i'm sick again...sickening sore throat and cough. just when i've got so many things to do and places to go this week. wonder if i should/can still go for the amazing race tomorrow. i'd be disappointed if i didnt.
watched harry potter on wednesday. the show already started even though we went in on time. this episode was more dark and serious with alot of talking. liked the goblet of fire better. played the basketball machine at the arcade before that. long time never play basketball and it was fun. but its so tiring to keep throwing the ball even for a few minutes. my right arm and legs were aching after playing a few games. legs were aching cos i tip-toed all the time. haha...

must get well soon!

i dunno what happened but my blogger page just turned chinese. so weird... anyway, i have nothing to do in lab again. seniors dont want me to help them. afraid i might create more trouble than help?
last saturday being 07/07/07, a total of 777 couples got married. next year 08/08/08 will be even more popular with the chinese. went to iz's bro's wedding yesterday, even though we didnt know the brother. haha... it was a first time experience for some of us to attend a malay wedding. the wedding was held at the void deck of their flat. we arrived late and missed the show though. the couple were taking photos when we came. instead of going around tables to take photos like in chinese weddings, the couple could sit in chairs on a platform with chandeliers hanging above. the set up was very pretty. the wedding cake was even more...unique. its a 3-tiered glutinous rice 'cake' decorated with cucumbers and prawns etc. we were seated at one of the long tables and food was served to us, including a souvenir each. the food was quite good but too bad we missed the ceremony.

wed was an enjoyable day. cos i took half day off again. haha... went for ktv session with some secondary school friends. it was my first time singing with zk and jy. they really sing until very 'fang'. went to a vegetarian cafe, roma deli, for dinner. prices were reasonable but the food was just ok. the soup and some of the pasta had a strong herbal taste which i didnt quite like.
dropped by mz's commencement on thursday. everyone was busy taking photos in their graduation gown and certificate. the area around the building was nicely decorated with pots of flowers everywhere. some of them received flowers or small presents from their friends. so cute haha... next year, it'll be my turn. dunno what i'm going to do after graduation...

went to sharon's house to have steamboat lunch with the sbs girls today. i realised steamboat gatherings are very common with sbs people. the most memorable one was the one we had in hall. that was fun... sharon prepared most of the food for us today. we only helped out with the easy stuff. it was such a filling lunch! almost all of us are working in labs now so everyone updated and complained about their labs. lab environment is very important to be able to learn something and be happy working. i'm getting used to my lab now that i have done the experiments before. the seniors complain of the lack of space but are generally willing to teach. so we just ignore their comments. haha...didnt learn much outside of what we are doing so i'm feeling very bored. sometimes have nothing to do in the lab but yet cant leave too early. only the pay is my greatest motivation to go lab when i know i have nothing to do. i want my hols! many friends dont wanna continue working in the lab after graduation. the seniors in the lab also say that we must be very passionate cos the pay isnt great and the working hours can be long. but...what else can i do?

last sunday, i went cathay with ny. finally spent my charles & keith and ben & jerry vouchers. i was served by weisheng from impresario group 1 at b&j's! we found each other familiar but i couldnt remember who he was at first. so qiao... next we went to IKEA tampines. there's so many people there!!! especially the cafe, so difficult to find seats. super pissed when a woman snatch my seat. got a headache when i finally found seats. but the meatballs were very nice! think its a mix of beef and pork. they were served with a creamy sauce and a sweet jam sauce on the side. ny bought a bedroom light for willie and we went to explore the Courts megastore and Giant next. there was nothing much actually,especially Giant. and its weird that there's a 7-11 below Giant. haha...
yesterday was our 6 mth anniversary. this half year seems to pass by quickly. didnt celebrate as ny was sick. seems like everyone was watching transformers as it was sold out for many shows. in the end we went to causeway point for fish soup. think the fish soup there is the best!
so craving for Chocolate N' Spice muffins after vinc said he went to buy them last week. first tried them when les's friend bought them for us while studying for exams. love the chocolate and cheese muffins hot out of the oven... yum!

tomorrow's sunday but i have nothing to do...feel like i'm wasting an off day when i stay at home. tomorrow is also the start of the gst hike. everybody's been shopping and going places during june before the hike. i havent done much shopping though. my new shoes hurt like mad! i love the white shoes but clumsy as i am they got dirty the first day i wore them.
sianz...need some excitement in my life.

nothing to do at the lab this week. i took off on tuesday. so happy! made my offday to full use. met ny for lunch then met up with mz to shop at bugis. havent shop in awhile so it was a fruitful trip. had my favourite ice cream at ben and jerry's. sinful...haha. hope i can finish all the vouchers before they expire.
spent dinner with some sbs friends to celebrate vinc's birthday. we went this malay cafe opposite shaw tower. the food was quite nice. the chicken was really soft and tender. and there were crispy oatmeal like flakes on top. yum!

today was my third day at work at the lab. its been a super tiring week and i've been on a sleep debt since friday. have been meeting friends and playing mahjong which was fun. but getting up at 6+ is not. the journey is long, there's no space or proper mentor. dont know if it would be a good environment for fyp.

its the last free day before i start my internship and i'm staying at home with no where to go. sigh...should have worked one more day. probably wont see any of the people i got to know at work again. but thats the case with each job.
i had fun the last few offdays going swimming, cycling and the day at mind's cafe.

long journeys and long days ahead...

i was checking the IDs of the candidates when i came across this unusual name. she was a chinese girl, named Jet'aime. Je t'aime means 'i love you' in french. one colleague commented that everytime people call her, they would be saying they love her? haha...quite nice to hear so many people saying they love you right. i like the sound of the name. somehow aishiteru or saranghaeyo wouldnt sound so nice. the beauty of the french language...

finally blogger's toolbar is back to normal. not that i use it often though. had my rare offday from work last thursday and i had to waste it going down to nus. me and sy were supposed to meet the admin staff and the prof at 10am and 3pm respectively. and each meeting only lasted 10 minutes. total waste of time. but at least my internship and fyp is secured though i havent got the project yet. totally sian when he told me it will be mostly cell and molecular work. i prefer DNA work actually. spent the break at central library's perk point chatting with sy. its such a relaxing place with comfortable sofas and dim lighting. why ntu library dont have such space... went to waraku's pasta restaurant at central after that. the food was quite nice though the tables were too close together.
i've gotten used to work. know some invigilators of our age, especially one who's also doing life sciences. for me, colleagues are very important whether i like the job or not. at least i dont feel as bored now. encountered my first cheating case too. some candidates really go to all lengths to cheat. it has been an eye opener. wonder if there are cheating cases in ntu too.
speaking of ntu, the news reported of the good prospects of ntu graduates yesterday. the report states that 98% of graduates found jobs within 4 months of graduation and their average pay is $2700 a month. buisness graduates get $200 more on average, though statistics are based on only 30% of the cohort. thats a really high amount. wonder if its really true. the first batch of bio science graduates get an average pay of $2300. i think even that amount is higher than in reality though. hopefully the job market will remain this good when we graduate next year. to friends who have graduated, good luck in finding jobs!

dont have to work today! haha... have been working 3 days as an exam invigilator for a pay lower than what we expected. have 4 other friends working in the same hall but they are all so far away. can only see them but rarely talk. our job is very simple. just have to stand there or walk up and down the row. dunno how many times i've walked up and down during the 3 hour exam. at the end of the first day, my legs seem like they will give way anytime. wonder how my mum can stand the whole day serving customers. by yesterday i think i've more or less gotten used to it. 3 more full days to go... quite interesting sometimes to see when 2 people have different answers to the same question. havent spotted anyone cheating though.
its gonna be a long long holiday... why am i so bored

more complains...sry

just learnt that someone i know broke off with her fiance. or rather her fiance sent her an sms to break off with her. so convenient with sms now right. takes less than a minute to call of a relationship. he refused her calls or messages, saying that if she continues to force him, he'll find a new gf to show her. that is so childish! and the only reason he gave was she was not his type. he told other people that he couldnt tolerate her attitude of always wanting her way. his sister said that it was marriage phobia. they have been together for almost two years and he has never really voiced out any unhappiness with her attitude. he bought her a ring and proposed. they viewed flats together and were due to rom in the coming months. they were still loving one week before he sent that dreadful message. all their colleagues know they were going to rom and kept asking the girl when is their big day. she works as a stewardess and going to every city has memories of their times together. she has grown to be so dependent on him and everywhere she goes just evokes memories of them together. in her past relationships, she has been the one to initiate the breakup. is this retribution for her?

