"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 moodle 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 herngliang hannah geri freda elizabeth eleanor dragon dinah denise
corinne chow cassandra candice brendan bobby belle audrey andrea amelia amanda alex

anirak 2005.

Monday, August 1, 2005 12:08 p.m.

i had the perfect weekend.
(aside from a nagging homework reminder at the back of my mind)
till the next update.

Saturday, July 30, 2005 12:02 a.m.

i love spontaneity.
especially when you schedule a whole day and nothing turns out as planned. :D

today was supposed to be school, hockey training and dinner with herngliang, belle and darren.
however, i woke up late and reached school just in time to miss every single lesson of the day...
unintentionally!
and because our fridays are slacky and quite ridiculous (lessons end at 10.15am although the schoolgates only open at 12.45pm), we hung around the student centre (where yiqin tried plucking my leg hair - haha!), awaiting dismissal.
then, we proceeded down to holland village for a mini class outing after much interruption by mr fdf himself.
mmfftt.

anyway, this is damn damn damn damn sad but today was genna's last day in school.
she's leaving for the states in early september.


our a21 spot; the area of term-end picnics and secret toilet breaks. :)


fellow harry potter fans.


we'll give her a proper send-off soon.
for now, i'll badly miss her presence in class!

had lunch at essential brews followed by häagen-dazs (belgian chocolate and strawberry cheesecake!) in genna's honour.
hoho.
i think our class is bonded by a common enemy - mr fdf himself.
spent the afternoon chitchatting and taking photos.
imagine, in about 15 months time, we would have parted ways and i think i'll really miss the class a lot.
but till then, here's to more outings and random celebrations; next up, mitchel's cooking and a charlie and the chocolate factory movie date!

after going sugar-high, mitchel and i followed joanne home to use the gym near her place.
i think it's quite ironic that i skipped training and went to the gym, but we had a good workout all the same.
plus, i made friends with my neighbour who happened to work as an instructor at the gym there.
i used to see her each time i went jogging around the estate so it was nice to finally chat with her. :)

afterwards, we watched a little of the soccer match at the stadium nearby and tried catching glimpes of the japanese team playing...
their japanese lady supporters were pretty goodlooking too. :)
headed down to junction8 right after and met up with swei (who also happens to be leaving for the states next month), charm and tanny for din tai fung.
xiao long bao galore!
we ordered three different variations of pork dumplings.
smackeroos!
i'm having food cravings all over again...

okay, i must say today is one of the better days of the year.
but enough small talk for now.
it's a long weekend ahead...
till then!

Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:04 p.m.

overslept and skipped school today.
after napping for seven hours yesterday, i couldn't bring myself to fall asleep at night and finally hit the sack at only 6am.
it's back to the wayward body clock.

anyhoo, i went shopping with mitch and tanny in town.
bought sneakers, shorts, a jacket and beaded necklace. :)
i'm off to complete my homework now.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 08:46 p.m.

sajc learning festival 2005.
wow check these out please - collages by corinne!




she's damn good!

jo, mal, cheryl, weiyan, corinne and i skipped everything we signed up for and attended mitch's lino cutting-cum-printing workshop instead. :)
we also ordered macdonalds breakfast by home delivery (67773777), told ghost stories and slept in the caf!
that's the life.
oh yes, i made a lino print for jiaying, except i forgot to tell her that the ink is oil-based and will take days to dry.
nevermind, the smudge she made on her wallet will be a reminder of me. :)

i have so much homework to catch up on.
and i ate a chocolate croissant, two hasbrowns, orange juice, chicken curry with bread, two scoops of icecream, milk tea and chocolate today.
that's a lot considering i was mostly sedentary.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 11:33 p.m.

oh yes.
today, i wasted two hours to travelling time and sat on five different buses altogether.
certainly not my idea of fun.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 10:41 p.m.

i'm going to update, in my favourite listing format, a run-up of events from thursday.
chip chop spit spot, here goes.

