vietnam 2012: day five.

shall keep this space as my travel blog (which are unfortunately, no fun to read as they are REALLY factual), for the only reason that most of my travel posts are much longer than usual :/

shall start with today's entry, and post the ones for the past four days tmr instead :D

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woke up early in the morning after a pretty long night of insanity playing bridge and ah daidee with the girls :D had to pack all our stuff, write my postcards and check out our room. after which we headed out to tous les jours for breakfast! 

tous les jours is this awesome french-inspired vietnamese home grown bakery, which is very beautifully designed in all aspects - the environment, the bread, and the entire feel to it. not to forget we've been very tempted by the yummy looking bread since the v first day! so we headed in, grabbed almost 15 different kinds of bread shared among the 6 of us, and ordered some coffee and juices. was actually pretty cheap considered the amount we all ate! but sadly, we concluded that the bread looked better than it tasted :( and breadtalk breads are seriously yummier!

it definitely looks better than it tastes.

but breakfast was still pretty awesome heehee. it's the company that matters, right? (:

headed to ben thanh market after and walked inside there for almost 3 hours, covering slightly less than half the entire area :/ bought many many many souvenirs there for our colleagues and friends, and some random things for ourselves. headed back to pham ngu lao after to collect our suits while yangying went to change more currency and look for a post office and zyang went to fill his stomach. within an hour, we all headed back to highlands and online checked-in before heading back to our hotel to drop our barang barang.

went to saigon square after to grab some of the things we spotted yesterday, and walked a little bit more before going to the adidas and puma factory outlet store, which lonely planet claimed to be one-fifth of the original prices. turned out to be really disappointing cos there were so little things there, plus many of the designs were terribly outdated! roars. and it wasn't even close to the one-fifth, if we could get the things at half the original price it would be considered a huge bargain already. lonely planet fail -___-

went back to the hotel again and packed our stuff, before crossing the road to get our nails trimmed and painted! i went to change the screen protector of my ipod as well cos i decided a matt protector would be much better for me to play games with haha. (previously the screen could get pretty oily. eew.)

so we spent another 2 hours in the salon, getting our well-deserved rest and treatment before getting back to our hotel to grab stuff, and cabbing to the airport.

after checking in our baggages (thankfully we did the online check-in, the priority queue was so much quicker!) ying and i went on a mission to look for a post office. after asking many many people, we found ourselves at this roadside stall selling sim cards, and decided to ask the lady at the counter for help. she didn't seem to understand what we were saying though, but when we asked for stamps she managed to sell us some! so ying2 and i decided to just get the stamps first before looking for the postbox.  meanwhile we continued to ask the lady questions regarding the post office.

and while we were sticking our stamps to the postcards, i turned my head and saw this sign - right at the table we were at, less than 20 cm away - a signboard that wrote POST OFFICE. ying2 and i looked at each other in disbelief and felt so stupid asking the lady all those funny questions. she must be thinking that we're such weirdos -___-

went back to the airport to meet the rest and we tried finding some pho for our very last meal in hcmc. turned out that the only thing available that was cheap enough was bk... SIGH. so in the end, all i had was three meals of pho ): sadded.

three hours later we found ourselves back on singapore land, on chieh's family car talking to his younger bro, after distributing our barang barang among ourselves. (to my horror i had an entire backpack full of things!! and most of it were like presents to others. EEKS)

so now i'm back at home, and its 3.30am. but i'm glad i unpacked most of my things and am more or less ready to watch some drama before sleeping in tomorrow. am intending to grab some chicken rice as well - definitely miss my favourite ga! (chicken in vietnamese heehee!) 

+ guaishou's! :D

vietnam 2012: day four.

Such a tiring day! Woke up early in the morning to catch the bus to cuchi tunnels, and grab breakfast along the way. Then we set off for a two hour ride to the tunnels, with a toilet stop at some handicraft shop. 

At the tunnels, we were briefed on the Vietnam war and watched this super propaganda video on the war created in the 1960s! Basically it was just talking about the "evil" things the "americans" did, and the content was basically pretty questionable haha. But then again, its a communist country after all. Haha.

After the video, we went around looking at some of the viet congs created, like secret entrances, air vents, booby traps etc. which I have to admit was pretty impressive! V simple solutions to the American's very complex weaponry and warfare. Hmmm.

Had a short walk in the tunnels which was pretty claustrophobic, but nothing too scary. Of cos its definitely made much nicer for tourists like us, but I guess I was expecting worse haha.

Had a few more stops here and there andden went back to the bus after buying some pins. The bus dropped us off at the war remnants museum in saigon two hours later. 

Decided to have our lunch at the Korean restaurant opposite, and omg the customer service was a little too impressive haha. We had a waiter serving every two people, but prob because there wasn't anyone else except two other tourists o.O haha. They even helped bbq our meat! OMG. 

But the meal was really good and cheap! Less than 7 bucks for the set. Really can live like a king LOL. Plus there was awesome WiFi in the restaurant too heehee. 

Went to the museum after, and the whole place screamed of anti American sentiments haha. Really had to take everything with a pinch of sodium chloride. Grace even pointed out that for the same photo, she saw a totally different caption in some other museum. hahaha. OMG totally.

But it was quite a sight and quite interesting to understand their perspectives on the Vietnam war. I think Pam brought up a great point - while everyone agrees on the atrocities that had been committed by the Americans then, by emphasizing too much on it really just makes people less sympathetic. When its so overdone we end up not being convinced ourselves. Cos we all know that there's the flip side of the same coin. 

But I would definitely want to find out the American version of the war :) 

We got chased out of the place eventually so we headed to pham ngu lao again to exchange more money andden went straight to saigon sq to check out the cheap stuff haha. walked for an hour or so and found a couple of things I wanted to get! But decided to save it for tmr instead once I have more insights to what is available in the nearby ben thanh market HEEHEE. 

Headed to ben thanh after and found a place for some Vietnamese cuisine. I ate my pho again, this time with fresh coconut juice! Literally mission accomplished! Haha wanted to drink it ever since I saw people drinking it the first day haha.

After the meal we walked over to Ben thanh, only to realise that it has been closed since 7! So decided to head to pham ngu lao to get our tailored stuff, and turned out that my pants were pretty badly done so I'd have to come back tmr noon roars. the dresses were much better alr, though could have been better but I can't be bothered alr. So tiring!!

So we visited the bag shops andden went back to the hotel to rest. 

+ guaishou's! :D

vietnam 2012: day three.

Didn't go for our tour in the end cos it was raining the entire night :( was looking forward to the sunrise, the fishing village, the sand dunes and the sand sledding. Ultimate disappointment :( the winds were super strong and the rain super heavy. Sadddd.

Went back to slp after and woke up at 10. After slacking in our rm quite a bit we checked out then went for lunch at this pretty awesome place called lam tong! Had to brave through the storms to get there though. But cos it was recommended by lonely planet so we decided to go ahead :D 

After lunch we went back and took the bus back to hcmc, and it was still raining super heavily!! Had to get ponchos... Went to try our tailored clothes too but mine turned out pretty disappointing :( super sad. Oh well. It took us a good two hours before we were all done cos there was these two nus exchange students from Sweden making a big fuss out of their tailored suits :/ and worst thing was that guy wore the nus jersey!!! Ultimate throw face roars.

