"you don't you won't
no way i say
you didn't you doesn't
you isn't you wasn't
you wouldn't you couldn't
you oughtn't you shouldn't
love nobody but ME!"
:)

tham yaoxuan karina alexis
chij st nicholas girls' sch
cjc/sajc
28th april 1988

drop a note
a little piece of me

photos. sngs eldds family church offshore outdoors uppersec graduation bestfriends

4purity yvonne yenhui winnie wendy weiyan varissara valen trisha tricia tiff pg tiff chua tiff&ade sylvia
swei stacy sihui siaoer sheena shamini sangita sam see sam lim rini ping paul pamela nicola nic ng nat
muthu mitch mike mich ye mich chow mel lyn louisa lixxie lisa linwei kim julia joette jo jillian jiang
jesmine jean toh jean chin jael jacq hannah geri freda elizabeth eleanor dragon dinah denise corinne
chow cassandra candice brendan bobby belle audrey andrea amelia amanda alex

anirak 2005.

Sunday, July 3, 2005 02:51 a.m.

i am beyond shagged.
the sleepover last night brought back my radical body clock all over again.
and i haven't even recuperated from The Week of Common Tests!
oh well, i'll do a proper update another day; much too sleepy right now.




courtesy of corinne. :)
here's the photo album of weiyan's surprise 17th birthday party which was awesome fun!

and i'm happy to say that i've been catching up quite nicely with my shopping list.
shall gush about the sale another day (although frankly, the nice items are all nett priced).

okay, fatigue is setting in.
got. to. get. some. sleep.

Monday, June 27, 2005 02:29 p.m.

and so we were on the road to school this morning.

(extremely slow-moving car ahead)
dad: must be a woman.
me: tsk, daddy!

anyway, the gp exam was quite traumatic for me.
haha.
but no i'm serious.
i skipped a four mark question due to the lack of time.
need. to. write. more. quickly.

went for lunch at o'briens with the girls and i just reached home.
i've zilch notes for literature tomorrow (because i write so slowly, i never keep up with note-taking during lectures) so let's see what i'm going to do about it.
dilemma.
maybe i should sleep it off.

by the way, swan lake last night was so good!
and esplanade coffee is expensive.
17 dollars for one cup, and i didn't know because the prices weren't printed on the menu.
furthermore, they only accept nets or credit card.
"we're operating on a cashless system m'am, sorry for the inconvenience."
troublesome ppffttt.

oh yes, weiyan has given me very exciting news about harry potter that's got me all jittery!
but i promise not to say.
ahhh i can't wait for this week to be done with.
sigh.
i'm going to take a nap.

Sunday, June 26, 2005 12:07 p.m.

i really feel like blogging right now but i've nothing concrete to say.
hmmm.
well okay, i'll talk about something that makes me immensely happy - my nutcracker collection.

i fell in love with them after watching the nutcracker ballet back in 1998.
i was still learning ballet then, until i stopped at grade 7.
anyhoo, i wanted the nutcracker that the young protagonist clara got for christmas but i didn't think items like nutcrackers were mass-produced.
they aren't; they're individually handcrafted...
and one of my greatest discoveries to date was chancing upon them in a german toy store. :)

i don't have that many nutcrackers - maybe about 6 (one has gone missing).
for a while, i could only afford the miniature series.
i have the smallest working nutcracker ever made - it's about one centimetre tall!
incredibly tiny.
doubt there are nuts that small.


nutcracker soldiers

most of my nutcrackers were made in the erzgebirge region in germany - christian ulbricht wooden nutcrackers.
i prefer them over other makers (like the well-known steinbach ones) because the faces and costumes are very much more opulent.
and i like the structure of ulbricht better.
sab, mitch, tanny and sarah got me a 15-inch one for christmas in 2003. :)
it's a black soldier nutcracker.
my personal favourite is a pristine white one with real animal fur that i have to keep wrapped up in acid-free tissue paper.
i'll take photos one day!

actually, i collect teddy bears too.
mostly steiff bears (i swear, german kids have it good; they play with the best toys) but the dust they collect on the shelves irritate me and i've stopped since.
i still like teddy bears though...
so electic.
i think everyone should have a collection of something they love.
best if it's rooted in their childhood and stemmed from a fond memory. :)

well okay, i'm actually on this topic because my whole family's watching a ballet performance tonight.
swan lake by the royal academy of dance. :)
tchaikovsky!
woohoo!

