[Last Nite was a Daze]

i might have overdosed myself last nite. fell asleep almost immediately after taking my meds. went to see another doc n he said i've got bronchitis. wtf. i wanna get better soon. breathe again. i was talking to myself in my sleep last night. half awake half asleep..i remember pointing to my cup and saying out loud "i think there's no more water in it". feeling slightly better now..at least i haven't used up a whole box of tissues yet.

tv sucks. nothin good is on. i've resorted to watching nickelodeon. not bad tho, they had some awards going on, there was alyssa milano, simon cowell and halle berry (who knocked into the mike..lolz). it's lunch time n i'm hungry. but there's nothing to eat. mum's away, sakura's not at home and i don't wanna cook cos i wanna be sick n resting. bro kept calling at ard 5.30 this morning but i wasn't bothered to pick up the phone. dad rushed to bring him to see a doc this morn. wonder what he's up to. dad never rushes to bring me to the doc - he just nags me for not taking my puff. the forgotten middle child as my trainer put it. sobs.

shall occupy myself with some games now. in case i forget, happy new year.

[Eve of New Year's Eve]

haven't blogged for some time. been busy getting sick n staying sick. first i got a really bad attack in bkk, then i was over-enthusiastic abt starting my training regime so i went to the gym even tho i was feeling crap. it was fun..my trainer's a boyish cute guy who's too short for me lol.

there's been a lot of hype abt x'mas n new yr. met up with a german guy who thinks that singaporeans dunno how to celebrate the true meaning of x'mas. it seems that orchard rd is more of a crazy bazaar area than anything. it was nice getting a different perspective of what x'mas is abt. well as for me, i spent the x'mas hols at home. had food poisoning the day before - was so busy puking that i had no energy to go home so i spent the nite at flo's place. was mighty embarrassed cos i was feeling so woozy that i was behaving like a 5 yr old...or perhaps like a drunk. i kept her awake half the nite cos of my coughing. thanks sweetie for looking after me. *muak* cldn't bring sakura ice skating on sun (which was one of her worries when i told her i was sick..bleah..). flo came over on mon to cheer me up..i was bored like crap all alone at home. in the evening saki, flo n me went to the chevrons in jurong for bowling. was pretty fun except that my slipper (or rather sakura's :P) broke when i slipped on the way home. i guess that's what u get for $4 thai slippers.

[PrincessSaf on Ice]

ain't a very graceful sight. but i enjoyed myself anyway. sakura n i stood outside the skating rink at JEC for like half an hour - being both amazed at the prodigies and laughing at the not so graceful skaters (tsk tsk..ok that didn't sound so nice...). i was prompting sakura to get into the rink instead of just watching. but i was as nervous abt entering cos i haven't skated in ages. not that i used to skate a lot...just once in jc. i couldn't even walk on the ground with my skates, much less stand on the ice. so the first few rounds were spent gripping onto the handrails for life. both of us were like "no we don't wanna fall". and since they cordoned of one area for skating lessons, and since we were too scared to skate away from the handrails, we kept u-turning back and forth. sakura was pretty good...i had to beg her for a break halfway. i didn't tie my skates properly so my feet were aching. second round was pretty good. finally time was passing faster..and we even ventured out (further) away from the handrails. and on our last round, we even skated across the rink without any handrails at all. we had a break while they redid the ice. they asked those with hockey-skates to skate around for a few rounds before they did the maintenance. anybody knows why only the hockey skaters were asked to skate for awhile??

there was a 20 min break. good rest for my feet. the skates are really uncomfy. we were pretty tired by then...and the ice was so slippery (i prefered it before they redid the ice!) so we just went a couple of rounds. i managed to slip once..luckily i wasn't too far from the handrails...and the other beginners were nice enough to pull me in before something disastrous happened. our 2 hrs were up so we went off soon after that. what a rip-off..they shouldn't include icing time in the 2 hr rate.

it was a pretty fun outing. and tiring. sakura's sleeping early for the first time in 2 wks. thank god...or else i'll be having trouble sleeping with the lights on till she's finally done at 2.30am! we're gonna go skating again next weekend. anyone wanna join us?

[Speak up Girl, Speak up]

I have so many things to say, but only half the things come out. I think I think in my head too much. And I realise it more when I'm with Sakura, cos we'll be thinking the exact same thing (which sometimes freaks us out) but she'll be the one who vocalises it. Any suggestions on how I can talk more? Even when I'm thinking of what to blog, by the time I come home, I'll be like..nah I don't think they wanna hear it. Hmm...I need a pet cat. Then maybe I can talk to her. I was meeting my prof on Wed. And I had all my answers prepared. But when he asked me something...all that came out was "I don't know". wtf. Speak up girl, speak up. I'm trying.

Anyway, Sakura just got her JC posting. She'll be going to TJC. I'm happy for her; she didn't think she'd get into a good JC (NJ out of the qs cos she thinks it's for nerds..grrr). TJ's like damn far. But I guess it'll give my dad more reason to move to the east. And I'm gonna really hate that since I'll still be in NUS. 1.5 hrs of travelling, morning and evening. Come to think of it, it'll be quite a dumb move, cos she'll be in JC for only 2 yrs, and then it's 4 yrs in NUS. Oh well. If we do move, I'll be tempted to rent an apt in the west. My sis will hate me for it tho. But well... A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

I've just been promoted to a full-time staff. Which is really great. The processing is gonna take long (not too long I hope..or else I can't go to Sweden for free haha). The biggest thing I'm gonna miss is waking up at 8 and going to work at 10. And no more loafing around and "working" from home...like I am now. Tsk tsk..dun tell anyone. ;)

[I Need a Thai Massage!]

Ok that about sums up my Bangkok trip. Haha. The massage was really great...first one was good but the second one was even better. Gotta go back to get another. Yeah. The end.

Well if you want a more comprehensive review of our trip...tune in to Sakura's blog. Enjoy! :) Oh yeah, the pics from the trip are here

Hey Dr G! /

Met up with one of the profs in my dept today. My first impression of him last wk was like..hey he's so cheerful. And he certainly is. We went for fieldwork today at Temasek Country Club. No, not to play golf. To do medical checkups for workers from SG Pest Assoc, and collect some blood samples at the same time. I noticed from start to end that the smile on Dr G's face was always there. He greeted the workers with a big grin, taking time to note their names and asking them how they were feeling (sincerely, that is). Then even tho his job was just to check BP and height n weight, he bothered to look thru' the questionnaire I administered to see if everything was in order and whether there was anything he should look into during the exam. I was totally impressed by the way he handled it. Even as he brought the workers to the weighing scale, he was like, "If you don't mind, pls take off ur shoes...yes that's it..." and kept giving comments like "wow so u're a tall and thin guy." "good u're fit". What a refreshing change from docs n nurses who go "HEIGHT! WEIGHT!"

I was commenting to Viv on how there was always a big grin on his face whenever he walked pass us. Later on when we were hanging around she told him that (much to my embarrassment) but he replied with a wonderful phrase, "Hey, there's many things in life to be happy about!" (and he added that he's extra happy these days cos he's a new dad...awwww...) Gosh! If only more ppl thought like that (myself included). It's so true, we tend to think of negatives - I have to work OT today, my headache is killing me. But we don't stop to think - hey at least I have a good job, my headache will get better soon.

