purpleyammie ((:

2010-07-07T11:18:00.001+08:00

3 july, sat- 0830 SM lecture, we approached the lecturer, Nigel, regarding our lack of two more group members for the assignment. he helped us make an announcement to the class for interested parties to look for us after lecture.

indeed, a girl came up to us after lecture and said her friend and her would like to join our group of four! so just like that, we've formed our team of six with myself, hui yi, huiqi, jasmine, gillian, and sasi. looking forward to acing this assignment!

then i went home to rest for a while before heading to expo to serve.

for service, pst. bernard was in town!! he shared a really cool and empowering message about growth, that it is a process made up of levels and stages. we will grow in levels and rise in stages. each stage takes us to a new level of relationships, knowledge, understanding, authority and responsibility.

the prerequisite of the process of growth and development is our character. God has to mould and shape our character before we make choices, which determine the outcome of the process.

speaking of choices, God gave us the freedom of choice, but we must ask Him to teach us how to make better choices because without His guidance there will be recklessness and lawlessness.

one important thing i've learnt is that with every growth there is a promise, which is attainment of something at the end, but people often focus on that result/goal rather than the process, and we do not commit to the process, when its actually the process that gets us to the success!

SO, i'm going to remain faithful in the process, and let Him renew me!

4 july, sun- first cg meeting at darryl's place (flora east @ joo chiat place) at 2pm. very long time since i had a long cg meeting like this, kind of takes me back to cl zone times. from the game, to p&w, to testimonies, to sermon, everything was a bit longer than mj's cg haha. but it was good! something tells me i've got to prioritize my time a bit better now that cg has shifted from friday to sunday though. (:

after cg fellowship at darryl's house, i accompanied jw to plaza sing for architecture exhibition to get inspiration for her work. took photos of some of the 3d and 2d works and subsequently uploaded to fb for jw.

then we headed to 313 as she wanted to get her cotton on skirt, but both ps and 313 were out of stock/size, so we headed home. cooked instant noodles with meatballs and ate while watching xiong mao ren haha! what a relaxing evening (:

5 july, mon- slacked the day away, downloading and playing phone games~~~

6 july, tue- went school to print notes with hui yi, huiqi, and sharon. played my iphone games such as talking tom, doodle hangman, truth or dare, speed tapping (hq broke the highscore!) and, of course, cookie and coin dozers.

then we managed to persuade sharon to go singing with us, partly because of the open dare and mostly because hq agreed to display her dancing skills later at kbox. at first she was reluctant but finally agreed when i said i'd dance with her (in the end i didn't as i didn't know how to dance the korean dance she did haha oops).

so we printed from 9 plus to 2 plus, grabbed a quick lunch at canteen, and headed to clementi. supposed to sing for three hours from 1530-1830 but we managed to sing till 7 plus as they didn't stop the machine. we thought kbox was being nice but in the end a guy came and, rather impolitely, told us our time was up long ago and told us to leave. nevertheless, four of us had a good time, i believe!

7 july, today- i believe i'll be slacking at home, so i shall list down some of the things i might want to get done:

- watch hong gil dong
- fold the clothes while watching tv
- watch another movie or drama
- attempt to get started on school work if possible.

lastly, i'm quite happy that i got down to blogging instead of procrastinating because the spirit of laziness really really gets to me whenever i try to blog haha. that's all for today then!

2010-07-02T22:56:00.001+08:00

i decided that maybe i could try blogging more frequently. the drive might not last but at least i'll try!

so continuing from the previous post, 25th June 2010 was an important day. it was the last cell group meeting of e421. i had mixed feelings of sadness and joy; sadness because a week later this 'usual' gathering made up of 'usual people' would be gone; joy because of the valuable last few moments we'd get to spend together AS A CELL GROUP!

we started off with our last pre-cg game led by dan, had a quick p&w, mj shared the word, dan took offering, and finally, one by one, mj revealed who was to go where.

together with alson, jiawen, and sean, i'll be transferring to darryl's cell group, w372.

the verdict was close to what i predicted, so i was quite okay with it. one thing i always keep in mind is that God has always and will always put us in a place good for us, so TRUST HIM!

i believe this is true for all of us, so now i'm looking forward to good reports from all the rest in time to come!

after cg meeting we even had like a 'farewell dinner' with lots of food. OCK chicken wings, hotdogs, and alson's delicious spaghetti and cheese cake! we all stayed back at dan's house the latest we could, some watching tv, chatting, learning korean dance, etc.

during my journey with my e421 family, many people came and went, stayed and left. we had our ups and downs, and memories i'm sure are precious to us all. so let's bring these memories with us wherever we go, but always move on. occasionally, let's look back and remember each other, the things we did for each other, and the bond we once shared. even if you never see these words, be strong, my friends, my family!

i already miss val's house, dan's house, esp dan's which is so near my favourite bubble tea stall in the world (for now until i find a better one which i doubt), and the voices, laughters and face of all of you. again, even if you never read this, thank you for leaving me with beautiful memories of the times i shared with each one of you.

my dearest cell group e421, i'll miss everyone single one of you and you'll always have a special special place in my heart!

26 jun- we had our last service together as a cell group. after service, we met our new cell groups for a while before heading to tampines for our real last e421 dinner at cafe cartel. though there were only sean, jianrong, jiawen, alson, bryan, and me, it counted as a neat last meal with a bunch of 'good finishers'!

27 jun- celebrated mimi aka yunting's 20th birthday at Gaia at Suntec. our gift for her was a cotton-on top which we thought highly suited her style as it was tiny floral patterns on a white background, and very sweet-looking! and a small breadtalk strawberry cake... stole some photos from facebook...

nice shot by mimi of us looking at the menu...

bday gal and i (:

huiqi and i (:

group shots!

on the way home, jasmine bought a new lipstick which came with an ANJell-looking pink pen!

29 jun, mon- i went jogging, and i fell ill with sore throat, flu and a slight fever.

30 jun- woke up in the morning with full-blown fever, but i kept drinking water and went toilet more than ten times so my flu and sore throat were contained. but still went to bed with fever as i refuse to take medication haha. avoided the fan to perspire it out. prayed for fever to subside by morn.

31 jun- prayer worked! woke up feeling really great with only a little nose-block but no fever or pain in my throat. prayed to be fully healed by next day (school reopens) if not i'll feel awful in lecture.

1 jul, thur- felt 90% healed and could tahan the shower haha! albeit i showered in warm water just in case i catch a cold. hehe ptl.

met weiqiang on the bus to school, and we were 10 minutes late for the 830am SM lecture.

basically learnt that sm principles seem obvious and are really much more complicated.

like all other modules, i'm aiming for hd and i will get it!! (:

2 jul, (tgi)fri- still 10 min late for 830am lecture, but didn't take bump into wq as i took 154.

during break, i zoomed to the office (to avoid the crowd as its the last day for payment) to pay school fees. secretly happy to see people streaming in after me haha tsk!

the rmit lecturer, nigel munro-smith, made us do groupwork, brainstorming SWOT analysis for singapore, so as to prove a few trends in our answers.

my main takeaway was that a good swot analysis is putting aside what other are telling you and putting your own thoughts into it. for example, many groups identified limited resources as a weakness and good governance as a strength, but those might be information not perceived by ourselves, but established by society.

well, at least i got something out of that lecture!

then i headed home to rest, mainly by watching tv and playing games. i even tidied my table a little as i was searching for my calculator haha!

and now, feeling satisfied, its time for my beauty sleep as its a long long day tmr of 830am lecture (again), reporting for choir at 345pm, service at 530pm, and fellowship after that!

and sunday's gonna be the first cg meeting with w372. speaking of it, sean might not be there as he'd be in jakarta due to something urgent which happened. i'll keep praying that everything will be alright!

Lord, please watch over all ex-e421 members (no matter how 'ex' they are), amen!

its 177 word-doc-pages long!

2010-06-23T12:55:00.007+08:00

*most pictures taken from facebook...

let's start from my Malacca trip (15-17 dec 09). don't know where the pics are so shall skip that. went with mum, ys, jasen, grandma, little aunt, little uncle, his wife and 2 boys. my bro was supposed to go too but got sent back home at woodlands checkpoint due to his unchanged passport photo. i was lucky to get my 2nd warning but still allowed to go! quite sad my bro couldn't be there ):

stayed at the A'Famosa Resort which i'd rate 1/5 as its literally the worst stay i've experienced out of the not-so-many places i've been to. perhaps due to the huge land size (which i thought should have been a good thing), its cumbersome to travel around, namely by shuttle bus or jeeps. i'm usually not a complainer but the service there is plain bad. after a long journey, we're arranged to have our lunch before check-in but they weren't prepared. instead, told us to check in first and have lunch at some other restaurant within the resort. delayed our lunch by 3 hours as a result! well, but they probably haven't undergone top service training so can't blame them i guess. another shock was that there weren't towels or any toiletries. we had to request for towels which took a few hours to get here, and those who didn't bring toothbrushes (namely me and my sis) had to buy which didn't come cheap of course. well, my bad that i told her "the resort sure have". -.-

at least i enjoyed the Cowboy Town show, featuring tribesmen with fire tricks, animals like horses, elephants who defecate on the way and have transvestites pick them up, geese and chicken races, well-clothed monkeys doing handstands, flying birds (i know, duh), transvestites dancing and many more...the 3d show was quite pathetic though; 5 minutes of 'exploring underwater', with some real water spurts from the chairs.

the zoo was nothing unusual. and stinks as equally as singapore's. wanted to visit the water world and try other activities like horse-riding, paintball, etc but changed our minds upon reaching there and seeing what we saw. went to the town on the second day, shopped a little but not much. bought some apparels. entertainment level i'll give a generous 4/5!

foodwise, its passable. 4/5. i enjoyed the night we'd stay in, play cards and eat cup noodles!

