Flashbacks of November

Because of a very bad examination schedule this semester, I diligently started studying earlier than ever for the papers (which still isn't early but this doesn't mean that the exams still went well =(). Therefore I haven't been blogging nicely.

Nevertheless, I still want to blog. So sit back, relax, and let me share what happened to me the last few weeks =)

Stop here if you need to mug.


/08 11 2007 Thursday Deepavali Part 1/
Met up with the seven of us except Jing Yi for a meal at Whitesands. Since the shopping mall has been revamped there are more things that we can do there now. =)

So we ate at Xin Wang and celebrated Hui Ying's and Shi Hui's birthdays.

My Hong Kong minced pork noodle. Mmm.

The mango cake which Annie got

/08 11 2007 Thursday Deepavali Part 1/
This afternoon Ethan was breathing weirdly and it scared me so I forced my parents to bring him to the doctor and so my dad drove us to the clinic. Nothing really wrong, just some mucus that was blocking his nostrils.

On the way back in the car, I saw a nice moment for me to take a shot of Ethan.


See him? =)


/11 11 2007 Sunday/
The last time I talked about the lion felt plush that I haven't got from Kimberly. Anyway, I transferred the photo to my phone and made it my wallpaper (it still is!) and I think it has a nice effect to it. I like the way it looks on my phone.


Nice right? Or at least I think so.


/15 11 2007 Thursday/
Was at the Medical/Science Library studying with a handful of band people. And Daniel Kang snuggled in his very comfortable jacket.



/16 11 2007 Friday/
A few days ago I heard from Maria that her friend told her that Maria was spotted in a poster somewhere at University Hall. And then I went to take a look since my dad drove me to school and I asked him to drive me to take a look. It wasn't a poster/banner. It was a billboard.


And Annie's face was on it too. Other than the both of them, Debre, Evelyn, Chin Fung, Jay and Weiling whose face was fortunately blocked by Maria's raised arm, were on the billboard too. I was thankfully cropped from the picture, you can see me, I'm the one behind Annie with the white cap. Thank juicy goodness. And Wilson was right beside Annie and he got cropped too. He was very relieved.

Because Annie is always conscious about the size of her face, I just had to purposely poke fun at her as you can see in the photo =P

This scene was taken during Rag Day earlier in August, when we were screaming those FoS cheers. We saw the cameraman taking photos of us but somehow we didn't think too much.

If you're asking, this billboard is there for NUS to show support to the local Youth Olympics Committee or something, to win the bid for the YO to be held in Singapore in 2010. Therefore, the billboard may be there for two years. Juicy goodness.

Check out the billboard at the bus-stop opposite University Hall.


/17 11 2007 Saturday/
Played with the panorama function in my phone at home. You can see a 180 degrees view of my living room.


I suggest you blow the photo up.


/18 11 2007 Sunday Part 1/
Ethan is turning a month old on the coming Thursday, and so by Chinese tradition his parents are to buy those kind of cakes and pastries and send it to their relatives. My parents and I helped to send for the relatives on our side. Dad planned the driving route (and send me to school along the way as well), and we set off. I took a look at the boxes of 'yummy treats' inside a box before we set off. Here's what you should've got if you were my relative. My sister ordered from Choz Confectionary. I think it is over-rated, don't get your cakes from there.



Inside there were two fruit tarts which I think tasted horrible. Because there weren't custard filling and the entire piece was rather dry and un-tasty. Two ang ku kuehs, two glutinous rice cubes and two red eggs - I didn't get to eat any of them. The cake was so-so.


On the way we hit the ECP and I finally get to see the Singapore Flyer during day time and happily pressed the shutter.




/18 11 2007 Sunday Part 2/
Samuel performed at Holland V today, I went for the performance with Annie, Andy, Debre and Ismy. There were three bands which performed that night, with Samuel's band in the middle. I wasn't expecting much, just rather thrilled that it is the first time I'll watch Samuel perform onstage.

And so I was amazed by the kinds of guitars he has (perhaps I just don't know how crazy he is about guitars). The moment he flashed out his guitar I was like, woah, I don't remember seeing a guitar model like this before!

Really flashy.

One of the members sarcastically commented it to be a Siamese-twin guitar -_-. It's called a double-necked guitar from what Samuel told me.

From left: me, Ismy, Samuel the guitarist, Annie, Debre, Andy the beanie-ist

We got Merci chocolate from Samuel. Coincidentally there was a shooting star shaped box, so I happily chose it. He was the star of the night anyway =D Samuel learnt French in school and I asked him a while ago how to pronounce merci, which means thank you in French. I don't know how to tell you how to pronounce it accurately, but when you say it fast, it sounds like 'messy'. So don't trust the ad that tells you 'Mercccyyyyyyy I know means saying thanks'. They don't pronounce it properly.

You-won't-know and I Samuel and his cool guitar Oh, and Samuel had a solo that night =D

/20 11 2007 Monday/
The boredom of studying has caught up with me too soon. I entertained myself my writing notes in someone else's name.


You may want to guess who D.K. is, he was mentioned in this post.

I happily threw it on Khee Nguen's desk in the library.

More paronama fun.