Saturday, June 25, 2005 10:21 p.m.

i went shopping today!
shoot me please.

little miss no-discipline-and-procrastinator-number-one passed by palais renaissance on her way to meet tanny and charm and couldn't resist entering her favourite shop.
then, as if wasting time in town wasn't terrible enough, she bought a pair of blue cult demin jeans from inhabit.
oh the guilt.



simple but well-fitted.
i like!
i love!

oh yes, if you're wondering why i've been posting so many photos this month, it's because i finally remembered my password.
though after much trial and error.
however, this also equates to much more loading time. :)
oh well, give and take.

Saturday, June 25, 2005 11:30 a.m.


bestfriends.

"There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast."
- charles dickens in the pickwick papers

Friday, June 24, 2005 01:40 p.m.

Your Deadly Sins

Pride: 80%

Greed: 80%

Envy: 60%

Sloth: 40%

Lust: 20%

Gluttony: 0%

Wrath: 0%

Chance You'll Go to Hell: 40%

You'll die in a shuttle crash, on your way to your resort on the moon.

How Sinful Are You?

that isn't too terrible a way to die.
i mean, my own resort on the moon?
hoho.

Friday, June 24, 2005 01:39 p.m.

fee fi fo fum.
i'm back.

on retrospect, yesterday wasn't that bad afterall.
maybe i was exggerating a little.
haha.
but anyway, i'm going to make this a quick one so here's a list.

# bumped into random people in holland village ie. ms jeya, den, melissa, etc.
# ms jeya asked me to go visit her one day!
# shopped at antipodean and anthropologie, two of my most favourite shops in the area.
# shopping + pedicure = broke beyond broke beyond broke.
# contemplated borrowing money from all those i met but it kinda slipped my mind.
# i need thicker skin too.
# while waiting for charm to come down and save me, i wanted to do a few exercises from my economics tys but i'd forgotten to bring my stationery.
# considered borrowing a pencil from the crystal jade receptionist but...
i didn't have the guts.
# was occupying the bench outside the restaurant and ms receptionist didn't look too friendly.
# moved over to starbucks where i couldn't afford coffee.
# started blogging.
# charm came down in a cab and got her sis to lend us money.
# zoomed down to junction 8 for a light dinner then off to ms giam's where she cooked us macaroni.
# the chocolate croissant at delifrance is incomparable to the sajc one.
i don't care if they're both from the same manufacturer; the sajc one just tastes better.

considering the fact that i spent my last dollar (and i mean this quite literally here) on the croissant, i would have expected it to at the very least tingle my tastebuds.
but no.
what dry synthetic rubbish. hmmm okay, long enough.
i'll be off to take on geography now.
i haven't even touched the acjc notes from karl.
that day during pw meeting, we tried squeezing a few tips from mr lim about the impending test but nothing much came out.
we criticized his geography notes though.
the look on his face - haha.

ps. this entry is in a beehive shape!
reminiscient of population graphs.

alright i should get started on geography.

Thursday, June 23, 2005 03.53 p.m.

OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME. I AM THE UNLUCKIEST THING TO WALK THIS EARTH. I AM OFFICIALLY A MAGNET OF MAYHEM AND DISASTER AND BASICALLY ALL THINGS SHITTY. in my joy and excitement in bumping into ms jeya, i shut my flip phone and accidentally deleted the LONG entry i wrote about my unlucky day this not-so-beautiful thursday (well, okay, granted the weather is fine but the contents of it... unspeakable). it's the epitome of a series of unfortunate events gone wrong and much worse and now out of control. i'm going home later to properly blog about it; you know, to vent a little. right now, charm is lost somewhere in upper bukit timah and it is my duty to tend to that. also, because i'm broke and she is my sole saving grace. i am hungry and bothered, but at least i have pretty french manicured/pedicured nails to keep me smiling. together now, "BIMBO!" that's right, joking at this point, karina. at a point when you're flat broke with no means to eat/travel. i'm in a pair of distressed denim jeans... would that work with an image of a pauper, allowing me to beg for a bit? okay, enough with entertaining silly thoughts. i'm going to read some othello and feel better about my improving-though-now-largely-lacking knowledge of my literature texts. await my sob story tonight.

