black st★r shooter

ok no more please

2011-06-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

i don't want to say goodbyes anymore

well ok, to be fair, they are not "goodbye"s but "see you again"s. whatever it is, i'm not good at these farewell things.

everyone's leaving and at each parting, words evade me; i cannot think of what else i can tell these people after some time without sounding repetitive. nothing i do or say can encapsulate my heartfelt feelings at the moment, of the memories we had, of laughs and fun, of great experiences or failed plans we had altogether. it is a horrible feeling.

trying to seal all these memories, times into my head. trying to memorise the sound of each person's voice, facial features, clothes, before they step away, off from your life, this bubble in uppsala which they have a precious place in.

it's a scary feeling and i don't want to do partings anymore

montage of memories

2011-05-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

snap i realised i never did publish these things

April 26
today (technically yesterday but WHATEVER) a bunch of us (jael, ward, seb, simon, michael, their friend, riyanto, marta, tomasz, connie) met up at 11:45 pm to wish Eveline happy birthday! we met in common room 4 C, distributed party poppers and noise makers, and practised the Belgium birthday song + english birthday song! at 11:57 ish pm we all got out of 4C, grinning like fiends, and crept into 4B, up the staircase, formed ourselves in a semicircle around eveline's door (which was not pre-planned and was hence very impressive impromptu organising on our part), and knocked on Eveline's door. no one answered, and the door was locked. more knocking ensued but there was no response LOL CRY WAS PANICKING INSIDE, especially since some people like Ward and Seb travelled all the way from döb to wish Eveline happy birthday. finally, after much lip-reading and vigorous hand signals, eveline's door was pounded upon (this brought about giggles from the semi-circled well-wishers) and eveline answered (MUCH TO MY RELIEF) i'm coming i'm coming.

we quickly formed ourselves around the door, and held out our poppers (away from the door, and from the FIRE ALARM placed conveniently next to eveline's door) and noise makers and eveline opened the door in a little crack, and a little more when she didn't see anyone and when we saw her red hair peeping out, we shouted SURPRISE and popped and blew that party noise things like never before HAHAHA and ward led us in with a very low pitched happy birthday in english (to Dear WinckelLOL) and the belgium/dutch version that goes like this:

Lang zal ze leven
lang zal ze leven
lang zal ze leven in de gloria
in de glo-ri-a
in de glo-ri-a
One person: Hiephiephiep!
The rest: Hoera!
(This repeats three times)

All this time, Eveline was embarrassed, fumbling for her glasses in her pyjamas and everything HAHAHA. later on, Raila told us she could hear us from the basement (aka level 1; we were on level 3) so we must have been pretty loud! *v*/// it was all very festive and chaotic, with tomasz and simon laughing over the confetti stuck in marta's hair, and ward recording all this down with his camera, and that smell of something burning (though it was smokeless) from the party poppers which got me slightly worried that the fire alarm would go off (seb began to fan the area with his jacket LMAO i don't know if it helped but thankfully THANKFULLY the fire alarm didnät ring), and everyone just laughing at embarrassed eveline in generalLOLOL

we were invited into her room, where she gave a short speech, she gave hugs all around, a quick photo was taken, and everyone didn't know if they should leave though they could but shouldn't because that would be too short and somehow that would feel insincereLOL but in the end, we let eveline sleep and everyone went off on their ways!

anyway this was the photo taken, where everyone kind of squished into eveline's room for the group shot! we commented how it looked like it was Ward's birthday and not eveline's HAHA

May 4
it's nice to come out of evening classes, on mondays, tuesdays and thursdays, and rejoice with friends at how bright it still is. you can kind of understand why the swedes (and europeans for that matter, but the swedes even more so) go sun crazy when temperatures go above 10 degrees celcius. on clear sunny days, it's a common sight to see swedes standing frozen outside, with their eyes closed and head turned towards the sun. coming from a country where the sun is hated and everyone cowers indoors in 16 degree air-con comfort, this is a very peculiar and at the same time entertaining phenomenon to watch.

it's funny; we celebrated valborg, (aka WALPURGIS) on saturday, 30th april. it's a really big affair in uppsala, where people from all over sweden drop by in our little town to drink endless amounts of alcohol and celebrate the end of winter. i think the highlight of valborg i think, however, was the boat races. a hundred boats, constructed of wood and styrofoam and constructed to hold one to four people, make their way down the fyrisån, where boat destruction by one of the two waterfalls along the river is inevitable.

really liked the tea time boat, nintendo boat, bed boat, sofa boat(s) and the lego one. it's a pity we all sat before the waterfall; i was looking through Geoff's pictures and he had some great shots of people plummeting beautifully through the air from the waterfall:

didn't get to stay through the whole valborg, but people told me i didn't miss much; the champagne gallop was more.. stationary than people expected, with the waving of school caps (especially amongst older folk) and not much galloping taking place. the sill lunch at the ekonomikum was too crowded, and so was the barbeque at flogsta, and people (read: girls and guys alike) were peeing all over the place in bushes because the portable toilets had long snaking lines. well i'm really glad i got to watch the boat races with good friends, and watch jael sing in the choir.

but as the days grow longer and longer, i (as with many other exchange students) are reminded of the shorter amount of days left here, and the imminent return we have to make, to life back home in belgium, italy, singapore, germany... from whence we came. it's a little sad to know that whatever places we went to, resided in, and people we met, and made friends with... these will all be but memories; not tangible people and places we (well at least i, seeing how i would be living 18 hours away when i return) can see, visit or live in (:bunk bedded rooms with kitchen counters or pink castles or towering orange pinnacles of a cathedral), or go out with for picnics or fika. getting to places, like gula stigen, stora torget, stadsträdgården, will become a whole lot more difficult when i return to singapore.

with the knowledge that the days in exchange programme, in uppsala, are short-lived, i think one question that comes to everyone's mind is how they are going to spend the remaining time they have.

it's interesting to hear what different people's reasons for coming for an exchange programme. i was speaking to jas when i was in london, and she thought about it for a moment, before answering, "for me, i wanted to see how far i could go. to make trips on my own."

"to be independent, you mean?"

"yeah, i wanted to see if i could do it."

for most singaporeans, and non-europeans for that matter, however, the priority seems to be travelling. so many singaporeans i know are practically hopping from country to country, city to city, trying to make good use of their time here to visit as much of europe as they can.

while i understand why people want to travel about during their exchange programme, i find it pretty intensive, especially when they are off to a different place every week; how do they even find the money for that??

travelling is definitely something you should do on an exchange programme i think, but for myself, the prime reason why i am here, on exchange, is because i want to make new friends, gain new experiences... that kind of thing.

it irritates me somewhat that i am spending a lot of time nowadays on work. well, yes of course i should be spending a lot of time studying, i mean that's what a student is supposed to do, but when i think of all the people i want to meet up with before we part ways for some time; from eveline and ward and jael to stijn to reiko to david and caiomhe (if i listed everyone, the list would go on forever)... i think, it will be a long time more before i'll get to see them again. studying is something i'll be doing anyway when i get back home. i sincerely wish i could choose to not study, but instead use the time i have here with friends. of course, people reading this will probably sneer and say you're already having it so easy and "you want more"?!

May 4

More than anything else in your house, your desk likely relates to your current adventure in life. Take a picture of it, and tell us what we see.

mmm it doesn't look like a very inspiring adventure on my desk haha

eighteenth-century poetry book WHICH I SHOULD BE READING but no here i am PROCRASTINATING instead,
two handphones on either side, the black one contains my singapore SIM card but doesn't work, the white one my swedish card and that works mighty fine. i have 71.32 SEK (roughly $14 SGD) left in that prepaid SIM card.
pencil box, a postcard of gamla stan in stockholm (very very pretty place) which i intend to send out to family back home, laptop, random container top, camera and laptop battery, plastic wrapping my BEATLES T-SHIRT in London came in, miscellaneous scrap paper with points for a badly written essay (sob the shoddiest essay i've ever written), teacher's instructions for the said badly written essay, sketchbook (which hasn't been opened very often; either too busy and when i do open it, i am overcome with a bad shot of art block ugh)
fridge in the background, doesn't help at all that it is 2 metres away from the desk.

i've definitely been piling up the pounds here, and that worries me. also, i am slightly distraught by the fact that everyone has *~*~*~*SUMMER CLOTHES*~*~*~*~* like eveline's parents came and exchanged all her winter clothes for her spring ones how nice sob all i have are these crummy jeans and t-shirts sob i miss skirts and shorts and everything appropriate for 22 degrees+ weatherrr djslakdjs

and SOB in sweden everyone is so glamorously beautiful and you feel like you pale in comparison to everyone hereee

speaking of swedish fashion (which we actually weren't on the topic of), ahhhh i-i really want one of these kånken bags from fjällravennnnn

(from here)
maybe it's because everyone has one in uppsala (SRSLY everyone EVERYONE from the girls to the guys) and i am easily swayed by that and the fact that the bag is kind of cute but sob i want hunting for the bag last friday and the price of the ORDINARY KÅNKEN (which is like the smaller version) is like 499 SEK which is like 100 SGD SOBC JSKALDJ SALKDJ SALKDJSA /CRIES BLOOD FOREVER JDSKLAJDSAKLDJA i-i really want the royal blue (i.e. that exact shade of blue that girl sports in the photo) bag, jdkslajdjdkls

i suppose it's a kind of cult brand because it's not mainstream or popular anywhere else in the world (or maybe it's considered mainstream in sweden hmm) but augh sob i-i really like the bag hahaha but if i get it i wonder if people are gonna call me out for being such a tool and/or extravagant, following swedish trends though i really like the bag sob

oh right and since we're really on the subject (or "sub-yekt" as the swedish would pronounce it) of swedish fashion now, MAN swedish guys look really good in maroon pants! ok that sounded a little off but but but i mean i've seen guys wearing them and was like oh wow ok that looks nice, but didn't think much about it till eveline asked me one day if i noticed that lots of swedish guys wore red pants and when she pointed it out i was like jaha! now that you mention it, lots of them do seem to wear red pants! i don't know if asians can carry it off as well, but these hip swedes can pull it off really nicely, especially with like a navy blue blazer/jacket thing! i was told that they are probably one of the most stylish people in europe, more so than the londoners, belgians or their fellow scandinavian counterparts :o!!

idag det var solen skiner! today was a sunny day as well! it almost felt like singapore, with temperatures going up to 22-23 and beyond, and the sun beating down on everyone. one big difference i'm thankful for is the fact that it isn't humid TvTb!! my mum was telling me yesterday that it's getting so incredible hot in singapore at 30+ degrees, that she was even sweating in the supermarket (which is usually really cold)! maybe it's because we've had lots of cloudy/cold days in sweden, which compels everyone to appreciate whatever sunny hot weather they can get here.

cycled to the river (fyrisån) today, across from eklundshof on the side of Willy's (the supermarket) for lunch and to study for a bit

lovely, lovely place///// uppsala was beautiful in winter and is beautiful here in spring as well/// this probably sounds silly, but for the longest time in singapore, i dreamt of sitting by this fabled river by my little student housing area for a bit with a fitting song playing like Mother Nature's Son

it felt surreal to actually be doing something i had been dreaming about for so long?

anyway some (turkish?? spanish??) girls came with the same idea with a picnic mat and food and speakers and everything, which wasn't too nice because it kind of ruined, a little, the quiet atmosphere i was going for. it was still nice though. eventually it got really hot and i had to turn my back to the pier because the sun was searing (not like in singapore though haha).

was half contemplating going home before going for swedish class, but because i spent more time on homework than expected, i had to speed-cycle straight to class from the river and haha when i came into the classroom i couldn't figure out why everyone was looking at me funny and someone was like so black HAHA wow i don't ever get this ~~black~~ tan in singapore; usually i turn red, so to know i was tan was really nice?!

during sunday dinner last week, jonas was telling us how he spends quite some time recording the events that happened in the day in his diary (what's more, he HAND-writes them) and i was really impressed at his dedication! should really try to actually USE THE TIME I HAVE ON THE INTERNET PRODUCTIVELY to record all these special moments; time is running out and every moment we have left is precious.

piano skills

2011-04-02T16:53:00.001-07:00

Just returned from Jonas' birthday party in Eklundshofvägen 4C's common room. Didn't mean to stay for too long; just wanted to hang out a bit and be social before returning to my hermitage to write essays. It was nice meeting new people and getting together with friends, but what really convinced me to stay was Ward's piano playing.

No one knows how or why a piano ended up in 4C, but it did. Once, Tomasz from our building played a bit on it during our Sunday dinner and that was very nice. Today, when Ward, Raila and myself were on the topic of Hobbies: What You Like to Do in Your Free Time, Ward told us he liked to play the piano in his free time. I was in Eklundshof yesterday and I played Imagine. I'll play it for you later, when there are less people. To know that Ward could play a Lennon song; that was big and very exciting news for me. So eventually when people began to leave for Katushka, a club night at Kalmar, we made our way to the piano and he began to play the melody for Eveline and I. It's very easy, just a repetition of chords, he explained, slowing down his playing intentionally to show us. Eveline tried to learn, but for people like us with barely any piano knowledge, picking up even the most rudimentary, reiterated chords is hard.

People began to be drawn to the tinkering of the piano. Someone called someone else to turn down the (trash) party music so we could get some live music. Mark from Ireland told Ward to play the most "complicated thing" he knew; something that could impress us. After a bit of coaxing and further elaboration on something which is "very fast" and involves a lot of "moving of the fingers", Ward began to play one of those classics. I wish I knew the name of the song he played, but it's a song we have all heard at least once in our lives.

There is something about the piano which sets it apart from the other instruments. Yes, those other instruments have their own kind of magic; life that is breathed into the strings, the pipes, the snares, when a good musician begins to play. But piano playing is a different kind of magic, involving hands and fingers belonging to hands gliding over a surface, effortlessly glazing over the keys, producing moods and colours and emotions of all variations. Stuff of illusions, passions, and maybe even dreams. Listening to music affects us emotionally in ways rationality cannot. Watching the music, however, adds further layers of emotion and texture. It complicates the music listening experience. To watch those hands spring and transfer life and energy into the keys into the music, to watch those hands pause, and play with great gravity and sadness, or come crashing down in a blur on the black and white. To watch hands and emotions is another way of experiencing music, I think.

Jonas the birthday boy joins the mini audience that gathered watching Ward. Play this one, he asks, taking the rather conveniently placed Beethoven piano sheets on the shelf next to the piano. Thumbing through the pages, he opens the book to a page. Ward looks it over for a moment, and with a momentary pause to gain momentum to start, he plays. It is another one of those songs we must have heard at least once in our lives; Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2 mvt. 3, a very fast, animated, passionately furious piano orchestration by Beethoven. Beer cans, wine glasses and dinner plates are rapidly removed from the top of the piano and the lid of the upright piano is opened to amplify the sound of the music. Ward's hands move over the piano, in a wild flurry of activity, stretching and bending to accommodate the chords he has to play. As he reaches the end of the page, Jonas deftly turns the page over for him. Ward's hands stop when he makes mistakes. Just keep going. We won't know if you're wrong Mark advises. Yet, even with those little mistakes, Ward renders the piece, its emotions and sentiment, very beautifully. Shit, Nadia from South Africa murmurs. I've been playing for over ten years and I'm not even that good yet. As everyone applauds for Ward (much to his dismay), Jonas thanks him. It's my favourite piece and I wish I could play it he explains.

The people left behind, who didn't go with the rest to Katushka, urge Jonas the birthday boy to play a song. Grudgingly, he takes the seat formerly occupied by Ward and plays two songs. They are not as complex as the songs Ward plays, but the most outstanding difference in the way he and Ward plays is exemplified through his hands. While Ward's hands move in a wild, flighty passion, Jonas' hands come down firm and masterful on the piano. Although he is not as good as Ward, his hands seem to take authority over the keys they move upon. After he finishes, we applaud for him and one of the German boys begins to sing,

Det var i vår ungdoms
fagraste vår,
man drack varandra till och så sade gutår!-

Then elongating the note to draw more people to join in,

Och alla så dricker vi nu JONAS till...!

Jonas sheepishly does a little bow in appreciation and people instruct him to play the reply on the piano, but he says he does not know how to. Ward is called to play the piano and figure out the keys once more. Almost immediately, after a very short spurt of arbitrary tinkling, he plays the song once more, and people cheer in surprise and celebration. With a rousing shout, the German boy begins once again and those who know how to sing (bits or all of it) start once more, holding up their drinks in a toast:

Det
var i vår ungdoms
fagraste vår,
man drack varandra till och så
sade gutåååååår!-

Och alla så dricker vi nu JONAS till...!

Jonas responds in a tinny voice:

Och Jonas han säger inte nej därtill,

And once more, in unison, everyone goes:

för det var i vår ungdom den fagraste vår,
man drack varandra till och så sade man: gutår!

After much fanfare, everyone settles into conversations with the people around them and Ward inquires about that second song Jonas played.

Eventually, Nadia takes over with Coldplay's Viva La Vida. Someone has to sing she calls out, and a drunk friend of Jonas volunteers to hum the parts he doesn't know and sing the chorus he knows. As she plays, she stares intently at her hands, which delicately float above the piano keys; they are very graceful and elegant, and I cannot help but think how apt that they belong to the slender Nadia. Another drunk friend begins to tinker along with Nadia, but she stumbles and pleads for him to stop because she can't concentrate. Eventually, she gives up. I'm too drunk to concentrate now is her explanation. Her hands do not betray in her intoxicated state though. Ward takes over the piano once more, and calls to Eveline: Eva, you know this one. He begins to play Canteloupe Island. I jolt forward crying Canteloupe Island! and Ward asks You know? He plays the tune slow and jazzy, the way it should be, and almost immediately I think of Nicholas, back home with his bass and chill grooves. I desperately wish I had my camera. Nick would appreciate this so much. Ward plays it wonderfully, eventually getting to a stage where he improvises and adds to the song. It is enchanting, the kind of moment you would like to have frozen so you can revisit it whenever you like. Ward is eventually rejoined Nadia and they attempt to do an improvisation piece. It is either that Nadia cannot improvise, or that she is drunk, or that Ward is playing something which Nadia is not familiar with, but the improvisation exercise does not work too well and Nadia concludes their exercise naming their song "Two Minds".

I ask Ward if he knows other jazz standards, and he thinks a bit, before playing a piece that sounds familiar. I shake my head (albeit rather sheepishly) when he asks if I know what it is called. He turns to face the piano and begins to sing, The summer wind...

Eveline eventually joins him by the piano, and he begins to play a familar tune. Girl from Ipanema? I venture. Ward goes yeah with a grin and plays the song. Do you know how to sing the song? Once again, I remorsefully tell him I don't. We agree, however, that I will learn to sing it so we can sing it together the next time. Eventually we decide to clear out of the common room. People decide not to go to Katushka in the end because of the incredible queues into Kalmar (Jonas was updated via text by former party attenders). I self-taught myself, but haven't played for five years. I wish I could play like you Jonas tells Ward. We protest that he's pretty good, and he shrugs, and talks about the piano he got for a good deal (2500 euros) off someone who was moving across to the other side of Germany.

I can't help but think that is amazing; learning to play complex tunes and sight read on your own! To create tones and emotions with your hands, to fill and intoxicate the room with a tune. Ah man what a skill, to play a piano///

one good turn deserves another

2010-12-17T09:52:00.000-08:00

you always hear that idiom and stuff, but wow ok i must tell you today was the first time i experienced it so... explicitlyLOL

ok ok so today after collecting my essays (so relieved dsjakdljsdlsjad slds got As for both, and together with the previous A+, that makes straight As and this has never happened before so i-i'm really happy and thankful though i'm still worried for the exams;;;) and speaking some professors about course matching for the exchange programme, i sat somewhere in the south spine in school to do some studying.

it was a really windy day today, and so i placed makeshift paperweights on everything to make sure none of my notes or papers or anything flew. way across on the other side of the open air bench area, there were these two guys studying as well. so we were pretty much minding our own businesses studying on our own, when a gust of wind suddenly blew and the guys' papers went flying helter skelter and they crossed over the imaginary halfway point to where i was sitting and i went to help pick up around 2 sheets of paper (the guys were a lot faster in picking up their notes) and they said thanks and we went back to our respective corners to study.

at around 530, i had to take off to meet aaron and stuff, and was in the midst of carefully packing my notes and everything because it was really gusty, when suddenly 2 loose sheets of notes went whipping and cascading about in the wind and in this (well, to me) dramatic moment, they were stopped temporarily by the parapet, and i kind of scrambled to get the 2 pieces of paper because GOODNESS KNOWS how long i spend writing those stupid notes out jdksaljdlsa when suddenly another gust of wind blew and the papers went flying into this walled area one level below, where there was random foliage and soil and stuff.

upset, i hastily packed everything and fled downstairs and was dismayed to find that the walls were higher than i expected; i would have to climb, not jump over them and i was wearing a skirt and oh man i was wondering what to do, and i kind of ran about looking for a door of sorts to lead me to the foliaged area; i mean they should have had a door there; how else could they have grown plants on (in??) that plot of soil and i was tottering about all confused and worried and upset when one of the guys came down and i held the door from the staircase open for him because i was rushing all about looking for a door to get my notes and i thought he was going to the canteen to get a drink and stuff, when suddenly i realised he was following me out to the barricaded area once again and he was like, are your notes in there and i was really surprised and before i could answer, he kind of climbed over the wall and picked up my 2 sheets of notes and oh man i was really grateful and stuff and yes i thanked him profusely and he vanished back upstairs to continue studying and wow i was like WOW what an example of "one good turn deserves another".

ok yeah i might be making a big deal out of this but oh man OH MAN that guy was really nice climbing over the wall and everything to help get those notes!! TAT!!

it's been a long time, hasn't it?

