Pedra Branca, Singapore

Ta-daaaa.


So now this is ours.

Now Singapore has more land area.

Which is 691.7 sq km + the area of a football field. Great.

But soon enough, Singapore will get a larger surface area due to reclamation.

BEFORE

AFTER

Diamond-shaped to tadpole-shaped. I can't wait till we turn into a frog and jump off to somewhere. Hur hur, hur hur, not funny.

Looks NUM to me though. Ooops.

The International Court of Justice ruled that Pedra Branca belongs to Singapore. Now that we've got sovereignty over the tiny island, we're slightly bigger now!! Hurray!

However, there are two other pieces of land/rocks very near Pedra Branca. Middle Rocks and South Ledge. Middle Rocks is now Malaysia's and South Ledge still has no owner. ICJ stated that South Ledge will belong to whichever country the territorial waters lie in. I don't know.

The funny thing about South Ledge is that you can only see it when the tide is low. Therefore, let's say if South Ledge is ours, then at high tide, Singapore is smaller. At low tide, Singapore is bigger! Hurray!


Do you know?

There are several locations in the world that are named Pedra Branca too. An island by Tasmania in Australia, and also another town in Brazil. And I think some more places.

Pedra Branca refers to 'white rock' in Portuguese. Another name for Pedra Branca is Pulau Batu Putih in Malay. But they spell it as puteh instead of putih.

The International Court of Justice is at The Hague in the Netherlands. I was scratching my head, totally no idea where The Hague is. Den Haag.

Ouch

Toothache =(

For those born on May 8, 1987

Celebrated Yi Xin's and Felix's belated birthdays (they were both born on the same day, fortunately or unfortunately)

16 May 2008. Afternoon. Yi Xin.

We had a walk at Orchard and Central before ending up at the lousy Pasta de Waraku for dinner. The one at Marina Square is so so so much better. Pweee. No QC.

And after dinner we went to E! Hub in Pasir Ris (since we all live in Pasir Ris or Tampines) to chill. And found out that the drink-and-chat places there seem to close at 11 p.m.

So much for chilling. But we managed to stay at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf till about 2335.


More photos.



18 May 2008. Evening. Felix.

Party was at Felix's house.



And here he is wearing one of the shirts we got him.

The MJCSB people who came, plus Kimberly and Candice who left earlier =(


More photos.

Many gatherings

10 May 2008. Night.

Geeks!

NUSWS D&D 2008.

Photos here and here.



11 May 2008. Early morning.

Overslept and took a cab with Annie to the airport. To send Ismy and Michelle Ho off. They were going for a summer programme at University of Waterloo, Canada. More here.




11 May 2008. Late morning.

Went to meet Ai Lin, Amy and Juli for brunch at Marutama Ramen. All photos here.

The food there is fabulous! As in, only three types of ramen but still very good. Quite a number of side dishes to choose from though.

And after that Juli left and the rest of us went to Haagen Dazs at Clarke Quay for a looooooong chat and we left.








11 May 2008. Evening.

Shun's 21st birthday party~!

It was really enjoyable (seriously!) bit*hing with the girls and of course to entertain each other and laugh over all sorts of things. I love my girls =)

And Shun's cake was an ice-cream cake from Gelare. I haven't eaten ice-cream cakes in a looooong while. Not that I particularly liked them. But it's just that there's no cream!

Kanye West, yo

12 May 2008. Evening.

Met Nathalie, Pin Xuan, Samuel, Wilson and Yu Ming (who left in the middle of dinner) at Raffles place for a meal at Shokudo. It's like Marche, Japanese style. As if I've been to Marche. Haha.

I had something grilled chicken drizzled with what tasted like teriyaki sauce with an egg in the middle on top of rice. And it wasn't fastastic. But there were a lot of things I wished I had tried there. Oh never mind haha.

After dinner we walked around and made our way past the Esplanade to the Merlion, then to Boat Quay and then finally settled down in Clarke Quay's Central's Starbucks. Just sat around and chatted and took lotsa photos.

Geeks!

It was NUSWS' dinner and dance just now, i.e. last night, and it was quite enjoyable except boredom at some point hahahah but that's alright!

I realise I didn't eat much. Maybe I'm not that greedy after all. I'm still not hungry. The only full and proper meal I had today was Big Breakfast Meal at the golden arches.

Anyway, during the day I was thinking that it's either I carry this geek thing off or I'll just be an utter nutcase. Ghastly. HAHA.

But I think it was alright. I feel that I was a cross between a countryside girl from the 60's and a fashion faux pas but who cares we had fun hoho.

