celebrated this year's christmas with hui and the rest at marina bay's steamboat. same place but different group from last year. i didnt eat much that night. the chicken all tasted the same and my appetite still hasnt regained. the prawns were nice though it was kinda cruel seeing some of them wriggle on the bbq plate. (sorry sw if this grossed you out.) first time spending the night outas a 'liu lang han' but it wasnt quite as fun as expected. we took photos at esplanade and sat around at starbucks to avoid getting 'snowed' by the crowd at midnight. the kids next to us were so full of energy chasing cockroaches, of all things.
this is my 3rd day working in dmn bookshop selling sec 1 books. the auntie was very nice. and its a very slack job except for the first 2 hrs last friday. the rest of the time i was just so bored. but its refreshing to work and earn some money again. and i havent been back to dunman for so long. nothing seems to have changed much though. see so many familiar corners where i used to hang out with my friends...nostalgic!

*results out on 28th...
**pray hard it doesnt rain on sat!!

me and suyun were supposed to help with flyer distribution for impressario at orchard today. but just as we were about to go out, kaixiang messaged to say our help was no longer needed. happy that we dont have to stand all day but i was all ready to go out! and hong is singing today. hope she gets in~
had a belated birthday celebration for suyun yesterday. went to the soup restaurant for dinner. realised that its the same group of 10 of us minus a certain someone. lol...havent seen most of them since our last paper and we had a great time. the pork rib soup was so delicious! but of cos it has to be nice, if not they can close down already.
the weather this week has been depressing. bouts of heavy rain the whole day on mon and tues. but i still managed to go shopping with mz on tues and i finally bought something! realised i got a few things to buy actually. but why arn't they selling shorts? weather too cold huh..

*happy happy holidays~*

went for impressario's canvassing event today. had to listen to a talk on investments given by NGA, linked to Prudential. all the speakers were so well trained and full of confidence. and all of them are 'mei nu's! they talked about their company's culture and tried to advertise their career as financial advisors. it seems very dynamic and fun. they go on several company trips to all around the world in a year. but..it sounds too good to be true. they painted a beautiful picture that if you help 1 client per week to save a certain amount, increasing each year, you can earn your first million in 10 years. a 25 years old girl there already earned 0.75 million after 3 years. but how many people have that capability? even their savings plan sounds so good.
christmas spirit is in the air~ love walking down orchard road with the lights. dont like squeezing through the crowd though. went to vivocity for the third time this week. didnt shop there though. so many people there today. but i need to get clothes soon! the view outside on the third floor was very nice. good place to take photos and enjoy the breeze.
Deja vu is a really nice movie. highly recommended!

yay~exams finally over! its been over for a week and i've been busy everyday. life has never been more happening for me. i had fun but my wallet is also emptying at a very fast rate!
went for cns bbq gathering at mabel's house on thursday. she had these two little cousins aged 7 and 11. they claim themselves as 7-11. lol...they are so cute and smart. the younger boy was more chatty and they spoke very fluent english and with clear articulation. he could talk with us for hours. so impressed by their knowledge of cars. they actually know the model numbers of all the cars, their cc or engine power and a whole lot of other stuff which most of us dont even understand. and they got this knowledge by reading car magazines! impressed..mabel lives in the bukit timah, where no buses go in. every house has at least 1 car there. we had to walk out at night to go home and we took about half an hour just to get to the main road. each house we walked past justs get bigger and bigger in size. all so beautiful with full length glass windows and gardens big enough to play football. but the houses are so big, i wonder if they even get to see their family inside.
this is the month of christmas and birthdays! christmas lightings at orchard are about the same every year. but i'm still looking forward. hope to have more fun this month!

thursday, after exam, a group of friends were shopping in the minimart.

Gal 1: *looks at instant noodles*

ok, this shall be my lunch tml!

Gal 2: why eat instant noodles? no gd...

Gal 1: cos tml got afternoon exam, save time

Gal 2: tml where got exam??

Gal 1: *stunned and looks at gal 2* tml got genetics leh. right? *turns to another fren*

Gal 2: huh? thot got another day?

Gal 1: tml is friday le...

*stunned silence from everyone...*

how can anyone not know their exam schedule?? study too much le lah...

in the wee hours of saturday morning, my grandma's heartbeat stopped. her health wasnt in a good condition for quite some time and was recently aggrevated by many factors. no use talking about them now. just hope the person involved will really repent. she had an asthma attack on thursday night. she and my grandfather went to his batik shop as usual that day and she reached home feeling breathless. my relatives called for an ambulance which arrived a freaking 25 minutes later. while waiting for the ambulance, she stopped breathing for 5 to 10 minutes and her heart stopped later. 4 minutes without oxygen to the brain causes irreversible brain damage... the ambulance system is so ridiculous. my relatives called 4 times. they said that the 2 ambulances in the serangoon area were occupied and couldnt come. they called tao payoh which had to check that nobody in tao payoh needed an ambulance before they could send it over. they even wanted to activate the ambulance from paya lebar. hello~ this is an emergency! what kind of system is this? first come first serve?? see if you're lucky enough that nobody is using the ambulance in your area. the medical worker who arrived performed cpr immediately, saying sorry each time he pressed down on my grandma's chest. but he wasnt at fault. they managed to revive her heartbeat and maintain it with drugs, but she was already brain dead. they put her on the life support system so that other relatives could visit her for the last time, finally removing her from it late friday afternoon.
what if the ambulance arrived earlier? what if someone knew cpr and could administer it immediately? would my grandma have lived?
for concerned friends, i'm alright. i must say that i wasnt that close to my grandma but seeing my grandpa really breaks my heart. he was crying non-stop, saying he also doesnt wanna live anymore. life has no more meaning for him... they have been married for almost 60 years, i cant even imagine the anguish he's going through. i hope he can go on with life positively.. i cannot attend the cremation this tuesday cos of my exam. if i am there, i think i'll be crying my eyes out. its too heart-breaking for me to bear.

