Ceedee's Media Player

2005-09-02T20:08:00.000+08:00

If you haven't already been reading popfizz then you should and may I extend a warm welcome into his politically incorrect world. You should read his post on his cat Bobo, with an accompanying video in meowspeak (and English subtitles) which is TOO CUTE to miss! I want a cat like Bobo!

2005-08-31T22:55:00.000+08:00

Ok ok, don't need to tear your hair out. The song has been changed already. Too tired man. My Mondays and Tuesdays are always a blur, but I can breathe easier come Thursday.

The chalet was super duper fun! Whenever we have a chalet at Aloha Changi, it is GUARANTEED FUN with the right people la of course. Spent the better part of the afternoon there with Aisyah, Sid and his brothers. Boggle and Pictionary! Zak said he lost his hearing after playing Pictionary with yours truly. Because, I tend to scream when I get ~~over~~excited. Because I not only scream when guessing. I actually scream out "S T A R T ! !" whenever I start the timer which made them jump out of their socks, kinda.

I wish I had taken a picture of what I drew. Firstly I had to draw "corn on the cob". So I drew a a corn la. When it was my turn again, I had to draw a monster. Well, I drew on the same piece of paper, but they didn't manage to guess what I was trying to draw. Then much later when we were analyzing the drawings, Zak or Raq, either of them, can't really recall; pointed out that when I drew my "monster", the corn was so strategically placed at the "monster's" nether regions! Which was bloody hilarious! Of course, you don't get the joke, because you have to see the drawing la.

And BOGGLE! When was the last time you actually played Boggle? Huh? Huh? And the loser had to run rounds around the chalet, which was quite funny. Because at first there's one loser doing the forfeit. Next round 2. Then 3! Haha. Talk aout mental fatigue.

Adli brought cards, so we played "DaiDee" as well. Sid brought XBox, which didn't really appeal to me. But that Adli HAD to put on the "King of Fighters" game, which I cannot resist! I wrenched the game controller out of someone's (can't remember who) possesion and played like crazy. I AM very passionate about fighting games ok. Not that I'm that good. Most of the time I'm just furiously pushing the buttons randomly and I feel so fulfilled when the special powers emerge out of my random efforts. But the game is nicer to play on the PS2 though I must say. Coz got the combo buttons!

Man oh man... Can't wait to do the chalet thing all over again!!

2005-08-29T19:16:00.000+08:00

An excerpt of a conversation with Adlina today:

Adlina: So has your bf come back from KL yet?
Me: Erm, yah. Yesterday. Actually, he was only gone for a day. -sheepish grin-
Adlina: !!!!!

I know, I know, I sound like such a wuss! He was only gone for a day and I was doing a Chicken Little as if the sky is falling down! So to the people that put up with me during that period of time, (albeit short) thank youuu so much!

You'd think we would have gotten used to being apart by now. Apparently not!

Ok ok, I have tons of stuff to do now, like doing my Law and Justice readings (a shitload in fact), and my Qualitative observational notes AND critique... -pengsan-. But my bed seems more enticing now...

But, I'm looking forward to a chalet sleepover with my good friends tmw evening! Yaay yaay! Blind Man's Buff/Bluff and Pictionary Night!!

2005-08-27T11:54:00.000+08:00

Woke up to the worst day ever today. The bf and I didn't put down the phone on good terms last night, because I was whining about him going to KL the next day and he couldn't entertain my whining because he was too sleepy. But I really hated for him to go. I wish he didn't have to.

In the morning, he didn't even have the courtesy to call me to let me know when he left SG. Which is like damn fuck lah. Even Aisyah and Shafaa agreed (separately) that they would have been pissed too had they been in my position.

So I sorrowed to sleep last night, woke up still teary-eyed this morning, till later part of the afternoon coz him not calling before leaving exacerbated the situation. So I knew I was in for a super moody day.

Was supposed to meet up with Aisyah to attend a seminar at Orchard. Sid the Maverick decided to give her a lift in the car despite being unfamiliar with the directions, and hence was really late, and they suggested that I make my way in first. Ok. So I sat through alone for about half an hour and Aisyah messaged me:

"Eh,dun think im going 2 the sem.got so angry at him that we got into a screaming match.so sorry" (text message, verbatim)

In my head I was like, fuck your sorry! Because the one thing I really hate is to be busted at the last minute. Had to hold back my tears as I started cursing and swearing under my breath. Had half the mind to give them a piece of my mind, but of course, I held back. First, it was my bf being so rude to me, then its her! Don't I matter to you people!! (obviously not...)

Luckily I didn't swear off, because Aisyah did come anyway. And she said that the sms was a bluff. Haha, SO NOT FUNNY! Not when I'm having a bad day...

But... they were so nice afterwards, driving and accompanying me to PS to source for fabrics at Spotlight (they needed to get cushions for the car anyway). And also accompanied me for lunch... Aww. And by this time, Adli had the courtesy to inform me that he's reached his Aunt's place in KL already. Ok, so he redeemed himself and my anger subsided... That smart boy.

Met Firdaus and his friend Matthew at Marina Food Loft in the evening then made our way down to MICA to watch Najeeb's band perform. I found the whole event fascinating speaking as a sociologist (the whole social dynamics of it all), and was harbouring thoughts of doing my PO based on that.

And this Matthew guy was damn funny lah. He was stuffing a finger in his right ear and said "Damn loud ah?" and I gave him the most bewildered look and said "Whaddya expect? We're beside the speakers lah!".

And we left for coffee later right, and so we each had our respective drinks. Firdaus was talking about a pregnant lady, and Matthew was answering his question, while absent-mindedly drinking from a near empty cup, to which Firdaus exclaimed "THAT'S NOT YOUR CUP!!!" because.... HE WAS DRINKING FROM A CUP LEFT BY THE PREVIOUS PERSON!!!!!

How disgusting was THAT! He immediately spat its contents back out and we were laughing our asses shitless! The cup had a name "Joanne" on it. Eeee. He go and drink bekas Joanne! And we totally enjoyed ripping on him about the rest of the evening!

-sigh sigh sigh- I refused to sit at home and mope around the house about Adli not being here. Thank goodness I have friends who are able to make it all better...

*click to enlarge:

in both pics (L to R): s.h.a.f.a.a; n.a.j.e.e.b; myself; m.a.t.t.h.e.w; f.i.r.d.a.u.s.

2005-08-26T17:23:00.000+08:00

My machine went all asthmatic a year ago (I was trying to sew gunny sacks for a sack race) so it was left dormant all this while. But, I was toying with the idea of making new slip covers for the Hons rooms so, since I had nothing better to do, I took it apart, and Voila! I breathed life into it again!

So what colour do you think would be nice for a couch in a blue room? I'm thinking yellow coz it's bright and cheery and opposite blue on the colour wheel. But might dirty easily ah. Easiest way out ah... BLACK! Or grey, which will be quite slick. So what do you think Shafaa? Haha...

I am so excited to give the room a makeover before our room warming party...

But, if I could get some help for a room make-over, I would want:

Nate Berkus:
So what if he's gay, he is good-looking AND I've always loved the makeovers he does on Oprah.
Ty Penington;
must come out to help, just because is soooo hunky. But in our employment contract, he must only work without his shirt on. So sue me.
Debbie Travis; if Nate Berkus fails, but only if she brings;
Paul her carpenter! Yumyums! I'm sorry for the horrid injustice this thumbnail does for him, but it's the only picture I managed to get...

All in all, I think... I should quit dreaming, and get ready to go out...

2005-08-25T03:06:00.000+08:00

Stupid or just darn stupid, you be the judge.

I was with Adli at the 2nd hand bookstore at Bras Basah. I was browsing through the Sociology collection (was tempted to get a reader on Deviance and Berger's "Invitation to Sociology"). Adli was starting to irritate me, so I banished him to some other part of the bookstore. Anyway, 2 girls then came to browse the Psychology section beside me, couldn't find the book they wanted and went somewhere else.

5 minutes later Adli came up to me and he was like, "Did you see 2 girls looking for a Psychology book? They asked the man at the counter whether they had a book titled "Social Psychology". The man asked for the name of the author. The first girl said Pearson. Then the second girl said, but I thought usually our books are by Mcgraw..."

I dropped a lung la when he told me that. Dear girls, Pearson and McGraw are PUBLISHERS, not authors la. Dumb.

2005-08-22T20:02:00.000+08:00

I survived!

3 back-to-back classes from 9-5. Whoa. Imagine sitting in a seminar for 3 hours in the morning, still in the groggy state of mind, with the Professor dishing out narcolepsy-inducing social theory and social philosophy (how FASCINATING). Then, I was looking forward to a 2 hour tutorial with Dr Gana. But kena cheated. All his tutorials are handled by someone else. ='( Then for the final stretch, where we had to brave a viral epidemic of encephalitis lethargica for 3 hours. Prof said so herself, that we needed litres of caffeine to keep awake.

And I am so proud of myself for attending all my classes today. Thanks Shafaa for making it all better, for waking up my idea about missing Contempo, for zapping Lukes for me, AND for zapping readings for Law and Justice. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! What have I done to deserve such kindness!

And in case you're wondering, the previous post is in !Kung, something I picked up in Anthropology in Year 1, so if you don't mind, please add in the appropriate "clicks" ala Russell Peters aight, "or somebody gonna get-a hurt reall baaadd"...

2005-08-20T23:05:00.000+08:00

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.muresatirev emos dah tsuj ev'I fi sa kaeps ot em swolla ti ,dedoc si siht esuaceb ebyam dna
.seitilibapac ym rof hguone suineg si siht kniht I tuB .sgnitirw ym edoc yletarobale ot noiS fo yroirP eht ot detaicossa ton ma I ,esruoc fo
...ees nac uoy sa yvrut yspot si efil ym

2005-08-17T20:58:00.000+08:00

Well, honours year is much better than expected. Finally, classes where we see similar faces and get to know each other at a more personal level.

Most of my classes are intellectually stimulating (esp. Law and Justice), some repetitive, and another module (those in the loop would know which one due to my constant whining) which I really looked forward to; but fell flat on my face after a blitzkrieg with the Professor in class which left me wounded. Which invited a kindred spirit to offer me some sound advice on how to survive the class, which was really kind of him. Spoke to ex-Hons students and they basically told me the same thing. Just do whatever she says, don't go against her for the sake of the grade.

Which left me to ponder. What do I want to gain from classes? Do I simply do whatever is expected of me for the sake of the grade, while betraying my accumulated knowledge and thoughts (this screams cognitive dissonance!) whereby I know the reality of whatever she is preaching is in fact otherwise? Or do I sacrifice my grades and remain true to my beliefs? For most of my classes, my motivation to do well and staying true to my beliefs are not necessarily at odds with each other. Depending on the lecturer, both are usually mutually inclusive.

As I thought further, as much as I lament over her for not seeing my point of view, I myself fell prey to her bias, also refusing to see her point of view as well. So I decided to persevere because she is an influential academic in this field and there is much to be learnt.

And if being a pseudo strait-laced conservative for 3 hours a week is what it takes then so be it.

I remember going into class looking at the notes and exclaimed "Yes! My favourite topic", but left the class feeling cheated. But now I guess it now involves a change of mindset if I'm ever to get anything out of the class.

Even after deciding that, I still wasn't happy with the module because my stinky hand drew out a bad lot (the worst one there is) and I was scheduled to present my case memo during next week's seminar. The class was grinning coz they thought it was funny that I got Seminar 3 (which I really didn't appreciate thank you... But it's funny how karma works its voodoo) I griped and whined. But things started to look up when I was able to switch it to a much later date (karma decided to go all London on me and decided I was the wrong target) with a friend who wanted out of the module (see, I wasn't the only one). And I gotta stop interjecting my paragraphs with (brackets), (brackets) and (more brackets).

Ala Gloria Gaynor, I. Will. Survive.

2005-08-14T16:51:00.000+08:00

Photos from the chalet over the National Day holidays. Though preparations were tiring, it was fun nonetheless... I mean, how can Pictionary not be fun! Just look at the faces of my cousins la..

We did manage to get some alone time over lunch to celebrate our 3rd Anniversary which fell on National Day. He gave me a silver anklet and a music box. My gift for him was not ready though, as you will see...

I only managed to give it to him yesterday. He was so excited that he grabbed the gift from me and ripped off the wrapping on the bus! He was totally surprised and didn't know that there is such a thing as personalised stamps...

We then made our way down to the Carnival at Marina. Didn't get to ride the armoured vehicles nor ride 50m up the fire engine ladder, but we managed to try out the rifles (which really gave me a scare because I was afraid that the recoil of the gun would bruise my face) , and caught the "Mock Attack" show as shown below in the picture grid.

And here's one for the photo album...

Congratulations! You are a collector's item now...

2005-08-13T12:00:00.000+08:00

The reason why I haven't shared with y'all the gift I got for Adli on our 3rd Munniversary is... because it had to be ordered and took some time to be delivered. So it ended up being a belated gift. I always like to give either personalized or handmade gifts so this time round, I got him personalized MyStamps from Singpost. Chose the flag design not because we are being patriotic but rather it nicely marked/symbolized our 3rd Anniversary on the 9th August.

I collected this on Friday at the Post Office, and am giving it Adli today. I can't wait to see his reaction! He's been trying to guess what I got for him. He's been bugging me for the past 4 days but my mouth is sealed! Usually I am unable to contain my excitement and would spill the beans, but not this time! I think the surprise is too good because it's something that he totally won't expect!

Adli: What did you get for me? Jersey? Sandals? I KNOW! COMPUTER!

-rolls eyes- What? Computer? You think your girlfriend prints money?

In loving memory of the sane Tom Cruise

2005-08-12T22:43:00.000+08:00

Something I got while trawling the internet. Get your laughs if you're a fan of merepekness (crappiness).

Friday, August 12, 2005

Just Losin' It
What would happen if we took one of Eminem's controversial songs and merged it with Tom Cruise's controversial life?
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...
Just Losin' It

(Linked from http://thewinekone.blogspot.com/, accessed August 12 2005)

2005-08-12T01:38:00.000+08:00

I present to you, the cutest baby in the world! Was testing out Sher's webcam with her and look who popped out! None other than her son Andrew! So cute that I just had to print screen and share with everyone. Pop by her blog for more pictures. I told her, she'd better hold on to him tight or I'm coming to America to kidnap him!

2005-08-12T00:20:00.000+08:00

Instead of watching reruns of the National Day Parade to invoke a sense of national pride, I recommend that you watch ShowReal Asia: Series 2: World's Busiest Port instead.

If you drive a Japanese car or drink Brazilian coffee, or if the shirt you're wearing was stitched in Mexico or the Philippines, chances are that sometime in your life, something of yours passed through Singapore's port. Pick any day to view the floating city anchored in Singapore's port, and you'll see 1000 ships loaded with cargo, headed for 600 ports, 123 countries, 6 continents. A quarter of the world's shipping containers and half the world's supply of crude pass through this port. How does this megastructure run? And how does it deal with potential dangers and challenges, from sea pirates to the threat of terrorism?

(NGC, 2005)

You would probably never realize how important our port is to Singapore. And it highlights the people who makes Singapore tick. No, not the elite minority, nor is it the military, both being exalted in the yearly National Day Parades. It is the working class, for without their sweat, toil and dedication towards surpassing quality and expectations, our port would have never achieved it's renowned status.

It's about the RoRo drivers, who have to load and unload cars on and off vessels within the time limit, for even though the vessel arrives hours late due to bad weather, the vessel still has to depart on time. Their parking precision astounds me, with each car parked beside the other with inches to spare, for if not, all the cars may not fit into the vessel.

Its about the tugboat operators, crane operators, the shipping lanes traffic controllers, for if they're not careful, any mistake may result in a shutdown of the world's busiest port. Because accident do happen, as proven by the 1997 oil spill off Singapore.

It really fostered some new found respect for my country.

So catch it next on National Geographic Channel, on Starhub Cable channel 11 on Wednesday, August 17 at 3pm. Not a convenient timeslot I must say, but I'm sure there'll be more reruns because the the first time I caught it was a few months back, and the second time was on Thursday morning.

2005-08-10T22:05:00.000+08:00

All in all, I had a good start to the semester.

I was unable to attend the Social Policy seminar due to other obligations, but Bie was so nice to give me the heads up. Thanks Bie! Miss ya loads! We HAVE to have lunch together, it's been too long! Any more Won Bin stuff to give me? Haha, kidding!

Wanted to skip Qualitative Analysis today, wanted to go jalan-jalan with Aisyah. But that Adlina pestered me to go, and furthermore, since it's Gana, just go la. BUT! Gana's sick, down with the flu apparently, so he got a student to screen a movie for us. I would have been peeved but...

The student was "Josh" (actually Adlina and I don't know his name, so we christened him Josh coz he looks like Josh Hartnett). And Adli-look-a-like was in the class too! The two people I was looking forward to seeing in school, all in one class. -yumyum-.

Well, Adli better not read this or a good spanking is in store for me.

And Adlina, well acquainted with my inner stingy self, messaged me "I already bought the course pack, so you can rip it off me"... Aww.. How nice! I'm so cheapskate that I refuse to buy the overpriced course pack, because it is cheaper to print it yourself. Even when I wanted to buy it, she told me, just zap it off me la. Aww...

Schools so much better with good friends and good looking people.

2005-08-10T20:01:00.000+08:00

~~Nazi~~ National Day Parade anyone?

The militaristic elements, the rank-ordered hierarchy, and the orderliness and regimentation of the event render the National Day parade similar to the May Day ceremony in Moscow’s Red Square before the Kremlin, Nazi Germany’s military processions, and official rituals in Beijing, Hanoi and Vientiane under communist rule (Scott 1990: 58).

The resemblance of Singapore’s National Day parades to state rituals in fascist and communist regimes is in large part a consequence of the military dominance of the parade. The military presence has been clearly felt since the first anniversary of Singapore’s independence when the theme was ‘national pride and confidence in the future’ (1966). Militarization has continued to be tied up with the themes of subsequent anniversaries: ‘rugged and vigorous Singapore’ (1967), ‘youth and ruggedness’ (1968), ‘work for security and prosperity’ (1970), and ‘total defence’ (1985).

