. The pace of life here is slow and the people are laid-back; I enjoy watching people taking their afternoon naps in their hammocks. And speaking of which, I think hammocks are just part of their culture. It must be a sin for families not to own at least one hammock or something, not that I'm complaining.

I think I've sat here long enough. Abit paiseh-ed since they're not charging for the internet usage, guess I'll just go up and wait for the rest of the group to be back. Catch you guys again in a few hours!

sad about nothing

sometimes, i wonder what i mean to you. you, not you. you never seem to have time for me. oh well. happy holidays.

From the land where motorcyles reign

Hey people, I've seriously got no idea whether or not I'm being charged for this internet service at the hotel lobby (have yet to see any signs so far) so I guess I'll just do a really quick update and shoo.

Arrived at HCM's airport at 8.30 a.m. local time (1hr behind Singapore time) and met our guide, Ko (pronounced ker). Everything's been good so far, though we withnessed the result of a road accident (pretty bloody, god bless the poor soul).

The group of us've just came back from one of the more prominent night markets here in HCM, and we'll be setting off for Mui Ne Beach in Phan Tiet (or sth like that) tomorrow morning. Keep you guys updated again if I can alright, miss you all! :)


ps. I'm sorry for the hasty departure. Please don't be upset bout it.

From what I remember

Last minute HK cafe dinner with primary school clique on Tuesday,

Zouk on Mambo Night with a few NIE peeps (he-who-shall-not-be-named's OG's mini-clique),

Xiao Long Bao lunch and Island Creamery afternoon snack with Kenni (I love apple pie too tansimins!),

Carls Junior for lunch with Doug on Saturday,

Half-day skate camp on Tuesday,

Spontaneous trip to JB with Doug today to get contact lens,

IT fair with he-who-shall-not-be-named and his two friends, I got myself a 1000GB hard-disk and I've only just started transferring stuff over (it's a nightmare trying to sort out all of your songs two years after you've downloaded them). & Gladys was there at the Acer booth!

& lots of driving lessons! I cleared the second module finally, will get to start on parking the next time round whoo.

100% positive that a lot more happend, but I'm pretty much bummed out from sorting out the songs. Will be away to Vietnam in less than 48 hours; have yet to convert sgd to dongs, have yet to pack my bag, and've only just learnt my departure time. Gee.

I'm happy with my life the way it is now and I have no intentions of making any changes to it. Ha! We will win win win the bet Jon!

ps. I know I'm missing a few updates; will do so soon okay!

Some random stranger

I don't know you but I sure hope things pick up for the better. Keeping fingers crossed for you. Good luck.

Womanizer

I think this version's so much nicer than the original one by Britney!

Favourite time of the week

Wind was pretty good for surfing yesterday. For the 3rd consecutive week, I tried to perform a successful gybe, but I'm not too sure if what I did qualify as a gybe yet. ML pointed that I should've bared away more after I got into a run, guess I'll take more notice of this the next time round.

It's been like the 3rd month that I've got started now. Loving it!

Driven by materialistic wants

1. Ipod Classic 120Gb

2. Macbook

3. Canon DSLR (2nd hand will do)

I hope I find some money on the ground soon.

Signs that you might be a little too tanned

1. Your long-time friend's granny asks your friend if you are Indian (when it's not the first time she's seen you).

2. The drink-stall auntie at the Kopitiam looks truly surprised when you open your mouth to order 菊花茶.

3. Cleaner macik asks about your day in Malay.

[amusing yeh?]

And of course, Mum going on endlessly about how I'm going to get skin cancer and something along that line (touchwood). Despite all that, I'm still loving my glorious tan.

ps. I've been pigging out so much I'm definitely going to put on some weight. Visited Island Creamery finally! I love Siaos. If I ever turn lesbian one day I'd go look for her first.

Music Videos

1. Because christmas is just round the corner?

Feliz Navidad - Siaos, this is the Christmas song I was talking bout. Teach me how to play it someday okay!

