Quaint city, this London.

Wow its been a while.

About a year now?

Got my scuba-diving license 12 months ago, 

turned twenty-one 9 months ago, 

danced onstage in a cheerleader uniform 5 months ago, 

fulfilled my dream of touring europe 4 months ago, 

graduated with second-class honors 3 months ago, 

and am  currently committed to an establishment called Deutsche Bank.

Nothing too extraordinary; how has your past year been? :)

Am provided a fantastic place to stay here in London, with a huge bed, 8 fluffy pillows, an amazingly comfortable quilt and my favourite - white, clean sheets. Saxophone music is playing softly on the petite silver stereo and the weather outside is perfectly syok for a nice cosy night in.

Life here is delightful.

Training is more-than-bearable.

Most instructors are as good teachers as they are very knowledgeable, which is fantastic.

The places we only once read in print, watched on tv and played on Monopoly are materializing in front of my eyes now, as if I stepped into the very pages of the books. 

Buckingham Palace, Madame Tussauds, Harrods, Cambridge, Oxford, Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Bath, London Eye, Thames River, Platform 9 and 3/4, Mayfair, Kings Cross, Marylebone, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, Bond Street, Leicester Square.

Taking the tube rips you off; so walking along the quaint city streets and colonial buildings and across bridges that have stood for centuries in the cool weather has yet another merit added onto its list. 

musicals. traditional Sunday roast. high-teas. carpet grass. fish and chips. trench coats. boots. adorable toddlers. graffiti on the walls. sipping hot tea. men in dashing suits. live soccer matches. busking along River Thames. coloqial accents. pies with gravy and mash. british dry humour. merry pubs. chilling out. service apartments. clicking of cameras.

None of this is new; you could probably get all of this in KL and SG if you looked hard enough. Trouble is, we never do, do we :)

All these lovelies go unseen, undone, uneaten.

victorian. 

renaissance. 

elizabethan. 

baroque.

classical.

edwardian.

jacobean.

i still don't know the difference of one from the other.

ages? architectural styles? era of music and art? 

all ancient, thats for sure :)

By the way, the London Bridge hasn't fallen down, and probably isn't anytime in the future; given that it has not shown even one sign of crumbling for a few centuries now.

MY OWN SPACE

If only it would rain heavily outside now.
Then I could curl up under my white, soft fake-martha-stewart-but-actually-from-IKEA-quilt,
with a good book, with lovely sappy songs playing in the background,
forget about anything that resembles work for just one night,
and drift off sleepily to a land of all things happy =)

But it's just another one of those warm, rainless nights.
And I have work due tomorrow.
Will postphone my grand plan to tomorrow night then.

Pool training (for diving), Elections Comm polling duty, B-Block TGIO Supper just passed.
JCRC Handover dinner, TGIO and block comm elections tomorrow night.
Is it just me, or is the Hall calendar unusually crazily packed this year?

On another note, I'm trying my best to ignore it,
but my 200-page NAUI Scuba Diver theory book is blinking accusingly up at me. Soon, k?
I'm so glad I found you by the way.
Thanks Elvin =)

FOR ONE MORE DAY

Picked the book up at 12am and didn't put it down until I finished it at 2.
Ashamed to say that it takes reading a book to remind me how much I love my mom, and even more than that, how much my mom loves me.

So for you mummy, my sincerest blog-reader who never fails to leave me sweet annonymous comments: Thank you for all your love, and I love you too.

Although we're 400km apart, you're the one I turn to when the going gets tough.


Although you work long hours up to 7 days a week at times, you listen patiently on the phone as I bemoan about how much schoolwork and hall activities I have. When you live a good long way away from work and have to drop yeechai off at the train station every morning and pick her up every evening after work, then drive home and cook dinner. When I live a stone throw away from Bizad and come back to a dinner that's already prepared in the dining hall.


