+ state of mind +

2003-09-10T06:28:00.000-07:00

The special something
Another inconsequential day has passed. If I had to describe the day in two keywords they would be "bored" and "tired". Motivation is really wearing thin, and each day feels harder to get through. Its a struggle, I know it will be over soon ... but somehow, soon is never soon enough.

Then again, once it is all over, I don't know what I am going to do with myself. I haven't really planned that far ahead yet, but deep inside, I know that its going to be a much happier time. Even if it is temporary.

Anyway, enough rambling. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, there's something to be revealed in this post ... you all must be wondering what mysterious revelation I have to make. Actually, its not such a big deal - I'm migrating from here over to http://fel.frens.ws. Actually I spent the quite a chunk of today fixing it up and trying to beautify it. Once you go over there, you'll see that I didn't quite succeed too well in my task -____-

So I guess this is it, eh? My last post on blogger! Please update your links and continue patronising felicitious | the web log ^^

2003-09-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

Unintended break
I'm sorry I've been away for the last few days... unintentional I assure you! There were times I really wanted to blog but sadly blogger was being a bit moody! And then when it decided to return to its normal self, I was indundated with work and other stuff. Actually more like trying to rush the frickin' corp fin assignment.

But nevermind its all done and a-OK now! Hope you didn't miss me as much as I missed you. Hahaha! :P

I haven't really been up to much in the last few days. I had a birthday lunch together with some uni friends on Thursday, and then a dinner with my family later that night (after lectures!). Not particularly outstanding birthday this year, but I didn't expect fireworks to start going off ... (haha, actually as a pure coincedence, driving on the way home from dinner, we actually did see fireworks in the city! very strange, and I'm not even sure what the occassion was...)

@ arirang korean bbq restaurant

Hazelnut Torte from Miss Maud's ... thx to Meina + Neil!

Tulips! my favourite ;)

Mandarin cake from Cakes Delight ... thx to my sis, Adeline!

Friday night I headed out with another bunch of friends for drinks in lieu of my birthday. (I know its unlucky/inauspicious to celebrate your birthday after the actual date, but it was too difficult to organise any other way) The original plan was to go to Llama Bar in Subi, but thankfully Susie informed me of the big Dockers vs. Essendon quarter final which was sure to have made Subi roads quite chaotic at that time. So, change of venue - we headed down to Hudson where we chilled out, gossiped and had some deee-licious but overpriced cocktails. [I almost forgot to mention that I was very annoyed that my cam decided to run out of batt on this night!]

I really wanted to stay home on Saturday and just work solidly on my Corp Fin assignment. As usual, things didn't work to plan. I had to make a short trip to church in the morning for a music practice with the children and by the time I came home, my dad called me to go and fetch him to the mechanics to pick up one of our cars. On the way back from the mechanics, I thought I might as well pop by my cousin's house and visit my darling god daughter, Elish. She's turning 4 next week! How time flies... She's so adorable, although she can't stop talking or running about here and there! I really didn't want to leave (cos I wanted to continue playing with her) but I forced myself to head home ... to finally get cracking onto my assignment. By this time it was already 3.30pm-4.00pm... most of the day had already disappeared!

Sunday was father's day here in Aussie land. Had to go out for lunch, and dinner and in between I was called by my dad (and other family members!) to do this and that. Not particularly productive day either...! Especially in consideration of my lack of motivation, this weekend was effectively down the drain.

The leftover time that I haven't accounted for was spent writing up the assignment. What a disaster! So this longwinded entry basically sums up what I've been up to in the last few days. I'm going to take a break tonight and do some de-stressing! ^^

[btw, I'm working on "something" special at the moment! All will be revealed in upcoming post!]

2003-09-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Finally!
... after so long, blogger and my site decide to return and WORK properly. I was starting to suffer withdrawal symptoms from being unable to post ...

A full-ish update later. Heading off to church soon and then for lunch with my family. Not to mention a stupid Corp Fin assignment to deal with!

P.S. Happy Father's Day! to all the fathers/grandfathers/godfathers/stepfathers etc out there ^^

2003-09-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

Go shawty
Go, go, go, go
Go, go, go shawty
It's your birthday
We gonna party like it's your birthday
We gonna sip Bacardi like it's your birthday
And you know we don't give a f**k
It's not your birthday!

... cos its my birthday ;)

I am now officially 22 years of age. Goodness gracious. Soon I'll really be needing that anti-aging cream that the Chanel ladies keep trying to push me to buy.

2003-09-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

Mullets Galore
When they say that you can find anything and everything on the internet, they (whoever "they" are) weren't kidding. Check out Mullets Galore, a website dedicated to one of the least attractive hairstyles of the century, the mullet. There's even a Mullet of the Week section, and for those of you who aren't too learned on the topic of mullets (god forbid!), there' s a Mullet Classification section which details the different kinds of mullets. Gosh, I didn't even know that there were so many TYPES! Uh... the website is very entertaining to say the least, but left me cringing to no end.

2003-09-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

<3 my sisters
Tonight for some reason, I was very suspicious of my two younger sisters. They kept eyeing at each other and giggly sporadically for no apparent reason, as well as asking me strange questions throughout the night like, "Do you like cook books?"

And then, about 10 minutes ago, my sisters just ran into my room and burst into the "Happy Birthday" song whilst having stupid grins plastered all over their faces. I was very puzzled by this considering the fact that today wasn't my birthday. After they finally finished the whole song, my youngest sister (Leanda) proclaimed a loud "Happy Birthday Felicia!!" and presented a cook book to me that she was hiding behind her back. Actually, it was the chocolate cook book that I had bought for my other sister (Adeline) a few months ago -__-;

It goes without saying that I was not at all impressed by their strange antics at this moment in time, but then Adeline redeemed the situation by producing an envelope that she had hidden in her inner jacket pocket ... my "real" birthday present, a few days early! It was a voucher from Cue... my favourite shopping haunt in Perth. They had decided to give the present early because they wanted me to buy something that I could wear on the actual day of my birthday. Aren't they the sweetest? ;) Thx babies! ^^ hehe... *muaks*

2003-09-01T23:24:00.000-07:00

Answer to the Pyschological test

She was hoping that the guy would appear at the funeral again. If you answered this correctly, you think like a psychopath. This was a test by a famous American psychologist used to test if one has the same mentality as a killer. Many arrested serial killers took part in this test and answered it correctly. If you didn't answer correctly - good for you. If your friends hit the jackpot, may I suggest that you keep your distance? If you got the answer correct, please let me know so I can take you off my e-mail list... unless that will tick you off, then I'll just be extra nice to you from now on!

Whilst we're on the topic of serial killers and pyschological tests, read this article about how pyschological tests may help spot killers.

2003-09-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Pyschological test?
Today - the 1st September - is officially the first day of spring. And the weather really looked and felt like spring. I think my mood is going to get considerably better (well, hopefully).

Anyhow I found this interesting "pyschological test" (which claims to be genuine!) in a magazine:

This is a story about a girl. While at the funeral of her own mother, she met this guy whom she did not know. She though this guy was amazing, so much her dream guy she believed him to be that she in love with him there and then... but never asked for his number and could not find him.

A few days later, the girl killed her own sister.

Question: What is her motive in killing her sister?

Hmm (I can hear all your brains clicking and whirring now)... give it some thought, and then please comment on your thoughts :) I will post the "answer" later (tomorrow or the following day). For now, I have to get back to preparing for my procedure discussion. Wish me luck for my getting-skinned-alive session tomorrow morning.

2003-08-31T02:57:00.000-07:00

Yen's 21st
I went to Yen's 21st birthday party last night which was held at the very hip, ultra-stylo Luxe Bar in Mt Lawley. She had booked out the Red Room (a private room located in the basement) aptly named because the room was... well, red. In fact, it gave off that very distinct dim red light that is most commonly associated with brothels... uhhh... [p.s. I found out that known to be the place to be on Sunday nights for gays... in-ter-es-ting...]

Anyhow, the party was lovely. I saw a lot of people who I haven't seen in a long time (making me realise that I've become gradually anti-social over the years). The speeches were quite humourous and everything said about Yen was SO true. A girl small in stature but with a big heart and lot to give ;)

Enough said, here are some pictures...

Before leaving the house

Bday girl - Yen + Fel

Fel + Sharon

Tamara + Fel

Tamara + James

Random shot (with flash)

Random shot (without flash but night mode)

2003-08-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Merdeka Day
To all the Malaysians out there, be you in Malaysia or not, happy Merdeka day!

2003-08-30T02:06:00.000-07:00

Simple gratitude
Sometimes a simple thank you is all that's needed.

As I was in the carpark at the shops this morning, I signalled to park my car into an empty lot. Yes, I thought to myself, the car bay directly in front of mine was empty so I could park into the other side, so I wouldn't have to reverse out later. I was already halfway into the front car bay, but another lady had decided to vy for the same lot. She made some hand gestures at me to ask me to move back into the back lot. Slightly peeved, I reversed back even though I knew I didn't really have to. I was going to give her my evilest look but before I could unleash it, she apologised to me and warmly thanked me for allowing her to park there. At that moment any feeling of annoyance just disappeared. I smiled back and went on my way to the travel agent (on a side note, I paid for my ticket to Singapore today. See you Singapore ppl in Sept ;))

I realised, but not for the first time, that a pleasant attitude and good manners could really make a difference... to me, at least.

2003-08-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

You're wearing my clothes!
Have you ever gone out and found that someone else is wearing the exact same thing as you? (and I don't mean like a school uniform!) Definitely an embarrassing and awkward moment, at the very least… and it happened to me yesterday. I was walking on James Oval to pay a visit to the soccer team, being unavailable to play yesterday but still wanting to give my support. I noticed from a very far distance that this girl (unknown) started smiling at me, but what I didn’t realize until I got closer was that she was wearing the same jacket as me! HMMM! The feeling was as though that girl was wearing my clothes, making me writhe inside and feel extremely uncomfortable. And its not as though there are replicates of this jacket lurking around ever corner shop either!

I suppose I could see it in another light; the girl has mighty good taste? :P

I guess I should be thankful that was only a jacket that we had in common I suppose; I’ve noticed that whenever I go to a ball, there will be at least one girl wearing the same thing as another girl! In Year 12, my good friend was wearing this gorgeous two-toned dress from Intangible... as were three other girls! Not surprisingly it totally ruined her mood for the night! Actually now that my memory decides to lapse back, I remember this happened to me a couple of years ago at a SSS ball – the lead singer in the band performing that night was wearing EXACTLY the same blue ball dress from Strange Love as me. See, see, see … this is the problem of Perth having too few shops!

2003-08-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

All tai-ed up
I'm somewhat obsessed over the whole tai-tai thing. Its not as if I really desperately want to be one, but more of a joke that has been taken too far. Anyway, my dear Leslie knows it... and he kindly scanned this article (from the Straits Times) for me. I think it's from sometime last week.

Title: tai me up, tai me down
Caption: One month after giving birth, Ms Jenna Lim, 25, is back on track, cruising around on her BMW 330Ci and partying hard with the girls.

Hmm... this isn't quite the impression I would want to give if I were a tai tai ... :p

***

Whilst we're on the subject of tai tai's, check out the tai tai club ^^

2003-08-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

New commenting system
Let's see how this works...

Brought to you by Blog Back.

[nb. I actually wanted to use Haloscan but... sadly, signups are currently disabled. Temporarily though, so we shall see how that goes]

2003-08-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Blah blah blah
Yet another blahsome day. This morning my tutor managed to make a girl in the tutorial cry. The first, but it was only a matter of time. He’s a harsh fella - since he really knows his stuff it is thus and therefore expected that we (mere students) all really know our stuff too. Although his cynical but realistic comments do bring some light humour to the class, this is surely not enough to make one cross the line to “like” him. Especially so after you’ve been a victim of his grilling (where you feel more grilled than a beef patty from Hungry Jack’s).

In regards to the girl who burst out in tears in the tutorial this morning, it was painfully awkward for the rest of the class. For the ten seconds of silence which followed after the girl ran out of the room, the room was just full of tension. Looking at the tutor’s face, I could see that he was quite frustrated by the whole situation. I wonder if he actually felt guilty, or if he enjoys torturing his victims… I mean, students.

Anyway, next week is going to be my turn to face him. Not entirely looking forward to it (can you blame me?) particularly because there are no past papers from prior years to help us out. Someone please help me?

***

My mailbox still getting inundated by stupid emails due that blasted Sobig virus. Even if it isn’t detrimental to my computer per se, its still annoying as heck! Stupid virus!!!! [btw, if you have it or suspect that you may, Symantec has a removal tool]

***

Who's seen Infernal Affairs? Liked it? Check out the website for the sequel, titled Infernal Affairs II (µL?¹D II) (whoo, bonus points for originality).

2003-08-26T03:34:00.000-07:00

Its....... plug time!

MASCA WA Merdeka Day Picnic
MASCA WA (Malaysian Students' Council of Western Australia) is holding a Merdeka celebration to commemorate Merdeka Day (Malaysia's national day).

Date: 31st August 2003, this Sunday
Time: 10.30am - 3.30pm
Venue: G O Edwards (next to McCallum Park)

Its going to be "pot luck", i.e. please bring a plate. Lots of games, activities and people ... sure to be fun filled day. All are welcome!

Any enquiries, please contact Wan (0408905568).