cherish your loved ones...(v)
/

there's less than 2 weeks to the first paper...and i dont think i can study finish. how how?? there's so much to study for each module. i dont have confidence in this sem at all. the only module that i think everybody will pass is the research seminars since its like GP. i still have 2 more reports to do. next week is the last week of school and yet i still have lab sessions. so stupid...still have to do report after that. and the report is 30% of the final grade. haiz...i'm worried. but somehow i dont feel the urgency to study this sem. maybe cos there's just too much and i just keep putting everything off. excuses i know.
talking about assignments, i finally finished my essay on monday. i was quite impressed with myself cos i managed to finish it within a few hours. then i made a big stupid mistake. i accidentally deleted my final completed assignment from my thumb drive!! argh~every student's nightmare. it was the only copy i have and it couldnt be retrieved. luckily i still had 1/3 of the essay which i had written the day before stored in my computer. if not i tink i'll just break down and cry. expensive lesson to learn..must keep backup copies next time!

i went to book a chalet for my birthday just now. i was really lucky cos only that weekend has available rooms. its gonna be at costa sands pasir ris on 30th dec. not the one at downtown east. dear friends, please be there k. i hope we can all have fun to mark the end of this year!
for now, have to finish my assignment. how am i going to type a 2000 word essay?? cant even hit the 500 word limit in jc. hai...
jia you for exams!

how should i celebrate my 21st birthday? aloha is fully booked and aranda is so damn ex. $838 for 3D2N! i might as well go overseas. go hongkong 1 week also still have leftover money for shopping. too bad my birthday is in the triple peak period. my mum gave me many choices actually. can have chalet at downtown east or dinner with friends at sizzlers or book a hotel room. must really thank her. but i dont really like to organise such things. so many things to take care of. and now is the exam period. not a good time for planning. but i do want to celebrate with my friends.

so what shall it be? hmm...

friday was the Mid-Autumn festival. how did you celebrate it? as for me, i had a chain celebration from wednesday to saturday!
the first was when i crashed hall 3's celebration to see ny and wil's performances.

on thursday, i celebrated with my coursemates. we gathered at the rooftop of 16B, my previous hall. too bad it was very hazy and we couldnt see the moon clearly. the haze was so bad these few days, i can only smell smoke in the air. what are those people thinking? burning forests every year... sick of the polluted air. dunno how some people can still smoke in this weather. k, back to the topic. that night was so fun. it was like we were back to being kids again. we ate mooncakes, drank chinese tea out of mugs, played with sparklers and took a whole lot of photos! we went into such a frenzy when 7 of us tried to light the sparklers at the same time, making so much noise. and for the first time since primary school, we carried lanterns around the school. ntu people should find a chance to go up the grass slope of the arts building at night. its so pretty.


friday was the celebration with my family. saw my little cousin who's so cute! she's only 1 years old but she is so full of expressions. and she can imitate animals like snake, monkey and cow. but of course she does all these so that she can drink the cold drinks that they adults were tempting her with. babies are so greedy for food. but they are also smart. after the drink was finished, she stopped entertaining us.

on saturday, i went to the chinese garden for the first time to see those big lanterns. surprisingly, i had alot of fun. walking down the long road from the mrt station, hui commented that it feels like we are walking down 'yin-yang road', especially with the haze. there was a cai shen ye along the way. we thought that he was giving out candy in hongbaos but he told us to 'shui bian gei. $1 or $2 also can.' isnt the god of fortune supposed to give out fortune?
we 'travelled' around the world in 2 hours. haha...cos this year's theme was the 7 wonders of the world. our first stop, the 7 story pagoda, already left us aching and sweating. and instead of fresh air at the top, the haze greeted us. luckily we went after the actual day of the festival, so there were not so many people. but there were still alot of people to hinder our photo-taking. i went crazy with the camera on hand. though my photo-taking skills were not so good. we ended up as shadows in many of the photos. half the place was filled with indian tourists. an early celebration of the festival of lights? after we finshed walking around, we rested at the second story of an initially empty building. but after we came and opened the balcony doors, people started coming too and filled up the place. saw another side to my friend today. didnt know he could have so many crazy ideas for taking photos.
after all the fun, we were hungry and went blk 85 in bedok for supper. so tired when i got back home. and another weekend is gone without much studying done. oops...

my two dear friends have been complaining that i havent been updating my blog. 'nothing happening in your hall life?',they ask. something 'happening' happened today alright. something to mock my own stupidity.
ny asked me to join him for running today. friends who know me will know that i hate running. but i actually agreed cos i wanted to complete the round that i didnt get to finish. which in the end,i still didnt finish.
while up the last slope towards hall 16, i was feeling damn tired. i thought, close my eyes for a few seconds. big stupid mistake! i didnt run straight and fell off the pavement. so diu lian! hai...thought my clumsy days were over. now i cant get the dirt out of the wound. help~ and my roomie's first comment was 'your blood very red leh'. of cos my blood is red! duh...

