Post Exam Activities

Once the appalling examinations are over, I began on my Post-exam activities, starting with a chalet organized by Roy at SAF Holiday resort. It is a refreshing start to see some old friends and trying to know some new friends, whom I have not seen in real person before. It is embarrassing to admit that I tend to know and talk to people more on the internet than meeting the person out of my little Apple. Okie, I have digressed. Anyway, the chalet was not too bad, since I get to try my hand at Mahjong, and play Bridge, and talk with some very busy people. LOL. I took a walk at Tampines with Jon and KS the next day, and set foot into Uniqlo which was a total let down. I can only say that it is as overrated as Dai Yang Tian, and the only product that I recommend to buy are the boxers and trunks? Nevertheless, I quite like the experience at the Eastside, made me believe that I was in another place altogether, and it is quite a shopping haven all on its own.

I met up with HK, SY and Anli for dinner and Minds' Cafe, which was pretty fun, despite the cold which I caught, from having lack of sleep during the chalet. I had tissue by my side 24/7 that day. Good to know how they are now, regret not having more time to talk to them, maybe during CK's birthday party will I be able to catch up on HK's TW trip and SY's examinations.


And there was Clara's 21st Birthday celebration, at her place in Jurong East. Her home is cosy and neat, and I can easily concussed as I bury myself underneath loads of cushions in the living room. It is just lacking of a fireplace before it transform into a cottage. I had a wonderfully fun time with the Chemistry major friends, playing Asshole Big 2, to see who is a better card dealer (and that's WJ, who is the 1st generation of asshole, and apparently not so much for Huilin's unique snail style dealing) and we decided to stop when we finally overthrow the long-reigning king, Irwan. I enjoyed the sinfully tasty Botak Jones catering, as I gnawed into those beef burgers and sausages which made Gary go insane. On top of that, there was my favorite pineapple tarts. The celebrations ended when not more than 10 of us gathered to play 'Psychiatrist', which was a Q&A, digging people innermost secret, like taking electron from the innermost shell instead of the valence shell. (lamed)

The highlight for the week was having dinner at Hainan with CK (I got to eat Beef Stew!) and watching 'A Madwoman's Diary', which features Li Xie, whom I got to know from Dua Dai Ji. As I have predicted, the show talks about 2 women, each talking and enacting their own stories, like sharing woes and joys with the audience (it's a blackbox theatre production), while the political stuff (only at the end then CK told me that Li Xie was playing a politician. However, my conclusion that the argument from this play is pretty one-sided, weakly pointing out that people should not compromise easily to their circumstances and allow others to control them or else, it leads to undesirable misfortunes. I was touched by the goat's story, because of so much emotion built up before that scene, when I imagine how traumatized and pitiful a woman could feel, to give birth to a stillborn baby. I guess the way that part was portrayed was layered and easy to comprehend and feel uncomfortable with.

And then is Mothers' Day, and it began with a family dinner (zhu chao) at Jurong West, and then Karaoke session at Chervons. I was amazed by how well my sister can sing, and the way she hits the high notes, every song feels like Christmas carols. LOL. Sally was lucky, we made a spin at the Jackpot room and she won $500 from it, and hence she footed the bill for most of our expenses for that day, including pizza delivery treat at Sarpinos, karaoke and also paying for what I lost in the Jackpot room. They give out money in bulks and they eat money real fast. Alex and I lost $40 together in 10 min. Ka Ching! It all ends well with watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and having a little game of mahjong, which I got sponsored by Angela for this week's allowance.

And now, it is time to get to Jurong Point to X-men the Origins movie, which almost everyone who was interested have watched. All these before I settle down and start special semester.