but in any case, whether it is really the girl's attitude, the guy should at least explain the reason for breakup. then at least there is closure. she wouldnt know he's unhappy with her if he always gives in to her. he is so irresponsible to propose to the girl, give her false hope then break up for dunno what reason suddenly. so childish to threaten with things like finding another gf to spite her. somehow i feel that there must be some other reason that he cannot say.

learning this makes me feel life is so full of uncertainty and relationships are so fragile. communication is the most important thing but it isnt easy to achieve. as for people like me especially, who have difficulty expressing ourselves. i tend to keep things to myself to avoid conflict or talking about unpleasant things. its like you know the theory of what you should do but cant or dont know how to apply it.

hope that she would get over it soon and find her true happiness worthy of her love...

back from watching spiderman 3. its a great movie and the theatre was so packed! its funny, touching and full of action. had a very filling dinner at carl's junior too. thought that i wouldnt be able to finish but i did.
ok actually dont really feel like blogging. feeling irritated and not at peace for i dont know what reason. just dont want anyone to talk to me now. emailed dr khan like more than a week ago asking if my application is approved. he didnt reply at all. felt like he didnt want to take us due to the very lukewarm response we got from him. so i went to get work for the month of may. but sy emailed him yesterday and he replied her promptly today. i dont know why but it seems like he only replies her emails. seems so petty to be irritated by this but i just am. now that i've got a job then he tells sy he approves. i should be glad right. sy keep asking me to start soon. but i'm working till end of may mah. there's no way i can even go down part time. hope dr khan will allow me to start in june. not my fault to want to find work lor.
sigh...sorry for the complains. i did enjoy myself today. just dont know why came back with a bad mood. should be back to normal soon. until then...bu yao re wo...

holidays~ time to get back my regular eating style. always skip meals before my paper but eat all the junk food while studying. went outside for a simple dinner after my paper. and one hour later, it was supper time! it was the first time i went to the coffeeshop near the stadium. think the food there is better than the coffeeshop beside city harvest. ate till we were so full that we decided to walk back to school. saw this fat caterpillar which acted like a snake when provoked. so funny, haha...its upper half of the body just stood up to an S shape like a king cobra about to attack. finally ended the night with a mahjong session. finally luck is with me after so long. as jh said, each final night must be a memorable one.
moved out of hall on thursday. still remember i kept complaining about getting hall 8 last sem. now i feel it isnt so bad after all. my room is very convenient and i've gotten used to walking. though going up the slope every morning is still dreadful. my roommate has gone from a stranger to a friend whom i have shared many late night conversations with. hopefully i can get hall next sem. final year in school le.
yesterday went for ktv with my coursemates. alot of people didnt turn up but just as well anyway. sbs people can really sing! so impressed. especially bennie, always see him so quiet but he can sing all the xu ru yun and fish leong songs with ease.
going to watch spiderman 3! yay~
sry that i nv watch w u...

yay~ exams are over!!! quite disappointed with my last paper today. nmr so easy but they didnt tell us how is the structure like. didnt know we were supposed to memorize the amino acid structure for this exam, and thus probably lost alot of marks. my A is gone once again. but exams over! yay~
hope this will be a fun and fufilling holiday. hopefully can go for a short holiday somewhere. there's still no news of my internship application yet but i'll be working as an exam invigilator for the most of may. finally i'm not the one sitting there in the hall doing exam. hahaha...

i'm so full~ went to kim gary restaurant at vivocity for dinner. went to central at clarke quay at first but it was still quite empty. so disappointed. anyway, i ordered the pork chop baked rice set with cheese at kim gary's. the set also included a drink and a cup of soup. first time see soup served in a teacup. the baked rice was very nice, served in a dim sum bamboo 'long' instead of the normal western dish and it was cheesy enough. at first thought the rice was quite little but it turned out to be very filling! ordered the peanut butter thick toast with condensed milk to share with ny. it was a wrong decision to order the thick toast as it was also carbo and filling enough to be dinner by itself. i had always wanted to try it after seeing so many tempting pictures. but i was quite disappointed with it. i like the sweetness but the bread was not soft enough. especially the crust which wasnt crispy, making it difficult to cut through. overall its still a nice dinner.

*happy birthday~*

yay~ third paper over. this sem's papers were all quite ok. but today's hrm paper was crappy though. never crap so much in my exam. just wrote all the things i could come up with hoping it will be relevant. one question even ask us to come up with a business idea. if we got good ideas then we wouldnt be sitting there taking exam le right??
last saturday went to airport terminal one to study with hui. BK was surprisingly crowded with many secondary school students studying. so noisy lor. especialy the group of sec 4 students beside us. they even argue whether pythagras theorem need right hand triangle anot. cant believe it... anyway, the terminal 1 foodcourt is open after renovations! now it has more stalls, more tables and even more people. can eat my favourite hokkien mee le!

here's a logic question if you wanna take a break from studying and kill more brain cells. haha... question courtesy of jy...

John and David have a tuition teacher, Victor.Victor told John his birth month and told David his birth day. He listed his possible birth dates.

4th March, 5th March, 8th March
4th June, 7th June
1st September, 5th September
1st December, 2nd December, 8th December

John said, "I do not know, and so, neither does David"
David said, "I didn't know at first, but I do now"
John said, "Oh, I know now too"

What is the birthday of Victor?

answers anyone?

yay~ the first paper is over. had enough of memorizing drug names and side effects which didnt come out at all. i like pharmacology actually. its interesting to know the drugs that you might be taking and their purpose. but definitely not as an examinable subject! i've never been good at memory and i think for the first time, i had an anxiety attack before the paper. then was like thinking what anxiolytics are there... dont think i can do well but first paper down, 4 more to go!

i was looking forward to cutting my hair. like the feeling of having a fresh cut. but now i regretted it. the new hairstyle totally sucks! now i wake up with messy hair every morning. cant step out of the room without having to try to tame it down first. its much too layered for my frizzy hair, though i would have liked it in the past. now i cant wait for my hair to grow back. sigh...
sort of finished my assignment and report. sick of changing and plotting graphs over again. my friend just told me there're mistakes but couldnt care less now. the lecturer can deduct my marks cos i'm not going to touch it again! one of the lecturers was finally nice enough not to give us a report to do. its stupid really to ask us to do it one week before exams. think we're good at complaining. haha... my studying speed is so slow... where's my motivation?? doesnt seem like exam is in 6 days time. out of time!

a few weeks ago, a bird came to build its nest in the branches of a potted plant outside my home. the bird was brown with black and white areas around its eyes and has a long tail. this weekend, i went home to find that its two eggs have hatched and its babies have grown to furry cute birds! think they would have flown away by the time i go home next week.

my structural bio leacturer is so kind. he forgot to give us any assignment or test for our 30% CA component. so now, 3 weeks before our exam, he announces that he will post a journal paper for us to read and do a 2 page report. how nice of him. why sbs always make us do stupid things like this before exams??
i got a reply from the oncology research institute for my request of internship. got it through jh's contacts actually. most likely i should be able to work there for the holidays. wasnt really keen on working in the lab for the whole 3 months but sort of under peer pressure to gain experience and find a lab for fyp. this is my last 3 months hols and as one of my friends say, we should take this opportunity to make full use of the hols and do what we like. there will be plenty of chances to work after graduation. seems so close to our graduation and i feel so lost. but since i cant take ge, i'll work. felt like i wasted alot of my hols last time. hopefully can learn more this 3 months. so many people are going overseas, for hols or for studies. dont really have the courage to go overseas for studies. but i like to go overseas!