2010-11-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

since i've posted to my blog!

really really excited because i'm

GONNA BE GOING TO SWEDEN FOR REAL
for an exchange programme!!

really stoked, looking forward to new experiences and good times ahead.
i made a list of what i hope to do there, expectations and aims and all that. just wanted to pen it down because doing so always makes the thoughts in your head more coherent and solid (that's what i think, anyway).

excerpts from list:
2. Good friends
part of a beautiful experience involves interacting with friends, having moments you share with someone. times you can say do you remember the time when... i want to make good friends. friends that stick firm, and that i can share lovely times with. i hope that the 4 of us from NTU will be a close-knit bunch of friends, that can treasure the fun moments, protect one another, stick close together, be open to new experiences, making more friends, and all that, while making an effort to accommodate for each other. but i also want to make friends beyond singapore. from all over the world. to meet people, without silly attachments or connotations of "hitting on someone" or "dating" or any of that. i just want to make new friends with people who are willing to share their lives, their past experiences with me, and be prepared to share a tiny, tiny bit of their future with me as we reside together in the present. really do hope people will be receptive and open to making friends. i also hope that my fellow singaporean friends won't take it the wrong way, but will also get involved in this friend-making process, so we can get to know more people; and the more, and merrier!

3. New Perspective
one thing people talk about when they return from an exchange programme is the broadened perspective they have. i want to have that. to use that analogy of the frog in the well looking upwards and assuming that the round gaping mouth of the well is the sky, i want to break out of that; to climb out of the well, to a brave new world, to catch the sights, how other people live, what makes other people tick and all that. that was partly the reason why i chose to head over to the scandinavian part of the world; to experience a culture so different from the one here in singapore; if singapore is in the equatorial center of the world, why not go to the top or the bottom of the world to see what's it like on the "inverted" side? looking forward to new perspectives of how we should approach and live life (of course, with God, but i'm talking here about practical approaching, vs the singaporean "kan-cheong" "kiasu" lifestyle).

4. New Experiences
i.e. *fun* things never done before. this includes skiiing, backpacking, joining a nation and all that. stuff you wouldn't really do otherwise. stuff that make you look back and think A) what was i thinking?! hahaha can't believe i actually got talked into doing this (and had a great time?)! or B) awesommmmeeee great memories, getting a rush thinking about it. something that adds to the grand memories that i hope to have of this exchange programme
--------------------------------------

PLACES I WANT TO GO
not really in any kind of order, except the ones waaaaay down on the list are places which are not like URGENT MUST-GO placeslololol
1. norway (lapland??)? kiruna?? WHEREVER I CAN SEE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!! OH LORD PLEASE PLEASE LORD WHEN I GO, PLEASE LET THE LIGHTS BE OF ALL COLOURS AND NOT JUST GREEN OH PLEASE LORD!!!!!!
2. arctic circle - once during winter and another time during summer for the midnight sun!
3. ice hotel
4. LONDON (+ globe theatre!!!!! and west end!!! and to visit vanessa!!)
5. LIVERPOOL1!!!!!
6. paris
7. SPAINNN (barcelona? madrid? but definitely valencia, puzol, to visit aunty june and help out in any way i can oh man really do hope i can help)
8. maastricht in netherlands (to visit )
9. ROME, ITALY!!!!!!!! and venice!! DURING THE CARNIVAL OF VENICE SOB/// feb 19-20, feb 26-march 8 2010
9. TROLLTUNGA and hopefully forsand too!!
10. moscow, russia for the st. basil's cathedral!!
11. lund (to visit izzat and martha)
12. glasgow (to visit schwa)
13. lausanneLMAO this time for some real sightseeing i guess (to visit vanahe)
14. lugano in switzerland (to visit hui ying and marcus?)
15. vienna
16. some place(s) with pretty castles HUFF HUFF SOB///
17. copenhagen
18. helsinki
19. lulea (to visit shahida?)
20. germany (berlin + stuttgart <- to visit victoria?)
21. CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL LOLOLOL
22. warsaw
23. greece
24. prague
25. H&M LOLOLOLOL
26. birmingham (to visit jas?)
27. CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL PILGRIMAGE
28. stratford upon avon!!
29. Ghent, Belgiun! (eveline's recommendation)
30. perhaps Gothenburg.

-------------------------

THINGS I HOPE TO DO
listing them as they pop up in my head too
SNOW-SLEDDING
learn to skii/snowboard
pick up languages (at least the minimal scraps TvT)
take lots of pretty pictures
see the northern lights (duh)
LIVE IN A HOUSE THAT IS PRETTY
make friends from all over the world
learn something new about each country's culture/history i visit
if possible, make a videolog
watch a show at the globe theatre
go to a castle
watch a show at west end
get involved in nation activities/public holidays like easter (the easter and valborg celebration sound so so fun!! TvT///)
do some theatre??

again, this list will eventually grow as i remember more things TvT;;;/// and well it'll be great if i could actually get everything on this list done!

well

at the end of the day, i want to come back with beautiful memories
good memories, of classes, of friends made, of tiny moments that we will all treasure; of train rides, plane rides, laughter, conversations, travelling plans, places hit, places explored, places we totally immersed ourselves in... want to look back at the time spent in Uppsala, and everywhere else with fondness.

----------------------------------------------------
technical bit:
THE TO-DO LIST
- get visa
- get residential permit
- buy laptop
- inherit mum's old iphone for the skype and free smsing function??;;;
- register courses/FIGHT WITH HSS ADMIN PEOPLE IF THEY INSIST ON BEING ANAL AND UPTIGHT ABOUT MATCHING COURSES UGH
- register for international buddy program
- get air tickets
- buy winter clothes
- get a pancake camera lens, flash and leather case
- SAVE MONEY (in the midst of buying a laptop, air tickets, clothes OH THE IRONY)

^this list may be edited over time as well

sydney - hillsong 2010 picspam

2010-07-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

had a lovely time at the hillsong conference. it was a refreshing and exciting experience <3 <3 <3

most of the pictures are from facebook because i'm lazy like that hahaha

we went with a whole bunch of people from church of different ages; that in itself was an interesting experienceLOL

because of the conference, we didn't get to go sightseeing much BUT WE GOT TO WEAR WINTER CLOTHES EVERYDAY AND THAT WAS SOMETHING SPECIAL DJSAKDLJSA KLDJSAKLDJSAKD JSAKLDJSAKLDJA the weather in singapore was incredibly hot when we got back SOB TAKE ME BACK TO SYDNEY D JSAKLDJSA LDJSALKD JSAKLDJSAKL DJSALKD JSKLAD PLEASSSEEEEEEEES JKDJSAKDA

we rented a van from Europcar which was pretty strange because we were in australia not europe

on the way to the rented van there were these demarcations on the side of the road for the pedestrians. the little road boy grows up to be a fine young man AHHHHHHHHHH

our trusty van!! <3 <3 <3

on the first day, we stopped by the gloria cafe for hot chocolate! drinks like that can only be appreciated on a cold day sob the marshmallows were kind of engulfed by the hot chocolate!! and you could add as many as you liked from a jar! cool stuff.

we stayed in meriton appartments in parramatta. not too far from the acer arena, where the conference was held.

there was a park near the apartments and HAHAHAHAHAHA:

the pigeons tuck their heads in and fluff their feathers out to keep themselves warm how cute!

pretty flower! love how it's tinged pink at the edges!

preparations for the conference!

have to admit i was pretty blown away by the size of the main stadium during the day 1 night rally! it can house 20,000 people woahh;;; it was pretty cool when we did waves about the area hahaha

queuing to get into the main stadium for the day 2 night rally! it was insane sob you can't really tell from the picture, but the queue (what remains of it) went on for miles and miles! HAHAHA at the smiling people! <3

AND AND AND WALLY FROM THAT BOOK WHERE'S WALLY EXISTS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH DSAKJD SAJKDLSA JDKLSAJD KSLAJD KLA JDSKLA JDSK STACY POINTED HIM OUT ON DAY 3 AND WE KINDA FLIPPED JSKDLA DJKLSDJA

too bad i was a little slow with my camera AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it was really quite a pleasant surprise!!!! can you spot him here!

day 3 was our free day and we went to manly wharf, where stacy and nick and jie ains went the last time for good fish and chips! we read off some tourist map thing that the beach was named Manly after some colonial person came and was impressed by the manliness of the aborigines, and therefore decided to name the place "Manly" HAHAHAHAHAHA needless to say, there were like lots of funny puns spotted as a result HAHAHAHA

CAN I BE MANLY DURING SCHOOL CARE

FOR THE MANLY COMMUNITY

SALVATION ONLY FOR THE MANLY

MANLY BOATS FOR THE MANLY SEA

MANLY ROW OF SHOPS: "MANLY JEWELLER", "MANLY DIGITAL CENTRE" and "MANLY PHARMACY"

ok i will stop up now

the nice fish and chips restaurant!

i was kind of ill on that day, with a cold and sore throat, so i couldn't really taste the food SOB WHAT A WASTE JKSLADJ SAKDJDKSAD

SOB

GRILLED BARRAMUNDI the remnants i could actually taste was ok. i tried jie ains' beer-battered one and kind of wished i had mine beer-battered instead as well sob

what it looks like beer-battered!

FAITH TAKES NICE PICTURES OF ME I KNOW WHO TO TAKE PICTURES WITH NEXT TIME *loser*

the waiter who served us was so totally cool so we had to take a picture with him

after that, we trucked down to the beach. it was windy and really cold but nngh it was beautiful. the sky was this muted blue colour, and the sea in shades of blue, deeper in colour where it was deeper, and slightly greenish where it was more shallow. it kind of complimented the yellow sand (dampened by a passing shower moments ago). oh and there were white seagulls on the sand. really really beautiful!!

there were people surfing in this extreme weather THAT WAS CRAZY! you don't get to see waves like that in singapore!

we went on to camwhore on the beach because it was pretty DON'T JUDGE US

jump shot!! faith's fancy DSLR made it easy taking the jump shot pictures! i-i kind of like this picture. it's lovely when you get to take nice group pictures with people you love!! <3 <3 <3

we don't get a chance to wear winter clothes and take pretty pictures by the sea very often so this justifies our camwhoring OK? OK.

faith and nick uh huh uh huh uh huh uh huh uh huh uh huh uh huh uh huh (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (:

check out the variations of colour in the sea and the sky! pretty stuff nngh/// too bad it's not really obvious in the first picture; my camera sucks sob

marbly swirly patterns on the water! cool stuff!

hahahaha there's a marine parade in australia too!

we went walking on this path by the beach!

it was lovely <3

on the way we saw this pool cut from rock in the sea AHHHHHHHHH really cool!! would like to swim in this one day!!!

corn and a dinosaur's head hahahahahah

OH RIGHT and there was this cool girl with pink hair at Ben & Jerry's making a cool ice cream cake RESPECT

she obliged shyly when i asked for a picture!

the ad reminds me of the jamiroquai music video!

nngh love that bassline

for dinner we went to some korean restaurant. it was really crowded so we had to sit outside to eat
while waiting for a table, stacy and nick went to warm themselves by the heat lamp

they look like they're worshipping it HAHAHAHAHA

day 4! after the rain, the sky became really clear!

nice gradient!

thought it was kind of amusing how they used banksy's work for the day 4 conference design hahahaha

man these guys were just the best HAHAHAHAHA butter chicken especially

some nights after returning home late after the conference and dinner, we'd play card games!!

we taught faith how to play bridge, and she taught us how to play gin rummy. we played taiti too. the deal was, whoever lost the most points had to make breakfast. stacy lost hahahahahaha

day 5!

stace and i outside the acer arena. you can see brian houston walking to the i-heart picture in here hahahahaha

day 5 was hug a volunteer day too, so stacy and i hugged volunteers along the way to our courses!

they were all so nice! we had a hugging competition and stacy totally KSed all the volunteers i was gonna hug but i won when i hugged brian houston ~~because i gave myself 500 points~~

reuben morgan! he is pretty cool

tim hughes showing us the first ever version of "Here I Am to Worship" hahaha wow it did sound pretty wonky

kari jobe! she's so pretty, and really nice!!

t.d. jakes was just awesome too!

we met up with the other people from the sister church! youth picture!

on the last day, before heading to airport, we went to the Glebe area of sydney! hahaha aunty yuming pretending to be a flight attendent with gummy strings! that was pretty hilarious!

love how the road signs have anchor icons in front of them!

the glebe flea market JSDKLA FJD SKAL JSAKLD JSKALDJSAKDJKSA DJSKLAJDKSALJDKLSA;DJKSLA this place is AMAZING DSJKALD JSAKLDJ SKAL JDKLS SPENT SO MUCH MONEY HERE JKDS JADKLSAJ DKLSJDKLSAJDKSLJDKLA really really wish we had more time to check this place out!! ;A; singapore's flea markets are NOTHING compared to this SOB DS JAKDLJSAKLDJSA JKL THIS IS THE REAL DEAL SOB IN SINGAPORE THEY'RE SRSLY NOTHING I MEAN THEY ALL SELL THE SAME THINGS AND THERE'S NO CREATIVITY AND THEY'RE ALL IN HOT SWEATY ENCLOSED AREAS DJSAKLD JSAKLD JSKALDJSKALJDS KA this was a way cool experience!

all selling little intricacies!

there was this one store selling notebooks made from recycled old books. that was really really cool sob i bought a whole load of notebooks but i doubt i'll ever use them because 1. they're too pretty to be used 2. my handwriting sucks so bad it'll just automatically uglify the book DJSAKL DJSKALDJ SAKLSOB SOB SOB SOB SOBBBDKS ADJL;ADKS

anyway nick got this one for our muscle crazy brother mark

DSJAKDJ SAKLDJ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAAHHA

each recycled book comes with page inlets from the original book! some pages from this one:

oh man these people don't look fit at all HAHAHAHAHAHAHA hilarious stuff

stacy getting old cds! she will lend the libertines and b.b. king one to me soon i think!!

gotta love the colour combi!

srsly i could and would have gotten more if we were given more shopping time sob i didn't get any accessories or clothes or bags JSAKD LJSAKD JSAKLDJ SKAL JDSKLAJD KLSAJDKLSA JDKLSAJDLSAJDLKSA

hooray for the 5 notebooks i'll never use, and for the beatles records, i will find a gramophone one day to listen to these to see if music really sounds better on an LP!!

there were a lot of spanish restaurants in glebe

some australian people recommended this chocolate churros place to us!

another wallpaper design talked about how a monk (san churro) miraculously healed the queen from a disease with chocolate and so it was a delicacy in spain for a while hahahaha

churros with chocolate SJKAL DJSKALDJ SAKLDJ SAKLD JSAKLTHESE WERE REALLY GOOD SJDKAL DJSKADJ KSA DJSA

we shared an aztec (sp?), which is hot chocolate with cinnamon and chili. i think it's a delicacy in spain? it tasted strange, but most people agreed that the taste kind of grows on you.

HAHAHAHAHA their taglines!

the skies were really nice on the last day!

the clouds billowed out in this curious, patterned design!

wow you can see the aeroplane in the distance!

HAHAHAHAHA pies in the airport!! we didn't get to eat much australian food because by the time the conference ended each night, most of the eateries would've closed, so we ate chinese food in chinatown most of the time haha. love the face on that pie! if you turn the eyes upside-down, it'll become ^p^!

and the aeroplane ride was the most magical one i've ever taken before! the sky was beautiful throughout the ride!
yet another sky picture spam

lovely gradient!!

cloudland! they look like sheep, or maybe some fluffy mountainous region.

wish my camera was better; there was this amazing rainbow gradient in the sky nearing dusk.

watching out from the window, it was really cool to see how the sky changed colours, from a spectrum of colours, to shades of blues, yellows, purples and greys, and blot out to a dark blue. when we were passing over the java (?) sea, where it was all black and there weren't many city lights and the lights in the aeroplane were turned off, you could peer through the window to look at the sky and there was so, so many stars it was uncountable! when they decided to turn on the lights, we had to create a little dark enclave using those mini pillows and blankets to block out the lights to look at the stars. but they were beautiful. it reminded me of the stars in south africa <3

the conference days was an eye-opener. was surprised and kind of sad when it ended. i really did get a lot out of it, and i'm glad for that <3 <3 <3

vietnam and puncak!

2010-06-23T04:28:00.000-07:00

went to Vietnam from 4th-6th June!!

5 facts about Vietnam:
1. more people own motorcycles than cars. uncle lap (or was it uncle hideki?) told me that there are around 80 million motorcycles in Vietnam
2. a lot of Vietnamese learn martial arts! there're lots of martial arts schools all over Vietnam and apparently it's really cheap to take lessons! while the older people see martial arts as a sport to keep fit, some younger people see it as a hobby
3. there's one province (?) in Vietnam which has a unique Vietnamese martial arts style. they used it to fend off the French? Japanese? Chinese? i-i don't quite remember but apparently everyone in that province knows it because they all practice it
4. a lot of Vietnamese wear sunglasses, helmets, arm-warmers, and masks covering the mouth when riding on their motorcycle. the arm-warmers are to ensure that there's no uneven tan ('specially for the girls), masks are to avoid breathing in the dusty air, and helmets which are compulsory or you'll get fined. these helmets are... pretty cheap and poorly made stuff that they wear just to abide by the rules XDD
5. "thank you" would be "cảm ơn bạn" in Vietnamese. it's kind of pronounced "gah-meng"

had some passport problems so i left one day after dad.
the sky at the airport right before departure was beautiful. too bad the windows kind of ruined the picture. it's always hard to capture the image you see with a camera, isn't it? ):

dad and i ate so much good food here!! i got to eat pho bo at pho hoa first thing i arrived!! *v*!!

MMMMMMMM the best pho bo in the world SRSLY SOB wish i didn't eat pho bo for breakfast with dad at that other nearby restaurant on sunday because dad wanted to eat japanese food instead for lunch because we had _{not so good} pho for breakfast in the morning ): ): ):

the meat is tender and the soup is really... bursting with flavour. uncle lap taught me how to put sweet sauce and chili sauce into the soup mmm! together with a coconut (the fire coconut, aunty hoa told us, is known for its sweetness)

it was nice to see that pho hoa hadn't changed much! when we stayed here for 3 months, we'd come here frequently for breakfast/lunch and we'd sit on the 3rd floor where apparently there's mini water fountain. alas! we sat on the 2nd floor on friday!