As if I wasn't impressed enough, towards the end of the day when we had nothing much to do, one of the interns asked him a medical qs (diff b'w nasal congestion and sinuses). Any other doctor would probably have given a one sentence reply..a few lines at the most. He paused to think for a minute, and sat with us for 15 mins explaining us the differences and misconceptions. Awesome! He even went on to ask us why we asked, whether we had it, what our doc was treating us with. Oh if only my GP were as nice as him. He was quite amazed that I worked with one of the developers of some asthma machine (one of my profs in KI)- apparently he can't wait to get his hands on one set himself (there's only one such machine in SG, in NUH). We were talking abt the theory behing the machine and he was in total agreement with me (or rather with tthe Swedish prof) and he sensed my interest till he almost offered me to join in their study. Haha. We'll see :P Unfortunately it was time to get back to lab. Hope I have a good chat with him again soon!

A point in time

There's a point in time
When things you held dear
Make no sense anymore

There's a point in time
When things go so wrong
They're not worth salvaging

There's a point in time
When you realise
That black and white exist together
So will good and bad

There's a point in time
When things go so wrong
And you realise it's just time to say goodbye.

But it still hurts

Another disappointing day at the clinic

No, they didn't make me wait 2 hours this time. In fact the queue was pretty short; I only had to wait 30 mins to see the doc. I was hoping this time they'd do something more effective for my back..cos I'd been waiting to see a specialist for over a month. Had a couple of x-rays done. I was so proud that I remembered to wear non-zipper pants so that I didn't need to take them off in the x-ray gown. But then the technician went like, "Ma'am, I think there's a metal piece somewhere so please take off your pants so that we can do another x-ray". Then I looked at the x-ray and realised that omg..it was a little buckle thingy on my panty (oops I guess u dun really need the details :P). So embarrassing haha. Anyway in the end, the doc said exactly what I was complaining to him about my previous orthopaedic...since my x-rays didn't show anything, he just asked me to go for physiotherapy, and he gave me some pills which I already have from my GP. Bleah! I hope they don't make me do those silly exercises like before, cos obviously they didn't work.

Maybe I'll just stick to acupuncture. Yep it does work. Was a bit skeptical at first but it was really effective; the numbness in my leg was gone after the first session. The side effects are minimal..like some ticklish feeling and err apparently some feel-good hormones (endorphins) are produced so u'll feel happy after the treatment. I think I scared Flo a bit after the first session cos I was unusually giggly (coupled with the fact that I was happy the pain was gone).

Ok Sakura is bugging me cos her O-levels are done and it's time for her to hog the computer (something I've been doing all this while haha). See ya.

Don't disconnect

I'm terrible on the phone. Some of my friends say I sound as if I can't wait to slam down the phone.

Damn.

I think I just cut my editor off the moment she said bye. Oops!

2 hours for 2 mins

Waited a freakin' 2 hours at the polyclinic today and after the long wait, the doc only saw me for 2 minutes!! Was so pissed that I wanted to leave but my number was abt to be called. I think they have a really unfair system where ppl with fixed consultations are given priority...so much so that there were so many ppl who came much later than me but saw the doc first. GRRR. That was one of the reasons I stopped seeing my doc at NUH. Maybe I should stick to self-medicating. The only queue would be at the pharmacy cashier.

There goes the tarts

Hari Raya came n went. So have the pineapple tarts. Staying home is bad. I make a trip to the kitchen every few minutes to see what I can nibble on...and as of a few minutes ago, I finished the last tart. Not that I was the sole contributor to its disappearance...the layers were going fast. I need more tarts. Anywhere that sells post-Hari Raya tarts?

The Power of Words

One of my favourite poems from primary school..suddenly had the urge to post it.

A careless word may kindle strife
A cruel word may wreck a life

A bitter word may hate instill
A brutal word may smite and kill

A joyous word may lessen stress
A loving word may heal and bless.

--Author unknown--

Break-ing

Finally got some time to rest. Past week was crazy. Out every night; even on Fri had my dept's D&D to attend. It was pretty good except that the high pitch, 70's sort of Chinese karaoke made my head almost split. And I was pretty disappointed that my friends wore jeans n t-shirt... who wears that to a D&D..at a hotel at that?! Yeah we made up the "small-fry" table but even small fries, i feel, should dress up to the occasion. Realised that my prof is a really friendly guy...he kept coming to our table to see if we were enjoying ourselves. He even found out for me that there was a halal table. Wasn't really eager to go there...so half-way thru' the dinner I grabbed some food on my plate and sneaked back to join my friends.

Went to buy bus tix for Malacca on Sat. Weeeee I'm going to Malacca! Dunno why I'm so excited abt the trip...guess cos it's the first time I'm going with a friend...I smell my freedom closeby... more holidays with friends coming up I hope!

P.S. HPC gang...perhaps we should plan an "adventure" abroad!

My swollen ankles

Been such a busy week for socialising. On Monday, went out with a couple of friends to watch Saving Face. The storyline was pretty predictable..but sweet anyway. Tues wasn't really socialising...went for tuition at 6. By the time I bought dinner at Westmall and reached home, it was already 9.30 and I was exhausted. Plus I got 3 horrible blisters from wearing new canvas shoes without socks. Luckily I borrowed a pair of slippers from the prayer area the moment I reached school. Wouldn't have been able to survive the day if I hadn't.

Yesterday, the 4 of us went to The Ricetable at Suntec to celebrate Mel's belated b'day. I was 25 minutes late...first I missed the bus..then when I was finally at City Hall, I couldn't walk fast cos my feet were stinging and legs were aching. It was a long wait...between trying to make reservations and postponing twice we finally went there. It was a worthwhile wait tho, the food was pretty good..minus the ladies fingers and brinjal dish :P Poor Far..we were bullying her to finish up the extra dishes we ordered. She managed to swallow down one piece of sweet n sour fish so we rewarded her with an otak. Haha. After dinner, we went to a cafe at Liang Seah St to play games...and have dessert. The guy at the place was very friendly and helpful..he helped us choose a few games since we were beginners. It was cool chillin' out with the gang. We played for about 2 hrs then headed home.

Today I went down to Times after school to get the manuscript I have to edit. It was pretty sucky cos it was raining like crazy. Thank God my father drove me there (I almost wanted to borrow the car to go there myself). The rain was so heavy that we could hardly see ahead. And when a pick-up truck zoomed passed us, the water splashed against our windshield till we literally couldn't see anything for a few seconds. And to make things worse, I stepped into a puddle of rainwater cos the drain was overflooded (Mel, u gotta tell them to improve the drainage there haha). The meeting took longer than expected...so I was late in meeting Ruth and Felicia at Far East. Had to walk more...I think my left foot by reflex started putting weight on the side where there was no blister...and cos of that that side hurts like hell now. We walked around Isetan for a bit while waiting for Azi..who unfortunately didn't turn up. Good thing we decided to head to Anatolia for dinner first cos even at the end of dinner, Azi was still at her friend's place for raya. The cute Turkish waiter was there...serving the ice cream...but I didn't wanna get teased so I didn't get any :P We gave Felicia the pink jacket from Iora that she wanted. I bought a size too big so we headed to Wisma to get it exchanged. Ruth wasn't feeling up to it so we left pretty early.

Why the title? Well I was chatting with my cousin...my auntie's painful ankle has gotten worse..it's swollen now. And somehow I started to look at my ankles...and realised they are swollen too. Gosh. I can't even see my ankle bone now. Think I should stay off my feet for awhile. Or perhaps get more supportive shoes. Sakura says I should stop walking till my feet recover. I should get back to icing my ankles now...

