Honyi!

Graduation

2011-06-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

From Excitement...to Neglect...to Graduation. These four years have been terrific. And quite unforgettable. Thank you Brown, I love you :)

Home

2010-08-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm not really sure if anyone still comes up here, but thank you very much for your concern I am quite well and quite happy back home in Singapore! Life has been seriously undramatic, which is something I am sincerely grateful for given the stories I have heard these past couple of months, and I must say I am very thankful to whoever's up there who must be taking special care of me and my family and friends because everything's been going well.

Sorry for being so unspecific, but I suspect if you read this blog you should already know what I have been doing, and if you don't then you are really kaypoh - why are you here?!?! Stop being a stalker and ask me in person if you really care.

I'll be leaving in a week's time to go back to Brown. Yes I will remember and savor those last precious moments of student life and irresponsibility (in the no-responsibilities sense). It's scary and yet exhilarating to think that I have no idea where I'll be in a year's time. I'm not the sort who needs to plan every step of the way, and it seems like that's a good attitude to have in times of uncertainty such as this. But yes we shall see, we shall see.

LA

2010-07-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

Ok so sorry I totally skipped like 2-3 months due to laziness. Sorry to anyone who actually still comes down!

Kinda busy with work right now, but I promise I will be back shortly!!!

Take care everyone!

About a month...

2010-04-24T09:13:00.001-07:00

About a month before I return to Les Êtats-Unis, and then home. I do miss Brown - her classes, her people, her greens. And I do miss home. But I have also fallen in love with France. It's such a beau pays after all. Everything's just so pretty here - the language, the trees, the old European buildings, the food. I'd be happy to go back, but I'm not looking forward to leaving either. Maybe I just find things worth loving everywhere I go :D

My friends and parents, ahem, remark that I don't seem to be studying here. Well I am not. I even regret registering with a school here. There's so much happening out there, outside, I feel silly staying in the classroom, listening to the teacher drone on for four hours about grammar rules and other boring matters.

I'm in France, in Europe, I have one more month, and I'm going to make the best of it. And that, generally, does not involve teachers or classrooms.

1:32

2010-02-15T16:32:00.000-08:00

It's 1.32am, I intended to go to bed at 11, but ended up watching TVB dramas till late, hee hee. Jessica Hester Hsuan, I guess probably better known as Xuan Xuan, one of my favorite TVB actresses and Imperial alumnus. Catching up on her old stuff, my childhood and really, wasting time. And to think I'd be doing tons of reading here, haha!

So sorry that I've been lazy with photos, I haven't taken a single photo in Lyon. It's embarrassing taking photos like a tourist when I'm trying to blend in and pretend I totally belong here. The city is intoxicatingly beautiful, perhaps not at first sight, but I grow to like it more and more everyday. But frustration also grows when a different school means a different pace, different habits and rules. Like no eating in class? Seriously...Clearly a rule meant to be broken.

Also trying to get used to storeowners taking long, 2 hour lunch breaks, when banks take Mondays off, when restaurants close at 2pm, when Sundays means NOTHING is open, when sending documents overnight to the US costs 56 Euros and when faxing 5 sheets of paper costs 30 Euros. A different pace of life, different costs too.

I think I still prefer having everything available immediately and readily heehee.

Happy Chinese New Year by the way, I really miss nian gaos!

Lyon

2010-01-26T01:55:00.001-08:00

I realize I only blog when I have stuff to do i.e. exams and stuff and that's quite a bad habit, so I am determined to stop that habit and blog when I have stuff to say/update.

After a long and eventful month of travelling in the many and various parts of Les Etats-Unis and Londres I have finally arrived in Lyon. I can't say I was not worried when I arrived at the airport see immense amounts of fog and deserted/dilapidated cityscape, but luckily the main city area is beautiful. It's in one of the UNESCO world heritage sites and has over 2000 years of history.

Well like any student in a foreign country I haven't done much exploring - been doing the necessary shopping for food, towel and bolster etc. Omg you have no idea how much difference a bolster makes. I actually stop waking up throughout the night!! Amazing!!

24 More Hours

2009-12-20T14:04:00.000-08:00

Time Left: 24 More Hours

Pages Done: 6.5 pages. At least 8.5 more.

Snow count: Tons.

Food count: 1x microwaveable lagsane, 1x Steph's tasty biscuits, 1x Steph's crab biscuits, 1x bowl of cereal with mistakenly bought low fat milk (UGH) and Nx water (where N is not that much).

i.e., thank you Stephano.

頑張ります.

Have Not Written A Word

2009-12-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

I have 48 hours to write 2 papers. 15 pages at least.

It will be done.

In Retaliation

2009-12-18T19:50:00.000-08:00

Conversation with Steph about Allegory of the Cave:

it’s like virginity la.
I think it’s a better allegory
Allegory of the Hymen
Yea
at first you lead a sexless life
wandering around silly-ly
and maybe you watch porn
imitation
and then you have sex for the first time
at first it’s painful and disorienting
and then you cannot accept that this is sex
and you are like omg
but then after a while you get used to it
and you can’t go back to your virgin state anymore
porn doesn’t make sense anymore
when you have found the Truth

I personally think it's a much better allegory than the cave. But I guess Plato wouldn't have known it since he didn't have a hymen.

Or did he? What is an author?

OK enough.

Colt1210 Fail

2009-12-18T17:43:00.001-08:00

Alcibiades?? Seriously??? And the sonnets again?

And now I know it's Geog WILHELM Friedrich Hegel and FREAKING FRANTZ FANON. Useful information indeed.

WIN ALREADY. But I can't afford to linger.

Onto HAMLET

Finals

2009-12-17T20:50:00.001-08:00

Stupid COLT 1210 Final tomorrow - 10 identification questions, cumulative i.e. read and remember everything we did this semester. Started yesterday, been reading Jacques Derriblah, Kant the C*nt, Spitvak, Hegel Bagel, Plato Potato, Aristotle the Turtle - all my old enemies of the semester. But have already forgotten .

All jumbled up inside. Allegory of the Cave, stare at sun, eyes painful, unable to adjust to new knowledge etc. Speech is son, writing is orphan. Patricide. Pharmakon. Remedy. Poison. One is not born a woman but rather, becomes one. Lesbians are not women. Beauty. Judgment. Taste. Interest. Master and Slave. Consciousness. No violence, still slave. Commitment. Inside and outside. Form. There is no outside of the text? Sun. Heliotrope. Turning around the sun. Metaphor. And Metonymy. Signifier and Signified. Literature before resistance, or resistance before Literature? Subaltern. Can they speak?

And I've been borderline so I need an A on this final. Win already.

Steph and Nick have gone home so I have usurped the former's room. Conclusion is solitude doesn't guarantee productivity. Sounds emo but I am not, just quite saturated with a whole lot of nonsense in brain. Ah. I think, I am. Je pense, donc je suis. I am sitting here, in front of Steph's reading light, typing this. But how should I know that I am typing this? Because I think. No, nobody can deny that I am thinking. Therefore I must exist. What about the tasty biscuits in front of me? My senses tell me they are there. Therefore I judge that they are there.

But ah, judgment. Kant. One judges that the sun is beautiful, but not because one has an interest in it. Free beauty, or something. Purposiveness without purpose.

But purposiveness without purpose? Committed art? Form within and content without. Doesn't it suck then? Reactionary writers?

But writing. Orphan. Pharmakon. Poison. They shouldn't give us books then, for this class, since writing makes us false wise men and women.

But do men and women exist? Social construct? What is a lesbian if not a woman or man? Marx - the "people" fight for their groups, not for themselves. No subjects. Women not encouraged to do their own thingamajig. Divisive. They belong to men. So women think - wth. Less individualism better? With divisions come classes? Homosexuals inferior to heterosexuals because of divisions?

History of sexuality. Speech. Power exerts itself by discourse. Labels, categories, assigned.

Power not in the hands of one. Pervasive power. Institutions.

Yawn. enough.

In the meantime, other things swirling in my mind along with the rest of the trash: rara aaa, romaromama, gaga ohlala...

First Snow

2009-12-05T19:12:00.000-08:00

First snow of the year, and I had the misfortune to discover it only when I ran out in shorts to the gym. Bloody tree outside my window, blocks everything from sight. But luckily that was before it was gross and slushy, so I wasn't that cold or wet.

Everything's covered in the purest white. How pretty. I like it when it's all white. The Rock looks better that way. Everything seems to look better. Until it becomes ice, that is.

I'm gonna miss Brown so much when I graduate sigh.

Strike

2009-12-02T14:51:00.001-08:00

Hello, hello, back from Montreal, thrown back into a a flurry of work and papers (bloody colt1210) until 22nd Dec (somebody's birthday...) when road trip will commence!! Can't wait!!