ISS Araluen Botanical Gardens Day Trip
Whats up with the ISS day trip? See millions of tulips and other flowers in the full blooming glory! Marvel at God's wonderful creations!! Also, get serenaded by the Armadale City band, savour the delicious lunch and let all your senses be pampered.

Date: 6th September, Saturday
Time: 10am - 2pm
Meet up at: UWA Physical Rec Centre carpark

Cost: $2.50 which includes the bus ride and lunch.

To sign up, email Dorcas Chia --> iss-sports@guild.uwa.edu.au. Be quick, there are a limited number of spaces left!

MSU Grand Lagenda Ball 2003
MSU presents "Chicago".

It's finally time for the much anticipated annual Grand Lagenda Ball. This year the theme of "Chicago" will turn the Burswood Grand Ballroom into a night of jazz and temptation. Enjoy a night of music, dancing and lots of laughs as MSU takes you on a journey through glitz and glamour of CHICAGO. For those of you with energy to burn after midnight, tickets also include a free VIP entry to the Ruby Room at Burswood Casino.

Date: 26th September, Friday
Time: 6pm til midnight
Venue: Burswood Grand Ballroom
Prices: $65 members, $70 non-members
Buy your tickets by: 12th September, Friday

Early bookings will receive tables closer to the stage on the night. If you book your ticket before August 29th you will go into the pre-ball prize draw to win prizes up to the value of $300.

For more information, look for the MSU stall at the UWA guild (outside the ref) between 12-2pm from Monday to Thursday. You can also email msu@gu.uwa.edu.au.

2003-08-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sister sister
Sometimes I think my sisters are crazy, mentally deranged, or something of that sort. I spent the whole evening swatting them with pillows whilst they gobbled around the living room like headless turkeys squealing "eee... she touched my boobies!" -___-;; This was followed by various bold proclamations that farting loudly runs in the family. Or something to that effect.

OH family, you have gotta love 'em.

***

Chops and changes to the links list that can be on the left hand side of this blog.

A very special mention must be made though to my dear cousin - Chin Siah. So it turns out that he has been "stalking" me over the last few weeks, and didn't even realise that it was me ... his dear, dear cousin ... that was his stalkee. Talk about perceptive ;) In consideration of the fact that we haven't had contact in over 5 years (more or less?) and the long hair (apparently? why does everyone use this as an excuse!), I'll forgive you this time Siah ^^

2003-08-24T03:17:00.000-07:00

The day we went to Swan Valley
Apologies for not posting for the last few days. Tired, busy, lazy - choose one of those three excuses ^^ ... apart from yesterday when I was genuinely feeling unwell after coming home from the Swan Valley day trip.

Being the great big sis that I am (sorry, do you need a vomit bag?), I decided to accompany my sister to the ISS (International Students' Services) organised day trip to Swan Valley. She mentioned something about not knowing many people going and her boyfriend didn't want to go, so I volunteered my company to her... but turned out that her boyfriend decided to change his mind last minute (literally - he called her up 10 minutes before the bus left telling her that he had decided to come along after all!) so I became somewhat of a third leg in that entourage.

Thankfully, I knew some other people that were going so I wasn't feeling all too awkward and alone :p

Sonia, Michelle, Henry, Fel & Christina
All the girls are from Law School and little Henry is Chriz's ADORABLE younger brother... ;)

Swan Valley is not actually very far out of Perth. Its located in the Eastern Hills ... I think :) Approximately 1/2 hour away from Perth if you take Great Eastern Highway, heading towards Guildford area. I would say its mainly known for the many wineries located in that area, and a few other attractions such as the Caversham Wildlife Park, Supa Golf, Whiteman Park, Icecream Cafe... probably some others too that I don't know about ^^;

Anyhow, first stop for the trip was to Supa Golf ... a "new" kind of golf ;) Its somewhat like mini golf but with special kind of golf clubs and golf balls. Our clubs had special names: big boy, putta, jigger and striker... inteeerresssttiing...

The golf balls were rubbery plastic and HUGE. But that didn't stop me from leaving plenty of chunks in the grass as a result of some far-from-perfect swings... I think it took us around 1 and 1/2 hours (or more?) to complete 9 holes, and although we were all really tired and hungry, it was really quite fun ;)

Each hole recommended a particular club to tee off with. Hole 4 recommended the "Big Boy"... my favourite club of the day ;)

We visited Oggie's Icecream Cafe next. Even though it was lunch we were after, we still could not say "no" to such delicious icecream. I shared a double scoup of ferrero roche + cookies and cream with my sister. I have to say though that Il Gelato (Rokeby Rd, Subiaco) still outdoes this place.

Next on the itinerary was the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. No you didn't see wrongly - the famous chocolate factory from Margaret River has branched out and set up a shop in Swan Valley (to reap in more profits from chocoholics and tourists alike). For my sister, the ultimate chocoholic, this place was heaven. Rows and rows of different types of chocolates, and truffles ... definitely not too good for those on diets ;)

cookies 'n' cream chocolate!

After making a few purchases, a short trip down to Whiteman Park was next for lunch... finally! By the time we got there, it was already around 2.30-3pm and we were all very, very hungry. AND there wasn't enough food! Nevermind ... thank goodness for the Whiteman Park cafe which managed to fill us up. Actually there quite a few things to see and do at Whiteman Park (e.g. a pottery shop, printing shop and other handicraft shops) but we didn't have time to really discover. By the time lunch was done, it was already 4pm which was the original ending time for the trip! And we still hadn't visited any wineries!!

So quickly we boarded the bus and headed down to Lilac Hill Estate winery. It was already 4.30pm so we quickly tested the wines and made a couple of purchases. I recommend the 2001 Late Picked Frontignan for a nice sweet fruity white and the 2001 Rose for an inexpensive sweet red.

5.15 pm and it was time to go home. I wasn't actually feeling too well in the morning and after such a tiring programme (and the bumpy bus ride) caused me to feel worse and worse (almost nauseous), and I was definitely ready to go straight home after the trip. My sister and I finally arrived home around 6pm and I was straight to bed ... and slept until this morning :)

2003-08-21T09:08:00.000-07:00

Rhythm of the falling rain
Its really raining cats and dogs tonight. I nearly fell out of my chair when the thunder started growling ... I'm not one for cold, wet, wintery weather. Apparantly the weather has been forecasted to be like this until next week, so I guess I'll just have to patiently wait out the last few weeks of winter. Spring, where art thou?

I fell down the stairs in my house today. Nothing serious, but quite painful (at the time) and embarrassing, even though there was no one there to witness it (thankfully). The lesson of the day: don't go running around the house with wet socks especially when your flooring is tiles or marble etc... you will end up with sore buttocks. Or in my case, a sore left buttock and right upper thigh. Do not bother asking how I managed that, its too weird to even think about.

Sigh. I'm quite bored (again!) but I'm in the midst of trying to finish a stupid comm prac exercise. I say this one tops it, the longest comm prac exercise we've had yet (not including the take home drafting exercise) ... and all for what? A measly 2.5% which is not even reflected in the final "pass" mark. I know I've said this before (many times before in fact), but I can never tire of complaining of the same irksome thing.

2003-08-20T00:43:00.000-07:00

Confirming the suspicions
I rarely take those online quiz/test things, and if I do, I rarely post the results up onto my blog.

Ok, so today is a little different. I spotted the 'What Flavour Are You?' quiz on Wena's mum-mum blog and decided to have a go. Why is it the result did not surprise me at all...?

I tashte like Alcohol.

Heh. Heh. I taste like beer. I like beer. Buy me a beer. I'm not drunk, I can drink plenty without... What was I saying? Beer. What Flavour Are You?

2003-08-19T05:51:00.000-07:00

Mr P
A couple of months ago, I posted up a few pictures of an adorable but naughty lamp. A couple of days ago, I saw it in real life, but through a shop window. Unfortunately, the shop was closed so I couldn't go in and touch it (and stroke it ... muahah :P)

I managed to twist and turn my head to view the price tag hanging at the back of the lamp, and guess what exorbitant price the shop charges a person who wishes to acquire such a lamp? If I'm not wrong, its $249. Hmmm ... I think purchasing this may have to wait, although it is sooooo damnnnnn cuuuuuute! :P

I think there's more chance that I'll buy the Mr P Keyring... at least that won't set me back half an LV wallet. (Notice that whenever I'm noting prices, the comparative standard is always a LV bag or a LV wallet)

Want to see more pictures of the Mr P lamp? HERE
Want to see more stuff from Propaganda? HERE

2003-08-18T00:44:00.000-07:00

Booked
Pleased - I am indeed - for I've booked my flight at the end of the year. I originally was going to go Per-KL-Per (flying MAS) but I've now decided to go Per-Singapore-KL-Singapore-Perth (flying SIA), with a (long) stopover in Singapore on the way back. Its easier as I dont have to take a bus down to Singapore after I've had my long holiday in KL, and whatever other tour destinations we end up deciding upon ;)

At the moment, its most likely that I'll be heading to Korea in December for a short tour (4 or 5 days?) and to Japan in January. My aunty (a Japanese who married into the family) is going back to visit her family, so it seems that everyone is going to tag along as well. I suppose its good in a way seeing that she knows her way around (obviously!) and will be our main source of communication. Anyhow, its still all very undecided (especially the Japan trip) so I won't get my hopes up too high just yet until its confirmed. A backup plan of mine is to visit Taiwan perhaps as I have a few friends there.

OH, and I've also booked my flight for the September holidays ;) Hahaha! Yes, I'm going back AGAIN. I've got a real good "excuse" - I have to attend a wedding :P Muahah! AND I'm going for the whole 2 weeks. Whoo hoo! I can't wait!

2003-08-16T02:08:00.000-07:00

Snippets
Thoughts floating in and out. Blah. Lack of concentration. Blah blah.

Daddy bought home a big box of mandarins earlier - my favourite fruit. And this box is deliciously sweet! I've already eaten 3. I'm told not to eat too much though, will get stomach pains and what is usually associated with stomach pains :P

Just heard from a close friend of mine in Singapore today. We usually talk every night on ICQ but for the past month over, I had not heard from him. Nothing at all - no email, no ICQ/MSN presence, no SMSes. Started getting worried and then I received an email out of the blue a few weeks ago. Turns out that he was in a bit of trouble, but thankfully, from today, its all over. I just only hope he's really ok now, and not just telling me he's fine now to keep me from worrying.

Hmm, I still haven't bought a wedding present yet. Hmm. If only they accepted "ang pao", it would make my life a whole lot easier. C'mon people, give me some ideas! :o

Starting to worry about jobs next year. Most people I know have got their act together and either have got confirmed jobs, or will do after the gruelling articles process finishes by the beginning of next month. And even if not, I'm sure everyone else has got a back up plan. As for me, I have only a very basic starting plan: "find a job - any job will do as long as they pay me $". Sigh, I need to start planning. At least I've book my flight overseas...

I've almost eaten a whole packet of strawberry and cream lollies within a few hours.

YUM! My daddy just cooked bee hoon! But you can't eat it without chilli...

Blah blah blah, yes very sporadic and incoherent thoughts today.

2003-08-15T02:13:00.000-07:00

Bored with a capital B
Blah blah blah. How is it possible that a person can sleep SO MUCH? I point my index finger at the blasted, cold winter. I must have complained about the cold a google number of times but its still not enough ... I will keep complaining until this dratted weather goes away. BLAH!

Don't really feel like doing anything at the moment. I'm bored, yet I'm lazy. What a fatal combination.

The only thing I'm remotely interested in doing is designing a new look for my web site. Then again, as I said, the interest is just barely there although its pretty damn obvious that I rather be prettying up a site than reading through 100s of pages of corporate insolvency law. Or doing the killer assignments for corp insolvency and corp fin, which might I add, everyone has already started on.

I just wish you'd disappear.

2003-08-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

2 moons in the sky
It's going to be a rare sight so remember - don't miss the opportunity to view 2 moons in the sky -> 27 AUGUST 2003 . Never again in your lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular!

This month and next month the Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit,astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August, Mars will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m.

That's pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has seen in recorded history. So mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grows progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.

Share with friends, children and grandchildren and with everyone you know, as no one alive today will ever see this again.

(taken from a forwarded email)

2003-08-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

Getting out
I haven't stepped outside the house for the past 3+ days. Since early Sunday morning in fact when I came back home from the Law Ball. So if calculate accurately, that is approximately 79 hours since I've actually breathed the air outside, looked at the sun/night sky. I guess its not that big of a deal since I am close to being the laziest creature on this earth.

Yes, I still go to uni but classes on Monday and Tuesday were cancelled. Plus, Wednesday's classes are not until the evening. Not bad eh? ;)

Did I achieve much over those few days couped up at home? No, not terribly much in fact. I think its time to venture out and into the dreaded place known as the library to start the killer assignments.

2003-08-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

Law Ball 2003
I'm too lazy to type anything anymore. I've spent the last few hours or so assembling all the pictures from the Law Ball. So without further ado, I present to you my Law Ball 2003 pictures - here.

Enjoy, and please remember to leave comments :)

[nb. apologies in advance for any errors/broken links. let me know tho]

2003-08-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

Law Ball 2003 : Picture Preview

More soon ... promise ;)

2003-08-08T04:48:00.000-07:00

Looking good = $$$
I went shopping in the city with my dear sister today, with two specific aims:
(i) buy a wedding gift (belated! oops)
(ii) buy makeup for the Law Ball.

