Tuesday, July 4, 2006 12:06 a.m.


the guy on the left is a chauffeur and the one on the right's a student.
if only the guy-next-door in singapore dressed with such nattiness. :D


smoking - the adjective not the verb.

okay enough eyecandy.
the boys watch the girls while the girls watch the boys who watch the girls go by...

Sunday, July 2, 2006 05:01 a.m.

big whoop for portugal but brazil, wtf?!

Saturday, July 1, 2006 10:49 p.m.

hi all!
the past week was busy but so much fun;
i actually love the exam period because of what entails right after those 3 to 4 hours of non-stop pen-scratching.
for one, we can leave school before noon, and what follows is always a nice lunch with the girls. :)

now yesterday was the birthday of a very special dear.


cutie pie.
happy 18th chenweiyan, i lovey dovey love you!

yesterday, i made a promise to myself to always triple-check bus routes with the bus driver.
i took 4 buses, a train ride and finally a cab to get to the prata place for weiyan's birthday bonanza because i kept going the wrong way!
almost cried in frustration, i was so angry with myself.

anyway for dinner, i cabbed (because i don't trust myself with buses anymore) down to sabrina's place where sarah, tanny, michelle and i hung out and did a lot of inane things like painting our nails, eating biscuits and playing mahjong.
later that night, we cabbed to sarah's house for soc-soc-soccer!
uncle brandon and rebecca joined us in the tv den where we caught the germany-argentina match.
so exhilarating!
aunty yulaine fed us with so much food but it was all very yummy.
and we made a lot of noise that night.
i think it's the most exciting world cup match i've watched so far, 8 people in one tv room literally screaming away. :D

i'm on a roll.
tomorrow's my dad's birthday.
i'm so happy.
blocktests are over and done with.
it's time to party on high.
england's playing in 10 minutes.
bye for now.

Monday, June 26, 2006 08:06 p.m.

nasty start to the day;
i woke up to the sound of some lizard clicking/chirping away behind my bookshelf and was so majorly grossed out.
bleargh.
but i met weiyan for some good ol' prata and milo dinosaur at thomson so that was nice.
the newly renovated prata house is so much better, really.

now for a mini evaluation of the gp exam.
my essay was pretty sloppy because i was more concerned with finishing it quickly and keeping aside at least 20 minutes to nap (the lizard cut short my sleeping hours).
for the comprehension, i hadn't even read the last application question before the invigilator went "pens down", so that was that.
no sense of priority.

early evening saw charlotte, corinne, weiyan, mitchel and myself down at island creamery where i finally tried out their new flavours.
ooh la love, thanks for the double scoops, mitch.
maybe i will treat you when my account is back in the positive.

okay, tonight is an important night for my purse strings.
wish me luck!

Sunday, June 25, 2006 10:20 p.m.

dear karina at 38,
i hope you're earning the big bucks now, not resorting to high-risk-low-return methods such as soccer betting, which is slowly but surely creeping up your priority list when we all know what should be on top.
also, i hope you're still keeping in touch with your childhood friends and continuing to talk on the phone for hours on end (in particular, talking about topics other than pick-a-score and match-day doubles as in recent conversations) because girlfriends are your rock.
i hope you still eat brandied fruit cake and think to yourself, "this tastes like christmas in june", which is always, always a good thing.
finally, i hope you're happy and satisfied with life;
because at this point in time your 18 year old self may be happy but she's certainly not satisfied with the million and one things as yet unaccomplished.

with love,
karina

p.s. hopefully, 300 dollars will not be a big sum to you, you with a) a job that makes you happy or b) a rich hubby, but remember that this sum you've reaped so far made you very happy once upon a time and it's always important to find joy in the small things.



p.p.s. i hope you're still as silly and random as this entry. ;)

Saturday, June 24, 2006 09:05 a.m.

edit: please visit dear michelle and peisi's tzarist site!
sorry for not putting the link up earlier, i kept forgetting.

hi all, i'm waiting for my dad to come home with breakfast and i'm in the mood to type so here's indulging that inclination.

i accidentally smashed the entire bowl of french toast cinnamon mix when opening the refrigerator door - klutz.
and the first thing i did was to take a photo of the mess.
it just looked so pretty, cream liquid with brown speckles, splashed across the square-tiled kitchen floor.
haha okay, it looked much better than it sounds, really.


did you know that the yanyan chocolate and strawberry dip contains cream cheese, giving it that smooth creamy texture?
trivia!

okay i'm off to eat dim sum.
good morning everyone!