1. i set a new highscore for pinball!
566244 - woohoo!

2. racial harmony day was short and sweet.
mal, yiqin, weiyan, mitchel and i left school early for icecream at serene centre.
yum!
3. had our first confrontation with he-who-must-not-be-named.
tension, tension.
remember we love you sangita. :)
4. the principal went through our common test statistics.
the consensus is that us dragon babies are mostly lackadaisical in attitude, evident in the passing rate.
was strangely reminiscient of what the teachers in st nicks used to say about our cohort...
hmmm.
5. hockey training.
my fitness level is n-o-w-h-e-r-e.
6. finally watched rapture and it was fantastic.
played spot-the-dancer as jo, corinne, charlotte and cheryl performed on stage...
i made them paper flowers and the class got together to prepare posters!

i'm so happy to have the dancers back in class now. :D
7. supper with sab, huajia and denise.
caught up with huajia and recalled our primary school days...
the period of letter-writing!
8. attended shamini's family feast.
what an eye-opener!
felt like a character out of my big fat greek wedding.
9. very productive shopping trip with charm and tanny.
got stuff from blackjack, origins and 2cm. :)
10. xie laoshi congratulated me for not sleeping in her class...
a progress!
11. actually, i stayed awake throughout the two hour geography lecture too (conducted by mr lim, no less).
pat on the back, please.
12. mr kamal played "listen to the rhythm of the falling rain" before the lecture on evapotranspiration under hydrology.
he's lame in a good way.
singalong, singalong, everybody.
13. bumped into our dear geography teacher at ikea where jo, weiyan, sangita and i were having lunch.
swedish meatballs, spaghetti and softserve icecream...
smackeroos!

okay, i think i'm done for now.
for those who are looking to read something, here's shirley jackson's the lottery.
i watched the movie some time back and it still scares me quite a bit; i like chilling tales like harry by rosemary timperley and playmates by am burrage...
would love to share them online but i can't find the script for either one.
maybe i'll type them out one day.
they're creepy, not gory; so if you're into the dark kind of fiction, those stories are for you.

or perhaps you'd prefer esoteric tales based on true-life events like jack the ripper instead.
i used to do a lot of research on unsolved mysteries...
i mean, they're really interesting, if a bit much to wonder about.
and then sometimes you may even lapse into the whole why-am-on-this-earth enigma that everyone thinks about sooner or later.
or when the mood strikes.
and if you're curious as to why i'm suddenly into the whole mystery genre, it's because the seventh month is drawing near and jo has got me all wired up with its approach.
haha.
i'm a sucker for horror stories and the like...
no staying out late no more.

Monday, July 25, 2005 11:27 p.m.

sweetheart, you'll find mediocre people do exceptional things all the time.

Saturday, July 23, 2005 11:07 p.m.


i think this photo is hilarious. :D
that's my head hidden by tanny's.
and to think she says my head is big!


bestfriends at angus. :)

jobpredictor.com.
Tham Yaoxuan Karina Alexis, your ideal job is a Nun.

i knew it!
me, holy me...
holy moley me.
try it out!

okay, i know i haven't been updating.
shall do so over the weekend. :)

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 11:07 p.m.

how in the world did st nicks lose to the sports school by one single point for the track c division?!
major unfairness.
i hope we get double champs again next year.
hmmm.

anyway, just got back from town.
sab, mitch, sarah, tanny and i met up (for no particular reason actually) and spent a lot of time just eating and talking.
sarah cut her hair short!
oh my oh my.
everyone's snipping off their locks...
but she looked good. :)

today was an uber sleepy day...
still is, actually.
i slept through most of chinese and the whole of literature class; so basically i only stayed awake during gp because we had to work on a comprehension exercise.

i hope tomorrow turns out more exciting.
racial harmony day by the house council ought to be good.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 11:45 p.m.

cheryl's mum made the yummiest meal of korean-ish soup and rice when we went over to her place today.
slurp slurp!

i saw your face in a crowded place,
and i don't know what to do,
'cause i'll never be with you.