i'd rate the fabulous company 5/5 hence overall experience = 3.5!

~~~~~

18 dec- had thanksgiving cell group at val's place where we had potluck! there were fried ee mian, hotdogs, potato salad, fruit salad (pear, pineapple, orange, grape, honeydew), cakes (apple, cheese, choc), and our usual fruit punch! i Certainly miss those times.

19 dec- wanted to go east coast cycling with shar, hy, jas, hq, xy BUT it rained so we went to sing our hearts out for 4.5 hours at bedok's cash studio instead. there goes our cycling plans but singing was funnnn!

sharon n i had our hair cut at jas' mum's pink-themed salon before the singing. felt lighter hahaha. jasmine's mom was pro!

sweetttt jasmine ^_^

xinyi with one of her many wives...

both of us closed eyes! hahah.

she 'likes' this on fb!

i m in d middle of d couple.. woops!

hui yi n me!

(another) failed attempt of taekyung's pout...

with my philandering husband again..

i m... in d middle... again...

after singing, i went for christmas candlelight service which was breathtaking, warm and just really pleasant ((:

21 dec- mahjonged with ys, sherlyn and another friend of theirs. i won five bucks! heh. visited eu yan sang for my sinus;; started on tcm medication.

22 dec- friendly mj at chaihuat's from 2-6pm.

23 dec- dinnered with granny at bishan, followed by countdown to mum's birthday at chinatown partyworld; sang 2 hours of K with mum and sisters! yay to girls' night out (:

24 dec- mummie's birthday. dinner at Serenity restaurant @ the cathay, sipped cappuccino at Gloria Jeans, and watched sherlock holmes. bday cake was the heavenly secret recipe's coffee cake with chocolate & macademia nuts & custard cream, my idea. (:

25 dec- xmas service where i got to know bel's vietnamese friends, Win and Chip! had lunch with them following which Bel accompanied Chip to catch a flight back to vietnam. happy but also unfortunate day as Win lost her wallet, probably at bedok inter's hawker centre. so me, serene and her went in search of it, including making a police report at the police post. poor Win, i feel so bad for such a thing to happen to her as she came to church! but we forged a meaningful friendship so its really mixed feelings! she and Chip are both amazing people doing great things with their lives, and are such friends for keeps! (:

26 dec- sakae sushi buffet with shar and ly, and crystabelle ktv with the 2 girls, tx n kate! after that had egg tarts at south bridge road and desserts at somewhere along chinatown. i had super nice yam cake!

pictures:

27 dec- attended 10am Sunday service, lunched at airport.

28 dec- drank some fibre tea for breakfast... started 2 week trial at true fitness... jogged, strengthed and tried 1 hour hot yoga. had tauhuay, fried carot cake and egg tart for supper....

29 dec- played 1.5 hours of badminton with family!

30 dec- sold mab tb for $42... body pumped for an hour, strengthed for 0.5 hrs. pizza bun for dinner.

31 dec- zone lunch at Roland's seafood, invited ariana and she agreed cos its an 8-course meal for five bucks. enjoyed ourselves!

♥

3 jan- annabel's birthday!! camwhoring session on the flyer.

amazing bunch of friends!

7 jan- School reopened, investment lecture first!

something we did for fun, in a somewhat heightological order...

11 jan- RMIT teaching visit for LM, printed notes in school. tried on jasmine's beautiful jacket!!

15 jan- cg meeting whereby we took pictures!

bel: "e421 efficient treasurers!"

mel n me!

19 jan- played badminton in the morning with family, then dou jiang you tiao at selegie with jas, hq, hy, then watched daybreakers with them plus xy.

21 jan- celebrated my birthday at downtown east seoul garden and finally got to cycle!

shar and i!

our table: garcia, jasmine, me... the other table: huiqi, xinyi, sharon, hui yi.

trying to steal my present! haha.

finally MINE. so big... what could it be?

its a leather bag pack i've always wanted!

THANKS, my girls!

♥

with a full stomach, we go cycling!

cycled for a short while and it started drizzling heavily! rested at a shelter...

drizzle lessened, off we go again!

tried to teach this girl but to no avail. end up tompang her all the way lol (jas took over a short while in the middle).

THE END (: (of our cycling trip)

22 jan- e421 celebrated my birthday at cell group. no yam cake but got a choc cake, purple helen necklace and signed card designed by dan. thanks all again!

mum gave me a SK jewellery white gold necklace, key pendant. sweet ^^

23 jan- met bel, jw, hx and alson before service at expo coffee bean area.

got my yam cake! bel got it from Prima Deli. i'm happily eating it while the timed photo was taken...

AND she also got me traditional steamed yam cake with sweet sauce. BLISS.

AND purple flowers.

AND an Alpinepac bag pack, my favourite bag until now cos its just so awesome! AND the C&K bag i've been eyeing.

AND a handmade scrapbook/card containing photos, memories & loving words.

others who shared in the presents but couldn't make it to meet us include dan, ben, jr and sean. thx you guys! i'm so touched, speechless, and thankful for your friendship. :D

took more pics before service!

with val :DD

us four!

at night, cut cake with my family. yl bought me a bakerzinn choc cake, and xin wang mee sua. thanks jie! 老爸 gave me an ang bao which is like awww so sweet. actual celebration was to be on the following sat at Timbre!

25 jan- wenkai's wedding!!!!!!

jia wen is so tall!!?

DAN THE MAN

my lovely leader, ai ming!

me, charmaine, bel!

michelle and i with our orh nees!

monkey faces (ok, mine more like pig)

imelda da jie!

val and i get to take photo with the night's photographer, jr!

sher, i miss u!

sooo nice right!

i * likes* this

the '"o.o'" pose

the o'" pose

*likes!

triple likes***

all of us from CL zone! loves**

26 jan- met pui boon, shi han, jun yuan, aloy, paul and joel for Ippudo Ramen at ion. how i miss the hard boiled egg with silky flowy yolk! then they forced me to go for desserts at heeren spinelli because they wanted to surprise me with cakes and birthday card. honestly, i'm quite touched as we haven't met up for quite a long time and they wrote a card for me. and many assorted cakes to bring home too. thanks a lot guys! when are we gathering again? oh man...

27 jan- resumed giving tuition to mastura and jamal...

28 jan- went shopping at Central with yl, bought a blue top $29.90 grey top at Cherish using my $20 birthday member voucher. then we went bugis, she bought 3 tops for $28 and one of it is for me. that's my cny new clothing! cheap but nice hahas. my generous sis then treated me to Salmon with mango sauce (set) at Phins. oh happy day!

30 jan- mummy's treat at timbre. i had my all-time favourite seafood aglio olio, followed by heineken and another of my favourite, long island tea. aim was to try getting drunk and get high. the mixture of LIT and beer really made me super groggy after a while; felt it when i wanted to go toilet and couldn't walk really straight. ys had to accompany me.

finished 2 glasses of beer and almost the whole glass of lit as the rest didn't want it. mummy went to mix my lit with beer. genius.

downing the first glass, still looking quite okay.

my long island tea!

one more glass of beer...

after coming back from toilet...

am i drunk?_?

managed to take a sober-looking shot before we left. thank you, my awesome, cool, ever-accepting family! i love you papa, mummy, yusin, yulin and shuen min (i am NOT drunk now)!

1 feb- visited granny, she gave me an ang bao! always remembers our birthdays (:

nothing much happened that week besides going to school.

8 feb- 2nd tuition lesson with M n J

11 feb- tuition lesson 3

12 feb- finexis interview, lunch with sophia who was back from tasmania! treated her to astons at suntec (belated birthday treat). we both ordered ribeye steak. (: then we walked around at suntec including shopping for her watch which she bought in the end. then we still had time before the cny service so we stopped by simei starbucks to chill. shared the lava cake, and i had caramel frappe with lavabits. thought i was in heaven!

13 feb- shopping day with ys at bugis for the cny. bought silver flats, and a black and grey horizontally striped polo tee for jasen. got some of kfc's new egg tarts for family.

14 feb- cny day 1 cum vday. did the usual stuff, visiting.

18 feb- back to school. camwhored during lecture break and after lecture. they all didn't jio me to wear cny new clothes! but nvm. (:

we tried to LOVE

the girls then went to the marina barrage but i didn't go. think i had something on haha.

around this time school started to keep us busier and busier, so my life comprised basically of homework, assignments after assignments, investment test, ongoing tuitions.

15 mar- youth meeting with pst kong at expo. the chc story must go on and we are the next generation!

20 mar- investment class test (result: 7/10, dist). then met mingjie to get arians's present - dkny perfume + hallmark card. at ariana's pretty party, took a break from busy school work... thanks ariana for giving us old classmates a reason to gather!

ain't she gorgeous!

with the sexy birthday girl and party props (:

5 Apr- investment assignment 2 (group) deadline. task was to valuate Creative's shares. slogged our guts out for that and got 39/40! great job, garcia and huiQi!

some stuff we did to destress:

take walks after dinner, gathering inspiration from the scenery and greens. helped a lot!

play with garcia's soft toys

the thing was, we submitted one day late. stayed back till school closed at 11pm (new discovery that school actually closes as we thought it was open 24hrs) and still rushing it out on 6 apr while i was at WIL grp meeting. thankful to hui yi, sharon, janice and jia xin for being supportive and patient with me. hope i didn't pull them down. i even had to leave early for tuition!

we actually managed to submit our WIL assignment one day early, but spotted some major mistakes, corrected them and went to re-submit on 9 apr, the actual deadline. thanks to a supportive and united group, me, hui yi and sharon went to re-submit together, and i had to leave early again after settling everything but just had to wait for the staff to collect at 4pm before we could retrieve the old copy. so thanks shar and hui yi!

got 53/70 (dist) so well done girls! overall i got a dist (:

10 apr- surprised sharon at her house to celebrate her birthday. met the girls at boon keng early in the morning to go market, buy ingredients for mee sua and red eggs, and bengawan solo mango cake, highly praised by jasmine and turned out really superb! drank soya bean while waiting for xy to have her breakfast at the market and for hq and jas to arrive. took away youtiaos too!

writing the card at my living room...

ok i admit, my 'xue ren' become 'lei ren' -.-

played twister, only me and sharon lasted till the end but...

i won because my post required me to shift past her and she got knocked down! -.- sorry birthday girl!!!! but it was fun and i hope we lost some calories!

and we're still happy friends!

other photos at her place:

she 'likes' this! me feeding the bday girl. teeheehee.

shar's mango cake!

after the celebration, it was time to start mugging for exams. Arise & Build also started!

i mostly mugged with huiqi, mostly in school (mimi joined us once) and once at je library on the day we were chasing jang geun suk at imm!!

18 may- worked a day-job at my mom's workplace; helped out in admin duties for their one-day workshop. best thing was i finally got my mugging momentum going as i studied there during my free time. ptL!

21 may- mimi took this photo for us during our mugging/debate session!

22 apr- bought new sharp calculator as the two at home both spoilt.

23 apr- jgs came to meet ME. haha it was a fan-meet session. went crazy when i saw him, even when it started pouring heavily and i was soaked to thigh-high. had to leave early to go for cell group but still super elated! so glad i didn't miss him that i was motivated to study hard hahah. huiqi and her friend stayed longer than i did. (:

had dinner and continued our mugging at imm banquet fc before jgs came...

27 apr- exams started off with leadership and management paper. aimed for an overall Di, got a Cr. not too bad haha.

29 apr- investment open book exam. aimed for a Di, got a hd, yay!

4 may (last day)- organisation theory, aimed for d, got a pa. actually expected so, thankful to pass!

then we went to celebrate that our exams were over. at west mall swensons (after we've taken lunch of course)! these two were enough to bloat the five of us!

banana split ****

sticky chewy chocolate *****

S-A-T-I-S-F-I-E-D.

5-12 may- intensive tuition for the two kids having exams!

5 may- caught the play 'Animal Farm' by Wildrice productions with my sisters; well worth the $56! (: reminded me of my secondary school days of interpreting the satire. snowball, napolean, squealer, boxer, clover, old major, moses the raven who raved about sugarcandy mountain, and mollie the vain mare! ok enough...

6 may- purchased ipman2 tix for the next day's mothers' day celebration (carried forward to avoid crowd).

7 may- celebrated mothers' day together with little aunt and grandma at the cathay restaurant (guo tai). everyone loved the food, and the service was not bad too. had the yam dessert! haha. then little aunt took grandma home while the rest went to watch ipman2 which was super good. prefer the first one, but both are five stars! choice of cake was breadtalk's mom i love you yam cake which, obviously, i bought. i knew mummy would love it!

11 may- HuiQi's birthday! we gathered at explanade to cut cake, sing birthday song, and blow bubbles!

dreamy effect created by hq (:

brought my mind-challenging SET cards to play. jasmine picked it up the fastest!

then we went ms yoshinoya for dinner

mimi joined us, and we played pictureka which was fun! sadly, i had to leave early for tuition, again. nevertheless, had a great time with the girls. glad to see the smile on hq's face!

16 may- went for the 5 elements of success seminar (chinese style) at bras basah. was nominated by my group to be the leader just because i mentioned i was an optimistic person during self-introduction! my group was fantastic. there were six of us, all had our own strengths and weaknesses, but we stayed united and supported one another throughout. was a good course!

19 may- went down to ica to apply for a Document of Identity (DOI) for $15 because i forgot to change ppt photo earlier and won't be able to go phuket on the 21st without a DOI! thankfully mum suddenly remembered!

21 may- off to phuket! ys ended up neglecting the fact that her ppt expired in november and thus could not travel overseas, so she went to get a DOI and, together with yl (who booked the wrong flight due to jetstar's wesbite fault, according to her), would join us at phuket later. well, at least they have each other for company, and eventually got there. (:

when the four of us reached the kata palm resort at kata beach area, we went to one of the resort restaurants for lunch, then took grandma to rest in the room (we had 2 adjacent rooms linked by a door but my sisters had to stay 2 floors up due to unavailability) while three of us explored the neighbourhood. there were mainly beauty shops, restaurants and some shopping places targeted at tourists so the prices were high. decided to venture elsewhere if we wanted any shopping done.

the three of us went for thai massages! it was really shiokkkk.

bought two packets of roadside phad thai back to the hotel room to share. it was really tasty! nicer (and cheaper) than the hotel's version. rested a while before little aunt and i tried out the gym and left in 20 minutes as there was nothing much. didn't go for the swim we wanted as it was soon time for dinner. went to a nearby seafood restaurant and had a satisfactory meal!

back at the hotel, we showered, settled down and waited for my sisters to arrive. past midnight, they finally did. mum and i waited for them in their room and fell asleep. ensuring they're alright, we headed back to our rooms and i zonked out on my bed.

day 2- four of us went on elephant rides! at first, we sat on a raised 'bench'.

after a while, they let us sit on the elephants' backs!

i am falling off!

...but managed to get on back!

our wonderful guide!

happy customers :D

after the fantastic ride, we headed back, played card games, and headed to the beach, which seemed nice. but it started raining heavily and we sought shelter at the nearest ice cream cafe which also sold cooked food. tried the strawberry, coconut and chocolate flavours. coconut was our agreed favourite!

at 4pm, we headed to patong beach for shopping and dinner. all 6 of us went. mum and grandma chilled at macs, aunt explored the mall and surrounding area, the three sisters went street shopping. didn't manage to buy much due to lack of time, just a white and purple dress-top. we had dinner at a seafood restaurant, which was only so-so.

back at the hotel, grandma stayed in to rest while we went to walk the night streets. nothing much really, but explored slightly further. tried their barbecued chicken wings, sausages and tasty waffle pancakes in many flavours! back at hotel, played cards, and z-ed the night away!

day 3- while having breakfast at the hotel!

after a hearty breakfast, aunt, sisters and i went to the beach! ys and i hesitated a while before getting into the water and we had a blast! jumping to avoid the huge waves hitting on us and all. felt really great. we tried to draw stuff on the sand too! photos are in yl's cam but she didn't upload ): anyway, it started drizzling so the two dry ones ran back to hotel while ys and i enjoyed the rain!

then mum, aunt and i went for a swim at the pool. think i almost learned how to swim but still couldn't trap water. at least i see a ray of hope now. basked in the lovely sun and jacuzzi (:

so we showered, checked out and had our lunch at the same neighbourhood restaurant we visited the first night. that's me and grandma!

6 of us spent the entire day relaxing and lazing around at the town. grandma, ys and mum cut hair, aunt and i tried the fish spa which kept me screaming at first but got used to it after a while. then 6 of us got our thai massages! ys, yl and mummy did pedicures too. i skipped cos i know mine never last! hahaha.

having time to kill, we chilled at an ice cream cafe which also sold cooked food. we tried their chicken wings which was so tasty we ordered another plate of 6. just couldn't get enough! also tried their green curry rice, seafood soup and, of course, ice creams!

played cards there until it was time for dinner. we tried a new restaurant and it was grandma's favourite of the trip! the lobster was super fresh, and other dishes like omelette, veggies and chicken/pork also met the mark. the local beer was good too!

the journey back was smooth, and that marks the end of our (i'd say) fruitful trip!

25 may- went finexis for interview, met hq and xy for lunch (although i wasn't hungry and only ate dessert with them). yam cream and longan with jelly toufu were delicious!

29 may- went for wayne's birthday party at tpy safra

the first generation of e308!

i got randomly picked out to do a sabo - sing a duet with a stranger of the opposite sex. ended up singing 'i still believe' with joel whom actually i know. so embarassing! but it was fun, and like wayne said, i got to win capitaland vouchers (:

26-30 may- power packed asia conference/church growth international (CGI)! went for everyday except sat.

while queueing at hall 7 for the finale session!

we met wen kai, again!

finale with a bang!

i'm wearing the dress bought from phuket. heh.

30 may- invited mum and aunt angie for the12pm service as cai qin came for special performances. there was also a chc drama with a theme of love.

3 jun- cut hair at plaza sing chapter2 & bought my white iphone 3GS (:

4 jun- no cell group hence we (kelyn, jw, hx, me) met for a jog at bedok reservoir followed by dinner at bedok 85. ate orh jian, orh dan, black carrot cake, some of jw's ba chor mee, and the iced lemon tea which was highly praised by kelyn. was nice but i shall drink the warm version next time ;)

6 jun-started one week trial at true yoga with jw. we did fusion dance (not easy!) and hot yoga (super tiring and tough).

7 jun- celebrated suzy's birthday at bugis junction mong kok cafe where the birthday girl got to enjoy a free giant jug of milk tea.

almost subdued it!!

cannot see my eyes!

played monopoly deal for the first time. paired up with joanne, my 'teacher' for that day. deal is fun! and i enjoyed the company. finally had our (mini) e308 gathering!

8 jun- started my part-time work helping cayden, sorted and tabulated his petty cash receipts, plus a work@home assignment. basically had to register his company with free online ads websites to create backlinks, pushing his website up google pages.

met jas in the evening for body combat! it was strenuous but exciting and fun. ached after that.

9 jun- tried bollywood dance and freestyle dance with jas. i think we both enjoyed it, although we couldn't entirely catch up haha.

had a pleasant chat over dinner with priya from pos, at city square's jap food street which was near her workplace at lavender.

10 jun- jas had a headache and couldn't go for dance class with me, so she sent mimi haha. mimi and i tried bollywood dance which was, as usual, hard but still enjoyable. she then accompanied me for dinner at soupspoon. got to know each other better through the dinner chat. (: we both like to cook!

11 jun- met sean, kim, kelyn, alson and dan for dinner at katong shopping centre, followed by singing session at teoheng ktv. had a blast singing mostly english, some chinese and some korean songs!

12 jun- went for yogalates and body combat for beginners with jas; jw joined us later for pilates. good workout, and i didn't feel tired even till the end of the day!

jw and i bought polar puffs for lunch and hurried to expo for service.

after service, took pictures while waiting for kelyn outside the washroom..

taekyung and me!

the lighting effect is nice, new discovery!

cg went lau pa sat for dinner. i shared hokkien mee with jw, as well as korean rice cake with sean and jw. also tried the smelly toufu which wasn't really smelly but rather salty. only liked the veggies that came with it. also tried pearl milk tea whose pearls were hard and milk tea is passable.

some photos:

kelyn's hairrr is soooo long!

we tried antm poses...

me and kelyn!

went to sean's favourite sail...

13 jun- xy, hq, jasmine, hy, sharon and i went funan to watch jasen's blackshot competition. though the rest went mcdonalds to chill after a while, still thank them for going alongg (:

photo took at macs....

bought my iphone screen protector and purple casing at bendemeer mall (:

14 jun- helped cayden sort petty cash and do some database compilation.

19 jun- had a fun time with the cg after service at airport. after our dinners, played games such as murderer, polar bear and hunter, and indian poker!

22 jun- went for body wellness complimentary advance slimming program. 20 min of some suction thing to burn fats and 45 min of vibration thing to tone. i like the ginger tea served after the session hehe.

met xinyi and huiqi for lunch since i was at tanjong pagar. ate black carrot cake. took photos at their office lobby (:

till the next time!

2009-12-15T02:14:00.004+08:00

Many things happened during the last semester; some good, some not so good; but I'm glad its over and before I look forward to the future, I'd like to recap on the past sem. I'm leaving for a short trip to Malacca tomorrow, so after procrastinating for more than a month, I decided to finally do it before I go. Note: most photos were gotten from facebook for efficiency purposes...

After my last post on 10th July, my busy life started setting in. Schooling, giving tuition, doing part time work (mystery shopping), mugging early, slacking in the middle, getting a bit lost as a result, catching up, fighting the cruel papers one by one, and finally reconciling relationships with my dramas. Unlike last semester, I have not made a to-do list nor a 'things to buy' list or a 'new things tried' list. However, at the back of head I still did have a million and one things I wanted to do. I wanted to watch Taiwanese, Hong Kong, American and local shows (ended up watching Korean too!), meet up with old friends, clean my room, play sports, wii, mahjong, cycle, sing karaoke, etc etc. At the top of my imaginary list I wanted to spend more time with my heavenly Father.

6th July, Monday, Ariana and I had dinner together at Heartland mall, Kobayashi.

She tried the Tofu Spicy Soup while I tried the Chicken Bibimbab. Food was cheap and to my liking but not so much to hers.

After dinner went over to her place to say hi to her mom and to chill for a while before going home. Miss miss miss this girl!

On 7th July, before school started, hq, xy, shar, hy, her two friends, and I went to Kidz Amazed!

Camwhoring in the toilet before I left early...

Super fun. But I had to leave early to join Mel, Shang and Ezra for tennis!!! After that we went to Serangoon Gardens Astons to eat Double Chicken. I shared teriyaki and crispy with Mel. $5 each for THAT portion certainly makes me go back for more. We also had dessert at Chomp Chomp, where I found YAM BEANCURD! Love love love the yam.

9th July, 1st day of school, I actually revised on my first lecture for one hour. I managed to revise regularly until August came and projects set in.

9th Sept was the day of our last test (Prices & Markets), and 24th we submitted our last project (History of Management Thought - individual essay).

30th Sept we went shopping in town to celebrate our short-term freedom, and to get hy and xy their birthday presents. Ate at Lucky Plaza and had lollipops for dessert!

13th Oct mugged with jas, xy, hy, hq, shar, yaoming, mimi at TP! mugged HMT for a few good hours although not accomplishing much. Dinnered at the opposite famous tze char stall and also shared A1 yam smoothie with xy (her treat due to *** reason).. she loved it..kept saying its addictive. Finally someone with same good taste as me. hahahahaha

After mugging we engaged in some bonding activities...

Experimented with jasmine's phone!

Xinyi and her 2 wives..

Gotta put this pic up so I won't ever forget lovely Sharon's classic look!

Girls' group photo!

Our family tree, credits to JASMINE AND HUIQI!!!!!!!

Garcia's birthday fell during the exam period, so we met up in school on that wonderful Monday to mug and to mini-celebrate for her. So, we each enjoyed a slice of tiramisu cake that Hui Yi bought from the bakery at Pioneer MRT.

Birthday girl and I, with her royal highness' classic look.

My girls! Love this shot.. Like a family... Thanks stranger photographer...

7th Nov, Forest Adventure! Our photographers for the day were Jasmine, Huiqi, Pengli and Han Sheng (Sharon's friend who also works part time at Forest Adventure).

On the road to freedom (cos its after exams)...

While filling their indemnity forms...

Taking photo during the briefing...

Xinyi helping me adjust helmet..

Practical lesson on safety and gear usage...

Finally, off we go! Some stuff we tried...

Take photo while resting..

Finally ended our journey after 3 hours. Took photo with jasmine our photographer before I take off helmet!

Group photos to commemorate the tiring but exciting day!

Went toilet to clean up before we left.. Resting while waiting for the rest..

And not forgetting camwhoring of course.

The next highlight was Celeste's birthday party at her condo on 11 Nov! Jasmine and Huiqi came over to my place to dress up before we went. It was fun man.. Helped me discover I have a lot of dresses and clothes...

Jasmine changed from her black dress into my dark green dress..she looked so beautiful.. Me still in home clothes. My Cedar Bougainvillea House Tee!

3 of us.. Finished products!

Our 'makeover session' was a success! I like the color of Huiqi's dress, and it suits her!

At mrt also must camwhore..

Finally, at the party...

I'm the heart shape at d bottom!

22 Nov, curry session at hy's house. Her mom's curry chicken is sinfully addictive...

Didn't take pictures of the food though, only photos of us slacking in her room!

Around this time I started watching the Korean drama, You're Beautiful. Got hooked and ultimately realized I even prefer Jang Geun Suk (the actor who played Hwang Taekyung) to Lee MinHo (Gu Jun Pyo in BOF)! Geun Suk has an angelic voice man!

Curly hair!

Curly hair + cute smile!

Baby fats?

Neat short hair, side burn, boyish look...

Perfect heart shape, like mine!

Messy but neat hair!!!

Pink!!!

Compilation of his pout, smile and innocent looks..

PURPLE!!!!!

Short hair again, and nice bag!

Stylish!

21st Nov fellowshipped with cell group at airport after service and took photos...

30th Nov celebrated Princess Jasmine's birthday at Bedok 85! Passed by her mom's shop on our way there..

The lovely pink strawberry cake, presented to Jasmine while waiting for the orders to come..

Birthday girl!

Our food!!

Photos with bday girl..

Happy family!

2nd Dec I fasted, for spiritual rejuvenation!

3rd Dec results came out. My scores:

PM - Di, later modified to HD
HMT - Di
BF - Cr
ER - Pa

Later on I found out that my PM grade jumped to a HD, so I got all 4 passing grades. I actually did better than last sem, which means I actually did quite poorly last sem. =(

On a good note, 4th Dec went Top One ktv with Mel, Shang, hx and Sean! Jiawen couldn't be there cos she's in China; Bel couldn't join us as well as she's sending a friend off; JR was kinda unwell. Anyway with Sean around we had the best of both English and Chinese worlds! And even Korean as we sang a few out of the few crazy Korean songs they had. It was a crazy time as we danced to linkin' park and all the subsequent high songs!

6th Dec did mystery shopping (MS) at Sentosa. Rushed reports for the whole of next week, like Monday to Thursday. 7 reports; some took 1hr, others took 3. The experience was like mugging/projecting.

8th Dec FINALLY got my pay for the first Sentosa (MS) i did on 4th Sept [more than 3 months ago].

10th Dec finally submitted the reports and scored 9/10 this time. Got a good critic from the manager in charge. Evening time went for the sub zone event which was not my sub zone's but we sort of crashed but also not really. In any case, we went. I went because jr said he's taking photos for them and some others were going too. Turned out to be quite nice. 6 bucks for buffet, music, fellowship. Well worth it!

11th Dec I finally went for morning prayer. As a result of rushing the reports, I couldn't go for any for the past four days. Neither did I fast together with the church, but my spirituality isn't built upon anything outward so I thank Jesus. Thank Him also that I managed to attend the last 30min of the last day of the last morning prayer of the year, just cos its better than nothing! Breakfasted at Hollywood; ate ban mian which was not as nice as before but I love the soup as it had lots of veggies and tasted healthy. After breakfast met jr at Aljunied mrt to head to mel's house for mahjong!!!!!!! JR suggested we play minimum 3 tai but we moderated to an agreement on minimum 2 tai. Played for barely two games and decided to order kfc for lunch, which was finger-licking good, contrary to mel's claim that it would take more than an hour to arrive and would be soggy and cold by the time it did. After resting a short while, we resumed the game. Shang came around 5 and rested as he needed it. By 5.30 we had to pack up and leave for cell group although we hadn't finished the game. I counted my winnings. We each started off with $15 worth of chips; I won $39.40 so I'm very happy but what's even more satisfying is that my mj skills suddenly improved, like really. All of a sudden I understood what granny meant when she used to nag at me for throwing away good tiles. All of a sudden I knew slightly about reading people's minds by looking at tiles thrown and their expressions. I knew, though, that I had a long way to go and a lot more to learn. Wow I did many things today hur!

13th Dec can you believe it? I played mj AGAIN! This time with my family. Yusin and I had originally planned to play badminton in the afternoon, but we got lazy and she itched for mahjong instead. We got two other willing parties namely Yulin and pa and played two full rounds. Its a first! Usually we'd stop at one round. We started off with $40 chips each and I won $12.70 at the end of the first round, while pa won $5 plus, yl lost$0.40 and ys lost the remaining, making me the big winner, for the first time, because papa had always beaten everyone hands down and once in a while yl would win. Ys was determined to fight back so we play a second round. This time, pa seemed to fight harder. After all, how could he, the king of mj at home, lose to me who is deemed the noob by yl? Guess what, I still won in the end, although if we had restarted I wouldn't have been the biggest winner. Anyhow, I won $14 something which means I only won less than $2 in the 2nd round, but still the big winner! I won less today than on friday because the minimum was 1 tai. In that 5.5 hours, I did quite a number of ping hu, man tai, yi se, pong pong, and mostly small wins.

14h Dec I received my pay from the Underwater World MS which I did on 20th Sept. Very nice, just in time for me to shop in Malacca, but I think I'll save most of it for upcoming expenses.

And so I'm done! I'm leaving house in less than 4 hours' time but I haven't packed yet just so I could blog! Quite nervous about the re-enrolment even though I'm not there but precisely because of this. Hope everything goes smoothly, and hope the girls enjoy their movie marathon, and hope I'll really be able to relax and enjoy! See you when I'm back!

2009-07-10T01:34:00.004+08:00

Summary of how my holidays were spent:

4-17th June, mummy and I got supplementary gym passes at True Fitness, so I've been working out on average 3 times a week, doing cardio, strength training and joining some group sessions like Body Jam (combination of dance and cardio; loved it!) and yoga. I also used their sauna and steam room.

4th June was also the day results were out. I got Distinction for MCE and MAB, Credit for Commercial Law and Pass for Marketing Principles. Was a little disappointed but once again thankful to have passed everything!

8-11th June went for morning/evening prayer meetings which, together with the Song of Solomon Bible Study, rejuvenated my spirit!

Sometime around here I started finally catching Boys Over Flowers on YouTube and got HOOKED. Lee Min-Ho and Kim Bum's smiles melt my heart!!! First time I'm really like so crazy over a celebrity..

Gooo Jun-Pyooo!!!!!!

Shuai or what!!

Serious look

best stoning face in the world

"Awwwww my hair's messed up, after all my efforts!"

Kim Bum and his killer smile!

Cuuuute to the max!!!

Kim Bum looks fab with shorter hair too :D

Ok my favourite in this pic is Ji-Hoo cos of the the purple background :S