Thursday, June 22, 2006 01:30 a.m.

tonight, argentina will win.
that's positive thinking for you.
and if they don't, i'll call charlene up and we will cry together.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006 05:53 p.m.


hi, meet my bestfriends.
we grew up together, now we're growing old together.

after tuition with malorie today, i explored the food basement and came across this dumpling stand.
signboard said: glutinous rice treated with edible alkaline solution, wrapped in leaves, steamed.
not the most appetising of descriptions but i bought one anyway, haha.

my whole family's leaving for the bella figura nederlands dans theatre at the esplanade tonight.
it's some contemporary ballet concert, should i go?
i'd rather watch oprah (love!) and go out for dinner though.

guys talk "girl talk", it happens everywhere
eyes watch girls walk with tender lovin' care

Monday, June 19, 2006 09:27 a.m.

it's about 9.30am and i just got back from janice's house in far-flung changi.
my head is spinning!

yesterday was father's day and we had a family lunch with my grandparents after church.
speaking of mass, i screwed up my reading and not only skipped a few words but also changed entire sentence structures midway.
horrible lapse of concentration, i was cringing inside.

the rest of the day was pretty productive because it was spent studying with janice. :)
then charmaine and charlene joined us for a crazy girls-night-in;
old chang kee home delivery (3 large boxes of deep-fried grub!), extensive net-surfing, tour around the estate, web-camming with shuwei from los angeles, lots of talking, and also watching the 3am soccer match via a tiny msn video conference window.



it was so much fun, 4 of us cramming to fit into the window screen, even watching shuwei fry carrot cake for breakfast!
spent hours online talking to her through the mike.
boy do i miss the girl!

in other news, auntchichiping hates me, i bet she thinks i am the sole cause of every single test her daughter fails.
we had to sneak in and out of the house, climbing through windows and literally walking around on tippytoes!

haha okay fatigue is setting in, time to sleep now.
i hope others have better luck than i do in soccer betting!

Saturday, June 17, 2006 09:10 p.m.

i started by boiling the cream, trying not to let my cooking-wiz of a grandmother find out i was baking.
but she sniffed me down and wound up helping anyway.
this was what i was afraid of, because charlene and company always insist it's my grandmother who bakes the goods and not me (objection, objection)!
this time, i cracked an egg onto the floor, slightly burnt the tart shells, and failed to melt the chocolate into the cream (my grandmother insisted on making the ganache for me in the end).
in my defense, i think i did a mighty fine job picking out the plumpest and juiciest raspberries and blueberries for the garnish. :)
my mum bought all these berries from tierney's and now they're mine for the snacking!

also, i love having my grandparents over;
gonggong's glued to the worldcup channel and mama's still as inquisitive, always poking through my stuff.


morning tuition today was followed by a lunch date with jo, weiyan and malorie.
we ate at this healthy cafe in paragon which served an ultra-sugared sticky date pudding and icecream that was pretty good but...
marmalade pantry's still the best.
and that's where we're going to eat next, right after our blocktest!

we spent an extended time in the marketplace searching for a gift for desiree who was street-performing outside and finally settled on something from the japanese tidbit section.
the guy totally slaughtered 'first day of my life' for me though desiree sang way better.



somewhere in between all that, i found time to go shoe-shopping (2 pairs, baby!) and popped by charm's workplace for a bit.
can you believe we're into the last week of the holidays?
yeah, me neither, let's just stay in denial.

Friday, June 16, 2006 11:39 p.m.

today was fun!
met the girls and we hit arab street for some shopping, walking, exploring and photographing.
and then we walked some more and had the usual fruit dessert at ice monster. :D
sarah and tricia left soon after so the rest of us went back to tanny's place and mahjong-ed all the way, woohoo, how long has it been man.
rusty ol' me lost 3 dollars haha.

i was just gleefully speculating what the newspapers would write about last night when right at that moment, mid-sentence, peter crouch put in a goal past trinidad and tobago.
bleargh, i really don't like the english team (although i know a lot of my friends do).
this is a little like mochi icecream;
most people love it but the flour skin thing really makes me feel like throwing up.
randomness, sorry.

looking back on the past 3 weeks, i haven't touched anything except economics - how now brown cow.
i need to study.
and one thing i want to add is: miss janice tan, can we please meet up to study from sunday onwards?
sorry for being so rude on the phone earlier on but just at that moment, i lost a game in mahjong!
moment of deep anguish haha.

it's near-midnight now but i insist on making chocolate tarts so that i can give them out over the weekend.
see, i'm a good friend, putting aside my fear of fire to make yummy stuff.

okay lah the real reason is because these ingredients are expiring soon.
hope they come out good though!

