hOmE awAy FrOM HoME

GE 2011

2011-04-29T04:26:00.002+08:00

Realised that the only news I get on GE 2011 is from FB. So decided to spend the last 1hour reading on the news. Somehow, I only managed as far as Nicole Seah and Tin Pei Ling and Kate Spade... Good effort, Cheryl...

2011-01-04T05:46:00.002+08:00

It's only the 3rd day of 2011 but I am feeling real good of the year and I think it will be THE year. Why?

1) I don't feel the normal "oh crap 1 yr has gone by" nostalgia. Instead, I look forward to it. Not feeling old anymore!

2) My fitness (read "body") hasn't been in the best of shape since I reached Cambridge. It was demoralising, to try to pull myself out of the rut I am in. However, ever since ZY introduced a workout program to me on Christmas day (irony that it was before our christmas feast), I have been inspired once again. You know it is a good program when it gives results even before the physical results show:)

3) I just tried to go onto my pole after a long hiatus. Ho behold, I could stick to the pole:) Hasn't happened much since I bought it. Finally I can remember why I spent £250 on that stick.

4) I feel like anything is possible! As long as I put my heart to it, I can achieve anything. Probably still high from my pole session. Maybe this will be the year I can finally get my packs and pull ups.

5) It's the year of the Rabbits. The star is shining on us man!!!!

Oooohhhh HOOOO!!! Excited!!!

Knee hold:)

2010-07-31T23:40:00.004+08:00

2 days ago, I managed to do a move that I always wanted to do. A knee hold.

It is a difficult move, yes, and a hell painful one. But most moves in pole are anyway, and this move should not be any different.

However, if you remember, I blogged in 08 nov 08 that I attended a pole pract with mostly level 6 students inside. One thing I remembered from that session, other than the fact that they all had 6 packs and I still don't, was this girl learning knee hold. She was having difficulty and had to drag a chair over to assist her. Since then, knee hold has been held high on my pedestal, even as my instructor insisted that there are harder moves than knee hold.

And I did it. I did the ONE move which I think would mark the "graduation" from pole. There are still LOTS to learn but knowing that I have come a long way is just soooooo gratifying...

I am glad I blogged...

Eunice, this is for you!!!

I love my job

2009-11-22T21:52:00.004+08:00

There is nothing more frustrating than to fight against a life long enemy and yet not place a face to it. Today, my girlfriends, let me remove this frustration from your life, once and for all.

Let me present to you your worst enemy.

Mr Adipocyte, a.k.a Fatcell

I figure out that adipocytes are male because like guys, they :
1) take over your life without you realising. You are obsessed with removing one and retaining the other.
2) stay on forever. The more you try to get rid of them, the more stubborn they become.
3) are the imperfections in girls' lives.
4) are the reason why girls bother going to the gym.
5) are the reason behind the stock market crash in the world of girls' self-esteem.

Still, isn't Mr Fatty cute!!! Those tiny droplets are oil droplets. Make me feel like pricking each one with a pin. And see the oil oooooooze out from the cell. And LAUGH!!! We differentiated these from mesenchymal stem cells. Really, I have so many fat cells, there's really no need for us to create more in the lab... *SNORT*

I reall love my job. There was once when my friend and I decided to paint our nails in the office during lunch hour. We were hesitant initially, because if the painting was not done properly, we didn't have any nail polish remover to clean up the mess. However, it didn't take us long to figure out that we can always make our own remover in the lab. It's really great working in lab huh? Fancy some ice cream? We have liquid nitrogen. Having a flu? We have masks readily available.

Me love me job:)

Graduation

2009-11-13T21:03:00.006+08:00

I've finally graduated. I recall stepping into the plane on 26th Sept 2006, reminding myself to remember how I feel, so that when I look back in the future, I would not feel that time flies. Despite that, TIME BLOODY FLEW BY!!! There is a twinge of pain as I hold on tightly to the present, afraid that all these would be wrenched from me as 10yrs of my life fly me by. 30 years old. I wanna look back with no regrets when I am 30 years old.

Housemates

Returning to London for my graduation was a bitter sweet experience. Leaving college was different compared to leaving other educational institutions when I was younger. In the past, when I leave a school, all my friends left with me. The sentiments associated with the school were practically washed clean, because it no longer contained the elements which made the stay memorable. Moreover, all my friends would still be around me. Friends in London however, remained in London while I left. Some remained because they are still studying. Some remained because that is where they belong. I returned to where I belong, yet it's difficult to be whole again, because a part of my memories and lifestyle have been left behind.

Biomedics

Still, seeing familiar faces in familiar settings eased the pain a little. It helped to see that life in London still goes on without me and I should move on too.

Biomedics

On a separate note, I am rather indignified to find out that pubs actually serve half pints. For all 3 years of my life in London, I always end up giving my unfinished pints away. And these guys NEVER told me that I can order just half the amount!!!! Makes me wonder who my real friends are...:(

Thanks, my dears!

2009-09-18T23:44:00.002+08:00

Met up with my primary school friends, Joanne and Wendy. They were one of my best friends back then. I was rather afraid that things would be awkward between us. Amazingly, the chemistry was still there and we talked non-stop. When we left the meeting, there was this happiness flowing within me, the kind whereby you feel good about yourself and your friends. Haven't had such a feeling for a long time. Perhaps it is indeed time for class gathering.

Good Old days

2009-09-13T13:55:00.019+08:00

I seldom have a picture post. Make that never. All of my posts depend on my words. Today, however, is an exception, because I just uncovered some pictures in a forgotten XD card. They were taken from my fresher year in Imperial, and brought back tons of memories.

Rugby Christmas dinner 2006
The one on the left was my vice-capt:)

The 2 girls whose names I ALWAYS mixed up. Now I remember. Karen (left), Helen (right)

Jess, the girl who gave me a HUGE bruise on the very 1st training. For that, she received a placement in kangaroo court. Kangaroo court is an annual event whereby we get "punished" for the stupid stuff we did in the year.

Familiar scene here...

Another familiar scene...

John (Coach) and Borja (who started from being Rugby girls' most popular guy to most hated)

I didn't post larger pics of me, because most of them were not focused. Seems that I was the only one who could focus that night. Hur hur...

My first snowfall in London! With my best friends from hall.

The next time the camera was used, it was for Vday. That was my present, perfectly preserved, shipped all the way from Sg. 3 years on, it isn't the same anymore.

Gggrrrr.... The last pic my cam took. On the way to Spain. In fact, the only pic the cam took for that trip:( BOOOO:(:(:( Damn Evian bottles.

Sigh... I can barely accept the fact that I have graduated and returned.

Is 22 considered too old for everything?!?!?!?1

2009-08-01T22:05:00.003+08:00

It has been a long time since I last blogged properly. Since the post in April, I have taken my final year exams, finished my final year project, returned from London, gotten my results and started work. It is amazing how it is possible to summarise what happened in the last 4 months in just 1 sentence. How sad have our lives become, as we pursue the luxuries in life, and lost track of the details. Everything we do becomes condensed into just the outcome. My six weeks of sweat and tears and fun reduced to just a normal phrase of "finishing my final year poject". Whatever happened to the process? I guess this is what happened as we grow old and life becomes less structured.

When I was young, my life was mapped out for me (i was supposed to follow the conventional way of life). Go to kindergarden, enter primary school, fight to enter good secondary school, wrestle into desired junior college, then enter college to wither. All my goals were set for me and I just have to make the slightly less important choice of which school to go to, what subjects to take. It was never an option of "let's go fashion school instead" or "let's start work, study later". This worked very well, because there was no need to work hard to prove that the unconventional choice I made was right, unlike those who bravely trodded down those unexplored paths; there was no need to rack my mind on setting goals, because I just had to follow the default pathway and I would be safe. I was indeed sheltered.

However, recently, I find myself in unfamiliar territory. My default pathway has come to a deadend. I have dutifully finished my college degree (and even the goals were not set by me! It was set by A*, which asserts that all scholars should attain 1st class. So I was pretty much guided by that their policy.). But no one told me what is next. Yes, I am supposed to do a year of research attachment, then embark on my PhD overseas before returning to serve my bond. But this is not exactly conventional. I have many other choices awaiting me. I can do my PhD locally, if I am brave enough. I can choose between UK and US. I can choose to do a mix of local and overseas PhD. Hell, I can go into management and not finish my PhD. Then there is the issue of what should I specialise in. There are gazzillllions of options.

No, I am not upset that I have too many options. Rather, whilst I am still trying to find an answer, I find myself floating aimlessly in life, trying to find stable ground. Yet, this is not possible without knowing where I am going. Already, I feel like I am wasting my life away, as I am just living day to day, instead of spending the time productively towards my goals. The worst thing would be to live till 30 and wonder what I had accomplished in my past 8 years. I know the answer "receiving my doctorate" would be insufficient. Still, the search is on for the missing element. Is it being a good mother (doubt so)? Being the oldest ah ma to dance on bar tops (highly so)?

Unfortunately, this problem would not disappear just overnight. In fact, I foresee it getting worse, as I age and the things I used to want to do go unaccomplished and the regret sets in. As work gets busier and friendship circle shrinks, I hope that I would not end up just leading day to day and lose track of the big picture.

BIRD BOMB

2009-06-13T01:39:00.002+08:00

I think God has the same sense of humour as me when he sent a torrent of bird shit raining down on me right before my interview:(

Singaporean Love by Singaporean on Singapore Day 2009

2009-04-26T06:09:00.005+08:00

It's 2 days from exams. Or rather less than 2 days. So I couldn't go to Singapore Day 2009, which was held in London today.

But Yijun, who was volunteering at the event saved me a curry puff, a Yeo's drink and even the goodie bag. SOOOO SWEEET of her right?!?!?! Nothing can express how touched I was by her kindness. Thanks, girl!!!! Thanks for even bringing it all the way to my house, when I should be the one going over to collect. You indeed"brought a piece of home closer to my heart". No, not through the curry puff, but the "piece of home" being the care shown by a fellow Singaporean. It's always sweet to know that wherever Singaporeans go, we look out for each other=D (Esp when it comes to food.)

The curry puff and drink... UMMHMMM!! Old Chang Kee!!! :):):):) I wanna go home where there's endless supply of Old Chang Kee. Incidentally, Jin Yang also brought back the same drink for me:) Heh!!!! Loved! Loved! Loved!!!

And Gabe who was jealous of all the love I received, insisted that he did bring back food. Only that they were in his tummy.

Gabe's (soon to be) TUMMY!!!! hehehhe!!

study observations

2009-04-21T22:18:00.004+08:00

I was rather entertained by two Drosophila (scientific name for the flies species) doing the mating dance in my room.

Until I realised that they would end up mating on my bananas.

Then I stopped being amused.

Proud to sing this...

2009-04-17T23:15:00.003+08:00

Can't seem to get secondary school song out of my head...

From High Olympus flows to us the glory
On us the sacred fire descends.
Rise, sisters, rise, the world is all before ye
Fear not to grasp what fortune sends.

Chorus:
Sisters in learning, and sisters at heart
Life lies before us,
Here's luck to the start.

A little while the sun shines high above us
And youth's elixir fills our veins.
The magic fire that wills the gods to love us
The fire by which the will attains.

(Chorus)

So heart to heart, we'll scale the heights of learning
No mean desires our days shall shame.
Whole-hearted, true, with pride and ardour burning
On, sisters, on to life and fame.

(Chorus)

21-turning-22

2009-03-22T22:57:00.016+08:00

You know age has caught up with you when you dread your birthday instead of the usual anticipation and exhileration. The dread might have been amplified 10x by the fact that 19th March marks the countdown of 40 days to my exams.

Still, I am extremely thankful to everyone who had taken the time out to celebrate for me. It is strange how last year I wanted a birthday with a bang but I spent the day alone and this year, I thought it was gonna be a quiet birthday but I spent the entire week in celebration.

The week started with pancakes at "My Old Dutch". All pancakes are 5pds on mon, which makes any girl's day. It was an all-girls affair, with Ade, Elaine and Catherine. If someone told me a year ago that I would be eating with these 3 girls, I would think that the idea was absurd. Fortunately, we would all be graduating this year, and hopefully we will continue forging the friendship in Singapore. After pancakes, we went to Patisserie Valerie for some desserts. By we, I mean I ate while Elaine and Ade nibbled. Cath watched. That's what gym is for right???

Can't believe I ate these pancakes and was still not satisfied!

When I reached home later that day, I saw the package my family had sent me=)

On Tues, I received a beautiful handmade card.

On Wed, my housemates surprised me with a cheesecake and an mp3 player. It was absolutely crazy, because we had not spent time with each other for a month. The house has deteoriated into a hostel in the past month. The joy and laughter that night made the house whole again. Really nice when I thought that everyone was too busy to celebrate that week. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule, dear housemates (eh Gabe, I still need e pics).

Thurs, the actual day itself. One word. ADE. Ha~!!! Sweetie pie bought me Macdonald breakfast coz I told her I hadn't had any Mac in London before and that I liked the Mac breakfast. Given how much she loves sleep, waking up early to pop by Mac would be akin to doing coursework (ok, strange analogy). On top of that, she bought me a pile presents w a most lovely card. And if that wasn't enough, we went to cafe rouge to have dinner. It had a one for one deal, which she treated me for. Such friends, you never lament why you didn't meet them early; you would be too busy thanking God for placing them in your life.

The fries were YUUUUMMMMY!!!!

Pretty Ade... Damn...

And of course, there were various other friends who made the day even brighter. Ela1ne who met me specially to give me a card. Dav1d who took the chance to show off his culinary skill. And loads and loads and loads of sms and fb msgs (took 1 day to reply all. I am not trying to emphasize my popularity. Ok, maybe a little).

Mango glutinous rice, which incidentally is my favourite Thai dessert. Or is it red ruby... Hmmm... Tough fight there...

On fri, it was Ela1ne who showed off her cooking skills. Despite her "don't expect too much hor", dinner was exceptionally good. And FILLING. Jiaxuan and I had to force stuff down her throat so that we wouldn't waste any food. Glad to finally see her in stress-less mode.

Post dinner. Elaine refused to take the pic initially coz she thought she looked unglam after sloughing away in the kitchen.

Saturday was crazy. There was an intra-singsoc touch rugby tournament, in which my team won 1st place. That night, I had dinner w Ela1ne and J1n Yang (I am beginning to feel Ela1ne overkill even as I type this entry). Then I went home, only to receive a call from X1ufang to go her place, coz she had something exciting to show me. Well, you probably can foresee what came up after that (it seemed like a perfect plot written down but I didn't guess it at all!!!). To cut the story short, there was a cake outside the lift and everyone was hiding on the stairway landing. =) Kudos to my housemates and the rest who helped plan it. I think I must be the least observant person around, because 3 bdays in London, and 3 times I had been surprised. 1st one was a pseudo meeting to plan our Spain hol. 2nd one I planned my own party but was outdone by a surprise video made by my hsemates. And saturday marks my 3rd surprise. To think that most bday surprises turn out flops...

Too bad I don't have any pics to show, because I was obviously not prepared for this!

Present that Caroline got for me. Really pretty (for the guys' sake, this is an eye shadow palette. It is the thing you put in the space between your eyelashes and your eye brows).

On Sun, I received some really girly presents from Yvette and Xiufang=) The surprises never stop huh???

The bag the presents came in! Sums it all!

And finally, on Wed, my housemates and I went to this rather highend restaurant "One-oh-One" for dinner. It was embarrassing how we didn't know what this round plate thing the guy placed on the table was for and we even guessed it was for tips (but it was placed when we just arrived, so it didn't make sense). Turned out it was a stand for bottled water*oops* I need to up my knowledge of posh eating. Still, the food was good (only because it was 50% off the price). Really enjoyed myself, because the previous time I interacted with the guys was exactly 37 lines above this sentence.

Posh Nosh~~!!

Just wanted to put this in, because I wanted to show off the dress I just bought!! hahahahha!!

It is indeed sad looking at the other side of the 21. But for every second spent dreading it, I would spend 2seconds in the future regreting for dreading it when I could enjoy it, and I would then spend 3seconds in far future regretting wasting time regretting dreading it...
For the sake of the future, I would enjoy my life now.

Thank you for making 21-turning-22 easy.

What more can I ask for?

2009-03-01T07:56:00.003+08:00

This weekend has to be the best I have had in weeks. The past 2 months have been busy with pole-dancing and work. Now that pole-dancing has been put on hold for the next 2 months (for exam prep:( ), my weekends are freed up again. It is not that I don't enjoy pole-dancing, but there is just this thing about having time for myself and just spending the time with friends.

Yesterday, I had a spontaneous outing with Ch1n J1e and L1pen to The Peacock Bar/Club/Pub to watch some pole-dancing action. Unfortunately, the performances were not exactly what was said in the description and we ended up watching a Samba and belly-dancing show. I can only imagine the disappointment felt by the guys. Sorry guys, that just warrants a 2nd time!! After that, we returned to Chin Jie's place for supper (which I didn't have, may I emphasise!!). Now, I know I am describing the most boring outing to you, what with a below expectation performance and a closing finale with just supper back home. But that is deliberate. Despite the lack of stimulating (in more ways than one) activities, I thoroughly enjoyed the company of these 2 guys. I haven't spent a lot of time with them for a long time, not to mention when we do, it is in a large group setting, where the dynamics of friendships are so complex, it's mind-boggling. Just having a more intimate group makes my day:) Thanks for jioing, CJ!

This is a photo taken off their website to give you an idea of what we watched last night =x

Today saw me at hydepark for a touch rugby session, followed by a netball session. Both sessions there were only 7 people, which I did think would be too few to play a proper game. Both times I was proven wrong. 4v3 touch rugby can be just as dynamic and since all present knew the game, there were some spectacular play:) Even J1n Yang, the least experienced of us, enjoyed himself thoroughly. Speed netball is soooo much more fun when there are only 3v3. The game is much faster and there is more space to play with. Ha... it is probably my own noob-ness that I can't play proper 7v7 netball. Still, it was a blessing in disguise to have so few people, since I was rather apprehensive on how we were going to play with 3 a side. Today might just be best session of sports I have had this academic year.

Tmr, I will be going to Franc1ne's place for dinner. What more can I ask for?

Yep, life is good. But it probably won't last, with the upcoming exams and termination of future sports sessions. Hai~!!! Where's the rainbow when u need it???

Rugby Galore

2008-12-14T05:08:00.012+08:00

It had been rugby galore for 2 weeks. 2 touch rugby sessions the week before last, watched 1 match at a pub n 1 live, and finally to end it all, an intra singsoc touch rugby tournament last sat.

The match was amazing, given that it was my first live match in London. It was Australia v Barbarians, Barbarians being an invitational rugby club. As a true blue Singaporean, I gathered my forces and booked the tickets on the day of release, which allowed us to get front row seats *beams*. Unfortunately, we were seated on one end of the stadium (cheapest tickets...), and the action was on the other end of the stadium BOTH halves *unbeams*. Speak about bad luck...

I had to rip photos off people (wth is my cam???), which explains why I have delayed blogging this entry. In fact, up till now, I only have photos taken from David's cam. Which honestly, MAKES NO DIFFERENCE to whether I have the photos or not. I was expecting better photos from him, given that he is a rugger, and would be able to predict potential photo moments. BUT NO! All I got were

this,

this,

and THIS?!?!?! "Oh no, cam low batt" but can still zooooom in to beautiful cheerleaders. And now I know David prefers them headless...