~~~

okokok moving on. Went for church zone camp from 23-25June. Our cg was in the green clan or otherwise known as Gedaliah (the guy who saved Jeremiah from death) and our tribe name was Guro ( which meant martial arts teacher in Hebrew). Clan leader was our very own Valerie who did an Awesome job in my opinion, tribe leader was none other than Benedict and his assistant was me.

Once again I took on a motherly role, taking care of Lydia (my new-found friend from another cg) as she has quite a weak constitution. Also tasted a glimpse of being a leader as I felt responsible for each member's wellbeing, prayed for everyone one of them, etc.

Day 1 at the jetty waiting for the boat. Our "Guro Solid" cheer!

Val and Jas caught unawares

Water Bomb game on Day 3. Can tell Hanxian is enjoying himself..

Shang too

We're dry! (and hiding at one side that's how the photographer spotted us)

Group shot with leaders!

After the tiring but fun camp, I got a good 3-hour rest at home before heading for the last session of churchwide bs. I want more!

~~~

26June, Friday was Gordon's birthday and we had high tea buffet with him at YumCha@Chinatown. First time I ate till I almost couldn't walk! Usually I'm quite a big eater too but this time really broke my record.

At night, I joined Sophia, her cgms and ex-cgms for her farewell party (she's furthering her studies in Australia) at The Cathay Astons. As I was toooo full, I only ordered a coffee, which tasted similar to the one I have at home. Not nice.

After their hearty dinner, we headed to a pub nearby to chill until their movie starts at 1.30am. As I knew nuts about wine and stuff, the girls recommended that we share a jug of Long Island which turned out quite nice. I couldn't taste much alcohol while they all found it quite strong. hmm. I drank quite a lot as it was very sweet!

I then left at 12 plus to catch the last bus home for a nice deep sleep.

Pictures!

@ Astons

Outside Astons

Jug, glasses & bottles.

Heineken has a great taste!

The girls

Cheers!

I miss you too..

~~~

On Sunday, 28th June, I went to volunteer as Road Marshall for AYG at Jurong Point. As Ai Ming put it, the toughest part was waking up at 6am and traveling all the way (though I enjoyed my sleep on the 1-hour bus ride), because our duty lasted a mere minute and the rest is free&easy until the mayor gives a speech at the end.

A shop called O-Cha happens to sell Taro Tea Latte which I bought for $2.50 and it turned out to be nothing more than yam milk tea, with pearl some more. Still glad I got to taste yam!

Following this we went to support Miao Ru for the finals of the selection for Top 3 candidates to get into Taiwan's Xing Guang 5. I'm glad I went because Xiao Ling Lao Shi was there! Ouxiang..

~~~

30June Tuesday I met up with primary school besties Farhana, Ying Ying and Meei Shiang to celebrate Farhana's belated birthday. Had a FUN time at MindsCafe and it was also Farhana and Meei Shiang's first time there. It was really the people that made it so fun.

After Minds closed at 11pm, we went to SMU to chill as it was ulu and even had lights on. There, we presented Farhana her pressie and BANANA (her nickname) -chocolate cake from Secret Recipe which she loves and happen to frequently eat. She seemed to like the handcuff we got for her too(:

We took lots of crazy shots using her cam. Photos link:

http://s643.photobucket.com/albums/uu154/chasena/LAsting%20Friendship/?start=0

Lasting friendship indeed, no better way to call it. (:

~~~

That's about all for June I guess. I got to sleep as its late and I've got class tomorrow, so I'll blog another day, soon I hope!

Can't get enough of him!

Nights out.

What an eventful day

2009-05-26T15:05:00.001+08:00

Agenda for 25.05.09 Monday:

- meet Pui Boon 1pm at Far East Plaza for haircut
- have lunch with papa before that

Actual events:

Quite strangely, I sprang up from my beauty sleep at 7.30am, miraculously decided not to snooze and laze in bed, got up and watched tv till 11.50am, taking breaks in between to cook breakfast for myself, brush teeth and do miscellaneous stuff.

Munching on my breakfast (huge slice of marble cake, 4 pieces of seaweed-chicken and a microwaved egg) and sipping Nutri Tea's chrysanthemum and wolfberry tea (warmed), I laughed and cried through 6 episodes of 凤凰四重奏 and 1 hour of Oprah.

Pa and I went for lunch at 12pm, and we met this old lady (in her 70s or so) who was looking for her old neighbour but got lost because the path to her old place has become an expressway. Since we were heading the same way, we led her across the overhead bridge which oversees the expressway. I texted PB to let her know I might be late.

Upon reaching the other side, we decided to escort her safely to her destination, and went on a house search with her. But the poor woman didn't have any exact address or telephone number, just the block number. Eventually, she told us to go for our lunch as she already held us up for a while and that if she still can't find it she'll make her way home. -_-

Throughout the search, she kept saying we were such nice people and thanked us for our help. As we were leaving, my father took out $10 and told her to take a cab home if she couldn't find the place. When the old lady saw it, she exclaimed in Chinese, "Aiyo, no need la! I pray to bodhisattva de and have never seen such kind people before, good people like you will beget good things ah!" Then we parted after telling her to take care.

After a quick lunch, papa waited with me for the bus. On our way to the bus stop, I bumped into this Malay man and I quickly checked my left pocket (as I usually do when someone bumps into me or vice versa) to find my handphone still intact. I turned back and look at his response before saying sorry. I was slightly surprised that he didn't even look back like most people would but rather he was focused on the Singapore Pools tv screen. So I continued walking and didn't check my sling bag which was unzipped.

It was until I boarded the bus that I realised my wallet's gone. I alighted at the next stop and the first thing I could think of was that i left it at the coffeeshop. At that point in time, I still hadn't suspected the guy stole my wallet. So I ran to the coffeeshop but no one saw it. This was when it dawn upon me that the guy could/must have taken it. He probably looked at the tv to act calm and divert my attention.

Lost and devastated, I didn't know what to do. I called my father and he said just go home first and go report police. So I made my way home and decided to sms PB instead of calling her in case I break out crying. I was crossing the road while texting. Just as I reached the other side of the road, I sprained my left ankle and fell with a hard impact on my knee, dropping my phone and the casing came off. I couldn't move for a while due the pain from the sprain, and I stayed in that position, crying, thinking why these happened to me. To make things worse, my phone hanged and I had to remove the sim card and re-insert it, causing my purple strap to fall out, and I still haven't put it back till now.

So I limped all the way home with my knee hurting like crazy but my ankle was okay. I couldn't see if I was bleeding as I wore jeans but the bone hurt a lot. I was shocked to uncover the jeans and see blood. Its been quite a while since I last bled. And it was dirty so I had to wash the wound. The wound itself didn't hurt so much but the impact caused it to have a blue-black kind of pain and it hurt whenever I walk or straighten my leg.

This is how it looks like now:

I decided to watch tv to cheer myself up. At the same time, I had smsed my bf to ask him if washing the wound with water is enough and he replied, "Do what u need to do, pray to God. Tell him ur problem, let God lead you."

So I switched off the tv, went into my room and prayed. God spoke to me about many things. I realised the first thing I sought solace from was the tv, not God, which should not be the case. Who else but God could give me the comfort, strength, grace, support and wisdom I need?

I heard the Holy Spirit say, "Tell your mum about it, see what she says before doing anything else." My mum is the pillar of my life, she's always been there for me when I needed her. I was about to give her a call when I realised she's actually at home, resting in her room! At first, mummy nagged about this being the umpteenth time and that I always never zip my bag, etc but later suggested we go cut hair together at the mall after making a police report.

So we did. The police report took 1 hour, and we went to terminate my ATM card as well. At the salon, mummy decided to get a perm and also agreed to the hairdresser's hard-selling recommendation that I get a soft-rebonding with treatment that costs $138. Mum finished hers in 1.5hr and left first after paying as she had something on at night. I stayed on and the whole experience took 4 hours. I read lots of interesting magazine articles during that time, and fell asleep at one part. Kept nodding my head giving the guy a hard time.

I would say the soft-rebonding effect is really good! More natural-looking that normal rebonding, like the guy said. The difference lies in the cream/paste being used. The salon I went used Shiseido and it smelt weird but has a great effect.

I also cut straight bangs, after MUCH deliberation and jiawen's advice.

My new look...

Tada! How is it?

With specs..

I'm quite happy with it, but what I'm most happy about is that I no longer feel sad anymore! Like my mum say, I really 因祸得福 (blessing in disguise) this time, because a sponsored hair-cut became a sponsored rebonding and great hair. Once again, want to thank my mummy for everything!

And the main reason I'm so happy is God's grace that sustains me through it all (:

I don't know what else to say besides YEAAAHHHHH!

2009-05-15T03:43:00.000+08:00

I'm a free girl now!

Exams finally ended last Friday and I've been dying to blog about my enjoyments the past week!

But first, I shall briefly recap the exam experience for me. I would actually consider it life-changing, as I discovered many things about myself which I previously had not known and I feel I've become a bigger person at the end of it. =)

I had intended to finish at least 80% (anyhow figure) before the start of my first commercial law paper because, as you all know, due to the clash with my tutees' exams I probably wouldn't have time to study for the other 3 papers which were 2 days away from each other AND on the same week as my tutees'.

So basically, by the final week before CL exam, I had accomplished the following:
- read through (haven't tried or even looked through questions) 6 chapters of CL text (out of like 11);
- haven't touched MAB;
- read only the stories in chapters 1-5 (out 14 chapters) of MP textbook (which, unlike what I guessed, were of no use during the exam); and
- MCE: finished hundreds of mcq practice questions and looked through 2 past exam papers (PEP).

Using my agaration technique or as anyone can obviously calculate using simple mathematics, my progress so far was less than 50%. The old me (or any ordinary person) would be freaking out and lose all confidence to even think its possible to complete revision, much less go for the exam. That was what it was like in JC days, just to recall; Every exam, right up to A Levels, was a ticket to failure.

Only MCE seems reasonably on track, as its my favourite module and hence I consistently revised for it. But then there's still this 6-hour video on the Commanding Heights of economics which I've yet to watch, and dont't know if I will, because some people say its a waste of time. As I looked through PEP, however, I realised questions from the video would, simply put, determine if I got a HD or Di. So I decided to watch it in the end.. Elaborate on that later..

