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!

coming to an understanding

Telling a 10-year old kid that religion is about choices is easy. 

Getting him to understand that is not. 

I find it difficult to go on in Science when my kid says things like "fishing is wrong because it is killing and killing is evil" when we talk about the different materials used to make a fishing rod, or "meat is disgusting" when I touch on the topic of sense of taste. I am not (though coming close to) some damned atheist; I understand that he has his own beliefs, some of which formed from the way he was brought up and I have absolutely no wish to change his views of it. Question is, how do I make him see beyond his own religion/beliefs? To understand and accept the other groups there are out there, is it even possible?

I am only dealing with one kid now; can't imagine what I'd do when I have to face 30+ of them everyday of my working life in future. Gee.

Waking up my idea

Papers are on next Wednesday and Friday respectively, & I still thought I have one more week to study wtf. I'm totally going to start immersing myself in linguistics and grammar notes later.

Wan Do Sek with the girls was great tonight. Yummy dim sum in an old-school setting, can't get any better than that. Nevermind the drink was kind of diluted. I had fun catching up with them both, epsecially when we tried to make Siaos talk.

And GESL's over, hiccups all over the place but I'm so happy to say it's really over. The kids' enthusiam for learning was infectious, and that thrilled me to no end. Oh well, guess I'm going to have to get used to them, whether I like it or not. Siaos really kind to lend me her hubby #2 for photo-taking, and I went mad snapping. Pictures up soon enough aight? 

Okay, time to catch some sleep. It's going to be a long day ahead, I hope it'll be a productive one.

And it starts kicking in

1.5 days (today didn't really count because we only got down for around 20 minutes before cat one siren was put on) of surfing made me a happier person. I think I'm addicted or something.

Anyway, lessons learnt bout the wind today:

1) The wind gets really strong just before the rain arrives.

2) Expect little or no wind after the rain's passed by.

I hope everything goes well tomorrow. Goodness I can't stand the anticipation!

ps. title suggests that my shoulders are feeling really sore right now.

Back to the good old days

My day's been really, really great.

How was yours?

What are the odds?

Over dinner a few evenings back, RL and I had a mini discussion about a particular person (or we thought we were).

Right name, check.

Short hair, check.

Year 1, check.

Has a bf, check.

_we_er, check.

HSS, check.

We were so sure that we were talking about the same person and how people are always your friends' friends everywhere in Singapore. So sure. Until we had a look at Facebook and realized we were really talking about two different persons that fit into the same description.

Really, what are the odds? 

Must be some kind of trick that life is playing on us, don't you think?