Extras:
There are four digicams at home, three Olympus and one Fujifilm. My brother has one, but his recently his friend damaged it and my brother being himself never asked his friend to pay for the damages. So the camera is gathering dust on his shelf. My dad has two, he bought the Olympus one many years ago and I still think it's quite a good camera. Though only 4.0 megapixels. It has a 10x optical zoom which is the power. 4x digital zoom but that doesn't really bother me. The Fuji was picked up in his taxi months ago, but the owner never notified him and he didn't see any bulletin from the company regarding it. Some time later it became ours -_- Sorry. Ah, the camera is at least better-to-use than my own Olympus simply because of the shutter speed. The retarded speed of my camera is really costing me my Kodak moments. That's why I don't really like to use my camera, the slow shutter speed is blurring a lot of my photos when I don't use flash. And another thing which makes me dislike my camera further is that someone dropped it and it suffered scratches and a cracked card-and-battery cover.

So I guess I'll get my own camera soon =P And it better has a good shutter speed and a panorama function. Meanwhile I try to be able to take photos totally horizontally.


/21 11 2007 Wednesday/
My folks and my sister's husband and in-laws met up for dinner at the Fortunate Restaurant to celebrate Ethan's first month on this (terrible) world.

Ah, panorama play. From left: yours truly, mum, sis, bro-in-law, his mum. I don't like her. =P


Ah Nan was there to host a show. But the crowd was very pathetic actually.



/22 11 2007 Thursday/
Today is Khee Nguen's birthday, and we had a surprise for him. How surprising. Hui Shan asked Rong Chen to save four apple crumbles from Spinelli for us so as to have a tiny celebration for KN.

The four apple crumbles. Dan's apple crumble crumbled (top right)

D.K. and KN

They're holding on to a card I drew in probably about ten minutes? And I wrote some very mushy message inside and signed off as Donkey Kong (affectionately known as D.K.). I can't remember what stuff I wrote inside, but I was very amused as I wrote. KN said it really sounded like a love letter. Whahahah! Great. I've never written such things for my exs and I think I'm terrific at making up love letters. Which isn't really a good thing especially when I don't mean it. Whatever~

HS and KN

I realised I didn't take any pic with KN. Never mind!

Wait. I did. Where's the group photo?! KHEE NGUEN!!!

Close up of one of the treats

/24 11 2007 Saturday/

It was always quite difficult to get dinner in school on Saturdays and Sundays. So D.K. called up California Pizza 6-241-0-241! Hawaiian and seafood =) Shared among HS, D.K., Prof Phua and me.

There was this cat which was obviously hungry. Prof Phua fed it with a tiny chunk of pizza and I bet the cat was damn happy. It climbed trees afterwards. Serious.


Panorama play.

/26 11 2007 Monday/ I had to write two sets of help sheets for my exams which are usually time-consuming and sometimes no use at all. I was so sick of writing the 3rd help sheet, I entertained myself (again).

Have a good lesson on help sheeting making.

How to make a help sheet

1. Prepare:

• a few pieces of paper, sized according to examination standards;
  
• a ruler;
• a pencil;
• a few pens of different colours, depending on your choice;
• a highlighter;
• an eraser;
• correction fluid/correction tape.

I shall demonstrate with an A4-sized paper.

2. Fold the paper in half.


3. Fold the sides of the paper back towards the centre fold and you will get four partitions.


4. Lay the paper flat against the surface of the table, and draw lines using the pencil along the folds.

Now you can start writing!

5. Start by writing (in a very small font size) the name of the topic in a colour, then using a different colour, write the formula or theorems that you wish to take note. Separate each theory/corollary/lemma/whatever accordingly, with a horizontal line.



6. Highlight keywords so you can spot them easily during your examination, without the need to scan for the keyword.

7. After every topic, bold the horizontal line.


8. The help sheet is almost done. Once done, you can fold them and you'll find that you can hold on to your help sheet handily. (It is actually quite difficult to hold the sheet as an A4 as it is too big) Simply flip to the partition that contains what you need, tuck the rest of the parts in and refer!


