"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 photos 2005

05a21 4purity yvonne yenhui winnie wendy weiyan varissara valen trisha tricia tiff pg tiff chua tiff&ade
sylvia swei stacy sihui siaoer sheena shamini sarah sangita sam see sam lim rini ping paul pamela nicola
nic ng nat muthu moodle mitch mike mich ye mich chow mel meiyan lyn louisa lixxie lisa linwei kim kelly
kaixin julia joette jo jillian jiang jesmine jean toh jean chin jael jacq herngliang hannah geri genna freda
elizabeth eleanor dinah denise corinne chow charlotte cassandra candice brendan bobby belle audrey
andrea amelia amanda alex

anirak 2005.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 10:10 p.m.

as far as i'm concerned, the exams are over and done with.
tuesday's geography exam was just short of a cardiac arrest.
today's economics paper was relatively easier to handle, but little miss superstitious here will keep her speculations muffled until good ol' friday lolls by and officially slams us with the results.
"hit me with those digits" style.
as for tomorrow's literature - i'll just take it as it comes.

kelly, charlotte, corinne, weiyan and i headed over to island creamery and a quaint little thai eatery at coronation road today.
enter lots of chatter and some food lovin' - i'd say the day was well spent.
there's a list of people i want to see and weiyan's going to be my people directory yes.

by the way, i love the new minty-crunchy "?" icecream at island creamery; it's currently unnamed.
strange how my skepticism for new flavours, fuelled no less by the semi-horrid lime sherbet at island creamery yesterday, was thrown out the window by today's first lick of "?".
gastronomy is heaven on earth.

oh well, i'm off to search for my ldjn text.
i've lost it and yes, it's needed for tomorrow's exam.

have i mentioned how much i hate losing things.

Sunday, October 2, 2005 05:19 p.m.

church was followed by lunch at whitebait & kale.
i love the ambience there.
well i've no mood to say anything except that i felt an intensely violent urge to burst through the car windows while driving past orchard road this afternoon.
if withdrawal symptoms are defined as "physical and mental effects resulting from withdrawal of addictive substances by patients who have become habituated or addicted to them", that would certainly explain it.
you must understand that i've dispensed with shopping and most forms of enjoyment (save for eating) in recent weeks.

'tis a sad life, that of a jc student.

Saturday, October 1, 2005 05:37 p.m.

check out this masterpiece by the one and only corinne.


hilarious.

well i haven't been up to much the past few days other than freaking out about the promos, worrying about the neverending stack of notes i have to study for the promos and stressing over not being stressed enough about the promos.
so basically, my life revolves around said event.
sad but true.

worryingly enough, i'm not studying as hard as i should be.
i guess some people can take comfort in this but i've just started revising for geography a couple of days back.
much too late, i should think.

okay on to other things.
wednesday was the chinese paper and it was surprisingly better than expected.
see, compare it with the common tests when they scheduled it as the last paper, at which point i was too nonchalant to actually attempt it wholeheartedly, and i must say that the wednesday paper was much better handled.
of course, this is all relative.
you must remember that chinese composition writing is, to me, formulating a story in english in my head (based on a vague and dubious idea of what the question is asking for because i have never, in my life, attempted a composition question while understanding its full context) and translating it into mandarin with the limitation of my meagre chinese vocabulary.
so there's always the risk of my interpreting the question wrongly; case in point, i failed both my chinese compositions for the prelims last year - the gong han and zuo wen - thereby threatening my chinese grade most horrifyingly.
amazingly i still passed overall with a c5 inclusive of the other papers.
anyway, that was all in the past.
moving on.

weiyan and i went to awfullychocolate after our chinese paper and i had two scoops of their yummy hēi icecream.
it's lovely.
coincidentally, my parents popped over to that shop earlier today and brought back a chocolate rum&cherry cake along with an assortment of savoury crêpes for lunch.
well, evidently, this is a test of self-restraint that i resolve to pass with flying colours...
despite the fact that i've eaten a slice of both crêpe and cake (most shamefully).
now moving on.

i attended my first lector's meeting at church on thursday evening and it was a night filled with great makan and lots of chatter.
steps are being taken to improve the cohesion of the group and i hope the activities go swimmingly well!
i mean, with food that awesome, my attendance is guaranteed, that's for sure.