LOL BIBLE TRIPE WHAT HAHAHAHAHAHAHA aunty hoa herself had no idea what this was HAHAHAHAH

dad and i shared this one *v*

BEHOLD---

CHINESE BREAD

some dessert with sweet bean (?) inside. uncle lap was telling us how practically all Vietnamese learn how to make that nifty box WITH ONE LEAF and it really works as a box!! apparently they normally fasten and hold the covers together with toothpicks, and not with staplers like in the pictureLOL

russian market!!
it's all commercialized and everything now!! gosh, it's a really big change from the open air kind of tax building before! there'd be touristy handicrafts on the ground level (like musical instruments and coasters and random ornaments etc), and in the building that'd be a shop(s) selling pirated cds. on the higher levels there were shops selling nike, billabong, kipling, le sportsac, etc etc etc straight from the factories. there was also a quilt store and a store? a few stores? selling pretty cloth garment bags with flowers and other pretty designs stitched in front.

aunty hoa, who took me all around on friday (incredibly grateful!!!!), said that the shops moved into this building, and apparently there're ang mohs living on the higher floors of this new Russian Market. managed to spot the quilt shop inside, and a couple of familiar looking clothes shops inside as well! too bad the garment cloth bags weren't sold here, but in another shopping centre;;; the stitched designs they have in front of the garment bag... are really kind of limited and boring now ):

speaking of shopping, aunty hoa told me that because the staff from the various factories have been coming to the shopping centres (saigon square 1 and 2 etc etc etc), some shops have stopped selling the authentic goods sneaked out of the factory, and are selling imitations from china/thailand/cambodiaLOL. aunty hoa could tell the difference between the real, factory stuff and the imitations when we went shopping woahh

still, it was interesting to see how Vietnam has changed over the past 9 years. aunty hoa pointed out the pathway/alleyway to uncle eric's old house and wow it was pretty nostalgic. too bad the minimart across the screet closed down/moved away. there are still a whoooole lot of motorcycles on the street though; that didn't change.

uncle lap, aunty hoa and lam's neighbourhood! there're a lot of korean shops here. aunty hoa says it's because there're a lot of koreans living in the area. it's really convenient though, because right under the flats, there're supermarkets and restaurants which can DELIVER STRAIGHT UP TO YOUR HOUSE AHHHH INCREDIBLE!!

it's a really pretty and quiet neighbourhood though! lots of nice open space for children to play about in. it's a little like toa payoh in singapore, except it's not crowded at all. won't mind living in this kind of place <3

speaking of homes, dad and i met up with some other church friends, and it was interesting to listen to their conversation about waterLOL. because the water in Vietnam isn't exactly... the cleanest (sometimes it would come out of the tap tinted yellow), lots of expats and maybe locals too use a mini water dispenser at home for drinking water. so all these expats were talking about the different brands of bottled dispenser water and how a certain brand tasted salty because of the minerals it contained and how boiling water was the best way to get clean water and how filtration systems didn't work because they only trap bacteria which'll grow and multiply like woah hahaha that was fun to listen to

on the 2nd day we went to this Brazilian meat restaurant where they served the food on skewers OH MANNN that was so good sob was full for so long after that!

strangely enough, dad and i ate japanese food more than anything during our stay haha. well to be fair the japanese food here is cheap and really good///

there's this restaurant called "Sushi Bar" or something like that and woooow that was pretty good.

that last picture shows a really unique kind of seaweed! they come in bubble-like, grape form!! *v*!! it's really nice with a bit of soy sauce and apparently it's a filipino dish hahaha!

pictures on the way back home:

check out that sheer quantity of motorcycles! there were srsly more motorcycles than cars on the street!

vietnam was fun nnghh would love to go back *v*!!

hmmm might as well write my thoughts about the youth camp in puncak as well?

camp was fun!! puncak is a really nice place with cool weather and all that. there were lots of activities and stuff and we were broken up into 2 teams for all that. so glad for the team i had! got to know lots of people better, and they were all a fun yet hardworking bunch (does that make sense??)

traffic jams were crazy though ahahahahaha i remember it being bad the last time i went (last year?) but woww this was REALLY bad i think on the first day we planned to reach puncak at 7 but ended up getting there at 10 or smt hahaha and when we went water rafting on day 2, there was a jam to the water rafting place and a REALLY BAD jam back to puncak. so bad, we actually had to stop and eat dinner before getting back on the road. apparently the vice president of indonesia was in puncak and he was heading back, hence that insane jam.

on the last day, the roads were pretty jam free and when we got to the airport in 1 hour after a stopover in a mall for lunch, everyone was like "WHAT ONLY 1 HOUR??" hahahaha if this was singapore, getting to a place in 1 hour would be considered pretty crazy haha XDD

pretty pretty pictures ripped off facebook BECAUSE I CAN

thought it was pretty funny how the bank of china welcomed us to indonesia :o!

on the first day, we stopped at a convenience store on the way to puncak. the weather was already getting pretty chilly so some of us stopped to eat ice cream because it's always nice to do so when it's cold!! <3

PADDLE POP OLD SCHOOL GOODNESS MMMM

oh yeah, on the first day, we ate at this inn/restaurant called "Amen" haha
we sat at this long table and played broken telephone 'round the table whilst eating dinner! that was fun!

long table is long.

respect to indonesians for making/consuming their awesome chili srsly they make the best chili dips/sauces/belachan/etc etc etc ever!

there was this pond thing with like LARGE QUANTITIES OF KOI hahaha and they'd cluster together wherever there's commotion! it's cute but kind of gross?!

i-i'm kind of proud of these pictures hahaha

on the 2nd day, we went for white water rafting. there was that massive jam and so on the way we stopped to get tidbits to snack on the way to the water rafting place

*v* you don't really see these much in singapore anymore!

!!!!! CORN STICKS EVERYONE LOVED THESE! they used to sell them in school canteens when i was young. mann these were a treat <3 <3 <3

the white water rafting place was around this kampong and it was refreshing to see all these chickens and cats and dogs and rice fields altogether, somehow!

amazing stuff the chicken scaled the 80 degree angled wall with his claws!!

they were so red ahahahaha i didn't go because of my toe ): ): ):

this was really high up. don't think you can tell in the picture. on the way to the white water rafting place, everyone saw the river and was like WHAT it looks like teh ping. apparently there was a flood the night before! :o!

the bunch of us that didn't go white water rafting retreated to the shade to wait for the others. there was a pretty cat hanging around! i think it's a bengal <3 <3 <3

after some time, mel and i decided to go mountain biking instead! that was fun! suppose that would be my exercise for the month of may + june HAHAHA

good food after. good chili too!!

on the way back, we decided to do the memory verse competition in the bus because there was nothing else to do on the bus sob (all valuables were passed over for safekeeping). proud to say team 2 won!! <3 it was really close because while the other team TOTALLY DIDN'T REMEMBER ANY OF THEIR VERSES, they had jonah and dilly for the bonus round which wasn't fair given that that wasn't a team effortLOL

we were supposed to go to a national park on the 3rd day but everyone was ~~scared~~ tired of travelling and plus we didn't get to enjoy the nice puncak weather so we decided to have all the game activities about the villas instead <3 we were guaranteed that we won't see the bus for the whole the day haha so we walked to a restaurant for breakfast. we got to see the pretty villas in puncak! there were like japanese themed ones, thai (?) themed ones, and dutch styles ones! super pretty!

the dutch styled one! my camera doesn't take pictures well arghh ]:

mel called this the kueh lapis house hahahahahahaha even the swing is colourful!!

there were some really strange garden statue things around though ahahaha

WHY, I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY

in the end, we got lost looking for breakfast, so the bus picked us upLOLOL
mmmm

faith showed me bea's rubber band animal things!! wonder how they shape them into animals. my favourite is the elephant!!

it was nice just staying in the puncak neighbourhood and playing games!

hahaha tim and mark being silly with gotti lotti

after winning the morse code game. it was tense because we were losing at first but YEAHHHHHH we were so happy!

in the afternoon some people from the nearby amusement park came around the villas with ponies that you could like sit and ride on for half an hour for S$3-4 so being the tourist losers that we were, some of us rode about HAHAHAHAHHAHA all the locals were laughing at how touristy we were

ALWAAAAAAYYYYSS I WANNA BE WITH YOU
AND MAKE BELIEEEVE WITH YOU
AND LIVE IN HARMONY HARMONY HARMONY OH LOVE

i wanted to ride sandra but someone took her while i was taking pictures of all the horses ok so what if i named the horse DON'T JUDGE ME

settled for the white horse instead

I NAMED HER BEANO

my brother nick took this cool looking horse

look at the spikey hair and eyepatch WOAHHH

funnily enough, his horse was one of the slowest horses HAHAHAHAHA nick was so disappointed. there was a joke going around that the horse couldn't cope with nick's weight HAHAHAHAHAHA

in the evening we had the cheer contest and the bible skit contest hahahahaha aw man the falcon cheer from the other team WAS THE BEST JDKLSAJD SLAKJKLDS when they do it again this sunday i'm totally gonna record it down!!

the other team's skit was cute they had a "CHAIR"riot

3 man band from our team! we made a song to go with our skit <3

at night we had a candle fight, in NLCC youth camp tradition. it was nick's birthday so we made him blow out all our candles first haha

it was a lovely night because it was a little chilly, and you could see a whole lot of stars in the sky! what a wonderful night it was to play candle fight! <3 <3 <3

FIIIIGHT hahaha my toe was stepped on a bunch of times ):

oh right, some people were staying in this villa, and there was this glass table in the living room with hornless ~~robot~~ unicorn table ends woah that was a little gaudy;;;

also, in jakarta, there was this open area with running horse statues and some of us proceeded to sing ALWAYYSS I WANNA BEEE WITH YOUU

HAHAHAHA what a unicorn-ridden trip this was!

on the fourth day, on the way to airsoft, we saw these cute cars:

they were lined up in a row!!

and we went to tekko for lunch, as recommended by luki!

MMMM with the chili and kechap manis, it's fantastic <3 <3 <3

we celebrated nick and vivin's birthday in tekko's too!

flight on the way back to singapore! was hoping to see some stars on the way back. was a little disappointed that we couldn't see any stars. when the aeroplane took off though, there were all these lights in indonesia which looked like stars when we were in the air. it was like we were right above a milky way. that was an amazing feeling <3

was really really tired. woke up at 3+pm on tuesday feeling better. all those long bus rides got to me ): plus waking up early everyday and those late nights of playing bridge and taiti! had to crash for a few days when i got back home D:

he said it seriously

2010-05-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH my family has been funny the whole day. funny as in HAHA funny.

~~last night~~ this morning my grandfather caught me up at 430. not the first time he has, but he admonishes this late night sleeping thing (well, so do i, except i-i had a valid reason for staying up last night, really). then on the way to dinner today, my grandfather called me to his room.

i'm surprised i still know how to write chinese ~~totally didn't need to check a website on how to write "present"~~.
this is an excerpt of the newspaper article. READ IT WITH FEAR AND TREPIDATION.

THIS MADE ME MELT SOB SOB SOB SOB HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WANT A KITTEN TO CALL MY OWN SOBBBBBBB///////////// D;ADK SAL;DKSLADJKLSAD JKLSADJKLSAASD'

an unexplanable inclination

2010-04-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

... towards makeup.

went out with mum today! i-i spent a whole lot on clothes D: but seeing how i haven't gone to town for a long time, all the shopping was justifiable?? not to mention i have a lot of money saved up from previous months ahahaha

but anyway whenever i go to departmental stores, i just get drawn to makeup. especially from MAC and shu uemura. they have such... haute couture looks.

take those paperclip eyelashes from shu uemura some time ago. oh and that amazing barbie line from MAC.

oh oh oh and the tsumori chisato x shu uemura line-- the makeup on the model is pretty awesome.

yeah ahahaha was just reminded about makeup today after window shopping (always window shopping, never really buying sob) at MAC and they had this "Art Supplies" edition stuff OH MANNN the lipstain marker was really cool AAHHHH LUST LUST LUST SOB

they really look like markers!

tested it out and it stays really well; it seeps and stains the lips nicely and there's not much of that icky sticky lipstick texture. was looking at some mineral blushes as well because i keep wanting to get a more peachy toned one for guys- i only have pinks for alice from my IS makeup (used ms wong's awesome dark red-purple lipstick "bizzarish" for the hatter)

hahahahahaha sometimes i wish i could do makeup on myself so that the makeup was used more often; i mean, how many times in a ~~month~~ year will i get to do theatre makeup?!

and not just any kind of theatre makeup; makeup which is NOT naturalistic and requires the use of colour/glitter/imagination/all of the above.

gosh i remember during JC i was really quite interested in becoming a makeup artist for real- not just any plain old makeup artist but the MAC ones designing those fancy haute couture looks and all. not the ones who stand about aimlessly at the MAC counters either.

today that feeling kind of warbled about in me again OTL
looking at the colours, the brushes, the lipsticks, the blushers and thinking, oh man this 2 colours would look really nice together, if i applied it on someone this way.

HAHAHAH of course mum wasn't really too keen on the idea of her daughter becoming a makeup artist; i don't think she's even really confident in her daughter's skills.

not that i am fantastic at makeup or anything like that but there's this exhilaration when you do makeup, wondering oh where am i going with this and how you re-create the idea you have in your head.

oh man i'm not even really too sure about how to use concealers and primers well. and one day i would really want to touch an airbrush set.

but oh man it's so much fun and i think it's one of the things i don't mind doing for life. applying blending mixing and all that.

when i was in acsian theatre/dep in JC, doing makeup was one of the greatest highlights ever (acting and warm-ups too but that's not the focus here;;;). not costuming, not stocklisting, not fur-breezing (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH) or any of that. makeup. makeup, may it be in some tranquil classroom for some person's IS. makeup, may it be in the CPA for a whole bunch of dancers and they queue up in front of you to get it done. makeup, when you're rushing it out for someone who came in late and has an exam in half an hour's time. makeup, everyday when you're on a coach bus in south africa on the way to some school/ambassador's house/random other place applying eyeliner and eyeshadow while worrying you don't stab and blind someone while trying to prepare him/her for stage. it's... it's so draining but so so so fun. after you're done, you just bid all the performers all the best and watch them leave for warmups, prettified in their costumes and makeup and hair. then when they come back (especially on final nights) some of them are blubbering and weepy and sad after some emotional conditioning and while you think aw i wish i was part of that experience, you feel like you have to be the emotional kind of support to them as you re-apply makeup and give them tight hugs before they head backstage for the show.

it feels really really great when you do makeup and people like it and they thank you. they may not be sincere but it makes you feel happy nonetheless hahahahaha///

like ning will never fail to thank me with a smile and a "nice" before going off. and there was this time sarah from ac dance was really happy with the makeup and it felt wonderful that someone liked it. or when DEWEI HAHAHAHAH when dewei actually compliments you feel like YESSSS!!!!! because his compliments are so RARE HAHAHAHAHAH

would love to pursue this further, learn more, do more and all that. w-well, if it's possible.

MACpro
^ this is really cool!

I NEED THIS!!!!!! I NEED ALL OF THIS!!!!!!!!1

2010-04-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

THE DESIGNS MAKE MY KNEES BUCKLE IN ENVY

THESE COLOURS AHHHHH SO PASTEL AND SWEET I NEED THIS TO PUT ON PEOPLE AND TO HOLD AND KEEP AND CHERISH FOREVER AND PUT ON MYSELF TOO, MAYBE.

I NEED ALL OF THIS ADLK JSAKLD;JFKLDJFKDLSFKSLDKSA;DKSLADJSKLF DSKFLSADSLKADJKSLADJKSLADJKLSA

HNNNNNNNNNNGHHHH HNNNNNNNNNNNNGHHHHHH

I WANT TO DO MAKEUP ADJKLSAD JKLSADJSKLAF JKDLSFJDSLFJAL AHHHHHHHHHHHHH MAC GLITTER PIGMENTS BRIGHT EYELINER QUIRKY COLOURS OF POP

MAC

MAC

MAC

AND GLITTER AND SHINE AND CONTOURING AND AHHHHHHHHHHHH ALICE IN WONDERLAND SET JADKLSJADKLSJADKLSJADKLSAJDKLAJDKSLADJKLSAJDKLSAJKLAJKLADJKSLDSLLKLL

push on push on

2010-04-20T01:27:00.000-07:00

Book NerdShare
The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. Tag other "Book Nerds".

[i put a "#" for those which i didn't finish reading/read the condensed version. might still be interested in finishing some of these titles!]

[a "*" is for those i'm interested in reading!]

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen #(stopped halfway sob)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien # (stopped at book... 3 i think?)
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling # (stopped at 3)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible x
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte *
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell *
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens x

Total: 2

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott #
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare *
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien *
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger x
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

Total: 1

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell *
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald *
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams x
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll x
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

Total: 2

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis x
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis x (LOL doesn't this fall under 33 as well?!)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne *

Total: 2

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell # (halfway sob)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding *
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

Total: 0 OTL

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen *
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens *
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley x
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon x
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Total: 2

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck *
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold *
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas *
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding *
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville #

Total: 0 SOB

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens #
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett #
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce (kudos to anyone and everyone who actually reads AND FINISHES this OTL)
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

Total: 0

80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens #
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White x
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom x
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle *
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton x (I LOVED THIS!!)

Total: 3

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery x
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams # (stopped near the beginning ):)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shut
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas *
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare x
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl x
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo *

Total: 3

Grand Total: 15 which i totally read fail!lit student AHHHAHAHAHAHAHA

maybe i'll review this list at the end of my four years, to see if anything's changed LOL

but gosh there're a lot of them i've been interested in reading;;; and others which aren't on that list. b-but still, there're a whole lot of good books out there beyond this list, s-so i don't think this is a very fair indicator? *excuses, excuses*

speaking of which;;; it's been a dream of mine to have a big big library with sliding ladders and all that! like an underground library with shelves and shelves and shelves of books and sliding ladders and a marble floor. there'll be a one of those lovely double grand staircases, arching gently to the bottom where the library is! it'll have armchairs and heavy, elaborate wooden tables and wooden chairs with plush seats to match the tables! maybe something victorian-esque or elizabethan-like with the intricate details///// *A*

imagine staying up still late at night in this large room, in a cosy warm armchair reading books! a sense of owning this huge expanse of space as you read, with no one bothering you! how lovely will that be!

o-of course, one would have to procure a pretty big mansion to build a pretty library like that ahhhhhh ;A; it's a pity that dreams are dreams sometimes.

or maybe a slight more modern alternative would be something like this?

but gosh looking at these grand staircases make me feel a little wistful *A*///

Longleat House in UK

i bet all these whimsical dreams came from beauty and the beast

thanks disney

the library was nice, but maybe a little too... over-the-top?! ahahaha;;;

EDIT AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH///

from here

Real Gabinete Portugues De Leitura Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Library of the Augustinian Canon Monastery in St. Florian in Upper Austria

Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada

Biblioteca Angelica, Rome, Italy

can't to think of it, singapore's libraries have this... clinical feel to them. not really that personal a feeling. w-well, to me at least ):

I WANNNNNT SOB
that university library... I-I KIND OF WANT A LIBRARY LIKE THAT IN MY UNIVERSITY TOOOO ;A;

STUDY HARD SELF PLEASE STOP SLACKING!!!!!!

was just thinking

2010-03-20T00:50:00.000-07:00

it's a magical feeling when someone enjoys doing something, and is really talented at it.

today, i had the privilege of attending gor danny and jie yvonne's wedding. congrats and cheers to a blessed life ahead together (: <3 <3 <3

anyway anyway they asked joshua, to play during the wedding dinner. i've always heard from stacy that joshua is really fantastic at the piano; but i didn't really know how skilled he was till i saw him play today, close-up doing rehearsal.

and wow. it was just... wow. he brought his electone to play during the wedding dinner. i heard one of his tracks during one of the past rehearsals; he pre-recorded it on a cd. so today during the last wedding rehearsal when the song came out, i thought it was the cd playing again, when my dad told me, "joshua's playing that right now you know!"

"surely not the whole thing, with the drums and everything?"

"he's playing the whole thing!"

this got me curious; and when i reached stage front, woah, luki and gor siantar and a bunch of people were already watching him. it was... mind-boggling to say the least. he was a one man band. he used all 4 limbs to play the electone. and he did it really really well.

with one hand he played the higher level of piano keys. with the other hand he played the lower level. with one foot he played the pedals (there was a whole myriad of them; not just 3), and with the other he controlled the effects... i think.

later, luki told me that he had to pre-plan the song's effects ahead of time, so that the effects and the pads would change accordingly with whichever bar of the song he was playing at. the amount of work which has to go into each piece of music, before and during, just befuddles me;;;

but man joshua is really good at what he does. he played 3 songs; really liked the 2nd song! the 2nd and 3rd songs had... game OST vibes LOLOLOL <3 <3 <3

the 2nd track he played (キセキ aka miracle):

i-it reminded me of the fft credits soundtrack , later into the music/// or maybe the final boss fight kind of vibe?

but oh man the way his fingers and feet moved- no wait, the way his body just... grooved to the music. it was amazing. there was this fluidity, this sense of being engulfed by the music (or was it the other way round?). it was beautiful. that passion, that fervour with which he played; it was so intense, and you would just get sucked in with the music as well.

joshua is a really nice, friendly guy. a smiley kind of person. but when he plays, his face changes. i saw it during rehearsal. it was full of this fierce concentration, feeling the music, moving accordingly, playing accordingly. music became more than a song. music became solid; something... tangible.

it was amazing. you just want to hold your breath, in awe of what is being created. music on a totally new dimension. crazy stuff.

after the first track, the people around joshua started applauding for him, and you could see him startled by his miniature audience; almost like he never saw them gather around him. it was like, playing the music put him into this trance-like spell; he zoned out everything else which was not part of the music he was creating.

later when i asked him, how do you manage? isn't it hard?? he, in this sheepishly matter-of-factly kind of way, replied not really? since i started at 7.