And the closet pervert even snuck a shot of Joan (who had the brains to bring crisps along:D). Luckily, the floodlights thwart his plans...

All right, but there were SOME shots that did justice to our perfect location.
Much thanks to Bing Liang, who taught me several things during the match; things which I didn't learn in my short rugby life.

According to David, this is the most capped scrum-half in the world. Attempts to capture his front view didn't work, coz he kept snubbing us:( Or maybe he was watching the match. Hmmm...

This guy here is one of the few stewards which Zhiyang and David had to look out for as they planned their streaker stance.

Touch tournament;)
I got quite disillusionised during the touch rugby tournament. My team,"The Big Bad Wolf" were overall champions. And not a single 1 of the guys were ruggers (Zhiyang, Alvin, Jiaxuan) . All of them were footballers with the vision "Just Whack". I was skeptical of that initially, given that all the other teams had ex-ruggers on them. However, my teammates showed me that speed and agility can make up for the lack of experience, skills and strategy. I had no idea what was going on on the pitch, much less played at all. Nonetheless, we won:) Both Zhi Yang and Jiaxuan were shotlisted for MVP (ruggers excluded), with Zhiyang getting it eventually, so I supposed that explains why we won. In fact, if Alvin had stayed on to play in the finals, he would probably be in the running for MVP too. I might learn all the tactics whatever, but at the end of the day, they don't really count. If you put 3 superb individuals together, they don't need to work as a team. Damn... The prize was qt cute, consisting of a choc coin with a string taped to it to look like a medal (WTH is my cam????).

JY juz made my week totally:)

2008-12-12T21:20:00.005+08:00

I tot I had a good week. Till this came in and made the rest of the week seems dull:) Too bad blogger video quality sucks. Can't see Zhengyuan's face properly:(

Semi-accomplished

2008-12-10T03:59:00.000+08:00

Xiufang - When is the promised smoothie night??? My blender is waiting for you!

Lip'en - Yes yes, dinner!!! Time to stop toking and start cooking!!! Ur place or/and my place?

Jiaxuan - You owe me attendance at one touch rugby session.

Klyder - I wanna see xiufang treat u 2 drinks for the Espionage challenge. I miss your tomato face:(

Caroline - Ur shoes are kidnapped!!! When are you free???

Elaine - I tot u were gonna teach me how to use an eyeliner (or did I rmb wrongly?) and I was supposed to give you whisky shots.

~~Kenneth - Eh, let's walk to school together juz to go thru Reminiscence 2006-2008~~

Yunqin - I don't miss you, just ur green tea ice-cream. And herbal chicken. And curry chicken. And herbal tea egg. Damn... Tell Rob to return u to us! U hardly finished telling us ur "locked out of hse" story!

Qiqin - (I don't think this guy reads my blog, but just in case...) Eh, you are supposed to come for dinner! WHERE R U?!

~~Peter - LUNCH?!?!!? over politics... Yummy!~~

Clinton - Don't say nobody wants to dine w u... DINNER?!?!?

~~William - Don't let my last memory of you be in some dark Cambridge church whispering to me. Whatever happened to "my house will be advertised in Esplanade to be the most happening place"???~~

Fatimah - Sushi making session with my bf?!?!?!

~~Emily WAIYAIYA - Waiting for you to email me:D~~

~~Anju - Tell me when you're free! Otherwise we might have to do lunch w my bf!!! Would be nice to meet up w juz you though! (screw the bf!)~~

Come towards me, my friends:) Come come come!

2008-11-26T08:02:00.005+08:00

Had a great day with Ade today. It was just a normal luncheon together, and a competition of "who can get a treadmill" at the gym. But it is normal activities like these that I miss. Everyone is so busy with school and internship/post-grad studies applications that it is rare to see anyone anymore. Ade (Bay AL, 2008) mentioned that it was amazing how much we were willing to give up for our bf, yet gave so little time to our friends. However, that statement didn't really ring true with me, because my bf isn't with me, so I haven't given up much time for my bf. Then where has the time for my friends gone?!?!?!

Yes, my friends in London, we have neglected each other for way too long. It's time to rectify things.

Xiufang - When is the promised smoothie night??? My blender is waiting for you!

Lip'en - Yes yes, dinner!!! Time to stop toking and start cooking!!! Ur place or/and my place?

Jiaxuan - You owe me attendance at one touch rugby session.

Klyder - I wanna see xiufang treat u 2 drinks for the Espionage challenge. I miss your tomato face:(

Caroline - Ur shoes are kidnapped!!! When are you free???

Elaine - I tot u were gonna teach me how to use an eyeliner (or did I rmb wrongly?) and I was supposed to give you whisky shots.

Kenneth - Eh, let's walk to school together juz to go thru Reminiscence 2006-2008

Yunqin - I don't miss you, just ur green tea ice-cream. And herbal chicken. And curry chicken. And herbal tea egg. Damn... Tell Rob to return u to us! U hardly finished telling us ur "locked out of hse" story!

Qiqin - (I don't think this guy reads my blog, but just in case...) Eh, you are supposed to come for dinner! WHERE R U?!

Peter - LUNCH?!?!!? over politics... Yummy!

Clinton - Don't say nobody wants to dine w u... DINNER?!?!?

William - Don't let my last memory of you be in some dark Cambridge church whispering to me. Whatever happened to "my house will be advertised in Esplanade to be the most happening place"???

Fatimah - Sushi making session with my bf?!?!?!

Emily WAIYAIYA - Waiting for you to email me:D

Anju - Tell me when you're free! Otherwise we might have to do lunch w my bf!!! Would be nice to meet up w juz you though! (screw the bf!)

Ok... And the list goes on forever (I definitely have MUCH more friends than those on the list)! Not that I don't care about you if you are not on the list. It probably means that we have just met up (which explains why my housemates and some people whom I met in the last week ain't on the list) or we have really NOT met for so long that I've forgotten about you. If you are in the latter group, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remind me of your presence by asking me out for dinner. As a side note, I would remember your presence more if you treat me to the meal.

I don't need more time. I need more determination.

2008-11-21T21:36:00.005+08:00

A great man (Wong Chongwai) once told me that another great man had once told him:

"A busy man has more time."

What it really means is that at the end of the day, how much time you had in your life is determined by how much you have done.

I agreed whole-heartedly with him at that time, as it was near exam time then. Any exam-takers are busy men, and would have accomplished much in their academic lives. In fact, I was still keeping up with my fitness and my social life at that time, which made me even more "accomplished".

Having gone through the exams and starting a new school year anew, I realised that that statement has a deeper meaning. Being forced to be busy by circumstances is different from choosing to be busy. Other than the coursework deadlines, I am free to choose what I do with my time now. With the constant nag by all my course mates that it is time we ramp up our engines, I had slowly phased out most non-academic activities. Despite pushing everything aside to do work (call me a geek but it is my final year after all), even the work compartment is in disarray. Instead of getting more work done with the extra amount of time, I had lapsed into the mistake of working more slowly to fill up the time. More time to study just means more time to procrastinate. I don't feel like I had done much in the past few weeks.

Thinking back, it all boils down to courage. I don't have the courage to stop pushing away things coming my way. They may take up time, but it probably wouldn't decrease the amount of work done, as long as I stop day dreaming of Brad Pitt while learning gene regulation. Instead of letting my work determine how much time I should spend working, I should let the amount of time I have left to motivate me into proper studying. It isn't easy, with images of me failing due to lack of studying running through my mind endlessly. However, it is time for me to stop shelving away the images of me on my deathbed, with constant regrets of not having explored life more.

It is a sad sign of a diseased society, for our mark of success to be determined by our material accomplishments. Yet, it is also my sign of weakness, to let the fear of failure to stop me from embarking on a more fulfilling life. Time to ramp up partying...

Wat??

2008-11-17T06:44:00.004+08:00

I learned a few things today.

1) Guys react differently to pole-dancing to girls. I saw this video on youtube, which blew me away totally.

I have shown it to a few girls, and every single one of them just watched in awe. All of us were wondering how amazing it would be to be able to do all that.

When I showed it to guys however, the reaction was indifferent. Daryl's best response was "damn strong". That's ALLL!!! Yon Jan's and David's reactions were even more unpredictable. They had NO expression on their faces, like YOU SEE GIRLS DO THAT EVERYDAY. (Maybe they do.) David did mention that he saw little kids do that on the train all the time. Of course, we know that he is a SAFOS scholar and all the "kids" he hangs around with are probably "Bamm Bamm" category.

2) If you are sincere about saving ppl's time by cooking them dinner, cook at home and bring it over, no matter how inconvenient it is. I wanted to repay David a favour, and felt that the best way was to return him time. Since he was supposed to be on "chef duty", I decided to take over the task. Unfortunately, David felt obliged to to stay in the kitchen to ensure that none of his cutlery go missing, resulting in him spending more time in the kitchen than he would normally. And as you know how every time you have a guest over, you end up taking out all your master pieces to show off, which results in an extended dinner time (but Yon Jan's model car and David's self-made radio were impressive. If any1 comes for dinner, I would only have a self-drawn diagram of a cell to show. Damn the BMS!). So overall, I ended up wasting more of his time:(

Then again, time spent with me is never wasted.

3) In computing language, memory =/= space. Space is the bigger number thing, and memory is the smaller one. Just remember that.

Pole-ing experience

2008-11-08T08:07:00.007+08:00

I have taken up pole-dancing recently. Now, I would appreciate it if you close that fly trap of yours. I might be ungracefully stumbling around the pole to the wrong beats of the song, but at least I have tried. Have you???? (Even you males are not forgiven, as guys' pole dancing is increasingly becoming common.)

In order to work towards the day when I can laugh confidently into your shocked face when you learn that I can (a really subjective word) pole-dance, I decided to sign up for an extra practice today. Unlike the usual sessions which are held in a gym, this session is held at a club. This is a normal practice, as clubs usually do not need their compounds till dark, making them ideal and cheap locations.

When I first walked into the room, it felt like I had entered a strip club. The lighting was sleazy, which didn't help. The first person I saw was a lady in black netted cropped top and undies to match. Across the room, a gal in black undies with white long sleeves was stretching lazily while doing a split. Another girl was hanging upside down from the pole. Hang on, was that a girl sprawled on the floor with her back arched? A glimpse of a girl in mini shorts, strutting out of the toilet with a top that looked like it had been ripped apart confirmed my fear. The entire entourage of the dance school teachers had turned up to teach me.

*Gulp*

Turned out that I had stumbled into a class filled with level 6 students. I am, for your information, in level 1. These girls do not spin around poles. That is TOOO elementary. They hang from them. Fortunately for me, there was a level 3 student, allowing us to pair up on one pole. A nightmare it would be if I had to endure the lesson with a level 6 student laughing at my antics while hanging like a bat from her feet.

I have to admit that after the initial nerves and impulse to walk out, I actually enjoyed myself. The strippers stripped my wrong perception, showing that they are really a warm bunch. Looking at them do their thing was like looking at a scene from an adolescent boy's mind. Freak, I think it actually beats that. I doubt even a 15 yr old boy can imagine some of the moves these girls did. For (vivid) example, imagine a girl with 6 abs hanging from a chin-up bar. Now, rotate the picture 90 degrees, so that the bar is now the pole. Gravity-defying.

Speaking of abs, did I mention that most of them have abs, sexy long legs, overfilling breasts, and killer biceps? And they have no qualms about showing these off. In front of me in my decent shorts (which many frenz had commented was too short) and decent t-shirt. At least I had my corporate high heels. (while they tottered around in killer stilettos = ( )

All right, I better stop, before some idiot gets hard/ hard up. Today has humbled me by tons. I will hang myself one day. Oh yes, I will=)

The downfall of homosexuality and transversites

2008-10-19T06:27:00.006+08:00

I have valid reasons to believe that people with homophobia or transversite phobia should suppress their opinions, just so that they will have no fear in the future.

Personally, I have nothing against homosexuals and transversites. In fact, I believe that they are compelled into this undesired mode of sexuality due to their genetic make-up. And it is also unfortunately, due to this inheritance hypothesis (it has not been fully proven to be purely due to genetics), that I believe that they might be forced into extinction.

Darwin's theory of evolution implies the survival of the fittest. For the non-Biology students, the fittest refers to those with a high reproductive rate. Singaporeans are the weakest human kind after HK, if you believe wikipedia. It makes sense, because the more offsprings you have, the higher chance you have to propagate your genes.

So if we shift our attention to our so-called "sexually disoriented" friends, you do realise that they are by far the weakest of the weakest of the weakest mankind, since they do not have offsprings and thus, cannot pass on their "homosexual/transversite genes".

So why are they still existing? That is because of the social stigma they faced. You conservationists out there have forced these poor souls to stay in the closet, to marry the opposite sex and to HAVE CHILDREN. So these genes were passed down since Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, multiplying with the burst of population number.

However, the landscape have pretty much changed, with pride parades, sex reassignment operations and legalisation of gay marriages. These changes may have brought transient happiness to the couples involved, but it is a catastrophe in making for this minority: they will have no offsprings to colonise the world. Then again, after all the shit these guys have been through, perhaps they would think that it is better that way.

Therefore, if you are one of those who hate homosexuals and transversites, contain your hatred. You will be doing yourself a service. (I hope you die from cardiac arrest from internalising too much anger.)

Year 3

2008-10-16T07:27:00.005+08:00

Sorry for the hiatus. I have been back for 1.5 weeks and it's been crazily busy. Only myself to blame though.

First, there was my room to settle into. I have a tiny room this year, compared to my mega-big double room last year. Any girl would understand my pain. It is impossible to stuff everything into my room. I am sure Oxfam would be very happy with my contributions (which are still lying in my living room).

A picture from the corner of my room. Pictures taken from corners are meant to give the illusion of increased size. Keep that in mind when you see this picture! The thing on the left is my wardrobe. (Notice my books on my bed. One of them is Harry Potter:P And if Joan ever reads this, that is your headphones on my table!!! Come collect it please!!!)

Then there were friends to catch up with. And when I said friends, I meant both people whom I only meet in London and the Singaporeans. Although the Singaporeans and I were both back in Singapore, I was MIA-ing most of the time. So they are part of my term-time friends. Some of the catch-up was done over eardrums-bursting loud music at clubs though, that is to say we hardly caught up, so I would think more time is needed for proper updates.

Speaking of which, I think one of the reasons I am so busy is because I am busy catching up on my sleep. Went clubbing twice in the space of 5 days and will be going again on Friday. Now now... Technically it replaces gym time, so I really shouldn't complain...

And of course, there is SCHOOL!!!! Horrible timetable this year. Just when I was soooo looking forward to school because I thought I would have a slack timetable!!!! And the contents this year are probably meant to squeeze 100 years of science into a 5 weeks course. I had major plans of going to the gym everyday, but those plans are at the back of my closet when I saw my timetable. I guess it would be back to 5 times a week:(

Added on all these, I am excited to say, is a weekly session of pole dancing!!! YES!!! I have managed to sign myself up for some kick-ass lessons to fulfill all my dreams. Next up might just be skateboarding. I know, I am kind of too old. But hey, I just want to MOVE on the board:)

********************************************************************

I came to the third year with lots of goals in mind, lots of hope and lots of zest. I had wanted to blog about them, to remind myself of what I began the year with. However, procrastination (as usual) won the game and I am too deflated now to even remember the wonderful things I had in mind. I am feeling my age really, creeping silently up on me.

*********************************************************************

It's a strange feeling recently, between Tian'en and I. We have been surviving just talking for about 0.5h on the phone everyday since I returned. It is out-of-sorts for us, considering how we used to spend 3h on the phone daily. Both of us are just too busy to have coincide time frames to talk for long. What puzzles me most was how satisfied I am with this little time we spend with each other. In the past, I would not have settled for anything less than an hour (he would pay dearly if he did not offer that amount of time). I wonder if this is an improvement of our independence or a sign of us drifting apart.

Perhaps it is good for both of us to have things to occupy us while we are apart. Wandering minds lead to wandering hands... *Snort*

Summmer 2008

2008-10-05T12:06:00.004+08:00

Forgive me if I slip into some cliche granny words, but it does seem just yesterday that I just saw my family at the airport. It seems like just last night that I watched "Batman Begins" with Tian'en. The beautiful dream will come to an end in 10 hours' time.

This holiday has been rather fruitful, given that I had met up with a lot of old friends, often more than once. It is one thing to be updated about what had happened in your friend's life since you disappeared from this continent for 9 months. It is another to live through her life with her as it is happening. Think of it as reading a newspaper clipping from the year before compared with watching live news. I am glad I got to witness the America financial turmoil and China Melamine poisoning saga first hand in Singapore.

I have to admit though, that I was not very satisfied with what I had achieved in Singapore. I returned with a long list of to-dos but the only thing I accomplished was "spend more time with Tian'en".

Read on World War II (inspired by my trip to Auschwitz) --- Ended up reading only on the events precipitating to the war itself. Didn't even make it to the start of the war.
Learn to make Dimsum ---- Ended up with a batch of overstuffed siew mais and a "xiao long bao" stomach
Learn pole-dancing --- Class was too full. But I may just do it in London:D
Run more --- 1st it was lack of time, then sick, then knee pain, then arch pain, then ... Excuses, Cheryl.
Catch up on what shows the rest of the world HAS watched--- Does watching Heroes season I count?

Now that the holiday has come to an end, I guess it is too late to rectify the situation. Yet, I feel no regrets somehow, because it seems that I had spent substantial amount of time on my friendship deposits. Maybe material pursuit is really immaterial in face of spiritual contentment. hmmm...

HAPPIE BIRTHDAY TIAN'EN!!!

2008-09-26T21:19:00.010+08:00

I won't be back in Dec to celebrate TE's birthday. So I decided to celebrate it now, when I still can. HE IS 21 FINALLY!!!! Still can't enter sex shops though:(

I wanted to make it a surprise for him, so I refused to tell him where we were going. Instead, I gave him clues throughout the week to tantalise him. If he could guess it, then too bad for him... But I know his intelligence level. He couldn't have guessed it.

The clues were:

1) What is brown at the edge and green inside?

(Think sand and forest)

2) What has a water sprout which vomits?

(If you think like my bf, then u use ur little brother to think. Otherwise, surely u would think merlion. Seems like our sex education is more successful than our social studies.)

3) What is ugly on the outside but pretty on the inside?

(Think of the ride in from harbourfront to sentosa. Those ghastly construction sites)

I'm a little hunk of tin,

Nobody knows where I have been.

Got three wheels and a running board,

I'm a luge and I’m no ford.

Honk-honk, rattle-rattle, rattle crash, beep-beep

Honk-honk!

( Goggle search the luge)

The clues were sooooo easy, but the man just didn't get it. *snort*

As it was a weekday, we went only after his lessons. We ended up like a tourist, doing the Luge, 4D magix, Cineblast and the Beach.

Still looking cool before the luge.