Father and Daughter

After a jog around the neighbourhood, i was crossing the road to get to BPP and I saw this father holding the hand of his daughter, going in the same direction as me. Throughout the journey, both of them were talking really sweet stuff to each other. The dad was playing around, and trying to shake off the daughter hand and said," Don't want you, let go my hand, let go my hand.." and his daughter was holding tightly, she smiled and said,"Don't want, I love you." Young kids, innocent and very cute. Then they were playing alphabet game, when one says a letter, the other must come up with a word that begins with it. So the father started with 'X' and the smart daughter said 'xenophone' (well I bet all kids learn this when they are in kindergarten) Then she came up with 'Z' and told her dad that he cannot say 'Zebra' so the dad says 'Zoo' and laughed at her daughter while she was doing the 'eeyer' look. And her dad asked 'X' again and she tried to say 'Xenophone' but can't repeat already.. (I was tempted to say X-ray to her from the back =X) After thinking a while, she said 'X-ray' (telepathy haha) and her dad was taken aback. (okie.. after that reach BPP le.. So I din follow up.. lol)

Hidden agenda, go see how my sis is doing for her job. My second time doing 'spotcheck' le. Din really want to go and approach her, and I shyly stood around and observe her. Then I bought my dinner and left for home.

Backpost

Taste aside, simple yet meaningful dinner, cooked with lots of love and a little struggle (hehe). This is not something that can be bought by money or anything in the world. I am fortunate and blessed enough to be able to have this.

By the way, every time I mention that it has been a while since I last blogged, and every time I say that, and I have lost track of how precious time has been spent away. I assumed that most of it went into lesson time and revision time for mid term test, which the weird thing is that I am still having mid term tests 2 weeks after the mid term break! I'm not complaining, since there is ample time to revise.

By the way, I've been to Jason Mraz' concert and it was awesome! I am a part-time fan who only have listened to some of his songs and hence some of the songs that he performed during the gig was rather new and never fail to amaze me. A track like 'Mr curiosity' kept me memerized by his wide vocal range, a while ago he was lively and dancing to his upbeat songs, a while later his voice was sexy and appealing (but now I think CM2132 prof has a sexier voice)

Khoon, We're proud of you!

On Friday night, CK, Sy and I overcame the almost endless flights of stairs to Old school, for the Random Blends exhibition by the department for New Media NUS, where we were greeted with loads of Khoon's photos on almost every wall. His work looks good, with a great blend of colors representing the societies, and his expressions, about the different emotions that one may have, which are all intertwine with each other. At the end of the day, we are trying to find out in reality, which is the real us? So we had an enjoyable time, looking at many artistic shots.
A closer look at the work
Okie.. we need to camwhore.
Khoon explaining to the guest what his work is about.
Group shot (ASH)

Set you thinking.

This weekend has been eventful and fruitful. First, I went for a play called 'dua dai ji' which talks about big news that happened in Singapore that concerns the lives of the masses. And yes indeed, when the play touched upon the topic of foreign talents, i found this very familiar as I can feel the pressure and the seriousness from this matter, especially being a NUS student and is often surrounded and feeling threatened by their presence in school. However, I soon realised that this was unavoidable, even though some of us don't like it, as we felt that our territory has been invaded. Looking on the bright side, the locals should seize this opportunity to learn from the foreign talents and to become stronger and better to meet the standards to be able to fight with the talents, instead of letting things happen as it is. In no time, this place that we call home will no longer be home to the locals.

On the other hand, I do agree with CK that this place has been made too easy for people to adapt, to the extent that we are rather spoon-fed and will be easier contented with where we are and what we have. With this type of mentality, it will restrict us from thinking what is the 'should have been' but just stay at what has happened. As a result, anyone will have no problem settling in Singapore, and getting citizenship here. All and all, in the past we had merger, which was an affair between 2 nations. And now, although we are independent, merger is still around, just that it was secretly hiding, the merger of the people from different lands.

And for today, i caught 'The curious case of Benjamin Buttons' with CK. It was a long movie that wasn't boring. It contains many parts of Benjamin's lives and how he has grown from an old baby to a young boy again. Well, I think it is intriguing as I was trying to apprehend how the characters in the show felt at a certain point during the show. For example, how Benjamin felt when he knows that Thomas was his father. I was touched by the scene where he brought his dad to view the sunrise. Life is imperfect, and full of regrets from mistakes made. And even for Thomas, it was that he shouldn't have given his son away. And so i guessed that the reason why Benjamin was being kind to his father was to remove some of the burden that his dad was carrying, to make him feel better also. And in life, everyone has their own roles to play and never should one feel awkward or doubtful about themselves, and should be able to accept what they are given with. As the saying goes," you can't escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading today". I'm sure this show and taught me something valuable.