9. Now you are done =) Remember to write on both sides and good luck to your future endeavours!

-_-

~~~~~

Thank you for reading, hope you had a good time. Whahaha.

Have you Ethan-ed?

Ethan turns a month old!

Supposedly tomorrow I think. So we're gonna have some kind of celebration tonight at a restaurant.

So fast. And he's not going to spend the next month at my place, my sister just brought him back to her place. I don't know if I'll miss him, but for now, thank goodness there's no more wailing at home as I need to study.

Staying at home todaaaay.

But there are some upgrading works going on...

Grrrrr

I am so screwed.

I thought there'd be a good outcome.

ARGH.

I hate school.

I need and want to keep my spirits up.

Felt power

I was doing my once-in-a-while blog-hopping when I came across my MJCSB tuba junior Kimberly's blog.

Was reading and reading till a picture caught my eye.


So cute right??!!

It's done by her sister. I'm wondering if she has a website so that I can look at everything. Heh heh. Or better, if I can buy the lion one! I don't know for what use though, but it's some of the stuff that I buy and that can make me happy. And it's hand-made. And especially it's a lion! I'm curious about how the stitching is done as well.

You can go to Kim's blog and look at the rabbit one =)

皮肤问题多多

Since young I've been having problems with my skin, i.e., I have infections on my limbs/face and everytime they look like an erupting volcano. No la, that's just an exaggeration.

The last time I had such a problem was in September, there was a cyst on my forehead and I had to visit the doctor. 'Cos of the lack of fats on my forehead, the cyst was pretty obvious and I had to hide it with my fringe.

This time, merely less than two months later, was on my right cheek. I just visited the doctor this late morning. However, this time the cyst felt like it was bigger but thanks to the fleshy cheeks of mine, the cyst isn't that obvious. Still, I didn't have the mood to go out or anything. =(

The doctor of the clinic near my place was a certified dermatologist so I expected good consultation and good medicine. I think he actually didn't look at my skin properly, 'cos when I used the facial wash my skin felt dry. =( It was a soap-based wash. And also, he didn't comment a lot. I like doctors who tell me lots and lots of stuff. Never mind, all will be well after this ordeal.

Char siew fried rice

Ah, I was the chef today! Haha. 'Cos my mum has been busy with confinement dishes for my sister, sometimes when I look like I'm free my mum will pester me to make a simple dinner for myself and her and my dad so that she won't have to cook so much.

As for dinner today, my mum said she'll be fine with just fried rice and since there was char siew at home, I could add that to the rice as well. So she shredded the char siew and left it somewhere near the stove. When I wanted to start cooking, I found that the plate of char siew was in my way. Then I put it to the other side of the kitchen to make some space for myself.

Happily I cooked, added ingredients and condiments etc, and yeay I cooked good fried rice (as usual, whaha). Smelled and tasted great. The fragrance, you know.

And then guess what? I made char siew fried rice, without char siew -_-

I forgot about the char siew 'cos I didn't see it.

'Auntie!! Char siew peng, mai char siew~!'

Yesterday

Monday Baby blues.

I can't really remember the events clearly, but here's the gist of what happened yesterday.

I reached home and was chatting with my mum when she told my dad to check on the “心肝宝贝(precious)” in the room. Then I looked at her and told her, “阿豆的心肝宝贝是我哦！(I'm dad's precious)” That's how I call my dad, by the way. And if you don't know yet, I'm the youngest in my family (if you don't count my nephew in haha). So I was sort of, always the 宝贝(precious) at home. =P Very spoilt brat, I know. Heh.

Then after that my mum was telling my dad about the day's happenings to Ethan (my nephew). And she was like “小的今天...(Today the small one)” I had to look at her again hahahahaha. I was like, “好咯！现在最小的不是我了咯！宝贝也不是我了咯！(OK lo! Now I'm not the 'small one' already lo! I'm also not the precious already!)” Whahaha.

I'm rather spoilt. Whahhahahaa. I'm the whiny one at home!

But while I've been whining I believe I've been doing a good job at looking after Ethan whenever I can. (read: maternal instincts) When my sister (his mum, duh) carried him, he'll wail and wail and wail and then I'll go to her and bring him into my arms, play with him a bit, and he'll keep quiet! Muahahahhahaha.

There are more nicknames I have for him already. All because he's Ethan. Here goes.

Have you Ethan-ed (eaten)?
吃包了(eaten)
Ethanol (and ethanoic acid and ethane and ethene and so on so forth)
First-grade egg ("一等蛋" sounds like Ethan Tan)

Oh, and I was feeding him (via milk bottle) yesterday. So I was carrying him with my left arm while his butt and legs were resting on my lap. While he was sucking away, I felt some weird sensation on my thigh but I supposed it was just getting hotter because Ethan was sitting there. After that, it began to feel wet. Well, now you know.


Sigh.

Symphony No. 3

I've been listening to Johan de Meij's Symphony No. 3 - Planet Earth for the umpteenth time already. Acquired taste - now I like it a lot.

So I hope we'll be able to get a female chorus to perform with us (NUSWS) come March 2008. The performance will lack a crucial effect if we use only a synthesizer to replace the female voices! I don't want!! Haha.


Irrelevant addendum (I just can't be bothered to create a new post): I hope nothing bad will happen to my laptop while my brother goes on holiday in two days.

Ah, the bastardity of people

This time it isn't about unethical Singaporeans but the three-B's.

Big Brit Bullies.

Big-sized and pea-brained people.

Well, at least they know how to function a videocam. They know how to upload videos onto youtube.

Much to their own folly of uploading the ill-fated clip that the entire world knows what's happening.

You still don't know what I'm talking about?

Some days ago three British tourists took a ride on a trishaw pedalled by this old 67-year-old man. The three Brits were probably about 200 kg added together. One was obviously sitting on the laps of the other two in the small trishaw. They mocked at the uncle for cycling so slowly - obviously due to the weight of the three farts - and at the end of the trip, they refused to pay the $10 trip. Bloody bastards right? What do they think they are to not pay for the trip? They said they weren't bullying, but oh c'mon, you uploaded your own evidence to the world and you deny your actions. Dumb asses.