Well, I went through Myer and David Jones and I couldn't find any suitable gift! Myer is renovating so there are parts which are just empty floor space, and I figure that they must have moved out a lot of stock from this store. Hmm. I was originally thinking bed sheets, but slight problem - I don't know the size of their bed. *sweat drops* Then I went to look at bath towels, and none of them took my fancy. But the colours and the way they arranged them in the store looked so ... preeety :) hehe...

SO, anyone got any ideas for a wedding gift? This is for a couple who probably has everything (and more) that they need...

Anyhow, after realising that it was too hard of a job to buy a wedding gift, I decided it was time to indulge myself. I swear makeup is my biggest vice. I love it, and like many others, cannot live without it! BUT I've re-discovered today that looking good does not come cheap. I spent over $100 on makeup, and all within 10 minutes of stepping into the cosmetics section in Myer.

Look at my buys!

1 x MAC eyeshadow (club)
1 x MAC lipstick (diva)
1 x MAC eyelashes
1 x Shiseido liquid eyeliner refill (black)

Thanks to the lovely man at the MAC counter who helped me spend my money ;) He was so very helpful (I love good service and sales people who at least pretend they care!) and friendly ... haha, and I was informed that I bought Courtney Love's favourite shade of lippie. Uhh... yeh :)

2003-08-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

Insects etc
I have a great fear of insects and all such things. Spiders, worms, crickets, frogs, centipedes, catepillars, grasshoppers, large, small, furry, sticky, crawling, flying, gliding, sliding - you name it, and I'm scared of it. Bar those which are safetly contained away in a jar/container...

As a result, my dad has this tendency to play tricks on me, to mock this weakness. Scenario usually goes something like this:

Me: *bloodcurdling scream* ahhhh there's an [insert insect name]!!!!
Dad: aiyah... so scared for what. Its so small.
He then grabs a piece of tissue/paper and simply picks up the gross, squirmy insect, no sweat. Then purports to turn to me and start chasing me around the room/house with the tissue paper.
Me: *more bloodcurdling screams*
At this point, my mom and sisters jointly laugh and poke fun at me.

Yes, everyone ridicule me and my phobia.

***

Anyhow, I took these couple of shots the last few days:

A furry catepillar found in my house. BUT ... this one got away. I wonder where it is now...

Spider found in the law library today.
Wen had to shoo it away for me when it started getting closer to me

Thank goodness for zoom!

***

Oh sadly, the soccer this evening was cancelled. They somehow couldn't find a way to turn on the spotlights.

[i did it - 5words!]

2003-08-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

Durian, Durian
I LOVE durian. What more is there to say but to confirm with you that it IS the King of Fruits. However, it is a love/hate fruit in that you either LOVE it with a passion or you repulsively HATE it. My youngest sister falls into the latter category although it wasn't always that way. You see she had one VERY BAD experience with durian many many years ago when we were in Melaka during the summer holidays. She had eaten two dinners (one at home, and then she went to a wedding dinner where she was stuffed silly) and crazily decided to partake in the durian feast with me and my cousins. Not such a good idea, and to this day, I think the memory of puking up two dinners + durians has put her off it entirely. As we all know, durian isn't the most fragrant fruit... so you imagine!

Anyhow, the rest of my family are totally keen on it. My dad bought a frozen durian from Lucky (oriental grocery shop) the other day. Imported from Thailand and yes, frozen. AND costing $10+ for just one durian.

So, it isn't a local Malaysian durian and it is frozen (unlike HB's durians ;)) but heck it IS STILL a durian! But yes, obviously not as good... but I'm not complaining, got durian better than no durian!

2003-08-05T05:32:00.000-07:00

Stop right now

thank you very much
i need somebody with the human touch
hey you, always on the run
gotta slow it down baby
gotta have some fun...

I have no idea what just possessed me to type out the lyrics to the chorus of 'Stop', sung by the once (but-now-not-so) hot Spice Girls. But there is some hidden message for me right now in the last two lines - time is just zooming past, I can't even feel the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks anymore. The feeling of unaccomplishment grows stronger. Its time to stop, do some serious planning before my youth disappears (haha, so I exaggerate!) A couple of girls at school have already started planning their 'Big Trip' which is to commence as soon as semester exams are over. In my opinion, everyone should have a Big Trip once they finish uni, especially if you have endured 5 years of it like us!! Even my lecturer/tutor this morning told us that we should take the first few years after finishing uni off - because there may be some places you won't be able to visit when you eventually get around to it ;) I agree - by the time we accumulate our hoards of wealth, we may be too old to visit some places which are only fit for young, fit persons. Alternatively, some places may not be in existence any longer or may not be open to the public.

But anyhow... I can imagine the whole planning process is so exciting - and its about time that I start planning for my own Big Trip. The central question is WHERE OH WHERE should I go! Not to mention, where the heck am I going to get the funds to finance the Big Trip. Maree told me that her Big Trip is going to be costing over the $10,000 mark. Somehow, I highly doubt my parents will be too impressed if I ask them for $10,000 or more so that I can go gallivanting around the world. Hmmm... serious planning time needed.

Two assignments due this week, one on Thursday and the next on Friday. Crap. Progress on Assignment #1, 5%. Progress on Assignment #2, 1%. I have a strong foreboding feeling that there will be some long sleepless nights ahead.

AND Law Ball on this Saturday! Before I even had time to start dieting, it is time to attend this high profile event (ok ok, again I exaggerate!). Fussing over dress, hair, makeup has not yet occurred, and somehow I know that its going to be very minimal fuss - no time lah! But seriously I am looking forward to it, albeit the venue is not exactly the classiest (Challenge Stadium! The only memories I have of this place is of high school swimming carnivals :\ ) but everyone (everyone meaning final years ;)) from Law School is going to be there, so it promises to be a good night. Now if only the pimples that suddenly popped up out of nowhere onto my face would vanish as fast as they came...

Haha, I just remembered why the song 'Stop' is so endearing and amusing to me; I present you my little cousins' version:

Stop right now
Thank you berry smudge
I need somebody with a human sponge
hey you, always on the one
gotta summertime-ah baby
gotta muster fun

2003-08-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

And everyone stares cos you're so beautiful
Nadia's 21+1 was a blast! I only made it to CC's house at 7.50pm and stayed for one minute (literally!) to say happy birthday, and then sped off to Hudson's, the choice venue of Nadia's party. I felt the wind blowing my car when I was driving down the freeway the Mt Henry bridge, so I decided I had better slow down just in case. My car is pretty light (Honda civic sedan) and there wasnt much to weigh down the car, so it was a tad scary feeling the wind push my car sideways. Anyhow, I arrived in one piece and (nearly) on time - not bad for a girl who is chronically late and rarely punctual (shh, don't tell any potential employers).

You know what, I only realised once I got to the party that I forgot to put on mascara. *idiot*

And my, my, my... Nadia looked super hot, baby! ;) The hair, the makeup, the outfit (that was preplanned since February!) - stunning... I'm starting to think there is something wrong with the guys in Perth, when are they going get their act together and start making their moves on her!

OH and the SMITTEN! Julian MADE a nintendo smitten for Nadia, awesome! Two things you have to understand; firstly, Nadia and Julian are obsessed over the smitten (after my chance discovery of smitten.com) and secondly, Nadia is a nintendo chick (think Super Mario Bros) ... you had to have seen it to appreciate it ;)

Yes, yes ... lots of fun ... lots of friends ... lots of laughs ... and those cup cakes - mmm!! I have to get the recipe I tell you, they are so DELICIOUS! (hehe... i had two ... :o)

I'll leave you with a few pictures from last night. I think I look a lil' weird/strange/ugly but I will sacrifice my pride for your viewing pleasure:

Nadia (bday girl!) and Fel

Fel, Wen and Meina

Christina and Fel

Fel and Meina

Fruit platter - isn't it preeetty?

Nadia, Maree and Adelle
(sorry, taken by someone who doesn't know how to take pictures :p)

2003-08-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

Too much
Its already 2 pm on a Saturday afternoon, and I've achieved ... well ... nothing. Except eat virtually 1/2 - 3/4 of a pizza (from Domino's, of course) - which, in my books, is a mini-achievement in itself. I shared between my two sisters and my mom two pizzas, cheeseburger and hawaiian flavours. Go the cheeseburger, its delicious. I've just realised that I've eaten way way way too much this week. I had two lunches on Thursday (first round, a cheese and chilli beef pie and second round was a large chips and a slightly weird tasting gravy) plus icecream. Not to mention snacking constantly! I don't know quite what is wrong with my apetite at the moment, it feels as though I could eat a horse at times! As (old) Chinese people say, its like I have worms in my stomach ...

Lots of things to do before I head out later tonight. Actually I am double booked tonight, two birthdays but I'm only staying for a very short while for one of them. CC is having a BBQ at 7pm and Nads is having her 21+1 (tipped to be THE party of '03 ;)) at 8pm. N's takes preference cos she ordered the sushi from me :) No probs, that's all under control, but there is still one little problem - what the heck am I going to wear!

2003-08-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

Who likes FREE pizza?
Ok, just passing on the message for my sister (she's part of ISS - International Students Services - UWA who is organising this get together):

On Tuesday 5 August, we want to treat our international students to some delicious pizza. :D It's just an opportunity to meet up with friends and introduce and meet any new people. If you know any second semester starters, remember to invite them as well! This is open to everyone so don't be shy!

Its at:
PLACE: Guild Meeting Council room, 2nd Level of Guild Building (upstairs from the Bankwest ATM near the Ref)
TIME: 1pm (common lunch hour)
DAY: 5 August 2003, Tuesday

Hey, even I'm tempted to go ... it IS free pizza! ;) hehe...

2003-07-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

The score
Totally forgetful me didn't remember to post the outcome of the soccer game yesterday (maybe because I was getting too absorbed in the fact that I played...). So here it is ...

Peoplez INC vs Mustard
6-0

OH yeh baby, Peoplez INC rockz ;)

(and by the way, I have to clarify - I didn't score any goals. haha... as if that was a HUGE surprise to you all :P)

2003-07-31T07:31:00.000-07:00

Ever seen a girl play soccer... in jeans?
Well, today at approximately 7.30pm until 8.15pm if you were at Riley Oval at UWA you would have seen such a sight. Yes, ME ... I was playing soccer in jeans!! -__-

Thing was, I was intending to pike it and not play cos I was feeling tired (I was at uni straight since 8am until 7pm) so I went down to the oval to "break the news" to the team. Also, I forgot my gear, no change of clothes. Like I mentioned before, this is a mixed competition meaning that girls and guys were playing... and also meaning that there had to be at least one female on the field at all times. And guess what? My team had no females - zilch, zero, none. Didn't want to let the boys down so ... I played in the clothes I was wearing (thankfully I was wearing sneakers!) It was a sight ... and it will definitely not be happening again. Ever.

Anyhow, let's focus on how AWESOME I played during the game. Not. Hahaha! :P I mean, I did my best as the token female chick (who got dragged into playing)... and I managed to do 2 "assists" and 2 "nutmegs" (I think, that's what the boys told me I did! :P) Btw, I was the one nutmegging ... not getting nutmegged ... haha if that makes any sense! Anyhow, I think it was all fluked ... but still, remember... I WAS WEARING JEANS!!

Quite nervous before the game because everyone looked so big and tall ... and potentially violent. But, it was a mixed competition after all, and some of the guys tried to be less... violent/rough because there were girls on the field. If you noticed carefully, I did say some guys; this guy on the other team fully decked me (again, this is the terminology of the boys) and I'm left with a bruise on my arm. Anyhow, it wasn't purposely - he then turned around and apologised when he realised what he had done: "oh sorry, i thought u were a guy". HMMM. Yeh, there was a little bit of pushin' and shovin' going on... I fell down twice (o_O). Anyhow, it was fun ... even though I had to play the WHOLE game (no other female to sub in for me ... sigh ... )

Before I leave and go to sleep (I'm sooooooo tired!), here's a picture of my team - Peoplez INC

Peoplez INC
L-R: Gareth, Hong, Fel, Yves, Jason, Andrew
(notice how "pro" everyone looks in their gear... except me lah!)

I think we should rename the team - "Peoplez INC ... and a girl" :)

2003-07-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

40 things
After reading Xiu's post, I decided to sit down and write my very own list of 40 things that I intend to own at some point in my life. Heck, it was harder than I thought it would be...

Here it is!:

1. a house
2. an apartment
3. television
4. DVD Player
5. VCR
6. Flat screen LCD monitor + new computer
7. PDA (sony clie)
8. Laser colour printer
9. Laptop (a thin one, preferably Fujitsu S-series)
10. Grand Piano (Steinway & Sons, if I can afford it! Otherwise a Kawaii)
11. (another) little black dress [you can never have too many]
12. eyeshadow (all the colours that i don't already have!)
13. full set of new make up brushes from M.A.C.
14. fake eyelashes (M.A.C.)
15. eyeliner refill (hehe i just ran out)
16. MP3 player (ipod looks good ;))
17. mini bar fridge
18. car(s)
19. a beautiful set of cutlery and crockery
20. guitar
21. cello
22. futon bed
23. entire SATC DVD collection
24. b&o sound system
25. b&o telephone (so sleek!)
26. wireless network card
27. a domain (soon soon!)
28. broadband
29. (another) LV bag
30. (another) LV wallet
31. Dior Saddle bag
32. Hermes silk scarf (the Lozenge)
33. Tiffany & Co diamond ring
34. tailored (work) suit
35. a large shoe cupboard
36. Fendi bag
37. Mont Blanc pen
38. massaging chair
39. THE perfect pair of jeans (still yet to be found!)
40. a swimsuit

I'm so sure I've missed out so many things that would rank higher on this list! :p ah well ...

