alphabetical disorder

FAREWELL!

2008-05-29T15:47:00.002+08:00

Okay! I've finally consolidated the trip pictures and details into one looong picture-intensive post! Please read the last part I updated it with Day4 onwards! Beatiful sunsets, horses, and pictures of food! hahaha :D

Anyway with the completion of the mauritius post, I'm finally ready to leave this blog for good. I'm moving to livejournal due to some reasons. But I'm gonna leave this blog open cos it contains 3years of memories - my o level year, and my JC years! And there's my cheesy nickname that stuck with me for almost ten years now! :)

Now I'm moving on to the next phase in life; university... The past few months of interviews and uni options have been almost surreal. I would say SearchAsia has really been a God-given opportunity to learn and work; all the interviewing and people-reading was really good practice for the scholarship interviews. I went through two rounds for the SMU Lee Kong Chian scholarship (LKCSP), finally securing the scholarship only to find out I can't do Law+Biz, only Biz+SocSci/Acc. Then I went through two rounds at SMU law, for entry to faculty and for scholarship for faculty of law. They didn't give me LKCSP for Law+Biz, giving me a 1-yr LexisNexis scholarship instead. Which I ended up rejecting also because NUS offered me Law+Biz, despite my horrible horrible interview with Prof Bagman! Haha they decided to offer me a place in NUS afterall! I didn't even have high hopes of getting into NUS law.. Whatsmore a double-degree offer! God has really blessed me beyond what I deserve/expected.. Its even surreal because of the $72k worth of scholarships I let go to read law at NUS. But I don't feel regret or anxiety at all, maybe because of our sure and steady, unchanging God who reassures me with His peace :)

I'm also really thankful because when I trusted in God, He has indeed made my paths straight. When I first got my results, law was just an obscure option. Now after 2 months plus of journeying, of praying and affirmation from people around me, I'm humbled by the ways God has reached out to me to tell me the plans He has for His child, "plans to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future." He didn't speak in an audible voice or send a prophet to tell me where to go, but put in a little effort to observe and I see God's hand working in my life and directing me to the right places. And I'm truly thankful for that, that our patient God hasn't given up on a mean, horrible sinner like me!

I came to a place of humble adoration and reverent awe. I've done nothing to deserve this. I've been the meanest person to so many people and disobeyed Him so many times on the A level journey. But I guess we don't earn our blessings, God gives them freely to those who ask. And a broken and contrite heart He never despises. He's blessed me with favour in the eyes of Man, the wisdom to give shrewd answers, and the intelligence and logic to answer Bagman's tough questions. He's given me peace in times of anxiety (before interviews and the like), and hope in times of distress (down times with the boy and deciding between uni options). He's blessed me with great friends who pray for me and with me, and who give me sound, godly advice, who supported me thru this whole time(abby, glad, bel, wl, jolyn, ginny, jinwei&serene, even ppl like my bro and VALERIEPHANG, ah so many more!) His Word and its precepts has been a steady lamp held out in the darkness, a guide that has never once failed me. And I mean Never. And I could go on and on praising God, because this is what I'm created for!

I think my life is really a story of God's grace and I want to tell the whole world that it's His grace that has brought me here so far! I believed with that little seed of faith and mountains were moved, emotionally, spiritually, "professionally"... To have God reign and be in control is the best rest for the weariest soul. Thank You Father :)

MAURITIUS! (full post!)

2008-05-29T12:50:00.032+08:00

finally.. the long overdue post on mauritius!! :D

according to wikipedia...

The island is well known for its natural beauty. Author Mark Twain, for example, noted in Following the Equator, his personal travelogue, "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius".

you'll see why later on!

okay, at the airport! our flight was extremely delayed.. more than 12hrs! dennis changyi sam and mingyi kindly came to send us off :) as well as our families!

it was a 7hour flight, the seats were rather uncomfortable, lol. but we finally arrived at the airport, and met uncle andre and uncle derek, who came to fetch us.. ahh its been so long since i saw uncle andre (5 to 6 years), was SOOO happy to see him! and he was his usual funny/witty/humorous/sarcastic self. :)

with uncle derek!! :) :)

arrived at la pirogue hotel at mauritian time 3am, which is SG 7am. mauritius is 4hrs behind SG time. this trip, uncle tommy arranged for us to stay at the Sun Resorts chain of hotels - first La Pirogue, then Le Touessrok. you can google touessrok - their website is rather classy.. good comms management. hahaha. well as i was saying. it was 3am, and there was no one at the hotel reception! so we became receptionists/frontdesk staff..

mum and uncle andre and uncle derek arguing over rupees.. hahaha..

we proceeded to our small little room, kinda like a hut! and started unpacking our gifts to everybody.. gifts like bakkwa, sugee cookies, mrs fields.. and there were ink cartridges too! hmm..

hahaha the mess that our room was in while we were unpacking!

anyways, it was about 5am-ish by the time we finished unpacking, so val and i decided to head to the beach to try catch the sunrise. unfortunately we were on the west side of the island, so we couldn't watch the sunrise..

the mountain that has been there since i was young! viewed from sugar beach/la pirogue..

we then made friends with a group of uncles who call themselves the "sunday friends" or sth! hahaha. they were there for some morning exercise! and i joined them for awhile hahaha. one's a superintendent for schools or sth! hahaha.

we then left them and started walking

we did some jump shots! but i shall leave valerie to upload those. anyway, it started to get brighter so we decided to head back to the hotel room. the sun's rays filtering thru the leaves made everything feel so.. rustic and romantic.

after mom woke up we had a wonderful breakfast! all sorts of bread, eggs in any style you want it (omelette, hardboiled, halfboiled, poached, scrambled well done or scrambled halfdone, sunnysideup...), cereals, fruits, yoghurts, the whole savoury works like bacon, sausages, even venison and stirfry chicken, aubergine fritters with mauritian green chili (omg this is my favourite its.. out of the world! ok maybe out of singapore only). we met the waiters/waitresses that we saw like 5-6 years back.. they've been working there for like, 20years i think! thats cos Sun Resorts has a good incentive scheme i think. and when times are bad, they don't retrench their staff. hence the staff loyalty. anyway, the birds attacked us like free and poor valerie was rather distraught. haha.

after breakfasting, we went tanning! woots! no pics tho. but anyway, for lunch, we met uncle derek, auntie celine, and terence! we went over to Sands Resort (along the same coastline), cos uncle derek partly owns that hotel i think.

had darn good seafood platter :) lobster, tiger prawns, fish, calamari steak... all fresh and succulent!

didn't have time to take the platter - it was served in a very grand manner on a real, imposing platter. haha.

we also had sauces to go with it.. olive oil vinaigrette, passionfruit butter sauce, garlic butter sauce. val like the passion one while i liked the garlic one. the passionfruit was abit too sweet for me to match my seafood..

we then had their famed coconut souffle! the souffle was fresh out of the oven and nestled within a real coconut shell, and perched atop a pineapple slice. there were coconut bits inside, and with chocolate sauce drizzled over it. amazing texture - soft and fluffy like a souffle should be, but with a little oomph to it because of the springy, dried coconut bits. i don't think i can ever get this in singapore either..

we took an after-lunch picture! we were dining alfresco, by the seaside! there were like.. "fruits" of the tree dropping at us from time to time, and uncle derek was making a joke out of the possible scenario that one of the fruits will drop into my mom's cleavage. HAHA.

the view of the same mountain from the morning picture, except we were nearer to it along the coastline this time.

we then left Sands and headed to the Taj hotel where the Lampotang family were staying. some pictures of their room..

its a honeymoon haven i tell you. super romantic place made just for couples. the bathroom was a rather open concept. and you open this door that leads you to an outdoor bathing area. i've seen a similar concept in bintan, but this one is classier and cleaner.

so after that, we headed back to our own hotel to freshen up. after some time of nua-ing we decided to go catch the sunset (since we were on the west side of the island).

after sunset we had dinner with uncle tommy's family at shooters (i think there's another franchise here in holland V too?). the food was normal, quite nice, i think i ate mexican. my mom ate a salad LOL. i bet uncle tommy was like (wth) in his head. always silent as usual. the kids were bouncing off the roof. SO HYPERACTIVE! anyway i was soooo tired so i didn't talk much. the red wine didn't help either.. haha.

so there ends the first day of my trip to mauritius..

Day 2

we had another wonderful breakfast! couldn't miss my aubergine fritters with the mauritian green chilli... (by the way, the head chef of la pirogue came over to SG for Food Hotel Asia and brought two 500ml bottles of the chilli over for my mom! OMG!!!!!!!! *heart shapes start popping out above denise's head*) haha after the hearty breakfast, mummy stayed in the room and bathed and all whilst val and i headed to the beach for our 2nd tanning session!

it was soooo freaking HOT.. we were seriously toasted and half-dead! but the brown glow was worth it :)

i hereby take this opportunity to apologise to valerie because i'm not a very fun zi-pai partner. HAHA.

after the toasting we had a dip in the pool, went back to the room, and took pics with my very clean mum! haha look at her "hurhur omg" face!

had lunch at Paul et Virginie restaurant with uncle tommy's family. uncle tommy displays unstinting favouritism for his daughter! seriously. you should see how he goes all affectionate and soft with his daughter chloe but all stern and fierce with bradley and jasper.

after lunch, mom headed off to John's house party whilst val and i decided to stay in La Pirogue for some more nua-ing and talking on the hammock. :)

at about 5-ish we went back, natalie was around, cos she came back with mom from John's house party. there was complimentary food from the head chef! think it was like a "hello!" to mom or sth. it was simple but fantastic.. think cos i was hungry.

DAY 3

it was our last day at La Pirogue! i don't remember what we did.. but we nua-ed a lot. hahaha.

we left at 3+ and headed for Le Touessrok, which was on the eastern side of Mauritius! so basically we travelled from the WEST to the EAST... i think it was a 1.5hrs ride. zzz.

Le Touessrok, from the exterior. i should be on their social PR network.

they're a member of the leading hotels of the world!

we walked in and the interior was like, woah. palace. didn't take a proper picture though. we sat down and they gave us towels immediately + a lemongrass welcome drink! haha.

we stayed in the junior suite!! :D

with glass sliding doors that led straight out to the beach...

after admiring our junior suite and the beach thats right at our doorstep, we proceeded to have dinner!

thats uncle patrick sin! the purchasing guy. haha.

middle eastern food! hummus, etc...

italian! cannoli, tomatoes, chicken..

the strawberry creme brulee rocks! also, the mango panna cotta! i had a lot of other fantastic desserts.. souffle, choc mousse, cakes, icecream (passion sorbet), etc.. i can just have the desserts for dinner!!

the pictures really don't do the food justice.. couldn't take proper photos because it was a fine dining place, and therefore they had extremely dim lighting to complement the fine dining experience. lol. flash was embarrassing, cos it looked as though i've never seen good food in my life, so i restricted photo-taking to a few times only haha. it was an international buffet spread, and the head chef (a turk) was super cute and friendly, he gave both valerie and i lollipops! haha. there was cream of broccoli soup which made me think of JOLYN! haha i loveee tht soup.

went back to the hotel room after that super filling dinner, and took photos of my mom's products!

mother of pearl boxes!

mother of pearl soap dishes!

vases!

wine opener!

Day 4
We spent the day doing quad biking in a mountainous region about 30mins drive away from Touessrok! Jean Michel korkor was kind enough to take one day leave to bring us around :) so nice right! its super hard for him to take leave lah! haha.

on the road to the reserve..

tried to take a picture but forgot to zoom out! haha..

successful attempt by val!

the form they made us sign..

magnificent view of the entrance into the mountains, from the shelter we were at!

we had some time before the quad biking started, so we visited the horses. wanted to do horse-riding but the horses were not ready. =( they're so beautiful! their jaws are powerful, they have rippling muscles, and glossy coats.. majestic yet possessing an air of elegance.. definitely my favourite animal! (not because of you valeriephang haha!)

then it was time for quad-biking! :)

my battery died halfway through the trip, oops. =p well after that we went back for lunch! mauritian cuisine buffet style.. didn't take photos, too tired i think. but the dessert was truly made for valerie! haha.

after lunch we headed to port louis/caudan waterfront for shopping! bought quite some stuff.. matching rusty slippers with valerie! :) then headed over to uncle derek's house at curepipe for a shower! curepipe is actually a plateau in the island of mauritius, formed by outpourings of lava from a fissure (geog students listen up! haha). as it is elevated, temperatures here are slightly lower than the rest of the island.. it was a cool breezy night! owing to the temperatures, curepipe is also one of the more favoured/more expensive residential areas in mauritius..

the view of the houses on the curepipe plateau from their balcony!

we had a chinese dinner with jeanmichel, his brother's family, and uncle derek's family. i realised we didn't take pictures with the two cute girls, crystal and alison!! arghh. they were really sweet and valerie and i were gossiping about the two sisters liking terence. HEHEHE.

Day 5
we spent the whole day slacking in the room, and on the beach outside our doorstep, reading cecilia ahern! beautiful pristine sand and saccharine blue waters..

behold the blue service flags! just stick them in the sand and the beach attendants will come over to assist you.

at about 3+pm, the beach attendants came by to distribute free ice-cream to us. haha. oh i miss the good life there..

After that we headed to Ile Aux Cerfs to check the place out. We needed to take a boat there...
our "captain"! haha.
it was just two of us on the boat there!

i like this picture becos i can see valerie's arm sticking out in the reflection on her sunglasses!! haha
i like the sun's rays!
our crabby friend at the jetty..

we had room service and a short late dinner at the buffet place again! where we indulged in desserts.. yum yum. until now (1 month plus later), i still cant forget the taste of that yummy souffle in the special cup printed with an X.. sigh. i. want. souffle. NOW!

after dinner valerie kindly prepared a bubble bath..
we changed into our oversized bathrobes..
and soaked for abit in the tiny tub! haha. due to our severely burnt skin, we cldn't take the hot water for awhile. haha.

Day 6
We decided to head to Ilot Mangenie to check out the private beaches there where you can sunbathe topless.. haha. whoever coined the term "sunbathe" anyway? sheesh. haha.

this is the guy who escorted us to a private corner of the beach! his name was Key Fargo. HAHA. we also met Robinson Crusoe i think, or Peter Pan? hahaha. apparently they wanted to make Ilot Mangenie like really a "getaway island". fantasy world. well.. it was really serene and special, a beach singaporeans can only fantasize about. i guess they achieved their objective. haha.

after checking out at about 3ish, we headed back to the west side of the island where we originally were (la pirogue was in the west!). This time we stayed at the Hilton!

yummy green-coloured mint+coconut+pineapple drink. SUPER good.. we drank it twice. haha.
our bed!
our sink was filled with water and flower petals upon arrival. haha.
i think this pic is nice! val it shd b ur display pic!
our toiletries were from crabtree and evelyn. wow power. haha. touessrok's was molton brown which had overly manly/exotic smells. C&E is the bomb. haha.
my mum locked herself out lol!

we proceeded to watch the beautiful sunset! :)

after that, we showered, changed, and met uncle derek's family & uncle patrice, one of the bigger shareholders of hilton in mauritius. we had some drinks at the bar before going downstairs to a french restaurant for dinner.
valerie's tequila sunrise
my mojito
the official hilton welcome drink, haha

appetiser: if i remember correctly, pan-seared tuna on a bed of palmheart. the palmheart was expensive! i felt guilty cos i didn't know how to appreciate it. sigh. the tuna was much fresher compared to the tuna we have here in Singapore; the fishiness of it was the right fishy tuna smell, not the left-out-too-long-gone-stale smell, nor the mercurial smell. the seasoning around the tuna was very strong, abit overpowering even (very salty, sour, abit of pepper), but somehow it didn't cover the taste of the tuna! which i found intriguing. somehow the chef achieved the balance!

entree: fish in a light saffron cream sauce. i was stunned by the portion of the entree. i was like, "omg how am i gonna eat my main course after this?!" but i guess the sauce was light on purpose so you don't feel too full after it. the fish was really FRESH! and i mopped up the sauce cos it was just awesome. really awesome.

main course: duck confit. didn't really suit my asian palate, the duck was really salty and had very strong seasoning/herbs! but thats how french is supposed to be i think. the meat was really tender though. coupled with good cutlery, eating it was a breeze!

then it was dessert! lava cake with ginger ice-cream. the cake beat menotti's soffiato. so you can try guessing how good it is! haha. but again, the flavour of the ginger ice-cream was too strong for my palate, would have preferred something lighter. though it did go well with the chocolate cake!

after dessert, the adults started talking about business, hotel, china, and all. i enjoyed listening to them but had some nasty thoughts which i shall not reveal. haha. it was a good learning experience i guess, listening to the wealthy discussing about amassing more wealth. and then talk about how wealth is not everything, but it's important. haha. witnessed business etiquette in reality, how the host is the one who will start the conversation rolling. haha.

anyways, after that satisfying dinner, we went back to the hotel room to sleep! oh i think we did a mask that night lol =)

Day 7
after breakfast, uncle derek's drived picked us up and we headed to port louis. the driver farted during the ride zomg SO SMELLY AND FUNNY hahaha! we LAUGHED and guffawed non-stop for like, 3minutes! because the 3 of us ladies at the back didn't dare to say anything when we smelled it, cos we thought uncle derek farted, and we didn't wanna embarrass our host. the next thing we knew, uncle derek was like "what's that smell?!" and then we knew it must have been the driver. HHAHA. so much for uncomfortable silence!! when the tension broke we just couldn't stop laughing. hahaha. anyway we met natalie and went shopping again at caudan waterfront!

the carpark where natalie parked.. cool eh! stone building!
ordering at my fave chinese take-out place in mauritius!! been eating from here whenever i went there.. since 10? hahaha..
fish curry!
stir-fried beef!
octopus!
upside-down rice - the star of the afternoon!! unique to mauritian chinese food i think. haven't found any in singapore. haha.
the owner's baby with uncle derek! the owners are from indonesia :)
valerie with natalie!
me & natalie!

jean michel korkor then brought us to grand baie to walk around and hang out. those quaint boutique shops.. really haven't changed! we went to a supermarket where we bought lotsa biscuits and chocolates.. and there was the PS i love you series of chocolates! how cool is that! haha..

we had dinner at this seafood place along grand baie.. no pictures cos was too lazy! and we finally reunited with sean, uncle andre's son! haha he showed us funny videos on his ipod. AKHMED THE TERRORIST lol lol. ARGH we forgot to take a picture with him! :(

then we ended our last night in mauritius with clubbing at les enfants terribles! (terrible children!) damn cool name can? haha but not really wild, singapore's clubs are wilder.

uncle andre was seriously inebriated. i think he had like 8 glasses of whiskey (really!) at our dinner place and then drank half a bottle of johnny walker at the club. plus other odd drinks i think. scary!
we look almost alike here! haha
valeriephang!
a rare picture of aunty celine caught unglam!
uncle derek grooving to the music lol.
my mom and jeanmichel.

Day 8
we woke up reaaaallly late on our last day, too tired! thankfully mom asked waiters to deliver breakfast to our room. we ate at like almost 12! bummed around, checked out and headed over to uncle derek's place to chill and have takeout dinner before our flight. played nintendo wii, bowling and this horrible shooting game LOL!! remember val? ahhaha. there was this part where we kept getting killed! irritating. haha. and then jeanmichel arrived with pizza and pasta, we ate dinner, and left for the airport! end of our trip :(

i would say it was really a week of indulgent pleasure.. its quite the ideal holiday you know! hahaha. thank God for such a wonderful time! :) hope everyone had fun going thru it.. haha. cheers! :)

moooveddd

2008-04-20T17:34:00.001+08:00

i've moved! :) temporarily?, till i decide to permanently move. haha. may still update here sporadically though. bye!

rambleshambles

2008-04-17T20:26:00.006+08:00

i think my no.1 weakness is officially procrastination! i still haven't uploaded the mauritius pics. hmm.

today ronnie read this resume that goes like this:

Work experience: 8 years
Industry: Electronics Manufacturing
Skills: Swimming.

....?!

for those who don't get it.. normally skills will be like. SAP, UNIX, Lotus, ETCETC dead boring abbreviations. this guy's skill was swimming. WOW. ahhaha. quite amazing after trolling thru 1 hours worth of resumes from the fabless semi-conductor industry. (fab what?)

and another one that says

::: Name:Coffee Wang Sex:Male :::

heh maybe we were high so it was funny. seemed as though his name had the word sex in it cos it was weirdly spaced and enlarged on the top of the page. haha i really had such a wacky time with dawn + ronnie tdy. esp during lunch when we were like dying to pick up the phone when the "doorbell rang" so we could stop Ann from coming in to the office in peace. when we didn't get to pick up the phone, we all swore (damn it! darn!) as if we lost a candidate.

haha.

my NTU mass comm interview is coming up and im strongly recommended to bring a portfolio. huh. i have nothing except my blistered hands from too much netball. quite artistic... and communicative. i shall have to sweet-talk and charm my way through to a space in the school... describing what a great/mature/intuitive/smart/strategic/blabla client-servicing account director i will be in Publicis/Ogilvy in the future. handling an FMCG luxury portfolio. mmm. or a hardworking ass who will definitely stay in PR agencies because i love the stress and the challenge and will not move to in-house because... did i mention i loooove the stress and the challenge? wow. these people amaze me with the way their brains work.

and omgzzxz i have two dates with two universities tmr!!! i haven't decided what to wear. *bats ~~eyelids~~ heavily mascara-ed eyelashes* i hope they like me enough to marry me for the next 4-5years.

no, really. now i shall go shower and wait for the man i wish will really marry me in the next 4-5years. haha. pray for me and wish me luck! (for the university, not the man.)

the movie that plays

2008-04-15T21:33:00.002+08:00

as i went home today (alone) i watched a movie in my head that only jean can understand.

scenes in order of smile width;

1. bubble tea shop at lucky plaza.. the purple tea
2. bus stop with bus 14 outside lucky plaza
3. on the brightly lit upper deck of handicapped bus 14
4. hongkongcafe
5. icecreamchef
6. mas ayu
7. the security guard (this is the winner).

there you go. no marks for guessing how much i miss this!

BACK!

2008-04-14T12:05:00.002+08:00

HELLO EVERYONE!

i'm back from mauritius :) very brown, very fat, well-rested, relatively happy..

but am too lazy to upload pics and blog abt the trip now! and i'm considering moving my blog.. soo.. might update there instead!

meanwhile.. cant wait for lunch with godpa! and then work starts tmr! i'm motivated (yes i am!) i have to work extra hard in the weeks to come.. wish me luck!

i hope you had the time of your life

2008-04-05T16:40:00.003+08:00

had such a great time at hanabi on thursday!! good food and excellent company :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JASON LIN! (er, not like he reads this anyway) hahaha. met debbie's husband and i must say the two of them are such a CUTE couple! they even have the fuqixiang. hahaha. inspiring. lol. and yup thank God they fetched us home! got to chat with sandra for quite abit too :) :) also learnt from roy that he's a scorpio! i think scorpios are the coolest. right right? altho i have to say Leo might be the best. haha

friday was spent waiting for the night to arrive! but unfortunately it was also the last day for sengyew and felicia :( i'm really really sad that both of them have to go... i really meant it when i said i will miss them! (note to sengyew: friend ah! HAHA) the day kinda ended 15min early with the birthday celebration for ricci and jason. no photos tho! hahaha after that was the adventure looking for the salt shaker, where i witnessed a miracle from God! haha then sipping skinny latte at raffles city starbucks waiting for the star of the show, lol. expectedly unforgettably sweet night after that! friedfish&calamari with your favourite sauce, the most amazing letter ive ever read, then by the river almost spotted, swissotel, hunk on 14 who acts cool (LOL!), tower13 and the very pretty stars... the alarm should have never rang, time should have stopped there and then..

but even perfect fairytales have their endings, and mine ends when i leave for mauritius tonight.

but there will be part 2 of our story 3 weeks from now! :)

bye everyoneee im gonna go enjoy the sun and the sand BABEHHH yeahhh!!

GOODBYE TO SLEEP DEBTS, GOODBYE TO FAIR SKIN, GOODBYE TO STRESSFUL SALES TARGETS, GOODBYE TO SEARCH ENGINES, GOODBYE TO SINGAPORE!

P.S. congrats samting for passing his driving test!! hahaha supper out with you driving us ard nxt ah!

zipppp

2008-04-03T00:21:00.002+08:00

quick update! for dearest ppl like valerie hahaha. so shiok la u end work alr!! come take over me for 2 days so i can rest pls!!

actually sunday night @ Peperoni Pizzeria (yes single P for this restaurant) can all be found on her blog. in detailed format with pics. like the picture with jwei in my necklace. or changyi driving us home. hahaha.

monday to wednesday spent working and going out at night til 11pm+. hahaha. my sleep debt is mounting and threatening to force the wrinkles out of me. but i'm happy with every moment spent out at night. :) monday night subway + nauseating PERFUMES, tues night apr 1st the night of many firsts! haha watchd the orphanage, horror movie supposedly, but power storyline! and then TAUHUAY! :D wed night @ raffles place / clarke quay by the river :)

tmr is jason's birthday! dinner out with the team :) then friday night! whereeee will dinner be?! i can't wait :)

i <3 u! :)

i need the thesaurus for tired.

