the week DEPARTED

aha i'm back! and it's been more than a month since i last posted... school is tough! :( so much research and brainstorming to do. it has been work, work and more work from the word "go". actually, it started even before the word "go". i mean, one of our classes had already started two weeks before school...!!

haha well just two days ago people were complaining to our lecturer about having no life, and she replied, "who says you're supposed to have a life?" and we all went "WHOA" and started a fresh round of whining... but she still extended our deadlines lah. it's like the norm now to bring your laptop everyday and stay in school from 8am to 6pm or even later. sian man (haha this one's for sam and lirong).

well last night we ordered kfc! i tried the new fish and chips buddy meal - alone. it's supposed to be for two people but neither of them wanted to buddy me :P!! not that i finished everything by myself lah. they helped with the chicken and whipped potato. apparently sam can live on potatoes alone. the delivery time was 45 mins so we were almost ready to die by then... but the food was worth it, coz we were so hungry already. and we still couldn't stop talking about other food while eating.

this sem, i'm discovering new things about np!
1) canteen 3 and 5
2) curry chicken doughnut and lemonade at campus deli
3) factiva

i never realised our school had so many good research resources... the library is probably going to kill me coz i know they've been trying to tell us that ever since year 1 but i just never realised...

well thank God for the weekend!! today's the first day after so so long that i could sleep in and not be woken up by my handphone alarm. i can't stand the beeping tone but it works.

my last semester

the timetable's out! that's really early, considering that i was expecting it to be out only early next month. as far as i can see, everyday ends at either 5pm or 6pm, which can't be helped as we are taking seven modules this coming semester. :( my electives are advanced pr, integrated marketing communications and presentation skills in chinese. i have nice classmates. thank God for everything. :) i'm sure the last chapter of school will be memorable.

so my parents are away this entire week, and it has been quite eventful at home. i learnt how to use the washing machine, and it's my favourite household chore now, after vacuuming the floor. i mean, there's such a sense of satisfaction when you see the clothes all washed and spun, ready to be dried. you'd understand if you'd witnessed all my boo-boos. heh heh. now my first thought every morning is, "how to catch the sun?" - very aunty, but never mind. i think i should have learnt how to help out way before this anyway.

dreaming about...sudoku

the latest craze to hit my family is SUDOKU.

my brother bought the book and taught us all on monday night (after i came back from sending whui off at the airport *MISS YA WHUI!!!*). when we were all doing it together it seemed so quick and easy, but the next morning when i attempted to conquer level one i was so frustrated!!! it's also really addictive. and last night when i tried to sleep, i kept seeing the sudoku grid and all the numbers floating around in my head...

maybe they helped to reprogramme my brain, because...

i moved on to level two today! =) suddenly i could just solve it within ten minutes. i think sudoku teaches us two things: one, patience, and two, humility. you really need loads of patience to solve the puzzle, and once you hit a breakthrough and the numbers start coming to you, you need to stay humble and not lose focus. coz i was like, oh man i'm so excited, i'm going to solve it soon, and, and, oh dear, i can't think anymore. haha! sudoku is a good game, yes.

golden sudoku quote
my mum: my sudoku is very hua (worth it)... one puzzle i can do for one day and one night.

thank God from whom all blessings flow!

week four of holidays comes to an end... and in random order:

1) i've gotten hooked onto singapore idol. i watch it every week. but that's where it stops ok. anyway, it's very unlike me i know but such things can't be rationalised anyway. go hady!! heh heh. and jonathan... and well, jasmine. she has really really improved a lot.

2) i've been catching up on movies, making my membership worth... since last month, i've watched le grand voyage, harry potter and the goblet of fire, batman begins, rouge (starring leslie cheung & anita mui), i do, i do, sympathy for lady vengeance, king kong, forever fever, the manchurian candidate, runaway jury, mystic river, election 2 and the chronicles of narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. all were pretty good except that sympathy and election 2 were kinda disturbing too. oh well.

3) i just joined borders' mailing list a couple of days ago when i was at the store. it's pretty cool; they email you info on the latest stuff they have, their recommendations, newsletter and DISCOUNT COUPONS. :)

4) i bought a macbook from my school coz it was a good deal and should be able to last me for a long time. that's the most important thing. quality + durability + reliability. edit: ha! i almost forgot to add that the price has to be ultra reasonable too. it hasn't come yet though. i'm excited yet a bit apprehensive about going over to the other side. what if i become an apple fanatic like mr tann (who was the one who told me about the deal in the first place of course)?

