It feels like yesterday that I wrote the previous post. I remember exactly why I took the self-declared holiday, and I know exactly how it feels to eat terribly unhealthy food, fall asleep in the middle of books, have work to do but not doing it immediately. And there are still too many weddings to attend. I have already missed a few weddings this year because I just didn't feel up to going alone and socialising with people I have not met in years.
I am still up at the unearthly hour of 3am because I can't sleep. Again. I know why I am still up, because it happened before, about three years ago, and about six years ago. I'm not waking up in the middle of the night because I have learnt to cope with work stress. Now, I just can't sleep. I just spent the past couple of hours clearing out the junk in my email inboxes. I have approximately 3,500 to 4,000 emails in each gmail account, and it's quite interesting to see what I used to send out or receive. I hardly get personal emails these days.
I also went to look at an old blog of someone I used to know. The whole point of the blog and the whole point of this blog was to communicate with one another in a remote way. We grow up, we grow apart, we move on. I had thought about meeting up some time this year, but it's better this way.
And you, congratulations. You owe me an angbao.
This is the last time that I'm ever gonna come here tonight.
This is the last time I will fall into a place that fails us all inside.
Well, I can see the pain in you, and I can see the love in you.
Fighting all the demons will take time, it will take time...
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Saturday, December 03, 2011
New interface?
You don't write for more than a year, and Google/Blogger/YouTube starts changing everything to look exactly like Google+. This huge white space for writing is a little intimidating. What if people didn't have that much to say? And guess what, Chrome told me that "Youtube" should be spelt as "YouTube". And I'm not sure why "spelt" is incorrect?
The years pass by so fast, and everyone's going "Wow! It's December!". I knew the years were going to whiz by, so I'm not surprised it's December again. There are only three months in the year that I dislike, and they are April, September and December. April, because you're a third through the year, there are too many things to do, and the rest of the year looks like it's never going to happen. September, because it's memory month and growing older month, and wake me up when September ends, okay? December, because it marks the end of yet another disappointing year with no one to spend the holidays with, and there is no work to lose myself into.
And I am awake at the alarming hour of 1am because I slept too much during the day. Fat, and fatter I will grow, if all I do is cook lousy meals (read: instant noodles) and read books and fall asleep in the middle of them. Actually, I do have work to do, just that I've declared a personal, away-from-work holiday for these four days (yesterday, today, tomorrow, the day after). Haven't left the house in two days, except to feed the cat and dinner last night with company that brought me home in 45 minutes.
Guess what, too many weddings to go to, once again. When will this horrible cycle end!! Weddings -> Baby showers -> Weddings -> ad nauseum. There's nothing like weddings to make you feel hyper-single. I've decided that I will not go for weddings unless there's someone I know.
I wonder who reads this, anyway?
The years pass by so fast, and everyone's going "Wow! It's December!". I knew the years were going to whiz by, so I'm not surprised it's December again. There are only three months in the year that I dislike, and they are April, September and December. April, because you're a third through the year, there are too many things to do, and the rest of the year looks like it's never going to happen. September, because it's memory month and growing older month, and wake me up when September ends, okay? December, because it marks the end of yet another disappointing year with no one to spend the holidays with, and there is no work to lose myself into.
And I am awake at the alarming hour of 1am because I slept too much during the day. Fat, and fatter I will grow, if all I do is cook lousy meals (read: instant noodles) and read books and fall asleep in the middle of them. Actually, I do have work to do, just that I've declared a personal, away-from-work holiday for these four days (yesterday, today, tomorrow, the day after). Haven't left the house in two days, except to feed the cat and dinner last night with company that brought me home in 45 minutes.
Guess what, too many weddings to go to, once again. When will this horrible cycle end!! Weddings -> Baby showers -> Weddings -> ad nauseum. There's nothing like weddings to make you feel hyper-single. I've decided that I will not go for weddings unless there's someone I know.
I wonder who reads this, anyway?
Sunday, October 03, 2010
imagine that!
Imagine that, she is actually correct! Met up with her earlier this year over lunch and chatted about her marriage and my lack of one. She reassured me that I'm going to find someone who's like me, someone who works too much and has no time to do anything else (and all the time in the world to wander around aimlessly). I apologise now, because I pooh-poohed her insistence that there's gotta be someone out there too and that it's just a matter of time.
Well, imagine that, she's actually right.
There are only two phrases for this situation: "already attached" and "emotionally unavailable".
Imagine that!
Well, imagine that, she's actually right.
There are only two phrases for this situation: "already attached" and "emotionally unavailable".
Imagine that!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
so what?
If you're gonna trip, then you better make sure the fall is worth it. After weeks of tripping, I finally stumbled today. Not too much harm done, considering how I've learnt to be a little bit more careful about tripping.
Silly! Always, always know what you are tripping over!
And then there are people, whom you think are friends, but really, aren't. For example, it was a simple piece of information about the trip. Large, vague question, but as it turns out, either said friend didn't want to help, or just didn't understand why it was important. Would it kill you? Maybe friend just didn't care. Well, so be it. I guess it makes a lot of sense now why I stayed away when said friend had issues.
There's gotta be a point when you've gotta stop talking and start listening.
And so it goes, and so it goes, and so will you soon too, I suppose.
Silly! Always, always know what you are tripping over!
And then there are people, whom you think are friends, but really, aren't. For example, it was a simple piece of information about the trip. Large, vague question, but as it turns out, either said friend didn't want to help, or just didn't understand why it was important. Would it kill you? Maybe friend just didn't care. Well, so be it. I guess it makes a lot of sense now why I stayed away when said friend had issues.
There's gotta be a point when you've gotta stop talking and start listening.
And so it goes, and so it goes, and so will you soon too, I suppose.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
living vs. existing
As I was whining about going for training on Friday (haha what's new?), my beloved and most esteemed Der said to me, "Why don't you do something that you like??" That was a tough question to answer, because as you know there are times when you love something very much but still have no desire for it. Such as training. I was whining because I was so tired from lack of good proper rest (MSN is a curse sometimes, I tell ya) and that I was out like a light for a good forty-five minutes that same afternoon.
I do not remember my witty reply to her, but I'm sure it was witty anyway. She responded, "BABE," she said forcefully, "You need to do something that you WANT to do, not something just to fill up your time." Then she reiterated something about happiness and satisfaction in life.
Sometimes I think Der has really good insights about me. I'm just passing time, for...? I don't know what for, but I know that I need my time filled up so that I don't have spare/free time to do/think/act nonsensically. Does that even make sense?
Anyway.
Item of interest: can of potato chips I bought a while back. Der asked if she could have some, and being my usual selfish self, I replied, "Not in a million years." She took it anyway (annoying!) and peered at the label. "What is this? Extreme Cheddar." She paused as she took a bite, then glanced over at me. "I bet you bought it cos it looks different, right?!"
Guilty as charged.
Facebook is a great stalking platform. Just have to repeat what millions of other more astute users have concluded already.
And what's a blog post without a youtube video??