Went for a super late dinner at a hostel nearby andden cabbed back to our hotel. Resting now! Somehow I'm v tired even though we didn't do much today. Oh well.

+ guaishou's! :D

vietnam 2012: day two.

Quite an amazing day. Woke up at 930 this morning andden went for an awesome brunch at a restaurant near our hostel. Ordered Vietnamese fried rice! And chicken kebabs haha. Super greedy but i just wanted to eat like a king. Super shiok! When we were done I realised that this was one of the featured restaurants in lonely planet! Super happy haha. No wonder the food was so good :D

Booked our tour to the sand dunes after and rented some bikes. Cycled ard the area, visited a few shops, attempted to head all the way to the town area, but got too tired and gave up. Oh yes we spent some time at the pretty pretty beach too!! Too bad it was raining. 

Came back after to clean up before heading to the spa next door for some massage :D so awkward cos it was my first time doing a back massage! HAHA. But it was pretty shiok and we came out happy :D 

Went to the seafood restaurant opp our hostel for dinner and had the bbq seafood set. SO WORTH IT. can really eat like a king here!! Haha. Had banana fritters w choc ice cream for dessert HEEHEE. 

Returned our bikes after and bought some food for our tour tmr morning. By the time we were back in our rooms its alr 8+! 

And so that was wad we did today. Need to wake up at 430 tmr so better go slp now!

+ guaishou's! :D

vietnam 2012: day one.

Left grace's home at 5 and headed for the airport! Once we got our boarding pass we headed in for breakfast andden went over to the gate. Boarded the a320 and less than two hours later we're here in hcmc!!! HEEHEE.

Just proves tt it really can be this easy to get out of sgp LOL. Took some time finding for a reliable cab to get to town, esp with so many ppl trying to overcharge us!! Thankfully we headed to the domestic terminal and it was so much better after. Met Pam at the hotel and left our stuff there before heading out again!

Walked all the way to pham ngu lao, supposedly the strip with the most hostels :) found a nice cafe selling pho so we headed in for lunch! Haha it was funny how well the owner kept treating zhiy! HAHA super awkward. Anw the pho was really yummy! True authentic Vietnamese food heehee. Not too ex too. Was especially thankful for the aircon esp with the 35deg forecasted weather. Haha.

After lunch we visited some travel agencies to find a bus that could get us to mui ne. Also to exchange our sing to dong. After some hard work we settled everything :D haha just happens that it was festival period (king's birthday) so the buses were all packed :/ 

Grace and I decided to go tailor our suits so we went to the pretty famous dung tailor (though the famous one had a diff address and i suspect it may be a fake haha) and i tailored a full suit plus a pair of pants! So happy! Less than 130 bucks HEEHEE. I hope it turns out well :) may want to tailor some shirts too. 

Ying grace and i were on our way back to the hotel to meet w the rest who went back earlier to check out, and along the way we found them in the cab along the roadside!! Omg so heng! So they got off and we went to a nearby cafe to rest and wait for our bus to muine. THE VIETNAMESE COFFEE WAS THE AWESOMEST! :D omg. 

After drinking the v delicious coffee ying Pam and i decided to head to another tailor to tailor some dresses which we printed out in sgp haha. Found one nearby the suit place and she was a v friendly lady who knows how to speak Cantonese!! Haha so awesome. Esp since Pam knew the dialect haha. 

So we ended up tailoring a total of 7 dresses HEEHEE. About 30 usd each! If it turns out well its gg to be so worth it :D looking forward to receiving it alr!

Went back to the travel agency and waited patiently for the bus to mui ne. Apparently the bus broke down so we had to wait another hour for another bus to come -__- after 6 long hours with two stops in between, we finally reached our hostel in mui ne!

And OMG. It was freaking awesome. Just at the beach, and you could hear the sound of the waves perpetually!! Super nice and loud! And definitely v peaceful :) super happy haha. 

After unpacking our stuff in the room we decided to grab some food. But turned out that all the restaurants in the area were closed so we settled for sandwiches from the 24h mart nearby. So sad. But it was 12 plus alr so I guess its inevitable. Not all places are like sgp haha. 

Went back to our room, showered, andden talked to Pam and ying until we started to fall asleep. Such a happy escapade :D

+ guaishou's! :D

post hall blues.

after nias and the xmas party in hall on monday, and all the exciting news on ihg, i've been missing my 2nd home for the past 4 years a little too much :( 

missing the days being in many different committees planning for many events, training day and night for bball and darts and winning game after game to get our desired results (semis and 1st!), keeping track of the game scores and wins and counting down to winning the rec champs, dancing day after day just for that 7 min slot during hoc, going for events after events and hanging out in the middle of the night just to chat and drink some beer.

too much memories, too awesome a life.

sigh, i really am going through a different phase of life now. need to grow up.

just wanna say, really glad i went to nias, and back to hall for the xmas party :) thankew wenxin and loi for jio-ing! and seeing kc and ziai made me feel all loved. i have to say i really enjoy talking to dearest kc much (: she's such a good listener and always so comforting! so glad that we went to nias tgt (:

oh yes, congrats to hall 9 darts and carrom teams for the DOUBLE GOLD! :D a very good start to our rec games. :) darts hat-trick and carrom's first win after 7 years! i really think the carrom team deserved the win so much! (: even though bzz and kailiang went nias with us, they managed to make it! :D heehee so glad for their consistent trgs and that extra effort made to becoming the best. the awesome hall 9 spirit! :)

once a niner, always a niner :D

+ guaishou's! :D

2.5 months.

sorry blog for ostracising you all these while. work has been sucking my life away bit by bit, to the extent that i no longer dare to plan dinners on weekdays for fear of having to pangseh. :/ i'm sorry friends if i have been rejecting or ignoring you... please whatsapp or call me once in a while so that we can at least keep our friendship going yeah.

anyway, just a quick update. it's 1am which means i need to sleep really soon in case i sleep the sunday morning away. not exactly a good idea cos weekends are now SUPER precious. oh my. 

and yeaps, ying and i have started lessons officially :D something i've wanted to do for some time, and something i hope would be really enjoyable. will be into our 4th lesson this coming tuesday and i really do hope to see some improvement sooooon. haha. got new specs with ying and grace today after visiting many optics shops in suntec! :DD the wooden frames like chen you qing's :P super looking forward to get it - i'll be finally super cool whenever i wear it to work! :D

and i've finally restocked everything that i needed over the span of the month since my first pay came in :) it really feels good to be able to afford the things i need! now it's really about fully utilising the miserable leftovers of my monthly salary after paying back my debts in instalments. looking forward to december already :D

on a random note, i must've looked really stressed this week. my buddy and bosses took turns to talk to me - the serious, close the door, in a room kind of discussions. a bit scary, but i'm sorta glad that they are concerned. at least now i hope they would be giving me a little more leeway as i ramp up. 