Why does the defence force occupy center stage in National Day parades? The answer to this question depends very much on the intended audience of such spectacles. Devashayam (1990: 50) argues that National Day represents a symbolic dialogue with Malaysia. In a sense, National Day in Singapore does not connote independence or liberation from colonial rule. The 9th of August 1965 was the day Singapore was expelled from the Malaysian Federation. Given this inauspicious expulsion, the display of
military might in National Day parades calls Malaysia’s bluff.

(Leong, 2001)

Riefenstahl would have had a field day filming our contrived "parade". See, after Leong, Adlina and I agreed that National Day Parades will never be the same again. Before, we never questioned why the the parades self-aggrandize, and exalt our military prowess.

Well, it is an interesting view whether you're a cynic or otherwise. But there are some parts of the parade that I did enjoy, (though I only had cursory, fleeting glances at the screen). The FIREWORKS!

2005-08-09T23:51:00.000+08:00

I am so beat from the chalet! And totally enjoyed Pictionary Madness! Pictionary anyone?

We are THREE!

2005-08-09T00:00:00.000+08:00

National Day is finally here and we've made it to the 3 year mark, so, another tent pole for us! Happy 3rd ANNIVERSARY to US!

Erm, totally haven't planned the day because we were too busy with the BBQ today. So, whatever goes la.

2005-08-07T22:33:00.000+08:00

Had quite a packed week, too busy having too much fun, hence the lack of posts, and besides, the whole week's kind of a blur to me.

Highlights? Hmm... well I finally got a pair of jeans that FIT! Was just perusing around Taka, chanced upon a new outlet with a neon sign blaring "Item of the Week: Jeans @ $39". And I'm like, yeah right, sure no size one. Sekali got size 1! (It would have been better is there was a size 0. Don't believe got size 0? I saw before! I'm waiting for a size -1). I couldn't believe it and it was $20 dollars off! Made the cheapskate in me very happy. Wanted to get 2 pairs but had to fight the urge.

And we tried the Cheesy Lava 3 at Pizza Hut. Simply Heavenly. All the cheese oozing out of the stuffed crust pizza! And it's totally not 'muak' or overloaded with cheese at all. I want more! I would post pictures but it's on Adli's phone.

And on Friday, we (Adli and I) met up with N.a.j.e.e.b, S.h.a.f.a.a, F.i.r.d.a.u.s, F.a.r.h.a.n.a, H.a.l.i.m, J.o.h.n and Z.u.l at Retro Cafe, which we all agreed in unison... übercool! A nice small nook with great ambience with all the furnishings minus the crowd! Which is why I'm not saying where the place is lest my recommendation spoil my future experience for me! The cafe serves Western food, shisha and... you can play board games while chilling!

Anyway, the Fish and Chips was daayyymnnn nice!

And we played Scrabble aand.. Pictionary! So so fun! Of course, everyone got to see my aggressive nature when I got so exasperated that my team couldn't guess what I was drawing. It's not coz my drawing was bad ok, BUT... since the other team was happily whispering out the answer, means, my drawing IS intelligible! Which leaves the intelligence of my team suspect... KIDDING!

Anyways, there were lows to my week as well. Something really bad happened between us. (Actually more like I was being very mean, I admit). So I apologized (and it's really hard to get an apology out of me). And he remarked that I'm insincere about my apology and that I felt no remorse.

So he wanted remorse? I gave him remorse. Only that he didn't agree with my version of remorse, which was something along the lines of "Puritanist mortification". So he said that I need to see a shrink for that. Actually I agreed with him, but of course I wasn't going to tell him that, coz that will make him right.

Anyways, it was just a small bump in the road for us but it's all good, with our 3rd Anniversary coming up this National Day. I'm so busy with preparing a BBQ for tmw actually. The gift that I ordered for him might be held up, so I haven't had time to plan a smaller gift for him.

And lastly... I'm RICH! I barely spent half my pay last month and I just got paid AGAIN! (Did I mention that I'm really stingy? But I'm generous in treating my friends ok...)

Anyway, this is us picnicking at the beach where Adli found his new favourite meal ever, made by yours truly, Cream of Chicken Mushroom Spaghetti with an overload of chicken and cheese!

And this is taken back in way back in June at Seoul Garden with Esther and Aisyah... (procrastination obviously got the better of me)

2005-08-03T01:51:00.000+08:00

Class 95 never fails to play the "right" songs for me whenever I feel blue. Tonight, it played "Don't Say You Love Me" by The Corrs as I erupted into a crescendo of sobs. Fitting yet ironic, as it was the song that was playing when he popped the question 3 years back (a week short actually).

Well, thanks Aisyah, for offering me comfort. She reminded that whenever I feel down, I should remember that I am not the only one who has a problem with "careless and irresponsible boyfriends". Word sistah!

2005-08-02T23:14:00.000+08:00

This morning, after a late night, I dreamt of Harrison Davies from "Tru Calling", Tru Davies' (the protagonist's) brother.

I won't elaborate what exactly transpired in the dream ~~but I'll just say that it's something that you wouldn't want your boyfriend to know about~~. Anyway, I also don't know why I dreamt about him la. Not that he's that handsome la. I don't even like him. Maybe I've been watching too much of that show.

Then, when I watched the show on Star World later at 10pm, the whole episode was about Tru saving him! The whole episode lah! Am I telepathic or what.

Not say I wanna say, but just saying...

2005-08-01T23:32:00.000+08:00

Sale alert!

Was at Jurong Point and chanced upon the Body Shop "Up to 60% OFF" Sale. With scores of people thronging that little booth. Managed to elbow my way through. And found the most amazing bargains!

Beat this. Body Shop Tea Tree range foundation and powder going for $5.90 each! I think the original price is about $27.90 for that tiny bottle. (For those people who usually buy Body Shop products, you would know that their prices are a little steep).

And their lip glosses, original price $19.90 were going for $9.90 only. That's a STEAL! And they have such a wide range of colours, totally unexpected of a sale! Probably coz it was the first day of the sale, so... while stocks last!

Needless to say, I left with about $50 worth of products: 3 Tea Tree Powders, 3 Tea Tree Foundations and 1 stick of lip gloss. BUT. Not all for me la. I'm not that psychotic. Immediately after being stunned by the prices, I messaged my 2 good friends and picked some products up for them too. See nice or not me this friend? I share good lobang ok. Even with you all!

AND! If you buy $50 worth of products at the sale, you'll get an additional $20 worth of vouchers from Body Shop! (I gotta stop ending every sentence with an exclamation mark) A $10 voucher off regular products at any Body Shop outlet and another $10 voucher at their spa or something.

And I think the sale is only at Jurong Point, so correct me if I'm wrong! (Coz the flyer did say Body Shop sale at Jurong Point, didn't mention that it's available at all its outlets.)

Don't say I never say ah... Oh, and it's till 9 August.

2005-07-31T23:27:00.000+08:00

I was just randomly browsing Friendster, saw a testimonial that totally made me cringe in disgust. Not say I wanna say but... keeping it anonymous...

Hai Dear,I hope u eat ur medicine k??Btw,u take care k,syg??I love u,syg..i miz&love u soO much!!! I hope you had fun at Jakarta..dun ever 4get me k??You will always be in my heart till internity!! Dear,e more u try 2 hate me,e more i will love u!! I love u syg...Mummy love daddyy 4 eva!!!!!!!! Lots of Huggs&Kisses 4rom me 2 u...

Does that spark a Cringe Fest or what man! I wonder till when this apparent "internity" lasts, and I only thought they used "Mummy" and "Daddy" in "Anak Metropolitan".

Why people... WHY!

2005-07-29T06:36:00.000+08:00

It's 6.30 am in the morning, and no, I didn't just wake up. On the contrary, I've been sitting here at my desk typing away furiously since 8.30pm the previous day till now. That's 10 frigging hours man. (I can already hear my dad up and about, scurrying around the house, getting ready for work). The amount of work you can accomplish when inspiration hits you is unimaginable. I can't help not being inspired. My paper's due today la, because... it's my last day of work today! 29th July is finally here people. So I can declare myself free to enjoy whatever bit left of my semester break. And get back to reading stuff that I want to read instead of stuff that I have to read because of my literature review for my paper.

I'm finishing up my paper now. Kinda. Its 5k, 40 pages long, like wanna die siah. And I'm not done yet. -urgh-. I am having difficulty with concluding my paper. I feel like I want my Director to peruse through my paper and listen to his comments about what he wants in and what he wants out. So I think, even though my internship is over, my paper is yet to be completed. Considering how nice my Director is, I think he'd be ok if I handed in the final copy a little later.

And god forbid! I hate doing my biblio! I have tons of books, some with me right now, some I zapped, some in my library records and not to mention the plethora of online journal articles that I consulted AND the databases as well. I get a bad migraine and feel constipated whenever I think about typing the biblio. Like Adlina said earlier, doing the biblio robs you of feeling that your essay is completed. Because its not. Even after your essay is all nicely typed out and completed, the lies the dark 'biblio' monster. Like a Dementor. Only happy to suck out whatever bit of happiness you have left within you. There's a lot of effort needed just to do it out. I mean, what style you want to reference, type out the years, authors, publishers, book chapter number, journal title, issue number, date blah blah blah. The newspaper articles. SO TAK SANGGUP!!! I think I'll hand it in like later later. Aargh.

On a happier note, my photocard driving licence is already ready for collection only a week since I passed driving. How efficient! I missed the postman today though, since I was out; so a trip to the post office is on the cards.

Man, I better get some rest now. Will drop by the office to clear out my admin stuff for my last day and hand a copy of my paper to the Director.

Problem is, I'm not sleepy due to the effects of caffeine. How? Maybe reading through my paper will put me to sleep. My writing is that boring. As if you hadn't known already.

Like I drank Felix Felicis or something...

2005-07-27T23:35:00.000+08:00

Ok, an extra good day deserves 2 posts. Lucky you!

For the past couple of days, I've been browsing car rental companies just to get a feel of the pricings and subscription, you know, since I just got my license and all.

I just checked my NUS email and lo and behold!

From:
Estate & Development News
To:

Subject:
Introduction of Car Sharing Scheme for NUS Community
Cc:
Ref: OED/CS/326/2005

27 July 2005

Dear Students

INTRODUCTION OF CAR SHARING SCHEME FOR NUS COMMUNITY
1. Car sharing scheme is an hourly rental service which allows you to use a car without having to incur high fixed costs of car ownership. It reduces vehicle ownership expenses and provides a cheaper transportation alternative. It is ideal for those who require a car once in a while, but do not want the hassle of owning a car.

2. We are pleased to announce the introduction of a car sharing scheme on campus with effect from Monday, 1 August 2005. This service will be provided by CitySpeed Carsharing. Staff, students and alumni can enjoy the following benefits:
(a) waiver of first year annual membership fee for departments;
(b) 50% reduction of first year annual membership fee for staff and alumni;
(c) waiver of one-time joining fee for staff, students and alumni; and
(d) convenience of having a station on campus at Blk Adm (Car Park 18)
For details of the scheme and services provided, please go to: http://www.nus.edu.sg/oed/services/csd/transportation/carSharing.htm.
3. If you have any queries, please contact CitySpeed at 6877 8799 / email: sales@cityspeed.com.sg or Muhammad Shawal at 6874 2513 / email: oedmsn@nus.edu.sg.

Sulaiman Salim
Manager, Transport & Logistics Branch
Campus Services Division
Office of Estate and Development

Ok la, nothing much, but just saying...

Also, just to add, I've been beo-ing this black U2 top with a nice little ribbon since last month, but I didn't buy because I just wouldn't spend $33 on that top no matter how good it looked (Ok, I nearly did!). And for some reason, Adli pestered me to go into U2, and I saw it going for 50% OFF!

So tell me, who's been lacing my drink with some Felix Felicis?

OD-ed on Fantasy

2005-07-27T23:03:00.000+08:00

Look who just came traipsing back with her new STEALS!!!

I had an ab fab day today! Actually started from yesterday. Remember how I kept lamenting about being starved of fantasy novels?

Well, I managed to lay my grubby little hands on a copy of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" yesterday and I've finished the book last night!

Later, Adli and I went down to check out the National Library. Met my eldest brother and his girlfriend, which is not surprising coz we keep bumping into them around the area. The National Library is just a cartwheel away from where my brother's staying anyway.

As usual, did my usual rounds of checking for my favourite authors, didn't want to keep my hopes up. So started with Asimov first and oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! They have the whole "Foundation" SERIES! THE WHOLE SERIES. SEVERAL COPIES OF THE WHOLE SERIES! What else, I picked up "Prelude to Foundation", "Foundation" and "Foundation and Empire"! I hope they're good.

And Adli gave me a surprise when we met today! He had a whole bunch of vouchers (quite a substantial amount I must say) for "Times the Bookshop" and he said... he's gonna buy "The Chronicles of Narnia" for me! Wowee! You cannot imagine how fucking elated I was!

The Suntec Branch had quite a small selection so we went over to the branch at Centrepoint hoping for a larger selection. I was so spoilt for choice there! There's so many different versions of the book, I was quite torn in choosing which to pick! There were

3 different paperback versions (individual books, 7 in all) - ($16.80, $9.98, $7.98 each)
1 boxed set - ($47.25)
1 compilation of books 1-3 only - ($17-ish)
1 compilation of all the books in one paperback volume - ($38.75)
and a huge hardback compilation with illustrations of Narnia. - ($50.25)

Anyway, my choice was between the boxed set and the $38.75 volume. The boxed set would have been really good coz it comes in individual books which is easy to bring around and read. But, I chose the compiled paperback volume instead, though bulky, it was much cheaper. Whatever the version, I'm just so glad!

I feel so gratified! Now I can see my infantile (in more ways than 1) book collection growing. Now I shall eye that Hans Christian Anderson and Brother's Grimm collection I saw...

I'll be as dead as Dumbledore...

2005-07-26T16:42:00.000+08:00

I'll be as dead as Dumbledore by the time my reservation comes through for the book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". Look...

Can you actually believe that there's 379 copies in NLB? There's about 20 copies in each library! I'm sure the poor books will never get to lean their poor spine against the library bookshelf, vagabonding from home to library to library to home. I mean, the book was probably excited to be a library book! "Yaay, I get to laze around all day, sitting on a shelf, watching the world go by, and enjoy AIR-CON! Maybe I even get to enjoy the nice scenery at the Central Lending Branch!" Totally not! It'll be tattered by the time it reaches it's 5th reader I'll bet.

Man, NUS just turned 100 and I might have to wait another 100 years if I want to get my hands on a copy of that book! Not only for that, "The Chronicles of Narnia" also has a very long waiting list. Note to self: Just buy la. Hrmpf.

I've never...

2005-07-24T20:44:00.000+08:00

I've never read "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C. S. Lewis. boo. I have seen it in a set in all its glory at Popular but I'm too poor to afford it. I so wanna get it, coz I've been deprived. I need my dose of fantasy! Tried to look for it at San's Bookshop at Funan, coz I thought I could just rent them. Don't have. But they have the whole series for "A Series of Unfortunate Events". And they have PIERS ANTHONY!! The Xanth series, but I've read most of the titles they have like "Ogre, Ogre" and "Golem in the Gears". Why can't they get the whole series.

They have a sprinkling of Isaac Asimov I think, but I didn't see the "Foundation" novels, which I've been wanting to read. Always go NLB cannot find. I've read the collection of short stories though.

Don't even say Diana Wynne Jones. I've been looking for the other volumes of the "Chrestomanci Series", cannot find man. "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Castle in the Air" are great!. I think Narnia and the Chrestomanci series are quite similar, coz the characters visit other "worlds" through a "portal" so to speak. Kinda like Enid Blyton's "The Magic Faraway Tree" series as well.

And I'm not gonna buy "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". Maybe later later la. It's gonna be a few years before the final book comes out anyways. Now, it's way too expensive. And San bookshop hasn't rented them out yet.

So if any of you have these books, thanks ah.

If I had the means to do it, I would really like to collect books! Very inspired by my lit tutor in NUS, Dr Susan Ang. Her office is wall-to-wall filled with books! I'm so not kidding. We all sit there gawking everytime we go into her office for tutorials. Yup yup. And in my collection, MUST Enid Blyton. Every single book! (Ok, maybe not the Malory Towers series...), Roald Dahl, Diana Wynne Jones, C S Lewis, Isaac Asimov, Piers Anthony, Tolkien (JRR not Christopher), Hans Christian Anderson, (Thumbelina a must! I wanna get a nice copy and frame it up!), Brother's Grimm... Oooh... How nice!

Anyways, on other things, just got a nice rod for myself today at Changi. Fishing rod lah. So I can go tamban fishing at Bedok jetty. Yaay! Anyway, my dad's planning overnight fishing at Pasir Ris this weekend and asked my cousins along. Should be fun and I can test out my new rod! It's black and cyan with a matching cyan reel!

And lastly, I haven't had the opportunity to drive yet. Hmmph. Dad didn't offer. I didn't buy my P-plate for nothing! Hah! Nemmind, wait for my licence to come in the mail first la.

Licensed to Kill

2005-07-21T22:25:00.000+08:00

Disclaimer: Damn drama post. Warn you already ah!

I prayed to God yesterday and asked him to give me something nice to blog about today. And Boy did he deliver! I couldn't believe it at first. It is a day for the history books. Well, mine at least.

Today, as of Thursday, 21st July 2005, at about 17:00 hours, yours truly obtained her DRIVING LICENSE!! It was truly a divine intervention. 14 points, but hey, who's keeping count? Haha! Yeah, I'm sure William earned a lot off me as well! Sometimes I feel that he anyhow teach me one, saboh me so that I'll fail then he can earn more from me!!! That's why, sometimes private instructors can be quite dodgy... -shrugz-

Anyway, it was a short debrief with the tester, and when he conveyed the good news to me, I was ridiculously elated as you can imagine, with tears brimming in my eyes, and I exchanged a firm handshake and said thank you repeatedly... 14, my lucky number!