had a relaxing day today watching the movie mr bean's holiday. i always like watching comedies cos it feels good to laugh. especially after today's lab session where i didnt understand anything at all. feel so demoralised. mr bean is something that i've watched since young. so even if its a little exaggerating, i'll still watch it.but i guess its exaggerated cos he has to make people laugh without talking. this movie shows him going to france and the funny things that happen along the way, making him take a long detour and meeting interesting people. alot of the conversation is in french, so its a good chance to revise my french. haha...havent used it since i finished the module. the movie also showed many scenes of the french city and countryside. makes me wanna go there! both wen and my mum will be going there soon. when's my turn??

when i bathe, i cant do without hot water, unless its an extremely hot day or after a vigourous exercise. thus it has been a torture when i have to bathe with ice cold water for three days in a row. in addition to my flu, i'd end up shivering in the shower and feeling cold the whole night. my roomie says maybe this is considered yi du gong du (counter poison with poison)? stubborn as i am, i didnt want to see the doctor. but i guess i'm recovering already. sleep really works in allowing your body to recover. i wanna sleep more~ but there's a hrm test tomorrow... exams are in about a month but my work is just beginning

my friend was envious that i was sick as she rarely gets sick. she says she likes the feeling of people showing concern for her when she's sick. thanks to the people who showed concern and did things for me. but i still dont like getting sick!

hall application has opened. which hall should i choose? want to stay in the new halls but dont think i'll be successful. should be applying with yu but due to our point differences, we'll most probably be split apart. dont want to stay with a stranger in my last year

feeling quite moody these few days. dont know the reason too. now having a sore throat. must be the fluctuating weather resulting in many people getting sick. so many things undone but dont feel like doing. then got to know today that there wont be jap3 offered this special sem. hai..i was so looking forward to taking it with yanfen. though i already passed my jlpt and cleared my electives, i still want to take it. now can only take it during my fyp semester if i want.

Impresario 07' finals were held at the Rock audi last night. though i was in the programming subcommitee, i didnt do much till the start of rehearsals. didnt get to know many new people too. my main commitee leader was the stage manager, which means all of us were stuck backstage too. didnt get to see a single thing of the whole performance. but at least we got to interact within ourselves and the contestants. so overall, i had fun.
sy and i were in charge of the vocal group finalists. it was like 2 people taking care of 19 small kids. we had to keep track of their whereabouts at all times and also to ensure that they are not too noisy or peep out at the audi. nearly freaked out when one of the contestants went to dhoby ghaut without telling me. in addition we try to help them whenever we can, like refilling their bottles! and thus they all call us 'nai ma', which means nanny. the vocal group finalists were a really fun bunch, so hyperactive and always singing and joking together. it became entertainment to me in the boring backstage. and they had really good voices! really like to hear them sing. my personal favourite was felicia and ahmad's 'ni zui zhen gui'. ahmad's chinese is so good! all of us didnt expect erick and bernard to win. their voices were good too and they could harmonize well. but i felt that the song wasnt really their own style. they sang better songs backstage.
angela zhang was the guest artiste and initially, the people backstage were all eager to see her. but she came with a really black face and was quickly escorted into the vip room. after that her assistant complained that angela zhang will get angry if people kept peeping in and asked for paper to cover the glass pane. i know she was probably tired or something but shouldnt she be used to being seen in public? though pitiful for the loss of privacy, that should be expected when you're famous. and she had to leave within half hour of arriving. after that we had to clear the corridors whenever she has to walk by. can see her practically dragging her feet.
well, i enjoyed myself with the contestants and subcommitee. hope can get the cd of the performance soon!

i read this from my cousin's blog and found it interesting. some kids were asked what they think love is and their answers were very cute.
read the later half of the entry on 24th feb. the font is very small though..

http://espada11.blogspot.com/

love is...the little things that you do for him/her.
love is...just being together.

new year, a time to gather with relatives and friends, stuffing yourself silly with goodies and playing blackjack or mahjong!! ate my reunion dinner at my aunt's house for the first time this year. we usually have it alone at home after we stopped going to my grandma's house a few years ago. i like gatherings with more people though i'm not very sociable. i've got very entertaining relatives though. haha...
sunday was spent at my grandfather's place. this year more of my relatives are around so it was more re nao. at night, my aunt and cousin decided to come to my house to play mahjong overnight. my uncle was staying for a few days too. we didnt have a proper mahjong table so we used the round balcony table instead. but it was too small and we ended up creating more noise as the tiles kept dropping on the floor. cannot 'swim' properly. one of the tiles even 'commited suicide' and jumped off the balcony from the 8th floor! but it was unharmed with only a few scratches. so amazing... but me and ny really didnt have mahjong luck. ended up losing to all 3 people. hai..
today's the last day of the new year hols. back to 7 hour lectures on wednesday. *sobz*. anyway the bbq last thursday was a success. had a turnout of 30 people plus a very cute boy. haha.hopefully can get the photos soon.

happy new year and enjoy your hols!

decided to post something if not wen and cher hao are going to complain again. haha...
celebrated valentine's day for the first time as a couple this year. actually we sort of celebrated twice. ate at ding tai fung and crystal jade. conclusion? ding tai fung's xiao long bao is much nicer! thanks for everything~enjoyed myself.
what is the significance of valentine's day to you? a day for girls to receive flowers and get pampared by their boyfriends with gifts and dinners? i saw guy friends preparing dinner and flowers etc to impress the girl they like. that was really sweet. but actually guys dont really have to spend alot of money to impress girls. its the sincerity that's important.
reminds me of the times in jc where we celebrated it as friendship day. alot of the girls will be giving out little notes and chocolates to all their friends. it came as a culture shock for me as i came from a mixed secondary school and we dont usually celebrate this way.
really looking forward to the bbq dinner with my coursemates tonight. it was supposed to be a steamboat for pre-new year celebration but the guest list just kept growing and we decided to have a post valentine's day celebration as well. actually everyone was supposed to bring someone of the opposite sex to add in the fun but that idea kinda failed. haha... still looking forward to it. lalala~

hope you all had a happy valentine's day and happy chinese new year in advance!

feeling kind of sad to hear that my estate is going on en-bloc. they just achieved 80% agreement recently. while many residents were happy to agree because of the high price their flat would fetch, we are now having a headache. where to move to?? now the residents realised that actually our estate is very good. though a little inconvenient to public transport, i've gotten used to walking to the central area. situated between two mrt stations, its quite convenient actually. i like my house being spacious and windy. and most of all, i'm a person who doesnt like changes. having stayed here since i was five, many of my friends also live nearby. and i really like tampines alot. in any case, i wouldnt want to move to the west.

i was quite shocked to hear about the car accident of the taiwan actress during the weekend. she was so young and pretty but ended up with a tragic death. how unpredictable and unfair life can be...
watched 'happy birthday' and found it quite a nice show. the ending was a little touching and sad. in the show, the main female character didnt want to maintain a bf/gf relationship with a guy she liked for fear of losing him. thus, they were always in an ambiguous state. she thinks that a bf/gf relationship is not permanant. only good friends can be forever. but its such a waste for two people who like each other not to be together. must always treasure our relationships with the people dear to us for we wont know what may happen next. but i guess i can sort of understand her thinking. maybe that's why some people say its difficult for very good friends to become a couple...

Happy Birthday to

ShiWen!!!

hey gal, so fast your birthday again. haha... all the best for the new year and be happy always k. looking forward to more outings together!

first week of school and the lectures are all so disgusting! had 7 hours straight of lecture in the same lecture theatre. today's lecture was more like a secondary school lesson. the lecturer taught on the whiteboard without giving notes. but the worst was that his handwriting was barely legible. couldn't understand much of the lecture. many people went straight to change to take traditional chinese medicine after that. should i change too? hai...
went shopping with mz and finally bought some things! happy~ haha...