2003-07-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

Books - cheap, cheap!
I love buying things unexpectedly without having the premeditated intention to buy them. This is as opposed to purposely going out shopping with the specific aim of buying a specific item. Today was supposed to be just another ordinary day at uni but on the way home, my sister and I stopped by Winthrop Hall (UWA) where there was a huge book sale. HEAPS of books on sale, ranging from $1 to $10 AND today, everything was 1/2 price! Its for a good cause too, i.e. the books were donated by people and all the proceeds go to charity. So, double the benefit - you get a nice cheap book to read, and the money paid goes to help someone else! :)

Guess how much for all these books? $11!! Bargain!

What books did I buy? Not exactly best sellers (well I couldn't find any! but there were a lot of books to trawl through) but I did still manage to pick up a few things:
- the Soy Sauce Cook Book
- A Gourmet's Book of Chocolate (for my sister, the choc-aholic)
- My Life on a Plate, India Knight
- e, Matt Beaumont
- Tom, Dick and Debbie Harry, Jessica Adams
- Essential Chinese for Travellers

My sister's favourite page from the Chocolate book... the Malibu ice-cream (on the left page) looks absolutely divine!

Well, this pile of books will definitely keep me busy and away from my textbooks! Not to mention, I still haven't finished HP Book 5 yet. I keep falling asleep after reading only a couple of pages a night; no, its not the content but the fact that I read on my bed, just before I intend to sleep :P

2003-07-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

Attention all Malaysian Students in Perth!
IMPORTANT: Please forward this message to all Malaysian students in Perth you may know!

Gathering with our new High Commisioner from Canberra

Date: Wed 30 July 2003
Time: 6 pm
Venue: Acacia Hotel (Cnr Robinson Ave and William St, Northbridge) - Mountana Ballroom
Dress code : Smart Casual

Free food... come and enjoy... meet other Malaysian students ...

Sorry for the late notice but this information has only just been received!

Organised by MASCA WA (Malaysian Students Council of Western Australia).

2003-07-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Soccer fever
I think I must be suffering from sort of mental illness because my friend Yves asked me to play for his soccer team, and I said yes. Their team (peoplez INC) has always played in mens competitions, and now they are venturing into their first mixed competition (UWA social sports competition). Granted they are an all mens team, they were in desperate need of some chicks to satisfy the female quota so that's why I received the sudden phone call from Yves, begging me to play for peoplez INC. Ok, I exaggerate, not really begging ... which makes me wonder even more whether I was thinking straight when I promptly responded "sure, ok" to Yves.

Anyhow, the first game is on this Thursday and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a tinge bit nervous. Actually, the feeling is closer to being damn right scared that the boys (in the other teams obviously!) and possibly girls will run me over (literally!) during the match. Scared, very very scared ... I had better invest in some shin pads and other protective gear. Btw, any girls in Perth interested in playing a bit of mixed soccer on Thursday nights? I think the team is still looking for more females ...

And whilst I'm on the topic of soccer, I'm so happy for my friend (who stays in KL) who won tickets from ESPN to watch Newscastle United play ... in Newcastle! He bought tickets to watch the Chelsea vs. Newcastle final (FA Premier League Asia Cup 2003) last night, and then unexpectedly received a call telling him that he had won an all expenses paid for trip to the UK! How lucky is that? Congrats ... you lucky thing!

2003-07-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

A sigh of relief
I stared at my computer screen last night, desperate to finish off the first assignment of the semester. I managed to drag myself to start at around midnight, working flat out until 6 am in the morning when my dad woke up, barging into my study and giving me a mini heart attack.

Thus, I have (re)discovered that procrastinating will get you nothing, except panda-ringed eyes. Now that I think about it, that must be why I keep getting approached by cosmetic counter ladies trying to promote anti-wrinkle products/creams to me. Either that, or they must be blind (it hurts my ego ... i mean, feelings. I’m only 21 … I don’t need anti-wrinkle cream!)

Anyhow, at least the assignment is out of the way. Actually its not an assignment per se, rather its given the title of 'exercise'. Well, not much difference - its still counts towards the unit's final mark albeit the unit is pass/fail so no one would even know if you aced the unit as you would still get a PASS in your academic statement.

Well, its the beginning of the week yet again. Not a terribly fresh start, but at least I can finally breathe out a sigh of relief... and wait patiently until the next assessment comes my way (which next week… noooooo!!)

[Orite! 5word post in on a Monday! ;)]

2003-07-27T01:33:00.000-07:00

Here comes the dim sum eating bride
Just came back from another standard Sunday family "outing" with my family. A typical Sunday in my household begins with rushing off to mass (rushing because we're always late), then dim sum somewhere in Northbridge, then loiter around the city, then back home.

As I mentioned yesterday, someone had stolen all the sound equipment from our church. Found today that they had also stolen a chalice from the Sacristy. Thank goodness no vandalism, but still a few thousand dollars worth of equipment etc now needs replacing.

Lunch was at a new restaurant called Northbridge Chinese Restaurant - no points for creativity there. Food was so-so, I think I prefer the dim sum next door (Emerald Chinese Restaurant) though. Anyway, the "interesting" part of the lunch was when a bride and bridegroom and their wedding entourage complete with the flower girl and ring bearer boy (is that what he's called? I forget) walked in to have lunch. Yes, the bride looked stunning in her white wedding dress, beautiful but somewhat inappropriate attire for a dim sum restaurant? I assume the wedding ceremony must have just taken place and they had come straight to have lunch there, but they hadn't made a booking so their two tables were on opposite ends of the restaurant. Seemed a bit strange that they would come to eat dim sum for their wedding lunch though...

After lunch, we headed to the city (which is next door to Northbridge for those unfamiliar with the Perth locality). Caught up with a bit of the goss with the Nagano people, and I found out that one of them had hurt himself! Poor Johnny cut himself (fingers) accidentally so he is having a week or so off until they heal back. Its been ages since I've seen the Nagano crew and there was plenty of hot goss to catch up with!

So now back at home, trying to start my assignment that is due tomorrow. Not really going anywhere as I keep getting distracted with the thought of my aunty coming back from KL today ... with lots of moon cakes! mmm ... I love moon cakes, especially the lotus paste filling. yummm...

On an unrelated topic, I've managed to become a bad influence on Nadia; she's actually contemplating buying an LV bag, the urge growing stronger day by day? :) hehe... ok, I'm inspired to do some hardcore surfing on eLUXURY.com now.

2003-07-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

Lack of conscience
It is beyond my comprehension how a person (or people) can actually take something that does not belong to them without a smidgen of guilt. Yes, I do mean stealing.

The driving force of that comment is a SMS I just received. It appears someone stole from my church all the microphones, mixers, sound equipment, etc. Hello, stealing from a church of all places? Sigh. I can only just hope and pray that they are rudely jolted by their conscience, and return the equipment. Sad to think that such a thing could happen.

This also reminds me of an incident last year where my friend's laptop was stolen from the Law Library. She just popped out 2 minutes to receive a phone call (which actually happens to be from me...) and, damn ... it was gone. I felt so guilty for indirectly causing her to have her laptop stolen, but yet when I think about it, why is it that the person who stole the laptop does not feel any guilt in carrying out such an act? Even if the financial value of the laptop was not an issue, what was contained in the laptop - lecture notes, tutorials, 80% completed assignments, personal emails and addresses etc - mattered, especially since it was during the peak period of the semester (i.e. when all the major assignments were due and exams were just around the corner). And even after she put up posters around the uni, offering a reward for the return of her precious laptop, still nothing. She now has a new laptop but she understandably guards it with her life after that experience last year.

Honestly, I can't understand it... what is wrong with these people?

2003-07-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation, I've finally decided to join PPS. I've been considering it ever since HB (of sixthseal.com fame ;)) mentioned that they were looking for participants for the beta-testing phase. Well, that "phase" is over now and PPS is open to the public ... so, I decided it was time that I jumped on the bandwagon and joined the fun... yee-haa! :P

Those of you who haven't heard of this and are thinking to themselves "What the hey is Project Petaling St?!", its basically a blog-tal (portal of blogs) bringing together a "cross section" of blogs written by Malaysians, or non-Malaysians living in Malaysia. Pretty cool concept I reckon, and pretty addictive too (I must confess I've wasted a good few hours or more clicking and reading :P)

Anyhow, as well as PPS, you might have noticed on the left, that I've also joined some blog lists/registries/whatever you wanna call them:
(1) Rice Bowl Journals;
(2) SGblogs; and
(3) The Great Malaysian Blog List.

After lots of surfing around, especially on those websites, I've decided that my layout is pretty boring although it does serve its purpose! I haven't really done much with my other website either, and these days I find that I'm only really giving attention to my blog! I've embedded phlogger into this page, meaning that I'll be able to send updates via sms. You know, when I'm having this blog-worthy moment out in the streets and there is no sign of a computer, I can just send an sms and its reflected in the phlogger window (below left). I have also just started a fotolog which is hosted at fotolog.net because I'm just much too lazy (and don't have the resources!) to start a "real" photolog from scratch.

But after adding all these little bits and pieces to my blog, I sometimes wonder whether it really matters at all?

2003-07-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Absolutely nothing to wear!
I think this phrase is really common among females, usually heard in the following scenario:

Girl needs a super hot outfit for a big night out. She opens her wardrobe that is bursting full of clothes, full to the point that clothes drop out.
"Oh my god," girl exclaims in desperation, "I have absolutely nothing to wear!"
"I can't put that on - I've worn it a million times!"
"I definitely cannot step out of the house in this - its so last season"
"Gosh, I put on weight - there is no way I'm going to wear that!"
At this point, girl is ready to have a nervous breakdown.

I know that this has happened to me one too many times. Its more serious than just being an "excuse" to go out and buy more clothes, but it reflects the fact that clothes can be in and out of fashion before you can blink twice. I suppose that's why mothers give the advice to buy "classics", to avoid buying too many seasonal items (who remembers when lime green was the "in" colour? *cringe*). Another problem for me though is that I tend to favour certain items of clothing over others, and sometimes to the point that many of my clothes still have the price tag on it - yes, unworn.

Anyhow, that's totally side tracking from the actual point of this post. I'm actually considering what to wear for the upcoming Law Ball. I've never actually been the Law Ball, but its definitely not my first ball (I counted - I've been to 10 balls so far!) so there is no longer that novelty of wanting to dress up and spend exorbitant amounts of money for a single night. However I am wondering whether I should go out and buy a new dress (and spend $200/300/400/more?), or should I just recycle one of my previous ball gowns. At the moment I'm leaning towards the latter option, only because I know that that amount of money could be used for a "better" cause. Perhaps a LV wallet ... :p

2003-07-24T23:19:00.000-07:00

Mind that temper, Mr Potter!
I've been reading Harry Potter Book 5 (Order of the Phoenix) before I go to bed each night (which is on average 3-4am) since I've been back. I've made it to around the halfway mark but I just haven't had the time to sit down and finish it. So far its not bad ... but one thing I just can't stand - Harry's flaring temper and sudden bursts of anger. Every time it comes to a part in the book where Harry yells some irrational, self-absorbed, temper-driven remark, I find myself wincing and feeling somewhat embarrassed for his behaviour. My sister (the self-proclaimed HP "expert") told me its because JK Rowling (for those who have been living in a hole for the past few years, the author of the HP books and a damn rich woman) was taking into account that HP was going through puberty and his hot temperedness was a result of hormones and what not. Right...! I preferred Harry, as a character, in the previous books ... at least (in my opinion) he wasn't acting so damn stoo-pid -__-

On a totally irrelevant side note, I'm going to be religiously checking the Virgin Blue website over the next few days in desperate hope that some cheap fares will be up for grabs. What a great marketing ploy (and way to increase hits onto a website!); every day randomly post up "specials" which will change from day to day (once all the specials are sold out). I'm hoping to pick up some cheap fares ($99 please?) to Sydney or Melbourne. Probably Sydney seeing that I don't really know that many people in Melbourne. But knowing my luck (recall the SIA special one month ago), I doubt I'll be able to get the dates I want (fly off on a Thursday night/Friday morning coming back on the Monday). Slight difference here though, I don't have to call through the phone (and be faced with the engaged tone...!) but can book through the internet. Well, that sure does improve my chances this time round! Fingers crossed, eh? :)

2003-07-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

Not a minute to spare
Flat out since I've been back, not a moment to relax. Well, without feeling guilty that is. Being the major procrastinator that I am, I've delayed doing all that I have to do until last minute. Time flies when you're having "fun" ... or in my case, procrastinating.

I've finished all my classes/lectures for the week, all 11 contact hours. Slack, huh? :) I'm so happy that I have Fridays off, back to enjoying 3 day weekends, something I haven't had the pleasure of indulging in since ... 3rd year? Can't quite remember...