5) i visited my friend in johor bahru and stayed with her from sunday to tuesday. it was a nice little holiday, i had kaya toast for breakfast every morning :D and i also learnt a lot about Christian living from her.

6) the4ofus had a successful sleepover at my place from wed to thurs. we hardly slept though. first we watched singapore idol (yes, my idea), then CSI: miami (cool show!), then we started work on our scrapbook, which was inspired by the movie divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood which we watched together some years back, plus we had a belated birthday celebration for yi lin (i'm sure we won't run out of ideas for surprises, guys!). all through the night we were printing, cutting and pasting pictures of us, from our cute geeky sec one days to present time. many pages left for more things to come! uni, marriage, kids... ha ha. thank God for such wonderful friends.

life after internship

listening to... greenwave 106.5 fm, a thai radio station (online)
i'm determined to brush up my thai, haha. i just randomly picked a station from somewhere. though i don't know what they're talking about, i'm pretty sure it's family-friendly content??? incidentally, my favourite radio station in singapore is gold 90.5 fm. HAHA. every morning on the way to work i used to tune in to the harvey norman game. and i like most of the music they play.

reading... mark haddon's the curious incident of the dog in the night-time
i'm finally reading something other than 8 Days again! this book was a farewell gift from three rgs teachers, one of whom was my sec four form teacher, and she was also my literature teacher. there's just something special about receiving a book from your teacher somehow... i actually tried reading this book some time back but didn't really enjoy it. this time round, it seems better.

i had sort of meant to blog about my last day at rgs a few weeks back. my colleagues ordered canadian pizza for lunch, and then i treated them to the best muffins in the world (from shunfu mart, near rjc). after work, my french manager and i were supposed to go for dinner together. that turned out to be really something very memorable. i didn't ask where we were going, and she also sort of got lost along orchard road, hehe. when we finally reached, i was firstly very surprised that she chose sakura, the international buffet place at orchard shopping centre. (normally she eats very little and very healthily too!) but the real surprise was seeing a bunch of other colleagues there as well. i seriously did not expect it at all, and was flattered, amused, shocked and impressed all at the same time. i honestly thought it'd just be a simple dinner with my manager. they were so convincing the entire day, i didn't suspect a thing at all. it was such a great send off that i had withdrawal symptoms the next day when i woke up haha. i'll miss working there!

anyway, my two-month break has started. been doing data entry and phone surveys... i've also been going to the airport, as aug/sept is the time when everybody leaves for uni. i don't like goodbyes very much!

the holidays beckon!!

david tao has a new album coming out again. it's called beautiful or 太美丽 in chinese. but somehow i read it as 大美鹿 (big beautiful deer... big beautiful deer??!?!) when i first saw it. yeah it was fantizi but still... ah there's something wrong with my chinese!!

but nevermind, maybe it'll improve if i get to take presentation skills in chinese as one of my final semester modules. i did the ranking tonight:
1. advanced public relations
2. integrated marketing communications
3. presentation skills in chinese
4. conventions & exhibitions
5. documentary production
6. advanced advertising

no journalism for me! :P hope that i'll get three decent modules and nice classmates! :) seriously, time has FLOWN by...it'll be my last week of internship next week! and then it'll be my FINAL semester in poly. where did year 1 and year 2 go?

but really, looking back, i can only say that it was by the grace of God that i have come this far. i can't imagine how i would have gone through everything without Him by my side. He is faithful and His mercies are new every morning!

yup and so, even though i've been really blessed in my internship, i'm also looking foward to my two months of holidays!! :D whee...

hey i've just been looking at my old blog posts and those times when i had long hair... it seems like eons ago! was that me?? how ironic coz i've had long hair for more than half my life and now i feel weird when i see it. how really weird!

ok and last thing right, i have one more hawker centre to add to my favourites list - adam road! in the past i only ate its prawn mee but now i've discovered the bbq stingray! and i must try the famous nasi lemak one day.