Thursday, June 23, 2005 05:14 a.m.

so once again, my body clock decides to be funny with me and jerks me awake at 5 o'clock in the morning.
in a couple of hours, the birds will start twittering and that's the unmistakable sign of how early in the day it is.
however, i will attempt to make this an advantage as i embark on a vigorous and yet balanced work cum play regime today.
as i've come to realise that scheduling does work for me (as proven on tuesday when everything worked out quite closely to the plan; except i met up with charm in the evening for a french manicure too), i'm drawing up yet another schedule.

i think i'll now surf the net for a bit, read the newspapers and then have a hearty breakfast before leaving the house at 9am for a study session outside.
i intend to plonk myself in starbucks and pop by the nail place at holland village for a french pedicure, then head over to ms giam's place with charm for tuition at 4 plus.
that'll be the plan, tentatively.

i think i know why my body clock is working this way (whacked up, in other words).
it's assuming that the sleep i got from 2am to 5am (my sleeping hours for today) is merely a nap and not a full-fledged-8-hour night.
this certainly does not bode well.
i am living in a different time zone altogether.

that aside, yesterday was a nice pseudo study session over at tricia's. :)
plus, mitch brought back my favourite pilot pens from hongkong in a range of fantastic colours!
i hear isetan has some pretty ones too so i'll have to check them out as soon as possible.
but stepping into orchard road at this point is akin to dobby the house elf defying a direct order (it's the intensive harry potter reading getting to me).
i'd be guilt personified.

well, moving on.
in the evening, sab, mitch, trish, tanny and i walked out to serangoon garden's for dinner and snacks.
we tried this wobbly icecream jelly thing which was...
strange to say the least.
i wanted ben&jerry's so badly but 7-11 didn't stock my favourite cookie dough flavour.
the small tubs are always missing.

so then we went back to tricia's place for some manhunt and pirated movie watching (mr and mrs smith!) but left before its end as it was past midnight.
but we watched enough to wow at the hotness of angelina jolie.
she's smouldering.
whew.

okay, putting my plan into action, i'm going to read the straits times just about now.
i've two days' worth to catch up on.
chip chop spit spot, i'm off.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 10:13 a.m.

it's about 10am and i'm on the bus heading off to school. you'd probably be thinking "wow, she's up early for once", but the truth is i didn't sleep a wink last night.

sure, sure, i was in bed by 5am, but the tossing and turning and plaguy alert mind drove me crazy before the clock struck 6am when i promptly threw myself out of bed. i certainly did not want to waste any more time lying around. and i mean that quite literally. so i sat through a couple of hours of economics mcq, rewarded myself with a chapter of harry potter (order of the phoenix - my least favourite of the series but a must-get-through since i've only read it once before; all in preparation for the sixth, which better be worth it), lapsed into a period of nostalgia as i flipped through old letters lying below my desk then bade my dad farewell before he left for work. i considered leaving the house with him and taking a free ride down to sajc but that would have made me much too early. afterall, i'm meeting my pw group for breakfast only at 11am. i do realise i've gone for 14 waking hours without food and the nagging hunger pangs are only just beginning to intensify.

i'd describe the dark morning comprising the hours of 3.30am to 5.30am; when it's neither late at night nor early in the morning. sometime within that period, i planned a visceral schedule for today down to the most minute details. it is as follows.

breakfast from 11am to noon followed by a pw group meeting (jo, mal, yvonne, cheryl and me) afterwhich a short consultation with mr lim will precede lunch with swei and tanny in orchard. i have to collect a bunch of things that i've reserved in town. the projected menu for today is tentatively a grilled chicken sandwich, much-needed caffeine in the form of a grande starbucks mocha (conveniently opposite o'briens), yami yoghurt with kiwi topping (for the love of it) and a mocha soya if i feel the need to sleep. come to think of it, fatigue seems to be setting in quite suddenly, and the wet, gloomy weather is definitely not making things any better. i wish there were some sunlight to possibly flood my eyes and keep them bright and open. as it is, i am donning a degree-less pair of spectacles to shield my dark circles. hypothetical eyebags? i think not. the mindless splurge on redundant eyewear seems quite practical now when faced with a situation such as today's. i already sense the gnawing inclination to close my lids and drift off...

oh i do hope my phone alarm wakes me up on time in case i should miss the psa building bus stop. i don't expect to be online tonight. i apologise for the incoherent (and might i add, rather senseless) flow of thought. typing within the tiny screen that is my handphone doesn't allow for much macro-viewing of the entry i'm afraid. or rather, i'm much too lazy to scroll up...