7. wow.

the little ring bearer ezekiel was asking luki, "IS HE PLAYING DJMAX?" HAHAHA i suppose this is some variation of the game, except 100 times harder. one can't help but wonder how joshua would fair with an 8 button DJMAX song though

no problem maybe??

it is amazing, though, to think how from his own skill, both he and other people benefit, appreciate the talent and the product of his work. both parties savour the moments during which he plays music. what a wonderful thing it must be! to have such a talent!

later on, another church friend, ivan, danced for dinner entertainment. it was a hip hop number with a robot twist. anyway it was another example of how he enjoyed his craft, was really involved in it, and how others enjoyed his enjoyment of the craft.

anyway, these 2 people (mostly joshua?) got me thinking about talents. nick enjoys punching out those bass lines, and there're listeners who appreciate and enjoy his craft as much as he does. tim likes his diving. although he's not the best out there, he likes it and there are people who like watching him. maybe ed and les as well? hahaha oh gosh it's been ages since i've seen any of my friends dance, but man when they move, you get enthralled into the groove of the music and the alluring moves they do. and their faces. you can tell they enjoy it (UNLESS I HAVE MISINTERPRETED THOSE SMILES). and it's great watching them move and watching them enjoy themselves.

maybe the person's face has something to do with this. or a visible expression of sorts of the person enjoying his or her craft, indulging in what he or she is good at, and soaking in it completely.

everyone should have something they are good at. something they enjoy. something others enjoy watching you enjoy. a craft, or something which... produces results which make you happy or accomplished or proud in a good way, something which other people appreciate and value as much as you do.

oh wow hahaha this is an incredibly long 2 cents' worth! hopefully we can all find our little niche that everyone (including ourselves) can appreciate ;u;

edit:
AHHHH

IS THERE ANY NEED FOR ALL THE OTHER INSTRUMENTS ANYMORE

AHHHH

THE ELECTONE IS WAY CRAZY;;;

Litfest Theatre Night 2010!

2010-03-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

i'm so glad Theatre Night went well. even though my nose and throat is wonky. thank you God for helping me and sustaining me through these 2 days; i really couldn't have done it without You.

the time spent, before and during, comes with its own set of worries (e.g. getting lines down etc etc etc), but it is time enjoyed. likewise with the time after, when everyone says hi and good job, you feel so... accomplished and happy. it's a lovely feeling, isn't it? <3

doing warm-ups was fun!! hahaha something i really missed?! especially when everyone stood in a circle and did the warm-ups all together!

and AHHHH stretching!! physical warm-ups!! i missed these so so much SOB/// we only did physical warm-ups on both showtime days, and they weren't like the full thing, with splitting of legs, PUSH UPS AND SIT UPS AND ALL THAT LOLOL they were more simple and i was rusty, but it was nice stretching again!! in a group, with music. <3

AND AND AND WE DID THE SWIMMING STRETCH (rose asked us to do it!) DJKALSDJ KSLADJKSLADJSAKL JKDLSAJDK LSAJ I REALLY REALLY REALLY

REALLY

REALLY

REALLY REALLY

REALLY!!!!!

MISSED THAT SOB <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

and it was OH MY GOSH SO FUN TO DO SOB IT'S SO FUN I WANT TO DO IT EVERYDAY SOB/////// rose was like "find the beat of the music and do the swim accordingly" so we waited till the next break in the song before doing it and it was too fast HAHAHAHA everyone was like WAAAAAHH i-i really missed all this!!!!///////

mark and i were talking later on backstage during intermission and i was like MARK WE DID THE SWIM!!!! and he was like OH MY GOSH I MISS THAT and we started recounting all the fancy dance warm-ups we would do for stretching and both of us realised we missed this period of life where WE FELT SO HEALTHY AND SO FIT!!!! consecutively, both of us agreed that all of us should meet once a week to stretch altogether HAHAHAHAHAHA <3 <3 <3

lovely lovely memories

NTU's Litfest Theatre Night 2010

aveline constance thambiyah (student) -> receptionist -> sunny soon (aunty) -> professor bowringlingle -> aveline constance thambiyah (student) -> PPS (politician) -> DSP (police officer) -> PPS (politician)

6 roles as player 2 in The Campaign to Confer the Public Service Star on JBJ.

bargh

2010-03-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

lost my pencilcase. for those of you who've seen it, it's that black and white paperchase one with flowers. thought i put it into my bag before leaving but apparently i didn't. man, i've had that pencilbox since i was... in j1? j2? that's like 2-3 years. all my stationery i had been using since secondary school is gone JSKLAD SKALD;ASJDKLJSAKDLSAJ;;;;;;

then on sunday i went stationery shopping and i nearly lost my singapore lit notes. ARGHH was whizzing about all the shops i visited looking for them. why so careless, self? ]: really thankful i found the notes; it would've been really dumb if i lost them because i was stocking up on lost stationery ahahahahahaha

holidays are over ARGH that was too short really really would like one more week. or 2 weeks. or a month.

still have a lot of work to do D:

oh right and i watched the 2nd half of A Knight's Tale with my mum on hbo on sunday! gosh that was my favourite movie when i was 12;;; still like it though ahahaha/// i mean, medieval europe! knights! courtly romance (with a modern twist??!)! jousting! those outfits! the culture! middle-english-spoken-as-british-english-for-the-benefit-of-the-audience! what's there not to love?!

plus paul bettany's hair is SO BLONDE and his eyes are so blue HNNNGHH DON'T JUDGE ME

and the bad guy (DON'T JUDGE ME!!!)'s eyes are so GREEN HNNNGHH

oh btw where should i go to buy a new pencilcase? kinokuniya didn't have anything nice. was thinking of going to paperchase again;;; but would like to try some place new?

JUST GOTTA SAY

2010-03-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

SUMMER WARS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER. EVER. no questions. it's showing in cathay now SO YOU GUYS SHOULD TRY TO CATCH IT WHEN YOU CAN!!!!!

10 CNY '10 Points + parkour

2010-02-17T08:01:00.000-08:00

dear blogspot diary, this chinese new year, i:

1. ate 4.5 yushengs
2. collected less hong baos
3. (related to pt. 2) didn't go to my mum's side to bainian
4. (related to pt. 3) couldn't go bainian because my mum contracted h1n1 (and was quarantined. subsequently my dad quarantined himself as well, for good measure)
5. didn't touch schoolwork at all, not because i was busy but because i am a 懒惰虫
6. took a bus home in a cheongsam on the first day of chinese new year
7. envied my parents because i wanted to be quarantined at home too
8. have FINALLY started to enjoy the whole yusheng dish, not just the golden crackers+honey+*optional*salmon
9. have a blue-black bruise on my right shoulder, most kindly contributed by mark. if it was bluer in colour it would match my birthmark on the other side
10. nearly got killed by a knife-wielding, knife-dropping brother (mark)

yusheng pictures yay yay yay

yusheng on day 1

yusheng on day 2

really cool parkour videos!

it looks really fun but i bet it hurts if you mess up.

parkour motion reel from saggyarmpit on Vimeo.

the more i stare at parkour videos the more i think, maaannnnn i want to do what they do! speaking of which, i had a dream last week that i could fly by putting on this kind of hat. i was bouncing off walls and all that. don't you wish dreams were real sometimes?

also, i might consider going to norway/iceland for the exchange programme instead! not just finland (:

double date

2010-02-14T22:23:00.000-08:00

something quick!

teehee and heaty look too different here BARRRGHH ):

and this is snagged from amanda panda:

too sweet! ;A;///
the lyrics can be found here!

happy valentine's and CNY everyone!! <3 <3 <3

pictures pictures events happenings pictures

2010-02-11T01:14:00.000-08:00

on monday i was trying to buy soya bean milk from a vending machine in school for this experiment some friends wanted to do in lecture. it was sold out in one machine so i proceeded to the next nearest one WHICH SWALLOWED MY MONEY SOB SOB JSAKLDJSA KLDJSAD;SALDJSALK;J ARGHHH don't you just hate it when that happens ]:

yay yay yay chinese new year is coming up which means 1. holiday 2. hong baos 3. PINEAPPLE TARTS DJKSLADJ KSLAJD;LKSAJDKLS;AJDKLS;AD;SAKDL;SAKDKSLAJDKSAJKLJKL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hmmmm this year's batch isn't as good as last year's (i-i'm a little sad that the pineapple tarts aren't stacked in that tower-esque kind of way like last time). my grandma didn't seem to bake that many this time. ): i-i really wanted to help but i've been really busy the past week ):

oh right and on tuesday in kinokuniya i saw this book titled Alice's Adventures Under Ground and was like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! it's the predecessor to the Alice in Wonderland we know!!

anyway stacy bought it for me because she owes me money so buying the book equates to paying off debts which equates to me buying it in the end?! THANK YOU STACY I LOVE YOU <3 <3 <3 <3<3

i-it's a hardcover, cloth book woww!! <3

really really thin! this made me wonder if this was the actual Alice's Adventures Under Ground when i first saw it.

the illustrations are the ones done by lewis carroll himself, not the punch illustrator he hired!! and the pages were handwritten by carroll uwaaahhh some kinda facsimile of the original manuscript?! definitely want to read this first version of Alice in Wonderland soon, maybe during recess week when i don't have to spam lit readings bahh

some personalised charm bracelets my friends and i made at this bazaar thing in uni last month! the charms were all so pretty! too bad you could only put 3 charms per bracelet ): out of curiousity, can you tell which one is mine! :o!

2010-02-05T01:28:00.000-08:00

today i went out with yee, june, les, lindis and . so glad i did; it really brightened up my week!!

anyway we had this conversation during dinner and ed was bemoaning the fact she would never find a guy and/or get married and we were like LOL NONSENSE YOU WILL and it led to this conversation:

yee's reaction was unexpected AHAHAHAHAHA

and no my definition is not right at all you should go to wikipedia if you're looking for a proper definition of the term ):

oh right and arashi (THIS IS FOR YOU ED):

ed taught me the chorus when we were j2 during honour's night and we kept singing it so i would remember and i remember we got mark annoyed AHAHAHAHAHA arashi is edlyn's LIFE

i'm really thankful for my friends!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

a whole bunch of stuff

2010-01-12T07:36:00.000-08:00

if i were a month, i'd be december
if i were a day of the week, i'd be friday
if i were a time of the day, i'd be 11 pm
if i were a planet, i'd be saturn
if i were a sea animal, i'd be a bottlenose dolphin
if i were a direction, i'd be roundabout
if i were a piece of furniture, i'd be a solid wood-carved bookshelf
if i were a liquid, i'd be a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows
if i were a tree, i'd be a cherry blossom tree
if i were a flower, i'd be a paeonia suffruticosa
if i were a kind of weather, i'd be a cool, gentle breeze
if i were a musical instrument, i'd be a guitar
if i were a colour, i'd be a loud pink or orange
if i were an emotion, i'd be joy
if i were a fruit, i'd be a milk apple
if i were a sound, i'd be laughter
if i were an element, i'd be fire
if i were a car, i'd be a mini cooper sportspack
if i were a food, i'd be a scone
if i were a place, i'd be a fantastical wonderworld
if i were a taste, i'd be savoury, with a creamy texture
if i were a scent, i'd be the smell of butter popcorn
if i were an object, i'd be a ribbon with frills and lace
if i were a body part, i'd be the eyes
if i were an expression, i'd be twinkling eyes
if i were a song, i'd be a brassy, energetic big band number

last week on 7th jan i went for a russian christmas party WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE THIS 5-STAR INTERNATIONAL HAUTE CUISINE MEAL WHICH I TOTALLY FREELOADED SOBSOBBB there was a present giving session and i felt so bad because liz gave me a present AND I HAD NOTHING TO GIVE BACK

AWESOME DINNER SPREAD

apparently liz's family GOT THESE CHAIRS ESPECIALLY FOR THE OCCASION OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, THAT'S HOW SPESHUL THIS EVENT WAS

awesome appetizer which consisted of greek and russian cuisine?!

LOOK THEY EVEN MADE NAMECARDS FOR EACH PERSON'S SEAT!! I GOT A BOOK ON MINE <3 <3 <3

turkey MMMM it was good, with all kinds of exotic sauces to go with it!

lavender ice cream I NEVER KNEW THEY CAME IN FLAVOURS LIKE THAT

caramelized oranges and dango! EVERYONE (but me) CONTRIBUTED TO THE FOOD SOB

HAHAHA panda with her russia/bela (or the other way round??) doujin from rachel!! she was so flustered and happy receiving it AWWW <3 <3 <3

her wrapper! TOO CUTE HAHAHA!

and and and today i got panda's RUSSIAN christmas letter srsly i SPAZZED OUT at the contents:

HAHAHAHA PRUSSIASAUCE THEY SWITCHED CLOTHES! it says at the top: Hungary's notions of awesomeness were somewhat unorthodox
HAHAHAHAHAHA YOU'RE THE BEST PANDA <3 <3 <3

DID I MENTION PANDA SELF-STUDIES RUSSIAN?

i was a little blue because adding uni courses wasn't (and still isn't) going so well, so getting this from her today was a great pick-me-up! thanks so much again panda!! <3 <3 <3

and i finished playing chrono cross over the holidays! super glad that i finished it right on time (on sunday) before school started! seriously, ONE. OF. THE. BEST RPGs EVER!!!! the story was CRAZY in a good way with all those plot twists!

AWESOME OPENING MOVIE:

when fighting dario i brought riddel and glenn (was torn btw glenn and karsh but i'm glad i picked glenn because karsh tagged along for the cutscene storyline bit anywayPHEW) so they could talk and add to the storyline and the part where glenn goes:

SUCH A SOBWORTHY LINE

and later when they're about to fight dario and riddel is like NOOO I CANNOT FIGHT DARIO and glenn is like I JUST MET BROTHER, I CAN'T FIGHT HIM!

...that was so sad as wellSOBB loved that sidequest cutscene with karsh and dario and glenn and riddel; no wait make that all the dario/masamune cutscenes!

the final boss was not so bad because i coincidentally managed to work the elements out in the sequence required to kill him without knowing it, haha! i found the boss before that harder though!

BACKGROUND SPAM:

the viper manor library

the bridge to the library at night-- BREATHTAKING! love the big, bright moons especially

the moon when kid and serge and (for me) pierre jump off and you see the pretty moons

eclectic vortex place thing where serge first finds himself as lynxSOOOOB but the scenary was really interesting here

this is the part after you talk to the water dragon and get the ice breath and kid shows her jaded side?? i love how the scenery panned upwards towards the moons after her talk

OPASSA BEACH "WHERE ANGELS LOSE THEIR WAY" love the ocean!

SRSLY I WON'T MIND LIVING IN THE EL NIDO ARCHIPELAGO

TERMINAAAAAAAA when i was in another!world, i would wonder how the home!world's termina looked like and was like nggeeeehh at how we couldn't pass through fossil valley to see the other side of the world BUT SOBB YOU'D BE LYNX THE NEXT TIME YOU CAN PASS THROUGH AND SOBBBB IT'S NOT WORTH IT /incoherant HOME'S TERMINA ISN'T NICE AT ALL SOB

HOME TERMINA TAKEN OVER BY THE PORRE ARMY EWWW

SRSLY I WON'T MIND LIVING IN A PRETTY TOWN LIKE THIS! plus you get to see glenn and karsh and everyoneHAHA

HAY VAN CAN I, LIKE, LIVE IN YOUR HOUSE AND GAZE AT THE SEA WITH YOU ALL DAY LONG

i won't mind living in another!guldove too! such a pretty, quaint town! AND THAT FLYING FOX THING SOOOBB IF ONLY THIS PLACE WAS REAL

ARNI TOO! 'specially love that house overlooking the dock where you see leena babysitting

felt happy for all the demi-humans after that saving home!marbule sidequest! THOUGH DEFEATING THOSE LAGOONATES... was a very very tedious process. LOL i love how all the human guys were snagging these mermaid babes after marbule was saved

CHRONOPOLIS! such a change after all the lovely beach/tropical looking settings

oh and fort dragonia! somehow... an enchanting kind of place? but in a lonesome, dark kind of way. the first time i played this in secondary school, i WAS STUCK IN THIS STUPID MAZE FOR SO LONG DJSAKLDJKLSAJDKSLA;JDSLKA and finally after solving the thing, when fighting the blue blob, the psx cd would hangARGH i was so upset ):

took forever to light up all the dragons

i think this is the path on the way to the place where you fight the red elemental monster, and deactivate the red crystal?? with the "watchman facing north" puzzle. pretty cool pathway, with the "bottomless pit" kind of feeling! the atmosphere of the background matches the mood of the BGM really well i think

this is at terra tower. had to walk to the teleporting device, through the flight of talking people stairs and all that, 3 TIMES, for the time devourer WHICH TURNED OUT TO ONLY A SHADOW OF THE ACTUAL TIME DEVOURER IN THE ENDARGH

the music is really nice as well/// it all has these different moods and feelings and personalities to them??

yay since i've spammed so much i guess there's no harm in spamming even more- *SHOT*

love how the music builds up in this canon kind of way and slowly becomes quiet again?!

hmmmm didn't like this track very much initially because going through fossil valley was so tedious (therefore bad connotations when listening to this track??) but listening carefully you hear this guitar strum in the background and i-it's this really subtle magical feeling <3

this track exudes.... scotland for me?! but it's so merry and cheery and ahhh it's an enjoyable, apt track for such a cheery place like termina <3 <3 <3
too bad home!termina's BGM is the drowning valley track... i mean, after beating shadow cats and all that in the fossil valley and staying in there for so long, i-i'd think you'd want to listen to something else

voyage in another!world! didn't like the travelling music in another!world but the voyage one makes up for it <3 don't like the home!world voyage music; it has this rushed, cheesy loud kind of tone??/incoherant again

didn't care for this track much when listening to it on the computer but when watching nikki's performance and how the saving marbule plan came together, THIS TRACK BECAME ENJOYABLE (except when fighting all those lagoonates at one shotUGH)?! it's a funky mix of the original marbule tune (d-didn't expect that to be the song which would save the villageHAHA)

it's cool to hear the variations of the marbule village song too!

(home)

(another)

INVINCIBLE/ZELBESS! coming on board is like a breath of fresh air because of the lively music!

one of those tracks inspired by SEA music?? i-i think that's what mitsuda said BUT W/E THIS IS A PRETTY TRACK

love the title of the track “dreamwatch of time”. the song has this celtic/irish feel to it, and this epic quality of... i dunno, i imagine racing through a forest or somethingLOL

don't like this one very much because it has this creepy feeling, especially when you sneak into the viper mansion at night and you feel so sneaky yourself as you play the game but i suppose that's why this track is so effective and appropriate as BGM?!

speaking of creepy tracks, this is a one I quite like AND WILL PROBABLY REMEMBER FOREVER BECAUSE I WAS STUCK IN FORT DRAGONIA FOR WHAT SEEMED LIKE FOREVERORZ. love the piano bits!

the track that plays when you meet and beat lynx/fate. interesting how the music has this "artful-cajoling-secrets" kind of feel to it.

Inusmellyalater (1 month ago)
when i heard this in the game, i was tripping out, just just because of the song, but also because what i was being told. incredible twist, epic game.

YES MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY. it's the scene which makes this music especially memorable!

when i first listened to this on my computer i was like hurrh ok. i-i dunno, i always envisioned a scene of someone (like kid?) dying and suddenly coming back to life as the twinkling noise increases in tempo?! b-but after realising what the twinkling tune's supposed to do in the game, there's newfound respect for this song?!

love guldove's track in both worlds as well/// while they're both different in moods, they're both very.... serene <3 <3 <3

the arni tracks of both worlds are lovely too in this serene kind of way, and how they're kind of like the same tune but with different moods like the marbule tracks? BUT I REALLY SHOULD TRY LIMITING THE VIDEOS I'M POSTING HAHA

this track is especially sad when you just become lynx; the music seems peaceful but really sadSOOOOOOBBBB

okok that's it. all in all i really enjoyed playing chrono cross! <3 it was a great way to ~~waste~~ pass time over the holidays (though i was rushing near the end to finish) and ahhh so relieved that i finished it right before school starts!

from what i understand, there're a whole bunch of different endings you can get if you replay the game again. i'm curious about them. may come back to play this again. the storyline, music, backgrounds, battle systems, characters; they all make it worthwhile to come back to the game!

glad i finished what i needed to over the holidays. all the best with the new semester everyone! hopefully everything will go lovely and well with no glitches <3 <3 <3

Our slogan...
Fight with might and believe the hype!!!
It's time to GET IT ON!
I LOVE THAT LINE HAHAHA

oh and a few days back i stumbled across this site (spoiler alert in the creator's comments) which has chrono cross (and other game series) papercrafts!