2008-03-30T15:41:00.004+08:00

i had a record 8 hours of sleep last night! weeee! hahaha but still feel darn tired. sighh.

friday night was spent at Pho eating fiery chilli padis and medium rare beef! haha and jarren's party. saw many vj juniors and i still miss vj times.. (minus the studying, thanks). mahjong at my gramps place, before ting and jason came i did 4台 twice, one 平湖 (?) and one 半色（自摸） with 2 animals. wee! jason got 十三夭 can!! wah lau. hahaha. then it was breakfast at macs and sweetdreams at 6am, lol.

woke up for tuition on sat, aiii no comments. P&P at 5pm, the conviction and the guilt and the sobering-up.. still feeling the "effects" now. docu-drama on humanitarian aid to uzbekistan, afghanistan, etcetc-gan. haha sheesh sounds like the docu-drama didn't hv an effect on me, calling them etcetc-gan. but okay la, it stirs the emotions i guess, and some stories leave a lasting imprint, but i still stand by my view that different people have different destinies, and its not everyone's destiny to go out there to deliver solar panels from outer space or tents and medical aid. maybe my altruistic destiny lies in setting up a social enterprise, like a cleaners' company where all profits go to improvement and enrichment classes for my less well-off employees. sounds like an idea.

then it was food republic at wisma + starbucks later on. at least i get to spend some time with akuou. i hope the retreat will really be a good time of resting and depth of fellowship.. not just the surface laughter which i am starting to get tired of. not that its bad of cos, im just a lil jaded, i need a real retreat haha.

chill out time at indochine with click five minus one (phuket version, lol) which made me realise that jwei's myopic eyes are probably rolling over these alphabets at this very moment. :) among other "illuminating" realisations, of course.

so after sending off bella at the airport im finally home and relaxing when the sun's up, the afternoon birds are chirping, and when there's mostly the kind of afternoon silence all around. sunday afternoons are meant for lazing around. unfortunately, i just reached home (330pm), the day's almost spent, and i'll need to pizza in a freaking short 1 hr. the phenomenal "as-big-as-ah-gong's-dining-table-really!" pizza (according to Mum). haa.

sigh.

i'm irritated, impatient, implacable.

i think its PMS haha.

the 2nd button

2008-03-27T20:27:00.002+08:00

the second button (lol) :) sometimes its the thought that counts!

2008-03-25T22:47:00.002+08:00

its a freaking rollercoaster ride!

is life better off without rollercoasters?

so unlike me. adventure and fun. excitement and challenge. i shd be on for rollercoasters.

but when you're tired, you're tired. Tired, inside out.

i can't do without you and i can't do with you. whats that make of us?

GOODNIGHT

the weekend,again!

2008-03-24T23:22:00.000+08:00

weee! like ginny said, she thinks i've changed, now my life's more about fun fun fun. sigh. maybe its true. im seriously rethinking how im spending my life now. hahaha. like today's bible study lesson on 1Peter, how you behave, etc starts from how you "gird your mind". so yea maybe my mentality was to have A LOT A LOT of fun after As, and thus my life is now mostly about having fun. aiyoo. hahaha. i shdn't forget to "fix my hope completely on the grace to be revealed at Jesus Christ's coming"! hhahaha (GLADWIN i got listen during class okay!!)

ANYWAYS, thurs was a fun night! shisha + explore arab st area and haji lane! haha had a hard time getting my ass off that comfy place. trained allll the waaaay to yiochukang, went to denisetan's house for poker night! :) learnd the ohama/obama thing, screw ur neighbour, haha quite fun! thanks to her for being such a nice host. hahaha. and also to daohua for fetching us home! haha.

had a miserly 3hrs+ of sleeptime, then it was goodfriday! i really had a v blessed and happy time at church :) hung ard in church after that, highlights were: the nap at ywca level 2 sofas, coffee at dome + talking to jason! haha :) then met val at orchard and we went shopping. actually for more details on fri u can refer to her blog, HAHA. too tired to blog it all out.

sat i gave tuition! :) fruitful time during small group with the discussion and lesson. :) spent sat night at home like a forlorn lady (tgt with valerie online, HAHA). oh wells.

easter sunday at P&P :) God's presence puts a smile on my face.. always... i know He's here. "deep in my heart". after thaiexpress, interesting time at SAM with sam (the pun the pun!!), and jason! after NUS scholarships, even better time at icecreamchefs and my house-downstairs-playground. haha :)

i just fast forwarded thru my week. aiyo. blog for what?! hahaha. becos i told you i will blog valerie! honoured right. hahaha. darn im just so so so so tired!! im gonna go sleep now. bye people :)

i <3 ginnyquek!

2008-03-19T20:42:00.004+08:00

mmm many things have happened since saturday! had my first tuition lesson which i didn't charge for (argh i really hate settling the admin parts..) and then sent the 5guys off to phuket! alamak i was sooo excited for them!! travelling is so much fun. sigh. hahaha.

underwent the chopping off of a certain precious body part: my hair! so many ppl ask me why. cos i have no more styles to play with for long hair (decided i dont wanna perm). and cos of jeangray. hahaha. after that was SYC alumni bbq! met dana frm kazakhstan! and kenneth, iven, pet!! had such a gd time :) got to know a few ppl too! this guy called jieming told me a lot abt law, hahah.

val stayed over on sat night! took my first shorthair pics with her. LOL.

edit: click here for the pics!

had such a gd time, wht a waste we didnt do mask ah. too tired. =p next day, macs breakfast, openhouses, longlawtalk, tianpo+haagendazs (NO $$!!), robinsons, spoonknifefork, "im a constant hooker", tasteless steamboat, yummy chicken rice, tehtarik@arabst. SWEET! i <3 valerie :) thanks darling!! for pei-ing me to the openhouses even tho u really dont hv a need to be there.. <3 <3

monday was a dayoff, spent majority of the time sleeping, applying for unis, and i met ginnyquek!!! yes dear u deserve three exclamation marks. (maybe more.) i really love u ginny, its amazing how we manage to talk so much even though we probably talk on this level once a year. hahaha. thanks for listening, telling me all those things, about the stuff on God, on life.. you're really a blessing from God. the way you live your life too. the way you think. you're very special to me and you'll always always have a place in my heart darling! and.. cheers to long distance relationships! (oops friendships i mean.. hahaha)

then tues the 5guys came back to singapore! late dinner w sam at our fave hk cafe :) the guys bought me super prettily packaged baileys!! its olive green with tight patterns, gosh i like!! hhahhaa. was v surprised they actually bought me sth. hahaha. thanks guys :)

today im home early :) supposed to continue working from home but im kinda tired. and i still need to go exercise after this post! gg.

i'm in a writing mood!

:O

2008-03-15T01:45:00.001+08:00

denise; moving on says:
i finish tuition at 11 ar

denise; moving on says:
dunno can be on time nots

anonymous says:
mmm

anonymous says:
where your tution

denise; moving on says:
parkway

anonymous says:
can la

anonymous says:
bring your cousin along also hor

SIA LAAAAAAA
ok la it isnt tht serious hahahaha, but blog worthy

wangjunxia's phone call!

2008-03-14T00:33:00.003+08:00

12march was his birthday, and it passed by without much commotion. in the real world as well as in my own world. maybe this time it's really in the past tense.. well, maybe not wholly, but majority.

but HIGHLIGHT of the day; wangjunxia called me!! had a great 10minutes or so talking to her :) :) think its cool we can still keep in touch and everythg. hope this can keep up!

the flower withers, only to bear fruit later. with the passing of the once-perfect comes the birth of something new.

i miss jean :)

whirlwind weekend!

2008-03-11T21:21:00.000+08:00

its been an eventful week! many emotions, mostly happy :)

wed nite i met jolyn and we went to yoshi to eat! finally managed to catch up on each other's lives! talked about boys (aiyo, as usual). hahahaha. i can already hear carrie telling me "aiyo don't be so bimbo leh". anws, we decided to go watch leap years!! like, last minute!! yay i like these kinda unplanned spontaneous events. wahoooo. i <3 u jolyn!! hahahaha. the movie was nt bad for a sg production, until i realised that the story was adapted from a novel & thus not quite an original SG production. haha. it was emotional diarrhoea watching it tho. hahah. ended up sleeping at 3 and was SO DEAD the nxt day! but im stil very thankful for the late night supper and walking around :)

thurs night, baptism! happily toddled off quite punctually after work, cos i knew it was gonna be a happy and long weekend for me, friday+monday off! my whole family came (including my mom!!!) which really made my day (night) :) so did valerie and shirley my two bestest cousins in the world lol! and ting too! and my small grp members! :) :) hehe think its great tht i got baptised tgt with bel! <3

thanks to everyone who came for my baptism and gave me cards and presents!! really <3 all those small notes and all.. hehe. & nt forgetting the flowers too! :)

the whole process was kinda interesting.. the water went up my nose, it was so cold after that, but overall im glad i've finally went thru that "ritual" and publicly declared im a christian. haha. it means "no turning back", i guess. no matter how many Uturns i take i know i will still end up at that Final Destination. all thanks to God of cos :) so yup, biggest thanks goes to Daddy! :)

after that, ting very nicely welcomed us to his hse for stayover, haha. so jason val ting and i went to al-ameen for 2nd rd of supper. met changyi then walkd back to his hse. damn long walk but i rmb feeling like it wasnt really long cos got val and jason to talk to! hahaha. after very long, farrell & mingyi came too. we talked, poker-ed, in-between-ed, and soon the night was over. laughed SO MUCH when we were in-between-ing, changyi dealt 3 pillars to me in one row -_- then james got pillared on his first Ace+King. HAHA.

yeah then friday morning dawned :O results day! we all had breakfast! went home to sleep, woke up and after a series of events (involving NAZRI haha dude ure act THE ONE who told me my results thanks (: )found out my results before i got my slip of paper. dont really wanna blog about this cos it was such a weird feeling i dont know how to describe it. in the words of bel, "i felt like i was receiving someone else's certificate". ditto man. surprisingly didnt feel euphoric/happy for my 5As, i think cos all my best friends didn't do too well, so i felt shitty for them. only after i talked to bel den i felt better. :) but thank God for the miracle that he granted me.. i rmb telling Him after my papers, You are more than able to bless me with As, no matter what crap i feel abt my papers, no matter how badly i thought i did.. its just an issue of whether you want to or not. and so i believed and so it was granted to me.

i know people will say, you worked hard for it and everything, but i really still think its God's merit.. i didn't finish my GP AQ and i chose a screwed up essay topic ("the pen is mightier than the sword") without being a lit student. even if its not, i still thank God i found MR TONG who taught me so well and really opened up my mind. :) :)

OKAY, anyways, i was really thankful VALERIEPHANG was there to take results with me :) :) :) we spent a few hours lazing at my hse, lookg thru scholarships and listening to emo MTVs, and surfing the web for Le Amis restaurants. after intensive research on the Les Amis umbrella of restaurants, we decided to go to sakae sushi. HAHA. at UOB centre, where there was dinner buffet! decided to treat phangy cos i havent treated her out of my paycheck yet! and paycheck is meant to be spent on FAMILY!! (other than on my savings la).

we pigged out like totally man! thts what a celebration should be like. eat. A LOT. yay im so glad we went to pig out ;)

sigh.. as usual, we camwhored. in the toilet, where else? :)

acting retarded again :O

okay so after the eating, we were SOOOOO tired and sleepy alr. cos of the heaviness in our stomachs, & the lack of sleep (4 hrs on fri morn, + 3am the night before, gosh!) anws we decided to be good girls and not wet blankets so we headed down to clarke quay to meet the rest. met changyi, ting, mingyi, james, huimin @ fisherman's wharf. wa that place reeks of oil and grease! phangy and huimin hit it off immediately (why am i not surprised?), and then we headed to iguana.

met shiyang and ben on the way! wow i keep seeing them. hhaha. don't really rmb much of the in-between things. only a whirlwind of thoughts and questions and emotions, hahahah. and of cos the 2 yums tequila shots. haha. changyi's like the man. haha. anw we slacked some more and watched some bikers do stunts. quite boring i must say, and i guess abit frustrating cos the last thing i wanted to do was sit down and watch bike stunts. there were a hundred and one things better to do, eg. go home and sleep, haha. ah but the highlight of that time of slacking/stoning:

power! hahaha!

mom came to fetch me home + drop off mingyi and ting. "confided" in her how sian i felt.. hahaha. interesting. dont know what got into me. like, saying all those things to her. but it was nice anyways.

SATURDAY!! i woke up feeling generally pissed. wah, it was a xiong day. its not nice to blog about horrible emotions cos u hv to relive them. briefly, i went for SMU openhouse with bel (which was thoroughly an enjoyable time :)) and saw ben/barney AGAIN. bought presents, arrived just in time for confirmation, slept thru most of the rest cos i was just simply Exhausted, abit of time at dome :), etcetcetc... den jolyn's bday at fish&co!! the surprise that fell flat cos of a noob waitress, hahaha. stunned to the max i tell u. but anws, she still had to stand on a chair!! hahaha.

there were only the 5 of us left.. poor rachel was so tired!!

lazy to put up more photos! =x JOLYN time for you to stop ignoring me on msn! HEHEHE hahahah get the photos from me kays!! :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR PRINCESS!

after that, gladwin dropped me at my gramps place! then it was a long time of hanging out with bestbuddy, hahaha altho it really didn't feel that long. and it was funny, the timing at which my mom called. hahaha. anws, supper with val and family!! had a great time as usual :) :) successfully restrained myself frm eating! and therefore successfully slowed the expansion plans of my tummy by 0.1cm/day. :)

SUNDAY was UBIN DAY!! alamak it was really really fun even tho i fell and made myself really dirty >.< combined with jesus generation! so it was the 7 of us - ding, keith, elliot, mag, jiemin, tricia, dee! we got 2nd overall, WAHOO! we wld hv gotten 1st, but then we forgot to go to a compulsory station and our points got deducted. hahahaha. KUDOS TO ANNABEL AND THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE! great job :) liked the fact that most of the games weren't dirty too hehe =p even lunch + ice-cream but the finance/investment chat was a good time :) and nt forgetting sharing thoughts with mag about uni and life and stuff! :)

then we spontaneously decided to go to arab street for dinner! mag + bel + dee! so the 3 of us toddled off to arab street! and i decided to ask this stranger to take photos for us cos we didn't have a camera, which was really too sad!! i just had to document our visit to arab st u see. its a special time and it was the 3 of us leh!! hahahahhaahha. ended up looking like some supermodels starring in some STB campaign promoting the sultan mosque. LOL!

ate a lot.. snort snort. was a nice time of just stoning and talking in sporadic bursts. hahahah. on the way walkg to the mrt, got to talk to bel abt more stuff which actually really helped me sort things out in my head. haha. thanks sis! :) after that ting and i decided not to meet, so i cld study my basic, but i fell asleep studying it anyways. HAHA. woke up on MON feeling PISSED TIRED as usual. sigh. tired is like the constant speech bubble over my head.

and so.. I PASSED MY BASIC THEORY TEST! WOW! okay, its my 1st real step to getting a driving license. super thankful for having someone to accompany me thruout the whole waiting time and everythg :) did i mentioned somewhat touched too? haha anws i went home after that and just ZONKED OUT. sleep. zzz. the bliss!! my sleep debt is really jialat.. dinner at thaiexpress after that, met esther and ismail and waranya and sundar!! :) quite happy to go back there. even tho we met thomas teo and had to do a detour at siglap centre omg. hahaha. so the night ended relatively happily, just that i didnt get to see jean gray! hhahah.

okay woah i had like such a long weekend. so many things happened all squeezed into 5days, but nvm, THIS IS THE LIFE YO! think it'll be even more perfect if i cld squeeze in more time for sleep and for quiet time. oopsie. haha.

LOOKING FORWARD TO LATER MAN, changyi's gonna fetch us to go eat supper! *squeals in excitement!!* seeyou guys!

<3 weekend!!

2008-03-02T23:51:00.003+08:00

i need to stop and force myself to take a break and think!

weekend was good, slept and slept.. hopefully repayed my sleep debt.. SAT! after lunch at frankel w my mom (finally, after 2 weeks), baptism retreat. then dinner at cafe le caire, had exotic anise tea and muhalabia (milk & flour & yogurt dessert flavoured with orange/rose water and garnished with pistacho, sultanas). great time with akuou-ians, i really miss hanging out with you guys!! abby kexin kelly hg jason jolyn!! <3 <3! after that, took a 12 headed back to siglap. chill out at Georges with ting, james, lucinda + card games. long walk along frankel and a good time chatting w lucinda! netball and *insert girl's name* & God unites us together :) supper @ Al-Ameen! slept at 3+am. dont ask me why i didn't make it for church.

woke up at 230pm after valerie's phone call! headed to bras basah popular to buy stationery for work. bought this matching black&white notebook still wondering if i should mail it overseas. haha. in love with the white one!! dont know what to write in the black one.. sigh. met valerie + aunts and uncles and cousin! cafe les amis at botanic gardens. surprisingly the local favourites were better than the mains and pastas. weird. then off to this secret romantic location which i'm not allowd to reveal, for bday celebration. hahaha. long walk w valerie along the waters + the fear of mas selamat appearing (LOL!), just chilling in the alfresco area after that. really really great place ahseng intro-ed us, if you really wanna know where (i.e. need a new place for a date), come bribe me i'll consider telling u. :)

back to work monday, a long weekend passed and still very lovelorn. lol. march12 is coming! i need to get started!!!

friday night out!

2008-03-01T01:08:00.003+08:00

friday night out... with SearchAsians again! this week i find myself wondering whether being a workaholic is ok, or is finding worklife balance more impt. haha. dinner at angmokio, felt super guilty for being sent home so farrrrrr. i want my own car! FOC, of course. with a driving license and free petrol. dont like to trouble ppl. =( anws, had a great time chatting with everybody! i think looking @ uncletoh's IC pic was quite memorable. so were the funny stories on wrong calls during telemarketing, hahaha.

(edit) of cos my fri was brightened up by lunchtime visit by greatpal TING!! yay hahaha minus tht last part which was damn awkward (more on ur part i guess!?) hahaa I WANNA GO MSIA CUT HAIR!!!!

shirley's bday just passed, i dont hv the pics, but great time! thanks to valerie who did most of the work, oops =x i'll find a way to repay u and show my gratitude! lol. think shirley was honestly surprised by the flowers for awhile, hope she liked the whole works :) :) as usual.. i <3 my cousins!!

work's fun now, starting to do more PR positions instead of adv, so learning even more things. hehe. starting to meet some real quality candidates, who impress my socks off. starting to formulate a plan on how to climb and become more like perm staff and then thats when what im looking for really happens. HEH

argh really dont know where i should go after uni, results are coming out fri, the deadline to make my decisions is drawing closer... i need to get started thinking about uni options, career options, etc! true, money is impt to me, but i think job interest is so much more impt to me.. i think i need to start asking alex more abt finance, hopefully i'll be inspired to like it too and then go into private banking or sth haha. (at least there's some form of relationship nurturing and people interaction.)

im so seriously ARGHH over the whole emoshit thing. how did it even start in the first place? haaaa. i think i need to write about it and find some way to get over it FASSTTT. shoo. SHOOOOOO

stayover @ Goodwood

2008-02-24T09:53:00.003+08:00

just came home from stayover + church!

stayover at goodwood park hotel with the SearchAsians was an insane time of drinking and laughter, as well as the constant pee-ing trips. i've nvr playd so much drinking games in one sitting before. like, from 1am to 5am it was just nonstop brainless games. we even played open numbers and a very unsober sengyew went "i say 3"! he even shouted at a few ppl and was truly the Drunk+AhBeng of the night, what with the gold neckchain. very happily beat willistoh (UNCLETOH) at five-ten game a few times, muahaha. and we were very happily saboh-ing a certain pair of ppl. felicia's liver is a sponge and she'll never get drunk! respect man. she keeps feeding us tapwater, yay! ann was being protected by the most dangerous man (boy, sorry) of the night. ;) serene was like, *blinkblink*, *starestare*... huh i drink? jason (the Reddest Man Alive) and yaosheng was out by the 1st round of card games. so was eve! Amanda+Anthony was just cuddling up at the sofa observing us going nuts. for me, i remember most vividly... the numerous pee-ing trips. and the knocking over of glasses of chivasgreentea + peachvodkasprite. hahaha.

i think im truly in deep mud for the kaypohness and saboh-ing i started. i only realised when at 6am, i got her reply to "what did you do on Vday?". i'm so dead. 2 boys fighting over 1 is not a pretty sight, and i don't even wanna begin to think that i helped piece a love triangle tgt (& im nt even involved and its none of my business!) oops. to think i thought i was just having some innocent fun putting two ppl tgt. oh no. the last thing i want is for some makingmerry session to sour workplace relations. i can only hope to sleep off the negative emotions accumulated from the lack of rest and wake up a happier person.

i heard this song that day, one of my potential consultant's ringtone. it was like a slap in the face.. how apt it was for you, and how it comes back to taunt me.. 你完完全全收回去了，我却好像比你慢了几排... ai, just one of those down/emo days...

等待
我随时随地在等待
做你感情上的依赖
我没有任何的疑问
这是爱
我猜
你早就想要说明白
我觉得自己好失败
从天堂掉落到深渊
多无奈

我愿意改变
重新再来一遍
我无法只是普通朋友
感情已那么深
叫我怎么能放手

但你说
I only want to be your friend
做个朋友
我在
你心中只是just a friend
不是情人
我感激你对我这样的坦白
但我给你的爱暂时收不回来
So I
我不能只是be your friend
I just can't be your friend

我猜
你早就想要说明白
我觉得自己好失败
从天堂掉落到深渊
多无奈

我愿意改变
重新再来一遍
我无法只是普通朋友
感情已那么深
叫我怎么能放手

但你说
I only want to be your friend
做个朋友
我在
你心中只是just a friend
不是情人
我感激你对我这样的坦白
但我给你的爱暂时收不回来
So I
我不能只是be your friend
I just can't be your friend

ITS THE WEEKEND :D

2008-02-16T02:11:00.002+08:00

i'm so sleepy! im so totally gonna sleep til the sun is high up in the sky. yesssss its the WEEKEND YOH!!

i learnt how to do the thing after work today, i.e. the tell your character by your birthdate thing. alamak, super accurate i think? VALERIE I ASKED THE "SHIFU" TO CALCULATE YOURS!! but yah cos the categories are rather broad so obviously will be 60%-70% correct. hmm. some things kinda shook me, but i think at the end of the day God's Word reigns. dont know what to make of it (from a christian perspective)...

anyways, after work met mom & her frens! sumptuous dinner at imperial treasure (great world city).. oh man i really wanna hv lotsa money so i can splurge like that. hahah. we'll see how when i grow up. hahha.

met samting and mingyi at night for supper, had a nice time! :) saw my thaixpress friends too! hey -_-, we shall go thaixpress and eat one day k! haha

i was surfing facebook for awhile, and just thinking abt stuff, and then i realised some things. haha. thankfully. so many things that are "coincidental"!! i think its scaring me. like this whole thing. the devil is playing tricks with my mind with all that chinese zodiac crap and birthdate character thing. OH NO! argh. haha. its so accurate and true sometimes! i need to go back and read the old testament. haha. update again soon!

Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T23:51:00.002+08:00

V day was spent with The Beloved Cousins! :D we went shokudo, a jap restaurant themed like Marche. didn't really eat much i think! food was not bad ba i guess. lazy to post food pics. people's pics are more impt! haha!

the two sweeties with the cupcakes i bought last min! hee =p

yay the 3 of us!! :D first one with timer, 2nd a kind lady took for us!

mad day at work, slogged like my labour was worth S$15 an hour and not $6.50(haha jk), ended at 6pm with a headache -_- but the "stay behind" part to talk to eve serene kim was FUNN! *AHEM* ahahaha oh and jason did this 算命 thingy thing that was eerie-ly ZHUN. reminds me of HONGWEI and him. hahaha. ohwells. yup but anws, thank God for this job and for my background that helped me get this job. the environment is great :) hooray. :) He does have a plan for me, a future that will prosper me, not harm me. THANK YOU FATHER! MY GREATEST LOVE TODAY! happy vday ppl! :)

CNY!!

2008-02-10T22:51:00.000+08:00

chinese new year has come and gone!! haha what a joyful time of family bonding. i <3 my cousins and uncles and aunties and gramps!! weee :D thank God i didnt eat too much this year, need to watch my weight and hopefully lose some before i see him. IF i do. hahaha. PICTURES SOON!

talked to wangjunxia (friend frm shanghai) just now, haha really had a good time. think our personalities are too similar.. sometimes i totally understand what shes saying. and viceversa. its kinda interesting. hahaha. and she said many things that made sense and confirmed what i had in my head. ahahhaha. i realised common friends are really darn impt for longdist. hmm.. talking to her started me thinking about "what fellowship can light have with darkness" (2 Cor 6), but not really just in the marriage sense (according to the passage); more like friends-wise. hmm.. food for thought to chow on when i have more leisure time to write.

valentine's day is coming! post-As is a season for boyfriends/girlfriends; at every gathering the subject matter inadvertently switches to matters of the heart (or the hormones). the peer pressure is definitely there, so i applaud and admire people like vanessa chong who has settled it with God already. like, she has that ka-pow! steadiness and resilience when it comes to this. "no bf now its okay, im gonna meet him one day anyhows, but i sure hope he's sexy!" kinda thing. hahaha. and mind you, its not cos she has the gift of celibacy like paul -_-. so i guess for once, the people to be envied are the singles, not the attached, cos in a sense the singles are the ones who emerge triumphant over their circumstances, the singles go through much more than those attached. they are the winners in life too! we always think the attached are lucky, dunno why boys drop down from the sky into their lives like the snow that poured down in shanghai. hello, the singles don't give in to peer pressure, and they don't let fate (or the boys that don't happen in their life) dictate their feelings and plans. singles are overcomers! hahaha! at least, the happy ones :)

yes, so, kudos to all the singles out there :) for once, stop envying your attached friends, fill that need for adoration and love with GOD'S love and GO SPLURGE ON SOME GOOD FOOD FOR VDAY MAN OH YEAH!

and for people who are straddling that middle ground, not here not there.. goodluck to us! i dunno what to say. hahaha. be happy thinking of the guy you can't go out with? hahaha. this sounds like, self-deprecating humour(less).

for now, i need to settle down my heart and mind and get ready for work tmr!

他+她

2008-02-02T01:18:00.000+08:00

他：对了，那天看到了你的msn名号，什么"i need a man"，你有那么想要有个男人呀？
她：...晕...

后面：

他：啊，嗯，就知道你不可能是那种人！
她: ...晕...

真的，无话可说。

8colours!