JK san, your programme was great. gambatte yo~

a friend once told me not to be too trusting towards people, even those that may seem like your good friends. but if you cant even trust your good friends or even your family, then what meaning does this relationship have? i always thought that the people around me are nice people who will not harm or lie to me in any way. and i want to keep on believing that.
nothing has happened to me but recently alot of things have been happening to the people around me. think its even more exciting than those mediacorp dramas. even though i'm not affected directly, seeing people around me get hurt and i cant do anything is not a nice feeling at all. why must people lie? people who love them trust them so much, only to get their hearts broken. such disappointment when they find their trust betrayed, and promises made are broken. and in the end? they just apologize for what they have done, without a proper explaination. what's the use of an apology. and i wouldnt be surprised that there's no explaination. cos if he is even thinking for the people who cared about him, he wouldnt have lied in the first place.

but i believe you all are strong and can get through this. the worst has already happened and things can only get better. ming tian bu yi ding hui geng hao, dan yi ding hui you geng hao de ming tian...

moved into hall this weekend. couldnt sleep at all the first night. i'm glad my roomie isnt hard to get along with. but i still wanna be with my friends. its gonna be difficult for me to study this sem. must force myself!

i miss staying in hall 16 with my 2 roomies! and with the rest of the gals there. now so bored in hall. sigh...dont like to go back to my room now.

dark circles are starting to appear under my eyes...sleep deprived!

we had a field trip to bukit timah hill for plant biology today. reminds me of all the fun excursions i had in primary school. we used to have so many excursions, making regular trips to places like the zoo and sentosa. however, i found today's field trip to be rather unfruitful. maybe cos i dont have an observant eye like sharon. the plants look all the same to me--green! there were no flowers at all. seldom did we see any moving organisms either. we saw very cute monkeys at the entrance though. they have grown to be unafraid of humans, chasing after some gals when they see food. back to the hill, i was actually looking at the path more than the plants. cos we had to climb up and down and i was afraid of tripping over. the summit was only 164m but the stairs up seem never-ending. we are so unfit compared to the retirees walking effortlessly. some aunties even found us too slow and we were obstructing their path!
i also got a place in hostel today. hall 8...i dont like that cluster. all my friends are in the other cluster. sigh...is there any way to transfer??
this period seems to be a difficult period for many of my friends. so many people having relationship problems. feel so helpless cos i dont know what to say or do to help them. all i can say is be strong k! i'll always be willing to listen.

saw something interesting in my email that day...

Count every 'F' in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

This is not a trick question. Look and count carefully!!!!
.
..
...
....
.....
....
...
..
.
The answer is...
.
..
...
....
.....
....
...
..
.
6!! Look again. Cos our brain cant process the word 'of'. Amazing right? Tell me if you managed to get it right.

we went to the settler's cafe in clarke quay last night. there were 12 of us and we made so much noise. going in big groups is more fun though everyone cant play together. i preferred the ambience at mind's cafe but the people at settler's were super helpful. we kept getting them to change games for us. 'Poison' is a very good short strategy game. 'pits' on the other hand, is a messy heart attack game. is one word of advice, dont play action games with long nails! haha...hui will know what i mean.

jap results are finally out! so happy to get my A. i think by the end of their university education, most people would have aquired at least a third language. so many people are aiming to learn jap.

school has started! and so has the cycle of buying textbooks and rushing to print notes. i hate this period of the semester. buying textbooks are so expensive and so we photocopy instead. but most of the time, i find that i dont use these notes. just following the crowd in case i need them. haha... the guys my age are also starting their uni life this year. everywhere i go, i find myself scanning the crowd for anyone that looks familiar. havent seen many people though.
this semester's timetable is filled with long breaks, meaning i have long days. wasted my 5 hours today talking to secondary school friends. crashed hui's strtegic management lecture. i actually found it interesting. guess its the first lecture so i could understand what was being taught. the lecturer spoke clearly and loudly unlike many of the foreign lecturers i have encountered. it feels good to learn something i dont have exams for.
i wanna stay in my beloved hall 16! tired of travelling. *sobz*

met up with a few friends yesterday. could finally get out of the house after the jap exam. which, by the way, was quite managable. the essay topic was quite lame though. 'what would you do with a million dollars?' seems liek some beauty pageant question. amazed by my own crapping skills.
back to yesterday...our plans for the night failed miserably at first. we wanted to go mind's cafe but yesterday evening was exceptionally crowded. cinema was damn crowded too. luckily we managed to get 3rd row seats(again!) for the lake house. its quite a nice movie. the house is so nice with glass all around and a maple tree in the middle. but as the plot has to do with 2 people living in 2 different times, it can get quite confusing. i can never fully understand the logic of time travel shows. wait a minute, there's no logic!

this has to be the funniest picture i've ever seen! cant do maths? make use of the english then. genius!

