Best Roomie in NTU

Haha!

Of late, my daily routine has become something like such:

Wake up in the morning for class - lesson ends - lunch - head back to hall - surf the net - play a few rounds of Tetris on Facebook - nap (when I say nap I really mean sleep, like for a few hours) - wake up for lesson in the late afternoon again - head back to hall - dinner - surf some more net (and roomie-bonding session) - play a few more rounds of Tetris - supper - shower - revision work - Sleep.

I surf too much net and play too much Tetris! I was so obsessed with clearing all the stages; wanting to beat my own high-score time and time again, and I played so much Tetris that it always leave my fingers (and legs) in repeated bouts of spasms. Bah. But it's all going to change tomorrow; because I've just reached Tetris nirvana by clearing all the 15 stages of the game. 15 fucking stages; I'm so proud of myself!

Anyhow, Roomie's playing it too, and I think it's hilarious how we would stand behind each other to watch the progress of the game and make comments as though we're playing Counterstrike or some other RPG. Ha! Siao one!

ps. Tutee passed his English paper with some improvements (extremely happy that he did much better for the Comprehension Cloze section); I hope the rest of his subjects will fetch happy results too.

Stronger than I think I am

It's a long one, so, go on only if you have the time to spare. I edited some parts, some slight differences here and there. Don't mention the differences if you know what they are, this is what I would like to ask of those who've read the original version.

I fell for someone whom I really should not have.

A year ago, I said to myself and the people around who cared, "I will concentrate on my studies. No more love for me until I've had my share of fun, until I learn to love myself for being who I am." I've hurt friends (okay maybe just one friend) while I said that, and people laughed at me for saying that because it seemed like the most incredulous thing that came out of someone who hasn't been single for the past three years.

I was determined to prove all these people wrong, determined to have the last laugh and the past ten-odd months have been some of the best months of my life. In less than a year, I actually got round to spending more time with friends (as opposed to time spent with the ex-boyfriends), I've made new friends in university, and I've also learnt to appreciate everyone and everything that I have so much more than I did. I did the damnedest things I'd never before imagined myself to, laughed a lot, cried a lot, but I started loving myself more for being who I am too.

It did seem to me that I was indeed going to have that last laugh; that I am finally able to prove all the people who laughed at me wrong. Until I met him. There are many things that I'm clueless about, but one thing's for sure: it definitely wasn't love at first sight. I don't even remember him leaving any strong impressions (and I expect the same to go for him too) after our very brief first meeting one weekend in July. I did remember him as the person with one dope-cute furball though.

So much for our first encounter. I guess we bumped into each other once or twice more after July, but there was nothing particularly memorable about the subsequent meetings either. He was still nothing to me but a mere accquaintance.

Then school started. We bumped into each other one day at some fair; he took down my number as I chuckled to myself how funnily he was dressed. I thought nothing much about it, or him until two nights later. I had a dream; and he was in it. In my dream, we were in a foreign and faraway place. Dressed in the most casual manner, we looked like a couple; arms round waists, hand-in-hand, laughing heartily to ourselves for all the things that we were saying to each other as we followed a good friend around; he seemed to be showing us around the strange place we were in. We looked truly happy where we were.

I remember waking up with a smile; thinking to myself what a sweet dream it was. And then I laughed at the absurdity of it; I barely know this guy. But after I'd finish laughing at how ridiculous my dream was, I couldn't help but wonder: why him of all the people I know? And it did get me thinking about him a lot more.

Maybe he knew I'd dreamt of him. He messaged the very next day, and asked if I wanted to have dinner. Looking back, I find it quite funny how it took about three or four messages for me to realize that he was asking if I wanted to have dinner with him, and not just merely informing me that he's having dinner.

Things changed for me since that evening. I thought of him a lot more, smiled to myself whenever I thought of him, and I'd find myself looking forward to our dinner/supper/etc meetings. We started seeing each other almost every single day; and each time was justifiable by one reason or other. Of course I'd come to grow fond of him, but, I never stopped reminding myself that I shouldn't be greedy and start asking for more than what we already have.

I know we didn't start off as much, but he's the best thing that's happened to me since the start of this semester, just second-place to all that love that my friends and family've showered on me. For all the ups and downs that I'm going through right now, I know I'll feel much better just after seeing and talking to him. It works almost like magic (our meetings, I cannot find the right words to describe why), only better. We can talk about many things under the sun, but there are also the topics that I never dare to talk to him about; topics that once broached, may threaten to spoil everything.