But till then...20 pages of writing, 2 final exams and 1 oral exam to go. I want to go on strike! I don't want to face my potential Bs ughhh Good luck everybody

Mindy: Didn't take any photos, waiting for my friend the official photographer to upload them on facebook haha. Though she didn't take many either - the weather was kind of shitty when we were there.

Montreal

2009-11-25T01:19:00.000-08:00

MM...it's 4.20am, eating Steph's cake and preparing to leave...

Steph: Nooooooooo

Mindy: Who says travel means must see 1 million things one

Jiadi: I miss you guys too!!!!! Keep an eye out of Shit for me haha in case her new No Abs bullies her. Don't miss TB too much too k

Thanksgiving

2009-11-22T22:02:00.000-08:00

Doubt anyone still comes here, but hello hello, sorry I've been missing for so long haha I'm just such a lazy person that blogging doesn't come natural to me. Duh.

But it's November now, we're a couple weeks away from the end of the semester. So what have I been doing? Reading, sleeping, hanging out with my dear neighbours Stephano and Le Petit Nicolas, playing polo, traveling here and there...that's about it really.

So I'll be going to Montreal with said neighbours on Wednesday - it's gonna be cold but it's gonna be so much fun. I can't wait to sink into those sheets for at least half the day seriously, and no Stephano you are not going to drag me out of Paradise. Unless it's for food of course.

Mmmmm

August!

2009-08-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

Wow it's August and it's been ages since I wrote. I doubt anyone still reads this but if you do I want to tell you that I'm not dead. I've just ended my internship (a terrific one) with 8 Days and am now lounging at home, hanging out with friends and family and just chilling out. Life can't be much better than this.

A Month to Home!

2009-04-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

I realize I don't really say much about what I do in school over here, mostly because I'm afraid it will bore all of you, and plus I don't have any pretty pictures or anything. But just to explain why I haven't been blogging that much, I've been quite busy this semester, been spending most my days doing mostly Japanese and French homework, preparing for upcoming, once again, Japanese and French tests and exams, playing polo (twice a week now and I'm getting better at cantering), working for a professor and other miscellaneous activities.

This week, for example, is the Ivy Film Festival, the largest student film festival in the US and I assume the world and I'm going to watch a movie tonight - 500 Days of Summer. Should be interesting. A couple days ago I spent the afternoon playing polo and then tomorrow I have dinner at a Prof's place, on Saturday a couple of us will be going down to MIT to meet the other Singaporeans in the region and to play some games. So even though I don't have a lot of regular work per se I've been doing a lot of stuff like that.

But even so I've found time in between for my favorite pasttime - watching dvds on my computer, like this one:

I suppose everyone already knows what this movie is about - a dog and his life with an average growing family, basically. Of course the "average couple" = Owen Wilson and Jen Aniston and seriously how can they be average. I watched it thinking it was one of those sweet, funny movies and it really was sweet and funny but also incredibly, incredibly SAD. I cried so hard at the end I actually had to pause the movie to take a tissue and I swear my face and eyes were swollen by the end. Goodness!! I guess this movie really deserved all the boatloads of money it got at the box office even if it wasn't supremely impressive if you really must be anal about it.

On a sidenote, also watched Quantum of Solace, and even though Daniel Craig really is a hot piece of ass, and it's a good thing that M (Judi Dench) has a lot more screentime in this movie, everyone was right - not worth watching!

Ueno Juri + Oscars

2009-02-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

So here's my new discovery - Ueno Juri.

I don't think she's a new discovery for the Japanese but well I have most recently discovered her in the RongRong recommendation Nodame Cantabile and Keisuke (suitemate) recommendation Last Friends and this woman is an AMAZINGLY versatile actress!!

I mean it's how difficult to act as a xiao zha bor in one show and then a brooding motorcross rider lesbian in another?!? And she's totally unrecognizable if you don't look for her name, she's that good. I think give her another few years and she'll rival Meryl Streep.

Which brings me to...

This is actually the first time I've watched The Oscars live and in its entirety!! Actually I wanted to watch it because Hugh Jackman was the host this year (great job he did but I think Ellen did a better job a couple years back) and I sat at my computer and waited for what must have been for a couple hours for the traditional host's opening piece and then after having dinner I went to the bathroom and chatted for 5 minutes with my suitemate Sarah AND THEN THE DAMN SHOW STARTED and half his opening number was over by the time I got out. Luckily I still managed to see the part with Anne Hathaway.

Which reminds me...my favorite dresses of the night:

Anne Hathaway's was quite sweet I thought, and one of the best in the crowd this year though everyone was wearing quite normal stuff not like Bjork's swan suit a couple years ago.

But my favorite is still this:

Now I'm not normally a fan of dresses cos they are so troublesome and itchy but this is really beautiful. This dress is apparently (according to the interview prior to the ceremony) 60 years old and Penélope Cruz chose it 8 years ago at a store and she went back this year and found it still there waiting for her. Isn't that sweet? I think it's amazing and I'm glad she won Best Supporting for Vicky Cristina Barcelona even though I haven't watched it but I will.

And of course the stars of the show are:

Angie and Brad!!!! Woohoo!! Okay they were being quite stuck up and not talking to anyone on the red carpet but come on la they are Angie and Brad and even though they didn't win anything at the Oscars they're still huge. And Angie was smiling and laughing this time even though she didn't win! Unlike in the previous Critics Choices Awards when her face turned black when Anne Hathaway won the award (alongside Meryl Streep). But if you have watched Rachel Getting Married which is what Anne won the award for I think you'll know why la, it's not very spectacular and we all know Anne's more capable than that.

And more of Brad and Angie cos I like.

Oh Goddess!

Awards wise the pace of the ceremony was quick so it was quite fun to watch. Also pretty glad that Kate Winslet and Sean Penn got the best actress and best actor awards, even though I haven't watched either of their shows I fully intend to and I believe they were brilliant in them. And of course I guess no one would disagree that Heath Ledger fully deserved his best supporting actor award. It's really really too bad he's no longer here, sigh.

So now I have a list of absolutely must-watch movies by the end of this year:

1. Revolutionary Road (Because of Kate Winslet)
2. The Reader (Kate Winslet)
3. Milk (Sean Penn)
4. Doubt (Meryl Streep!!!)
5. Entre les Murs or The Class (Winner of the Palm D'Or and nominated for Best Foreign Film)
6. Changeling (ANGIE)
7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVEN'T WATCHED THIS)
8. Slumdog Millionare (Just cos)
9. Departures (Japanese film, won Best Foreign Film)

To Appease my fans!

2009-02-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

My very free suitemate whom I shall not name has most recently complained about the lack of activity on my blog. Well it's not my fault that I am too busy right?

Anyway it was my birthday N days ago and I turned 21 without much fuss or fanfare. Actually it was quite the crap on the day itself because I had to mug for the test and presentation the next day. But anyhow thanks to all who remembered, I do appreciate it especially because I took it off facebook and all. And thanks to those who actually bought gifts haha, I do like the Myléne Farmer CD you bought Suitemate, it's very suite/sweet (haha) of you.

And Shit you still owe me a present don't think I have forgotten.

But Suitemate and I did go for an expensive French dinner (combined bday celebrations) which was quite nice but tasted like Chinese food (?!). She tried the veal and I ate the bouillabaisse (how to spell) because Hermione mentioned it and I wanted to see what it was like haha. And then we ate the Crême Brulee which was très bien très bien and damn sweet but very nice! Quite worth it I think even though it was ultra ex.

Other than that I've just been watching Japanese dramas. Keisuke, my other suitemate recommended Last Friends which I am watching now. Jiadi recommended Proposal Diasakusen which is quite cute (the guy is at least). And I re-watched some parts of Hana Kimi because Ashiya Mizuki is so pretty! And Nakatsu is also pretty good looking.

The people from Hana Kimi (Nakatsu's on the left)
(Dude from Proposal Daisakusen)

Hey don't think I'm doing all this for leisure okay, I'm trying to work on my Japanese. You think I so free to watch tv for fun is it.

Someone's Birthday

2008-12-22T05:35:00.001-08:00

Today's somebody's birthday. Her name is Shitty Chen. Who is Shitty Chen?

Sometimes she thinks she is a goddess.

And that we'd believe she is one if she wraps herself up in some leftover cloth.

Sometimes she thinks she is a very ugly ghost.

Sadly for her she looks even uglier in the photo cos of her beautiful friend on her left.

But actually she's King Shitalongkorn.

Her favorite pasttime's hanging out with honyizabeth, her royal halfie.

What else does Shitty Chen like to do?

She likes to qiang jing tou and say "yeah!" for the camera even if she has to do it with a grimace because the water is damn salty other people are busy spitting seawater out.

She likes to flirt with random men, even those she meets on public transport.

She likes to enslave her friends and lord over them like a bossy old woman.

She even picks fights with good little girls on the street.

But mostly she just has very low selfesteem because of her terrible looks. Some say her jaw is too wide, while some say her mouth is too crooked. Truth is, she just looks like Mr Potato Head.