Argh, I'm so pissed. I need things that I can punch or kick. The BBB's should do just fine.

Hmmph. The elderly are not there for you to bully, you arses. How disrespectful. You didn't think this will create an uproar in Singapore? Oh come on, this has got to do with ethics too!

We had nothing much against the British and yet now we have everything against them. Didn't some parts of your brains tell you that what you're doing is wrong?

真佩服那位老伯。敬业乐业的好榜样。

Look at the clip and tell me if you're furious.

Read the write-up and comments by a British news site and tell me if you're furious.

Read the interview by omy.sg and tell me if you're furious. Do look at the vodcast too.

Damn you brits. (not the entire British population, it's just the three of them.)

Stupidoes! >=\

A last-minute TV interview

After my last lecture today I went to the pink tables at the Science canteen. Met my freshies there, so chatted a bit with them. We helped Megabites earn 4 green tea jellies worth of money.

That's not the point though. After they left for their lecture I decided to go to CFA and do some work. Made myself comfortable in the conference room and listened to de Meij's Symphony No. 3 while writing away.

And then Joanna came to join me.

After which, I started to hear our group manager Pearl screaming in her office. She was a bit anxious than usual.

Then she came out and told Joanna and I that she needs 15 minutes of our time.

It turned out that people from Front, an Arts Central programme, called CFA and said they were going down to interview students from CFA. So asked them to pick any students and they'll do the interview at UCC. So Joanna and I were in.

-_-

I was a bit nervous though. I thought, maybe I'll meet Eunice Olsen? Or the rest of the hosts? There are a number of hosts on Front but I can't remember who they are.

It turned out that Hossan Leong, the newest addition to the second season of the programme, was going to interview us. There were two from the NUS Choir with us.

Asked questions like our favourite performing venues in Singapore. I wasn't diplomatic enough to say UCC because the hall really needs to have some kind of...new additions. Acoustics aren't good. Haha. So I went on and on to talk about other stuff =P I have a feeling my interview won't be shown on TV 'cos I felt I was just shooting some locations because Hossan Leong asked what locations I didn't like etc.

Hahaha. If I get on TV I'll tell you guys.

The second season will only start in Nov 20. We'll see.

Snapfish

I uploaded my pictures to snapfish and then they started sending me mails about 20 free prints. Of course I ignored that since they may use some tactic to charge the hell out of me.

Till I chanced upon some stranger's blog and he/she actually had ordered prints from snapfish and they really came and apparently it was really free.


I tried it out myself and voila. It is free. Just that you have to pay 10 cents per photograph for postage.

I printed 19 photos, so I paid a total of SGD1.90 inclusive of postage. Payment via credit card. I checked and really only S$1.90 was deducted.

And it actually is worth it I think, since I do not have to go to the developer personally (i.e., convenient) and I only pay 10 cents for each photo in the end.

However, the photos come out to be rather dark and so I can't really see the details of my Italian scenery =(. The hp quality paper is really damn good. They're gloss photos but they won't leave fingerprints!

Maybe you'd like to try if you haven't.

潇洒走一回

最近发生了一些事，使我感到不开心。

It's getting a bit distressing.

有个好朋友对我说，要潇洒一点，每天的烦恼就更容易的熬下去了。

Quite true. 我要更加潇洒。心情才会好一些。

心事闷在心里真得很辛苦。唉。



要珍惜朋友对你的忠诚。

Interesting

Maybe you all will want to look at this. A very cute and amazing competition. Between some I can't see the link la. But when you know what's happening, it's pretty humourous.

Post Da Capo 2007

Uh, I'm quite looking forward to InTempo 08 already.

Whahahahahahhaa.

The concert was not bad, I liked InTempo 2007 better though. I felt that this concert...somehow or the other I couldn't put in emotions into it. Probably 'cos of a tint of pressure? Yea perhaps.

But my Second Suite Mvmt II was..........not that terrible except for the high F that I didn't pitch. Sad.

Daniel Kiang said he saw my face turn black when I couldn't hit it. Ooops.

Otherwise...not bad la. Not bad. Heh.

I hope that the next InTempo I'll be able to find time to write nice cards for my friends. Haha. I didn't have that much sincerity this concert =P.

I uploaded the photos already. Go here.

Journey to the West (reloaded)

You people should watch this clip. Especially if you know Cedric Lee. Whahahaahahahahahaha.

Sighhhhh

Just when I wanna upload photos, I can't find my card reader. =( I wonder if I threw it away blur-ing-ly. You know, some reflex action. Sigh. I really hope I didn't. But they're always either on my table or in that drawer only. I can't think of where else I'd have placed it. Along with it I misplaced my mobile's USB port. Weird.

Edit: Eh I found it liao! Shortly after I posted this I took a round around the house again. Heh. Can upload pictures le.

臭男人满天下

This isn't fun at all.

Da Capo 2007

NUSWS
presents
Da Capo 2007

featuring
Star Wars Trilogy
and two Singapore premieres, Nitro and No Shadow Of Turning

27 October 2007
1700 hrs
University Cultural Centre Hall, NUS
$10*



Contact me for tickets! Tag if you can't contact me.

*Get my $8 (only!!) tickets now! While stock lasts.

Phweeee

What foul mood.

Ethan is here!

Yes yes my nephew was born this afternoon at 1346 hrs. 3.29kg (heavy!) and 50 cm.

Heh. I'm an aunt! The feeling of being an aunt and having a nephew hasn't really sunk in yet. Probably when Ethan calls me Ah Yi then I'll have some kind of reaction. =D

Some precious moments to share.

I carried the baby! (maternal instinct, whaha)

The newly promoted grandparents. I think my parents look quite young to be considered as grandparents though

Ah gu gu gu don't cry!

And my dad chose to irritate Ethan (his expression is damn cute)

See la. Tsk tsk tsk

So angelic right? Awwwwww =D

Introducing...

...the NUSWS bass section!


(minus Qizhong and Si Seng)

Check us out at Da Capo next Saturday~!