Stupid/naive as it sounds, I'm happy just being where we are now. I'm not taking any more steps forward emotionally, because I really shouldn't and it will only make it seem like I'm just rushing into things. Of course I am thankful for all of you who's reading this, but it's not everyday that someone who is able to bring this much joy into our lives come along; someone who accepts us for who we are, who can so effortlessly lift us up and out of the deepest and bleakest troughs where we are stuck in, and someone whom we can share our heartfelt thoughts or ideas with (okay la, we are not really here yet).

Some few days back, I thought that something more than what we are now was possible. Some few days back, I thought we could be a couple, like what I'd dreamt some few weeks back. And just a few days ago, having that greedy thought yet knowing that nothing's coming out of it, that put me through a lot of agony and heartache that was totally uncalled for.

That was some few days back. Today, I don't want anything more than what we have now, I just want to be friends, nothing more. I am grateful for our budding friendship, and I'm not spoiling it by setting expectations for either one of us. The reason why I got so emotional about things was because I, myself had decided that getting together was a possibility but really, it's only wishful thinking on solely my part because, I know it's not going to happen (don't ask me why, I just know). I will blame no one but myself for thinking that way, for misleading myself onto the wrong path but now, I think I've seen the light and I'm getting back on track, so that's all that counts.

To all the friends that got a scare or two, who were geniuinely worried about me, I'm sorry for putting you through all my emo-rubbish but I'm glad to say, I'm okay now! I hope I'm not going to fall in so hard and quickly into what I mis-intepretated as love again. I never thought I'd be able to pick up this quickly, but I think I did and I'm proud of myself for that. I hope you are proud of me for that too. Love to y'all.

When you're down and tired... Remember this.

via

I've been laughing way too much for the past two days; I think I have stitches :x

Windsurful weekend.

Friday saw me and Shunxiang heading down to PA at a super late timing of 2-ish p.m. We were lucky to have just caught the wind in time when we reached. Rigged up quickly and Boom, off we went (only to have the wind die down on us a while later).

On Saturday, I woke up at 2 p.m. after seeing a sms. Not much wind left by the time I got down to PA, but the currents were super strong. So, it wasn't surprising that I had a tough time making my way back to the shore on my shortboard.

Today was the best out the 3 days when I was at East Coast Park. We reached PA at 10 plus a.m. and started sailing at 11 plus. We were going to sail from PA all the way to Lagoon Food Centre that's near Bedok Jetty; it was my first time sailing such a long distance so naturally, I was a little apprehensive. Started off with relatively light wind blowing, and we were heading upwind. All was fine until we drew closer to Bedok Jetty; the wind picked up and it was so gusty my knees were shaking (strong winds scare me most of the time), and it was much harder to uphaul my sail when it dropped into the water. The wind speed peaked at around 15 knots. We landed two bays away from the food-centre but Chubby brought us over on the powerboat. Lunched and we had a short theory assessment after. The journey back was relaxing because we only had to sail downwind the whole time; took it slow and really enjoyed the surf. Arrived at PA again sometime close to 1 or 2 p.m. and it was time for windsurf training to start proper! Did a bit of guiding today; to the juniors who came down for training.

The guiding went on for awhile until Gerald took over so I could practise my beach-starts. I'm not as quick a learner as most other windsurfers, but I think I'm finally getting it, more than I used to! Lili showed me my problem when I do my beach-starts, I always end up kneeling on the board and Mingle and Chubby gave me tips on how to open up the sail, etc etc.

Did a few gybes within the bay and I thought that I was doing okay, until someone came up to me and volunteered to demonstrate how to perform effective and correct gybes. He flipped the sail from side to side so effortlessly like it was a piece of paper la. Gave me tips on how to shift my feet around the board when I want to do a gybe, things that I've never really gave much thought about before. I learnt so many things about gybing today! Anyway, I later learnt that he was an ex-national windsurfer during supper.

The juniors are making good progress; they're much faster learners than I was when I just picked up the sport. Kay Yong is able to move about quite comfortably now and even though Uyanga seems to be falling a lot, she's got the main ideas in her head; all she needs is to work a little more on the balancing.

I am really happy today. I think that's all because I've come to better understand the Kona board. Whee.

Crazy room-mates play with... Colour Swap!

One fine evening, Roti learned about the Colour Swap function of my G10.