last sat was hui's birthday celebration at aranda chalet. i had alot of fun there cos i knew most of her friends. had a great time talking to the gals. the chalet was big and very nice, though there were only 2 rooms and 5 gals had to sleep on 1 bed. dunno how they did it. i didnt sleep the whole night and paid the price the next day. first time i felt so tired after one night without sleep. felt like a zombie the whole day and couldnt even do my homework properly. getting old? haha... but looking at hui's chalet, it makes me feel like celebrating my own birthday too. i could feel her happiness and i guess she's really lucky. whatever she had wished for, she got it that night. either all her friends knew her that well or she's very predictable. haha...being her friend, i would rather give credit to us. what shall i do for my birthday...
my jap lessons has ended. quite sad actually cos i enjoyed those lessons. and this means that school is starting. sigh...i think of the six modules and i'm reluctant to start school. yesterday's oral was a disaster. listening was a little better. i was the first to be tested and i was so nervous that i couldnt say anything properly. forget how to convert the different forms of verbs and could only leave it to my instinct. so disappointed with myself. i want an A!

just had an enjoyable time last sunday at the zoo with some of my cns friends. its like being a child again, on an excursion in our primary school days. so many animals to see and i forgot my camera! argh!! the cutest were the otters. they ran around in 1 big group and would stop in front of the people to 'pose'. after awhile, they would run to another coner and 'pose' again. models of the animal world. we also fed the kangeroos, though i nearly stepped on one of their tails. one of my friends sugested going back to the zoo together 10 years later. by then we would be in our 30s and probably married with children. lol... tracia shared with us her stories about her observations of teachers in classes. teachers are so noble! not that i didnt know that before but i rarely hear of first hand experiences from teachers themselves. it is so difficult being a teacher now. children are over protected and teachers also have to be creative to come up with new and interesting classes.they have my respect!

another interesting thing is that i got to speak to two japanese businessmen on tuesday. i met them at orchard when they asked for my help in buying tickets at the mrt station. i was so excited in speaking japanese and it will be good practise for my oral and listening exam next week. but i forgot all that i've learnt and all i could manage was a few words and broken sentences. there were so many questions i wanted to ask but the words just couldnt form. in the end, a girl sitting next to the men in the mrt joined in the conversation. she must think i'm an idiot for struggling to speak in such broken japanese when they could speak perfect english. i also had to pay full attention when they speak so that i could understand what they were talking. it was a good experience though.

this brings me to my next topic. i'm currently reading 'tuesdays with morrie'. its quite a meaningful book about the author talking to his sociology professor who was dying. they talked about many issues in life. many of the things are actually what we know we should do but have difficulty doing or not wanting to do. the professor termed this 'tension of the opposites'. there was one passage in which he said we must always be with the person we are with. that means to give them our utmost attention when they are talking and not think about something else or look elsewhere. that is a problem i sometimes face. sometimes i have problem paying attention and will tend to space out if the conversation is too long and only pulling myself back to answer 'uh-huh'. do you guys have this problem too? it seems such an easy task to listen but few people can do it. to listen with utmost attention and sincerity. sometimes people dont need advice to their problems but just a listening ear.

shh...listen...

my mentor just told me that there may not be work in the lab for awhile. though i welcome the occasional break, i wanna learn more in lab. besides, i have nothing to do at home. dunno what i'll do if i didnt have jap lessons. jap2 is more difficult with all the forms of verbs. the more i learn, the more i'm confused by the particles. but learning jap is still fun. and i have yanfen for company. the people in jap1 class are still the best!
went out with some sbs friends for steamboat to celebrate vincent's bdae. sbs people always seem to have steamboat outings. it was quite fun. just hope that there will be more gals next time. looking forward to this weekend!

just changed my blogskin and i love the picture. but what's the problem with the sidebar?? hate this html thingy. just cant get anything right.
oh yeah, this month's world cup month. bazil didnt get into the semis! i was so surprised. bet alot of people must be cursing at their losses now. football just doesnt interest me

after last week's rest, i'm working hard this week. everyday work till about 6pm. so tiring... learnt one thing though, i learnt how to play carom during our many incubation periods. we had a sucess rate of about one insert per week for our cloning. according to the prof, its quite good. being a researcher sure needs alot of patience! have to repeat the same experiments over and over without getting tired of failure. but today has been not suceessful at all! repeated the damn experiment twice, each taking hours, and yet there were no reults. not even unfavourable ones. sigh...
i finally got to meet up with my jap class friends last saturday after one year. too bad a few of them couldnt come at the last minute. hopefully more people can turn up next time. our group seems to be getting smaller. but i had fun that day!

i'm tired out today, though not from work. just as i reached school this morning, my mentor messaged me saying i need not come today. isnt it kind of late?!! so i ended up going shopping with the other two girls. started off going to the guan yin temple in bugis to have last minute prayers for tomorrow's release of results. then we proceeded to shop in bugis to orchard, from 9am to 5pm. office hours for a different purpose. my legs are killing me now.
then on the way home, my friend told me that results are out already. wasnt prepared to know my results today but actually i have no feelings about it this semester. my mind was blank except for a little worries for biochem. it turned out alright. not good but ok. very very slight improvement from last sem, though i still cant get rid of the C. that will be my aim for next sem(even that seems difficult to me). surprised for biochem...there must be moderation.
hmm...how to spend my free day tomorrow?