The family member-to-be

I'm still waiting for the birth of my nephew who seems to be happily rolling inside my sister's womb. I learnt that the due date is supposed to be today, and if he is still unwilling to leave the comfortable place he's in now, it wouldn't be good for both mother and son. So my sister is supposed to check into KKH this midnight and they'll induce birth then.

So I'm quite jumpy now, and since the boy is supposed to be due tomorrow, and I have school tomorrow, and I have to go to Zara at Liat Towers to collect a pair of pants that I reserved, and I have to go to CFA to put some documents there, I dunno how to plan my time tomorrow. I don't even know when the boy's gonna make himself known to this world!

So interesting. Today I'm the youngest at home. Tomorrow (maybe), I won't be anymore. And I'm even gonna be an aunt! =D

Aunt Erina. Erina Ah Yi. Xiao Yi.

Ahhhhhh.

All the angst over PSLE math

I think most of you must have heard about the Primary 6 pupils crying after their PSLE math paper. And then their parents complain. Haiyo. I saw three of the 48 questions published in the Sunday Times today and solved them. Hmm, they may be quite difficult for a P6 kid, I doubt I'll be able to solve these questions when I was P6. But considering the higher education standards now, maybe they should be able to solve it after all. Shrugs.

Here are the questions:


Try solving them! I guess the questions are more of, misleading than difficult. For question 2, I spent quite long trying to write down a formula to find the total number of chairs. My mum even laughed at me for not being able to do. And after a while, CHEY. I got the answer in one step. Haha, I thought too much already. But it was rather tricky. Questions 1 and 3 should be easy la. Maybe add question 2 to that. Haha.

A phone call

The phone rang just now while I was youtubing and since my mum was sleeping and I was the only one around, I answered it.

Me: Hello?

This guy: Hello. Good afternoon.

Me: Uh...huh...

This guy: Oh you sound a bit young. Are you over the age of 18 yet?

Me: Uh..no. (WHAHAHA)

This guy: Oh then is there anyone else at home that I can speak to?

Me: Oh uh I'm alone at home now.

This guy: Ah then usually what time they'll be back? At night?

Me: Uhhh...probably evening?

This guy: OK I'll call back again later! Bye bye.

Me: Oh ok bye.

And I hang down the phone and laughed out loud.

I sound young baby. Woots~ =D

From Roberto

When I came back from Europe, they said that one of the Italian guides attached to NUSWS had gifts for all the girls. I heard it was some horoscope-related necklace. And mine was with Yong Kiat since I left earlier and didn't collect it.

After months of waiting I finally got the necklace from YK at our NUSWS tuba outing yesterday. There's actually a pearl in an oyster or some other mollusk and you have to remove it and make a wish and put it inside the necklace.

Here's the necklace with a box-like pendant that you store the pearl in.


The box containing the entire set. 'God-given' Pearl -_-


And then the can containing the oyster...


Look closely at the oyster in the can.


Damn gross right. Hahaha. For some reason I think the oyster died and vomitted the pearl out so the pearl is now nudged between the shells. But I think probably the manufacturers stuffed the pearl into the oyster. However trusting European products, I washed the thought away.

Till I turned the can around and saw this particular sticker that was a bit of a stick-out.


Made in China. Now I think that the pearl was probably stuffed inside the poor mollusk.

Some personality test

Which I think is rather true. Shrugs.

The Sonnet
Deliberate Gentle Love Dreamer (DGLD)

Romantic, hopeful, and composed. You are the Sonnet. Get it? Composed?

Sonnets want Love and have high ideals about it. They're conscientious people, caring & careful. You yourself have deep convictions, and you devote a lot of thought to romance and what it should be. This will frighten away most potential mates, but that's okay, because you're very choosy with your affections anyway. You'd absolutely refuse to date someone dumber than you, for instance.

Lovers who share your idealized perspective, or who are at least willing to totally throw themselves into a relationship, will be very, very happy with you. And you with them. You're already selfless and compassionate, and with the right partner, there's no doubt you can be sensual, even adventurously so.

You probably have lots of female friends, and they have a special soft spot for you. Babies do, too, at the tippy-top of their baby skulls.

Always avoid: The 5-Night Stand (DBSM), The False Messiah (DBLM), The Hornivore (RBSM), The Last Man on Earth (RBSD)

Consider: The Loverboy (RGLM)


Go do it, I think it's pretty accurate.

Weekends!

Yeay! The weekends are here!

But I have tons of work to do. And concert is coming. And I have a test next Friday. I hope I'll be able to study enough for it, 'cos I have band on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Sigh. I'm beat.

Hairspray

You all should really watch Hairspray. It's addictive!

After getting Maria's Hairspray soundtrack I'm addicted to it laaaaaaa. T_T

But listening to Hairspray makes you happy. Really. Probably that's why I'm stuck to it. You guys should watch it!

I'm soooo gonna get Hairspray's DVD. And watch it over and over and savour it. I wanna know the backstage stuff also! So interesting!

Here's a clip. Must watch. But if you don't wanna have any spoilers then don't.

Spoilers ahead!

This part is about John Travolta's character cooping at home for many years and her daughter wanted to bring her mum out and ta-daa you get a great video. Really nice!



I think Travolta's the ultimate. 'Cos he was dancing in heels!!! But the clip is sooo nice la. You won't stop smiling watching it.

Discomfort

I've never felt this lousy about school before.

Like...I know I won't go any further in this. Sigh.

Bouts of procrastination and tears and self-discipline and patience, and then dwell in self-pity.

And it doesn't help when there is a cold shoulder.

I am confused. I really am. And I hate this feeling of being left hanging there. The small little changes I see can really affect my mood, it seems.

And why is it that I seem to be falling into this trap and I don't become happier?

Things are rather frustrating these days, and I don't know how I should go about letting you know.