Lame joke

My prof said this in stats class today:

Geneticists won't understand the meaning of relative risk of getting a disease because to them it'll mean the risks in relatives getting the disease. L.A.M.E.

Plastic surgery anyone?

I'm happy with my nose eyebrows smile face. Attended an interesting talk today during the Combined Scientific Meeting SG 2005. The topic was so popular that the room was full to the brim. There were pictures after pictures of before and after treatment..and some of the results were amazing. But after seeing the gruesome surgery pics, Lakshmi and I decided that if we ever thought of having a facelift, we should remind each other of the horrible process and bruising after the op. After the talks, I was happy that I did not have "oriental" features..and that I'm pretty satisfied with how I look so hopefully I'd never need surgery. But then again, we decided that a botox injection or two wouldn't do much harm if we needed it in future haha :P

I have to go now. Have a little crisis. Believe it or not Sakura juz "punched" my hair and now its caught in the puncher. I hope it's just the O-levels causing her temporary madness...

Phew, I survived STATA!

The test wasn't that awful today. The first qs was easy but the next one was tricky. We were getting desperate..somehow the data we typed in wasn't in the correct format..and my partner didn't use STATA, and me..well..I'm hopeless at it. In the end he took out his laptop and started calculating the values using the programme he was familiar with instead...desperate measures since we only had about 10 minutes left. What a life saver! He was done in like less than 5 minutes (while we were struggling for more than half an hour with STATA!). The presentation part went well too, I think. I could answer the questions...prof had a hard time digging out the right answers from us (according to XL he always thinks differently..so what we presentated wasn't exactly what he wanted). He kept giving us clues..till I guessed correctly and got a "very good". Haha. Lucky guess! I goofed up the next qs..but that wasn't really fair cos we haven't learnt logistic regression..but of course my partner cld answer (damn that know-it-all haha). Oh well, it's over.

After the test we went for lunch. Were deciding what to do tonight as a farewell dinner for the Swedish students, as well as to celebrate YK's b'day. Which reminds me..I should check my email for the details...

I went to Times Publishing House after that. Had an interview at about 1.30. Gonna be a copy-writer for them for their new Chemistry line of teaching resources which ahem..is supposed to be kept confidential. Bumped into Mel (who introduced the job to me) while I was waiting in the lobby. She was so blur (as usual?? haha) that she didn't notice me waving like an idiot..and her friend had to get her attention for me instead! My interviewer was pretty impressed.. apparently I spotted a few mistakes which people almost always miss out during the copy-writing "test" she gave me. The pay's pretty good too. If everything goes well I'll sign the contract on Monday. Have till end Nov to do the 120-page assignment..which should be fine since my modules are over for now. She asked my why I wanted to do this job and I felt like saying I guess I have my mum's "english teacher" blood in me. Haha.

Went to Fuji (almost typed FIJI!) after that to see if my digicam was ready for collection. I must say their customer service is pretty bad. They were supposed to call me 4 days after I sent it in to tell me the diagnosis. I waited for one wk and had to give them a call instead. They told me I had to wait another wk for the spare part to arrive. And as expected it was more than a wk n they didn't call. I called them again today and the technician cldn't be reached. The person on the line said she'd get him to call me back..and the best part is she didn't even note down my number till I asked her whether she wanted it. Guess I shouldn't complain since they're replacing the CCD for me for free :P


P.S. Is anyone reading my blog? The only comments I seem to get are from spammers..sobs...

Selamat Hari Raya

Hari Raya this year was good. Not much annoyances, and things went smoothly. The briyani was as delicious as ever..yum yum. Auntie came over the night before to help us cook, since we don't have a maid anymore..so mum needed some moral support. It was a big day for auntie...the first time she ever cooked for Hari Raya (she's gonna strangle me for divulging such information :P). Her ayam masak merah ("chicken cooked red") was really yummy. Maybe we should re-invite the "visiting chef" again next year. They went home abt 11am the next day so that they could come back as "guests".

Uncle's family came abt 3 unannounced. We were like in a daze cos Sakura, me n mum were having a nap...exhausted from all the cooking and cleaning. They didn't stay very long cos they started off late and had a few more houses to visit. I'm so thankful that I don't have to do the visiting since mum is the eldest. At least I could stay home to do some revision (yeah poor me haha). Auntie came at around 4 plus..this time as "guests"..in their "proper" attire. Uncle Dolah was like totally exhausted cos the stall opened really late on Hari Raya eve (he stayed there till 6am I think). In the end, he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer so he went to take a nap.

We watched a really silly tamil movie about a person with split personalities - a "sissy", a "hero" who goes around believing he has the right to take the law into his own hands by punishing criminals himself, and a "romeo" who was a manifestation of his suppressed love for the heroine. I think we had more of a good time laughing during the movie than watching it. We came to my room, sat around and chatted till about 8 plus. After auntie left I could finally concentrate on studying but by then I was too tired. Took a short nap...but got bored awhile later..so I didn't do much. Luckily I had such sweet friends who helped me..XL lent me her notes and even went down to make a copy for me. GH took the trouble of explaining to me about multiple linear regression during lab session (cos I was too tired spring cleaning that I couldn't make it to school on wed morn) and YK printed for me her summary sheet and even emailed me her compiled notes on STATA (the stats software we're using). Thanks gals..really appreciate it!!

It's hard to throw out trash

Finally did some spring cleaning of my room today. Got rid of the cobwebs and piles of dust. And I can finally see my tabletop now. Stumbled upon some really ancient things...like a used phonecard, the old children's MRT card, my notebook from 1995...wonder why I keep these stuff sometimes.

used old phonecard: i was supposed to sell them off one day (collector's items) and make big bucks

MRT card: souvenir?

notebook: hmm..somehow i keep thinking i might need the notes that i jotted down..or perhaps someone's phone number..tho i think it's really unlikely.

well i hope i can do a more thorough job soon, after sakura's o-levels hopefully..cos the two piles (which are mostly her stuff) on my desk are beginning to annoy me. maybe then i can find even more treasure...which i have to learn to throw away. oh well, now that the room is tidy, we can celebrate hari raya haha.

Starving Artist

Got this from a friend's blog:

The Personality Defect Test

You are 28% Rational, 14% Extroverted, 42% Brutal, and 57% Arrogant.

You are the Starving Artist! You are more intuitive than logical, and are primarily guided by your heart and emotions. You are also very introverted and gentle. Of course, this does not mean that you do not have an ego. In fact, you are surprisingly arrogant for someone so emotional and gentle. This is why you are best described as a starving artist. You are very introspective and quite sure of yourself, as any accomplished artist is, yet your views are impractical, guided by feelings, and overly gentle. You probably find math, logic, and similar intellectual pursuits offensive to your artistic sensibilities, and you prefer the open-endedness of artistry because then you know you can never truly have a wrong answer. So really you have no reason to be arrogant, you big doofus, because the skills you value (emotion, spirit, art, etc.) in yourself are valuable only on a subjective level, meaning your arrogance is purely masturbatory. In short, your personality is defective because you are arrogant, introverted, introspective, gentle, and thoroughly irrational...posessing most of the traits needed to be a starving--and useless--artist. So get out there, write a few short stories that are allegories for the spirit, and starve!