Okay la okay la Shitty's my very funny and wonderful Halfie, and it's her 20th birthday today!!! She's a very funny, cute little girl whose bright eyes have captured many hearts (including random bus guy's)! She may be stupid stupid at times but she's actually quite smart, but I can't think of any examples to back-up my claim.

Hope her 20th year on Earth would be a happy, bruise-free one, and she'll have lots and lots of time and money to spend with/on me!! Happy Birthday Halfie you're the best!!!!! Love you!!

I've got a Goo Vibration

2008-12-06T21:32:00.001-08:00

This is really cute, I hope to be able to drop by!

Yet another step closer...

2008-11-18T18:09:00.000-08:00

From today onwards, thanks to my driving instructor and all your well wishes, I'm yet another step closer to him/her...

WOOHOO!!

Where is Stefanie

2008-11-03T18:43:00.001-08:00

Well if she has the time and the boredom to google her own name, I hope Stefanie Sun Yanzi will see this and realize that even people who not-crazy-huge-ass-paul-like-fans miss her! Come out already!! WHERE ARE YOU!! We can't keep listening to the same few songs!

Okay fine you caught me I'm procrastinating. Supposed to be studying for French now mais je ne veux pas travailler!!!!!

The Solution

2008-10-27T12:12:00.001-07:00

Behold, my $25 solution to the aforementioned problem. The Honeywell HZ-2200 Mini Tower Surround Heater!

Thanks you guys for all your concern and in particular Bobbert for being such a shit (refer to last comment on previous post)!

The Complaint of a Literature Student

2008-10-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

DEAR SIR/MADAM,

I UNDERSTAND THE HEATING HAS BEEN/SHOULD HAVE BEEN TURNED ON LAST WEEK. UNFORTUNATELY, MY FRIENDS AND I LIVING HERE HAVE STILL BEEN SUFFERING FROM THE COLD. I HAVE COME TO THE POINT WHERE I HAVE TO WEAR 4 LAYERS WHEN I STUDY - INCLUDING A JACKET FOR OUTDOORS - AND MY HANDS AND FEET FEEL LIKE THEY HAVE BEEN DIPPED IN ICED WATER. THERE IS MIST ON MY BRITA JUG FROM THE COLD AND MY CELL-PHONE FEELS LIKE IT WAS PLACED IN THE REFRIGERATOR. I HAVE TO CURL UP IN BED EVERY NIGHT BECAUSE IT IS TOO COLD TO EXTEND MYSELF FULLY AND MY BODY PILLOW IS TOO COLD TO HUG. IF YOU GO ON FACEBOOK AND READ OUR STATUSES, YOU WILL FIND THAT MOST IN THE BUILDING ARE SUFFERING FROM THE SAME PROBLEM. PLEASE HELP US. WE WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT.

Sometimes we just need to slow down

2008-10-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

追

這一生　也在進取

這分鐘　卻掛念誰　

我會說　是唯獨你　不可失去　

好風光　似幻似虛　誰明人生樂趣　

我會說　為情為愛　仍然是對

誰比你重要?　成功了敗了也完全無重要　

誰比你重要?　狂風與暴雨都因你燃燒

一追再追　只想追趕生命裡一分一秒　

原來多麼可笑　

你是真正目標

一追再追　追蹤一些生活最基本需要

原來早不缺少　

有了你　即使平凡卻最重要

Legally Blonde

2008-10-01T05:23:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering I have "omigod"s and references to an Elle everywhere it's because I watched Legally Blonde the musical on Sunday. No la I am not made of cash I didn't go down to NYC to watch it - Broadway was on tour.

And seriously I thought it would just be loads of pink and fun - even though the Reese Witherspoon version is one of my favorite movies of all time - but it was really pretty good!! The pace was good, the performers EXCELLENT and the songs and script was pretty well thought out. It cost me $30.50 to be there (student discount, half priced) but I think I would have been willing to pay the full price, and everyone knows how much of a miser I am.

The only problem was I felt really bad for not being a non-blonde at the end (not in terms of hair color duh), but because the annoying people "who wear black even when there's no funeral" they portray - the Harvard people - are but stereotypes and more intense versions (duh, Harvard) of me!!!! How sad!! But sorry Elle I really don't like pink even though your dresses were really pretty.

So yes, if Elle Woods and Bruiser happen so swing your way, please do catch it!! It'll make your week just so much better :D

MINI

2008-09-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't been doing much recently - just work and sleep and more work and the occasional polo game, but I took my driving theory test with Lijun and Michelle yesterday! And we passed!! Hurray!!

Which means I will be taking my practical test in November!! So I'll be able to drive by the time I come home in December can you believe it!!!!

So in typical counting-my-eggs-before-they-hatch fashion, I think it is finally time to unveil the car of my dreams - Mr. Mini Cooper CONVERTIBLE. (Or maybe Miss Mini Cooper sounds more logical)

AHHH how can anyone resist him/her?!?!?!?! I can totally imagine myself sitting in and driving him/her!!!!

And I've already decided which color I want to get - the white one!!!! Or cream, ivory, whatever you call it.

And of course this car has to be super expensive - even second hand costs more than USD10k here and I think the news ones are $25k (which is damn ex in US terms). And it's very lame to spend my parents' money to buy a Mini so I'll have to work and buy it on my own, so I suppose it's going to be another couple of years before I can buy it, especially if I go to grad school...

But oh well! One can dream for a while :)

New Room

2008-09-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

While I'm waiting for lunch to be ready, here're some photos of my new room!!

I currently stay in a single in a suite, which means I have privacy and good company at the same time! The only thing I can't used to is sharing the bathroom with guys. It's really a little strange even though obviously we don't see anything we're not supposed to see.

Picture #1: here's the entrance to my boudoir, everyone is expected to kneel and hail the Queen (me) before they enter. There're just some random post-it notes from visitors and bored suitemates and a bunny I drew for fun.

So this is the first thing you see when you enter my room, my clothes, my toiletries, my bookcase (which I'm using as a shoe rack HAHA) and some drawers.

I put up some photos - okay a lot of photos - on my wall, and these are my stalkerish People magazine photos of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and their UCB-ads-like family. I thought since I spent S$8 on that magazine I might as well make full use of it.

And of course photos of you people right next to my bed and window, along with my timetable.

Here's my table and wall - I have no idea why this photo is inverted. There's a Black and White and Beautiful people theme. I didn't mean for it to look like an Audrey Hepburn shrine though it just so happens that I didn't want my lamp to point downwards at my papers so I pointed it upwards and there you have it - a spotlight for dear Audrey.

And this is my bed. It's jacked up so high so I thought I might as well put my fridge under it to save space. I have to climb on a chair onto my bed everynight. My suitemates said it's good cos it'll put me off lazing back to bed after hitting the snooze button every morning but it really is no use I climb back on anyway.

My fridge. I got it from free from my buddy Ruomei!! I just had to clean it out a little but it was in great condition. Now it contains all my fruits and tofu and FULL FAT MILK YAY!! And of course it has the usual Sammi adornments.

And I, of course, left the wall right next to my bed for my SAMMI POSTERS WOOHOO!! So I sleep next to them like I do at home haha. The poster on the left is a really old one from 2001 - Becoming Sammi and the one on the right is the most recent, her Show Mi concert poster. I bought it online and had it shipped to me cos obviously they don't sell sammi posters here!! Not that any of you care I think.

And if you think decorating my room is all I have been doing, no I have been busy studying too! Look at these cute folders I bought for my classes haha! The one on the left is for French and the one on the right is for Japanese. Haha!! Takashimaya rocks.

Sophomore Year

2008-09-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hello!!

So sorry I have been MIA for ages and ages. This blog is so dusty and boring I doubt anyone still comes here but it's okay I'll just write something for my own amusement.

The last week has been extremely hectic - I came back to a new but dusty room with unpacked boxes and an unvacuumed floor, a spoiled printer and a missing freezer. Which can kind of explain why I went missing the first few days of school. But all this has been fixed with the help of money and generous friends and Sophomore year can finally begin properly!

Classes will be interesting this year. I'm taking four languages essentially - Basic Japanese, Intermediate French, Classical Chinese and a Lit class. It's all a whole load of fun, French is still very very simple now because we're still doing revisions so that's not a problem. Chinese is okay too because I did 文言文 before so it's not a big problem. But Japanese is SOOO difficult oh goodness the Hiragana is killing me!! But I'm sure it'll get better, like French did. The teachers are really good too, they use all sorts of interesting methods to make sure we remember the words. And it's like learning a different sort of Chinese all over again cos like our NYPS teachers they make us practise the strokes in the air too. Cute haha!

Other than that I'll be continuing with Polo and maybe a parttime job, depending on what there is. I know other people like Mindy and Meixi are like super big on doing volunteer work, but there doesn't seem like there's anything much to do here. Hmm.