and did i mention time really flies when you're working full time? note the word full time, cos time during internships can get REALLY slow due to the lack of work. now i have too much, and time is no longer ever enough. i can only hope that the accumulated work will not increase in magnitude too quickly, and that i'll be able to catch up on those nitty gritty stuff in december when everything slows down thanks to the festive season. thank God for christmas, really.

oh - thank God for adventure learning last week too! got to know my induction mates a lot better now, and i foresee some of them being my really good friends in the future. (: and those two days were really enjoyable! minus some of the cheesy games we were made to play, i had to say just the idea of not having to do work and still being paid is AWESOME. just that i almost died when i opened my email on monday. HAHA. well, we always need to make some sacrifices. 

went to the zoo last saturday to help bring some elderly around :D was wheeling uncle loke, a 75 year old man around, and he was really quiet. but i was surprisingly comfortable with it and nevertheless continued telling him about what he was seeing. i really hoped he enjoyed himself given that it was his first visit to the zoo. (: too bad quiet uncle didn't seem too good and expressing his feelings. :( oh well. but overall it was enjoyable and really meaningful, plus i got to know a few of the edbians too! :D heehee.

okay, i think that's all i have. SAD. very uneventful life huh.

+ guaishou's! :D

you're the apple of my eye

i've just watched the most awesome movie i've ever watched in a long time :) and with my very awesome people, ying chieh pam! :D

it's so awesome that i genuinely felt SUPER sad when the movie ended! like i've lost a long time friend. it's amazing how i got so emotionally involved within that 1h 40 mins that the movie played... omg! :O :O

sigh. i wished the movie had another ending though, but then again, it wouldn't be as impactful if it were the usual, expected kind of ending. but still.... ARGH.

男: 你相信平行时空的存在吗?

女: 嗯。

男: 也许在另一个平行时空，我们是在一起的...

女: 我好羡慕他们哦...

which really reminds me, how important timing and courage are. unfortunately i never had the courage at the right time...

+ guaishou's! :D

differences.

just wanted to share some happy penguins.

yanzi's newest blogpost was amazing and i just wanted to share it:

A beautiful point in Singapore politics, made by one wise man (George Yeo) and pointed out by another (Chen Show Mao): "To be a human being is to be different. The whole logic and driving force of biological life is diversification. An imposed unity is a false unity; it’s a contradiction in terms." Mr Chen Show Mao also said in the same speech "..differences are not divisions. It is the intolerance of differences that will be divisive. "

the translated chinese version was even more amazing:

"人人生而不同。生物生命的整个逻辑体系和推动力在于多样化。强加的统一是虚假的统一；是一种自相矛盾的说法。”

“差异并不是分歧，不可调和的差异才将最终导致分裂。”


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on a side note, had an awesome night yesterday yuenling kennethkoh lance gordon and fangjing. we saw sengwah and thyeboon at the gelato shop in chijmes and i can only say... singapore's really small. haha.

drank my whole month's worth of alcohol and felt much better somewhat after feeling so shitty for so long. 借酒消愁-ing. think at this rate i'd probably need to get drunk by the end of this year.

and rr's facility was OMG. i can't believe kennethkoh's working in such an awesome place! and haha the perks of being an edb officer - i get to visit many many places. :D which always somehow makes me reconsider being an engineer. after all, sciences and math have always been my strengths, not gp, not english, not history, not social studies. oh gosh, i might have taken up a wrong job after all.

anyway, horrible things aside, i'm glad for all my dearest friends :) at the kind of society we all live in, the only thing other than God that can really keep me living is the people in my life. phew.

 + guaishou's! :D

最幸福的事

这应该就是女人的生命中最幸福的一刻吧 — 带上最爱的人精挑系选，闪闪发亮的那一枚钻戒。

真的为这个亲爱的朋友感到无比的兴奋与快乐。因为，你真的值得幸福。

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其实，最近发现自己的价值观似乎变了。

以前总是对婚姻这种事没特别的意见，只是觉得到了28就应该结了，而希望能朝这个目标前进。

可能是开始觉得老了吧，还是看太多偶像剧的缘故，不知不觉就有了只要“是对的人就可以结婚了”的态度。

虽然还不能确定所谓“对的人”是谁，还是他根本并还没出现，但我始终相信这幸福的日子迟早都会到来。耐心等待的日子总是会有收获。

我应该也有收到钻戒的那一天吧。
世界那么大，一定会有那一个属于你我的“对的人”。我想一直这样相信着。

:DD

ahmean, 一定要幸福哦。

+ guaishou's! :D

#5.

OMG it's going to be monday again.

and btw, i've officially survived my first 4 weeks of working life :D it's been so fast and furious i don't really know how i should be reacting to this hahaha. in the month, i've moved from happy to stressed to angry to happy and back to stressed again. still many bouts of stress but i guess it's cope-able at the very least :)

and thank God i have been leaving work pretty much on time :D latest 7.30. even though i do bring home some work to do i still am thankful for being able to have some me time (: 

and yes, also thank God for the many awesome people around, like a & d who helped me a big deal when buddy k's not around, and for pam and mav for being there whenever i needed to whine and complain about work. rvians rock big time even in edb :D hahaha. 

and as for work, hurhurhurrrrrr. met two execs on my own and attempted to settle some prob with another coy on my own too. client engagement can get really difficult because of all the prep work, all the whatever unexpected questions they might ask, and even the small talk. i'm definitely not used to acting shou as les would say but at least i see myself improving. like my phone call with coy B turned out to be perfectly all right and i ended up building some rapport too with some common understanding of the problem we were facing. :) phewwwww. and as for coy H, the meeting went well despite me having to handle alone for the first 20 mins. there were so much things i could improve on though, as i thought back of all the things i've said and done. arghhhhh. at least i've managed to set the table for the next meeting tmr. phew.

oh yes, the 3-mornings 101 course was awesome too! wooots. not to forget awesome breakfasts. i'm liking the modules despite how it actually takes some of my work time away (and btw workload does NOT decrease even when you're on course lolll)

as for social life, i can't rmb what sort of social life i had over the past week. HAHA. ooops. i do remember watching F1 from my office tower together with 3 other colleagues while drinking beer and playing monopoly deal! haha awesomeness! and the cars look like toy cars from the building. haha. and they don't look like they're driving super fast too. o.O

oh yes, and dinner and beer with herny den and darius on friday! ate bbq chicken with herny and darius and the 3 of us ended up eating 4 people's share. o.O happens that every time i'm out with them we ALWAYS eat more than usual. -___- the unfortunate result of nz days hahaha. but its nice to hear all the hokkien terms again (note the use of word TERMS and not VULGARITIES hahaha) after all the very angmoh environment that i'm at haha. it was like 3 plus by the time i was home. gosh.

yesterday night was awesome too! ate peperoni with the 4g peeps and we had almost full attendance! haha 90% woots. pizza's really awesome and so was the bus ride to city hall :D i decided to join the polo peeps at timbre for about 2hours at first then head back to look for them but i ended up staying with the polo peeps :/ oops. but to be frank i'm too poor to butter and timbre's just a place i really love. wooooots. sigh better join them the next time or else i'll incur the wrath of them :/ 

but yeah, timbre's awesome :D had 2 pints of beer and another tequila on the rocks :D i think i needed much more alcohol to be frank but i decided shall not spend anymore (poor shiahzy was treating haha). oh yes, the live band was not bad too! called today's special. gotta check them out next time :) i wanna watch the goodfellas in action though!

okay end of update. i'm too tired to continue typing. time to continue hataraki man.

