Friday, November 5, 2004 05:15 p.m.

it's happening, it's happening!
the cheques are in and the tickets are booked - i'm off to thailand to visit the children once more.
just the thought of it thrills me no end.
mitch, sab and i will be accompanying the school right after our o's. :)
and whenever i catch that delivery advertisement filmed in shanghai, i can't help but squeal knowing full well that we'll be the ones walking down the streets of shanghai in just about a month - swei, jan, chow, charm, tanny and myself.
i do hope the shopping won't be as disappointing as it was when we were in bangkok though.

usually, i like novelty.
but at this point, i hope to have absolutely no surprises until the o's are completed over...
especially in the topics that are tested.
afterwhich i think everyone should buy 4-d lottery tickets with their 4-digit index numbers.
luck may befall.

that was just one of the many random thoughts that came to mind during the long hours spent in school yesterday, when exams started at 8am and ended only at 6pm.

my grandparents are over at our place now.
my malay-and-english-speaking grandma's learning mandarin with my primary 1 cousin's chinese textbooks!
and she's coping quite well.
she's even got the zi hua down pat.
amazing.
maybe i should nominate her for a life-long learning award or something. :D

i'm actually online to find articles about the presidential election.
i'm reading from the perspective of republicans so that i'll feel less sorry about kerry's loss.
apparently, bush's re-election doesn't seem all that bad from what the experts say.
but who am i to judge.

oh, and the confusion in thailand is scaring me a little.
i hope the violence doesn't spread to the north (that's where we'll reside).
we don't need rioters banging on our doors.
especially since chow thinks i look like a muslim.
not that i take it as an insult - taufik rocks!

but i digress.

Friday, October 29, 2004 12:15 a.m.

i bet no one, absolutely no one, would have foreseen that prawns would come out.
and to think i wasted so much time memorising the parts of cheaply-bought specimens such as lime and peanuts.
shiaks.
prawns are expensive!
this is it.
okay, biology practical down, and a thousand other papers to go.

Sunday, October 24, 2004 09:18 p.m.

i know.
i know this page takes incredibly long to load with all the huge photos i've been posting.
it's annoying me a little, actually.
they take slightly more than an hour!
and so i have a good mind to take them down.
soon.

anyway, i met mr nice shopkeeper at the esplanade today. :D
he's just this really cool 40-year-old-ish guy with a funky accent who owns the ultra hip art deco shop on the 2nd floor.
we caught up on a few things (the last time we spoke was when i watched mamma mia), and he loves that musical too!
but then again, who doesn't.
and i quote him when i say "no one can ever be fully prepared for the big exams".
ho yes.
but he doesn't believe me when i say the esplanade library is a relatively quiet place.
i'm definitely shopping there after the o's all the same (and when the moolah comes in).

well, that is one of the things i want to do after the dreaded month of november.
along with dozens, hundreds, thousands of other things...
oh my, this must be an inner calling, because i do believe it's time for a list.

post-19-november to-do list

1) fly to shanghai!
this is definite.
we're all off to jan's territory (that would be her sun island resort) where zhaung laoshi can join us for some fun and relaxation.
haha.
i wonder if she's serious about meeting up.
hmmm.

2) as a prelude to the above activity, i think number 2 on my list calls for some winter clothes shopping. :)

3) settle my prom outfit, i should think.
i haven't anything prepared and it's worrying me a tad bit.
i do hope the dress turns out fine at the tailor's.

4) visit the thai children in chiangrai.
the school entourage is leaving on the 20th of november.
i want to go so badly.
hmmmm.
a bit of a rush job, but i hope to make it.

5) renew my membership and join something that'll get me moving.
the last time i exercised (1.2km morning jog in school), i woke up with muscle cramps the following day.
major sign of inactivity to say the least.
sab, maybe we should rejoin that "uppercut! uppercut! roundhouse...and...JAB!" class, aye.

6) read ulysses.
i'm going to lug it around with me so that i'll fill every part of my waiting time with quality reading instead of squandering half my life on blurry images that whizz past on the roads.
and i also need to get a 2005 diary.
diaries and journals are very important to me (they are like your personal archives!), and so i intend to get one soon.
my 2004 one(s) served me well. :D
as have those from the previous few years.
everyone should invest in a good diary/journal, i say.

7) eat frozen yoghurt all day long.

8) go for a crash course to cover the 4 months i've stopped taking french.
because i want to rejoin my original class of nice people. :(

8) take a coach up to malaysia.
with permission from mrs chow, mrs wee and mrs tan (i'm sure tanny can make it too! :D), we'll all be in downtown kl shopping and up in genting getting dizzy on the funfair rides! :)

9) pick up tennis from my dad.
with him on his exercise regime, hopefully we can lose the pounds together.
hoho.

10) last and definitely not the least, all i want to do is just sit around and chat, drink coffee, take random photographs, aimlessly stroll the streets and hang out with people who matter.
of course, a few rounds of bridge wouldn't hurt either. :)

but all that will come much later.
much much later.
much much much later.
in fact, all that will come only after my hiatus which will begin as of today.
and even if i do occasionally add a post here, it'll probably not be as comprehensive as this one (or with photos that take forever to load, for that matter).
because i really must try to keep this page clutter-free.

alright, thanks for getting through this long entry.
and to all sec 4s, best of luck. :)
if all else fails, we can always attempt to murder the top scorers in whichever subject and subsequently raise the median mark.
ho hum.
desperate times call for desperate measures.

till then.