I went down, dialled Adli's number, and he heard me sobbing over the phone. He was quite worried for a while until I told him the good news. If you were in my shoes, you would cry for joy as well. At that moment, as the tears rolled down my eyes, I felt a huge burden lifted from me. This has been weighing me down for so long, that it's turned my straight hair frizzy. I hated when people asked me the question "Have you passed driving?". And when I see other people who pass, I'd bee seething with jealousy. Between me and Adli, any topic about driving was taboo. Everytime he mentioned driving, I'd get upset. You can say I'm very drama, but that was how much it bogged me down.

Called William, and he said he expected it. How nice. He was so confident that he left the test centre without seeing me.

Called my mom. Told her that she didn't have to pay for my driving anymore. She was quite shocked as to why, because, like I mentioned, I didn't tell my parents about my test. She congratulated me and shared my happiness as well.

Called my dad. Engaged. Must be my mom calling him. Dad called back, and I asked him if I needed to buy P-plate. He said my mom just told him and I should go ahead and buy P-plate coz 2nd brother wrecked the old one.

Msged my eldest brother. He congratulated me and said, "Now you have to challenge me for the car".

Not that Aisyah really cared but I was too happy that I messaged her as well. She of course was excited for me, because I have been whining to her for the longest time.

Went to register for my licence, met a familiar face from the waiting room. So made a new friend, Celeste, who passed as well. We both revelled in our joy for awhile, while I was still sobbing and heaving... So, registered, waited for video, watched video, collected some flimsy receipt which also said that you're licensed to drive. Tester said had to wait a month for photocard license to arrive via registered mail, but Adli said that it shouldn't take that long. Probably I can expect it in 2 weeks.

Met Adli, and after looking for his stuff, I treated him to Swensens at Bugis.

Dad called on the way home, so we met my parents at Cameron Restaurant at Mackenzie, and we hitched a ride home.

And here I am, blogging about my unbelievable day. Seriously, you cannot imagine my joy. I still think I'm dreaming. It seems so unreal. I mean for those people who pass on their 1st or 2nd attempt, it may be no big deal for them. But it IS a big deal for me. Because. I don't have to see another fucking S-course, or crank course. Or drive in KUTC for that matter. Because I think it is ridiculous. In the real world where got S-course and crank course la. You think in the real world you're so privileged to have poles waiting for you when you park?

Now I keep looking at my numerous PDLs, the receipt and my results sheet. Is this for real???

2005-07-20T22:16:00.000+08:00

Yaay yaay, I'm saving money (or trying to)... Who cares if I'm wearing raggedy clothes, worn-out pants and a bag that I've been using so often that it looks seasoned already. I'm too damn lazy to look for clothes. I'll get them when I see something nice I guess, but it just isn't worth the effort. I probably need to get a jacket, tops and PANTS before school starts! I'm still wearing pants from circa 1999 la (at least they still fit).

But money is so precious that I don't want to spend so much. Save for a rainy day. Actually, I was eyeing the Creative Zen Micro, but... I guess it can wait till the next Creative fair so I can get a good deal. Not that I have much music to bring around with me anyways.

But I do have to spend for the Anniversary present(s). Yes, I have very grandiose plans and I only aim to please. (or rather aim to WOW!) But as to how much of it will get done is anyone's guess.

I'm actually feeling a little under the weather. Sore throat and and a little flu-ish, blocked nose, lotsa phlegm and sputum. A little feverish too. And plus everything together, you get a very unhappy person with a short fuse.

But, another week to go for my internship and I can breathe a little easier and enjoy my holidays. Adli end his internship this week. So lucky. He'll be free by next week but I'll be so intensely busy. And when I finish my internship, he'll be starting school. Talk about timing.

Also, lastly to the remaining NUS people... the CORS madness begins!!!

2005-07-20T00:33:00.000+08:00

Aaarghh... Some people irritate the shitnecks out of me, with their crappy irrational habits and all. If you're starting to hazard a guess, no, it's not Adli. I'm so used to him already. Some people. Just some. They act all sweet and innocent, but they're actually quite vacuous up there. Actually, I was ok with this person until something this person said totally rubbed me the wrong way, which I took as subtlely insulting my "craft". I really wish I didn't care for them, but their opinions always linger at the back of my mind. Don't start to get paranoid. It's not you, or you, or you even. Just someone. More like an acquaintance which really shouldn't matter so much but it does and it ticks me off. I just had to get it off my chest. Looks can be deceiving. I just wish that people would know how mean a person can be. Well, I'm mean. Guess its just karma working in its mysterious ways.

Anyway, I'm starting to hate this place because I don't like the fact that there are some people whom I would prefer, not to read my blog. Coz then, I am unable to express myself freely and let my bitchy alter ego (what alter ego?) run wild. Man, the things I would say.

So I was chatting with Zuzu the other night about me wanting to seek alternatives for a more "private blog". Then she said, "Private blog? Is there really such a thing?". Which is quite true la. Quite an oxymoron. ~~Like Taliban Intelligence.. Haha! Ok mean. Just to be fair, I'll throw in US Intelligence as well.~~ Ok, top oxymoron on OxymoronList.com is Microsoft Works. Harhar.

Talking about funny stuff, me and Shafaa came across this wildly hilarious name in the Centennial Commencement booklet we saw in the Honours room. I even snapped a picture of it so I can show people and have a good laugh. Shafaa even suggested that she'll nick it off my blog. But... then again, I think it's so mean. (Actually more like what if he Googles to this page and finds me poking fun at him, and then I'll be in hot soup.)

And on funny names, I've been seeing ads for the car Nissan Latio. I'm so tempted to add an extra "Fel" in front. Haha, I've got such a gutter brain. Sucks. (haha, get it!)

2005-07-16T23:33:00.000+08:00

Am messing around with a WordPress based blog on Blogsome. I am wowed by the features which includes password-protected posts, comment spam protection, among many others. And a feature which I thought very useful is "Categories" where you can group and archive posts by different categories like "Entertainment", "Food" or "School".

But... I'm probably not moving my blog. If I do make the switch, I'd probably do it via iframe, which is viewing my Blogsome posts on this same Blogspot page.

I really hate changing. I've been blogging on this Blogspot page since May '03. Have become used to their features and understanding most of Blogger's meta tags. I've been using this skin for ages, coz I love it coz it's my ~~original~~ idea and it's entirely done by yours truly. I dunno, but I really hate "mass-produced", Fordist kinda templates. I would browse Blogskins mostly for inspiration. However, my copy of Dreamweaver has been left dormant for a darn long time, coz I dunno why but this template is really special to me.

But if I really do make a change to WordPress on Blogsome, I might have to find a new template to fit the snazzy features in. Like a dynamic calendar highlighting post dates. I've always wanted that! The "Search" feature within the blog is nice too. Bloggers on Blogspot used to be able to do that on their dashboard but not anymore huh.

Anyway, I dunno what I'm mumbling, coz I'm so tired after spending a day at Sentosa. Will update that sometime, but not tomorrow, coz tomorrow I'm going fishing with the family. And next week I have a lot on my plate! School, work, and this other thing that I'd rather not think about coz I get panic attacks just thinking about it but I hope everything will soon blow over.

Confessions of a TV Addict

2005-07-15T02:37:00.000+08:00

I got bloody cheated by Channel 5 la. I checked the programme schedule online, and it said "Scrubs" was airing at 2:30am. So I thought wow, I didn't know "Scrubs" is a daily show, coz I thought it only aired on Thursday mornings at 2am after "Tru Calling" No wonder I felt lost watching it week after week.

So, I decided to stay up just to watch it, and watched "The Apprentice 2" for the millionth time on Star World just to kill time, from 1:30 am to 2:30 am.

And when "The Apprentice 2" ended, I switched to Channel 5 at 2:26am and to my horror, "Scrubs" was showing and it was ending already la! Bloody hell. So I thought I must have read the schedule wrongly. -grumble grumble-

Since I'm quite anal about this sort of things, I went back to check the schedule and it said 02:30 am "Scrubs" la! Flaming idiots who messed up the schedule. I missed a half hour of "Scrubs" which I actually stayed up for!

And you know what was seriously wrong with the damn schedule?! It's for frigging Friday damn it! NOT MY FAULT! The heading read and I quote, "14 Jul 2005 (Thursday)". Are they bloody retarded or what? The schedule was for Friday 15 July la bloody heck! AAAAH! ??????Check the schedule out yourself la, although the page is dynamic so it might have changed when you visit. CRAAAAP! I'm acting like this coz I didn't get my fix. Dr JD is so c-u-t-e !

Some Food Adventure!

2005-07-13T18:45:00.000+08:00

Since I have a writing style which tends to meander around points, I shall try to make this post as succint as possible, chronicling my Food Adventures.

Last Saturday, Sid, Aisyah, Adli and myself met up for lunch at Tong Seng. The plan was to scoot over to a nearby boardgame joint called the Oasis Cafe after, but the place was yet to open even though it's 3pm! So we strolled down to Suntec City. And while crossing the overhead bridge between Shaw Towers and Suntec City, we managed to observe convoys showcasing Singapore's military prowess among other things getting prepped up for the 1st NE Show at the Padang.

We went down to City Chain, and Adli bought a nice Adidas digital watch as a present for his twin over in Germany.

Since our original plan was thrown off by the awkward opening hours of the Cafe, we devised a back up plan to check the place out later after window shopping for awhile and if it still wasn't open, we had to come up with other plans. When we made our way back, the place was open but we decided to give the place a miss because:

1. The rates were a tad pricey. $10 per pax for 2 hours, though inclusive of drinks and snacks.
2. The cosey couches were taken up.
3. All 60+ board games that they boasted were unheard of. We didn't see any familiar games after giving the list a quick glance. We kinda wondered where they got their games from.

Since Adli vetoed my karaoke idea, I vetoed his idea to go for sheesha.

And Sid and Aisyah came up with dinner at East Coast Lagoon Food Centre! The prospect of wolfing see hums down our throats proved to be too tempting and the day turned into a Foodie Adventure!

Hopped into a cab and we had a near-near-death experience as the driver e-braked on the highway.

Got to the place in one piece. Instead of ordering the food all at once, Adli suggested ordering one thing at a time so we could lepak longer.

First course was Haron's Satay (only the best), then we had see hum (blood cockles in English, kerang in Malay) accompanied with tongue-numbing chilli padi sauce. And more seafood, as we had BBQ stingray, and lastly we finished off with Tahu Kicap (Fried Tofu with Sweet Sauce). My mouth is watering as I type this. And we washed down our throats with Milo Dino (this version from Hassan Stall is topped with whipped cream and served grande take-away a-la Starbucks.)

Man, that was some dinner. Great food, great company as we reminisced the silly things we did as we were kids.

On Sunday, my parents and I took out my 2 cousins Luqman and Anggun to catch some angling action at the Bedok Jetty. Of course I suggested that Haron's satay is one of the best satay I've ever tasted and so we had dinner at East Coast Lagoon Food Centre. As usual, I recommended the satay and blood cockles I had the previous night! And I left the place again a very fulfilled girl with a very satisfied tummy.

Met Faz on Monday for a student lunch buffet at Seoul Garden Takashimaya ($8.99++ only, how to resist!). From previous experience, Seoul Garden would be great if they provided butter, and served better soups, because the Tom Yam soup tasted like crap. So I decided to make my next experience there as enjoyable as possible. The resourceful me, brought along a 1/4 stick of butter and even a pastry brush so that my food didn't dry out and stick to the skillet, packed in a ZipLock bag. I even bought a small box of Knorr Tom Yam cubes for $1.35 at Cold Storage Takashimaya to address the issue of tasteless soup.

Faz was of course amazed by my initiativeness, but I'm sure you wouldn't be too surprised at my resourcefulness, having read my post on the Swensen's Ice-Cream buffet right?

So, we paid only about $11.5o each: $8.99+ $2.50 for a free flow of drinks. We avoided the $3.00 charge per table for special soup base and just settled for the normal chicken soup, for I know, just a few cubes and I have a delish Tom Yam soup!

Tuesday I woke up hungry and decided to whip up some Chicken Rice.

And met up with Adli for dinner at.... Tong Seng. (yes, again...)

And lastly, I would like to add that keeping my posts short and succint is totally not my style as I have proven.

2005-07-08T22:18:00.000+08:00

I wonder if you guys have checked it out but there is an NUS Timetable Builder now. But it's not as aesthetically pleasing as I expected. 'Try it out and you'll know what I mean' (SilkPro advert).

The tabular view of the time-table looks nothing less than confusing and should be improved.

The 'list' view is a tad better, so i just have to show off my sweet timetable:

Monday morning, I have Contemporary Social Theory seminar, then Qualitative Inquiry tutorial every fortnight, and then Social Policy seminar.

Tuesday, Law and Justice seminar, 2 hour break and then Qualitative Data Collection seminar.

And lastly Wednesday with an evening lecture on Qualitative Inquiry.

Nice 3 day week if everything goes as planned. If I'm lazy on Wednesdays then 3 day week la! Amazing.

But exam dates are quite close, though no 2 papers on the same day. Bad part, 2 morning papers, 2 evening papers and only 1 afternoon paper. AND my last paper HAS to be an evening paper. Always. Why my last papers ALWAYS have to be evening papers? Must prolong my agony right? -grumble grumble grumble-

2005-07-08T20:42:00.000+08:00

Shafaa's not online... Probably enjoying her Friday night. Totally wanted to gripe to her about something that's been eating me.

It's been bugging me since my induction into the workplace, since the orientation. Categorically, there are 3 groups of people who undergo internship at my place. Firstly, the largest group of interns are from a programme called the Student Internship Programme. These are the people who succesfully applied for job placements within this programme, whether they're from NUS, NTU or SMU. Generally, this programme posts interns to various areas of the Public Service and are given opportunities to network among themselves at the beginning and at the end of their tenure. However, they serve a shorter tenure as they usually spend about 8 weeks, compared to the other 2 groups who will work for about 2 and a half months.

The next group are students from USP. I'm not too sure about this, but the 2 people I spoke to are Psych majors, so I don't know if internship is compulsory under USP or Psych or those under USP Psych majors.

The last group would probably be the charmed ones, who for some reason, maybe being a fortune's fool, by some stroke of sheer luck; are given the internship opportunity by their respective departments. That would comprise of.. oh.. just me. As far as I know it lah.

So orientation was quite awkward and a little belittling when I started rubbing elbows with my fellow colleagues. I guess, they probably rubbed mine the wrong way. They will first start to these questions in the exact order:

(1) Where are you from? - To which I will respond NUS.
(2) Oh, what's your major? - Sociology.
(3) Are you from SIP? - No.
(4) Are you from USP? - No.
(5) Usually at this point in time, they've already lost interest in me; but some ask how did I manage to get this internship in the first place since I'm not from the ~~elitist~~ SIP or USP.

And they then moved onto the next person. Maybe the awkwardness and the felt sense of denigration was self-induced. Maybe they were not thinking along that line of thought, but I managed to conjure it in my imaginary consciousness. Because, I felt quadruply marginalized. (Non-SIP, non-USP, lone Soci and I'll let you figure the last one out.)

After being seemingly rejected by the SIP and the USP group, I felt alienated because I didn't share the similarities that these two groups shared. Neither could I find fellow compatriots from the Sociology department as most of the interns were Psychology, Political Science and Economics majors. It didn't really matter much to me, because I was going to be the lone intern at my department anyway. So even though I was miffed by the eliticism, I let it slide because I wasn't going to work with these people anyways.

Didn't think much about it... Until today when I had to schmooze with the other interns at the tea session. I managed to chat up with an old tutorial mate with whom I attended Psych tutorials with. Catching up with her was all nice and we had great conversation about work, and school and such. She's from SIP, but the bunch of people from this group are not as elitist.

Then two other USP students joined in the conversation. One of whom I shall call Miss Papaya, because she is such a yaya-papaya. I'm sure Shafaa knows Miss Papaya quite well. Miss Papaya forgot my origins and proceeded to ask me the same questions she asked me during orientation (see above). I was trying to explain to her the nature of my work to which she proceeded to self-aggrandize herself and her paper and how she is given the opportunity to present it during an upcoming conference. Totally stole my thunder la. -miffed-

Ingat paper dia berapa panjang la, sekali dia bilang baru 4-5 pages. Then she reiterated that it's single-spaced. Pfft. Kerja dah sebulan lebih baru 4 pages. Ingat berapa panjang. Not say I want to say. But mine is already about 21 pages single spaced but chock-a-block full of diagrams ah. So yaya-papaya. (Say people say myself...) -urgh-

*Note: Sorry, bitch mode then switch to Malay. Not that my Malay is that good nor that I speak it often. Just. Geram.

So what you're from USP. Banyak besar ke. Sekolah pun satu sekolah. Pensyarah pun more or less sama. Kuliah pun duduk di dewan yang sama. (kuliah seh... I seems to surprise even myself). As long as at the end of the day, I know I can be proud of myself and my academic achievements; whether USP or otherwise.

That's why I wanted to tell Shafaa, that I hope there's not too many people like her with the elitist mindset. She's from USP, but whenever I'm with her, she doesn't make me or others for that matter feel inferior, because she is very humble; not rubbing in the USP fact every 10 seconds like Miss Papaya. (don't kembang ah). Aargh. I hate yaya-papayas and their holier-than-thou attitudes.

2005-07-08T15:41:00.000+08:00

Haven't been blogging relatively speaking, for the longest time, because I usually try to post daily or every 2 days. But as I have said in my previous post, I'm quite swamped with work because I had to make a scheduled appearance today at a divisional meeting at my department, making a short presentation on my project that I've been working on for the past month or so, to about 20 people comprising of the Director, Assistant Directors, Managers, and the Policy Officers of the various divisions in my department. (my, that was a long sentence.) It was quite intimidating knowing that these people were sort of the bigwigs of my department, but nonetheless I told myself that it would definitely be a good experience for me. Getting a taste of the real world so to speak.