Monday, June 20, 2005 10:59 p.m.

there's one thing i like about using pitas as my server and one thing i don't.
it's forced me to learn html coding from scratch (i don't know how this is going to help me in the future but it's nice being in control of how the page looks) but at the same time, i don't quite fancy how extremely tedious the process is.
every colour change in the font and all the paragraphing has to be encoded via html.
whew.
anyhoo, i nipped this off valen. :)

20 people, off the top of your head.
1. Tanessa Leong
2. Sabrina Wee
3. Michelle Chow
4. Tricia Tan
5. Sarah Fung
6. Charmaine Lowe
7. Lim Shuwei
8. Janice Tan
9. Charlene Chow
10. Lynette Tan
11. Stacy Peh
12. Chen Weiyan
13. Joanne Tay
14. Malorie Pang
15. Cheryl Loy
16. Valencia Tjitra
17. Isabelle Tan
18. Sim Jiaying
19. Brandon Lee
20. Brendan Foo

1. Who is #8 going out with?
i wouldn't know.
she's disappeared from the face of this earth!

2. Is #9 a boy or a girl?
girl.
with particular tendencies. ;)

3. Would #11 and #2 make a cute couple?
hmmm.

4. How about #18 and #4?
one will tell the jokes (jiaying) and the other will laugh infectiously (tricia).

5. What grade is #7 in?
i think she's going to be in grade 11 when she goes to the states in august.
but j1 at acjc for now.

6. When was the last time you talked to #12?
face to face?
18th june. :)

7. What is #6's favorite band?
haha...
something sappy like michael learns to rock. :D

8. Does #1 have any siblings?
one sister, tabitha.

9. Would you ever date #2?
haha.
she's kissed me!

10. Would you ever date #17?
no she has enough girlfriends/eyecandies.
i'll just feel unwanted. ;)

11. Is #16 single?
as of now, yes.
go find an american boy okay, valen.

12. What's #15's last name?
loy.

13. What's #5's middle name?
suet ying.
fung suet ying sarah.

14. What's #10's fantasy?
hmmm...
representing singapore in the olympics and getting a gold! :D

15. Would #14 and #19 make a good couple?
yes they're both extremely nice.
but mal has someone else...
:)

16. What school does #20 go to?
anglo-chinese junior college.

17. Tell me a random fact about #11?
when i first met her, i thought she was malay.
for real.
i've known her for 6 years running now. :)

18. And #1?
her s___ is very s_____.
but i still love her all the same. :)

19. And #3?
we're buddies!

20. And #2?
we once took up this job at geylang...

21. Have you ever had a crush on #16?
haha.
no crush, but i've loved her ever since getting to know her 6 years back.

22. Where does #9 live?
serangoon central!
with yummy ban mian.

23. What's #4's favorite colour?
i just asked her!

; champagne supernova - says:
btw what's your favourite colour?
' beverlyn hills; thats where i wanna be ! -- trish loves candyflosss and 05A53. says:
urm it depends.
' beverlyn hills; thats where i wanna be ! -- trish loves candyflosss and 05A53. says:
ive like TONS.
' beverlyn hills; thats where i wanna be ! -- trish loves candyflosss and 05A53. says:
it changes.
' beverlyn hills; thats where i wanna be ! -- trish loves candyflosss and 05A53. says:
why..
' beverlyn hills; thats where i wanna be ! -- trish loves candyflosss and 05A53. says:
SO SNEAKY SNEAKY.

24. Would you makeout with #3?
hmmm.

25. Are #5 and #6 best friends?
they know each other.

26. Does #8 like #19?
i think the only time they've met was at my birthday dinner in 2003.

27. Does #10 have any pets?
yes!
a couple of terrapins!
coincidentally, they were featured in the straits times last week.