You take time off and set aside work to take me out when I return home as and when I like. How many times have you asked how long I'll be home for, just to be answered "Just a few days." So many times I had chosen other things over going home. Too busy. Too much work.
1-month holiday? IHG.
3-month holidays? FWOC.
1-month holiday? travel.
1-month holiday? IHG.
You count the hours you could have spent with your mother. It's a lifetime in itself.

Was looking around my sister's blog hoping to come across more pictures of my mom, when I saw this snippet about my mom.

I remember my mom telling me a little story/analogy about puppy love.

“let’s say you meet a boy in school. you like chicken rice, he likes chicken rice. you think you are in love, because you both like chicken rice and a lot of people associate with liking and having the same taste in stuff with being in love. they think its the same thing. but then, your school canteen ONLY sells chicken rice. so how? you’ll grow older, get out into the real world and realize that there’s more to chicken rice in chinese cooking. there are other dishes. plus, you have other cuisines. you have italian, japanese, mediterranean, etc"

my mom is funny sometimes.

I don't need pictures to remind me of how my mother looks like, or storybooks to make me believe in the eternal power of a mother's love.


I also believe that parents, if they love you,will hold you safely,above the swirling waters, and sometimes that means you'll never know what they endured.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE IN ADVANCE

RAIN

"Non-stop rain over the past 24 hours has caused tree falls, floods, land slides across the island, putting a crimp on the plans of many" Straits Times.

It has been raining for the last 2 days.
It stops here and there, only to rain harder and more.
Acts of nature can be freaking scary.

Trudging back to hall from volleyball training just now was long, cold and wet.
Our bones were shivering, and the umbrella at most probably only protected our faces and hair. Not like they already weren't drenched in sweat before that.

A tree fell outside the Business HSS Library. Rest in peace.

I wish I could read the ST Interactive online - but i think a password and login is required. More than that though, I wish I have the energy and drive to walk downstairs, make my way to the lobby and read the papers. I wanna know how the rain's been affecting lives, people, places and trees. But the bed's calling out to me, seducing me into its warmth depths. I just wanna dive in and not wake up tomorrow morning.

Oh but I must, workshops on etiquette tomorrow!
We get to learn about dining etiquette in a Lunch Practise at the Guild House!
Fancy me eating bread and butter like a lady. Haaaa.

I hate it when people name-drop so much.
Name-dropping in moderation is fine, but when you do it too much, or when it's uncalled for, you've crossed the line of patience and I cannot keep my eyes from staying focused. They have to roll.

I MISS FWOC!

I miss FWOC!
The days of fun, frisbee, planning, games, fellowship ahhhhhhhh.


Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i love this picture!
This picture was taken when we went to the zoo.
The rest couldn't make it (Swee Yong, Jie Ling, Alvin, Huan Chao, Janice, Cherlyn, Ranjan, YanYan). Haaaa I remember the tuna sandwiches we made so we wouldn't have to spend money on expensive food sold at the zoo. The sandwiches were damp and soggy when it was lunchtime and Jason went to buy food for himself haaha.

Okay -_-
Maybe it's not that funny but it just brings back good memories and fuzzy feelings.
It's the emo hour of the day.
I really need to sleep now.

COLOURFUL

OH in the name of heavens my thigh muscles are wailing in agony.
From the short run last night and tonight.
The first of physical activities ever since.. IHG trials - Sept/Oct?
And the first of many many trainings to come.
And from barely sitting in the past 5 hours.
PAINFUL.

But ooh - the fruit of my labour! =)

THANKS SHERRIE NG SEOK HWA

sherrie says:
u 4got i bought u massive amounts of famos amos =(

[B-blockers never walk alone] [stephanasia] - Don't predict the future, make it so. says:
hahhaa

[B-blockers never walk alone] [stephanasia] - Don't predict the future, make it so. says:
okay i'll add in now!!

sherrie says:
MASASSSIVEEEEEEee

sherrie says:
MASSSSSIVEEEEEEEEEE

So here goes.
Thanks, rie, for the massive amount of Famous Amos cookies! =D

MAMBOING IN MY OWN ROOM

I think Zoukout's tonight - at.. Siloso beach?
But Who needs Zouk when you can have 80s Mambo music in your own room! Haaha I have Class95 on now and it's the all-80s weekend!