In any case, Sophomore year looks like it's going to be quite a lot of fun :)

Ugly Template

2008-07-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the ugly template, apparently the photos exceeded the bandwidth or something. I'll try getting a nicer wallpaper soon or something, but in the meantime you and I will have to bear with this. Sorry!

Back to Comfortable Uniforms Day

2008-07-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

Back to Comfortable Uniforms Day is always sobering because it reminds me of the realities and cruelty of the human race.

For those who really don't know us well, Shit and I have a Back to Comfortable Uniforms Day once or twice a year. We'd wear our old MGS and RGS uniforms and shop around Orchard Road, just to remind ourselves of our happy days in secondary school. I'd share some photos, as we actually both brought cameras today to commemorate this sombre affair but we forgot to take photos -.-

But of course there are the shitty bits to wearing secondary school uniform. For the first time in a very long time, for me at least, we were slighted almost everywhere we went. At Mango in Ngee Ann City Shitty was scolded for walking to the wrong exit at the fitting room and she said something like "can't you read the sign". Of course it was Shit's fault for walking to the wrong place but why did that lady have to be so rude?! Later shopping at Takashimaya we were ignored throughout our shopping journey, and the members of the staff would give us the notorious "once-over" as if to say, "oh, you are a student, you have no money and hence I don't have to bother about you". Later when Shit changed out into normal shopping apparel and I remained in my uniform, the serving staff at a stall at Food Republic spent about 20 seconds calling "xiao jie, xiao jie" trying to get her to look at the menu even though I was standing in front of her, trying to get their attention because I wanted to buy something. I was really quite fed-up by that time so I said "hello, 是我要买东西, okay?" as in "I'm the one trying to buy something, okay" and looked quite pissed off but at least they had the decency to look sheepish but I am not sure if they got my point.

I know some people may think I am sensitive, but come on, it's not like I have never shopped at these places before, but I have never been so badly treated before!!!! Perhaps I never noticed the difference as a schoolgirl, but it's been a long time since I've been in uniform and the difference is just astounding.

Of course I am not sure if this is entirely due to the uniforms or simply because of the utter lack of courtesy in some people these days. And I'm not trying to be high and mighty either, I don't need everyone to serve or come after me, I'm just trying to get basic respect! I really felt like Vivian (Julia Roberts) on 5th Avenue in Pretty Woman, who had bundles of cash to spend (okay maybe not that applicable to me) and no one to help her spend it. Seriously!!!!!

Shop assistant: Hello, can I help you?
Vivian: I was in here yesterday, you wouldn't wait on me.
Shop assistant: Oh.
Vivian: You people work on commission, right?
Shop assistant: Yeah.
Vivian: Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now.

BAH!! You wait.

Long Time No See

2008-06-25T07:26:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! Haven't said anything here in a while, so just coming up to say hi.

It'll be a lonely weekend for me this week - Shit's going to be out with Paul, Ass with Ty, Xun with his friend and Calcal's in Thailand, E and Nat are still away, and everyone else is busy or occupied in some other way, so I suppose I will be spending some quality time with my bed (apart from my family obviously).

But thankfully I'll be quite entertained during the week. Will be watching Kungfu Panda (FINALLY) with darling Beatrice!! I couldn't bear to subject poor Calcal to such (imaginably) unspeakable torture the last time, so we watched The Incredible Hulk instead, which turned out to be not bad. Liv Tyler is HOT!! She's not skinny at all, but she's so pretty, it makes me feel so happy.

Speaking of non-skinny beautiful actresses, I think Anne Hathaway's also becoming increasingly gorgeous. Since her time as Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries 7-8 years back, she's transformed into this versatile actress that can carry those beautiful coats and dresses so well (and be of human proportions at the same time). Anne Hathaway was also surprisingly awesome in Get Smart as Agent 99, her wardrobe is simply amazing, but that is not the only reason why she really stands out here. I think she's not only the pretty face this time, as most female counterparts in spy movies tend to be, but an actual partner, someone who adds quite a lot of value to the show. But Get Smart is really funny, go watch it!! Disclaimer: I'm quite easily amused so don't blame me if you don't find it funny.

But in terms of hotness I think no one can beat ANGELINA JOLIE PLEASE she is a GODDESS and I CANNOT WAIT to watch Wanted but I should shut up about this before everyone slaps me for being TOO repetitive and over-excited. ISN'T SHE JUST AWESOME!?

Okay I should stop talking about movies, though I've really watched so many of them in the past month. In addition to these I've also watched Indiana Jones and Made of Honor which are really not bad at all, rather entertaining.

So essentially yes, I've traveled more than 30 hours to come home and I've been submerging myself in American popular culture again. Awesome.

Some Random Things

2008-06-09T00:20:00.001-07:00

It’s difficult to get used to Windows all over again after being addicted to my beautiful white Macbook Xiaobai (who’s not so white anymore) for a year, but I think I’m more or less back on track after 2 weeks, even though I’m still doing some shortcuts that don’t exist on this computer. I wonder who would ever switch back to Windows if they had a choice actually, or maybe I am just biased.

SACO outing last night was pretty awesome, I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in a long time (other than the last time I had dinner with Bea Ass and Teacher Chen). It was just nice to see everyone especially people like Jiadi and MRR and Quarter because I haven’t seen them in ages! And Auntie dazzled (some prefer to say shocked the hell out of) all of us when she arrived unfashionably late but fashionably dressed!! Her new curled hair just looked marvelous on her and you know I never praise people other than Shit, Sammi and of course myself. And she wore EYELINER and LIP GLOSS!!!!

And of course we had full attendance other than the Peking Duck who’s still stuck in a you-know-where. Before commencing our dinner we had a moment’s silence for her because she’s still having exams HAHA the poor kid. After dinner we went to Swensen’s for our favorite Earthquake Ice-cream and Quarter ate some more ice cream when we moved to MacDonald’s after. And of course there was a gift-exchange session when Shit gave us sweets for herself (she made us accept them and un-wrap them for her to eat) and MRR gave us the Fuwa dolls from China and Auntie gave us tissue paper.

And we were talking a lot about random things until it was time to go home. But at least it will be SACO Kbox Stayover soon!! I really love these guys I think they are absolutely irreplaceable and the most obliging people I have ever met!! Wonder what life would be like without SACO, I really can’t imagine.

On a completely random note, I spent a little of yesterday and today translating all of Sammi’s 3-page article on her experience in Sichuan for fans who don’t read Chinese. I think even though she’s a little odd and rough around the edges at times she’s really pretty good at expressing what I’ve always wanted to but never been able to, like her ideas about humanity and charity. She mentioned how most of us are charitable, but how many of us would be willing to go all out of our way and out of our comfort zone to help others? (I can think only of Mindy who does) Maybe most of us just donate a little money and are contented with what we have done for the next few months. The best thing is she doesn’t say all this to criticize or judge others, but merely as if she is just contemplating human nature. I think it’s because she reads a lot and she is, basically a very intelligent woman. Like AH said, “she understands, she understands better than all of us”. Which goes to show that one’s level of education may not prove anything at all considering as it is I’m already a lot more qualified than she is.

SACO Outing

2008-06-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

SACO outing later today - I'm so excited!!!! Haven't seen some of these guys in more than 4 months!!

Promise

2008-06-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

There was a 7 hour long charity show today organized by the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild (amongst others) for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. About 500 artistes from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong participated in the event and I think they managed to raise quite a sum. The song the artistes are singing above is "Promise", a song written by Andy Lau. If I'm not wrong it's an old song of Beyond's.

Even though parts of the show were rather disorganized (understandable for such a long show involving so many people) and some singers really cannot sing, I thought it was truly touching that so many artistes flew in specially to contribute in some way or another. I bet it was hot, sweaty and disgusting and they are not paid at all but 500 actually turned up. Five hundred!!!!!! And people like ASOS flew all the way in just to say a few words of encouragement and Zhang Xiaoyan who hasn't appeared in ages also flew in to host parts of the show, amongst many many other Taiwanese and Chinese artistes.

Of course the artistes in Hong Kong have also been extremely involved in charity work. Andy Lau is especially respectable, he really has been leading all the charity work done for Sichuan since the very beginning. Andy Lau, Sammi and Joey Yung also visited Sichuan over the past couple of days to motivate the rescue workers and to see for themselves the magnitude of what has happened. I think they've just arrived back in Hong Kong today and instead of taking a break they've embarked on this 7-hour marathon of a concert again. I'm not sure if I can do so myself honestly.

The Hong Kong showbiz has always been associated with vanity, bad press and scandal but really this event has really shown everyone how much they are able to help people if they work together and direct their power to the correct purposes.

I think that's what's precious about human nature. Despite all that is negative, despite what happens, we always find strength to pick ourselves up. Even when we are discouraged by how nature rampages parts of this world mercilessly again and again, or when we forget momentarily to care about other people in the midst of our so-called suffering, there will be people who are compassionate enough to spend some time to remind us to help, or at least remember, those who are really much less fortunate than we can even imagine.