+ guaishou's! :D

end of week 3.

awesome but not-so-awesome week. 

just when i thought i'm finally getting used to work i got all stressed up again today o.O and yes i know, feeling all swamped up with work and feeling useless and stupid are all part of the process of ramping up... i've heard that over and over again but sometimes i really feel like packing up and leave.

like you know, i'm meant for other things. 

like playing the keyboard in a band in a pub. 

like training for a competition coming up in a month's time.

or maybe even operating some machine in an aerospace company or doing some experiments in a lab.

arghhhhhhhhhh. but one thing's for sure - even though i might not exactly like the work, i love the place i'm working at, and that includes the people i'm working with. :) and there are really cool aspects of the job, minus the client engagement, report writing, and business consulting, i get to do cool stuff like eating free awesome food with clients and going for all kinds of site visits in the aerospace companies. i'm really looking forward to my trip two weeks later at changi airport, on board an SQ to check out how the technicians conduct maintenance on the IFE systems. like helllloooo HOW COOL IS THAT. 

haha. still trying to find some time to visit the RR facility in seletar and perhaps STA to find some old friends! but all not within my portfolio ): gotta stick to my colleagues. roars. but it'll be so awesome to explore! really an eye opener especially after learning so much theory stuff in the past 4 years. finally can see them in action! :D :D

and so yeah, generally i'm pretty much excited about work still la. just that client engagement can really get very tiring (like thurs where i had THREE external meetings gosh including a networking session with all the aerospace/aviation peeps). i find it hard to say the correct things at the correct times, and sometimes i just have nothing to say at all which results in those awkward pauses. oh gosh totally HATE the awkwardness. and report writing is such a huge headache and i spend most of the time trying to word it a certain way instead of thinking of the actual content itself. pain in the neck i tell you. and i'm really not that a good writer you know. all those passive vs. active, business writing, quantitative vs. qualitative words etc. etc. omg omg omg.

and one conclusion i've made: SCGS girls are reallllyyyy good at writing. omg.

anyway, on a lighter note, social life's pretty awesome. tuesday's the ntu networking session (the very same one where the hr head tricked me into applying then with her description of the engine: "suck squeeze bang blow" haha) and it was funny how all those aero juniors came over to talk to me! and they had the exact same concerns as all of us last year heehee. i think i managed to look quite zai despite working for three weeks heehee. and you know, apparently natalie thought that i have been in edb for like 2 months plus already, so imagine how shocked she was when i told her i'm actually just 2.5 weeks old. -____- no wonder i was thinking why i so fast can go networking session alr. /faints.

but i was really glad i went (: ntu is such a homely place seriously. especially when i went back hall after the event! total loveeeeeeeee. heehee everyone was around! toh fw clem yuto germ wt miang! :D we were all talking outside fw's room and it was so awesomeeee :) yays. too bad we were all tired or had many things to do so we chatted for an hour plus then went back to our rooms / home. long enough actually :D warm and fuzzy all over!

thursday night was the SCRAPS event, some quarterly thingy meant for aviation professionals to network around, but the key thing was.... it's organised by EMBRAER! haha imagine the shock i had when i first heard about it :D and in the end i really got to know super a lot of the professionals (networking... gosh) plus the best part of it - got to catch up with my ex-colleagues at embraer! :) cervantes was really shocked to see me, but he was still super friendly nonetheless and even gave me a welcome hug o.O haha brazillians are really passionate people (marine hugged too!) haha. caught up with him for a long while and he even taught me a few networking tricks. hahaha. amazing guy i would have to say, and even until now i'm learning so much from him. have to vote him for the most awesome IA supervisor if there's such an award. and he really makes me feel guilty for not going back there... roars. 

yongren was around too and again he was pretty shocked! and wilson was even more omg! he came over to my group meaning to talk to the MD Av guy, andden when he turned around to introduce himself to us his eyes opened super widely and jaw dropped and exclaimed, "look who we have here!!!" andden we started catching up and i handed him my name card hahaha. a little sad that wilson's going back to brazil too :( he was so funny trying to speak in chinese during my internship! 

really miss internship days at embraer sometimes. but again, perhaps it was only the people that were truly awesome and not quite so for the work :/ fussy me.

and TGIF! today dated pam after work heehee. we had quite some fun in office after 7pm observing the race cars zooming past from the 26th floor of our building while chatting with mavis huiqing and jonyap haha. super awesome view! thinking of going down on sunday to watch the finals from above and drink some beer with jovin and some of the other TE peeps heehee. should be quite awesome!

after that pam and i ended up eating KFC at bugis then visiting some toy shop at iluma (25% off tin toys! all thanks to j woooooots) and by the time we went on our way home it was already 9.45. omg really super tired haha. but so thankful for the weekend, it has been quite a stressful week and to be frank i've so much things piled up already. pfft. think will have to do some work over the weekend. cannot be like last week and slack so much alr :( boooooo.

and uhhh. thinking whether should go polo tomorrow. i'm so tireddddddd. :O :O

+ guaishou's! :D

week #3.

amazingly i'm on my third week of work already, and somehow it does feel like i've been on the job for quite some time. especially when i read all those reports and see those funny terms - it just feels as if i knew these info for a long long time (thanks to the fact that those things appear really frequently). 

i'm starting to get used to this crazily steep learning curve and this hectic lifestyle where work becomes the main thing, and now that i can barely manage some work-life balance i'm more thankful than i've ever been in these two weeks :) 

wanted to keep an account of me coping with work, because i foresee myself reading this again a year later, thinking back how it feels to be fresh. and when the time comes when i become someone else's buddy, i do hope i'll be someone understanding and helpful, just like how my buddy's been to me. it's precisely because she's this nice that i really don't want to disappoint her, and as much as possible, i want to be someone useful.

anyhow, time for some updates. minimal social activity last week, probably cos i'm just super tired and lazy. haha. 

mon night met my dad at west mall to get my new phone! :D after much struggling, i decided on the htc sensation over the samsung galaxy s2 (since i really think deep down inside i wanted that decide S2 being a better phone according to reviews) :D dad paid for it! :)) haha super awesome! and now that i'm on corp plan, i don't have to pay a single cent and yet get an awesome plan. heeehee. and the best thing is, i'm finally on data! hehhhh. no more "limited to wifi availability" on whatsapp :D

wed night met j for dinner plus walked around ion to shop for a pair of work heels and flats. managed to get a pair of heels after two hours of trying in 12837123 shoe shops, and thank God for j or else i seriously think i might choose the pair that i don't really like instead. this current pair i have now is pretty awesome and it better lasts till i get my first pay. can't afford another pair for now!