2008-01-25T03:12:00.000+08:00

http://www.paulgoldinresearch.com/cg/index.htm

its the colour test again!

Utmost in your mind is success. You are constantly seeking stimulation and a life full of experience. You are trying to 'grow' and above all you need to develop freely and to shake off the shackles of self-doubt. You are an enthusiastic individual, full of life with the desire to live intensely. You like contact with others and are enthusiastic by nature. You are receptive to anything new, modern or intriguing. Your interests are many and you are likely to expand your fields of activities. You are optimistic about the future and you deserve every success because deep down you are a 'winner'.

Being a somewhat gentle, emotional and sensitive person, you are at this time experiencing a considerable amount of tension. What you really need is someone who can be close to you and to listen to what you have to say.

Everyone has to compromise at times and circumstances are such that at this time you are feeling the need to do just that. Put all of your hopes on the back burner and let matters flow for a time - forgo some of the things you want. The good times are just around the corner.

For whatever the reason, you find it extremely difficult to sustain relationships - that is to sustain them in the manner that you would wish. You are a very gentle sort of person, full of feeling, sensitivity and susceptible to love and affection, looking and longing for a partner with whom you can enjoy 'All things bright and beautiful' - someone with whom you can seek out the more esoteric things of life. But up to now this person has only existed in your imagination. You are very choosy, appreciative, refined and extremely artistic in temperament and it is your hope to seek others who will allow you to form and express your own taste and judgement and who at the same time may assist you in your intellectual or artistic growth.

You really would like to be completely uninhibited - to let your hair down - but you are held back by your sense of logic and rationalilty, since you realise that by simple stupidity you could lose everything - whatever that may be.

hahaha its so damn weird cos its so true. i wonder why is it that choosing 8 colours in a certain sequence tells how a person is feeling? hmm. maybe i'll read up on that after SAT. HAAA. i went to photocopy stuff, and the auntie asked me 你现在在做什么？进修吗？haha i told her i was studying for SAT. but i continued musing on what she said. and yah i think it really struck me that now's the best time for me to 进修 and do whatever i want. for eg. spend a whole week in the library, reading what i want (not my notes!!), and coming out only to meet different ppl for lunch and dinner. ah. the delight! i can finally read about socrates plato aristotle, read chinese love novels (and share them with valeriephang haha), learn thai, read cookbooks for fun, read about history, psychology, human behaviour...

i think deep down inside i'm really a geek/nerd. i do have this intense adoration for words and the mysteries they reveal when arranged lovingly by gifted authors. maybe thats why my posts are always riddled with alphabets and not pictures. haha. i should just make my journal private! haha.

fooood

2008-01-23T22:24:00.000+08:00

oh man. i'm craving for good food. argh. i'm not supposed to eat at goodfood places unless its a special occasion! arghh. and the next best excuse i can think of is valentine's day. oh no i have to wait like 20+ more days before i can eat good jap food! or.. nvm. =/ sigh. i'm transported back to the days of wishing i were a taitai and i had a rich boyfriend to pay for my expenses.

iko-i sashimi! drools..

and i suddenly am overcome with the desire to fry wontons again. HEH.

i'm torn between earning money and working to enjoy. cook trainee = 5per hr, perks: learn new skills, and work near samting+wans! lows: its only 5 ohmy. admin job will pay better! might even be able to find 7 per hour. OR, if i get tuition kids.. aaaah. i think i can go taiwan already. lalala. TELL ME HOW. CAN MONEY DROP FROM SKY PLS THANKS

SAT is coming!!

2008-01-17T17:32:00.000+08:00

i was reading up on lit texts in preparation for my SAT, hoping that perhaps i'll glean some "examples" i can use in my essays. hahahah i became especially interested in lit texts, events in history etc after i read one model SAT essay which dropped "history textbook content" as examples all over the place. sounded awesome, hahaha and well it earned the perfect score. apparently history and lit students have an advantage in essay-writing, but that shouldn't stop a science student from having that advantage as well! google and wikipedia are our best friends, yes? haha.

so anyways i was reading this essay on pride and prejudice by jane austen, found here. as a lit noob, i dont know if this is normal fare students dish out for their essays.. regardless, i think it's a good write-up. haha. i wish i did lit, really. so much more interesting than.. okay nevermind, the subjects i did had their own merits too. mmm. haha.

as i read this essay and thought about the plot, i'm reminded of the verse in Ecclesiastes, "nothing is new under the sun." although it is the olden-days' version of chicklit (accordg to jl), some of the concepts of romantic love are still as applicable in today's context. all the different kinds of romantic love possible-
the "over-practical and pragmatic" marriage for comfort and an establishment (Collins and Charlotte),
the marriage of "unthinking passion", based on feelings of the present (Mr and Mrs Bennet, Lydia and Wickham)
the "love at first sight" and K-drama type of courtship marriage (Jane and Bingham),
the "reason and reflection to balance passion" type of marriage (Elizabeth and Darcy).
(credits to website found above)

yup, it pretty much reflects the types of marriages that still exist in society today. okay, maybe not the match-made type, but it was mentioned in passing wrt Darcy & Lady Catherine's daughter or sth. haha. my point is, even though circumstances changed, eg. the kinds of obstacles, definitions of establishment and comfort, etc, the way Man loves and courts seems to remain immutable. so, isn't it fair to say romantic love is indeed universal and transcendent over time? in loving and in passion, isn't all Man equal? i was observing this foreign family on the MRT, and how the daughter tugged at her dad's sleeve, the dad ruffling her daughter's hair, how they were taking pics on their hp camera together.. it really struck me then and there that though love, having many forms of expression, the raw substance and emotion of it is felt so similarly among different skin types and people with vastly dissimilar cultural identities. it took me 18years to fully comprehend what that meant. that glorious, enriching love you feel for your special someone or for your parents, that poor kid down that dirt street in Africa feels in the same way too. are we really that different from that poverty-stricken child? why have we allowed cultural and class divides to draw such bold lines that differentiates us from them? we are, in essence, common Man. he needs as much as i need. he wants as much i want. he loves as much as i love. he dares, he dreams, he lives, as much as i do.

at times like these when i realise how we are all the same, despite our lives and experiences being from two worlds, i remember God and His love.. and how His love is for the rest of Man too. not just for the educated elite, not just for my friends and my acquaintances. not just for those i can reach. but also for the rudely different, the weird and peculiar, the despised ones, the poor ones, the deviants and off-tandems. cos i think they feel that same love.

[/edit]
hahaha its like 12am now, and i'm so high and happy from supper with valeriephang! hahaha. im even more convinced now that my love language is quality time. hahaha. anyway i re-read my post and i'm like, i totally don't feel that way now! haha as in i think and believe in the same thing, but the whole mood and stuff just doesn't feel me now. like ah, i typed that? *cringe. oman i think i have split personality disorder. or schizophrenia. or sth. gasp. hahaha. no wonder mr tong cant read me as well as he can read other pple. lalala. whatever.

to valerie: we need a man! a man! a meh-eh-eh-eh-an! :D

TO BEL! hahaha

2008-01-15T00:49:00.000+08:00

i was feeling so upset just now. a series of unfortunate events.

the home phone bill. the pocket money issue. guilt trips. the financial woes. cancelled assignment. long list of constructive criticism. feeling like a pest. disappointed. "what-the?"-ish. and, THE HORRIBLE BOY WHO BULLIED MY COUSIN. waaaaaa.

aiiiii.

but bel came along and brightened up my night :) thanks sis! my voice of reason! hahaha. you were really so logical and you made so much sense. i wish i could be as good at dispensing advice, and at listening (to you esp, in the future!). heh. i realised how petty my troubles were when i stumbled upon the thought that i'm blessed with great people like bel in my life. :) relationship and money problems just fade away and feel so.. irrelevant?, when i think about friends like bel (that includes u valeriephang - YOU DEFINITELY HV A HIGHER PLACE THAN HIM THANKS) and how it really should be the thing thts worth my time and effort in "worrying" about. haha. so thank you BEL! <3

and "sigh" to the horrible boy who hurt my cousin! even though he wont be reading this, still, i wish he wasnt so blinded! abcdefg argh. i feel so angry for valeriephang. =(

okay goodnight!

exams for SYC china pple!

2008-01-14T00:07:00.000+08:00

这个星期一开始到星期五，亲爱的王珺霞，高国骁，吴海桑，任仲佳，都会在考试... 希望他们能考到理想的成绩！:)

我一定要努力做工赚钱！三月到上海时就不需向自己的储蓄“借钱”，通通都要用自己赚来的钱。祝我一臂之力吧！嗯，当然赚到的钱不只是我的劳，也是神赐的，让我找到一份好工作，有收入 :)

现在我周末在aroythai当waitress（不知道用中文怎么称呼，valerie说是餐厅小姐，哈哈！）一小时新币五元，虽然不算很多啦，但能省车费(aroythai在我家对面，很近！），每次晚饭都有机会品尝各种泰式佳肴，而且又有机会认识泰国人，可以练习泰文，哈哈。希望从说“谢谢”或“再见”，会进步到说“今天从教堂来的”之类话。哈哈。唉，我看我先把中文练好了再来谈学泰文的进度吧。哈哈。

好了，从现在到１月２６日，一定不可以用中文博客了，因为SAT要到了！要练习英文的vocabulary(是语汇吗？）！嗯！"garrulous, superfluous, plebian" here i come...

Hear us from heaven

2008-01-11T16:03:00.000+08:00

Lord, hear our cry
Come heal our land
Breathe life into these dry and thirsty souls
Lord, hear our prayer
Forgive our sin
And as we call on Your name
Would You make this a place
For Your glory to dwell

Chorus:
Open the blind eyes
Unlock the deaf ears
Come to Your people
As we draw near
Hear us from heaven
Touch our generation
We are Your people
Crying out in desperation

Lord hear our song
Your children worship
As we sing out Your praise
Would You make this a place for Your glory to dwell

Hear Us From Heaven,
Hear Us From Heaven,
Hear Us From Heaven

so i wait

2008-01-08T12:45:00.000+08:00

its 1245 and he's 45mins late! haha i think he's probably busy.

went for class @ studio wu with beloved VALERIE! <3 hahaha. i like pilates its what i've been looking for! and girls hiphop's not bad too tho i think valerie is crazily in love with that class. hahaha.

okay i'm just here to blog because i'm trying to occupy myself while waiting. lalala. i'm supposed to move to another blog address, which i've set up since a thousand years ago, but been too lazy to find a skin. hmm, actually i can still officially move even though the layout's not nice right. hmm. oh wells. hahaha.

am excited for sensibles! i hope i won't get jaded as the year goes by. but He makes us soar on wings like eagles. :) which means, like eagles, after reaching a certain.. altitude? they just soar effortlessly with their wings outstretched, and no beating of wings is needed to sustain its flight. thats what Jesus promises when He says that those who wait on the Lord will soar on wings like eagles; no need to flap and flap to keep my head up. just.. wait on the Lord, dwell in His presence, for strength and renewal.

so i shall put away my worries for now and rest on His promises, and have faith for the year ahead. :)

and He reminded me, in my eagerness to do many things for Him this year and to be His hands and feet, i shouldn't forget to be His child. to dwell, to love, to sing to Him, to enjoy and to revel in His love. to delight in His character; His mercy, love, grace... to know Him more, to discover the "great and unsearchable things i have not known". (Jer 33:3) about You Lord, about who You are, Your heartbeat, to think as You think, feel as You feel! Your plans for the nations, for the people, for YM, for Sensibles.. to go deeper this year.

and i need to study His Word more to do that!

i really wish for the same yearning in his heart. the same hunger and passion. and i will keep asking God for it. because if i knock persistently God You will hear me. and if i ask according to Your will You will grant it.

thank God for His promises (and will) which are good, pleasing, and perfect. :)

中文！

2008-01-07T02:20:00.000+08:00

看到了他前女友的照片，哈哈。看来他喜欢的女孩子都是一类型的，眼睛大大，又双眼皮，还有像spencer所说的是twit，好像 "ahlian", 哈哈。虽然有点...但是我不得不同意他的说法。一定不会遐想。却联想到这一点：我一定不是那类型的女孩。哈哈。眼睛可能相象吧，但共同点就到此为止。我根本不"tia/teh", 超不对人撒娇！除非是作弄乾爹之类的啦，哈哈。唉。到现在我还搞不懂，他是否真正的喜欢我，还是喜欢上那恋爱的滋味。

嗯，今天陪samting吃夜宵，SAMTING 你真是个好朋友，谢谢你发的那条简讯，真的很感动！哈哈！wans 也一样！那么关心我，哈哈。真是幸福，blessed.

回家路途上，不知为什么忽然抬起头望着天，i mean, 普通人应该不会动不动就抬头望天吧。看到了那颗“最亮的星星”，就想起我们那晚的“争论”；那在天空最亮的星星到底是不是星球mars? 还是是一颗星？在那一杀钠不禁微笑了。美好的回忆...我记得对你说过，以后看到月亮星星，一定会记得你。说到做到！ by tasting it over and over again, i hope to keep those memories alive til the next time we meet! 就算是站在朋友的立场见面也无所谓。除非你介意... “你开心就好”...

终于完成了第一个用华语写出来的post! 感谢神！哈哈 :)

VAE; 玫瑰花的葬礼

2008-01-06T22:27:00.000+08:00

离开你一百个星期我回到了这里
寻找我们来过的证据
没有人愿意提起
玫瑰花它的过去
今天这里的主题
我把它叫作回忆
我知道爱情这东西
它没什么道理
过去我和你在一起
是我太叛逆
现在只剩我自己
偷偷的想你

玫瑰花的葬礼
埋葬关于你的回忆
感觉双手麻痹
不能自已
已拉不住你
真的好美丽
那天的烟花雨
我说要娶穿碎花洋裙的你
玫瑰花的葬礼
埋葬深深爱着的你
残朵停止呼吸
渗入大地
没人会注意
一片小雨滴
陪着我等天明
我用这最后一分钟怀念你

我在夜幕笼罩的天桥上潜行
每一级阶梯
都留着你我昔日印迹
温存迷醉吵闹清醒
都还在我的脚畔兜转不清
没来得及把红色玫瑰递给你
爱就象是一场雨
已经离我而去
你说过
太过鲜艳的爱情终将凋零

玫瑰花的葬礼
埋葬关于你的回忆
感觉双手麻痹
不能自已
已拉不住你
真的好美丽
那天的烟花雨
我说要娶穿碎花洋裙的你
玫瑰花的葬礼
埋葬深深爱着的你
残朵停止呼吸
渗入大地
没人会注意
一片小雨滴
陪着我等天明
我用这最后一分钟怀念你

总是回想过去埋怨我自己
总是不经意间想起了你
现在的你已经太遥不可及
只能留在我记忆

玫瑰花的葬礼
埋葬关于你的回忆
感觉双手麻痹
不能自已
已拉不住你
真的好美丽
那天的烟花雨
我说要娶穿碎花洋裙的你
玫瑰花的葬礼
埋葬深深爱着的你
残朵停止呼吸
渗入大地
没人会注意
一片小雨滴
陪着我等天明
我用这最后一分钟怀念你
我用这最后一分钟...

yay nice song. haha. i'm not emo-ing i just like the song haha.

some parts me some parts you

TAIWAN!

2008-01-02T16:34:00.000+08:00

hello everyone! i NEED to blog about taiwan because its foodie paradise. hahaha. anyway, please set your browser settings to detect chinese simplified, cos i left some of the names in chinese. haha.

22 Dec, Evening
first off, 沙大哥 and his whole family fetched us from the airport! after putting down our luggage at Hotel Miramar Garden Taipei (美丽信花园酒店 near 忠孝复兴 station), and packing the gifts for him, we walked to a nearby seafood restaurant for our first dinner in taipei! the food was GREAT, soo good, really expensive as well. i don't really eat much seafood cos i dont really like crabs/lobsters, but this time we had mostly fish, which i totally love. hahaha. so u can guess how much i ate. wait, don't guess please. heh.

the place where we had our seafood dinner! within walking distance of our hotel!

first up.. fish (li yu? i dont rmb what fish gasp!), really fresh and tender despite it being fried. and 麻辣 sotong! not TOO spicy, even tho it was still numbing. NICE.

then we had cuttlefish that you dipped in a special sauce; fried eel (i still prefer grilled unagi to the fried version), i choked on the bones!;

oolong tea! very thirst-quenching. one of them was sweetened (tho not too sweet). you wont get this in singapore. haha. then, this springroll thing with pork and leek. HIGHLY recommended please. hahaha.

the hotpot with cabbage and pork. the broth is cooked with Mei Cai i think. there was charcoal in the middle of the pot, so the soup had an authentic smoky flavour. no joke man. the kick's in the smokiness. haha. next, braised pork knuckles! i think you can find this in Singapore too so not too special, but still, it was nice, not too oily. :)

the carbs; fried rice and noodles. fried rice was good, worth a try, but just like any other GOOD fried rice in SG! noodles were only so-so, we didn't really touch it..

my favourite i think: 大眼鱼, pronounced "Dua Bak Hur" in hokkien! biggest eyes i've ever seen on an edible, steamed fish! and 沙大哥 transferred the fishhead to a plate just for me to devour. (check out the fish's EYE!) made me feel like a carnivorous monster. muahaha. THANK YOU!

沙大哥 and his whole family outside the restaurant. from left, 沙大哥, Ean, 沙太太, Kelly, Windy! on the right, all of us outside the restaurant! :)

after the dinner, we walked back to the hotel and after settling down for abit, kor + rachel + me went to explore our surrounding shops for abit.. saw 7-11, familymart, and this roadside 蚝仔面线 stall! but the only thing worth taking photo at was this..

was really weird to spot this there, cos its supposed to be a high-class area, with office buildings too. then, a sex shop. hahaha.

23 Dec, first official day at taipei!
breakfast was provided for in the hotel; took many pictures but im really too lazy to upload sorry! hahaha cos anyway, its not a taiwan specialty kinda thing, but i have to admit the hotel gives a decent breakfast. waffles and the wheatbreadroll deserves special mention! haha.

after breakfast, aunt alice (from south africa) came with her whole family! met shirley and her sister, as well as their dad!

top row: haoyang (kor), mr wu (their dad), shirley. bottom row: rachel, denise, auntie alice, mummy, sylvia. really happy to meet auntie alice again :) and of course, its always great fun to make new friends! haha! didnt get to talk much to shirley but still i think it'll be great fun to hang out with her. hopefully i can go over to south africa soon, or that she'll come over to sg during her hols! :)

after that we took a rather long walk to SOGO, where 忠孝复兴捷运站 was. haha. the pic on the right's taken in the train..

more photos outside SOGO; we acted abit like retarded tourists who've never seen a SOGO in our lives. sigh.

we took the train to 西门站 and started our shopping at ximending! shopped a lot! i bought 3pairs of shoes. and many other things. hahaha. here are some of the "roadside stalls" that came out around 5pm!

other than shopping, we also played this hoops-shooting game at the arcade! haha. and we also ate the revered 阿宗面线! and, mummy bought 棒棒堂 for valerie at a shop near the arcade! haha. at about 5 or 6plus, Sha da ge fetched us and we went to Yong Kang Jie (永康街, i think) for 麻辣火锅！not many pictures; too busy eating. haha. there's this 打老婆菜 or sth, i don't remember the story much, except that it has something to do with the vegetables shrinking to a mere fraction of its original size after boiling. haha. although technically yes, other vegetables do that too, but this veg has uh, exceptional abilities at shrinking. haha.

the other special thing i tried was pig's blood, or 猪血糕. not much taste the pig blood itself, supposed to eat it with the sauces you mixed on ur own (they have a complete sauce counter for you to get creative, not like singapore's steamboat places you go to). i guess you eat it for the texture. haha. well okay, maybe there was abit of the taste of the tanginess of blood. haha. ok, enough said.

then there was the 手工蛋; looks like quail eggs but they're not. machine-made from real chicken eggs, 手工蛋 comes in bite-sized portions just like quail eggs, but have neither the fragrance nor high cholesterol level as the eggs they try to imitate. hehe. quite cute lah havent seen this before in singapore.

沙大哥 teaching me how to eat duck tongue, or 鸭舌.

don't eat the parts where its near their windpipe/oesophagus, he says. hahaha. can eat the ligament, and the tongue itself. nothing very special, just the novelty of eating a weird bodypart and also, the fragrance of the 卤汁.

a 点心stall worth trying along the 永康街 belt; also, a decent dessert joint! was too full to even consider visiting that place. after that, we were dropped off at ximending again and continued some shopping! haaha and reached the hotel exhausted. haha.

24 Dec, Christmas Eve!
after a really slow wash-up and slack tv-watching-after-breakfast-break, we went to 五分埔, this like, wholesaler's market. didn't really enjoy myself cos it was raining and all. but, i still managed to buy quite some stuff! oops. what a spendthrift. sigh. Lord, please bless me with a rich husband please, or else, a well-paying job. so i can go back to taiwan and do my part for their economy. haha. (inside joke: think 沙大哥)

my bro with those scandalous leopard-print ear muffs, and this coffee place we sat down at after a tiring half-day of shopping. haha. nothing very special the drinks there, but what was interesting was the menu (菜单) in chinese. my mum challenged me to read off the board all the names of the various coffee drinks (latte, macchiato, cappucino, americano, etc) and the tea drinks. hahaha.

there was a roadside stall nearby selling betel nuts! those that turn your mouth a bloody red after chewing. serious. i never tried it, looked abit.. i dunno. unsightly? haha. its supposedly a snack for the lower-classes; if i'm not wrong, truckdrivers etc eat them to keep awake at night.

then we walked on and arrived at this YUMMY 凉面 stall! woots. its called 姐妹凉面, and run by the 2 sisters below! :) they were very friendly when asked to take photos and all. highly recommended, partly cos of their service too! haha. :)

below is a picture of the 凉面! its really more like a comfort food (think craving for carbs during PMS, or think mashed potatoes, but not the Maggi kind thx) than a special dish with exquisite/exotic flavours.

the noodles are the right texture for a carb dish - not too dry, not too springy, not too soggy, waaaaa the 口感 kept me eating and eating! the sauce is peanut-ish, sweet, a little spicy, a little bitter, and the cucumber was really like gloriously refreshing! like, a "dulling" of the palate by the sauce counteracted by the sprightly flavours of the cucumber. OH MAN I REALLY WANNA EAT THISSSS AGAIN NOW NOW NOW! =( i like this more than 鸡扒 okay? haha. anyways, finish up the meal with a hot bowl of soup! :) not fantastic, kinda like a lot of MSG, but hey man, this is comfort food, whats important is not so much the flavour but the feeling it brings ;)

well, then we set off again in search of more good food and good shopping! we found a bakery with yummy traditional 太阳饼, a pastry with malt and honey inside, but we felt that the malt filling was abit too stingy, so we didn't buy from there. i kinda regret actually, cos on 2nd thought it actually was one of the best i tried. yep, then we continued on and i saw this 菜饭 stall, 台弯 style!

food is charged according to which "class" of food they order. same concept; meat one price, veg one price, etc. BUT, here in taiwan, people choose their own dishes! and, the boxes are different - made from paper, biodegradable, and therefore more environmentally friendly than singapore's 菜饭 stalls. (hmm, this sounds like an appropriate idea to effect a change.. campaign for styrofoam boxes to be out!) the lady on the right was preparing a mass order, i think.

we then stopped by this stall to buy lots of sweet stuff. haha no pictures, but it was all good and yummy. redbeans! hahaha. and also 方块酥. =)

yeah, then we rested abit at 松山车站, this railway station (not mrt!). then we crossed the 红桥 (red bridge) and arrived at 饒河夜市! (Rao He Night Market). there was a HUGE temple there, but i didn't go in, only mom did.

and also, one MUST have the reputed 胡椒饼! (Pepper Pau, haha) i think maybe whats special is the fact that they use this charcoal oven to bake those paus. haha.

烧仙草! yums. haha. singapore only has the cold version. this hot version is perfect for the "taiwan winter"! hahaha. no jelly, just the chinchow taste, plus peanuts, redbean, pearls.. nice :) we also stopped by this shoe shop where kor bought his brown nike shoes! hahaha. there was this ULTRA lovable doggie :) i still remember him vividly okay! awww man i wanna go back there and give him a big hug! (even tho im not really an animal person..)

then we returned to the hotel slightly earlier! cos we were quite tired already. christmas in taiwan is kinda unhappening. i think next time i wont go there over christmas! i'd rather spend it in singapore. hahaha. yep. counted down with mom over the tv -_- sigh. hahaha. the most sad christmas i've had in my life! haha.

25 Dec, Christmas Day at Taipei 101, 淡水,士林!
first stop of the day, Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world! we took a train to 市政府站, then a shuttle bus to Taipei 101. we didn't go up to the top level cos we felt it wasnt worth the SGD$15, since its winter and cloudy and windy. haha. so we just took a photo at the visitor arrival centre! next, we stopped by NewYorkNewYork Shopping Centre. bought donuts from Mister Donut, and sat down at Starbucks for some coffee. i had toffee nut latte, yums :)

then, at about 3+pm, we started our long and arduous journey (juz kidding) to 淡水! was a really long train ride. yawns. since we haven't had lunch, we decided to walk around the 小吃店s in the area! oh btw, dunkindonuts there don't taste as good as other countries' outlets. a little stale. maybe cos of the cold weather?

those sweets you see in 古装片, haha. and this really sour drink.

sweet potato balls. again, its a novelty, not really worth your stomach space if you don't have much left to spare. and, i love the packaging of the drinks in taiwan; colourful and creative and everything! Singapore is just.. dull. plain. classic. not exciting at all. =/

铁蛋: quail's egg dipped and cooked in 卤汁 for at least 12 times until it forms a hard, black layer around the egg, like a metal shell, thus explaining its name! and also, kor and rachel ordered this 大肠包小肠, thinking it was a 香肠 wrapped in a bigger bratwurst. but we all got cheated! the 大肠 was actually just glutinous rice! HAHA. we all had a good laugh about it.

after that, we took a 公车 (public bus) to 渔人码头, and we went onto the lover's bridge (情人桥)! it was REALLY COLD man. there was this couple taking their wedding photo at the bridge, but the girl was so skimpily dressed for the weather! really pity her man! i found myself wishing i was there with a 情人 too. hahaha kidding!

we tried to find good food to eat, but nothing much.. so we had almond tea, and left for 士林夜市! dropped at 剑潭捷运站, and started our eating escapade! :D 名副其实的士林鸡扒！and, some kebab thing that wasn't really impressive! haha. the ji pa really beats singapore's one flat. im never gonna eat ji pa in singapore. unless really no choice and the craving becomes too overwhelming. hahaha.

well we shopped some more in the ye shi, and we played more hoops-shooting games! mom made friends with some random taiwanese clubber ppl. u know, those wild types. hahaha. exchanged cigarettes somemore! tsktsk. ate some 冷圆 thing that i suspect gave mom and me diarrhoea the next morning. haha. the whole 气氛很热闹, just like what a 夜市 should be like :) but at about 9+ we got tired alr, and finally went back to the hotel!