I'm checking in to rehab cos everything that we had didn't mean a thing to you.
I do not remember my witty reply to her, but I'm sure it was witty anyway. She responded, "BABE," she said forcefully, "You need to do something that you WANT to do, not something just to fill up your time." Then she reiterated something about happiness and satisfaction in life.
Sometimes I think Der has really good insights about me. I'm just passing time, for...? I don't know what for, but I know that I need my time filled up so that I don't have spare/free time to do/think/act nonsensically. Does that even make sense?
Anyway.
Item of interest: can of potato chips I bought a while back. Der asked if she could have some, and being my usual selfish self, I replied, "Not in a million years." She took it anyway (annoying!) and peered at the label. "What is this? Extreme Cheddar." She paused as she took a bite, then glanced over at me. "I bet you bought it cos it looks different, right?!"
Guilty as charged.
Facebook is a great stalking platform. Just have to repeat what millions of other more astute users have concluded already.
And what's a blog post without a youtube video??
I'm checking in to rehab cos everything that we had didn't mean a thing to you.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
lots of youtube videos - go crazy!
Some songs that I won't be able listen to again for a very long time:
1.
There's a cover by the Pussycat Dolls. Do you call it a cover version? Or is it just another version of the song? Anyway.
2.
FloRiDa is such a punk name k. I always thought it was Flow Rider. The lyrics are damn funky though. I don't really think it's the 'offical lyrics' as it claims.
3.
I think Der knows this song quite well now, considering how I kept looping it. Hehe.
And these two songs keep looping in my head. Am trying to pick out Therapy on the piano now. Haha. Obviously I'll get bored with it after a while.
Arrogant boy, love yourself so no one has to;
They're better off without you.
Arrogant boy, cause a scene like you're supposed to;
They'll fall asleep without you.
You're lucky if your memory remains.
Honestly, I have yet to sit down and watch the mtv for this song:
I can live without you, but without you I'll be miserable at best.
And that's all, folks.
1.
There's a cover by the Pussycat Dolls. Do you call it a cover version? Or is it just another version of the song? Anyway.
2.
FloRiDa is such a punk name k. I always thought it was Flow Rider. The lyrics are damn funky though. I don't really think it's the 'offical lyrics' as it claims.
3.
I think Der knows this song quite well now, considering how I kept looping it. Hehe.
And these two songs keep looping in my head. Am trying to pick out Therapy on the piano now. Haha. Obviously I'll get bored with it after a while.
Arrogant boy, love yourself so no one has to;
They're better off without you.
Arrogant boy, cause a scene like you're supposed to;
They'll fall asleep without you.
You're lucky if your memory remains.
Honestly, I have yet to sit down and watch the mtv for this song:
I can live without you, but without you I'll be miserable at best.
And that's all, folks.
Friday, June 26, 2009
taylor swift - breathe
To quote Taylor Swift at the start of the following video, this is a "sad break-up song".
I see your face in my mind as I drive away,
Cos none of us thought it was gonna end that way.
People are people and sometimes we change our minds,
But it's killing me to see you go after all this time.
Music starts playing like the end of a sad movie.
It's the kind of ending you don't really want to see,
Cos it's tragedy and it'll only bring you down,
And I don't know what to be without you around.
And we know it's never simple, never easy,
Never a clean break, no one here to save me.
You're the only thing I know,
Like the back of my hand.
And I can't breathe without you,
But I have to
Breathe without you,
But I have to.
Never wanted this, never wanted to see you hurt.
Every bump in the road I tried to swerve.
But people are people and sometimes it doesn't work out.
Nothing we say is going to save us from the fallout.
It's 2am, feeling like I just lost a friend,
Hope you know it's not easy,
Not easy for me.
It's 2am, feeling like I just lost a friend.
Hope you know this ain't easy,
Easy for me.
And we know it's never simple, never easy,
Never a clean break, no one here to save me...
Hmm how do you forget an entire country because of one person? How do you stop yourself from reacting whenever someone mentions a particular singer?
I see your face in my mind as I drive away,
Cos none of us thought it was gonna end that way.
People are people and sometimes we change our minds,
But it's killing me to see you go after all this time.
Music starts playing like the end of a sad movie.
It's the kind of ending you don't really want to see,
Cos it's tragedy and it'll only bring you down,
And I don't know what to be without you around.
And we know it's never simple, never easy,
Never a clean break, no one here to save me.
You're the only thing I know,
Like the back of my hand.
And I can't breathe without you,
But I have to
Breathe without you,
But I have to.
Never wanted this, never wanted to see you hurt.
Every bump in the road I tried to swerve.
But people are people and sometimes it doesn't work out.
Nothing we say is going to save us from the fallout.
It's 2am, feeling like I just lost a friend,
Hope you know it's not easy,
Not easy for me.
It's 2am, feeling like I just lost a friend.
Hope you know this ain't easy,
Easy for me.
And we know it's never simple, never easy,
Never a clean break, no one here to save me...
Hmm how do you forget an entire country because of one person? How do you stop yourself from reacting whenever someone mentions a particular singer?
Monday, May 11, 2009
when it all falls apart
And because I'm such a crazed Sims fan...
And here ya go:
I'm having the day from hell,
It was all going so well before you came.
And you told me you needed space
With a kiss on the side my face (not again!)
Not to mention the tears I shed,
I should have kicked your ass instead.
I need intervention,
Attention to stop temptation to scream.
Cos baby,
Everything is f'ed up straight from the heart.
Tell me what do you do, when it all falls apart?
Gotta pick myself up; where do I start?
Cos I can't turn to you when it all falls apart,
No.
Don't know where I parked my car,
Don't know who my real friends are anymore.
I put my faith in you:
What a stupid thing to do! (When it rains, it pours)
And not to mention I drank too much.
I'm feeling hung over and out of touch.
I need intervention,
Attention to stop temptation to scream.
Cos baby,
Everything is f'ed up straight from the heart.
Tell me what do you do, when it all falls apart?
Gotta pick myself up; where do I start?
Cos I can't turn to you when it all falls apart,
Can it be easier?
Can I just change my life?
Cos it just seems to go bad every time.
Will I be mending?
Another one ending once again...
Would be quite funny to sing in Simlish. Then no one knows what the heck you're singing and no one will heckle you for singing such a wretched song.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
hands
“‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’ First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That’s what everyone wants. Not 24-7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche or a blow job or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such a feeling that they can’t hide. Every single successful love song of the past fifty years can be traced back to ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’ And every single successful love story has those unbearable and unbearably exciting moments of hand-holding. Trust me. I’ve thought a lot about this.”
-Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
My thumb, under your thumb.
Der is going to declare my blog a dead zone again! But there's no time to blog when all the time is taken up by students needing help, by work that needs to be done, by friends who need waterbottles to be filled up with delicious chocolate.
Week 5! And the JC1 kids will finally be starting school tmr. I miss the feeling of being a JC student. Best years of my life!
And now it's back to work and exhaustion.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
handphones & relationships
Isn't this refreshing, two entries in a week!
Anyway.