watched Over The Hedge yesterday. great movie! its one of the funniest cartoons i've ever seen. the whole theater was roaring with laughter. the movie is about a group of animals which woked up after their winter hibernation to find their forest being invaded by humans. in came the street-wise racoon to teach them about the human world, in a way that was actually making fun of humans. like 'cars are vehicles that humans invented as they are losing their ability to walk'. we went to tcc at boat quay after that. the second floor was really cool. filled with comfortable bean bags, its a great place to relax with friends.
just checked my time table for next semester. it sucks totally! i'm having 6 core modules plus lab. my days are packed from 8.30am to 5.30pm except for wednesdays. the exam schedule is not good either. how am i going to survive next sem?? sigh...better enjoy my hols now.

went to chalet on tuesday. i was abit skeptical at first cos only 8 people were going. a few others couldnt make it. but it turned out to be fun! the chalet was a BIG bungalow house under IDA which chulei's aunt got for $90 for 4 nights. so cheap! the house was quite new, modern looking with a natural wood feel. there was even a pond outside with a circular area containing 2 bbq pits. the living room was big with a high ceiling and a huge plasma tv. chulei preprared cold soba for dinner. and we had round 2 of instant noodles and various ingrediants. sitting round the table, it feels like we're having a family dinner.
next was probably the highlight of this chalet -- mahjong! 4 experts and 4 beginners. just nice to have a personal tutorial of the game. i took over vincent's feng shui seat and we won quite abit. vincent was a first time player but he picked up the game very fast and has extremely good luck. he managed to get 'hua hu' which is the set of 8 flowers! darren, though he was playing with 3 beginners, lost to everyone. thanks to him, we got free breakfast. haha... we played from 9pm to 3.30am and it was only 1 round. so dead tired that everyone just wanted to end the game. though there were 4 bedrooms, all 5 of us slept in 1 bedroom. feels like i've gone back to hall. only slept 2 hours before we all had to rush to school or work.
going to meet up with hui and guys later. so many movies to watch now. no time and money. haha... sw and mz, when to watch da vinci?? i also wanna watch x-men.
*hope this thurs gathering with the jap people will actually make it. its been postponed too long!*

i'm bOrEd...now stuck in sbs resource room cos there's nothing for me to do in lab. started to work in valarie lin's lab last week. hours are quite flexible cos it depends on what you have to do for that day. but i'm working for no pay. still have to pay for meals and transport. sigh... still blur blur, trying to make sense of the experiments and doing what my mentor tell me to do. hope i can learn something. quite sian to have to come school everyday. and i'll always look forward to going home to watch my 'e zuo ju zhi wen'. thats the only relaxing time at the end of the day. i love the show so much!! zheng yuan chang shuai dai le! haha...didnt even like him in the past. didnt know why jh so crazy about the show, but now i know. i'm finishing it soon though. nothing more to look forward to after work. in need of more new dramas to watch. sounds like a sad life huh. i still have a chalet with the few hall friends tomorrow. too bad limin and huihsien not coming.

tadaima~ just came back from japan two days ago. i had alot of fun and saw many things. gonna try to put everything to words now.
i stayed in hokkaido for the first four nights. it is supposed to be spring now but the weather was still quite cold. especially up in the mountains where the wind is strong, our fingers would be numb beyond feeling. there were still some snow left from the previous week. first time i see snow, though most of it has become dirty ice.

our first two nights were spent in a hot spring resort. it was a new experience for me to go down to the onsen. had to have alot of courage cos we had to be fully naked. but you could see japanese from ages four to 60+ and it was pretty normal for them. they could let their young sons see their bodies without any problem. i even chatted with a kawaii boy in the pool. the outdoor pool was especially refreshing. its so relaxing to soak in the hot water in the cold air.

after two days of mountain scenery, we went to the town of Otaru. the buildings there are all very nice. their streets are lined with a mixture of traditional styled japanese buildings and european styled shophouses. i was surprised to learn that hokkaido is influenced greatly by european culture cos of their location. their houses are mostly european style instead of the tradtional ryokan even in the countryside.

next up was Sapporo city, capital of Hokkaido. at night, the buildings are all lit up with neon lights. it is very difficult to find rubbish bins on the streets but surprisingly, the streets are even cleaner than singapore's. there's no rubbish at all. singapore has much to learn.

Hakodate, port city of Hokkaido. i finally saw sakura blooms!!! it wasnt much, only a few isolated trees. if only i could see the mankai, the whole park would be covered in pink. we also went to the fish market. the seafood is all very fresh but i'm sick of eating seafood for one week. not much of a seafood fan. i tried the squid ink ice cream. not very special actually but i love their ice cream. i can eat it everyday even if its freezing cold. finally got to eat ramen from those roadside stalls too. oishii desu ne~ but actually the real japanese food is not as nice as those in singapore. we are too accustomed to the singaporean taste. and the food is so expensive! a normal meal usually costs at least $10. even though things are expensive, tehy dont have to worry cos the main tourists and consumers in japan are the japanese themselves. they buy things like they are free.

we went to Tokyo for the last day. shopping time!! Harajuku is like the bugis street of singapore. all the people are dressed up very fashionably. some of the clothes are quite affordable if they are on sales. regret not buying more. at night, we took the subway to Shinjuku. the metro system is so complicated that having a map wont help. you can also sense how fast paced and stressed city life is. the people are all walking so quickly that you also feel obliged to keep up to prevent from getting in people's way. anyway, the night life in Shinjuku is very 'happening'. its actually quite a sleezy place. the street is lined with sex toy shops or night clubs and karaoke joints. there's not only gals club but boys club. their pictures will be shown outside the building for customers to choose. there will also be guys in black suits and carrying transparent umbrellas (it was raining that day), trying to get female customers. they are supposed to be handsome but they look more like ah bengs. i saw a few men whom i think are members of the yakuza. all of them had gold chains and drive expensive cars.