I spent the whole final week studying CL as it was my least confident subject, second to MP. But because CL was the first paper and I have 6 days after that to prep for the rest, I decided to channel all my energy toward it and bear the heavy opportunity costs.

It proved a right decision as I took the CL paper with much more confidence than I would have without that one week of last min rushing (especially that 10hours on the exam eve). I then spent the 6 days after CL preparing for MAB which at that point has not been touched yet. Thanks to compulsory tutorials, it was pretty easy to recall the stuff I had learned and I was, too, confident for the 2nd paper. :D

Then for MP, I basically covered the whole sem's theory as well as revision in 13 hours, out of which 11.5 were achieved in one day. I slept at 530am on the eve of the exam and woke up at 7. A memorable milestone and experience for me!

3 papers down, 1 to go! I still vividly remember how I had mixed feelings as I was elated to have only MCE paper left (and it was my most confident subject) but at the same time its been a long time since I last touched it, and I was also comprehensive as to whether I would be too worn out to study any more.

Anyhow, I'm proud to say that I didn't touch any notes until the exam day itself, and yet I could remember almost all the concepts tested! Its not that I slacked (ok, maybe a bit) but I had simply spent the previous night watching the 6-hour Commanding Heights video, which caused me to sleep at 0600 and wake up at 0730. Best part of course was that I knew how to answer all the questions including those on Commanding Heights!

Ok, before I end this boring part, really must give thanks to God for the vision he gave me at the start of the sem, before and during the exams and every step of the way. Because of this vision, I am confident because God always makes good his promise! Even when I can't see the light at the end of the super dark tunnel, somewhere in the spiritual realm I do see it, and I know victory is at hand; and I've learnt to trust God even more, so, thanks God!!

Now for the main part of my story..

The end of exams was marked by a celebration over a waffle buffet with the beautiful peeps Sharon, LingYue, YaoMing, TingXuan and his friend. It wasn't as good as I thought (NO YAM FLAVOUR), but the company made up for it. We played zong ji mi ma to ensure we finished the over-ordered food; so fun! Let the pictures talk (courtesy of Sharon). :D

D24 Durian flavoured!

And more of it...

And more waffles! (We ate over 20 flavours in all)

Shar's chocolate smoothie float

YaoMing, TX, Tx's friend

The ladies..

Sharon and me, worn-out look due to the exams perhaps!

After eating we went to jalan jalan at City Plaza but nothing much there really.

However, on that day I managed to buy a purple t-shirt with pink, white and yellow wordings from a pushcart at Singpost, and a yellow cap with purple wording at Springfield. So happy just to spend a mere $50 in a day!

2nd day after exams ended, Saturday 9 May 2009, I took my mum shopping though she ended up waiting for me most of the time to try clothes. But at least it was her who bought stuff instead of me, and I got her a bracelet and a cute bear keychain :D Brought her to service too. Both of us enjoyed the Mother's Day drama which brought tears to my eyes. Mom's love truly is beautiful!

Mommy treated me to lunch, tea and dinner. Lunch was indian rojak at tampines, tea was very delicious Portugese egg tarts, iced milk tea and some curd thing at Malan La Mian, and dinner was korean at Century Square, recommended by Jia Wen. Thanks to her, we enjoyed a superb meal!

Sunday was lunch over at uncle's house followed by shopping and then dinner with mum. At my uncle's house, we sang "Happy Mother's Day song" using Happy Birthday's tune lol, it was quite a sight.

Shopping at Clarke Quay caused me to spend a total of $120 on 3 dresses, 2 purple and one white (both my favourite colours), and a pair of purple-black long socks. Dinner at Ma Maison was lovely beyond words and we even ordered the steak twice because its so juicy and incredibly awesome! Didn't take much pictures though.

Monday met up with Hui Qi, Xinyi, Hui Yi, Garcia, Jasmine, Agnes and Sharon to celebrate Hui Qi's birthday! We met at IMM for lunch at Kopitiam then walked to Chevron intending to bowl. Upon arriving, we decided to sing K at Clementi instead so onto the bus we hopped. Ended up at Kbox and sang from 330-730pm, loving every minute of it. Although there were 8 of us, quite a number for a Kbox outing, the company was a good old bunch and I hope Hui Qi and everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did!

For pictures, refer to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1415&id=1694485023&op=12
Thanks Sharon for the prompt upload!

That's about all for now, shall end off with pictures of some clothes I tried. :D

One week flew past so quick, only 6 left! Must live every second to the fullest!!

This post will bore you

2009-03-31T23:59:00.004+08:00

Resumed tuition today.. For the purposes of this post, shall abbreviate my tutees' names to M & J respectively.

My exam schedule
28 Apr (Tue) 1000-1300 : Commercial Law (CL)
4 May (Mon) 1415-1715 : Management Accounting & Business (MAB)
6 May (Wed) 1000-1300 : Marketing Principles (MP)
8 May (Fri) 10-1245 : Macroeconomics (MCE)

M's exam schedule
4 May : EL 1&2
6 May : Maths 1
7 May : Sci (Phy/Chem)
8 May : Math 2

J's exam schedule
4 May : EL 1
5 May : EL 2
6 May : Maths 1
7 May : Science
8 May : Maths 2

(By the way, M & J are cousins, so I tutor them at the same time)

You know what this means right. It means their exams perfectly coincides with mine in a way that even striking lottery is not so zhun. What can I say? Lord ah, you really putting me to the TEST (pun intended) is it? During sem tests I already almost cannot tahan by some of the dates clashing and now, ALL the intensive tuition days = my own intensive exam period? I guess I have no choice hur. Grit teeth lo..

*snaps fingers* (although no sound come out coz I can't snap)

Okay, out of my wallowing-in-self-pity mode now. Time to do a bit of prediction homework on the best possible outcome for the provision of my tutoring services for that fateful week..

(skip the next 2 paragraphs if you're not interested in my rough workings)

Monday both of them have EL so definitely Sat/Sun (mostly likely Sun) I'll be needed. Hopefully Monday I can rest although the next day J has EL2. Then Wed both have Math1 so Tue I'll be needed again. And the following Morning I have MP paper myself! Which means must fully prepare beforehand cos no chance of last min cramming.

Okay next, Thursday both have Science papers so Wed after my MP paper, cannot rest. Tuition must go on. Then the most peng thing! Friday they both have Math2 so my Thursday also cannot be used to cram for MCE!

In summary, there will be tuition for Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday.

Which does not help matters and I feel like deleting all I've typed because I still haven't figured out how things are going to work out.

OK, I've reached a decision. No more blogging till exams are over.

So in the end, I still haven't managed to snap myself out of the pessimism or whatever you call it. And I'm, as usual, in the state of not being able to think well and basically typing crap which I'm apologetic about having to torture the poor reader (you) who's suffering the externalities of my sporadicalness. My bad!

Ok lah, something which cheers me up. My proud works (:

Promotional posters I designed for my Marketing group project..

This one was the first one (ever!) I tried doing with photoshop and it was heavily criticised by my dearest sis. Unable to take it lying down, I vowed to wow her with a masterpiece like no other and these came into existence:

Nice ma? I shocked not just my sis and many others but also myself. No longer the noob with perpetual excuse of "I'm just too noob to learn"! But seriously photoshop has too many functions for the common user to possibly know all la. And despite being slightly better at photoshop, I still am and will always be the IT noob who's lovin' it.

Okay I was supposed to feel better but I just put myself down again. What's wrong arghhhhhhh.

Juz ranting.

Wells, there's always tomorrow! This song by Gloria Estefan never fails to uplift my spirits.
May it bless you too!

Always Tomorow
By Gloria Estefan

I've been alone inside myself, far too long
Never really wanted it that way, but I let it happen
If I could do it all again, my life would be infinitely better than before
I wouldn't waste a moment
Make time for laughing with my friends
Make love, make music, make amends
Try to make a difference, try to love, try to understand
Instead of just giving up, I'd use the power at my command

(chorus)
That's why there's always tomorrow, to start over again
Things will never stay the same, the only one sure thing is change.
That's why there's always tommorow

I guess it took a little time, for me to see
The reason I was born into this world,
And what I'd have to go through
For I've finially realized, that I could beinfinitely better than before, defintely stronger
I'll face whatever comes my way, savor each moment of the day,
Love as many people as I can along the way
Help someone who's given up, if it's just to raise my eyes and pray

(chorus)

(bridge)

Before your last setting sun
And everything your heart has longed for
Has yet to be (one)
Yes there's always tomorrow though people come and they go
But if you,ve brought some love to their lives
Then you've got something to show

finished blogging just in time for antm.. oh, and i blogged

2009-03-30T22:56:00.002+08:00

I've finally decided to start resuming blogging and to show my determination, I said to my sis, "I am going to blog now". I am about to type a super long paragraph which I know usually people won't bother reading if its another person's blog but since its mine and I blog so infrequently and my blog only has that few maybe-not-even-loyal readers, this long boring/interesting/you-and-I-both-never-know-how-it-will-turn-out paragraph will be read. Shall begin with expressing my admiration to people who can update their blogs frequently (i.e. once a day, week, or even month) because I can only do so during holidays. And even then I can't even update everyday. And I see those blogs with daily updates, super long paragraphs, ultra many pictures, etc. I am in awe of these people's good time management which I can never achieve. Not that I'm so studious or focused but blogging is simply on the bottom of my list of things to get done. A sudden thought came to me to blog something inspiring, but my braindeadness sort of limit that for now. Speaking of braindeadness, I am in this state now due to over-mugging for today's macroeconomics test and the test itself. All I'm wanting is to pig on my bed for the rest of the night BUT here I am blogging which is a super brain-draining thing for me. After all, I decided I can't be so selfish towards those few pathetic readers of mine. Not that you guys are pathetic, I know the number of people reading this pathetic little thing is pathetically pathetic la. >< I think I've never blogged with such emo-ness or even have such emo thoughts in my own mind before. See, this is what blogging after a long time/after a test/when I should be watching tv does to me. On a brighter note, I think I only got one question wrong for today's test, the last question which is always some weird topic bommed from the commanding heights video (not in textbook syllabus). AND my biz stats MIRACULOUSLY jumped from a Distinction (79/100) to a HIGH D (80/100)!!! This is very great and (so I thought) well-deserving news! Thank you wonderful Lord, for your faithfulness to my prayers at that time. Thanks for your faithfulness though I've not been faithful these days. Your love is indeed unconditional. While I'm at it, this week truly has been great so far. I could really feel God's touch during service on Sunday, just refreshing me and all. As I lifted my hands I could feel anointing once again and I wished time would stop there, then every moment would be like that and I won't have to go through the whole cycle of spiritual ups and downs all over again. But I know all things happen for a reason. Cell group was the exciting part. The sermon on characteristics of BIG people was motivating but stayed at that. It was the ministering part when Miranda reached out to 2 groups of people that something happened. The first group was those people who needed God's strength and grace to see them through a trying time. I didn't intend to raise my hand at first because I felt that things were going okay for me. But then I thought I really don't mind more faith to make things easier and at the same time I realised I do need to depend on God more. Then the second group of people were those who wanted to have a larger capacity to do more for God. Because time is never enough and we're living in such a busy society, all of us need a greater capacity to step out and find time to do God's work. In summary, I'm glad I left church/cg feeling changed, recharged and enlarged. Changed in my perception of what a HUGE God I truly serve. Recharged and rejuvenated to slay the giants ahead and inside of me. Enlarged in terms of faith to believe in the things unseen! I've learnt that faith is really a journey, an uphill climb. Falling is inevitable as no one stays at high faith all the time. But if you've once reached a certain level of attainment, you know what it feels like and you'd want to go back there again! Okay I'm actually enjoying my ranting more and more. I actually think even I myself won't bother reading this ever again. Oh one more thing. I was studying on the bus to school this afternoon when I started to feel really nauseous so I stopped studying and plugged in my mp3. The current song playing was this emo chinese song and I felt worse after listening so I searched my english playlist hoping to find something more cheerful like my favourite three little birds. Then the gentle dove (Holy Spirit) prompted me to scroll down to my 'God' playlist, and to the song 'Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)'... Truly indeed how sweet the sound! I just teared up, in awe of His grace. Then the next song, 'Today, I'm leavin' all my troubles behind...' This day, I was back in God's arms. No more running wild..

& I will love you, always. <3

2009-02-02T21:39:00.007+08:00

Hello! :D

YuMei will really thank me for updating her rotting blog! xD It's so dead in here you can feel the silence.

Anyhow, she just got home! And I don't care I'm still typing away. HAHA who ask her to leave the computer here.

She's currently watching Tuan Yuan Fan and was watching the Little Nonya Reunion last night! Thank the Lord for HubStation right! :D It really helps us to save time and trouble readjusting our schedules. xD

Okay I don't know what to blog for her already. Take care everyone!

YuSin loves YuMei! (Awwwwww.)

New resolutions list

2009-01-06T23:31:00.008+08:00

Tomorrow starts my new school term, so you might expect that I'll be taking a hiatus from blogging.

I've had an ultra long vacation break during which my lifestyle was utterly SPONTANEOUS, meaning I can do whatever I want at my whims and fancy without much consideration.

It has been a carefree time, but sometimes too non-exciting and makes me look forward to start schooling all over again! Now that the time for it has finally arrived, I'm having mixed feelings as usual. Excitement and comprehension combined.

So, what have I been doing these days?

Pretty much just doing some preparation for school, planning for the new year and continuing my slack lifestyle, right up to the last minute.

Hopefully what I have in mind will come to pass - seeing myself transform into another me the moment the clock strikes 12 tonight. A me that strives hard, is disciplined and is convicted to fulfill my resolutions every single day.

As mentioned in previous post, I did pray about it and came up with the following goals and plans.

(Some abbreviations are meant only for me to know :))

1. More disciplined lifestyle

2. Arise & Build Resolutions:
- Know my purpose in God
- Family happiness and salvation
- BV
- 10x A&B Amount

3. Others:
- Lose 3kg by 30June09
- Beautiful skin
- High Distinctions!
- Reminder: A&B ends in April. Hang on!!
- Part time job
- Keep praying for loved ones
- Neater and tidier

Action plans for a start...
1. Morning & night MUST read Bible and pray
2. Spend less on myself, more on blessing others
3. Minimum 2 hours studying daily **IMPT**
4. Record exercise habits
5. NO chili (!), onion, garlic etc for 1 month. Deadline 31/1/09
6. Clean something EVERYDAY, NOT clean everything someday. Whahaha...

[UPDATE]
Daily prayer list:
1. Purpose
2. Family & friends
3. BV
4. A&B x10
5. Health

That's all! The former longwinded list has been replaced by a simpler, more achievable version.
I like it because it is practical and challenging at the same time, AND because its from Him. (:

Lastly, I leave you with Proverbs 16:9

'A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.'

It is a familiar verse and many people pray upon this verse for God to lead the way having planned the best we can.

But don't neglect the first part of the verse, which reveals the importance of first planning where we're heading. And because the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, we got to plan according to what's pleasing to Him, by simply asking Him how we should plan.

My dear friends, be a good friend to me by constantly reminding and asking me if I've been achieving my goals, ya? I'll be eternally grateful! (=

Cheers to a great year ahead!

What else can I blog about? hrmmm...

2008-12-29T19:53:00.002+08:00

Pardon me for the lack of blogging; have been worn out by xmas drama rehearsals, Batam trip and fatigue as a result of above.

There were a few rare chances where I got to sit down and use the com, but I couldn't find the mood and inspiration on what to blog about. So, I blog-hopped and surfed around for inspiration but to no avail.

Suddenly, out of the sudden blue, I suddenly remembered the resolutions I revisited 5 months ago. What better stuff to blog about than this since new year is around the corner and I am contemplating to set 2009 goals anyway?

So I happily re-read those resolutions which I've neglected [reading] for 5 whole months and ticked off those goals that I've attained or moved closer towards.

I was almost all ready to re-set my goals when a huge problem cropped up.

I realised that in the fourth point under 'Spiritual Life', I resolved to make God the centre of my plans.

Which means I shouldn't be making the decisions now, but after I've prayed about it and God has showed up =)

Which means that's the end of my post!

Yam vs chili

2008-12-10T07:28:00.000+08:00

I'm thinking of going on either a yam or chili fast. And I don't mean your usual one-day fast, but a month-long one.

Why?

Because these are my 2 favourite foods, and sometimes I get more obsessed with them than I am with God. Going on a fast like this, I believe, will draw me closer to Him. Setting my focus and priorities right, just in time for the new year huh.

If you know me, YAM is a word hanging around my mouth all the time.
Not only that, it has become my main motivation to visit places such as Temasek Poly (TP), Bedok interchange and Lucky Plaza. All for the sake of tasting the heavenly orh nee or yam smoothie.

The obsession doesn't stop here.

Just seeing the word 'yam' makes my heart skip a beat, and then beat twice faster.

Besides water, I almost only drink yam milk tea, and other yam beverages.

I'm frustrated that yam foods and beverages are not so commonly found.

I love everything about yam - the colour, taste, smell, texture, everything!

I'm even thinking of changing my blog url to something like yummyammyamsmoothie.blogspot.com though I know it sounds uncool.

Let this convince you:

As for chili, it is my all-time favourite food.