(this post was written one week ago but only posted now due to problems with the blogger site...)

my first post of the new year! new year, new blogskin. i know i'm abit laggy to be posting now but too many things have been happening the past week. year 2006 was quite a good year for me, except for the less than ideal end.
year 2006...a year of new friendships and renewed friendships. i stayed in hostel for most of the year. the times at hall 16 were most enjoyable. being able to stay with hui and yu, and also know the rest of the gals. i also got closer to many coursemates last year. i was lucky to know so many 'en ren' in helping me with my studies.
last year was also the year when most of my friends turned 21. so many parties to attend and also turned broke from buying presents. all the birthday parties were actually a great chance to catch up with friends, especially those from primary school.
as for my own birthday, i had a celebration at the chalet in pasir ris. thanks to all my friends who came and all the presents. had a really great time. though the chalet couldnt turn out as happy as i wanted, i'm no longer upset. i will not cry anymore. as iz says, this shall be a test of our friendship. though i'm sad that things can no longer go back to the way they were before, i believe our friendship will still remain always. you guys are my most cherished friends and it would hurt me very much if our friendship is lost. everything will be alright... through this birthday, i really feel lucky, to know that i'm loved by so many people and that i have many great friends. i'm very touched by what my family and friends have done for me. i have gained alot in friendships and relationships.
the one month holidays have come to an end. it has been my busiest and most happening holidays of my life. had alot of fun going out with friends. now a new semester is starting and so is a new chapter of my life. and now i have you to walk this journey with me... :)

happy new year!

celebrated this year's christmas with hui and the rest at marina bay's steamboat. same place but different group from last year. i didnt eat much that night. the chicken all tasted the same and my appetite still hasnt regained. the prawns were nice though it was kinda cruel seeing some of them wriggle on the bbq plate. (sorry sw if this grossed you out.) first time spending the night outas a 'liu lang han' but it wasnt quite as fun as expected. we took photos at esplanade and sat around at starbucks to avoid getting 'snowed' by the crowd at midnight. the kids next to us were so full of energy chasing cockroaches, of all things.
this is my 3rd day working in dmn bookshop selling sec 1 books. the auntie was very nice. and its a very slack job except for the first 2 hrs last friday. the rest of the time i was just so bored. but its refreshing to work and earn some money again. and i havent been back to dunman for so long. nothing seems to have changed much though. see so many familiar corners where i used to hang out with my friends...nostalgic!

*results out on 28th...
**pray hard it doesnt rain on sat!!

me and suyun were supposed to help with flyer distribution for impressario at orchard today. but just as we were about to go out, kaixiang messaged to say our help was no longer needed. happy that we dont have to stand all day but i was all ready to go out! and hong is singing today. hope she gets in~
had a belated birthday celebration for suyun yesterday. went to the soup restaurant for dinner. realised that its the same group of 10 of us minus a certain someone. lol...havent seen most of them since our last paper and we had a great time. the pork rib soup was so delicious! but of cos it has to be nice, if not they can close down already.
the weather this week has been depressing. bouts of heavy rain the whole day on mon and tues. but i still managed to go shopping with mz on tues and i finally bought something! realised i got a few things to buy actually. but why arn't they selling shorts? weather too cold huh..

*happy happy holidays~*

went for impressario's canvassing event today. had to listen to a talk on investments given by NGA, linked to Prudential. all the speakers were so well trained and full of confidence. and all of them are 'mei nu's! they talked about their company's culture and tried to advertise their career as financial advisors. it seems very dynamic and fun. they go on several company trips to all around the world in a year. but..it sounds too good to be true. they painted a beautiful picture that if you help 1 client per week to save a certain amount, increasing each year, you can earn your first million in 10 years. a 25 years old girl there already earned 0.75 million after 3 years. but how many people have that capability? even their savings plan sounds so good.
christmas spirit is in the air~ love walking down orchard road with the lights. dont like squeezing through the crowd though. went to vivocity for the third time this week. didnt shop there though. so many people there today. but i need to get clothes soon! the view outside on the third floor was very nice. good place to take photos and enjoy the breeze.
Deja vu is a really nice movie. highly recommended!

yay~exams finally over! its been over for a week and i've been busy everyday. life has never been more happening for me. i had fun but my wallet is also emptying at a very fast rate!
went for cns bbq gathering at mabel's house on thursday. she had these two little cousins aged 7 and 11. they claim themselves as 7-11. lol...they are so cute and smart. the younger boy was more chatty and they spoke very fluent english and with clear articulation. he could talk with us for hours. so impressed by their knowledge of cars. they actually know the model numbers of all the cars, their cc or engine power and a whole lot of other stuff which most of us dont even understand. and they got this knowledge by reading car magazines! impressed..mabel lives in the bukit timah, where no buses go in. every house has at least 1 car there. we had to walk out at night to go home and we took about half an hour just to get to the main road. each house we walked past justs get bigger and bigger in size. all so beautiful with full length glass windows and gardens big enough to play football. but the houses are so big, i wonder if they even get to see their family inside.
this is the month of christmas and birthdays! christmas lightings at orchard are about the same every year. but i'm still looking forward. hope to have more fun this month!

thursday, after exam, a group of friends were shopping in the minimart.

Gal 1: *looks at instant noodles*

ok, this shall be my lunch tml!

Gal 2: why eat instant noodles? no gd...

Gal 1: cos tml got afternoon exam, save time

Gal 2: tml where got exam??

Gal 1: *stunned and looks at gal 2* tml got genetics leh. right? *turns to another fren*

Gal 2: huh? thot got another day?

Gal 1: tml is friday le...

*stunned silence from everyone...*

how can anyone not know their exam schedule?? study too much le lah...

in the wee hours of saturday morning, my grandma's heartbeat stopped. her health wasnt in a good condition for quite some time and was recently aggrevated by many factors. no use talking about them now. just hope the person involved will really repent. she had an asthma attack on thursday night. she and my grandfather went to his batik shop as usual that day and she reached home feeling breathless. my relatives called for an ambulance which arrived a freaking 25 minutes later. while waiting for the ambulance, she stopped breathing for 5 to 10 minutes and her heart stopped later. 4 minutes without oxygen to the brain causes irreversible brain damage... the ambulance system is so ridiculous. my relatives called 4 times. they said that the 2 ambulances in the serangoon area were occupied and couldnt come. they called tao payoh which had to check that nobody in tao payoh needed an ambulance before they could send it over. they even wanted to activate the ambulance from paya lebar. hello~ this is an emergency! what kind of system is this? first come first serve?? see if you're lucky enough that nobody is using the ambulance in your area. the medical worker who arrived performed cpr immediately, saying sorry each time he pressed down on my grandma's chest. but he wasnt at fault. they managed to revive her heartbeat and maintain it with drugs, but she was already brain dead. they put her on the life support system so that other relatives could visit her for the last time, finally removing her from it late friday afternoon.
what if the ambulance arrived earlier? what if someone knew cpr and could administer it immediately? would my grandma have lived?
for concerned friends, i'm alright. i must say that i wasnt that close to my grandma but seeing my grandpa really breaks my heart. he was crying non-stop, saying he also doesnt wanna live anymore. life has no more meaning for him... they have been married for almost 60 years, i cant even imagine the anguish he's going through. i hope he can go on with life positively.. i cannot attend the cremation this tuesday cos of my exam. if i am there, i think i'll be crying my eyes out. its too heart-breaking for me to bear.

cherish your loved ones...(v)
/

there's less than 2 weeks to the first paper...and i dont think i can study finish. how how?? there's so much to study for each module. i dont have confidence in this sem at all. the only module that i think everybody will pass is the research seminars since its like GP. i still have 2 more reports to do. next week is the last week of school and yet i still have lab sessions. so stupid...still have to do report after that. and the report is 30% of the final grade. haiz...i'm worried. but somehow i dont feel the urgency to study this sem. maybe cos there's just too much and i just keep putting everything off. excuses i know.
talking about assignments, i finally finished my essay on monday. i was quite impressed with myself cos i managed to finish it within a few hours. then i made a big stupid mistake. i accidentally deleted my final completed assignment from my thumb drive!! argh~every student's nightmare. it was the only copy i have and it couldnt be retrieved. luckily i still had 1/3 of the essay which i had written the day before stored in my computer. if not i tink i'll just break down and cry. expensive lesson to learn..must keep backup copies next time!