Yes it's nothing new but right now, like how many hundreds of people are attempting to dance at Zoukout right now. Ugh imagine the mass of sweaty bodies in skimpy clothes squeezed together trying to move as one body. Sweaty skin sliding against another, sharing prespiration yuck.

Then envision the amount of drinks consumed and imagine all the cash flowing like honey to greedy alcohol manufacturers and bar owners by inducing the unassuming crowd to believe that consuming alcohol will up the fun to the next level.

After that, picture the end-of-the-party traffic at the Mrt station, the bus-stops and even worse at the car-parks.

Lastly, I sigh when I think of the logistics nightmare of cleaning up the mess left behind by party-goers. Why should innocent cleaners clean up behind these act-cool-and-hip people. Haaa yes I'm a prude - I don't endorse clubbing activities.

But my point is - Why put yourself through all that when you can mambo and shake your booty in your own room to class95! =D


Ahhh my own nightmare.
Rearranging my clothes cupboard now.
I usually never fold my clothers properly and I hardly wash my go-put clothes haaaha.
Yes gross. I'm paying the price for it now. Nearly every single piece of clothing has to be ironed now. And I think this delightful habit of mine will be brought over to next year so can anyone please tell me why I'll bother to colour-code my clothes later?
Ahhhh and this is only two shelves.
I have more to go. Help.

JAMIE LIM ZHI HAO! Hurry up come back from Phuket!
I have pineapple tarts for your family and I need to pass it to them asap so they'll stay fresh. Oh yeah and I miss you too. Faster faster!

Oh and trainings will start on Monday! Yahooo!
Oh and a final thanks to my dear parents who have funded all my purchases back at home. All in all, the haul stands at 5 tops, 3 working tops, 3 working pants, 2 skirts, 2 dresses, 1 lovely pink crotcheted sweater, 1 pair of heels, massive amounts Famous Amos cookies, earrings, books, toiletries and of course loads of food.
All lovely and I am utterly grateful to them.

Famous Amos will be the death of me one day I swear.
It's one of my biggest weaknesses and I can just see the headlines now "Girl dies of diabetes and stomach lining is blackened after years of consuming too many black-coloured Famous Amos cookies" (the black one - think it's double choc with pecan nuts)

Oh yeah and i bought Big Steph's Birthday and Farewell gift which Jamie, Jason and Rina and I are going to share. My mom saw it, pointed it out and I fell in love with it! I almost want to keep it but I think Big Steph will use it more productively than me so ahhhhhhh.
Must let it go, must let it go *chant*
Picture of it after we pass it to her tomorrow.

SHOPPING!

Shopping at home is good stuff!
December sales wohooooo.
It can go up to 50%, some even 70%.
Tops can cost RM20 after a 50% discount and they can be really nice!

No more shopping in Singapore anymoreeeee.
Money down the drain just like that.
Quite a pointless post really.

HOME

Ahhh can't believe I have the nerve to clock in an average of 12 hours of sleep each day during the exam week, whilst other people are still struggling with the exams. Also, note to self, no more combining three 100% modules and 2 relatively easier Level 2000 modules. I was so slack during the reading week and during the exam period for these 2 modules, and I know I studied much less than I should have.
I'm truly terrified of results day.

Anyhows, what's done is done and on a happier note, I'm homee!
Have been for a while and should have blogged about it earlier, but you know.. what's chunksofsteph without backlogged posts, right.
Not something I'm proud of though.
Ahh I love the peacefulness of slacking around and reading in bed and watching cooking shows and snippets of the Doha Asian Games. All these done in air-conditioned rooms too! No such luxury across the Causeway. Pictures of yummy international cruisine next time.