Unlike yam, I don't hang the word 'chili' around my mouth all the time. Not that I'm less crazy over it (actually yes, I'm not so crazy over chili as I am over yam), but because chili is just so available everywhere that I simply don't have to crave for it.

But my love for chili is on a level that supercedes that for yam.

90% (an anyhow-bommed figure) of the time, my meals have chili in them or as a side dish/dipping.

I can frequently patronize a stall, even if the food's not nice (but rarely, because I love good food), just because the chili is nice! My favourite types of chili are 1) sambal chili, dark and fried to a fragrant paste! 2) chopped red chili padi with light soya sauce (because I love salty). Chewing the chili is shiok de lor!

So now it boils down to, which fast shall I attempt? I think I'll probably try both but separately. The question is, which one first? And actually I've been contemplating this yam/chili fast for quite some time already but only now am I consciously acknowledging it and seriously planning it. And my biggest question mark - Why now? When Chinese New Year, my birthday and Valentines Day are drawing near and there's bound to be plentiful goodies! What a test of faith, really.

Okay so here's the verdict: I shall pray until the answer shows up :D

Play this game

2008-12-03T14:55:00.000+08:00

childhood song (modified)

2008-12-03T06:37:00.000+08:00

My sister lies over the ocean
My sister lies over the sea
My sister lies somewhere in Taipei
Oh bring back my sister to me

Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my sister to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my sister to me

all about Asia Conference

2008-11-30T16:11:00.000+08:00

This post will contain a lot of boring details because its for keepsake and my personal reading purposes. This explains why it took me so long to post it up. Skip/speed-read through if you're not interested (:

Summary of my AC experience:

Day 1: 19 November (Wednesday)
- Attended Welcome lunch with Ps Kong where he welcomed all the delegates and talked about the power of believing, speaking, visualizing and confessing.

- Went for my first elective workshop, Songwriting for Praise & Worship, together with Bryan and Jackson. After this, I had to report for choir hence skipped my second elective.

- Choir ended up having an overflow of people serving so I didn't serve in the end. Joined the others for dinner at Hall 7 followed by the wonderful opening session by Ps Kong.

- Pastor taught us the importance of being strong in the 1st space (church), excelling in the 2nd space (marketplace), so as to be invited to the 3rd space (right to be heard). Many of us focus on the first space when in fact most of our lives are spent in the 2nd space. In Acts 17, Paul experienced upward mobility into the 3rd space because he stayed faithful yet was flexible and did not despise the culture of the lost.

Day 2: 20 November (Thursday)
- My feet hurt the whole day as a result of wearing the wrong shoe! Didn't serve for both morning sessions.

- Dr Phil prepared a wonderful sermon on Ezekiel but ended up prophesying over nations and didn't really preach the word. It was a powerful session of impartation.

- Ps Ulf, as usual, preached on Holy Spirit. The question is not,"Do I have the HS?" but, "Does the HS have me?".

- Lunch included an interview session with Ps Phil but I couldn't really hear what he said as we sat on the floor at the back. He was sharing about his ministry I think.

- The second elective I attended was Mike Connell's effective counselling. Pastor imparted a lot of handy tips but the toughest question in my opinion is what to do if a person is stubborn to change and has lost hope? I've racked my brains hard but had no answer.

- After elective, I went off and missed the night session with Ps Ulf =(

Day 3: 21 November (Friday)
- Another full day at AC; my feet hurt the whole day because I wore the wrong shoes again. But I had to serve no matter what!

- Reported for choir at around 8am and slapped on thick thick thick makeup.

- First session with A. R. Bernard, woohoo! Ps Bernard's really different from and a cut above the rest. He talked about the current U.S. situation, Obama's succession and how all these are a result of the providential work of God at hand.

- No need to serve for Session 6 as CCC led P&W.

- Once again, Ps Phil didn't manage to preach his wonderful message because he was led to prophesy over the countries of Asia.

- After Session 6, I reported at the blood donation booth together with Jiawen to volunteer! Both of us couldn't donate as she's underage and I wasn't feeling well. Jiawen's job was, I think, to distribute snacks and sweets for the donors. Mine was to stand at the entrance and ask a few basic questions before allowing people to proceed for registration. Ended up ushering people for their electives. Cool experience, I'd say.

- Reported for choir at 4.30pm. Me, Xiangling and Jiawen served together yeah! During our 30min dinner break, we ate fried rice and noodles at Foyer 3. Wanted to enter Hall 7 to join our cg but the rude security said the hall's closed and even warned JW to 'stop pulling the door' when's he's the one pulling it lol.

- I certainly hope choir's standard has wow-ed the nations and set the bar for them. All the sacrifices and efforts put into maintaining not just looking fashionable, vocal quality and hype, but holiness in our P&W as well. Many pastors and even Ps Kong pointed out that choir should be like that every single week!

- Ps Kong brought the house down in Session 7 by enlightening us that heaven is a holy city and that while we're on earth, we're to actively seek after heaven - the city of God.

Didn't attend Day 4

Day 5: 23 November (Sunday) - Full day
- The most smashing day of all, especially the finale.

- As usual, reported for choir at 8am, slapped the makeup on together with Xiangling and learnt a new song, Shout It Out Loud.

-It was also ordination day and 'reveal the building fund amount' day. Total amount pledged was 25m, we did it!

- Ps Phil FINALLY preached the long-awaited Ezekiel 37 message.
- When you're in a valley, DON'T STOP.
- The resurrection is not about your spirit, its about your BODY - your physical world.
- Yesterday's revelation might be holy THEN, but TODAY it has got worms in it; it stinks.

- Lunch was Subway's cold cut trio, cookies and grape drink. Then popped into the overflow at Hall 8 to listen to Ps Bernard's teaching on culture. It was like a prelude to the night session. Awesome.

- 4.30pm time for choir once again. This time, Ms Ong and I served together! We bought the leftover choir orders and shared a packet of noodles.

- Finally, the main crux of my boring post. The meeting was just sensational, I actually don't know how to explain it. Dr. Bernard was teaching theology-style but my favourite part was the one on what makes up culture.
1. Beliefs
2. Customs
3. Language. Not as in English, Chinese, Tamil, etc.. Rather he meant things like "Lah", "leh" and "meh".
4. Arts & Music
5. Literature - e.g. 8 Days
6. Institutions: Family, church, political, educational, economic

These things I knew before already but it was the language (LAH) part that was really funny and left a deep impression.

- In Luke 19:1-5, Jesus knew Zacchaeus by name and that touched his heart. The transforming of Zacchaeus's life eventually transformed the whole city. Moral of story? Transform individual lives to transform places.

Alright, enough talk. Photos time:

Session 1 - The queueing up
The looooooong queue ahead of me

and the never-ending queue behind me.

Day 3 Night Session: camwhoring @ choir with Jiawen and Xiangling

Both the girls have their fake lashes on! (though JW's are covered by her fringe) I'm lazy as usual...

Day 3 Morning Session: Camwhoring with Xiangling

Night session: More camwhoring with The girl...

Even more camwhoring on finale night:

Happy bunch of people

Who took this photo ahh??

Caught them camwhoring

Nice angle huh.. See Alvin's picture-perfect smile.

Camwhore until so happy

Group shot. Though my face was cut off, I included this because of Dan's funny expression. 8D

A bit blur, but has all 6 of us in it! Thanks to my excellent photography skills (from all the canwhoring experience) hahahahaha.

That's all folks! As Asia Conference comes to an end, I really look forward to a greater move of God. As Pastor Tan puts it during service today, I thank everyone for your Love, Generosity, Vision, Love for the Lost, and Faith to make this AC a HUGE BANG.

blogging from work

2008-11-28T13:58:00.000+08:00

I'm blogging from my office. Yes, you read it right - office.

I've gotten a job!

And by the way, I'm not slacking. Read on and see.

I was actually waiting for one employer to contact me to attend a training session for a part-time job, after which I can begin working. So, while sitting in the premises waiting for the promises and struggling to keep my last few dollar notes in the wallet, a very short term job fell from the sky!

HuiYi's boss needed an extra pair of hands for 2-3 days to assist in their month-end closing, and the salary was $7/hr. Not bad hor?

So I took up the offer and turned up for work on Wednesday morning. Met up with HuiYi at mrt and we walked there together.

Did some basic data-entry, and then... At 10plus, my da jie smsed me saying her company is looking for a temp worker from Thursday till next Friday.

Pay was $10/hr.

Glee (not greed) filled my heart as I contemplated how to tell my boss today's my last day. Obviously there's no other way, but to tell her the truth. She appeared calm about it. I guess one day less doesn't make much difference to her?

Anyway still really must THANK HUIYI for the recommendation; my bank increased by 49 bucks just like that!

Moving on, I reported for work this morning together with my sister. Colleagues are nice and friendly. Same boring and repetitive job of data entry. But I worked hard ok, did not surf net or msn, just kept doing work.

I'm blogging now because I'm done with my duties but am waiting for my sister to finish hers and we head home together. Actually, I need her to lead the way lah, but after the first time I should be able to exit this place myself (:

Oh, another great news is that the above-mentioned part-time work is about to come to pass! The in-charge smsed me yesterday at around the same time as my sis's message that the training will be held next Friday. Now, I not only don't have to worry about the hole in my pocket, but am assured of some passive income each month. (:

Whooooosh! All the lobangs come at the same time worh!!!

Coming to think of it, I recall sowing my tithes and offerings in tears during and before the Asia Conference. I was really stretched to give because I know I'm not left with much. But really, this attitude of faith and unwavering trust in my Father proved to be right time and again. Its a level of trust that cannot be explained by mere logic, but can only be attained by a genuine, strong relationship with Jesus Christ.

Anyways, at 8.17pm just now, I was marvelling to myself the awesomeness of God for blessing me this much (really above and beyond what I could've imagined) when my hands decided to reach for my earplugs in the bag and connect them to my ears and hand phone for my pleasure of listening to Godly music. I've been doing so till now, and though my shoulders are slightly aching, I feel a tremendous sense of peace (:

Going to post up my AC entry after adding the pictures!

MrChai's Birthday

2008-11-19T09:13:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was Mr Birthday Coordinator, Chai Han Xian's inaugural 22nd birthday!!! Actually its his one and only. Hahaha.. I was the first to wish him worh, so honoured.

His joyous day was spent swimming with Sher in the morning, lunch and bubble tea with me and Sher at TP, Astons and pool with me at Dhoby Gaut, and lastly dinner with JR, Sher and aL at Century Square Sakae.

Seems almost like I'm blogging on behalf of him. Haha.

I'll be typing whatever comes to my mind so please pardon the randomness.

Instead of ordering my usual Yam smoothie at the A1 stall, I tried honey lemon jubilee for the first time. Not bad but don't think I will try it again. Simply can't compare to yam smoothie or durian chendol. Sherylyn tried yam smoothie and she, too, loved it, until she found out it contained ice cream. -.-

By the way, I played badminton on Sunday so my butt ached throughout the day and still aches. But it was shiokalala la. I really need to get out more. Daniel, if you're reading this, please please please let's play tennis! Oh btw, Benedict please get well soon! Rise and be healed from chicken pox!

As I felt sick yesterday, Sher forbade me to eat chicken cutlet, so I had Design's pork chop instead, because grilled fish was sold out. Grrrr.

Sher had intended to study in school (TP) but changed her mind and decided to study at home. Yea I know, so cute right? Anyhow, she kindly drove us to the mrt where we took a train to town. At DG, I bought 4 movie tickets for tomorrow's Quantum of Solace, on behalf of the other 3 ladies I'm watching it with later today. Then we headed to Parklane to play pool, on the way passing by The Cathay in which the Astons strikingly caught HX's eyes and we decided to stop there for a 'quick bite'.

We shared (actually is i koped his):

Black pepper steak, with potato salad and House salad.

Hanxian say must take a photo of the receipt in remembrance of the special date. Coincidentally, the time beside the date was 04:41PM. He happened to have his eyes on this silver jacket at a shop called Depression in Far East #04-41.

I snapped MrChai trying to snap me. He's wearing the t-shirt the cg got for him!

If MrChai happens to finally recall my blog address, I just want to say thanks for the treat and I'll treat you back! Lucky Plaza orh nee!! Haha.. Not so cheapo of course, anything you want that's within my budget! Lol.

While 'pooling' at Parklane, i ran into Yao Ming (not the bball player, but my SIM course mate).

Lastly, HX headed for dinner with the peeps at Tamp while I went Expo for prac. I was pleasantly surprised to bump into Xiangling!!!!! Thought I'll be alone at prac but xie xie ni God for your divine plan. Xiangling is the best companion to talk with and its good to know she's doing well. Exams ending on Thursday yo!

Guess who we saw?

Barney!

And also a human grape (:

Haha ok I'm bored. Currently waiting for my sister to come back then we'll go for shopping and movie. Like finally going to watch the mostly badly rated Quantum of Solace.

Many of my peers are still having exams at this point of time, like Val, Shang, Mel, Bel, Xinyi, Ice, Ariana and many many many others. Even if your name's not mentioned here, rest assured I know who you are and I am praying for you.

Time to take a shower!

Asia Conference!

2008-11-19T07:26:00.000+08:00

The inaugural Asia Conference starts TOMORROW! This 5-day event is said to be talked about even by people living in Texas. I was preparing my heart to expect something outta this world from God but at the same time I was slightly apprehensive because 'the greater the hope, the greater the possible disappointment'.

I'm thinking, "What if I don't receive anything? What if my life remains the same? What if nothing changes?" What-ifs after what-ifs, I am finally reminded that Faith is the substance of things not seen. Thus I'm seeing it happening, no matter what!

FURTHERMORE,

Pastor Kong gave us some sort of a crash course for AC during service last week. It got me all pepped up and ready to go for all sessions in order not to miss any of God's anointing!

So, here's my revised AC plan (pink means attending) :

» Day 1: 19 November (Wednesday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
10 a.m. - 10.30 a.m.	Registration	-	Hall 7
10.30 a.m. - 11.30 a.m.	Affiliate Church Luncheon* ( By invitation only)*	Kong Hee	Hall 1
12 p.m. - 1.45 p.m.	Welcome Lunch	Kong Hee	Hall 7
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.	Songwriting for Praise & Worship	Jeff Crabtree, Gan Khek Chyan	Hall 10 (V Rm 1)
3.45 p.m. - 4.45 p.m.	Marketing & Branding	Martin Ong	Hall 3 (V Rm 5)
5.30 p.m. - 6.30 p.m.	Dinner	-	Hall 7
7.30 p.m. - 10.30 p.m.	Session #1	Kong Hee	Hall 8

» Day 2: 20 November (Thursday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
9.30 a.m. - 11.15 a.m.	Session #2	Phil Pringle	Hall 8
11.45 a.m. - 1 p.m.	Session #3	Ulf Ekman	Hall 8
1 p.m. - 2 p.m.	Lunch	Phil Pringle	Hall 7
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.	Effective Counselling	Mike & Joy Connell	Various
3.45 p.m. - 4.45 p.m.	Starting A New Business	Choong Kar Weng, Sharon Seah	Various
5.30 p.m. - 6.30 p.m.	Dinner	-	Hall 7
7.30 p.m. - 10.30 p.m.	Session #4	Ulf Ekman	Hall 8

» Day 3: 21 November (Friday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
9.30 a.m. - 11.15 a.m.	Session #5	A.R. Bernard	Hall 8
11.45 a.m. - 1 p.m.	Session #6	Phil Pringle	Hall 8
1 p.m. - 2 p.m.	Lunch Session	Christine Pringle	Hall 7
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.	Social Entrepreneurship	Kenny Low	Various
3.45 p.m. - 4.45 p.m.	Art Of Worship Leading	Annabel Soh, Alison Yap	Various
5.30 p.m. - 6.30 p.m.	Dinner	-	Hall 7
7.30 p.m. - 10.30 p.m.	Session #7	Kong Hee	Hall 8

» Day 4: 22 November (Saturday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
8.30 a.m. - 9.30 a.m.	Meet-The-Pastors Session (India & Sri Lanka)	-	Hall 10
10 a.m. - 11 a.m.	Meet-The-Pastors Session (Malaysia)	-	Hall 10
11.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.	Meet-The-Pastors Session (Japan & Korea)	-	Hall 10
1 p.m. - 2.30 p.m.	"SPECIAL" Children's Musical	-	Hall 8
4.30 p.m. - 5.30 p.m.	Prayer Meeting #1		Hall 8
6 p.m. - 10 p.m.	Session #8	Benny Hinn	Hall 8

» Day 5: 23 November (Sunday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
8.30 a.m. - 9.30 a.m.	Prayer Meeting #2	-	Hall 8
10 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.	Session #9	Phil Pringle	Hall 8
1 p.m. - 3 p.m.	Lunch	A.R. Bernard	Hall 7
5 p.m. - 8 p.m.	Session #10	A.R. Bernard	Hall 8

Woohoohoohoo! 23 hours 36 minutes 19 seconds (and still counting) more!

Bugis with Agnes 12/11/08 (Part 2)

2008-11-15T09:52:00.001+08:00

For lunch, I brought Agnes to try out the HK cafe at Bugis Street. She tried the chicken chop while I had curry beef brisket rice.

Pictures:
Agnes's chicken chop. It wasn't too salty and the rice was slightly sweet with bits of egg inside. Thick layer of skin and fat.