i went to book a chalet for my birthday just now. i was really lucky cos only that weekend has available rooms. its gonna be at costa sands pasir ris on 30th dec. not the one at downtown east. dear friends, please be there k. i hope we can all have fun to mark the end of this year!
for now, have to finish my assignment. how am i going to type a 2000 word essay?? cant even hit the 500 word limit in jc. hai...
jia you for exams!

how should i celebrate my 21st birthday? aloha is fully booked and aranda is so damn ex. $838 for 3D2N! i might as well go overseas. go hongkong 1 week also still have leftover money for shopping. too bad my birthday is in the triple peak period. my mum gave me many choices actually. can have chalet at downtown east or dinner with friends at sizzlers or book a hotel room. must really thank her. but i dont really like to organise such things. so many things to take care of. and now is the exam period. not a good time for planning. but i do want to celebrate with my friends.

so what shall it be? hmm...

friday was the Mid-Autumn festival. how did you celebrate it? as for me, i had a chain celebration from wednesday to saturday!
the first was when i crashed hall 3's celebration to see ny and wil's performances.

on thursday, i celebrated with my coursemates. we gathered at the rooftop of 16B, my previous hall. too bad it was very hazy and we couldnt see the moon clearly. the haze was so bad these few days, i can only smell smoke in the air. what are those people thinking? burning forests every year... sick of the polluted air. dunno how some people can still smoke in this weather. k, back to the topic. that night was so fun. it was like we were back to being kids again. we ate mooncakes, drank chinese tea out of mugs, played with sparklers and took a whole lot of photos! we went into such a frenzy when 7 of us tried to light the sparklers at the same time, making so much noise. and for the first time since primary school, we carried lanterns around the school. ntu people should find a chance to go up the grass slope of the arts building at night. its so pretty.


friday was the celebration with my family. saw my little cousin who's so cute! she's only 1 years old but she is so full of expressions. and she can imitate animals like snake, monkey and cow. but of course she does all these so that she can drink the cold drinks that they adults were tempting her with. babies are so greedy for food. but they are also smart. after the drink was finished, she stopped entertaining us.

on saturday, i went to the chinese garden for the first time to see those big lanterns. surprisingly, i had alot of fun. walking down the long road from the mrt station, hui commented that it feels like we are walking down 'yin-yang road', especially with the haze. there was a cai shen ye along the way. we thought that he was giving out candy in hongbaos but he told us to 'shui bian gei. $1 or $2 also can.' isnt the god of fortune supposed to give out fortune?
we 'travelled' around the world in 2 hours. haha...cos this year's theme was the 7 wonders of the world. our first stop, the 7 story pagoda, already left us aching and sweating. and instead of fresh air at the top, the haze greeted us. luckily we went after the actual day of the festival, so there were not so many people. but there were still alot of people to hinder our photo-taking. i went crazy with the camera on hand. though my photo-taking skills were not so good. we ended up as shadows in many of the photos. half the place was filled with indian tourists. an early celebration of the festival of lights? after we finshed walking around, we rested at the second story of an initially empty building. but after we came and opened the balcony doors, people started coming too and filled up the place. saw another side to my friend today. didnt know he could have so many crazy ideas for taking photos.
after all the fun, we were hungry and went blk 85 in bedok for supper. so tired when i got back home. and another weekend is gone without much studying done. oops...

my two dear friends have been complaining that i havent been updating my blog. 'nothing happening in your hall life?',they ask. something 'happening' happened today alright. something to mock my own stupidity.
ny asked me to join him for running today. friends who know me will know that i hate running. but i actually agreed cos i wanted to complete the round that i didnt get to finish. which in the end,i still didnt finish.
while up the last slope towards hall 16, i was feeling damn tired. i thought, close my eyes for a few seconds. big stupid mistake! i didnt run straight and fell off the pavement. so diu lian! hai...thought my clumsy days were over. now i cant get the dirt out of the wound. help~ and my roomie's first comment was 'your blood very red leh'. of cos my blood is red! duh...

JK san, your programme was great. gambatte yo~

a friend once told me not to be too trusting towards people, even those that may seem like your good friends. but if you cant even trust your good friends or even your family, then what meaning does this relationship have? i always thought that the people around me are nice people who will not harm or lie to me in any way. and i want to keep on believing that.
nothing has happened to me but recently alot of things have been happening to the people around me. think its even more exciting than those mediacorp dramas. even though i'm not affected directly, seeing people around me get hurt and i cant do anything is not a nice feeling at all. why must people lie? people who love them trust them so much, only to get their hearts broken. such disappointment when they find their trust betrayed, and promises made are broken. and in the end? they just apologize for what they have done, without a proper explaination. what's the use of an apology. and i wouldnt be surprised that there's no explaination. cos if he is even thinking for the people who cared about him, he wouldnt have lied in the first place.

but i believe you all are strong and can get through this. the worst has already happened and things can only get better. ming tian bu yi ding hui geng hao, dan yi ding hui you geng hao de ming tian...

moved into hall this weekend. couldnt sleep at all the first night. i'm glad my roomie isnt hard to get along with. but i still wanna be with my friends. its gonna be difficult for me to study this sem. must force myself!

i miss staying in hall 16 with my 2 roomies! and with the rest of the gals there. now so bored in hall. sigh...dont like to go back to my room now.

dark circles are starting to appear under my eyes...sleep deprived!

we had a field trip to bukit timah hill for plant biology today. reminds me of all the fun excursions i had in primary school. we used to have so many excursions, making regular trips to places like the zoo and sentosa. however, i found today's field trip to be rather unfruitful. maybe cos i dont have an observant eye like sharon. the plants look all the same to me--green! there were no flowers at all. seldom did we see any moving organisms either. we saw very cute monkeys at the entrance though. they have grown to be unafraid of humans, chasing after some gals when they see food. back to the hill, i was actually looking at the path more than the plants. cos we had to climb up and down and i was afraid of tripping over. the summit was only 164m but the stairs up seem never-ending. we are so unfit compared to the retirees walking effortlessly. some aunties even found us too slow and we were obstructing their path!
i also got a place in hostel today. hall 8...i dont like that cluster. all my friends are in the other cluster. sigh...is there any way to transfer??
this period seems to be a difficult period for many of my friends. so many people having relationship problems. feel so helpless cos i dont know what to say or do to help them. all i can say is be strong k! i'll always be willing to listen.

saw something interesting in my email that day...

Count every 'F' in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

This is not a trick question. Look and count carefully!!!!
.
..
...
....
.....
....
...
..
.
The answer is...
.
..
...
....
.....
....
...
..
.
6!! Look again. Cos our brain cant process the word 'of'. Amazing right? Tell me if you managed to get it right.

we went to the settler's cafe in clarke quay last night. there were 12 of us and we made so much noise. going in big groups is more fun though everyone cant play together. i preferred the ambience at mind's cafe but the people at settler's were super helpful. we kept getting them to change games for us. 'Poison' is a very good short strategy game. 'pits' on the other hand, is a messy heart attack game. is one word of advice, dont play action games with long nails! haha...hui will know what i mean.

jap results are finally out! so happy to get my A. i think by the end of their university education, most people would have aquired at least a third language. so many people are aiming to learn jap.

school has started! and so has the cycle of buying textbooks and rushing to print notes. i hate this period of the semester. buying textbooks are so expensive and so we photocopy instead. but most of the time, i find that i dont use these notes. just following the crowd in case i need them. haha... the guys my age are also starting their uni life this year. everywhere i go, i find myself scanning the crowd for anyone that looks familiar. havent seen many people though.
this semester's timetable is filled with long breaks, meaning i have long days. wasted my 5 hours today talking to secondary school friends. crashed hui's strtegic management lecture. i actually found it interesting. guess its the first lecture so i could understand what was being taught. the lecturer spoke clearly and loudly unlike many of the foreign lecturers i have encountered. it feels good to learn something i dont have exams for.
i wanna stay in my beloved hall 16! tired of travelling. *sobz*

met up with a few friends yesterday. could finally get out of the house after the jap exam. which, by the way, was quite managable. the essay topic was quite lame though. 'what would you do with a million dollars?' seems liek some beauty pageant question. amazed by my own crapping skills.
back to yesterday...our plans for the night failed miserably at first. we wanted to go mind's cafe but yesterday evening was exceptionally crowded. cinema was damn crowded too. luckily we managed to get 3rd row seats(again!) for the lake house. its quite a nice movie. the house is so nice with glass all around and a maple tree in the middle. but as the plot has to do with 2 people living in 2 different times, it can get quite confusing. i can never fully understand the logic of time travel shows. wait a minute, there's no logic!