2. Puts me in a happy mood every single time.

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

3. He's cute! 

My Girl - David Choi (originally sung by The Temptations)

Hope you people like them, if you've bothered playing the videos. Nights!

Whooo~What say you?

Missing out on the details?

've been walking around the whole day and I went to parts of Chinatown I never knew beforehand existed, Peninsular Shopping Centre to take a look at 2nd-hand DSLRs, etc. Conclude? I felt like a foreigner can, apparently there's a lot (places, things, people, etc) to Singapore that I haven't learnt. Thanks you for showing me around.

Holding onto a kickass camera (not talking bout my toy camera luh haha), you find yourself looking at things that you've never in the past noticed. The details are there all along, they just need someone to take a little notice of them. Same goes for life? Maybe. Take a look all around you, and see if you've missed anything or anyone out.

Dirty Dancing 2

Okay, so I've been rewatching this. It's hot, hot, hot! Love the way they move, the way the dresses fly, the music and everything about it. Makes me want to sign up for latin dance classes all the time. 

Hips got shaking let's get dancing!

clean up act

Tidying up the room took me almost one full day; wiped the tables, cleared the drawers, shifted my bed around, vacuumed the floor and... changed the sheets! Transferred old photo albums into my drawers too and I found some really cool shots of my Dad, like from over 20-30 years ago. Most of them were from his sailing apprenticeship days. I saw him charting maps, use a sextant, in front of the Great Sphinx & Tian An Men, goof around in the snow, and enjoy a beer with his friends (I do wish that he'd go back to those kinda days).

I totally dig the way he looked back then. Coolness please.

Here's two from the stash I secretly snucked into my secret box:

#1 third from left

#2

I wish he didn't pick up smoking then, cause he's really looking sullen these days. Despite all that younger-days glory, he's really getting old. Felt a teeny weeny bit of sadness when that thought came into mind. It's really odd; I've always loathed the way he tried to bring me & yf up, and yet, I cannot bring myself to unlove him. I hate the things he says to us to put us down, and even more so when I know there's a certain level of truth to them. I guess the reason I cannot unlove him is because ultimately, we know that he just wants the best for us. 

ps. I forgot all about tuition today and my tutee's mum called me up. That was not cool on my part. Can't imagine that I'd forget bout it. Ah.

Excerpts - emo much?

He never told me I could ever achieve anything someday, and yet, I know he holds some blind hope that someday, I will.

__

I had such a big birthday cake for my third birthday; I must have been their pride and joy. A parent's love cannot be measured by the size of a birthday cake, that I know. But am I still their pride and joy? Long ago, I was their pride and joy because of who I was. Now, I can only make them proud and happy after an achievement of some sort.

__

I say this, as a atter of fact, and because I am envious of the attention he has for his passion. Men and women are driven by their passions, is that not whta life is all about? - thank you for showing me what hypocrisy is all about. gee.

__

There are flaws in every single one of us out here. For some, they are revealed so quickly you'd immediately be able to point out what their weaknesses are and as for the others, it just takes a longer time to realize what they are. I think I've just seen some flaws in a certain someone whom I thought was perfect; the very someone I love so deeply. I'm sure he's seen the flaws in me too; the green-eye monster at work. But heck, I'm embracing them all and loving him all the same. - Seriously?!

__

I waited for him at Citylink since 10.00 a.m. One hour's gone by and I just sat there waiting, started to wonder if something's happened to his mobile, or him. Turned out he was fast asleep at home until he finally picked up my call one hour later. I was disappointed by how he could treat me so sloppily sometimes, I'm his girlfriend for goodness' sake! I bet he doesn't even treat his friends this way. But then again, I guess marking papers can be really tiring. - now this was me trying to come up with excuses to cover the fact that he was an asshole.

__

Reading old journal entries sure brought back lots of memories (not saying good or bad).

Random updates + Short notes on surrealism

Okay, super long entry ahead. You've been warned.

Exams are finally over. I am thankful that I've only 2 papers to complete, because I am so much of a lazy bum. Let's keep fingers crossed that the workload's going to stay manageable like this for a long time to come. Felt a wave of liberation running through my body as I made my way out of the examination hall; last minute revision kept me awake for like 2 consecutive nights and I'm finally getting some real sleep!