-you're beautiful.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 12:23 a.m.


mitch's new haircut. :)
it grows on you.


so happy together.


happy birthday tanny!

nine random things i have learnt during the stay at singapore press holdings.

1. flirtatious girls sicken me.
2. i work best in the dead of the night.
3. caffeine has absolutely no effect on me (think 6 cups and still half-asleep).
4. the calmness of the sph office staff amazes me; they're working to complete a full newspaper before 1.30am, and still no show of urgency.
5. writers ingest a lot of caffeine.
6. i am terribly irked by the blatant wastage of paper and styrofoam cups...
have the people no conscience regarding environmental friendliness?!
i think it's the human geography in me surfacing.
7. singapore has a serious dearth of writers.
8. references are funny.
"please, no vandalism on the premises; this is sph, not nkf."
chua enlai, the gamemaster, was hilarious even at 3am in the morning.
9. and so too are icebreakers.
"why does conversation stop in the lift?"
"close proximity...bad breath."

and as an extra tenth point, boredom can certainly kill.
you have no idea how badly i wanted to take my harry potter book with me but had no idea it was allowed.
a boy behind me was reading the half-blood prince throughout and i certainly felt like strangling him in his sleep to steal the book...
though of course, hardly anyone slept at all.

another point...
i realise that i don't normally write on a whim.
if i do, it's either for schoolwork or some form of showcase; it concludes that i don't much like putting effort into a piece of written work and having it rot in some folder on the computer.
call it the need for self-gratification or what you will, but i certainly don't believe it hoarding a piece worth sharing.
and now in this spirit of givingness, i'm going to post one of my favourite literary works.

......

okay i've decided i'm much too lazy to type out the length of a paragraph.
i might as well talk about harry potter instead.

since coming back on sunday, i've been re-reading the order of the phoenix and the contents of half-blood prince still elude me (although the book itself is sitting quite nicely on my table).
so please, no spoilers or plot discussions till then.
i already know snape killed dumbledore ("with intense loathing in his eyes", i quote weiyan) so yes, no more spoilers please.
i am deeply traumatised as it is.
i've been reduced to avoiding the subject of harry potter in conversations and reading blogs with much caution.
hoho.

on another note, i'm feeling quite queasy in the tummy which i suspect is because of the kahlua latte icecream i bought from island creamery with jiaying earlier on.
it gets a bit nauseating finishing off a whole tub, so i got my mum and sis to dig in with me.
good stuff, if a little jelak.
i'm getting the teh tarik one next. :D

alright, i'm off to read more harry potter.
tomorrow's a self-declared day-away-from-school for me because i have a number of things to do ie. renew my passport, make my ic and ez-link card, meet up to complete gp project and attend tuition at ms giam's.
speaking of which, she's going to be so disappointed with my economics grade.
i cannot seek mere consolation in evading the F...
i must aim higher.

note: to valen, swei and sarah, my flight's been booked!
16th to 30th december.
where will you guys be during that period?

Saturday, July 16, 2005 12:48 a.m.

just got home!
here's an update faster than the speed of light. :)