this has to be the funniest picture i've ever seen! cant do maths? make use of the english then. genius!

last sat was hui's birthday celebration at aranda chalet. i had alot of fun there cos i knew most of her friends. had a great time talking to the gals. the chalet was big and very nice, though there were only 2 rooms and 5 gals had to sleep on 1 bed. dunno how they did it. i didnt sleep the whole night and paid the price the next day. first time i felt so tired after one night without sleep. felt like a zombie the whole day and couldnt even do my homework properly. getting old? haha... but looking at hui's chalet, it makes me feel like celebrating my own birthday too. i could feel her happiness and i guess she's really lucky. whatever she had wished for, she got it that night. either all her friends knew her that well or she's very predictable. haha...being her friend, i would rather give credit to us. what shall i do for my birthday...
my jap lessons has ended. quite sad actually cos i enjoyed those lessons. and this means that school is starting. sigh...i think of the six modules and i'm reluctant to start school. yesterday's oral was a disaster. listening was a little better. i was the first to be tested and i was so nervous that i couldnt say anything properly. forget how to convert the different forms of verbs and could only leave it to my instinct. so disappointed with myself. i want an A!

just had an enjoyable time last sunday at the zoo with some of my cns friends. its like being a child again, on an excursion in our primary school days. so many animals to see and i forgot my camera! argh!! the cutest were the otters. they ran around in 1 big group and would stop in front of the people to 'pose'. after awhile, they would run to another coner and 'pose' again. models of the animal world. we also fed the kangeroos, though i nearly stepped on one of their tails. one of my friends sugested going back to the zoo together 10 years later. by then we would be in our 30s and probably married with children. lol... tracia shared with us her stories about her observations of teachers in classes. teachers are so noble! not that i didnt know that before but i rarely hear of first hand experiences from teachers themselves. it is so difficult being a teacher now. children are over protected and teachers also have to be creative to come up with new and interesting classes.they have my respect!

another interesting thing is that i got to speak to two japanese businessmen on tuesday. i met them at orchard when they asked for my help in buying tickets at the mrt station. i was so excited in speaking japanese and it will be good practise for my oral and listening exam next week. but i forgot all that i've learnt and all i could manage was a few words and broken sentences. there were so many questions i wanted to ask but the words just couldnt form. in the end, a girl sitting next to the men in the mrt joined in the conversation. she must think i'm an idiot for struggling to speak in such broken japanese when they could speak perfect english. i also had to pay full attention when they speak so that i could understand what they were talking. it was a good experience though.

this brings me to my next topic. i'm currently reading 'tuesdays with morrie'. its quite a meaningful book about the author talking to his sociology professor who was dying. they talked about many issues in life. many of the things are actually what we know we should do but have difficulty doing or not wanting to do. the professor termed this 'tension of the opposites'. there was one passage in which he said we must always be with the person we are with. that means to give them our utmost attention when they are talking and not think about something else or look elsewhere. that is a problem i sometimes face. sometimes i have problem paying attention and will tend to space out if the conversation is too long and only pulling myself back to answer 'uh-huh'. do you guys have this problem too? it seems such an easy task to listen but few people can do it. to listen with utmost attention and sincerity. sometimes people dont need advice to their problems but just a listening ear.

shh...listen...

my mentor just told me that there may not be work in the lab for awhile. though i welcome the occasional break, i wanna learn more in lab. besides, i have nothing to do at home. dunno what i'll do if i didnt have jap lessons. jap2 is more difficult with all the forms of verbs. the more i learn, the more i'm confused by the particles. but learning jap is still fun. and i have yanfen for company. the people in jap1 class are still the best!
went out with some sbs friends for steamboat to celebrate vincent's bdae. sbs people always seem to have steamboat outings. it was quite fun. just hope that there will be more gals next time. looking forward to this weekend!

just changed my blogskin and i love the picture. but what's the problem with the sidebar?? hate this html thingy. just cant get anything right.
oh yeah, this month's world cup month. bazil didnt get into the semis! i was so surprised. bet alot of people must be cursing at their losses now. football just doesnt interest me

after last week's rest, i'm working hard this week. everyday work till about 6pm. so tiring... learnt one thing though, i learnt how to play carom during our many incubation periods. we had a sucess rate of about one insert per week for our cloning. according to the prof, its quite good. being a researcher sure needs alot of patience! have to repeat the same experiments over and over without getting tired of failure. but today has been not suceessful at all! repeated the damn experiment twice, each taking hours, and yet there were no reults. not even unfavourable ones. sigh...
i finally got to meet up with my jap class friends last saturday after one year. too bad a few of them couldnt come at the last minute. hopefully more people can turn up next time. our group seems to be getting smaller. but i had fun that day!

i'm tired out today, though not from work. just as i reached school this morning, my mentor messaged me saying i need not come today. isnt it kind of late?!! so i ended up going shopping with the other two girls. started off going to the guan yin temple in bugis to have last minute prayers for tomorrow's release of results. then we proceeded to shop in bugis to orchard, from 9am to 5pm. office hours for a different purpose. my legs are killing me now.
then on the way home, my friend told me that results are out already. wasnt prepared to know my results today but actually i have no feelings about it this semester. my mind was blank except for a little worries for biochem. it turned out alright. not good but ok. very very slight improvement from last sem, though i still cant get rid of the C. that will be my aim for next sem(even that seems difficult to me). surprised for biochem...there must be moderation.
hmm...how to spend my free day tomorrow?

watched Over The Hedge yesterday. great movie! its one of the funniest cartoons i've ever seen. the whole theater was roaring with laughter. the movie is about a group of animals which woked up after their winter hibernation to find their forest being invaded by humans. in came the street-wise racoon to teach them about the human world, in a way that was actually making fun of humans. like 'cars are vehicles that humans invented as they are losing their ability to walk'. we went to tcc at boat quay after that. the second floor was really cool. filled with comfortable bean bags, its a great place to relax with friends.
just checked my time table for next semester. it sucks totally! i'm having 6 core modules plus lab. my days are packed from 8.30am to 5.30pm except for wednesdays. the exam schedule is not good either. how am i going to survive next sem?? sigh...better enjoy my hols now.

went to chalet on tuesday. i was abit skeptical at first cos only 8 people were going. a few others couldnt make it. but it turned out to be fun! the chalet was a BIG bungalow house under IDA which chulei's aunt got for $90 for 4 nights. so cheap! the house was quite new, modern looking with a natural wood feel. there was even a pond outside with a circular area containing 2 bbq pits. the living room was big with a high ceiling and a huge plasma tv. chulei preprared cold soba for dinner. and we had round 2 of instant noodles and various ingrediants. sitting round the table, it feels like we're having a family dinner.
next was probably the highlight of this chalet -- mahjong! 4 experts and 4 beginners. just nice to have a personal tutorial of the game. i took over vincent's feng shui seat and we won quite abit. vincent was a first time player but he picked up the game very fast and has extremely good luck. he managed to get 'hua hu' which is the set of 8 flowers! darren, though he was playing with 3 beginners, lost to everyone. thanks to him, we got free breakfast. haha... we played from 9pm to 3.30am and it was only 1 round. so dead tired that everyone just wanted to end the game. though there were 4 bedrooms, all 5 of us slept in 1 bedroom. feels like i've gone back to hall. only slept 2 hours before we all had to rush to school or work.
going to meet up with hui and guys later. so many movies to watch now. no time and money. haha... sw and mz, when to watch da vinci?? i also wanna watch x-men.
*hope this thurs gathering with the jap people will actually make it. its been postponed too long!*

i'm bOrEd...now stuck in sbs resource room cos there's nothing for me to do in lab. started to work in valarie lin's lab last week. hours are quite flexible cos it depends on what you have to do for that day. but i'm working for no pay. still have to pay for meals and transport. sigh... still blur blur, trying to make sense of the experiments and doing what my mentor tell me to do. hope i can learn something. quite sian to have to come school everyday. and i'll always look forward to going home to watch my 'e zuo ju zhi wen'. thats the only relaxing time at the end of the day. i love the show so much!! zheng yuan chang shuai dai le! haha...didnt even like him in the past. didnt know why jh so crazy about the show, but now i know. i'm finishing it soon though. nothing more to look forward to after work. in need of more new dramas to watch. sounds like a sad life huh. i still have a chalet with the few hall friends tomorrow. too bad limin and huihsien not coming.