Only thing I could complain of is the crappy lecture times. I don't mind so much the 7pm finishes on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but the 8am starts on Tuesdays and Thursdays will kill me... I've never been a morning person, and I very much doubt I'll ever be! Its especially impossible in this cold, cruel weather. Consider waking up to a freezing icicle-forming morning as opposed to staying cosy in a warm comfortable bed, thick quilt wrapped tightly around your body. I don't need even one second to choose between the two... ! Another thing I hate about cold weather is the increased tendency to eat and eat and eat ... and not exercise. Can't help it... need something to keep me warm and happy, chocolate and all junk food being my best friends.

I can't wait until Monday though, because then I'll be much more free with the burden of assignments and other stuff off my back. I really have to keep up to date with uni work and I just haven't had the time to do any work outside of class. Most worrying is the Corporate Insolvency unit I'm taking, especially after the long spiel the lecturer gave . I must admit that this lecturer is quite amusing - scary, daunting but still amusing nonetheless with his anecdotes and side line commentary. He proclaimed to the class that Corporate Insolvency is "THE" unit in Law School - forget about doing work for all the other subjects we would be taking, this unit is the premier, the star unit. Not surprising to see that at least half of the class cracked up after that comment!

Well, so begins my long weekend anyhow... wish me luck in completing my work! :o

[this has been a 5word entry]

2003-07-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

The final semester
Been back for two days now and things are going mad. So much to do... so little time to do it.

One hour of class on Monday, and two hours of class today (Tuesday). I know, I have such a slack timetable with so few contact hours... but still, I will complain. The only good thing about going to uni in the last couple of days is being able to catch up with friends that I haven't seen for a month or so. Attempted to do work at uni today but got distracted by:
(i) talking/gossiping with friends
(ii) the first year "hottie". I mentioned in a post a couple of months back that there were rumours of a good looking boy in law, and finally today I managed to see him. And the verdict? Disappointing. But... I can't pass final judgment quite yet because I didn't get a close look at him (and my eyesight is failing me). Well, what do you expect! Its not as if I could just walk past the desk he was sitting at and give him a full once over right? :P And according to my dear friend (who shall remain nameless), his attractiveness multiples once he stands up... beats me!

Anyway, my sleeping patterns are totally irregular. I slept at around 4 am the night before, waking up just before 7am to rush down to uni for my dreaded 8am class (which, amazingly enough, I made on time). I arrived home at 2.30pm after having lunch at Nagano and it was straight into my bed until 7pm when my dad forced me to get up for dinner. And now its 3 am... wonder what time I will go to bed tonight, and what crazy hour I'll wake up tomorrow...

2003-07-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

Fotos
Number one (1) - Introducing my new photo log, or more precisely "fotolog". There is a daily limit of one photo upload per day and I hopefully intend to make the most of that limit ;)

Number two (2) - I've also got a phlog! I'll be embedding onto this page soon anyway... once I find the time. (I'm very very busy at the moment... sigh... I probably shouldn't even be blogging now in the first place :P)

Number three (3) - Here are the photos that I promised from the last post. Random/miscellaneous photos from my last week or so in Singapore.

From Centro (Wed night):

Jun and Fel

Shian and Leslie

After Centro supper - roti prata! mmm...

Shopping spree:

Leslie's new "car" (BMW Z8)

My two new "bargain" suitcases.
Guess how much these babies cost? Less than $40! Not bad eh?

Others:

Tea from the Sichuan restaurant

Close up of the tea; included inside the tea are chrysanthemum flowers, red dates, tea leaves, longans

Leslie and I at Changi Airport (T2), just before I made my way to the departure gate *sob, sob*

That's all for today... I've had a very shocking day. Busy since I woke up until now, rushing through the millions of things that I have to do. I probably should have come back to Perth earlier to do all this stuff ... or maybe not :P Help me... tomorrow begins with 8 am class!

2003-07-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Before I begin to update you with what I've been doing with my life in the past 3 days, I would like to inform everyone that I just ate ice cream and regretting it - its made me feel even colder. Agh, I hate this weather!

Ok let's have some sub-headings... I just love sub-headings!

Friday : Party night
I mentioned on Friday's post that I was going out for a buffet dinner but there was slight change of plan. I followed Leslie's family to a Sichuan restaurant and was suitably impressed by the tea-pouring "technique". The restaurant has hired a tea pourer (who hails from China) who pours tea from a special canister that has a long thin spout. Basically he stands a metre away from you and pours the tea into your cup ... of course, there is some "skill" to this! Oh, and I must mention that the food at the restaurant was quite nice too! Dessert was accompanied a plate of fortune cookies (and I thought that these only made appearances in suburban Chinese restaurants in Western countries!) ... and mine had the cutest message: "Do not keep searching for happiness. It can be found right next to you." (or something to that effect :P) YES, I was sitting next to Leslie ^^

After dinner, we met up with Shian and headed off to Embargo (at One Fullerton). Enjoyed the beautiful clear night out by the Singapore river teamed with a couple of drinks before making our way to Velvet Underground (@ Zouk). It wasn't very crowded (except the bar area) when we arrived, but by the time some of my other friends made their way there, it became super packed especially on the dance floor! I felt like a canned sardin. And I had my first lesbian encounter ... sort of :P I'm so naive... hehe, approached by a lesbian and I didn't realise it. Eep!

Anyhow, we stayed at Velvet until all the lights came on (at 3am - too early I say!) and stayed to chit chat a short while outside the club. We then met up with Jun who had gone clubbing with her friends elsewhere and headed down to Jalan Kayu for the famous roti prata. I've never actually tried this place's roti prata, but its well known around Singapore to be the "best" in town... so, I decided to give it a shot (even though it was a long taxi ride back home). Must say that I was kind of disappointed - maybe too much hype of how delicious it was famed to be. Turned out to be nothing special but perhaps we came on a bad day?

Saturday : Packing to say farewell
Spent the whole day rummaging through the room, searching through the mess to find what I had to bring home. I did not realise that I had acquired that much junk until I finished packing 3 suitcases and 1 box. Utter craziness at the airport later though as I had 5 pieces of luggage (including my laptop but excluding my handbag) to chuck onto a trolley. Not easy for a weakling (like me) to handle/manoeurve around a large airport such as Singapore's Terminal 2! Even after I checked in 3 pieces of luggage, lugging the remaining items (my cabin trolley bag + laptop + handbag) from immigration to the boarding gate was not an easy task - do not forgot how BIG the airport is, and it just happened that my boarding gate was the furtherest away!! Agh, my arms are still aching from the experience...

I must say though that I hated saying "goodbye". Goodbyes suck! Sigh...

Anyhow, the flight was the same as it always is. I was a bit worried when I checked in because the flight was stated to take off at 7.35pm but my ticket read 6.50pm, but it just turned out that it was rescheduled. And I almost thought that I could stay in Singapore just a little longer....... Anyhow, I was seated nice and near to the front (3rd row) at my own request. I watched two HK flicks (Diva... Ah Hey! and Why me, Sweetie?) and the beginning of a third (Cat and Mouse), and it was time to land in Perth. Yes... back home.

Sadly I missed Kiara's farewell party. Originally I was supposed to land in Perth at 11.30pm. Turned out that we landed at 12:25pm and it just happened 3 other flights landed around the same time meaning mammoth long queues at immigration, luggage and finally at customs. I don't exaggerate when I say long queues - the queue for immigration extended up onto the stairs from the arrival gate. Sadly my luggage came out near last meaning I was near the end of the queue for customs. Its crazy - I spent more than 1 and 1/2 hours in Perth airport! Needless to say, I was in no real mood to head to Kiara's farewell and plus, there was little point - by the time I arrived, it would be nearly time to leave. My bed was the direct destination.

Sunday : Settling back to reality
Grudgingly woke up this morning not wanting to believe that I was back in Perth! But forced myself up and out of bed, just in time for lunch with my family. Quickly got dressed and made up to head out to Northbridge for our routine Sunday dim sum.

Since lunch time, I've just been unpacking ... passing out gifts to my family ... checking my emails and chatting ... talking on the phone with friends, informing them of my return. Even though I'm not exactly that pleased to have to leave Singapore, I do understand that life is more than just fun, fun, fun... so I'm back here, ready to give my best shot at making it through this final semester! I've got a very strong feeling that its going to be a long, hard (read: crappy) semester! Ah well... just put up with it me thinks! What to do...

So, this has been a reasonably lengthy post ... not to mention, its also a 5word entry! Anyhow, quite a number of photos to come in the next post (whenever that is!) ... look forward (?!) to it :)

2003-07-20T03:33:00.000-07:00

Home
Well my one month away on holiday has come to an end ... I'm back home in Perth. Time flies when you're having fun ... and I can't begin to describe how fantastic and fun the month holiday has been. So fun that I didn't want to leave... well, there are other reasons why I didn't want to leave either too :P ... but ah well, nevermind - I've come back to face reality as well as my final semester!

I'll update more later as regards the "happenings" of my Friday and Saturday (whilst I was still in Singapore). I have A LOT to unpack and my mom has already started nagging about the amount of stuff I've brought back :P

2003-07-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

The last few days
Quick update of what I've been up to for the past few days. Its got to be quick cos I'm heading out for dinner soon (buffet dinner - very scary).

Wednesday night was again at Centro to enjoy Ladies' Night. Actually to be more precise, the theme is 'Wild Cherry' ... no comments on the connotations this draws upon. It was a good night though all in all, apart from me hitting this girl in the head twice (accidentally!!) because of my hand-actions-whilst-speaking habit. Oops... at least I apologised to her and was genuine about it :P

Yesterday (Thurs) and today (Fri) were shopping days. Just picking up some last minute shopping and gifts ... ai, I'm going home very very soon.

Ok I have to make a move. Everyone enjoy their Friday night ;) ... and the weekend!

2003-07-16T02:56:00.000-07:00

The Twins Effect
I watched this movie last night and I must say I'm severely disappointed. I already had a feeling before I watched the show that it wasn't going to be a 5-star film. So why did I bother to waste my time, waste my money? I blame it on the marketing and a few big names from the HK movie scene (namely Ekin Cheng, Ah Gill and Ah Sa from Twins, Edison Chen, Anthony Wong as well as a special mention at the bottom of the poster that there would be an appearance by Jacky Chan) Oh, stupid stupid me ... I fell for their marketing ploy and in return I wasted 2 good hours.

The show leaves plenty of empty gaps, leaving the viewer wondering whether they had missed something. But, no... its not the viewer that is missing something, its the movie - missing a worth while plot, and decent acting skills. A lot did not make sense, things didn't fit together smoothly. And Ah Gill seemingly changed clothes and hairstyles in the same scene, whilst her lover had been caught by the enemy ... WOW.

The movie borrows from the popular TV show, Buffy The Vampire Slayer - the story revolves around vampires and vampire hunters. And sadly, the European vampires were played by terrible actors. I have a sneaking suspicion that the makers of this movie recruited caucasion actors who would never have a chance acting for a local TV production let alone a big screen Hollywood movie (in other words, rejects :P)

Unfortunately I was watching a dubbed version as well; the original is in Cantonese but I'm in Singapore where everything is dubbed into Mandarin. I suppose this detracted from the original though I'm sure it didn't make that much of a difference to the overall "enjoyment" of the show. A comment about the dubbing though, the voice actors should speak/scream when the original actor speaks/screams... not 2 seconds later.

So in summary, three words for you: waste of time.

2003-07-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the zoo
I really must admit, the Singapore Zoological Gardens is one of the best zoos I've ever been to. It sure beats Perth Zoo hands down!

I'm only posting up selected pictures because I think it would take an eternity to load if I put up all 96 pictures that I snapped yesterday :P

The zoo adventure started here at the Tanah Merah MRT station

The zoo entrance

Leslie and Fel

Polar bear, devouring a live fish

Its a clown fish - just like Nemo! ;)

Snobby alpaca!

Butterfly

Lazy kangaroos

2 bats and a possum (?). The bat on the left is damn cheeky, after eating the fruit it uses the possum's tail to wipe its mouth!

Baby pot bellied piggies kissing! So cute...

A full grown mama pot bellied pig... we assume its pregnant, cos its belly is touching the ground :P

Its the baboons

Ostrich

I forgotten the name of this animal...

What posers!

Chimpanzees

As I already mentioned, I ran out of memory and batt so I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked ;) Anyhow, we ran out of energy and only completed 75-80% (?) of the whole zoo "course".

2003-07-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

Zoo, teppanyaki + results
Yesterday's adventure to the zoo was great fun, although very tiring from all the walking. I kept busy by snapping pictures of the animals until my digi cam ran out of memory space and battery! More about the zoo and photos to come at some later stage. However, I have to mention that one donkey got particularly "excited" when we stopped by its pen ... hahaha! I won't go into graphic details but let's put it this way, I've never seen anything that long in my life! :P

After the zoo, Leslie and I went with his family for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Teppanyaki and some other a la carte dishes topped off with some warm sake.... mmm, nice. Only thing is that I woke up this morning with somewhat of a sore throat.

And results came out for me today. I don't really want to say much because they are not anything fantastic enough to celebrate over. A few surprises ... and I'm going to go and see one of my lecturers when I get back to Perth because I'm SO sure that there has been some kind of mistake! Don't talk to me about it, because I'm not wanting to think about it at the moment.

A week left and I'm back in Perth starting my final semester! How scary is that thought ... ?