HOW COOL ARE THESE! he also has mojo, lynx and fargo!

and WOW WOW WOW he made the whole FFIX party!

HELLO EVERYONE THIS IS JENN WHO IS STILL TRYING TO FIGHT FOR HER UNI COURSESSOBSOBBBSOBB
FIGHT WITH MIGHT AND BELIEVE THE HYPE!

those bright city lights

2010-01-03T07:27:00.000-08:00

27th-31st dec '09

went to KL with a whole bunch of friends! good times and good food!

the coach we took to kl was SUPER NICE HAHA
we left singapore at 11pm and arrvied in KL at 2+ am, woah!

we spent the first day walking around a lot!
interesting stuff we saw over the days:

THE PACMAN GHOST! the person actually stuck stickers on the sign to make this! HOW COOL

pretty fountain outside pavilion. people actually threw coins in! we were all wondering if people come to collect the coins at night when no one's looking lD

.... AND PEOPLE REALLY DO HAHAHAHA!!!!!!

*+**~+* pretty starry reindeers *+~**+*

lovely view of the petronas twin towers! how cool, that they light up at night *u* along with the moon! it was wonderfully bright in KL! <3

on the 2nd day we also went to an IT place really near to sungei wang and while waiting for some friends i saw this:

SO CRAPPY, NO WONDER IT'S FREE
THANKS TO MY MSIAN FRIENDS FOR EDUCATING ME

OH RIGHT HAHAHA ON THE 1ST DAY AFTER DINNER, when we were walking back to the apartment we came across a +*+~**++**~**GOLD MAN**~**++**~+*+

BOY WAS HE COOL

"GOLD MAN IS GOOD LUCK TO YOU" HAHAHAHAHAH

just a few metres away there was PINK MAN who looked scary because he had a mask on!

....and after spotting pink man we saw SILVER MAN across the road HAHAHAHAHA COLLECT 'EM ALL!!!!!

subsequently we wondered if there was a cobalt man, a bronze man, a ruby man and a sapphire man

FOOD!

KL BLACK NOODLES ON THE FIRST DAY YUM! along with roasted chicken wings, gong gong and other good good food <3

on the second day we met that friend at taman paramount, petaling jaya, for bakkuteh! MANN it was fantastic <3

and on the second last day we went to this japanese buffet place called "seisara"?? or something like that. HAHAHA SO ABUNDANT WAS THE SASHIMI THAT STACY MADE OUT MY NAME WITH THE SALMON SASHIMI! all of it was eaten up and not wasted at all of course

we also had teppanyaki, chilis and a&w (<- extinct in singapore ):) on subsequent days

HAPPY HAPPY TIEMS

whooooo shopping! I LOVE FOS!!!! that "revenge of the nerds" shirt was meant for tim but he didn't like it because "nerds" was in pinkSOBB i-i thought it was a pretty cool t-shirt ;m;

HAHAHAHA AND I DON'T EVEN OWN A PS2! that should be p3, not p3fes. i mean, the guy just used the wrong cover i think. THIS WILL BE MY INCENTIVE FOR GETTING A PS2

AND AND AND AND AND--!!
<- ARGH bad photo ]:
I MET WITH BEBE AT LAST BAWWWWWW//// /2chan EVEN THOUGH IT WAS LIKE FOR 10 MINUTES?? 15 MINUTES?? I'M SO SORRY BEBE SOBBB OUR NEXT MEETING WILL MORE PLANNED (?) I'M GLAD WE GOT TO MEET AT LAST AFTER SO LONG THOUGH SOBB

OH RIGHT AND AND AND SHE WORE THAT ENGLAND T-SHIRT FOR ME BAWWWWW ILU BEBE YOU'RE THE BEST/2chan////////

<- *peace for malaysia!*
AND TAUKE TOO MAN i don't know how he's able to spout all these statistics about malaysia;;;;/usami

all in all i had a good time in kl. I ALMOST WENT BROKE THERE SOB

OH YES and i got many Christmas cards this week! thank you mel, yx and sou!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

late Merry Christmas '09 everyone!! <3 <3 <3

2009-12-26T22:41:00.001-08:00

Christmas this year was... fulfilling? but really rushed; i sped-wrapped all my presents to family membersORZ and they all looked so badARGHHH BUT IT'S THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS RIGHT

we had a Christmas dinner, instead of lunch, this year!

AND AS ALWAYS, THERE'S A SUMPTUOUS SPREAD OF FOOD AS COOKED BY MY MUM DJSKALDJSKALDJS LADJSKADJKSLAJDKSLA

Christmas tree! with some presents removed by eager people, haha <3

the tree... looks a little sparse this year. not everyone bothered to put their presents under the tree D:

AND SINCE I ALREADY DID THIS LAST YEAR, LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE PRESENTS FROM PAST YEARS:
2008:

2007:

hmmmm presents-wise i got:
- small bag/purse
- shirts
- mug
- money
- old school watch
- notebook
- leggings??
nothing much, but it's the thoughts that count! c:///

spent Christmas with friends and family. i hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas this year ;u; <3 <3 <3

teehee and heaty

2009-12-26T22:39:00.000-08:00

i would love to get shoes like teehee's.

hrmmm these were initially drawn to annoy stacy last sunday. we were taking notes and i would write TEE HEE over everything she wrote AHAHAHAHAHA I'M SO ANNOYING

then i thought of drawing a "teehee" kind of girl (LOLWUT). and consequently her foil, "heetee", which kind of sounds like "heaty" yay

i think it's so great how kids can get away with wearing eye-blindingly colourful outfits. UHM I AM NOT JEALOUS NO NO NO

of cerulean skies and emerald seas

2009-12-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

4th dec 09 - 10th dec 09

as expected I DIDN'T TAN!!! on the way back to singapore i met some old school teachers and one was like "what did you do in phuket, did you go out?" bah i can't tan, i turn red instead ]:

we didn't get to do much shopping in phuket because of limited funds. Phuket Town, Expo was fun to look around though.

the bags T-THEY'RE NOT THE SAME COLOUR OK. and HAHAHAHA this random cheap union jack t-shirt i saw. i love how the tank top inside says "ENGLAND" HAHAHA

PIRATED MAKEUP WOAHHHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I WAS SO TEMPTED TO GET THESE!!!!!! bobbi brown, chanel, loreal they had all these high end pirated makeup!! they had the limited edition mac "heatherette" blushers and powders as well as the hello kitty line!!!! an eyeshadow was S$4. $4!!!!!!!! THAT'S LIKE FIVE TIMES CHEAPER THAN THE REAL DEAL.

i really wanted to get a peach based kind of blusher for guys since i only have the pink blushers and those don't really look to great on guys/anyone in naturalist plays but guh there was no time to go back to Phuket Town. pirated makeup is dangerous though, so perhaps it's just as well i didn't get them? *still wistful*

mannn the merriot villa was awesome though!

LOOK AN ELEPHANT MADE OF TOWELS HOW COOL IS THAT

AND A ROSE MADE OF TOILET PAPER WOAHHHHHHH

on the last day i asked one of the housekeeping ladies to teach me how to make one MANN SHE'S SO SKILLED!! comparison of the noob's flower against the professional's one ):

haha she made a whole bunch while trying to show me how to make one. she's really nice!

a list of activities that can be done in the hotel:

CIRCUS TRAINING, THAT'S WHERE PARENTS SEND KIDS

but the hotel was really cool. they had these random pools of water. i think they named one "THE POOL OF ETERNITY" or something corny like that but it's really cool because when you look far out at the pool, it seems to stretch on forever. nothing obstructs the end of the pool, so it seems to stretch off towards the sky and the pool looks..... boundless!

one of the other pools they had. no one's allowed to swim in them though. it'll ruin the illusion of eternity i guess lD

nnnnnnghh i love how the pool seems to have little fireballs floating about it!

nifty water device thing on display

this other nearby hotel had an entrance adorned with flaming torches at night. pretty awesome! when you walk past the entrance you feel warmth emitted from the torches.

LOOK, LOOK!! THE MOON!!! over the first 2 days of our trip it was really big, bright and beautiful! too bad it's too great for my camera to capture ]: there were a whole lot of stars as well most of the time <3 <3 <3

oh right speaking of moons.

am playing chrono cross at the moment and AHHHH the backgrounds and character designs and everything is so beautiful!

playing chrono cross during the trip was fun because many places in chrono cross is situated in beach, coastal kind of settings, and it's like the beach settings of phuket???? ok i'm not making sense ]:

the beach and footprints reminded me of ROBINSON CRUSOE too bad i didn't finish reading the book. didn't even get to the bit where he meets Friday, bah ]:

nnnghh lovely sky <3 <3 <3 it was very hot though. SEE THAT BOAT? WE SAILED IN THAT! my dad taught me how to sail that! *proud*

i-i especially love how the light reflected on the sea looks like some magical path created by the sun, especially in that 2nd photo!

ONE OF THESE THINGS LOOK JUST LIKE THE OTHER...♪♬♪♪
well ok maybe just to me /dork

some nice shells picked off the beach. they're all pretty small though ]:

beautiful dusks. augh too bad the camera can't capture the brilliant colours in that first pic ]: the whole sky was streaked pink and red and orange and purple and blue! very pretty <3 <3 <3

foodwise, we ate:

PHAD THAI DJSAKLDJ SLKAJD KSLAD KSLADJSKLADJSAL SO SO GOOD <3 along with green curry and coconuts AHHHH <3 <3 <3 and a whole lot of other stuff! good food over the 6 days <3

the trip wasn't too eventful; it was just a time of resting and relaxing for the family <3 <3 <3 wonderful times <3

dancing in the moonlight

2009-12-03T09:08:00.000-08:00

	TopLoader - Dancing In The Moonlight

	Found at skreemr.com

the night sky is beautiful today!! the full moon's really bright and close, and the stars AHHHHH ok it can't beat the south africa night sky, but there're A LOT of them out there. singapore's skies are generally.... starless ]:

was staring at the sky with friends and stacy says it forms her star sign the sagittarius, which is really cool, because you can see the stars really line up TO FORM A BOW!!!!! the world's really beautiful like that, in spite of all the muck and mess people are creating ]:

when i was young, i was really into the solar system and all that stuff. i think it was ~~partly~~ totally due to my obsession with MAGIC SCHOOL BUS, OH MAN I LOVED THAT SHOW!! they even had computer games for the magic school bus franchise, and my dad got the solar system one for us! oh mannn i fell in love with the planets and the stars and everything after thatkds;;kds;akdsl;a ds;lad///////// my favourite planet used to be jupiter. i love the swirly marbley effects and the colour tones of the planet.

beautiful!! i always thought that little round swirl near the bottom looked like lipsLOL

i kind of like saturn now too though!

but ahhhh the solar system and all its mysteries <3 <3 <3 i guess that's what draws people to them?

do you guys have certain images which stick in your mind? like ones you made up, or happened to see before, and they just have this certain impact on you? i do. i'm sure i must've seen it somewhere before, but this certain image involves being somewhere at sea, presumably at the mythical "end of the world". in this image the moon is really really big. it's almost like you're staring right at the moon, face to face. but halfway, the sea cuts off the moon, so you're staring at half the moon. all this takes place in a row boat, in the sea.

MANNN it's such a strange image but AHHDJSALDLS ADSA if a place like that really exists on earth, i would love to go see the moon like that. how magnificent would that be!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3

the moon image i have in my head's something like this:

(c) Ikuo Togawa All Rights Reserved.
except, the image in my head is way way further into the sea, with that row boat, and not so artificially blue lD;;;;

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the
lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
by Walt Whitman

how true. this is probably the only poem i like from you, whitman.

oh right and heading off to phuket tomorrow AHH SO RUSHED, but hope everyone has a lovely time of resting and holidays/school!! much much love!! <3

raindrops keep falling on my head

2009-11-26T23:52:00.000-08:00

And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothin' seems to fit
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

So I just did me some talkin' to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Sleepin' on the job
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me won't defeat me
It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm free
Nothin's worryin' me

It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm free
Nothin's worryin' me

	B.J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My H

	Found at skreemr.com

didn't know it was such a meaningful song till i took a close look at the lyrics yesterday. this is the way life is, no point complaining! there's always the sun after the downpour (:

speaking of rain, the weather has been pretty lovely this week; especially on tuesday AHHHHHH it's so rare in singapore to get beautiful weather like that- breezy and sunny enough to see, but not scorchingly sunny! but now it's raining again; and i suppose that's lovely indoors :D

it's the kind of day where you.... JUST DON'T WANT TO STUDYDJSKADKS CADLSAj
[dks;a

oh right, and my grandma helped me colour this picture, see that corner of that umbrella? SHE COLOURED THAT :D *proud of her*

listen,

2009-11-18T03:52:00.000-08:00

if there's any song which makes me reminiscence, it's this:

listen to it, i'm pretty sure you'd feel the same way!

hello everyone, this is jenn and i'm totally not studying enough for my exams because i'm a procrastinator and am growing fat from being unhealthy:

i fear my imminent obesity ):

muchos besos por favor!

2009-11-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

very much in love with spain nowadays AHHHH i really want to go there one day

IS THAT COOL OR IS THAT COOL

was so inspired by flamenco dances after watching this that i went to school the next day with a lovely fluffy skirt in a poor attempt to dress like those awesome female dancers *dork*

awesome spanish song AHHHH/// quite like daniel martín's voice///

AFTER I LEARN JAPANESE I WANT TO LEARN SPANISH

missed a spot

2009-10-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

was doing some work on the com when my phone buzzed.

i-it was tough, but i managed to find it under all that rubbleARGHH

sometimes i was i was more conscientious lD;;; then less things would go missing like that.

oh right, and i was messaging jayne this evening and ahhhh realised i missed her. well ok and everyone else as well. old friends ):

she made this for me right after my IS when we were in the seminar room. it's blue-tacked on my wall now. will treasure this forever. <3 <3 <3

oh no no

2009-10-10T02:29:00.000-07:00

i am getting my kicks in selfy world with all the cute characters.

WE CAN FISH

RELAX

EMOTE

PARTY

AND KNEE ATTACK ONE ANOTHER

it's like the 3d world, but in a better, 2d way /emulating japan

COME JOIN!! if you want to sign up, LET ME KNOW SO I CAN INVITE YOU AND GET MONEY FOR INVITING YOU :D :D :D ~~you also get money if you accept my invite~~ *desperate for their virtual cash*

also, yesterday dad had a meeting at home and aunty huey and aunty serine brought nicole and erica, their little girls. HAHAHA so cute we decided to draw a princess together.

MEET PRINCESS PAM NATASHA LINDT. as designed by nicole and erica, coloured by all of us. princess pam is getting married. 8DD

next time we meet again we're going to draw her prince fiance, sam. <--AHAHAHA I LOVE ALL THESE NAMES THEY COME UP WITH <3 <3 <3

jenn: what kind of eyes do i draw for the prince?
both of them: get married the kind of eyes
jenn: ..... are those big eyes or small eyes

AWW MAN children are so cute ;u;////

OH RIGHT and i went for STOMP 2 days ago AND DJSAKLDJSKALDJ IT WAS SO SO AWESOME

the famous grudge percussion scene

nick luk mel stacy lizzie and i got bought the ridiculously expensive seats near the front of the stage. it was worth it in the end though lD

AWESOME SET. they used EVERYTHING on the set to make music;;;

PRICELESS VIEW. took a picture to commemorate this. DON'T KNOW WHEN I'LL EVER GET TO SIT SO CLOSE TO THE STAGE AGAIN lD

the first act they did which we saw *v*

a couple more we saw that night

we didn't see this one but IT'S SO AWESOMEWOAAHHH

it reminds me of jayne's IS piece lD

isn't it amazing how creative people can be sometimes? lD *wistful*

wonderful birthday <3

2009-10-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

today was a wonderful wonderful day. it's so great when everyone is happy and smiling and lovelyAHHH///

thank you to yee les jas yin ed june lindis for the awesome time yesterday <3 <3

BURGERS AND CORN AND SAUCES YUMM <3 <3 <3
i-it was lovely reminiscing and just hearing about how everyone fares at life now after ACJC and acsian theatre HAHA. i felt happy to be with old friends again///

AHHH my uni friends are such great people HAHA they actually got this big balloon thing and i had to sit at the back during lecture because i was afraid it would block people's view of the lecturer and the screenORZ cheers to many more years of friendships with them! <3 <3 <3

at home my mum made this awesomesauce pasta which beats those italian restaurant pastas ANY DAY

SO SO SO GOOD//////

and my awesomesauce birthday cake which was not a cake but was really ice cream because EVERYONE LIKES ICE CREAM MORE THAN CAKE <3

AND MY BED TODAY! messier, because the boys were cleaning out their room and they needed a place to ~~pile~~ keep their clothes while their cupboards were being renovated. HAHA IT WAS A LARGE MOUND OF CLOTHES ON MY BED

today was a beautiful kind of day with friends and family. looking back i always feel immensely blessed to have people like that in my life. my life's made so beautiful because of relationships and ties like that. you guys, thank you for making my life so wonderful and for all those experiences memories and times we spent together, good or bad. cheers to many many more wonderful years and bonds and happy happy moments. love you guys intensely much.

AHHHHEEEEEEEEE <3 <3 <3

2009-09-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

today stacy gave me A BEATLES POSTER!!

AHHHHH was really happy to get it. PAUL MCCARTNEY IS NICE AND BIG IN FRONT <3 <3 <3

.... i'm trying to figure out where to put it in my room but i don't have much wall space D:

ramblings

2009-09-13T01:52:00.000-07:00

this week 2 people said i was 1. very colourful and 2. very fashionable. on friday, i told yee and she was like 'you still dress up to go to school?'

i feel like a douchebag carrying my norton anthology book and reading it on the train/bus travelling to and fro school because it's so thick and i bet i look like some pretentious wannabe person thing BUT ARGHH I DON'T WANT TO WASTE ANY TIME JUST DOING NOTHING ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT!! ): ): ): ):

but lit isn't so bad; i really do enjoy lectures and tutorials (especially the lectures). i mean it's like a combined history and literature analysis and social criticism of various eras and places. it's really cool learning about how everything ties together in something someone wrote about their time ;u; i-it's just hard trying to keep up with all those readings they're giving usAUFGHDSFDKSHFDJKS

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

friendships treasured

rather late post but w/e (kinda like reflections of sorts for me, so it's lengthy and boring lD)

2009-07-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

we've (the New Life Christian Church climbing team made of 33 people;;;) been practising hiking in on our own ~~mountain~~ bukit timah hill, which is like 163.63 m high. i remember telling a swiss family about the height of our tallest natural peak in singapore and they laughed. i guess that's how pathetic our hill is.

for the record:
10th july: hiked from the base, timpohon gate, to the laban rata resthouse
11th july: hiked from laban rata resthouse to low's peak, and back down to the bottom

9 KM ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

on the day before the climb, we were all looking at the mountain. there's this white spot around the center of the mountain where the laban rata resthouse is. we were like WE'RE GONNA GET THERE BY TOMORROW AFTERNOON??

timpohon --> laban rata

at timpohon gate. my whole family climbed :D

HAHAHA it amuses me how the race was dominated by japanese. it's also crazy how that spanish guy clocked in at nearly 3 hours. IT TOOK ME 2 DAYS

a typical porter's bag. SO SO SO MUCH RESPECT FOR THEM. while we huffed and puffed up the mountain with these trekking poles and high tech trekking bags and as little weight as possible, these people carried like 10-35 kg on their backs with these primitive bag packs. even WOMEN and CHILDREN porter stuff up the mountains

INSANE. some of them even attach straps around their head to the back to help with the weight.

i saw these squirrels! they were surprisingly tame.

the guide said we could feed them. no wonder they weren't afraid of us, haha

EATEN RIGHT OFF THE HAND/// this squirrel actually managed to snitch the WHOLE apple with his teeth and run off;;;;

COPY PASTE SQUIRRELS 8D

part of the climb up. the first half of the climb involved climbing up a lot of steps. while the bukit timah hill training involved HOT HOT weather and concentrated, steep flights of steps, the steps here were more spread out in a sense and less steep. preferred it this way, actually.

at villosa

breathtaking place. we took our break here the longest i think, after layang layang our lunch break place.

at this level (2942m)we were amongst the clouds, so you would occasionally see clouds whisking about around us. AWESOME

at this point it was getting windy and chillier.

the later half of the climb involved climbing up rocks, rather than steps, and thinner, cooler weather. OK HERE IS WHERE I THANK MY GREAT FRIEND MARK FOR REMINDING ME TO USE THE DEEP BREATHING SKILLS LEARNT IN DRAMA AND REMINDING ME THAT IT IS A LIFE SKILL BECAUSE IT SERIOUSLY IS!!!! while many people were wheezing and panting and being hit with AMS i was actually pretty fine. in fact, i think i thrived on the thin air??! THANK YOU MARK I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SAGELY WISDOM!!!!

the rocks were also easier for me to climb. partly because it kept me preoccupied. like. i was busy half the time figuring out what's the smartest way to step up each rock and use the least amount of energy doing so. and i developed a way of sticking the trekking pole into soil/cracks on the side and pivoting myself upwards. i think i stunned myself by actually enjoying this segment of the climbingHAHA

we finally arrived at laban rata at around 4 pm. you could see that people were dead tired. but the resthouse was pretty cool. like something out of an RPG inn??! XDD;;; the team was separated into rooms with bunk beds. somehow most of us expected some run down shack with no running water because we were warned beforehand that we would be cleaning ourselves with wet wipes at night and that the bedsheets would be like extremely dirty. surprisingly the beds were clean and there was running water. too bad there were these electrical trips, so most of us had to take cold showers after coming from cold weather conditionsaugh

i remember being extremely scared because people had these adverse reactions to the cold showers. aunty judith fell ill and jonah had these spasms like ALL OVER and i was like DD8;;;;; and showering feeling very scared. somehow the fear was overcame when i remembered that i take cold showers every morning before exams though lD

laban rata --> low's summit
woke up at 1:30am to climb. we had to get to the peak by the latest 6:30 to see the sunrise. really scared that i wouldnt be able to see it because we met some climbers coming down the day before who said they didnt manage to see the sunrise because it was too cloudyOTL somehow, was feeling encouraged as well because we were told the worst is over, and because we've already climbed more than half the distance to the summit.