tadaima~ just came back from japan two days ago. i had alot of fun and saw many things. gonna try to put everything to words now.
i stayed in hokkaido for the first four nights. it is supposed to be spring now but the weather was still quite cold. especially up in the mountains where the wind is strong, our fingers would be numb beyond feeling. there were still some snow left from the previous week. first time i see snow, though most of it has become dirty ice.

our first two nights were spent in a hot spring resort. it was a new experience for me to go down to the onsen. had to have alot of courage cos we had to be fully naked. but you could see japanese from ages four to 60+ and it was pretty normal for them. they could let their young sons see their bodies without any problem. i even chatted with a kawaii boy in the pool. the outdoor pool was especially refreshing. its so relaxing to soak in the hot water in the cold air.

after two days of mountain scenery, we went to the town of Otaru. the buildings there are all very nice. their streets are lined with a mixture of traditional styled japanese buildings and european styled shophouses. i was surprised to learn that hokkaido is influenced greatly by european culture cos of their location. their houses are mostly european style instead of the tradtional ryokan even in the countryside.

next up was Sapporo city, capital of Hokkaido. at night, the buildings are all lit up with neon lights. it is very difficult to find rubbish bins on the streets but surprisingly, the streets are even cleaner than singapore's. there's no rubbish at all. singapore has much to learn.

Hakodate, port city of Hokkaido. i finally saw sakura blooms!!! it wasnt much, only a few isolated trees. if only i could see the mankai, the whole park would be covered in pink. we also went to the fish market. the seafood is all very fresh but i'm sick of eating seafood for one week. not much of a seafood fan. i tried the squid ink ice cream. not very special actually but i love their ice cream. i can eat it everyday even if its freezing cold. finally got to eat ramen from those roadside stalls too. oishii desu ne~ but actually the real japanese food is not as nice as those in singapore. we are too accustomed to the singaporean taste. and the food is so expensive! a normal meal usually costs at least $10. even though things are expensive, tehy dont have to worry cos the main tourists and consumers in japan are the japanese themselves. they buy things like they are free.

we went to Tokyo for the last day. shopping time!! Harajuku is like the bugis street of singapore. all the people are dressed up very fashionably. some of the clothes are quite affordable if they are on sales. regret not buying more. at night, we took the subway to Shinjuku. the metro system is so complicated that having a map wont help. you can also sense how fast paced and stressed city life is. the people are all walking so quickly that you also feel obliged to keep up to prevent from getting in people's way. anyway, the night life in Shinjuku is very 'happening'. its actually quite a sleezy place. the street is lined with sex toy shops or night clubs and karaoke joints. there's not only gals club but boys club. their pictures will be shown outside the building for customers to choose. there will also be guys in black suits and carrying transparent umbrellas (it was raining that day), trying to get female customers. they are supposed to be handsome but they look more like ah bengs. i saw a few men whom i think are members of the yakuza. all of them had gold chains and drive expensive cars.

on the whole, i find the japanese very friendly people. had the chance to talk to some of them with my mediocore japanese. communication is abit of a problem. but with some japanese and english plus alot of pointing, we could barely manage. the most important phrase during shopping is 'kore wa ikura desuka?', meaning 'how much?'

the japanese are also experts in pakaging and service. all the things are wrapped up so nicely you just cant resist buying. they are also very generous with their samples. they give out whole chocolates and large portions of cakes as samples. something that cant be done in singapore or they would probably incur a loss. as for service, they are very patient and helpful. we were in a shopping centre when we got lost in the underground system. it was closing time and we panicked. we asked the manager for directions and he immediately left his post to lead us all the way out. pei fu! in any case, dont ever try to take taxi in japan. you'll suffer from high blood pressure just looking at the meter. i travelled for 4km and paid S$30. a 60km trip will cost you what it takes for a nice trip to bangkok plus shopping! their apartments are equally expensive. my tour guide stays in the outskirts of tokyo in an apartment the size of 4 tatami mats (1 mat=90x180cm). her rent is 70,000 yen (100 yen = $1.40) per month!

ok, finally ended. thanks if ur're still reading. haha...hope to go japan again. next time with friends!

woohoo~ exams have finally finished! one month of studying and late nights have come to an end. not that i mind late nights. haha... only slept for 3 hours this morning. a little tired now but i'm trying not to sleep so i can sleep on the plane later. doesnt feel like i'm gonna board the plane in 6 hours time. one luggage havent unpack have to pack another.
had alot of fun yesterday! after the paper and some rest, we went to buy ingrediants for our steamboat dinner. there were 7 of us and me and jh being the only gals, we prepared almost everything. too bad alot of people couldnt make it but it was still quite fun. we ate in our hall's tv lounge. felt guilty cos we couldnt finish the food.
after dinner, we went to meet the rest of the gals from hall 16 and 4 other friends to go ministry of sound. its my first clubbing trip! wouldnt have been able to go if we were not staying in hall. realised that clarke quay is very beautiful at night. according to hui, there were not many people there yesterday. but the place was still very crowded to me. all the smoke and loud music thumping...not really my cup of tea. but if there's a chance for everyone to go again, i will. danced to retro and RnB music. not very good at dancing leh. jh's friend say we not drunk enough. haha...cos we didnt drink alcohol at all. everyone is dressed so nicely. can see all kinds of people there, including those guys who cant keep their hands off drunk gals. and i was so surprised to see jk and nigel there. jk was so high~ dancing on the platform like a transformed person. haha...
reached back hall at 3am and shared 2 bowls of instant noodles with the rest. then only slept at 6.30am with four of us sharing 2 beds. feels like chalet. my last night in hall le...so she bu de. all the wonderful memories and friendships forged. this has been the best sem in my 2 years of university. really very happy this sem, feel like i finally have a life. thanks to my roomies and jh!! finishing lab reports are alot easier with our discussions.
will miss our times together!

came home yesterday evening and i was so dead tired. kept sleeping all the way. but i still slept at 3am at night. haha...it has become a habit. now i'm hooked on er zuo ju zhi wen. loved the japan drama last time. the taiwan version is even sweeter, just as unlikely to happen in real life. so slack now. havent studied since my last paper. i wanna play mahjong with them tonight~ but have to go back tomorrow. sigh...