26 Dec, last full day at taipei!
at about noon, we headed to 光华商场, this place selling electronics and appliances. finally kor got to shop for his own stuff! haha. quite nice la, the stuff there. like there are nice com accessories at reasonable prices. bought a really cute thumbdrive! hahaha. and other stuff. saw this really cute car! it had the a figurine of one of the death gods in death note!

there was this really friendly couple operating this small 香肠 stall. yummy :) we had one with garlic, and one with blackpepper, both were heavenly! heehee. singapore's pasar malam 香肠 doesn't offer the sauce accompaniment. haha.

then we headed to 西门町 again for more shopping! mom decided that we're gonna have a proper lunch/dinner this time round, like, a sit-down thing, not 路边小吃. so we went for this yummy Jap Curry place! katsudon, pork roll with asparagus and cheese, and chicken curry. :)

the sesame+salt+pepper blend that we had to grind, then add to our curry for added fragrance; the green tea jelly! oh, the pannacotta (mangosauce) was HEAVENLY, i would go back there JUST to eat that pannacotta. hahaha. but of course i'll end up eating the curry too!

the special 冰咖啡!

hahaha after eating, we played MORE hoops-shooting games! and look at the banner: its supposed to say relax, not release! LOL.

well, we continued shopping and shopping and shopping.. we drew NT$5000 from the ATM to continue spending! gosh.. there was this bag sale and we bought 4. SGD$40 gone like that! haha. then i saw this cute egg place that i wanna visit again the next time i go back taipei! haha. oh and we went to this sweet shop with these cuteee sweets below! hahaha.

we then left at about 9+, and started looking for supper near our hotel! we discovered this awesome breakfast/supper place in a small lane! the pic on the right is.. i don't remember what its called. its nice. :)

streetside 小笼包 beats singapore's DingTaiFung xiaolongbao. totally okay? haha. and, 饭团 with porkchop and egg and youtiao and cai por filling!

27 Dec, last half-day at taipei!
awww, time to say goodbye to taipei =/ in the morning went to guanghua again, kor bought some stuff! yay im so happy to see him buy stuff. :) then, went to this supermarket to buy food! yay! hahaha i bought 杯杯面. heh. then we met up with mom and went to SOGO! bought food at the basement of SOGO (new building), and then with just 30minutes left, we spotted an ESPIRIT sale! muahaha so rachel and i speed-shopped (within what, 20minutes?!), signed credit card and blew SGD$140! wow. the fastest i've shopped. hahaha. and rachel and i RAN BACK all the way to the hotel! ahahahah! what an experience! :D we will make great shopping partners LOL <3!!

okay, then 沙大哥 and his wife fetched us to the airport! arghh so sad, having to say bye to them =/ i reaaaalllyyy like the both of them! so sweet ppl! not forgetting funny! if they come to singapore i'll make sure i make time out to bring them around! (esp if their children come!) haha :P so yeah, we spent the remainder of our money at 新东阳 in the airport. haha. and then, we were on the plane back to singapore! awww i really miss taiwan. =/ oh btw, we had haagendazs on the flight back. hahaha.

whew, finally this long post is over! hahaha. i hope IF i go to shanghai next year, i'll have as much exciting things to talk about! lol. GOD BLESS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR PPLE!

new years eve!

2007-12-31T03:22:00.000+08:00

i still haven't blogged about taiwan. argh! haha.

thinking too much does not equate to sadness. you can think too much and get happier as you think. haha. lalala.

its 2008 soon! a year of changes.. transition.. learning.. growing.. a time to stand up and do whats right. haha. i want to stand firm. i will fall but i want to get back up.

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

SYC 2007!

2007-12-27T23:26:00.000+08:00

SYC 07 is over! oh what a ride it was. (:

firstly, to the aces: you guys totally rock my socks. really! u guys are one of the most wonderful bunch of people to play with and work with. (: i really enjoyed the "girl talk" times.. the guffawing. the sharing of eye-candies and all that squealing over those boys! haha. the quiet moments when we pig out. the bitchier moments. the queue for the toilets. the meetings/briefings we've had. ah. wonderful wonderful memories (: thanks to everyoneee!!

i think i should do like a chronological thing. haha.

alright, so first up, i met INDIA! on saturday. went with them to newton circle to eat! (:

then next day, after church and prayers for sensibles and for me (many thanks to bel and wanlin and all you people who love me and kept me in ur prayers!), i met up with xueting, lorraine, chuxian and weijie and we went to pick up CHINA! along with daniel yip our chaperone and kahhuay.

so they arrived like an hour late and my 1st friend was wang junxia! hahaha. i still rmb the funny intros "his name is P. as in, ABCDP" for a while i thought his name was E. hehehe.

then it was dinner at newton circle, again! with CHINA! but i dont hv pics, oops. hehe.

we began the first official day at OBS. with group 6!

longdy and me the ACEs! hahha <3

i love coach C people. hahaha. of cos, our lovable bus I/C kangsheng, who can forget his threats to post my spastic photo on his blog?! hahaha. and the occasionally "back" of the bus pple jeremy mark hongwei. haha. i stil rmb our heated discussion on the tudung. we shall continue the discussion next year eh, mark and hongwei? ;)

anyways, then it was the welcome dinner with the ACEs!
sadly hong lao shi didnt sit with us. =(

chenshuangyu, wangjunxia, luweiting, wuhaisang, gaoguoxiao,
2nd row zhangjingli, qiujie, gen, denise, renzhongjia! <3 <3

tuesday..

talk at NTU! no pictures. hahaha. learnt a lot of science things though. HA, which totally wasn't the point of the whole trip. i think we were supposed to learn abt NTU not abt NanoTechnology.. haha. spent bulk of the time lingering at the back talking to gguoxiao, wjunxia, hongwei, & many other ppl! ah, at least it was a gd time of interaction. haha. then we went to the science centre!! hahaha. it was a very structured experience, quite different from last year with the Indians, OH WHO CAN FORGET THE S_IMULATOR GROUP :) but nevertheless, still enjoyd myself! haha.

then at night safari (gasp first time for me i think! thank God for MR. DANIEL who led the way, i was a helpless and lonely ACE attached to China! thanks DANIEL!), met animals i've not seen in my life and probably will never see again. hahaha. this time we ALL hung out tgt, China + xueting, lorraine, chuxian, weijie, + HongLaoShi!! so i really really treasured that night :) though i didnt get to talk to EVERYONE, but still.. its one of the rare occasions we're all together at the same time :)

weijie and his heart-shaped-icecream-droplet! hhahaha.

i remember we were trying very hard to trick lorraine! that.. counting thing. hahaha. anyways. here's a picture of mark trying to pimp japgirls when we were waiting for the bus at night safari :)

WEDNESDAY!!

haha we went to NEWATER PLANT (WOW!) i dont rmb much except slacking and hanging out with the ACEs. haha. oops. and that cheer! hahaha. where we all gathered ard karen. ah, we didn't manage to do it near siewsiew! argh, what a waste. hahaha. after newater plant, it was the urban challenge! we lost lingling at the last stop! oh no sorry =( =( really felt very very bad after that.. but its really soo difficult to do headcount for soo many ppl!! hahaha.

at the fountain of wealth!

back at the hotel there was this superrr yummy dinner! supposd to be a picnic at botanical gardens, but the weather ruined it.. haha. but we all still had a GREAT time "jamming" in the audi! hhahaha damn fun. there was even dancing! the INDIANS totally rocked yo. just play the music and jive man. what guitar! what piano! heck them! hahahaha. i like! china's item rocked too! woots! <3 and of course not forgetting the ACEs item laa.. wah lau.. PET AND WEIYEW, our HEROES! hahahah *CHEERS!* aaah, it was just FUNFUNFUN. hahaha. this should stay in the SYC timetable. ahaha.

then i think it was the exhibition prep. went out with wjunxia to mustafa to buy stuff! and then i lost my phone =( argh. haha. but maybe its a blessing in disguise cos i hv gguoxiao's hp now and this means you'll come back singapore to visit me to get back ur phone, and you'll bring everyone along too! hahaha. <3 i'll get to meet wuhaisang wjunxia EVERYONE! yay :)

THURSDAY!

woke up so tired! but i had fun still. photos will speak for themselves!

aaaah lazy to upload, more photos on my facebook! hahaha.

then we went to sentosa! on the cable car with coach C ACEs! YAYY <3

okay i think im juz gonna shorten everything from here on. im tired! oops! hahaha.

after sentosa we went to vivo to shop and eat and i bought some alcohol for our supposed "ACEs girls night out"! hahahah. u know, so everyone can try abit of sth. and try converting them to BEER! i mean, c'mon, beer's yummy. hahaha. had a great time as usual! yay! hhaha, had more time to talk to lorraine xueting and weijie, which is great cos i think i tend to focus on the China delegates more (afterall we're supposd to play hosts!), and dont hv as much time to interact with the singaporean delegates! haha. to LORRAINE XUETING WEIJIE CHUXIAN you guys rock!! <3 <3 so glad im their ACE, in a sense. hahaha. very zidong and caring and :) :) love you all!

at night KENNETH KWEK CAME! hahahah <3 yay so glad he cld come crash. thanks bro for being there for me when i needed a shoulder AND a ear! <3! there was this fortune-telling thing that hongwei did that totally freaked me out. and yes i really knew right from the start who it was haha wo mei you zai pian ni. dont know if you've read til here. hahaha. ANYWAYS. karen iven kenneth all did it but im glad i didn't. hahaha. at the girls night out thing, well it wasnt really one anymore cos the guys came. haha. but managed to talk to chingyee and zhen for abit, on the side, ah, it shd hv been like that every night :) pleaseee come back to singapore again!!

FRIDAY was cultural night! aaah i dont rmb much of the afternoon. talked to lorraine! cos shes frm exhibition. and heard like, juicy stuff ive been so oblivious to. hahaha. why ah? all the "happenings and news" just pass right under my nose man. seriously. mus and khairi came back from NS! hahaha. MUS U STILL LOOK SO GOOD! altho i highly doubt he will see this. if only rea was here :)

friday night probably gave me the most lasting memories.. hahaha. to all, im sorry if i didnt look appropriate when i was drunk. haha. but i shall not blog about friday night. haha. i'll treasure everything in my heart, and probably wont forget every single moment spent :)

and saturday came and everything ended. its too painful to blog about the goodbye.. i really miss everyone so much.. haha. i really really miss honglaoshi too, i felt that there were so many things i wanted to tell her too, but i didn't have a chance to.. sigh. anw, many thanks to xueting who kept relaying stuff to me! =p

aaah. i realised i mostly blogged about the things we did. hahaha. but there're countless thoughts in my head, how i feel and all the.. unique times i've spent with everyone who crossed my path. and of cos.. how God worked, how He still is working, ah, praise be to Him! God is amazing. He taught me so many things. reminded me once again of His grace. unmerited favour. ah. favour. the peace and quiet gratitude just washes over my soul.. and i become still before Him. what words can i bring to Him to adequately express how i feel? but there is no need to do so, cos He alr sees my heart, He knows. so i just be still, know He is God, and i know He will be exalted amongst all the earth.

and in this way, i close this chapter of my life.. in thanksgiving! God is good. :)

SYC!

2007-12-07T23:00:00.000+08:00

will be away for SYC (sunburst youth camp) from 8Dec to 15Dec!
den one nite of YM camp (i really hope i can go. somehow. haha)

so see you guys again soon :) pray for me that i wont fall sick man. haha. LOVEEE

[edit]
happy birthday gladwin!! :) princesses love you! hahaha

i was looking thru last year's SYC photos. cos SYC is ard the corner mah. and boy.. do i miss all of them. its really like.. wanna cry. hahha. serious heart wrenching "miss". rea neomi jahnavi anjali radha rayhan raghav varun viraj zahan. thanks for the memories.. hope this year's SYC will be as magical for the participants. (:

SDC + Pride&Prejudice

2007-12-01T16:56:00.001+08:00

i'm more inclined to blog nowadays since there's nothing to keep me from my computer screen.. not really anyways. the freedom! almost, of arranging my time the way i want it.. hahaha.

anyways, i still dont have pictures of the hokkien food i ate so i dont think they'll go up anytime soon. what a waste cos i think its really rare to find authentic fujian food nowadays.. its not like cantonese (so many places! crystal jade etcetc) or teochew.

anyway, yesterday i went to Ding Tai Fung [ instead of sushi-tei, argh :( ] for lunch with auntie celine, auntie amelia and terence. they came from mauritius (my mom's friends). had the "esteemed" xiao long bao, bro+rach felt that Crystal Jade's xiaolongbao was nicer. i think each has its merit.. i thought the meat and broth was yummier for DTF but the uh.. "skin" was better in crystaljade. haha. but i hv to say both beats the geylang xiaolongbao. heh.

but, the la mian at DTF was an utter disappointment. eurgh. crystal jade has the REAL la mian man. hahaha. but the chicken soup broth was good. but its hard for a chinese restaurant to do a simple chicken soup wrong. so not much credit to DTF haha.

well then i followed bro+rach to the Singapore Discovery Centre! cos they wanted to bring terence there to play the shooting game thing.

first up we met Little George, the supposed "voice recognition robot".

i totally do not believe that it is a voice recognition robot. i think there's someone behind that reflective mirror thing.. responding to our comments. because i was discussing with my brother.. "do you think someone is controlling the robot? like someone behind the screen?" he shrugged, so i decided to ask the robot. before i could finish my question, (are you being con--?), the robot immediately responded, "no, i'm not being controlled, i'm just a voice recognition robot." YEAH RIGHT. i dont think robots can predict my question before i finish speaking it, and respond SO PROMPTLY! either that or the robot must have been "eavesdropping" on my quiet conversation with my brother - if that is true then i think a human must still be behind it. do robots eavesdrop?! haha.

anyway we went to watch this show at the iwerks place and it was totally boring for me i fell asleep, heh. SOOO, we went on to the shooting place. real "SAR" something rifle that weighs 5kg haha. and with recoil when u shoot. but it was all digital and computerised and stuff. i think terence enjoyed himself :)

this is rachel and kor with terence. im nt in any picture cos i was the photographer haha.

alright, adventures aside, i've just completed Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. it moves really slowly, but makes for a good read. the character development is excellent and it deals with issues sufficiently, with depth i don't see in most novels i've read. (maybe because previously i chose to read shallow novels?) it was a source of much musing.. on family, love, and of course, the issues of pride and prejudice. i was very satisfied at how the author "documented" the gradual erosion of prejudice on Elizabeth's part, and how Mr Darcy's pride was softened (or broken?) by Elizabeth's frankness. i also liked how Elizabeth reflected upon how they were kinda "made for each other", and not in a gushing and girly manner, but really because of how their personalities will bring out the strengths and temper the weaknesses of each other.

haha. in many ways i find myself identifying with mr darcy.. haha. anw after watching so many plots that talk about growing love, i am all the more convinced that authors/scriptwriters always make use of the "timing" element to create progression for a relationship. haha. just think of all the weepy dramas. how like, a guy walks past this girl and the girl turned her head too late or sth like that. or u know, "just nice" they both appeared at this place together. even jane austen used that "timing" thing in her novel to restart darcy and lizzy's love. haha. is that true in real life? if it is mostly true, isnt love very much left to chance, in the unbeliever's eye, and providence, in the believer's eye?

haha so much more in my mind but i'm too lazy and nua to type it out here. i wish i had nerdy friends who would discuss novels with me after reading. like, maybe i shd join a bookclub or sth. ha.

zzz.. its a lazy saturday.. off to meet valerie at grandparents place soon! ta!

you're way too beautiful girl
thats why it'll never work
you'll have me suicidal, suicidal
when you say its over

mambo night @ zouk + FUJIAN DINNER!

2007-11-29T23:02:00.000+08:00

wow its been a week since exams ended.. whirlwind partying and FUN! and food! lost track of my days already, everyday's just squeezing in time to meet everyone and go places i've been deprived of since i dont rmb when.. hahaha.

so well, after trying to surprise jean in the afternoon, i went with bel to try search for her prom dress for a little while, and met her aunt.. hehe. she said i became fatter (altho she put it in nicer terms, lol). sigh i need to start exercising more! well, the dance floor is a gd start! hhaha. yeah then i went to meet nicholas kor for dinner! hao jiu bu jian le.. but he was tired, so we ended dinner early and lo and behold, i found myself home at 8pm! too early. hahaha.

so ended up deciding to go zouk last minute even tho wasnt supposd to go.. cos i was really bored at home.. and for other reasons also.. oh, but shawn ang didnt turn up! he said, he needed to stay home to help his brother with some work. you all can choose whether or not to believe him. heh.

met new pple; samantha, germaine, michael, and keith's 2 sajc friends clarence and [insert chinese name] haha sorry!! couldnt catch/hear his name. it was good fun, the music at mambo was kinda better than MOS. i really liked the time when we went up to sit at the "walls" and we startd having fun there as well. hahaha. less cramped, less warm and more light too. met crazy ppl, there was this man who insisted on showing us his IC, like showing us he's a big shot. hahaha. the woman was like "that old man is drunk and he just wants to show u his IC". er okay. HAHA. quite funny la.

we went to phuture too, but it was too crowded and all we could do was bob up and down or sway with the crowd. by sway i meant like, being pushed around by ppl entering/exiting. hahahaha. but the music was cool. but i think.. smoove at MOS is better. haha. nothing much to blog abt actually!

then we went off at 4am and got treated to the sight of ppl puking. down a car door (eew). hahaha went to newton circle for satay & sugarcane & met kenneth there. poor kenneth, i think he felt very old and abit extra. haha. nxt time i shall find better times to call him out. and i think the whole world was wondering how i was linked to kenneth. he's not my love interest, he's lawrence's cousin and im trying to play a good singaporean host (: hahaha.

okay so today i went to some hokkien dinner thing (altho it was kinda like those idol worship stuff). the food was great! shall post up pictures soon. real cool traditional hokkien food. i mean, THE REAL STUFF DUDE! ahahah. my heritage, LOL. okay, shall not bore u with words, come back again when i hv the pics.

OH I WANNA CHG BLOG ADDRESS AND SKIN THANKS

FRIDAY NIGHT!

2007-11-26T21:24:00.001+08:00

ok i'm supposed to blog about friday night but im SOOO lazy and cant get started! haha. so i shall blog about what i wanna blog about now! lalala im ranting. THIS IS THE RESULT OF A HAPPY CONVO WITH A BEST BUDDY <3 anyways i was talking to sam!

'muel says:
ey i realise i v blur blur one lo. everythin also blur. go for a levels also blur. flirt oso blur

HAHAHA, this is so classic you know? haha. and, its probably true! haha! ANYWAY, come back safely from chiangmai(?) okay! thanks for being someone i can tell those stuff to and then discuss/laugh about it together as well :) I MISS YOU! <33

OKAY! so, let's get down to blogging about friday night! BENLAU and KEITHWOO has updated their blogs about it too, so i shall not repeat what they said, and just fill in the gaps and give my take on the whole thing. haha.

okay firstlyy.. thanks to valerie who did my eyes for me! haha. COUSINS LOVEE! <3 haha okay, we reached clarke quay and then i decided to call lawrence and see if he was around the area. cos he can help us get in and stuff. went to highlanders to meet him! haha and THANK YOU LAWRENCE for bringing the 9 of us in! haha, even tho he will not see this entry. haha. yeah well he told me you go to highlanders for the single-malt whiskey. and each pub/club in the clarkequay area has its own strengths.. thats why theres no "better" one, it really depends on what kinda music u like, and what drink u want. haha.

okay after "touring" MOS, we settled at PURE, and lawrence told me to go over the VIP room after everyone's settled down and stuff. after abit of drinking he came over with a glass of bubbly! rosé champagne.

since he came all the way just to pass me a flute of bubbly i decided i better hurry to meet them.. haha. so i went. talkd mostly to lawrence and he taught me quite some stuff! about champagne and the bubbles; the longer the bubbles last the better is the champagne. also he drew my attention to the 3 women (frm china) in the VIP room who were actually entertaining an old man (i didnt realise!) haha. we also talked about my mom.. and about this lady dressed in fuchsia who came with a married man who treated us to dom perignon champagne which costs like 500+ a bottle. HAHA. and to think they informally wanted to introduce the lady to kenneth (not kenneth lui, the kenneth from Holland.) haha so anyways talkd abit to kenneth, learnt abt the job he was looking for.. and etcetc la hahaha. watched networking happen under my nose and what can i say. welcome to the real world :) gd experience for me!

well then i went back to PURE to look for the rest, after more games and drinks we went to dance! the details u can read up in keith's or ben's blog! it was a fun time laaa. hahah. laughing at each other and sabo-ing ben lau (whats new). we ended up in PURE again for a 2nd round of drinks cos we were honestly tired (well i was). ahahah. the guys treated us girls, so THANKS GUYS! realised i didnt properly thank them i think. hahah.

the enthu boys and girls went back to dance a second time, and i really cldnt take it alr man. tired. hahha so i stayed on the comfy cushions w vyan and wenhao, and vyan the boy-who-cannot-take-alcohol actually fell asleep!! tried to wake him up but he was so insistent on sleeping! with the backgrd music too! arghh. so wenhao and i had to entertain each other. haha. but it was a great time of talking la. haha. imho, ARTISTS ARE COOL hahaha. very cool. heh :D ANYWAYS then they came back at a great timing! soo we decided to go back already. hahaha.

the 9 of us outside MOS at 4+ am!

had a great time over at keith's place, thanks keith for letting the girls bathe first! sweet :D haha so i had a GREAT time catching up with annabel my SISTER!! hahah from the geeky bio discussion (believe me i really enjoyed it too) to erm.. "family matters" to God to i dunno i dun even rmb what else we talked about!! haha yup EVERYTHING LAHH!! even boys! i really really enjoyed the whole time thanks sis <3 <3! hahaha i feel DEPRIVED from my "soulmate". the morbid telepathy! the monthly cycle together and the identical weight gain from **kg to **kg!! argh. hahaha!

yeah then we playd bridge! vyan and elliot knocked out first. hahaha. so left with keith ben wenhao bel me. the macs we ordered came juz after wenhao knocked out, so it was like the 4 of us downstairs! then sudd elliot woke up! hahaha so 5 of us had YUMMY breakfast tgt! HOTCAKES weee been craving that for a long time. just that the sad part is.. it became coldcakes. oh wells. haha. memorable parts were the comparison between elliot's laugh and ben's laugh. cos elliot has a deep laugh, so we were like, thats a ben giggle and thats a normal elliot laugh. then the most nightmarish thing happened, ben tried to laugh deep! u can ask bel how traumatised we all were, HAH. and how amused we all were. haha.

yeah then keith and elliot went up so it was the 3 of us, we talkd abt a lot of stuff and it all started with a "bitchy question"! (not bitchy, maybe nosy) which i think i cannot say is what question bcos nt very nice lah. hahaha. and it triggered a "deep talk" session according to ben. we talkd about small group, church, faith, surrender, God, YM, boys (oh man did we really talk about that?!), serving, a heart for youths, idealism, reality, the world, and i dont really rmb what else.. haha. it was a good time i guess. haha.

well in many ways, thru the clubbing experience, and the stayover at keith's, i saw many answered prayers.. questions i've had in my head.. maybe even in my heart.. then learning about myself and my limits.. and also i know God has heard every time i cried out to him on the nights during my As. He has heard every single request i laid before Him and i know. this hols is gonna be exciting cos He's gonna bring me thru to deal with all the things i've wanted to deal with but put on hold cos of the As.. and i know breakthroughs are coming and intimacy is priority now.. haha. i guess i'm saying a lot, maybe too much about whats really inside.. but well. its the beginning of a new chapter in life! Post As! i'll make an exception just this once! BAHAHA the most i'll edit and delete this part if i come back and read this and find it too much.