Thursday, June 15, 2006 12:14 a.m.

i'm no football aficionado but we all know a good player when we see one.


cuteness personified.

newsflash: i saw reese's peanut butter cups at the paragon marketplace - ambivalence, ambivalence.
on one hand it's beyond scrumptious and i crazy-love it and i'm so glad they brought it to singapore but exercising moderation and self-control is pure torture for the ill-disciplined!

also, my mum brought home 6 different cupcakes from the marmalade pantry today, including my favourite limonata with the lemon frosting on top.

this is the nutella one.
they're so cute i wanna adopt them!

argh, macroeconomics is a literal headache.
and i have 3 essays to complete. :(

michelle, i couldn't help it, i checked the project runway website.
santino didn't win, crap.

but me, i'm not a gamble, you can count on me to split
the love i sell you in the evening by the morning won't exist
- lua

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 07:10 p.m.

how weird is this, i have been receiving smses from friends from other jcs who are having study sessions in the sa campus (sad but true, i am always more sloth than productive in the potong pasir vicinity).
the closest i've been to school this month is when i pass it by on my way to town since i can see the campus from the expressway!
and at junction 8 this afternoon, there were raffles people studying all over the place;
just watching them inspires me so.
oh man, the guilt.

i'm going to plant my butt in the st nicks canteen because it's the one place i find most academically stimulating.
there's teh tarik, it's sun-shiney, there are teachers to chat with, in times of boredom, friends are just a table away, and it's spacious enough for you to conquer a whole table without feeling too selfish;
huge plus point for book-and-paper-sprawlers like me!


hilarious, now find your own pose.

Monday, June 12, 2006 12:12 a.m.

the federer-nadal match is more exciting than soccer, i say!
and because weiyan tagged...

5 snacks i enjoy:
1) liquer truffles
2) ice cream
3) frappucinos
4) berry smoothies
5) gula melaka ice kacang with nothing but red beans and chinchow :D

5 songs i know all the words to:
1) razor valentine thea gilmore
2) mad world gary jules
3) first day of my life bright eyes
4) the man who sold the world nirvana
5) kite copeland

5 things i would do with 100 million dollars:
1) travel and shop
2) set up an education fund (for siriam too!)
3) the economical thing - invest
4) the moral thing - donate
5) buy land and build houses in the same area for my friends and loved ones to live in (remember how we always talked about this!)

5 places i would run away to:
1) it's
2) the
3) company
4) that
5) matters

5 things i would never wear:
1) anything that fits badly,
2) doesn't flatter,
3) makes me itch,
4) looks frumpy,
5) or is too suggestive

5 bad habits:
1) compulsive hair-twiddling
2) procrastinating
3) being late
4) day dreaming
5) surfing the net too much

5 biggest joys:
1) the people i love
2) freedom of choice
3) good food
4) literature
5) music

5 favourite toys:
1) board games
2) five stones (i've sewn my own set before, haha)
3) a victorian doll named victoria
4) polly pocket (i had a whole neighbourhood!)
5) poker cards

5 fictional characters i would date:
1) seth cohen
2) pierre morhange (les choristes)
3) caleb trask (from john steinbeck's east of eden)
4) todd anderson (dead poets society)
5) fred and george weasley :D

Saturday, June 10, 2006 07:57 a.m.

it's 8am and i just got back from charmaine's place.
feeling pretty woozy from the headache i had all night but the peppermint oil she massaged into my temples lingers on!
it smells delicious.
and speaking of delicious, my grandmother made me bazhang with only dried shrimp, chicken and chestnuts inside - all my favourite ingredients without the usual stuff that i normally pick out.
sweet. :D

okay first things first, happy 18th birthday michelle tang!
the hockey girls and mr ben soh went out for lunch and a movie.
sorry for being 45 minutes late, you know me.
later, i went shopping with charm and bought a whole lot of stuff.
the opening germany-costa rica match was so damn boring you really can't blame for sleeping after 17 minutes, and maybe that's why i can't seem to fall asleep now.
but i'll try anyway.

sarah, tanny, mich, trish and sab.
my favourite people!