okay, i'm really not that greedy actually.
must. not. make. oneself. out. as. a. glutton.

father joe sat with us throughout our sharing session and i've learnt a lot more about the church and how it's run.
also, the chairman/president and trainer of the lectors are going to assess me in november during one of my readings and i am positively freaking out!
but that's still a long way to go.

alright, i suppose i've said enough for now.
this not coming online as often has made me more chatty i see.
i'm off to update myself by reading blogs.
hoho, till then.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 05:12 p.m.

let's see.
gp was quite the trauma for me.
i didn't manage to complete my comprehension so that leaves me treading on very thin ice now...
at least the composition went relatively okay (i will not allow any specific adjective to jinx the paper; 'okay' seems appropriately objective).
a little exam analysis now to release the tension.

"Do you agree that people today have no regard for the Arts?"
this question didn't leave my mind even while i scanned the remaining eleven - i took it as a sign.
although one regret is that i didn't include international examples because local ones seemed more apt for every point i made...
oh well, that's over and done with.
chinese tomorrow is more or less a gone case; i rely on luck now.

after school, weiyan, herngliang and i went to bugis for lunch and ice monster. :D
it's been a long time since i last ate there.

also, weiyan, corinne, yvonne and sangita indirectly made it to the straits times front page news.
coincidentally, charm's dad was quoted in the very same article too...
mr swithun lowe; small world, small world.

randomness, but there's always one song in my head that goes on perpetually and most recent is rem's losing my religion.

that's me in the corner
that's me in the spotlight
losing my religion
trying to keep up with you
and i don't know if i can do it
oh no i've said too much
i haven't said enough
i thought that i heard you laughing
i thought that i heard you sing
i think i thought i saw you try

awesome song.
and in the spirit of randomness, here are five reasons why i've always hated going to beaches in singapore.

one.
we don't really have beaches; what we have are pathways of synthetic sand.
and the dirty water is a huge no-no.
two.
i'm not the best swimmer around, if i can even use the word 'swimmer' on myself.
three.
i'm not into the whole tanning thing.
give me fair skin anytime.
i think you should go for either pocahontas or snow white and then stick to it; no point being an in-between.
four.
i don't much like beachwear - such unglamness.
five.
volleyball...frisbee...swimming...neh.
i prefer relaxing by a pool with a berry smoothie in hand.

oh, the life.
for now it's back to project work.
bummer.

Monday, September 26, 2005 12:09 a.m.

i have a web tracker that allow me to see how people link to this webpage.
some come through a search engine.

specimen one.

intended search term:
hurricane katrina

search term that led to this webpage:
hurricane karina

oh but that is quite common.
check out the next.

specimen two.

intended search term:
dead people in the aftermath of hurricane katrina

search term that led to this webpage:
dead people after karina

just when i needed something to grant me sleep.

Sunday, September 25, 2005 06:03 p.m.

sunday mass.
bakerzin lunch.
caesar salad.
bloody mary soup.
dessert tapas;
berry panna cotta;
vanilla creme brulée;
lychee espuma.
new ben&jerry's store;
united square.
icecream is love.
grocery shopping.
berry popsicle sticks;
melting in the freezer.
sadly.
ought to be studying.
off to read the papers.

my hump, my hump
my hump, my hump, my hump
my hump, my hump, my hump
my lovely little lumps.
(check it out)
-bep

i declare thee, humpy song, an official ear leech.
been in my head for two whole weeks.
time to move on.

Saturday, September 24, 2005 12:39 a.m.

today was an utter waste of time; just one geography tutorial and that was it.
although i must say, it's probably the best human geography lesson i've had in sajc because mr leong is one fantastic teacher!
and so with the spare time, we went into a photo frenzy and also celebrated dear zara's birthday at our usual spot.
beware of your bandwidth please!


zara doesn't like getting hugged...haha!
check out her facial expression.
too cute.