We transformed our boring-looking (but comfy!) room into this bimbotic-looking one:

pink door and noticeboard leh, so pretty

And from inanimate objects, we decided to change our targets to Us. First, I turned into Barney (the ugly purple dinosaur), and she turned into Princess Fiona from Shrek. Next, I turned into some chao-tah weirdo and she looked like she had too much antibiotics. Finally, I looked like the creepy little fellow from Ju-On, sans the kohl eyes.

camwhore much?

this picture looks extremely scary to me. look at how big her eyes are!

trying to make my eyes look big too. Fail.

We were laughing out so much in between shots that I think that our neighbours were probably super annoyed with us for making so much noise. But until we get an official complaint, I guess we are still going to make that much noise every night. I love my crazy roomie!

okay time to get back to work!

And another one turns 21.

We celebrated Shir's pre-21 with a dinner at some ulu (but yummay) seafood place along Thomson Road and some ice-cream for dessert at Siao's place after. I hope the birthday girl is going to have an awesome day tomorrow, and awesome year ahead. Quite amazing how it seems like it was only yesterday when I first transferred to Cedar Primary and met them all. Time flies, and you never realize that until you look back.

Anyhow, I just got back from windsurfing and a Xing Wang dinner. Reached supar late in the afternoon when everyone was out planing because I slept till 2 p.m. Strong currents and light wind by the time I completed rigging up my equipment and it was quite a pain in the ass to make my way back into the bay against the current.

Feels like I have a thousand and one things to rush for (okay I'm exaggerating, there's only two group assignments) and I feel as though I'm behind time because all my group members are so punctual in our self-set 'deadlines'. It's early and I'm going to start doing my work now, hope I won't end up sending in my parts too late!

ps. Exams're going to be over in exactly a month's time. I should be packing my bag at this time if nothing goes wrong. Hang in there, everyone!

I think I'll share this little tip with my kids in future if they are ever going to tell me that someone's been taking away their lunch, or if some annoying colleagues keep helping themselves to my sandwiches in the staff pantry's fridge.

Things you'll need:

1. A ziplock bag,

2. Dark-coloured spray paint (very important that it is dark coloured, you'll see why),

3. Your lunch.

What you'll need to do:

1. Use the dark-coloured spray paint to paint patches on the outside of your ziplock bag.

2. Open up your ziplock bag.

3. Put your lunch into the ziplock bag.

4. Seal up your ziplock bag.

5. Give the thief a 'surprise'!

the end product

No one will be stealing your lunches for awhile now.

got the pictures from here.

Kaleidoscopic

Visited Grandma at TTS with Mumsy last evening. She's been in there for about a week or so and it was my second time visiting. We brought her some macaroni and papaya for dinner, her eyedrops, and chatted a little with her until it was time to leave. There were a few moments of awkward silence while we were not doing anything and it was then I realized I haven't been talking much to Grandma all my life (that totally explains my cannot-make-it Cantonese). I felt so helpless when she couldn't understand what I tried to tell her, but I could understand what she was saying. There's a term for this that we learnt in Sociolinguistics this semester, can't remember what it is right now!

Doctor says they should be able to discharge her in 2-3 more days, I think Grandma's looking forward to that. She looks really grumpy staying in the hospital now, and I imagine every other old person in the hospital to be feeling really grumpy too. Cannot help but take my hat off to all the medical staff working in hospitals, they have to deal with sick and grumpy people all the time, and deal with rejection from the elderly patients. I'll never be able to do that, I think.

Headed down to Bugis to meet Geraldine and Jol for dinner, and while we were waiting for the two of them to reach the place, Mumsy got this for me:

So colourful right!

actually the box of the new perfume from Bodyshop

Got ourselves some clothes from LittleMatchGirl too; there was a store-wide $19.90 sale going on and I thought there were some really practicum-appropriate clothes around. The girls arrived and we settled down at some Xiao Long Bao restaurant for dinner. Had some yummay noodles and Xiao Long Baos before sending Mums back home and us back to hall.

Feeling really thankful that life is awesome right now.

ps. Roti and Pretty Bun are flying over to Bali to meet me on the 1st of December. Roti settled their air-tickets within 1 hour after I started joking to her about it; both of them were so spontaneous about it and the three of us were having so much fun shrieking like hyenas over the phone. I have the coolest bunch of friends! (now this is from me! haha)

pps. They came up with a new name for me. Dough-dough. So the 3 of us are now Jiaklodi, Pretty Bun and Dough-Dough. Ha!

ppps. I forgot if it was Mums or Roti who said that the two of us are Ai Jiak Lo Di. Hurr.