on the whole, i find the japanese very friendly people. had the chance to talk to some of them with my mediocore japanese. communication is abit of a problem. but with some japanese and english plus alot of pointing, we could barely manage. the most important phrase during shopping is 'kore wa ikura desuka?', meaning 'how much?'

the japanese are also experts in pakaging and service. all the things are wrapped up so nicely you just cant resist buying. they are also very generous with their samples. they give out whole chocolates and large portions of cakes as samples. something that cant be done in singapore or they would probably incur a loss. as for service, they are very patient and helpful. we were in a shopping centre when we got lost in the underground system. it was closing time and we panicked. we asked the manager for directions and he immediately left his post to lead us all the way out. pei fu! in any case, dont ever try to take taxi in japan. you'll suffer from high blood pressure just looking at the meter. i travelled for 4km and paid S$30. a 60km trip will cost you what it takes for a nice trip to bangkok plus shopping! their apartments are equally expensive. my tour guide stays in the outskirts of tokyo in an apartment the size of 4 tatami mats (1 mat=90x180cm). her rent is 70,000 yen (100 yen = $1.40) per month!

ok, finally ended. thanks if ur're still reading. haha...hope to go japan again. next time with friends!

woohoo~ exams have finally finished! one month of studying and late nights have come to an end. not that i mind late nights. haha... only slept for 3 hours this morning. a little tired now but i'm trying not to sleep so i can sleep on the plane later. doesnt feel like i'm gonna board the plane in 6 hours time. one luggage havent unpack have to pack another.
had alot of fun yesterday! after the paper and some rest, we went to buy ingrediants for our steamboat dinner. there were 7 of us and me and jh being the only gals, we prepared almost everything. too bad alot of people couldnt make it but it was still quite fun. we ate in our hall's tv lounge. felt guilty cos we couldnt finish the food.
after dinner, we went to meet the rest of the gals from hall 16 and 4 other friends to go ministry of sound. its my first clubbing trip! wouldnt have been able to go if we were not staying in hall. realised that clarke quay is very beautiful at night. according to hui, there were not many people there yesterday. but the place was still very crowded to me. all the smoke and loud music thumping...not really my cup of tea. but if there's a chance for everyone to go again, i will. danced to retro and RnB music. not very good at dancing leh. jh's friend say we not drunk enough. haha...cos we didnt drink alcohol at all. everyone is dressed so nicely. can see all kinds of people there, including those guys who cant keep their hands off drunk gals. and i was so surprised to see jk and nigel there. jk was so high~ dancing on the platform like a transformed person. haha...
reached back hall at 3am and shared 2 bowls of instant noodles with the rest. then only slept at 6.30am with four of us sharing 2 beds. feels like chalet. my last night in hall le...so she bu de. all the wonderful memories and friendships forged. this has been the best sem in my 2 years of university. really very happy this sem, feel like i finally have a life. thanks to my roomies and jh!! finishing lab reports are alot easier with our discussions.
will miss our times together!

came home yesterday evening and i was so dead tired. kept sleeping all the way. but i still slept at 3am at night. haha...it has become a habit. now i'm hooked on er zuo ju zhi wen. loved the japan drama last time. the taiwan version is even sweeter, just as unlikely to happen in real life. so slack now. havent studied since my last paper. i wanna play mahjong with them tonight~ but have to go back tomorrow. sigh...

209 paper was a killer. to me at least. i didnt know how to do most of the paper. mind totally blank. the previous night, i drank a can of red bull which kept me up the whole nite. only slept 2 hours on that day! then day before exam too tired to study le. hai...markers please be lenient. hai...enjoy myself first.
enjoyed myself today! but spent alot of money too. went to the hair salon after my paper. then went kbox at jurong east at night with jh, hh and cl. we sang from 10pm to 3am! so high~ but really very expensive. $18.90++ excluding cab fare. so fun... tonight is my last night in my room. so sad to see the room empty. kel they alln playing mahjong on sun. wonder if i can come back. abit guilty for not going home for so long. so many things that i've not yet done in hall. never even go out for supper with friends.
must not forget i still have a last paper on wed!

its 1 am and i just finished my supper. very unhealthy lifestyle...sleeping late and having late night suppers. or you can say sleep early cos the earliest i've slept for these past few weeks is 3am. hai...killed by the virology paper today. i couldnt do alot of the questions. so many questions from lecture 1, which i thought wasnt important. now going to die for friday's biochem. i need more memory space!
i didnt go home last weekend. mz asked if i missed home and my answer is...no. maybe abit bad but i really dont miss home. maybe its only one weekend and its comfortable enough here. but its not fun. eating and finding a place to study is a problem. can see a different side of the university without the crowd. and the absence of the cleaners is clearly pronounced. whole canteen become so dirty.
although i dread friday's paper, i'm also looking forward to the end of it! i'm gonna slack and not care about the last paper for the moment. so many programmes lined up that i think i wont be at home much. i wanna stay in hall this friday and next wedesday~ will be going out with hall friends. but i think my parents will nag. besides i'm flying off on thursday. no time!
sigh...3 more days. back to studies...