Oh I was nominated for best dressed geek! Didn't win though =P HAHAA.

I'll upload the photos on Facebook...which won't be so soon.

Here's a preview.


Love and many many many many thanks to Joan who lent me her specs!

China's sentiments

Which I find hard to understand.

I was streaming an English video on a China-based video-sharing website (ahem) which is like a Chinese Youtube and because the vid is in English, the person who upload the video clips put subtitles to it.

And you know all the Olympics-related news and political issues that have been taking place.

So, the person who uploaded the clip felt so strongly about these that s/he had to comment. I.e., what I saw during a change of scenes were these.





And as you can see, the video was totally unrelated to the subtitles.

I shall not attempt to translate my apologies if you can't read.

Anyway, I think the one about Sarkozy is funny. What a dumb way to criticize him though I have no idea what it meant but surely nothing good.

That was a bit emo. =\

So unlike me, right?

.....

Sometimes I wish I could quit university altogether.

Because in more ways than one, this has been a really unpleasant ride.

Persevere.

A letter for my mum

You may want to read this first.

Dear Mummy

I am very sad, Mummy.

Why didn't the International Olympic Committee choose Singapore as a destination for the Olympic Torch Relay?

The flame went to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, pass by Singapore then to Jakarta, then to Canberra in Australia blah blah then to Japan already!!!

Why they don't want to visit Singapore? It'll be so exciting!

Although I don't want to go and see the sports boys and girls carry the torch but then when they come all my China friends will go and support!

Then they won't turn up for the exams! Then I'll get first in class!

Mummy, can you ask them to come to Singapore? Quick, before my exams are over.

Love,
Khia See


I seriously don't know what to say for today's paper. Sigh.

Pro-China? Pro-Tibet?

I don't know about you, but I'm irritated with all the hype about freeing Tibet and 'Tibet and China are one' and things like that. They're all over the news and they keep reappearing with every stop the Olympic Torch went to.

I am sitting on the fence, but bending towards Tibet's independence. I don't know much about their politics, I can't be bothered to read about it, but I don't know why China is gripping a tight hold on Tibet. I just don't see the need. Like I said, I don't know.

Just let them go. What's your problem?

Don't let them go. What's your problem?

I recently saw my friend's (who is from China) MSN nickname and it said to protest against the independence of Tibet and Taiwan.

Why?

I am amazed by how patriotic the Chinese can be, no matter where they are.

Anyway, the Olympic torch relay was at Canberra this morning and the protests were pretty amazing.

Look at that! Sky writing! The amount of effort that they put in! Seriously.




Don't torch Tibet, they said.

Smilebox

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Convicted

I plead guilty to slacking =(

The third time

I watched Jamie for the third time this week. -_- I don't know, I just get very engaged when I saw it on TV by accident (I was just browsing). And I still laugh at the very same parts.

Hmmms.

~~~~~

And I haven't received any reply from my GEM lecturer.

I'm so doomed =(

~~~~~

I youtube-d Michael Johns and found several videos of his interviews. His latest one was on Ellen Degeneres Show. And all of his interviews asked the same questions and were replied with the same answers -_- At least he performed different songs! Still, I hope I'll get to watch the American Idol Live! Tour 2008. I think he'll go quite far, considering the level of cheers from the audience haha.

I love Michael Johns!

Squid

I'm a sotong! Seriously.

Usually for my GEM2900 CAs I will keep asking my friends for help. Till this very last CA I relied a lot on myself compared to the previous three. So I got some answers. And then. Somehow or the other. I forgot to submit. The deadline was up already.

I only remembered it when I was bathing when I got back from tuition at 10 p.m. plus and imagine the agony that I couldn't rush out of the toilet immediately -__-

Emailed the lecturer and I hope he gives me some grace!!! T_T Almost wanted to cry. Why am I so muddle-headed? Totally thwarted my mood to do some work tonight.

So in the end, I did some online (internet-browser-window) shopping. Excuses. Baby stuff for Ethan.

I super like this one above. Mane man!

And I like the one below because it looks formal and I think Ethan will look really smart in it.

And I like this best! I dunno. Looks very attractive.


Sigh, I think I won't be able to sleep well tonight. The CA's bugging me.

Cries

I think it's only the babies that you hold close to your heart that you won't find their crying irritating.

When Ethan cries, I feel more like pain than irritation. -_-

Anyway, Ethan cried twice yesterday.