28. Is #12 older than you?
no, i'm older by about 2 months. :)

29. Give #13 a hug?
why not?

30. Is #17 the sexiest person alive?
haha!
sexiest hair, yesiree.

31. Is #14 weird?
nope, she's sweet.

32. Have you seen #7 naked?
haha!
shanghai bathrooms!

33. What's #2's favorite food?
chicken.
or anything that's 'okay'.
"there's no favourite loh...everything's just 'okay' to me."
yeah, okay, sab.

alright, this was one long answering process.
i salute everyone who perused it to the end.

Monday, June 20, 2005 01:21 a.m.


courtesy of weiyan. :)
much love.

Sunday, June 19, 2005 04:14 p.m.

i'm at it again! blogging from the dining room on my handphone. teehee. if there's one thing i learnt during literature class at cjc (actually i learnt much more because the lit teachers there are great), teehee-ing is properly known as tittering. :) by the way, we were speculating in the shangri-la toilet last night whether or not eating a huge dinner/supper (as we did) would result in greater hunger pangs in the morning. well, it certainly turned out that way for me. i woke to loud growls by my stomach this morning. ho hum. and i realise blogging like this is a lot like just typing down my thoughts as they enter my mind...conscious (or rather, unconscious) stream of thought put down into words without any general direction. interesting though. anyhoo, i'm reading the newspapers before heading down to christ the king church for charlene's confirmation later. finally, she's getting confirmed. then it's off to town with swei, chow, charm and tanny for dinner i should think. yupp. i realise how annoying a whole chunk of words must be. oh well, i'm off for now.

Saturday, June 18, 2005 11:50 p.m.

just got back from a buffet dinner at the line.
been wanting to try that place since forever...
and it was intense.
haha.
the chocolate fountain drove us to delirium. :)

so mal, jo, cheryl, weiyan and i met at shangri-la hotel afterwhich we attacked the food stations and went on a wild photo spree all over the place (including the romantic poolside, haha).
the staff there really entertained our requests for shots at the oddest locations ie. behind the cooking counters. :)
fun!
and we spent three hours eating so you can imagine how much we consumed...
the bill came up to 400 dollars for the five of us - munch!

anyhoo, thanks to mal for the souvenirs from brisbane. :)
and big thanks to weiyan for the lift home too.
i am super stuffed now...
but damn, the pineapple rice was good.

Saturday, June 18, 2005 12:08 a.m.

just got home from supper with chow, swei, charm and tanny.
we had thomson prata which was ooh la la!
haven't eaten there in a long time.
swei and tanny just got back from the states and australia respectively, both having just landed today and poor swei was suffering from jetlag.
haha!
i think she was more high on jetlag though.
but it was so nice for all of us to meet up again.
and i especially can't wait for the lawyer shirt and purse swei bought for me. :)

okay, prata was followed by bridge at ritz then liquid kitchen for a round of overpriced drinks.
a couple of our seniors from st nicks were working there too.
indulging in my favourite activitiy - eavesdropping - again, i was trying to overhear the conversation between the waitress and some drunk guy at the opposite table.
haha.
but anyway, i think it's an awesome place to hang out and i want to try their bailey's cocktail next.

on another note, i can't wait for tomorrow.
i'm going to starve all day.
this will require much mental discipline on my part, especially since singapore has good food round every corner.
wish me luck.

Friday, June 17, 2005 12:12 a.m.

let me share with everyone my after-shower routine this past week (while waiting for my hair to dry): rediscovering the fourth and fifth books of harry potter. :)
all in preparation for the 16th of july.

anyway, batman begins was good but nothing fantastical.
it's pretty forgettable actually...
i only liked the first half of the movie with the oriental swordplay and childhood flashbacks.
got slightly bored during the massive destruction of gotham city in the later part.
haha.
it's a typical hollywood blockbuster.

oh, and karl very kindly went down to holland village to lend me his acjc notes this morning.
at least i have something decent to study now (without empty fill-in-the-blank slots in my lecture notes).
and i managed to cover two chapters of economics tys mcq with sab while, again, attempting to study at hemispheres cafe.
i think we were more productive in the eavesdropping department...
straining to listen to the conversation at a table opposite us.
hoho.

anyway mitch, trish, sab, tanny, sarah and i are in the same chatbox now - all online!
this is incredibly rare.
i'm off.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005 11:56 p.m.

wow i just watched the chariots of fire dvd my dad bought and it's awesome.
love the dialogue.

anyway, today was productive in a way very different from the past two days.
monday and tuesday entailed tuition and unsuccessful attempts at studying with sab...
very, very unsuccessful, i must stress.
but today was a fruitful shopping spree with the family. :)
toast for lunch, fcuk, lacoste, keratase and kiehl's for the essentials, then my favourite cupcakes from marmalade pantry.
heavenly cupcakes smothered under nutella and lemon icing.
smackeroos!

alright, i need to be up early tomorrow.
major bummer.
but i do hope it's another productive day out.