It doesn't really matter how much you contribute, but do try to help the people of Sichuan rebuild their lives.

You can do so at the following websites:
www.worldvision.org
http://www.artistes512.com (This is the official website for the aforementioned event, click on "pay online".)

First Day at Work

2008-05-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

And thus I start my first day at work. Apart from the 8.30-6pm days I have to spend 3 hours on the road because of the bus journey so essentially I get up at 6.15 and reach home only 13 hours and 15 minutes later at 7.30pm, earliest.

Workplace is right next to the Supreme Court and also next to Funan the IT mall, please ask me out to lunch if you are dropping by!

And oh, by the way, I'm home :)

Sidenote: Oh PLEASE obviously I did not design this myself I got it from blogskins.com!!! And Buddy can you tell me your blog address again I lost it when I shifted template hahaha, thanks!

Revelation

2008-05-06T04:14:00.000-07:00

My roommie Erin and I generally lead a rather peaceful and genial life in our Keeney room other than the following which, up till last night, were real causes for headaches:

1. The bloody music that keeps thumping away until sometimes 3am at night.
2. The daily smell of pot that permeates our walls and room.

And last night, in my last week here in Keeney, we finally found the cause - Mr. Downstairs.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have no idea why he thinks it's perfectly acceptable to smoke pot everyday but okay that's not my business to interfere but the SMELL actually AFFECTS OTHER PEOPLE!!!! That'd better not be the reason why I feel sleepy all the time (trying to push the blame)!!!

AND I have no idea why the SAME guy has to play bass-heavy remixes EVERY damn night and it's so LOUD that my body thumps along to the music. AND I can hear that he likes Gwen Stefani, and which song he's playing, THROUGH THE FLOOR! ARGHHHH!!!! WHAT AN ASS!!!!!

Such inconsiderate people should be sent to live in the bathrooms or something!!!!

ALL THE WAY HALFIE

2008-04-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

I know Halfie has been incredibly stressed recently because it's exam period and certain rubbishy people are annoying her to no end. So here're a few photos that hopefully will cheer her up:

Haflie! If you work hard enough maybe after your exams God will give you her looks and body (check out her boob omg!!):

Otherwise He may give you his intelligence:

Hopefully He doesn't mix them up and give you Alby's looks and Angie's intelligence!

But otherwise maybe He will nice enough to turn you into a dog so you can be hugged by him:

I think otherwise that's the only time you will get to hug him.

But aiya I know what you want. Maybe you will get to dance with them:

And this: Maybe he will give you a HUGE slobbery kiss that will gross us out:

But oh well even if you fail you will still be my worser Half and we can emo together:

Aiya, who ask us to be One?

JIAYOU HAFLIE!!!!

Il Fait Froid

2008-04-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

It's SOOO cold today I have no idea why, it's been raining all day and everyone's gloomy and pissed off and I'm sleepy. I'm perpetually wrapped up in the nice, comfy blanket F5 gave me and it makes it even more difficult to continue with the papers because I keep staring longingly at my bed. I suppose I should just succumb to temptation in a while.

Glad you guys liked my previous entry and there was even a little conversation going on between my cousins although I have no idea what you are talking about but actually you don't have to explain to me too, it's okay.

And here's a nice song to listen to on a rainy day:

Rubbish, by Candy Lo.

Good luck to all the NUS people who are still having exams!

Mourir Demain

2008-04-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

Been posting tons of youtube videos here recently and I know some people will think they can skip these if they don't feel like it but NO! If you are here I absolutely INSIST YOU WATCH THEM!

No reason why, I just feel like insisting hee!

The name of this song is "To Die Tomorrow" - we learned how to use the conditional tense in French today like if I were to die tomorrow, I would like to blah blah.

I wrote "Si je mourais demain, je me coucherais" which means "If I were to die tomorrow, I would like to sleep". Okay technically that is not my real answer, I wrote that because it was an early class and we had to rush it out and sleep was the only thing on my mind. Other people said they would like to have a cookie or to climb a mountain or things like that so I am not the worst HAHA! Seriously climbing a mountain on the last day of your life is just ridiculous because even if you really didn't die the next day you'd probably die from exhaustion and it's too damn tiring for an awesome last day on earth.

But seriously? What would I do if I knew I'd die tomorrow? It's a very interesting question, don't you think? Of course I would be quite upset if I were still stuck here in the US because it takes 2 days to fly back and I'd die on the plane even if I flew back immediately which is super not worth it.

But I suppose one day is too little time to do anything extreme. I suppose I would have dimsum with my family for lunch and then maybe chicken rice for dinner. And I want the crabs that my dad cooks so well, yum yum. And then ask F5 to come have supper with me and my family and Shit to come sleep over (will remind her to bring her contact lens solution). But really I don't think there's anything much I'd want to do other than spend time with the people I love. Which is so normal and boring but oh well.

And then I should remember to give my money to my parents, it's too little to be of any use so they can donate it if they want to. And my Sammi Cheng collection can't be cremated with me because there is too much I think half the jar of ashes will be Sammi's things instead of me, so I will give it to someone like Shit and HAHA I insist you have to continue extending the collection or I will send beetles to your room everyday!! HAHA!!

The guy and the girl in the MV are yelling "If I were to die tomorrow I'd love you" which is really cheesy but well.

What would you do?

有一種快樂

2008-04-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Sammi and Gigi Leung visited Laos with WorldVision to learn more about poverty and how kids are surviving there. It turned out to be an educational tour not only for her but for the tens of thousands of fans and viewers. Both also released a song each to encourage people to help these kids. I know none of us are working yet, but in case anyone does or will remember this in years to come - it takes less than S$2 a day to help these kids get a better life.

I really like this song, hope you guys do too.

I love how I never fail to draw inspiration from her. (NOT YOU, SHIT, STOP BEING THICK-SKINNED)

And so it begins...

2008-04-17T14:17:00.001-07:00

Four more weeks, 3 more papers, 1 more test, 1 more oral...and then I'll be home!!! Back in Singapore, my beautiful home!! I don't like the sun (sorry Half), so here's a night scene hahah.

I actually thought it was HongKong the first time I saw this photo. But I suppose there is no difference haha - my Hong Konger friend asked me if I was "going back to Hong Kong this summer" and she only realized her mistaken when I stared at her in confusion. Honestly I've only been to HongKong for a grand total of 4 days in my entire 20 years, it can hardly be anything near home despite my various preferences.

Spring is here now, the sun is out most of the time and everyone is outside playing but really, my biggest goal in life is just to run back home and hide in my bed!! Don't know what's so nice about the sun -.-

I think learning languages is addictive. I knew like 2 words of French beginning last semester - Bonjour and Merci because they are both names of food - but now we are actually reading a book! Le Petit Prince, not anything difficult, but still.

And Pauline my TA showed us a video of a French singer whom I am quite taken to - Mylene Farmer.

She's one of the few French singers I've seen over the past year who dances along to her songs, which is pretty Hong Kong like. And she has star quality even though she's not very young anymore, so I suppose she is like the French Madonna or the French Old Sammi! I looked her up and guess what - the tickets to her concerts in September 2009 are entirely sold out what on earth!!! A bit extreme!!

Been thinking about exploring Japanese now, but I may not be able to do it if I accelerate. It's not an impulse thing, I've been wanting to learn how to speak Japanese since secondary school. But can I? Must remember to speak to my advisor.

To accelerate or not to accelerate - c'est la question.

My favorite Recent Photo

2008-04-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

I miss you Halfie!!! Hope basic theory went well today :)

Mama says Must Blog

2008-04-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

Mama has been complaining that I haven't been blogging even though I am already sending her daily updates of my life so here are some photos that you guys may be interested in haha.

For those who are totally not in touch with what I am doing I went to Vermont on a ski break with LanXiu and Huahua over spring break and we spent five marvelous days in a ski lodge called SugarLodge.

I know I look damn fat but I have to insist it's because we were wearing layers and layers of clothes under our waterproof things. But of course you don't really need to wear so many layers.

None of us knew how to ski, as is obvious from this photo of Lanxiu and I fighting with the ski poles.

HuaHua the hilly billy HAHA who I know looks ridiculous here but he is the only one who was in actual ski attire.

There was a hot tub outside our room because we got the Queen Suite that has a kitchen and 2 beds so Lanxiu and I went to soak in the hot tub everyday. Apparently it's a fixture in every ski lodge because everyone is so exhausted from skiing they need somewhere to unwind every night. We saw shooting stars too on the first night!! Marvelous experience.

And heres the view from our room. The brown thing's the hot tub.