6 chicken patties out of 10.

My curry beef brisket. Except the slight oiliness, it was spicy enough for me and both the beef and potatoes were nicely tender. A tad too much fat on the beef though.

7 fat beefs out of 10 (:

Munchy and muncher eating:

Um! Down my throat it goes...

We also took neoprints which I've scanned but am unable to convert to jpeg. Later get da sista to help me muahaha. She'll say I'm useless/loser/noob again. Nevertheless, I'll still miss her when she goes Taiwan on 22Nov. 18 days leh! No doubt having the room all to myself is great, but it'll less fun with her gone. Luckily its temporary; I 'ken-lee' without you. Whahahaha..

Next up, dinner with mummy and da sista was at Tanjong Pagar Lerk Thai! Never tried Lerk Thai though I've passed it many times. Overall the food was fantastic but the drinks were so-so to substandard. Like the sister puts it, Lerk Thai feels more like a restaurant compared to Thai Expres, which feels so 'express'.

The main highlights were the prawns, which were stunningly fresh and springy (:

Some pictures I suddenly felt like taking only halfway through the meal.

1. Green curry chicken. Chicken was tender with not much skin and fats, and I love the bits of chili padi!
7.5 prawns out of 10.

2. Fried noodles. Light and tasty.
7 prawns of 10.

3. Tom yam seafood soup. So sour and spicy its not for the fainthearted! Plus point in that its very clear and not oily unlike in most places elsewhere.
7.5 prawns out of 10.

4. Exotic pomelo salad with shrimps and peanuts. Heavenly taste and perfect blend of sauce.
9.9 prawns out of 10!

5. Pineapple rice. Pretty bland and not much pineapple.
6 prawns out of 10

6. Special prawn cake. Don't be deceived by its humble appearance. This croquet-like prawn cake is deep-fried perfect to a crisp, is slightly saltish which suits my taste, and preserves the prawn's freshness.
9.8 prawns out of 10.

7. (Got this picture from their website actually, cos I was too busy eating, forgot to snap the dessert) Glutinous rice with coconut and fresh mango slices. The rice is scalding hot and fragrant just like Thai rice is marketed to be! However, the mango slices became room-temperature as a result while I prefer it cold. Interesting dessert with definitely the rice as the main focus.
6.5 mangoes out of 10.

After eating our fill, we went shopping! I was so excited when I first reached the place as it felt like dhoby exchange and had many shops which at first glance I reckoned I'd like. We stopped by our first shop, which happened to be out last shop because a long time was spent there. The stuff there really cheap cheap and nice lor! If I'm not wrong, its a shop called @ Basement.

There were no price tags in the shop, and we found out the dirt cheap prices upon asking how much a black racerback cost. It was $20 but buy-one-get-one-free, and the extra piece could be anything equal to or less than 20 bucks. After eliminating many choices, we settled for a pair of faded jeans costing $19. We bought another 2 necklaces and a watch and called it a day. The 2 necklaces were 2 for $12, one with a lizard pendant which the sister chose because she's a rock-climber. The other one was a dragon, for me because that's my zodiac :).

Sorry no pictures as I'm too lazy to take them. The bottomline is I'm elated because at least I bought something in the end, and won't return home empty-handed like I thought I would. :D

And lastly, I went marketing with my mum this morning, bought yam and all ready to make orh nee! Also bought the stuff I like to cook and eat, such as brinjal, tau pok, chicken for sesame chicken, tomatoes, and chou4 dou4 (malay for 'Petai' or stink beans). The vegetable seller was commenting how 9/10 people don't appreciate chou dou and that so far he hasn't seen anyone who likes it yet! I was shocked because its one of my favourite foods lol. Guess I can't deny I'm special =pPp

Bugis with Agnes 12/11/08

2008-11-13T18:42:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was a fruitful day! Shopped with Agnes at Bugis followed by dinner and shopping again with mum and sister.

The first time I shopped with Agnes was at Bishan during exam period; wasn't really counted as it was hurried shopping. So, counting today as the first time, we had great fun! Highlight was of course the trying of clothes and taking photos in the dressing room. I tried so many but didn't buy any! No longer an impulse shopper, which invoked a positive response from my mum when she heard that =).

Here are the clothes I tried. Please give comments on which I should buy, a million thanks!

(Prices are according to what I can recall :))

1. White racerback tank with Purple and black design, Fox. $27.

2. Also from Fox, purple short-sleeved with black prints. $36. Love the cutting and fact that it makes me look slimmer!

Front view, with my gorgeous smile =D.

The next 4 pieces are from the same shop with a price range of $35-60, both (meaning shop & price) of which I don't remember.
3. Maroon tube dress, with black floral prints at bottom.

4. White spaghetti. I think its was $45.

5. Purple (though not obvious due to yellow lighting) long blouse. Agnes said it looked NY high fashion-ish.

6. Purple layered dress. Pardon the act-cute expression.

7. Black blouse from Little Match Girl. $50 plus? I like this a lot! Tell me you agree.

8. White tank top from same shop, haha tried this pose for fun.

9. Purple t-shirt from a no-trying shop, 2 for $20.

10. Same shop and price. It says, "It is good to know someone's WATCHING my t-shirt."

Main point is both are purple haha...

11. Orange spaghetti and white outerpiece with black butterfly print, unknown shop. $59.90.

The remaining ones are from Seiyu, and I didn't take note of the prices, again.
12. Black and purple top.

13. Angels in white! Haha Agnes looks so cute!

Posing...

Posing...

14. Orange checkered dress which Agnes tried earlier on.

15. Fellowship time with Agnes. Priceless.

Haha.. Ok that's all for now, have so many things to blog about!

Tomorrow imma make orh nee! Ahhhh can't wait!!

New skin.. New me

2008-11-13T02:27:00.000+08:00

Tentative new layout... Was determined that change must take place so this is the first step I guess. Being the IT noob I am, I actually managed to do this all by myself, without relying on my sister. But this is just tentative so will employ her help soon! Was attracted solely to its purple elements haha.. Will update and change the skin when I have more time. Going for shopping now!

Last goodbye to mugging

2008-11-12T02:08:00.000+08:00

During prayer this morning, God showed me these 5 things as I was praying in the spirit.
1. Asia Conference
2. Make yam paste
3. Vacation job + building fund
4. Exercise
5. Family breakthrough

1. Asia Conference (AC)
Actually He was referring more to my choir ministry than the conference itself, as the first need I strongly felt was that to go shopping for clothes n stuff to gear up for the AC. According to Jiawen, all choir members are supposed to send photos of what we're intending to wear during AC to an IC. In my mind, I was like, "Wah, so kua zhang (meaning exaggerated)?!". But then again, this goes to show that choir takes AC seriously and want to present our bestest for God's glory. So, I have 8 days to purchase everything I need, including lots and lots of clothes, some makeup like fake eyelash, eyeshadow, etc, shoes (!!), and accessories.

While He was at it, God began to prepare my heart for something greater which I will surely experience during the AC. Something out of this world; somewhere in the 4th dimension, I will experience God's power manifest upon my soul and transform me into becoming someone of influence and of purpose, someone more and more like Jesus.

While I can't wait for AC to come, I know it'll be over in a few days too. Only that few days to catch the fire of God keep that feeling for a lifetime. Agreeing with Ai Ming, I've attended countless conferences and many a time, I leave them feeling motivated and rejuvenated, but just for a while. This time, I'm determined and convinced that Asia Conference 2008 will not just 'Touch Asia, Transform The World' (AC's motto), but GOD will touch ME, transform ME.

And while I'm at it, here are the sessions and workshops (words in purple) I'll be attending, subject to changes.

» Day 1: 19 November (Wednesday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
10 a.m. - 12 p.m.	Registration	-	Hall 7
12 p.m. - 1.45 p.m.	Welcome Lunch (Special Performance by Jeff Crabtree & Christian City Church)	Kong Hee	Hall 7
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.	Elective Workshop #1	Various	Various
3.45 p.m. - 4.45 p.m.	Elective Workshop #2	Various	Various
6 p.m. - 7 p.m.	Dinner	-	Hall 7
7.30 p.m. - 10.30 p.m.	Session #1 (Special Performance by Don Moen)	Kong Hee	Hall 8

» Day 2: 20 November (Thursday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
9.30 a.m. - 11.15 a.m.	Session #2	A. R. Bernard	Hall 8
11.45 a.m. - 1 p.m.	Session #3	Phil Pringle	Hall 8
1 p.m. - 2 p.m.	Lunch	-	Hall 7
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.	Elective Workshop #3	Various	Various
3.45 p.m. - 4.45 p.m.	Elective Workshop #4	Various	Various
6 p.m. - 7 p.m.	Dinner	-	Hall 7
7.30 p.m. - 10.30 p.m.	Session #4 (Special Performances by Carola Häggkvist & Don Moen)	Ulf Ekman	Hall 8

» Day 3: 21 November (Friday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
9.30 a.m. - 11.15 a.m.	Session #5	Phil Pringle	Hall 8
11.45 a.m. - 1 p.m.	Session #6 (Special Performance by Carola Häggkvist)	Ulf Ekman	Hall 8
1 p.m. - 2 p.m.	Lunch Session (Special Performance by Jeff Crabtree & Christian City Church)	Christine Pringle	Hall 7
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.	Elective Workshop #5	Various	Various
3.45 p.m. - 4.45 p.m.	Elective Workshop #6	Various	Various
6 p.m. - 7 p.m.	Dinner	-	Hall 7
7.30 p.m. - 10.30 p.m.	Session #7	Kong Hee	Hall 8

» Day 4: 22 November (Saturday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
1 p.m. - 2.30 p.m.	"Special" Musical	-	Hall 8
5.30 p.m. - 8.30 p.m.	Session #8	Benny Hinn	Hall 8

» Day 5: 23 November (Sunday)
Time	Event	Speaker	Venue
8.30 a.m. - 9.30 a.m.	Pre-Service Prayer Meeting	-	Hall 8
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.	Session #9	Phil Pringle	Hall 8
1 p.m. - 3 p.m.	Lunch	A.R. Bernard	Hall 7
5 p.m. - 8 p.m.	Session #10	A.R. Bernard	Hall 8

2. Make orh nee!
Despite my two failed attempts (for unknown reasons, its always turned out chao ta/burnt), I['m determined to make it right this time. No matter what, I must bless all my loved ones with this heavenly dessert, specially made with love by yours truly.

3. Building fund & vacation job
The equation is as simple as A+B=C. To fulfill building fund requires (1) Income, meaning get a job, and (2) Control expenses. Rewrite it in a way to get the equation:

Vacation job + Control expenses = Fulfill building fund = God is well-pleased!

4. Exercise
Need to get my body back in shape. Not round shape, of course. Besides exercise, must read up plus manage eating habits too. Wanted to go jogging this morning, but procrastination got the better of me. I tell myself its because too long without exercise, can't be blamed. But no! Get behind me, satan! Exams have caused my physical state to deteriorate enough, its time to get back to a steady regime!

5. Family breakthrough
This is one thing I've been praying, fasting and asking God for in this round of Arise&Build. Applying what Dr Ed Silvoso taught, I began to visualize myself putting faith into action, that everything I touch will carry God's presence, and every word that proceeds from my mouth will carry His anointing. I said to God, "God, faith without works is dead and I don't want a dead faith! I want a faith that is alive and at work. Will You use these hands of mine to establish your kingdom here on earth, just as it is in heaven?". Being the faithful God He is, He began to show me little ways to start making a difference, to persist in prayer and supplications, and He will provide. Thanks Jehovah Jireh!

Lastly, as a result of this month-long period of exams, I understood the preciousness of time for the very first time. It came as a shock to me, because I've had exams all my life and I never felt time was so precious, that every moment its silently slipping away and gone forever. This realisation was not due to me having insufficient time to study, but rather the many other things I could have chosen to do besides studying (opportunity costs). And I really mean MANY. I told myself to treasure the time from now till Jan when school reopens and make sure my life is lived to its fullest. Sounds cliche but I only have one life and I choose to LIVE IT.

A final goodbye to mugging for now!
Photo taken back in JC days. (:

Say HELLO to play!

Goodbye, my first exam in SIM!

2008-11-11T15:36:00.000+08:00

I'm finally blogging because my exams are finally, officially finished!

I am sooooo HAPPY!!

This time round, I don't seem to experience the usual post-exam blues (ok, maybe slightly, but much better than before) because I have so many things looking forward to do! Shall list them one by one later in case I forget.

But first, of course must highlight how I celebrated this beautiful day!

Went Clementi KBox with Agnes, HuiQi, HuiYi and XinYi. After paper ended at 1.15, we headed straight there and reached slightly after 2pm. Sang non-stop till after 7 =DDD.

Just a few pictures, while waiting for the rest to send theirs hehe...

XinYi immersed in singing. . .

The happy duo singing happily...

So full of 'mo qi' (:

Eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart, nothing can separate us...

Except perhaps.....

...Sneaky little Agnes!

But they're so into each other that truly nothing could separate them.

I would say this is by far one of the most fun time I'm K-ing, other than the other time with my sisters and mum (cos we had absolutely NO restrictions). One similarity between the 2 times is the 'sign-singing' and 'kissing effect' as XinYi called it. Perhaps its the right-after-exam effect, but it was really great company.

XinYi and HuiYi at first keep on wanting to sing along with the original singer and wouldn't allow us to turn the function off no matter how we persuaded. But of course they eventually sang without original voice because warmed up le ma! Actually they both sing very well la, but so humble. XinYi's singing voice is cute and sweet while HuiYi can really reach high notes; PLUS her canto's super fluent and fully complements her singing!

And then, since it was Agnes's FIRST time singing k, she was naturally super a bit shy and didn't dare to step out and sing AT FIRST. But of course, expectedly, with all the 'zi-high' people around, the little ice cube in her quickly melted and she joined in the fun! And of course, she sang really well too, just need more confidence and don't be afraid to go off key, like I always do, but who cares? Nobody remembers anyway, and nobody can stop me from enjoying myself, even at the off key parts. Wahaha.

Oh oh, and of course, the main star for the day was ~*~HUI QI~*~!!! I wasn't joking when I said she could compare with Ah Mei (who's my ouxiang). HuiQi has a natural gift for singing! I got lost in her melodious voice, so please, let's go sing again!

Haha, alrights that's for now. Shall blog later. =)

Toastmasters

2008-07-17T14:03:00.000+08:00

Caution: Long post!

Yesterday, I attended my first Toastmasters Club chapter meeting. Met up with Fahmy and Agnes at cafeteria before that. Agnes was eating corn bun and vegetable bun and I commented (strongly urged) that yam bun is soo tasty that once they tried that, they don't want nothing else. =) I'm salivating already... Miss the yam smoothie (with yam ice cream) from A1 (bubble tea shop opposite tp)!!!

Ok, back to Toastmasters. Although the name sounds foody, its actually a public speaking cca. So yea, it has quite nothing to do with food except the dinner provided, which was pretty yummy. =))

After refreshments, there was a round of self-introduction. We had to say our names, course and something weird about ourselves. Some impressionable ones were a guy who likes guys instead of girls, a gal who rocks at 'guy games' like cs and dota, a guy who was wearing red underwear and a guy who eats while bathing. Others included a guy with 5 siblings, a girl with fetish for noses, a guy who doesn't watch soccer and a girl who hates sweet stuff.

One weird thing about me is that my thumb can touch my forearm (same arm as the thumb of course) and that I can crack my toe knuckles easily. Personally I don't find that weird but fahmy and Agnes seem to think so.

After self-intro was Table Topic time, whereby people can volunteer to lucky-draw a topic to speak on for 3 minutes. There were 2 lucky-draw pouches, the green one for the category of describing a strange/awkward situation, and pink contains names of places to bring your special someone on a date.

The green bag had ridiculous questions/scenarios like, 'What would happen if everybody was nude?', 'You are in a crowded lift and you farted. It was loud and it stinks.' and 'The person you have a crush on has his/her zipper down. What do you do?'.

Finally it was down to one last speaker and they were calling for a female volunteer. Agnes whispered to me, 'If I go, you treat me to yam bun?' I barely nodded my head and she's already raised her hand. So brave of her!

Her question was, 'What happens if cows can talk?' Sounds challenging to me but she rattled non-stop with valid arguments, explaining how she would interview them on their views on being fed and raised so as to become the steak on our plates and provide milk that we drink, questioning how they argue with one another and even brought up Animal Farm as an example. She also tapped on the chinese idiom, 'dui niu tan qin' which translates to playing music to a cow that doesn't appreciate music. But who knows, maybe they appreciate more than we do? Hahaha some funny points there girl!

People who chose from the pink bag picked places such as library, museum, Pulau Ubin and club. Most of them couldn't think of what to say halfway through and started talking about other stuff.

Was a pretty interesting session, I'd say.

After a short break, we resumed with prepared speeches (they call it Project Speeches) by 2 speakers, Samy and Kean, which will be followed by evaluation from 2 evaluators, Kenneth (Chairman) and Kai Yan (already graduated but came back to help).

Samy spoke on Motivation, and touched on some practical ways to stay motivated.

Me - make sure I am in control

Organize- set schedule and deadlines

Tangible focus - approach and confront fears & phobias

Interest - do things you're interested in

Value - link your values to your goals

Attitude - positive, winning attitude

Target - specific, measurable, achievable. Gives you sense of direction.