2003-07-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

For your viewing pleasure
Hehe... please don't vomit on me now :P

Pictures from Friday's night out (taken at Bar None):

Leslie and Fel

Leslie + Shian
I had to post up both pic as Shian with his eyes closed in one, + Leslie closed his eyes in the other! So I guess its fair this way... :P

Random shot of Bar None

Leslie + Fel
(he has this bad habit of blinking every time!)

Another random shot

Sharon, Fel + Shian
(what is with my expression??!!)

Sharon + Fel

Bryan (Brian? oops I don't know!) + Fel
(something went very wrong in my smile -_- )

Ok I got to get a move on, heading to the Zoo soon! :)

2003-07-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

My first hangover
Last night we went for a night out and I woke up with a hangover, my first ... in Singapore that is :P Haha I won't try and lie that I've never experienced a hangover in my life, but in all honesty, every time I go out in Singapore, I don't tend to drink much (2-4 drinks). But last night, I broke that trend ...

Anyhow, it was extremely fun last night! Started out at Alley Bar (Orchard Rd) for a couple of drinks, where we met up with a some friends and friends' friends. This place is known to be a favourite with the ex pats (and those trying to hook up with the ex pats :P) ... I almost felt that I was back in Perth. Haha!... just kidding. But we were standing around the "alley" part of the bar which was a tad squishy with all the people walking past.

Next stop was The Marriott Hotel, with a quick pit stop at The Living Room and then to Bar None (located at the basement of hotel) where the real "fun" began :D We shared a bottle of Vodka ... and the rest, I'll leave up to your own imagination!

I didn't mention that the other day that we went to Centro, there were camera crew from Channel News Asia taking shots of the queue outside the club. Funniest thing is that yesterday night there was again camera crew from Channel News Asia. I tried my best to dodge the cameras - no, not because I'm a famous celebrity trying to dodge the paparazzi ... but like Nadia, I have a fear of being caught on camera dancing. Eeks.

Well, I'll post up some photos later ... I need to rest tonight!

2003-07-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

Dinner and lunch
As I mentioned in the last post, I went out for dinner last night to meet up with a couple of friends. In fact, they were all my commerce course mates in UWA ... and are all working or looking for work. Gosh, and I'm the only one still studying (because I'm doing a blasted double degree) whilst they are earning bucks (big or little I'm not sure! :P) Nice to see a few faces that I haven't seen for a long time ... shout out to Shian, Siang Chee, Chuan Yen + his gf, and Jun.

Dinner was at a Japanese restaurant located in Suntec City called Kushin Bo. You have the choice of either buffet or a la carte, but I don't recommend buffet unless you have a terribly HUGE apetite/stomach as a set meal is more than enough (in my opinion). There are several "open" kitchens where you can watch the chefs whip up your meal. Something similar to the Marche concept with the card etc, but with only Japanese food. Not bad overall ... and quite affordable. (Btw, if you are interested, the dinner buffet price for an adult is approx $33-34)

Still on the topic of food, I went for lunch today at Toa Payoh to eating very delicious chicken rice. Mmm... somehow we managed to finish half a chicken (its a big chicken ok!), plate of veggies, and a large bowl of sui gao song between three people, although we did find it hard to move after the meal! In my opinion, the chicken rice here is better than Boon Tong Kee's!

2003-07-10T03:42:00.000-07:00

Ladies' Nite @ Centro + misc photos
Wednesday night is Ladies' Nite at Centro, a club which would probably be considered one of my favourite clubs here in Singapore. I love the whole "Ladies' Night" concept (free entry and free flow drinks for females) ... if only there was such a weekly promo in Perth! :P I think its a great marketing ploy - all the ladies are drawn to go out and enjoy, and the men will follow suit, like hungry wolves drawn to innocent sheep. You can see many groups of girls enjoying a girls' night out, and many groups of guys hungrily eying their prey. It is somewhat amusing and entertaining watching them "make their move" ... especially when they are blatantly rejected (I'm so mean!!)

However, last night I had a slightly annoying encounter. I was queuing up at the bar for a drink, waiting ever so patiently to be served ... however, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulder grab me and push me back behind her. This skinny stick girl, sulken face full of bad attitude had decided that she was going to get a drink before me. If this was in Perth and I had more friends with me, I would have definitely done something ... but I am in Singapore, and it is better avoid getting into any "situations", so I merely stared at her, giving her evil eyes. And she still had the guts to look back at me with a "so what" expression.... grrrrrrr. She definitely fell into the category of ah lian (I'm assuming everyone knows what an ah lian is ... if not, I will leave the explanation to another day) ... damn that stupid chao ah lian!! :P

Anyway, apart from the ah lian encounter, the night was very enjoyable. Very very very packed out though and trying to move around the club was quite difficult. But I was glad to meet up with some friends whom I haven't seen for quite some time ... and also to "check out" the Miss Singapore Universe '03 entourage. Haha... no lah, just a couple of the contestants were there, including Jun who was the first runnerup and a friend who also previously studied at UWA. Haha... you know, I think my friends all look even more gorgeous than the last time I saw them!!

Ok, a few pictures for you all :)

Earlier today:

Random photo taken in the car. Its near the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts construction site.

Last night:

Sharon + Fel

Shian + Fel
(sorry for the weirdness and blurriness of this pic - my digi cam was not set on the correct settings and I ran out of batt :P)

From the other day:

Our MOS burger meals ... mmm

Me at MOS Burger drinking my peach iced tea
(so what was the purpose of this picture? none... :P)

The two new eyeshadows I bought from MAC (white frost + surreal)

Orite, I got to wash up ... meeting up with some friends later for dinner :)

2003-07-09T04:15:00.000-07:00

Transcripting music
Within the last week or so, I have had a few requests on my sheet music site. As I've mentioned on that site, I will try my best to scour the web or my personal collections at home for any such requests ... although its not an easy task to do so! In fact, as I have discovered its much more difficult than I previously expected.

In such a case that the sheet music cannot be found, I also did state somewhere that I MAY attempt to transcribe the music myself. I must point out now that transcription is a very time consuming effort, having to listen to a song repeatedly whilst trying to transcribe its melody and accompaniment onto two staves on a manuscript. For some with talent and a gifted ear (sadly, not me!!), this task is not so tough ... and sadly, for the majority of those without the talent, it means having to "listen harder"! This skill can be somewhat learnt - bundles of dedication and practice are absolutely essential!! To those tone-deaf people, I would suggest to you especially not to try such a feat ...

As I reflect back to the days I used to go regularly for music lessons, at school/uni or privately, I think I am somewhat rusty now! Very out of practice due to the lack of someone/something forcing you to keep up to date with your musical skills. Its been a good few years since I've even bothered to transcribe a piece of music! But hopefully, such a skill cannot be forgotten or unlearnt ... just probably needs a bit of warming up and practice :P

So I now say to all the people that I promised to transcribe music for - please be patient! My procrastinating ways and laziness has kicked into maximum gear at the moment (hey ... I'm on holiday!), and hopefully once I get back home, I will have the time and drive to do so? But as they say ... old habits die hard :P

[this is my first attempt at a 5word entry!]

2003-07-09T02:57:00.000-07:00

Para Para game
The other day whilst walking around Bugis Junction, Leslie decided to bring me to the arcades for some "entertainment". Its been a long time since I've actually stepped into such a place, and upon entering, I felt a tinge of nostaglia as I remembered the days when we used to patronise Timezone and Fun'n'Games. (Actually now that I think about it, I think I still have a box full of Timezone tokens stashed somewhere in my bedroom...)

The main source of our "entertainment" was the Para Para Paradise arcade game (PPP), which appears to be very popular for young girls ... and sometimes young boys :p Its like Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), and in fact it is produced by the same manufacturer (Konami)... however, with a slight difference. Where DDR is just dancing with your feet, PPP is more "advanced" - hand and feet actions! (I think there are sensors which can monitor your hand actions?) No joke though, the kids who play this "game" take it very seriously... you can tell by the look of concentration on their face! Yes, it was really quite amusing watching them play and we weren't the only ones to think that way as quite a large amount of space was allocated around the area to allow for a crowd of people to spectate.

Personally I'm not really a fan of playing these types of games in public - too high of an embarrassment factor. So what video games do I like playing at arcade centres? Racing car games! Actually, that's pretty much the only type of game I can play ... :p I tried Time Crisis 3 and I managed to die in what was probably record time. Street Fighter, King of Fighters etc are a waste of time - too many combos to remember/learn, and I end up just recklessly rotating the joystick and pressing buttons, hoping that my opponent will be crushed by my fluked combo?! Yes, thinking about it, I am totally unskilled in arcade games!

2003-07-07T23:10:00.000-07:00

I'm still here ...
Yes, I know I haven't been updating for the last few days but... I've been lazy (what is new!) and somewhat "busy"

My last few days in summary point-form:

sleeping in

cleaning up

dinner @ Fish & Co (seafood served in a pan)

major sales at Wisma Atria

Takashimaya (aka "Taka")

MAC shopping (at Tangs)

une nana cool

mmm... MOS burger

the remainder of the time that was not spent outside was spent at home watching tv (as per usual!) - i love cable ^^

Ok ok, a full update (and pictures) later when I have time and can be bothered! As for now, I'm heading down to Orchard ... ^^

2003-07-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

A Friday night out
Last night, we headed to The Newsroom Bar (located at Mohammed Sultan). Definitely not my favourite of all favourite clubs but, the decision was not up to me.

Things worth mentioning:
- the DJ was not quite up to scratch... (a) couldn't mix the music properly (b) played some very crappy music (c) kept making lewd comments like "time to get sexy girls ... but whatever you do, don't wet my dance floor!" hmmm...
- some girls (and boys!) climbed up onto the bar and started dancing (a la Coyote Ugly?). there was this one girl who was dancing dangerously close to a large hanging light bulb and I'm surprised she didn't hurt herself!
- i know i've said this an unmentionable number of times, but sg girls are so damn skinny (as a broad generalisation). actually, some girls are so thin to the point of being very unhealthy looking ... hmmm
- i was dancing next to this guy whose dancing style looked as though he was trying to swim? very interesting...

After Newsroom, we headed to eat roti prata but ... as you know, i'm trying to lose weight (well, at least maintain weight and not get too fat! whilst I'm here) so sadly, I just sat and watched. You cannot imagine how much self-restraint/will power this takes...!

2003-07-04T00:29:00.000-07:00

Nod means yes
I purchased this ultra cute toy yesterday as a present for Leslie ... isn't it cute!

Hidamari no Tami

This toy simply nods its head at you, and is powered by solar power. You have to see one in action to see how relaxing and calming the effect is!

This description found somewhere on the net:

Although this is classed as a toy, it isn't really something you can play with. Hidamari no Tami (translates as: sunny people) is more of a desk ornament. What does it do? Well, it sits there and nods! Yes, it doesn't do anything else other than nod. This solar powered cutey is supposed to be a great stress reliever. Just sit there and watch it... you'll soon be lost in thought.

2003-07-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

Beads of perspiration
I just stepped off the treadmill (10 mins ago?) and I am sweating like a pig, literally with little droplets of perspiration all over my tomato-red face. I would so take a picture and post it up if it were not for the gross factor.

Reason I'm so diligent today on the treadmill is because yesterday I ate a lot ... and so this is redemption :P

I met up with my friend Shian for coffee yesterday afternoon and we headed down to N.Y.D.C. (at Suntec). Indulged in an Oreo cheesecake (which came with hazelnut icecream + cream), which is as delicious and fattening as it sounds! However, definitely recommended as its not too overpoweringly rich or sweet but still full of yumminess! And take a look at my drink -

my peach elephanccino from NYDC... quite nice, but the cream (with rainbow sprinkles!) was a bit weird!

I did a little little bit of shopping at Suntec (girls, MNG is having quite a sale!!), picking up a number of tops. Then I headed down to The Heeren to meet up with another friend (Ken) and Leslie for dinner at Marche. Its like a marketplace-style restaurant, featuring various types of foodstalls which are prepared in front of you. Leslie and I shared between us a pizza (you choose your own toppings), deep fried calamari and soft-shell crab which left both of us extremely satisfied but bursting full. I'm going to have to go again and try the Rosti which looked quite nice - but there were just too many people queuing for it, and I felt lazy to wait!

Ok the run on the treadmill has made me famished ... time for lunch! :) By the way I'm still perspiring...

2003-06-30T23:26:00.000-07:00

Gloomy Bear
I read an article in The Straits Times (print edition) this morning about this plush bear called Gloomy The Naughty Adult Bear (created by Mori Chack). Its a cute cute bear bear ... that is blood thirsty, has sharp claws, and likes to eat people?!

Want one? hehe... buy one here.

2003-06-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

The nerve of some
Last night (Sunday) I went for dinner with Leslie at this nearby hawker centre. What I wore there fit the bill of the type of dressing that is appropriate for hawker centre - casual to whatever. However, I was quite disturbed by this couple, in particular the female, who were seated and eating there. Leslie and I were just browsing through the stalls, trying to decide what to eat when the female started pointing at me whilst giggling and commenting about something to her husband/boyfriend/male companion. I could see Leslie was very distracted and somewhat bothered by this behaviour (and perhaps contemplating making a mini scene), and so I ushered him to another section of the hawker centre to buy our dinner.

Ok I have no problem with people criticising at the way I look or dress or what not. But please... not in my physical presence! Hello, we are in a public space and yet that woman had the nerve to be so obviously rude to point at me and laugh. Hmm... so what if I dress down to eat hawker food or look fat! I don't think I'm being too overly sensitive here - just a little peeved that such rude people exist.