Naughty present...

Jiaklodi showed me this early morning.

wuh... strawberry-flavoured c... whazzat?! Was it what I thought it was?

I rubbed my eyes and took a closer look a second time.

wah... sexy lips.

12 of them altogether... we'll take a long time to finish using them.

Mm.. it looks and smells good enough to eat

Looks like the real thing right! I was tricked too when Jiaklodi first flashed it in front of my face. Haha.

Sometimes, the things that make you happy in life can make you sad too.

So, I'll just have to tell myself that it'll go away after I'm done with being sad with it. It'll pass, once the semester's over. Someone new will step in to be the replacement, and I won't have to be so bothered by it anymore. It'll pass, once the semester's over.

Cappucino

the guys had fun looking at the mamboing crew, I think.

Two days ago, I had the best dream I've had in weeks. I grinned to myself when I woke up, again. I laughed out really loud when I told Geraldine about it, and I laughed out really loud again when I told Shir and Siaos about it. Everyone laughed out really loud back at me. It left me on a 2-day high, but now that all the laughter is over, it's time for me to come back to earth and face reality. Why does it all have to start and re-start with dreams? It's the 4th time now; do you guys even dream about me that often? Once I've decided to let go of just about everything, it all comes back to haunt me again in the form of dreams. I talk so much about letting go, but I know I'm just unwilling to. I never heeded any one of the advice that you people have been dishing out; I never distanced myself or avoided the person like I really ought to have done so. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to that on my own, but I know I won't have much of a choice in time to come; there is no other way out other than to be prepared for it. I'm not doing anything about it because I feel super tiny and lousy about myself, I don't think I'm ready for any action to be taken and neither is anyone else. 

ps. I dreamt that I was all scuba-geared up and waiting in line to take the plunge into the water. When it was finally my turn to take the giant stride, I woke up. Damn sian can, at least the last time I saw mantas and saw sawsharks (yes, sawsharks, not a typing error).

I know I'm supposed to be in an emo-fit right now, but Doug sent me this earlier on and I thought it was too funny to not be shared. This was how my eyes looked a year ago when I had hives at his place; he called it the fishball eyes and both him and his mum agreed that I looked like a frog. I couldn't stop laughing after I saw the pictures he sent me from his mobile phone hahah! Thanks Doug, I feel a lot better already!

when my hair was still long.

Am I finally sleeping early tonight?

All along, I've thought that I was someone who couldn't be very much bothered about what other people think about me. And I think that is how people see me too (please verify). But with all the crazy events that's happened as time went by; without referring to any particular incident, I realized that I actually care about how strangers, or mere acquaintances look at me, even though it is not enough to bother me to irritation or annoyance. I also realized that it is nearly impossible to not be affected by what they say, or the types of disapproving looks they cast upon you when you do something that they don't entirely agree with you on.

So, what you can do to continue enjoying what you are doing, is to ignore them la. They are entitled to their views, and so are you. They can continue to bitch about what you're doing, and you can also continue with whatever that is pissing them off. Hate comments? Ignore. Gossip behind your back? Ignore.

Sounds like the simplest thing to do ever; I wonder what took me so long to realize this.

ps. and yes, it's only 1.44 a.m. right now. I am sleeping early tonight.

The one place I wouldn't mind going over (and over and over and over...) again.

Some days, I wish I can travel back in time; back to some of the best days of my life. If only life is a video-recorder; we can record some of the best moments that we have, and at a later point in time, all we have to do is just press the rewind button and then press play to playback. Sure, there's all that photographic evidence... but photographs are really in a different category by themselves, they don't exactly allow you to relive the moments in transition; you have to piece them together piece-by-piece.

And in spite of what I've just ranted on about, I'm still thankful beyond words that I have these pictures with me.

It wasn't just about the island; it was the island, the yacht, the experiences, and the people combined all in one.

Those were the best days of my life.

SoFabric.

Sometimes, I think I have the most talented friends in little Singapore who come up with the most brilliant ideas. SoFabric is the brainchild of Tracy and Jiamin; and I think it is one of the most unique blogshops around. You can find bags... pencil cases... purses... pouches... and laptop sleeves on SoFabric, and what makes it so unique: they're all hand-sewn (one-of-a-kind), and you actually get to customize your items. Okay, you don't do it, they'll do it for you!

Some of the designs you'll come across:

how about a laptop sleeve that has the perfect fit?

or a one-in-a-kind tote?