Monday, June 13, 2005 11:21 p.m.

guess what, i uploaded davina's itunes playlist into my ipod and found out that the sajc bhangra dance tune is in it!
hoho, it brings back memories of orientation.
jiang, you want the song?
:)

so anyway, i'm back from ms giam's.
had an unsuccessful study rendezvous with sab and alexander earlier today.
i did, however, succeed in devouring a chocolate croissant, blueberry tart, pan-fried dory fish meal and one scoop of häagen-dazs' vanilla caramel brownie in the short time charm and i spent at junction 8.
so yes, you see, never doubt me.
what did i say about eating all i can once i'm sickness-free.

and okay, sab's alexander friend really has pretty swift fingers.
i hope he has more in store.
jan, i've met the magic trick guy you were talking about during the first three months.
he does sponge ball tricks too! :)

Sunday, June 12, 2005 10:47 p.m.

lyn's in the straits times today!
for the umpteenth time, but in a section other than the sports section she usually graces. :)
she looked so cute.

so church was fine.
except a rather rude boy outrightly asked me after mass "how can i be a lector?" without any introduction whatsoever.
i was so cheesed off.

well that aside, i finally got my french manicure.
and today's officially a good day because i had quite a few deep, intimate chats with people i've not spoken to in a long while.
plus, my grandparents popped by for an evening visit.

had a nice impromptu chat with my grandmother and she told me all the love stories of my aunts and uncles on my maternal side.
they're such sweet tales, really...
of romance and the harsh realities of life (getting a bit cliché here).
but it's the truth, and i'd love to type them down or something but i think i'd rather pen them into my written journal.
some things are better recorded in hand-drawn sketches and words.

it's like a piece of family history i've never known, now unveiled.
i think i'll look at them differently, how they've been through so much to stay together...
and that's the awesome thing about asian families; that divorce is relatively scarce and the concept of one true love of a lifetime holds fast.
i personally believe in that notion.
always have, always will.
although i've long since learnt never to make absolute statements.
still, it's a nice personal love philosophy to have, no?

and as i kissed my grandparents goodbye, my grandmother promised to do some baking in our kitchen one day.
she makes the most heavenly baked goods.
can't wait. :)

Sunday, June 12, 2005 05:15 a.m.

freak out people! i am blogging from the web feature in my handphone! i've had this nokia 7270 for half a year and this function has eluded me until now! this is so awesome. while meddling, i think i deleted my previous two blog entries though. is it me or did i really do away with them? hope not. alright, i'm up at a ridiculous hour and it really is time to get going. shall check if my previous entries have been deleted tomorrow when i go online. you know, even the websites are shown in full colour and i'm able to download photos and save them into the gallery here! that means i can upload photos from my digital camera, into the internet, and right into my phone! i'm quite evidently amazed by this bit of technology. this opens up a whole new world for me. alright, i'm off for now. :)

Saturday, June 11, 2005 05:39 p.m.

please allow for an air-headed entry.

this absolutely sucks.
mitch and tanny are leaving singapore today for hongkong and australia respectively...
that means no more mahjong sessions.
i'm really going to miss them.
and there are three parties at rav, indochine and newsroom bar tonight but i can't go...
annoying, sickening, contagious herpes.
oh well, there's always next week.

i swear, once this dreaded infection subsides entirely, i am going to eat all i want and shop all i can.
thank god for girlfriends because we can still hang out...
although not in town.
i have drawn up a checklist of things to do that i shall attempt to complete once i have the nerve to look into a stranger's eye without having them stare at my herpes.
haha.