Thursday, June 8, 2006 11:29 p.m.

no other love - darlin' i'm flying
no other love - darlin' i'm flying
i can go - i can go anywhere
but no other love can take me there

so we finally found a common date and caught x-men 3 today (been planning this for ages!)
the 6 of us promised to watch it together and we must have been the last people to finally catch it but it was absolutely worth the wait.
jean grey's hair was phwoah, i like, but the second film was more interesting.
we also covered quite a bit of ground while attempting to shop (thursday's dismal orchard crowd works for me) and took a whole bunch of photos - the more the merrier until sarah flies off again!

janice called and cancelled (gasp!) the soccer date with charlene, charmaine, tanny and me.
now she wants to re-schedule for a japan-team-playing match.
what! is! this!
watching soccer for the wrong reasons!
(in this case, no. 23)
but i love her enough to print out the fixtures and mark down all those days we are to meet so it's okay, i'll even make chocolate tarts for everyone's supper. :)
this cooking bug of mine isn't wearing off anytime soon.

okay i just got home and am in dire need of a shower.
i'm quite high on gula melaka ice kacang and white chocolate (new flavour!) m&ms though.
omg, i seriously need to stop eating, i am snacking so much it's not even funny.
but i will relent, succumb to temptation and make malorie join me in my makan-escapades at junction 8 (unexpected food haven) because that's where we will be studying and rushing on economics tuition homework hereon.
i love eating with mal because she really enjoys her food - even simple things like our frappucinos at coffeebean today!
and weiyan, jo, cheryl - remember our long-overdue pete's place buffet next week!

pardon the whole slew of an entry;
for some reason, i am exceptionally happy today.
i ♥ my girlfriends, can you tell!

Tuesday, June 6, 2006 01:55 a.m.

the fungus has landed!
studied at coffeebean with sab, trish and jiaying before mich, tanny and sarah joined us - whereafter all attempts at studying failed.
it felt good just sitting around talking. :D

sarah's done with high school and into university.
my cousin's got a place in hcjc for 2007.
next year, i see myself holidaying, interning and part-timing for all of 6 months.
sounds good to me!

charm just called, i miss her drawl.
most days i'm happy to pack my schedule with stuff to do but sometimes i wish i had more time to do nothing.
maybe stare into a blank journal page and fill it up with colour, you know, to create something aesthetically pleasing though without practical function.
those instances are few and far between and i don't say 'no' to people enough.

but then again i like having plans;
so i will embrace the flurry now because that always beats wasting time away.
alright, back to the books.

Sunday, June 4, 2006 08:27 p.m.

happy weekend trooper;
after staying up all night, i took a bus downtown to meet up with the tai sisters (jien and nat) and the chen sisters (weiyan and weishan) this morning.
since we were all punctual (oh my!) and too early (oh my my my!) for the flea market, we sat down for some yami yoghurt at meridien for a bit (my first time there ever!).

note: pardon the perennial parentheses but i have a peculiar penchant for punctuation - and puns, patently.
omg i'm so annoying.
i sometimes wonder if people actually register my verbal regurgitations.
translation: sorry for using too many brackets and nonsensical puns.

anyway, the last time i went to zouk was eons ago, way before its revamp so it was nice seeing its not-so-new-anymore interiors in full bright light.
i almost bought a talking watch - behold:


a little female robotic voice tells the time out loud for all us vision-impaired suckers-of-all-things-cute.
unfortunately they are way too pricey for a cheap thrill;
enter the quote of the day which we always repeat when flea-marketing in order to pull one out of an impending act of folly - "let's look around first".

no matter though, because i walked away a happy trooper with my new vintage leather belt (oxymoron!), one sizable kate spade bag, this cute body-hugging dress that i will have to watch my diet for, and a debt to jien (who is rolling in the riches each new month brings).
;)
no more late-night snacking and heck-care eating habits in this post-hockey life of mine;
i already have the creeping feeling that my clothes are getting way too snug for my liking.

okay i'm going to expire anytime soon because exhaustion is catching up with me.
neeed...too...sleeep...
but before i go, i must announce rather gleefully that - ahem - yours truly is intending to make the kitchen her domain and whip up a few idiot-proof munchies of which said recipes i have recently procured.
in fact, i will make a special batch in celebration of sarah fungus' return to our sunny little island, since we're now a complete family once again. :D

prepare yourselves, all you guinea pigs i call friends.

Saturday, June 3, 2006 12:13 a.m.

"the truth that's told with a bad intent
beats all the lies you can invent"
william blake