(you can actually enlarge and zoom into the photo by right clicking on the picture and clicking on 'view image'!)


pouncing on zara tania!


charlotte. weiyan. cheryl. corinne. karina. joanne.
sexy lizards, all.


charades!
guess the animal.


what you lookin' at.


half the class. :)


under weiyan's art direction.


i love 05a21!

and as we were walking out of school, who should we bump into but sheena who's headed for australia next week.



then!
i met charm at holland village for some crystal jade lunchin' - spicy xiao long baos are my true love indeedy.

okay i'm in for a couple more weeks of mugging.
i haven't peaked at all so i can only go uphill from here...
sigh.
no more fun and laughter.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 11:48 p.m.

welcome to a day in the life of this magnet of misfortune.

one.
a car broke down along lornie road this morning, thereby slowing down the traffic and causing me to be late for school.
on top of that, i reached the gates at 7.31am which technically made me a mere minute late.
unlucky, yes siree.

two.
this one probably takes the cake.
so i've bought my favourite plate of mixed rice and i'm happily walking back to our table with weiyan next to me when i miss a step at the staircase in the middle of the cafeteria and land on my knees at the bottom of the steps.
the plate clashes onto the ground and splatters food down my uniform.
i laugh it off and proceed up the stairs again to return the empty plate to the stall...
but no, i have to drop the plate once more and watch it clatter down the steps, one by one, like a nightmare playing in slow motion.
wham bam, thank you ma'am.
i blush in embarrassment.
i feel a million pairs of eyes on me.
i dare not look up.
a guy at the bottom of the staircase helps me retrieve the plate and i scuttle away from the scene of crime.

thank god for my classmates who were there as i cleared myself up. :D
and bought me a new plate of food!

three.
this happens quite often but it's still part of the unfortunate series of events.
i doze off on the bus and miss my stop afterwhich i have to take a cab to my designation.
typical.

four.
charm and i wander around broke to the last cent because she's spent all her money on shopping and i've spent all my money on food.
again, this is very typically us.

i must say, tuition was rather productive today considering my lethargy.
i officially suck at production and cost though.
it confounds me so.

and now shuwei is coming back to singapore in december...
when janice, charlene, shuwei, charm, tanny and i can meet up. :)
i say we indulge in the good ol' prata and bridge combo at thomson!

promos, begone!

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 03:13 p.m.

edit: upon catching sight of a mosquito (!!!) in the bathroom just now, i clapped my palms over it so hard that they turned red and stung for a couple of minutes after.
but hey, i did flatten the beastly thing. :D
never underestimate the extent of my kiasi-ism.

ooh wee i am so proud of myself.
utterly frustrated at the slowing speed of my computer, i decided to reorganise my files, categorise the photos, clean out every single virus (thanks to mcafee) and reformat my computer.
that's a whole lot of housekeeping going on there...
the system runs much more smoothly now.

:D


don't you think this krispykreme box reminds you of the st margaret's school uniform?
two good friends i've made this year are both from st marg's. :)
i guess sweet things come in green polka dots!

Sunday, September 18, 2005 08:37 p.m.

edit: while i'm at it, i might as well mention this new cake shop we found along mohamed sultan road today.
it's called the patissier.
they sell very pretty cakes that i actually feel guilty for ruining, at admittedly high prices considering the minute sizes, but i'd say it's worth it.
i ate the tiramisu, strawberry cognac and blueberry yoghurt without sharing.

shoot me please.

.....

hey ho!
i have a restaurant recommendation today - real food daily at mohamed sultan road.
everything there is absolutely delicious and the chocolate fudge cake's just ooh la love.
it's my favourite chocolate cake by far. :)
best part is, you can eat your fill and walk out floating on air because all the ingredients are organic and they engage in the healthiest cooking methods (think lots of grilling); so it's really not that sinful afterall.

i bought enough instant meals in the deli to last me a whole week...
can't wait to try everything!

Saturday, September 17, 2005 02:51 p.m.

ooh belle's birthday party was quite fun.
although i was stoned from only an hour's sleep the previous night...
and technically it was a surprise party because she didn't know about it beforehand.
anyway right after school yesterday, herngliang and i went to shop for balloons and a birthday present but we had no clue what to get!
so then we finally reached her house with sean although no one was there yet except for her grandmother who i am a bit afraid of...
haha.
but people started streaming in after a while.
and i got dizzy blowing up balloons so i started making the streamers instead.

anyhoo!
i hope belle had a great time...
but don't get too fat on tiramisu, dear. ;)

i'm about to meet charm for tuition right now and i haven't done any homework yet so i'm pretty much dead.
oh, and we're going to meet chow and tanny for supper at serangoon gardens tonight - can't wait!
hokkien mee, chinchow and liquor icecream, yum!