saturday had dboat comp in the morning, and all 4 edb boats didn't make it more than the heats. hahaha. but it was fun nonetheless! we talked rubbish much, joked around, and i intro-ed my TE people to my mum who was there for the comp too hahaha. and jon yap subsequently kept calling her "auntie seraya" -_____- seriously haha. went for prata at thomson after that andden new friend mel drove me back home! :D yayyyy.

went out to meet ki and geok for supper at udders west mall at night, and ki and i shared mao shan wang + awesomely choc with waffles which was super awesomeeeeee :D heehee. talked many many things too then went over to bt gombak where jeremin joined us for alif. we were stalking chia sen kai (our old physics teacher who apparently seemed interested in ki last time hahaha) on facebook and we saw his new born baby and his wife! OMG. haha. it was quite funny how we really managed to find him in the end. so random. anyway supper at alif was awesome. :) it was very chillax and the prata and maggi goreng were simply delicious. heehee. so we talked till 12 andden caught our last trains/buses back home. 

sunday was another really awesome day! played street soccer andden bball at ntu with the 07 polo peeps and it was SUPER fun :D starting to really love street soccer now! :D haha super funny chih and jingxin kept passing me the ball near the goal post but i kept shooting all over the place except within the goal post. LOL. but i still managed to score two la. out of almost twenty attempts HAHA. but yayyyy i feel like i'm improving fast after playing twice! at least can stop the ball and pass accurately hehhh. really hope it becomes a weekly thing for us! and bball too omg. i haven't played till my heart's content for this long :) woooooooooots.

went to church after that, then rushed to gv marina to watch the mayday 3D concert with rina wenbin beehui and beehian! haha to be frank i was a little awkward watching mayday in 3D HAHA. like guaishou's face right in front andden you see all the concert footage and that sudden rush in adrenaline that makes you feel like standing up, waving your hands up in the air, and sing along with them. i'm like conditioned to do that already, after so many years.

but i reminded myself how retarded i'll probably looked so i just sat in my comfortable seat, mouthing the lyrics along while looking at guaishou's face. hahahaha.

while watching the movie, i thought back about my very first encounter with mayday, and now it's been 7 years since then. it's quite funny how everything's changed since then - i was still in rv, then they followed me into hc, through my canoeing days, to ntu life, and now finally, work. it's like, so many things may change, including me and the things around, but what stays constant is really mayday. i still love the same old songs, love the same old band, and will probably still be that fan girl all the time for the rest of my life. it's pretty heartening to think it that way. :)

haha but of cos, no more screaming, no more chasing, no more queueing three hours before they step onto the stage. i've already become a super mild fan girl hahahahaha.

and so that's how my life has been. planning two more dinners this week and a few other meetups over the weekend. hope everything goes well! :D

+ guaishou's! :D

hello life.

been ostracising my blog ever since work started.

i'm sorry, my long-time friend. for abandoning you like this. but now every second, every minute at night is uber precious, and i don't know how long more i can keep with such long nights to myself because very soon i know work will all pile up and eat what's left of me.

but anyway, just some quick updates.

1. almost halfway of week two. work's easy so far, full of introductory meetings, plus loads and loads of readings so that i won't look like an idea when i head out to the cruel world. am slowly getting the things right bit by bit, and hopefully by the end of this week i can strike an intelligent conversation with those industry professionals.
2. social life is still ongoing. thank God for that. i met like 4 different groups of friends just last week. awesome much!
3. christian presence in office is surprisingly strong! loves thursday fellowships and i foresee it'll really gives me the support that i'll need in the future. thank God again.
4. got a new phone and a new plan earlier tonight :D will take another 3 days for the data plan to activate, but anyway i'm currently loving my brand new htc sensation!
5. hcanoe pvsp and hwachong maf last saturday were awesomeeeeeeeeeeee. :D wants pvsp to happen again next year! and next time i'll definitely drag more ex-teammies along!
6. having a new phone also means that i finally won't have to see those texts in my old samsung again. maybe this will help in recovery.
7. loves my working environment (: it fits my personality and working style totally! just that i'm not sure about the nature of the work itself... but i do hope so!
8. officially misses school. and especially hall 9 and the people.
9. neeeeds to go back hall sooooon!
10. dad was sick last saturday ): gout. this really reminds me how old my parents truly are. gotta show more concern from now on!

and that's it for now. gotta continue playing with my new toy :D

+ guaishou's! :D

grad with a BANG!

and it's finally done, after 3 full days of editing on avid's free program - pinnacle! :D super fun picking it up, watching all those 160 raw files each about 30s long in average, and editing them to form this final product. :D i'm proud of my very first masterpiece and i certainly do hope that i'll be able to make more videos in the future! :))

+ guaishou's! :D

day two.

i'm 40% done with the week already! faster than i expected it to be haha.

and i have to say, within these two days i've seemed to learn so much more than i did in the past 1.5 months after nz... okay, maybe not, since i've really learnt quite a lot in those 1.5 months too. but it's just A LOT anyway... you get my point.

while readings are now still fun and interesting (to be frank, i thought i'd be pretty bored reading stuff but that's totally not true!) and i'm glad what i've read will be the bulk of what i'll be doing. i have an awesome buddy who sits just behind me, and she's so similar to me that it freaks me out at times (like we both don't like to eat mooncakes with those salted eggs and we don't really care what enters our mouths since we'll run it out). not only that, she's been a great friend and mentor both at the same time and so it's so much fun working with her! it's amazing how much stuff she learnt in the past two years. i get so impressed and confused at the same time! and she's definitely someone i can look up to! :)

office environment's really nice i have to say! things are flexible here, but not to the point of being uncontrolled or unstructured and so it's really great. the people are generally young (for example, the 4 of us sitting together are like 25 and below) and fun-loving, and jokes are really never ending. :D i feel so comfortable talking to them about many things and it really doesn't feel like i've only been here for 2 days (though technically i've known them for 6 months already, even though i've met them only thrice before starting). the others outside of my department have been really friendly too, and laughters are like always present around the office. 

oh yes, i got to know a fellow fresh grad who entered equally late (having returned from UK just 5 days before day 1) and it was really awesome talking to him. :) it's amazing how God plans things ahead for me! i think He really knew how nervous i was about this whole "day one" thing and so He planted ivan there - someone who loves the Father equally or if not more than i do, someone who also believes that being here at this point of time must be God's divine intervention, and somehow who would reassure me on how He is always there for us and with us. it's quite funny how people instantly connects whenever they talk about God, and how barriers break down and the love of God overflows.

anyway so that's how it went. ivan and i will be joining pam and the other christians in office for weekly fellowship this thursday! really looking forward to it! hope there'll be a short worship session too. :) and i can't believe that God's presence is THIS big in office until pam described to me. it's an amazing coincidence!

one thing is that i'll still need to get used to having minimal time for myself (4 hours at night if i do leave office on time) and having less than enough sleep most of the days. it'll just get worse for the next couple of weeks, but once i get the hang of everything i know it'll be better again. and this week's already very nice especially since i'm not meeting anyone on the weekdays except for friday because i was thinking i'd probably need some time to transit to the working life before i can include some of my social activities in. oh well. but next week gotta start meeting friends on a regular basis before i get used to the social-less life. no thanks to that.

anyhow, it's been a great two days. steep learning curve, but i'm constantly reminded how He is always with me and now every time i think about it i feel much more confident of myself and my God-given abilities. whatever i can't do, He'll make it happen. and so despite how tough the road ahead seems, i'm sure i'll be able to do well and that eventually i'll be part of God's much bigger plans. 