This is a song that reminds one of the good and bad times of his or her past. I think these memories are here to stay, we learn from mistakes and remember the precious moments, for they mould us into who and what we are today. To me, the past is important as a guide to remind oneself of finding his or her true self, direction and purpose in life. Everyone has his or her stories right? =)



A meaning song. The lyrics tell the story of an old man, thinking about his past, and how his life passed him by in a flash. Treasure what we have.

我坐在床前
望着窗外回忆满天
生命是华丽错觉
时间是贼偷走一切
七岁的那一年
抓住那只蝉
以为能抓住夏天
十七岁的那年
吻过他的脸
就以为和他能永远
有没有那麽一个世界
永远不天黑
星星太阳万物都
听我的指挥
月亮不忙着圆缺
春天不走远
树梢紧紧拥抱着树叶
有谁能听见

有没有那麽一朵玫瑰
永远不凋谢
永远骄傲和完美
永远不妥协
为何人生最後会像
一张纸屑
还不如一片花瓣
曾经鲜艳

有没有那麽一张书签
停止那一天
最单纯的笑脸和
最美那一年
书包里面装满了
蛋糕和汽水
双眼只有无猜和无邪
让我们无法无天

有没有那麽一首诗篇
找不到句点
青春永远定居在
我们的岁月
男孩和女孩都有
吉他和舞鞋
笑忘人间的苦痛
只有甜美

有没有那麽一个明天
重头活一遍
让我再次感受
曾挥霍的昨天
无论生存或生活
我都不浪费
不让故事这麽的後悔
有谁能听见
我不要告别
我坐在床前
看着指尖已经如烟

Let's Go Shopping

Heard from MJ that once the economy ain't doing well, fellow citizens will think that it is high time to save and scrimp, hence decided to buy only necessary stuff and not objects of one's desires. This phenomena, on the surface helps one to save some reserves for rainy days but will not only bring the economy down even faster but also closer to recession. As people stop spending, the companies (especially MNCs) will then decide not to invest so much and pump in less money into the distinguished market of the country. And the best way to cut losses is by retrenchment and then people lose jobs. Therefore, during such times, it is highly encouraged for people to go shopping. (Does this make impulsive shoppers feel better about their actions? This is some glorifying moment whereby shoppers save the economy! =P )

Enough of the fair share of crap/fact, I went shopping with the slut (okie.. my bestie) yesterday, and we went from city hall to the flyer for dinner and then to bugis where I got my good buys from. Here are some photos we took along the way.

赤壁之感想

为小乔捏了一把又一把的冷汗。
不禁对曹操的威严，魄力敬佩。
诸葛孔明的才智过人，一个充满幽默感的英雄。
流汗的乌龟和挡箭稻草兄实在太抢戏了！
周瑜边骑马边接弓箭时帅呆了。
胖猪让我有很深的印象，就算再倔强，野蛮，好胜的人，都会有脆弱的一面。面对着饭桶的离去，她也无可奈何，只能责怪这无情，残酷的战火。

人都有自己想要保护的东西，见仁见智，因人而异。

来自家人的快乐

What a time to share my happiness. Right.

After a tired session of Kbox with Sy and khoon (the tiring part is to sing a series of fast songs with chunky lyrics such as 'womanizer' and 'that's not my name'), I got a call from my sister about family dinner at 三盅两件. I was thinking, "what! You guys are going there again so soon? Now what's the big occasion?" But soon after, I realize I feel happier than being curious about why the sudden change in the stuffs that we do. And as soon as I arrived, the dishes came and we were ready to eat. It has been a while since the whole family gets to eat together in the restaurant. I can recall when my sis and I were still young, we enjoy going to Palm Beach for seafood with our parents. So it has really been some time before this starts again. Probably because we are starting to lose some of the financial burden and so dad has some spare cash to spare.

We went shopping for an hour or so before we leave for home. The following is the dialogue i remember as we were approaching esprit.. (it is to see how contradictory my mum always get)

Me: 我要去esprit。我要看雨伞。
Dad：那个“那里那里”有卖很多种雨伞。。。
Mum: 你的坏了meh?
Me: 对咯。我要买新的了。
Mum: esprit 不是很贵吗？
Me: 可是它可以auto push button 开关。

So we went into the shop and I looked at the umbrella.