... i enjoyed the hike up here as well, because of the rocky terrain and thin air. i was very very much amused to see my brothers suddenly FAIL in the cold weather. because naturally they're stronger and more resilient than me >D once again, THANK YOU MARK FOR THE REMINDER <3 <3 <33

everyone wore headlamps. packing was minimal, with water and energy bars only.

eventually my family's group, which set out first, became the team following behind everyone else, because we had to keep stopping for my brother tim. we moved at an extremely slow pace so he could keep up.

some distance away from the peak, there was a rope we had to use to ab sail up the mountains. that was fun. slightly tiring, but fun.

eventually we hit sloping grounds to the summit.

imagine this ground, but at a 45 degree incline. that was how it was for a good 1KM;;; at this point of time the group started to SRSLY slow down. like we'd walk 3 minutes, stop, rest for 5 minutes, and go on again. very anxious to see the sunrise (i would've felt cheated if i didn't see it, after coming all the way here;;;) so i went ahead faster.

my trekking pole became my best friend here, helping me up the incline. i partly regretted not taking the backpack off my mum because at certain points i felt thirsty D: glad to say i really enjoyed pushing myself to reach the summit before sunrise, and outshooting people at this point though. at certain points when i felt tired, i would stop and stare at the skyline while recovering. beautiful/////

OH YES. one thing which frustrated many people was the FALSE STARTS the mountain kept giving. like you'd think 'ah that's the top, because i can't see anything else after that bit.' but once you get to the top, you realise there's some level ground before an incline to another peak;;; this happened a few timesARGHH

finally: the sunrise!!

didn't manage to reach the summit before seeing the sunrise, but still very glad i could see it very near the summit??! XDD very very beautiful. it reminded me of the south africa sunrise. at this point i was rushing to pass this rocky mountain on my left side which blocked the sunrise. stupidly, i realised later on that the mountain was so big, it took me forever to pass it and finally when i did the sunrise was gone D8

FINALLY UP!! at around 6:35-40ish. the name of the peak 'low's peak' is misleading D8

... i think i was the only happy/jumpy/hyper person up there. everyone else was like 'ok i'm up CRAP IT'S COLD/WINDY QUICK TAKE A PICTURE' and they'd go down quickly D8

it was cool to see people making their way up though. like finally getting up, after 2 days. it's something to be proud about.

family order making it up mountain:
1. myself
2. nick (he really pushed himself and finally appeared behind me near the summit; i'd lost the family quite a long way back ): GOOJOB MY BRO)
3. mum
4. mark (mum & mark came up together)
5. tim
6. dad

i thought dad would like to take a family picture on the summit but everyone who came up wanted to go down almost immediately ;_;

coming down the mountain
i was so excited about getting to the top that i totally forgot about coming down. was told that it was a lot easier than climbing up BUT NO I BEG TO DIFFER;;;; walking down a 45 degree incline rocky mountain was NO JOKE because i was afraid of tumbling down or something like that. and suddenly my knees and ankles started malfunctioning. i could literally hear my knees cry their way down the mountain Dll coupled with weak ankles, it's not a great thing at all. while i was fast in getting to the top, suddenly i was moving at like turtle's pace down. SRSLY, was like one of the last few coming down from the summit to laban rata;;;

the path we took while ab sailing was also A LOT more difficult. perhaps because originally we were climbing up in the dark and we didn't know how dangerous it looked in the dark. but CRAPP in daytime when you see the fantastic view from above and the little space you have to walk on the ledge, and your aching knees, you can't help but think 'HOW DID I DO THIS A FEW HOURS AGO??'

finally a family shot. CHECK OUT THE BACKGROUND AND THE TINY HOUSES

eventually returned to laban rata resthouse at around 9ish. everyone's knees were aching at this point. we left the resthouse at 11 and made our way down the mountain. at this point my knees and ankles are malfunctioning like mad and the slightly muddy ground and damp rocks didn't help. suddenly stairs were appreciated a lot more than rocks on the way down. as we went lower, all my brothers lost their AMS and frickin leaped down the mountains, while i hobbled my way down. was pretty frustrated with myself at this point.

finally got back to timpohon gate at around 530ish pm. ached all over now, because i relied a lot on my arms and hands to lean and push against the stair railings and trekking pole to steady myself because of the lack of leg strength. we go to our hotel and recuperate there. the next morning is filled with muscle aches and cramps all over lD

conclusion:
was it amazing? yes. the skies, the sensation of being amongst and above the clouds, and the occasional climbing fun.

would i do it again? NO. the muscle ache, cold water showers, incline slope downward walk is just not worth it. once is enough thanks c:

2009-04-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

PLEASE WATCH ALL VIDEOS IN HQ FOR OPTIMIZED VIEWING EXPERIENCE.

Description from the video: "More than 200 dancers were performing their version of "Do Re Mi", in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of march 2009, 08:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of "The Sound of Music"."

2 rehearsals. with a cast of millions. and look at how awesome it turned out to be.

hats off to belgium for this awesome feat.

another one, from liverpool.

... i love this. the energy, the spontaneity, the unpreparedness, the break from the boring everyday routine. I WISH I WAS THERE ;A;

THE MAKING OF:

late night rehearsals. SOUNDS FAMILIAR FRIENDS? 8D 8D 8DD but how they did it. it makes it even more amazing. though that belgium one only had 2 rehearsals??!

just so much in awe now. the next t-mobile dance was at the trafalgar square in london yesterday(30/4/09) from 6-7 pm.

.... i wish i live in london.

Tripping off to France

2009-04-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

clearly, it's '.fr' in france lD

FIRST, A SONG 8D

I LOVE IT. ignore the video though. THE CHINESE SUBTITLES MAKE THE SONG LOOK LAME D8

on the first week, tuesday, of the holiday, our grandma, nick and i went off to chamonix, france for 4 days by train. after this trip, my grandma concluded we don't need to go to mount titlis anymore because it'll pretty much be mountains again, so we didnt get check out swiss alps.

i think it's pretty awesome how almost all of europe is connected by one convenient railway system. and how they don't need passports to go to different countries XDD

on the train we got to see snow! because this was the 2nd (or was it 3rd??) day in europe, it was our first time seeing snow on this trip <33

fantastic. it looks like icing, or marshmallows.

MOUNTAINS IN FRANCE <33 lovely sky, and beautiful, beautiful scenery.

phone operator in france!

CHAMONIX

some important monuments here. no idea why or how, but they're important. llD

a panoramic view of france

le souvenir shop!

le restaurant! OK I DUNNO IS SHOP AND RESTAURANT FEMALE OR MALE??

so awesome how they have these chairs and tables set up outside, and how people actually use them. in singapore, not many people want to sit outdoors because 1. it's either too hot 2. it's near the roadside, hence near toxic gas and stuff 3. tables outside are possibly dirty?? only tourists sit outside XDD

yeahh anyway it's great to eat outdoors here. the cool weather + good food make a lovely combination <33 plus the roads they built aren't really being used. there're barely any cars, so they’re pretty useless. people just walk all around over across them. THIS IS HOW LIFE SHOULD BE. HEALTHY AND WITH NO POLLUTION.

CHEESE FONDUE. i think it's ok. nick loves it though.

eating ice cream/crepe/waffles in cold weather is fun. cold inside and outside?? something like that. IT'S AN EXPERIENCE 8D

it's quite awesome because we saw people of all ages here. like ranging from old people who just want to relax, to plucky young snow sport enthusiasts looking for thrill and excitement on the mountains, to families with young children who are here for. uh. good family time. i think.

older people sun-tanning outside! i found this incredibly cute. i don't think you'll ever see anyone doing something like that in singapore.

HAHAHA almost everyone, including infants, were wearing sunglasses. to protect themselves from the intense!sun rays on the mountains. i was very tempted to buy a pair, just to blend in, HAHA

kudos to her for wearing the national colours.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

on 17th march, the day we got to chamonix, they were holding a st. patrick's day festival!

there were some special performances in the square. yes a SQUARE/// really love how quaint it was.

a church located near the town square! it has the loveliest chime ever <33

irish songs at the square! the singers/musicians had this british accent, but when they sang, the irish accent would come out pretty thick XD

they were giving out free irish coffee + large irish-looking hats + green paper spectacles to commemorate the event. it was cute to see everyone, locals and foreigners alike, charging for all the freebies XDD

MACAROONS <333 my teatime snack on the first day 8D

one of my favourite things about chamonix is the sky and scenery. pristine white snow, and a clear blue sky. occasionally a jet or an aeroplane would fly across the sky and streak a little of it white. beautiful <3>

PARAGLIDING
we went paragliding on the 2nd day!

if you squint really hard you can see specks of paragliders in the sky XD

~~our trusty sherpa~~ nicholas led us to the cable car place where we were to meet the paragliders who would take the both us up into the sky :D

ever-reliant. i think he knew his way around by the 2nd day.

many many children. i think they were on a field trip. but weren’t they a little too young to travel around like that without their parents..? WHATEVER IT IS THEY WERE VERY CUTE.

picture on the slope leading towards the cable car station and ultimately, the mountain from which we would take off from. lovely////

we went up by cable car!

and we saw people snowboarding and skiing when we alighted. so awesome. I WISH I CAN SNOWBOARD/SKI TOO

HAHAHA doesn't it look cookies and cream-ish?! 8DD

people spreading out their paragliders, getting ready for the next gust of wind

when the wind got strong enough we were supposed to run and run and eventually we would get whisked away by the wind. it was pretty scary though, because from where we were standing, i couldnt tell how steep the mountain slope was, or where it ended?? so like i was, uh, concerned that we might run and run and somehow drop into a valley or hole or something like that

after strapping me into the paraglider, the laurence (pronounced law-hawnes??) the paraglider guy was like OK WHEN I TELL YOU TO RUN, JUST RUN 8D? and so yeah when the gust of wind came we ran and ran and because of air resistance + thick soft snow + thin air in the mountains it was surprisingly difficult?? but YEAH we took off

IF YOU LOOK HARD ENOUGH YOU CAN SEE THE PARAGLIDER SHADOW 8DD

it was amusing, because we were both like YEAH IN THE AIR and so i would go 'WHOOOO!' and he would go 'YA-HOOOOOOH' and there would be these short exchanges of 'WHOOO's and 'YA-HOOH's mid-air, even though most of the time we were just gliding really slow in the air. it was all quite fantastic.

WHOOOOOO

i had my camera with me and was SO SCARED i would drop it into the mountains and lose it forever (that happened with my dad's video camera the last time he went O____O;;;). i intended to leave it behind but my grandma was like NO TAKE IT AND TAKE PICTURES

sometime later laurence pointed at another paraglider and was like 'that's my friend' and we got to see nick and his friend. we waved at each other 8DD *cheapthrill*

nick's paraglider!

nick's unglamorous landingPFFT

lawrence! he was really nice. nick was jealous when he heard he let me control the paraglider. and that we actually talked in the air. apparently they didnt talk at all

AROUND CHAMONIX

i was stunned that they were half-naked, with that chilly mountain air. but somehow in the afternoons we realized it does get hot in a pleasant sort of way, with the sun and no wind.

painted walls. again, you can't see things like this in our metal city. ):

the french dogs, like the swiss dogs, come either extremely big or extremely small, with extremely good manners.
THIS DOG WAS SUPERBLY HUGE. compare and contrast with the shoe please. THE BIGGEST DOG I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE SERIOUSLY

haha this made me think of a friend dewei's performance XD

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! 8DD

this particular bar got very exciting at night. they would have a band play inside and everyone would be dancing and clubbing on tabletops with their pints of beer or whatever.

macdonalds!

this was the temperature in the afternoon. lovely <3

we were eating at this restaurant on the 3rd day i think, when this group of people came along to eat as well. they were pretty loud and cheery. and they couldnt speak french. somehow i thought they were spanish. my brother thought mexican;;;

but i was told by a swiss that europeans generally can't tell the difference between the people of different countries, unless they come from russia/ukraine/ nordic countries, where people are generally taller and have blonde hair or if they come from spain and have darker skin and dark coloured hair. i dunno. i thought because i'm asian so i couldnt tell the difference between the different nationalities?? like when we were in chamonix, if no one told me, i would think we would still be in switzerland

our hotel. in the afternoons when it got slightly hotter, the snow from the roofs would melt slowly and fall like rain. pretty cool.

LOL

MER DE GLACE (sea of ice)

on the last day we took a really old-school train to mer de glace, a tourist spot higher up in the mountains.

near the railway station to mer de glace there was this awesome train monument

there we got to see the 'sea of ice', this lake which has been frozen over during winter. it'll turn back to water in summer?? but it was really beautiful.

too bad it was really bitingly chilly for us to enjoy the view outside for long ):

a funky crystal gallery.

all in all, chamonix is a very very pretty place to go. it would have been more exciting if we could ski or snowboard or do more winter sports sort of activities though XD;;

so yeah that concludes my 2 weeks in europe and everything.

a pathetic attempt at doing one of those cool timer shots lD

THE END.

Tripping off to Switzerland #2

2009-04-12T01:46:00.000-07:00

FAIL ):

in liechtenstein, they use '.li' for websites.

swiss skyline <333 wonderful architecture and weather///

the 2 main phone operators in switzerland. i think.

on the 22th of March (sunday), we went on a ferry. the ferry was set for vevey, another town in switzerland but we dropped off at the montreaux (spelt mon-twa) stop.

this was the boat that we took. lovely <33 on the way to the ferry, we walked through ouchy.

it was lovely to see families playing and stuff.

these fantastic game-floor-board things where you got to move giant pieces. there was chess and checkers. my brother and i tried the chess set. even with this nice old swiss man's help, i still lost to my brotherOTLlll IT WAS BECAUSE I WASNT USED TO PLAYING CHESS IN 3D LIKE THAT REALLY

you won't see this kind of stuff in singapore unfortunately ):

swiss version of Walls ice cream.

a food stand. very quaint and old school.

there was this guy who was making balloon sculptors for kids. i love how both adults and kids were enthralled by him///

HAHAHA he made a sword for this kid. and the kid wanted a sheath and the guy immediately whipped out a balloon, blew it, wrapped it around the kid and tied it around him. all in a brisk motion. and after that the kid floundered about with his overly large sword and sheath. lovely. xDD

the dogs here are either extremely big or extremely small. and very well behaved. unlike singapore dogs. SO ILL MANNERED ):

ok yeah so after walking about we went onto the ferry. i think this was one of the best memories i had of switzerland.

across switzerland you see france. i heard that's evian. i heard.

the ferry was particularly crowded. apparently it was because it was the first day of spring and a sunday so everyone wanted to be outside, somewhere. we managed to share a table on the ferry with this nice old lady though.

she was very nice.

we also met this INCREDIBLY cute swiss boy by the name of raoul. he sat behind us. he was wondering where we were from and the father asked us on his behalf. then we talked a little with the father as well. his name was chris and he had been to singapore a few times. and he likes it there.

BUT RAOUL. he was so so cute. very shy at first, but he started drawing pictures of nick and i, and giving it to us. and showing us the illustrations in his books. and EATING RAW CARROTS. they would go CRUUUUNNNNCHHH in his mouth and me and nick would be like O_________O

some strong teeth there xDD

he spoke a little english. very little. and he would show us his little bear toys which could stick together because of the magnets attached to their backs. and we in turn showed him THE POWER OF MAGNETS by putting a layer of cloth between both bears. he was quite impressed.

his family. from left: raoul, dominique, chris.

he would immediately tilt his head to the side and start smiling when someone took his picture. and he called nick 'nicola', HAHA. i was told that's the french way of saying 'nicholas'.

he got off a few stops before we did, to his cousin's house. i drew him ~~really crappy D:~~ in exchange for his drawing. will never never forget raoul//////

there was a swiss flag outside on the ferry. lovely <3

MONTREUX
yeah we dropped off here from the ferry. it was very crowded as well, with families and couples and everyone. the flowers that paved the lawns were beautiful. singapore may be a green city but i think switzerland wins hands down where flowery sort of gardenwork is concerned.

there were quite a few tourist shops. this particular one we went to had a whole room for cuckoo clocks. and the lady said it was ok to take pictures! it thought it was really nice of her

VERY CUTE PUPPY

??? NICE PARK PLACE

one of the nurses who takes care of our great grandma took us out to a lovely park one day. at the animal area we got to see:

kids quarrel with a turkey

piglets suckling

... and a goat scratching itself in the queerest way possible XDD

that day, the weather was lovely. i got to eat a cornette for tea as well <33 src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/faiahime/blog%20pictures/switzerland09/SN204097edit.jpg">
from left: great grandma, me, nick, grandma

LUZERN
on the 24th of march.

took the train there. it snowed a little, so the scenery through the windows was beautiful.

the architecture in luzern is very pretty. ok no wait the architecture all over switzerland is lovely. >___>;;;

BANKS IN SWITZERLAND. we were amused because we only knew 'migros' for its supermarkets in lausanne. xD

a theatre in luzern as well <3

one of the tourist attractions of luzern. this old bridge was built in medieval times. i think.

while walking across we saw another bridge going across the same river. i had to ask my grandma if we were on the right bridge

mural thingys painted within the bridge. they had many such paintings.

we went to the old town area to eat and walk about a little bit after that. THERE WERE COBBLED STREETS <33 <3 <33

AWESOME.

the incomprehensible attraction between women (of all ages!) and jewellery.

we passed a tourist shop and it had all these flags hung outside.

luzern's flag. and pretty architecture again.

there were lots and lots of flags around. i think the luzern festival was coming up soon.

we went to Manor, this shopping department. They had an ikea-marche concept restaurant on the top floor.
marche in the way the food sections and chefs are arranged in a market-esque way, ikea in the way you have to line up with and collect your utensils at the counter.

i freaked out when lining up to pay for the food. i think it was when the cashier said 'gritsy' or something like that to a customer in line which means 'hello' in german and i was like CRAP WE'RE NOT IN THE FRENCH SPEAKING PART OF SWITZERLAND ANYMORE. i mean. i realized it when i was reading the days of the week on a notice in the elevator but it only hit me when i heard them speaking *blur D:*

ANYHOW the food was awesome. expensive, but still awesome.

WURST YEAH

and PASSTAAAAA 8DD

MISS ITALIA DRINKS ROCCHETTA

we went to a music store after that. nick was pretty angsty and moody and had all these pent-up emotions within him because he wanted to get there pronto. he heard from another friend stacy about the fantastic music shop in luzern. yeah but he got to try his musicman bass so he was happy in the end. and they had these awesomesauce beatles cds there <33

we went to the museum of transport after that. it's supposedly quite renowned.

I DUNNO WHY BUT THEY HAD A BROADCASTING AREA IN THE MUSEUM WHERE PEOPLE COULD PRETEND THEY WERE ON TV. whatever it is, it was amusing to see all these swiss teens messing around on the screen xDD

interesting fantasy concept.

a real anchor! really big. i think nick could only pick up 3 links in the chain. i could pick up one. XD;;

more fantastic stuff in the museum.