2003-06-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

Expedition to Queensway
On Saturday afternoon (which was incidentally a really really killer hot day), Leslie and I went to Queensway with my friend Shian. Queensway Shopping Centre has been described as being "The" place for sports shoes. What Sim Lim is for electronics/computer hardware/software, Queensway is for sports shoes + gear. Another friend of mine actually recommended Queensway for sunglasses too because one of the shops was the Singapore supplier for a number of sunglass brands, e.g. Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana etc.

Queensway turned out to be dodgier looking than I expected. Haha... well, anyhow I think its in the midst of renovation (or needs to be!) so can't blame it. But that wasn't of any major concern - the biggest was to find the nicest sports shoes at the most decent price. We didn't even make it to the upper levels, but made circles around the ground floor until I settled on a pair of Nike shoes that took my fancy. The next task was to find which shop gave the best deal. It turns out that most of the shops offer the shoes at the same price, but we managed to find one that was willing to let them go at a slightly lower price. I think it was really worth the trek there because prices were slightly over 30% less than the normal retail price.

Haha... now I have my shoes, the next step is to get my lazy butt off the couch and restart my workout regime (which has been put on hold since prior to exams). (Actually last night I went for a 4km run on the treadmill whilst watching Star Search... haha!)

my new running shoes.

As I mentioned above, sunglasses were another must-buy at Queensway. The sales girl was very honest and straight-forward with her comments, (perhaps a little too honest?!) but I think I prefer that to honey-dripping sucking-up type remarks. After trying on many pairs, I finally decided on one of the first pairs that I had tried - a simple pair of Gucci's that I thought suited my face.

my new Gucci sunglasses

Well I got that really "satisfied" feeling that you get after you go shopping and you purchase the things that you had intended to purchase. I think the worst feeling is when you have a specific "something" that you want to purchase and are willing to fling incredible and stupedenous amounts on, but you can't seem to find a nice "something" which would warrant the flinging. So thankfully, the expedition to Queensway was very fulfilling in that I managed to find the "somethings" that I was after!

2003-06-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

New blogger
This new blogger thing is making extra work for me :o

2003-06-27T03:39:00.000-07:00

Something not quite right
Been a little preoccupied in the last few days to blog, but will do so before I forget to.

Last few days, I've had some terrible migraines. I'm not exactly sure why, but most probably its due to the heat. The other day I fell asleep whilst reading a magazine and the doors/windows were shut. I suppose due to lack of ventiliation and the heat caused me to "cook" in the room like a roasted pig, thus resulting in the splitting migraine I experienced later in the evening. Thankfully, its nothing too serious that a couple of panadols and a nap couldn't fix - but I'm seriously worried about taking too much panadol. I take quite a lot of panadol in one year (because I frequently get migraines/headaches!) and I only worry that the more I take, the less effect it will have on me. Something about your body becoming resistant and needing stronger medicine to overcome the illness ... ?

I did manage to do some shopping as well in the last few days :) As I already mentioned, I've been trying to take it easy and not to buy everything that I see!

On Wed, I managed to buy 3 tops and one pair of 3/4 wide leg pants. I also changed a bulk of AUD to SGD. Quite pleased - the currency exchange is good at the moment (in terms of me the consumer!) with AUD1=SGD1.16 (the rate I managed to get). Just to think it was only 4-5 months ago and the AUD was weaker than SGD. It does make a difference - especially if you're exchanging a lot of $, it can mean a few hundred dollars or so.

Yesterday (Thurs), I followed Leslie's parents to Johor Bahru (JB). Its not a long journey, taking less than one hour to travel there. I felt a bit nervous going there though, as I always am whenever I go to JB, because of the countless stories of men in motorcycles grabbing women's handbags and even gold necklaces/jewellry. Not to mention some people that we personally know have been harrassed in the carparks of shopping centres in JB for money and so on. But anyhow, it just pays to be careful of where you walk and your surroundings, I clutched my handbag very tightly every where that we went! I honestly don't know what came over me though - I bought two pairs of shoes, and they were POINTY! Those of you who know me well will know that I dislike pointy shoes ... but, I don't know, I just decided to give it a go? Even more strange is that one of the pairs is PINK. Here's a picture ...

My new shoes - whoa, they're pointy... and one is pink!

Something just isn't right ... I don't know how it happened!

Well, today, I just bummed around the house. This morning I woke up with an awful migraine and I had no idea why! And as mentioned above, a panadol and a nap fixed that one. The rest of the day was spent watching tv ... ^^

Not sure what is in store tonight, and not even sure whether I'm up for any strenuous activities such as pubbing / clubbing / bar hopping etc. Perhaps I'll take an easy night and rest up for the weekend.

2003-06-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

I can feel the fats developing
I haven't been here for 24 hours and I can already feel that I'm putting on weight. Not a good sign ... at all! This may call for drastic measures... perhaps, I should visit the gym? But of course, I must firstly buy new sports shoes before that can happen... :P

Things are good. Really taking it easy, reading lots of mags (that I asked Leslie to buy for me when I was back in Perth), watching heaps of tv, lazing about, eating cake, you know, really enjoying life! I haven't yet been outside for shopping yet... but that will be on my agenda later today.

Regarding my mini fiasco at the airport; I arrived at the airport at 3 pm when my flight was 4pm (the reason for my lateness? I was doing some last minut eshopping at Garden City :p ) But normally I wouldn't be too worried, but somehow the queue to check-in was super long - so long that there was almost no room inside the airport to stand in the queue. I guess everyone else thought to check in late too :\ Anyhow, I wasn't the last person in the queue (thankfully!) but somehow when I was at the counter, it took an eternity for the lady serving me to get a seat. Thoughts of not being able to get a seat were racing through my head, and I happened to read a sign on the counter table stating 'customers may not be guaranteed a seat on the flight they have a confrimed seat for due to overbooking ... etc' or something to that effect. Well, eventually a seat came up and I raced up to the departure gates, through immigration and security (where there was another long queue!). Amusing though the number of ladies that had to take off their shoes to go through security! (due to metal buckles etc on the shoes I assume?)

And a first for me - the first time my name has been called over the airport PA system for me to board the plane. haha... the flight was crowded, not a single seat was left empty. The airport ground staff came in and checked for any empty seats which were allocated to those people who had decided to take a chance and wait at the airport for any last minute "no shows".

And the flight, I must praise the pilot - the landing was lovely ;) But the air hostesses, uh ... well, I don't mean to generalise, but I'm sure everyone knows what the so called "stereo typed" SQ girl is like and well, on my flight, they didn't fail to meet that stereotype (in my opinion). I could say some really damaging and awful things, but I really shall refrain ... :P

Annoyed at the fact that KrisWorld stuffed up too which meant that I did not finish watching The Hours. But what can you do ... ! haha... And when I arrived at Changi Airport, I made a beeline for the M.A.C. shop ... which I found to be under renovations! NOOO... haha, nevermind I will check out CK Tangs later I guess.

Haha ok, enough of my complaining, I'm here in one piece and thankful for that! :) Ok, got to get ready now to head out ... sales (and lunch) here I come!

2003-06-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

Its getting hot in here...
Well I'm here in sunny, hot, stinky, humid ... (fill in the blanks) ... Singapore. Goodness, you don't know how much I have perspired since I have been here (which is approximately 15 hours) - but a welcome change from the gloomy and dreaded cold back in Perth. Its just me but I prefer hot weather over the cold - the cold makes me feel like I want to be inside my bed and not doing anything, whereas the hot makes me just want to go to airconditioned places, you know such as shopping centres ^^ muahaha...

Talking about shopping (my and virtually every other girl's favourite activity I think!), I'm going to take it easy. Hopefully! A lot of self control and restraint must be exercised in order for me not to spend every cent that I have in one day. Goodness, sounds like an addiction.

Same goes for food I think :P I must NOT eat one week's worth of food in one meal. Don't laugh - its very possible!

Anyhow, overall things are fine. Haven't really done much (except plopped myself in front of the tv and watched HK dramas endlessly in true tai tai (wannabe) style) but then again, its only the first day. Its just good to have time to relax and do nothing without actually feeling guilty - something I haven't done for quite a long while! Leslie has put on weight ... muahah ... I hope he doesn't kick me for writing this here :P But it feels like I haven't seen him for an unbelievable amount of time whereas in actual fact it has only been around 4 months. And it goes without saying, but its really good to see him again :)

Anyhow, lunch is waiting for me so update more later. (including about my mini airport fiasco!)

2003-06-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

I hope I don't forget anything...
Last minute packing really has its disadvantages.

Cheerio then ... *waves goodbye*

2003-06-22T00:29:00.000-07:00

ALAG
My gosh, this is so me! YES I AM an Angry Little Asian Girl ...

Check it out - what kind of angry are you?

2003-06-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

I've lost the plot
Ok I totally take back the comment that I won't update. o_0 It appears that I'm too attaching to blogging :p

Anyway, the title refers to me losing the plot. Why? Because I did this. I think I'm going mad... can't believe I did it though. Its not quite 100% fixed yet, though its pretty much done. A few changes/modifications need to be made but it is fully operational. ^^ (go on ... join!)

2003-06-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

My sister - the Harry Potter freak
So a few hours after I say I won't update, I update :P

Haha ... but I had to show you all this picture of my sister, who is a Harry Potter freak. If you didn't know, today is the day that the 5th book (Order of the Phoenix) was released and that was at exactly 7.01am (in Perth that is). Do you know what time she went to QUEUE for the book? (I had already pre-ordered for her about 2-3 months ago) She went down to Garden City at 4 am. Yes, 4 o'clock in the morning - when it was still dark and many people were enjoying the warmth of their bed (including myself). Apparently she and her friend weren't the first people there either - this other lady arrived at 3.30am and was interviewed by Channel 9 news. Utter craziness I say, just for a book. (At this point in time, many Harry Potter fans/freaks will be arguing with me sayings its not "just" any book but its Harry Potter ... blahblahblaaaaah)

My sister, clutching tenderly the 5th Harry Potter book.

I don't think I'll be seeing much of her for the rest of the day as she locks herself in her bedroom, engrossed in reading whilst the Harry Potter movie original soundtrack is played in the background. :\

2003-06-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

Mini break
I don't think I'll be updating this blog for the next few days. A lot of things to do, and a lot of things on my mind at the moment so ... probably not until I reach Singapore. And again (for those who have been following for some time) I'm not sure how often I'll be updating when I'm over there. Depends how busy (shopping, eating - i.e. gorging myself with delicious food ...muahaha ... , shopping, shopping, watching tv (cable! whoo hoo), etc) I am. And of course, spending time with a certain someone ;)

Hmm... I think the first thing that I want to eat when I touch down is ... roti prata. MMMM. Or perhaps yu tiao + tou hwa. *stomach grumbling*

For all those still with exams; good luck! nearly there nearly there... and soon you can enjoy your holiday!
For all those on holidays; enjoy dudes! see ya when I get back :)
For all those working; uhh ... have fun at work? :) Take it easy moite :p
Everyone; take good care!! ^^

2003-06-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

And so it begins...
One month of exam-free class-free stress-free relaxing. Actually, not really cos I have two assignments (I think) to complete during the holidays and not to mention a few personal "projects" to start. The assignments part is such a drag, but I really doubt I will look at it let alone start and finish during the break ... but still the ominous feeling and thought that its going to have to be completed and handed in sometime soon-ish.

I'm already looking at the units I've chosen for next semester (apart from Commercial Practice and Procedure which continue on from last semester):
i. Corporate Finance and Securities Regulation
ii. Corporate Insolvency
iii. Misleading and Deceptive Conduct

Sigh, the first two are going to be tough, lots of work kinds of units - but highly useful (in my distorted opinion). MDC is taught by one of the "favourite" lecturers in law school, so this one should be quite easy-going... hopefully! Its really Corporate Insolvency that is getting me worried, I've already heard rumours that the amount of work necessary to keep on top of that unit is equivalent to all the effort/work you will be putting in all your other units aggregated. And I've also heard that the lecturer who takes it is rather ... "scary".

Ai, why am I thinking about school (nerd wannabe ... :o) It really should be the last thing on my mind at the moment!

My study has been cleaned up, so much neater (and I can actually walk into it without stepping onto something) and I've got half of my washing out of the way. Quite a productive morning I must say :) ... still a lot to accomplish though within the next few days, but I can only try. hehe... and there will be some "fun" tonight ... muahahaa!

2003-06-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Post-exam 3
WHOOOO HOOO HOOO HOOO! :)

I'm done. I feel like quite numb. But relieved, happy, its over. I don't really wish to think of how results will be like or when they will be coming out ... but just so glad that now I have a chance to relax, completely 100% guilt-free.

Also, I just came home an hour ago from paying my airfare ... I'm going to Singapore next week!! yay!! haha... originally meant to be the following week, but yes, managed to secure a seat much earlier. Almost too early - but hey, I'm not complaining!! I will be there for a month or so, coming back just in time for class which starts the last week of July. I'm hoping (please Leslie?! :) hehe... ) that I will be going on a trip from Singapore to somewhere else as well - I hear Korea is cheap (200?) as well as some other nearby destinations. I'm not ungrateful or what not, but my holidays always are to Singapore or Malaysia!