The luge was a nice experience, given that I had never gone behind any steering wheels, save those of bumper cars. But the difference between the luge and a bumper car is that you are meant to go towards people in a bumper car. With my steering, you can hardly tell the difference. I knew I am doing civil service when I refused to get my driving licence. I am thankful that there was no one behind me when I veered purposefully off-course onto the grass patch. *sigh*

I just looked scared. I was actually really calm inside.

The skyride up to the top of the luge course. Absolutely stunning view!

I refused to wear my shoes in the skyride because I know I will drop them somehow!

At Del Mar.

Me am dreamy about his abs. Yummmie... *drool* He's mine! MEOW!!

We had dinner at Crystal Jade. They had a steamboat buffet, with free flow of xiao long bao. They must have had me in mind when they came up with this buffet. Unfortunately, I was too full from the steamboat to eat my fill of xiao long bao. Future plans include not touching the steamboat and eating xiao long bao only.

Sigh... All these good times coming to an end. But at least TE is coming in Dec. Not in time for his birthday, but at least for christmas, our anniversary and new year.

Happpppieeee 21st Biirrrthdaaay DEARIEEEEE!!!!

WAHHAHAHAHHAHA!!!

2008-09-22T22:16:00.002+08:00

If I am still 16, I would be squealing in spasms now. If I am a gymnast, I would be making triple cartwheels now. If I am a bimbo, I would be choosing my outfit for tomorrow now. If I am single, I would be in bed now (not my bed).

WHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!

I am none of the above, but I am still doing all of the actions mentioned above, except the last, mentally.

WAHWHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

I spoke to Cuteguy today.

I... SPOKE... TO... CUTE... GUY... TO...DAY....

If you don't know who Cuteguy is, you have to read this post. All it took was an initiative on my part to smile and wave.

WAHAHHAHAHA!!!!

Unfortunately, his gay friend was with him. So it was a threesome. Still, considering that my hunkiometer was buzzing so loudly that I could only hear him but not his partner speak, a 30min chat was a pretty good start.

WAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!

Real pity that it is my last week there:( SIGH!!!!

In case you are wondering, no, I am not doing anything against my boyfriend. He was the one who challenged me two weeks ago to make friends with Cuteguy. Can't blame me for bringing that to fruition! Only Wong Tian'en is big-hearted enough tell me "It's ok to have crushes and eye-candy." I hope he doesn't regret that one day.

I SPOKE TO CUTEGUY!!!

WAHHAHAHAH!!!

05102008

2008-09-20T23:14:00.002+08:00

It's time to say goodbye again. Back to lonely nights. Back to silent tears. Back to holding my own hands.

I don't wanna leave.

Clubbing (K)Night

2008-09-18T10:11:00.006+08:00

If this post sounds inchorent, forgive me. I slept at 5am and woke up at 7.30 am. I had given up my sleep yet again for a session at mambo, something which I had kept saying was not worthy for. However, Xiufang had given the ultimatum when she said that it was gonna be her last mambo. Moreover, Chinjie and her had given in to going Phuture for at least a while. How could I refuse an offer like that?

I did expect it to be a boring night, given all my previous mambo experiences. In fact, Chinjie probably thought I would be bored too, because he was rather apologetic that we did not really go to Phuture due to some foreseen circumstances. However, despite an alcohol-free night, I did have some fun. So it's really ok, CJ! :D

Perhaps it is because I am uber-sober, given that I had NO alcohol the entire night. (You really need no alcohol if you have great music. That may explain why mambo nights are so popular in clubs because clubs know that people need alcohol on MAMBO nights to get high. Mambo night = Rocket-high alcohol sales. But of course, there was no alcohol last night not because of great music but because of my resolution to not drink till end of this year.)

I digressed. So... Being conscious of my surroundings have made me realised that clubbing Singaporeans are really ungracious. Take note of the adjective "clubbing", because I do not want to stereotype my fellow countrymen based on a minority few who were under alcohol influence (what to blame? MAMBO!). When we tried to make our way across the dance floor, everyone was giving us the poison-ivy glares. Despite my repetitive apologies, I was greeted back with more glares. Honestly, is that why guys go home empty-handed every hunting night? I wouldn't trust my life with these bunch of petty wimps. Yes, the fact that Zouk tries to use Hong Kong population housing density as a guideline towards their own in-house capacity, together with Archimedes' principle of water displacement, mean that some guys along our route of destruction would get dislodged from their prey, but surely that is the "full package" expected at a club.

Not all is lost yet though. Just as I had given up hope on mankind, two angels descended from heaven. The first one was in the form of a sweet girl who saw that we needed tissue. So she promptly went to get tissue from the toilet for us. 5 minutes later, a guy came over and asked if "your friend is ok" and produced a stack of tissue from the bar. Charismatic guys like these turn me on.

I did used to think that I was a "looks" person, meaning that I would like a guy mainly based on his looks (proven after I nabbed hunky TE). However, I have come to learn that while I am still a very "looks" person, looks itself is very subjective to personality. The club was full of pretty boys and hot bods last night, but I left the place with the impression that they were all ugly. Yet, the one which left me with the greatest and best impression was the one who was not very tall, who was not making his groovy moves on the dance floor, who was not model-like handsome but offered his good-will with simple style. He did look good in his spunky white armour.

Good looks is all in the mind after all.

Microscopic life of a high-rise appartment dweller

2008-09-15T00:16:00.003+08:00

Give me eyedrops! Somebody gorge my eyes out please! Somebody slap me!! AH~!!!!

Urgh!!! Guess what guess what guess what?!?!?! I was just working out in my brother's room, when I looked out of his window into the house in the opposite block. The first thing that caught my eye was the tv. At first, I saw a closed-up view of a blinking eye. I thought how interesting, until the closed-up view was a little too long. Any proper director wouldn't make an unflattering scene last so long. And it dawned on me that MAYBE JUZ MAYBE, the eye lid is not an eye lid. By the time the camera drew back into the full frontal view of the female, I knew I was right. It was a BLOODY porn video of two ppl having sex! Not BLINKING EYE! GOSHGOSH!!

I WILL calm down in a minute and be a mature adult, whereby porn is a commonplace. But before that, LET ME REMIND EVERYONE WHAT CURTAINS ARE FOR! Not to mention that the importance of curtains increase with each increase in your tv size!!! URGH!! You might be generous enough to want to share your prized collection, BUT NOT EVERY1 IS APPRECIATIVE OF IT. (I'll keep in mind that this is my brother's room. *shudders*)

*back to mature adult mode* After I went off for 15min and returned, the tv was showing golf and the guy was just returning into the room. Probably back from the toilet, if you get my drift. I am really glad that the distance between our houses is great enough, so that I cannot make out any features. The last thing I want is to recognise him.

99.9% of guys may watch porn, but seeing someone watching it is a different story altogether (unless that person is my bf, which then means that I would have to reach for the scissors...). Please don't let it happen again...

Jinx!

2008-09-13T00:15:00.000+08:00

A*STAR has always wanted their scholars to bring change. Being one myself, I would like to do that too. Unfortunately so far, the changes I brought are not what A*STAR has in mind.

As uncanny as it seems, I am a jinx to researchers. I did 3 research stints so far. One at IMCB last year, one at MRC in London during term time and the one I am doing now at IMRE. During the research attachment in London, my mentor quitted her job, leaving the lab on the same day as me. It did not come as a shock to me then, as she opened up to me the week before she resigned that she did not like the work environment. This time round, at IMRE, my mentor resigned on my first day. I didn’t know I had that effect. I did feel that it could be coincidental, since it is just 2 out of 3 times. Luckily my mentor from IMCB did not quit when I was under her. Yet, the unexpected happen. When I visited my IMCB mentor yesterday, I received the news that tomorrow would be her last day of work. Is this really coincidental or what? Either I am a jinx, or the turnover rate in research is extremely high.

In fact, come to think about it, researchers are not the only ones I jinx. The touch rugby coach I had in JC was sacked by my school after a particular slapping event. My rugby coach in college was sacked by the team because he was inefficient in our trainings. Both teams I had joined, both times there had been traumatic changes.

And of course the list goes on, if I look hard enough. Mere coincidences they can be, but I would like to think that I bring changes. Negative or positive, who cares?

My day

2008-09-10T22:57:00.006+08:00

My typical day starts with me SNOOZING my hp alarm 3 times, before ROLLING out of bed onto the floor to wake myself up. By the time I leave my house, I already know that I will be late. But it is all right. I am going to be late for work, work meaning waiting in the student pc room for actual experiment to start. Along the way, I while the time away bursting my father's hp bill by sms-ing TE.

By the time experiment starts, it would be 11am. Then it would be lunch at 1130. Only inefficient people works more than 30min before lunch. If it is Tues, Thurs or Fri, I would have the perfect company of TE. On Mon and Wed, however, it is up to my popularity to snare me lunchmates. I eat alone most times.

After lunch, it is back to aimless loitering along the corridors of MSN Live. Until my mentor decided that he/she (I have two) is not working, so I am free to go. So I would troop down to TE's residence, during which we -censored-. After that, we would have dinner and I would make my 1.5h trip home:(

Upon reaching home, it is back to the phone to call TE. After all, it would have been at least 2 hours since I last heard his voice. More than 2/3 of our relationship is built over long distance, with only our voices to bridge the distance. So it is no wonder that we miss talking on the phone with each other. I wouldn't be surprised next time when we are married that I would call him from the adjacent room just to relive the times we had.

Now that I read what I wrote above, it seems that most of my time is focused on TE. That is of course true, my dear boyfriend. But you, my friends, understand me well enough to know that I am too frivolous to settle for one. How else to survive London alone...

I do not know if it is my expectations that have fallen or that the standard of guys have generally increased. But a lunchtime in one of the NUS canteens can cause neck-ache, the way my head twists left and right each time a hottie walks past. In Imperial, my hunkiometer is

In NUS, the needle oscillates between the yellow and the green section, depending on the faculty I am at. The needle drops back to the red zone, however, the moment I step into IMRE. Most of the male species are old enough to be my father, not to mention scientists are not the best trend setters (damn my future job).

Recently, though, my hunkiometer has been buzzing with activity in IMRE. Let me start from 5 weeks ago, when I attended my induction into IMRE, which all new students and staff had to attend. Mine clashed with those of NUS students doing their FYP in IMRE. One of them happen to be CUTE! Unfortunately, he had a gay partner whom he walked around with and never let go... After that, my hunkiometer became dormant as the existence of Cuteguy was forgotten and the presence of intellectually-intimidating researchers forced my superficial self into refuge.

It was only last week that I discovered the lab Cuteguy was working in when I turned the wrong corner. For the next 2 days, there were sightings in computer labs and in the lift. My hunkiometer nearly went into overdrive. Unfortunately, my mentor had to decide to post me to Biopolis, far away from IMRE!!! Just when I discovered the hiding place of Cuteguy!

And so... It is back to normal life of red needle zone and intellectual conversations. If anyone knows that their cute brother/cousin/nephew/neighbour/friend/sister's or brother's friend is working on their FYP in IMRE, they are welcome to provide information. A reward will be given upon validation.

I am an evil girlfriend

2008-09-03T13:43:00.006+08:00

Jin Yang once told me that if he was single, he MIGHT date me but he would NEVER want to marry me. One of my best friends, Thong Weirong, had insisted on meeting my new found boyfriend (at that time) because she couldn't understand how any guy could bring himself to be together with me. Lots of my friends, female and male alike, had told me how lucky I was to get such a good boyfriend, short of saying "he freakin' deserves better".

I was puzzled. How could they doubt the eligibility of someone so nice, so intelligent, so out-going, with an added touch of humility?

I found my answer last night. Tian'en and I were having dinner together in one of his residence canteen. I wanted something soupy, so I ordered "Sichuan ma la soup" while Tian'en ordered vietnamnese beef noodles. I didn't think that the soup would be spicy, since most "spicy" food in Singapore are meant for babies. However, one mouthful of the soup was sufficient to burn my stomach. Strangely, the soup was not as harsh on the tongue as on the stomach. Still, I regreted buying that, especially when Tian'en's beef noodle was so fragrant.

Sweetie TE saw that I was suffering and quickly proceeded to buy papaya juice for me. Was I grateful? Yes, I was absolutely grateful for the noodles I stole off him when he was queueing up for the juice.

However, I was still dying from the soup. So I threw in my last resort.

"I bet you cannot even finish half of this!" As expected, TE took up the bait and bet that he could finish the entire bowl. For your information, TE sucks at eating spicy stuff. His body drips tons of sweat in order to dilute the spicy food with salty water.

I gladly exchanged my spicy Sichuan soup with his bowl of beef noodles. My poor baby had to thronged his way through the soup, to the extent that he snatched the papaya juice away from me because he wanted it all to himself. When TE stops me from drinking papaya juice (he is the one who benefits, after all), I know that the spiciness is REALLY bad.

Tian'en refused to share:(

Tian'en struggling to finish. He stared at the bowl half of the time.

WAHAHAHAHA!!! But he did finish it. Such a silly boy.

Tian'en, next time, don't deliberately take up the bet just to save me, ok?

My week

2008-08-29T23:53:00.006+08:00

This week kicked off with a nice romantic dinner with TE at Amici in Holland V. There was a1-for-1 deal, otherwise we would never eat there. Was hoping that the dessert of the day was their coveted tiramisu but tough luck, it was some coconut jelly thing. Having just eaten lunch with Jiaxuan 4 hours before that meant that I was half full when I embarked on my italian fiesta. By the end of it, I was ready to puke. Tian'en had to walk me out to sit on the curb while my stomach settle down.

At Amici, with the dessert that made my stomach upset. I thought I heard the waitress mention pina colada?

Mid-week saw me at UK Bound, an annual clubbing event held by Imperial College Singsoc. I think being there as a year 2 and as year 3 makes a difference. We're all getting old. Personally, I did not enjoy myself that much, opting to leave early by 1.30am. Never have I ever left a club so early on my own accord. I shall refrain from any details since it's over and this is a blog, so any comments would just be unconstructive.

Chongwai's farewell was on Saturday. When I first planned it, I had just returned. So his farewell seemed like a long time away. Sadly, the arrival of the event marks the beginning of countdown of my departure. Nostalgia aside, it was nice seeing everyone gathered in one room. Especially glad that Tian'en came with me, so he could meet most of my friends in IC. I always wanted us to have a life outside the world of two of us. Yesterday was a baby step for both of us. Definitely felt great to see Chongwai. Might not have much chance now since he is doing something big now. I mean everything I wrote, k, CW:D See u next yr!!

A picture taken after the dinner. Proportion of girls to guys proportionate to the proportion in IC.

Zouk

2008-08-21T23:40:00.003+08:00

It's been eons since I mambo-ed in Singapore, since I never fancied those free sign language lessons that most seem to give. Give me hip hop anytime!

But last night's re-attempt at mambo had been both the best and worst experience.

Best experience, as in best mambo session I had so far. The guys in the club scene have visibly improved, though the same can't be said for the girls. I probably have Chinjie to thank, who promised to make me a convert (Zheng Yuan promised me before too, but he was wasted even b4 the real partay started!). That having said, I would still return to hip hop. Mambo just lacks some vibe which I can't place my hands on.

Worst experience, as in the worst loss of self-inhibition ever. It's astonishing how I made a vow never to drink to get high again, but I still drank to that purpose. It would be too easy to find an excuse blaming the boring dancefloor for the reason as to why I needed a booster alco-shot. I didn't get the "high" I was looking for, but received a loosening of my self-control instead. This may just be the one time which I feel like my moral calibre has been shredded to pieces. Ok, this may sound a little tooooo serious to those who were not present, so please hold your imagination in rein. It is more of a personal threshold which I have over-stepped, something which I am not very proud of.

I am not gonna elaborate over details and what I think etc, since this is a blog. But this is more to explain why I might be avoiding alcohol for the rest of this year at least. It may be said that drinking is fine in moderation but I do not trust myself enough. I do not trust myself to drink for the right reasons, neither do I trust myself to handle the effects of alcohol. I am not ready to put myself to the test yet.

And more importantly, I am not ready to lose my relationship yet.

Work sucks!

2008-08-15T23:14:00.002+08:00

Haven't blogged much because there is nothing to blog about. Work is practically non-existent. A typical day starts with me entering IMRE, heading straight for the student PC room. There, I check my mail and read a book, until my mentor summons me with an sms. Sometimes, the sms would say that she would like to start in the afternoon, which meant that I woke up at 7am for nothing. Usually, I start at 10+ though:D However, after 1hour of work, there is usually a 3 to 4 hour waiting time, or even an overnight wait. If there is anything called wasting my youth away, this is it. No wonder so many of them said that their attachments were waste of time.

In fact, today, for the first time, my mentor was going to start on something novel. Of all times though, the machine broke down, so we can only start on monday. So I knocked off at 1pm. Honestly, even the $600/mth pay is not enough to compensate for my wasted time. I need to find time to do something!!

On a positive note, I have been rather lucky with meeting up with these NUS peeps. I managed to meet Tian'en most of the time when he is free (note that I said when he is free, not when I am free. That is because I AM FREE WHEN HE IS FREE. Urgh! Too much free time). I managed to meet Daryl for a good chat. I even managed to see Serene Lek (+bf. If Daryl didn't know the guy's name, I wouldn't have realised it was her bf... SNEAKY!!! DIDN'T INTRO!!!) randomly when I was with Daryl. Yuxin and I are attempting to play badminton together too.

See, how boring this gets... I have nothing exciting to talk about. I need to find some life soon.

SHIT!!!

2008-08-05T19:59:00.002+08:00

That's all I can say, after finding out that Tian'en finished half day today, and gets to go home early to read his gf's blog.

Always look on the bright side of life

2008-08-04T17:06:00.003+08:00

My life sucks at the moment because this is my1st week at work in NUS and Tian'en had to be at O-week (with 924650219304 little young things).
BUT
that means that I would have more time to go out with 92357441893 guys before he is free again. AND by the time he reads this, hopefully the week is over and it'd be TOO late! (Serve you right!)

My life sucks at the moment because unlike my previous attachments where I had my own private office, I would have to go to the student room this time round, when I am not needed.
BUT
that means that I can sneak off to meet my darling halfway through until I am paged!!!

My life sucks at the moment because I had an afternoon off at work today but found 39% of my phonelist to be overseas, 39% to be working, 9% to be studying, 9% to be unknowns, leaving only 4% that I can call. Out of these 4%, 100% did not pick up the call (hello?!?! 1130am?!?!!?).
BUT
that means that I decided to have lunch by myself (hold back your tears, please), at the NUS business canteen, spending only $2 :D Cab home, anyone?

My life sucks at the moment because I am working in a engineering lab and have to figure out all the physic terms used in the papers. (S waves, P waves, wavesforms?) using my bio background.
BUT
that means that I would laugh at you physicists and engineers when you try to lie to me about some cheemie concept.

My life sucks at the moment because I am working alone at IMRE, so I have no lunch buddy for this week! To make things worse, there're so many Imperial ppl working at MOE hq this year, but I am not at Biopolis!!! (Assuming they would have lunch with me. ZJ already rejected me:( )
BUT
that means that I would be able to meet up with my friends in NUS from next week onwards for lunch! AND ALSO EAT WITH MY DARLING FOR BOTH LUNCH AND DINNER. AND GO TO HIS RESIDENCE TO CUT ALL COMPETITION!!!!