Me: 很好用。可是很贵。
Mum: 买咯。当作你用两支伞的钱买一支伞咯。（what? I thought you just told me that it is ex?)
(Dad open his waist pouch and handed me 50 bucks)

And hence, I got my umbrella. Anyway my mum has such a terrible sore throat till she cant speak well. So when she was buying a bag, my sis and I were looking at something else. When she tries to call us, we heard some weird voice from the back. Out of curiosity we turned around and realized that it was our mother. (i let out a 是她哦 and my sis heard it and we were laughing badly at the mall)

After that, I bought some durian puffs and my dad say my mum cannot eat. However my mum says again, “吃一点不用紧的。”

Okie.. now i sound like I am bitching about my mum. No lah, I am just glad that we have a proper family dinner and this sunday we are going to Johor for seafood. =)


Oh ya.. A picture of my sis and I, I really think that my sis is beautiful and what she needs is just to lose some weight =)

春天的呐喊

虽然算是个免费的演唱会，但我还是能感觉到五月天的摇滚精神和对音乐的信念与执柞。一场两个小时多的演唱会，穿插了许多脍炙人口的新旧歌曲，像程搭通往快乐的时光机一般，走过五月天的过去，现在和期待无法预知的未来。《突然好想你》让我感动不已。随着简单的旋律，唱着带着心酸的歌词，6千人的ktv场景，颇为有feel。丁当的《猜不透》，带来听觉上的享受。《笑望歌》和《垃圾车》唱出朋友之间无法取代的关系，也只有朋友能够忍受自己的坏，在适当的时候提醒叮咛。经典的《志明与春娇》和《温柔》牵伴着歌迷的心。《出头天》是五月天对大家的祝福，期望每个人的出头天指日可待。

天下没有不散的宴席，可惜8月29日我人已在美国，不然一定会到场支持五月天的售票演唱会。

傻傻的

Woke up quite late today due to 2 consecutively nights with lack of sleep. Went off to grandma's place to pass the gifts I bought from China and also played mahjong (been itching to play for quite some time) Quite glad that grandma is delighted and beaming with joy when she saw the gift. Moments like these are worth almost anything. Had a light dinner and watched AUSTRALIA.

Expected it to be a long movie but not that long, probably because of the long advertisement before the movie. However, I guess the movie makes AUSTRALIA an attractive and mysterious place. Was exclaiming how beautiful the scenes are and this has always been no.1 on the list of places I'wud love to visit. I was wondering, probably both Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman are Aussie and so they were chosen to act in this movie, and this movie has gave me a different side of Hugh Jackman, that instead of his huge muscular body and the rage he has always been carrying since X-men, he can act in a sentimental and romantic set. On the other hand, Nicole just 'wow' me with how nice her clothes are and how she can appear perfectly well in the show. (The role is a bit bimbotic I guess)

Sadistic that I may be, I was laughing my heart out when the kangar that Nicole was admiring got shot. =X

我不会再傻傻了。 =)

我是 Veron (Oink)

This is the favorite line of the day. Since I have just ended my examination today, I try to plan many programs with friends and family before I go on my China trip. As for today, it is dinner with Pathos group at Settlers' cafe. Thank goodness, we are their first customer despite Man jun for being late for half an hour and that we did not make any reservation. On the way, we were talking about how the examinations are; I feel good that I have been able to relate to them since I am the senior and have been thru' what they have been thru' this semester. Hence, I can tell them my experience, things to watch out for and stuffs like that. And we were commenting about Man Jun being 慢 for everything, since it is already part of her name. This is not her first time late for meet up although Belle reminded her yesterday. Throughout the games, we found that she is slow for quite a bit of things. Another fact is that veron is actually a pig. We played snorata, where each of us has an animal and have to think of a nice name/sound for it. And Jun min actually got a pig and named it "我是 veron". Well, since the name is funny and so easy to remember, Jun min ended up as the loser of the name. It was quite hilarious when we call out "我是 Veron" every now and then during the game.