dvds i've watched: pride & prejudice, le grand voyage, hinokio, chocolat (johnny depp!) pirates of the carribean 2 (in the cinema! johnny depp!!), whale rider

the chain effect

the plan tonight is, my parents are going to a wedding dinner so i'm going to cook instant noodles for myself. like everybody else i get this craving for instant noodles once in a while, especially on cold nights. speaking of which, the weather hasn't exactly been fantastic lately has it? there's hardly any wind, and it's so humid. ok anyway back to the instant noodles... my mother just came into the room and told me something funny. last week i actually ate instant noodles too. in fact, now that i remember it, it was the BEST instant noodles i've ever cooked. i'm serious. it's the most common thing i cook, but it always doesn't turn out as nice as my mum's. but somehow that night it was great! hehe. so my brother came back, and apparently he saw what i was eating...the next day, as he was on MC, he told my mother he wanted instant noodles because it had looked nice the night before. and then the day after that happened, my mum was sick at home too, and she decided to cook herself instant noodles as it had looked nice when my brother had eaten it. isn't that a funny/cute story!! heehee.

so i can draw three conclusions from this story:
1) there might not be any instant noodles left for me later.
2) my family goes crazy over instant noodles once in a while.
3) typing this whole post on instant noodles has really whetted my appetite and i'm all set to cook my dinner! (*unless no. 1 turns out to be true)

but before i do that, how is everybody doing? :-)

dvds i've watched lately: election, cinderella man, tim burton's corspe bride, simon birch
other: jewel in the palace (it was a long and arduous journey, but i liked it)

call me the weatherman

the rainy season is officially back!! it rained the ENTIRE week and yesterday was the worst, i couldn't even cross the road to take a bus. so in the end i stayed at the bus stop on my side and took 190 to choa chu kang, then a train to clementi, then a bus home. :( and i cannot hold an umbrella for nuts so i hope the rainy season doesn't last for too long. :P

i watched wallace and gromit last week and it was really good!! the british are so witty!! and when you watch the behind-the-scenes you'll be amazed at how they made the whole movie! so incredible, those plasticine figures and miniature sets. plus you get a good understanding of all the people who're involved and what they do. and there're A LOT of people invovled. heh.

i called my friend in thailand last night and the kids were watching jurassic park 3 and getting scared out of their wits haha. i miss them.

the thing about working at the general office is that there seems to be always a lot of food. when visitors come, we get to eat the leftovers. there was even a food tasting session for speech day. the caterer came and laid out all his food, but too bad i had lunch already. well just this week alone, i've eaten two pieces of apple crumble (from hans, very yummy), one kueh, some haw flakes kind of thing, and got offered polar sugar rolls. i had to say no because my pants was suffocating me already. but when i was talking about it with my colleague, she said that over there when it's harvest, it's really a lot of harvest, but when it's famine (i.e. school holidays) then it's really famine. hahaha i see.

p/s: lirong, i'm doing a good job of updating huh? ;)

stall 2 has nice noodles

work has been pretty good to me... plus it's great to see everybody again. just that things are SO different now, i'm so lost and trying to keep up with all the changes that have been made since i left. my boss is new too so we're both lost sometimes! haha.

we're doing the prospectus and history book right now. i think one of the areas i'm gonna consider next time is publishing. yeah always had that interest and glad that now i get to experience and learn more about it.

so i'm beginning to see that what we learnt in school can be really quite relevant, hahaha. sometimes it just hits me, like oh yeah i learnt that in school. and oh it's really done like that in the real world?? haha so blur right.

today i had to write an email to the HODs and i spent ages agonising over it. like is my grammer correct? is this polite enough? but then is this too stiff? we're all in the same office so i don't want them to laugh at my email you know... hahaha no lah. i still feel like a student when i'm with them. it's so weird being their colleague now!

oh yeah about my title. i really like stall no. 2 in the canteen!! at first people were like, canteen food's really bad. but then i tried it out and i discovered stall no. 2!! don't think i patronised it much last time, or maybe it's new. but i'm gonna stick with it from now on. yay! plus the couple who runs it are really super duper nice smiling uncle and auntie kind of people. :)

of course the not so good part is having to dress up for work... i really miss my birks and havaianas. i don't think i'm cut out for office work at all man. i'll just faint if i have to dress up even more, like wear makeup and high heels... hahaha. which, thankfully, is not the case right now.

think the rainy season is coming back. it's been raining and gloomy every day of the week.

html is from mars

html is an alien!! who invented this?? where did this whole 'computer language' come from???

i spent ages last night tinkering with the template of this blog, made TWO skin changes, and at the end of it all, it's as good as not having done anything at all. i even valiantly tried again this morning. but i am hopeless when it comes to html...sniff... mingen save me...sniff... i'd wanted to change the fonts and comments and stuff like that, but in the end i just decided to leave everything the way it originally was. i am amused and frustrated at the same time. and i think it'll be awhile before i try to do anything to my template again.