To put it less negatively:

1. You are more INTUITIVE than rational.

2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted.

3. You are more GENTLE than brutal.

4. You are more ARROGANT than humble.

Lessons of the day

1. We have a prof who's obsessed about apoptosis.

We had a presentation today...topics were interesting..ranging from "A cup of tea a day keeps cancer away" to "Cytokines and GI cancer: A Double-Edged Sword". And all this fellow could keep asking was.."How is this molecule related to the apoptotic pathway?" For the benefit of those who don't know..apoptosis is how cells commit suicide. What pissed us off was that even in Advanced Cell Bio (a yr 4 module), the prof kept stressing that we didn't have to know the pathways cos they can always be looked up. And here comes this guy who asked nothing other than what the pathway consists of. Grr. I was panicking at 1.45 cos I just realised I didn't bring my hardcopy of the presentation, where I wrote down a lot of stuff to say. So I just read off the slides and crapped about whatever I could remember. Oh well, I think it was pretty ok except for the stupid apoptosis qs. Went home feeling more liberated..now just one more test to worry about.

2. Apoptosis is overrated.

Sooner or later everyone's gonna blame everything on apoptosis.

3. They speak Swahili in Tanzania.

4. It's nice to feel loved. =)

I seem to hunt out the gays

First it was Stephen Gately from Boyzone. And just a few weeks ago, Sakura told me Mark Feehily from Westlife, whom I used to go ga-ga over, came out too. Ahem..interesting...

Auntie came..

A pretty rare occasion these days..heh. It was pretty fun, tho I was supposed to be doing my presentation instead of playing host. We had tandoori chicken, chicken curry, prata and banana pengat. Yum yum. After breaking fast, we were pretty bored cos there was nothing good on tv. My auntie resorted to waxing my legs for me and Jamila wanted to sing karaoke. Hope they come again some time soon :)

Feels good to be wanted

Met up with my auntie n cousin yesterday at Kaslynet's Singapore branch opening. She was angry that I haven't been calling her as much as I used to (which wasn't very often to start with heh..). I didn't have any excuses...it used to be "I don't like calling" but that didn't apply cos she's my fave aunt. Then I said I didn't like calling cos she's on shift work so I never know when's the right time (hate calling ppl at the wrong hour). Then she let my cousin use her hp for some time so I couldn't get her "directly" (forgot that land lines still exist) and now..busy with my modules. What a terrible niece I am. Inviting her over for buka today. Hope the curry I'm gonna make will be good enough for guests heh.

Mum did pretty well at the launching yesterday. She was the MC of the show. Flo almost won the lucky draw...some inattentive guy suddenly realised his number was called so since 43 was the replacement number, he got it instead. Boo. (I'm competitive, if u don't already know that..) Then number 42 was called out. Woohoo! But till now no one knows what I won (I wasn't paying attention anymore cos I was still bitter that guy got our sunglasses lol). According to auntie it's something worth $75. I hope it's a massage voucher..yummy. Anyway shall just wait for the voucher to be delivered...

We went off around 10 o'clock. The taxi queue was long and few taxis were coming in. The horrible smell (of urine??) at the place (Golden Mile) was awful. Hope Bangkok doesn't smell that way haha. We went to Al-Amin in Woodlands for supper. There was pretty good food there. We had tandoori chicken, roti john, mutton chop...and I was broke by the time the bill came. Suppers are fun..we should do it again some time soon :)

Clear is Mud

Does this happen to everyone or only me? When I'm bored at the bus stop or simply talking to myself (u do that too, don't u?), I have loads which I wanna say on my blog. But when I'm actually here, in front of my comp, like right now, I'm like "Hmm what shall I say?"

.
.
.

Ok let's pretend I've written a whole lot of stuff. Wanna sign off by saying this to my "daughter": Thanks for listening n not judging :)

Do u believe in fairies?

I do! I do! At least for yesterday heh. Sakura and I went to watch Peter Pan at the Esplanade yesterday. We went to break fast first at ljs. We were giving ourselves a time limit...eat till 7.30 so that we can reach esplanade by 7.45. In the end, we were done by 7.15 so we took a stroll to esplanade. The place was nicely decorated as always..but unfortunately our digicam is spoilt so we had to stick with our phone cams..and really tiny pics. It was the premiere show and the theatre was full. We were surprised to see so many ang-mohs there...and boy were they dressed up for the occasion. We went to the bar outside the theatre...but decided we were still full to get anything to eat. Plus we had to save our tummies for dessert later.

The show was simply awesome. It's been a longggg time since I've watched a musical (caught les miserables in london last yr). It was definitely worth every dollar...even tho Sakura kept wow-ing at the fact that i bought pretty good seats (Nth row). As always, I always become infatuated with the main character - Peter Pan (a.k.a. Michael Lin). He's simply soooo talented - acting, singing, dancing, doing acrobatic stunts...flying!!! Haha. I'm just so amazed at how a bunch of kids...hardly even 10 can perform so professionally. The lead singer was also very impressive. During the intermission we went back to the bar...had no choice but to buy a tiny bottle of apple juice which cost $4!! Oh well, living the high life. Haha. Sakura and I were tempted to enter the "private reception" some company was having...we were even ready to make up stories as to how we were part of the "marketing" department. Lol. The rest of the show was as brilliant. During the finale, Peter Pan even flew over the audience (the front part at least). I was busy looking out for his rope till I realised I should just enjoy the sight. Heh. They performed one more dance (the main theme) at the end of it all. It was extraordinary. Most of us even gave them a standing ovation till the curtains came down (ok the lights went off actually..but well..u get the drift..). It was such a feel good show, we felt like we needed another dose of it.

After the show ended, we headed straight to the booth to buy some memorabilia. We bought the programme and the soundtrack. Was broke by then but what the heck. Heh. We headed to Max Brenner later on. I realised that I promised to bring Sakura there like last Oct or something...and well..it's already a year now. Haha. But better late than never I guess :P We had chocolate fondue and milk choc suckao. Sakura was pretty excited about the whole thing and we took turns melting the choc bits for the suckao. We left the place at about 11.45pm...called for a cab since the queue was so long. It was a fun outing (understatement). And I'm glad I've found myself a kaki to go to musicals with =)

Perplexity

Going thru' a tough time now. Someone close just found out that she's probably gonna go thru one of the toughest periods of her life. And my insecurities are plaguing me like hell. I'm beginning to wonder whether I'm a tough person to be with.. Do I ask for too much? Am i demanding? I hate my insecurities. I don't want to blame my past for it, nor the ppl ard me; but I dunno what to do.

I want ppl to know the real me. Who I am. What I do. Does everyone have a wall around them? Am I a coward to hide behind this wall?

I hang on to ppl too much. And yet I wanna live life as a hermit. What a contradiction. Sigh...

[end of module one]

It's the shortest module I ever had..lasted for 5 days! We had an end of module assignment today where we had to write a 2000-word essay in 6 hours. It was quite an accomplishment cos I usually take one whole week to write that much. The deadline was like at 5pm but most of us sent it around 5.05..without even editing our papers! I managed to write abt 1854 words...which now come to think of it..is probably quite out of point (can I blame it on the ambiguous qs? haha :P) ah but well..at least I submitted something. It was such a lazy day..I didn't sleep well last night, was sneezing throughout lectures this morning...could barely open my eyes in the comp lab but well..I made it. Heh. After school, I met flo at lucky plaza and I went to buy genes (gosh!) jeans. Then went to far east...I wanted to buy my "cow" shoes but too bad it was taken up. Was pretty tired so we went home after that.