The must-see of Vermont - the Ben and Jerry's factory! Ben and Jerry's my favorite ice cream, and they started out from Vermont. We only had to pay $3 for the factory tour which included free tasting of one of their new flavors at the end of the trip. Somehow Huahua looks very weird here I think it's cos he closed his eyes or simply because his eyes are too small HAHA he got scolded by Lanxiu for spoiling the photo HAHA!

Lanxiu was the mother of the trip cos she cooked every meal literally! We had wonderful meals, like salmon, chicken rice, claypot rice, mushrooms stuffed with ham and cheese, potato salad, mapo tofu, brownies, cookies etc etc etc so of course Huahua and I were delighted with the food! But of course we didn't slack completely too la we did the dishes hee.

See the number of bags we brought to Vermont HAHA we stuffed all the food into lanxiu's bag but because neither of us could carrry it poor Huahua had to carry it. Luckily he's obliging enough to drag it around or we would probably have missed all our trains and buses.

Sammi in Mohegan Sun 23.3

Other than our wonderful trip to Vermont I also, of course, went for Sammi's concert in Connecticut on 23rd March and MY WAS IT WONDERFUL!!!!

The trip in total took 3 hours to and fro and I spent about 8 hours waiting in total because of the odd scheduling, and seriously I would not do it again for anyone else other than Sammi. Especially since because of casino restrictions the concert had to end at 4pm sharp so the concert was only 2 hours long!!!

But Sammi was in an extremely good mood and really did her best to entertain the 7000 strong crowd even though I think only 20 of us were hard core fans. Best of all, because I got front row tickets I managed to shake her hand and KISS HER ON THE CHEEK something I've repeated about n times because I'm still so excited about that HAHA!

I've uploaded all the photos to facebook, but I know mom doesn't use facebook so here're some for you to see. Sorry I don't know how to turn them around here so you have to tilt your head to look at it HAHA!

Sammi doing her opening number. So pretty!!!! I love that black shiny thing she's wearing.

Sammi talking about her relationship with her parents and how she felt when her dad got a stroke a couple of years back, and how she lived the past 2 years after filming Everlasting Regret.

Sammi doing one of her medleys in an oversized tee and hotpants.

But aiya Spring break is over so it's back to work for everyone. Oh well!!

When I lose my head...

2008-03-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

It can only be for someone like her:

Just a few more days...

郑秀文！郑秀文！郑秀文！郑秀文！郑秀文！郑秀文！郑秀文！郑秀文!

Did I mention I'll be sitting at the first row? AHHHH!!!!!

Excitement

2008-02-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

Shit, the rest of SACO and the rest of 32nd should know why I'm so excited by now, and it's not like I can't blog about it, it's just that no one outside of the 32nd would understand the jokes, no one outside SACO would probably find it funny to the extent that we do and no one outside of Shit will understand why I'm so excited.

This is a culmination of work of over two years I think, but more significantly over a year, not because it's such a difficult piece of work to accomplish but because we keep procrastinating HAHA!! Especially me since I took like a year to finally start on the cover story, which I finished in half an hour.

I think most of our ideas stemmed from our shopping trips, random ideas that sprouted here and there, but the credit for the photos at the back especially have to go to Shit because she was the one who painstakingly copied and pasted all the photos using Paint. Haha which is why I love that woman!

And plus of course Auntie contributed to the letters bit. She can be funny too, believe it or not!! (Trying to obtain a promotion from Object of Amusement to Amusing. Good work, but TRY HARDER!)

I'm just so glad it's finally done, and "published". I'm so so glad, and hopefully more ideas will come in the future for number 3, 4 and 5...

Still working on another project, of which I am quite ready to give up and re-invent, but Shit told me I should just carry on working on it. Not sure what I want to do, but I will finish it over the weekend! I really shouldn't procrastinate until I get bored of my own ideas!!

Anita

2008-02-24T23:40:00.000-08:00

So here I am a couple of hours later, because I can't wait to share what I found on youtube!!

Anita Mui's Concert, 87-88!

My grandfather and mom and dad were fans of hers, so it's not unusual that this became the first concert that I watched, albeit on video. I remember SO clearly this particular outfit of hers and the ROTATING STAGE I was so impressed with singing the next song especially:

Oh my I REMEMBER this part SO well!! And this song isn't even famous! This brings back so many memories.

Of course, it didn't occur to me then it was odd that my mom was asking me, at age 2 or 3, to watch a singer I was told to call "Big Sister" bare her midriff singing a song called "Devil Girl" haha!! Such hip parents I have.

Anita once said that she didn't hope for much from her fans, only that we would look up in the sky occasionally at one of the stars and think of her. I think she'll be glad to know that many people still miss her, even though it's been 5 years.

Love Anita (:

New Distraction

2008-02-24T16:18:00.001-08:00

I wanted to save my new entry for my wonderful New York trip which took place two weeks ago, but I don't have any photos from Auntie or Meat yet, so I shall just write some short entries till I get them.

I've been rather busy lately, but everyone has to make time to do random things and watch silly videos on youtube no matter what. So other than talking to Shit at unearthly hours (for the both of us) discussing the silliest things I've been watching something!

Stephanie Koh recommended this new show, I'm watching it mainly because it stars Hebe who's quite adorable, but Steph likes it because of Xiao Mei (Mike He), haha! But the fact that we're watching this when in between reading Shakespeare and Kafka kind of proves that we are closet bimbos, haha so paiseh. I'm only halfway through episode one though, so I have no idea how good it is. Will talk about it again if it's worth mentioning :P

State of My Table

2008-02-20T18:37:00.000-08:00

This is what my table looks like now.

I have ten thousand books in various languages, dictionaries, papers, moisturizer, lip balm, my breakfast from this morning, opened packets of food, water etcetc all strewn over, because I'm practically living at my table now.

I spent all of my long weekend reading and writing papers.

And my table was empty the beginning of the semester. Sigh.

20...

2008-02-04T14:14:00.001-08:00

So every year, on this sacred day, I'll write a little note to thank everyone who has been kind and gracious enough to remember the day I acknowledge officially that I've grown a bit older. I don't know what I've done or why I deserve so much kind attention and love (ok maybe I do, hee!) every year even though I keep changing schools and (now) countries! But here's a list of people I wish to thank this year, the year I begin life in my TWENTIES (oh my)!!

A)Birthday Party 1:
1. Sarah Bolling
2. Scott Weiner
3. Everyone else who attended i.e. my dorm mates most of whom I do not know

Ok I doubt Sarah reads this blog but if she actually googles her name one day maybe she'll find this entry and realize that I REALLY appreciate the cool party and LEMON cake!!!

B) Birthday Party 2:
1. Lijun my favorite buddy who organized
2. Shengxiang who organized too
3. Attendees like Huahua, Steph, Kao, Aaron, Karl, Shern, Lanxiu, Michelle Tan, Sheila, Andy

OK I'm very sorry if I missed people out, but the COOL SINGAPOREANS held a surprise party for me at Lanxiu's dorm (because I was doing "homework" in her room) and they brought me brownies and icecream and CHEESE cake my favorite and the girls sang me a Sammi song!! I'm about to faint from the sweetness these people are SO nice to me!!!!! And of course that pretty backpack that my buddy and the girls bought me!

C) Brunch with Buddy Lijun at Brickway's:
Honestly JunJun is the BEST buddy ever!! Not only did she organize the WONDERFUL surprise party last night, she brought me out for brunch at brickway's, a little breakfast cafe near school today!! And she was really tired from last night but she still made the effort to come out and spend time with me. We had eggs Benedict which were REALLY yummy!

D) Dinner at Spice
Had dinner once again with all the Singaporeans (the ones I know, at least) at the Thai restaurant Spice. Thanks again to SX for organising!!

E) Emails
1. HALFIE
Halfie wrote me a poem with my Royal name which made me laugh and almost choke on my breakfast!! And she of course dedicated an entry to me which was really sweet of her even though she used a rather fugly photo although to be honest how can I ever look fugly? And she owes me a present because she's too lazy to send me anything.

2. ASSTA
And of course my darling Assta who ALSO owes me a present because she's too lazy to go out shopping although honestly you don't have to buy me anything so you can spare me the agony of having to buy you something too! Honestly after 5-6 birthdays it's really hard to find stuff to buy.

3. NAT
And this ass who has been spamming me with forwarded email though they are sweet messages remembered of course!!

4. POOCHIE CHIEW
What a RARITY to receive an email from this medical menace!!! His own birthday is coming soon so HAPPY BIRTHDAY in advance!!

5. MEAT LOW
Roubao has to remember my royal birth of course, since she will live in my room when she visits in less than a week! (CAN'T WAIT!!!)

F) Phonecalls:
1. MOM AND POP
Mom and Pop are the sweetest Moms and Pops ever!! Of course they gave me my wonderful angpow a long time ago but they still made an effort to call me today before leaving for work, which is really cool cos I was wondering if they would. And I think they are the only parents in the world who wouldn't mind that I spend my birthday money on a SAMMI CHENG concert ticket (more later).