- overslept this morning and only made it down to cityhall at 9.45am to meet the class.
- had hashbrowns at macs and shared a tub of yami yoghurt with genna.
- rushed down to st andrew's cathedral much too late and so we were jostled into some holding room with a projector screening the entire student council commendation.
- the whole row of us continued eating our yami yoghurt throughout the proceedings - utterly blasphemous!
- after the commendation, slightly more than half the class met mr lim at coffeebean where he treated us to drinks.
- chitchatted and found out that he was from catholic high and hwachong junior college.
- brownie points to me for guessing correctly! :D
- he's actually a nice guy deep down; i like him much more now (except when he tries to act fierce or sarcastic during lecture).
- mal, weiyan and i later went window shopping during which i bought a beautiful notebook from papier at the esplanade.
- the nice shop lady wrote my name in gold on the cover in calligraphic handwriting. :)
- i smudged it.
- made our way to max brenner's for an egg sandwich and white chocolate suckao which weiyan treated me to. :)
thank you thank you sweets!
- we went to check out the sajc art exhibition thing at the foyer of the esplanade - pretty cool stuff.
- took many photos.
- headed home to change then went back to cityhall for tanny's birthday dinner...
- happy 17th my favourite everyday friend!
- nine of us dined at nooch followed by much photo-taking.
- walked over to baybeats at the esplanade.
- stood around in the crowd.
- more photo-taking...
- and *poof*, i'm back home again.

anyway, it's great catching up with all us st nicks girls...
especially with sarah around; makes things complete.
and i love a21!
really.
i don't want genna and sheena to leave.
that'll bring our register of 21 people down to 19 - it's just not right! :(

i have to go pack for tomorrow now...
jittery jitters.

Friday, July 15, 2005 12:20 a.m.

i'm not the most informed reader around, with my tendency to skip particular sections in the straits times according to my moods ie. money on a lazy sunday morning;
but this certainly got my attention.
utterly deplorable.

alright, tomorrow is the sajc student council commendation and tanny's birthday celebrations (woohoo!) followed by a playwriting event i'm participating in on saturday which will have me staying over at the singapore press holdings building (potential future workplace) till good ol' sunday.
that will be followed by much harry potter catching up (i want to re-read order of the phoenix first) and the ao level chinese listening examination on monday...
afterwhich i intend to make a thorough perusal of the half-blood prince (please, no spoilers from those who finish before me - you know who you are).
so here's to a long hiatus until i get my life back on track.
:)

hmmm, from where i left off...
the past few days were spent lunching and dining in holland village and town with chow, charm and tanny. :)
it's too bad we didn't manage to meet up with lyn but it's never too late!
one day, one day.

anyhoo, mal, jo, weiyan, cheryl and i had a little food quest in the cityhall area today.
we went from yami yoghurt (jumbo cup, no less) to bakin' boys (the cookies are to-die-for; they're as moist as cake!) to carl's junior, where the manager gave us a 15% discount on our meal...
just beacause. :)
i would say today is perfection in a diet.
i had all my favourite foodstuff with a quintessential bali hai (the best mango smoothie ever) from nooch to top it off.
oh for the love of food...
things can't get any better than this.

while in search of the way back to where we came from, we discovered a whole range of shops that must be checked out soon enough.
here's to our next adventure entailing good food, movie-watching at isolated golden village, a round of bowling at suntec city and shopping at the new-found areas in millenia walk and marina square.
can't wait!

okay, i had a little misadventure myself after leaving the girls.
boarded the wrong bus and ended up in changi airport instead of town.
what a traumatic ride, really...
i couldn't alight (no stops on the ecp) and over an hour was spent travelling back.
i think i attract misfortune.
and as if ending up at the airport wasn't bad enough, i alighted at the wrong terminal and had to take the lagging skytrain.

well okay, laments aside.
i finally met the girls at paragon where mitch had a haircut.
cute chinadoll fringe!
trish, sarah and i later shared a cab back together and much thanks to sarah for lending me her laptop. :)

oh yes, mr lim is treating the class to coffeebean drinks tomorrow.
awfully nice of him...
considering it was his suggestion.
and i passed my literature paper, thereby leaving me with two fails (chinese and geography) and two passes (gp and literature).
that'll leave economics as the tiebreaker.
jittery jitters!
i'm fully aware that merely passing should not be the main focus here at A level but hey, i can only practice self-gratification at this point.

on a random note, i do hope st nicks clinches double champs for track and field again.

on an entirely different note, i'm beginning to intensely detest project work.
it is nothing but a chore to get through.

actually, i don't much like sajc air-conditioners either.
they turn my fingers purple, quite literally.
even the pen ink ceases to flow mid-script; probably freezed in the cold i say.