Only got round to preparing the slides and handouts this morning. I was quite nervous. I wasn't nervous about presenting per se, but beyond that, I was afraid that I would invite responses such as; "Your work is too amateurish", or "Tell us something we don't know". Eeek!. But nevertheless, I had to be confident about my work right? How wrong can you go if you have your literature review to back you up?

I was hoping for constructive inputs about my work and how I can further bring it up a notch to a higher level of sophisticated analysis. Chey... machiam only.

Nonetheless, I braced myself. Exchanging nervous smiles at the beginning to everyone, who made it so much easier due to the light-hearted atmosphere. Seriously, the people here seem very friendly, relaxed and approachable compared to my previous work encounters in other places.

For me, I start to notice how when I give a presentation, I tend to gradually be less aware of the people around me. Very 'out-of-body experience' when I just seem to taken over by some supernatural force and wing it.

The question and answer session was very enlightening and very helpful for my future work process. I don't know what happy pill my colleagues are on, but they were all really nice, and seem to speak to me like an equal; making me feel like I'm not just an intern. Like what I'm saying really matters to them. The worst response probably is to get no response at all, because that means I haven't stirred anything within them, that I didn't present my points coherently or that I am simply too boring. But thankfully, we had an active process of exchanging viewpoints.

The best part was when I got back to my office and my colleagues actually passed very very very encouraging remarks to me. One said that she had been trying to tackle my topic for some time but it was too challenging that she gave up after a while. Another said that I produced quite a substantial amount of work within a short span of 1 month and that I still managed to remain concise. Another said that I seemed nervous but later managed to pull it off anyways, getting more and more confident. -beams-

Well, before this presentation, I thought I hit a wall because the topic was beginning to seem stale. But this session was very refreshing for me, and with so much encouragement and support from my colleagues, I resolved to do better, because I felt like I've been given pats on the back saying "Well done, you're on the right track." All those time spent doing lit review wasn't a waste after all!

Well, the next challenge is to complete and produce an excellent piece of work, worthy enough to be nit-picked at by.... a panel of NUS' very own lecturers. Yes, my Director suggested that after my work is completed, he wants to invite a few (he's thinking of 4 or 5! Sheesh!) lecturers involved or experienced in the area of social policy to review my paper; eg- people like Stella Quah (Social Policy) and Volker Schmidt (Welfare and Social Justice), in front of my division as well! If that is really happening, I'm going to ask Dr Gana for a favour to vet my paper first to see if it's alright, since, it was him who got me here in the first place anyways! Well, this presentation is a THOUSAND times more intimidating because these people would know their stuff. duh! And every theoretical error will stick out like a sore thumb. Any unsound analysis might open the doors of Hades for me! Aaack! Impending DOOM and GLOOM!

However, I am intending to submit this paper as my ISM, so the above-mentioned review will definitely be helpful. Phew! Great to know that I'm killing two birds with one stone. 4 credits down for my final year!

Ok, on a lighter note, I attended a tea reception this morning organized for the interns in our ministry, covering topics like job opportunities, experiences and most importantly, remunerations! I guess the starting pay is not bad, considering that there are still other components like performance bonus, variable bonus and 13th month bonus. Also, the Ministry provides a lot of leave compared to the private sector. But.... they never really inform us how we can expect to join the Ministry, which made the session a little redundant but still rather enlightening. The vegetable popiah was nice though... Schmoozed a little but I didn't like it too much because I find some people to be so self-absorbed(look who's talking). I think Shafaa will know who I'm talking about... =p

Also, yesterday Adli and I caught a movie, finally, since we haven't been going for the longest time due to the price hikes and all. -eugh-. Fantastic 4. Which was quite entertaining but too short for my liking though. Probably too used to sitting in for 3-hour movies. The Human Torch was dishy though... So droolfest for me. I wonder if Mr Fantastic is fantastic in bed; considering his powers and Jessica Alba's acting was less than mediocre.

When the movie ended, we realized that our mat friends were in the theatre too! How coincidental. Met Din, Razif, Juraimie, Husaini, Azli, Fiaz, and one more PJ guy I can't remember his name. Too bad we couldn't join them after coz, well, Adli just didn't want to.

We (me and Adli) warred (which now happens quite rarelyI must assert) for a while on the way home, but it ended quite funnily actually. We parted ways on the trip back, konon merajuk lah... but ended up bumping into each other on the train to which we couldn't contain our laughter despite our discontentment with each other. We then decided it was fate making a fool of us, and we'll have you know that we made up. Haha... I can't stop grinning as I recount that incident.

That brings me to the point that tomorrow is our 35th Munniversary! Another month more and we can celebrate our 3rd year Anniversary (YES! ANNIVERSARY!), under the glimmering sparkling display of fireworks (National Day marh...) at that special place that we share...

Yes, back to what we're gonna do tomorrow. Actually, we've already made a date with Sid and Aisyah so it'll be a group date (I don't think they know it's our munniversary), probably with a few other people, and we're planning to check out Oasis, a Board Game Cafe located at 12 Liang Seah Street. Hopefully we'll tuck in for lunch at Tong Seng which is along the same road anyway! -yumyum- I brought Faz there for lunch since she's been away from SG for so long and she said it was nice! -yaay yaay-

Also, I've made a date with Faz next week as well, coz I wanna take her out for a nice meal since I rarely have the chance to see her! I've missed her sooo much. I'm elated to know that she's one of my most dearest pals and that we're still close even though we're so far apart... Awww... I wished that she didn't have to leave so soon.

Oh, remember that I made Fruit Tarts last weekend? Well, I received rave reviews from my aunts... I made the base soft because it's supposed to melt in your mouth since since I used icing sugar... horhor... and they acknowledged that it takes a lot of effort to make them coz it's so tedious... Make the pastry dough, bake the base, line the base with melted chocolate, make the custard from scratch, slice and arrange the fruits on top, aaand, top it off with gel to hold everything together (also to make them look delectable). Which all must be done quickly due to the temperatures of the chocolate, custard and the gel.

My aunts asked me why I didn't make them for my 2nd brother's engagement. Well, it's my 2nd brother... enough said... haha! Meanie! I'd do it for anyone else you know.. =p

Adli loved them as well (whatever I make he also like la... what to do, he's just being my boyfriend!), and asked me to pass him some for his mom. (What else, score points la... -devious-). He apparently told me, that she said, that the tarts were nice and she wants to know how I make them coz her's didn't turn out as good. Kembanglah konon.

Ok, I started typing this at 3:41pm and now it's 5:29 which means I spent two hours typing this and more than that... It's time to knock off!

I hope this entry tops my personal best record for the most booorrring entry ever. Boo...

2005-07-02T02:29:00.000+08:00

Back from my hiatus... Listening to "Can't Take That Away" by Mariah on Class 95 FM, so felt *ahem* inspired to blog.

I'm now under a lot of pressure from work. Been having things too good lately. Now I'm faced with a few challenges that seem unsurmountable, but I guess I'll manage. 4 more weeks left. Time is running out for me to complete my project.

Had another Foodie Adventure yesterday with no-prizes-for-guessing-who. We had mouth-watering Chicken Rice at Cameron, and I cleaned out my plate coz I was so hungry. Then we took a short stroll down to Rochor Beancurd for what else; beancurd la. Omg, you've never tasted real beancurd until you've had their beancurd. It's the ultimate! It is so silky smooth, and almost melts in your mouth and slides down your throat... No wonder crowds throng that place even in the wee hours of the morning.

I'm going for a cousin's birthday party at the part of the island where I'm less familiar with, Bukit Panjang. -urgh- Anyway, I made fruit tartlets to bring to the party...

I'd best be getting some sleep now... -yawnz-

2005-06-27T15:53:00.000+08:00

Just said bye-bye to my projection TV coz it's being sent for servicing. It has served us well since way back when I was in primary school. Such reliable television sets are hard to come by these days...

Guess my services as an appendage to the remote is not needed for another week or so. The agony of a TV addict begins.

Ok la, exaggerating. Still have another 2 television sets that can be transferred down and wired up to cable for our viewing pleasure, albeit small, but as long as can watch right?

2005-06-26T19:42:00.000+08:00

Geez the nerve of some people. Don't even know that they're contradicting themselves.

Anyways, gonna hit the pasar malam, so the burger stands better watch out!

2005-06-25T23:04:00.000+08:00

First things first, if you found my blog/life boring and mundane, nobody is pointing a gun to your head, asking you to read it in the first place. But wow, you're actually still awake at the end of the post to leave a comment. -rolls eyes- I'm sure you have a million other better things to do in Europe where you're from. Perhaps, you should immerse yourself in your paleontology magazines that you subscribe to. -pfft-

With my grievance aired, let's return to our regular programming. Anyways, with the GSS happening and since someone just got paid, I accompanied him shopping. Not without picking up a few things myself! And I peeved Adli off because I keep buying lip gloss from The Face Shop. Stealing my quote, he sardonically mentioned that "There's only so much lip gloss a girl can use..." thanks ah?

Also, I'm sure the fried fish bee hoon soup at Tong Seng is laced with drugs because it is so addictive! I've been eating it several times a week!

We stopped by an electrical store as well to check out mp3 players. Rather, I went there to beo the Creative Zen Micro and Zen Neeon. I can't believe that both players are so small and light. But I heard Creative players tend to have a problem with battery drain even when the player is unused. Weird.

La di da... I love the hustle and bustle of the city!

2005-06-24T17:06:00.000+08:00

On Wednesday while I was at work, I had to shift from my workstation and become a vagabond with all the reshuffling at work. Thankfully, there was a vacant OFFICE (read: office, NOT workstation), of a former Assistant Director, so, I got to use the space and play "Assistant Director" for a day!

So much for wishful thinking. But what I really liked about the office was its fantastic view! My Though my office is only on the 8th floor, the building itself is perched on a hill, so although it was only the 8th floor, it may have well been 25 storeys high. Amazing. I almost couldn't concentrate on my work coz the view was just... amazing. From my seat, I could see the Macritchie Reservoir, MediaCorp on Caldecott Hill, all the way to Toa Payoh, Bishan, Ang Mo Kio, and even far beyond.

I could even do a weather report, because you can actually see some parts of Singapore raining while it's still sunny from where you're situated.

If you think the view from the 8th floor is fabulous, I cannot even describe the view from the 17th floor lounge. You almost have a 360 degree aerial view of Singapore. I think I could just stand there gawking for hours.

The library on the 13th floor also has an amazing view. I can watch cadets training on the grounds of PA.

I'm such a sucker for fabulous aerial views. I'm so planning to have coffee at the "Top of the M", my most favourite view of Singapore amidst a romantic setting... -sigh-

I've always imagined being whisked away for a surprise dinner at the revolving restaurant above, or just lounging at the cafe. If you've never been there you should. It is the most romantic place ever, unless you or your partner has vertigo. I've brought Adli there several times... Both day and night.

Anyway, while I was on my way to pick Adli up from work yesterday from City Hall MRT, I saw Mango, Raffles City, packed to the brim with a snaking queue outside waiting to get in just for the sale. I totally couldn't comprehend it. Some people are actually patient enough to get into the sale.

Me? It's not that I can't be bothered. More like, I wouldn't find anything for myself in there, for my freeze-dried size. It would have been frustrating for me to wait to get in, and find nothing that fits. (Know any place that sells size zeros or double zeros? Don't say the kids section unless you wanna get bopped on the nose.)

Anyway, I bought a nice straw bag from Bugis a few days bag, which I totally adore. For a steal. In my book, a bag that goes for less than $20 is a crime.

I was browsing through some casual fisherman pants which I totally liked. (Esther dubs my style Bali style) When I enquired for the price, the girl told me it was $23.90 which invited a frown from me coz I thought it was expensive, only to add on that the whole rack was on 50% discount!!! To which I repeated... loudly 50 P E R C E N T ?

Amazing. Coming from a person who almost hates shopping. I'm probably a rare breed.

Because my philosophy is, there is only so much you can wear, and you only need that many clothes, or stuff for that matter. And if you really looked at my wardrobe, I don't have that many clothes. Unless you're talking fancy Baju Kurungs which my mom tailors for me every year. That I have A LOT. I actually probably have more fancy baju kurungs than casual clothes. I dunno, my mom lah. -shrugz- And we're nearing that time of the year again, the period of July-August, where my mom's favourite haunts will be Arab Street and Komtar.

Anyway, I made Adli read the book "Q and A" by Vikas Swarup that he gave me as a present, because, I don't really have to plug it, but I can simply say it is one of the best books I've ever read. And I asked him, what lessons did he learn from the book? Him, being the lazybones, always lazy to answer me heavily laden questions and instead throws the question back to me. From the book, I learnt that, life is not about not having what you want, but simply having what you need. (Anyway, the book though just published in 2005, has already been translated into 15 different languages and a movie deal already sold.)

But then again, I tend to contradict myself. I've been lusting over that Creative Zen Micro MP3 player, but I keep trying to tell myself, I don't need it.

Because being the stingy poker that I am, how am I going to find mp3s to fill the player? The copyright laws are frigging me out, CDs are too expensive, and buying music online is quite a rip-off because CD's would be cheaper and of better quality.

Welcome to the quandaries of my life.

2005-06-24T00:15:00.000+08:00

I wanted to update yesterday but Blogger went on the fritz, I couldn't even get to the start-up page... Aargh...

Anyway, just wanted to say that while my parents were away, I cooked chicken rice for myself two days in a row. What can I say. I LOVE my cooking! Ha, when you cook for yourself, you can cook it the way you like it. So, I can fry my chicken just the way I like it! Adli liked it too, even though he's trying to lay off rice. Rice is baaad...

We found a great place to eat today. I planned to treat him to dessert at Swensen's Marina or Suntec but we had to find a place have dinner first. I was into Thai food (Tom Yam actually) but as usual, when we're in town, we always suffer from the lack of places to dine, coz most everything is not "halah". (Me and Adli like to pronounce it as halah instead of halal because a lot of Chinese people cannot pronounce "halal" properly, or God forbid, pronounce it as the misnomer "Allah". In JC, I even encountered people spelling it as halah.)

So we decided to poke around at Marina,which may as well be called a Labyrinth, because getting around in there is tough with all the construction going around. I was telling Adli I felt like we're in the SimCity computer game, where the building is only half built, but already there were a few people moving around in it.

Anyway, we found a spanking new food court at Marina called the Marina Food Loft. It didn't seem all that promising because all the food seemed to be non-halal. Usually food courts would just have 1 halal stall which sells... what else... Nasi Padang, and more often than not, Katrina Nasi Padang.

Well, this food court did have a Nasi Padang stall. Not just any Nasi Padang stall, but Katrina Nasi Padang. My experience with food court Nasi Padang stalls (or any Nasi Padang stalls for that matter) is that the dishes tend to be bland, and we tend to be overcharged.

Luckily there were other halal stalls as well, so.. more choice! There was a 'QiJi Nasi Lemak and Popiah" which was halal. The Nasi Lemak set meals were quite affordably priced because for $3.50, they really gave a lot of ingredients. I had the Nasi Lemak set meal number 4 which consisted of rice, a fried fish (ikan selar kuning), a fried chicken, some fried anchovies (ikan bilis), and a sunny-side up fried egg. Adli had set meal number 3, which included rice, a fried chicken, a piece of otah, two pieces of ommelette and some anchovies. I'd say it was quite worth it. If you ordered the same at Fong Seng, I bet you can't get the same price.

But the real reason why we wanted to dine there was because... the outdoor tables had a FANTABULOUS view. I've always had a soft spot for fantastic views (my favourite is definitely from the "Top of the M", Sheares Bridge, and lately my work place") especially of the city, having gron up there. And it was amazing. Who would have thought you can get such an ambience at a food court, eating $3.50 Nasi Lemak?

Later, we managed to find our way to Swensen's through the Labyrinth that is Marina Square, because we assumed that since the building is still half done, the place wouldn't be that crowded. Who would have known the place was full house, with a long queue waiting to be seated? So we went down to Suntec's branch instead, which thankfully didn't have a queue.

I dunno why but he had the Banana Split, while I had the Chocolate Malt Sundae, which was nice, but at the end, it was really too chocolate-y...

So we had a fantastic evening.

Lastly, on an endnote, I find it hard to navigate around Singapore WITHOUT someone someone peeving you off. We were on our way home on 70, and there was a Malay couple seated at the back. The girl totally irritated the shitnecks out of me, because she was speaking in such a "manja" (affectionate) tone SO LOUDLY. The whole bus could hear her. And the sound of her voice was so IRRITATING. Comparatively, she sounded like "OH-MY-GAWD" Janice from "Friends". Yup. That's right. Imagine that.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "But nobody asked you to hear what?". Believe me, if I could avoid listening to her, I would. But she was simply tooo... how do I put this... LOUD?

I don't know what the hell, she was trying to say but she went like, "So can I take your order pleeeeease? You want one Vanilla Iceee? Do you want Vanilla Iceee or do you want Vanilla Icee Coffeeeee?" On the bus people. She was spewing this nonsense O N T H E B U S ! ! !

I dunno, maybe she's practising for a job interview at Starbucks. *sheesh* That was amazingly irritating.

I mean, I was so peeved, I tried listening to my receiver, but even with the volume turned up, I could still hear her giggling and talking rubbish.

I mean I was so peeved that I even bothered to write a lengthy post about how she peeved me. I couldn't even give her dagger stares because she was so far back she couldn't see me. But the sound of her loud voice can actually travel longer. Aaargh. I wonder how can her boyfriend tolerate her. I was thinking, is she retarded or something?

So much for my endnote.

Furthermore, I actually have so much to blog about, but poor Adli is waiting for me to call, and the time now is 12.45am. If I don't call him soon, he'll be dozing off, or be in a cranky mood.

2005-06-21T15:30:00.000+08:00

Cooking Chicken Rice today... *yumyum* and I'm so hungry...

2005-06-19T21:01:00.000+08:00

Call me mean or whatever.

But I don't wanna celebrate Father's Day because they forgot my birthday.

And I'm so hungry. Coz every Sunday, there's no food at my house. Sucks.