I like this a lot!

or how bout something smaller, like a really colourful pencil case?

or something sweet and simple like this one?

they even have book covers; looking pretty.

Since you get to customize your items, I guess the part about choosing what sort of fabric, or materials to be used can get a little confusing sometimes. But you don't have to worry much about that, the Fabric Options page is really helpful and fun; you get to see what are the fabric samples available for your items, and the page's so colourful it makes me happy just looking at the fabric samples! Here are some samples that I think are really pretty/cute:

I think their idea of offering 'options' to their customers is pretty damned cool. How often do you come across blogshops that allow you customization that's affordable? Or cheap customization that's specially catered to what you need; down to the inches or centimetres? And that, that is enough reason for you guys and girls to be show some support.

What I've just shown here are just some of the existing designs. Being new, you can be sure that they're constantly coming up with new designs (at the 4th collection currently), so you should really bookmark their page to check for new updates more easily. I'm really glad they're doing something that they like; and hats off to them for being able to juggle so many things at a time; tuition... schoolwork.. and this additional sideline source of income. Really hope you girls will make it big!

SOFABRIC.LIVEJOURNAL.COM visit them today!

ps. some of the pictures that I've posted up are from the previous collections and may be all sold out, be sure to check the availability of your items before placing your ideas with them okay people!

pps. this is my first time doing an advert for a friend, I hope I got all the details in!

Dad is cool, but he was way cooler once upon a time.

does the grass look greener on the other side to you? it sure looks greener for me

Today, I learnt from Yifeng that Dad had the thought of moving out of Singapore some 20-30 years ago. Mum told him about it some days back; and he told me today when I said I wanted to move out of Singapore when my bond ends in 6+ years' time. I was surprised when Yifeng told me that; Dad's like the first person who comes to mind when I think about people who do not like to get out of their comfort zones. I guess he probably had that thought when he first started his sailing days, when his mind was still fresh from apprenticeship and the sights and sounds of the world were strange and foreign to him. Now that he's almost seen it all (that's what he believes, I think), I suppose all he wants is to stay within his comfort zone; his cozy little corner in the balcony, smoking his ciggie and reading the papers everyday. I'm glad his happy where he is right now, but I wish that he'd never given up on that thought of moving away.

Anyhow, now that I know Dad had the thought of moving out of Singapore once upon a time, I'm hoping that it won't be too difficult for me to convince him to let me do so in the future. Ho ho.

Packaging can only do so much

I've always been envious of people who write well; people who are really good in expressing themselves through language. I have a million and one great ideas running through my mind all the time, but when I try to translate all these ideas into words, they sort of like dissipate into thin air. I have no one but myself to blame for this; after I am finally done with thinking about how I want to 'package' my ideas, most of the ideas are lost in translation.

Having done so much blog-hopping, I am always impressed with people who write making the simplest lexical choices and yet, are still able to create poignant entries that leave you thinking for some time. No bombastic terms, no pretense, no words with empty meanings; but they still leave me impressed all the same.

ice cream and funny faces.

Tonight, it was the first time I had dinner with Geraldine after she moved in and officially became my new roomie; along with her good friend Jolene and (a very hungry) Gerald. After I got lost for the Nth time trying to find my way around, it was decided that I should give the condemned GPS a second chance. I think it's working fine now, but I really hope it'll be a lot less laggy when I'm going to use it again.

where's my noodles...

We headed down to a coffeeshop that was really near Millennia Institute for some kickass fried hokkien prawn noodles. Two thumbs up for the recommendation; noodles combined with the chilli sauce that came with it was slurping good!

After dinner, we had ice cream at Westmall. First time I'm not having Udders at Novena, and the Mao wasn't as good as I'd remembered it to be. Is it because it's a different outlet or is it because it's not the season for the Mountain Cat?

brr.

snickers honeycomb and Mao on the left, tiramisu and rum on the right.

Halfway through, we decided to make cock-eyed faces.

I need a finger to help me with it; can't do it on my own la. And after all that cock-eyed madness, we started making funny wave motions with our hands. That immediately reminded me of Siao, who's already perfected that obscure art with her guitar magic fingers.

looking normal, finally.

We exchanged fart stories and made quite a din, and Geraldine didn't manage to find Mimi after visiting the Value Dollar shop. Sang songs out loud as we made our ways back to NTU, and I spent the longest time online doing absolutely nothing ever since I got back to our room.

I just realized I should've been studying. Damned.