Met up with Siaos and Rob for some retail therapy and ice-cream loving, can't describe how happy I am to meet up with them again. I'm going back to Miss Tan's for my guitar lessons soon, can't wait! I've been a bad, bad student. One whole semester and all I ever got around to playing are those 3 chords and those nursery rhymes, sorry 'cher.

This is a little out-dated but my halloween was spent at MindCafe, SMU. Poly alumni gathering and it was great catching up with ex-coursemates and lecturers, yep, even those whom I wasn't really close to back then. I guess we just want to find out how each other's doing.

Games involved shouting, snatching and making weird noises. The sight must've been very funny, at least in passerbys' eyes.

you can call him/her squeak squeak.

fyp group 18, but we're missing lala! & eden's still crappy as ever please.

Alumni gathering aside, I finally got down to windsurfing! Only Matt and I were there to represent ntu and guess what, Mum & Dad decided to watch me surf after dropping me off. I realized it was the first time my mum saw me in my bikini and it was kinda... awkward? Guess I should be prepared for more of this in future! I certainly don't mind them coming to watch me surf. If anything, I'm more than happy. It's the first time they're ever showing me some support (at least I hope it is) in something that I enjoy doing, and I'm appreciative. Truly, I am.

Tropic Thunder later in the night with a friend I haven't met in at least 2.5 years, thanks to the power of Facebook. Ha. The hilarity made up for all that lameness, seriously! No-brainer movie, just what I needed.

And now, I present to you this:

tadah!

The wait was long (the wait till exams ended), but worth it. I got this baby from DDD at Burlington Square, plus a multi-colour flash, fisheye lens attachment, 2 rolls of film at $175. The uncle was really helpful and I'm so glad I did not join the online spree, I can't imagine going through another 2.5 weeks of waiting! I swear I was trembling with excitment when the uncle finally placed the camera in my hands, I know, too easily satisfied, I know.

Headed over to Wheelock to meet up with Xue (yes she's back! and she's got a holga too!) and Hammy Yap. Miss them, so damned much! Caught up over dinner at 85 with a few more peeps (the twins, ev and tionghan right?) before we moved over to the Cheesecake Cafe. Talked bout lots of stuff, insights into some people's characters (hammy's kinda accurate!), and I still cannot believe it when hammy thinks I'm the most emo of the lot. Like seriously?! Anyone else who feels the same way as him? Don't be shy and let me know okay. Me, emo?! I never knew. I haven't enjoyed such a good chat with friends like I did tonight in a long while, it felt so good.

And I found out that the ex's getting married. You probably are not interested to know how I feel bout it but I'm still going to share anyway. Surreal, will probably be the best word to describe it. It sounds more like something that I'd be reading off a book or see in a drama serial than something that's actually going to be happening to me. Guess this is reality and it's happening all around. Wake up your idea, miss chang. Before you decide that I am rueful about the sorry relationship, I need to clarify that I am not. Things're long over and they happened for a reason, I'm not harping on them, just voicing out how funny it feels.

Gee, I'm glad it's over. At least now I can look back and say, thank goodness I'm not stuck with a lying, self-righteous hypocrite.

ps. true friends, what are they made of.

Huamin Primary, Science & Mathematics Workshop

And at Huamin Primary School, here's a few of the favourite shots:

Kids, kids, and more kids! Did I mention that GESL went rather smoothly? I hope the kids really had fun, and anyway, anyone else noticed that there's an awful lot of pink bags in the last pictures? I hope all those girls pictured will not turn out to behave like Princess Barbies.

You know you've been staring at your grammar notes kinda long when...

You start replacing words with their categories.