2005-06-18T23:16:00.000+08:00

I've seen the "War of the Worlds" movie trailer several times, until once I read on the trailer that the author was H G Wells, something clicked in my head.

I remembered that 3 years back, that name surfaced from one of my readings I had to do for IF1101E: The Information Revolution and Society. Only because it was such a hilarious anecdote (to me). I recall that a radio drama was done based on the book in the 1930s, and the drama was delivered in a very "matter-of-fact" fashion, comprising of fictional news flashes. Some listeners, who did not follow the show from the beginning and tuned in halfway (missing out on the disclaimer), didn't know that it was fictional reporting and got really freaked out, thinking that an alien invasion from Mars was true, and that it was truly the end of the world! Listeners flooded the police and newspaper telephone lines, not to enquire whether the reports were true, but rather what should be their next plan of escape.

You have to read this copy of compiled news reports.

I guess we wouldn't be able to emphatize with the situation or understand why people got flustered, as we would have been de-sensitized, recognizing immediately that such are really just dramas, and become quite sceptical at the mention of "alien invasion" as such an occurence would be "implausible".

Furthermore, now, we have the benefit of technology in order to check factual integrity; whether by Googling it out on the Internet, or watch for the news on the television as information travels quickly via these mediums of broadcast.

Still, it is an interesting story nonetheless.

However advanced our technology has since progressed, I am sure that in the 1930s, people did not have to worry about their data server on the Internet having a siesta, like what I am experiencing right now. My images fail to load, because the data server I've saved it on seems to be hibernating. And I thought IVLE was reliable. How wrong am I!

2005-06-16T23:03:00.000+08:00

Happy 22nd Birthday to Aisyah! We're going to feast like kings at Seoul Garden tomorrow to celebrate our birthdays with Esther! Hmm... and I'm broke, so I didn't get her a present. Let's see what I can pull off tmw...

2005-06-15T00:33:00.000+08:00

Dinner with Adli was great. He surprised me at the MRT station with a white lily bouquet! My faavouritee... Then we walked down to Fish&Co and had our dinner, his treat! Yummy! Had Seafood Platter and Prawns wrapped in Vermicelli Paper. Mmm.. good! And our favourite drink, Jungle Freeze! And it turns out that Fish&Co offers a complimentary dessert on your Birthday, so the birthday girl got a scoop of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate ice cream! How delightful! And he gave me my birthday gift (the bouquet and dinner was thoughtful enough!). He actually gave me this book I've been dying to read, Vikas Swarup's "Q&A", which I can't wait to start reading!

And I thought that was it but nooo... We went over to Plaza Singapura to have our cake! He bought me a slice of Coffee cake, and he got himself a slice of Chocolate Cheesecake (both were slices of heaven I must say...).

Oh yeah, because of the Great Singapore Sale, Osim has strategically placed their ISqueez machines around the mall, and we were quite jealous watching two ladies having their feet rubbed.

Turns out that there were vacant machines at the basement and I immediately kiccked off my heels and made Adli read the instructions and operate the machine. As I placed my feet into the ISqueez, I started to remember that I actually have low tolerance for ticklish sensations, but I reassured myself that it can't be thaat bad. Other than being stared at by passers by that is.
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Well, I got such a fright when the machine started to operate! Coz it really serves its name well, it really squeezed! Like REALLY squeezed! And I mean the painful kind of squeezes! And I warned Adli NOT to increase the intensity because I will KILL him with my bare feet! And when the rubbing motion for the feet started, the sensation was both ticklish and rather painful at the same time!

Adli, being indignant to my agony, decided to try the machine for himself. And he was soon yelping in pain and lasted all of 5 seconds! Hah! Now that was quite funny. =p

So we got off the machine and massaged our bruising away. Lesson: Foot massages aren't for us!
And we are quite stretching it when we say its painful. I guess it was tolerable if you put your mind to it, probably just uncomfortable, unfamiliar sensations because we are unaccustomed to getting our feet rubbed. If you're into foot reflexology, then by all means try it! You might just like it. If you don't mind being stared at by passers by that is... Ha!

And so I truly had a Happy Birthday!

Thanks, Pearlyn, Adli, Aisyah, Adelia, Shafaa, Hafiz and Lionel for your Birthday wishes. It feels so nice to be remembered...

2005-06-14T15:26:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday Ernesto (Che) Guevara, the Marxist revolutionary, most famously immortalized on T-shirts worn by people who thinks he's just a face on a T-shirt.

Happy 59th Birthday to Donald Trump, a real estate mogul with billions to his name, unlike me, with only $4.14 to mine.

Yasmine Bleeth of Baywatch fame celebrates her 37th birthday.

Happy Birthday to Steffi Graf, the Grand and Golden Slamming German tennis beauty, who turns 36.

Boy George O'Dowd, if anybody dresses like him today, will be caught dead by the fashion police, unless it's Halloween of course. I mean, Do You Really Wanna Hurt Me with your fashion sense?

Oh yeah, and Happy 22nd Birthday to Chen DeHui, my Secondary school classmate.

In 1847, Robert Bunsen, invented a gas burner, which you have probably come across at one point or another of your academic life in the science lab called the Bunsen Burner (duh).

Happy Happy Birthday everyone! I'm gonna go pig out. Yippee!

(*Note to self: Remember to copy this post, edit the numbers to post again year after year)

2005-06-13T23:21:00.000+08:00

Turn your head away, now, for you may cringe in disgust. Coz I'm gonna indulge myself, rambling about la-la-la-loove...

Heehee. Nothing la. Just that he sent me home about 1 and a half hour ago and I'm already missing him.

3 years ago, I've never reckoned that it was possible to miss someone so much.

3 years later and we still can't bear not to see each other, not even for a day. Sometimes I wonder how is it possible that some couples meet once a week, but we can't even go a week without meeting up almost every day.

My heart still does triple somersaults whenever I gaze into his eyes.

Don't say I didn't warn you to turn away!

2005-06-12T19:11:00.000+08:00

I'm depressed because I have yet to receive my pay. -urgh- And I have to meet the the Director tmw for our weekly meetings regarding the project. And I've almost ran out of juice.

So much for my birthday week. So not looking forward to it, at least until I get paid.

Come to think of it, everyday is my birthday only because it's always been a non-event. I miss Faz. She'll celebrate it for me. I remember when she bought me a Haagen Daaz Coffee Ice Cream cake for my 19th birthday (which must have cost a bomb) and we had it at the "Top of the M" (which is at the top of the Mandarin Hotel, hence the name), and it was sooo nice, because the view was stupendous and the ambience perfect!

Oh yeah, and that year when some of my friends (whom I didn't really know very well) totally surprised me with a birthday celebration at Swensens, which was nice.

I envy people who gets birthday gifts left, right, centre whenever their birthday rolls around. Well, they deserve it coz they're either pretty or nice or both.

Well, Adli did perk me up yesterday for surprising me with a little BBQ by the beach. Which I'll blog about when I'm more in the mood (read: when my paycheck comes. Feeling rich is never a bad thing)

2005-06-11T00:08:00.000+08:00

Spent the day photoshopping, this is the fruit of my labour.

Far from being narcissistic, I actually used my own picture because I don't want to distort someone else's picture...

Wasn't quite done with it, but I was so tired...

2005-06-10T15:10:00.000+08:00

Yes, an overdue blog about going out with the girls on Wednesday!

Yes, the holidays are here, but we're all filled with emptiness dread and boredom so we planned a girls day out, Aisyah, Esther and me.

Met at Bugis Junction, and lunch at where else? Tong Seng! And all of us, no prizes for guessing, ate Fried Fish Bee Hoon Soup...

With Ms Esther Ho Su-en around, what else, shopping! So much for being broke. Let me tell you something. Without Esther, the retail and movie entertainment industry will go bust. She goes shopping every single day, and watches movies at least 3 times a week!

Too bad she was shopping with me around, Little-Miss-Skint, who curbed her overwhelming retail addiction.

Esther: I want to buy this top, it's so nice!
Me: Go try it on first, you'll never know how it looks like on you.
Esther: No need la, I have a top just like this.
Me: Still you should try it on, because of the pleats in front, you'll never know how it fits on ur boobs.
Esther: No need, I have a top exactly like this, with the same pleats.
Me: Then why do you need to buy this top then? How many times have you worn that top that you've bought?
Esther: Ya lah, rarely.
Me: *gives that look*
Esther: -defeated-

But of course, I was only able to curb, not totally stamp out her retail therapy. She did manage to buy stuff. So much for in her own words, "I'm not gonna buy anything if you guys are not buying anything".

After that, we had already planned for the main event of the day, SWENSENS! Swensens Marina just opened, so they're having a promotion to celebrate tht joyous occasion. So from now until, 27th June, with every main course, you get unlimited scoops of ice-cream for 1 frigging dollar. But for our case, we chose the other promotion, a glass of Coke and UNLIMITED SCOOPS OF ICE CREAM for 5 frigging dollars!!!

Don't believe, read it for yourself then! Only weekdays, 2.30-5.30 pm.

Swensens Opening Celebration

So we opened up with my favourite Sticky Chewy Chocolate, and we went scoop after scoop. Esther and Aisyah were showing signs of defeat after the second scoop (already girls?).

I braved 5 scoops, determined to make the $5 worth my while. So I had, Chocolate Freckles, Chocolate Chip, Yam, and one more I can't remember. Probably Chocolate. Haha. I already went through half the 12 flavours of the cone line. But since my 2 compatriates have already admitted defeat and shamelessly, waved the white serviette to express their agony, I had to go down with them. Haha. Can't blame Aisyah, coz she's asthmatic, but I expected more of Esther. think they managed 3 or 4 scoops. But I was dreaming of Durian ice cream. Wished they had that.

And so, we should have been ashamed of trying to sponge off as much ice cream as we could. But is that enough for us? No... Yours truly came up with a bright idea while we were at Cold Storage. I figured, since we're gonna have the ice cream topless (as in plain ice cream, not us eating topless, get your mind out of the gutter...) I thought we should bring in some toppings of our own. So Esther got Sunmaid raisins and Mini M&Ms (which vanished), Aisyah got Rainbow sprinkles and Trix cereal, I got Cocoa Krispies!

And we even planned a 'Decorate-Your-Own-Sundae Competition', which both of them chickened out of. Why?. Because we were seated right in front of the counter under the Manager's nose, so quite pai seh to openly sprinkle our own toppings. So we tried to do it as discreetly as possible, inviting some incredulous looks from patrons seated beside us.

So this is my entry. Yam ice-cream with rainbow sprinkles!

I've a feeling that as a measure to get us out of the restaurant, they cranked DOWN the temperature, and it was so frigging cold, we decided it was time to scoot out. (Either that or it was waay too much ice cream).

Then we had a great chat at Esplanade Park. Which was so nice, and time flew by so quickly, before we knew it, it was already time for Aisyah to go and for me to pick the bf up from work.

And of course, we planned an extravaganza next week to celebrate Aisyah and my birthday, at... Seoul Garden la! And we've already planned to bring our own condiments, like my sambal belachan and butter (Seoul Garden doesn't provide butter!)

2005-06-09T03:43:00.000+08:00

OMG, I actually share the same birthday as "The Donald" (Trump, not Duck), and Boy George. If that is any indication, I'm gonna be someone great too. But judging from these two, I hope I don't have bad hairdos...

2005-06-09T00:00:00.000+08:00

Loads to blog but most importantly...

Happy 34th Munniversary to us! *squeals*

*Thumbelina does a dolty dance...

2005-06-08T10:07:00.000+08:00

My blog voyeurism overtook the best of me today. I think there's some things that are just better left unknown...

2005-06-08T09:30:00.000+08:00

I know I'm a little slow, but.

NUS is moving its Law and Business Faculties over to the current SMU Campus when they vacate later this year.

Bukit Timah Campus belong to NUS

Just one question. How are they going to fulfill their breadths and GEMs being away from the other faculties?

Well, if it wasn't them, then it would jolly well would have been Nanyang Business School and Adli would have a much better commute! But it would be quite dumb, coz he's planning to pursue a double specialization and he would still have to go back to his campus in Jurong for his lessons. Even if he wasn't into double specialization, he would still need to do minor or GE.

I mean my point is, they want us to have a broad-based education and all, and they're splitting the schools up. I wonder how the students feel.

One has already spoken up in the ST Forum today, saying that she's disappointed that "the decision was made without first seeking the opinions of current NUS students, when the ultimate consequences of the decision will fall directly on us. I am terribly disappointed how NUS could totally disregard us and not spare a thought for us when making a decision like this. We do not want to be isolated from the rest of the university."

2005-06-04T23:43:00.000+08:00

Getting the numbers out of the way in case I forget any of these dates...

Its...
5 days to our 34th Munniversary,
8 days to pay day (I think),
10 days to my birthday,
12 days to Aisyah's birthday,
15 days to Father's Day.

Anyway, me and Adli had a great laugh today while picnicking by the beach. He enthusiatically wanted me to listen to a song entitled "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3" by Coheed and Cambria

Always the animated me, determined to prove to him that I was enjoying the song, rocked on and sang the song in the most emo fashion. Singing... "Secrets of sileeenceee...". Which was funny coz even though the song's called "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3", it's not mentioned in the lyrics whatsoever. So he had a good laugh at me. And he started to get addicted to my version of the song.

Being the person who grabs an idea and runs with it, I couldn't stop making up the chorus, and we agreed that my lyrics did make up a pretty decent song.

Secrets of silence
In darkness I see you
Bleeding for me...

In my dreams
I see you fallen
Calling for me...

Well, don't you agree with us? OK, stop laughing! Cheesy.

Anyway we were at Giant Parkway perusing, and we had a celebrity sighting. Don't want to name names because of the admittedly mean things I'm about to say, considering that they don't owe me a life. We were happily making jibes at them, because

1. We couldn't tell who is the wife in the relationship coz the guy's mane is longer than the girl's tresses.

2. Judging from the same hair colour, we assumed that they just shared a box of dye between themselves.

3. And lastly, we concluded that they both went for a 2-for-the-price-of-1 rebonding treatment.

And I can't wait to get my pay. There's so many things I want to eat, but Adli don't let me. Which is ironic coz he wants me to get fatter.

I wanna eat, Beach Road's Mutton Chop, Tong Seng Fried Fish Bee Hoon (again), Ross Hailam (NUS) Fried Fish Bee Hoon, Upper Boon Keng's Mutton Soup, Swensens' Lamb Chop with Mint Jelly and Chocolate Super Soda, Fish & Co's Seafood Platter, Pizza Hut's Spicy Chicken Drumlets, East Coast Food Centre's See Hum (Boiled Cockles), Cameron's Restaurant (Mackenzie Road) Chicken Rice and Prawn Fritters, and Chilli Crab from anywhere coz Chilli Crab is yummilicious! Not done yet! Cheesy Hotdogs from GoGo hotdogs at Taka B2... yumyum. SEOUL GARDEN! (till I think of some more...)

I really know how to make your mouth water aye? Don't be deceived by my puny size, I'm actually a real foodie at heart!

2005-06-01T15:38:00.000+08:00

A salesman tried to sell me his smile yesterday while I was eating Fried Fish Bee Hoon for lunch at Tong Seng...

Tried as hard as I might, I couldn't resist! Heehee, doesn't he look spiffy all bizzed up, *yumyum*...

2005-05-31T15:16:00.000+08:00

Well, I did improve on my CAP didn't I?

Now muddle-headed. To graduate or not to graduate.

At least at this stage I can almost safely say, no one can take my degree away from me. At least my B.A is already in the bag, for this, I am so thankful for.

To graduate or not to graduate.

To graduate or not to graduate.

To graduate or not to graduate.

To graduate or not to graduate.

DECIDE gawdammit!

2005-05-30T15:44:00.000+08:00

No more "South Park", "Survivor", "Amazing Race", "American Idol", "Desperate Housewives" (the American air dates), "Laguna Beach", "The Apprentice"... Sigh. What to watch?

And Channel 5 keeps rescheduling "Miss Match" on Sundays, 6pm, at their whim and fancy, assuming that nobody watches. Aargh. Thank god there's Star World, which has already caught up with Channel 5's airing even though they started showing a month later.

I LOVE STAR WORLD. Think I'd die without it. Star World's more dependable than Channel 5, which changes showtimes and dates at a drop of a hat. At least with Star World there's the consistency and ritualism that I crave and need.

And I love staying in on Saturday afternoons, coz you get to watch 5 back-to-back episodes of "Mad About You" on Hallmark! Yaay, my most favourite TV couple.

So, my life seems quite empty now with the exit of my favourite reality tv shows... Please come back soon!

2005-05-29T16:56:00.000+08:00

I don't want to grow up too fast.

Let me take my time.
I want to take my time to save for my future, and have a good life.
And live perfectly.
Well, that might be stretching it.
I just want to live as perfect as possible.
There, better.

But who knows what my future holds. Hmmm...

But I love my parents.
They're so nice.
I love them.
Coz they don't scold me.
Coz I don't give them a reason to scold me.
They must be fortunate to have a daughter like me!

Anyways, 1 more year before I graduate. I could graduate this year, but since I'm considering a career in the Civil Service, I should take my Honours. Well, depending, if my results this sem is so disastrous that it will seem IMPOSSIBLE to at least get a 2nd Class, then forget it. I'd settle and graduate this June/July with a B.Sc, Pass with Merit (which almost everyone passes with unless they've been sleeping throughout their univerity education) then. But, I hope not. I love schooling and sponging off my folks! Ahakz! I've already started planning for my Honours track and my Independent Study Module (ISM) as well. Don't think I'm doing my thesis though, but my boss, Mr Shum suggested that I hand in the project I'm doing for them at MCYS as my Honours Thesis. Hmm... I can entertain that thought for awhile...

Speaking of results, mine is gonna be out on Tuesday, 31st May. D-day! And if all goes well, I have to personally go down to school and withdraw my application for graduation this June/July.

2005-05-21T22:19:00.000+08:00

Going to Sentosa tmw morning. (did I hear somebody say AGAIN?) Ha, yeah, 3 weeks in a row, and I love swimming in the clean sea.