My life sucks at the moment because I have to travel 1.5 hours to get to work.
BUT
that means...
that means... Sigh... NOTHING CAN MAKE ME LOOK AT THIS POSITIVELY!!!

Worthy quotes --> Read at ur own risk of ur impression of the ppl involved!

2008-07-30T17:14:00.004+08:00

Yuxin and I saw this dead bird sprawled on the floor, with its two legs showing from behind the tail. We were both grieving for the bird when Yuxin blurted out, "Eh... So sad... It lost its two front legs."

?!?@(?*&%$???????

(No kidding, upon further probing, she did think that birds have four legs! And her defence was, they are aways flying, so who would notice how many legs they have... Right... And we thought Jessica Simpson was a bimbo.)

***************************************

After sharing some sex trivia I found in this month's issue of Cleo, Tian'en and I were talking about homosexuality in dolphins. I was interested in knowing exactly how dolphins engage in such behaviour, more specifically, which hole was used as a substitution. My darling went, "Snort?"

(I still don't know the answer. Finally something that you can't find online. If you know the answer, I am VERY interested.)

****************************************

Ok, so today's "Mind Your Body" confirmed the century-old myth that eating soya food decreases sperm count. Since we all know that a large proportion of the protein in a vegetarian diet comes from soy products, Tian'en had to rub it in, "So maybe male vegetarians are infertile?"

Distasteful, my dear!! Now we would have no more vegetarian friends!!!

******************************************

Disclaimer: These people seem smarter than they really are.

Days of my life

2008-07-29T01:15:00.009+08:00

The past few days have been spent meeting up with friends.

On Friday, I met up with Alvin Tan for tea. Alvin was my NJ friend, whom I meet every morning before morning assembly. Till this day, I still don't know what possessed me then to wake up at 545 every morning, just so that I could go to school half an hour earlier to meet this group of friends in the morning. I would give so much now to sleep half an hour more!!! But dearie, if you read this, I think you have matured a lot:D

At night, I went for the pre-departure talk for the IC freshers. I can kill Zhiyang for making me change my family schedule, just to accommodate this, only to find out that Fiona and Michelle were coming. So my presence wasn't needed! Heh... But we had supper after that, before a small group of us proceeded to a TINYMINI TGIF at Abiel's place, with 5 ppl. Abiel's parents were amazing and cool! OOSH!!

On Saturday, I met up for dimsum with Yuxin, my touch rugby teammate. We updated each other about our lives. It is nice to know that no matter where I go, and how infrequent I reply her emails, Yuxin would always be a good friend! Met WanXuan, another teammate. Too bad I had to rush off for another outing, and couldn't stay long!

Me Yux and Wanxuan

The next outing was with my classmates. As usual, every1 except Min Tze were late. I was late from trying to look for plasters in watson (ok, excuses... "But my new shoes which I bought from H&M were killing me," squeals Cheryl indignantly.) It was funny how I rushed to the train, opened my sms inbox to find 3 smses telling me they would be late. Some things never change. We ate at Shoduko (I THINK TT's what it is called?), some japanese marche thing in Raffles City. Too bad I was too full from dimsum and couldn't eat much. But I think I would like to return again. And after that, we couldn't find anything to do, and ended up standing at various spots in Raffles city while deciding what to do (for at least an hour!). I think we should do something more productive next time, like mahjung or sth!!! Chun Hao already offered his house rite?

5 of us idiots who stood around, after the rest have gone.
Found our way to Long John Silver in the end.

On Sunday, my family and I went to this restaurant called "Tao's Restaurant". THE FOOD AND SERVICE WERE AMAZINGTOPNOTCHEDUNCOMPARABLYGOOD! Basically, you pay a fixed price for a 7-course dinner set, from which u can choose the starter, main course, desserts etc. Eat the steak! Medium rare! UMMMMM!!! The waiters were also very meticulous, offering to give us extra bowls when they saw that we were sharing our food etc. I cannot stress how much importance I place on good service. I would recommend it to anyone!!! It was a treat from my sis and I to our parents, so I am glad everything turned out fine.

Today, I met up with Ade, my neighbour for 9 months in London in the afternoon. Wanted her to try this Chilli Ginger Chicken rice from Thai Express. It set me on fire the last time, so I was really curious in finding out whether it would do the same to her. I could only bow my head to her in respect. Tian'en had set a challenge to her to not drink any water while eating it (this guy had to dunk the chicken in his soup to rinse some of the gravy off before eating). She took up the challenge and only sip some water when she was halfway through. Plus, she finished the gravy. I had to scrape the gravy off the last time I ate it, coz it was too much for me. That was quite a feat.

My evil look, before Ade consumed her death sentence. Never did I realise I was really giving her pure bliss with that poison.

Ade looking pretty (Sorry, Ade, that I have to rip it off you coz u din send me this pic.)

I tried the Olive rice, which I remembered her recommending last year. I can't believe I never ordered it before. IT WAS SO GOOD. Even better than the curry soft-shell crab, if you ask me. I am going to try the one at Addie's, if I can.

Me with Olive rice!!! Love it!

Had a great chat with her. She is a good listener. It is funny how we stayed so close to each other in year 1 and 2 in college, but never really gotten round to knowing each other well. I really should reach out to more people, so that I won't regret never knowing a good friend-to-be.

Thank yous...

2008-07-27T03:16:00.012+08:00

This was meant to be published on 29th June, but due to the crappy internet, I couldn't uploaded my pictures. So this is published only now. Apologies for the delay!!

29th June 2008

So I am blogging this right after I blogged about Borough. Sorry that the chronological sequence was wrong. I thought that I would have time after my exams to type this entry but having to evict outta the house the day after my exams end took more time than I thought. I ended up spending the entire night packing my room.

Anyway, what struck me most was the difference between this year’s revision period for exams compared to the previous ones in my life. Somehow, I felt the love and support this year from my friends more than previous years. It is probably due to the fact that I am staying so near to everyone this year, so it makes it easier for everyone to give support to each other. It is really a tough exam period this year, despite me being more prepared compared to last year, due to LOTS of unforeseen circumstances which I would not elaborate here. It had been a bad week and I hope it would be over soon.

So, in no order of importance, can I thank the following people:

PS I am going to try to insert random pics of these people at the same time to remind myself of the times we had during the year.

Jin Yang

Thank you for cooking for me after your exams. I know you tried to clear as much of the house as possible so that I didn’t have to rush too much and I really appreciate that, otherwise I would still be packing now. (But it’s your own fault that you left your ginseng behind, so it’s not my fault that I forgot to help you pack it too!! :p ) You gave me honey and fruits when I was falling sick, and offered to do all the dishes after my exams. THANK YOU!!!

Jin Yang on his bday. Ignore the camera hoggers at the back, please.

Gabriel Cher

Thank you for settling our new house stuff during our exam period. Must have been tough on you. I always look forward to the times when you knock on my door to just have a chit-chat about everything. Although it had been significantly less frequent than last year, just talking to you kept me sane. You chased those lonely nights away. Now that you have a bigger room than me next year, maybe it would be my turn to pop into your room^_^

Gabriel during JY's bday. He looks like the bday boy here.

Zheng Yuan

Thank you for doing all the random things whenever I don’t expect them. Buying a full pack of Wangwang from Chinatown, giving me a fruit tart out of the blue… These little things made my day because it felt so out-of-character of you. Made me realise how little I know you! I am glad we have a second year to try again!

This was the picture taken from the famous "ZY got drunk" night at Gardening Club. You'd think he was sober from this pic.

Kenneth

Thank you for the support you gave during the revision period. You are such a wonderful coursemate, always assuring me and standing by me. The bitching sessions we had, the strolls home to and from school, these formed a structure around my days which helped me push through. While we may not be exactly coursemates next year, I hope we can still maintain the same intimacy we share this year.

(Now that I have finished complimenting you, can I see your dog when you return please?)

Kenneth's CUTE DOG. Now can you understand why I want to see his dog? I used to own one of these dogs, making this dog extra special! (Btw, I am not saying that Kenneth is not worthy a picture here. I just want a particular picture of us sticking our faces to a balloon, which I can't find on my com. So this will have to do while I wait for Kenneth to come online.)

Adeline and Chong U

Thank you two for the sushi on the night of the last paper eve. Really made my day that day, since it was THE day I needed emotional support so badly. Luckily both of you were still around, since most were gone by then. I am sorry I didn’t show much gratitude that day as I felt, because I was still numbing myself from the pain I was going through that evening. Thank you Ade, for cooking dinner for me when you could and allowing me to take refuge in your house during construction period. Thank you Chong U for buying that yummilicious hor fun for me when I was with Ade (Love house, love crow.).

They even put the sushi in some nice packaging and wrote on it! So sweet and thoughtful right?

Daryl

Thank you for popping by sometimes to spice up my mundane life. Exam period would have been different without you, since you were the only one who didn’t give a damn about exams. You have the uncanny ability to make one forget about their exams. Urgh… I already dread next year’s exams.

Daryl licking the sweetest apple I can find in London (from Manila supermarket, btw). Looks a bit wrong, but I would like to think of it as appreciation of the apple (compared to JY who had, by then, finished the apple)

Francine

Thank you for making pancakes for JY and me! They were delicious!!

Francine and Hong'en, together against all odds.

And of course there were so many of you who sms-ed me words of support. Those msgs I kept in my phone (for reference next year, just in case I receive none.)! Shitty week I went through this week, but nevertheless, I am glad I had good memories of friends to pull me through!

CABS!!!!

2008-07-25T02:18:00.006+08:00

Been back for a few days now. URGHHHH!!! Took my 1st cab ride since the price hike. OH MY GOOOODNESSS!!! I think I would leave my house earlier from now on, and take the bus!! It was really a combination of bad luck and the price hike really, which caused the cost to come up to a hefty $20!!!! The last time I saw that amount, it was when I took from Bishan to Changi dock. I was only travelling from Holland Rd to Hougang this time round!!! It was really bad luck, because the radio broadcaster had just finished mentioning the MASSIVE traffic jam when we just turned out from the slip road right smacked into the MASSIVE jam. However, we made it out at the next exit, thankfully, much to my wallet's relief.

Yes, I have made TE promised me to eat only hawker fare when we are out together for the next few days, to punish myself for spending that amount just because it was raining.

On the other hand, the trip was for him!!! So it wasn't really senseless wasted money. In the history of our relationship, CABs have come in handy when I needed to give my boy a surprise. I love receiving surprises. And because of that, I love giving surprises. Always do what you want others to do to you (although I have learnt the brutal truth that this is not always the case).

Anyway, back to the importance of CABs.

In dec 06, when I returned to Sg for the 1st time, TE couldn't come meet me at the airport coz he was in NS. So I decided to catch him at home before he went to work. Unfortunately, NS guys have to start work at unearthly hours, and my dear boy had to leave house by 0615. So I had to wake up at 5am, to take a CAB to his place to surprise him. It was rather horrible, given that I only had a measly 4hours of sleep before my alarm clock went off, waking both my mum and me up. I can't remember what I told my mum I was doing up at that hour, but I must have been lying, since she didn't know I was attached at that time. When I reached his place, it was drizzling. BUT ALL MY BOY THOUGHT ABOUT DOING WAS BRUSHING HIS TEETH B4 OPENING THE GATE, WHILE I STOOD OUT THERE GETTING WET!! I think I gave his family a greater surprise than I gave him.

Cab fare: ~$12 (due to midnight surcharge)

OKOK!! The next one is a classic drama scene... DRUMROLL...LL...LLLL

In summer last year, I decided to pop by his place to surprise him at night, since I was already out. I was really excited meeting him, since I bought some cookies, cheesecake and a ~*~pretty~*~ (I have been called a bimbo by two ppl separately recently, so I thought why not live up to my name) heart-shaped cake for his family and him. There was really nothing that could go wrong, the worst being me catching him in bed with another girl. Or so I thought. After spending $5 taking a CAB from AMK to his place, I called him only to find him asleep. His dad had to wake him up to pick up the phone. So picture this- I was outside his house, with my bag full of goodies and excitement, while he was in there knocked out to the world. When his dad passed him the phone, TE was still in a semi-conscious state. It took me 5 minutes to get through to his head that I was waiting outside for him. When he finally got the message, his first reaction was, "Huh, why you come at this time? " (This time being 2230. WHICH IS NOT VERY LATE!!!). Of course, the now-rational me knows that he was knackered from his NS work, and just said that out of exasperation. BUT the excited lilo chick wasn't expecting that, and the sense of disapointment just came crashing down on her. The only thing she could do was muttered, "Sorry... I shouldn't have come." into the phone and walked off. Crying.
And of course, TE was desperately calling her, while she rejected his calls. Finally she sat down on the curb and picked up his call. He found her. He apologised. She apologised (NO, she din apologise for coming unannounced, because that is the definition of surprise. She apologised for not understanding that he didn't mean what he said when he said those -!@#^%#- words.)They ate ~*~pretty~*~ heart-shaped cake. They played on the swing. She took CAB home. He paid.

Cabfare: $5 to get there
$10 to get home

And today, I decided to pop by to surprise TE again. We hadn't met for about 20hours, and I missed him. We were not gonna meet tmr either, so I thought it best to try to see him today. Had tea/dinner with Michelle (which went quite well!! Miss her so much!), and bought this crunchy blueberry tea cake for TE and family. It started raining before Mich and I reached the bus stop, only to find that we were at the wrong bus stop!!! URGH!!! I don't know what possessed me then, but I decided to ignore ALL warnings which my friends gave me before I returned to Singapore and hailed a CAB. These friends had warned me that the hike was a steep one, one that bordered on madness BUT they didn't say that it would SHOCK me. I would have waited till 8pm before hailing the CAB if I knew that it is 35% surcharge for peak hours now. I boarded at 1955=( And the rest is history...

Cabfare: $20

Borough market

2008-06-29T02:30:00.014+08:00

Anyone who asks me for recommendations on what to visit in London would definitely hear the words “Borough Market” 20 times until the words are etched into their mind. Ummm… I love food and having so much food under (literally) one umbrella is enough to make me drool everytime I relate my experiences there. The food isn’t fanstastically cheap there. In fact, I have already blown about 150 pounds over the 4 trips that I have been there. YES!!! FOUR times!! Even some/most of the Londoners have not been there and probably most would go there once or twice. It is not just the food that draws me back there, because I am sure it is possible to get the food separately at different places in London, if I look hard enough (of course, having them all at one location makes it all soooo convenient). It is the atmosphere, the aromas, the bustling… Ummm mmmm…. I usually hate crowd. So much so that I would rather give some sales a miss because it is JUST PRETTY DAMN NOT WORTH IT to lose my limbs fighting over some unwanted but cheap designer goods. However, the crowd at Borough Market creates the perfect atmosphere of what a food paradise should be like ^_^

All right, all right, other than all the points mentioned above, the crucial reason why I love Borough is that I had great company each time I went (realise the lackluster of this sentence, because honestly, I would go to Borough more often on my own if I can, except that I need people to help me eat up the leftovers that I can’t finish. That is probably the only reason why I drag people to go with me. Of course, if you are Tian’en, my sis, my mum or Daryl, you obviously know me well enough to know that I am kidding, right?).

I always discover something new each time I go to Borough Market. In my first trip to Borough my mum, I tried the traditional popular dishes like raclette, oyster and brownies. Going with my mum was great, because after all, she was the one who taught me how to eat. So our tastes are pretty similar. And she being my mum meant that I got to choose what I wanted to eat (if this sentence doesn’t make sense to you, then you need to change mums).

This is mum at Tower bridge. Sorry dudes, I realised that my mum and I took NO pics at Borough Market when we went. So I have to use this random pic.

This is raclette. Potatoes with melted cheese on it.

On my second trip to Borough, I went with Tian’en. Poor boy as he was, he had to endure me forcing sickeningly sweet Turkish delights and slimy fresh oysters down his throat. He got his revenge, when he insisted on buying this “caramel custard pot”. Probably only my housemates would know that I shun caramel like poison because it tastes like, feels like and is poison. I grudgingly said that I would only try a tiny bit and he would have to finish the rest. They said that revenge was sweet and it was truly so! Gosh!!! Poor Tian’en could only watch helplessly when I finished the whole pot of custard after tasting it. (We did buy a 2nd pot eventually but that didn't matter, because the point was that I finished the 1st pot which I refused to buy.) Ooooohhh…. And that was how I discovered “caramel custard”^_^

This is my sis, not TE!, eating caramel custard. Unfortunately, TE was the photographer for this trip to Borough and so I couldn't find a pic with him in it. So this has been ripped from the trip to Borough with my sis.

Now, my third trip to Borough was different from my previous two trips because I went with a guy whom I had never shared food with. What if he has STD? What if he thinks I have STD? What if he is a selfish bastard/ scared of other people’s saliva and refuses to share with me? Luckily, Daryl turned out to be quite normal. Quite, you ask? Well, if you look at the photo below, maybe everything is self-explanatory. Going with Daryl was a good decision, because this guy is out for adventures. He seek and conquered only the exotic food. This is exactly what I look out for in ~~guys~~ fellow food hunters. We tried the ostrich burger, which was tasted vaguely like beef, but much more tender. In fact, when I was taking the appetizing picture of Daryl’s opened jaws (sometimes, you have to use the right nomenclature for the right species), I was holding back myself from licking the food off his tongue.

Daryl's scrumpilicious ostrich burger

One other fanastic find was the crunchilicious “honeyed nuts” because Daryl absolutely loves his nuts (grow up, guys!). It was a pity that my mum didn’t get to try it when she was here, because she loves nuts too.

"Cranberry" store, selling nuts and chocolate (the honeyed nuts are to die for)

My fourth time was today, with my sister. Both of us are crazy about our food, so going Borough Market with her is especially enjoyable. I thought by now, I would have tried everything and nothing can amaze me anymore. Again, I was proven wrong. We tried the apparently-popular-but-I-have-not-tried fried scallops, which were REALLY sweet and fresh.

My sister still loved the fresh oysters the most, rating them as the best she had eaten. And I had to agree with her. Out of the three times that I had eaten the oysters at Borough, this had to be the best batch I had tried. It is most unfortunate though, since we all know that oysters are aphrodisiac, so it would be much preferred if Tian’en had this batch of oysters instead. On the other hand, I should thank my lucky stars that Daryl didn’t get to eat the oysters :P (yep, this loser went to Borough, wanted to leave the oysters to be the last thing to eat but ended up facing an empty stall after eating other food)

We also bought the nuts for our mum. The nuts are that good (I am already on the way of finishing them even before they reach my suitcase as I type now). Any of you who want to know which stall it is from can ask me. I believe I can draw you the map of borough market of the stalls which I recommend.

It is a pity that we didn’t try the banana cake which my sis' friend recommended. Her friend insisted that it was better than the brownies. Personally, I didn’t think the brownies were THAT fantastic, so I would have to try the banana cake first before I make my own verdict. That just means a fifth trip to my favourite London tourist spot. Any takers?

(Dun worry, you only have to live up to the standard of 4 others.)

Dinner!!!

2008-06-19T05:23:00.009+08:00

What goes around really comes around. I cooked for a group of people last week. Since then, I have received several food items in return.