If God is for us, who could be against us?

+ guaishou's! :D

:/ :/

i'm unbelievably nervous for tomorrow.

i think it's the idea of being in a totally new phase of life, a kind of routine, and the possibility of how time will zoom past from now on, like a express ride to the end of life o.O

goshhhhhhhh, i can't believe 3.5months just ended like that.

but some friends gave me awesome quotes regarding tomorrow:

1. rud: "aiyoo.... this is the reason why you've been studying so hard all these while!"
2. pam: " Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength. - Charles Spurgeon"
3. pastor prince: " work for your King, not for the kingdom nor for men!" 
4. gpang: "don't worry, you'll have fun."

o.O hahaha. okay, shall just sleep early. i hope public transport will be kind to me tomorrow!!

+ guaishou's! :D

President Tan and the church :)

and so TT became our new president.

a bit upset since the margin's so small, but i guess we're a democratic nation after all and so even if TT wins by a vote its still a win. and turned out that my family's quite awesome at representing the nation, just the 5 of us was enough to estimate the amount of support each candidate received - 2 to TT, 2 to CB and 1 to JS. hahaha. and my dad was super funny! he suggested that TT should serve 4 years while CB serves 2 years so that everyone will be satisfied. lol.

anyway! i just went to google the religions of each candidate and i found out that TT's anglican (same as me!) while CB's catholic! (and btw, george yeo's catholic too!) and with this, as stupid a reason as it seems, i'm actually much happier with the results haha. whoever of the three becomes president in the end, it seems like it's totally God's work. :) i just can't help to be reminded of how favoured christians really are in this nation and how blessed we are by our daddy God! 

and like what pastor prince said, the result's definitely God ordained and whoever God chose for us must be the best for us. and now as citizens and brothers in our nation, what's most important is that we give him our support and continue praying for the strength of our nation and good health and wisdom for our new president! it was awesome when everyone stood up and prayed earnestly while pastor prince led us in prayer :) you could simply feel everyone's love for the nation and our church!

and you know, i think it's really these little things that make me love pastor prince and new creation. after church hopping a little before settling down here, i've realised how important it is for me to truly connect all the important aspects of my life - God (always the first), the church, our nation, its people, their lives, and finally, me. pastor and the church never fails to bring me closer to any of these in this list with his messages and the service itself, and week after week, i learn more and more and with that, i love, give and receive more abundantly too. 

i really think i'm part of an amazing church. 

and i think i'm ready to give and serve! can't wait to start tithing and find a ministry to serve in!

-+-

Jesus Be The Centre

Israel Houghton

Jesus at the centre of it all

Jesus at the centre of it all

From beginning to the end

It will always be

It's always been You

Jesus, Jesus

Jesus be the centre of my life

Jesus be the centre of my life

From beginning to the end

It will always be

It's always been You

Jesus, Jesus

Nothing else matters

Nothing in this world will do

Jesus you're the centre

Everything revolves around You

Jesus You

From my heart to the heavens

Jesus be the centre

It's all about You

It's all about You

Jesus be the centre of my church

Jesus be the centre of my church

And every knee will bow

Every tongue 

Shall confess You

Jesus, Jesus

+ guaishou's! :D

hello mr. president.

just a quick update since i'm waiting for my hair to dry.

1. presidential elections is unexpectedly exciting! i thought TT would have won easily, but turned out to be quite a close fight to TCB. they are recounting now, which means my poor sis has to stay at deyi sec for another few more hours typing vote counts into a computer...
   
   
   
   
2. i'm supposed to be at vietnam from the 26th, aka yesterday onwards, with ying2's friend. and now i'm starting to regret not going cos of the 60$ increase in price of the air tickets. then again, despite how exciting joseph made it to be on whatsapp, i'm sorta glad i got to vote for PE. BUT I STILL WISH I'M WITH THE VIETS. zzz. a confused soul i am. and i do hope he manages to find my awesome tin toys there!
   
   
   
   
3. visited the voyage night festival with j last night! :D loved the performance by Theatre Tol, a group of belgians, who acted in this show describing a inter-racial couple in singapore and how they're blessed by angels, people and everyone in the world. awesome much! (maybe i'll add the photos tomorrow or something.) we watched a few other performances and went to see some of the exhibits as well, and it was pretty fun! :D
   
   
   
   
4. breakfast with wenyi and zhouhao at bukit timah market! was supposed to run at macritchie with her to relive the good old days but it was raining :( but its a blessing in disguise la my legs was actually a little sore from the walking last night. and who doesn't love an awesome breakfast? :P anyway it was great catching up with her!
   
   
   
   
5. geok and ki came to my house in the afternoon for some wii :) heehee. loves house of the dead! managed to talk a bit all the way to clementi mrt and i just hope that my two dearests will stay strong despite whatever happens or has happened :)
   
   
   
   
6. OCIP F4 + CP dinner just now. it's long overdue, with the next batch of OCIP handed over already. haha better late than never though! and i decided that i actually like korean bbq. just that it's a little too expensive... supper at maxwell was awesome though, despite being half an hour after our dinner! haha
   
   
   
   
7. sent cy off at the airport with yy timo and kim! went all the way just for that less than one hour spent there -___- but okay la, shall be nice. after all i've known cy for a good 10 years haha.
   
   
   
   
8. took the last train to commonwealth thinking that there's bus 61 somewhere nearby. walked around the area for 10mins and failed to find the bus stop, and then decided to just keep walking towards the jurong direction along the tracks in an attempt to look for any bus stops with a bus that can bring me home at 12.30am. i ended up walking all the way to near buona vista area, following the road to holland village. and after half an hour of walking, i finally found a bus stop with 61! waited for a mere 2 mins then the last 61 came. SUPER HENG. but i decided i shall never attempt this again because walking home from bt batok mrt is definitely faster. haha. but nonetheless i felt really happy that the transfer fees were only 9c. heehee.
   
   
   
   
9. my legs are perpetually aching. i suspect i might be a lot heavier now, and so my legs havent developed muscles that are strong enough to support my additional weight :/ oops.
   
   
   
   
10. spent quite some time editing my nz videos nowadays. i'm halfway done and it's already at 18 minutes. :( that's what happens after you've got 100 raw videos of footage with each lasting an average of 35 seconds. darn. but i love the program i've been using - pinnacle videospin by avid! it's so easy to learn and pick up, plus it works so much better than windows live movie maker. and knowing its by avid makes me happy cos that's the pro video editing program j and jessie use in their school! haha. *acts pro*
    
    
    
    
11. watching the first season of kindaichi (better known as 金田一少年事件蒲) by domoto tsuyoshi on youtube! :D super old school!

okay this is getting long. goodbye and good night!

+ guaishou's! :D

museum hopping + polo photoshoot!