and my mum just mentioned something about us going on a trip in the last week of june...
no way ho-zay.
i can just see myself doing some last-minute revision during those precious few days...
no trip, sorry.
and i just realised that the tickets we bought for swan lake are on the 26th of june, a day before my common tests.
very intelligent move there, karina.
i see you flunking, yes i do.

okay let's talk a little about yesterday.
met tanny in town to collect stuff from my tailor (i love her, although i think she overcharges) and yami yoghurt (attention: the blueberry flavour is on the menu for the week - my favourite!) followed by dinner at chompchomp.
sab, mitch, trish, tanny and i sat at icecube for delicious liquor icecream and lots of catching up. :)
nicest way to end the day.

so today, i woke up to my mum playing scales on the piano (she's a pianist).
was still feeling quite full from yesterday's heavy dinner so all i had was half a carton of orange juice...
i'm going to drop by the church in a while and then head over for some ponggol nasi lemak later, so till then!

side note: i'm feeling a bit jittery about lectoring tomorrow.
no screw ups please.
am crossing my fingers and toes.

Thursday, June 9, 2005 09:10 p.m.

please wait for photos to load...
there are quite a few of them.

so i figure the whole world's sick.
like, after vomitting an entire day's worth of food (i have colic, a stomachache stemming from indigestion), i was just about to cancel tuition when i receive a message saying that charm and ms giam are also unwell.
anyhoo, i did a little research about the inconspicuous little ailment that has plagued me this past week.

herpes simplex is commonly referred to as cold sores or fever blisters.
it is a viral infection of the skin that may occur once or return again and again.
omg, this is exactly what my doctor told me yesterday, that it will never ever leave me and will resurface each time i get stressed or when my immunity level falls.
this is because when the virus is cleared from the skin by the immune system, it hides in the nerves and is never completely removed from the body.
holy cow, i am plagued for life.

treatment.
a drug called acyclovir is effective in treating herpes simplex.
it must be taken by mouth.
there is a cream form (which the doctor gave me yesterday - a white cream in a tube marked "acyclovir"), which is basically a waste of money because it only shortens an outbreak from 14 days to 12-13 days and it is expensive.
GASP.
i have been cheated by my very own doctor.
this does not bode well.
little does she know that i am a critical patient who will not settle for mediocre medical care.
i do my research, yes i certainly do!
but then again, i can't really blame her because my herpes is at its last healing stage and there really isn't much she can do.
except of course, issue out acyclovir cream to speed up the healing process from 14 to 12-13 days.
great help there.

and, urm, to sab, mitch and tanny...
herpes can spread from person to person even when an infected individual has no outbreak or symptoms.
so it is contagious afterall.
i hope none of you contracted anything from our mahjong session on tuesday.
:D

i am happy to announce that my tummy has finally settled and isn't churning anymore...
and i've even regained a little of my old monstrous appetite!
for example, i've just ingested two whole cartons of blueberries and countless spoonfuls of nutella.
smackeroos.
in fact, if any good is to come out of this past week of fever, cough, phlegm, migraine, food regurgitation, colic and the herpes virus, it is that i have officially lost some weight...
which, mind you, will immediately return once jo, mal, cheryl, weiyan and i hit the line buffet at shangri-la hotel next week (girls, i've made the reservations!)

alright, enough words for today.
while drawing up shopping lists at abercrombie&fitch and urban outfitters (swei's going to the states and helping me shop!), i came across a few quirky items that i can't resist posting here.


check it out, an awesome green buddha bank!
doesn't it make you want to smile and save money. :)


quite redundant but so, so inventive, an electronic marshmallow toaster!


functional and adorable animal rubberbands.
hoho.
in such happy colours too.


vanilla-scented pencils.
they come in lavender, tea, cinnamon and orange blossom scents too.
how nice. :)


pretty pretty notebooks!
evidently, i am a huge fan of stationery.

and when i'm boss, these would come in handy.

now for some class lovin'.


mrs praeman is leaving us!
i hope we get another econs teacher as good as her.


courtesy of weiyan. :)


all purple and black.

alright, i'll leave you with this scan.
deaf donald by shel silverstein, adapted from the book a light in the attic.

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 12:04 a.m.

mandarin hotel dumplings are the bomb!
bak zhang.
i like.