And the psycho bf insists that we go in the morning, meeting a HarbourFront at 10am. *yawnz* I won't even be able to wake up at 10, much less BE there at 10. Sheesh.

I love the long weekend. Finally, I don't have to wake up at 6:30am and get ready for work. So I slept in till 1:30pm. Aah, bliss.

But again like I said, my bliss is short-lived due to tmw's outing to Sentosa in the MORNING, courtesy of psycho bf.

Anyway, work's great. I can totally see myself in this job and LOVING it. Mebbe I'll think that for now. Coz it's only been a week. But the best part of my job is that nobody bothers me at work. No supervisor breathing down my neck. As long as I hand in my submissions by the dateline. I have a proposal due for the Director of my division this Tuesday.

Only thing is that the food is really expensive at the cafeteria. Chicken rice was $3.00 which wasn't really that filling (by my standards moreover) and a cup of fruit punch which was obviously made from syrup (because I have the same big bottle of syrup at home my mom bought from Sheng Siong) set me back $1.50. Hello, it's just water and syrup. Like that, I shudder to think how much their can drinks would have cost me. No choice, because there isn't really any other places to eat close by. Ah well...

2005-05-20T10:56:00.000+08:00

My office is so cold! I’m wearing a cardigan under my thick jacket, and draped a beach blanket over my legs, and I still feel cold! No surprise since I’m sitting right under an air-con vent. Since I need to be typing, my fingers which are exposed are at the brink of getting frost-bitten. I’m considering getting winter gloves!

So in order to make myself warm, I went to make myself a cup of coffee. I made it nice and hot at the pantry, with billowing steam. But, by the time I walked through my office and reached my work-station, my coffee turned into an ice popsicle! Okay, that is stretching it, but my coffee did turn cold. So I resorted to storing it in my overhead cabinet. I wish I could stuff myself into that cabinet. I bet it’s nice and warm inside there.

They should put a sign at the entrance of my office… “Welcome to Antartica!”

2005-05-17T22:05:00.000+08:00

Oh yah, forgot to blog about the day we were at Arab Street. While hanging out at the cafe, I was approached by the manager of the establishment. He kept looking at me and I was wondering what's the problem. Then he asked me how old I am. He wanted to check because since the place served shisha/hookah, and there's traces of nicotine in them, only persons over 18 would be allowed.

Normally, people would be pissed off, especially if you're 22 and people think you're less than 16. It would be quite insulting. But... I was born ready for that moment. The moment I've been planning ever since I turned 16 (for NC-16 shows), 18 (for alcohol and ciggies, not that I smoke or drink), and 21 (for R(A) shows). But those moments never came. The cinemas couldn't be bothered to check my I/C when I went for NC-16 shows. I bought ciggies for my dad and 7-11 didn't bother to check my I/C. Even when I went for R21 shows, nope, didn't happen.

Till that moment. I was determined to have my moment!

Manager: Excuse me how old are you? Are you above 18?
Me: Yes. You wanna see my IC? *beaming* (Manager didn't ask for my I/C, but like I said, I was determined to have my moment. Please la, if I wasn't above 18, I wouldn't even offer right?)
Manager: Yeah, sure. Coz you look very young.

And I basked in that moment. Looking at him, perusing at my I/C. (Seriously speaking, I have a dolty photo on my I/C... I was surprised he didn't keel over.)

The gang probably felt sorry that I got asked. But contrary to that, I was quite happy. Means I look youthful right! Pedomorphic, BUT I'd rather think youthful.

Actually, there was a similar incident a few years back when I was trying to get into Devil's Bar to watch an England World Cup match. But that one was quite uneventful. The usher just asked for my IC that's all. Oh, and when I went over to the bar to get my complimentary drink, I ordered OJ (minus the Simpson), and the bartender flirted with me ( I mean they do that to everyone), and his lady friend remarked to him... "Come on, she's only a KID!". WOW. Thanks a lot. So there's two sides to the story. Youthful or pedomorphic? Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

And Adli, before you kick up a fuss, I wasn't with you YET. =p

2005-05-16T21:49:00.000+08:00

My workplace is practically expecting me to do an Honours Thesis for them. Might as well I nick it off and submit it as MY Honours Thesis. Or ISM for that matter. Well, yeah, if I was in Social Work! I bloody need a crash course in Social Work. Aisyah... HELP!

Something interesting my Director mentioned today. He said something like I'll probably won't be in the office most of the time, coz he wants me to do my research in the Central Library since I'm from NUS or collect information from the organization themselves. Dunno whether it's for real or not. But it will be sooo nice if I can work flexibly!

Talking about thesis and ISM, I guess I should really do ISM this hols, coz theres so much information I can nick off from their library. So how Shafaa?

2005-05-15T21:31:00.000+08:00

It is so nice to just lay back and relax on Sentosa. Having just been there last Saturday, we didn't quite have enough, so we went back again yesterday for another picnic. So it comprised of the usual suspects of the "Chalet Gang", Esther, Sid, Aisyah, Wan, Lisna, the bf and myself.

And we celebrated the bf's birthday yday. (His bday actually is on the 16th). Nothing much, just got a cake from Prima Deli whic was abso-fucking-lutely delicious! There wasn't a truffle cake, so Aisyah bought a chocolate Dome cake which was layers and layers of chocolate cake, cream and fudge! Yumyum! I love Prima Deli cakes, they look AND taste great!

So we reached there around 2:30, and we swam in the sea from like 3-7 pm non-stop! And I still haven't got enough! I love swimming there, coz the beach + water is so nice and clean (with a little floating seaweed here and there), the tide was great, and the toilets are quite clean as well. Aisyah, Lisna and the bf asked me to get out of the sea and I couldn't bear it!

And Esther ordered Canadian Pizza for us, on the beach! I was so surprised that Canadian Pizza delivered to Sentosa, right at the beach some more! But the classic part was when Esther was trying to describe to the operator of our location:

Operator: Which part of Sentosa are you at?
Esther: We are at Siloso Beach.
Operator: Which part of the beach?
Esther: I don't know how to describe. Oh, we're sitting beside this rock. A huge rock!
Lisna and myself: (in unison) ESTHER! (and rolled our eyes...)

Yes, we were sitting beside a huge rock, but there were like SO MANY huge rocks all over Sentosa. Only Esther. And we had a great laugh at her expense! Bimbotic!

We left in the evening around 8, and I suggested we hang out at Arab street. So nice to chill out with friends. And with good company, you can be sure, we had boundless fun!

Reached home quite late, pouring, thunderous rain. Luckily Wan hired a van to drive us around that day. So so fun. Want to go again!!!

So anyway, my part of the holidays is over, coz work starts tmw. Back to the grind. The DED (dog-eat-dog) world...

2005-05-13T01:22:00.000+08:00

Nothing much to blog about.

Adli's been busy at work, and I've been idling about at home. Wasting my mind away on the black box as usual... But don't know how come I was inspired to mop the living room yday. Mop AND hand wipe the floors down ok... Felt really good after that. Tired, but good.

We went gallivanting around Orchard today. Looking for inspiration for my work wardrobe. Wanted to look for a nice pair of pants, but taking into account my size, it is ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to find pants that fit me, because they don't come in a size ZERO.

Length alteration is a given for me whenever I buy pants. That's the least of my worries. I usually cannot find a pair that fits snugly on my waist (is hipster still in?) and even if it does, I probably need lotsa wool to fill up the butt area or else I'll be swimming in the pants. What a pity. I saw a pair of nice stripey pants which can help me add probably 3 imaginary inches if you see me from afar going for 30% off at U2. You know, how wearing stripes create the illusion of being taller.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate shopping? For myself that is. It is so difficult to find something that fits. Tops are ok I guess, but it is difficult to find anything to fit me, below the waist, other than my unmentionables that is... And I can forget about getting anything at a sale, because the only sizes left are like plus sizes (for me, anything above 25/XS IS plus size). And the pants that fit me in my wardrobe are all so worn out, even Salvation Army wouldn't be able to salvage them.

And considering that I'm quite broke, I won't be going to work with new clothes then. *boohoo* Well, at least I HAVE work clothes, circa 2001/02 but that'll work. As long as my skirts are short, nobody will notice how old they are! So, ~~donate~~ contribute to the "Save Thumbelina Fund" today!

Another reason why you should contribute is that my bf's birthday is coming up this Monday, and I've ran out of things to make him. Let's see, I've cooked for him (too many to mention), made cross-stitched pillows for him (two actually, one Precious Moments and one Care Bear), 2 hand-made teddy bears (one red, wearing a tie, and one angel teddy bear with golden wings), one custom made jigsaw puzzle out of our photo, and a burned CD of our favourite songs. Bought him a Picard wallet, Fossil watch and a Timberland bag. Well, I promised him something nice when I get my pay, so I hope he can wait. Ooh ooh, I just thought of a nice gift which doesn't need money. Which is quite funny actually! Hee, but I can't say now. (No, it has nothing to do with sex... sheesh...)

I'm quite ambivalent about starting work next Monday. Sure I look forward to the experience, but not waking up in the mornings... Urrgh. If they had a jungle animal horoscope, I'm the sloth, who lurves sleeping. To wake up anytime earlier than 11am is TOUGH. Hee. The only thing I hate about work is waking up early. And I'll NEVER get used to it, so help me. =p

Oh yeah, someone from the National Dental Centre called me today. Disturbed me from my afternoon nap actually. Apparently I have an appointment on the 24th of May, of which I have no recollection whatsoever. Coz I only remembered I skipped an appointment on 25th April actually and didn't reschedule. Anyway, she pushed forward my appointment to tomorrow. Aargh. Hope I can tell my mom in time, coz she needs to give me money for the appointment. I hate tightening my braces, coz it's gonna hurt so bad and I can't eat ANYTHING. Doesn't help that I'm so skinny like I've just been steamrolled and left for weeks to shrivel and dry up. If anyone wants to lose weight, I'd recommend braces and swallowing tapeworms. (I swear, I saw on Discovery, back in the day, people used to swallow tapeworms to lose weight. Well, I didn't get tapeworms though. I had pinworms, but that seemed to do the trick). Wait, I'm digressing. The point I wanted to make about braces is that I see no end to this. My teeth are already as straight as they can possible get. I dunno how straight my dentist want them, because the way I see it, it's so much better then it was before. I think I probably hold the record for wearing braces the longest, coz you really don't want to know how long I've been wearing them. (Ok, since 2001. And it's already 2005... HELLO!) I see no end to my braces. I'm starting to wonder if my teeth will actually stay and hold up WITHOUT the braces...

So other than the "Save Thumbelina Fund", I'm gonna start the "Get My D~~amn Bloody~~ Braces Off Campaign!". Phew, what a lot of activism for my holidays. Seriously, I think I'm gonna tell Dr Ching to try and get them off ASAP. I miss licking the smooth front part of my teeth. And also being able to eat my dinner and not have 50% of what I'm eating getting stuck in my braces...

Wow, so much for not having much to blog about. Not as much blogging, but whining actually.

Oh ya, say hello to Jason coz it's Friday the 13th!

2005-05-09T22:46:00.000+08:00

Happy 33rd Munniversary to us, this day, 9th May 2005. 3 more mths and it'll be 3 years already! Whee!

Furthermore, he started work today as an intern at an accounting firm, Helmi Talib.

Would have been a nice day to celebrate the joyous occasion[s], but, he had to tutor his cousin in the evening all the way in Boon Lay, because he has a Math Paper II tmw.

So I didn't get to see him today.

Which is fine by me, because I have accepted where we are in this relationship.

I don't know whether he's noticed, but I'm no longer the short fused gf, that I will transmorph into whenever he pisses me off (actually, it doesn't really matter if he did piss me off, coz I'll still morph nonetheless...)

I used to like to pick fights with him for the sake of it. Probably as a way to seek attention. Because I know he will always give in to me, whether or not it's his fault. I'll blame everything on him. That even being stuck in a jam in Serangoon Gardens is his fault. Or if I've waited for the bus for 30 mins and it never turns up, its his fault too.

And he seldom leaves me alone sulking, unless I've morphed into a screaming maniac, then he leaves me alone for a few hours to cool down, before checking in on me again. He will always cajole me and do stupid things to carve that smile back on my face. Like showing me how hungry people in ancient China eat their buns (like how he watched it on tv), or whatever hilarious anecdotes.

So when he told me yday that he's sorry that we won't be spending our 33rd Munniversary together, I said it was ok and we could celebrate it the day after.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, we've both become very comfortable with each other being together this past couple of years, that we know how to handle each other. More like, he knows how to handle me. Nobody else would give in so much to my sulking, on top of all my whims and fancies. I've also come to accept that silence between us does not mean emptiness, void of feelings, because, even though we're apart, we both know who we're thinking of.

I hope that he feels like I do. Thankful, that a girl like me, has a guy like him, to be by her side.

2005-05-08T22:21:00.000+08:00

(from http://www.unifem.org.sg)

I feel perturbed by the growing problem of child prostitution. Prostitution in Asia is even dubbed as "the largest slave trade in history". Much of it is in the news lately, due the the recent conference held in Singapore by UNIFEM, called the "Conference on Tackling the Demand for Child Sex Tourism & Sex Trafficking in East and Southeast Asia".

And much of it is happenening in neighbouring countries. Reading about child labour and child prostitution firstly makes me count my blessings. I should be thankful that I have had, in my opinion, a happy childhood.

Also, what makes me feel so disturbed by the issue is that I was a child myself, not too long ago. Or even still a child myself now, depending on how you apply the definition.

Child sex tourism, child sex slaves, paedophile tourism. All this can be summarized in one word. RAPE. Not a new issue, but an immensely burgeoning industry, or some may call a growing social problem, with more sub issues like human trafficking underlying the phenomenon.

I can't help but feel a sense of helplessness when faced with this issue. How are we supposed to deal with it? I mean, they're just children. What can we actually do? Why should we even know or be aware? This question was brought up during a Sociology of Food tutorial last semester with Vineeta Sinha, about poverty and famine. She said some students complained about being shown videos about poverty and starvation because after watching they felt a sense of helplessness, stirring their emotions, jolting them out of their comfort zones. Because at the end of the day, they know there's nothing that they can do. But what I took from Sinha that day was that, even though you know you possibly can't do anything as an individual, being aware is better than remaining ignorant.

And most of it is happening in South East Asia itself. A ferry ride, or few hours plane ride away from Singapore. Or even trafficking through Singapore? And it irks me so much that most of the men that partake in such activities in Batam are Singaporean men. And in Batam itself, 40% of the prostitutes are children.

"While there is no definitive data on the size of the child sex trade in the region, non-governmental organisations estimate there are over a million child prostitutes in Asia."
(The Straits Times, 28 April 2005).

Most people attribute the causes of child prostitution to "supply-side factors", that poverty is driving families to sell their children for money. But I think the REAL cause is the "demand-side factors", because this industry wouldn't be so pervasive and flourishing if not for the demand. I mean, there are operators organizing holidays for child sex tourism, which is so sick.

Hence the recent reports on the efforts to curb the demand factors, by issuing traveller's warnings against child sex tourism or even criminalizing child sex offenders in their home country even if they angaged in the act outside of the country.

Since the former effort will probably not work, I think the latter approach would be much more effective. I mean, child sex tourism IS rape isn't it? I just cannot imagine a day in the life of a child prostitute, having to service strange men, not even knowing what SEX is. Being flogged by their agents. Being trapped in this vicious cycle.

2005-05-06T23:51:00.000+08:00

I love my new OP thongs which I got for a steal! I get to wear it to Sentosa tmw... yippee! Hoping for great weather tme...

2005-05-05T17:06:00.000+08:00

Two words... MURPHY'S LAW...

2005-05-04T23:33:00.000+08:00

Finally, no more mugging. I'm so glad! Whee! Phew. I think I've fried more brain cells than I think I should have.

Adli just blogged about the proposal by transport operators to raise the fares for public transport. We were chatting about it last night. We don't see wages rising, why should we pay more for public transport? The last time they raised it was just 3 years ago from 55cents to the current minimum bus fare of 80 cents. I remembered my friend Liwen refused to take the bus from SR to Hougang South Interchange 3 years ago due to the hike. I don't blame her. How much more they wanna raise? And I'm talking minimum 80 cents which takes you as far as you walk with your hands doing a handstand.

According to today's article..
"Under the formula which comes into effect this year, a 2.4 per cent increase is possible. This would mean a commuter would have to pay about two cents more on an average fare of about 80 cents. "

What formula they use? Formula17? (horhor...) How can there be an average fare of 80 cents when 80 cents IS the minimum fare?

And Adli was saying, that they're gonna rationalize the issue by saying that 'Singapore has the lowest transportation fare in the region'. And sure enough they did in today's daily.
"And taxi fares in Singapore are among the lowest in the world".

From my point of view, the consumers are paying for bad investment decisions by both SMRT and SBS-Transit. Why the hell would you want 2 train operators when the line don't even compete with the other anyway! In the end, makes no sense. One operator would have been able to provide the service at a lower cost, being able to spread out the fixed costs anyway. End of the day, bad decision for both SMRT and SBS-Transit with the whole debacle about having a competitive transport system by having 2 rail operators.

My dad speculated that they might say that the rise in prices is necessary because of the rising cost in fuel. He said, "It goes up when fuel prices go up, but it never goes down when fuel prices go down huh?" Sure enough, the article rationalized;
"price has gone up by 40 per cent from a year ago"

To which I said, "All the prices are going up. First movie tickets, then transport prices AGAIN. Why not wages go up instead for once huh?". Everything's going up, up, up. Singaporeans seem like such pushovers.

No wonder people are trying to cheat the EZ-Link system. (Not me ok!) I saw this nyonya getting up on bus number 147 off Serangoon interchange, which was quite busy, with plenty of passengers getting on and off. She quickly boarded the bus and hustled to the exit, and tapped her card at the exit while people were still getting off the bus. Then she sauntered to an empty seat and sat herself down with her stoic face. So devious this little nyonya. But I guess I don't blame her.