After 8 months with my N81, I've exchanged it for an E66. If you know me, you'd know that I don't change phones easily. In fact, every phone that passes through my hands will be used for approximately two years. My first phone was the Nokia 3310, which lasted me throughout JC, until university, when I saw my Baobei using a very cute Nokia model (which number escaps me now). I asked my aunt to get it for me, and I used it for most of my uni days. Towards the end of uni, I got the flower phone (actually it's the Nokia 7630) because during my school experience, one of my colleagues was using it. It was very pretty, and I was sold.
Finally, around the beginning of this year, I started to look out for a new phone because the flower phone was coming to two years, held too many memories, plus I needed to upgrade/recontract anyway. One day I was at Great World City and walked into a Nokia store. I saw the N81, started playing around with the model, and... I fell in love. I was quite taken by it, and I decided, okay, that shall be my next phone.
But not everything was smooth sailing with the N81. Within the first week of our time together, it got cranky and my SMSes in my memory card were eaten up. Went to Nokia Care, told me they couldn't do a thing about it (why would they?), so I thought, it's okay, it's just a one-off incident. Fast forward a couple of months. One day in school, my phone ran out of batt/it hung/it SOMETHING-ed. When I switched it on, 300+ SMSes, not inclusive of the sent messages (btw, I'm a pack rat, I keep everything) were all gone. I'll be frank: I screamed in the staffroom. But there was nothing I could do about it. Off to Nokia Care for another futile trip. This time, they upgraded my software (of course, nothing was wrong with my phone).
So this time, I saved my SMSes in my phone memory instead. Twice bitten, thrice shy, you know. Then a couple of nights ago, I was transferring my SMSes over to my PC when the usual message popped up, "Memory full. Close some applications and try again." So I did. Normally, the phone starts up as usual, the stuff are all there, it's fine. Abnormally, the phone seemed to start up in factory mode. It seemed like my personalisations were gone. My first instinct was, "Oh, shit." Then when I checked, my songs and images from the gallery were all gone. Basically, the info on my memory card was wiped out. Again.
Time for another futile Nokia Care visit! I shall not describe it in detail because they say the same thing over and over again, "It's not our fault, it must be *insert random reason here*" It never is. Anyway, I sent it away for repair, and got it back with a software upgrade. Since I didn't want to deal with the N81's unpredictability anymore, I swapped phones with my mother, cos according to her, she under-utilises hers.
This phone fiasco is like a relationship. You find someone you really like. You do all sorts of things for this person. Yes, you do occasionally treat him badly (like drop it on the floor), but generally you really love the person. But there are issues of compatability; obviously there will be conflicts that cannot be fully resolved, there's always going to be a part of you that will remember the sad things and conflicts. Then finally, there's a huge conflict. While you still love him, you don't want to deal with the unpredictability and vague unease anymore, so you make a decision to remove him from your life.
You find someone new, someone who is much better in all aspects. You know he's a good man, someone you can rely on to make good memories with. You're impressed by what he can do. He's really quite something. But you can't quite form an attachment with him. There are some things that you find lacking in him, but since it's not critical, you shouldn't really make a huge fuss. Deep down, you miss your first love, the excitement of it all. The new person is just functional, someone you know will be good for you, but the love for him must be gathered rather than something you already possess.
"You'll quietly revise your definition of love and try to be happy."
.png)
Anyway.
After 8 months with my N81, I've exchanged it for an E66. If you know me, you'd know that I don't change phones easily. In fact, every phone that passes through my hands will be used for approximately two years. My first phone was the Nokia 3310, which lasted me throughout JC, until university, when I saw my Baobei using a very cute Nokia model (which number escaps me now). I asked my aunt to get it for me, and I used it for most of my uni days. Towards the end of uni, I got the flower phone (actually it's the Nokia 7630) because during my school experience, one of my colleagues was using it. It was very pretty, and I was sold.
Finally, around the beginning of this year, I started to look out for a new phone because the flower phone was coming to two years, held too many memories, plus I needed to upgrade/recontract anyway. One day I was at Great World City and walked into a Nokia store. I saw the N81, started playing around with the model, and... I fell in love. I was quite taken by it, and I decided, okay, that shall be my next phone.
But not everything was smooth sailing with the N81. Within the first week of our time together, it got cranky and my SMSes in my memory card were eaten up. Went to Nokia Care, told me they couldn't do a thing about it (why would they?), so I thought, it's okay, it's just a one-off incident. Fast forward a couple of months. One day in school, my phone ran out of batt/it hung/it SOMETHING-ed. When I switched it on, 300+ SMSes, not inclusive of the sent messages (btw, I'm a pack rat, I keep everything) were all gone. I'll be frank: I screamed in the staffroom. But there was nothing I could do about it. Off to Nokia Care for another futile trip. This time, they upgraded my software (of course, nothing was wrong with my phone).
So this time, I saved my SMSes in my phone memory instead. Twice bitten, thrice shy, you know. Then a couple of nights ago, I was transferring my SMSes over to my PC when the usual message popped up, "Memory full. Close some applications and try again." So I did. Normally, the phone starts up as usual, the stuff are all there, it's fine. Abnormally, the phone seemed to start up in factory mode. It seemed like my personalisations were gone. My first instinct was, "Oh, shit." Then when I checked, my songs and images from the gallery were all gone. Basically, the info on my memory card was wiped out. Again.
Time for another futile Nokia Care visit! I shall not describe it in detail because they say the same thing over and over again, "It's not our fault, it must be *insert random reason here*" It never is. Anyway, I sent it away for repair, and got it back with a software upgrade. Since I didn't want to deal with the N81's unpredictability anymore, I swapped phones with my mother, cos according to her, she under-utilises hers.
This phone fiasco is like a relationship. You find someone you really like. You do all sorts of things for this person. Yes, you do occasionally treat him badly (like drop it on the floor), but generally you really love the person. But there are issues of compatability; obviously there will be conflicts that cannot be fully resolved, there's always going to be a part of you that will remember the sad things and conflicts. Then finally, there's a huge conflict. While you still love him, you don't want to deal with the unpredictability and vague unease anymore, so you make a decision to remove him from your life.
You find someone new, someone who is much better in all aspects. You know he's a good man, someone you can rely on to make good memories with. You're impressed by what he can do. He's really quite something. But you can't quite form an attachment with him. There are some things that you find lacking in him, but since it's not critical, you shouldn't really make a huge fuss. Deep down, you miss your first love, the excitement of it all. The new person is just functional, someone you know will be good for you, but the love for him must be gathered rather than something you already possess.
"You'll quietly revise your definition of love and try to be happy."
Sunday, December 14, 2008
workaholic.
KL was a good trip, a much needed break from work. Though, honestly speaking, work kept sneaking into my mind. In fact, by the time we were on our way back, work was already banging at doors in my head.
Hi, I am a workaholic. Nice to meet you!