Tonight, it was from Ade. Or rather, from her other half - Chong U. Hehhhe!!! It was Bat Kut Teh, just like what I cooked for her=D

As you can see, he added lots of vegie to keep constipation away!! Thanks, dearies!!!

As I always felt, much as counter-instinctive as it is, exams time is when we give more. That is when we are needed most. There is no point being there all the time when you are not needed and disappearing the moment the need arises. I only hope I have given as much as I could afford.

But I certainly have received a lot of love recently:) From everyone except my boyfriend, that is. That insensitive bast-ok I shall refrain from using degradatory terms these few days, given the imminent exams. Good karma ain't the only thing that goes around - nice boyfriend of mine is going for the birthday party of a... a... -Rmb, Cheryl, KARMA- sweet thing this saturday. In the middle of my exams. *snort* But he had kindly reminded me that I was frolicking on a sandy beach in Tioman while he was digging a hole in the middle of some jungle during his OCS days. So I guess we are quits. EXCEPT that he had again faulted by reminding me of all the fun I had in Tioman when I am deprived of it NOW. So, HE IS STILL AN (IN)SENSITIVE sweetheart -I am so gonna ace my exams now, at the rate my karma is going^_^ -.

Now, I just need to find a tagboard with less spam... Urgh...

Foooood and no dishes makes my day

2008-06-15T09:27:00.003+08:00

Today was an exceptionally great day, because I found out that I have been blessed with so many great friends.

The day started just normally, with me eating a pathetic banana for breakfast. At lunchtime though, Jin Yang came in to offer me the rice dumpling which his aunt had brought for us all the way from Singapore.^_^ He even offered to help me heat it up! That made a yummilicious lunch!! OHHH!!!! Missed dumplings!

Perhaps at this point, I should mention that my previous post about asking for takers to cook me dinner had won me dinner offers fromm the 2 medics in my house. The request was not aimed specifically at them (ok, reading back now, I do realise that it does sound like I was asking from them yeah?:P ), but they readily offered to cook for me till their abandonment (of me to rot in hell). In fact, last night saw ZY cooking a fantastic 3 course meal.

Today, however, I thought it best that I cook for myself, judging from the amount of packing that they have left to do. Funnily, these two great guys felt bad for not cooking for me, despite it not being an obligation for them to cook for me. By this time, I already felt soooo loved by my beloved housemates.

So, I didn't expect it, when there was a knock on my door and ZY appeared with this gigantic
fruit tart for me:D

I always wanted to eat a fruit tart in London. Doesn't matter where it is from. I JUST WANTED TO HAVE ONE!!! And this amazing guy just walked in with one in his hand. SWEEEEEEETIEEE!!! (Sorry Caroline, you can have him back by the end of this post)

After that, medic no.2, Gabe came in, apologising for not being able to cook. To make it up, HE OFFERED TO DO THE DISHES!!! Like WTH!!!! I hate doing dishes and there he was, offering to do it for me. I promised not to use too many plates etc, but, who was I kidding? (The thought of making smoothie to add to dinner immediately came to my mind.)

(okok, I tell myself that I can't type for longer than 20 minutes. So I am gonna rush through the next part more)

Right, so having been satisfied with my meals and not having to cleaned anything up (oh yeah, I conveniently had kept my lunch dishes for Gabe to wash too), I was really happy with my day. But voila! guess who was to turn up at the door step but Daryl, armed with strawberries and yoghurt. This poor soul actually walked all the way from a house 1min from my place to the big supermarket 10min away, only to find it closed, and then make his way to another supermarket in the opp direction in order to get the food. That is DEDICATION. Luckily he did that, coz the combination of strawberries and yoghurt is lethal=D

This guy even managed to impress me with his repertoire of songs and what he could do with the guitar. Actually, I was worrying about my exams and was trying to figure out a way to stop him but it was rude to do that and so I stuck to it and just listened to it, my foot... I was totally immersed in those songs which he could whip out. Just as I was beginning to feel like I was at a bbq, on a holiday, ZY kindly came out and said, "I don't mean to sound like your mother, but shouldn't you be studying? You have an exam...". I hardly caught the last few words, because a wave of cold water just splashed onto me and I literally felt a chill down my spine. Yes... Reality hits like a brick. I had forgotten totally about my exams. Urgh... Well, on a sidenote, yes, it's amazing what Daryl can do with those fingers and mouth of his; they can make one forget about their exams!!!

Sigh, I better end this soon, because I am feeling bad that I am making my housemates clear the kitchen while I am here spending 25min complimenting them. (Don't worry, guys, my time will come soon.) Thanks for making my day, Zheng Yuan, Gabriel, Jin Yang and Daryl!!!!

Exam prep!!

2008-06-11T05:49:00.007+08:00

Just a few days back, Daryl mentioned that my room has a lot of hair (this man gives no sh*t about offending those around him). My floor is carpeted after all, and so I didn't notice it as much as he did. Might have to do with the fact that my room has limited floor space when I have no guests in the house.

So, anyway, I came back from a run today and was walking about my room barefooted. Now, most of you probably don't know that I have to tape my feet before I run, because I am flat-footed. Taped feet on carpet isn't a very good combination.

I haven't vacuumed my room in a really long time, because I figured out that I would be leaving sooon (soon ranging from 2months ago:P). So I thought, let's see if what our friend here said was true.

URGH!!!

I have never felt so thankful for buying that 5 pounds exercising mat. It probably saved me a lifetime of rashes and ticks and dried puke and whatever-you-find-in-dirty-carpets.

Other than cleaning my carpet, I am indeed proud to mention that I did my laundry and changed my sheets today. Hopefully this will last me till the end of exams. Otherwise, I guess those in the exam halls would have to withstand the stench.

However, I am still planning my food plan. Surviving on healthier (note it doesn't say healthy) instant food may be the next best thing after storing up fats now so that I wouldn't have to eat for the next two weeks. Not that I am not doing that now, with all the cravings and the reduction of exercise. Maybe someone will do a ChongWai and cook for me. (If I am not being obvious enough, I don't know what is.)

For those wondering what a Chongwai is, basically this kind soul cooked Korean cuisine for JY and I. It was meant to be our dinner saying Bye to him in London but well, that can wait till Singapore.

Randomness!!

2008-06-08T06:53:00.007+08:00

Just spent an hour reading through TE's blog. I have probably read it 100 times but I still get entertained every time. Well, only by the bits which involved me, of course. Everytime I read through his archive, I felt as though I am reliving the process of us starting till present. It felt like I was still living through that honeymoon period. Actually, everytime I return to singapore, I still feel very much in honeymoon period. Ha! Eat that, you "LDR-is-not-a-real-relationship" purists!!! Bet no one can have as long a honeymoon as us:D It is sad though, that my name has stopped appearing in his blog for a rather long time, since I am not with him.

On a separate note, revision has started proper and I am currently trying to follow a really tight schedule. So I really shouldn't be reading blogs or blogging.

Not much has happened since I last blogged. I did go to the pub to watch the rugby match:D:D Amazing!!! England vs Barbarians! If this is the new batch of english players taking over, then perhaps England would finally play a more dynamic game.

The early birds taking a picture together. Pete came 20minutes into the game. Daryl came 30mins b4 the game ENDED. He totally made a wasted trip down, since the game was slowing down by then.

We had our last practical as a class. Well, 1/5 of the class, since most didn't turn up. There was so much waiting time that we ended up singing stupid songs (they have weird children show songs), playing the game which you have to start the next word with the last letter of the previous word (what is it called?) and taking photos. I am really glad we have such a close-knitted class. It was wonderful spending two years in this class where most are so accommodating and entertaining. I will probably never see some of them again, since we are splitting into our various courses next year. But one thing for sure, they have made my college life so much more bearable.

From left: Emily (the deep thinker), Hailin (The smiley), Mike (The joker), Me (the pretty one), Matilda (the nice one)

From left: Anusha (the pingpong queen), Me, Mary (The sweet one)

Farhan (the whiney one:P), Fatimah (the talkative one)

Yes, and we went to pub for lunch. I had my nachos!!! Finally!! Ever since watching the rugby, I had been craving them, but the pub we watched rugby at didn't have nachos!!! :D:D

From left: Mike, Cyndie (the anorexic one), Natalie (the britney chic)

HYpocrite!!

2008-06-01T19:01:00.004+08:00

We have heard of people being strong because they are strong. We have heard of people pretending to be strong when they are weak (and of course, that means that they are truly strong too). Hell, we have even heard of people being weak because they are truly weak. But today, I realised that there is a fourth category of people pretending to be weak when they are strong. And it's none other than yours truly.

No, don't get me wrong. I am not launching into some egoistical entry on how strong I am. It is something that everyone knows already. No, I am actually going into how stupid I have been for the past few weeks.

It all started two weeks ago, when I had this sudden desire to drink. I thought I was tired of pretending to be strong and just wanted to unwind. If I did truly enjoy that moment of folly, then perhaps I won't be blogging now. Instead, I just thought that was the silliest thing I did but I couldn't pinpoint why I felt that way. And still, I continued to be moody sometimes, attributing it to the need to let myself go sometimes. It is supposed to make myself feel happier, since if I stop pretending, I am being myself rite???

Unfortunately, letting myself go moody isn't MYSELF at all!!! Talking to people about how tired I am (when actually, it is not what I really feel but something which I force myself to feel) etc is not in my nature at all. Not to mention that I don't even feel these feelings till I tell myself to. In fact, talking about random stuff to random people actually made my day, rather than trying to analyse the (non-existent) complicating feelings I had. What an idiot I am!!! I am enjoying my life, yet I forced myself into a weakling I am not. Why, I don't know. Maybe I feel the need to emphasise that I have more emotions than what I actually show? Hmmm...

Nevertheless, I think I owe an apology to all whom I have interacted with in the past 2 weeks. You guys have been most patient!!!! HEHE!!!

Now that I have all my thoughts sorted out, perhaps it is time for me to start revision proper. So guys, I think I won't be around on FB, msn, blog or email for some time sooooon...

ya rite...

On a lighter note, I am going to watch the match between England and Barbarians after all. Was rather disappointed that we weren't going to watch it live, so I am really glad that Bingliang agreed so readily to my proposal of watching it in a pub:D ooooo hoooo!!!

Weekend blues...

2008-06-01T05:52:00.003+08:00

My emotions have been swinging from one extreme to the other these few days. Having doubts on what I want from life and what I am working for. Sometimes I want to help others, live for others and do everything I can to make this world a better place. This, I know the current me is incapable of doing. I want to do something in return to all that I have received. Yet, whatever I have to offer is insignificant. The only thing I can do now is to keep working, so that one day I will be able to help science inch forward.

Yet, this is impeded by my selfishness to want to live my own life to the fullest, leading a life that I would look back with no regrets. There is nothing wrong with wanting a fulfilling life, I know, except that I know some of the life I desire would bring no joy to anyone but myself. Is it too selfish to waste my time on these things when I could be using the same time to do something more for others? I don't know...

I must have watched too much "1 litre of tears". Supposed to be going out today and tomorrow but both have been canceled unfortunately=( So I had decided to invest the time in the inspiring show instead. Not a wasted drop of tears or time, if you ask me, because I am more than certain that I have chosen the right career path for myself.

I HAD CURRRYYY!! Good food always make me happy:) Having the curry certainly made my day (I know I am pathetic), especially in the good company of my housemates. I miss eating with them. In fact, I miss human company. Everyone's having exams, so it's pretty much left to me to talk to myself (so please talk to me if u see me. PLEASE!!!). Somebody save me!!!!

BANANAS UNITE!!!

2008-05-31T08:29:00.010+08:00

It all started with a simple act. I got Jin Yang to buy bananas for me, and he labeled it with "Cheryl's Bananas".

And it ended up like this after various mutations. Apologies to non-bio students.

Mutation by CLpretty (Pretty variant of Cheryl Lee)
Mutation by F3C3 (Flat 3 tri-Cocksters)

First mutation event on 1st chromosome:
Cheryl's Bananas

Mutation on a completely different chromosome (ie another bunch of bananas):
Whose bananas are these then?

2nd mutation event on 2nd homologous chromosome (ie another banana on the same bunch):
Yes, she's crazy bananas.

(In between this and the next mutational event, the chromosome with "whose bananas.." mutation got ablated.)

Mutation event:
C1: Cheryl's Bananas
C2: Yes, she's crazy about bananas

Mutation event:
C1: Old Cheryl's Old Bananas
C2: Yes, she's crazy about bananas

Mutation event:
C1: Old Cheryl's hsemates' Old Bananas
C2: Yes, she's crazy about bananas.

Final mutation event:
C1: Old Cheryl's hsemates' Old Bananas ZY's
C2: Yes, she's crazy about bananas. Gabe's
C3: JY's
(PS, as you will realise, I labeled Jin Yang's bananas but they are too small to be seen)

Apoptosis:
The chromosomes had undergone unrepairable mutation events and activated a protein called "CL53", which led to DNA fragmentation and apoptosis.

Yummy banana smoothie....

Yummilicious!!

2008-05-30T00:17:00.009+08:00

It helps to have a good looking lecturer. One that takes ur breath away the moment he smiles. Sigh....

Too bad I couldn't whip out my phone and take a picture without being too obvious... Not when there were only 40 of us, with 20 are jealous potential-prostate-cancer patients. Could only crop it off the internet:(

It definitely helps one to stay awake because you CANNOT fall asleep because he is looking... Those eyes... *brrr...* I definitely felt the restlessness in the guys around me as they squirmed in their seats in jealousy. Or maybe it's because the lecture is on prostate cancer.

Anyway, I do realise that exam times are quite taxing on my wallet. Last year, I indulged in a pathetic box of watermelon which set me back by 2pounds. Today, I found myself in the same situation, craving for cheap ol' wantons, available anytime anywhere back home. Except that in London, the word cheap doesn't exist. I had to settle for this:

Which costs 2.65pds.

Which means that each wonton costs me 60cents!!! URGH!!! I can buy 3 bowls of wonton noodles with that packet!!!!

Urgh!! BUT!!! UMMMMMM!!! I can still feel the taste in my mouth...

Hang on, did I say it was 60cents each???!!! Damn...

Good one, Zi Xie!

2008-05-24T07:39:00.002+08:00

Din intend to blog... But I gotta put an excerpt from my msn chat down. I usually try to avoid doing that, since it is rather irritating to read. But it is too classic to miss.

exam reds=.= says:
are u going back?
Human Nature: Fire rekindled says:
i am going back in jul
Human Nature: Fire rekindled says:
when r u staying till
exam reds=.= says:
june 28 till july 16
Human Nature: Fire rekindled says:
OH NO!!
exam reds=.= says:
spending national day in sg
Human Nature: Fire rekindled says:
why so short
Human Nature: Fire rekindled says:
huh???
Human Nature: Fire rekindled says:
do u happen to know tt our national day is in 9th aug
exam reds=.= says:
sg national day 4th of july mah
Human Nature: Fire rekindled says:
HA HHHAAAHA

Classic, Zi Xie!!!

Where's the water cooler?

2008-05-23T08:42:00.006+08:00

I made my virgin trip to the library to do proper study today, something unheard of in my pre-21 years. Always preferred the comfort of home, the silence and the convenience of having everything I need around me. Not to mention that the trips to and from take up the time I could have used applying a facial mask.

I didn't dare venture into the library alone. No, I would go under the strict guidance of JY, for without him, I might wonder into realms of hyenas' shriekings and volcanic rumblings (not that there weren't=( ). The first thing he did was introducing me to level 5, the new hq for IC Singsoc. Perfect! I spent the first hour socialising, which in my context, is perfectly appropriate and a relatively short time. After all, the last time I went to the library to join my classmates for some study session 3 years back, it turned into a cards session within half an hour (hence, despite the fact that I did try to go to library to study in JC, it is only today that I did proper studying).

The first thing that caught my eye when I first sat down on Lip En's table was: (My 2 megapixel camera-inbuilt phone ain't very good at taking pictures. Please click on the image to read the note.)

Certain individual(s) may find the telephone number familiar. Of course, I tried my best to hide the full number for victim confidentiality. But by all means, try to call all possible combinations:)

Going to new places is to learn about new things, and it's never too late to learn new things. One thing I learned today, level 5 girls toilet door is not locked. Huh? Yes, it's not locked. I went up to the door, pushed down the handle, pushed the door, felt a great resistance, SLAMMED MYSELF AGAINST THE DOOR and WALKED AWAY defeated. It's normal Cheryl library behaviour, really, to make a fool of herself. I mean, who doesn't recognise the girl who photocopied her own face in the library at lunch time, when the library was most packed?

But I saw a girl walked in after I left the toilet and I think I never recovered from the humiliation. Honestly, how humiliating it is for me to body-slam the door open, only to let someone else collect my victory:(...

Another thing I learned, the water cooler is on the second floor. Till now, I can still remember Lip En's incredulous face, as he went "Wait, what year are you in? Year 2?" after I asked "Where's the water cooler?"

Oh well, it's never too late to learn new things, is it? It's never too late to learn that the library is really not conducive to study.

Our fate is sealed!

2008-05-21T01:38:00.003+08:00

We found a house! We found a house! We found a house!

Ha... Maybe the rest ain't as excited as me but I tot this place was fantastic! Well-kept, proportionate rooms, bright... Just that the kitchen's a little too small.

Over this house hunting, what my housemates repeatedly pointed out to me was, I am quite rash in making decisions. I guess I am, coz I am always quite afraid that I would end up on the streets. It is good that ZY is a contrast to me. He likes to deliberate his moves, so that there would be no regrets. I just hope that he doesn't blame me in rushing him into this when the roof falls on him...

YES ZY, our fate is sealed!!!

David, you are DA MAN!

2008-05-19T07:33:00.005+08:00

The 3rd term is supposed to mark the beginning of mugging but instead, I find myself more relaxed than ever and doing something I never thought I would be doing : playing touch rugby.

I had always wanted to play rugby since secondary school but it was only made possible in JC since most secondary schools do not have rugby. Going for touch trainings were the highlight of the week and there was this thirst in me to keep improving. Every night, I would visualise certain moves and nothing less than perfect was enough. I guess that was what caused the crunch eventually. The pressure to perform and the pressure to improve. I had my injuries, which translated from physical barrier to morale barrier such that even when I recovered, my passion didn't return. I had insomnia for months from stressing over reaching a plateau in rugby but to most of my teammates, this insomnia was due to stress over academic work rather than anything else. It was my fault really, because I didn't want to be viewed as a weakling and thus kept everything within me. The vicious cycle continued till the end of the season and I have never touched touch rugby (no punt intended) ever since.

As most of you know, I carried on with contact rugby, which is rather different from touch rugby. So even though I was still in contact (no punt intended again) with rugby, I didn't dare to play touch rugby again. It held too many bad memories and honestly, part of me was afraid that I would feel the familiar feeling of frustration. Every dropped ball, every failed move, everytime I let someone through, it felt like I was hitting a wall repeatedly. I didn't want to experience the same feelings again.