Yesterday was pretty fun. We went to play pool at lucky plaza. After two previous failed attempts - one in Australia when upon seeing how pathetic me n Sakura were at hitting the balls, an 11 yr old Aussie girl offered to teach us how to play, and another when a 10 yr old beat me to it in Indonesia (mum's friend's kid I think...)...I guess I didn't do too badly. Ch n F were pretty good teachers (F was a bit fierce tho haha) so in no time I was even winning games (err well..does ONE game count? hehe). Hey so next time any of u gonna play pool..call me along!

Welcome to GAME

Yesterday was the start of the joint PhD programme. What a morning. At first I thought the classes were at Biopolis. I was already on the way there when I decided to check which room it would be in..that's when I found out it was supposed to be in COFM itself. So I stopped at Clementi MRT, crossed over..and discovered the taxi queue was too long. So I took a bus to AYE to change to 963. I was waiting n waiting n waiting. Unfortunately, since it was towards the expressway, all the taxis had passengers in them. I was about to call for a cab (not wanting to be late for my first day of lessons) just when the bus came.

Then came the second boo boo. I was walking across the field..wondering whether I should rush. I thought maybe I checked the schedule wrongly and classes were actually at 9.30 (wishful thinking). Instead of finding "good news", I discovered I was supposed to be there at 8.30!! Luckily it was only a buffet breakfast so well..I didn't miss much (free food...damn..haha). Oh well, I grabbed my folder and went into the seminar room..they hadn't started proper so yeah..I was "on time".

The class has a pretty interesting makeup. 10 students from KI, 7 from NUS plus 2 sit ins, me and another girl. The batch from KI is quite diverse...one Cameroonian, a Tanzanian, Lithuanian, Chinese, a few Swedish and even a Singaporean. Quite a number of profs from both unis sat in too..I guess for the first week only. First day of the programme and we were given 7 readings, and our first grp assignment! (which I'm supposed to be working on now hehe)

The lessons so far were pretty okay...intro stuff. Today a few of us had to intro ourselves and our projects. My turn will be on Thurs...hope I won't be bombarded with too many questions. Ok better get started on my work now...see ya.

P.S. Btw how do I look with my hair straightened? hehe :P

Happy Birthday, Sakura!

Not that she'll read this...maybe a month later..haha. It was a tiny celebration on Thur (not that it's usually huge) cos she was busy studying for her history prelims the next day. I got her a Sims 2 game n a Billabong wallet (on dad's behalf). She was actually surprised with the Sims 2...so i guess when she said she went to my blog to tag the board..she did JUST that...and maybe read the first two lines of my then latest post (I was worried she read my entry which said that I'd bought her the game). So when she finally gets down to reading my blog again..I guess her b'day wld've long passed. It really sucks having ur b'day during exam time. She said her gifts were at an all time low haha.

Today I went to Flo's mum's place. They were having a bbq to celebrate her sis-in-law's bday. It was a pretty impressive place...a high-end service apt in orchard rd. I felt like I was in a hotel room haha. The bbq was nice. Dieter's medium roast beef was good. They were so afraid I had nothing to eat that they brought up the beef stew her mum had cooked for lunch. In the end I was more than full. After more chatting n joking ard, we left ard 9.30. Had a good time..they're nice ppl to be ard with. Well here I am now, nursing my itchy insect bite haha. Sakura wants me to accompany her to watch "Mexican". "Spend some quality time" as she put it. I'll sign off here then. :)

Så som i himmelen

Caught the earliest movie ever..at 10.15am today. It was a Swedish movie "As It Is In Heaven". It was a pretty impressive movie - very touching and easy to relate to. Plus of course it brought back memories...the vast fields, the thick snow and the "doh-nial" instead of Daniel. Heh. It was a simple story line yet captivating. Ok, I suck at writing reviews..shall stop here.

Later on we went to Taka looking for something to buy for my sis. I'm the b'day secretary...so dad asked me to buy something from her with his never ending Taka vouchers (think he has a secret stash somewhere haha). But my sis is such a satisfied gal that she doesn't really want anything. Guess the best b'day present I can give her right now is to tell her that she doesn't have to sit for her prelims. Yeah like that would happen...

Yesterday flo n i went to the old turf club at bt timah. Call me crazy but I wanna buy a car. With the little downpayment and 10 yr loans..it doesn't sound too outrageous to own a car these days...of course small one lah. Hehe. The Honda FiT looked good...1.3cc..low fuel consumption. Shall keep my eye on such cars. For now I have to save up for Sweden. But hey, if anyone wants to give me a car for the time being I'm open to it :P After shopping for chat-moyen's mouse-pen thingy, we had a failed attempt looking for a billabong wallet so we headed home. Wanted to spend more time out but chat-moyen had to go home n i wanted to let flo study.

I finally fixed my mp3 player...it kept hanging whenever I transferred corrupted song files..which really sucks cos there's no way to check if a file's corrupted, especially when I can play it on media player! Anyway with some updating here n there, n playing with the reset button, I managed to ge tit working again. How ingenious. Haha. I never said humility was my strongest point. This together with the USB card which I successfully fixed in my cpu....makes me feel like maybe I should take up a computer course to improve my "skills". Yep..we'll see...

I just finished a session of yoga. Bought a CD at Sim Lim last wk. Precious accompanied me for awhile..but she had to get back to her books. She has Lit n Maths paper tmr. It's been awhile since I've stretched....hope I'll get back my flexibility again soon (actually, I don't think I was that flexible to begin with..but there's no harm in wishing :P). One of our prof's wife from physio will be starting yoga lessons next wk. Hope it's fun. I think I should start yoga seriously again soon...wanted to but after procrastinating for so long...the classes at clementi sports hall are all full. Bleah.

Oh well, that's all I guess. Hope I won't have trouble sleeping tonight cos I had a late nap. Tata.

Can we have some of ur blood please?

No I'm not turning into a vampire. We went for our field work on Tues n Thur to collect blood (and saliva) samples for our study. It was pretty exciting. The rest of the group kept asking me how I found the trip to the factory (sounded as if they were eager to find out the response from a 9 yr old kid going to the zoo for the first time). Everything went smoothly, except that I missed out a few consent forms (oops!). The workers were pretty friendly, and most had no problem donating that little extra bit of blood. The workers from China were more reluctant...was quite amazed that there were so many of them there...but after some persuasion they agreed. There were quite a number Indian workers from Malaysia too..and interestingly they kept insisting I had to speak to them in Malay for the questionnaire altho they had no problems speaking English when Vivian interviewed them. Yesterday's session was smoother than Tuesday's. The consent forms n questionnaires tallied (woohoo). One pakcik however was so unwilling to donate his blood. He was like, "Why do u ppl keep asking me for blood..didn't u do that last year? And how do I know that it's gonna be kept confidential? etc etc" I tried to calm him down by saying that's why he's signing the consent form etc and of course things will be confidential but he started erupting by saying even the S'pore govt is all out to cheat us. Lol. Like what's the connection? Even after he went to Viv's station he came back to me to complain (unfortunately I was the only one who could understand Malay). Well eventually we told him he can always just go ahead with his medical examination. Later on I found out that he was complaining at every station he went to haha. There was another Jap guy, a phd chemist...who asked a million and one questions and after half an hour of probing (the rest just took half a minute) decided not to donate his saliva or blood. Waste time onli :P Anyway this occupational med stuff is turning out to be pretty fun (I did think it was fun to begin with...)