Taken from an exercise that Ludwig's given us:

conjunction Barack Obama met George Bush for the first time four years ago, it verb an unhappy encounter.  Matters were not helped at the start when a presidential aide squirted sanitiser on determiner hands preposition they shook.  Yesterday, the determiner US president met the man who will be the forty-fourth at the White House again in very different circumstances.  determiner time there was no sanitiser and none of the condescension relative pronoun Obama complained of on the first occasion.  Obama was at the White House as president-elect to-infinitive discuss the transfer of power.  He was adverb adverb as the fulfilment of the dream of Americans pronoun lived through segregation and the 1960s adjective rights movement.  Like other African-Americans, he is deeply conscious of the White House's adjective history: verb by slaves and staffed by slaves throughout its first 50 years and home of repeated racial slights and snubs that lasted into the 1970s.  Obama had spoken adverb of the potency of his presence on the adjective grounds, and that was confirmed when the long-awaited image immediately went preposition the world.  Speaking preposition the campaign, he contemplated further images that will help to suggest that America has entered a new noun: his daughters, Malia and Sasha, verb round the White House and playing on its famous lawn.

Redbull: *Now i can flies

I hope it really keeps me awake for the next 3 to 5 hours, there's so much catching up to do!

One down, one more to go!

Horror of horrors, I HAD to be late for my first paper in uni. Paper starts at 9.00 a.m. and all along I thought it was 9.30, thank goodness it was only a couple of minutes and I managed to get all the questions done. My heart was pounding crazily as I finally settled down and picked up the pen to write.

Short nap before I'm going to start studying for grammar.

as mad as a hatter

for non-mac users, here's the link: http://snapstrip.com/auto-download.html

I am so darned nervous bout the paper tomorrow and an extra head popped just popped out. Madness. Ohwell, they say two is better than one.

Progress...

has been slow (you know how much of a procrastinator I am); but I'm definitely moving forward, inch by inch. I can't be more thankful that I only have two papers (if not I'd be so fucking screwed right now), seriously.

Definitely spending more time online than revising, but when I finally do get down to the textbooks, I feel like I'm able to concentrate better. Please tell me some of you study this way too? The lappy's too much of a distraction for me, I'm sure.

Arghh!

5 days away from the semestral break, but it feels like forever. I totally skipped windsurfing this weekend and I can't wait to get back next week!

After exams...

Imma... 

get a holga,

and go shop for dresses.

Add-on to the list of bore

The Actual Size of Stuff - key in your screen size and you're good to go. For the seriously bored and curious only.

Dance of fancy

I need to...

see the great white mantas doing their flips, 

fin alongside the gentle whaleshark, 

frolick with dolphins in the deep blue sea, 

spot a pygmy seahorse right infront of my eyes, 

watch a mola mola (aka ocean sunfish) bask in the sun and gulp down a jellyfish, 

stroke the back of a turtle that's at least 3 decades older than me,

have a giant shoal of fishes surround me,

and get all of them to share their secrets with me.

I swear all of them're calling out to me. 

They want me to be there, I'm know they do. And so, I came up with a list of places to visit in the near future (5 to 10 years): Raja Ampat, Similans, Sipadan. I need to start saving again.

What do you know?

What do you know about me?

Let me tell you, nothing. You know nothing bout me. 

Go on, continue to accuse me all you want.

It won't kill me anyway.

in-between breaks

Guess I'll share some interesting stuff from my linguistics textbook here.

"Only 15% of the words in English vocabulary today are truly English (or Anglo-Saxon) words. Majority are borrowed and are of foreign origin."

Here's a list from the text:

acronym  (Greek)

amok  (Malay)

area  (Latin)

barbecue  (Spanish)

bazaar  (Persian)

bonanza  (Spanish)

bungalow  (Hindi)

candy  (Arabic)

chlorine  (Greek)

cruise  (Dutch)

data  (Latin)

garage  (French)

ketchup  (Hokkien)

minister  (French)

noodle  (German)

pagoda  (Portugese)

pajamas  (Persian)

pizza  (Italian)

rattan  (Malay)

shampoo  (Hindi)

ski  (Norwegian)

studio  (Italian)

swastika  (Sanskrit)

turban  (Turkish/Persian)

whiskey  (Scots Gaelic)

Ketchup. Hokkien? wtf. Bet you were not expecting that either!