Monday, July 11, 2005 11:07 p.m.

ahhh i feel so sorry for bree (my favourite character in the show).

so i was channel surfing earlier on when i came across this show on channelnewsasia documenting the business strategies of aspen learning centre - the tuition place i went to for all of eight weeks before laziness set in and i stopped attending.
anyway, they specialise in math and science (a world i've left long ago) so if anyone's looking for group tuition, it's a credible option.
i remember how the director used to greet me with a hearty, "hello karina!" everytime i entered.
they're really friendly and also organise stuff like movie marathons during the school holidays.
on top of everything, that's also where i met denise - someone who's come to mean so much to me now. :)

okay, that aside.
the past few days have been good.
mahjong, slept over at mitch's, and meeting up with everyone from sarah and co. to swei and co. to the girls from class, and not forgetting the ingesting of ridiculous amounts of yami yoghurt.
i've finished a full redemption card within two weeks.
:D

on a different note, school has not been too good.
i fared supremely badly for geography and lessons are utterly boring.
fortunately, the food and company's good.

the cute pataya rice uncle squeezed sauces on top of my rice in the shape of the letter 'c' today.
he asked for my name and presumed it started with said letter...
i didn't have the heart to correct him.
but he's such a dear really.
i think all the food vendors in school are awfully nice.
haha.

anyway, i'm learning to enjoy the journey home.
it's an hour long ride but quite enjoyable (especially when i nap on the bus).

seriously, i feel like sleeping and waking up only in november; it's all i'm looking forward to right now.

Monday, July 11, 2005 09:06 p.m.

today is such a bad day really.
i'm not going to get all angsty though.
helplessness sucks.

Friday, July 8, 2005 12:54 p.m.

today is so not my day. i overslept and woke up at only 11am when mal called. so then i rushed off but turned back mid-journey because i heard the activities were ending within the next couple of hours. by the time i make it to school, it'd be too late. so okay, i decide to push my plans forward and head down to choa chu kang stadium earlier instead. jan and charm are going to meet me there to spring a surprise visit on swei who's participating in the javelin event. i do hope she gets pleasantly surprised. not shocked and pressured or anything. haha. anyway, i'm on the train now, and on the topic of today not being my day, i travelled in the wrong direction and only realised it when i reached orchard station. so now i'm taking a train back to where i should be headed for. i'm so angry with myself. as if oversleeping wasn't bad enough. and blogging by phone is really troublesome. sigh. hope today ends off on a better note.

Thursday, July 7, 2005 09:43 p.m.

so the teachers have more or less marked the common test papers.
i hear that there are only 20% passes for economics and even fewer for geography (something like 3 out of 21).
how now brown cow.
we got back literature paper 5 today and most of us passed...
but that's not good enough.
the highest in the level is 17 upon 25 - a B.
i do hope they moderate.
although in mr lim's words...
"by historical trend, no moderation."

anyhoo, happy 17th cheryl!
she looked so cute whacking the piñata with a hockey stick.
next up, our little weekend redezvous.
hoho.

it's college day tomorrow and i really hope i can leave earlier.
we've got a secret agenda planned in the afternoon.
i do hope the fairytale stint goes well too...
although i bet most people will be skipping school tomorrow.
hmmm.

oh yes, seven of us signed up for the same courses for the sajc discovery fiesta, although we were left with less exciting courses like origami and another career talk (my third one this year) by the time we found a computer to do sign ups.
considering how we fold paper flowers for each other during chinese class, we're going to enjoy origami now won't we.
haha.
and we signed up for soccer too!
screaming girls running on the field. :D
i wonder if jiaying is going to facilitate?