I've learnt that once I completely relax myself, I'll end up falling sick. Case in point: had slight cold/flu thingie on the second day of the trip. =\ Went out with my beloved Wensy last night and this morning I couldn't even pull myself out of bed cos my throat hurt so badly and the room was spinning. How to drive when I can't even sit up in bed? So I ended up sleeping until 5.30pm.
All work and no play keeps me healthy.
I'm not sure how this will work out in the near future, considering how I'm going to hit a quarter of a century old next year. Bah! I still have many things I want to do before I can even consider finding someone and settling down before I'm 30. E.g. I want to do my Masters in Education. I've been calculating and making plans, and it's with some regret that I've decided to postpone my masters by a couple of years. I don't even know if I'm capable of it! But one can always hope.
Here are a couple of pictures I took on the trip:
Reliving our childhood days.
A shoe that I nearly bought. They didn't have my size. But oh, so pretty!
Nando's was one of the highlights of the trip, because it's something that Singapore doesn't have.
And it's gonna be back to the grind in exactly 2 weeks.
Pretty song that I found because I read part of the lyrics that someone posted:
Guster - Either Way
You were almost kind, you were almost true
Don't let me see that other side of you
You have learned in time that you must be cruel
I'll have to wait to get the best of you
Another nice song that I heard while blog-hopping:
Strangely though, my version of this song goes, "Four years later..." as opposed to this version's "Eight years later..." *shrugs*
Anyway, it's time for me to go to bed, again, even though I just crawled out of it seven hours ago.
Hi, I am a workaholic. Nice to meet you!
I've learnt that once I completely relax myself, I'll end up falling sick. Case in point: had slight cold/flu thingie on the second day of the trip. =\ Went out with my beloved Wensy last night and this morning I couldn't even pull myself out of bed cos my throat hurt so badly and the room was spinning. How to drive when I can't even sit up in bed? So I ended up sleeping until 5.30pm.
All work and no play keeps me healthy.
I'm not sure how this will work out in the near future, considering how I'm going to hit a quarter of a century old next year. Bah! I still have many things I want to do before I can even consider finding someone and settling down before I'm 30. E.g. I want to do my Masters in Education. I've been calculating and making plans, and it's with some regret that I've decided to postpone my masters by a couple of years. I don't even know if I'm capable of it! But one can always hope.
Here are a couple of pictures I took on the trip:
Reliving our childhood days.
A shoe that I nearly bought. They didn't have my size. But oh, so pretty!
Nando's was one of the highlights of the trip, because it's something that Singapore doesn't have.
And it's gonna be back to the grind in exactly 2 weeks.
Pretty song that I found because I read part of the lyrics that someone posted:
Guster - Either Way
You were almost kind, you were almost true
Don't let me see that other side of you
You have learned in time that you must be cruel
I'll have to wait to get the best of you
Another nice song that I heard while blog-hopping:
Strangely though, my version of this song goes, "Four years later..." as opposed to this version's "Eight years later..." *shrugs*
Anyway, it's time for me to go to bed, again, even though I just crawled out of it seven hours ago.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
days of my life
It's quite exciting to have a phone with a camera function, because now whenever I see something interesting, I take a picture of it. The only problem is that my phone's camera has a clarity of only 2.0megapixels. Oh well, better a pixelated interesting picture than nothing at all, right?
Yesterday, I walked my usual way home from the lift, and then from one end of the corridor, I saw this:
.jpg)
At first, I thought it was a piano, cos it really looked like one. Then I went closer and realised it was a desk. And what was funnier was that there was a sign on it that said:
Hilarious! Status update: When I walked by again this afternoon, it was still there.
*
Couple of days ago, when I was at Giant with my brother, I saw these humongous salmon.
I am wondering, who actually buys this??
*
Last Sunday, I went to Lot 1 to have dinner. Actually, wanted to go to this place called Farmart, where there's a collection of various types of farms. But parking was a headache, and it looked like a place from a random part of ulu neighbouring country, so it was Lot 1 ("Somewhere with air-con," says my mother).
In the end, we went to New York, New York!. I couldn't resist taking pictures at all.
.jpg)
My lemonade, which was quite good.
Our starter, prawn fritters or something like that. My mother loved it, I don't really know why.
.jpg)
Meat platter for 2. More like, for 3 instead. The knife is there for comparison. The plate was damn big! Bigger than two of my faces put together. Okay, bad imagery. There was lamb, chicken, chicken (again) and nice sauces.
*
Have you been to Raffles City Shopping Centre lately? I used to go there quite often, esp when I was still mingling with the masses on the MRT. It has changed quite a fair bit, and one of the changes was the toilet. That's right, folks. When Wensy told us the toilet was all modern and stuff, the 01S16 momoks decided to take a walk on the wild side.
The female toilet. Nice design!
The toilet. Okay I know there are many of these in Japan, but considering I've never really travelled much, humour me, okay?
A closer look at the controls.
And just in case you're totally confused by the cheem words, here are instructions!
And as always, when a bunch of 01S16 momoks flock into a toilet (esp if it's a nice one), we'll inevitably take a picture.
BTW! I didn't mention that only Momok Cheah actually used the controls. The rest of us only toe the line on the wild side, but Momok Cheah goes ALL THE WAY. HAhaha.
Memories:
PS toilet, circa. 2002. Was taken after a class outing to watch Lilo and Stitch.
Taken after a huge dinner at Hard Rock Cafe last June.
Okay, back to work.
Yesterday, I walked my usual way home from the lift, and then from one end of the corridor, I saw this:
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At first, I thought it was a piano, cos it really looked like one. Then I went closer and realised it was a desk. And what was funnier was that there was a sign on it that said:
Hilarious! Status update: When I walked by again this afternoon, it was still there.
Couple of days ago, when I was at Giant with my brother, I saw these humongous salmon.
I am wondering, who actually buys this??
Last Sunday, I went to Lot 1 to have dinner. Actually, wanted to go to this place called Farmart, where there's a collection of various types of farms. But parking was a headache, and it looked like a place from a random part of ulu neighbouring country, so it was Lot 1 ("Somewhere with air-con," says my mother).
In the end, we went to New York, New York!. I couldn't resist taking pictures at all.
.jpg)
My lemonade, which was quite good.
Our starter, prawn fritters or something like that. My mother loved it, I don't really know why.
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Meat platter for 2. More like, for 3 instead. The knife is there for comparison. The plate was damn big! Bigger than two of my faces put together. Okay, bad imagery. There was lamb, chicken, chicken (again) and nice sauces.
Have you been to Raffles City Shopping Centre lately? I used to go there quite often, esp when I was still mingling with the masses on the MRT. It has changed quite a fair bit, and one of the changes was the toilet. That's right, folks. When Wensy told us the toilet was all modern and stuff, the 01S16 momoks decided to take a walk on the wild side.
The female toilet. Nice design!
The toilet. Okay I know there are many of these in Japan, but considering I've never really travelled much, humour me, okay?
A closer look at the controls.
And just in case you're totally confused by the cheem words, here are instructions!
And as always, when a bunch of 01S16 momoks flock into a toilet (esp if it's a nice one), we'll inevitably take a picture.