Once was when I was playing with him -_- and he was on all fours and what he likes to do is to pounce forward. So whenever he sleeps on the mattress on the floor my mum will build a wall around the mattress with cushions. That's a lot of moving to do.

And back to the point, he pounced and knocked his head against mine.

And so he wailed. Like really loud. HAHA. I was a bit startled and ouchhh it hurts. I mean my head, not my heart. Haha. It was really a 'big bang'. Then my mum came running over and '什么事???' Ethan was crying so hard and my mum went to comfort him.

Ho ho ho and I was telling my mum that my head hurts too but apparently I was ignored. Aiya.

While mum and I were having dinner, Ethan was on his Mercedes (remember his taxi?) and he likes to move (and then topple) the chairs around the dining tables. He'll pull and drag them across a distance. I think he's really strong. But the chairs are light la.

Halfway into dinner, Ethan was under the table already -_- and all of a sudden, he cried. We were so shocked, and when I went to check on him, guess what. It wasn't any chair that fell upon him or he knocked his head against the table. Instead I saw him tugging at the leg of the dining table -______- so he was trying to move the table too. He cried because he got frustrated that the table wouldn't budge.

I worry for every piece of furniture at home now.

Yes you can

How do you expect me to tell you everything? How do you expect me to bring the topic up?

It is probably wrong of me to avoid you but I don't know how to treat you like how I used to. After what has happened I can't possibly behave like I felt nothing! It is not a minor event that we're talking about!

I didn't let you know anything because it was redundant to do so. So what if now you know everything? Has anything helped? No. Nothing at all.

You yourself said that it is hard to bring up the topic to me because of what happened between us. And then I get blamed for not telling you how I feel.

Can you please, for once, really understand what I'm going through?

Jamie's Great Italian Escape

It is my favourite show!!!! (of course, without Michael Johns on American Idol)

I particular like what was on this week, where Jamie Oliver went to live in a monastery in Farfa in Sabina, Italy, and it is said that the monks cook the best food.

Anyway, every Tuesday night there'll be what I call Jamie's hour. At 2000hrs it'll be Jamie At Home where he whips up dishes with ingredients from his garden. At 2030hrs, it's Jamie's Great Italian Escape. If you have StarHub cable and want to watch the repeats (I recommend that you do!) it's on later at midnight and again tomorrow morning at 9am. Ch 16. I think I'll watch again later at midnight. I just wanna watch again!

Spoilers ahead.

Jamie thought monks cook very well but actually it turned out to be the other way round.

The monks in the monastery didn't eat healthily, and the food was rather horrible. They didn't have a good garden full of herbs and vegetables, instead they eat vegetables out of cans. Which is ridiculous! The monks in the monastery were pretty silent and keep to themselves most of the time.

Jamie then took the initiative to change the way they cook and eat and I must tell you, it really feels very nice to watch the change! And the monks are soooo cute! They somehow remind me of how I lived when I was in Italy. Aaaah. I wanna go back =(

This was when Jamie brought two of the youngest monks in the kitchen out so as to spark their passion to cook! It was damn cute! Like you see the fun side of the monks.

And Jamie drives around in a Volkswagen Camper!!!! I'm so jealous.


Here's Jamie and the monks of the monastery. And his Camper! =( I want I want!

USD drops again

Yesterday the US dollar dropped against the Singapore dollar, yet again!

(I'm happy!)


Look at the dip! *high*

WHYYYYYYYYY

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??????????

I'm darn disappointed.

So so so disappointed.

So heartbroken.

My American Idol favourite is out of the competition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know what to watch now =( There's nothing for me to wait for! T_T

(though I can't really decide who I think should leave the competition)

I always get very happy when I see Michael Johns.

And he's gone! No more!

T_T

So much for my new beau!

Now I have none! (HAHAHA stupid girl)

T_T Come back!

Accumulated rants

On my previous post I said I was tired at an unusual hour.

Aaahhh I see the reason. Because I woke up to a fever yesterday morning! So that was more like an indication that I was falling sick. Oh bother. And yes yes I'm sick. Tonsillitis.

Tonsillitis is an inflammation of the tonsils, the fleshy clusters of tissue on both sides of the back of the throat that fight off germs that enter the body through the mouth. The tonsils become enlarged and red, and can be coated with a yellow, gray, or white substance. An affected child typically has a sore throat, fever, swollen glands in the neck, and trouble swallowing.

So that explains the fever. And somewhat mild sore throat.

Fever! I hate fever. That's the illness that I never get any work done. I never get anything done the past two days. OK I did a little of my math tutorial due tomorrow on Monday night and I'm trying to complete the easy questions now, but I'm pretty sure I won't finish them on time. What's new.