~~~~~

And thanks to Nick who tried to cheer me up online last night, by asking me how to put the downwards arrow in my MSN nickname which says 'ERiNA is feeling ↓'. My mind was too hazy to think about why won't Nick know. So I dumbly told him. And he asked if I can change the arrow to point upwards. Ya can, do the same thing lo. (this shows how simple-minded I can get)

Of course he knew how to enter it. His copyright logo of his Nick-name (pun intended). I was pretty amused when I realised. =)

Getting ready

When I returned home from band on Thursday, I saw that the sewing machine and an armchair was moved out of the master bedroom and placed somewhere in between the living space and the kitchen.


Which mess up the house.

Suspicious of the move, I went to check out the master bedroom. And then I realised.


Awwww, my dad set up the baby cot for his grandson!

FYI, my nephew (who is still rolling in my sis' womb) will be staying with us, taken care by my mum.

Oh and the heaps of stuff on the cot are baby-related goods. Look at the shopping done for the boy! There are more stuff around but they're not on the cot. They're in my room -_- Like thanks.

~~~~~

I wanted to eat the pomelo yesterday and my dad helped to open it up for me. 'Cos my cutting skills are lousy.

At some point, you know that waste can be turned to good use. Here goes.


I should put this pumpkin-wannabe by the window to scare the weird old lady who walks around the entire block to peek at what her neighbours are doing.

Ahh

I am feeling awfully stressed. Why are things like that?

The pressure is kicking in real hard. T_T

Exams are coming, and I'm still aimless in school. I don't know what I don't know. I don't seem to be consuming stuff efficiently.

Why isn't anything done? T_T

Sighh....

And I just found out about something which is rather worrying. =( But with the amount of time I have for work, I guess I can only leave it till the holidays to do something about it.

I have a test on Tuesday. I am ultra worried. Let things go into my brain please.

Why am I always so slow?

Sob.

Stop blogging...

...not! This is not a good time to blog because I have a test tmr which I'm very unprepared for.

Nevertheless, I went out with the father just now supposedly to get a phone but due to complications I got none.

Anyway, the point is not that. The point is this:


Damn cute right??? Imagine seeing many lion faces on the tray. Awwww. Too bad I won't buy all. Haha. Got one and I'm satisfied.

The End Of Recess Week

Today marks the end of recess week.

What have I accomplished? Nothing much, really.

Sigh.

Hills and plateaus and mountains and HDBs of unfinished business to do.

I'm dreading school.

I've never hated school before actually.

Until I entered uni. Then schoolwork became a mess and I messed up myself and my life as well. I wonder what caused the change in attitude towards school.

Wrong choice of major, maybe. I seem to be disliking almost everything I'm studying.

But there's nothing else I can do. And there's nothing else I would like to do.

Argh.

I forgot how it feels like to be attentive throughout lessons.

Put in more effort, and I'll get out of this mess nicely.

I dread the exams which are coming in less than two months.

Shit. Less than two months!

A headache is creeping into me. T_T

救命啊！

Packed

Sometimes I wonder why do I give myself so many things to do, I don't have time for academic-related stuff!

Sighhhhhhh.

Play catching-up only once in a while. Never complete tutorials. Never do this, never do that, all because I have no time.

When I am busy with my commitments I am a happy person. 'Cos I don't have the time to think of the consequences. When the time comes for me to do homework, then I realise I have a mountain to climb.

=(

My name is Erina. What does it tell you?

What say you?

The Bank Of Secrets
henceforth known as the 'Bank'

Getting started...
It's very easy. Simply create an account!

Deposit policy...
Just speak and everything will be deposited.

To reduce the chances of withdrawals, speak as fast as possible to challenge the slow processing rate of the Bank. This is so that the Bank will be unable to deposit everything and probably nothing will be withdrawn.

Once deposited, always deposited.

Withdrawal policy...
Warning: Existence of withdrawal without customer's permission.

Customer cannot choose to withdraw secrets that he/she has deposited.

Withdrawal takes place under pressure and interest.

Other forms of withdrawal takes place when the Bank overflows and older deposits are erased by accident.

Loan policy...
The Bank is unable to complement.

Closure of account...
You think it's easy to close?



This is awfully random.

Badminton

After years of not playing badminton, I finally found the time and opportunity to give a good swing.

Went to Tampines Sports Hall with seven other Mermaids yesterday and I think I played almost non-stop for three hours plus. Just on and on and on and on with short breaks in between.

Good games.

And now, I woke up with aching muscles and I can't walk properly. Man, even my ass muscles hurt. I think I worked too hard yesterday.

But anyway, I like my new racket (though YX dropped it before I even used it for a game =P) and I like my new New Balance shoes. The racket didn't give me any problems, and my shoes were as comfortable as stepping on a sponge. Yea right, no la, it was just nicely comfortable. Money well-spent. I can keep them for some time longer.