sad...hui moved out today. the room seems weird without her stuff. but i had an enjoyable last night crapping till morning. so relaxing to just stand on the rooftop and enjoy the morning breeze. soon, we'll all be moving out. she bu de~

help~ why cant i seem to concentrate on studying after the immune paper. feel so drained...

i have a good news! i got my jap2!! so happy~ haha...will be going with yanfen. poor mei cant take with us. at least i got company. class starts on june 19th. then will be an intensive 1 month. but now i have problems applying for internship. all my friends applying this hols. will any company accept me for 1 month?
had my first exam paper on thurs. this whole week, i've been studying at sbs with my friends till late night. quite lucky cos can ask my friends questions and half of the exam paper came out from past year's and tutorials. hopefully i wont have problems with the other papers. after that paper, i felt so happy. as if the whole exam was over. the worst is yet to come...
celebrated jy's bdae at cartel. the organiser say meet at 11.15am. who celebrate bdae so early?? anyway, the bdae person gave a treat. he got an ipod nano as a present. so good, i also want~ at least its something he can use.
why so many people's bdae in april? i'm supposed to be studying!

i went for sijia's bdae chalet yesterday. my flu miraculously recovered upon reaching tampines. but please dont put me in charge of presents again. there was the usual crapping session. victor commented that boyfriends are always the slaves at birthday parties. but as a boyfriend, isnt it right for you to serve your girlfriend's guests??
Dian's back from australia!! now working in a child psychology clinic and research assistant. so amazing... i always thought that people say its difficult to work as a psychologist in singapore. walid offered me a ride home on his bike and i declined. haha...i wasnt as relaxed as he thought i was when i rode pillion last time. all a bunch of nerves. going to miss weiling's bbq tonight. must start studying!
another piece of good news from my friend. he was successful in getting an internship in yes93.3! congrats! i saw his resume which was really impressive. i really admire his spirit and passion for the field of his study. he'll take the initiative to get internships to try all everything in the mass comm field. he knows what he wants and will take action to persue his dreams. some people just talk about their dreams but do nothing about it. that's only day-dreaming.
unlike him, i dont know what i want and have no plans for the future. can only take one step at a time right now...
all the best for the future

something amusing happened yesterday. i was walking in the campus when i passed by this girl. she gave me a look like she knew me and asked if i lived on tampines st xx. i was so surprised because i dont even know her. then she said she used to see me at the bus stop every morning in brown uniform. that would be my secondary school days! is her memory that good or have i not changed at all??
monday's immuno test was a disaster. the teacher had to remind us that there could be more than 1 answer for the mcq questions. this resulted in me putting down all those extra answers and end up those answers are redundant. worst thing was that 1 mark will be deducted for wrong answers. will i end up with a negative score? moral of the story - sometimes its good not to know the instructions.
these few days have been studying for exams but really li bu cong xin. i cant remember what i've read. all those stupid mechanisms for 209. can die~ and now i'm sick as well. wondering if i should go to sijia's bdae chalet tomorrow. cant eat anything. so many friends are sick too. everybody's stressed.
jia you and take care of yourselves!

yesterday's heavy rain spoiled my swimming plans. the rain was so heavy that parts of the hall were flooded. heard that my coursemate was very nice and swept the water away frm lm's corridoor. didnt expect he'd do such a thing. today i cant go swimming again. sigh...
the trip has been confirmed. i'll be going japan with my mum and aunt! its a dream come true. will the little jap i've learnt be of help? haha...dont think so. i hope that we'll manage to see the sakura blooms. heard that this year's weather is warmer and the flowers has opened earlier.
quite sad though that my bro not going. no one to share my excitement with. he's taking his o levels this yr and my dad dont allow him to go. actually if i were him, i'll be so jealous and upset. 1 week doesnt make much of a difference. my dad wants to get him tuition and through yu,i got ny. feels weird that i'll be seeing him every week at my house. i'm such a lousy sis. maths quite good but cant teach my bro. i really dont know how to teach. sometimes he also dont accept my method and say its different from what's taught in school. stubborn like i was last time

yea~i've finally gotten rid of the irritating music,after receiving many complaints. haha...so should have no problem now. just came back from limin's birthday bbq in hall 12. i feel so full now... so many friends' birthdays this month. i'm going to go broke. exams are in 3 weeks and i still have 2 more reports to go. how am i going to study for immuno quiz next week?! last week still play basketball. never play match before. so tiring, but so fun! ok must concentrate...i'll be going on a tour on the 4th! 1 day after exams! looking forward...this shell be my motivation!

havent blogged in a long time. cos nothing worth mentioning has happened. haha... well, i am loving hall life right now. i love the room so much and of cos staying with my friends. just too bad i dont have key then always have to trouble people. but staying in hall has made school life more interesting. i'm now closer to some of my coursemates. went to our school's bbq last tue. sbs always has free food for us. lol... and the people here are making me exercise more. where they find all the energy for running, badminton, floorball, swimming etc?? i went running with them twice now. its considered a miracle. haha... last time i die die also wont go running. really hope can stay in the same hall next sem. who wants to stay with me?? sigh...now starting to sense tension in the air cos exams are less than a month away. sw, must start our studying le. hee... back to the good old airport. just wanna add something, when there's people, there's bound to be clash of ideas. not saying you have to accept them but i guess since the majority already decided, you just have to think of why they chose that. easier to get the job done mah. gd luck for ur projects!