okay i'm really stuffed right now, possibly because of o'briens with the dancers for lunch.
trish tells me vjc is appealing for subway in their college...
i say we get o'briens!
i'll be their most loyal customer. :D

in keeping with the trend of randomness in this entry, i must mention that i've made a huge oversight in scheduling for next weekend.
the 15th is tanny's birthday (during which we will stay out late) followed by the harry potter book release on the morning of the 16th.
plus, i have the 24 hour playwriting thing at 4pm on the same day which will last all the way till 4pm the next day.
my lectoring falls on the 17th and baybeats is throughout the weekend.
darn.
i'll let matters sort themselves out.
for now, i'm off to grab a bar of crunchie.

did i mention i've been eating chicken rice for three consecutive days?
at far east, thomson and sajc.
i think the school wins. :)

Wednesday, July 6, 2005 09:37 p.m.

school was as per normal...
and the food is just as good. :)
i failed my chinese paper - 44 out of 100.
no surprises there.

right after lessons, i rushed down to orchard and bought a piñata (top secret!) then headed off to meet mitch, trish, sab and tanny.
had my usual medium cup plus jumbo cup of yami yoghurt with strawberry topping.
smackeroos.

we slacked in each other's company at mitch's place before leaving for chicken rice at thomson.
i'm looking forward to a sleepover with all six of us. :)
just got home a while ago and i'm dead beat right now so i should be off soon.
we're getting our literature papers tomorrow...
jittery jitters!

Tuesday, July 5, 2005 10:55 p.m.

just got home!
anyway all six of us finally met up. :)
mitch, sab, trish, tanny, sarah and i went to takashimaya for dinner at angus steakhouse.
we each ordered a set dinner which was so filling but yummy all the same.
that followed much photo-taking which will be up, urm, soon enough. :)

prior to that, mitch, sarah and tanny accompanied me to line up for the book signing with neil gaiman.
people were actually costumed in the likeness of the endless.
i'm going to borders for another round tomorrow. :D

and prior to that, i went to check out the quintessential sale at mandarin hotel arcade and bought a clutch, wallet and shoulder bag.
the lady was so sweet.
she gave me a 10% discount on top of the sale price and promised me a vip card the next time i purchase an item.
which is soon i hope.
am eyeing a tote bag there.

okay, this has been a fruitful day.
school officially starts tomorrow.
i'm looking forward to being with the class, but when i think about lessons (and homework), what else can i do but...
sigh.

Tuesday, July 5, 2005 12:25 a.m.

major re-cap of the week in a stream of unconscious thought.

tuesday and wednesday were our morning exams followed by bead shopping at holland village shopping centre. :)
jo, mal, weiyan, cheryl, corinne, charlotte and i bought very pretty glass beads in multicolours...
woohoo, more crafting time ahead.
thursday was weiyan's birthday bash. :D
the pictures speak for themselves.
i got an early morning shock when i found out mcq wasn't tested for economics.
so much for working on the tys mcq. :(
friday was the chinese paper (i fell asleep halfway through it! bummer) followed by our ao chinese oral.
i guess we got off relatively easy.
the o level chinese oral was much more difficult.
met up with sab, mitch and tanny in town afterwards then adjourned to mitch's place for mahjong!
and boy did we mahjong the night away.
played till 6am before sleeping. :)
oreo cookies + fresh milk + red wine = bad tummyache
woke up on saturday with sarah on the phone; she's back in singapore!
woohoo!
tanny and i left mitch's place for fish&co. at the glasshouse where we had lunch with swei, charm and chow.
we all miss you jan.
sunday was family day - shopping in town then a birthday dinner for my grandad.
74 years and counting. :D
can't wait for the end of the year.
i'm off to thailand and america!
whoopdeedoop!
today was a lazy morning of marks&spencer breakfasting followed by hitting the sales.
i scored great buys at song+kelly and blackjack!
too happy.
charm and i then had dinner at crystal jade.

alrighty, that was one long stream of thought.
we're all getting together for a reunion with sarah tomorrow.
cameras - set on recharge. :)