Anyhow a lot to accomplish before I do head off - my study room + bedroom are once again in a post-war/post-tornado state as well as a tonne of washing and other cleaning to do! Goodness, put on top of that some celebrating and general chilling, and I will be just in time to board the plane!

2003-06-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Pre-Exam 3
Finally, the day has arrived. I still have to put up with another round of exams (unfortunately! :( ...) at the end of the year, but somehow, the end of each round is still a relief... and cause for celebration. hhehe... I'm now sounding as though I've already had the exam, but in fact, its another 2 hours until another 2 hours of hell (i.e. the exam).

In terms of this unit? I think its probably one of the most straight-forward units that you will ever encounter if you go to law school. Having said that, perhaps I'm taking it too easy ... and being rather over confident. But we shall see when the exam is presented in front of me, and moreover, when the results are posted up.

Good luck to me! hehe...

A picture before I go and get ready ...

check out the grass!! doesn't it look fake? ... haha because IT IS!! our neighbour just laid fake grass onto his front lawn. hey, also if you squint, you can see Perth city in the top right hand corner!

2003-06-18T01:43:00.000-07:00

Food glorious food
Extremely bored at the moment despite final exam being tomorrow.

Photo time :)

a fruit platter

Baskin + Robbins icecream cake... mmm

anyone for some Laksa?

oyako don (chicken cooked with egg + rice)

teriyaki beef + chicken + fish + rice (teriyaki delux!)

curry chicken + udon

reprise: oyako don

pomegranate! (found in my garden)

hmmm... these pictures are making my stomach rumble!

2003-06-17T04:28:00.000-07:00

Post-Exam 2
Well, good-o I'm done with exam numero duo. Must admit that went quite decently as I had previously expected. Perhaps could have potentially prepared a little more (by pre-writing a couple of essays etc) but overall, at least I got through the whole damn thing. Spent too much time on the problem question (worth 50%) - 2 hours! - leaving me only 1 hour to write an essay and a short answer. Hmmm...

3 hours of continuous writing and my hand felt like it was going to drop. Literally. After the 2 hour mark, my right hand fingers started hurting, like getting cramps or something! This is what you get for not writing by hand througout the whole of the semester until exam time!

Tonight will be a relatively early night to bed for me. Hopefully! I intend to catch up on a few zzz's (let my brain rest for a little while) before slogging it out the whole of tomorrow for the final paper on Thursday. Again I shall say, I can't wait until its all over!!

2003-06-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

Pre-Exam 2
Ok ... feeling quite ok for this exam. I think. JUST got a bit of a fright from a friend who sent me a SMS asking me about "neural focus standards". Thankfully, she was actually referring to "narrow focus standards" ... something that I had studied! *whewww*

I prepared all my own notes for this subject, so that helps a lot. I find that if I read other people's notes, it just isn't the same (unless they are super super notes - like a certain Miss N's notes). But sometimes you just have no choice!

Alright ... I hope I remember to bring EVERYTHING.

2003-06-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

Some slight modifications
Look to your left. Scroll down first lah.
Yehhh ... check it out! You can see what song I'm listening to! WHOOO... hehe (with thanks to audiomatch)

I tell you I always find nonsense things to keep me occupied during exam time. Super distracted. Super procrastinator. Super anti-study.

Ok, sorry I'm back to hitting to the books. Promise!

2003-06-16T02:23:00.000-07:00

Post-Exam 1
Sigh. Sometimes it would be so handy to know what was in the exam before it came out so that we could know what to study for!

It would have been specially good today - if only I KNEW I could have effectively studied just two sections (out of a total eight sections studied over the course of the semester) and prepared essays for those two sections alone, I could have ACED it. Ai ... I'm only regreting not preparing a full answer prior to the exam and bringing it in, and just transcribing it into the exam script. Ah well ... nevermind, what is done is done.

One down, two more babies to go. Tomorrow and Thursday afternoon.

2003-06-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

Pre-Exam 1
Wish me luck!! I sure need it for this paper.

Off we go then ...

2003-06-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

The crappiest dim sum in the world
As we do every Sunday, I went out with my family for 'yum cha'. But today was special - today my family and I ate the crappiest dim sum in the world. Ok, so I may slightly exaggerate the last part, but trust me, I've never tasted such awful dim sum in my entire life!! Not to mention my dad was grumbling about how expensive it was as well. But imagine this huge restaurant (fills around say, 30 tables or more?) is empty except for our table, and there are 10 or more waitresses just standing there. I guess there is a reason why its empty - because it was the crappiest dim sum in the world. Anyhow now I'm rambling...

Have you ever wondered though why some people (particularly Caucasians) call 'dim sum' = dim sim?
My sister and I came up with the theory that because 'dim sum' is cantonese and the mandarin equivalent is 'dian xin' ... so half / half and you get 'dim sim'. Well sort of... or perhaps 'xin' (heart) in Hokkien is 'sim' ... ? Or maybe it just rhymes better that way.

Starting to get a bit jittery now though. Less than 12 hours 'til the first paper.

2003-06-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

CRAP
I just checked my exam timetable again and I thought my first exam was Monday afternoon. Turns out that its actually Monday morning. Crap, why didn't I check my timetable earlier ...?

I'm having a BAD week.

Just cannot wait until this is all over ... come Thursday afternoon circa 4.15pm, I will be one extremely happy person. You cannot imagine HOW happy...

But for now, back to mugging the books -__-

2003-06-13T02:56:00.000-07:00

Well that's that
Woke up DAMN early this morning but still couldn't get through. Gave up at 11am. That's it too much time has been wasted. Then I just called the number and to be greeted with the pre-recorded message - "SIA regrets to inform that all the Early Bird special seats have now all been filled up due to overwhelming response" or something to that effect. Sigh. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

At least I've got a confirmed seat to Singapore so... that's good enough for me. I mean what other choice DO I have? Have to pay more, just pay more loh. Boh bian (translate: no choice) already... Stupid as it sounds, I feel like crying. Argh.

Someone remind me to buy lotto tomorrow though - $22 million draw. I guess I got to have a crack at that one, although it doesn't seem that Lady Luck is with me at the moment. But as they say - "you gotta be in it to win it".

I don't know what crap I'm talking about now. LOW MORALE.

2003-06-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

Belgian beer
Took an evening off from studying to have a couple of beers with a coupla' ma' mates :) hahaha... headed down to Belgian Beer Cafe. It was GREAT - just having a chill out and chat. Getting away from my stupid books and the redial button :p

Never underestimate the importance of friends. And a nice Belgian beer. Or two.

L - R : Shawn, Fel, Mich, Ed, Meina, SC

2003-06-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

Some mathematics
(note: these are all averages)

Number of times I can dial SIA number in 1min = 16
Number of mins in an hr = 60
Number of hours that I tried calling in one day = 4
Number of days I have tried calling = 4

SO...
16 x 60 x 4 x 4 = 15,360 times I have pressed the redial button
60 x 4 x 4 = 960 minutes = 16 hours that I have wasted pressing the redial button

Sorry I know I was supposed to stop complaining ... and I was supposed to have given up ... but I couldn't help myself.

Something weird happened this morning when I was trying to call - surprisingly I heard the ringing tone, but then after a few rings it changed to the engaged tone.
You can't even BEGIN to imagine how excited (and how my heart almost jumped out of my body) when I heard something other than the engaged tone! But became twice as annoyed and twice as frustrated when the ringing tone became an engaged tone. Someone please tell me WHY this happened???

2003-06-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

Eeks

Ms Lin Ya-ting from Taichung county in Taiwan is one person who'll never be tongue-tied. The 23-year-old figures she developed the rare ability to fold her tongue into a flower-shaped formation while grimacing at her dog. -- AFP

What a party trick! ;)

2003-06-10T23:46:00.000-07:00

Enough is ENOUGH
I'm probably frustrating you as much as I am frustrating myself over this stupid cheap fare crap. So ... that's it, I shall not talk/complain about it ANY MORE ... that is, unless I can get through. HAH! Fat chance... (Btw, I've decided to write a letter of complaint to SIA - do you think it will help? Probably not, but at least I can vent out some of this frustration)

Found this site whilst surfing the net. I SO want to get one of them t-shirts! Ok, the shop has now been added to my "places to visit when in Sg" list.

Although I must say that its faaaaar too cold to be wearing t-shirts at this time of the year. I hate the cold, I hate winter. Thank God for heaters ... without my trusty heater, I think I would literally freeze/shiver to death. Yes, I am weak ... my body cannot take it! I haven't been outside my house for the last 3 days (since I visited the travel agent) so I'm not too sure what the weather outside is like... but at least there isn't any rain / hail / wind/ thunder / lightening / gloomy stuff. Give me a stinky hot humid day anytime over this winter weather!

My current baby / love - my heater. "I could not live without you!"

2003-06-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

STILL no luck
Enlisting the help of 2 travel agents as well as myself but STILL nothing. Like Nadia said to me this morning - "maybe its just not meant to be".

I swear if I get through, I'm buying lotto straightaway.

2003-06-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

Another pissed off day
I'm in no real mood to do anything except complain. This stupid cheap fare thing has ruined my mood for the last few days, and not much study has been done as a consequence.

Again I tried to call through to SIA the entire day ... but failed miserably. I hate the engaged tone more than ever. I attempted to call my friend's travel agent and they were quite swamped, so they told me they would call me back later. But later came and went without a phone call. Meanwhile during this whole time I was trying to call the airline getting more and more frustrated each time I pressed the redial button.

THE WORST PART? That people around me managed to secure discounted tickets (at least 4 or 5 successful). Its not as if I didn't TRY to call ... its not as if I only tried once as well! AGGHH. IS IT FATE that I'm not supposed to get the cheap tickets???

2003-06-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

Disappointed, annoyed...
I woke up very early this morning in anticipation of booking a flight. I called SIA but to be told that there was another number that I had to call ... and I have been trying to call this number the whole day but - its engaged. After hanging up and redialing continuously for at least 15-20 minutes, I decided enough was enough - and I headed down to the travel agent nearby my house.

Keep in mind, this is all still very early in the morning ... and in this weather, it takes a lot of effort to do the smallest thing, including putting on clothes and getting ready to leave the house.

Arriving at the travel agent, I was glad to see that there were not too many people waiting to enquire about the special. However, I was greatly surprised that the travel agent did not have any information as to how to book the special flights (i.e. under what class etc). All I have to say is that the airline is pretty disorganised not to have informed any of the travel agents regarding this.

After some idle chit-chat, I left my contacts and the agent booked the flight but it wasn't sure whether or not this was valid as the "special" ultra cheap flight.

Anyhow, I was waiting for the whole day for a phone call telling me whether or not I would get the flight - but it turns out, the travel agent was not able to book the flight. Rather, we (the traveller) had to call up directly to SIA (yes, the number that was engaged for the whole day) to book directly through them. What the ... !!

Hmm so I tried calling ... but to no avail, the damn line was ENGAGED. I couldn't even get onto the "hold" line, just getting to hear that annoying "beeep, beeep, beeep, beeep..."

So looks like I am going to have to call early tomorrow morning. AND operating hours are only between 8pm - 6pm EST. Meaning 6am - 4pm my time. Sheesh... there is NO WAY I am within the first 15000 to book a ticket worldwide. I really want to swear profusely now ... but I shall refrain.

Hmm but anyhow, whatever it is - there is a confirmed flight booked under my name, so even if I cannot get this special deal, at least I will still be heading over that way. A bit annoyed though since all the flights are fully booked until the end of the month, so it means that I'll be rotting here a little longer than I hoped/expected.

2003-06-08T00:10:00.000-07:00

Smitten
I didn't mean to post so soon after the last one but I saw this site and I just couldn't resist!

Its sooooooo sweet! ... even though a tad pricey :p

2003-06-07T23:50:00.000-07:00

Amazing fat facts
-OBESITY costs Australia $13 billion a year.
-Someone in Australia is diagnosed with diabetes every 10 minutes.
-Obese people lose, on average, six or seven years of life.
-Sixty percent of Australian adults are overweight or obese.
-A cup of whole milk contains eight grams of fat. Skim milk has 0.5 grams.
-Almost 10 percent of Australian children are obese.
-Obesity makes Australian children so unhealthy and miserable that their quality of life is worse than children having chemotherapy to treat cancer.
-A meat pie contains the equivalent of six teaspoons of fat.
-The average Australian opens the fridge door 22 times a day.
-Worldwide, more than 2.5 million deaths annually are weight-related and this could rise to five million by 2020.
-A Big Mac gives you just under 25 percent of your daily intake of kilojoules in one snack.
-The average Australian adult now weighs 74.3kg, up from 70.1kg 13 years ago.
-A can of soft drink contains nine or 10 teaspoons of sugar.
-Airlines in the United States have raised their estimates of the weight of passengers after suggestions that a plane crashed because it was too heavily loaded.
-Obese children are 27 times more likely to get diabetes and their chances of heart disease are doubled.
-About 80 per cent of the food promoted on TV during children's programs conains little nutritional value.
The Sunday Telegraph

(source)

I guess I made the "right" choice to give up on meat pies and softies. But I'm so sure that I open the fridge more than 22 times in a day :p

2003-06-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

The Photo
For interest's sake, here is the photo that I used to create that picture on the left hand side you see! :)
Taken sometime last week I think. I'm sitting on my bed after a nice, filling dinner.

I think I like the heavily edited version a lot better :p

EDIT: I got scared looking at the picture so click on the link instead.