OKAY, thats it about friday night. i made sushi today at rachel's grandmas and had a great time talking to her and just taking our own sweet time in peace and quiet! =) =) thanks rachel! haha a good time of nua-ing and doing nothing.. yay. ok,have to go off now! need to wake up early tmr to meet jolyn and talk about stuff! and ****! hahahaha. :)

23rd Nov! series of unfortunate events. hahaha

2007-11-25T16:28:00.000+08:00

HELLO EVERYONE I'M BACK FROM MY HIATUS!! MUAHAHAHA

A levels are sooo over and done with. hehe. okay im gonna do a quick post then go meet annabel! haha.

so on friday, we cousins (SHIRLEY & VALERIE) decided to have our long-awaited lunch + outing! haha sooo, as usual, valerie and i were late... oops. hahaha. then we went to yoshi for lunch! yumms. after that, we started out on the most happening day in my life since maybe before prelims. hahaha.

we waited for like 20mins for a bus, to go to this ulu place at changi north, a salvation army thrift store.

this is the sight that first greeted us:

WOW! how unlucky can we get?! they're closed on the only day we wanted to go there!! argh. we were even thinking after we're done with the changi north outlet we'll be going to the changi village outlet. then we found out that even the Changi Village outlet was closed! arghhh. hahaha. nvm, we decided to go ahead with our nxt plan; Karaoke at KBox Parkway!

we hailed a cab, and there was this happening uncle who wore black leather gloves to drive and kept speaking in Japanese non-stop. poor valerie couldn't respond in jap, all she could say was "i don't have my textbook with me!!" LOL. how cool valerie! hahaha. sooo, in a bid to stop talking to him (cos we really didn't now how to carry on a conversation with a taxi driver who keeps trying to teach us how to speak Jap), we whipped out cameras and started camwhoring!!

yay i love my cousins! haha :D

okay so then we reached parkway and headed to the Kbox. and then guess what.. KBOX CLOSED DOWN!! and to think that wonderful valerie said on the taxi "scali KBox not open also". really Ru Yuan Yi Chang. val i wish you would say "scali Denise gets 4As", and really ru yuan yi chang also. hahaha.

oh wells! what to do.. we called ah leng jie jie to tell her of the change of venue, then we headed down to suntec Kbox instead! and then we were given this room.. no.23, same number as 23rd Nov! kinda stunned when we found out. its a day of coincidences. hahaha. so funny. plus, 23Nov is LaiLishen's birthday! (another cousin.) but he couldn't join us cos he was in aust!

haha well, then denzel (our.. nephew?) joined us for kbox! a 5yr old boy singing luo zhi xiang songs, totally beats this girl here (me) who doesn't know a thing about mandopop. hahaha.

then we went to ahgong's place for his birthday dinner! but i have no pictures anymore, of denzel or anything else. maybe shirley will have! haha.

left ahgong's place at 10pm; the night was just getting started! a night of partying and fun at MOS with church peeps hahaha. will update again soon, have to go meet annabel already! stay tuned! :)

HIATUS

2007-09-30T23:15:00.000+08:00

HIATUS

please smack me on the head.. scold me.. poke me.. kill me, whatever!

if you see any more posts here from now till the A levels end.

I NEED A MIRACLE FOR MY GRADES!

and hardwork and discipline.

GOODBYE i will miss my slack lifestyle. i deserved to be chopped up for being so lazy! boo. BYEEE

soups!

2007-09-20T11:57:00.000+08:00

i know these photos are huge. im taking up unnecessary space on blogger's servers. but i dunno how to resize them. partly cos i dunno wheres the photoshop program in this com. teehee. my bro should shoot me in the head. after teaching me i just let everythg fly outta my brain. anyways.

im currently in the season of soups. my mom has been cooking for us every night since sunday i think. sunday was apple soup, monday cant remember, tuesday papaya soup, wednesday watercress soup. tonight it'll be yummy chicken soup. :)

watercress soup; can see the dates and pork bits and watercress if u observe carefully..

oops random.. the chocs wanyoong sam clarence gave me for my bday :) i really like the stars and crescent one and the flowers one!

ingredients of chicken soup before boiling.. dont really rmb the names, but the bottom right are two honey dates (Mi Zao). then theres Bai He, Bai Lian, Yin Er but im not sure which name belongs to which.. thing. haha. i only know the one on the left is "peh bok nee" in hokkien. white fungus.

i'm a very well fed and happy girl :) treasure ur homecooked food people!

Indlish

2007-09-17T12:20:00.000+08:00

i gave myself the excuse that "mom is bathing so i can use the com while waiting for the bathroom" haha so thats why im online.

anyway i just nominated jolyn for most likely to have an imaginary friend and i started giggling to myself for about 5 seconds. im NUTS!

and then i read this article on Indlish, in today's Today.

"...but employers in India complain that the standard of English is so abysmal that recruits cannot write a sentence without three grammatical mistakes. One call centre executive in Mumbai said a recruit wrote an email that began: "I am in well here and hope you are also in the same well."

LOL. i laughed out loud okay! couldn't take it. HAHAHA

when im in better mood everything can be funny and laughed at. this shows the power an exam paper has over me. or maybe, my moods. haha.

i miss abby's spongecake. :( HULLO ABBY? I MISS YOUR SPONGECAKEEEE haha.

everyone if you haven't already, for goodness sake, join facebook! i mean, so many ppl are coming on already. i used to have like 20friends there only. but now everyone's converting. u can get like a hundred friends. *sings* what are you waiting for~~

i'm high.

replies!

2007-09-14T13:24:00.000+08:00

JOLYN: hahhaha cheem things. u can blog about the cheem-ness of ur ditzy-ness. cos it never fails to amaze us riiiight! insane crazy weird!

JULI: hey! haha ok thanks when i hv the time to read (very soon! after As yaayy.) i'll go get ravi zacharias' books. hehe. :) and yep i know where that moral framework should come from. haha. jiayou for prelims!!

MATT: haha thanks ah you sound so obliged. :(

ONGTON: wow! u no longer call me deedee or dexter or flowergal or *insert whatevER*!!

JO: ah! you found me! hahaha i haven't linked you yet!!

BEL: YOU GO GIRLLLL

DATOU: hahaha *nods

DISTANT RELATIVE: lol thanks. and haha its funny replying to someone and calling him/her Distant Relative. HAHA. who are you? identify urself lehh. our family toooo big liao. :)

KEN: woah helping them realise it's wrong is one difficult, uphill task.. if they truly feel they're "born with it" its like telling u ur born fat (or some other thing) and its wrong. haha. i won't know how to tell them its wrong.

BEN: haha its some quite difficult reading, i think. read 2 "cases" and i put that book aside to do more brainless stuff. too much to take in at one go. haha. i shall read it again soooon! :D

PRIS: woaaah u come here! i didnt know! hahaha thanks :) hows school and all?

CELINE: yea i do rmb you! haha :) u frm jiemin's small grp right? haha u hv a blog to link? :) thanks and lets revive YMOVE next year! lol. oh wait u hv o levels right. haha oops.

am taking a break from all that stressful studying! think i really am very lazy. abit only think its stressful. i have to work reallly hard lor. sigh. am gonna flop my prelims like.. floppily. =( think my stress tolerance levels have dropped by a lot ever since i stopped netball. kinda easy-going and not as disciplined anymore. uh-oh. haha. but the first step is to acknowledge i have a problem before i can deal with it. haha. quote lim hao yang: "just don't run away from it lah." yes bro. *nods.

im turning really fat. all the sitting down from morning till night. coupled with my propensity to eat anything i can lay my hands on. is making me obese. no joke. the only exercise i get is.. walking to the lift. and occasionally walking home. a ten minute brisk walk actually increases my heartbeat to about, 90bpm? GASP. sometimes i wonder. was i really a sports player?! the condition of my heart (the organ not the spiritual state) sucks. hahaha. even going out.. (ok i'm gonna sound really pampered and spoilt here) my mom or bro fetches me to a nearby MRT or to the place itself. i don't even have to walk much. woops.

heh but i am really grateful for their loveee. fetching me around so i can spend more time studying. and then kor and rachel talking to me about my As trying to console me. haha. so that u know, i won't be too stressed and.. get motivated to get my ass moving. haha. and my mom's even gonna call me at 4pm later to make sure i get up from my nap so i can start studying. hahaha. IM ONE BLESSED LAYDEE AND I'M GONNA COUNT MY BLESSINGS AND THANK YOU ALL AND THANK GOD! hahaha.

okay. just now i read a tip from Mamil Gold (Dumex). this milk formula brand i think. it says, "when should a baby start drinking water?" has it ever crossed your mind? i always thought u feed a baby water AND milk. but no, according to the tip, "any water consumed should be from mother's milk or formula." u only give water when they start to teeth. cos they need the flouride. *cue: ohmy_.. revelation to me. hahaha. you can refer to this website for more details. haha.

recently its been floating around in my head.. that you know, to "grow" a kid is really not easy. even though the bible does have moral guidelines on how to raise a child.. like u know, discipline is sometimes needed, teach ur son wisdom, raise him up in the ways of the Lord.. etc etc.. but still there are many other aspects (physical, intellectual) of a child's development which i think are not explicitly stated. i think thats where we have to learn and find out for ourselves suitable ways to do that. and i believe God would wanna give us freedom in the methods we raise our children.. if not every child will grow up in the same environment and be nurtured in the same way. how DULL. haha. and there's also the fact that a one-size-fits-all approach to raising a child just will not cut it. each child is born with different temperaments, and abilities. (i'm kinda hazarding a guess from stuff i've read. cos obviously i don't know enough kids to observe this first-hand.) yeah.

if i were a parent, i would spend about 3 months reading up on every aspect of educational psychology and developmental physiology i can before i try conceiving. hahaha. talk about nerd. haha. but i don't wanna give my children anything less than the best environment and opportunities they can have just because i didn't prepare enough beforehand.. didn't put in enough effort.. etc.

and of course not forgetting God's Word on raising children. the importance of moral and ethical behaviour is ever more essential in this world now..

gotta go and stop enjoying myself on the internet. force myself to rest and sleep or sth. SEEYOU ALL!

P.S.: my bro passed me the thumbdrive containing all the bday pics but i dont know where it is now!! so i cant blog about it again. -_- SORRY!! hahaha.

blind belief in the bible?

2007-09-03T12:44:00.000+08:00

"I saw not belief, but the suspension of belief, for people to take in so much of the Bible." -yawningbread.org

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." -2 Cor 10:5

i was just discussing with zara the other day about our stand on homosexuality. we had differing views - she believed that it was okay (loosely summarised) but i didn't. i realised that obviously, my paradigm was shaped by the bible and its beliefs. the book of Romans distinctly described homosexuality as a sin, a way of "giving them over to shameful lusts". one important verse that substanstiated my stand. and i also quoted the abovementioned verse about subjecting our thoughts to the authority of God's Word. it really started me thinking about having an unquestioning trust and faith in God's Word. it seems like what we christians have been trained to do, instructed to do. if God says homosexuality is wrong, then no matter what the world throws at you, and how ur faith may be shaken, just trust His word ultimately. for it is that faith that pleases God. afterall its His Word that will endure for eternity. but in this modern world where an opinion has to be rigorously evaluated and analysed before deemed accurate and true, i feel that its getting increasingly difficult to have that "childlike faith" in God's Word.

i used what the author of yawningbread.org said to represent a secularist's view. i've heard a lot about being teachable, and to obey the Word... well. to me, i realised that being teachable and readily soaking up the Word like a sponge is no excuse for being a lazy thinker. a good example would be the stance of the bible on homosexuality. some christians merely nod and extol the virtues of monogamy and heterosexuality after a few simple sermons or workshops in church. or maybe cos "it just feels right, its the natural order of things. homosexuality is just wrong!" no wonder the secular world sees "not belief, but a suspension of belief." how strong and viable is a belief that is based on a single point of view? non-analysed/evaluated? a conclusion drawn before even trying to understand homosexuals' viewpoint before writing them off?

in 2 Cor 10:5, it says to demolish (NIV) or cast down (KJV) arguments and pretensions that are set up against the knowledge of God. the greek root word is kathaireō; "with the use of force: to throw down, cast down the subtle reasonings (of opponents) likened to a fortress, i.e. to refute/destroy." it doesn't mean in any way to ignore or write off opposing views to the bible. how strong is ur offense when u merely turn ur head away from an argument against the principles of God's Word? i think as mature christians and a responsible, clear-minded individual in today's world, we ought to consider other viewpoints - liberal, hedonistic, cynical, whatever, and be appropriately convinced that those views can be "shot down, refuted", before arriving at a meaningful conclusion. dissect the views. understand why people think that way. then can you point out to them why its just an argument and pretension against the Truth. then can you take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. not blindly follow ur religion and allow it to make choices for you, to choose for you your paradigms. actively take part in forming your own views! its your life! afterall, if christianity is that great as you make it out to be, it can surely withstand the challenges, the scrutiny and all the cross-fire. and your faith will be strengthened because you know you have very many valid reasons for this hope that you have. :)

of course, as with all journeys in life, we shouldn't neglect asking God for that strength, mercy and grace for the walk into all truth. as man we are not gonna make it through alone. not supposed to. well actually you might, on your own resources, and with that great mind of yours. but that would breed pride and complacency. but He is the one who will "open our eyes and make us see wonderful things in His law". and keep us sane; when emotionally the tug of the world seems too great to resist, it is Him who will keep us firmly on the ground, not chasing after worldly pleasures and ways of life.

revival-themed sermons sometimes touch on the principle of "no compromise". its not just about not compromising in the things you do. what about in the ways you think? stretch yourself further. take "loving God with all your mind" to a whole new dimension.

as for the issue of homosexuality - have i myself arrived at a fair, justified conclusion? i'll have to admit, not yet. i think this is where humility comes in. admitting that i have a stand without proof. (lol. how distasteful.) then work on it. and this is also where God's grace comes in, i think. even though in my heart i do believe that what God says is right, i pray for mercy as i work everything out. God knows its not that i purposely dont trust what He says, i just don't want to have a blind belief. and then depend on His grace to get me through this. hehe. being teachable doesn't mean taking everything at face value and believing the Word so readily without consideration for its implications. i think that word calls for a redefinition. it means allowing your mind to be moulded, reshaped.. it doesn't have to take place overnight. just have that attitude of openness to God's principles.

hope my thoughts will not stumble anyone, i've tried my best to blog responsibly and exclude the questions in my mind that have no answers and have the potential to shake someone's faith. heh. happy studying people. and happy thinking. :)

18TH BDAY!

2007-09-03T00:20:00.000+08:00

yes i know, who blogs abt her birthday like 2 weeks after? haha. better late than never. decided to stop procrastinating! haha.

anyway firstly, a BIG THANK YOU to bel and gladwin! haha. bel arranged with shaun to trick me! and they came all the way down to vj on monday juz to surprise me and present me with an array of gifts. hahaha. this story goes like this - after chem lect shaun was like "i've got sth impt to tell u.. personal.. blablabla". i thought he was depressed and started to "hu si luan xiang", thought he considering suicide. lol. what to do, he looked so serious. haha but anyways i spotted annabel's green RJ skirt! haha woots. then they gave me gifts, each representing a characteristic. and i ate donut factory for the 1st time in my life. YUM! thank you deariesss. =)

glad and bel with the presents :)

to bel: haha you know its really kinda freaky how this "telepathy thing" works. u cld read my mind in that card! haha. i really treasure this friendship! ah, i know we both know this already right. haha. and im also sure u alr know how much i appreciate everything :) but nevertheless i will say this again, i love you to bitttss!!!! i cant wait for after As WOOHOO hahahaha :D jiayouuu for ur prelims dearie! u can do it! =)

to glad: hahaha THANKS for Q-ing for those donuts!! yup and even tho we dont talk as much now i want to remind you that you realy had a great positive impact in my life! haha thanks for showing that "shi jie shang hai you hao nan ren" haha! and for pampering me like a princess! truly grateful! =)

well then bel and glad came over to my place to chill. and take photos. haha. then at night went to sushi tei raffles city to meet glad shashi jean and jolyn for dinner! it was quite yum :)

the 5 of us at sushi tei!

to my "grandparents": haha thanks for the book! and yes, grandpa shashi, thanks for all the humour and light-hearted moments! :) uve really brought joy into my life! haha and grandma, thanks for always supporting me in almost everything.. coming to watch my netball match.. praying for me, looking out for me.. hehe i'm one very blessed "grandchild". thank you jean :)

haha yup, then jolyn gave me this HUGE green (!) bday card! which she stayed up all night just to complete! talk about SACRIFICE man! omg jolyn haha THANK YOU SO MUCH and i really love the card cos its greeen! haha and the green GLITTER! and the photos inside :) and the uber sweet and touching message too! hahah jolyn that was REALLY really amazing of you thank you :) thanks for being such a lovely friend! someone i can listen to, talk to, pray with, fool around with, bimbo around with, shop with, study with, eat with (YES!), walk with, celebrate special events with.. u special woman :) i love you!

haha yep then it was nearing midnight.. the real day! and the real surprise awaits! haha i'll edit again soon.. need to get the pics frm my bro as well as go to sleep. haha. gdnight world :)

of labels and boxes

2007-08-24T23:36:00.000+08:00

i've decided that i want to start penning down all my ideas in coherent paragraphs here.. not merely allowing them to float around in my consciousness. by ideas i mean like. theories, thoughts. insights... opinions, observations... not just simple daily events or happenings. heavier stuff not just for entertainment.

why? cos i don't want to let the label of "science student" or "future business graduate" cripple myself. allowing myself to think that i won't be able to write as well as any journalist or GP teacher, just because i'm not formally trained in that area or am not engaged in that career. i will not make myself fit into boxes! or consciously embrace labels! haha. see, a result of lectures at SOT. it seriously screws with your mind (but i guess, ultimately for the better).

and also cos i've always thought that no one would want to read about my muses. the "cheem things". the wordy affairs. "readership" will decline, people would just skim through my posts and then think that they're wasting their time on my blog. haha. but i realised, why should i be adjusting my content to suit people? its what i want to write, what i want to express, and this blog will function according to how i purposed it. it'll be a challenge to myself not to care about what other people say - "think she's trying too hard, using all those fancy words and talking about idealistic things." at least i know i've tried, though i may flop terribly, make grammatical errors, use some words inappropriately.. i'll know i was willing to stretch myself and accomplish far more than i would have if i stayed in my comfort zone. and practise articulating my points clearly.. not just having them fuzzy and unrefined in my mind.

i thought of a million other reasons, but i can't remember now because im carrying out a discussion with samuel and farrell (eh maybe only farrell. sams not responding) on msn. hahaha. I WANNA LEARN HOW TO MULTITASK! boo.

anw, i'm really sorry for not blogging about my bday celebrations yet. its just that there's so much to write, i don't dare to start becos i'm afraid im gonna take the whole night, and thus feel guilty for blogging cos i hv an exam on monday. so i guess i'll blog about it after GP, i'll probably do so with more ease. but i must mention i'm ultra BLESSED and GRATEFUL for all my wonderful friends who cared and who made efforts to make it a special day for me :) thanks for the love yo. and not forgetting, thank You God for showing me the capacity, that love Man can give - and reminding me, how much more greater is Your love to me? :)

hog's breath cafe!

2007-08-19T01:27:00.000+08:00

haha oh my gosh i haven't updated in sooo long!

hmm but nothing much been happening i guess, just my attempts to study hard and to stay close to God.

oh yeah national day. nee's bday. :) read frm his own blog!

went for Singapore Short Cuts at national museum today! was a great experience, first time in the museum and first time doing something arty for a change. haha. didn't regret it all! was looking forward to it and wasn't disappointed :) personally i liked fonzi the best, probably cos it was the most open to interpretation. and it had some content as well as technique. superDONG was hilarious, the gallery was laughing for most parts of that film :) learnt what a 8mm film meant, the saturation of colours and feeling of timelessness. lol. good time good time!

hmm we had fellowship at hog's breath cafe at chijmes! 11 of us, enjoyed myself man :) took sooo many photos. had the prime rib cut (dont really rmb the name), but its really gd, better than phin's steakhouse or surfnturf. really. but then again i think its cos i had a better cut. but i ate abby's and it still tasted better than those places. ok mayb phin's is comparable.

aaaanyway, the food is really not bad. heh. the waitress was realllly friendly and nice okay. serious. caroline braided my hair! haha. and then the cake came in. hahaha. thanks guys. :)

im kinda tired so dont feel like elaborating too much. after everythg jolyn and i braved the crowds to marina square, hung out for awhile, saw yewjin *ahem.* talked somemore, went home. teehee. let the PICTURES speak for themselves!

anyway, i'm really thankful for this bunch of ppl. AKUOU! i know that you all will always be there for me, celebrating with me in the joyful times and mourning with me when i'm down and out. i'm so thankful i have this group of friends in my life. knowing i'll never be alone. thanks for all the blessings and i pray i'll be as much as a blessing to all of you too! LOVEEE :) :)

the mystery of "iced-gale" revealed!

2007-07-29T21:12:00.000+08:00

ive decided to explain why my blogspot address is so horribly cheesy and unclassy.

it started off when i was 9 years old, or in pri 3. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) was the thing then, before the advent of MSN. haha. sooo. we all had nicknames. and mine was ircgal. then many "ircgal"s appeared with different variations.. like ircgal^ or -ircgal- etcetc. so i decided to add an e behind to differentiate myself from the rest. i know i know, so creative. but i was pri 3 then only. what do u expect?! so thence came about ircgale.

then, i met this person called red-ice. i think at #liverpool channel. i was probably uh. sec 1 or 2 then. i was telling red-ice that i thought ircgale was rather eeeps. soo, i was blue-ice for awhile. then i realised it was kinda weird to be called blue with another person being called red. like a pair. that wont do cos we weren't romantically linked in anyway see. so. i became iced-gale. i retained half of the old one so ppl still recognise me in irc, but i changed half of it.

there. its stuck with me for so long simply cos of convenience - when i set up blog like a few years ago, was lazy to think of a special nick for a blog so it just carried over. and stuck on for quite very long.

i think its time for a change. in case ppl think im some kinda juvenile blogger. haha. afterall first impressions count, no matter what you say about "it doesn't matter what pple think of u and blabla". what do you think? heh. any suggestions? :)

weekend..

2007-07-22T22:11:00.001+08:00

we fall down, we lay our crowns
at the feet of Jesus
the greatness of His mercy and love
at the feet of Jesus

no compromise. not quite there yet!

friday GAP. "imitate me as i imitate Christ". i can't say that confidently now. maybe one day in the future.

harry potter on saturday. not too thick book this time so cld finish within a day. rather happy ending i guess. though i think not much character development of the more "side" characters. only at the last few parts.. quite abit of snape and dumbledore. but i felt it was more of a "let events unravel" kinda book.. don't really feel much for each character. only feel pangs of sadness etc only cos of character devt from previous books. but at least there was a twist at the end. had the same level of tension throughout most of front portion, before things started warming up at the back when hallows was introduced. lala. but still worth a read esp if u wanna complete the series like me. haha.

there's no impossible case. destiny is not to eat sleep and die. God's perspective. if only we realised the power we wield in our lives, becos of the "dunamis" of the Holy Spirit living in us.

after sleeping at home, went to suntec. had a great time out with the gang at surfnturf today. and river island. go to samting's blog to see the photos! http://www.brokentreehouse.blogspot.com or i think can click on the links. thanks friends i had a great time :)

t3a & statements!

2007-07-13T01:19:00.000+08:00

this week has been characterised by the substantiation of the boastings of oneself's achievements.

i.e. T3A (top 3 achievements). personal statement.

its a little exhausting and irritating putting your character on a pedestal, examining it (myself?) over and over again to see what unique and worthy embellishments there are to mention. then ransack through 1.5 years of experiences, extracting relevant ones to support the jewels in ur personality. and then of course, there's the nerve-wracking search for synonyms in your head for positive words. its as much a personality exercise as well as a vocabulary exercise. oh and uh not forgetting rephrasing, using different sentence structures... bah.

but its okay. because putting in so much effort for my first draft would only mean i can concentrate on my studies, and only minimal adjustments will need to be made for the consequential drafts.

hmm, other than t3a/PS. its the Exam Results. ABDE & still awaiting GP's return, the one i really wanna know. rather disappointing results for my math but i guess i didn't practise enough. and my vectors....... disastrous. & my econs! sigh! i really like econs now, but i guess i must really dwell in the world of economic theories and principles for a longer time before anything can happen. like really submerge myself in those words. haha. i'm looking forward to ~~mugging~~ learning.

and before i end i wanna dedicate this post to God because if its not for Him and His hand shaping my life, i would not have any t3a or personal statement to write. if its not for His perfect law guiding me, i wouldn't have excelled, pushed myself, and conducted my relations with other people in a respectable manner. heh. vague enough, yes.

and without God as
my strength (when i feel weak, unconfident of doing well, weary,)
my refuge (when i feel depressed and frustrated at my work,)
my peace (when i get worried about the prospects of doing badly,)
my hope (when disappointment sets in,)
my purpose (when i ask myself, why study so hard for?)

i couldn't have did what i did for my CTs. i wouldn't be so motivated to study hard. and as much as i really dislike making cliched statements, glory to God for my results!

He moves me to follow His decrees.

2007-07-07T10:40:00.000+08:00

hi everyone! sorry i havent been able to read my tagboard from my com for many days. so i just saw what you all wrote. and i shall reply here! haha.

jl - hahaha ok i will buay-paiseh and ask hor! thanks anw :)
laura - haha cool i'll try and drop by to find u whenever i can! :D hhaha cool ure teaching ballet.. teach me too! haha =x
shawn - errrr okayyy whatever! if you think so! haha
JEM VIO ZHAO - hahaha yayy lets hang out again to study! :D

ohkay, supposd to go SGH tdy to do some volunteer work with kexin, hope i'll gain frm the experience! haha. update more again nxt time!

<3 to jem, zhao, violet!

2007-07-03T23:07:00.000+08:00

i decided that i MUST come online to blog this before time dilutes those wonderful memories. haha.

went to 85 fengshan market to meet jem, zhao, vio. :D :D i reached at about 630pm.. poor violet slept past her stop! thank God i woke up just in time and didn't have to go through the huge hassle. had really yummy food (as usual). stingray, chickenwing, orh luar, hokkien mee, chrysanthemum tea, ah balling. the usual staple, hehehe. it was REEAALLYY great company too, enjoyed myself sooo much!! thanks guys :)

whats so memorable? hmm. heard a lot of things frm zhao! his "stories" hhaaha. dont worry zhao you were not boring at all lah. then we were doing this prediction thingy. how our future bf/gf will be like 10yrs down the road. and we were like, 10yrs down the road, we will surely laugh at that piece of paper :) and then we'll look back and see if we were correct! haha! i kinda wanna fast forward 10yrs so that everythg can hurry happen and we can see if we're right. haha. we handed the piece of paper to zhao for safe-keeping. in the guides cookie tin. (all help him remember)

i wanted to post some very classic quotes from that session, but i dont have a tool to write chinese characters. another time perhaps.

haha and we talked about various other things also lah, love languages, passion and purity by elisabeth elliot, people around us, AH juniors, blahblahblah.. hahaha. time really flies whenever i spend time with you guys :) i told myself i must leave by 830. and ended up unseating my butt only at 1045pm. oh wells. my "emotional tank" was truly filled tonight :) :) :) thanks guys!!