When we returned to lab with the samples, YB taught me how to separate the blood components n stuff. It was simple but tedious cos we had ard 30 samples x 3 separations to do. The grossest part was when YB n I had to discard the urine samples cos the bottles we collected them in were not autoclavable. Imagine 30 ppl peeing into the same bowl. It STANK!! Will have to start on the assays next week. And I have to tabulate the questionnaire results too. Gosh sounds like a lot of work heh. Hope I can finish them soon so that I'm not bogged down when my GAME modules start. Cos altho I'm not an official student, Prof Chia said I should sit in and even do class assignments and CAs so that I can get credits for the modules later on. Looking forward to meeting the new Swedish students too.

Ok enough boring stuff abt work n studies. Shall end here for now. Gonna meet CY for lunch today. Tata. :)

Today sucked

6am in the morning. I get screamed at for not doing housework these past few days. I don't get what they want. I sweep the floor, wash the toilet, do the laundry. But of course..I made the biggest boo-boo..I didn't cook. As if I've been lounging around all day and waiting for someone to serve me my lunch. As if I haven't been going to work at 9am for the whole week. I really don't understand what is expected of me. Wonder how long I can take this.

Later on I went for tuition. Prince Arthur got locked out of the house so he ended up calling me every few minutes during tuition. In the end, I left 10 mins early, rushed home by cab..only to find that the gate had been opened. What the F***!

At least the comfort was that I had a fun time at az's house. She came back from London after a year with her hubby so it was time to catch up. Looking at her pics made me wanna go back to London again! We watched a couple of movies n indulged in some pizza :P

Later on, I was 10 mins late in meeting my fren n got questioned for my punctuality. We went to Rowell Rd cos my fren was attending a volunteer's session there. I didn't wanna feel like an extra so I went to Sim Lim Tower to look for a software. The whole place was so deserted...hardly any shops open so I went to Sim Lim Square instead. Bought some unnecessary things like ink cartridges (altho I already have stock) and a USB 2.0 card (hope I figure out how to fix it). What I really wanted was to find Sims 2 for my sis' b'day (oops hope she's not reading this before 15th sept!). Got a pretty good discount despite my lack of bargaining abilities. Was happy with the purchase (I'm punctual with her gift for once..haha). I went to Burlington Sq to kill time till 8.45 then went back to Rowell to meet my fren. That's when I got really pissed. Cos I msged her to ask her what time she'd finish. No reply. I wouldn't have minded but the place was filthy and what with all the transvestites ard and bloody foreign workers who couldn't keep their eyes to themselves. I had to wait till 9.30 before I finally got a reply...and even then my friend was not done yet. I was so pissed that when she msged me at 10 I didn't wanna wait for her anymore. It's one thing waiting for ur friend when u know what time she's coming out..but she didn't even have the decency to reply my msg to at least tell me she was gonna be delayed or whatever. I stormed to the MRT station. Went home without waiting for her. And here I am..still trying to calm myself down. Oh well, shit happens I guess. Arghh.

My modelling career

First it was the i.CARE costume parade. Today I went down to asia-images for a photo shoot. Surprise surprise. Haha. Well it was just some test shots...my itchy fingers replied to an ad in the classifieds wanting north indian models...sent in a pic or two, n received a reply to come down for the shots. I guess they were pretty desperate for models so they called me down. Haha. Was thinking twice about going at first cos i was wondering whether it was one of those "pay $400 and u'll get ur portfolio" scams. And the email sounded like they wanted an expert: "we would like to see how well u manage ur facial expression in front of the camera to express emotions". In the end, ery n flo urged me on. ery decided that she wanted to try too so when the photographer asked us who was going first, her nice friend *chuckles* volunteered her :P (in my defense, she said she had done this before so i thought she'd feel less nervous). It was a pretty fast session...after looking pretty..up, down, sideways for a couple of mins, the guy told us we'll be contacted for any assignments. Hope I get one. Not that I'm dying to be a model...it'd be a fun experience. *winks*

I'm a foamy as headily

I am a homely if as day.

O My! Mafia as headily.

Hey! I am a malady if so.

Ahoy! Safely I'm a maid.

Ahoy! I'm a deaf, slimy.

I'm a safe may holiday.

Oh My! I. I am a safe lady.

I am a holy fame daisy.

Oh! I'm easy Mafia lady.

Anyone can guess what I'm up to?

When I grow up, I'll buy my own and I won't give u!

According to my mum, that was what I used to say when I didn't get what I wanted. And she said I said the exact same thing to my dad this morning when I complained that he didn't buy breakfast for me (he only bought for himself n mum) so I went like "Fine, next time I'll buy my own breakfast!". Some things never change eh? ;)

With power comes responsibility

Today prof laid out the final plans for our project. We'll be collecting samples from factory workers in 2 weeks' time. He really needs a sense of humour. He was giving instructions (70 copies of the questionnaire) and he went like...are u sure u can remember all I've said..do u need to write it down or do u have an excellent photographic memory. Well in the first place, I think it should go under audio memory..and secondly..I think 70 copies is not a very complicated thing to remember. Then he said I'll be in-charge of the entire project from now on..from sample collection to storage to data entry and analysis. Sounds like a mouthful. According to him the PI's job is only to bring in the money. I don't mind doing all the work...but what worries me is that his grant hasn't come in...so I dunno when I'll be a full time RA. Since I'm only a JUINOR RA, I should be given half the workload. I didn't ask for the power, but now I got the responsibility. Anyway, I shall take things in stride - since I do wanna proof to him afterall that I'm capable of pursuing my PhD (since I'm not an official student yet). Hope things go smoothly.

Today's lab work was hilarious. The preparation part was easy...just pipetting stuff here n there..but when it came to measuring the reading on the spectophotometer, my graphs hardly tallied (which reminds me...I'm supposed to be doing the analysis now...). I did another run and it was SLIGHTLY better. Guess I better improve on my techniques...for this assay..practice makes perfect (I hope). My friend CW who also did honours was getting worried cos in his new lab he didn't have any wet lab stuff to do, mostly just analysing statistical data. He was pretty disturbed with the idea that he'd be losing touch with lab work. That set me thinking...gosh...did NUS train us so well that we life scientists are gonna feel strange without our micro-pippetes?? Hope not...

Saf 7 Delta

Scarlett Johansson (jordan 2 delta) is HOT! And as Louise added, she can run! I fell in love with her since watching Girl with a Pearl Earring last year. She's awesome! Fantastic body..ahem...and sexy lips. *drools* haha. I went to watch The Island after lab this afternoon. Alone. Wanted to call Far along but the movie is gonna stop screening soon so the shows were all during work hours. It was a damn cool movie. Kept me glued from start to end. Ewan McGregor (lincoln 6 echo) was cool too...he must've toned himself up for the movie. My fave line: Hey this tongue thing is pretty nice..why haven't we done this before (when they learnt abt kissing and..well..frenching).