BTW! I didn't mention that only Momok Cheah actually used the controls. The rest of us only toe the line on the wild side, but Momok Cheah goes ALL THE WAY. HAhaha.
Memories:
PS toilet, circa. 2002. Was taken after a class outing to watch Lilo and Stitch.
Taken after a huge dinner at Hard Rock Cafe last June.
Okay, back to work.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
ARGHHH!!!!
Sometimes things just conspire to make you so irritated. I had this premonition that I was going to have to a lousy Sept, and so far I'm right!
Actually it started just slightly before Sept, but as you know, Teachers' Day usually falls in the middle of the one-week break, so we'll usually celebrate it last day of the school term. Not A Good Day for reasons that cannot be mentioned. Let's just say it was an accumulation of many things that resulted in a lousy day. By the time I was alone enough to let it sink it, it was too late. You know how there are some things that has to be sorted out, or else you just become numb to it?
Then something happened during the one-week break which left me quite devastated. Not A Good Week for reasons that cannot be mentioned also. (Are you getting a sense of how this entry's gonna turn out?)
AND THEN the coup de grace happened last Friday. I went to the canteen with Der, took my purse with my phone, and as I slid open my phone... Nothing happened. So I thought, oh dear, battery flat. I didn't bring along my charger, so went around looking for one. Had to go for invigilation, so only starting charging my phone a whole hour and a half later. THEN I had to go around finding an available socket as the bloody socket at my table is irritating low and the charger couldn't fit into the space. So anyway, switched on phone, and first thing I do, always, is to look at my messages.
THEY.
WERE.
ALL.
GONE.
ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had quite a fit and I was hoping against hope my messages will return. BUT NO!!!!! And you know what, this isn't the first time my phone pulled this trick. It DOESN'T hang. The first and only time it hung, it was about two weeks old, and the same stupid problem occurred. ARGH ARGH ARGH!!! In the end I was so frustrated that I went to sit at Crystal's table together with the Malay & Der and had lovely durian mooncake until 5plus.
AND THEN at the end of the day when I was doing up a worksheet and saving my work, I closed some extraneous MS Word windows. A message popped out, "Do you want to save the changes in Document(1)?" Thinking that it was a file I opened to copy something from, I clicked, "No." And then I looked for my worksheet. AND THEN I REALISED I CLOSED A WINDOW CONTAINING FIFTEEN MINUTES WORTH OF WORK. ARGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
My colleague next to me looked over and said, "It's not your day. Go home."
So I did.
Went to Nokia Care on Sunday, and they said it's a software problem. So they recommended upgrading it, which resulted in my phone being reverted to factory settngs. SIGH! And I still doesn't know if it solves the prob of my messages being completely wiped out cos of a hanging of a phone. I lost ALL my drafts on my Melbourne trip, which is why I don't really feel like blogging about it anymore, cos I CANNOT REMEMBER.
So anyway, September's not shaping up well at all. Plus something sparked me off again today, and that's why I'm ranting away. I keep telling myself, think positive! But a bit hard ah, esp when it seems like the fingers of fate are being wiggled in your face and going HAHA at you. Sigh.
Okay although there's one good thing that I can see from my mishaps of the last couple of months. Remember my accident in March? (Well, now you do.) AIG refused to reinsure me about two months ago, so my mother had no choice but to go source for another insurance company who would be willing to insure my car. Seems like AIG is in trouble now. Actually the whole world's in trouble, so tighten those wallets and chin up.
Apologize - Just for you, Der. I know it's your favourite song. Now it's one of my favourites, too!
Cover of Gregory & the Hawk - Boats and Birds
Something about this song just gets to me.
you can skyrocket away from me
and never come back if you find another galaxy
far from here with more room to fly
just leave me your star dust to remember you by
Actually it started just slightly before Sept, but as you know, Teachers' Day usually falls in the middle of the one-week break, so we'll usually celebrate it last day of the school term. Not A Good Day for reasons that cannot be mentioned. Let's just say it was an accumulation of many things that resulted in a lousy day. By the time I was alone enough to let it sink it, it was too late. You know how there are some things that has to be sorted out, or else you just become numb to it?
Then something happened during the one-week break which left me quite devastated. Not A Good Week for reasons that cannot be mentioned also. (Are you getting a sense of how this entry's gonna turn out?)
AND THEN the coup de grace happened last Friday. I went to the canteen with Der, took my purse with my phone, and as I slid open my phone... Nothing happened. So I thought, oh dear, battery flat. I didn't bring along my charger, so went around looking for one. Had to go for invigilation, so only starting charging my phone a whole hour and a half later. THEN I had to go around finding an available socket as the bloody socket at my table is irritating low and the charger couldn't fit into the space. So anyway, switched on phone, and first thing I do, always, is to look at my messages.
THEY.
WERE.
ALL.
GONE.
ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had quite a fit and I was hoping against hope my messages will return. BUT NO!!!!! And you know what, this isn't the first time my phone pulled this trick. It DOESN'T hang. The first and only time it hung, it was about two weeks old, and the same stupid problem occurred. ARGH ARGH ARGH!!! In the end I was so frustrated that I went to sit at Crystal's table together with the Malay & Der and had lovely durian mooncake until 5plus.
AND THEN at the end of the day when I was doing up a worksheet and saving my work, I closed some extraneous MS Word windows. A message popped out, "Do you want to save the changes in Document(1)?" Thinking that it was a file I opened to copy something from, I clicked, "No." And then I looked for my worksheet. AND THEN I REALISED I CLOSED A WINDOW CONTAINING FIFTEEN MINUTES WORTH OF WORK. ARGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
My colleague next to me looked over and said, "It's not your day. Go home."
So I did.
Went to Nokia Care on Sunday, and they said it's a software problem. So they recommended upgrading it, which resulted in my phone being reverted to factory settngs. SIGH! And I still doesn't know if it solves the prob of my messages being completely wiped out cos of a hanging of a phone. I lost ALL my drafts on my Melbourne trip, which is why I don't really feel like blogging about it anymore, cos I CANNOT REMEMBER.
So anyway, September's not shaping up well at all. Plus something sparked me off again today, and that's why I'm ranting away. I keep telling myself, think positive! But a bit hard ah, esp when it seems like the fingers of fate are being wiggled in your face and going HAHA at you. Sigh.
Okay although there's one good thing that I can see from my mishaps of the last couple of months. Remember my accident in March? (Well, now you do.) AIG refused to reinsure me about two months ago, so my mother had no choice but to go source for another insurance company who would be willing to insure my car. Seems like AIG is in trouble now. Actually the whole world's in trouble, so tighten those wallets and chin up.
Apologize - Just for you, Der. I know it's your favourite song. Now it's one of my favourites, too!
Cover of Gregory & the Hawk - Boats and Birds
Something about this song just gets to me.
you can skyrocket away from me
and never come back if you find another galaxy
far from here with more room to fly
just leave me your star dust to remember you by
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
book list
Lazy to update Melbourne pics! So here's something I koped from my friend.
“The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. Well, let’s see.”