Friday, September 16, 2005 12:55 a.m.

i realise blogger isn't that amazing afterall.
it takes a few refreshes for the photos to show up.

Friday, September 16, 2005 12:34 a.m.

let's play pictionary.


at indochine.


the birthday girl. :)


at clarke quay.


my all-time favourite people (save for a missing sarah).

if you find that the photos show up much quicker, it's because i found a new host!
i'm using blogger to upload pictures now; it's so much easier compared to my previous webhost.
and i post them all here for easy reference.

i should have caught on to this whole blogger thing much earlier.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 06:52 p.m.

grandmother in the house.

she is amazing.
she can watch/laugh/cry over korean and chinese drama serials without understanding a word...
and all this coming from a purely english and malay-speaking lady.

respect. :D

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 05:19 p.m.

i think the eyes are the most beautiful parts of the human anatomy.

"The world famous "Big Eye" paintings had their beginning in San Francisco over 50 years ago, by the artist Margaret Keane. In time they also became known and referred to as "Waifs", "Keane", "Sad Eyes" and many other titles; all depicting the unique styles of this very creative woman.

You may be surprised to hear the artist is a woman.

You see, for many years she was married to a man who claimed credit for what she painted. To prove she was in fact the artist and not her former husband, she painted in court before a Federal Judge and jury, an original oil on canvas painting. When her ex-husband was asked to paint by the judge, his reply was, "I can't today, because I have a sore shoulder." Needless to say Margaret won the case and she continues to paint those Big Eyes we have come to love so dearly.

After divorcing her husband, Margaret moved to Hawaii and lived there for almost 27 years. While there her style of painting changed in the sense that the paintings became brighter in color. And, after becoming one of Jehovah's Witnesses, the paintings became happier, since this changed her outlook on life. Though still painting with tears, they are most often tears of joy and not sadness."

Sunday, September 11, 2005 11:01 p.m.

i have been fervently reading reports on katrina and i must say, i'm not sure what to believe anymore.
there are those who expound on the devastation and lagging reactions of the administration in dealing with the problem, but in most cases i find that it is simply those who are anti-bush who are abusing the disaster to perpetuate hate.
also, i think people actually find it easier to believe that the people in new orleans are suffering rather than imagining them well cared for.
there are so many contradictory reports that it's difficult to collate and digest them all...
for now, i will take no stand and perhaps leave the analysis to another time.

the medicine's making me a bit drowsy...
but just for the record.

friday.
# literature lecture and geography tutorial in school.
# ikea lunch with the class (swedish meatballs + spaghetti).
# town with charm and a tad bit of shopping.
# staking out a particular few at far east plaza. :)
# crystal jade dinner!
# cab ride home and a visit to the doctor's.
# meeting yiqin, weiyan and mitchel at macdonald's where we studied through the night (better location next time please).



# doodling, gossiping and psychoanalysing amidst snatches of study time.
# i gave up at 5am and returned home to my bed.

saturday.
# quidam by cirque du soleil with selene, charm and her dad.
# ice monster dessert!
# dinner at indochine's forbidden city restaurant down at clarke quay with mitch, sab, tanny, trish and jon.
# exorbitant bill.
# a mix-and-match birthday cake for tricia who turns seventeen tomorrow!
# lots of photo-taking.
# chilling out at tcc (and bumping into potential sugar daddies). :D
# midnight cab to mitch's place where we studied through the night.
# snacked on milk and durian mooncakes.
# karaoke-singing to the beatles and random love tunes from the 90s (think cheesy ie. the spice girls) at 5 o'clock in the morning.

sunday.
# woke up at the dining table where we were studying.
# watched sarah's japanese drama serial on vcd.
# takura-kimura-gushing. :)
# pigged out on pizza hut order-ins and oreo cookies + milk.
# dad came in the evening.
# dropped by cold storage at chancery lane where tanny and i grocery shopped.
# am well-stocked for the week ahead, come what may!

i'm dead beat.
severe lack of sleep.
to swei, i think you'll like this link.
should interest you.

i feel sick; sick at the notion of having to deal with academic pursuits and sick with the influenza virus that is making me feel lethargic 24/7.
it has been a good week though...
shall revel in the last hour that remains of it.
haha.