So when David, the newly elected IC Singsoc sports rep, organised a game of touch rugby, I made a lame excuse to myself that I had work to do. But under some persuasion by Ade, I thought that perhaps being out-of-touch (punt intended) for 3 years and being in contact may change how I play and how I handle a game. Boy, was I right! After 3 years of not knowing whether I would dare play touch again, of being afraid to play touch, of trying to avoid touch, all these negativity disappeared within 10mins on the field. I can't remember when was the last time I felt so exhilerated playing touch. Of course, I probably had the same kind of thrill 4 years ago, but it is especially thrilling because this time, I am more skilled than I was when I first started. Same passion, different skills level:P

I had told David of what a turning point he had made in my life. He brushed it off as "it's different playing with guys". It wouldn't matter perhaps to any1, but to me, this is more than rekindling the passion in touch. It is the relief from the burden and regrets that I had carried for years. Finally, I can rest them at peace. I feel like a newborn.

David, you are DA MAN!

I love him, I love him not...

2008-04-10T21:59:00.003+08:00

I think one thing that lots of people have on their mind when they know of my relationship is, how do I know I made the right choice if I spend more than 2/3 of the time away from him?

The answer is, I don't know and won't know until we get married. And even then, I still may not know. In fact, I doubt even the oldest love guru can answer this question, be it my relationship or that of any normal couple.

It is indeed hard to justify that what TE and I have is considered "love", for me myself doubt the long distance relationship of others too. I guess the notion of having no intimacy (not just the um-humm kind of intimacy but the company too, u one-track mind pervert) and not seeing each other for months indicate little more than good friends trying to keep in touch with each other. However, when it comes to my own relationship, I have no qualms telling people that we are very much in love. It is not that I use the word loosely, for I used to think that such a thing doesn't exist. All I can say is, this relationship changed my mind about marriage and love.

If there is anything difficult about being in LDR, it is the separation. Not the time when we are apart but the action of separating. Knowing what lies ahead in the next 4-6 months, yet at the same time holding his hand for one last time, savouring every last moments of it, the feeling is utmost dread. The first time I had it was in Jan 2007, leaving him for the 2nd time. The first time, when we first separated, things weren't as bad, as we naively thought that LDR would be hard. But having gone through the first 3 months told us that LDR is HARD. I cried for the first time in years at the airport. What separated us when I walked through the custom gates were more than just glass panes; they indicated the 200000000 miles + 8h diff + $1000000 phone bills between us. That feeling of dread was so awful that I learned to dread the dread. Even before I left for Singapore in London, I was thinking how short 3months of summer in Singapore was. And in nov, before he came over in dec last yr, I was practically hoping that time would slow down, so that I would not have to face him leaving me so soon. And at the moment, I am hoping I would get TB so that I can't return to London and remain pretty at the same time. In fact, one of the reason why I was inspired to write this post was because I was struck with a sudden panic of losing him when we were in the cab. I didn't want him to get off, but of course, he had to eventually. We would see each other tomorrow, but it didn't matter. I wanted him then.

Perhaps it would be clear by now, that I truly treasure my relationship with TE. LDR teaches us never to take things for granted, that I agree. But perhaps what would be surprising is that I cherish our relationship more when we are together than when we are apart. By convention, people tends to think of what they miss when the thing is gone. But in my case, having him by my side reminds me what I would be missing if I give him up. When I am in London, it is easier to take him for granted, for he ain't there to start with. (side note: Just to pacify TE, the previous sentence is not to be taken as a cue for any potential suitors. My email is I.am.available@hotmail.com) Distance doesn't necessary make the heart fonder.

We have made a commitment to each other which married couples 10yrs older would hesitate making. We have a made a commitment to each other which people our age mock at. We have made a commitment to each other which people our parents' generation deem as naive. It is only up to us to show that it is a commitment that we made to each other.

Thank you, Tian'en for being part of my life.

Random running thoughts

2008-03-17T06:19:00.002+08:00

I was on the treadmill today and got really bored. It was the first time I tried studying while running and it wasnt't easy.

So my eyes started wondering off my notes and took notice of my bouncing hair. That's when I noticed that my ponytail swung one period (physicists, pls correct the term used.) with each step I took. With each swing, my hair actually travels a greater distance than my feet.

Armed with this realisation, I came up with a proposed chart of the relative distances which my various body parts covered.

In order from greatest distance to shortest distance covered:

1) Ponytail
2) Feet
3) Arms
4) Breasts (without sports bra)
5) Butt
6) Breasts (with sports bra)
7) Eyes
8) Neck

And that was how I managed to stay for an hour in the gym...

Cheryl Challenge Week 2

2008-03-13T06:35:00.003+08:00

The Cheryl Challenge - Week 2

Challenges:
1. Prepare dinner. The food used must include at least the 4 colours, Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. But the more the merrier! (Please bear in mind that we have to eat it too)

2. Learn and play a song on the piano.

3. Wear any two articles of your housemates’ clothing to school.

Rewards:Surprise!

2008-03-03T09:58:00.003+08:00

It is quite late now, so I am gonna keep this short.

I have to admit that I have been keeping in my own world recently, with all the pressure building up. It wasn't even till recently that I realised that I have slowly alienated some of my friends away by my anti-social ways. If you are one of them, can I please apologise?

It is near the end of the second term now, and everyone is stressed up. Yet I am selfishly caught up in my own problems, oblivious to the problems those around me have. I don't expect to solve them all or even attempt to be there for EVERYONE. But I do want to at least impact those close to me... Urgh!! Wake up, Cheryl!!!

Yes, please welcome the awakened Cheryl!!! I shall start and END each day with a positive light!!

The Cheryl Challenge #1

2008-02-28T18:54:00.007+08:00

I have to admit that so many things have happened so quickly that I hardly have any time to breathe, not to mention blog. Something happened yesterday, however, which impact me so much that I know I have to mention it no matter what.

It was officially 21 days before my 21st birthday yesterday.

I didn't realise it myself.

BUT MY HOUSEMATES DID!!!!

They came up with this ingenious plan of giving me various challenges every week, leading up to my birthday and then rewarding me after I did it. Now now... It does sound like they are treating me like a circus animal, but it definitely sounds much better when it was written by my dear housemates.

So basically, on Wednesday morning, I woke up amongst the mess in my room to go to the toilet, to the kitchen and wherever, only to find a ransom note and a magical golden envelope delivered by a handsome knight.

The contents are written at the end of the post.

Nothing could possibly describe how I felt when I first knew about it. Having had so much workload and commitments recently, I was just trudging through these few weeks on autopilot mode. Yesterday's surprise brought the bounce back to my steps and the glow back onto my face=D

I actually look forward to doing each challenge, despite the fact that it actually takes up time, which I am severely lacking at the moment. Thanks for putting in so much efforts, Gab, JY, and ZY (in order of dist from my room), despite your busy schedules.

It doesn't matter that it is still (3 weeks-1day) to my birthday.

My housemates already made it special for me.

~The Cheryl Challenge~

The introduction letter:

Chère Cheryl,

It is my misfortune to inform you that it is 21 days to your 21st birthday. As a fun-loving, spritely girl we know you want it to be a memorable experience and we intend to help you make this possible. Don’t worry, we are your friends (or are we?).

We have collaborated with many of your friends to arrange an exotic fun-filled programme for the days leading up to that unfortunate date. Every week, you shall receive a set of orders to carry out within the week. For your efforts, we will reward you duly. After all, all work and no play makes Cheryl gay. (YUCK!) Don’t fail your friends.

Please find attached the list of challenges that we do strongly suggest you endeavour to complete. Good luck. We are watching.

Grosses bises

Us.

The Challenge

The Cheryl Challenge – Week 1Instructions:

1. All challenges need at least 2 photos as proof.
2 There will also be an additional secret challenge every week that will not be revealed until you are ready to perform the task. You will have to set aside 1 to 1.5 hours (conservative estimate) for this task.
3. You are allowed to perform the other challenges at your own discretion.
4. You can choose to receive your rewards at any time you like.

Challenges:
1. Bring a plastic bag instead of your normal school bag to school
2. Recite and record a tongue twister chosen by your housemates. (In addition for this case the task would also need to be video recorded)
3. Take a photo of yourself in these 5 places (further instructions to be provided)

Rewards

1. Choose who takes out the garbage for you!
2. Homemade brownie – just for you!

If you people are really that interested in the downfall of Cheryl (and how she overcomes it), please visit "The Cheryl Challenge" group on facebook.com. All credits deserve to go to my housemates.

2008-01-27T07:11:00.001+08:00

I haven't blogged for more than a month. So blogging 3 times in 1 day indicates that something must be up. What can it be?

It is none other than to create a perfect dartboard for you guys to try out on.

Biggest loser/embarrassment of

the month

Oh, you are a beginner? Can't find his head? Let me zoom in for you.

*Take big breath in*

*Let big breath out*

Ok... Rant over. I wonder how is he doing now.

Note to myself: Dun ever get drunk without having contingency plans for the night.

Ignore previous post!

2008-01-27T02:15:00.001+08:00

Ignored what I just said... There is something else even more worrying.

That is if the guy, 1 minute after u warn him to not dance with any other girls if he is high, replies that he is actually dancing with another guy.

DAMMIT!!! BASTARD!!!! I tot I have to fight with half the population. DO I HAVE TO FIGHT WITH THE OTHER HALF TOO?!?!?!!?

Worried

2008-01-27T02:06:00.000+08:00

Can I warn everyone out there that there is nothing more worrying than having a guy message u at his 2am, saying that he is high, then receiving the same message again 30 min later, saying the same words over again, albeit in a different way (ie not copy n paste), when u know e guy is out clubbing 4 his 1st time (ie neva seen so many hot chicks dancing in one spot) rite after he ord (ie Operational Ready Desperado), and this guy is ur bf???

I am such a whore

2008-01-25T06:45:00.000+08:00

I had this sudden urge to blog today. I guess I ought to, given how long ago the last entry was, not to mention my last entry was on something uninteresting. (Hello??? Sorry if YOU take offence, but it is my blog. Of course it is me they are interested in, and not YOU)

Anyway, I had this urge to blog, because I have been blog whoring for the past few days. DO NOT ASK ME HOW MUCH WORK I HAVE DONE THE PAST FEW DAYS! A few things struck me as I sieved through volumes of dusty archives.

Firstly, people change. And it shows in their writing. Their grammar deteoriated with the time they will spend away from school. Might had to did with the fact that blogspot no have grammar check. Of course, that wasn't what I meant. I refer to their style of writing and more importantly, the way they think. It is scary, because I have known some of these friends for a long time. I don't exactly notice these changes when I am with them. But when I read the blog, I can see how much they have matured over the years. There are a couple of them whose blogs are much older than our friendships. Since I never knew how they were, the changes were more significant, because I cannot imagine them doing or feeling certain things they used to now.

When I realise how much one can tell from blogs, me being the self-conscious me, checked my blog for signs of maturity. Only two conclusion: either I did not mature over these 2 years of my life, or I am so mature that there is no way I can mature anymore. Now that I read the previous sentence, I realise that the two options are not exclusive, so it is probably both:D

However, I do notice in the change of style and the things I write on. I used to have more humour in my posts. If you have not noticed ie have no sense of humour, I am trying to revive that hibernating side of mine. I have also been writing on the boring or unhappy stuff. Not that there were many entries to anlayse, but at least half of the recent ones showed signs of boredom/unhappiness. Hard to tell those two apart sometimes. I am sad when I am bored.

Another thing I notice about the blogs I read: Some form of deep feelings must be revealed somewhere to keep me reading. That is what I read blogs for anyway- to learn more about my friends. Humour is definitely good, but humour can only keep me reading your blog if I am bored. But given my busy schedules (too many friends, too little time), if I know I won't get to know you better after reading your blog, I may return to the blog during summer only.

Oh, one advice: please don't put too many pictures in your blog. Contrary to popular belief, pictures DO NOT speak a thousand words. Firstly, it takes forever for ALL the pictures to load, if you have tons (do not insult my laptop). In that time take to load, I am (quite) sure I can read at least a thousand words (do not insult me). Secondly, I am not really interested in all the repetitive pictures in front of the same statue with the same people but with different butts sticking out. The only reason I look at the pictures is to make sure I look better than you or the girl you are with. I do not need so many pictures to assure me. Thirdly, since I am only interested in your words, I will need to manoeuver through all the pictures (after waiting for the billions of seconds for them to load). I hate it when the right scroll bar is so small that I need a microscope to find it, only to scroll down tons of self-advertisement. Don't get me wrong. A few pics are nice to prove to me that you are not lying, just not so much that I swear you have more pics in one page than I have in my entire comp.

I am not a good blogger though, I have to admit. At the naissance of this blog, I mention that I probably wouldn't be blogging much. I guess I proved as much. I just don't wanna end up blogging about stuff that bore people to death. I would rather people stop reading my blog coz I don't update than coz it is too boring (like those links I deleted off my favourites... Kidding... if you r not on my faves, it's coz I can memorise ur add... really...).

Anyway, by popular demand (well, I had ONE person requesting), I am going to TRY to restore my tag board.

BDAYBOY!!!

2007-12-07T02:30:00.000+08:00

I haven't blogged for quite some time. However, now I am blogging for the sake of someone dear, whom I realised I have not really blogged about at all. It's none other than dodohead, Tian'en!!! It's his 20th birthday, so I wanna make it special, because I don't know how many of his birthdays I can truly celebrate with exclusive rights. In fact, I have never celebrated with him on the actual day itself since we knew each other!

Tian'en at the beach looking cool without trying to

It's been 4 yrs since we first met. It's been 4 yrs since we sat in that GP class, debating about something vaguely philosophical. He was so humourous and talkative; it's a pity some people never got to see that side of him. I 'm glad I did. Somehow, we became good friends but remained so (Dammit!).

Our very first photo together

It was only at the end of J2 that we somehow started talking again. I will never know what you went through in those 2 yrs....

On a bus to sentosa for a treat underwater;)

When he (finally) told me that he like me, I have to admit that I floated around on a cloud that day^_^ We had4 months only having his NS obligations in the way of spending more time together. After April though, I received news that I got my scholarship and we realised that we didn't have much time together. The news didn't really sink in though, until July/Aug when he had his block leave. Before that, we never really spent so much time together. Seeing each other day after day reminded us of what would be missing from our lives soon after.

In the bus on the first/second day when I returned in summer

I must say that I have really been blessed. Right before me leaving for London, Tian'en had block leave before leaving for Taiwan himself. So we spent most of his block leave prepping ourselves for the imminent separation. I had the adrenaline of going to London to shadow any pain from leaving Tian'en behind. If I had any hint of what I would be expriencing over in London, perhaps I might have felt differently... But I was still naive then... Luckily for Tian'en, he had his Taiwan trip to distract him too. We each had our own problems with the relationship but somehow we held strong till I returned for his commissioning ball

Our farewell dinner at Giraffe before I leave for the 1st yr

It has been a year and 1/3 since I left Singapore for my studies. The true test to our relationship has not passed yet though. NS has always been quoted as the real test and we made it through. However, the true test would be when he enters uni, after which would be me doing my PhD. What I have learnt though, is not to predict the number of chicks there would be just by the number of eggs coz an eleplant might step on them:( A step at a time... A step at a time...

HOTTIE^_^ That's wat makes a good blog rite? Hot guys everywhere!!!

This entry is dedicated to Tian'en, since it is his birthday. If you are not Tian'en, thanks for taking interest in reading up on us (you voyeur!!!). Part of the reason I did write on us is to discourage any long distance relationship. It's torturous and if I ever were given a chance again, I don't know whether I would take the plunge.

I love this pic coz it's so playful^^

Then again, it is this torture that made our love story so amazing. We can only live life once, yet we willingly give up such an important part of our life to wait endlessly for each other. Living it sure ain't as romantic as it's written down. How we r gonna make it through is anybody's guess... But having you in my life definitely beats never having you at all...

Thanks for everything, Tian'en.

Happy 20th Birthday

Underground Blues...

2007-11-26T04:39:00.000+08:00

It's been a long week. Wednesday was an adveture on the underground system:( I was supposed to reach Hammersmith hospital at 10am. I decided to leave at 9, since it should take about 45min to get to the hospital from home.

I ended up waiting at earl's court (the nearest station to my house) for 30 min, because none of the trains go to the interchange. F***. I shud have known by then sth was very very wrong. But one finally came, and I took it. Alas! It stopped service at the next stop. F***. So I crossed the platform to take the next train to the interchange. After 5 min, there was an annoncement that says that the platform was not in use anymore due to some problems. F***. The only option was to take a train back to earl's court. So I went to the platform which serves the train back, only to have them say that the train I want is arriving in a separate platform. F***. So back to Earl's Court I go, at 10am! F***. After that, I have to take a roundabout route which takes twice the time needed. F***. By the time I reached the hospital, I missed my appointment already. F***.

Yep... HORRIBLE!!!!!

Update!!!!!!!

2007-11-12T05:57:00.000+08:00

Been some time since I blogged.

Played in Nottingham's Games yesterday, for the Imperial Singsoc floorball team. We got Gold, a totally unexpected thing, considering how many inexperienced players we had and our badly we played the training before. The trip took 3 hours to go and another 3 to return. Not something to attempt yearly unless there's a good incentive to.

Congrats to ChongW who got 2nd=) Congrats to the soccer team, who got 3rd outta 16. That is a bl**dy good accomplishment:D Congrats to frisbee, who managed 3rd despite only having 1 proper training b4 actual comp.

Of course, congrats to the other floorball team, who got 3rd. Most unfortunate thing which should have never happened. Nevertheless, many of them on that team gave me lotsa encouragement and advice from the sidelines, without which I may be a headless chicken running around. ("Pressure him, Cheryl!"[Gal's voice, therefore Chinlin or Hanyan?] "Stay, Cheryl, stay!" "U r playing well now, just keep it gng!" [might have been Hocks but din see]).

And, yep, thanks to my team mates. Jau, the superhero/ leader/ striker/ strategist of the match. Zhong Jie, the team player. Always playing beautiful floorball. ALWAYS. Guang Fan and Yoke, the unbreakable defence duo. Gave me a few scares when they left the goal wide open. But Yoke's assurance of their partnership was real: no goals were conceded without a goalie. Then there's Abiel who did a last minute hat trick to win us in the finals. Joan, who's always smiling, snatched a few balls to pass. She outdid herself yesterday:) Zheng Yuan, my housemate!!! Proud of him. Scored the opening goal in the finals! Morale booster which we thrived on for the rest of the match. It was what he wanted, and he did it! WOOOHOO!!

Really enjoyed those floorball trainings. It was rather fun playing for leisure rather than having a structured traning session. It keeps the passion burning. Might go back when I have the time.

I've once again smartly overpacked my schedule with too many things. I am gonna start a research stint with this lab that's 1hour away from sch and home. It's an oncology lab, which is what I wanna do in the future. But it's gonna be taxing, given the travel time and the fact that it will take place on all my free afternoons. So from now on, I will be away from morning to evening. It is only now that I realised how hard it is gonna be. Firstly, I will have less 12 hours of study time a week. Secondly, I wun be able to tok to TE anymore in the afternoons, coz I will either be travelling or be in the lab. Next, I didn't take into account that I'd be having french at lunch time. So I will be rushing straight from French for lab without any lunch. Lastly, gym would have to be saved for breaks between lessons. Sounds hectic. And I gotta aim for 1st class on top of these. I can see all future poker nights, floorball sessions, salsa sessions, shopping trips, musicals etc fly out of the window:(

Having said that, I am gonna try catch linkin park in London:) Not sure if it will happen, but hopefully yes!!! :D:D:D

Where have real rugby gone?