Instant - makes goals more achievable

Ongoing - learn something constantly

Negotiate - with yourself. Always try to do the things better each day.

The speech ended with a call to action, leaving us with some meaningful food for thought. She encouraged the audience to pursue our desires and do things we like, because if we want something bad enough, we'll definitely find a way to get it. How true.

Next up was Kean. His project speech topic was 'Dealing with Confrontations'.

He made a strong stand that like it or not, everyone has to deal with confrontations, and that one thing we can never control is the other party's behaviour BUT what's within our control is our own reaction.

To many people, Kean's speech may not be as applicable as Samy's because confrontations are not so common whereas everyone needs some sort of motivation. However, I personally find his speech pretty informative and useful as it teaches us how to avoid conflicts by keeping a clear mind, assessing the big picture before saying/doing anything and picture a calm scene eg. blue sea, crimson skies, melodious music, etc.

The best part, as with Samy's speech, was the ending. Kean advocated that the one who's calm, thinking clearly and in control always ends up the winner, NOT the angry man who's flaring up and getting into a heated argument (probably with himself). I guess this knowledge can be related to the individual behaviour theories I'm learning in OB.

I know, I'm typing suuuuch a long post that even I myself am getting bored, so bored that I kept wandering off to blog-hop, chat, etc. And my posts these days don't have pictures. That's because my monitor's sent for repair so I'm currently pic-less. But aiya, its my diary so I can do whatever I like, wherever I like, however I like and anytime I like. :P

Alright back to toastmasters (hah, continue with my loooooong entry, ending soon I promise). So both speakers got evaluated by Kenneth and Kai Yan respectively, and the audience's job for the night was to vote who we think was the best Table Topic speaker, project speech speaker and evaluator. Winners were the guy who chose the topic of farting in the lift, Samy and Kenneth. Prizes were bookmarks with their 'deserved title' on it.

In case you're wondering, the farting in the lift guy talked about some tips to avoid being found out. Tip #1: Since no one in the lift would know who the culprit is, pretend nothing happened, obviously. Tip #2: Look left and right as that would be the typical reaction of people who didn't let out the fart. Tip #3: Never stand still cos they'll immediately know its you.

When he ran out of topic, he revealed his other trick to save yourself from embarrassing situations (not necessarily farting in the lift). It is to first look at your watch and pretend you're rushed for time and then 'pick up' your handphone and go, "Hello? Yes.. Yeahh I'm on the way, reaching soon la! (and blabber on and on and on)..."

So much crap but it was hilarious to some extent. I always knew Singaporeans were appreciators of cheap humour. jk.

The finale of the meeting was, of course, a speech by the chairman to psycho us into joining toastmasters. How it'd look impressive on the portfolio due to international recognition, as well as provide nurturing environment to become not just better speakers, but also effective communicators. Furthermore, only twice a month and get to eat good food each meeting.

Too good to be true? Here's the catch. Membership fee from July to Dec: $50.25

Should I join? Hmm...

Anyway, I've started on my OB individual assignment, and I'm experiencing many obstacles. Like I don't have a clear idea where I'm heading la. Haiz got to force it through somehow. All the best to me!

Resolutions - Revisited

2008-07-16T02:09:00.000+08:00

Few days back, I revisited the resolutions I'd written at the beginning of this year. Not very alarmingly, I haven't achieved quite a lot of them. What struck me was the very last one, 'Evaluate progress every 2 months'. Actually, when Feb came, I did remind myself to re-read those goals and reflect, but never found the time to do so... Then came March, and once again I remembered, but procrastinated and subsequently forgot about it.

And so, after realising how important it is to set out my remaining year with the right attitude and behaviour, I finally decided to get down to it - resetting my resolutions. Here I go!

Spiritual Life
Read bible daily
QT morning and night
Fast with purpose
Make god the centre of my plans

Family & Friends
Show more love to family members: words of affirmation, gifts & material blessings, acts of service, quality time (talk, shop, eat, movies...)
Grow closer to cgms [same as above]
Be more sensitive to friends' needs
Get to know people not just on surface levels, but step into their boats

Health
Shed 3kg
Go jogging/gym at least once a month (LOL!)
Play a sport once every 2 months
Eat fruits twice a week
Eat less rice, noodles, breads and more veg, fish, toufu..
Drink plain water most of the time
Sleep 6-8 hours a day at night

Education/Intellectual
Complete projects early
Read up before lectures
Revise after lectures
Aim for High Distinctions
Read newspapers regularly

Emotional/Psychological Growth
More wisdom!
Build up self esteem
Self-affirmation
More humility
Have confidence

Material
Save 10% of salary+allowance
Spend less on cabs
Spend less on food
Bless others more

Miscellaneous
Evaluate progress every 2 months

A few short term goals:
- Get individual assignments done with excellence
- Attend tennis and toastmasters (aka public speaking club) meetings

I'll evaluate every 2 months but sure to read it as regularly as I can. That's what goals are for right? To keep myself on track and focus on the vision to make it come to pass.

Off to study OB!

1st July 2008

2008-07-04T13:00:00.000+08:00

2 days ago, I started school!

I'm officially a Business Management student from SIM - RMIT University.

My fellow freshies had their own expectations of what school would be like.. Some dread returning to school, while there are those determined to aim for the straight 'A's, some simply find themselves lost in a world of their own, and most are looking forward to meeting new people and a fun-filled uni life.

As for me, I guess I'm a mixture of all, because I am not sure myself!

Part of me dreads school because I've not yet switched to studying mode, and because it means a whole new round of mugging, exams and projects.

A large part of me just want to excel in every module and win the Best Student Award (if any). Screwing up in JC has made me motivated to give my last shot at education my best one.

And I'm definitely lost. Difficulty catching the link between Dr. Joan Richardson's examples and the words on the slide. True, everyone else is equally as lost as me, but I gave myself that excuse in JC and look what happened. Fortunately, according to senior Valerie, our actual lecturer, Lawrence Sim will explain more clearly to us as Dr. Richardson was merely on teaching visit.

Of course, I've met many new friends, and they're all nice people! I'm one of the youngest around as most of them are from poly and the guys have been through ns. Really thankful to a bunch of helpful seniors like Valerie, KangHao and Zulia who gave me helpful advice, on textbooks, printing notes, CCAs and whatnots.

Here are some pictures from orientation:

Valerie as Wonder Woman

Team Wanderous!

Playing Double Wacko, Zulia as wacker :O

Another group shot :)

The water-bomb cum tic-tac-toe game..

Passing-the-lettuce game. That's Darshini and Fahmy.

Fahmy and Kaajal

Poor Agnes freaked out by Council's chairman!

Zulia and Yao Ming

Improvised Floorball. Players here include: Alvin, Garcia, James, Fahmy.

While they played hard, we... Smile hard!

Group shot, yet another. =)

Introducing our Drag Queens of the night...

Orientation, though only one day, ended with smiles, laughter and of course, new friendships forged.

Boy, do I look forward to a new school life, new environment, new faces and a whole new experience at sim!

Anyway, anyone would be most welcomed to teach me a thing or two about Business Computing, Organisational Behaviour, Introductory Accounting and Business Statistics, because these are my modules for this semester. arigato :)

SIM, here I come!

Over Her Dead Body

2008-05-04T00:51:00.000+08:00

Watched 'Over Her Dead Body' yesterday, turned out to be real nice! No, its not a horror, but a comedy/romance film. Not your typical chick-flick though.

I wouldn't say its a must-watch show but its definitely not a waste of money. The plot is simple enough to understand (I think) and the acting was good, especially Eva Longoria's part. I enjoyed the show most for its sense of humor. Recommended for stressed/sad/moody people who need to let their hair down a bit. Sure to crack you up.

One turn-off for me though, was that the sound effects were either too abrupt or wrong choices altogether. Otherwise, I was genuinely tickled by the funny bits.

Let the trailer talk:

Cause life is beautiful

2008-04-27T02:49:00.000+08:00

Mr Ong Howe Shang asked me how come my blog doesn't have a single photo of myself. So here's a picture of me:

Haha this really is me! Its a drawing of me by the girl I'm tutoring..

Such a sweet girl right! Reminds me of my primary school days when my baby teeth were still dropping...

That's her chinese name, which I bet many of you can't read cos I also can't. Its chen2 yu4 zhen1 by the way.

I know, I know. My real photo's still not up. Here's the real one.

Haha.. You know the act cute pose that young girls nowadays like to take of themselves? I was trying to achieve that. But apparently, I failed. I look neither cute nor young, just spastic. But the whole point is, its a photo of me. Happy, Mr Ong?

Anyway, the past week has been eventful. Last sat was women's meeting where we had tips on make-up & deportment. Daryl shared on self-confidence.

Gerberas as door gifts. I like both the sweet pink and hot pink ones. =)

Sunday's service with Dr. Kim was like no other. Wish she'd come often! Monday & Thursday had tuition, Tuesday choir prac, Wednesday bball (first time I exercised in months.. woohoo!) with primary school buddies. Fri shopping with Jiawen and she intro-ed me to delicious baked rice at Century sq. Joined the guys for a short while to celebrate Sean's bookout. Glad that you're not daunted dude!

Jiawen stole Sean's cap! But it does look great on her. Go get one for yourself girl!

Shall pack up for cell group, before I'm late!!

8 things to know about potatoes

2008-04-27T01:39:00.000+08:00

1. This nutritious, tasty tuber - now eaten all over the world and the main ingredient in over 406,000 recipes on the internet - was first cultivated in the South American Andes mountains over 4,000 years ago.

2. The potato consists of about 80 per cent water and 20 per cent starch.

3. One medium-sized potato (about 150g) contains 100 calories if you boil it or bake it without fat.

4. Website www.thehotpotato.com lists these nutrients in a medium-sized potato: 3g protein; 0g fat; 22g carbohydrates.

5. Apart from being fat and cholesterol-free, the potato is high in vitamin C, potassium and a good source of vitamin B6 and dietary fibre.

6. The sweet potato belongs in the same family as morning glories while the white potato belongs to the same group as tomatoes, tobacco, chilli pepper, eggplant and the petunia, according to www.geocities.com.

7. Despite the popular notion, the majority of the nutrients are not found in the skin, but in the potato itself. Nonetheless, leaving the skin on the potatoes retains all the nutrients and the fibre in the skin. It also makes potatoes easier to prepare, according to www.potatoes.com.

8. This is the United Nations' International Year Of The Potato which will focus on the importance of the potato in providing food security and alleviating poverty.

I'm a potato lover but choose to avoid it sometimes due to the carbs. Now I know there's no reason to reject them because I've tried a low-carb diet before (but gave up as soon as it started) and it didn't work. Besides, more carbs simply mean you get hungry faster and vice versa right? In my case, I am quite literally hungry all the time, so avoiding carbos in no way makes me less hungry.

Basically, eating healthy = eating in moderation la! = i can eat anything I like but not obsessively. Similarly, something that's 'good' for the body should not be overly consumed, but taken in moderation too. =)
I need to start working on a feasible diet plan!

Tomatoes: 6 things to know

2008-04-03T10:44:00.000+08:00

1. The tomato is the world's most popular fruit. Yes, botanically, like the brinjal, it's a fruit not a vegetable.

2. Tomatoes are rich in fibre and in vitamins A and C. They are also cholesterol free. And average-size tomato (about 150gm) has only 35 calories.

3. There are more than 10, 000 varieties of tomatoes.

4. New medical research suggests that lycopene - the stuff that makes tomatoes red - may prevent several types of cancer such as lung, prostate, cervical, digestive tract and breast.

5. Cooked tomatoes have higher concentrations of lycopene than non-cooked tomatoes.

6. When you eat tomatoes which are cooked with a bit of olive oil, the nutrient aspects of the tomato are absorbed more effectively.

Came across this article in today's Mind Your Body. Should make it a point to read it weekly and slowly become a health guru..

Brb.

Shouts: "Mummy, have you bought the tomatoes I want?!"

Checking out

2008-03-29T04:44:00.000+08:00

A woman is in bed with her lover who also happens to be her husband's best friend. They make love for hours, and afterwards, while they're just laying there, the phone rings.Since it is the woman's house, she picks up the receiver. Her lover looks over at her and listens, only hearing her side of the conversation.Speaking in a cheery voice, the woman says, "Hello? Oh, hi. I'm so glad that you called. Really? That's wonderful. I am so happy for you. That sounds terrific. Great! Thanks. OK. Bye-bye."She hangs up the telephone and her lover asks, "Who was that?""Oh," she replies, "that was my husband telling me all about the wonderful time he's having on his fishing trip with you."

2008-03-14T02:49:00.000+08:00

When you feel down because you didn't get what you want, just sit tight and be happy, because God has thought of something better to give you.

Valentines Day

2008-02-17T14:00:00.000+08:00

Lovely white roses! But not mine.

The Course Manager of Apparel Design is the happy recipient of this sweet-smelling bouquet. She receives one every year, leaving all the GO girls green with envy.

The ladies in my office were joking whether anyone else would flowers on this special day. So I met up with Sherylyn for lunch and intended to buy flowers to make the ladies' day.

According to her, that area has no florist shop so I was about to give up and go get strawberry snow shake as requested by Astoria. Alas, a guy walked out from a shop along that stretch holding a nicely-wrapped rose! Ptl man!

Wanted to get 7 stalks of roses, but each cost $8 due to the super nice packaging and the rose being very fresh-looking. So I settled for gerberas, which turned out to be Dyana's favourite flower. :D

Cady was so elated that she exclaimed, "11 years of working here I've never received a single stalk!" Haha Cady's so cute. I love Cady.

I hope the flower made Astoria cheer up when she's down. :]

Returning from lunch, I helped 3 girls place their valentines day gifts in their lecturers' mail tray. To thank me for the help, they gave me one too!

On the flip side of the card, they wrote,

So sweet!

Last but definitely not least, Secretary Rose ordered 3 cakes from Awfully Choc! Only got to try the Banana Choc flavour one though..

:DDD Its uber tasty but not too sweet!

Met CHEE FANG YI for dinner at PS Cafe Cartel and they ran out of steak! And that was the only thing I wanted to eat zzzz. So I ordered Fish & Chips, which was to my dismay below expectation. Shared oreo milk shake, and we were both so full by the time we finished.

Went Star Factory to shoot hoops, but they were about to close and stopped selling tokens! We asked around but no one had anymore to sell, but just as we were leaving a gentleman came up to us and offered 4 tokens. Ptl! Just nice for one game, after which we weren't really satisfied but its better than nothing.

Haven't weighed myself yet but I think the effects of cny goodies should've set in by now, I want bball!

Kung Fu Dunk

2008-02-13T13:30:00.000+08:00

Shoutout:

DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT YOU READ IN REVIEWS THAT KUNG FU DUNK IS A BAD MOVIE.

Refuse to believe hearsay and choose to believe what I say! I guarantee well-spent money!

I would consider it a comedy, with twists at the right places and heartwarming scenes which moved me to tears.

The effects are NOT too exaggerating like they say, just a bit of almost-too-perfect shooting and fanciful dunking similar to what we see in the NBA. And just because Jay is not particularly tall doesn't mean he can't dunk. Remember, he has qinggong plus a skill called shui shang piao (float on water) so he can literally fly not to mention dunk. :)

Besides the slightly cheesy part of Fang Shi Jie (by Jay Chou) having a crush on Li Li (by Charlene Choi), I would say the storyline wasn't cliche and had a surprising twist at the end. Definitely worth watching.

That's Shi Jie shooting 3-pointers and never missing a shot, leaving everyone astounded. The cool guy in shades is the lead dunker of the team. He debuts in Kung Fu Dunk.

Oh, and Jackie Wu appeared for a few minutes at the start. I only realised its him after a while, yet the rest of the audience were slower than me. Hahaha.

By the way, I was reading the plot given by wikipedia and realised they got the info wrong! SO, you got to watch it yourself to know what the story's like. :)

In case you think I'm biased because I love basketball, even non-players will understand the show because the focus is not on bball but on kungfu, and Jay Chou of course. Liu Genghong was cute too, despite playing the antagonist. :)

I must admit, though, that the film's extra cool because its bball!

This movie's not the best I've seen and it has its flaws, but if you ask me, I would give it 5 stars. :)

Besides, how could Jay Chou, Asian pop king, agree to film a movie if its lousy?

People, I strongly recommend you to GO WATCH IT!!

L's weakness

2008-02-13T09:45:00.000+08:00

Guess what? The famous detective by which no amount of brain-cracking cases cannot be solved has a weakness! Turns out that he cannot solve a problem which doesn't require thinking. Hmm. Personally find it a bit lame. How can a problem which doesn't require thinking be considered a problem? But still, look forward to catching the new death note movie, which centers the character L, my ouxiang.

Go Ken'ichi!

my day at work

2008-02-05T09:05:00.000+08:00

Finally have time to take a breather and blog!

You may think I'm a real slacker since I'm blogging during office hours, but wait till I tell you what I've been doing today:

8.40am
Reached office, tons of calls and people walking in to submit assignments

8.45am
JPSAE applicants started walking in for interview..
BUT
the interview room cannot be opened -.- so the GO porch was crowded with interviewees. Finally when its opened, naturally I had to bring them to the waiting area.