(edit)
i've just CHANGED something!!! from "comments" to "comment(s)"!! did you see that?? i've managed to unlock 0.0001% of the mystery that is html...

i'm back!!

ok i was actually back from chiangmai a long time ago... right after i touched down we went straight to bedok 85!! whoo!! BUT my favourite ah poh bar chor mee and the bbq chicken wings stall were CLOSED. or just finished selling everything. they didn't wait for me. i was so disappointed because this was the SECOND time they did that to me (the first being the night my brother came back). but it's ok, coz in this hawker centre there're a few stalls that sell the same thing. and they're usually related, as in stall A and stall B are run by brothers-turned-rivals or the sister-in-law or something...a lot of history there. worthy of a channel 8 drama serial.

so after all this gushing, you know what i feel like having right now? yes, bar chor mee and chicken wings. even the weather is complimenting my craving...it's drizzling...it's a cold, cold day. but i have no idea when we'll next make a trip down to bedok to eat. even though people say singapore is small, travelling from the west to the east still takes considerable effort.

my stay in chiangmai was really nice. it was soooo good to see everyone again. i think i consider it my second home. the kids were great. ok they're all teens now, so not really kids anymore. i ate all sorts of things that i usually won't eat back home, like vegetables. yes, i think i ate enough vegetables to last me for the rest of the year. and it was my first time travelling to another country all by myself, and basically being on my own there...hmm i learnt a lot of things, such as growing up. but over there it was really good in the sense that i had no distractions at all (aka TV, laptop, blah blah) so most of the time i read my Bible or a book, talked to God, interacted with the people there... right now back home see what i'm doing? haha i need more discipline man. i need to learn to always put God first.

SPOILER ALERT:
DO NOT READ ON IF YOU'VE NOT WATCHED LADDER 49
last night i watched ladder 49 on dvd with my whole family (a record) and there were so many fires the guys had to fight, my mum kept asking, "oh no is he (joaquin phoenix) going to die this time??" and i said, "no lah this is hollywood." but he died in the end!! in a hollywood movie!! the hero died!! and so i bawled my eyes out. ok it was not that bad, just a one-tissue cry. i have devoted more tissues to other movies before.

the blog revival

i was tagged by sam to do those four things/people/etc kinda list? but i gave up halfway coz it was too difficult haha. very hard to summon all my brain power and come up with my favourite four movies or songs or TV shows... i don't think i have many favourites. ok, maybe i can make it up to her by listing my four favourite hawker centres?

- bedok blk 85
- longhouse
- oh no i can't remember the other two... sigh... see...

i think i'll do much better if i just have to list two. for example,

my two favourite events:
- shopping sales
- family dinners
- school holidays

ok now that i just needed to list two, i come up with three! ...

then there are things that i don't really like, such as:
- goodbyes
- flying insects

there, kept it at two. =)

alright now, this has been a very happening blog revival post. i'll be going to chiangmai from 5-10 mar to visit the friends that i'd made during my mission trips! so i'll catch u all when i get back!

take care, luv ya

crystal jade dim sum

we had a very good lunch on Christmas eve at the holland v crystal jade restaurant. not our usual fashion, but since my oldest brother was back, we decided to do something special. i only recently started eating dim sum, can you believe it?! haha... a few months ago it wasn't top on my list. i mean, i liked the various things such as char siew sou and porridge, but i never thought of having dim sum as in dim sum. ok anyway the crystal jade porridge is yummy. actually, so is everything else! but only for special treats lah, or else too pricey. heh.

refresh and recharge

these last few hours of a friday feel wonderfully relaxing... i decided to give myself a treat today and only resume proper work tomorrow heh.

last weekend i went to a conference about relationships and i learnt a lot about being a friend. i hope i can remember all that and be a better friend.

kramer vs kramer is a very good movie!! so is all the president's men. i will never think of old movies as boring again! haha. i must have watched the wrong ones last time. these are really well done.

wed - met up with the4ofus. it was fantastic! we talked and laughed at food republic and took some wacky pictures. it's really great to have a bunch of friends like this.

queen of overdose

You Are Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream

You just don't know when you've had enough (or too much)!

What Flavor Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Are You?

haha this sounds true... currently on my overdose list are ferrero rocher and redcurrant puffs. maybe yakult too. oh, and chicken wings.

i'm that bored!