My take, if this really comes through, get yourself a pair of comfortable shoes and walk. Hmm... What about my trip to NUS? I was thinking I could save money by taking the free shuttle bus service to Turf City from Ang Mo Kio, and take 151 from there, which would probably cost me about a dollar! Haha... Extreme. Free shuttle service, must use mah. Never use, rugi leh! (Said in typical Singaporean fashion...)

And it sad, because for people like us, the youth, the labour force of the future, have no other alternative! Cars are too expensive, public transport getting pricier. It seems that I can only hang out at Turf City since there's a free shuttle there and back! Haha...

If not, its score 1 for the consumer (for thwarting the hike in prices) and 1 for the ~~depraved bourgeoisie~~ capitalists. Still, I can imagine Marx in the nether world mocking... "I told you so. I warned you about the capitalists..."

So it was comforting that CASE, ever the bastion for consumer rights, took a stand.
"The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said any rise will affect the bottom 20 per cent of income earners 'adversely'.

'Many of them are still out of jobs and are still trying to find ways and means to earn a living,' Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said, adding that the economy is just beginning to show signs of recovery.

Describing any fare hike now to be 'untimely', he noted that record profits posted by ComfortDelGro and SMRT 'should enable them to hold back the need for increases for the time being'.

'There is no urgency for the companies to adjust fares at this point in time,' Mr Seah said. "

Anyway, for your benefit, here's the full article:

___________________________________________________________________
Singapore:
SBS Transit confirms proposal for fare hike

Christopher Tan , SENIOR CORRESPONDENT 602 words 4 May 2005
Straits Times
English(c) 2005 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

It joins SMRT Corp in applying to raise bus, train fares; cab fares may be next
TRANSPORT operator SBS Transit has formally applied for an increase in bus and train fares, and now industry sources say that cab fares may be next to go up too.

After being coy with the media for the last few days over whether it would follow the lead of SMRT Corp in asking for a fare hike, SBS Transit yesterday confirmed that it had submitted an application to the Public Transport Council by the May 1 deadline.

It cited the same reasons as SMRT - higher operating costs - but hinted that senior citizens enjoying concession rates may not be affected.

The possibility of concessions for low-income groups, something which has not been tried here, was also suggested. But chief operating officer Ong Boon Leong was prepared to say only that SBS Transit has 'taken into consideration the poor and needy, families with school-going children and senior citizens'.

The last time bus and train fares rose was in 2002, when the country was still in a recession.
Under the formula which comes into effect this year, a 2.4 per cent increase is possible. This would mean a commuter would have to pay about two cents more on an average fare of about 80 cents.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said any rise will affect the bottom 20 per cent of income earners 'adversely'.

'Many of them are still out of jobs and are still trying to find ways and means to earn a living,' Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said, adding that the economy is just beginning to show signs of recovery.

Describing any fare hike now to be 'untimely', he noted that record profits posted by ComfortDelGro and SMRT 'should enable them to hold back the need for increases for the time being'.

'There is no urgency for the companies to adjust fares at this point in time,' Mr Seah said.
Case may have another fight on its hands, as The Straits Times understands that cab fares also look set to rise. The last time fares were adjusted was in 2000, when the meter turned faster for distance and booking charges for Sunday were introduced. The flag-down rate has been at $2.40 since 1994.

'To be honest, we've been studying ways on how we can raise taxi fares for some time now,' an industry source said. 'Diesel price has gone up by 40 per cent from a year ago. And taxi fares in Singapore are among the lowest in the world.'

Cabbies have also been complaining it is harder to make ends meet now because there are too many taxis on the road. The taxi population has risen by over 2,000 to about 21,500 since the industry was liberalised in 2003. Three new players started plying last year. At the same time, SMRT expanded its fleet by 1,000 to 3,000.

Cabby L.H. Chung, 57, said: 'Before 2004, a driver starting at 5am could cover his daily taxi rental of $90 by 11.30am. Today, he might need to drive till 2.30pm or so.'

Analysts say the taxi industry is waiting for ComfortDelGro to make the first move because it has more than three-quarters of the market. Mr Lim Jit Soon, research head at Citigroup Smith Barney, said: 'Any fare increase will have to be made first by the market leader. Otherwise, commuters can easily boycott taxis from the smaller companies.'

___________________________________________________________________

2005-05-04T09:10:00.000+08:00

Gonna have a super LONG day today. Though it's my last paper today, there are some sadistic forces out there intent to prolong my agony. No, they couldn't give an earlier paper could they? Make me suffer through the evening, having to sit through a 5-7 pm paper. Ah well, there is comfort in the knowing that it is open book, so that helps. I generally know what themes to cover and what's in the readings already. Furthermore 2 questions. But do not underestimate Jarman. I'm afraid her questions will be vague, so it will be tough to ascertain whether we are answering her question... Oh well.

Even though my exams end today, those similar depraved forces will not let me have an easier morning ahead, tomorrow as well. I have such a heavy burden off my back. I wish to get this burden which I have been carrying on my back for the past 1 and a half years OFF! From whichforth it shall be an asset... Haha. *pressure pressure pressure* I think I'll consider an early retirement from LIFE ITSELF if I manage to screw this one up again.

I'm groggy from the lack of sleep and hungry from the lack of food. Did I say I have a long day ahead of me?

I can't wait till tomorrow afternoon, if all goes well, I shall finally be at peace. Say *ommmmm*....

2005-04-30T21:24:00.000+08:00

I called Adli on his cell and ended up having a chat with his dad instead... He kept asking how I am... And I forgot to wish him Happy Birthday la! Dope!

Been resting a lot since my previous paper but still feel as tired as ever. Just can't wait to get the Sexuality paper off my shoulders. Not that the Work paper is going to be any easier with the SHITLOAD of readings for a level 2000 module but at least it's an open book. Just need to barf the whole Tracey Steele textbook right?

Not feeling too inspired for Work paper coz... she gave such an unjustifiable grade for my group term assignment even though there was impressive group dynamics! We had to review and analyse Kumar's article on 'Information Society'. But she criticized our work as focusing too much on the summary rather than the analysis. Hello, 90% of Kumar's article is an ANALYSIS of OTHER THEORISTS anyway! So we focused on the summary, and attempted to analyze his arguments which were rehashed analyses of other theorists anyway. SO UNFAIR.
I thought you only get a C+ if you...1. Produce a plagiarized piece2. Didn't put any effort WHATSOEVER3. Typed the assignment out in 30 minutesOr anything congruous to those mentioned above.

But, we put in so much effort in that, for it wasn't an easy article to handle, because the article presupposes that the reader has an advanced knowledge about all the theorists he mentioned. And to think our group was made up of an Hons student, two Year 3s, one Year 2 and one Year 1. ALL SOCI MAJORS CAN? Aaargh. I wish I could BITE her. MEAN. I mean, WHO THE HELL serves out C+s for a piece of work where effort is put in! Coz a C+ means that there was NO EFFORT... Aaarghh. *mutters a mean spell*... But I heard most didn't do well for that assignment anyways. She is such a meanie. I'm so glad I wrote a bad review about her. Which was OBJECTIVE ok.

Why? Coz her tutorials are so unproductive. I tell you what happens in tutorials. She splits us up into groups and makes us discuss the readings. And she leaves us at it for 2 hours, with minimum intervention. Very little attempt to advance our understanding. And then tutorial is over. She doesn't even discuss the readings as a class. TOTAL waste of time. Sheesh.
But her lectures are ok I guess. Though dry. But I hate her nonetheless. AArrgh. I wish I hadn't taken this module.

So with this C+ (which is the first C I've ever gotten for an assignment for Soci, coz here, as long as you really put in effort, an A- is attainable...) I may never realize my aim of getting all As for this semester.. sob sob. Up in smoke...
Coz Adli cut a deal with me saying that if I get all As for my exams, he'd actually let me go clubbing. (HE ACTUALLY SAID THAT)... Not that I want to go clubbing, but the thought that I could go... Haha.

Oh yeah, Adli just got an Accounting internship! Yaay! I'm so glad that this holidays, both of us will be pursuing our interests... And his workplace is just a stone's throw away from my Granny's house in Waterloo Street, so I can hang out there before meeting him.
Anyway, has anyone noticed more flies outdoors lately? Especially at night, there's a lot of those kinda flies that hover near lighting fixtures, like street lamps. And they're so irritating! Coz they get into your face and hair and clothes! One actually flew into my eye! That I actually had furore, waving my arms around frantically to get rid of them... Eugh, and there's so many of them!

Me and Adli hate them so much that we have started to avoid the places that we like to go. Like East Coast Park. There's just too many of them... We were sitting around Esplanade in the early evening, and there were flies hovering around us everywhere, especially around Adli's head. They actually formed a halo around his head, I swear! It so totally freaked me out coz the flies kept hovering over his head even after we've left the site about 400 metres! So we actually ran to outwit the flies. Ran really really super duper fast, and across the road, hoping to shake them off. Coz I was afraid it'll follow us all the way. While we were dashing across the road, I was hoping that traffic will kill them. Haha... Luckily they left us. Especially with the stinking hot and humid weather, going outdoors nowadays is not a pleasant experience at all...

Yeah, this was inspired when I read Shafaa's blog, about Najeeb being bitten by mosquitoes. I'm like that too. Whenever I'm outdoors, mosquitoes see me as a mobile blood donation drive and literally suck the life out of me. It's gotten so bad that I carry Mopiko around with me. Coz if I don't I'll start scratching all over like a pre-historic ape, which doesn't look all too *polite*. I wonder if they're attracted to me coz of my pheromones.

My favourite thing to do at home if mosquitoes start biting me is to cover up myself, everywhere except a part of my arm. To lure the mosquito into biting me. And when it lands, it better say it's prayers, coz *BAM* it's dead. Leaving a blob of MY blood presumably. I especially like to kill them when they're too engorged with my blood and too fat/heavy to fly. Gives me such a sense of satisfaction.

And the other day, I was eating my Burger Ramly from the pasar malam, and a mosquito was happily enjoying its dinner break on MY arm. It was so stuck there. But since I was holding my burger on my other hand, I asked Adli to help me whack it dead. Coz I was sure it wouldn't fly away coz it didn't even budge when my arm was moving around. And you know what he did? Imagine my HORROR when he just simple BLEW the godforsaken mosquito away. Instead of whacking it in the most Draconian fashion. I kicked up another brouhaha coz i hate seeing a mosquito flying off scott free. Sheesh.

Ok, till the next time a mosquito pisses me off...

2005-04-27T18:37:00.000+08:00

"The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows when
But I'm strong"

An inspirational song when the going gets tough?

Sheesh. I can imagine that song playing in my head tomorrow ad nauseum when I'm taking my Tourism paper at 9am in the morning... Dreaming of freedom... "I have a dream" ala Martin Luther King... Hmm... Or Martin Luther King singing that song to me.

I'm starting to get delusional, feeling Ally McBeal-ish, imagining things that shoudn't be there. This is what the educational system does to you. Sucks to me for being a conformist. I can't help wanting the goals and using the institutional means to obtain them.

I haven't slept properly in 3 days, considering I have 3 consecutive papers from Tuesday to Thursday, but I can hope for much rest, having the whole Fri-Mon to study for my Sexuality paper next Tuesday and Work paper on Wednesday which is open book anyway.

Which explains the delusional behaviour and incoherent speech. Also, by the end of exams, I wouldn't be surprised if I left the exam hall without my right hand, which unhinged itself after writing what, 13 essays in 8 hours altogether? I'm already prepared for that...

Notice the scabs, over exertion from writing...

I better press on with my Tourism readings, which is gets you quite jaded actually, with the same repetitive stuff appearing over and over and over.... Life Course and Aging paper took my life out of me...

2005-04-26T18:16:00.000+08:00

Deviance paper down, 4 more to go...

2005-04-21T12:23:00.000+08:00

Ready for my good news? OMG OMG OMG... I just received a call from a kind lady this afternoon, and she informed me that my internship with the XXXXX over the holidays is CONFIRMED! Wahoo!

There's someone whom I really really need to thank, because without his recommendation, I would have never known/gotten the internship in the first place! I gotta send him a fruit basket or something! YIKES!!!

Flamer back in da hood...

2005-04-17T17:56:00.000+08:00

The Flamer is back in the house! A very warm welcome to you! *Superficial grin*

2005-04-16T16:32:00.000+08:00

I wish I could torture you before I killed you K_ A_ R_!!!!

2005-04-15T23:44:00.000+08:00

I made 'keropok lekor' today FROM SCRATCH! Heehee. I guess it turned out alright. But next time, I shall mix in less flour and a bit more salt. Adli said it was nice (as usual)... Can't expect him to say not nice right? Wanna get bitch-slapped ah? Hee... =p.

Didn't take picture... Should have ah? Nemmind. Tmw. I still have some in the fridge. Shall fry tmw.

Actually the recipe called for 'ikan parang'. But I couldn't find them at the wet market and Sheng Siong. Should have gone earlier, yes yes. My mom loves to rip on me for going to the market too 'early'. Hey, I need my beauty sleep.

I guess it tasted alright, but there's room for improvement. It's surprisingly easy to make actually. You just need fish meat and sago flour. But the original ones you buy in Terrenganu is the best man. My mom bought some back last month from the holiday at Pulau Redang. Yummy! She should have bought more though.

Anyway, Adli's mom asked me for Rotiboy recipe! Ahakz... I feel so honoured. =p. It's coz I made some a while back, and I gave a bulk of it to Adli and his family, coz my family doesn't eat this sorta stuff. And she wants to try her hand at making it too. I'm sure hers will turn out nicer than mine, coz she's more patient, and she is a seasoned baker + she has a Baby Belling. Anyone with a Baby Belling bakes extra well! Hahaha...

2005-04-14T21:32:00.000+08:00

Had a bad dream last night. Dreamt about this guy, who used to like me, pursuing me relentlessly throughout the NTUC supermarket. Then I ran into 4 of Adli's friends, and I told them if they could hide me away from the 'stalker'.

And in the dream, I didn't want to tell Adli, coz I know he will scold me for being nice to this guy. Sheesh.

I woke up with an awful feeling. Felt quite tired, having been running through the supermarket! Hey, MY TURF. I happen to love supermarkets actually. But now, I cannot go into the supermarket unsupervised, coz I tend to spend more than I actually should. The other day, I was at Cold Storage with Adli and we were supposed to get Carrot Juice, and Adli had to keep reminding me that we're gonna get carrot juice and get out. Hmm... I tend to get carried away at supermarkets.

So I messaged him about my nightmare and sure enough, Adli reprimanded me saying that I dreamt of that guy because I've been thinking about him which is SO NOT TRUE.

Anyway, remember me griping about my deviant groupmates for my Sociology of Deviance? Well, my grpmates collected the project and we got an A+! Yippee! I'm happy, but its just that I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, coz the deviant grpmates got the A+ too for doing NOTHING. Aargh. Life's just not fair. Me and Ad put in a lot of effort for that one. So kudos to us!

2005-04-14T15:02:00.000+08:00

Nadia OUT! Yes finally! Told you Sideshow Bob needed his wig back.

2005-04-13T21:06:00.000+08:00

I was watching a a show on Channel 5, called 'Stress Out' or something, the one which Rosalind Pho is currently hosting. Poor girl. She had to host with a dead cat which had been washed and dried through a car wash on her head. I mean, her curly coiffure was so hideous, you have to see it to believe it! Seriously, I wish I had a picture to show you.

Talking about horrible coiffures, Nadia Turner is at it again. Come on Nadia, Sideshow Bob is asking for his wig back!

Look, they've even got the same grin! Ok, I'm mean... So bite me.

Do I look jaundiced yet? I've been getting an overload of carrot juice lately. They say if you take too much, your skin will actually take on an orangey shade! Amazing.

So, ran out of juice today, so since I was at Compass point, went down to Cold Storage and got more...

Yes, MORE carrot juice please! ~~Bleurghkz~~ YUM YUM!

Oh yes. And proper hydration can actually give your skin a dewy look? What's that? Hey, do a 2.4 run for me, and if that doesn't give your skin a dewy look, I don't know what will.

Ok, enough bitching.

I've been hanging out at my granny's the past few weekends and got to play with my little cousins. They're so cute!

This is one of my cousins. Not too sure about her name. Hey, not my fault! Parents nowadays like to christen their child with funky unpronouncable names as unpronouncable as the word unpronouncable. But if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say her name is Nurul Qaisarah. She has a brother named Irfan too, but I didn't snap his picture. But they're both very very cute little tykes, blessed with fair skin due to good genes from their parents I guess...

And this little rascal's name is Hafiz. Seriously, he fits the title 'Little Rascal' perfectly to a T! Ok, but a cute little rascal. All the stories his mother would tell us week after week. His teacher gave him a pack of Yakult because he'd been such a good boy, and he finished ALL of them before he reached home. Needless to say, he had a tummy upset from the overdose of lactobacillus acidophilus. Hey, I actually spelled that right. I should join the Spelling Bee.

Actually, the cake below is NOT his birthday! He actually took off the "Happy Birthday" thingy AND the candle and put it in his cake HIMSELF. And he felt soo happy about it. He loves birthdays. Any birthday for that matter, coz he loves the cake and the candles! Can't you tell?

Ok, ran out of smartass comments!

2005-04-12T16:01:00.000+08:00

Buy 4D. Any combinations of numbers for that matter. Coz I have actually started studying for my exams, 2 weeks ahead. Please, feel free to donate any of your winnings to me.

Coz I'm not like the creators of Azureus (a Java based Bittorrent Clinet) who remarked and I quote:

"Azureus is unfortunately the victim of its own success.Too many faithful and rejoicing users keep overwhelming the team with grateful messages, exotic postcards and rewarding donations... and please please keep your donations under €500. It's embarassing. Really."

Don't believe me? Check out their cached page: Azureus

So I guess there really is such thing as too much money huh?

(I just deleted a whole chunk of my post. Self-censorship. Didn't feel comfortable discussing torrents!)

I was watching the BBC earlier and I chanced upon one of their programmes. Those kinda Tech Magazine kinda programme, ClickOnline.