2007-07-02T22:14:00.000+08:00

EDIT: if you want a pictorial representation of this post / my food experiences just scroll to the bottom and click on that link.

sooo.. what have i been doing? during june hols after i came back frm india.. went out to eat with bel and glad at this steamboat place at tan quee lan street, which is near bugis. had YUMMY ma la huo guo. i wanna go back there to eat again! then, on another day, we went to Iko-i (i think), a jap buffet restaurant for belated father's day. hehe. swordfish adventures. haha. swordfish and salmon sashimi, as well as ebi tempura, are the highlights of Iko-I's menu. other than that, theres nothing much thats spectacular. my vote still goes to hanabi restaurant at odeon towers for a great japanese buffet. hanabi has a bigger range of food items and equally good sashimi. although the ebi tempura doesn't match up. depends what you're looking for.

then on another day, jason and hg came over to teach me econs (thanks!) and we went on a katong laksa mission, and ate some apple crumble with apple rennet. was rather special! apple rennet had no milk in it.

i also studied quite a fair bit at ywca with bel, keith, kenneth. starting to plan a trip to sydney. haha. i wonder if it'll fall through. hmm.

yeah then exams came and went. my long weekend arrived! thursday to monday! on thursday night, since there was no class or netball outing or what (yah i know, sound so pathetic right, sheesh.) haha i decided to go on a FOOD-COOKING journey. hahah. FINALLY, after soo long. thus i embarked on my chye-png (cabbage rice) and wonton mission. hehe i shall post a link to let u all see my pics. :)

http://www.chinese-soups-recipes.com/wontons-heaven.html this is a good website to teach you almost everything about wontons. sorry lazy to put in a href form.

then friday i met up with violet and zhaoxiang! and we pigged out on ice-cream, and arcaded LOL. then watched movie with valerie and my mom! fantastic four! hahaha it was gr8 bringing my mum to the cinema. wee. had boon tong kee after tht. yums! and then i went over to jarren's house to meet 07s34 cos they were having a stayover. ended up sleeping near 6am :S

saturday was church and transformers! amazing movie. :) wld love to watch it again. maybe when a free ticket drops from the sky, or when my brother downloads it from bitcomet. read neverwhere (yes, again) til 6am and missed church the nxt morning.

sunday i woke up REALLY late, watched music and lyrics. thought it was okay only. kinda.. predictable. although the song is nice i guess. then went to sent smint off at the airport, shes going to australia to study hospi. i'll miss her =/ ended up being late in meeting the uh. ******** at cafe le caire. heroic As, we shall call ourselves. yep had yummy yummy lamb! talked and stuff and did the "shisha machine". nope, its not a drink qichao. haha. a few lame funny things happened. and we went to the intercontinental to chill. and that began the episode of Four Grown Boys Scaring Themselves. woops. hahaha.

and today, i met up with dearest ginny to shop and talk!! yay i reallllly enjoyed spending time with her. :) i miss you ginny quek!! dunno if you'll see this. haha. LOVE YOUUU. :D

alright. let the pictures speak for themselves.
Food Journeys

If

2007-06-25T21:13:00.001+08:00

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And–which is more–you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

saw this on a GP teacher's blog. haha. as i read and researched on "education", i realised how much i've been missing out on. i think mr kan has done a perfect job in killing everyone's interest in GP. what happened to engaging a class in discussion? or helping us realise how useful/important GP can be in our lives? i daresay even more use than maybe Math or Chemistry. note; by engaging, i don't mean the mere effort of pronouncing someone's name correctly and then expecting an answer from him. i would love to be able to give him some credit by saying, "look, he's tried to engage us by using technology.. a movie or a podcast", or "he tried to make a GP topic look not-too-dry by linking it to our daily life and interests"... unfortunately i can't seem to dredge up any memories of saving grace for Mr Kan. any contributions, dearest classmates? it seems like he teaches GP purely like an examination subject. what happened to the joys of reading and discovering different opinions (eg. in news comments)? or the satisfaction of analysing a text and exposing its "implicit messages" successfully? how about stressing the importance of evaluating an argument, or the rationale of looking at two sides of a coin when dealing with any issue (not only when writing your development paragraphs, hell no)? sigh. granted, no teacher is perfect, and many tutors don't seem to be able to do all the above-mentioned anyway. but i wish i had someone more ~~competent~~ engaging than him. it seems like the World Wide Web has become a better educator for me today.

i'm truly sorry for slamming my GP tutor. its just general dissatisfaction building up over the past 18months and boiling over. OH HOW I'VE WASTED MY 18MONTHS DURING GP LESSONS LEARNING NOTHING!!

MUMBAI - last day + reflections

2007-06-17T01:29:00.000+08:00

hmm.. this post is long overdue.. haha. decided i should wrap up and move on with life. hopefully i'll finally get down to doing my work instead of thinking about things. haha.

okay so on the last day! i woke up really late, 1030 in fact. had late breakfast, went to buy indian snacks with aunt lina, then went to cream centre for lunch with aunt parul and pook's mum. then went to meet rayhan and raghav at mocha. nirvana - strawberry & mint. hahah. then went to raghav's hse. then went home. met leesha on the car home, cos she gave me a lift. thanks!

yup then packed bathed, met aneesha varun jahnavi rea, had dinner. took photos! well then there was this leaving ritual thing where they put a red dot on my forehead. heh. then we left house for the airport! talked to anjali on the phone on the way so even tho we didnt get to meet, at least its like we talked a little. haha. yeah so we parted at the airport.. :( jahnavi was like, "you know its very possible that we may never get to see each other again". becos she may very possibly not b coming to SG. and it really depends on whether i go back to mumbai to find her. oh wells. that made me rather sad. but i dunno, a lot of things can change in 2 years, 5 years. she may become richer. or i become richer. maybe there'll b damn cheap flights to mumbai (like same rates for flights to bangkok or sth). we might even meet on exchange or something. :)

yeap i met this guy called shreyans on the plane. had a gd time talking or maybe listening. haha. learnt a lot of things and felt veryyy young, theres so many things i havent seen in the world, so many things to learn. im reminded to remain teachable and very curious. :) haha.

well so india. what did i take back home from this trip? firstly.. the food experience. haha. the explosion on the palate? sweet sour bitter spicy salty hot cold weird normal nice not nice. flower petals, leaves. everything. haha. it was a welcome change from the usual chinese food, which doesnt emphasise so much on exploiting the wholeee rangeee of subtle tastes that spices give. although i would say i did miss chinese food, when i came back i found myself wishing for a light & soupy bowl of yongtaufoo. haha. oh and also, i love the desserts there, everything seems to be better than singapore's. or else its not found here. basilico and theobroma, i think i wont forget those places. and i'll definitely go back there if i do go back to bombay. :)

& the people! they aren't as anal/rigid/detail-oriented. rather happy-go-lucky? mostly friendly :) and i hardly see any extremely soft-spoken people, seriously. most can be really loud if they want to, if not the "quieter ones" are still expressive to a certain extent. its a loud city. haha. the honking never stops, it took me a few days to get used to it whenever i was on the road. haha. its really different from singapore, the driving is crazy! and the buildings etc aren't as orderly and organised as singapore too. the aircon units arent aligned. the balconies appear at different parts of the building. hardly any building goes beyond 10stories.

wrt cleanliness, i expected bombay to be dirtier. actually its not that bad haha. i think bangkok is far worse. at least i can sort of breathe normally and not feel choked when walking around. although i remember once we were walking out for dinner, and there was sewage all over the road for a good maybe 50metres, it was soo smelly and disgusting! haha.

and, contrary to popular belief, they are not poor. far from it! i think all of my friends there are richer than me. although its true poor people do exist, like those in the slums or the not-so-educated, there are also people on the other end living in India. and they are many in numbers okay. haha. i guess when i tell people "i went to india!" they have this idea that i went to this poor country.. to do missionary work.. build houses, teach english, whatever. please dispel all these incorrect notions. lol. some of them are even smarter than majority of your classmates. hipper, even. like i hv a friend who only shops international, she doesnt wear clothes she can buy from india. lol.

mmm. i cant really think of anything else for the moment. i will post photos soon! but i need to get down to studying, so more stuff after my mids! ciao! :D

MUMBAI - 6th, 7th day

2007-06-07T20:51:00.000+08:00

hello again! on wednesday.. woke up at 9odd, aunt linna brought me to gateway of india to "sightsee"? and tk pics. went to the taj mahal hotel as well. then went to cotton industries, this place where indian handicrafts etc are sold. bought a few things from there. then we went to basilico (the italian cafe i went to on sunday night) to buy some herbed sandwich bread. to make sandwich for neo and i during afternoon tea break. haha i seriously feel like i eat nonstop here. then we stopped by theobroma for dessert. theobroma - food of the gods. altho it sounds almost like idol worship, the food here is really phenomenal yah. the brownies are like perfect, i wld say even better than the one at takashimaya basement1 brownie shop. the coffee is passable too. and the cake, oh man so yummy. chocolate orange. with cake base soaked in rum. topped with truffle. i know im gonna go back to singapore and search for a similar cake and find that none can match up to theobroma's standards. haha.

well then we went to roman store, this little minimart kinda thing, but it has good stocks. i mean its really kinda international. chinese, japanese (WOW.), indian instant, spices, nuts, etcetc.. haha. oh btw they only have one japanese restaurant in the whole of bombay, in the taj mahal hotel. haha. so i was rather taken aback. but i rmbered jap is all like seafood. majority of the ppl here cant eat it anw. yea so uh after that we kinda headed home. was almost 2pm already! ate my lunch.. by then i was really stuffed with all the gd cake and coffee already. but i cldnt resist the okhra/bhindha with rice.. =p

then chilled and stuff.. waited around.. neo came home at about 3odd. waited for her to finish her work then we went to clothes rack. got my rusty dress and two shirts for bro. then on to twinkle and viva.. got my grandma sth! yeah then.. shoots i suddenly rmbered ive yet to get the magnets!! arghhh. ok then we made our way to swati snacks for south indian! pav bhaji, (soft, buttered bread with tomato/vegetables gravy), sev puri (crackers with tomato "gravy", potato, sev, onions..), pani puri (a crispy, egg-like pastry which u crack and then put in sprouts & chana, then put in 2 kinds of watery sauces), panki (salty pancake eaten with chutney), dosa (thosai, eaten with coconut chutney. YUMS this one was), & ice gola. ice gola was the most special man. its like, crushed ice clumped together onto a stick, then dumped in a cup of syrup. i had the khola khatta syrup, which was purple, had some unknown spices inside, and tasted sweet and a little sour. nvr had anythg like that, haha.

yah so went home! it was already like, almost 10pm. bathed and got ready, talked to neo =) haha then rayhan & his frens came in his car at about 11. there was nikhil, rayhan, raghav, akshay, avisha, jahnavi and i. haha. supposed to go a club called ra, but akshay and i werent allowed in cos we looked underage. so in the end we went to a rather lousy club downstairs and i dont even rmb the name. azziano i think. haha. music was quite ermm... hahaha. but the drink was good. kingfisher beer! i think its supposedly indian beer. haha surprisingly good, i preferred it to tiger even. mm. im starting to talk like the indians. okay then the club closed at 130am. its a ruling there, so then i reached home before 2am. soo.. they said bombay nightlife is actually not that bad. haha. ok i shall believe them. altho i wld say i'd rather club in singapore if im out for fun (like music or whtever). then talked to raghav on the phone til 330am and actually was really tired by then. but i cldnt sleep til like 530!!

then today i woke up at 9am cos i need to leave house by 1015 to go to neomi's school. observed and i saw loadddsss of differences which i wrote down but im too lazy to blog here. the most impt is the participation level in class. no extra brownie points are given if u participate actively, but everyone's just eager to give their answers. and whatever question they have they "buey paiseh" just shoot the teacher. if the class laughs, the person will mayb laugh along or ignore, then continue asking other questions again after tt. amazing lah. haha. and there were moments of chaos, i think a riot cld hav broken out. haha ok that was exaggerated. but seriously there was one time when nearly everyone was arguing with the teacher, and ppl were banging their tables, one guy was standing up and gesticulating and "championing his cause", blablabla.. i was stunned. hahaha. its funny. i love the people here they're so different =)

yeah then had PE. so hot. haha. then came home in the school bus. ancient school bus. & hv been slacking ard ever since becos the cathedral boys said we wld go to mocha but they didnt call me! so i was kinda like ok whatever lah. raghav was still promising and everythg. but this is indians for u. at least, the indians i know. hahaha. plans form and disappear in 2mins.

so now its 7pm and im waiting for dinner to happen then i'll probably go to sleep or sth. oh wells. hahah. tmr's already my last day already.. i really hope i'll spend it well, fruitfully. bah. ok til then.. think my next post will be written in singapore! and how apt it'll be my 100th post. =) marking the end of my indian trip. i find myself wanting to stay on here.. and not leave.. i totally dont look forward to leaving. ive settled so nicely and adapted and all already. sth totally unnerving happened one morning/night. i was lying on bed and thinking of how it feels to lie back in my bed in singapore. and you know sometimes when im not at home and i think abt home, i feel so comfortable and cosy just imagining the feeling of home's beds and covers. but to my.. surprise? home's bed & covers actually felt like a foreign feeling. not familiar and comforting. its like my way of life here has become like natural already. what does this mean? firstly, that my indian hosts have been so hospitable and fantastic. they really are the best hosts i've ever had na. not that i've had many, but still. and probably also that i really like bombay, despite its shortcomings (like scary road conditions, poor transport options). oh wells. i shall leave the reflection to another time.. til then, cya all in singapore!

MUMBAI - 5th day! (5th june)

2007-06-06T17:04:00.000+08:00

my 5th day is a tuesday! ok soo. i woke up really early like 8am, to "see neomi off" to school. haha. then i read kiterunner.. all the way til almost 10, stopped for breakfast with uncle nishith. and cont reading til 11. bathed and then aunt lina brought me out to go change money. cos rmb i was only left with S$4 worth of rupees. haha. exchanging money here is a difficult affair man. in singapore, every mall you go to theres a moneychanger. but here you have to go all the way to the business districts, where all the banks are, to get ur money changed. and you'll nd ur passport to carry out the transaction.

yeah then went to the cathedral school to meet the cathedral guys for lunch. reached at like 130 when our arranged meeting time was 12. zomg they waited soooo long. but they were like cool about it. in india.. punctuality's not really a big thing. haha. everybody's perpetually late. seriously. except for school i think, but thats cos they have school buses to fetch them so they have to be on time. yeah then we went to cafe churchill for lunch! nonveg western food! it was yummy cos it was a change from the usual indian spices and stuff. so it was like rich, cheesy, meaty, mushroomy. btw i had thought that mushrooms wld be an impt part of a vegetarian's diet. but aunt lina told me that its a relatively new food item (western/modern too) and not in the traditional cuisine of the indians. so yah, i haven't had mushrooms in the house yet. haha. for awhile i had thought that mushrooms weren't allowed in their diet. (eggs aren't, btw.) so yeah i had chicken at the cafe.

then we went out and walked around.. varun had to go back to school for house meeting i think. proceeded to this place called curio cottage, along colaba road. bought 2 pendants, there were many charms but i haven't started a charm bracelet so i decided not to buy any. even tho i found the concept of creating my very own charm necklace/bracelet then and there really tempting. so yeah we walked ard trying really hard to find rayhan's car and driver. hahaha so funny lah. drivers here have no handphones so we hv to search for the cars. well so we made our way to this corner store selling sugarcane juice. i tried 2 sips cos i didnt dare have too much. um, i'm having diarrhoea now so im wondering if its cos of the sugarcane. hhaha.

well then we finally found the car.. and made our way to moshe's! this italian cafe/restaurant. had gooey chocolate cake and coffee with hints of apple and cinnamon. was really good & unique, cos i havent come across such a concoction in singapore. yet. my battery died somewhere here so i cldnt take any more pics. left the place at around 430-ish, dropped raghav off first and then rayhan dropped me at neo's house, then he had to go back for tuition. had a fun time chilling and talking at moshe's haha.

then i continued devouring kiterunner!! its a reaaallly good book i think. by Khaled Hosseini if i didnt rmb wrongly. like what the reviewers commented. he really has a gift for irony. and you know how sometimes, when writers describe a scene/feelings, they sound so phony or cliched? its so natural for this writer. haha. its good. i think this has been a great holiday thus far.. a rather gd balance between activities like shopping, eating, and passive things like chilling and reading. just that it would have been even better if there was another singaporean here with me. haha. we can go crazy tgt na.

yeah then neo came home from school. she did so well for her papers! congratulations! tho i doubt she'll see this. haha. i think she'll top the class or sth. =) well yeah after she bathed we went to rea's house for dinner! met jahnavi there too! hahah so the 4 of us from SYC reunited. woo. the vivocity gang. hahaha. had sooooooooo much fun talking and laughing and jumping ard. and eating and playing phase 10 and reading someone's inbox. there were like tons of dishes!! paneer, cauliflower (rea pronounces it differently!) special cucumber/zucchini kinda thing, potatoes, roti, fragrant rice, salad, curd... not forgetting the essential dal and roti. hahaha i dont rmb all man. and its like my camera had died so i had to borrow neo's cam to tk photos. so i didnt take everythg. oh wells! oh, aunt parul was there too! =)

yeah then we had to leave at 930 cos they had school tmr. so my day ended there! yup. anw neo's home so i shall blog about today tonight or sth. yup. SEEYA ALL!

MUMBAI - 4th day!

2007-06-05T01:31:00.000+08:00

WEE!!

i think its my 4th day today! had a relatively late morning (930am). ate super yummy breakfast. baked beans on toast. sounds urgh, but there was tomato, onions, and coriander in it so it tasted yummy. oh plus cheddar cheese sprinkled on it. haha. then kinda chilled and read a book by Francine Pascal. yah i know that author has like tonss of books. read on of them. took a few stupid pics with neo hahahaha. then aunt linna brought me out for indian outfit shopping! bought one at $32 which is like real cheap alr cos everythg i saw that was nice, and which were "acceptable" as indian wedding material, were all like $80odd. haha.

so yeah then i headed back home, it was 145pm and we had lunch tgt. curried potato with cauliflower! as usual there was the mango puree thing, but i forgot whats the name of that. well then i continued chilling as neo did her work.. read my book, the title has "kites" in it im too lazy to check now. bought it at a nearby bookstore called Crossword last night. its a great book i already had goosebumps at the 2nd chapter. haha. yea then rea called! she brought me out at about 4-ish? we went to ClothesRack, bought 3 tops there and blew like 1000rupees (about $40). im spending money like water. uh-oh. not a gd sign na.

then we went to barista! for coffee! the best coffee i've had in mumbai so far! haha hazelnut frappe. it was such a gd time catching up with rea. like "reuniting with a little sister". haha. yea then she dropped me back home cos she needed to go home and prepare for tuition. aunt linna then brought me out again, we went searching for pics for neo's project but i cldnt manage to find any =/ so yea then we went home again, and i sat in the garden for awhile! it was nice, peaceful, serene. haha. time alone. went up for awhile then varun called. start of the night out with the boys! haha.

yea after spending like ten mins trying to decide where to go, we finally started walking to our destination (i forgot the name of the place). i thought it was just round the corner. but we ended up walking for reaaallly long. maybe 25mins. hahaha. but it was a real gd time la, catching up with them and just talking. saw those roadside food stalls too (tho i didnt eat frm them) and veggie stalls and beggars. had a lebanese chicken wrap (NONVEG!!), met simone, another of raghav's best friend, and their schoolmate. =) she's so friendly and warm!! yeah then uh. raghav told me about the beggars and how half of them are actually trying to con you. and you cant tell the difference so dont give them anything anyway. argh it just kinda felt difficult and maybe i felt helpless. yeah then we cabbed to gelato italia for gelato in an indian flavour. lol. and then varun sent me home.

so thats the end of today! i think this was one of the most fruitful days so far. i guess its really better to hang out in small groups and talk to different people at different times. like i got to catch up so much more when alone with rea, or with a small grp of those guys. as compared to like that day at pizzeria when i think i didnt even talk to anyone. haha. not really anyways. yea. so tmr is a new day! hope it'll be great too. take care everyone!

oh and i'm left with S$4 left of rupees. and i owe aunt parul S$20. yes thats hw much i've spent within 4 days. about $370. oh dear.

MUMBAI - 1st day

2007-06-02T11:18:00.000+08:00

HELLO!

my 1st day at mumbai just over! the girls (neo and jahnavi) are supposed to wake up at 9, but i woke up at 830, so here i am online. checking email talking to my bro and blogging. haha.

okay! i stayed home most of yesterday cos neo had to do her projects and go for tuition. while i settled in and slept a little. took a lot of pics so far! random pics. haha. didnt take photo of the airport though, cos it was very obvious i was alone and people were looking at me alr. haha. didnt wanna attract more attention.

oh yah. on the plane, i met this nice person (uncle michael). a businessman frm SG! yupp then we talked and i didnt feel so alone in the plane! its like a temp father looking out for my stuff and me (when we were going to immigration). haha. so thank God! and also as i read the cards.. i realised it'll be a real adventure only if i walk it with God. yepp.. haha.

oh and THANK YOU gladwin wanlin cheryl for coming down!! very sweeeet of u all. i rly appreciate it yah. xiexienimen! =) =)

okay so i ate gujarati (guju) food for lunch at neo's house! done by auntie linna! yummmmy. post pics up next time. then just slack ard at home.. and we went pizzeria in the evening! met up with the rest.. there were neomi, jahnavi, rayhan, varun, viraj, raghav! got to eat meat.. haha cos of varun and viraj. but was reaaally full. pizza's okay la. then we went mocha, this coffeeplace nearby. got to try sheesha!! finally. haha. it wasnt as bad as i expected it to be. i.e. i didnt choke and choke and choke. haha. nicee.

yea then it was very late already (11pm?), yeah and neo's mum dont like us to reach home so late. so went home! =D and i had a great time with the Lord! when they were sleeping and i got a room to myself to pray. so thank God for blessing me with His presence =) and thanks all you people for praying for me!

will update again soon! watch this space! =)

MUMBAI trip prep

2007-05-28T12:41:00.000+08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLINE! :)

on sunday we celebrated our darling caroline's birthday at waraku japanese restaurant! she's really been a blessing to us with her joy and sweetness! hope she really enjoyed the time :)

alriight! i'm going to MUMBAI on 1st June to 9th June for a holiday. to visit my friends!

Flight Details
Departing: Singapore(SIN - Changi Intl) on Fri, 01 Jun 2007, 0730 hrs
Arriving: Mumbai(BOM - C Shivaji Intl) on Fri, 01 Jun 2007, 1020 hrs
Flight: SQ422 (B777-200)

Departing: Mumbai(BOM - C Shivaji Intl) on Sat, 09 Jun 2007, 0030 hrs
Arriving: Singapore(SIN - Changi Intl) on Sat, 09 Jun 2007, 0825 hrs
Flight: SQ423 (B777-300)

and here are the darlings im gonna visit :)

i would really appreciate it if you all kept me in prayer! i hope to be able to shine for God when i go there and let my "feet be swift and beautiful" for Him. =)

Prayer Requests.

constantly involve God in everythg i do
to have time for daily QT!

to shine for God and to be His "ambassador"

opportunities to share about God! & to be alert to spot them!

to show love to their families!

that i'll enjoy myself there!

safety!
physically - don't get diarrhoea/migraines etc. and that i won't get robbed/stabbed or anything like that. & my luggage wont be missing. =D
spiritually - pls pray for protection! foreign land i don't know how its gonna be like heh.

haha so my days have been spent planning the trip and everything. its all quite an experience. alright thanks people for reading! will come update soon. :) byee!

saturday afternoons!

2007-05-20T01:56:00.000+08:00

i slept too much and was rewarded with a migraine in the evening. argh.

but nevertheless. all saturday afternoons should be like this saturday's afternoon. wake up late. lunch with mummy. laze around with birds chirping outside the sunny balcony. read newspaper. hooray!

now i shall get started on my homework. lol.

lessons!

2007-05-14T22:23:00.000+08:00

seems like i haven't blogged in a long time?

many things happened in a short span of 2 weeks.

highlights were:
i lost my handphone and wallet at the same time so please give me your number again :) & contribute to the Denise Fund. so i can replace my ezlink, atm, ETCETC
the end of season.
house results.
im finally attending GAP again.
video conference at GIC where i met some great people. :)
spidey3.
akuou retreat.

haha yupps. haven't shared much about how i feel about ending at 1st round. i guess disappointment was a big feature; i don't like not achieving my goals very much. well even if i miss the mark, i would like to know i was this close to achieving it.

but nevertheless i'm really thankful for you people. VJNB07 :) even though we didn't get to play together in A div for very long, we trained tgt a lot.. and i really enjoyed all our trainings. :) we all know how hard we fought and all the effort we put in, (sunburnt shoulders, achy ankles/knees, suicides, long runs, etc..) and we know how much we love the game and the team. its okay if the world doesn't recognise us because we didn't bring the silverware home. as long as you all know you've pushed your own boundaries, gave more than you cared to give, you know you're all winners inside. because we've all battled our inner demons at one point or another and i know all you girls are overcomers in one way or another. be it your physical/mental barriers. :) its so sad to say goodbye and to close this chapter.. i will really miss training with you girls so much. & miss having a common goal. i love YOU ALL! sigh. only Abba will know how i feel inside.

yepps i guess i learnt what it means to surrender your dreams to God. and how it feels like to have your dream taken away from you. retreat was a great time, the lessons and everything. i know i'm coming back, He's drawing me nearer. thankful for His faithfulness and grace. i'm beginning to truly appreciate the balance between surrendering your ambitions/dreams yet still, having an aim to work towards. a goal. a plan. how i can involve God. how to say i want to work and earn lots of $ for my family but yet i know if God wants me to go somewhere else i'll have to readily drop this dream. i relearnt how all of my days are crafted into His perfect plan. no strife. just a quiet confidence as i work toward excelling.

the peace that comes when i know. all of my days are held in His hands! no matter what choices i make, what uni i go, what course i take, what career i go to, in the end i'll be where He wants me to go, and it will be the PERFECT plan. and i really mean PERFECT, like no what-ifs, no "thats better", i shd have gone for that instead, yadayada. yay. haha.

big lessons on faith too. with same advice from jinwei and darren. yupp even though i still have questions, i will believe and trust in all that You are.

i will be driven and motivated for You. because of You. :)

oh and i almost forgot to mention, i met some really great people from the video-conference. its cool to find like-minded people :) i know this sounds abit weird. but like, i can be serious and talk about things in detail and depth and people won't switch off. they even respond and engage. thank GOD for blessing me with chances to meet new people! as well as getting to talk to a few of my other friends at this level. esp my brother and his gf :) i don't feel weird and like i'm the only one thinking too much, or like i'm too concerned about my future. lol. yay.

ok im gonna toddle off. goodnight :)

retail therapy!!