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ. (mine not LJ ah.)
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee [Read it too long ago. Plus I just watched a play on it, so gotta refresh my memory.]
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens [I've only read the abridged version...]
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger [Want to buy it!]
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky [I still can't believe I read this book.]
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis [Read the entire series just before the first movie came out. Still can't believe I missed Prince Caspian!!]
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis [Um... isn't this a repeat?]
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini ["For you, a thousand times over.]
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres [Should have totally bought a dirt-cheap copy of it a while back... "Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident."]
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez [Saddest ending ever - the futility of living.]
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon [Nice one!]
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon [One of my favourites! Have two copies of it, and I bought neither of them.]
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez [Draggiest book ever.]
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold [Just finished re-reading it the other night.]
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett [Even did this for a book report when I was in sec sch.]
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker [I can't seem to find my copy.]
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro [I can't believe I actually read this.
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom [Just read it, and I cried BUCKETS.]
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [I actually have the entire anthology.]
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton [Name the book, I've read it. Really.]
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery [Classic.]
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
So! I've read about 27 books. How many have you read?
“The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. Well, let’s see.”
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ. (mine not LJ ah.)
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee [Read it too long ago. Plus I just watched a play on it, so gotta refresh my memory.]
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens [I've only read the abridged version...]
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger [Want to buy it!]
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky [I still can't believe I read this book.]
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis [Read the entire series just before the first movie came out. Still can't believe I missed Prince Caspian!!]
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis [Um... isn't this a repeat?]
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini ["For you, a thousand times over.]
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres [Should have totally bought a dirt-cheap copy of it a while back... "Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident."]
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez [Saddest ending ever - the futility of living.]
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon [Nice one!]
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon [One of my favourites! Have two copies of it, and I bought neither of them.]
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez [Draggiest book ever.]
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold [Just finished re-reading it the other night.]
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett [Even did this for a book report when I was in sec sch.]
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker [I can't seem to find my copy.]
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro [I can't believe I actually read this.
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom [Just read it, and I cried BUCKETS.]
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [I actually have the entire anthology.]
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton [Name the book, I've read it. Really.]
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery [Classic.]
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
So! I've read about 27 books. How many have you read?
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Melbourne Day 1
Yes, the long awaited entry.
01: 6.30am (Melbourne time) at the airport, waiting for the rest of the tour group to clear customs.
02: Something familiar.
003: My favourite food! I had Subway there, just one evening, at the outlet near my hotel. However, the guy who was serving us had a poor attitude. Maybe he wanted to go home and relax on his couch, but that didn't meant he could wrap my sandwich badly.
04: First stop on our city tour of Melbourne - St. Patrick's church. It was closed cos that day was the Queen's Birthday, which was a holiday. Too bad, I'd have liked to go in and see the interior. Heard there's pretty stained glass.
05: Closer look at the front of the church.
06: Another view of the church.
Okay, so we just took lots of pictures, breathed in the cold air, and then bundled up the bus to our next destination.
07: Fitzroy Garden. I was wondering why there were descriptions in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Not that I saw a lot of Chinese, Korean and Japanese people around Melbourne.
08: I wouldn't mind going to this park every morning for a stroll.
09: James Cook's cottage in the background.
10: And then I saw this. !!!
11: I can't resist. MUST take picture with pretty tree.
12: Leaves changing colour.
13: Another view of James Cook's cottage. Wasn't open as well.
14: My sharp eyes spotted these banners! I wish the musical would come to Singapore. )= I am a Great Fan
Didn't get down the bus after Fitzroy Garden. Was so tired, cos I didn't sleep much on the plane. I tried to sleep at 12, but it was too cramped, and I had interrupted sleep, so I got up at 2am, which also happened to be breakfast time. Hence, I just couldn't stay up anymore.
15: Passed by the Yarra River. Yes, it was rainy. It was raining on another night when I went to the Crown Casino, so I didn't get a chance to walk along it this time.
16: I thought this was a pretty strange ad. I asked a friend who lives in Melbourne about it, and I was told this was an advert for the late night trams or something. Cos after a certain hour, all trams stop running, and if you're stranded in the outskirts, there's no way you're gonna get home, cos the cabs don't travel that far out.
17: Saw this sign when walking back from the restaurant we ate at (Shark's Fin Inn - and no, we didn't eat any shark's fin. I guess it's just the name of the place). And to think that we complain parking in Singapore is expensive!
One other thing about parking in Melbourne is this: There are plenty of signs telling you that you can't park at a certain spot. However, every sign tells you that under certain exceptions, you may park there. For example, the sign will say, "No parking from 10am to 7pm | Buses parking for less than 2 hours excepted". My friend said that it makes parking in the city area very hard, cos you never know when you can park, and when you can get a ticket.
To be continued...
Someone was asking me how to pronounce a certain word, and when I was told how the majority pronounced it, I thought, It really makes no difference. Then I thought of the song, "You say to-mah-to, I say to-meh-to..." So I went to trawl Youtube and found this:
I kinda like old American movies. I started liking them after taking a film module back in NUS. Ahh, the good old days...
01: 6.30am (Melbourne time) at the airport, waiting for the rest of the tour group to clear customs.
02: Something familiar.
003: My favourite food! I had Subway there, just one evening, at the outlet near my hotel. However, the guy who was serving us had a poor attitude. Maybe he wanted to go home and relax on his couch, but that didn't meant he could wrap my sandwich badly.
04: First stop on our city tour of Melbourne - St. Patrick's church. It was closed cos that day was the Queen's Birthday, which was a holiday. Too bad, I'd have liked to go in and see the interior. Heard there's pretty stained glass.
05: Closer look at the front of the church.
06: Another view of the church.
Okay, so we just took lots of pictures, breathed in the cold air, and then bundled up the bus to our next destination.
07: Fitzroy Garden. I was wondering why there were descriptions in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Not that I saw a lot of Chinese, Korean and Japanese people around Melbourne.
08: I wouldn't mind going to this park every morning for a stroll.
09: James Cook's cottage in the background.
10: And then I saw this. !!!
11: I can't resist. MUST take picture with pretty tree.
12: Leaves changing colour.
13: Another view of James Cook's cottage. Wasn't open as well.
14: My sharp eyes spotted these banners! I wish the musical would come to Singapore. )= I am a Great Fan
Didn't get down the bus after Fitzroy Garden. Was so tired, cos I didn't sleep much on the plane. I tried to sleep at 12, but it was too cramped, and I had interrupted sleep, so I got up at 2am, which also happened to be breakfast time. Hence, I just couldn't stay up anymore.
15: Passed by the Yarra River. Yes, it was rainy. It was raining on another night when I went to the Crown Casino, so I didn't get a chance to walk along it this time.
16: I thought this was a pretty strange ad. I asked a friend who lives in Melbourne about it, and I was told this was an advert for the late night trams or something. Cos after a certain hour, all trams stop running, and if you're stranded in the outskirts, there's no way you're gonna get home, cos the cabs don't travel that far out.