MACAROOONNNSSSS <3 src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/faiahime/blog%20pictures/switzerland09/SN204280.jpg">
HO YEAH

somehow though, after eating the real macarons (the ones bought here were like from a franchised food chain thingLOL) these didnt taste as good D:

the REAL deal, from a bakery in st. francois <3

a facebook chocolate bunny??

there was this funky woman dressed in a tartan skirt pattern at the train station. i dunno, i just thought she looked really good in what she was wearing;;;

this amused me on the way back xDD

LAUSANNE> OLYMPIC MUSEUM
didn't really get to take much pictures because it was forbidden inside ): but it was really great. learnt alot there.

DID YOU KNOW! that america and many other countries boycotted the olympic games when it was held in moscow?? only a small handful of countries attended the olympics that year

there was also this special 'heroes' feature showing heroes from olympic games over the ages.

a random HEROES shot.

i look really bad in that picture so yeah 8D

school excursion for kids. they were taking the public transport back to school i think.

went chocolate shopping one of the last few days. it's fantastic how they have rows and rows of chocolate dedicated to easter.

i also bought one of those funky checkered patterned sweaters at H&M;;;;

there's these brand of shoes called 'vogele' there. i wanted to buy these funky pair of black boots but they were out of stock in st. francois ):

boots are supposed to be cheaper here than in singapore too.

... and a lovely meal provided by the nurses. they are awesome <3 src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/faiahime/blog%20pictures/switzerland09/SN204013.jpg">
One of the nurses who cooked that meal. Her name is Lydia. Or was it lyjia. Anyhow she reminded me of a friend in Singapore. The way she was so jolly and kept laughing and everything 8DD she’d intentionally calling nick ‘nicola’ and me ‘geneve’;;;;;

GRUYERE (gree-yeah)
WHERE THE FAMOUS GRUYERE CHEESE IS PRODUCED.

on friday, the day before we left, 2 of the nurses took us to gruyere! we had very lovely weather that day.

the cheese factory!

i think you have to wait 15 months for it to be its hardest, and stinkiest xDD

WE GOT TO GO TO A CASTLE (a chateau) AS WELL!! oh man it was so awesome!!

nick and i were particularly hyped up because we've been playing final fantasty tactics, one of the best games ever (though i prefer the ps1 version to the psp one). it has a medieval setting and everything. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE A PSP PLZ GET THE GAME. IT IS FANTASTIC.

short commercial break 8DD

one of the awesome cutscenes. i think the dubbing spoiled it for me though ): ramza sounds really bad.

within the castle walls.

for those who played final fantasy tactics before, this made nick and i think of the LIONEL CASTLE WALLS XDD

"Wait there, I'll open the gate!"

we're such dorks.

lovely cobbled streets and old street houses////

the first (and only) person i saw wearing the milkmaid looking outfit.

HAHAHA this reminded me of the onion knight job class 8DD

lovely doors <33 src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h72/faiahime/blog%20pictures/switzerland09/SN204416edit.jpg">
MER-HR-ANKS <33 it's that white thing. made of egg white and sugar. and traditionally eaten with raspberries and EXTREMELY thick cream. super rich. enjoyed it a lot, though i thought the raspberries were a tad too sour ): *dislikes sour things*

UGHHH they had the AWFUL alien museum thing within the castle walls. this spoilt my romanticized medieval times image. D8 a little.

OBLIGATORY TOURIST SHOT

ok and now we went into this real castle where a marquis or something stayed.

these awesome stone steps things without a railing. very medieval times looking xD

unfortunately we didn't manage to take much pictures because someone called for us to be kicked out because we didn't pay to go in and the lady who kicked us out wasn't very nice about it ):

aunty elizabeth, one of the nurses, felt really really bad because she wanted to bring us around, so she bought us a souvenir from the castle, featuring pictures of the rooms and stuff within. she's so nice <33

aaaand that concludes the escapades to switzerland. france report to come next lD OH YES and i was really charmed by the army beret thing XD

seen on the train to zurich, on the way to the airport 8D

Tripping off to Switzerland #1

2009-04-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

i went to switzerland and france for 2 weeks from the 14th to 28th of march

apparently, switzerland goes mostly by its latin name 'Confoederatio Helvetica'. like all the websites end with '.ch'

OK BEFORE ANYTHING.

the eurovision song from switzerland this year. pretty good, as a friend said. 8DD

For most part, I was in Lausanne, the quieter, lesser known part of switzerland. they speak french there, and i learnt how to say 1-10, and the days of the week there. 8DD *feels super proud* I also went to Luzern, Montoie (mon-tour) and Gruyere (gree-yeh)in switzerland.
well at least that's how i think it should sound, from the locals lD

a 14 hour flight with my brother and grandma. got to the zurich airport at 6 in the morning, and took the train to lausanne from there.

the train we took. it reminded me of the japan trains. i wish singapore had nice trains like that with cushioned seats and nice window views and tables and long train rides as well D:

because it reminded me of thomas the train engine and friends 8D

we got to our great grandma's house, and got introduced to her. as expected, she forgot who we were LOL

one of her many bookshelves. she reads the coolest stuff like 'the works of Leonardo da Vinci' and 'the art of war' and all sorts of things. and i think she knew sylvia plath. but it was hard to ask her questions about who she knew, because she kept misunderstanding or forgetting the questions ):

one thing i love about switzerland is the graffiti on the walls. the ones done well. singapore doesnt really have much graffiti work?? it's all just cement and hard steel. but the graffiti in switzerland somehow add life and colours to the walls?? I DUNNO;;;

i thought the last one was pretty awesome. it reminded me of some stencil graffiti art kai showed me once.

LAUSANNE>OUCHY (pronounced wu-shi)

this beautiful lake area where everyone hangs around at during weekends.

we walked to ouchy on our first day. since it was a sunday, it was super crowded. but it was lovely because families were just out walking/roller-skating/cycling/scootering.

wonderful way to spend the afternoon, rather than staying at home and watching tv. or stuff like that. no wonder almost all of the swiss i saw were thin.

the scooter is the most favourable means of transport in switzerland. I was told it's because there're so many slopes so it's the best vehicle (??) to use. but i think a bike with brakes would be better?!

around ouchy.

a chateau. 8DD

a mum with 2 very swaddled up kids. SO CUTE.

LAUSANNE>ST. FRANCOIS ('san fran-swa')

the town area of lausanne with all the shops. AND COBBLED STREETS.

it hasn't changed much from the last time i went! awesome.

this humongous cathedral on the outskirts of St. Francois. it looks fantastic when you're looking at it. too bad i can't take a picture of the whole thing D:

random pictures of shops and stuff around st. francois:

this made me think of edlyn 8D

MANGO SAVES THE ENVIRONMENT AND YOU SHOULD TOO! >8o

SIGNS OF SWEDEN?

yeah we were in the french-speaking part of switzerland. lausanne is supposed to be the capital for olympics. more on this next time.

a music shop! this got my brother very excited because he plays the bass and all.

we got some time to roam about on our own later on in the week so we went to the shop on one of those days.

nick relieving his fingers. somehow. he would just beat and strum imaginary strings at the apartment because he missed playing the bass so much LOL

aaand some theatre-esqe stuff

8D

theatre is very big in switzerland, while the music scene is very small. i think it's the other way round in singapore =__=;;

FASHION IN SWITZERLAND

the swiss girls can very often be seen wearing suede leather black bomber jackets. seriously. with skinny jeans, tucked into high cut boots. jackets with faux fur around the hood are very fashionable here as well.

that pattern the kid is wearing is apparently very much in fashion, especially for guys.

european women are incredibly thin. when i first got to switzerland i was thinking CRAP THEY ALL LOOK LIKE MODELS. and i suddenly realized that the ads all around featured normal people, which are actually NOT normal because they are dead gorgeous. ok i'm not making sense.

THE MUM. super slender.

yupp they're all really good dressers.

OK i think i'll stop here because i'm tired. D: more next time on lausanne, and the other cantons. HOPE I DIDNT BORE ANYONE lD

here we go.

2009-03-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

all the best everyone. moment of truth. somewhat.

much love.

我的新年假期

2009-01-29T09:17:00.000-08:00

LOL like one of those chinese compositions XDD

chinese new year was... ok this year. I have yet to count the ang baos but somehow it all feels a lot.. less than before D:

or maybe it's just me.

anywayyys my favourite part of CNY (apart from the hong baos) are this:

TONS AND TONS OF HOMEMADE PINEAPPLE TARTSASDWWEQ@#*@#)@

I LOVE THESE. my grandma makes the best pineapple tarts ever. this year's batch was especially good (somehow it varies every year. being the pineapple quality checker over these years... srsly this batch was really good <33 )

it's lovely to come home to the smell of freshly baked pineapple tarts. and even lovelier eating a warm fresh one. didn't really get to help with the making of tarts this year, because of work ): but i did help with the packing of the pineapple tarts, if that counts for anything. lD

the way it's stacked... super awesome.

The christmas tree spot was taken over by the pussy willows

somehow they look off this year. maybe because they're not bunched up together like the other years. hmm.

during the actual chinese new year day i think all the womenfolk of our family donned chinese outfits

the only male who wore something remotely chinese. that hong bao contains doggy biscuits for him.
i don't think he deserved them though. he was so noisy with all the camera flashes and everything in the house. D<

ohh yes and something i found on a mandarin orange:

LOL engrish fail XDD

yupp so we went visiting the other relatives houses like we always did on CNY and returned home tired. heeeh sick of chinese food and all those reunion dinners EVERYDAY.

GRAAAAH WHAT I WOULD DO FOR SOME PAAAAASTAAAA D8(

much love to these people <3

2009-01-02T03:19:00.001-08:00

shoutouts (being them short because i'm getting tired D8):
to yee: YEEEEE thank you for being so awesome and putting up with my nonsense almost everyday in school. whenever i see you i can't help but feels so secure and safe. somehow you have that sort of aura, that makes people feel safe with you. i suppose this is why you're little miss magic. (: thank you for being there for me when i am down, being there the times i'm up, and helping me out in school SO SO MUCH. i think i would have died-ed if it wasnt for you. i love you lots and I HOPE YOU FIND YOUR TRUE LOVE <3

to ed: EDD thank you for being such an awesome otaku mate, and drama-mate. you never fail to make me laugh with your antics and words (G'BYE LOLOLOL). srsly, you have the awesome power of being able to brighten up anyone's day with your dynamic spontaneous personality. even though you're such a scandal, i love you so so much. keep being infectiously energetic and loud, that's what
makes you you. much loovee.

to les: les. you have no idea how much you mean to me. a precious friend that i treasure and hold and keep. thank you for seeing me through thick and thin, and for urging me onwards. somehow i feel very blessed to have a friend like you who understands, having been there and done that. i love you lots and let's have popiah soon! <3

to se: SEEEEE!!!!! i'm so sorry for always getting your name mixed up with kai and yee. but that shows how close you are to me. only the superbly close friends are privileged enough to get their names mixed up XDD thank you for being a great source of comfort to me when i am down, and for just being in AD4. i always feel blessed to think i spent 2 years with you in JC. REMEMBER OUR DREAM OK? hahaha love you lots and all the best with the art teacher post!!

to kai: kaaaii you are awesome you know that? in art, in class, in fashion, in person, EVERYWHERE. i love how you have these grand plans. i wish you all the best with whatever you want to. you have this impeccable fighting spirit within you to advance onwards. it's incredible. so i think, no matter how rough it is for you to get where you want to, it's really fine because you'll get there in the end. stay awesomesauce forever <3

to mah hui: uh thanks for the times you tried to be nice to me. your retardedness made me laugh, sometimes.

to clifton: heyy thank you for all the awesome memories and times and fun we had. from island creamery to late night chats to the mafia and yamamoto, i had a blast of a time with you these past 2 years (:

to june: JUNNNEE thank you for being the awesome friend you are today. extra thank you for listening to my rants, squeals, and other wierd noises i make XDD and thank you for being so supportive of my nonsense and kinda like being an advisor to me. HAHA. AND FOR THE WEIRD STALKER-LIKE TIMES I HAD WITH THE SUN D8

ANYWAYYS WE HAVE TO MEET UP SOON AND CATCH UP ON THE MAKEUP SHOPPING WE WERE MEANT TO DO ): ): ):

to mark: the supermegaultrafantasticpower hair stylist! thank you for being such a compassionate friend. you have a way of talking to people in a way which makes them feel loved. your hugs and comforting words are always appreciated. all the best with uni and other areas of life. remember to send me a 2-way trip to NY with a complimentary ticket to your musical during your first big break XD

to bev: BEEEEVVV!! thank you for being in dep. your presence alone is enough to make my day. every sunny smile, encouraging word or kind gesture never fails to melt my heart. it was fun being your classmate AND your colleague. definitely stuff i will treasure and remember forever. i love you lots, my dearest sweetbean!!

to kester: EEEHH WASSUP thanks for being such a hilarious friend. all the best with your photography. i hope you will be a KESTERNOVA and take those hot fashion spreads soon 8D

to costumers , gabby, sam, rach, thank you for putting up with my inadequacy as a wardrobe mistress and being there for me. without you guys i would have been nothing.

to ALICE IN WONDERLAND! thank you for being the awesome IS group you were. for the laughs, fun, and even patience. thank you for tolerating my uselessness and just supporting me in any way you can. i love you guys lots.

finally, to M13 and Go-Den- Chow: MY GROUPIES (LOLOLOL not in that way). thank you for standing by me and helping me out in costuming acting and everything in between. the times i had with you guys are stuff which are hilarious and will definitely be treasured. I LOVE YOU GUYS LOTSS

in CHURCH:

to stay: STAYSHEESHEE stop calling me jenny i dont like that. srsly. ): thanks for letting me maul and drag you about and tolerating my nonsense these decades and decades XD it shows that you have high def and if you were to go up against another high lvl boss you would survive because of the def training i put you through SO BE GRATEFUL YOUNG PALADIN XD but know that i love you. and that you are an awesomesauce guitarist. cheers to another year of ~~mauling~~ great memories 8D

to mel: EHH YOU FASHIONISTA. hahaha yes, thank you for helping me out with my fashion needs! without you i wouldnt have found my prom dress and other stuff. and thanks for being a neat friend. helping to slug it out against stacy for me and always being there to talk to whenever i need someone to talk to. love you lots mann <3

i'm sure there'll other people i forgot D: but even so, i'm sure you know that i love you. XD

speak away.

2008-12-06T04:46:00.000-08:00

music practices are the most exciting stuff ever. lots of action, flukes and awe-inspiring moments 8D

BUT! one thing i can never comprehend is something called 'MUSICANSPEAK'

yeahh maybe if i took up a musical instrument i would start to understand. heeeh.

glitz and glamour, not glitter. :D

2008-12-03T06:34:00.000-08:00

this was the best photo i could find to do a body only picture thing 8D
GO-DEN CHOW FAMIRY 8D

full photo to be posted on facebook. but seriously dont look at it; it's a joke. i am rather proud of myself for making the photo here actually look pretty in the end 8D

hmmm prom was.. better than i expected. was dreading going (mostly lazy), but eventually felt glad seeing friends again. and dining in their company.

highlights of the night:
1. GIDEON YAP HOT STUFF
(fun fact! jennifer, beverly and yelyn started the gideon fan club in 2008, south africa. their motto was 'GIDDY FOR GIDEON')

2. seeing hot people look even hotter in fantastic dresses. the star hot people with hot outfits would include:
- lesley (SEE ABOVE FOR HOT SHOT) in her classy LBD
- edlyn looking like ~~a ~~sarong~~ party girl~~ very traditionally stunning in her baju kurong (spelling?)
- dhe in his classic tux (COME ON ED ADMIT IT YOU WANTED HIM 8D 8D)
- yee in her silk greek goddess looking dress. that was really really hot.
- char for looking so complete, dress and makeup and everything! plus you and yee looked like sisters 8D
- ning who looks good in everything, looked even sexier tonight
- june who looked like a (forest) goddess too!
- jas complete with sexy makeup!
- kester looking snazzy with his suit and pretty tie
- kai with the dress SHE MADE HERSELF. SERIOUSLY STUNNING ON HER!!
- nat for the... unorthodox goth thing. XD
- clifton for looking like some mafia don ('YAMAMOTO' HE SAYS LOL)
- kelly who actually stuck to the glitterati theme HAHA
- prilaa for the pretty and cute loli outfit *hascutefetish*
- sangee for NOT looking like oprah winfrey this time but still looking great
- mark for the hot pink tie (SEE BELOW FOR HOT PINK) 8D

... and many more. there are a lot more, but i'm too tired to think now D:

3. seeing like, NUMEROUS drama people on stage. lian kim and giddy, kester who won denki vouchers as Mr. IT savvy (HAHAHA), sam and nat who won some lucky draw thing, mark at the magic show, and frances singing like superb hotly. oh yeah she gets added to the star hot people list for looking so glamourous. oh yes dharsh who danced and bev who nearly won the Miss Sweetiepie position and gabriel who got Mr. Metrosexual (was it?)

ANYWAY yeah there were a whole lot of friends on stage. O_O

4. edlyn cam-whoring. entertainment throughout the evening as well 8D

well but there were low points of the prom as well.
1. not being able to find all the friends i wanted to see ): SHU WEN ZHUAN YIII

2. having my feet hurt so badly as the dinner drew to a close (apparently 98% of the female population suffered with me)

3. looking absolutely BAD in all the photos i took. ARIIGHEWRU#($*@()!#@ WHY AM I BORN WITH ONE EYE BIGGER THAN THE OTHERR D8 D8 D8

4. food was so boringly painstakingly chinese. one would expect better food for an expensive prom like this?? and the food didnt even taste that good D: but i guess people dont normally eat during prom nights because they're all over the place taking photos? hmm.

but yeah it was mostly fun. much love to friends i saw, and other that i wanted to see but didnt get to see. LET'S MEET UP SOON SINCE As ARE OVER! (: (:
yupp. but in the end, it was rather memorable

senior night

2008-12-01T06:10:00.000-08:00

augh dont want to gooo. i dont feel pretty and witty and gay. D:

THE GREAT ESCAPE

2008-11-24T07:55:00.001-08:00

IT IS FINALLY OVERR!!!!!

not that i did fantastically well for uhm, any of the papers, but i'm just super glad it's all done and over with.

CONGRATS TO ALL. MAY WE ENJOY A BRAND NEW LIFE NOW. :D

lift whatever worries and burdens to God; it's in his hands now. SO JUST LAX AND GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF THE TAX. *lolololsowitty*

leave your name and number

2008-11-18T06:18:00.000-08:00

HAHAHA i just got a call from this unknown person.

conversation:

Jenn (J): uhh hello?
Lady (L): ah is this jane?
J: uhm no i'm jen-
L: i mean jenneefer?
J: yeah.....??
L: i have your friend's wallet. tracy...
J (racks brain): stacy??
L: yah yah. uhh can you ask her to come collect her wallet? because i need to go home...
J: cancan but er where are you?
L: hougang. please call your friend..
J: yes ok thank you very much!!

i was trying to figure out how on earth she got my number from stacy's wallet (not even her phone??!) and i realized that my SELF-MADE NAMECARD for her was probably inside!!

i feel so proud of myself for playing a part in saving stacy's wallet. :D :D :D such a good person. well ok along with the lady who picked up her wallet.

anyway at the moment stacy should be calling this person and getting back her wallet.

sooo if anyone needs namecards and good samaratians, please come to me, thankyouthankyou 8D 8D 8D8D

graaah

2008-11-17T04:53:00.000-08:00

grizzly (his decided name) got taken away because he ate rusty.

ok no basically he was teething and stuff and he wanted stuff to bite so he just kept snapping at rusty. and well since rusty was there first he has a right to stay in the house. which he doesnt deserve. sooooo grizzly was returned. ):

in other news, i was reading Waiting for Godot and The Dumb Waiter, our dep text, on sunday. words cannot describe how depressed i felt reading 2 absurdist texts, one after another. this existentialism thing is really powerful stuff D: unfortunately, it's not powerful enough to get me As for my subjects.

HEEEH WANT As TO ENNDD THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR TOO LOONNG D: D: D: lucky natrachdeweisam who finish today.

oh and speaking of prom nights (from stacy's blog) i found this photo in my photobucket.

BETCHA CANT TELL WHICH ONE IS ME. >8D well i love the fact we both had large bows though. haha.