Monday, June 6, 2005 01:45 a.m.

the only thing keeping me up right now is the annoying little flitting moth that's somewhere in my vacant room.
no way am i going back in.
i'm trying to get my sis to let me sleep in her bed for tonight.

anyhoo, my sunday started off with mass and then lunch at the soup spoon (crusty pot pie!) with tanny and charm.
we shopped around until chow joined us at the candy empire where i felt so terrible because i couldn't eat anything on the shelves.
well, except maybe the few varieties of throat lozenges at the counter.

and i rediscovered my absolute favourite fuzion smoothie shop tucked away at millenia walk. :D
such utter joy, really.
they used to have a smoothie bar in the heart of orchard road and i bought my very berry good all the time but i've had to live without it ever since the closure of the tangs outlet.
and that's why this millenia walk one is very much appreciated...
especially as a new study hangout. :)

so we pretty much explored the whole of the cityhall area from stamford road to millenia walk, all in a day's work.
and after much deliberation, we finally decided to skip the comedic show thing in the evening and head down to chow's place for ban mian and some television-watching instead.
it's my first time eating ban mian and i don't really see why tanny loves it so...
why tanny why.
is that what makes your s____ so s_____?
haha.
she's going to kill me.

okay, enough rubbish for today.
and maybe a few more days...
i'm off for a mini hiatus (although my breaks are hardly ever long) so till then...

here comes an abrupt end.

Sunday, June 5, 2005 01:04 a.m.

hello tanny!
i know you're reading this now.
haha.
i'm in a conference call with chow, swei and tanny.
"blah...blah...changi airport...blah...valencia...blah...luggage...blah...blah...shanghai...blah...charm stuck at the airport because her passport expired (haha)..."

i miss the fun all 5 of us had in shanghai last year.
next up, 2006 end-of-year trip to australia for 10 days, charmaine included. :)

Sunday, June 5, 2005 12:50 a.m.

five random facts

one.
i hate writing in shorthand or using abbreviations (which are much loved by economists - tpp, mpp, avc, atc, ppc, blahblah).
it kills me.
that's why i'm a slowpoke when it comes to copying notes in class because i spell everything out...
even numbers, when i'm at my peak.

two.
i like colour coordinating.
therapeutic stuff.

three.
please love tim burton.
he adapted my favourite children's storybook into my favourite genre of film starring my favourite male actor.
that would be charlie and the chocolate factory, the horror-and-yet-not-horror but more quirky-dark-humour genre, and mr johnny depp.

four.
i don't much like being broke and/or sick which is basically my plight for the week ahead (although fortunately enough, lasts for only one more sunday before monday rolls around).
i spent 55 dollars on earrings and an additional 30 on food (of the 'cooling' variety, i might add) which left me cash-strapped with zero dollars on hand.
but then again, charm and i always go home broke at the end of the day so i'm used to this impoverishment, thanks.

five.
I Don't Really Mind Using (Or Misusing) Capital Letters.
I Know Many People Spend Precious Seconds Changing The Capital Letters Into Small Letters In Their Smses But Just Think How Much All That Time Wastage Adds Up To!
(By The Way, I'm Spending Quite Some Time Typing This Intensively-Capitalised Paragraph Out Myself.)
Imagine, In That Accumulated Time, You Could Have Caught A Good Movie Like ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND Which I Coincidentally Watched On Hbo Today!

on an entirely different note, valencia is leaving for the US of A tomorrow.
i knew this day would come ever since we made friends in primary 5 (all indonesian chinese leave for america some day) so from this tham to my dearest tjitra...

thanks for all the joy. :)
i'll always remember us as table partners, assembly partners and examination partners (it's the surname).
i'll remember calling you shitra while you called me shortie.
i'll remember our days with mr soh.
i'll remember us talking on the phone especially because i can still remember your house phone number (those were the pre-handphone days, baby).
i'll remember our primary 6 graduation item, with us all decked out (quite horrendously) in hawaiian shorts and sparkly hairdos courtesy of suvien's salon at goodwood park hotel.
i'll remember mr foo's english lessons in the year 2000.
more vividly, i'll remember him coming back with a degree and teaching us art in our secondary years.
i'll remember us drifting but always remembering each other for birthdays and valentine's days.

most importantly, i'll always remember smiling around you, laughing around you, joking around you.
thanks for being my joy. :)