2007-10-21T08:59:00.000+08:00

I have been told that people have stopped reading my blog coz it's not updated regularly... Wat's new man....

Anyway, this gotta be a bad night. I am refering to the Rugby WC of course. How could that not be a try:( Things might have turned out differently if England had gotten that try. Argh! To be honest, I did think that England played rather well. It was just the poor line outs and giving away of penalties that did them in.

I was quite disappointed by the game actually. Since when has a good game of rough rugby turned into a footballer's game? Half the time, the ball was being kicked btwn the two sides. Good game play, if it had worked. Unfortunately for England, the balls nearly always found itself into the SA winger's hands, who would then kick it back. Rubbishly, the whole game was won on penalty kicks (proving my point that it's a kicking game now). No legitimate tries in a World Cup final??? Given the fact that none of the penalties were missed (if I remembered correctly), the game was more on who were better at following instructions. Bah... Well, this is just from the view of a girl anyway.

We had poker after that. Nearly won the game but lost narrowly at the end, thanks to Lip'en and bad luck. The bad thing about playing poker is the snacking that nearly always happens. Snacked my way through the World cup and poker. To think that I gave half my Wagamama dinner away coz I couldn't finish:S

Renaissance

2007-08-31T11:40:00.000+08:00

Went to Butter Factory for the annual UK Bound clubbing event. Muz say that after everyth I heard about last year and Butter Factory, this year's event did turn out much better than expected. Probably the smaller dance floor made the atmosphere. Last year's was apparently too sparse. Then again, I have always believed the people makes the atmosphere, not the other way round. Can't say much, since I didn't go last year.

Speaking of the atmosphere, the house DJ did a good job. There were some songs which were slower in beats, which was anti-climax. Can still dance to these songs but the mood can't help being dampened a little. However, the repertoire was mainly great, making the boring dancefloor a small detail. I dun mean the people, I mean the dance FLOOR. No spunky floor lights, no fancy tiles, just a space coloured in blue to look like a swimming pool. They even have an orange tyre float to decorate. I must admit I don't understand why they chose that theme. If they are trying to play with the words "dance pool", it fails pathetically.

Yep, if one thing I figured out last night, it is potential clubbing partners. My future housemate and gf are good examples. Didn't know that they can go high clubbing too! In fact, many of them impressed me. William, my hapless target right from beginning, who also had the luck to make me fall down on stage. Cheng Ern, whose tie is a good accessory to play with. Warning: Never wear a tie around me unless u r up for it! Lip'en, who told me that he doesn't club much but phew! Ended up dancing like a SINGLE (inside joke) ;) Borris, who abandoned me to go toilet when I invited him to dance with me! Snort! The funniest gotta be XF and TJ. Everywhere XF goes, TJ is watching her like a guard dog. No dancing with guys, no dancing with girls, no dunno wat dunno wat... Hehehe... Kidding lah, TJ! But it is indeed true in my case that I would not club with my boyfriend. More restrained and have to entertain him, segregating ourselves from the rest. Then again, my BF doesn't club and he himself agree that couples shouldn't club together. Thank goodness for that!

The freshers were also a funky bunch. Should see some of them. Started with their arms crossed (yes, talking about Annabelle), but had their booties shaking by the end of the night:D Of course, there were those whom we can tell were no stranger to the clubbing scene.

And yesh!! Much thanks to Borris, who treated me to a drink for opening the dancefloor. Actually, it's me thickskin who asked him to treat:D Slightly tight on budget at the moment... Left with $52 in my account:(

oHOHOHOHHH!!! Ha... Some of them asked me for the secret of long lasting stamina... I wanted to say this but couldn't form the words out at 3am in the morning. The secret is FLATS!!! I wanna specially say this because I actually went to the extent of buying the flats 8h before the party. I refuse to club in heels, which are the only shoes I have in Sg suitable for the dress code. I'm trying to convince girls around me that clubbing in heels is BAD for ur feet and back. I had backache this morning although I wore flats. Ican only wonder what wearing heels would be like. So, join the "FLATS ONLY" club, girls and some of u guys out there!!!

Yepz... Overall, the party was good, the people even more so:D

Cable Ski!

2007-08-20T10:24:00.000+08:00

Went cable skiing in Batam yday. Quite fun, although it didn't start off that way. The first round I went on kneeboarding, and sigh!!! Dropped off at a strategic position whereby the motorcycle helpers were too lazy to pick me up, yet it is tiring to lug the board back to the starting point. By the time I got back to the starting point, I was too tired to try again! Have to rest for half an hour b4 my 2nd try. Gosh, at that time, I thought I would probably end up doing 1 per half hour, which ain't really an enticing thought. Thankfully, enough tries tell me that if I am gonna fall, either fall !@#^ far, so that someone can pick me up, or just drop near the starting-cum-ending point.

It is a small Singapore, I realised yday. YJ's friend is Aris' neighbour and my schoolmate (not a coincidence really, since I am in the same sch as YJ). Some of them met this friend at the cable ski resort, who knew them separately from various activities. I met my Primary sch classmate, whom I have not met in ages.

Phew...

Dreams

2007-08-16T21:12:00.000+08:00

Read Wan Xuan's blog on how excited she was about first day of med sch. Always knew how much she wanted to study med and what a long way she has gone before finally reaching her dreams.

I realised that I didn't feel the same euphoria when I achieved my dream. I kept putting off the celebration, coz I was afraid it wouldn't happen. Then when I finally went off to London, I wasn't excited at all. In fact, I ended up feelin lost, when the big dream/ goal of my life has been fulfilled.

When I read WX's blog, I suddenly felt happy for her. And felt it pity that I didn't cherish the chance to feel the same as her when I could. Kinda strange to regret not feeling excited, but these chances don't come often in a lifetime.

So from now on, I shall feel happy anytime I can, and cherish all happiness I have:D

How to make MY day

2007-08-15T23:09:00.001+08:00

Firstly, call me to tell me that you are coming over to my workplace. Then call me again to tell me that you can't make it. Then refuse to come meet me at the busstop near my place, so that the bad mood I have becomes worse. After I miss the bus, put up with my blasting and insist on meeting me even though I say I dun wanna meet anymore.

After the boring bus ride, sms me to inform you when I reach. Hide behind a pillar and grab me from behind. Best of all, hold......

THIS!!!!

PRETTY!!!

Hehhehe... After that, when my mood has gone up into the clouds, go eat at where I wanna eat.

Simple.

2007-08-12T00:27:00.000+08:00

Started thinking about the future mice problem in my future house in the near future.

Realised that my fear lies not in finding mice mating among my clothes. (I've been assured that mice semen cannot impregnate human females.)

Nor was the fear in having to dodge mice scuttling around.

Or the embarrassment of me screamin upon seeing them.

No. The true fear lies in having to see them getting killed. Worse still, killing them. They might be unwanted, but to take their little lives away seem too cruel. I only hope that my future housemates think the same.

Emo bitch

2007-08-01T01:20:00.000+08:00

Can't sleep. Ate too much ice cream and waffles I think. GELARE TUESDAY:)

Also, read this touching fictional story of some guy who had brain cancer. 30 min b4 the surgery (which had a high risk), the girlfriend and him were counting down and dreading the imminent surgery. Somehow, it struck a cord with me, because it seemed parallel with the 30mins b4 I enter the departure hall, leaving all my close ones behind. I dread the coming 30 mins in 2 mth's time, when I have to leave him again. Even now, at night, I dun like to sleep, even though I am very tired, because once I close my eyes, it's one day gone. Time passes so fast.

Emotional wreck, that's wat I am.

Sometimes, I wish that I can have both overseas studies and my bf by my side. I know what the obvious choice would be now but it's way too late for regrets. There'd be another crossroad in 2years' time. I hope I would make a wise decision.

On a happier note, I went out with my JC classmates on sun! Went to mind's cafe. Had fun!! Everyone's changed, but it's good to know that we are still comfortable with each other. Even won a $10 discount! My lucky hands!!!!!

Met up with Mich today, hence the ice cream and waffles. Phew!!!

I think I should stop reading and watching heart wrenching stories before I become really an emo bitch.

Random!

2007-07-20T22:37:00.000+08:00

Have any of you noticed that Singaporean females are becoming smaller and smaller and smaller... It's a striking difference which I noticed since I came back. Scary, coz it's not just their waist size, but also their breasts and their height. Self- inflicted malnorishment. Tsk tsk.

Still haven't met up with most people. Time's running out:( But so much to do!

Liveearth!

2007-07-08T22:30:00.000+08:00

Whoever said that “Live Earth” was not doing any help?

Personally, I think that it served its aim. Yes, I do agree with the critics that music will not move the big MNCs into green gear. But for the everyday you and me, I think that it has served its purpose to remind us not to take earth for granted.

More often than not, we tend to give up our go green efforts after a few weeks. We need campaigns etc to remind us. Hopefully, we will change. The MNCs may always be selfish but going green starts with US (ironically abbreviation for a certain most ungreen country).

After this live earth weekend, and after watching “The Core” (little cheesy but cool concept), I have finally come to realise what I really want to do. Get ready to laugh, coz I am gonna use the most cheesy line ever. “I want to make this earth a better place to live in”.

Initially, I had big immediate plans of making big companies recycle their paper, staples etc (You have absolutely no idea how much paper and staple bullets I collected over the months I worked in Comfort. Unfortunately, as I couldn’t find a paper shredder, I had to throw the paper away. But at least I had an idea of the amount of wastage each office worker incurs every month.). I also had plans of helping drugs get transported across oceans to their intended destination. Apparently, the reason most third world countries have no access to cheap drugs is because there is no transport. Most drug companies are actually willing to absorb the cost of the drugs. What a waste, I say!

However, when my mum came home, it dawned on me that before I fly away on that little cloud of mine (figuratively and literally), the best way to make the earth a better place is none other than my home. Making the people around me happy would probably be the biggest contribution I can make this lifetime.

Of course, I still wanna help beyond this little world of mine. But before that, I gotta make sure that I help my mum do the laundry, clean the house and make her happy. Only with those done, can I truly make the world a better place for someone else.

Home bound

2007-06-22T18:16:00.001+08:00

Home home home! Pack pack pack! Party party party!

Phew... It ain't a joke when one ends her exams 2 days b4 she flies home. Went shopping yesterday. Really good shopping:) Bought mostly everyth I wanted to buy. Packed my room when I came home last night.

Today, I have been packing since I woke up. Strangely enough, while it takes forever to make me wake up over the revision period, I woke up after 6h of sleep only today. Anyway, I actually did laundry. It's a BIG accomplishment! My roommate thinks tt I am lazy coz I REFUSE to do laundry until I have to (ie, till I take out my last pair of undies from my wardrobe). HEHHEH!! To give me some credit, the laundry room is 4 floors down. So far away:(

Yep, will be going for BMS picnic later. Hope it will be good:) After tt, I will pack my luggage. Then I will be going clubbing. Doing an all nighter, until prob 6am. Come home, grab my boxes to shift over to Lipen's place. Sotring my stuff over summer with him. Then after tt, heading to the airport straight:D Hopefully, I will be so shagged by then that I will sleep all the way to Singapore. There's nth I hate more than to be trapped on the plane when I just want to reach home asap. When I went back in dec, the trip was very good, coz the only reason I woke up was coz I was too thirsty. Even then, I only rmb vaguely waking up to drink some water. Hopefully, this will happen again.

Will be looking fwd to seeing my family again at the airport. Bought lotsa stuff for them:D

Also looking fwd to seeing TE at night. Although I really really want to see him at the airport, he's been sleeping so little this week, so I tot it best tt he sleeps in on sunday. Just hoping tt we'll be able to see each other at night. Hopefully, things will turn out fine. *fingers cross*

And yes, all my friends. Classmates, touch rugby and all random friends! I AM GOING HOME!

What have I done...

2007-06-17T15:31:00.000+08:00

Maybe it's exam stress. Maybe it's the constant hard work tt has been going on for the past 3 months. Maybe it's coz it's the time of the month again. Maybe it's the excitement and fear of disappoinment about going home. Maybe I am just such an idiot.

How would I know which of the above is true when they all happen at the same time! I just wish that I had met WR earlier. Seeing whatever she had to give me would have given me so much faith and strength to go on. But I have to see her 2 hours after I'd done my foolish deed.

But I dun care anymore.

Sigh... Actually, I dun care abt anything anymore. I dun even care abt the paper tmr. I have more than half of my syllabus not done, but I dun care anymore. Can't study, can't think properly, can't be bothered:( SIGH! I might actually fail this paper but I dun care anymore!

It just takes too much brain power to be understanding. I have reached my limits. I need some time to recharge before I can take up the challenge again. But I WILL take up the challenge again.

If some of u dun understand this blog entry, dun worry. I am just being a child!

The becoming of the alcoholic

2007-06-13T21:17:00.001+08:00

Can I say sth... Despite all harm alcohol does, it is the remedy to insomnia. Blah blah abt how alcohol doesn't work blah blah tt I will wake up feeling worse blah blah.... Desperate times call for desperate measures...

Which reminds me that my bottle of Bailey's finishing. Gotta top up by stealing from others. Less than 2 weeks left, so it wun be worthed it buying more.

Finished my first paper an hour ago! YESH!!!!!! Could be worse... therefore, cheerios to alcohol!

Last stretch till the end!

2007-06-09T01:03:00.000+08:00

Less than 2 weeks now to end of exams... Looking forward to the end but the dread the emminent exams:(

Boo! I spent 4 pounds on fruits for lunch today. FOUR pounds. And TWO pounds went to just a small box of watermelon. The box is about 8cm x 8cm x3cm big. But the craving is there and the water melon was sweet. So I dun really feel the pinch of the money YET. I might when I see the dwindling bank account. The other two pounds went to cherries. Yummy! Half Price! Heheheee... Well, I can't bring my money to my grave but I can bring my body along, so might as well feed my body well...

Sleepless night

2007-05-29T11:52:00.000+08:00

I went to bed 40 min ago but I just couldn’t sleep without getting all these emotions outta my system.

I was doing on anorexia and decided to yahoo (I dun google, I yahoo) “anorexia”. Most stuff were fine, even the pictures, since most of the clinically shocking pictures are not available to the general public. However, what sets me back was what I read on the yahoo forum. Basically, this girl asked if anyone has anorexia and asked for advice. Presumably, she probably had insight on it and wanted support. The answer she chose to be the best, however, shocked me. Basically, the person who replied admitted to having anorexia too, and felt that it was not wrong. She feels good about herself and practically advocates it. In fact, there are more posts which encouraged her to continue. This is the link...

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060706201301AAZjcOc

I am scared of becoming anorexic, not because I can die from it (looking my worse, since I will be sticking out in bones) but because of how pathetic I will be. It is no different from saying that my confidence come from how thin I am and how thin I am only. It is just so easy to desire to be thin by an easy way. Sometimes, I do wish for the discipline to reduce food intake or abstain from rubbish food (and even for certain normal food which I would deem too unhealthy). Of course, wish is a wish; most wishes remain a wish. But today, I realized how scarily close I am/was to having eating disorders. If I do actually have the discipline, it would just be too addictive to continue eating “healthily” to stop. It would be good to eat healthily, but preventing image from becoming my life focus would be hardL

Scared as I am, anorexia was not the issue which kept me awake. It was what my roommate sent me. She gave me a link to a site which is pro legal abortion. It showed cases of women self- aborting gone wrong. Here’s the link:

http://www.lifeandlibertyforwomen.org/abortion_pictorial.html

I am not going to write a whole GP essay on abortions etc, since it is just too easy to write on this. To talk about pro- life pro- choice pro euthanasia blah blah… We have all gone through writing about them, but really, most of the words go through our reasoning head rather than our emotional brain, since we were trained to be subjective. I feel so superficial, worrying about my exams when there are so many more things out there that people have to worry about. I can’t stop images of starving children in Africa, of homeless people, of sick lonely elderly, of all other images from creeping into my mind. I think of lying on the ground, wondering when my next bottle of milk will come. I imagine living today just so that I can live tomorrow. What is my goal in life if I am born to a life of fighting for survival everyday? For all 40 years of my life… Day after day… Worrying about just food water and shelter…

I feel so small and helpless against these problems. I may not be rich, but even sleeping in a bed makes me feel guilty and blessed. What if I am born into real poverty?

I have felt these feelings before, but they disappeared when I got caught up with my own personal life. But time and again, they haunt me down. I would say that this desire to rectify things gives me the determination to study and to pursue the career route I am taking now. A lot of times when I feel despaired in studies and goalless in life, the nightmares of other people’s desperation push me on, because the only way I can help them is through education. Moreover, feeling their desperation reminds me that I don’t want to feel desperate; so I will study just so that I will not feel desperate over my results. But the main pushing factor remains that what I can achieve as an individual will not be as big as what I can achieve as an individual with strong science backing.

Ultimately, I don’t want to lead my life as if all the problems don’t exist, because I know that on the day when death is upon me, I will look back with regrets. I am paranoid about death, and the only way I comfort myself is to lead a meaningful life. I have looked back on my 2 years, and while I thought that it was the life I wanted at the time I lived it, I realize now that I had not spent my time wisely at all. There were so many superficial decisions I made which I know now are made coz they make me look good, rather than make me feel good.

Food for Thought:
If I die tomorrow (touch wood!), would I look back with regrets?

:S

2007-05-16T02:57:00.000+08:00

Ok, I have just planned my time table. Gonna try to cram and force my limits thru these 2 weeks, so tt next 2 weeks will be less stressful. Dun wanna break down rite b4 my exams. Phew! So I think I will be in recluse for 5 weeks. Scary~!!!!! This will be a breakthrough in my life if I actually make it through.

On another note, I have made a difficult decision, which I really hope is right. And gosh, do I need all the mental strength oand will power I can muster to stick to the decision. The exams will prime me for the upcoming challenge.

I AM GOING HOME IN 1MONTH AND 1WEEK'S TIME!!!!

FOOD:(

2007-05-05T01:26:00.000+08:00

Curry puff... Hokkien Mee... I WANT TO EAT THEM NOW!!! Sudden craving! No wonder they can sell Chinese food at extorbitant prices... People will pay!!! BUT I CAN'T EVEN FIND THEM HERE!!!!

Anyway, it is quite funny that my mum shud ask if my future household would be all girls or would have some guys. Her words: "It'd be quite useful to have one or two guys around, you know." Eh, mum, I am living with 3 other guys...

Just did TE's sis' friend test. U know, the sort whereby u answer questions based on how much you know the person. I dun really know his sis really well. But I still did it anyway, and had a slight dilemma. Is the test testing what I think she is like, and so I should only place answers which compliment (honest compliments k!) her, or should I think like wat she might be thinking of and select the spastic answers? It is a tough one to crack, when u r dealing with ur bf's sis.... Grr.... BUT can I add in tt I am actually the top scorer for her test at the moment???!?!?!??