Hairspray

This time I'm still blogging about Hairspray. Not because I wanna grumble that I couldn't watch it, but because,

I'VE WATCHED IT!!!!!

Whahahaha!

Thanks to you who caught it with me =D

The songs were quite good, and you'll just smile throughout the entire show.

Goooood Morning Baaaaaaltimoooreee~

The past week

I haven't blogged the last week. It was a hectic week for me, with a test, two assignments, repairman coming down, etc etc.

And the hectic week leaves and another is coming. Though we call it the recess week.

Saturday (i.e. yesterday) had HSC alumni practice in the morning, went home, and out again to Botanic Gardens for an evening walk.

I got to know you better, thanks =)

And after the long walk around Botanic Gardens - oh walked to NUS Bukit Timah Campus as well, my first time there - was walking to Orchard. Wa, our legs were rather tired and someone didn't have dinner. =\

Sunday (today) went yum cha with Christopher, Daniel and Hui Shan at Red Star Restaurant. The food is not bad but expensive. Then went home, bathed, read the papers, came out again for Philharmonic Winds meets Boston Brass concert.

Monday (tmr) I feel like getting a pair of good running shoes and a badminton racket! I need to get a racket because mine is damn old and the strings aren't sturdy anymore. And I threw away my old pair of shoes because it really cannot make it any longer. So probably I'll be doing some shopping in the day. In the evening I have sectionals at CFA.

Tuesday morning I am going for badminton with the Mermaids at Tampines Sports Hall. That's why I need shoes and racket. I can't possibly wear my sneakers for badminton =\. From 8-12. I foresee a lunch together. And there's NUSWS comm meeting in the late afternoon. I'm going out at night.

Wednesday there's sectionals.

Thursday there's band practice.

I think I should be going down to one of the band stores to collect the stuff that I ordered for NUSWS. So my Wednesday is somehow gone as well.

And we have to discuss Basic Translation this week.

When do I study? =( I feel so lousy.

I need to squeeze out time to practise the tuba as well.

Please please let me keep my days as free as possible.

Golden Village Movie Club

Go join this, I'm sure you'll need it in some way or the other.

As far as I'm looking at this, no strings attached.

A joke and a belated one

I shall do the 'belated' joke first.

Uh, this has got to do with 我报 again. -_-

I mean, what's so wrong with a non-Chinese reading Chinese paper? They may very well be able to read it as well as you, or even better!

This time it was another auntie. I walked to her, held up my hand again, and she was contemplating whether to give me until I said '谢谢' then she released the papers from her grip. Why why why?

And the new joke for today.

Ching Wen laughed till there were tears in her eyes because of this. Here goes.

YX and I finally got seats, while CW continued standing. Not long after that, a group of elderly folk walked in and obviously we gave up our seats. Then CW started laughing, I thought it was due to another matter. It turned out that the ah pek that I gave my seat to said 'terima kasih' in appreciation.

Nice.

The problem is, it doesn't matter if Chinese mistake me for being Malay or any other race, but Malays can't make out as well. I don't know if I really look that Malay in the first place. =\

Why I say this was because after the MRT ride mentioned above, YX and I walked past Eastlink Mall. And there was a group of Muslim girls holding on to tickets that they'll ask people to donate. And because it was a Muslim associated donation drive, it'd be easier to convince fellow Muslims to donate. Ta-daa I was one of the fellow Muslims that they approached.

Mugging time. Won't be able to study much tomorrow 'cos I need to return to CFA, and there's sectionals on Wednesday, and Thursday's the ST1131 test. =( And I have three tutorials to complete by Wednesday and Thursday. One homework to complete by Thursday, and another by Friday. Great.

21st birthday

The most important birthdays of most people are their 1st and 21st birthdays. As to why, I have absolutely no idea.

I find it quite sad when I get to know people and they're past their 21st birthday already. 'Cos I have no chance to spend with them. But neverrrrr mind la.

Most like to celebrate their 21st birthday. Have some kind of parties and the like.

I don't know if I want one. I'll want one because I didn't get to plan my 1st birthday party (did I even have one?) and I am sane (not that I was insane when I was a year old) enough to organise one.

But what can I do? Plan chalet, everyone comes and sings birthday song and cut cake and give presents. A bit......too normal =P

I can't think of anything outstanding to do, so I'll shelf this celebration idea for now. Doesn't matter if I don't blow up the importance of the birthday. I've never really celebrated my birthday properly anyway, as in, the kind where I'll do all the preparations and invite people to come over and sing for me. (But all the lovely celebrations you guys did, thanks so much =D)

However I wanna request for a birthday present this time. Muahahaa. It just came into my mind all of a sudden when I was having dinner.

I want a real oven. A big one. The kind where you have in your kitchen under the stove.