And they were featuring a cool feature with regard to Gmail account users.

Basically, this kind soul wrote a program, which let's you map your Gmail account into your computer's hard drive.

Imagine working on a term paper at home, and wanting to print it in school. Usually you save it in your e-mail if you're not one of the cushy kids who are willing to fork out 30+ for a half-decent thumbdrive, and open it up in school. Say in the humble abodes of the AS7 cluster. =p

Well, in this case, with the Gmail drive on your computer, it apparently saves you the trouble of logging into your email, and saving it in your email as an attachment. All you have to do is drag and drop the file into the drive. (The Gmail drive appears like how you see your C:/ , D:/ on "My Computer")

And when you're in school, you just have to log onto your Gmail account and voila! So this process saves you, I don't know, about what, 33.17 seconds? Hey, time is precious as a university student ok! ~~Look who's talking...~~

You can read about it on the BBC ClickOnline page under Webscape .

And here you can get the Gmail Drive Shell Extension

I guess this is still in it's early stages, but I shall try it out nevertheless! Oh, and why Gmail? Coz it provides 1GB of disk space, of course! (Your current email gives you what? 1mb? 5mb? And don't even mention the NUS email. Everytime I save a large document there, technical support loves to send me friendly emails saying that my account is 'over the limit'. Of course it's 'over the limit'. Coz you keep sending me more emails telling me my mailbox is 'over the limit' when it's clearly 'over the limit'. Gee... Thanks?

Gmail saved my life when I was doing my Tourism project with Adlina. Since, we were doing on Tourist Photography, there were a lot of images included in our paper and the size of the file was a whopping 12MB! Luckily me and Ad have Gmail accounts!

All uni students need Gmail accounts! I don't use it for email. Haha!I use it for storage!

Oh, did I mention, Gmail is still in its beta testing, so accounts are only via invite basis! And I have like what? 50 more invites? So if you ain't got one, I'll hook you up!

Oh yeah. I better send one to Adlina. Coz she's always having trouble with her NUS account and the Gmail wasn't really her account..

Ok, 49 invites left.

2005-04-11T00:27:00.000+08:00

Why does Blogger always go on the fritz whenever I feel the most inspired? Now, I’m actually using Microsoft Word to blog. And post it when Blogger is up and running again.

Anyways, I have realized that I’ve not been getting the proper nutrition that my body deserves which is not surprising since I eat junk all the time.

I eat out for most of my meals, and most of the time, I don’t eat healthily. Because, I have an obsession for all things fried! Practically every meal is fried something. Chicken rice (fried chicken), or a whole fried chicken set, or fried fish bee hoon soup. Fried wantons. Everything just tastes better when fried! Fried fish, fried eggs. Frying is the fastest, tastiest and easiest way to cook! It is gonna be hard to cut down on fried stuff for me.

Furthermore, other than consuming a lot of unhealthy meals, I don’t drink enough water. Usually I’d average about 3 glasses a day? One for every meal? Yes, yes, don’t remind me that we need 6-8 glasses a day blah blah blah. I’ve learnt the lesson the hard way ok? Just take a look at my breakouts. So I’ve deduced that I have bad skin due to poor diet, and also the lack of hydration.

Also…. I’m guilty of not taking my vegetables. You can’t blame me for being allergic can you? Ahakz! So obviously I’m not getting enough of my vitamin A-Z.

This probably explains why I get so easily irritable. If you don’t get enough of your vitamins, minerals and nutrients or whatever, this somehow translates into grouchiness.

So, today, I’m taking my first baby step to a better diet.

Let’s try to forget the fact that I ate 2 bowls of Mee Soto at my grandma’s place. And 2 glasses of coke.

So when I got home today, I made a zip for the supermarket, and bought Marigold’s Carrot Juice with Mixed Fruits (orange and apple). If this doesn’t give me my vitamins A and C I don’t know what will. I’m planning to overdose myself on beta-carotene. It’s apparently good for the eyes as well as the skin. This, I’m taking since there is NO WAY I can stomach my greens. So carrot juice would just have to do.

And to clean out my innards, I bought Nestum cereal. I heard on Oprah that oats and cereals are nature’s vacuum cleaner. Coz all this fibrous foods absorb all the toxins in your body and flushes them out. So bye bye toxins!

To go with my cereal, I bought soya bean milk. It’s yummy and is full of vitamins and minerals (supposedly).

Yup, So I had a glass of carrot juice with mixed fruits. Then I had my cereal with soya bean milk.

And also, I’ve resolved to drink more water.

Which I hate. Because I hate peeing. Especially when you’re out! I don’t like to drink water coz drinking makes you pee. And when you’re out, you wouldn’t know when you gotta go and where you can go. (Ladies would know the deal with public toilets. It’s a conspiracy. There is ALWAYS a queue. Why can’t the make the men’s room smaller and the ladies room bigger? It’s not like they gotta queue over there. Pfft.)

But, I gotta do what I gotta do. I drank like 4 glasses of water last night before I went to bed and you can only imagine the kind of sleep I got. I had to wake up every 2 hours because high tide la. Luckily the bathroom is near my room, or else I’d be a real grumpy person in the morning.

I’ve been thinking of going on a detox diet, in order to flush my system. NOT to lose weight ok. Look at me. I already look like a piece of dried anchovy. Which is why I am discouraged to go on a detox diet. It’s coz I don’t wanna lose anymore weight. If anything, I need to put on weight. My cellulites need to get off my prime real estate and find somewhere else to go.

Well, I hope my enthusiasm doesn’t suffer an early demise!

2005-04-09T12:12:00.000+08:00

Blogger pisses me off because I typed in a damn long intellectual entry reviewing some articles in the Straits Times, complete with the articles themselves adn the server decided to go to sleep.

So, forget about that.

Highlight of yesterday was Adlina messaging me saying that we've got an A for our tourism project!!! Yaay! First A of this term. 3 more papers to go, hope we did good. Coz all my term papers this sem are group project.

And what is the highlight of today? Well... Its the 9th again! So its our 32nd Munniversary! Yaay.. Happy 32nd Munniversary to us!

And we're gonna eat at Arnold's Fried Chicken at City Plaza! Yum yum... Ya ya, you'll say that it is so Malay of us to go and eat there. But you HAVE to try their fried chicken! The batter is so delectable and savoury, sooo crispy! And the meat is soooo tender! My mouth is watering just thinking about it... It's not like the TenderFresh chicken that you get at S-11. This is the best fried chicken I've ever tasted.

Don't believe me? Just ask the queue of people waiting outside for a seat!

Yes, people will queue just for a seat to eat there!

Oooh... I can't wait!!

2005-04-05T17:51:00.000+08:00

Rumour mill went overtime this week around NUS. I heard it from a friend thinking it was an urban legend and its actually true! About a guy professing his love for his beloved during her math lecture, with the lecturer as his 'partner in crime'. There's even the video as evidence! For those slow on the uptake, fret not... Checking out this link will speed you up...

http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2005/04/universally_lov.html

So I came up with a basic design for a new greeting card to sell to Hallmark. Could probably hit the stores next Valentine's Day...

hurhur.... Nice stick figure la.

2005-04-05T01:17:00.000+08:00

I have a coping mechanism for coping with sadness.

Listen to really sappy songs...

Why? Coz the bf refuses to meet me. Coz he wants to study for his exams. He refuses to meet me despite my desperate pleas. Despite us staying 15 minutes away from each other. So I haven't seen him in like 2 days. Sad sad sad.

So my new theme song is "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. Have been playing it the whole day ad nauseum. Which is a figure of speech coz its not nauseating me. Yet.

Was telling the bf I was listening to the song. And you know what he said? He said it was a techno song!

I nearly dropped a lung.

Get a load of that Hai-Ren... A joke that you can laugh for centuries to come. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a TECHNO song. Wahahaha!

That's like Eminem singing country...

And I need you now tonight

And I need you more than ever

And if you'll only hold me tight

We'll be holding on forever

And we'll only be making it right

Cause we'll never be wrong together

We can take it to the end of the line

Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time

I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark

We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

I really need you tonight

Forever's gonna start tonight

2005-04-03T22:08:00.000+08:00

My deviant groupmates seem to be wanting to redeem themselves. For that I'm glad.

I miss Adli so much. Didn't get to see him today coz Sunday is study day.

And it seems I'm banned from seeing him every other weekday as well, coz his exams are coming up and he's very worried. So he wants to go straight home and study. Well, he'll be home late anyways coz he finishes at 6 every other day. He and his stupid timetable.

And I usually don't see him on Mondays coz he finishes at 6 and goes to his aunt's house in Jurong to tutor his cousin. Then he stays overnight and goes to school the next morning at 8am.

Sigh. I hate the exam period. I don't hate the exams per se. It's just that I hate not seeing him. He's not like me. He REALLY takes the exams seriously and he needs serious mugging to pacify himself. I'm the happy-go-lucky sort to handles things as they come along.

I'm not in the studying mood yet, though most of my lectures are all done. Maybe after my deviance group presentation this Thursday, I'll find the mood to start studying.

Just need to remind myself that I BADLY need the grades for my Honours.

Actually, I'm overlooking the exams and looking forward towards the holidays. For work. I've already started applying for 4 jobs online. 2 says shortlisted and 2 says prescreened. whatever those mean but I hope they mean good. I need to earn some serious moolah. For whatever needs I have.

Like a serious wardrobe overhaul. Ya, I'm the kind who seldom goes shopping, and I only do them after I've earned some moolah during the holidays.

But I wish I had the money to go for the basic BITC (Baking Industry Training Centre) with my aunt. I really wanna do the basic course but it costs like $400+. *sob sob*.

But I'd rather spend that money on clearing my face. Hee!

So many needs, so many wants, but I lack the insitutionalized means to attain them. That means I'm suffering from anomie and Merton says I might turn criminal! Aaackz!

2005-04-03T03:01:00.000+08:00

I'm in love love love...

I can't believe it's almost 3 years on and I'm still ~~obsessed~~ besotted with him... *sigh*

2005-04-01T01:05:00.000+08:00

Finally, all my term papers are DONE.

Phew. 4 term papers all off my back.

Now left with my deviance tutorial presentation with my PGFH's (Project Groupmates From Hell)...

And I'm not counting on my luck to expect any changes in them.

2005-03-25T20:53:00.000+08:00

Ok, why haven't I been blogging? Well, project work has CONSUMED all of my energy, I didn't even have the mood to blog...

And so, I had group projects for Human Sexuality in Comparative Perspective and Sociology of Deviance.

Sociology of Deviance is the WORST FUCKED UP GROUP I've ever had to work with.

1) 'Some' people are just stupid.
They have brains less developed than prehistoric humans.
Example:
I asked a year 2 soci major to qualitatively interview a lesbian. And what did she give me? An interview transcript of a total of 1 page. ONE people! ONE PAGE! Are you dumb or what? What am I going to do with your fucked up piece of shit with little data? And she asked only three questions!!!

Mine and Adlina's transcript was like at least 8 pages long... EACH! And you know what? Since she didn't bother to do a proper interview for me, I also didn't bother to use her interview which was worthless anyway. I wish I was mean enough to post her interview here for you all to see.

Next...

I asked 2 people (One yr 3 Econs Major, another yr 1 with major undecided) to write a small part about religion as a social institution that deviantizes homosexuality in Singapore. Decided to let them do a relatively easy part since they're not Soci majors right? And what did I get? I think you have to see this for yourself.

"In every culture and society, we will always find religion and people who have a strong belief in omnipotent beings whom control the universe. The nature of man to want spirituality and a more profound answer to the meaning of their existence leads to existence of religion. From the mainstream religions of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism to the more obscure tribal animistic practices and the recent new age religions, we see this thirst and search for a purpose greater than ourselves. Religion is oftentimes more than just a ritualistic attendance of ceremonies or the conduction of rituals for the blessing of the supernatural being. It is a cause worth fighting for and a principle that their lives revolve around, something that is pursued with passion, zeal and utmost devotion."

(*my note: So LAY-Perspective... Where's the Sociology?)

!!! What? I asked you to tie up religious institutions in Singapore with respect to the deviantization of homosexuality in Singapore and you give me the Sociology of Religion? What SHIT IS THIS!!! Where's MUIS? Where's the NCSS? How can you bloody fuck give me this! Mind you, no citations AT ALL! Unless you count a quote from the Bible. Are you all, morons or what! Where are your references? Am I to believe you came up with all that shit yourself? Anyway, it was all IRRELEVANT ANYWAY! Only 1 line was relevant.

"Thus, the moral values and stands taken by the religious institutions are highly influential to the devotee and religious standards make up an important force that shapes the norms and values of society."

WOW!

I comforted myself, saying that these people were peobably dropped on their heads once too many times as a child.

2) 'Some' people have entirely NO sense of responsibility!
Well, the three people I mentioned up there? Deadline was on Monday 20th March and you know when they "conveniently" send their parts in? SUNDAY AFTERNOON GODDAMMNIT!!!!

How am I supposed to tell them to do a do-over? Well, I'm the kind of person, if you can't do something properly, I'd rather do it MYSELF!!!

TGFA! THANK GOD FOR ADLINA!!! She was the project's saving grace. Together, we pored countless valuable hours on the project. Without her, we wouldn't have made the project look at least half decent for submission. THANK YOU THANK YOU AD...

And thanks to this other girl named Nurulhuda. She helped out a lot as well. She even took the initiative to edit the part on religion, as well as meeting up on the deadline day to ensure prompt submission. Thank you thank you.

Yes, and the two 'religion' people didn't even care to ask about the project. Fuck you bastard and bitch. Shame on you. I hope you get groupmates from HELL too.

Words of advice:

1) Don't take Sociology for granted.

It is NOT as easy as you think, and it is NOT common-sensical knowledge. If anything, Sociology is NOT about common sense, rather we critique the lay perspective, and problematize meanings and the role of social institutions.

hence...

2) Don't bloody take a Sociology course if you're NOT a Soci major.

Why do I say this? Coz Non-Soci Majors do not fucking know how to write a term paper. This ain't GP thank you very much. When writing a paper, as much as writing any other in social sciences, you have to follow the scientific method!! Do your lit review! Cite your bloody references! You must know how the scientific methodology, collect your data, primary or secondary and ANALYZE your bloody data! ANALYSIS should be the word of the day for you guys man.

3) But if you're still not getting any and still wanna take a Soci module, follow advice number 2.

Yeah, that. And please be responsible to your group members! DO your work! Don't know how to do it... ASK! I have nothing against non-Soci majors taking Soci module. I myself have to take modules from other disciplines as well. But you have to be sensitized to each discipline's methods if you're ever gonna get far in NUS. I know of non-Soci majors who do jolly well in Soci. Why can't you people be like them. All you need is effort.

I'm gonna be a bitch and ask Dr Gana to make to do peer appraisals. Whatever grade that we're getting, I sure as hell don't want them to get the stupid grade. Coz they did NOTHING.

PHEW! Now I've got that off my chest. If I didn't, my blood vessel's gonna burst and I'd suffer neural damage. And suffer the same consequences as my moronic groupmates from HELL.

And you thought MALAYS were lazy?

2005-03-09T23:42:00.000+08:00

Happy 31st Munniversary to us!

2005-03-08T03:24:00.001+08:00

Its 3:22AM and you cannot believe what I just did.

I cleaned out my entire room! Aaack!

My closet, cupboard, drawers.

Coz the past few days I have been wondering. What if my heart really does give way, and that breath is my last breath?

I don't want my mom cleaning out my closet finding out my dirty little secrets. So, I cleaned everything out and tidied everything out. So it's all nice and neat. Back readings all 1 place, memorabilias all one place. *Heaves a sigh of relief* Coz I feel trememdously satisfied. Kinda got a high cleaning out my closet. That's so Monica! Cathartic really. Like I cleansed myself in the process of it.

So now, no more secrets! All nice and clean and tidy...

2005-03-08T03:24:00.000+08:00

2005-03-07T00:20:00.000+08:00

Thumbelina: Loving my Adobe PDF 7.0 says:
have i told u i hate grp projects?

Time flies when assignments are due!!!!! says:
tell me abt it

Time flies when assignments are due!!!!! says:
they should ban grp projects man

Word man...

2005-03-03T02:57:00.000+08:00

It's 3am in the morning, guess what I'm doing? I get a high trawling through resources and finding material for my projects! I love doing lit reviews!!!

2005-03-01T21:46:00.000+08:00

Yaay yaay yay... Guess what? I made a dedication on Love Songs on Class95 yesterday and I won a pair of movie passes to the preview of "In Good Company"!

I wouldn't want to put you all through my diabetically sweet winning dedication so I'll just spare you all huh?

Man, I miss my bf so damn much. I haven't seen him since Saturday when we went for our little picnic.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.*days go by and still I think of you...* I'm looking forward to Wednesday evening when we'll be REUNITED AGAIN! *starts singing Peaches and Herb's .... reunited and it feels so good... reunited coz we understood, there's one perfect fit and sugar this one is it, we both are so excited coz we're... reunited hey hey...*

*stupid me just hit the undo button once too many times and this post got shortened by half! Goondufart...*

Basically I was yakking about the tempura prawns I made for our picnic which was a crowd pleaser. By crowd I mean my mom and my bf.

And he requested for my Spaghetti with more more meat and lotsa lotsa Cheese just the way he likes it. Even da bao a packet for him to eat at home.

Tried Rotiboy and it was amazing beyond imagination. It's so soft and fluffy and melts in your mouth, and I love the coffee aroma! Waay better than Paparoti or Hero even.

Hungry hungry hungry!

Oh yah, my time in school feels like someone hit the mute button coz I've no one to yak with... Aww... suck it up will you?

2005-02-24T00:17:00.000+08:00

AAAAARRRRGGHHHH! I bloody need a course on Anger Management!!!!

WHY WHY WHY must he ALWAYS PISS ME OFF!!

He ALWAYS knows how to bloody piss me off and make my blood boil! Yeah, that's why I'm so skinny. Coz I'm so "makan hati" (literally means eat my heart)!