Dreams r best remain dreams

2007-05-03T08:14:00.000+08:00

Last nite, I dreamt that RG n SJI combined into one school... Br... And the best comment I could come up with in the dream was: "So RG gals will see more SJI guys in school now la..." Bah!

Anyway, JOANNE YE!! U appeared in my dream!! Weird!!!!!

Detached

2007-05-02T04:49:00.000+08:00

Sigh! I know I am too detached from those back home when I didn't even know/ remember that it was Labour day today:( It's not that I don't bother, but these knowledge that we had always taken for granted become precious only after my access to them is restricted. Then again, I oughta read the news more!! But there are just some things one can't know unless one are together. I have no idea what my parents' schedules are anymore. Come summer, I might be caught in the worst situation at home alone, not expecting them to come back. In fact, when I graduated, perhaps moving out on my own is an option....

Study! Exams are 1.5 months away but everyone's panicking!!! Well, at least my coursemates are. Everyone's studying during lunchtime. It's scary, given how ppl in other courses are panicking only 1 mth b4 their exams. Urgh!!! I hate this!!! Can't finish! Played too much in first 2 terms!!!

Then again, once the exams are over, it would home sweet home:D

Sorry, din mean to put u in a spot today. I just need reassurance sometimes.

Acommodation 2007-08

2007-04-29T00:24:00.000+08:00

WE HAVE FOUND A HOUSE TO LIVE IN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Went house hunting today.Visited many houses. Signed the contract. Discussed within urselves over who pay wat. Had a taste of what it'd be like next yr discussing over finances. Not Good. Settled. Finally. Amicably. FINALLY!!!

:D:D:D

Nostalgia

2007-04-20T08:17:00.000+08:00

It's scary. I forgot my age. I still tot tt I was 19. Last year, I tot I was still 18. It's scary how we are all struggling to come to terms with our age:s

I just went blog hopping. It's sad how people's lives move on and I feel so left out from their lives. Perhaps that's what blogs are for. Sometimes I get bored when people ramble on and on about their lives. But on days like this, I can read a few months' of my friend's lives and still wish that they update more often.

It's even sadder to see people update on their relationship while I know mine will be at a standstill for months to come. I am learning a lot though, on practising empathy and being understanding. I always thought that they were the same thing, but I realised that just because I know how he feels doesn't mean that I will accept his feelings. Sigh... I have to admit that those long talks with my roommate do help to relieve those frustrations. Everything just boils down to "Guys! They're all the same!";) What am I gonna do next year with only males in my household? I will miss u, ROOMMATE!!!

Finally updated!

2007-04-19T01:52:00.000+08:00

A blog entry has been long overdue. So much has passed since. Major event (an annual event organized by Imperial Sing Soc), my bday, my trip to Spain and Portugal, and now, my near to end Easter holsL

I would say that my friends really made this year’s birthday a memorable one. I was quite depressed over the days leading up to my birthday because for the first time in my life, I was far away from family and close friends on my birthday. It might have something to do with the fact that I place a lot of importance on birthdays. I won’t say that I remember everyone’s birthdays, but if I do remember, I would do my best to make it a special day. So when it was my birthday, I felt rather lonely. I know I had friends here around me, but I just had this nostalgia.

So I was VERY surprised when my hall friends (Roomate, Anju and good friend Peter being the main organisors) surprised me in my room on my birthday. A&P had baked a cake earlier on in the day and even managed to get most of my close hall friends to turn up (well, they would be in the hall anyway, but it’s still good effort:P) Thank you, Anju for organizing and baking the cake, and for the hand cuffs! Thank you, Peter, for baking, despite having __ (fill in number) backload of problem sheets to finish. Thank you, Jules for the Imperial College red wine, although I lost it on the night itself. I bet some idiot cooked with it! Thank you, Diana, Aditya, Daniel, Martin, Valentina (& boyfriend?), Victoria and Coel. If I missed anyone out, I am sorry. Leave me a message to tell me!!

Before I could recover from being touched by my hallmates, I was blasted away with another surprise party by my Singaporean friends the next da. BIG thank you to Jin Yang and Gabriel. They managed to convince me that we were meeting for discussion on Spain trip. Sweet! Shireen even came all the way down from Cambridge. No words can do justice to the surprise I had that day. Thanks everyone! Other than San May, I hope everyone received a thank you sms from meJ (Oops, sorry San May, I typed your sms but I didn’t have your number.)

And my family sent me a birthday package!_! Thank you!

Yep, much thanks to Joanne Ye, Lishan, Yuxie, Michie, Thong, Jen Yuh and Aris (ha! Aris, I placed ur name last, since u felt sorry for giving belated wishes. Hopefully being "punished" for it now would make u feel better.) for your birthday wishes. Couldn’t have made a supposedly lonely birthday brighter.

Of course, how can I forget about my wonderful boyfriend. Thank you for your present (the earliest to arrive) and for calling me on the eve itself when you are busy:)

Yep, the last thing to note. It snowed on my birthday!!! It would have been nothing spectacular if my birthday is in winter. But this is London, the place which hardly snows, and it snowed in the midst of spring, when the birds are back!!! I may hate the snow, but it is still heartening to know that of all days and of all years, it snowed on 19th March 2007:D

Quelle irony!

2007-02-04T21:22:00.000+08:00

My virus scan picked up an adware software. My virus scan directs me to its website for adware removal. My adware software picked up the redirectment by my virus scan. My adware software asks me if I am interested in buying virus scan softwares and adware removal software.

I love my Boyfriend!

2007-01-28T00:37:00.000+08:00

Have I ever mentioned tt the only reason I keep boyfriends is for them to help me fix my blog lay out?

Home

2007-01-21T21:21:00.000+08:00

The past 2 weeks have been a trial. I hardly felt homesick in my first term. But ever since I have been back from Singapore, I have been missing home.

Home. It sounds cliche but I really feel that home is where your family and friends are. If everyone who matters to me shift here with me, I wouldn't care where I am. I wouldn't be feeling what I am feeling now. I always appreciate my friends and cherish them. But I didn't know just how big a role my friends play in my world until I am away. So big a role that I wish I am not living through this lesson. I would rather not learn.

Home. That's where I know I have lived and made a difference. I know what is missing in my current life. I haven't made much difference to others, to my surroundings. Gab C. did say that I should have no doubt that I made a difference, no matter how small. But I am still not satisfied. I feel like I have not contributed back to the society. I don't useful at the moment, and that's what matters ultimately. I can do a lot of stuff, but it's the impact that matters. I need to reprioritise (how do u spell??) my values in life.

Yep! And it's time to start thinking of CNY. That would be a good turning point:)

Good Bye For Now

2007-01-04T12:23:00.000+08:00

How sad this is… 2 entries ago, I was raving about how good it feels to be back. And now, it’s time to say good- bye. I didn’t feel this sad the first time I left Singapore, despite thinking that it was a 9month long trip at that time. This time round, I am clinging on to every minute before I leave, despite it being less than 7 more months before I return.

I had been warned against coming back for my first winter, since it breaks the momentum of getting used to being away from home. When I came back here, I thought how untrue those statements were. I thought that everyone should come back, because it would make you realise how much you love Singapore. Now that I am leaving, I finally understand what the seniors are talking about. Separating has never been harder. In the first separation, at least there is the adrenaline from going into the unknown to distract me. Now, the feelings of homesickness is finally hitting me full-on. WHEN I AM IN SINGAPORE!!

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t regret coming back. If there’s anything that I have accomplished, that is to reinforce my relationship with TE. I think this period of time has been the most intensive period of our relationship so far. I have never felt closer with TE and have never known him better. And this is what makes separation the hardest. How do females in the past, in the present, in the region, in the far west let their loved ones go off to war, never knowing when and whether they would return; when Me here can’t even let go for 7 months?

My new New Year Resolution: Live 2007 with strength and faith.

Com's ball

2006-12-21T00:31:00.000+08:00

Me just came back from TE's Commissioning Ball. Now that I have attended it, I am quite glad I came back for it, coz I realised that I wouldn't want to miss it. It kinda made me feel that my life has integrated with his again.

It's the same with everything for the past few days. I am glad that I came back. From the first thing I did on tues, which was to eat bfast with mum, I already felt that the money and time spent coming back was worthed it. Every minute I have spent so far proves that point:D

I did realise that I missed the opening of Vivocity, Velocity and Ikea @ Tampines. I've gone to Vivocity on mon. Not that bad... But I didn't explore it thoroughly. Waha! I will in summer:D

home sweet home

2006-12-21T00:29:00.000+08:00

This post was written on mon night, but the internet screwed up. So here it is.

Written on 18th Dec
I am back!!!!!!!

Many things happened today.

I managed to make my way from Hall to Singapore with a 24kg luggage and a 13 kg hand carry. Phew!!! In fact, I am rather proud of myself to make the transit through France alone. I had never taken an Airbus before today. I didn’t know that the plane does not connect to the main terminal directly. The passengers have to walk down a stair to the runway, take a bus to the nearest terminal, and then take a 2nd bus to the desired terminal. I was clueless and was lost on what to do. So I just followed everyone else. I guess when shove comes to push, it is possible for everyone to be independent. I am not looking forward to returning to London though!!

I found out how much I love Singapore. When I first boarded the plane, I realised that I was the rare few Singaporeans onboard. Somehow, I like I was an ambassador of Singapore and felt proud of it. Ha! U idiots! It is my country that I am returning to. Near the end of the flight, the captain announced that those who needed to fill in “Entry Cards” to take the cards from air stewardesses. At that simple announcement, it just struck me that, hey, I am holding on to a Singapore passport. I can walk into my country with no fear. I can walk through the counter that says, “Singapore passport only” (I found out later that the sign says “Singapore passport and Permanent Citizens”). Further on, just as we were approaching Singapore, I turned on the screen which depicts the view from the camera attached to the nose of the plane. I couldn’t help but realised that it is HOME that I am returning to. It sounds wimpy, but it is only when I am immersed in an environment of minority that I realised how important having a place to call home is.

My entire family came to meet meJ I mean, ha! I bet by the 3rd or 4th time, probably they won’t bother. But I am glad that they all took time off to come this time round. In fact, they came separately, which is even more amazing, since I bet they were busy with something before coming down.

And SURPRISE SURPRISE! Guess who decided to turn up! Aris!!!! Despite me telling him not come, that I will meet him over lunch or something, he still came anyway. He even brought chocolate fudge and brownies. The fudge were the best that I had ever tasted before I left, introduced to me by Aris. HOWEVER, sweet as you are to remember that, Aris, HA!! I have found a new fudgey love!!! Fudgekitchen!!!!!!!!! Thanks anyway, dude, for turning up! I can’t ask for more from you.

YESH! Surprise number 2!!! Shaowei called to say “Welcome back to Singapore”. Apparently he read from the class blog. Sorry, SW! My phone really low batt! I sounded as if I was trying to put down the phone, I know, oops! I was kind of lost for words. (Of course, you might have been calling for other purposes?? Dun let me know and let me live in my own fantasy)

Yeppy! With such an emo entry, how can I miss out TE!!!! He sent me a flattering sms just as I landed in Singapore. He sent it before I landed, which explained how I got it right on the moment I turned on my phone. Unfortunately, his message was not the first I received. He lost out to Singtel, who sent me “Welcome to France…”. It was a little funny, considering I left France behind 12hours ago.

I am gonna sleep now, at 0230. Gotta wake up at 5 to surprise someone. It’s ok to reveal my surprise now, since he will be asleep by now.

Facts of the Day

2006-11-22T00:11:00.000+08:00

I can't use the touchpad of Ipod with my gloves on.

It makes a BIG difference to the heating effect of the radiator when we draw the curtains. The curtains slow down heat loss by A MASSIVE LOT.

Digestive biscuits can be left out in the open for days without turning soft.

There is nothing called 'ant' in London. At least not where I live.

Mobile plans that ain't that mobile

2006-11-09T22:25:00.000+08:00

It was a sad day.

When I finished my last Belgium chocolate:(

Yet, on a higher note, I am enjoying my new mobile phone and plan. I always wondered why the seniors said that once we start using UK mobile plans, we will think that Singapore plans are crap. After spending so much time exploring my phone and its capability, I finally understand why.

1) You get freeing incoming messages and phonecalls. Period. There's no crap like deadlines when this promotion ends etc. I always thought that this should be the case, since it isn't my fault that the other party sends me a message.

2) I can access the 3G services for free. I am not exactly sure how things work in Singapore, but here, as long as you don't download something, exploring the services are free. Anything that you have to pay for is has its FULL cost written down clearly.

3) AND if I want to download anything, I can, because I have £5 worth of download that comes with the plan every month. I had lots of fun sampling rintones and background etc.

4) I have 25 free MMS and 25 mins free Video conferencing every month.

5) All these for £10/ month. (For the uninitiated, that's SGD$30) (However, for such a cheap plan, there's some role the customer must play, like returning some forms in time)

I know... You are probably saying, I am paying for all these, so they aren't really freebies. But if you think about it, I don't think you can get 250 free minutes and SMS, PLUS all the free MMS and vidz mins for SGD$30 in Singapore. Not to mention the downloads.

Of course, then there's the point that the extra MMSes etc are not essential. Which brings me on to the next point. We are underutilising our phones. There're so many features on our phone which we hardly use(eg video streaming), because everytime we THINK about using it, we think of the extra cost incurred. If the use of these features comes free or cheap(like in UK), we might actually for once, appreciate the phone (which doesn't come cheap). I agree, I am falling into the commercial trap, whereby the mobile providers are coeurcing me into using things that I dun really need, but using them coz I will be wasting my money if I don't. But the truth is, most of us will hanker after a new phone (ie, most of us already has one foot into the commercial trap). So, instead of thinking that having free services from a plan as something extra, perhaps it would be best to think of it as a way to make full use of a phone which we paid so much for.

I have no idea why I am spending my precious time defending the UK mobile plans. Perhaps it is to justify the fact that I have just signed on to a contract which I might not need.

Sometimes I am scared...

2006-11-05T20:32:00.000+08:00

Scared by the tots of giving up...

5 reasons why you should be grateful

2006-10-31T21:30:00.000+08:00

5 reasons why you should be grateful if you play rugby in Singapore

1) You don’t have to travel more than an hour to get to a game. (We travelled 2.5h to Canterbury for a 2h game, and take the same amt of time back to London)

2) You don’t have to worry about whether you will be too stiff from the cold to run.

3) You don’t have to worry about being late to meet your team, because you can always go on your won, either by cab or by train. (Cab is too ex here, and the places would probably be near inaccessible anyway)

4) You don’t have to see 6 other naked women showering beside you while you shower

5) You know for sure that not everyone in the opposition team will be VERY much bigger than you.

Touched down

2006-10-14T07:36:00.000+08:00

Hey, sorry for taking so long to update after I reached London. I took quite long to get net, and by then, all the college activities have swept me off my feet. It takes lotsa determination for me to sit down and type out an entry:P

Yeppy, the post below is an accumulation of what I wanted to say over the first week. I wanted to post it long ago but I couldn't commit to finishing it. In the end, I just merge the individual days into one long entry.

OHOH!! To add on to the previous entry, they sell TIGER BEER here!!!!!! Yes... I mean, who cares if anyone buys them right... The main point is, at least they sell it!!!

Please donate to the help-Cheryl-wipe-her-ass campaign

2006-10-14T07:33:00.000+08:00

The title sounds crude but it makes sense. REALLY! I cannot afford to use tissue or toilet paper or facial cotton pads here. One pack of six packets of tissue costs GBP$2, which works out to S$6, which works out to S$1 per packet. That is enough to buy a pack of 10 packets in Singapore. Not to mention everytime I sneeze, I think about the 10c per sheet and decide not to wipe my mouthL (all right, u kiddos out there! I was kidding about that.). THEREFORE, in order to save some cash here, I plead all of you out there. Please enclose a piece of tissue in the envelope if you write to me. If I touch the letter and not feel anything soft, I reserve the right to not open the letter.

Other than the tissue paper, there are other interesting points about London

Note this: They sell condoms in vending machines in the female toilets. I kid you not (Brokie, find this phrase familiar?). Finding them in the guy’s toilet is nothing much. But to find them in the girl’s toilet is a different matter. I guess this country really advocates that safe sex is the responsibility of both sexes.

There are no squat cubicles. That’s expected, but I just cannot get used to the fact that I can walk into any toilet with no qualms. I prefer the seat toilet bowl to the squat bowl, u see. As can be seen, Buffy (my classmate, not the kick ass one), u will die from continence in this country.

The cars park on both sides of the lane. When I say that, I mean if they are facing south, they can choose to park either on the left or on the right of the lane they are facing. Given how much they jay walk, getting to the pavement is no big deal really.

It’s heartening to know that ice cream is not that expensive here. It’s about GBP$1.70 per scoop of gelato ice-cream. Of course, in this weather, I will rather save the money on a piping hot bowl of cream of mushroom.

People walk damn fast but work damn slow. It is a commonplace to find yourself to waiting hours for something that can be done in minutes. Worse, More often than not, you will find yourself left out of the queue. I have seen enough of such cases to claim that I am not stereotyping when I say the efficiency here in London has much to improve.

Contrary to what most people think, the English actually drinks quite responsibly. My hall had a party on a boat down the Thames and only one guy got high (not pissingly drunk though). One of the guys, Coel (I gotta write his name, just in case he reads this and goes, “Hey, where’s my name??”) even asked how can people get drunk with people they have only met for the first time. Made me surprised totally but I didn’t express it coz at that time, it was 6am in Singapore time and my facial expressions were oscillating between a tuned out look or a tiny smile.

All the doors swing close by themselves. The automatic door by the office, the bedroom door, the cupboard door and even the bathroom door. It’s quite novel to me, since the door do not have the pivots at the top of the door. So the doors closes by itself by the force of the hinge. Wow…

Yep, and some funny things that happened to poor ME… Hey… Give me some sympathy to this idiot, will u??

I didn’t know that I have to turn the heater on before I shower. The one at home is perpetually switched on. Imagine showering in ice-cold water in a room that’s about 17 degrees Celsius. No joke, I can tell you for sure. Not especially when it was my first day there, and I was not adapted to the chill yet. At that point of time, the stupid me was thinking that there might be no hot water in London until neaer winter and that I better get used to it. Yeah, I know, STUPID CHERYL with the word “stupid” bold. Apologies to those around me that night. Bet I didn’t smell nice, since I took the fastest shower I ever had in my entire life.

I mistook the dryer as the washing machine. Even when I heard no water going into the chamber. Even when I saw weird wordings on the dryer, like “Extra dry” or “Minimum Iron”. Even when I saw the goldfish bowl window panel of the washing machine, I still thought that it was a different brand of washing machine (the dryer has a solid metal door like a freezer). It took me 15 min b4 realising something is wrong. I don’t know how I realised but I did. By then, the washing powder has already mixed with the clothes. A pile of washing powder was left behind, despite my desperate efforts to remove it. The last time I checked, it was gone. Probably some unlucky dude is walking around with washing powder still stuck on his cothes.

#*&&!@!^$%&#@~

2006-09-18T23:28:00.000+08:00

"Sorry, did you just submitted your application recently?"

"No, I sent it in in May or June."

"May or June... We haven't allocated any accommodation for you yet. Please call us back on Wed. We will definitely allocate you an accommodation by then."

'_"