18 August, Thursday

the beginning of an insanely tiring 4 days involving loads of walking. o.O

met wenxin for like ten minutes to pass her the dance pants and managed to catch up with her life a little! i miss the days we roomed together already ): it felt very natural to just talk about many random things whenever we see each other right now! too bad i didn't have time for lunch with her but i'll make it a point to organise one before i start work (:

went over to city hall to get lunch with pam and it was awesome (: spent an hour plus eating at the hongkong cafe in raffles city, talking about all the happenings and the people in my workplace-to-be and many other things, and then walking around the esplanade exchange and eventually bumping into my future colleagues derek janice and karen hahaha. they were like "hahaha enjoy your last two weeks" and "oh no no no it's going to be fun working" and "we're going to treat you very well *insert cheeky smile*" -____- super funny la! i was like "shit now i dread work even more". but anyway, i thank God for awesome colleagues! they look like people i can really get along with (: hehhhhh.

after lunch with pam, i met leen at the mrt and we walked to the peranakan museum :) went around the museum on the 1 hour free tour and explored the heritage of the peranakans. and i think i just realised then that aileen's actually one! o.O i always knew j was but not leen. hmm. i think that's cos j looks a lot like one compared to leen!

our tour guide who's a peranakan herself!

loves the portraits which are back-lighted!

a cross between traditions and newer religions

me as a peranakan male!

and me as a peranakan female! haha

uber cute stuff for kids!

the peranakan museum isn't very big, but definitely bigger than the first one i went to - the old ford factory. but i totally loved the design of the whole place and well as the exhibits. it was very nicely done and it was fun exploring the place! we spent about two hours before heading back to the mrt.

along the way we saw this very awesome camera shop near hill st. and it sold many awesome stuff! like the leather casing i've been looking so hard for my jeremiah (the olympus pen btw)! omg. and leather straps too! but it costs like 235 for the whole casing and 69 for the strap. which is simply insane! the most i'll do is to get the leather straps but then again it doesnt look very comfortable so i guess not ): but i do hope to get something awesome from there next time!

we took the train to buona vista after that since leen's got an interview there. i waited for her at the cafe andden at the end of it we headed to jp where j joined us :D we started queuing for swensons and it took us almost half an hour to get seats for 5 when we were right at the front! gosh. soon after we got a seat loi joined us, followed by fw and we all ate happily using toh's groupons haha.

went to ntuc express to get a fan for loi since he desperately needs it for his new home and we had much fun choosing the fans LOL. i was doing a quick analysis for loi using my engineering skills hahaha. but in the end they all chose the other one when we voted -___- angryyyyy. hahaha. after that fw left after a small little episode while the rest headed to wendy's for some dessert while we talked somemore.

after dessert-ing loi went back to his place while the three of us went back hall and slacked. andden the whole night was spent talking outside toh's room when he wasn't even around, with some angmoh called rasmus from denmark dropping by and chatting with us for like 2 hours (to be frank i wasn't exactly comfortable with it cos i wasn't in a socialising mood), andden me running to germ's new room (YAY), talking to the three of them, before heading back to them at the lounge only to get chased out by the guard, and finally talking at the stairway near the toilet before the two of them went to bed.

then i went back to germ's room only to find miang while the rest went to eat their supper -___- was so tired after that so i went to shan's room and sleep.


19 August, Thursday

woke up at 830 the next morning and had breakfast at cant 9 with j leen toh and yuto! loves breakfast at hall  9 :D after the breakfast, leen j and i embarked on our journey to our first museum - the asian civilisation museum! and dammit it was super big o.O the tour itself took an hour and a half and it skipped the majority of the exhibits. so at the end of it we had to walk all the 7 galleries again ourselves, and by the 4th one we were all so tired from the information overload and skipping many things altogether. oh and not to forget my legs were complaining already and so was my stomach. we actually stayed there for a full 4 hours and by the time we were out looking for food it was already 3.

and so you could imagine how tired we were already. but i have to admit, there's just so much awesome exhibits there! i think it's possibly the biggest museum out of the 7 already. the galleries were split according to the different regions in asia, and out of all i thought the south east asia one was the most boring. because the exhibits were just of the different tribes and most of the time i couldn't see much difference between them since they looked all the same. haha. there wasn't any exhibits on the koreans taiwanese and japs though, which were pretty disappointing, but then again i guess their history must be tied quite tightly to the chinese and so they didn't bother having a gallery specially for the east asia.

our korean tour guide!

the 8 immortals 

one of the 3 hindu gods

a smiling buddha

awesome funny looking things!

ACM's main lobby area

buddha and his 7 chakras

j says this seemed very emo.

attaining nirvana

the three of us!

point: to look like a tourist hahaha

well done, j, well done.

i decided to lock them up cos they were too irritating

finally forced leen to take a pic haha

oh there was this temporary exhibition on the terracotta warriors and that was pretty interesting! although i wouldn't spend 5 bucks on it to be frank (i entered in for free since it was free entry for students, and i still have my matric card haha). anyway i was quite amazed by the extent chinese emperors would go to for the sake of not dying "alone". hmmmm.

i love these things. they're just so cute!

wanna bring them home

we had lunch at the sandwich place called the mooba tuckshop. it had a few awards displayed so i was expecting it to be pretty awesome but it turned out only slightly above average ): had the turkey cold cut which i felt was the worst out of the three dishes, the other two being roasted beef and sugar cured salmon. sadddddddd. bought the one dollar ice cream from the ice cream man outside and it was pretty amusing watching tourists buying their ice creams from the english-poor ice cream man for their first time.

turkey cold cut!

sugar cured salmon

roast beef with mushrooms!

the interior

greeeeeedy j!

really exhausted :(

we took the train down to dhoby ghaut after that and headed to our next museum - the national museum of singapore. from the exterior the museum looks hugeeee and i was pretty worried it'll be another acm, especially since my legs were aching pretty badly already. turned out that it's slightly smaller, with the history gallery being the biggest of all and three other small living galleries. i loved the history gallery because when you enter the gallery itself, they pass you this electronic device where you can listen to the guide after you type in a few numbers. oh they didn't have any text around the galleries too since you can easily read it on the device by pressing the numbers next to the exhibit! this gave the whole viewing area a much cleaner look :)

the history gallery is split into two different paths - the personal path and the event path. i followed the personal path all the way and it was mainly about the people and their lifestyles throughout the years. it was a longgggg path and i found myself skipping many things because of the lack of time (we had 1.5 hours for it before it closed) and i couldn't finish it, let alone head back for the events path. oh well. i told myself i'd come back and visit it once again to finish the rest!

as for the exhibits, it was mainly on the different things used by the people of the past, some important documents, and different paintings and photos. along the way you could watch some interesting videos as well, and i found myself sitting down watching this video on an interview with a couple who worked as a performer during the new world days and eventually moving on to ge tais. it was pretty interesting!

those red lanterns were swinging!