You Have a Melancholic Temperament

Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything. You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life. You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you. Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace. You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life. Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times. At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you. You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others. You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.

What Temperment Are You?

new look new year

i like my new look so much i'm going to do something unprecedented and blog for the second time in two days! heh. i've always liked green. and i guess it's timely for a change since a new year is round the corner.

oh i've been stuffing myself with the marks and spencer's redcurrant puffs which we bought yesterday. they're fantastic! but i'm heading for an overdose. haha.

happy new year everybody!

God's grace is amazing

how precious this week's holiday is! though rather short, but still a much-needed break from school and i'm more than happy to keep out all school-related thoughts for at least 7 days! ok, not all of them, still had some stuff to do and think about, but generally this is as good a holiday as we can get, right?

it's been 2 days but i'm still feeling surreal about it...that i actually passed my driving test! it was truly by God's grace, because i definitely was a shaky driver (still am) and didn't have much chance of passing on my first try. i guess i was just ok-prepared but not that confident. anyway, things didn't go so well during my warm-up but God gave me a kind tester (he was Ming'en's tester too! during the ballot when i knew i got him i felt so encouraged and hopeful) who actually let me pass!

throughout this whole thing i just thought about how good it was to have God by my side, calming me, encouraging me, helping me... it was so comforting. it wasn't nerve-wrecking anymore. i was just praying really hard about it the whole time and i was like, ok just hand everything over to God, all my worries and insecurities and nerves, and... drive like a snail! haha yes i really did. my tester even gave an audible sigh. he had to minus my points for driving too slowly. heehee! but it was worthwhile coz it kept me away from all the possible mistakes and trouble. so now i think the strategy is to drive slowly so that you don't chalk up too many points for all the mistakes but rather you earn lesser points for driving too slowly. yes...haha. and i was so touched by all the other drivers around me! they gave way to me! they let me change lanes smoothly! for so many days i was fretting about this coz i can't change lanes for nuts, but on that day everyone was so nice to me!

so all praise and glory be to God! i was wondering what was His will for me, whether i should pass or fail, but in the end i figured that even if i failed i'd be ok coz it's His will and i'm more than happy to do His will... coz even if the answer is 'no' right now, it just means that God has a better plan for us! Praise the Lord!

happy headache

hello all! thanks for your concern. i'm doing well, under my trusty painkillers and antibiotics and what not. the pills have a really yucky taste. i'd drink bitter cough mixture anyday. hehe. and my face started getting quite swollen last night! now i look like a pancake sigh. anyway, i'm removing the stitches on tuesday. so hopefully things will get better from then on... tonight i drank homemade blended grape juice! it was surprisingly nice! :) coz i wanted to eat grapes but it was too painful to chew them, so my mum suggested blending them into a juice and it turned out to be sweet and yummy. yay. so i shall drink fruit juices more often from now on.

the happy thing about tonight is that i finally heard from my korean penpal!! yes i'm really happy that we've renewed contact.

ok happy weekend guys! :)

i made a connection

suddenly my internet is working again today. part of me feels happy to be connected to the world once again, with the ability to check my email, my school stuff, read my favourite blogs, and do research online. another part of me is horrified at how dependent i've become on the internet. so the question is, do i or do i not want to be connected? i think i just like the IDEA of knowing that i can be connected if i want to. it does provide convenience when i need it. but when the internet is not working, i end up feeling a little helpless, especially when i'm running to and fro between two computers with no thumbdrive to help.

anyway, the SEA Games is in full swing! i'm enjoying it so much. singapore is doing really well! :) can't wait for the day when we host it, i'll be even more excited! haha. but because school is very very hectic right now, i can't follow the games on TV so i just read the newspapers.

i'm going to extract my 4 wisdom teeth on wed. i met the anesthetist and he was very funny. he was measuring my blood pressure, and checking my heartbeat, and then he wrote down my weight as 58kg. i was like, huh you mean i'm 58kg??! how did you know??? (of course the crazy thought that my bp or hb could tell him that flashed past my mind...) turned out that he THOUGHT he heard me say my weight was that. well, i almost got a heart attack when i saw it anyway.

i like the national library very much! we were all like country bumpkins there yesterday because of all the new features haha...they were fascinated by the hand dryer in the toilet?!? lol. and the screen at the bookdrop that lets you see your books arriving safely at the book bin. but it's a good place to be at. plus the reference library occupies seven levels. so cool! i'm such a nerd. haha. ok i'd better get back to work... cannot waste time!!