Thursday, September 8, 2005 08:29 p.m.

i just received swei's snail mail from the states. :D

now behold.


the new ipodnano.

and just when you thought things couldn't get any better...


it comes in black.
and there you have it - numero uno on my shopping list.

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 11:42 p.m.

today was spent out shopping with miss chow mee yee michelle. :D
which was good despite it being super sinful in terms of time and money loss...
well, okay.
it wasn't all that bad because we did accomplish things like exercising our purchasing power while walking from heeren to mandarin hotel arcade to takashimaya to paragon to tangs to fareast plaza to shaw centre...
quite a journey.
but it was fun!

wow i reek of unproductivity.
should be off to do something about it...
till then!

Tuesday, September 6, 2005 11:52 p.m.

studying with brandon today was quite productive because i covered the whole of labour market!
yeah, quite happy about that.
i love doing economics mcq.
afterwards, i walked over to heeren to meet my dear sore-eyed charmaine in sunglasses and all.
we went for a movie followed by dinner at coffee club, all while avoiding eye contact.
hilarious!

anyway, i think i'm jinxed.
it's true.
remember the herpes i contracted during the first 2 weeks of our june holidays...
well i'm down with the flu now.
during this precious week of september holidays.

well there's nothing else i have to say.
my head's feeling woozy now...
i'm off.

Monday, September 5, 2005 11:59 p.m.

while reading up on plate tectonics, i digressed a little and looked up 'hurricanes' instead; a topic totally out of the syllabus.
it's definitely not a productive day for me.
but at least i know the difference between a cyclone, typhoon, tornado and hurricane now. :D

on another note...



so the whites "find" and the blacks "loot"?

Sunday, September 4, 2005 11:18 p.m.

by the time i got to the 10th tuesday in tuesdays with morrie, my throat began choking up and i started crying.
i suppose that's why i got up this morning with squinty eyes and the mother of all sorethroats.
not good when you're reading for mass that morning.

and i do realise i'm lagging behind half the literate world in reading that book.
haha.
it's awesome!

oh yes, please do not eat at the tavern along siglap road.
it's costly without the satisfaction.
especially the cheese fondue - the alcohol in it was too bitter for my liking.
and the tiramisu was more mascarpone cheese than anything else...
it's the coffee liquer that i actually like.
and i also found the waiters pretty annoying.
i'm not being difficult but i much prefer eating in peace without them providing running commentary on every dish.

and now, a quote.
"The most beautiful discovery that true friends can make is that they can grow separately without growing apart."

Saturday, September 3, 2005 11:53 p.m.

five types of people that make me cringe.

hypocrites.
the shameless.
deliberate liars.
serial name-droppers.
self-proclaimed connoisseurs (especially of certain art forms).
christians who obsessively evagelise (think spiritual fruits, not religious nuts).

hmmm okay just thought i'd draw up a list.
that aside, today was a good one spent in the company of sab, mitch, trish and tanny.
we missed out on hokkien mee at serangoon gardens but dessert at icecube was just as satisfying...
and of course, bridge too!

oh and this morning, charm, mitch and i spent five hours in st nicks being tour guides for the openhouse.
can't say we worked all that much though...
most of the time, we were either catching up with the teachers or chitchatting in the canteen...
about the usual stuff - dreams and aspirations.
it's nice soaking in the st nicks atmosphere. :)

this year end, i'll be going to thailand with st nicks again.
we're doing a mural up there - ought to be fun!
the last two weeks of december will be spent in america and i'm feeling quite ambivalent about it actually.
on one hand, it means christmas abroad without my parents or friends...
but on the other hand, i get to visit those studying overseas and experience a different yuletide joy so...
you give some, you take some i suppose.
mitch and the group of us want to take a jaunt in hongkong too (disneyland!) but i don't think my parents will allow it.
i guess there's always the post-'A'-level break to look forward to then.

oh yes, i realise i'm getting more feeble by the day.
while breaking a chocolate bar into chunks just now, i actually felt dizzy from the exertion of force.
in my defense, the chocolate was fresh out of the fridge and pretty solid but...
still, you know.
the weakness.
tsk tsk.