:D :D :D

photos by j from here on!

our awesome companion

and so after we got chased out of the gallery when time is up, we rested for a while before heading to the  three living galleries - fashion, film and food. we visited them in this order, and to be frank, while i liked the exhibits in the film gallery as well as the overall design of the place (loved the triple screens area with the red curtains!) i loved the food gallery best :D and it was for obvious reasons - we were quite hungry already, and singaporean food is undoubtedly the best imho. plus the gallery was playing sounds of woks frying, tok tok mee, satay sizzling, etc etc. and the videos were awesome too!

at the film gallery

at the food gallery!

and i think food really connects singaporeans together. no matter where you are, whenever you meet singaporeans, the best thing to talk about is the sucky weather and the awesome food. it can never go wrong! haha.

and so at about 7.30pm we left the museum, and took a bus to 313 for some authentic singaporean food at food republic haha. ordered laksa (thanks to the laksa video which kept replaying in the food gallery) and some rather sucky bbq chicken wings and rested my pair of legs well before heading to new look to look for some shoess for j and city chain for a watch for leen. but in the end, we failed terribly and went out of the two places empty handed o.O

we went forever21 at that's where we all finally bought some stuff - mostly accessories! haha. hopeless us. leen left earlier while j and i continued to walk around the whole store and j got a skirt. didn't manage to find anything (especially since i've got no motivation to spend) and by the time we were done it was already 10. o.O went home after that and slept really well that night after all the walking :D


20 August, Saturday

rested at home for the bulk of the time, before heading out to cck where ying2 picked me up on her car! :D haha i never imagined this to happen to us you know, so it was pretty surreal haha. ying2 then picked cy up at bp and kim and timo at plaza sing before we drove to ecp and got lost along the way haha.

after we finally found a parking space somewhere near macs, we headed to the hongkong cafe next to it since cy kim and timo were highly against macs while ying2 and i were craving for some haha. but thinking that the three of them would be eating western food for the next year or so, we decided to compromise haha.

pam and grace joined us soon after. the hongkong cafe (called C. Nai) served really awesome authentic hk food! :D it was not ex considering the location as well (the rest of the restaurants were like 10 plus ish) and we generally loved what we ordered :) will definitely go back next time! i had claypot rice which was not bad though i thought pam's beef stew noodles were really delicious haha.

my favourite girls :D

DOUBLE-YOLKED EGG! 

after staying at the hk cafe for a while, we went out and decided to head to macs for dessert and forsaking our original plans - blading. haha. kim timo and cy were really lazy plus grace told us that the shop's closed, and so we didn't have much of a choice haha. macs was really full though, thanks to the liverpool vs. arsenal match, and we had to sit at the mac cafe area o.O haha. so basically over there we talked a bit (especially about kim's emo story which we laughed till we choked earlier at the hk cafe hahaha thanks to timo and his awesome summary!) and played opera king where the 4 of us each played as some opera singer and bouncing each other off the stage to get the spotlight. awesome stuff! haha.

the 7 of us!

after macs, we headed to the beach, placed ying's beach mat on the ground and talked :) ying timo and i were talking about how the realities of life set in upon graduation and how many things could possibly change in the coming years. we talked about timo's girlfriend (the first time i've heard from him personally in a year since it began, as it's probably the first time i met timo in a year plus), his life in edinburg, zongyi, etc. etc. it's quite funny how we're all forced to grow up but yet every time we get together we try to be young again.

we lighted up some sparklers we had, had a little accident when parts of the sparkler flew to pam, andden started some light drawing with the light sticks i brought :) then we observed many kong ming lanterns flying into the sky and disappearing eventually and considered buying one until we realised how each of them costs 10 bucks. eventually the few of us were just lying on the mat watching the lanterns lit up the sky.

the very nice kong ming lantern!

yayyyy to my favouritest class!

it was almost 1 when we left the beach. ying2 drove kim cy and i back home while pam's zy drove the rest back. after dropping kim, ying2 cy and i went to bt timah for some supper and we saw old rvians there too! cejin aaron and two others. what a small world actually, especially when it was already 2! had some prata and milo there!

ying2 then sent us home and after washing up i was on the bed, with only 4 hours of sleep before i head up to the pool the next morning.


21 August, Sunday

arrived at the pool at about 9.10am and yh and jx were already there! the rest of the polo peeps reached about 9.40am and soon we were discussing how to take our photos with our equipment and gowns :D

and then the rest of the morning was spent taking many awesome shots! :D haha. i think i'll let the photos do the talking. but to keep it short it was damn fun :) :) i love my polo batchmates! 4 years of awesomeness together, learning all the skills and picking up the sport from scratch, going from nothing to champions at the end of the 4 years! wooooots. and our photoshoot was a huge success since everyone could make it in the end! heehee. super difficult to gather 9 of us together especially when most of us are working already. o.O

presenting the awesomest canoepolo batch!

aero polo peeps!

the GIRLS.

what's grad photos without throwing the mortar board?

and of course, jump shots :D

thanks for the memories. :D

and so, this is my dearest polo teammates (: our next aim? a short trip together!

after the photoshoot, we headed to cant 2 for lunch then i went to suntec for church after claiming my free cup of eskimo haha. first time i joined in the queue in ages! usually i just go in late :/ haha. service was awesome! the worship team played a new song called sweeter than wine and i totally loved it (: you could sense the wealth of emotions in the whole audi when they played that!

Your love is better than life,
Sweeter than wine,
All that I can ever imagine.
Your love is all that I need,
Lord I receive
Your loving kindness and majesty.

(: it's easy to forget God, since He's always present. it's easy to take Him for granted, since He is always doing good in my life. but i thank daddy God for bringing me to an awesome church so that i could always be reminded of His awesome love.

met candy and shihwee up at one of the towers at suntec after walking around millenia walk and after walking around a bit we decided to have dinner at this new fastfood called chicking at marina bay. and it really sucks! gosh. nothing compared to KFC. plus the mash potatoes were obviously the instant maggi ones. omg.

but okay la, the good thing was there was barely anyone there (for a good reason) and so we had a comfortable place and environment to talk :) we talked till 8 plus then walked to muji to get some snacks before going the long way back to city hall. took the train to clementi with candy while shihwee headed back to hall ): jealous max! i wanna stay in hall again toooo.


22 August, Monday

i've finally reached here! omg. the day was spent nua-ing at home, and after dinner i headed back to ntu for some bball :D bball ibg today! hehh. and for the first time, there was actually girls present, and many of them! woahhhh. after talking to them for a while and psychoing them to join the hall bball team with jason and tanyin, we played a match together and it was super tiring gosh. i think i've really lost all my fitness haha. plus my legs were still aching badly from the heavy activities the past few days gosh haha.

but it was super fun! the freshies are really good this year and so i'm hoping at least a finals for this year's ihg :D too bad i can't be in the team to be part of it myself ): oh well. we played for an hour or so before packing up and leaving the place. yuto and i wanted to head to cant 2 to find fw and toh but they said there was barely anything left so we went to the sun instead to get some drinks. sat there for a while then walked back to hall together where i decided not to stayover heh. time to let go already! and plus not very nice to keep imposing on them heh.


23 August, Tuesday

the day i'm just going to slack at home! :D hohohoho. just another 12 days more before work begins. sigh.

+ guaishou's! :D