And I got a quiz on Friday and I haven't got started on it! T_T The MC doesn't cover till Friday, so I'll still have to take the quiz. Hmmms. I think I'm gonna do damn badly this time.

I feel like sleeping already! =( I rather get a bad bout of flu than to get fever. *groan* Ohh the occasional body aches.

Skipped two lectures on Tuesday (oh shit) and another today. But I still turned up for my EL1101E tutorial today since we had to present some tasks in the tutorial. Got marks. And that's the last tutorial of the semester. (I actually didn't know what I was talking about, I bet no one was listening to but oh well) Oh, and I didn't regret making my way to school for that one hour tutorial. 'Cos I learnt that my group project was one of the two highest out of 12 groups. Yeay! I'm positive. *crosses fingers* Now I can only hope that my final exam will go smoothly, I might do well for this module! Pray for me.

In case you're wondering, I'll still go to school tmr. Can't afford to miss three days' worth of lessons! There was no Roger Poh this week at all (not that I miss him)!

While I was at the EL1101E tutorial today, there were amusing (to me) posters around the classroom, including the OHP -_- It was in pink and apparently my phone didn't catch it.


I just think it's amusing because you have to do so many things when there's an emergency.

Person 1: 'Oh noooo, got wrinkles! Help help!'
Person 2: 'Call 999!' *takes a look at Person 1's wrinkles*
Person 3: 'OK I'll call!' *fishes out his phone*
Person 2: *looks at the sign pasted all over the classroom* 'Oh shit you have to call Campus Security too!'
Person 3: 'Ahhhhhh so many to call!' *flustered* 'Oh no oh no which one should I call first??!!'

And so on. Of course things will be easier if there's Person 4, Person 5, Person 6, ... ... in the classroom.

Whatever.

Anyway, back to illnesses.

I didn't get any better today when I woke up, so Mum advised me to see the doctor. I was prescribed 4 kinds of medicine and lozenges. And one of the medicines I got looks like this!


So cuuuuute!

Tired

I'm tired at an unusual hour.

Normally at this time I should be wide awake and doing stuff all over. But now I'm feeling very sleepy. I just had dinner so can't sleep.

Zzzz.

And though I have class only at 2 p.m. tmr, I have to go to Accent Musical in Bukit Timah just to collect a box of reeds. So I have to leave home much earlier. ZZZzzz. I'm totally not in the mood to do so.

Anyway, I saw something quite out of the box today. Was at the lift lobby at the void deck and saw some notice above the lift.


Weird. Upon closer look, ohhhhhhh.


Dear Residents, I am JEWEL. I'm in-charge of cleaning your block. Please help me by keeping the corridor area clean. Thank you.

Depreciation of USD

The U.S. dollar has been hyped because of its decreasing value against the Singapore dollar.

So Singaporeans are very happy, provided they have some links to the U.S. in terms of monetary issues.

I am happy too!

Not only I am happy about cheaper exchange rates at sprees (ooops) and most importantly, more money to spend while I'll be at the U.S.!!

Phweeeet.

I am sooooo looking forward to get some cheaper books (and I mean cookbooks and whatnot), cheaper clothes (I pray they have my size), cheaper this and cheaper that. Compared to how much SGD I have to spend at the same time last year.

After tuition today I went around Bedok and Parkway Parade to look for the best prices. Apparently they're higher than I thought, my dad said it's because of the weekends. I'm not experienced with currencies enough. So I'll listen to Daddy and find one free weekday that I can go to the money changer. The rates were about USD1:SGD1.385. I went to two money changers in Bedok and five at Parkway Parade and one at Marina Promenade. 8 money-changer visiting in two hours.

I got the following graphs from exchangerate.com to take a look at the rates between USD and SGD.

As of April 5.


The minimum was USD1:SGD1.3771 the past month. I hope it'll go down further this month =X

And for the last three months...


Highest was at 1.4482.


And then it was 1.4736.
And 1.5349.
And the past year, the highest was 1.5440!!! Look at now! The minimum is 1.3771!! That's quite a margin.

Depreciate slightly more and I'll be happy enough!

哎，得寸进尺。

Unidentified case!

There has been an unidentified case of lions on my bed recently.

I've been keeping track of my lions...except for one.

If you know where this magnet-palmed-and-feet lion is from, please let me know!!!

T_T I don't know where I got this lion from.




Edit: Case closed!!! YX got me the lion from Sydney. Ooops. Sorry girl!