Then I returned to office to be dumped a fair bit of work by Aunty Sally (so that I'll stay in office and not go help Cady I think), among other duties of mine:
-keys to return and key in the system
-more SIP industries contact to key in data
-call up lecturers to collect their submissions from the GO
-data entry for MCs and LOAs which has piled up a bit
-help interviewees photocopy result slips/ICs/Form A and direct them to interview area
-receive calls requesting change of interview date [sorry, not possible!]

9.20am or so
Cady called and asked me to go over her side, and leave Dyana/Aunty Sally to man the GO.

So I was kept busy at the interview counter till about 1230..

1pm (supposedly lunchtime)
Overpiling workload caused me to miss lunch:
-call up 6 JPSAE applicants who put DES course as 2nd choice to come for interview this afternoon/tomorrow morning (no doubt only 6 but took quite a while)
-a million incoming mails to distribute
-unfinished work from morning (returning keys and SIP data entry)
-more LOAs and MCs to key
-an adjunct lecturer placed a box of students' art pieces for them to take back, and instructed to collect portfolios from some students
-still endlessss calls to ask all kinds of weird questions

Sorry if I'm boring you, my dear reader, but almost finishing.

4pm
-Found time to go canteen and grab 2 curry puffs & an ice milo back to office.
-Answered a few more calls

Now, 4.50pm
-Drinking my ice milo
-Taking a peek at the 'INCOMING MAIL' box and seeing it overspilling :(
-Thinking why why oh why no more telelift?!??!
-Looking at the mini pile of MCs & LOAs on my table and sigh.

"Yu Mei! Lament no more and get back to work now!" says a voice inside my head.

"(Grumbles) Arggh.. Alright," replies my limbs, eyes and heart.

I dislike phone calls

Bad News

2008-02-01T21:18:00.000+08:00

I HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW!!!

Temasek Design School has always been reputable and widely recognized in Singapore, JB and some say Batam.

Needless to say, our recent JPSAE (Joint Poly Special Admissions Exercise) had an overwhelming response. Successful applicants were rung up to come down for an interview, and yours truly is tasked with the honourable job of form checking and registration for the interviewees. =)

It went pretty smoothly, except for the lingering smell of thinner/paint/something that smells like that, but we couldn't trace where it came from. Poor Cady and me had to bear with the nauseating smell for the whole afternoon. Other than this small complaint, I enjoy this job! The job scope basically involves checking the necessary documents such as IC, Results Slip and Form A, recording and tallying of net aggregate, and noting whether they applied for JAE/DAE (direct admissions) as well. The importance of accountability sunk into me as I realised how each applicant's fate might just lie in my very own hands. Haha.

As usual, I would have SK to do; Buy coffee and tea for the hardworking lecturers & course managers conducting the interviews, run back to office to get whatever we lacked, etc. I would consider myself luckier than Astoria who's manning the GO though. She had to go printing room like thrice a minute to photocopy documents for those irritating interviewees who forgot this and that.

And like me, she has to come back to work tomorrow, for the first time in her 6 months working at tp. Congrats girl! =p Here goes our sleep-in Saturday.... Thankfully its only half day so I won't miss cg, PTL. =D

I must really do a photo post soon, really busy with work these days so less free time like those good old days hahahaa. But I love having work to do, and completing them. It gives me a thrilling sense of accomplishment like the one I get when I complete my tutorial in JC. Oh gosh, don't remind me.

Alright, got to sleep early because I'll have to work tomorrow!

Tata!

I'm feeling high!

2008-02-01T15:00:00.000+08:00

=D 1 Went gym with Sherylyn yesterday!

Did:
Jogging
A bit of muscle toning
Crunches

That's about all, but enough to produce sufficient endorphins to make me feel happy for the next couple of days. =D

=D 2 Cooked instant noodles with cheese (recipe taught by Sherylyn)

Suuuper yummy! Sher said just put the whole piece of cheddar cheese after I turn off the fire because it will melt by itself. So I followed her instructions and it really enhanced the taste of the soup :))) However, as I also added egg, the egg and cheese sort of combine together to form a weird taste. Next time I shall try adding the cheese first. :)

=D 3 Ate an apple after my yummy meal =D

And I just ate a slice of papaya in the same afternoon, hehehe. I think I should just up my resolution for eating fruits to 1 per day. I mean, twice a week sounds so pathetic that my sis said, "What kind of resolution is that??" ... and I bowed my head in silence, followed by retorting, "Hey, I used to eat fruits less than once a month can? Very big improvement le hor!"

=D 4 Cleared my bowels twice this morning :)))

Not diarrhoea okay! Its because I drank coffee, which never fails to cause this reaction to occur inside my tummy and cause instant digestion? For me, coffee's much more efficient than any amount of fruits I eat. Anyway, I'm not a coffee addict anymore! (or so I thought I was) I now drink only when I wake up early enough, or when I'm really sleepy, or when the craving comes, which is like once a week.

=D 5 Went opposite tp to eat Wanton Mee

My new-found colleague and good friend, Ying Ping from Engineering, brought me out of tp for lunch for the second time! Ate tasty wanton mee which costs $2.50, then bought pineapple from a fruit stall she introduced. FRUITS again. And because I'm eating so much fruits (actually not a lot la), I needed to check my resolution list to to double check what was my aim. So I discovered I've already exceeded for this week, but getting addicted to fruits already (I hope)!

=D 6 Bought 3 ultra uber super duper cute pens!

Really super cute, don't get jealous when u see them! Shall show em off wherever I go muahahahaha....

=D 7 Did a lot of SK (saikang) involving carrying heavy things around in a trolley, and running everywhere

Why is that a good thing, you may ask. But of course it is good! Losing even that little bit of weight beats sitting in the office and grow fat right? Furthermore, it lowers the risk of heart disease, compared to the latter. =)

=D 8 Cooked Sherylyn's Instant Noodles Recipe (Revised) for dinner

Much better this time! The taste of the soup felt like the feeling you would get when you found the perfect shoes to go with a perfect outift. The blend was just right (used only half packet of seasoning of course), and I could taste both the cheese and the egg. But I mustn't eat this too much because too much cheese (and egg, and instant noodles) is no good. Thanks a lot Sher!!

Food is the best way to cheer me up =D

The list of happy things could really go on and on and on, because I choose to look at the good side mah. Certainly not everything goes my way, like having to lift the heavy stuff hurts my back a bit, and I make errors at work which dampens my mood, and I have to be the one running up and down to different depts to pass letters because telelift's no longer in use wef today. But I choose how I want to respond to anything, good or bad, and if I can help it, I want to stay positive so that I won't be sad. If I can have a wish fulfilled by god, I wish he wouldn't have created sadness. Wahaha.

Ok, its lights out for me, Night!

The Ventriloquist

2008-01-30T04:35:00.000+08:00

A young ventriloquist is touring the clubs and stops to entertain at a bar in a small town. He's going through his usual run of silly blonde jokes when a big blonde woman in the fourth row stands on her chair and says, "OK jerk, I've heard just about enough of your denigrating blonde jokes. What makes you think you can stereotype women that way? What do a person's physical attributes have to do with their worth as a human being? It's guys like you who keep women like me from being respected at work and in my community, and of reaching my full potential as a person." Flustered, the ventriloquist begins to apologize, when the blonde pipes up, "You stay out of this mister, I'm talking to that little jerk on your knee!"

O Level

2008-01-26T08:50:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was the release of O Level results. My little sister Yusin scored 7pts. Well done girl, I'm happy for you! But I think Cedar didn't do exceptionally well this year, unlike my year which produced the top candidate. Hah!

I'm currently working, at the auditorium, assisting in JAE/JPSAE/DAE registration. The best thing that came out of this experience, so far, is bumping into some friends whom I haven't met for a long time. I also enjoy meeting colleagues from other departments, the chats, gossips and listening to their stories. My station has air-con, and when there's not many people, can sit on the available chairs. The people here are great and really helpful too! I think I prefer doing this than working at the office, continually learning something new and feels good helping people with their queries.

O Level is a time where many will celebrate, many will cry, but at the end of the day, life goes on.
Whether you did well or below expectation, remember: Nothing is final until its final; Pucker up and go!

Someone famous once said, "The storm also beats on the house that is built on the rock." So, no matter you are a strong or weak person, the harshness of life will hit you. If you don't move on like everybody else, you will be left behind. Since you gotta move on anyway, why not give it your best shot? I mean, aim for the stars and even if you don't get there you'll land among the clouds right? Heh.

By the way that famous person is me, as some of you would have already guessed. =D

Afternoon Quickie

2008-01-25T05:22:00.000+08:00

It was obvious to Mom and Dad that the only way to pull off a Sunday afternoon quickie without their 9-year-old son hanging around was to send him out on the balcony. So they ordered him to report on all the neighborhood activities.

The boy began his commentary, "There's a car being towed from the parking lot," he said. "An ambulance just drove by. It looks like the Andersons have company," he called out. "Max is riding a new bike and the Coopers are having sex."

Mom and Dad shot up in bed. "How do you know that?" the startled father asked.

"Their kid is standing out on the balcony too."

-.-

All’s Fair In Business

2008-01-24T13:43:00.000+08:00

A shopkeeper was dismayed when a brand new business much like his own opened up next door and erected a huge sign reading, “BEST DEALS.”

He was horrified when another competitor opened up on his right, and announced its arrival with an even larger sign reading, “LOWEST PRICES.”

The shopkeeper panicked, until he got an idea. He put the biggest sign of all over his own shop. It read: “MAIN ENTRANCE.”

HAHAHAHA.

What kind of shopper are you?

2008-01-23T09:40:00.000+08:00

Being the usual bored me at the office, I was free enough to try out a few tickle tests...

Yumei, you're an Impulse Shopper
Were you born to shop? Maybe it's the allure of new things or the fun you have along the way. Or maybe you enjoy shopping to relieve boredom or stress. Either way a little retail therapy seems to do the trick. We wouldn't be surprised to hear that you headed to the mall for sandals and came back with a new winter coat. It also wouldn't surprise us to find some clothes in your closet that still have the price tags on them. A seasoned and enthusiastic shopper like you knows that things are here one day, gone the next. So if you like it, it's best to buy it when you've got the chance. And you'll definitely use it or wear it… eventually.

As for gift giving, you might have a stash of goods that you picked up at some point that you can draw from. If not, it's probably not that much of a stretch to think that you wouldn't mind going shopping for something. What's not to love about shopping and the thrill of the hunt? It's fun, exciting, and a great way to bond with friends. And if you find a few things for yourself along the way — even better!

Hahaha. I won't exactly consider myself an impulsive shopper because I don't like buying wrong stuff only to regret later (after endless lessons learnt, that is). Also, I like to wear whatever clothes I buy almost immediately. Obviously I have a strong desire to wear it that's why I buy right?

Its true, though, that what I like best about shopping is the company, AND the adrenalin rush that only shopping can bring. :)

What is your makeup must-have?
Your makeup must-have is Lipstick
Bold and daring, your makeup must-have is the ever-essential lipstick. Not only do you stand out from the crowd, but you always know exactly how to get noticed. A glamour girl like you has pluck, and you're not afraid to show it.Whether you're chatting to a cute boy at the store or trying to flirt your way out of a parking ticket, you know the power of making an impression. Sure, sometimes you're perfectly pretty in pink and sometimes you're vamping it up in red, but no matter your shade, you always hit your style mark. Pucker up!

Hmmm. I'm only 18 (turning 19 tomorrow) so lipstick's out, lipgloss's in!

Which prom dress is right for you?

You need a dress that makes you a Dancing Queen
That's right, party girl, the band will surely be glad to see you walk in the door. One look at your sassy threads, and it's clear that you're ready to strut your stuff on and off the dance floor. With your outgoing personality and natural ease with all kinds of people, you're happy to get the party started and more often than not even happier to stay til it closes down.Your fun style — whether it's beaded, fringed, or bedazzled — tells people that you're ready to have a good time. And prom is the one party you've waited all of high school to celebrate, so let it all hang out!

Now wait a minute, I don't even know how to dance =.=

The Body Image Test

You don't compare your body to a sculpture by Michelangelo, but you know you're far from a Kindergarten art project! All in all, you've got a healthy dose of body confidence, and that's a rarity in today's world. You've managed to avoid a significant amount of the pressure that society and the media impose on women. Occasionally, however, you might fall prey to the super-skinny ideal. But your strength and healthy outlook enable you to quickly dismiss that unattainable trend. Whether it's an incredible metabolism or a great mindset, your positive body image allows you to have your cake and eat it too! And if you occasionally turn down the cake for fear of lumps and dimples -- don't fret. It's natural for a woman to be self-critical sometimes, and it's not vain to want to look your best. So, as long as you keep these criticisms in perspective, you're in great shape!

This is the true-est so far!

Your coffee drink is Scrumptious

Mmm, mmm! Like your luscious counterpart, you know just how to live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment. You know that life is too short, so it's important to spoil yourself and those you love from time to time. Luckily, that's something you're practically an expert at, whether you're indulging in a shopping spree, a day at the spa, or an elegant dinner. Sophisticated and stylish, you notice the small things...and you know they can sometimes be the most important things of all. You've got a great grasp on who you are and what you want and that's what makes you such a unique and enchanting blend. What a delight!

Coffee would've been my favvvvourite drink if not for the fact that it is generally unhealthy if overconsumed. Almost no other drink tastes better than a freshly brewed cup of coffee, except perhaps my other favourite soyabean drink.
Gonna watch Coffee Prince tonight!

I'm more sinful than I thought

You're more sinful than the average person. And it's affecting your life in ways you might not realize. For one thing, if you aren't careful, your drive to excel at all costs may ultimately be your downfall. Feeling good about your successes might be a gratifying way to acknowledge your work and position in life. Still, you, in particular, should beware of prioritizing your achievements above other things and using them as a way to feel superior to others. If you continue to do so, you might find yourself jeopardizing the things that are most important to you.

Alright, time for me to go and repent a lil. Ciao!

All I want for ...

2008-01-22T14:35:00.000+08:00

My mum asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year. I surprised myself, saying, "I don't think I need anything actually. Also, considering the significant amount that you've already spent on me these days, I don't ask for more. :) " I kinda regretted my words but come to think of it, perhaps what I really want is something money can't buy? Anyhow, since I started working, I'm getting more uncomfortable spending my parents' money. Hence, I guess I made my mum's day letting her know that I don't lack anything because she's given me everything already :D

I do have a few things on my material wish list though:
- a large bag, to put my alot of stuff

- boots (knee high or mid calf)
- sandal/thong/flipflops

- forever 21 peace tee/rocker tee/rainbow love tee
- cosmetics

- new contacts (my perm ones expired)

My super best colleague Astoria introduced me to this website http://www.eyeslipsface.com/ which sells, erm quite obviously, cosmetics. Most of the stuff here sells for US$1!! And since Oprah & many sites commended it, I suppose the quality can't be anywhere too bad? Heheh that's one tick off my wish list.

Have you guys bought your cny clothes and stuff? So far, I've only got 2 shoes, both red!

The first one's from U.R.S & inc..

The plastic bag's brown with pink handles, my fav colours :)) Inside it is...

...the box. Haha

Tada! Very red hor. I especially love the black floral netting design, it makes me look classy yet not old, surprisingly. The best thing I like about this shoe, is that my feet feel extremely comfortable in it. Definitely no blisters. Oh, and it was originally $44 but as it was on sale I bought it for only 22 bucks. Good deal right! Yep yep.

The next shoe has cherry prints and a ribbon, completely different from the first haha. My sister says I act cute, but no lor, its really cute and I like!

Actually I did do shopping but not really meant for new year.
Bought
- A pair of green skinnies
- Grey bling
- brown racer-back from MoreThanWords with monkey logo behind, $7.90 only :)
- And of course new specs, rebonded hair and my k770i paid by mummie, albeit I have to foot the bills myself.

Planned to meet Ariana for shopping this sat but she got something on last min :( Who can shop with me??

So my birthday's in another 2 days time!! Feels funny as I've never publicized my birthday ever before. But who ask my thoughtful cell group to throw a birthday surprise last sat which further reminded me of it? Shall blog about it and the lovely gifts & Dan's Phil Pringle-like card all at one shot sometime later.

Till then!

Resolutions

2008-01-22T06:10:00.000+08:00

Finally took time to write down my goals for 2008:

Spiritual Life
Read through bible once this year
Faithful in QT
Make god the centre of my plans

Family & Friends
Show more love to family members: words of affirmation, gifts & material blessings, acts of service!, quality time (talk, shop, eat, movies...)
Grow closer to cgms [same as above]
Be more sensitive to friends' needs

Health
Shed 5kg
Go jogging at least once a week
Play a sport once every 2 months
Eat fruits twice a week
Eat less rice, noodles, breads and more veg, fish, toufu..
Drink plain water most of the time
Sleep minimum 7 hours a day at night

Education/Intellectual
Enter a good university course
Till then...

Emotional/Psychological Growth
More wisdom!
Build up self esteem

Material
Save 25% of salary
Grow $$, somewhere

Miscellaneous
Evaluate progress every 2 months

There you have it, my goals for 2008! Next step would be to think about how to achieve them. So proud of myself!