NEW DOG

2008-11-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

we got a new dog. a friend (aunty lucy) from church came to my mum a few weeks ago and asked her if she wanted this puppy they found SWIMMING IN THEIR POOL. welll so my brothers were very keen on taking the dog in ~~because they were tired of the old one~~ and we now have a new addition to our family. in RPG terms it would be like PARTY UP! :D

the twins were more enthusiastic about the dog and tim was willing to pay for the dog's expenses so it's actually more of tim and mark's dog :D

anyway since the twins were at camp over the weekend (the time the dog came), my mum, nick and i were like coming up with names for the dog.

i came up with Hammie (because he looks like ham),
my mum came up with Grizzy (hate that name though, so savage sounding D: )
and nick came up with Snap (because he keeps snapping his jaw). but hammie was sorta of rejected because they all thought it sounds like heh-mee or prawn noodles or whatever you call it ):

aaaand today after dinner we decided to hold a name competition where we would call the name of the dog and whoever it responds to will get to name it. so nick (snap), tim (grizzly), me (hammie) and my dad (dog LOL) all woke the puppy up to make it compete.

in the end he came to me. TWICE. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH I WAS SO HAPPY THAT I COULD CALL HIM HAMMIE but majority voted against that name so he's either grizzly or snap now ):

pics

he's 2 months old!

rusty went smelling and smelling hammie's behind and looking at his rear.

he was constantly at it. hope he doesnt influence hammie ):

look at the look on poor hammie's face ):

actually rusty got scared of hammie because he kept chasing him. rusty would try to growl and stuff but would fail. well no surprise there he is a failure of a dog.

to end off the picturespam...

the ice prince of bass' face softened, and the frown on his face melted away. hammie looked at him with his large, brown despondent eyes.
'i will protect you,' the ice prince of bass whispered, 'even if it costs me my life.'

let's go

2008-10-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

it's a week to As.
dunno it's just frightening.

do i feel prepared? no.
will i change that in a week? yes. i will try.

all the best, to all the O level and A level takers. push on.

the spectacular ending

2008-10-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

NO WAY. YELYN you are really the most cunning person ever. how did you manage to get the everyone to come and just plan everything that it's just PERFECT?? i mean the location, the people, the timing. you really are like superwoman.

thank you everyone who celebrated my birthday (my 3rd surprise!!) today. it was just so fun talking and talking and eating and talking and encountering exciting faces in unexpected places... yeah. moments i will never forget:

maohui: eh let's randomly choose stuff off the menu to eat. *randomly points*
clifton: ...shisamo
jenn: THAT'S PREGNANT FISH D:
*maohui randomly points again*
maohui: curry buckwheat noodles
everyone: EWWW

se's korean and japanese eyes (koreans apparently have eyes that have an inverted 'U' shape, while japanese have a stroked upwards eye shape. i dont know if this is really true, but se sounded so convinced talking about it so i took her word for it)

kai's teletubby band and shirt. they were just simply FTW :D

plus many many more memories that i would hold dear forever. thank you all of you for being so awesome and patient with my blurness wierdness and all the other faults i have. i love love love love you guys and no words at all at the moment can express how much i appreciate all of you. thank you so much, yee mao se kai clifton. <3

yess random japanese man at the side. ):

flash flood.

2008-10-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

first of all, i just want to say thank you super much to everyone who made my birthday this year so so special.

really, i think this has been my most memorable birthday ever. for the first time in my life i actually was surprised on my birthday (and surprised THREE times!!)

at school, thank you so so much YELYN for making my birthday at school so unforgettable from the presents from the wishlist (which i told you NOT to follow. haha), to the celebration, i'm really so so touched that the celebration and everything was so so perfect and well executed. you have your job as an events planner cut out for you yee!! i am so blessed to have a friend like you. you are always so strong and steady and you're a friend i can turn to whenever i feel down or stressed or worried. thank you for putting up with my nonsense for the past 2 years. (: i love you super much!!

since you didnt want to take a pic with me today, PRETTY BUTTERFLIES INSTEAD :D

to mark, bev, june, sarah, se, zy! thank you for your birthday well-wishes!

MARK your numerous wishes OVER THE DAY and encouraging love, and

BEV, for the wonderful note (which i will treasure and keep forever) plus your cheery outlook which i always always look to for a source of comfort,

JUNE for the fantastic scrapbook messages which i intend to somehow hang on my wall(how you managed to collect such SUNNY messages is beyond me),

SARAH, you may not know it, but your last words before bringing me to the surprise celebration place really had this profound impact on me. if it wasnt for that, i think i would have felt very sad going to the party. thanks for the words, they really meant alot to me. (:

SE for the note and presents (FROM THE LIST AS WELL D:), thank you for the special card! I LOVE IT. and will keep it forever because it is special to me. plus it's so prettily designed. thank you super much se (:

and

ZY for your crazy smses which made me laugh so much at 12 midnight. (didnt see you today so... yeah couldnt take a picture with you. grrr science fac )< )

oh, and maohui gets a special mention because he bought me RAINBOW PENS (which coincidentally, yee bought as well. HAHA i love you guys so so much).

i guess kester and dewei get a special mention too because of their creative (??!) presents. huuurh.

thank you to the rest of the dep class for celebrating my birthday. it was a great joy to celebrate my birthday with all my dear friends. thank you for sharing my moment of happiness. (: i love you guys lots!!!!

i would have posted celebration pictures, but uhm mark took all the photos (WHICH HE WILL SEND TO ME, AND NOT POST ON FACEBOOK BECAUSE) and so the photos seen here are random happy shots taken through the day <3

to my family: thank you so much for being with me through the ages, and putting up with my flaws and mistakes. i love you guys lots and think i am extremely blessed to have such a close-knit family with caring parents and cute brothers. special thanks to the twins because they had to sacrifice their studying time to go out for dinner. thank you twin-pis. and thank you nick for organizing the surprise youth thing. you were so fierce on gmail i was like scared of you. only a bit. no pictures because the twins will strongly object (:

to youth group:
EHHH you guys really surprised me ok!! i really didnt expect you guys to come!! i'm so thankful i got to spend time with my brothers and sisters in Christ on my birthday. i was super touched because some of you had school/work the next day. but thank you for coming!! you guys really brightened up my night with all these light-hearted moments of luki and his indonesian maid job and lushi and kelvin with their talk on disecting frogs and playing with drugs. hahaha you guys are awesome.
and thank you for all the messages. i am happy to know i am 'nice' and 'sensitive'. HAHAH. no but really i felt super encouraged when you guys were talking. thank you so much. (:

and thank you to MEL for planning this beforehand with nick!! I REALLY DIDNT KNOW. it's been so fun just talking and having fun with you. spending time with you is always super fun. thank you for all the funky moments we had together. (:

oh and STAYSHI too! for calling me!! haha. I LOVE YOU STAYSHIIII! thank you for being so tolerant of me and my wierdness. you have been a great friend and someone fantastic to talk to. i'm very blessed to have you as a friend because you're super understanding and cool. cheers to even more memories stay. (:

LIKE, GURL POWER :D

in retrospect (sounds like GP D:), this is like the most memorable birthday i've had ever, and i'm so so blessed to have spent it with people i really love and adore.

thank you for having a part in my life, and just contributing and sharing and adding to who i am today, because i am nothing without (God first) and you. (:

love you guys lots.

jenn.

my heart races with every step you take

2008-09-29T02:36:00.000-07:00

thanks to my dad my neighbour (nick phey) kester and sarah for making things clearer about F1 and those flagger girls.

FACTS I HAVE LEARNT :B :
1. in the races there are safety cars. these come out when there're like accidents and stuff so like for safety precautions. these cars can really change the outcome of the race because when the safety car comes everyone has to slow down and like line up behind the car until it leaves and they can actually race again. so this kind of neutralizes everyone's positions because they all end up waiting behind the safety car. :D

2. Force India cars are the worst. they never win (quoted from my dad).

3. Ferrari and Mclaraun (sp??) are the best.

4. if there were really flagger girls in F1 races, they would be burnt to crisp because of the power of the cars?? (from sarah)

5. there actually were girls at the f1 event. kester saw them with his own 2 eyez. BD

6. but these girls weren't flaggers. they were, uhm, party-ers.

7. Alonso won because he fuelled at the right moment.

8. in f1, there's a red flag orange flag and checkered flag. dont remember if there're anymore. all i remember the checkered one signifies the end of the race.

9. the racers are started by a 321 light (how boring is that. no flagger girls like in Need for Speed or like guns in Olympics or i dunno, the shouting 3! 2! 1! :p )

10. in conclusion, i think underground racing is cooler, like with the NO2 and race tracks which dont look the same after 65 rounds and the ~~ways to cheat to win~~ the tactics involved in winning 8D

plus all the adrenaline and all.

i think i have been watching too many movies. :p

peace out all

my heart races with every move you make

2008-09-28T06:17:00.001-07:00

... no she's not anorexic. D:

i know f1 races dont have racer girls and all that stuff, but my train of thought goes like this:
night race -> underground race -> need for speed, too fast too furious -> therefore, RACER GIRLS.

it's exciting that singapore will be having the race in singapore, though i dont know anything at all about the races except you have to make regular pit-stops and beat all the others at the race :D

EDIT: btw nick says the jiggling action represents twisting your head around, though i think it's like for begging for money 8D (refer to previous post if you dont understand this)

snippet spam ham jam

2008-09-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

some snippets of the week that past :D

LAST SUNDAY AT CHURCH:

stacy i really think nick is cute 8D 8D

DEP timed assignment yesterday in the design studio (friday):

NO THANKS TO EDLYN ):

stick to a style

2008-09-15T05:32:00.001-07:00

i just took a learning style test and these are my results:

These are the results of your inventory. The scores are out of 20 for each style. A score of 20 indicates you use that style often.

Style Scores:
Visual
10
Social
16
Physical
11
Aural
10
Verbal
15
Solitary
9
Logical
9

The social (interpersonal) learning style
If you have a strong social style, you communicate well with people, both verbally and non-verbally. People listen to you or come to you for advice, and you are sensitive to their motivations, feelings or moods. You listen well and understand other’s views. You may enjoy mentoring or counseling others.
You typically prefer learning in groups or classes, or you like to spend much one-on-one time with a teacher or an instructor. You heighten your learning by bouncing your thoughts off other people and listening to how they respond. You prefer to work through issues, ideas and problems with a group. You thoroughly enjoy working with a “clicking” or synergistic group of people.
You prefer to stay around after class and talk with others. You prefer social activities, rather than doing your own thing. You typically like games that involve other people, such as card games and board games. The same applies to team sports such as football or soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, baseball and hockey.

Common pursuits and phrases
Some examples of pursuits that people with a strong social style may follow include counseling, teaching, training and coaching, sales, politics, human resources, and others.
As with people with the logical style, you are more likely to use phrases that reflect your dominant style out of physical, aural and visual styles. Here are some other phrases you may also use:
Let’s work together on this.
We can work it out.
Tell me what you are thinking.
Help me understand this.
Let’s pull some people together to discuss.
Let’s explore our options.

The social (interpersonal) learning style
If you have a strong social style, you communicate well with people, both verbally and non-verbally. People listen to you or come to you for advice, and you are sensitive to their motivations, feelings or moods. You listen well and understand other’s views. You may enjoy mentoring or counseling others.
You typically prefer learning in groups or classes, or you like to spend much one-on-one time with a teacher or an instructor. You heighten your learning by bouncing your thoughts off other people and listening to how they respond. You prefer to work through issues, ideas and problems with a group. You thoroughly enjoy working with a “clicking” or synergistic group of people.
You prefer to stay around after class and talk with others. You prefer social activities, rather than doing your own thing. You typically like games that involve other people, such as card games and board games. The same applies to team sports such as football or soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, baseball and hockey.
Common pursuits and phrases
Some examples of pursuits that people with a strong social style may follow include counseling, teaching, training and coaching, sales, politics, human resources, and others.
As with people with the logical style, you are more likely to use phrases that reflect your dominant style out of physical, aural and visual styles. Here are some other phrases you may also use:
Let’s work together on this.
We can work it out.
Tell me what you are thinking.
Help me understand this.
Let’s pull some people together to discuss.
Let’s explore our options.

Learning and techniques
If you are a social learner, aim to work with others as much as possible. Try to study with a class. If this is not available then consider forming your own study group with others at a similar level. They don’t have to be from the same school or class. If you like, introduce them to some of the techniques from this book. It may be easier for you to try some of the Memletic Techniques in a social setting, and work with the feedback from others.
Role-playing is a technique that works well with others, whether its one on one or with a group of people. For example, in aviation training, role-play the aerodrome area. Have people walking around in “circuits” making the right radio calls with the tower co-ordinating everyone. Another example might be to role-play with one person being the instructor and the other being the student.
Work on some of your associations and visualizations with other people. Make sure they understand the principles of what you are doing though, otherwise you may get some interesting responses! Others often have different perspectives and creative styles, and so the group may come up with more varied and imaginative associations compared to the ones you might create yourself.
Rather than reciting assertions to yourself, try sharing your key assertions with others. By doing so, you are almost signing a social contract that your assertion is what you do. This strengthens your assertions.
Share your reviews, review checklists and “perfect performance” scripts with those in your group as well. By listening to how others solve their issues, you may get further ideas on how to solve your own issues. Try sharing the work of creating a “perfect performance” script. Each person writes the script for the areas they want to work on the most, and then the group brings all the scripts together.
Mind maps and systems diagrams are great to work on in class. Have one person be the appointed drawer, while the rest of the class works through material and suggests ideas. The group may have varied views on how to represent some ideas, however this is a positive part of learning in groups. If you can’t agree on something, just take a copy of what the group has worked on and add your own thoughts. Often there is no right answer for everyone, so agree to disagree!
Working in groups to practice behaviors or procedures help you understand how to deal with variations. Seeing the mistakes or errors that others make can help you avoid them later. As well, the errors you make are helpful to others! Whether it’s via role-playing, a simulator or other technique doesn’t matter too much. Be imaginative. Two chairs in the middle of a classroom to simulate an aircraft cockpit can be just as good as computer simulation and the real activity.
Lastly, if you are working in groups it may help to have everyone do the learning styles questionnaire. This may help everyone understand why each person has different viewpoints. It can also help with assigning activities to people. Individuals may volunteer for activities based on either the styles they currently have, or the styles they want to learn. Remember the classroom is a risk-free environment. It’s often safer to experiment, try out new techniques and make mistakes in the classroom than in the real activity.

sooo basically i work in groups, role-play, draw mindmaps and be imaginative. hmmm.

and looking at the learning style grades, i realize i fail at being logical and alone. so much for taking math.

take the test here: http://www.learning-styles-online.com/

BECAUSE EDLYN MADE ME DO IT D: D: D: D:

2008-09-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

edlyn's fantastic youtube video from lucky star here:
http://edlynng.livejournal.com/19667.html
inspired me to put down alll the links of all the fantastic youtube videos of anime (ok mostly katekyo hitman reborn) here. well partly so if i ever lose the links i can always look up this page again :D yes so this page is mostly for future reference for myself.

link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ohm_kYg4FHc&feature=related&fmt=18
HARE HARE YUKAI KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN VERSION

link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=yVOm3lhDmhQ&NR=1&fmt=18
SAKURA ADDICTION BY HIBARI AND MUKURO (RABU)

link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=MtbZDUgESdY&fmt=18
DANJODANJO DANCE BY KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN

link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=gsrNXnZKAMw&feature=related
ICHIGO MASHIMARO SPOOF

LUCKY STAR DANCE BY ZOMBIES

link: http://keizih.multiply.com/video/item/290
ボス☆すた　一応完成版 FANTASTIC LUCKY STAR PARODY DANCE (katekyo hitman reborn)

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgskX_3v7RU&fmt=18
haruhi suzumiya X lucky star dance :D

link: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=FLUqD48EMJ8&feature=related
moetan/umauma (?) dance by dino and hibari
to edlyn: EH I THINK IF WE DID THE DANCE FOR 2 MIN 53 SECONDS MY HIPS WILL DROP OFF

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flbcmQhK7_8&feature=related&fmt=18
KHR parody of a japanese band called NEWs or something. find the original dance at youtube searching "news cm"

link: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=rqBKFyN5xQ4
meiji fran ad parody for katekyo hitman reborn. awesome hot stuff :D

link: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=vKI_dfXXi28&feature=related
an OOC hibari in a pocky ad. find the original ad on youtube searching "pocky cm". LOLZ

:D

Nightmares

2008-09-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

this happened on the way home from lunch today. my yiyi (aka mum's younger sister) found it most amusing and we all spent a good 10 minutes laughing it out all the way home.

my brothers are the cutest things ever.

LULZ & anime/manga goodness

2008-09-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

1. LULZ

i was just googling 'pride and prejudice' for fun just now because someone on the bus on the way home mentioned it. i found 2 very funny posts. first one reads: Stiff and tentative, Ngo seemed to be trapped in that costume and not quite sure how to get himself out of it. and Lady de Bourgh (played by Rebecca Kwan) comes out in Act II decked out like an upper-class 1920’s lady, making her look like she had just wandered in from some other play . WELLLLL i didnt design the costumess so yeaah not my fault :D :D :D :D :D. oh, but this line really made me laugh: As his bosom buddy Bingley, Dheraj Ramchandani had a tendency to bark out his lines in trying to capture the essence of the consummate 18th century English gentleman. read the full review here: http://www.substation.org/mag/review/austens-powers-and-clearing-the-band.html
and i found this person's blog talking about p&p as well. very funny, worth the read :D : http://flawed-innocence.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

2. ANIME/MANGA GOODNESS

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHY IS KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN LICENSED???!!!11 when i found out my heart like dropped and collapsed and tumbled and whatnot. now it'll be really hard to find episodes online. ): ): ): ): UGHH those fools in charge of fun-i-mation or whatever that company is called. WHY MUST YOU MAKE LIFE SO HARD FOR ~~OTAKUS~~ NORMAL PEOPLE LIKE MEEE

a fantastic photo of mukuro to remember this not fantastic moment:

oh, and another one, of hibari, in remembrance of my KHR partner edlyn:

recently i started reading vampire knight again. It has really really good art and the story is rather interesting. plus the characters are good-looking. :D :
even the sub-characters like shiki (above) look hot.

mann i should get a layout for the blog soon. SOMEONE TEACH ME HTML/DREAMWEAVER PLXKTHKS D:

the olympics will be missed

2008-08-31T03:54:00.000-07:00

yess. it was really fun watching olympics every day. yes, every day. volleyball, fencing, gymnastics, track and field.. countless stuff. it was a great excuse to not study for a while. and it was awesome entertainment. so when it ended i think i suffered from like post-olympics symptoms. or something like that =__=;;;

i dont know but i think is the best olympics ever. somehow.

IN OTHER NEWS:
my memory stick died on me. ok, yes, i have multiple memory cards but this one has djmax inside in. and i didnt back up my saved data. ): so the 2+++ hours spent combo-ing songs like [brand new days--> ]

and [get out--> ]

both awesome songs. now i need a new 4 gb card. sigh.

since i'm on a roll with all these youtube links, this is the song i'm currently in love with:

it's "ring a bell" by this japanese singer who calls herself bonnie pink. she's got an english version too :D :

she's singing for 'tales of vesperia'. it's a new rpg game by namco, released for xbox360 (YES XBOX. WHYYYY NAMCO WHYY???!1!!!)

though i prefer the previous 'tales of' song (from the game tales of abyss on PS2 ):

and the characters looked cooler >___>;;

well yupp that's it for now.

let's see if this one dies out

2008-08-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

right now as i type this i'm watching the olympic ping pong finals. wellll not looking good for singapore because we're losing 8:3. i dont mean to sound like a pessismist, but i dont think we'll win..? I MEAN LIKE COME ON WE'RE AGAINST CHINA THE MASTERS OF PIN1 PANG1 QIU2. it's really cool that we made it to the finals and i'm rooting for singapore to win but it's highly improbable D: yes.

anyway this whole olympics thing has got me thinking what would have happened if my mum didnt make me stop doing gymanastics in primary 3. hahah her reason was "i didnt think you could cope" which is ironic because i'm not coping now so going either direction in my life wouldnt have made a difference. like i see all these awesome female gymnasts doing hou4 kong3 fan1s and qian1 kong3 fan1s and i feel really really wistful because i know if i continued in the gym school team i could have learnt how to do something vaguely like that (i quit just when we were like learning how to do proper unsupported hand stands LOL).

yeah the only stuff i remember about gymnastics is:
1. feng lao shi the china coach we had
2. the action you have to execute before doing any sort of gymnastic move (like a salute)
3. vaulting. it was really great doing that because there'll be like this rush when you run towards the springboard and when you jump and do a split over the block you feel the wind and it's almost like you're flying. an awesome feeling.
4. the warmups we did all together as a team. like doing splits and pressing down in the split postion and stuff, a little bit like drama warmups.
5. doing this exercise to like chinese counts where you jump and twirl or something like that.

oh look, china won. ok yes back to what i was saying. so yes if i continued gymnastics.. man that would've been cool. really cool.