2. AUNTIE ARAGOG
LOVELY aragog actually sang me A BIRTHDAY song over the phone!!!!!! And it was quite in-tune so I was most suitably impressed!! Of course I will be seeing her furry fanged face in a couple days so I will hug her to thank her in NY!

G) Cards
1. ELAINE HENG
She sent me a card with the picture of a mad cow but it's so apt! And her neat tiny handwriting is so familiar that it's oddly comforting.

2. BEATRICE LAU
Bea gave me a card right before I left at the airport and told me not to open it until today, so I actually waited!! And she had a really sweet message inside too. Such a lovely mother she is!!

H) ROOMIE
ERIN my bestest roomie put like balloons on my bed to wish me happy birthday!!

Facebook Messages:
I got like more than 20 so a bit lazy to write here but thanks everyone who bothered to leave a message even if you were reminded by the Facebook birthday reminder!

MSN Messages:
Also a couple of poeple wished me happy birthday online other than Jamie Ko (because she called me hotstuff) and Xun who had to book in and owes me gifts from like J1.

OK so I had a really busy birthday and I'm in great spirits now because well many people love me and I JUST BOUGHT my SAMMI TICKET how great is that!!!

For those who don't know yet, she's coming to Connecticut which is an hour away from Providence so I've bought my ticket and I'm SOOO going there to watch her hot show!!

But anyway, thanks everyone for this WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY! You're loved!!! And very much so.

Almost bye!

2008-01-18T08:57:00.000-08:00

It's 5 minutes to 12, yet again. I'm officially 3 days away from flying back to Brown, and this is only my second post this vacation. While I'm looking forward to the new semester and new classes I'm totally not looking forward to going back.

I've been too comfortable these past three and a half weeks, alternating between vegetating at home and re-memorizing Orchard Road with my dear Half Shit whom I meet literally 6 days a week. The last day of the week is family day for her because she stays in hall, whereas I get to see my dear parents and blithering brother every day. Mere mortals might think it's a little too excessive meeting so regularly (I think she sees me about one million times more than she sees her Other Other Half) but we have no choice but to maximize all the time we have together, though apparently Paul cannot see the logic in it, but that's too bad I guess he's just not very bright.

Of course, one of the more memorable outings include, as Halfie mentioned on her blog, our little trip with CalCal to You-Know-Where last week. Being naturally intelligent and curious beings, Shit and I decided to find out more about where CalCal spends most of his time, so we borrowed two You-Know-Whats from our two friends S**S** and G***** who were magnanimous enough to risk their necks (heehee) for us. And what an eye-opening (HAHA) experience it was!!! I've never seen anything like it, and it was thoroughly fascinating to see so many You-Know-What/Whos and the chest-full (HAHA) of science and knowledge behind it. I have full respect for all my friends who are preparing to be You-Know-What now!!

OK, enough of my ridiculous sense of humor, which I doubt anyone but Halfie will understand. I had tons of fun doing other things too, but I shall leave the long-winded elaboration to some other day.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T07:47:00.000-08:00

It's 5 minutes to 12am as I write this so I'm a little late in saying HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone or anyone who bothers to drop by. As you would have noticed by now I'm just too lazy to upload the photos so if you are really such a busybody just go on to facebook and take a look there!

It's been slightly more than a week since I've been back and I'm enjoying every minute!! Of course you know how popular I am so I have engagements every day, and my dear Half especially loves me so much she's attached to me like a barnacle on a ship. So far I've been going out with my Halfies almost every day, going to Orchard and not buying anything because there are simply too many people, and meeting my darling F5 whenever they are free and SACO and Xun at random. I'll be meeting F5 a lot more the following week before E flies off again, and of course my favorite 32nds like Mon and hopefully Zeze who has NOT replied my text, going to Mrs Lim's place with F5, to Sentosa with Shit, back to HC with some crazy 32nds etc etc etc. And amidst all that I have dinner with my family every other day! There's really not enough time, and I really want to maximise my last 21 days in Singapore before I fly back to Brown!

I had a great time too counting down to New Years' even though I've always thought counting down was lame. SACO invaded Calcal's home and hogged the karaoke system from 4pm to 3am (except a two hour break). I really have to give it to Paul who can seriously sing non-stop and Jiadi who can sing ALMOST EVERYTHING we chose, BOTH guy and girl parts for the duets and all the insanely difficult songs too! For the first time we realized Shit sounded like all the girly singers like Angela Chang and Rainie Yang and S.H.E. who don't really sound the same so actually Shit has a "Da Zhong voice" as in a common voice heehee! Can't really say much about Calcal cos he didn't sing much at all hahaha such a waste of the brilliant karaoke system he has. And of course special thanks to the Chiew family for hosting such a rowdy bunch and feeding us even though I really don't think they'd ever see this!

And after that I went to Bugis for a hot and steamy session with four beautiful girls- steamboat with F5!!!!! Of course the first of Jan is F5's anniversary, and we celebrate every 1st Jan together by going to some nice place for lunch. It's the beginning of our 6th year together as F5 hee! I was a bit irritated at first because EVERYONE was late like ASSTA ANG WHO WAS HALF AN HOUR LATE and Elaine Heng who was still at home when I called her 10 mins after the meeting time and Beatrice Lau who was like SO late but she can't be blamed because she had a meeting and all. But of course all my anger dissipated when I saw my dear girls and we had a good lunch anyway.

AND THEN I REALISED I WENT ALL THE WAY TO BUGIS WHEN THERE'S THE SAME SHOP 5 MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE!!!!!

-.-

More about my excellent vacation later. Hope 21 days go by REALLY SLOWLY!!!

Coming Soon

2007-11-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

I'm back from an excellent vacation with Wei-Ling Woo in Seattle! I've uploaded my photos on facebook but I'll do the elaboration here for any bored soul who's interested.

Come back in a couple days!

What I Missed in Singapore

2007-10-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

...13 October...

... Sigh.

Maine 2007

2007-10-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

Like I said we (17 Brown Singaporeans, 1 Brown Hong Konger and 1 MIT Singaporean) went for a vacation over Columbus Day Weekend (6-8 October). We went to Maine, which is about 4 hours away, and it was splendid - the weather was perfect and the landscape was beautiful. We rented a farmhouse facing a lake and a forest which was so wonderful some people wanted to move there permanently but I don't think I can live in a place that's an hour's drive away from anywhere interesting. I had a great time socializing and fun and I am really, really glad I went!

More photos because I know people don't like to read blogs they like to look at photos!

This was the view from our farmhouse, isn't it just amazing!! Of course I didn't take this photo with my camera, a friend took it with her dslr. It wasn't hot at all, in fact it was quite cold!! So it was really quite perfect, the weather, the scenery and all. And the people were great too!

And this is us (from left), Eunice who's a transfer student and now in her junior year even though she's a year younger than I am, Michelle a French and Theatre Arts major who's terribly intelligent and funny and me the Queen sitting on the porch. They have one of those cushioned swing things and it's where we like to hang out when we have nothing to do.

And this is (from right) me, Ling who's one of the BUM Presidents, Lan Shiow this damn funny (at least I think she's funny) girl with an ultra high pitched voice and Li Jun the high jumper who's my FAVOURITE BUDDY!!!! Sorry Ruo Mei if you ever read this HAHA!

And this is us playing the table soccer game that Mikail taught us at the dining table. It's a cheap and damn thrilling game - 3 people to a team, knock the ball into the goal with your head. DAMN FUN!!

And this is Jason Ma the guy from Hong Kong who joined the whole group of Singaporeans because he can drive HAHA! He's ultra funny because he keeps trying to speak in Singlish with his Hong Kong accented English and everyone keeps scolding him for trying haha! Anyway I didn't choose this picture because of him. He's standing in this incredibly beautiful my friend Corrie took with her dslr when we trekked up this path to the beach.

And this is the view from the top of the hill trek thing that we walked up. It was so beautiful I didn't even want to take photos from my camera because it'd just be so insulting to its beauty!

And finally the beach. It was almost private except for a few other like-minded people and seagulls.

Looks more like a postcard than a place one would actually visit.

The guys copying us and taking one of their own wuliao jumping photos. Unfortunately for them we still look tons better!

A photo of my pretty Buddy Lijun the high jumper!

I had to put this in HAHA love this photo my fellow freshies Huahua and Sheng Xiang being intimate HAHA! Look at Huahua (the one on the right) he looks so awkward!!

And I am still the terror baby squashing poor Ling.

We (the guys and me) spent the second afternoon playing soccer! I am an ultra noob at soccer even though I look quite zai here with Huahua lagging behind me HAHA because I purposely chose the photos that make me look a bit more pro. The girls were all in the rooms studying and I didn't want to do that. Haven't played soccer in 7 years! Most of us wore jeans because it was so cold!! And I think our team won in the end, even with a noob like me! Not bad sia!