209 paper was a killer. to me at least. i didnt know how to do most of the paper. mind totally blank. the previous night, i drank a can of red bull which kept me up the whole nite. only slept 2 hours on that day! then day before exam too tired to study le. hai...markers please be lenient. hai...enjoy myself first.
enjoyed myself today! but spent alot of money too. went to the hair salon after my paper. then went kbox at jurong east at night with jh, hh and cl. we sang from 10pm to 3am! so high~ but really very expensive. $18.90++ excluding cab fare. so fun... tonight is my last night in my room. so sad to see the room empty. kel they alln playing mahjong on sun. wonder if i can come back. abit guilty for not going home for so long. so many things that i've not yet done in hall. never even go out for supper with friends.
must not forget i still have a last paper on wed!

its 1 am and i just finished my supper. very unhealthy lifestyle...sleeping late and having late night suppers. or you can say sleep early cos the earliest i've slept for these past few weeks is 3am. hai...killed by the virology paper today. i couldnt do alot of the questions. so many questions from lecture 1, which i thought wasnt important. now going to die for friday's biochem. i need more memory space!
i didnt go home last weekend. mz asked if i missed home and my answer is...no. maybe abit bad but i really dont miss home. maybe its only one weekend and its comfortable enough here. but its not fun. eating and finding a place to study is a problem. can see a different side of the university without the crowd. and the absence of the cleaners is clearly pronounced. whole canteen become so dirty.
although i dread friday's paper, i'm also looking forward to the end of it! i'm gonna slack and not care about the last paper for the moment. so many programmes lined up that i think i wont be at home much. i wanna stay in hall this friday and next wedesday~ will be going out with hall friends. but i think my parents will nag. besides i'm flying off on thursday. no time!
sigh...3 more days. back to studies...

sad...hui moved out today. the room seems weird without her stuff. but i had an enjoyable last night crapping till morning. so relaxing to just stand on the rooftop and enjoy the morning breeze. soon, we'll all be moving out. she bu de~

help~ why cant i seem to concentrate on studying after the immune paper. feel so drained...

i have a good news! i got my jap2!! so happy~ haha...will be going with yanfen. poor mei cant take with us. at least i got company. class starts on june 19th. then will be an intensive 1 month. but now i have problems applying for internship. all my friends applying this hols. will any company accept me for 1 month?
had my first exam paper on thurs. this whole week, i've been studying at sbs with my friends till late night. quite lucky cos can ask my friends questions and half of the exam paper came out from past year's and tutorials. hopefully i wont have problems with the other papers. after that paper, i felt so happy. as if the whole exam was over. the worst is yet to come...
celebrated jy's bdae at cartel. the organiser say meet at 11.15am. who celebrate bdae so early?? anyway, the bdae person gave a treat. he got an ipod nano as a present. so good, i also want~ at least its something he can use.
why so many people's bdae in april? i'm supposed to be studying!

i went for sijia's bdae chalet yesterday. my flu miraculously recovered upon reaching tampines. but please dont put me in charge of presents again. there was the usual crapping session. victor commented that boyfriends are always the slaves at birthday parties. but as a boyfriend, isnt it right for you to serve your girlfriend's guests??
Dian's back from australia!! now working in a child psychology clinic and research assistant. so amazing... i always thought that people say its difficult to work as a psychologist in singapore. walid offered me a ride home on his bike and i declined. haha...i wasnt as relaxed as he thought i was when i rode pillion last time. all a bunch of nerves. going to miss weiling's bbq tonight. must start studying!
another piece of good news from my friend. he was successful in getting an internship in yes93.3! congrats! i saw his resume which was really impressive. i really admire his spirit and passion for the field of his study. he'll take the initiative to get internships to try all everything in the mass comm field. he knows what he wants and will take action to persue his dreams. some people just talk about their dreams but do nothing about it. that's only day-dreaming.
unlike him, i dont know what i want and have no plans for the future. can only take one step at a time right now...
all the best for the future

something amusing happened yesterday. i was walking in the campus when i passed by this girl. she gave me a look like she knew me and asked if i lived on tampines st xx. i was so surprised because i dont even know her. then she said she used to see me at the bus stop every morning in brown uniform. that would be my secondary school days! is her memory that good or have i not changed at all??
monday's immuno test was a disaster. the teacher had to remind us that there could be more than 1 answer for the mcq questions. this resulted in me putting down all those extra answers and end up those answers are redundant. worst thing was that 1 mark will be deducted for wrong answers. will i end up with a negative score? moral of the story - sometimes its good not to know the instructions.
these few days have been studying for exams but really li bu cong xin. i cant remember what i've read. all those stupid mechanisms for 209. can die~ and now i'm sick as well. wondering if i should go to sijia's bdae chalet tomorrow. cant eat anything. so many friends are sick too. everybody's stressed.
jia you and take care of yourselves!

yesterday's heavy rain spoiled my swimming plans. the rain was so heavy that parts of the hall were flooded. heard that my coursemate was very nice and swept the water away frm lm's corridoor. didnt expect he'd do such a thing. today i cant go swimming again. sigh...
the trip has been confirmed. i'll be going japan with my mum and aunt! its a dream come true. will the little jap i've learnt be of help? haha...dont think so. i hope that we'll manage to see the sakura blooms. heard that this year's weather is warmer and the flowers has opened earlier.
quite sad though that my bro not going. no one to share my excitement with. he's taking his o levels this yr and my dad dont allow him to go. actually if i were him, i'll be so jealous and upset. 1 week doesnt make much of a difference. my dad wants to get him tuition and through yu,i got ny. feels weird that i'll be seeing him every week at my house. i'm such a lousy sis. maths quite good but cant teach my bro. i really dont know how to teach. sometimes he also dont accept my method and say its different from what's taught in school. stubborn like i was last time

yea~i've finally gotten rid of the irritating music,after receiving many complaints. haha...so should have no problem now. just came back from limin's birthday bbq in hall 12. i feel so full now... so many friends' birthdays this month. i'm going to go broke. exams are in 3 weeks and i still have 2 more reports to go. how am i going to study for immuno quiz next week?! last week still play basketball. never play match before. so tiring, but so fun! ok must concentrate...i'll be going on a tour on the 4th! 1 day after exams! looking forward...this shell be my motivation!

havent blogged in a long time. cos nothing worth mentioning has happened. haha... well, i am loving hall life right now. i love the room so much and of cos staying with my friends. just too bad i dont have key then always have to trouble people. but staying in hall has made school life more interesting. i'm now closer to some of my coursemates. went to our school's bbq last tue. sbs always has free food for us. lol... and the people here are making me exercise more. where they find all the energy for running, badminton, floorball, swimming etc?? i went running with them twice now. its considered a miracle. haha... last time i die die also wont go running. really hope can stay in the same hall next sem. who wants to stay with me?? sigh...now starting to sense tension in the air cos exams are less than a month away. sw, must start our studying le. hee... back to the good old airport. just wanna add something, when there's people, there's bound to be clash of ideas. not saying you have to accept them but i guess since the majority already decided, you just have to think of why they chose that. easier to get the job done mah. gd luck for ur projects!

now is the middle of my term break. havent got down to any serious studying. i must start tomorrow! sw and mz are so busy...disappointed that we cant go out. nan de that our hols are on the same week. anyway, jia you gals, for all your tests! met up with sw today to study. ended up not studying much. hee...more of chatted as usual and the strawberry cheesecake was great! we were supposed to study in the national library but they didnt allow us to bring books or notes into the reference section (according to the security, "not even a quarter textbook!!"). but what's worse was that the whole library didnt even have the books we wanted. then i was surprised to see jk there. stupid guy call me siao eh. hair looks cool though. i wanna take jap with them~~ sigh...miss the times when i see hui studying jap.
gal, after listening to wad u say today, i'm really happy for u. hope everything works out well! zhu ni xing fu~

it was les's b'dae yesterday and we went to her house for buffet dinner. it served indian cuisine but what i didnt expect was a prata counter with a chef. we could choose from a range of ingrediants and order. there was even chocolate syrup as topping and it was so delicious. there were so many people there that i havent seen in a long time; all the s09 and first 3 months classmates. it was really fun talking to them and i ended up not spending time with my sec sch friends. last week, i went with hui and wanyu to get her present. bought a very modern-looking rocking chair. made her a card with the photo. its amazing what photoshop can do to make the colours so nice. wanyu designed a redemption coupon. i just love the whole thing. how i wish can just keep it in our hall. haha... hope you love it les. happy b'dae!

i finally moved into hall this week!! its so new and nice. long long table so i have space. staying in hall will never be the same again. and have so many friends here. just the problem of water though. the water is so dirty, dont like to drink it. i kinda miss sleeping at home too...
yesterday we went to buy les's present. love it so much. hee... i hope les likes it too. here's happy bdae in advance!