Later on I did some retail therapy. Metro is dangerous. Everytime I step in there, especially at Causeway Pt, I always end up buying something! I got myself a light blue blouse (wanted to follow the palm-reader's advice to wear brighter colours...). Saw this reaaaalllyyyy cool blouse at Hejab Iran but unfortunately it cost like $139!!! Shall wait for my next tuition pay and I'm gonna get it for sure! Went in to JL after that; tried on a couple of pants which to my horror didn't fit despite being..well..err...big. Haha. Either my ass is getting ferociously huge or they have screwed up size labels (I'd like to think it's the latter..). Bought a pair of sandals which I don't really need...my excuse was that I don't have white ones. Well...my two major weaknesses: bags n sandals. :P All that shopping made me tired..I slept the whole journey home in 963 (so much for wanting to explore the bus route..). Ok it's time to show off my loot to sis. See ya!

Got my own table at last

After weeks of working from home, meeting prof only in his office, roaming ard n looking for ppl to grant me access to places, I was finally given some "status" in my new department. Last Fri I was finally given the temp staff card for accessing the computer lab. Today, prof showed me ard the lab n introduced me to the ppl i'd be working with. met the lab officer n his asst, PCR lady, and the rest of the team for his project. had to read thru a boring SOP and sign an undertaking that i'll agree to the lab rules...guess they became more strict since the SARS incident. I even have my own fridge space and err..a mug (tho i think i'll bring one from home...). YB showed me my workspace n i was given the key to my locker. Oh and 100 pieces of free photocopying...haha. Prof said he'll get me a new thumb drive..fully devoted to work...think he got worried that mine had too many of my own files.

I haven't "moved in"...will do that when more rigorous lab work starts. For now it's still working from home..tho I really lack the discipline. I'll be going back to lab tmr..learning techniques from YB. Hope I remember my shoes. :P

Chocolate Factory

I spent Sunday chillin' out with ma mates. Was a pretty long day. Had tuition in the morning (yeah on a Sunday...but hey it was pay day!! haha :P) After that went to have breakfast (some sort) with Flo at marsiling. she was buying a flower pot for her money plants.

Later on went to meet Mel n Far to watch Charlie n the Choc Factory at plaza sing. We went to the food court but weirdly I had no appetite for lunch. Settled with papaya juice and chiku on a stick...of which 1/3 dropped on the ground (careless me)...yet I was still feeling bloated (maybe it was the twister fries...tho i only ate half of it...hmmm...). The movie was pretty entertaining, albeit some lame jokes (like how apparently everyone knows that u have to whip the cow in order to get whipped cream!)...guess I have to re-read the book to recall some of the jokes. The oompa-loompas looked gross..din expect them to have such a...well..ugly face. Haha. Had imagined them to be cute little creatures. Oh well, the comfort was that Johnny Depp was as cute as ever n i think he portrayed the character pretty well. Mel had to leave early to complete some office work so Far n i hanged ard for a bit. Till we realised how boring the place was...so instead of walking ard we just sat at Gelare for an ice cream waffle. Yummy.

At abt 5 plus we walked to Orchard MRT. Far went off n i met up with ruth n felicia. we were supposed to go for retail therapy...but then i realised i spent half my pay on food alone...so therapy had to wait. We walked ard taka for awhile then went to the food court for dinner. I didnt know why I forced myself to eat...probably cos there was no food at home n i didn't wanna go hungry at 2am. Viva was in taka as well and as "fate" would have wanted...we "bumped" into each other (well according to her she actually sent out her search party...and they were abt to call the search mission off..till i told her i was sitting in front of the chicken rice stall). After dinner, we did some aimless walking...somehow we ended up at wisma and then decided to get a drink...so we headed back to taka to coffee bean. the best part is that we sat there talking for so long without ordering any drinks. and even as we were about to leave, ruth got us some plain water. haha. good thing we didn't get chased out. i wasn't feeling well (dinner made me feel nauseated and the crowd noise gave me a terrible headache...perhaps after-effects of not having slept well the previous night cos of that horrible nightmare i had) so we left pretty early (sorry gals). and to make matters worse 502 was crowded n i had to put up with the bus swaying here n there while standing. was talking to flo on the phone n she got worried so i got down near holland n took a cab back. never felt so giddy...took a couple of panadols n slept early. oh but not before i opened felicia's gift...a cute pooh ceramic bowl with a surprise underneath the lid..haha. blue eyeshadow..hmm..shall wear it when i feel bold haha. thanks girl! :)

I'm a LEADER!

Today was kinda sucky. I had to wake up in the morning for lessons. And since the bunch of us are just sitting in for the lecture, we didn't have notes so we had to copy so many things down. Then the show-off in class keeps..well..showing off...everytime someone asks the lecturer a question she'll turn around and answer on her behalf. **rolls eyes** Then prof asked me to research on a topic that didn't exist. After hours and hours of searching, I was getting worried cos he wanted an update. Turns out that it's a new finding so there won't be other articles on it. Duh. And then he looked at my questionnaire but told me that he had designed his own. Bleah. Then why did he ask me to design one in the first place? Now I'm supposed to incorporate mine into his. Thanks a lot. The comfort is that I followed my gut instinct and didn't edit too much of my draft. Then prof said I couldn't clock in hours for the lectures they asked me to sit in for. Which is really unfair, since I could've been using that time to do my research work. Gonna be earning a pittance now with only 3 working days. Perhaps I should've taken the RP job...

Later on I finally had a tour of my lab to be. Saw Shi Jie there so I guess I'll have a buddy... the other G.A.M.E. students are in Biopolis..sadly I'm stuck in NUS...maybe it's good..cos I have my friends around for a lunch date. I'll be starting a bit of lab stuff next Wednesday....wonder where my lab coat has gone to tho...

I'm a leader...the palm-reader told me that today. Lakshmi asked me whether I wanted to get my palm read cos she and Ro had theirs read the day before. Why not I guess...she said it wouldn't be anything life changing. Haha. The first thing the fellow said was that I was a leader so I should use my leadership qualities more. Hmmm... A few things he said were true..like I have strong intuition (so I should rely on it more...except in matters of the heart it seems heh). And since I'm a born leader I wouldn't fit being bossed around as a housewife (future husband..whoever u are..read that! haha. oh and apparently future husband's gonna be a foreigner...). He mentioned that I was very observant (quite true too) so I should be in research...and I worry a hell lot so I should take a step back next time and look at the big picture before worrying myself to death. Haha. He made some predictions which hmmm..I dun really believe in so shall not put it down. Just that I'm looking forward to 33 when there could be a possibility that I'll migrate (yes..finally!!)

Alright, that's all for now. Shall get back to my questionnaire fine-tuning.

Happy Birthday to me

I had a great brithday this year! Not that the others weren't great...this was special. Flo and I had lunch at Swen.son's (after I almost forgot which part of Jurong Pt it was at). Yummy..finally had my apple crumble after ages of craving. We hanged around for awhile then headed to Far's place. My best buds threw me a (surprise) party. Between thinking that they were probably too busy to hold one and Sakura telling me she wanted to go out with me for dinner that day, it was surprising afterall. Heh. I was so touched they actually bothered to go through all the trouble. What with decorations and all...the theme was "childhood days"...with spongebob streamers, hello kitty balloons and sesame street party hats! Even Sakura was part of it all...guess she managed to hide it pretty well. And although I was full to the brim, I had to try out the food cos my dear daughter cooked it. Haha. We bummed around after lunch, Far entertained us with a couple of songs on the guitar (Sakura and I were waiting for her rendition of happy b'day...but it never came..haha). We watched a bit of tv then headed home. I sent Sakura home then went to Woodlands to return my auntie's car and hang out with Flo for a bit. Sakura didn't think about inviting my uni friends, so it was just the few of us. Caiyun, thanks for being on "standby" haha.