Saturday, October 23, 2004 12:24 a.m.

do not be fooled by my apparent absence the past week.
i have actually been - gasp - slacking.
and not studying as much as i should be.

of course, that will change as soon as i find my motivation in the form of heeheehahahoho.

on to other things.
congrats lyn, on receiving the sportsgirl of the year award. :D
you totally deserve it.
3 cheers!

i missed the entire awards ceremony today because i was feeling a little sick...
and i only found out that i was supposed to receive the 4-year gold napfa award thingie this morning.
oh well.
i did did did want to be there to cheer for lyn.

anyway, you know how you want to say something, and when you do get a chance to say it, nothing comes to mind and you feel absolutely speechless?
it is happening to me at this moment.

nevermind, photos will speak for me.
dug these out. :)



haha...spencer.



i've not seen this girl in months!
miss her.



mr paul tan!
future united nations member. :)



haha!
hilarious.



samsee!



kim and brendan. :D

okay, jan and charm are irritating me on the phone now.
i'm off.

Friday, October 15, 2004 06:13 p.m.

i've decided to post photo-filled entries from now right up to graduation.
was scanning through cds of photos when i came across dozens of awesome shots.
here's a few!



gelato makes for happy people. :)



our annual christmas party on every 21st of december - 3rd year running!



tralala.



lending support at the singapore idol auditions.
hoho.



check out my green dress.
hohoho.



in the dressing room.



kat and i go waaaay back.

haha, such randomness up there.

well for the uninformed, today is officially our last day of lessons in st nicks.
this news has been slowly (but surely) getting me down bit by bit, and today, it suddenly hit me hard.

i'm not going to lapse into a clichéd declaration of my love for st nicks because spelling it out will, in no way, give justification to my feelings for the school.
of course, time constraints is also another factor as to why i'm not planning to make a speech today.
maybe on prom night, aye.
:)

seriously, it is the 10 years in st nicks that has made me the person i am today, so much so i think my skin is giving off a bit of a blue tinge (pinafores rock).

the sec 4s were running all over the place pigging out (pizza + tons of every-flavour yanyan + hamburger chocolate + green tea) and snapping photos today, and i took this amazing shot with my classmates from 10 years ago, back when we were in primary 1 faith.
goodness.
the nostalgia is insane.
okay, i haven't anything more to say except that i'll miss st nicks so much!
and the teachers.
guess who's getting a 99-rose bouquet. :)

Monday, October 11, 2004 12:23 a.m.

today was fantastic to say the least.
it started out with mass and an unusual visit to the friendly neighbourhood police post (serangoon gardens), where charm reported the loss of her ic.
her parents are really cute. :)

i went home after that to find that my grandparents had come visit. :D
left for the esplanade to study at the library there for a while, then met up with my cousins, aunt and uncle to catch the musical mamma mia!

it was quite the awesome little thing. :)
partly because of the seats, which were in the 2nd row from the front, just a couple of metres away from the conductor (live band, yes siree).
and i could actually hear the singers' voices without amplification.
they were right on pitch to boot. :)
by the end of the show, the audience was really jiving...
which is cool, really, because singaporeans hardly groove even when prompted.
or maybe it's because those around us were mainly expatriates and people in the entertainment industry, because everyone was grooving to the music (and whooot-ing quite randomly).
the disco music (hello abba) and psychedelic lights definitely played a part.
and i couldn't stop giggling at the caucasian man seated in the front row diagonally across me, who shook his butt so hard, his son had this raised-eyebrow-and-incredulous-looking expression on his face.
really amusing.
i also thought it was amazing watching everyone from teenagers in miniskirts to 40-over-year-olds with pashmina shawls around them dancing to the music and having a great sing-along session (oOoo...see that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen!).
coolio. :)
all in all, it was well worth the 130 dollar ticket.

after that, we went for supper at lau pa sat with the hundreds of satay stalls all in a row.
i hadn't been there since the macbeth concert in sec1, but my impression of the place didn't change much.
i still love the intricate carvings and the high ceilings.
only, we were on a different side of lau pa sat, where the hawkers guide the vehicles into parking lots and personally lead you right up to their satay stalls, then pile menues on your table even before you've sat down.
such enthusiasm.
and what yummy fishball noodles!

oh yes, and i want to say happy 16th birthday to chow!
late, yes, but still.
hope you enjoyed supper on friday.
and the bridge. :)

i stayed up to watch bowling for columbine on axn until 4am on saturday morning; a show that i've always wanted to catch.
the documentary was worth the loss of sleeping time anyhow.
the gun culture and racism in america was grossly exaggerated, but i guess michael moore did make his point and was wholly sincere about it.
good film. :)

okay this has been a great post-prelim-results weekend.
it's going to be one long week ahead with all those intensive lessons crammed in.
oh december, please come quick.

Sunday, October 10, 2004 02:07 a.m.

'good' results are relative.
and one of the most painful things in the world is to watch your friends cry without you being able to do anything at all.

this can't be good.
i do not do melancholic writing.

Thursday, October 7, 2004 09:37 p.m.

1) hotmail.com just scared me half to death with the exorcist pop-up advertisement.
clips from the movie do not serve any purpose except to frighten me, thank you very much.

2) the les choristes album is beyond fantastic.
i am officially enamoured by jean-baptiste maunier. :)
please google him.

3) i think it is amusing the way gmail.com gives a list of websites that are associated with the email you receive/send out.
for example, my sis sent me a recipe for blueberry pie, and a list of sponsored links by the side direct me to many websites related to baking and pie-making.
:D

4) my prelim results thus far are cringe-worthy.
it's a moderate-or-die situation here.

5) yes, i am back to my listing ways.