17: Saw this sign when walking back from the restaurant we ate at (Shark's Fin Inn - and no, we didn't eat any shark's fin. I guess it's just the name of the place). And to think that we complain parking in Singapore is expensive!
One other thing about parking in Melbourne is this: There are plenty of signs telling you that you can't park at a certain spot. However, every sign tells you that under certain exceptions, you may park there. For example, the sign will say, "No parking from 10am to 7pm | Buses parking for less than 2 hours excepted". My friend said that it makes parking in the city area very hard, cos you never know when you can park, and when you can get a ticket.
To be continued...
Someone was asking me how to pronounce a certain word, and when I was told how the majority pronounced it, I thought, It really makes no difference. Then I thought of the song, "You say to-mah-to, I say to-meh-to..." So I went to trawl Youtube and found this:
I kinda like old American movies. I started liking them after taking a film module back in NUS. Ahh, the good old days...
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
funny things
Today I went to see a polyclinic doctor, despite my morbid fear of people in white coats. Actually, I'm not that worried about them; I just don't like to take time to go somewhere and get asked weird questions that I don't really have the answers to, like, "What is the matter? How long have you been feeling this way? You sure?"
So anyway, the reason I was at the doctor's is because I acquired a bruise that would not go away. The bruise is named Kang Ryung Bo, after the guy who kindly gave it to me. It looked somewhat like this:
The bruise is officially nine days old as of today, and it is still lurking around and hurting, so I thought I'd better go visit the good ole people in white coats. My mother was pretty smart, she said, "They close at 4.30pm. You go at 3pm. They'll rush everything, cos they want you out by 4.30pm." And I was right! Queues were amazingly short. Or maybe it's just my really good luck.
So anyway, the doctor was this Chinese guy with a thick Hong Kong accent. I complained about the bruise, and then he decided to send me for an X-ray. Now, you know how pregnant women aren't supposed to go for X-rays cos of the radiation and what not, so when the screen on his computer popped up asking whether the patient (i.e. me) was pregnant, he asked me politely when was the last time I menstruated. After I told him, he actually looked a little stunned, and he contemplated for a while before asking the Most Ridiculous Question in the Universe: "Are you very sure you are not pregnant??"
All together now, what the...?!
Do I even look PREGNANT?! Maybe he mistook my healthy glow to be an expectant mother's glow. But still. This is ridiculous. I told him, "Yes, I'm pretty sure." I could hear my mother's sharp intake of breath. And then the worst thing happened.
I got an attack of the giggles. I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of the question. I covered my mouth to hide my laughter, and thought of sad things and unrelated things to make me stop laughing. BUT I COULDN'T! I kept thinking, How can the doctor think I'm pregnant just because my period was three weeks ago? It's only three weeks! Are pregnancy test kits able to detect at three weeks?! Plus I am single!
So I kept giggling and trying to hide my laughter. The moment I stepped out of the room, I started laughing like a maniac. The patients at the polyclinic must have thought I'd gone mad. Who comes out of a consultation room laughing like an idiot?! I laughed all the way to the X-ray room, and I laughed so much, tears came out of my eyes.
"Are you very sure you're not pregnant??"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Okay I know my Melbourne trip pictures are due. Next entry, promise!
So anyway, the reason I was at the doctor's is because I acquired a bruise that would not go away. The bruise is named Kang Ryung Bo, after the guy who kindly gave it to me. It looked somewhat like this:
The bruise is officially nine days old as of today, and it is still lurking around and hurting, so I thought I'd better go visit the good ole people in white coats. My mother was pretty smart, she said, "They close at 4.30pm. You go at 3pm. They'll rush everything, cos they want you out by 4.30pm." And I was right! Queues were amazingly short. Or maybe it's just my really good luck.
So anyway, the doctor was this Chinese guy with a thick Hong Kong accent. I complained about the bruise, and then he decided to send me for an X-ray. Now, you know how pregnant women aren't supposed to go for X-rays cos of the radiation and what not, so when the screen on his computer popped up asking whether the patient (i.e. me) was pregnant, he asked me politely when was the last time I menstruated. After I told him, he actually looked a little stunned, and he contemplated for a while before asking the Most Ridiculous Question in the Universe: "Are you very sure you are not pregnant??"
All together now, what the...?!
Do I even look PREGNANT?! Maybe he mistook my healthy glow to be an expectant mother's glow. But still. This is ridiculous. I told him, "Yes, I'm pretty sure." I could hear my mother's sharp intake of breath. And then the worst thing happened.
I got an attack of the giggles. I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of the question. I covered my mouth to hide my laughter, and thought of sad things and unrelated things to make me stop laughing. BUT I COULDN'T! I kept thinking, How can the doctor think I'm pregnant just because my period was three weeks ago? It's only three weeks! Are pregnancy test kits able to detect at three weeks?! Plus I am single!
So I kept giggling and trying to hide my laughter. The moment I stepped out of the room, I started laughing like a maniac. The patients at the polyclinic must have thought I'd gone mad. Who comes out of a consultation room laughing like an idiot?! I laughed all the way to the X-ray room, and I laughed so much, tears came out of my eyes.
"Are you very sure you're not pregnant??"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Okay I know my Melbourne trip pictures are due. Next entry, promise!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
yet another one from a musical
Came across this when I was going through my usual LiveJournal stuff. Actually it was the lyrics I came across first. So anyway, I was also taking some time to pick photos to put into my FaceBook, and I came across some old photos. I wondered for a while whether to put it up, but then I thought, Nah, no need to tell the whole world. So I wouldn't.
It started out like a song.
We started quiet and slow,
With no surprise,
And then one morning
I woke to realize
We had a good thing going.
It's not that nothing went wrong,
Some angry moments, of course,
But just a few,
And only moments, no more,
Because we knew
We had this good thing going.
And if I wanted too much,
Was that such a mistake at the time?
You never wanted enough,
All right, tough, I don't make that a crime.
And while it's going along,
You take for granted some love,
Will wear away.
We took for granted a lot,
And still I say
It could have kept on growing,
Instead of just kept on.
We had a good thing going, going, gone.
-"Good Thing Going" from Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along
Also!!! My plans have been finalised, and I am proud to say that travel-phobic me will be going to Melbourne during the third week of the school holidays for a short trip to recharge and refresh myself. Do you know, I have to go back to school tmr, but I don't remember what time? Anyway, I have to meet parents in the afternoon, so I guess that's how I'll be spending my Tuesday: in school for lessons and meeting parents.
Don't you just love my life?
Monday, April 14, 2008
new developments
Okay I have got exciting news, but I won't divulge it until I get things confirmed. No point getting all hyped up and then it doesn't materialise, right? But as things stand, 99% confirmed! Left that 1% possibility of hopes being dashed.
Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice balance in my bank account last night. I was going to go online to check what exactly contributed to the nice balance, but was unfortunately logged out of i-banking cos the lousy website didn't accept a) my user-id; b) PIN; c) IB secure code; d) all of the above. )= I haven't been logging in for quite a while; I'm not one of those crazy people who check their bank account balance fervently everyday praying for a sudden influx of money.