Because I haven't baked for real. I used the microwave oven and it's so bu shuang. Just so odd to see the cookies spinning inside the microwave and...maybe getting treated radially in the wrong way.

I want to bake. Pies, lasagna, tarts, cookies, maybe cakes (but I don't really like cakes, so), and experiment. And bake chicken, fish, etc. Ooh-la-la! Even if the taste don't come out well I have something to practise with. 'Cos I'm sick of steam, fry, pan-fry, reheat, whatsoever. No kick.

I'm sooo going to request this to my parents. Even if they don't want to pay I'll pay for myself but I'll always need permission regarding the space. My dad is the 'everything-at-home-is-my-property' kind of guy (which I'll always rebut that he's free to take my pads) so I have to get his permission first.

But getting such an oven will mean overhauling the entire stove. Which is costly. And I like the present stove. Easy to control. How now brown cow?

I want an oven!

Hairspray

I'm writing this post titled 'Hairspray' not because I watched the movie and am going to talk about it, I'm writing this post because I CAN'T watch it. T_T

I had four chances to watch this long-waited movie, of which I tried to plan three.

1. Jio-ed Annie to watch with me. But another group of friends wanted to watch Ratatouille, blah blah blah, we watched Ratatouille that weekend instead.

2. Maria asked me to watch Hairspray yesterday. It'd be her second time watching the show. But I chose to go home 'cos I wanted to call Accent to settle the quotations asap, so that I won't wait till the night to call and they would've closed by then.

3. Supposed to watch Hairspray tonight. In the end there were too little shows and can't fit my friend's schedule.

4. Almost immediately after the cancellation of item 3, I asked Felix & Co. if they wanna watch and we were so damn close to booking the tickets and the next thing I knew, I can't make it. 'Cos a member in my CL2280 group can only make it for discussion after 3 p.m. The ONLY show at GV TM tomorrow is at 1615. Then I cannot go also.

Then when? Hairspray going to close liao.

Baik

Do you know that sense of accomplishment when you finally got something you've been pressurised to search for?

I seriously understand that feeling.

When I received the email from the NTUSB QM, I was overwhelmed with joy and gratefulness.

Whahahhahaha. Big deal!

But they're loaning us quite a bulk of instruments! So gan dong.

And it's like, half of the list of instruments I have to source is cleared.

Muahaha.

But there's still a mountain of things I have to do T_T

Call the repairman tmr morning. Anyone wants to come NTU with me on Wednesday? (Don't worry, I'll get human resource haha)

Remembering MJC

There were some talks about the NUSWS members going down to their JCs to promote Da Capo 2007.

Then I just felt like I want to take a look at MJC's website, like how much it's changed.

And I was soooooooooooooo shocked when I saw the website.

Like, fwah. What good marketing powers. I mean, if you're a secondary 4 student and you see such cool website of a college, you'll be tempted to register for the college right? It's much more attractive in that sense.

I'm feeling proud that I came from MJC, but envious yet at the same time because I didn't get to enjoy such cool stuff when I was there. The previous web layout was good also, interactive and the like, but I think this time the website is so much nicer.

Meridian, yes we will be the best!

Feel the flame of our dreams
Burn forever

Taken from the Meridian Junior College anthem

New video

Osama bin Laden (it's been a while since we last heard his name) has reappeared in a video recently. I read a news clip about it, and the first paragraph said this:

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden appeared for the first time in three years in a video on Friday released ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, telling Americans they should convert to Islam if they want the war in Iraq to end.

-_-

Weirdo!

A tenor like no other

Luciano Pavarotti passed away yesterday.

I was very shocked when I learnt of the news.

I felt a kind of heartache that a great man who brought opera to the masses has gone away, never coming back. Though I didn't concentrate on his music while he was alive, he was well-known and well-received and...sigh. =(

I saw a clip regarding his funeral and while the pallbearers were carrying his casket into a church in Modena, the crowd clapped as a form of respect. How much people love him.

I'll want to visit Modena, Italy and the church and pay my respects to this legendary opera singer.

Addio Maestro.

Joke of the Day

To throw away a solemn mood in my blog these days, I shall tell you a funny story. It's really worth a listen.

Here goes.

This morning when I was walking towards Tampines MRT Station to go to school, there were two people giving out mypaper, also known as 我报, the free circular in Singapore. I like to read mypaper more than Today, so of course I went up to this auntie to grab one.

I raised my hand to get the papers from her.

She immediately put the papers in my hands - not! She then motioned the papers away from me and said, 'This is Chinese paper!'

I replied, '啊我知道。' Following that, I grabbed the papers from her hand (as in, I really did that. Either that or I snatched it) and walked off.

Alrights, alrights, stop laughing.

-_-