2007-04-29T21:36:00.000+08:00

wee im sorry everyone i can't see my tagboard again. but if there are tags, hello to everyone and thanks for ur love! haha and i know this will sound sooo retarded if there are no new tags. but nvm.

anw i really slacked the whole of today man, i didn't touch my work at all :S i refuse to do so i guess, until season officially ends.

so i woke up at 9am (so early right).
read newspapers,
used the com,
read abt urban legends (ask me: are pearls really toxic? does the 5-second rule really apply? does the wax in cupnoodles' containers end up lining our stomach?),
sorted out old clothes for D^2,
tried to online-shop,
ate late lunch with mum :),
waxed my legs (lol),
read my SciAmerican,
talked to gerald.

its been a long time. i really wanted to ask him so much more and talk abt a lot of other stuff, & also tell him many other things, but i just didn't know whether it was right to do so. am i even allowed to bother about his life? does he really need/want to know about my life, even though he asked? haha. it could have been for courtesy's sake. but oh wells, in this case, better lesser than more.

then it was 5pm! *cue jaw drop* went to meet valerie & family. :) had a gd time shopping, and i blew $50 on 5 ---s. not very expensive la actually. but its quite ironic, i banked in $100 as savings, and then immediately spent half of it about an hr later. aaah i need to manage my accounts later. i want:

that novo flats, or the one from topshop if theres my size elsewhere. about 50!
that pair of novo heels at almost 80. but so pretty & comfy!
& many other things but not spotted at PP tdy.

oh & not forgetting
porridge steamboat (with val & her clique?),
parkway steamboat (with ??, who wants to go!),
phin's steakhouse (who wants to go!!),
indon food near parkway (WITH MUMMY!),
jap buffet at hanabi restaurant (w val and lishen!),
miss clarity/bakerzin (val and shirley!),
two tubs of haagen dazs. :D

hehehe. i told myself its okay to buy these things because i didn't really buy anythg new during CNY. hiaks. porridge steamboat tmr, cos tues is labour day! wee! can't wait can't wait. and i can't wait to go shopping at taka. *beams :D* alright, i decided that if i save on food $5 per weekday i have $25 to spend on food during the weekend (all my cravings). that wld mean about $3 per weekday on food. haha. also gd ah, mayb force myself to eat lesser, weekend i wont feel so guilty when i indulge. WEE. i'm in such a good mood now. hahaha.

what a long post. sorry for boring you if you've actually read til here. hee. =p

drawn by Your presence & the promise of Your grace

edit: my mum reimbursed me for my ---s! yay i have extra $50! lol thank God and thank you mummy :)

random streams of consciousness

2007-04-22T15:09:00.000+08:00

i have been the slackest bummer around this weekend. haha.

it was really a bad time. i cant help but think about how long i took last year to fully recover. and how i have two days to do the same. and other things that went wrong this weekend. and the overall sian-ness. sigh in short it has been a depressing weekend. A Series of Unfortunate Events.

its rather unbelievable, i slept a LOT this weekend, didn't do any work, hardly read anything. just ice and bandage and stone and unbandage and repeat the cycle. lol. oh wells.

i cant read my tagboard because of some "forbidden 403" thing. i googled it and it still didnt make sense to me. something about not being allowed to access, so yes (gladwin) even if i change to mozilla nothing will work, its about the connection or something. or maybe some firewall. haha.

i considered debunking almost every syllabus objective for Diversity and Evolution here. but i think it'll have to wait until after season. "After Season." there are so many things under that list. hopefully i'll really get all those things done. i shall not even think about what goes under my after season list. focus!

jinwei called last night, and everytime his phone calls bring a touch from God. i think he's what i would call God overflowing into other people's lives. he says i'm a classic type A. whats a type A? i shall go find out. but yepp, maybe i sprained my ankle so that my whole weekend's activities will be cancelled and i would have time to listen to jinwei (& indirectly, God). the things he shared really hit the nail and only 10mins into the conversation, i saw some of the answers i have been looking for. he understood cos he went thru the same things. and his heart for us is so real. and i realised he's probably the only person who makes me cry everytime i "meet" him on the phone. despite steeling myself before the conversation, i can't help but crumble because he sees past everything and cuts to the heart of the matter. "The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out." he exemplifies that man of understanding. haha. he's truly a leader i look up to and a leader who inspires me.

i hope i'll get my life in order asap. what an emotional weekend. haha.

vjnb!

2007-04-16T22:31:00.000+08:00

the half-second that may end up determining a win or loss.

when to take off, when to turn,

the pace. always moving.

i think netball really rocks. haha.

c'mon vjnb lets remember our love for the game! enjoy it and play wholeheartedly. for yourself and for the team. just 1week more to the day we've all been training for & fighting for. FOCUS for each other!

woosh. we can do it, i believe in us!

nyahaha. musicfest tix!

2007-04-11T22:14:00.000+08:00

thank GOD my (& geri's) balloting for musicfest tix were successful!

now all the netballers can go!

yay. i love all you netballers haha :)
now lets train hard in our pink jerseys and in the hothot sun!
dont forget to enjoy the game. =)

from godpa's blog;

The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest. The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness. It is those things that you do halfheartedly that really wears you out.

i think its true. haha. nights all!

SPORTS DAY 2007

2007-04-01T14:00:00.000+08:00

AQUILA!!

sports day totally rocked, in my opinion. haha. it wasn't only becos of the fact that we got OVERALL champs and GIRLS champs & BOYS runners-up (i think). mostly it was cos of the HOUSE SPIRIT displayed! haha. all the spontaneous cheering at the end. and 07S34 crashing the ursa grandstand to cheer aquila cheers! and how when we had no trumpet you all sang the tune out! and how we really lastminute-lastminute came up with a team for 8x50m, and we still got 2nd!! hahahahaha. & SO MUCH MORE!! really, each and everyone of you present at sports day, i hope you all had fun being the BLUE PEOPLE!

well 1st and foremost i thank God for everything! cheryl and i sneaked away after marchpast to pray for awhile. and i think the peace God gave when we lifted our anxieties to Him really helped me to settle down and stay strong, & not go crazy and pull my hair out. what with running around, running on the track, cheering, finding ppl, worrying if our house was doing well, worrying for noms, all going on at the same time. and the confidence & reassurance He gave me when i was on the track, watching the 1st runner, then the 2nd, then the 3rd.. the fact that He will bless the work of my hands once i do it for Him, & that He's for me not against me, really helped me stay strong and run my best! "He will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is stayed on Him". :) thank You Abba for Your faithfulness!

yes and i think the cheerleaders really rocked! stay back and work so hard every night, i think you all deserve special mention for putting in so much for AQUILA :) & also everyone who ran/jumped/panted for AQUILA during the heats or during sports day itself, you all deserve the CHAMPS title! & thanks to daniel yew for the entertaining mascot race + the ice box AND ice (wah we (the "drinks" people) were really super grateful. ice is very heavy, u know.) & also JONLIANG, who despite a rash-ful and dry mouth, played the trumpet and brought up the atmosphere for us!

OH & not forgetting 06houseAQUILA. cheryl cynthia eunice and elica! our working rship rocks, i can always trust you all to be there when theres stuff to be done. and not forgetting our friendship, sharing about problems and eyecandies (LOL) and SCREEEAAAMING together. HAHAHA. and sharing almondmilkpowderBUN. & everything. oh man i will really miss you all so much when we "retire"..

last but not least, the BLUE HOUSE NOMS!

to AARON, AUDREY, CHERYL, HANNAH, HUITING, SHANNON, TRISTAN, YIRUI,

who sacrificed so much time, energy, and many other things to make this a success for the HOUSE we love so much; YOU ALL ROCK! you are not only a crappy fun-loving bunch, you all have proved that you can be efficient and productive as well :) WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU MAN!

all in all. i think we can assuredly say that this victory belongs to the whole house, not only the housecomm/housenoms. =) because everyone worked to bring the title back again! like what i said last year, during house noms speech, i hope everyone is now proud to wear BLUE on their backs. because i truly am. =)

cafe le caire

2007-03-25T22:33:00.000+08:00

hahaha we had napfa on thurs. so early right. wee. and fri trg was better.. i think. hmm. JIAYOU NETBALLERS!!! :D

SPA tmr and tues. havent finishd studying & here i am still blogging, lol. oh wells.

sat went for benny ho's arrows seminar on growing as a community. saw glanies! haha. WE MISS HER SO MUCH LAH :( anw i thought the "lessons" were good.. yupp.

oh & at night right. we went to cafe le caire again. this arab street cafe. lol. i tell u, middle eastern guys, when they're cute, they're really cute. seriously hot lah! maybe its cos im getting abit bored of chinese faces lol. but what i found REALLY amusing was that abby was secretly trying to capture a photo of a waiter. i didnt even think of that! lol so smart. but very funny haha. next time go back must call & reserve seats. hehe. & bring digicam take photo with them LOL. just kidding ah.

everybody shd go arab st and hang out, its a cool place. =) many other small cafes to try and yes, shisha to smoke! haha.

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

vjnetball07 :)

2007-03-21T21:57:00.000+08:00

haha thank God for wednesday. i had about 3 hours of much needed sleep in the afternoon. my legs feel more a part of my body now. i can walk with wide strides! i can jump! i can like. do mini-"chg of directions" at home. wee. haha. so thanks samuel ting for the advice of sleeping early (or more) so that legs are fresh the next day. :)

and then i had dinner with godpa! yay thanks godpa it was a nice time of relac talking and hanging out at bookstores :D hhaha. oh we had this slightly amusing convo.

*walks past a hair salon*
dee: oh i need to cut my hair!
glad: i realised ur cutting hair season about the same as me (he just cut his hair)
dee: oh really? but how often do you cut ur hair?
glad: *confidently* 3 times a week!

ok haha. nothing much.

train train train! i so want to get it fast. to understand where to run. when to run. gain their trust and trust the rest. i wish i had the natural talent to play C. to have a presence on court like glan. i REALLY want to. and i must stay strong! improve my speed, improve my stamina, improve my reading of the game. c'mon man. vjnb07 :) i love u girls and i believe we can do it!! lets keep persevering and keep going at the barrier.. soon we will overcome it and our play will become smooth and our confidence will go up =) jiayou!

The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making any excuses, thats the day you start to the top. -O.J. Simpson

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. -Michael Jordan

The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. -Vidal Sassoon

I learned that if you want to make it bad enough, no matter how bad it is, you can make it. -Gale Sayers

pitstop!

2007-03-12T14:34:00.000+08:00

hahaha, thats part of akuou at PITSTOP! from left; caroline denise gladwin jason haoguang. picture frm gladwin!

hehe its this boardgames cafe at circular road, u pay $10 for "roadtrip" - entitles you to a DoubleScoopSundae, a drink (mocha latte in my case), and two hours of gaming. not too bad, considering that its NewZealandNatural, i had a few slices of canned peach, & the coffee wasnt the diluted, Mcdonald's kind. had lots of fun there!! haha i should be paid for marketing their establishment.

so what else happened? hmm i quit my job on friday (so i got my sat and sun evenings free, WHOOPEE!) end up it was a good move cos i think max only 1 unit sold per promoter. so if i stayed on, i would have gotten only $10 commission, and paid a meagre rate of $4 per hour for being overworked. no thanks. haha. i rather spend my time with darlings frm akuou! and relaxing! preparing for the mental battle ahead in the weekdays. haha.

so okay, sunday was great time too! finallllly got to see wanlin and talk to her for abit, during lunch and @ AnBC stationery shop. lol. then window-shopped with pa for abit at bugis when wanlin left. long time since i done that! *beams* then we went to national library! *BEAMS* i miss the library! lol omg i sound like a geek.

then i went home at about 6 to read terry pratchett. i miss Death! (Death's a character in pratchett's books, not an event) i dont know how to describe why i like him. probably because he's supposed to be dark and menacing (he is, a little,) but yet there's this innocence and mild interest in humans and their experiences. and their emotions. detached yet involved at the end of the story. touching. u hv to read it for yourself! Reaper Man. Soul Music's good too!

hmm then we went to 85 for supper! yums. went back to my book after that. had a semblance of a quarrel with my mum over the india trip, but oh whatever? haha. she's just being paranoid i guess. we'll see how it goes la.

i think my brain's really functioning at minimum capacity. all the thinking and questions that were in my head seems far out of my grasp now. its okay, i'm on holiday!

Chicken McNuggets are the most enchanting, addictive food items.

OVERRRR

2007-03-08T13:02:00.000+08:00

CTs are finally over!! phew. like *huge sigh of relief*.

work at IT fair later on. hopefully can reach target. free dinner at hanabe!! oooh. regardless, i'm still going there with my cousin. for what i don't remember. maybe it was to celebrate her results?? but doesn't matter lah. haha. hope i earn enough to cover costs. haha.

planning a trip to India soon! 1st to 8th june. anybody interested in subsidising my trip? lol. er, for subsidising me, in return i could help u write reports on bombay, take pictures for you, or act as your personal courier service & buy stuff for you thats only available there. or i can introduce you to my handsome/pretty, awesome, intelligent friends to befriend. bahaha.

i'm not making much sense. i think i'm just exhilarated that my CTs are over and i'm soooo "free". omgosh.

i think i really am tired from a lot of things. mentally. yawns. how i wish i had time to just slack at home and not talk to the world for a whole afternoon & evening again.

tomyam steamboat!

2007-03-04T23:31:00.000+08:00

hahaha i'm so happy now because i had such fun just now. and such good food!! & great company!

for YM. i guess the question on our minds (at least for the few girls i was talking to) for our group was. do we really want to grow old together in the first place? because if we don't want it there's no point in all the schemes, plans, and co-ordination that we put in place. i guess its really a question of commitment and whether we want this group to stay together or not...

and i'm thankful for all the times spent with abby jason & glad over the week. its really so much less tiring to hang out with 1 person at a time.. no need to worry if anyone gets left out of any conversation, etc etc. & for all the love you all have shown me.. by spending time with me or the things you all told me. THANK YOU!

ok so anyways, i had the greatest latte in ages. yum. after drinking skinny latte for so long and reverting back to normal latte. heh it was just awesome! hooray! hahaha. and then, glad and i went to parkway to eat the steamboat thing at the basement food court there. SO YUMMS OKAY! hahaha. the tomyam is like super nice, really spicy and sour. not the diluted, "less spicy" kind. everything was just good lah. haha. and then we went for scoopz icecream. and then it was just a good time lah! hahaha.

CTs are coming. i do realise exams are quite meaningless when i don't have the right motivation. to wanna do it for God. at least thank God i'm learning this now at CTs, not like later during prelims or A levels. i want a 2nd chance and i need a 2nd chance.

...adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for all that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all natural sin - Charles Colson

i do wanna do this out of adoration for my King.

i just hope this is not a PMS-&-thus-i'm-more-in-touch-with-my-emotions kinda thing. haha. sigh.

cny, coffee, confidence

2007-02-25T16:16:00.000+08:00

hahaha okaaay, im in the midst of uh changing template!

CNY!! a reunion dinner on CNY eve filled with <3!! time spent with family w/o arguing is great. watched ghost rider. lol. collected angbaos. ate GOOD homecooked food @ gramps' place. karaoked. yearly lunch @ empress place. spent a lot of time with family and cousins. we saw eric!! playd mahjong (yay!). watched stepup @ home. ran xctry. i improved! icarus outing (but super short). dinner at this hidden peranakan eating place at katong. YUMS. quality time with my DARLING DENZEL SO CUTE! teaching him how to write chi words. & how to use my mechanical pencil and pen eraser lol. denzel & denise! so similar our names ah!! <3 <3 ok then, more mahjong. and then talked a lot. thought a lot. hhaha.

i just get this sinking feeling in my stomach when i'm reminded that sports days heats are tomorrow. like, nervous? ugh. i really really dont wanna fall down!! please. time to pray huh.

yay i finally sat down at a coffee joint yesterday, after SOO long. after depriving myself from luxurious spending for like weeks?.. hahaha. the coffee was just heavenly lah. so was the "peach me up" lol!! thanks pa =)

oh we also had fellowship yesterday at sentosa, we ate so much GOOD food. hoooo. got a little burnt. and thanks jason for pei-ing me & talking b4 service. :) according to glad (and i agree with him), ur a v faithful friend! haha.

common tests coming but im not studying hard for it. i think i'll just let it go, study what i can because i only have a week left. at least, just know whats the syllabus about. not gonna aim for As and Bs. SPA's the important ones!! yes i must jiayou. help me God.

so yesterday i finally got a few (ok maybe just 2) of my burning questions answered. thanks kelly for enlightening me (as always, haha.) was abt confidence. and abt every human being needing to bank their lives on something.. having a purpose. a meaning. something they live for. sometimes people may realise they have this need, find no (or an inadequate) answer, then numb themselves to this question. and go on with their lives.. or some use material things as their purpose. maybe a sport. a career. a dream. or they live for themselves..

but. your life is not your own.. you were bought with a price.

06HOUSE

2007-02-16T12:21:00.000+08:00

ahh what a week! :)

let's see. hsecomm interviews were finally over and done with. aquila was with lynx! oh my i tell u, we (especially cheryl and i) were SO bitchy, mean, rude, irritating, and just plain inhuman. seriously i think i should be slapped in the face. and my behaviour almost certainly qualified as sth to be bitched about behind my back. now that everything's over.. just wanna say SORRY to everyone i traumatised. really, 06HOUSE are all nice people! its just that we have to be like that for the interviews! we didn't mean much of what we said! we love you ppl! =D

haha yupp, there were some reallly memorable things that some people did, but i wont mention here cos its like uh. unfair to give ppl special mention. and also, its like when jennhaur said, you'll know how to pick when you see them. quite true lah. if you can do it, you'll just have it. lol. i was just uh, half-emoing with cheryl yesterday and thinking about things. jc's really a short time.. in just about a year you'll hv to move on frm being a leader of followers, to a leader of leaders. from this level to the next. "from glory to glory"? haha. now its like, perspectives change. you think of how to guide pple to become a great leader, not just about being one yourself. but its good i guess. im thankful im still learning :)

what else. Valentine's Day!! haha i think this year i ate SOOO much brownies and cookies i bet the guilt (and fats) is gonna pile on me during the next 3.2km run that i do. angel and mortal revealed (not like we didnt already know each other, haha). & i gave this photoframe thingy to calvin (07s34 angel!), i hope he liked it! shirlyn gave me a SUPER NICE necklace too! thanks to all the darlings and dearies who gave me stuff!! and the notes you all painstakingly wrote!! and also a big THANKS to those whom i love soo much! for our friendship and the love and care you all have shown to me. (: i hope you all liked the little brownie and notes! *HUGS!*

oh and special mention to 06S34 guys,
they gave each girl in class a rose :) very sweet guys! totally unexpected leh! haha =p thanks!

dinner was a scrumptious affair at scruffy murphy's. hahahaha scrumptious was on purpose. salad and hummus and irish stew and warm apple pie with icecream oh my heavenly! thanks to gladwin who treated us so gentlemanly, and for the beautiful flowers (: and thanks to kexin and abby too for the wonderful company and games! yay you guys really rock its great spending time with you all!! =) *hugs!*

ok what else? hmm.

this week also marked the end of my stomach flu. thank You Lord! the period of rest was a good time to "let my soul catch up with my body".. slow down and think about many things.. haha. i guess i'm a little tired of just laughing and having fun all day long. i used to think (ok maybe i still do?) a good day in school means many smiles, much talk, good cheer, nothing bad happening. then everyday's just about like that. smile, laugh, talk. and of course, just planning my schedule, managing my time, doing my work/CCA things. mostly CCA things haha. there's no time to even think through the things you did. or even think about things, about people, about issues etc.. then i start feeling a little empty.. a little worn out. haha. a little like an air-head, no substance? you know? haha. don't get me wrong, i really enjoy time in school, all the great fun and laughter! but there has to be more than that. more than the superficiality and the feel-good and the "hi-howuvebeen-ohoktakecare-*smile*-bye"-ing. i guess i miss that something more.

oh wells. haha (: yupp anyway, its CNY celebrations today and it was not too bad lah, seriously. hahaha i was a little surprised to see sooo many pple doing mass dance. and we (cheryl and i) were just reminded of all the mass dances (made up or not) that certain people did during interviews, omg we were laughing our asses off in the middle of dances. haha. super funny. house comm/ house noms rock!

okay bye! (:

saboteur

2007-02-11T22:39:00.000+08:00

rah! vanquish the bug!

haha im happy because jason and gladwin came over just now and we had a lot a lot of fun playing saboteur, laughing, talking, eating (albeit toooo much for me.) a lot of uh, funny things happened haha. a lot of burping after the burping rule was relaxed (or rather instituted?). and all by jason only. altho it wasnt him who came up with the rule. and gladwin was like wheres my phone? when his phone was infront of his face. and his phone is so huge!! hahaha.

yay thank you you two. oh and for the botanical organism representing elegance too! *BOWS*

i think,
last year life was abit too serious..
this year life's abit too fun..
it shd be the other way round!

okay im scooting off. goodbye!

the gastritis experience

2007-02-09T19:23:00.000+08:00

ohkaaaay.

i'm down with gastritis / gastric flu. + fever. oh my. bad experience esp when my temperature's too high. i start to think in a whirlwind, i cant still the voices in my head, and when i sleep i feel like i'm half-hallucinating. eurrghh i don't like this!!

so what have i been doing? i've been sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating, using com, sleeping, eating.. hahaha. since like, 12pm friday afternoon. doctor says gastric may be due to stress so i don't dare start my work, in case it worsens my condition. but i guess i'll try later since my mind is rather clear now (temperature dropped again.) haha and doc says i must eat every 3hours! wow! lol so i juz sleep and time myself to wake up and eat, then go back to sleep again. haha. WHAT A STONER / SLACKER.

and i am to deprive myself from "crowd contact" until sunday at least (if possible), because if its gastric flu and not gastritis, its very virulent and i shouldn't be spreading it to innocent people doing their CNY shopping. okay. so, i'm isolated at home with nobody to make conversation with except my brother. and very occasionally my mum (altho there's not much to talk abt except, do you want banana? or apple? rmb to eat ok?) sigh. i think i'm gonna break a record for staying at home for such a long period of time. so far, abt 30hrs... lets see how long it'll be. hehe.

but i shall dedicate this post to my brother, who despite his busy schedule, decided to accompany me and talk to me last night. when my gastric was too painful i called to him for help and he heated up porridge for me, brought in panadol for me, etc.. then when abt an hour later i decided to just vomit, he was there to pat my back, chg plastic bag, get water, get tissue, etc.. haha i tell you without him i think everythg will be nightmarish. the last time i had gastric i was alone and i puked like 4times on my own. the feeling was downright depressing. hehe. & after i vomited he stayed behind to talk to me for awhile. =) =) =) so THANKS GOD AND THANKS KOR! hehehe. yupp im feeling super loved cant you tell? hahaha.

next time when i have kids or what, i'll make sure i'll be there to accompany her when she's sick. and make unimportant conversation. haha.

<3 netball!