Second part of my celebrations was on Sunday. Flo brought me for a manicure n pedicure. The manicurist was appalled when she saw my toenails..."When was the last time u had a pedicure??" "Hmmm...this is my first time" And she was like "wow I'm honoured to be doing ur first" Haha. She was trying her best to do it fast cos Flo wanted a pedi too but as she put it "ur toenails are quite..." I guess she meant "yucks" haha. It was nice being pampered. Now I know why the ladies love going for them. I tried to be as dainty as I could cos the varnish hadn't dried. But as I scratched my arm...I was like...nooooooo. The polish form my index finger came off and I was like DAMN. Luckily Ling was nice enough to patch it up for me..heh. Well the next time I go, I'll just get a pedi. Cos with the housework n stuff that I'm doing, the polish is disappearing pretty fast.

We finally cut my b'day cake on Monday. Sakura was bugging me to come home early since Sunday, but I guess she was too tired to celebrate. Plus my parents were not home. So on Monday (apparently the cake was in the fridge since Sat..hmm...) I finally blew my candles...forgetting to make a wish first (age catches up on ya yeah?). Sakura actually played along about wrapping up my presents (which I picked out myself) and handing them to me "officially". Cutie. Haha.

Ok that's all for now. Looks like my wishlist is pretty complete. Thanks again guys! :)

A Bouquet of Flowers

I got a bouquet of flowers today!! Congratulatory wishes for my graduation from my secret admirer (just trying to spice things up in my make believe world). Three white tulips and a bunch of flowers. It was beautiful. I haven't spoken to the person for ages but well..a bunch of flowers...I guess he deserves some thanks. Wee. I did melt afterall. Haha.

What a Wonderful Day!

The dumb things that only I'm capable of (or perhaps someone like me exists out there):

1. Leave home without my wallet.

2. See a whole lot of ppl alighting from the bus at the shopping centre I'm supposed to go to, and still not realise that that was the correct stop.

3. Queue for 15 mins long at Giant just for a can of drink. Maybe I was too free.

The list will lengthen as this blog develops. Promise.

And to top it all up, I had a nasty day. First of all, king arthur calls me up to ask me to come back early just so that I can buy precious little one dinner. Wow. I didn't know my job was to feed her. And come home early at that just to feed her. Isn't she 16? I'm sure she can get her own dinner?

Then the silly ppl at MENDAKI call to tell me that since I left class early, I have to retake the WHOLE module. Yes, for missing half of the first day only, I apparently can't attend tmr's class. POLICY. WHY? Cos I wouldn't be able to catch up with lessons. Yeah, they were teaching reaaaallllyyyy hard stuff. Mind-boggling ("How to draw a mind map?", "Problems are made up of cause and effect"..wouldn't be able to survive in the working world without this knowledge would I?). Well they can keep their $15. I'm not going back some other time to retake the whole damn thing. Who needs to know how employable* I am anyway? I've gotten several job offers already haven't I?

Next, I realise I've taken the wrong bus. So instead of ending up at Bedok MRT, I'm in some deserted bus-stop at Upper East Coast Rd wondering what I should do next bcos I didn't have a single dollar with me (literally...minus the coins which wouldn't have gotten me far...). Decided to take a cab when I found Flo's money. Thank God. Off to NUS. For an appt with the ortho, which I had to wait 2 mths for bcos they had to get my files from NUH. Ah lo and behold! What does he diagnose my problem as? BACK ACHE. Oh wow! Amazing! I wouldn't have guessed it!!! Fantastic eh? Yep..the miracle of modern medicine.

Then as if the rain didn't put my mood down further, my student has to msg me at 6.50, when I'm already halfway to his place, to cancel tuition. Yeah I really needed that to brighten up my day.

And when I come home, I scare the hell out of Sakura and Eryan (and then Flo when they realised they were beyond trying to help me) by acting looney. Yeah and I mean really looney. Singing at the top of my voice, talking like I just drank a dozen litres of beer, laughing like a gone case...u name it I must've done it. They were about to call IMH...

Maybe I'm turning manic. Maybe I am manic. Maybe I should see a psychiatrist soon. Any recommendations?

*Some dumb Employability Skills System worked up by none other than our dear govt...WDA from Min of Manpower...to ensure that "employees are up-to-date with current knowledge in the workforce". They asked qs like what's 1/2 * 2/5 and "pls describe what u see in this picture"! sounds more like pri sch..

Models Inc.

As part of the iCARE Project (International Connect And Relations Enthusiasts), a bunch of us who were vain enough to volunteer as models paraded in our traditional costumes for the incoming international students yesterday.
(top..us on stage..click to view larger image, below..the ladies)

There were two sessions. First one was at 11.30. We were nervous like hell..having only 2 hrs practice the day before...and the lecture theatre was full to the brim! But the audience, after several boring talks, finally woke up the moment the word "models" was announced. Definitely a plus for us! The claps came non-stop..from Netherlands to India to Malay (supposed to be me..hmm....apparently they couldn't find a MALAY model..so yeah...). We were totally thrilled at the response and walked off stage with an even bigger grin. The afternoon session turned out terrible tho. No one clapped. Not even when the first pair reached the stage. We started clapping and only then the audience clapped. And we had to start clapping again for the second pair before the audience joined in. BLEAH! The only spontaneous response was when the host pronounced the name of the Vietnamese costume in a weird way...then they started laughing as though that was the highlight of the show. And apparently something about the Chinese and Malay costumes were funny too. Hmmm...Terrible audience they were! Gen (our dear motherly coordinator) almost freaked out backstage when she heard the lukewarm applause. She thought something went wrong. But later on we realised why the second audience were so dull...they were living off campus..therefore haven't been brainwashed into being enthusiastic for hall activities. Haha. Let's hope next week's graduate and exchange students will be better audiences.

It was cool how the lot of us managed to click so easily. We only met a few hours the day before, and by lunchtime yesterday we were yapping non-stop. The host n I even took turns suan-ning Miss Bimbotic Thailand who was busy flirting non-stop the whole time. (Her famous qs to our dear Romanian friend: What language do Romanians speak? Like DUH!!!) We helped ourselves to the buffet after the show. We deserved it afterall didn't we? Heh. :)

Commencement 2005

This was how I spent today. Yup. As u can see...I'm bored. Anyway, enjoy the Commencement pics :)

Maiden Scrawl

After much procrastination..one year in fact (or more...I was supposed to write one while my friends were supposedly missing me while I was in Sweden)...Yeah anyway...here comes my blog! Yes...grand opening...mark this eventful day...

I guess boredom has finally pushed me to do this. Yup I'm still loafing around at home. Have a job, don't have a job? Even I'm confused when ppl ask me. Ya I do..technically...And technically I should've started...way before this....after my exams in fact (yeah right). But what have I done really? Besides a couple of presentations, nothing else. 3 months. Long holiday? I'm starting to feel useless, unproductive. Positive thinking...I'm taking this much deserved break. I do, don't I? Yeah I do, I think.

Alright, shall make my first post short n sweet. Will think of ways to spruce up my blog. Get inspiration from the expert, chat-moyen. Do I sign off now? Tata.

P.S. Today's a special day. Happy 2nd :)