And this is me trying to get the ball (I don't think we can consider this a tackle) from Nicholas who is also a fellow Freshie.

And finally, a nice group photo of all of us at the lobster restaurant!!

And to reply the nice people who commented previously:
1. Shuen - Thanks for the compliment. No there isn't a game but you can still come down all the same!! You can sleep in my room if my roommate doesn't mind!

2. Mindy - Wakao!! My poms are not ugly k they are lovely and they are BROWN which is our school name! Bet you are just jealous because you guys can't have Penn-colored poms!

3. Half - I am SO glad you finally got your webcam so I can see your ugly face but you HAVE GOT TO GET THAT CONNECTION worked out!! But anyhow even though we had to get cut off a million times it was still worth it.

4. Buddy - I love you too and looked I mentioned you in this post!!

5. Lyddie - I really hope you get your offer!! Aussies like to take their time la haha so be patient!! I'll be crossing my fingers for you!! And don't worry so much k, everything will turn out just fine, I know it!

6. Weikai - omg what a surprise!!! where is your blog I want to know how law is going!! Yes sammi's coming to Singapore this Saturday. Sigh.

Cheerleading Photos

2007-10-04T19:02:00.001-07:00

OK OK I haven't been blogging but please bear with me I have been laden with SO MUCH work plus I have cheerleading and procrastination to handle so I haven't been up here much. I have about 500 pages on bad weeks (like this one) and cheer practice every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and football games to attend, so other than eating, sleeping, shitting, reading, cheering there really isn't much time left to do anything else. And please forgive me if I start speaking to you in a weird manner online, because I have been bombarded by nothing but Shakespearean and 18th century lit for more than a month now!

Anyway I know you guys want to see photos of me in my cheerleading outfit. I FORBID you from saying or even THINKING I am fat because you are only entitled to if you manage to wear that uniform and look not fat. Seriously!!!

This was taken with the mascot (no it is not me) at the Brown stadium which looks damn pathetic next to the Harvard one. We're all wearing our beautiful cheer jackets in this one because it was FREAKING freezing and my butt almost fell off from the cold. The football game is logically 1 hour long because it's 4 quarters of 15 mins, but it can go on to like 4-5 hours because they keep freaking stopping!!!!!!!! But it is indeed very exciting when someone scores a touchdown!

So this was taken with the Harvard cheerleaders (in the not as pretty red and white outfits). They were pretty good, and they could do stunts and all that already (we can't because we have an all new-team) but we're still better cos we're Brown! It was an incredibly fun game to cheer for because the scores were always very close, and the Brown audience was GREAT! They kept screaming HARVARD SUCKS HARVARD SUCKS which was so fun!! There is NO sportsmanship I tell you when football is involved. Even the band - we have the most subversive band in the world - hurls abuses at the opposing team every now and then!

A picture with Ruth, our President holding pom poms! I look damn fat here so shut up I don't want to hear a word about it! And the white part of my arm that's reflecting so much light in the photo? Ya it BLACK now because I got totally chao-taed from standing under the sun for 6 lovely hours. Ruth is a WONDERFUL President, so intelligent and supportive! If you look her up on wikipedia you'll know why she's so popular amongst Brown students. I am totally and completely inspired by her! And look, she wants to be a cheerleader too!

OK that's all the photos I have now. I'll be going up to Maine this weekend and I heard it's a beautiful place. Will take lots of photos!! I'll try to blog more from now on, and you guys ESPECIALLY HALFIE please update your blogs too!

And oh, good luck to all the NUS people taking their exams!! BON CHANCE (good luck in French)!

And in reply to the people who commented on my blog previously:

1. Shuen: I don't care why they watch football, as long as they come support!

2. Jiadi: I missed you guys during maf too! Hope you are doing well with engineering and econs. Is econs your fav sub now? Tons of people are taking econs here it's so sickening!! I read your blog now and then although I don't comment sometimes. Talk online k! Oh eh recommend some nice Japanese dramas!! Must be the funny kind ar!!

3. Gloree: Ya I know welco must have been missed. We've always had almost full attendance every year!!

4. Nat: I do not expose my tummy THANK GOD but it's tight enough for you to be self conscious. Then again because it's so tight EVERYONE has a bulging tummy so it's not so bad!

5.Half: I'VE MISSED YOU TOO! Even though we talk like every other day. I dreamt that you came to visit me today and I was so happy!!!!! But I woke up and you were not there :(

6. Lyd: And I know George Bush was a cheerleader, so was Franklin Roosevelt! And a million actresses! And how are you?? Have you gone for your med interview?

4th Week in Brown

2007-09-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, times passes really quickly and it's my fourth week in Brown!!

People have been pestering me to post something, so here're some updates about my life! I don't have any photos because I've been lazy but ok I will go around the campus one of these days to take photos for you guys!

Updates:

1. Cheerleading
For those who don't already know, I got into cheerleading!!! So SACO now officially has 2 cheerleading comm chairs HAHA you guys must be so proud!! We haven't started doing stunts yet and we will soon but I won't be a flyer - I'm going to be a base I think because I don't have strong arms. We're going to Harvard this weekend for our first away game and I'm really excited about it!!! The uniform's the typical cheering outfit, a TINY little skirt and a tiny vest so I'm SO glad none of you will be at the game to watch me cheer, and we get the whole outfit, like cheer jacket, cheer track pants, a bag that says BROWN CHEERLEADER, cheer shoes and cheer socks. Everything's ultra cool about cheering except the game of football is immensely boring and extremely violent!!! I don't know what the attraction is, to be honest.

2. Random Travels
I've made random plans to travel over several short holidays. I'll be going to Maine which is famous for its beautiful landscapes and for lobsters with the Brown University Merlions (BUMs) over Columbus Day which is somewhere in October. And I'll be travelling to Seattle in the West Coast for Thanksgiving because weiling was nice enough to invite me. I'll post pictures of course!! AND I'll be back to meet all of you guys when I come back on Christmas eve!!

3. Academics
I'm taking four courses this semester like every other freshman - Shakespeare's Present Tense (i.e. his plays and all the relevant films), Jane Austen and her Predecessors, 18th Century Art History and Basic French. All of them are very interesting but there's a CRAZY amount of reading so I'm basically stuck in my room and in the dining hall reading all day and night, other than cheerleading practice of course.

So that's all I've been doing!!! Please tell me more about your life!! And to all the people who commented last post THANKS and yes I will post more pics of myself love you all!

Hello!!

2007-09-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

It's been a week since I landed in dear old Providence. It's near the end of summer now, so the weather is perfect, sunny, bright with a nice cool breeze. But I heard it won't be like this for long, because soon the blizzards will bring a harsh winter, as Rhode Island experiences every winter.

My room looked like RUBBISH when I first arrived, but after my roomie's generous additions and my own decorative touch it looks a lot better now. Of course I haven't bought posters yet so my side of the room looks really bare but oh I can't wait to post pictures here!

Random Photo I took on the plane

Oops I forgot to rotate the photo. Anyway this was taken on my journey to JFK (New York) from Frankfurt. There weren't many people on the flight, so I just took the liberty of stretching myself over 2 seats and propping my feet up against the window.

ROOM PHOTOS!!

I was horrified to be greeted by such a sight on my first evening in Brown! The room, though large and spacious, was exceedingly dirty, dusty and I think the class of 1880 probably used these rooms too. As you can see I quickly filled the space on my bookshelf with food and random books.

This is my roommate's bed, which is what my bed looked like before I covered it in sheets, which you will see later.

I forgot, once again to rotate it but as you can see the room looks a lot better now!! My roomie bought a Brown banner and hung it up in the middle of the room so the walls aren't so bare. People here seriously love the school, half the students are always in Brown shirts and ALL the parents and brothers/sisters/dogs whatever are always in Brown apparel! I couldn't even buy a Brown shirt because all the random non-Brown people snatched all the sizes before I could enter the bookstore.

So this is my table with my beautiful white mac and the printer I bought with the glass F5 bought me (I use it!!) with my handphone, keys and some French homework I printed out.

If you twist your neck a little you can see my bookshelf with real books - my textbooks and random reading books. And of course there is the Singapore flag because I am patriotic and I don't want to just stare at the star-spangled banner everyday.

And finally of course this is my side of the room with my lovely bed with blue sheets and a cheap but comfortable comforter!! My board thing with all your photos fell from the hook I put up on the wall so I had to re-stick the darn thing.

Convocation!!

We have this thing called Convocation (SMU students should know this) to mark the beginning of the semester. It's a Brown tradition for all new students to walk through the Van Wickle gates which open only twice a year, once inward to let the new students in and once outwards during Commencement (Graduation) for old students. This was my view from where I was standing!!

And finally, walking through the van wickle gates.

A Fresh Beginning

2007-08-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

A new beginning deserves a brand new blog! Welcome, everyone!