Well, i truly enjoyed myself and it made me realise one thing. I did want to come out of the hermit crab's shell, and I needed some confidence and effort to organise such outings so that I can stay in touch with friends.

Anyway, didn't want to talk much about examinations because the pressure is there to maintain my CAP but over is over, and that I shouldn't worry about it and see how it goes then. Holidays just started and I already see that I have lots to accomplish, like settling my SEP administration matters and to pack for the trip, and I have yet changed rmb! *yawns* this sucks..

Now, back to 家好月圆.. =]

我海角了

Still have some parts which I don't understand like how come Tomoko fell in love so suddenly with xiao Fan and why the bed scene just happen so abruptly and ended so suddenly too. How is the the grandma and the tin box related to the main characters in the show? And why do we see so little of Shino and Pei Zhen? So many questions!

However, i love the scenes, the greens and the hills. Taiwan indeed is a beautiful place, one of my favorites to visit again and again, culture rich and colorful scenery.

Anyway, we celebrated Chin wei's birthday! So now i am the only one who is still rightfully 21 in the clique, how i love to be 21 every year, not too old for new things and to be adventurous and yet not too young to have a say in what I want, and my freedom of choice. Had lunch at Crystal jade and gave him the sweetest birthday ever after having desserts at Swensens. He could not finish his dessert at all because it was far too sweet! I wish the few of us could have more chance of going out together, chilling, and not have studies talk when we see each other. Alright, time to kill the books.

Terlambat

Spend my weekend with my relatives, had fun and a tiny little bit of guilt for abandoning my beloved clayden (it is an organic chemistry textbook of 5-6cm thickness). We played mahjong and had brunch at 鼎泰丰 @ Paragon at around 10 plus in the morning. After that we went to the marina barrage for sightseeing and took quite a bit of photos of the place and camwhored too. We hit the mahjong table again and awaits for dinner. Grandma cooked curry chicken and vietnamese rice paper roll. Yum Yum. *pat on protruding tummy* And we watched the 45th anniversary show on television. I teared a bit, mixed feelings, joy and also sadness. Joy for how television has impacted my life so much, and I can remember many characters on stage, recall back what happened back then when I was still watching the show. I was touched by how some of the artistes dedicated their lives into showbiz, burning themselves (especially the older generation who have aged alot, or some who has already passed on) for the benefits of the masses. (Of course some are stuck up and proud of themselves for having nothing.) And look at the time! I am still online writing this. I ought to be sleeping. Gonna do some hardcore s.... studying tomorrow morning!

Keeps getting better

Went for dinner with the bi2 group at lucky plaza, it was so embarrassing to mention that we are ibu fanny's students and ask for some discount, without even knowing if they knew her. And it was quite annoying when the crew refused to talk to us in BI and replied using english even when we spoke in BI. The turnout was good, there were altogether 6 of us. Maybe because peter was among us, we were talking about issues that were much more interesting like gender issues, perceptions of love and also sexual orientation. Realise that the group of us were pretty open about these stuff, and we could imagine if some other people were with us, they might not have accepted what we were talking about. Perhaps the hottest issue of the day was SPG, as we spotted many and very much wanted to force janice to be one also.

The group of us actually went into the condom shop to visit and see what are the things sold there, and were amazed by how well decorated the place was and guess what.. a set of skimpy firewoman suit cost nearly 200 bucks. There were a wide array of condoms and lube too, packaged like sweets (I really thought they were until danny told me what they actually are) and we sort of see some homo couples in the shop. After the visit, we went on to acid bar but the places there were crowded. So we decided to go to Clarke Quay via kenny's car.. Woots, super comfortable, and we were enjoying interrogation of peter and talking about a lot of things that can't be talked about in public. In the end, we ended up in a Persian restaurant.. ordered a scoop of ice cream that tasted really special, 2 small pieces of bava clava which has the size of kueh lapis, and danny ordered a drink.. The bill came up to 35 bucks, it is a cut throat! But the belly dancer and the spg couple were a plus point, especially when we were trying to figure out if the spg's boobs were real and admiring how gorgeous her boyfriend was.

Hope exams finish soon and the group of us can meet up again. It was a cooL outing!