2007-02-05T22:02:00.000+08:00

i had a wonderful day today, just that i read something and that something really really gloom-ified my night. so emo lah. hhaa oh wells. FRIENDS.

hse forms were in today. =) no comments yet! training was overall good. the run was gd (gr8 with a watch and alone). tho i missed my target by 4seconds!! had fun laughing at xiaoshuaige (yuhan). & it was nice working in the D again (w eirene). juz that all the lobs flew past my head & hands.. I WANNA GROW TALLER!!

cheryl's birthday is coming! and so is valentine's day!! get into the mood man. bake cookies. eat cookies. send flowers. write messages. yes i will be nice! seeya ppl. lets feel fab tgt tmr. =D

nazri and undies

2007-02-01T22:41:00.000+08:00

SOO busy. sooo many things to do. but i'm enjoying it i think. HAHA. netball rox! i love you guys. 2pm LUNCH YAYYY. hahaha. and HOUSE ROCKS TOO!! all the events. muahaha. i love hsecomm. and AQUILA!!!

ok i JUST had to come and post this up. i was having a convo with nazri about qichao's bday preparations. CHECK THIS OUT EVERYONE

zeri says:
disposable panties are SUCH a turn-on

there's more!

denise <3 NETBALL! <3 HSE, ! says:
does 711 sell underwear

zeri says:
OH OH they sell disposable panties

(how in the world does nazri know that 7-11 sell disposable undies!??!)

hehe ok thats all for now folks. tata!

grace

2007-01-22T00:11:00.000+08:00

hello!

a week flies by really quickly huh.

been busy/tired with training, snr's farewell dinner and homework. its like living everyday back to back. nonstop just do and do. haha. don't have as much time as last week for quiet time.. hopefully i'll be more disciplined this week.

friday night was OG bbq and i had tons and tons of fun. just laughing with/AT my OG ppl.. we were sooo high when walking back toward VJ after it ended. thanks for all the fun my iWaltz darlings haha =) and mayyee and i styrofoam-boxed andreas together, it was like just in a comedy lah. haaha hilarious, really. walkd back to pit 47 with pearly and got to talk to her lots, thks for sharing! tho she probably wont see this. haha. i really appreciated all that she cared to tell me. =)

then we had a stay-over again. amelia pangsehd, (she had to go home?) and went to emo with her crewlet ppl at the beach (chunhan too). haha. then kenli didnt come also. sigh sad. then left mayyee for the stayover lor, but she had to sleep so... yah.

oh yeah after i went home to bathe and came back to pit 47 right. there was this man who was alone and just screaming vulgarities at no one in particular. was quite scary. i thought that he was demon-possessed esp after all the stories wanlin/jean told me. yah but anws when he got a little too loud for comfort we decided to go back to sch. uh then what did we do huh? playd games. talked. then they all fell asleep super early. lol.

after breakfast at parkway we all just stoned at macs and talked. haha. then we went orchard. studied at library after lunch, b4 we went home! yay. so, not TOO bad lah. didn't slack too much right? haha. and oh, i've become their abang. wow. i think i shdn't go for stayovers anymore if there aren't other girls around. it really felt a little weird at times..

i've learnt stuff about friendships. why friendships formed from church means so much more, because of the unity of the purpose and meaning we all have in our friendships. ultimately, to spur one another on toward love and good deeds.. and the unconditional, forgiving, almost unblemished love we give to one another. that actually comes from God. we love cos He first loved us.

and tdy, we sang these lines;

love thats stronger
love that covers sin
and takes the weight of the world

He came to take the weight of the world upon His shoulders. all my burdens and fears. the guilt of missing the standard. my worries of not shining enough. the burden of legalism. all the things that made my heart heavy, He lifted it up. because of what He's done.. simply because of His grace, the unmerited favour. "His yoke is easy and His burden light". :)

because of You i can walk with a bounce in my step and joy in my heart. without any heavy burdens. :) i love YOU!

if only everyone, esp those close to my heart.. could know this love that Jesus gives. how He removes the dark things and replaces it with light. i can only pray! and i will believe and continue having faith! :)

have a good week ahead people. =)

lessons on faith!

2007-01-14T23:37:00.000+08:00

ok a short one!

hmm today, YouthAlive band came to YM to lead worship and share God's Word! they're from west australia, perth i think, from pastor dave reardon (our camp speaker)'s home church. yupp i think we were all very blessed by them :) to me.. the message was mainly about letting faith arise in us! and to speak positively! speak "faith seeds" into the ground. to get the fruit of miracles. note: analogy should be used loosely. ref: mark 5:25 onwards i think. hehe.

yupp it was a good reminder to me lah, i admit sometimes i'm abit negative about my situation(s).. in school, home, or even YM. should just have faith! be like that woman who was so desperate just to touch Jesus's cloak. and the facts can be different from the truth. get it? the facts are that YM is a little apathetic, we don't deny ourselves and take up the cross daily, sometimes its a little like a club membership kinda thing. but im gonna see the truth. everyone has DUNAMIS in them. every youth. every youth will be on fire, will be transformed for Christ, lead lives that shine His light. why? because that's his will and when we pray according to His will He will answer us! its not "if you can" anymore, Lord. its you can, help my unbelief! haha. everything is possible for him who believes. lets start believing people! without faith it is impossible to please God!

and i think life's so refreshing with this faith that God placed back in my heart. back to my first love.. i still am not obeying completely yet but im trying and God will take me with "all my fears and failures". thank God for his faithfulness and how he always reminds me and watches out for me by showing me my "blind spots". hehe. a humble and contrite heart He will not despise. He uses the weak to lead the strong. slowly lah.. :)

so much for a short entry. lolx.

O1's over!

2007-01-06T21:32:00.000+08:00

oohlala!

am so tired. haven't slept last night.. gonna sleep soon i hope! O1's over.. left with monday's sea regatta.. really pray that it won't rain! so that we can have lots of fun on the last day.. =)

hmm what to say? this year's O1 so different from last year's O1.. different experience. but fun la. =p anyway i <3 icarus & iWaltz!! last night was like so fun.. got to talk more to the yr1s @ MS during dinner.. then had so much FUN FUN FUN @ city hall mrt.. the place where all the breakdancers go. silent mass dances. silent cheers. all the "sit-in-a-circle-games". the juggling lessons w iWaltz! haha. the milk game! and the conga-conga tookie-tookie game!! LOL. we were like some kinda cult hopping abt lahh seriously! laughed like non-stop!

then we played 7-up! they did some funny forfeits which involved shocking a chinese guy with milk actions haha.. and amelia earning money for us doing some actions.. actually it wasn't really funny when the passerby treated us like beggars & threw the coin at us. but anyways its over!

then we had such a hard time deciding whether or not to stayover, and @ whose hse.. but it was worth the effort! we had such a blast! haha. i think its the most i've laughed in a night. 1st it was the drooling by someone. then we played asshole daidee (ya very vulgar but thts the game name.) then qichao became the a******. and we cldn't stop laughing @ him after that. lol. u can ask him why. ah, i don't rmb much of what happened except we laughed non-stop playing games downstairs. and then we ate breakfast and we stoned and talked and slacked so much. but even the slacking was gr8 fun ahhaha.

quite a gr8 way to end O1. stayovers rock lah. ahaha. everyone shd do stayovers on the last night of orientation.

anyways. i went to church after the slacking. 1+pm. had a good sharing session with wanlin! =) thank God for her, really. thank God for showing me whats my problem and why is stuff going bad.. in short, i just need to keep seeking Jesus. the Person. my Friend. not the ministry. to return to my first Love! everythg will be okay. denying the flesh will be okay. everything will be do-able after that. =)

the righteous run into the name of the Lord and are safe!

Psalm 91:1-2. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

SYC cont'd...

2007-01-01T16:51:00.000+08:00

read previous post for the 1st 3 days of SYC! =D

ok anyways, on 13Dec Wed, our 1st stop was @ e bukit chandu museum. haha the highlights were all the stuff we played outside the museum as we waited for our turn. cheers and clapping stuff and what not. =)

grp6 outside the museum.. jiten trying to run away cos he sudd realised it was grp6 photo! so cute haha

i've got peace like a river..

grp6 again!

doing the frog song..

next stop: kent ridge nature park walk! whilst walking there from the museum, i learnt how to speak a little hindi.. haha.. i can say hello, ask for ur name, and tell u my name! *haha what an achievement*

on our way to kent ridge park..

we had a picnic there.. lunch.. as well as planned our route for the urban challenge happening later.

look at the amt. of food! everythg was yummy ok. serious.

grp6! we're on the CD cover!

yeah, then we took a bus to URA city gallery. sat with dana from kazakhstan and got to talk to her! =) her opinion was interesting.. if there was only 1 religion (doesnt matter islam or christianity), the world will be boring. no vibrant diversity and cultures. true to a certain extent. because so many cultures are actually influenced by their religion. there can still be diversity if there was only 1 religion, but i guess its a different kind.

SYC @ city gallery!

lookg @ each country's capital..

i learnt the darndiya dance in city gallery. lolll. then the indians gathered again, we had fries @ the cafe. i crossed over to maxwell to get humjimpeng for them. vegetarian ma. yummy. haha. then we set off for urban challenge! ohmygosh its tiring just thinking abt it. we ran ard, took bus, took mrt. lalala. tired. no pics cos in someone else's camera. we took pics at every stop tho. have it in a photoframe at home cos grp6 was 3rd! haha we rock man.

after the exhausting urban challenge, we went to downtown east! but very short time there.. and to me.. the exciting rides were closed. nevertheless i had fun! w e indians of cos! haha. then uh, i saw mingwei and zhaoxiang! while buying dinner.. SO HAPPENING, i was so shocked. hehe.

on the bus back, we had loads & loads of fun! singing & dancing in the bus by some talented ppl.. liezel can sing soo wel!! (this filipino girl in my grp). yeh. =) then had rehearsal when we went back..

the others were preparing for exhibition the next morning. so yeh walked ard but they didn't really need help. so i went w some ex ppl (faisal, kangsheng, shalini) to mustafa! in a bid to look for presents for the indians. was funny cos faisal and i were imitating indian accent there til we sudd realised we cld hv offended ppl. yeah bought supper back for the rest too, but when we went back there was like nobody ard alr! so i paid for the rest and gave them to the indians. they were like the last country left there.. haha. they quarrel really loudly and vehemently, but in the end they gt everythg done so, whatever. doesn't matter. hehe.

wah, i lazy to blog already! anyways, after the exhibition we went to sentosa for cable car ride. hehehe. then shopping! went to vivo w neomi rea and jahnavi. on the way back told them abt God being my best friend =)

so on fri 15 Dec, the next day, we had cultural night lor. haha. the makeup was like THICK. everythg went well la. ahaha. the indians performance rocked man. every1 was cheering =)

the indians!

haha. then kazakhstan were the first to leave. sigh was so sad. bye dana =( but nvm, hopefully we can meet in bombay in june, or else in SMU next yr! hahaha.

then we went to suntec marche to eat! yummy. til closing time like 11pm. walked to esplanade. took a bus to orchard area and we sat at some place where there was a 24hr singing thing. lolx. from scotts we walked alll the way back to RELC hotel! reached back @ like 2am+. and then hung out at the auditorium the whole night. got to share my testimony and abt God's love with some guys. thank God for opportunities =)

blabla, next day, last day, shopping at heerens! as usual we were late when we went back to RELC. on the bus to the airport we passed them the cards we wrote for them and there was like complete SILENCE when they were reading them. so rare to hv silence. then they all started to say thanks and whatnot one by one. like some drama, haha. oh wells. to cut the long story short, they checked in and departed! & i cried =( haha i guess also cos tired then ur self-control is less strong. so sad that the fun and love had to end. its like 7days of nonstop interaction & knowing 1 another and then they're gone for like almost forever.

but i learnt a lot of things from SYC. and made many friends. and like wanlin told me last night, "circle of influence expanding".. haha. help me make full use of it for YOU Lord. You're the hope of nations..

last night during watchnight service, pastor asked us to think of 1 happy thing to thank God for. definitely SYC. so much to thank God for!! so much so much. almost everything inside was a fruitful experience. SYC was a blessing! =)

now in 2007 its on to keeping up the friendships. so i close the chapter of "missing SYC" in 2006.. in 07 hope there'll be no more heartache of missing them! =)

SYC 1st 3 days!!

2006-12-27T03:05:00.000+08:00

ok i know this is grossly overdue! haha but i shall try to blog about SYC! (sunburst youth camp). i was attached to delegates from India (so i sort of host India). then in my activities group, there's at least one delegate from each country.

ok, it started on 10th Dec, Sunday. dropped my bags at RELC hotel.. first time i saw them was at scotts. then went to taka to find the girls. shopped around abit..

india delegates + ACEs + singaporeans! @ taka xmas tree!

then we took a train and headed to clarke quay! went to cavenagh bridge to rest for quite awhile cos every1 was so tired.

the girls from india + singaporean girls on the bridge!

then, we cabbed to chinatown for a chinese vegetarian dinner! @ LingZhi restaurant if im not wrong. the food was really yummy.. but really expensive as well. after that we took a train back, got back to our rooms.. then met up with Gen, Darren & Sharmaine! shared and prayed tgt.. was mostly about having the correct vision.. and being a testimony in our actions..

went back to my room and shared a little with my roommate Rea! i had invited her to the sharing but she didn't come..

11th Dec, Monday.. a day out at OBS! with group 6!

group 6 @ punggol jetty..

sat with Hung, a vietnamese guy, on the bus to punggol jetty. tried to share with him but there were language barriers, hehe. spent ~5mins trying to tell him what is God, Pray, Jesus. after i wrote it down it got better. turns out that he has christian friends ard him in vietnam. so if ur reading this jus whisper a prayer for him! that ppl ard him will reach out to him!

then we played several games.. did high elements (but the singaporeans in my group didn't get a chance to do it)..

liezel and lily! their pair was the most difficult..

we had to build a "superlauncher" as well. majority of the group played games to earn "money" to buy the materials, while liezel, rayhan and i stayed behind to think of a design. well, our group got 1st! haha! grp6 rox man! learnt a lesson abt faith and daring to ask God. and after this brainstorming over the superlauncher, rayhan and i became like friends! according to him as well. cos even tho he's from india i haven't talked to him. yupp.

group6 with our winning design! (well can only see the top of it hehe)

after that, we went back and bathed.. on the bus back to the hotel, i sat with sarah (from SG) and shared my testimony with her too! got to know her a little better, abt her situation and stuff..

well in the evening we had the official welcome dinner! i sat @ e Thailand table! in between Kok and Mink. was so much fun "revising" my Thai and laughing with them.. they taught me a few thai words too, "stupid like bull".. hhaha its like our inside joke now. they're just so friendly! & Kok's a v gentlemanly guy too, lets the girls get food first and whatnot. amazing! haha..

the Thai table!
had to leave early at 9pm, cos of cultural nite rehearsal.. then, celebrated sharmaine's bday at 12midnight! had sharing again.. then when i went up to the room, managed to share a little more abt Rea again! about prayer.. did my QT.. slept reaaaly late cos of everythg. like almost 2+.

on Tues, 12 Dec, it was a whole day out visiting SMU, SSC (sci centre), & night safari. on the way to SMU i sat with amirul, a super nice malaysian guy, & i shared my testimony with him! am thankful for the apologetics lesson during YMcamp, cos as we discussed, both of us realised our religions were really very similar (islam and christianity).. so could tell him the difference was that our God is LOVE! & the salvation by grace nt works thing.. yup. unfortunately dont have a pic w amirul!

so we started out with a talk about SMU & all..

was sitting with some of the india delegates, many ppl were falling asleep, neomi & i were having fun laughing. tking photos of varun sleeping too.

thats varun on the left, before he fell asleep.. next to him are siti and jiten (:

after the talk, we toured SMU with our activities group (grp6!) as well as 2 SMU undergrads. not bad, quite a nice campus tho small.. everythg's connected underground! found out i can double major in psychology and business management. yay, like what i wanted. then, was talking to hazmie (from brunei) abt future.. like studying and working options. turns out he wanna work for Shell (apparently its qt big there in brunei) and may wanna study in SMU! haha cool. hope to b able to keep in contact with him! maybe we can work tgt next time, hahaha.

well we ended the tour at this seminar style classroom. was really cool, there were like 4 mobile whiteboards, and the design of the seats discourages students from slping lolx. it was like Q&A session. found out there's netball @ SMU haha.

we were given some free time, so we started xchging contacts.. from left: ebel, rayhan, jimmy

group6 in the seminar syle clsroom! after eating our lunches in the room..

after that, we set off for Science Centre! on the bus i sat with rayhan, and he told me LOTS of stuff abt india. well it was a reeaaally long ride to jurong.. i learnt about their festivals and how so much dancing was involved! even the nerds danced. & abt this festival where they smear colours on one another. and about one religion (i forgot which) and its origins. the story was like.. a drama show.. quite unbelievable if you ask me.. & abt his religion, jainism, tho i dunno its origin. i told him i was christian but he wasnt really interested in listening, so i didnt push much. haha.

we arrived at SSC and split up, cos we didn't need to walk ard in our activities grp. shalini and i stuck with the delegates from India! it was soo much fun..

we started off at the visual illusions part..

top row: raghav, rea, anjali, rayhan. bottom: shalini, me, neomi.

shalini & i! proud "hostesses" of India.. haha..

then we walked around more. took pics at the huge nose.. played the memory game.. then we went to omnimax theatre to watch a show! they were like the last few to go in, cos they wanted to buy sweets and all.. darren was telling me to relax (cos he thought i was angry @ them for being late, but actually my expression looked weird cos i was shocked at the amount of sweets they bought.. diabetes man!!)

anjali & rayhan.. check out the sweets in their hands!

raghav buying sweets..

look @ those sweets!

then darren was telling me some stuff abt india delegates from last year.. which can't b said here cos nt the nicest things.. that was the 1st time i realised im like a little biased toward the indians.. maybe even defensive.. n maybe i thought in the same way as them thats why i didn't feel that they were wrong. haha.

anyways, it was a show abt underwater species & endangerment & all. i was like, gladwin should be here watching this i bet he'll love it. haha. after that, foreign delegates went to watch another show, whilst the singaporeans were all called to one corner and sorta "reprimanded" by anting, the singapore ACE. it was mostly about cliquing together instead of mixing ard.. defeating the camp objectives etc.. which darren gen steph sharmaine & i were talking about one of the previous night when we met to share. oh wells.

so after that they came out, and we were playing these puzzles set up by some school..

i'll hv to admit they were quite fun haha.

then some of them wanted to see some music thing, whilst the rest wanted to go explore elsewhere. so 5 of us, anjali raghav rayhan shalini & i went to explore. we went to the giftshop thingy where there were SO MANY HILARIOUS THINGS!! we laughed non-stop as we played w e stuff there and took pictures. we even got reprimanded twice. think we were having too much fun man. haha.. there were like finger monsters.. jars emitting weird noises.. electric-shocking torches.. haha it was good fun!

then we went to take the simulator ride which was SOOO boring. i felt like i was rocked to sleep, not rocked in a battle.. ah wells. i think someone said stimulator by mistake the first time he said simulator. so the name stuck and we're the "stimulator" group. so when we came out we were like.. "how stimulating!!" agh, cheat our money la. haha.

the stimulator grp! denise, rayhan, shalini, raghav, anjali.

well, after that i had to go off for netball match vs UWC. so took a train alll the way from jurong east to kallang. was sleeping thruout the whole trip cos i was sooo tired. the rest went to night safari, so sad i cldnt go. =( well, i cabbed back to RELC hotel after my match. sarah passed me my dinner (MANY THANKS) i was so hungry. so i changed into cleaner clothes, ate my dinner on the floor in the lobby while waiting for rehearsal to start.. then had rehearsal until laaate at night again. don't rmb what i did.. i was just soo tired.. bathed and knocked out in the room i guess!

ok.. will blog more about the rest of the days next time..

Malachi 3:16

2006-12-10T00:15:00.000+08:00

hehehe, how can i leave out one of e most impt reasons for camp being so great? malachi 3:16! the best bunch of ppl to hang ard =) i love u guys! haha!

ymcamp06; f.e.a.r.

2006-12-09T23:57:00.000+08:00

camp was great! God spoke. let's go for permanent transformation. God is good, & amazing. =)

no time to blog much, am going for another camp tmr. sunburst youth camp. i'm attached to the team from india, and rooming with a delegate from india and a delegate from indonesia. pray that i'll stay close to God thruout these 7days (10 - 16 Dec) & tt i'll b able to make an impact ther for God! that His Spirit will move. =)

take care ppl!

what a friend we have in Jesus

christmas tree!

2006-11-21T15:27:00.000+08:00

my term at COMAT is coming to an end! haha. not like i was here for long anyway.

they're setting up christmas tree now. the frontdesk very lively! people are smiling and talking more than usual, haha =p the power of the christmas tree! creates a cheerful environment!

even ida is like "suddenly i can't work" hahaha.

if only everyone would know the true joy and meaning of christmas! haha.

oh and some students came in to promote some washable markers. christie and krishnan bought a few boxes. i want the PANDA!! =/ lolx.

okay! today's a cheerful day!

i'm safe!

2006-11-17T17:11:00.000+08:00

haha my blog is rotting!

i just finished watching my girl! sigh i fell for K-dramas' tricks again. although i roughly know whats gonna happen.. the predictable plot and happy ending.. i still watch it! bah. what happened to my logic.

nevertheless it was a gd destressing outlet.. slowing down and sloth-ing for abit feels gd. it feels gd to be home alone all day. the stillness. when the hours and minutes don't really matter.

you know how sometimes ur schedule is packed and you go by half-hourly blocks. like, ok in 10 mins i hv to b outta the hse,
in 10 mins hv to get to mrt,
early morning event A,
late morning event B,
insert time-slot for lunch,
early afternoon event C,
late afternoon event D,
travel, dinner,
event E, supper.

today, there are no half-hourly blocks.. i can do what i want. no need to arrive on time to meet people's schedule. no need to interact with people. no need to spend effort in putting into words what i feel or think. no need to worry about casting gloom on others just cos i wanna be myself. to think and feel what i really want to think/feel. haha.

so, thank You God for this day You've given me. without it, life may become a little miserable.

God bless all! keep praying for YM camp. and praise God for who He is. =)

the name (character attributes) of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

cell

2006-11-09T02:13:00.000+08:00

tdy's cell was good. because i saw God fulfilling His promises..

its an encouragement to someone young like me. =) thank You God!

i'm so grateful, because there is receptivity in our group for God's Word. hearts soft.. willing to listen to the authority of His Word..

also because i've seen with my own eyes! that His Word is indeed sufficient..

2 Tim 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

i think seeing hearts tender for God, wanting to love God.. thats really something so precious. precious to You too, Lord.

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

i'm so grateful for these blessings. and for you people in Sensibles. =)

a very impt lesson i took home today..

a godly leader, a leader people can look up to and follow.. is not someone who can teach BS well, facilitate successfully, or make sure everythg runs smoothly and ensure that we still meet every week.. but he's someone who really lives out what he teaches, what he speaks. walking the talk. someone who has seen God "face-to-face". the real thing. first love.

and how our hearts desire to see You.. to know You more.. in the ginosko sense.

i will keep hoping, keep having faith, and keep loving!

lessons learnt

2006-11-01T12:56:00.000+08:00

i was re-reading my archives.. to reflect and crystallise the lessons i've learnt.. and add on new insights ive learnt!

those lessons..

on revival
revival is in the small choices we make, the obedience. and it just takes one person to start.. and then to spread the fire.. now, i think i shd stop talking about it, sharing or discussing it excessively. its time to just act on it, to model it, and then trust God to spread it.

on prayer
E.M. Bounds from Thy Will Be Done: "He prayed because the needs of the world were upon him. He prayed, for long years, upon subjects that that the easygoing Christian rarely gives a thought, and for objects that men of less thought and faith thought to be impossible. From his solitary prayer vigils, year by year, there arose teaching equaled by few men in modern Christian history." i think i've forgotten the power of prayer. its time to cry out for "thy will be done"!

on the world's lure
not to love the world and all that's in it, but to love God above all else.. to remember him as my first love!

on netball
i realised, netball played a big part in growing me this year. mentally. and like what i blogged.. i knew "God can use a sport to mould me". and its true! all things happen for the good of those who love Him. =) haha and looking back.. i think netball really means a whole lot to me.. thank God for this cca =)

on love
i remember praying and asking God to teach me all about love. what it means to love my neighbour, to love Him with my all, what love really means. and i thank God because He's really fulfilled it before my eyes. He brought me to Ruth & 1John lessons with Cecilia (learnt so much abt love in the bible!), He placed friends around me to show me love b/w neighbours, and opened my eyes to see how i can love my enemy. although its true i haven't obeyed completely and reached that point of maturity, i'm still grateful that im on my way there! this reminds me of "when you ask according to His will, He will grant it". and ask, that your joy may be complete! thank God for being happy to bless =)

on His faithfulness
also, God has been faithful, seeing me thru the seasons, bearing with me during the times i turned away.. being patient, longsuffering. im humbled, grateful. its like when someone does something for you which you don't deserve. like treating you to an expensive meal suddenly. u know that kinda feeling? haha.

psalm 119
you opened my eyes and made me see wonderful things in your law
let me understanding the teaching of your precepts; then i will meditate on your wonders
i will walk about in freedom, for i sought your precepts
to all perfection i see a limit, but your commands are boundless

hosanna (:

2006-10-27T12:24:00.000+08:00

Praise is rising
Eyes are turning to You
We look to You
Hope is stirring
Hearts are yearning for You
We long for You

cos when we see You
We find strength to face the day
In Your presence all our fears
Are washed away
Washed away

Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God Who saves us
Worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here Lord Jesus

Hear the sound of hearts returning to You
We turn to You
In Your Kingdom broken lives are made new
You make us new

cos when we see You
We find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears
Are washed away
Washed away

Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God Who saves us
Worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here Lord Jesus

i will worship You for who You are

inter-hse floorball!

2006-10-12T16:39:00.000+08:00

today was inter-hse floorball. i shall keep my thoughts on that to myself, but i really wanna say THANKS TO ALL FOR PARTICATING! even tho not many ppl will read this but still, hahah. and, THANKS TO ALL WHO MADE IT A SUCCESS! like the referees (eg changyi who didnt hesitate to help us out!), timekeeper (1&only pauline), planner(elica!), etcetcetc.. *BOWS* thanks!

and for today, i must say thanks to God who was the motivator and encourager to me to play on, cheer on, press on! who was there to grant me peace and take away my worries. to remind me to be strong and not complain. thanks Dad u rock! You know me best! haha =D

and i shall make special mention of riana's DOG here since she graced me w a tag (wow).

SUPY is SUPER CUTEEE and PRETTY!!!.

there. and riana, if u wanna look like her, suit yourself! =)

siglap macs

2006-10-02T19:54:00.000+08:00

spiritual, adventurous, stylish! superficial ah!

anyway, today i was at siglap macs studying, soo distracting lor. cos there were many interesting things to observe there. i was like people-watching. i realised very often an adult will enter with two or three kids in tow, feed them ice-cream, and stone. haha. i guess macs is a good place for parents to catch their breath and recharge and "shut their children up".

also, i saw these 2 young.. children? coming in. the brother is probably about pri5 or pri6, the sister maybe a 2 years younger. then the bro was like taking care of the sister. buy food for her, take sauces for her, arrange everythg properly for her to eat. etcetc. SO SWEET! *melt. he's so young and he's so mature, know how to take care of his sis. and actually bring her out to eat tgt. how often do you see this happening man? most pri sch kids i see aren't like that.

was very cheered up actually after seeing that. hehe.

ok, so random huh.