Which reminds me, I still owe my mother money.
School-wise, it's a mad rush for time to complete the required syllabus before the exams. Losing two periods earlier this week due to a learning journey that the kids had to go on really pushed my plans way back. And the kids are all so busy! So Saturday lessons it is.
The five-day week is a myth.
I plan to take some time off for myself next week on one of the afternoons. The headaches are coming back, especially on really long days of talking non-stop to students who stare back at you blankly. Otherwise, they make so much noise until it gets to you. Maybe it's the air in the staffroom that's causing my headaches hmm.
Okay it's late and I must finish preparing my lessons before sleeping. Thank goodness for light Mondays!
Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice balance in my bank account last night. I was going to go online to check what exactly contributed to the nice balance, but was unfortunately logged out of i-banking cos the lousy website didn't accept a) my user-id; b) PIN; c) IB secure code; d) all of the above. )= I haven't been logging in for quite a while; I'm not one of those crazy people who check their bank account balance fervently everyday praying for a sudden influx of money.
Which reminds me, I still owe my mother money.
School-wise, it's a mad rush for time to complete the required syllabus before the exams. Losing two periods earlier this week due to a learning journey that the kids had to go on really pushed my plans way back. And the kids are all so busy! So Saturday lessons it is.
The five-day week is a myth.
I plan to take some time off for myself next week on one of the afternoons. The headaches are coming back, especially on really long days of talking non-stop to students who stare back at you blankly. Otherwise, they make so much noise until it gets to you. Maybe it's the air in the staffroom that's causing my headaches hmm.
Okay it's late and I must finish preparing my lessons before sleeping. Thank goodness for light Mondays!
Friday, April 04, 2008
Quotes
I think it'll be quite weird if Ju posted the following quote on her blog, saying that it's one of my favourites, and yet I've never posted it.
I like it because I read it at an appropriate time in my life, and it just described exactly how I felt. Maybe in a couple of years, or maybe even a couple of months, I won't think the quote is that true any more (as with some of my favourite quotes in the past), or that gut-wrenchingly true.
*
"We all have the potential to fall in love a thousand times in our lifetime. It's easy.
But there are certain people you love who do something else; they define how you classify what love is supposed to feel like. These are the most important people in your life, and you'll meet maybe four or five of these people over the span of 80 years. But there's still one more tier to all this; there is always one person you love who becomes that definition. It usually happens retrospectively, but it always happens eventually. This is the person who unknowingly sets the template for what you will always love about other people, even if some of those qualities are self-destructive and unreasonable.
You will remember having conversations with this person that never actually happened. You will recall sexual trysts with this person that never technically occurred. This is because the individual who embodies your personal definition of love does not really exist. The person is real, and the feelings are real--but you create the context. And the context is everything.
The person who defines your understanding of love is not inherently different than anyone else, and they're often just the person you happen to meet the first time you really, really want to love someone. But that person still wins. They win, and you lose. Because for the rest of your life, they will control how you feel about everyone else."
-Chuck Klosterman, Killing Yourself to Live
*
And this is something I got off Facebook, of all places, and off an application called Bumper Stickers, of all things!
But very true. And it is currently my guiding principle.
"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do.
The hard part is doing it." -Norman Schwarzkopf
*
I went to the library today. Yay to books!
I like it because I read it at an appropriate time in my life, and it just described exactly how I felt. Maybe in a couple of years, or maybe even a couple of months, I won't think the quote is that true any more (as with some of my favourite quotes in the past), or that gut-wrenchingly true.
"We all have the potential to fall in love a thousand times in our lifetime. It's easy.
But there are certain people you love who do something else; they define how you classify what love is supposed to feel like. These are the most important people in your life, and you'll meet maybe four or five of these people over the span of 80 years. But there's still one more tier to all this; there is always one person you love who becomes that definition. It usually happens retrospectively, but it always happens eventually. This is the person who unknowingly sets the template for what you will always love about other people, even if some of those qualities are self-destructive and unreasonable.
You will remember having conversations with this person that never actually happened. You will recall sexual trysts with this person that never technically occurred. This is because the individual who embodies your personal definition of love does not really exist. The person is real, and the feelings are real--but you create the context. And the context is everything.
The person who defines your understanding of love is not inherently different than anyone else, and they're often just the person you happen to meet the first time you really, really want to love someone. But that person still wins. They win, and you lose. Because for the rest of your life, they will control how you feel about everyone else."
-Chuck Klosterman, Killing Yourself to Live
And this is something I got off Facebook, of all places, and off an application called Bumper Stickers, of all things!
But very true. And it is currently my guiding principle.
"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do.
The hard part is doing it." -Norman Schwarzkopf
I went to the library today. Yay to books!
Friday, March 14, 2008
sad song
Because my car was unfortunately sitting in the workshop awaiting repairs from my latest careless act of driving, I was listening to a Chinese radio station late yesterday. Then this song played on the radio, and I found it to be really sad.
至少走得比你早 by 卢巧音
你没有想过我会说分手
也许太习惯我在你左右
虽然离开你有很多理由
可看见你这样惊讶
也足够
我想得比你多
陪你一起更寂寞
我性格比你强
怎能做你的绵羊
我年纪比你小
不信快乐找不到
抬起头开了口
最后我比你骄傲
从此不坐你的牢
想不到你的好
记得和你的争吵
想到老可到老
可是和你做不到
如果你爱得比我少
至少我走得比你早
你没有想过我会说分手
除非以为我什么都忍受
就算你这时候努力挽留
不过是你不能接受
我先走
幸好我走得还早
啦~~~啦~~~啦~~~
轰轰烈烈的开口
最后我比你骄傲
从此不坐你的牢
想不到你的好
记得和你的争吵
想到老可到老
可是和你做不到
如果你爱得比我少
至少我走得比你早
And I've also been listening to the Cantonese/Chinese duet, cos the lyrics are a little bit different (even though I don't understand a word of Cantonese).
至少走得比你早 by 卢巧音
你没有想过我会说分手
也许太习惯我在你左右
虽然离开你有很多理由
可看见你这样惊讶
也足够
我想得比你多
陪你一起更寂寞
我性格比你强
怎能做你的绵羊
我年纪比你小
不信快乐找不到
抬起头开了口
最后我比你骄傲
从此不坐你的牢
想不到你的好
记得和你的争吵
想到老可到老
可是和你做不到
如果你爱得比我少
至少我走得比你早
你没有想过我会说分手
除非以为我什么都忍受
就算你这时候努力挽留
不过是你不能接受
我先走
幸好我走得还早
啦~~~啦~~~啦~~~
轰轰烈烈的开口
最后我比你骄傲
从此不坐你的牢
想不到你的好
记得和你的争吵
想到老可到老
可是和你做不到
如果你爱得比我少
至少我走得比你早
And I've also been listening to the Cantonese/Chinese duet, cos the lyrics are a little bit different (even though I don't understand a word of Cantonese).
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