Speaking of the Doha Asian Games - have you heard of the sport Kabbadi?
or seen Women's Takraw?
or appreciated Horse Ballet?
All these only in the Asian Games i say.

I've never heard of Kabbadi, much less seen it till recently and my first thought was omg, this is a sport?! 7-aside men, all in quite short shorts dance and bop about in one court. The game looks suspiciously like a mix between Pepsi-Cola and contact rugby without a ball. I say "game" because I still can't bring myself to believe that it qualifies as a sport. Apparently it has been around since 1950. Not that not believing's a crime.
The Flat Earth Society still doesn't buy the NASA discovery that the Earth is round.

Women's takraw looked fun.
Every time they scored a point (the Koreans and Chinese), they jumped about and clapped their hands in glee. Haha so cute.
Imagine our Kent Ridge guys doing that haaahaa.

Then there's Horse Ballet.
Another WTH?!
Horses canter and prance about in a little rectangular area and do pirouttes and whatnots.
The Team Gold medal went to the South Koreans and the riders stood on the podium to receive their medals. Wrong. Bad. The horses are more deserving, i say.
By the way, it's an equestrian "sport" and it's formal name is Dressage.
It'll always be Horse Ballet to me.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

It's amazing how love transcends the borders of nationality, race, culture and all that hula-baloo.
I have a group mate who's an exchange from China, and she's attached to an exchange student from Germany. Their only medium of communication is English, although she doesn't speak it too well. Amazing.

I asked her what would happen when they each return to their home countries at the end of the year. They'll both graduate in 2 years time together, so I suppose all will be fine then. But before that though, they'll probably visit one another. So sweet.

There we go, locals.
No more whining about not having enough time for each other.

Anyways, some pictures, for fun!


My boyfriend, at his most charming and capable self =D
He multitasks so well! *gush*
I mean, to be able to play 2 different computer games at once!
wow *in amazed wonder*

The apple crumble we 5th floor girls baked for supper.
Yummy. Eeet was good stuff.

One of the best dinners from the dining hall, ever.
Tuna pasta, potato with pork slices and veg. YUM.

Have been missing from blogsphere too long.
Tell you what, if 5 people leave the comment "Hoo-Ha, hoo-ha!" on this post, I will know that I'm not writing in vain, and will try my very best to keep updating. Haha =)

DOUBLE EEP

I know eep is not a word per say, but people use rubbish words like hurhur and ke-ke and those go around, don't they.

Anyway, double eep because my eating habits seem to repeat day after day nowadays in a self-destructing cycle. Freaky makan day today.

For someone who doesn't usually wake up for breakfast, I woke up early this morning and wolfed down 3 tuna sandwiches and half a chicken burger from the dining hall. Yum. That was at 9.45 am. Two hours later after a project meeting, I had a half-cold yong tau foo lunch.

As if the 8-hour sleep the night before wasn't enough, I took a leisurely 1 1/2 hours sleep in the afternoon. Like WTH?! I don't do afternoon sleeps.
Then The boy and I braved the heavy downpour and made our way to Bizad shivering and seeking refuge under a small feeble umbrella - to pass his project mates some materials and to guess what - tapao chicken rice, JIA FAN + JIA CHAR SIEW.
O_o
which I greedily ate half of.
The char siew was calling out to me!
Sorry dear, I knew that was your lunch.

Then dinner at 7.30, and now awaiting yummy maggi goreng for supper.
5 full meals in 15 hours, all rice-y and noodle-y and bread-y and CARBO-LADEN?!

Altogether now..."OMG I'M FATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. HOWWWWWW."
What self-destructive cycle.
Self-destructive circle la.

But damn, eating my tuna sandwiches in the morning is a super good feeling la.
I LOVE tuna.