now is the middle of my term break. havent got down to any serious studying. i must start tomorrow! sw and mz are so busy...disappointed that we cant go out. nan de that our hols are on the same week. anyway, jia you gals, for all your tests! met up with sw today to study. ended up not studying much. hee...more of chatted as usual and the strawberry cheesecake was great! we were supposed to study in the national library but they didnt allow us to bring books or notes into the reference section (according to the security, "not even a quarter textbook!!"). but what's worse was that the whole library didnt even have the books we wanted. then i was surprised to see jk there. stupid guy call me siao eh. hair looks cool though. i wanna take jap with them~~ sigh...miss the times when i see hui studying jap.
gal, after listening to wad u say today, i'm really happy for u. hope everything works out well! zhu ni xing fu~

it was les's b'dae yesterday and we went to her house for buffet dinner. it served indian cuisine but what i didnt expect was a prata counter with a chef. we could choose from a range of ingrediants and order. there was even chocolate syrup as topping and it was so delicious. there were so many people there that i havent seen in a long time; all the s09 and first 3 months classmates. it was really fun talking to them and i ended up not spending time with my sec sch friends. last week, i went with hui and wanyu to get her present. bought a very modern-looking rocking chair. made her a card with the photo. its amazing what photoshop can do to make the colours so nice. wanyu designed a redemption coupon. i just love the whole thing. how i wish can just keep it in our hall. haha... hope you love it les. happy b'dae!

i finally moved into hall this week!! its so new and nice. long long table so i have space. staying in hall will never be the same again. and have so many friends here. just the problem of water though. the water is so dirty, dont like to drink it. i kinda miss sleeping at home too...
yesterday we went to buy les's present. love it so much. hee... i hope les likes it too. here's happy bdae in advance!

today's new year's eve!! been looking forward to it especially after this week's late nights over assignments. can finally rest for 4 days without thinking about school. mum bought a laptop for me yesterday. i said it wasnt necessary but i really liked it alot. but now hui said i might not be able to connect to internet in hall. is it going to be a waste of money?? sigh...i was supposed to stay with lihui next week but now daryl is gonna stay with her. oh well, i was indecisive so cant blame her. thought it would be quite fun with her and colin next door, though the room very small. i was so amazed by her cleaning yesterday. she had scrubbed the floors and gave the walls a fresh coat of paint. at least now the room looks bright and decent. gonna move in to hui's room soon. looking forward~
xin nian kuai le~

HaPpY BiRtHdAy To ShIwEn!!!

went to mind's cafe yesterday to pre-celebrate sw's bdae. it was really fun but we could only stay for 2 hrs. really cheap too. paid $5 for gaming and free flow drinks. we all went crazy yesterday, took alot of funny photos. walked to bugis for dinner at pasta mania. really had a gd time today.
decided to stay hall for this sem. but where should i stay? hall 16 is new, air-conditioned and with yu and hui. hall 10 is a single room with lihui and colin next door. really wanna stay with them actually but dont really like the room. how?

have been so tired this week. like deprived of sleep. why? cos i cant sleep early at night. then the next morning i cant wake up. hate all those 8.30 lectures. i cant keep myself awake, especially for bioinformatics. how to survive this sem??
i got a surprise on thursday night. my mum came home with 2 free tickets for sun yan zi's concert! i went with hui yesterday. so excited, first time go to this kind of concert. but we had to walk to the indoor stadium from kallang cos the bus was havent arrived after so long and no cabs will take us. walked with 3 other people along the way cos we were not sure of the way. sure upped our anticipation along the way. the stadium was packed and we were sitting in the second block. the stage was in the center so we could see quite reasonably. then sun yan zi appeared from the rising stage singing feng zhen. think she sang about 20 songs with 3 encores and 8 costume changes. the whole concert was great with fast and slow songs. i loved fir's songs and tanya's duet with yanzi. but the atmosphere wasnt really that high till the encore. the concert seemed to end so quickly after 2.5 hrs. i wanna go concert again~ yanzi rocks!

the first week of school has just ended and already i can sense that this sem will be no less stressful. there was a reading list for the lec on tuesday. on thursday, me and my friends went to look for the textbooks. i thought it was very early already. but no, out of the five books, we only found one. the rest has already been borrowed. my gosh, all these ppeople all so kiasu... i heard that people already went to borrow the books after the lec on tuesday. i hate this...
meanwhile, i'm still going out this week. completed my new year clothes shopping. made cheese cake with sw and mz. it turned out like biscuit crumble with cream cheese and choc chips though. lol... met up with theo and my guitar friends today. i was so blur. forgot to bring my ic and ez link card out, so went back twice for them. then when i reach the mrt station, i realise i didnt bring my wallet. only had 10 bucks to last the day. luckily they all gave me treats. thanks to you all!

this is my 100th post in this blog. haha... just came back not long ago from meeting my sec sch friends. so nan de, all of us were able to meet today. finally got to go pepper lunch after waiting for so long. but i find it quite a disappointment. it wasnt as nice as i thought. but i feel blessed these few days. been going out alot to celebrate my bdae. so end up eating alot too. going to turn fat at this rate. thanks to all my friends for making my bdae wonderful!
going to start sch on tues. have to wake up at 6 again. why do i have so many 8.30 lessons?? hope i wont be stressed out this sem and can finally get an A. best wishes to everyone for 2006. may everyone be happy and healthy~