Para machuchar meu coracao.

Five days came and went by quickly and so did my mother. I had a great 4.5 days with her, and though I really wished she could stay a little longer, I was actually relieved to get my study life back on track from the moment she left for the airport in the cab. No tears, no drama. Very good.

So here are the photos from the graduation ceremony that I promised. Apologies to those people who got my pics in the mail already, these are pretty much the same carefully selected ones in which I look decent :P

Special credits go to Moonface for her excellent photo-snapping skills and awesome professional camera (happy now? Bwahahhahaa).



With Sponk, who has since gone back to Perth - I will miss the hotel suite, the KK, the boneless KFC, the crossword puzzles and your mom :) Oh and did I forget to mention you? :D



HJ. We look good together don't we?!



With my first friends in Melbourne :>



Pissed boring graduation ceremony -_-



My adorable mates from Japanese class :>



Moonface and my cert!



Mummy and me.

Thank you everyone who came specially to see me and take pictures, I appreciate that very much... ^^

X X X

I got to know a few things about someone a couple of minutes ago, and my head is spinning now. Can this university get any smaller? o_O

Now I see
This is the way it's supposed to be
I met you and now I see
This is the way it should be.

Paul McCartney - This Never Happened Before.

Mack the knife.



I have graduated!

More photos later :>

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

So guess what, I'm supposed to be in the 110-417 class right at this very moment, but because I dropped in to have a chat with one of my Senseis before that class was due to start - and the chat ended up going for a good half hour - I arrived outside the classroom 35 minutes late and decided that I won't go in and avoid all the stares and embarrassment. It is stupid and ridiculous I know, because it was a 90-minute class and technically missing 35 minutes isn't all that bad, but I'm that type of person whereby it's either I arrive punctually (at most five minutes late) or I don't attend the class at all. I swear my obsessive image-consciousness will destroy me sooner or later.

So here I am, trying to wash away the guilt of class-wagging by hibernating in the Postgrad computer lab. Ignore my rambling.

X X X

The mother arrived yesterday morning and things have been great so far. For once there was actually NO NAGGING about the state of the apartment (in fact she was mighty impressed), which Moonface and I are really really proud of. Well, considering the fact that cleaning and packing took no less than four DAYS on and off =_= The company is nice and so was the food. We (actually just me) totally pigged out like there was no tomorrow the moment we met up in the city. Huge servings of dim sum for lunch at Chinatown, and then orgasmic Vietnamese for dinner at Richmond. Not a wise thing to do since I want/need/have to look good for my graduation photos later this evening o_O

And honestly, apart from the photo-taking with friends and family and the fact that I was actually going to wear an academic gown for the first time in my life, I don't actually feel excited enough about sitting through the pissed boring ceremony and graduating per se - I mean, duh, I have almost a semester and a half of shit work (*AND* the bloody thesis) ahead of me before I can actually mean those words "I have graduated", right?

But anyhow I am still looking forward to switching on my cam-whore mode in a couple of hours. Teeheehee.

The other half of me.

Three months after I embarked on a body conditioning/toning quest through BodyPump at FF, Moonface remarked in a slightly astonished tone, that under the light:

"OMG are those biceps??!!"

Man, this is the best outsider feedback so far - this actually feels better than hearing someone tell me I have lost weight. I am very pleased with myself :p And thank you Mr. B, much love! ^_^

In other news, the mother is arriving in approximately 10 hours to visit, and of course attend my graduation this Thursday - la graduada. Be back after the weekend with pics! :D

X X X

Bella luna
My beautiful beautiful moon
How you swoon me like no other.

Jason Mraz - Bella Luna.

Don't rain on my parade.

The mother is arriving early Wednesday morning. The house is in a complete and utter MESS and we (actually, I) have exactly four days from now to turn that around.

Harfparf.

It's far beyond the stars
It's near beyond the moon
I know beyond a doubt
My heart will lead me there soon.

Bobby Darin - Beyond The Sea.

Scratch.

It isn't particularly exciting when you are the only child of your divorced parents and both of them want to fly across the oceans to be a part of your graduation ceremony.

Seems like a trivial matter on the surface, but I have no idea what to do, or say, or even think.

Sob.

And now I'm caught in the middle.

A1 - Caught In The Middle.

Republica.

"Oh he does it everytime
It's just his permanent disguise
Yeah yeah but he's drop dead gorgeous."

For the past two days I've been spending two hours doing back-to-back classes at FF, at the expense of doing my readings and preparing for my thesis. The reason is bleeding obvious - you get the pic.

And sigh, how does one even put it in words? :x

What is love?

You Are: 50% Dog, 50% Cat

You are a nice blend of cat and dog. You're playful but not too needy. And you're friendly but careful. And while you have your moody moments, you're too happy to stay upset for long.

Are You More Cat or Dog?

I lurrrrve the drawing, so cute!! :)

When I wake each morning
And the storm beats down on me
And I know we belong together
Only love can set you free .

N-Trance - Set You Free.

Kokoro no doa.

Soundbites from Japanese class which cracked everyone up (okay actually just the three of us, hee hee):

1) "COCK (!!!!) your head to one side"

2) "Adios Buckaroo"

3) "Go ahead, make my day"

3) "Sell yourself"

Okay, so they aren't very funny. But you have to be in our class to fully understand what I mean :p

I love my Japanese seminars now that I'm in the same class with four of my favourite friends! ^_^

あのときのまま

僕だけがここで

立ち止まている。


ケミストリー 《ココロノドア》

Is true love truly there?



Watched the above film at the MIFF yesterday afternoon, and we left the cinema *surprisingly* teary-eyed and totally floored. Best Singaporean production I've seen - ever (because for once it was not your typical preachy anti-government kids-dominated local movie). Loved it.

Four down, one more to go.

"Be with me, my beloved one, that my smile may not fade."

The squid and the whale.

As part of my thesis preparation I had a meeting with the university librarian in charge of Japanese studies for the first time this afternoon, and as much as I have told myself I am going to put in my best effort for this coming year to make it all worthwhile, I cannot help but feel that the future is going to be blurry.

For one, I'm struggling to understand what my Sensei says in class (and the fact that everyone else seemed to understand made it all the more worse), and after the 'library tour', I realised that I'd entirely overlooked the fact that if I was going to write a 12,000-word thesis about Japan, it is only natural and inevitable that I have to read and reference resource material in the national language.

My heart skipped two beats as the friendly librarian led me to the Japanese reference book section, and then shortly after I collapsed and died inside of me.

Welcome to 4th year, Lynn.

Awwwwww.

"A person isn't born with the intelligence to be with someone especial, you learn it, and you fail in the path of life, but you don't have to give up the chance to love." - Gael Garcia Bernal.

Always and always.

Conversation with Sponk via SMS:

Me: So Anne have you decided if you are coming back for graduation or not? It's a once in a lifetime thing... no?!

Sponk: I am only if you promise to take a pic with me throwing the hat.

Me: .... There's no hat for undergrad graduations - like us. Haha too bad. Or maybe you can bring your own fake hat!

Sponk: BUT WHY????!!!!!

X X X

I don't get it either.

The regalia (or 'graduation gown' as we know it) for normal graduates at my university come without that famous square cap (my mother will have an opinion about this), unlike NUS/NTU and those American universities we always see on TV. So for us soon-to-be graduates, it's just the plain black gown with faculty coloured hood, and no graduation cap. I am pretty displeased about that. I mean, the presence of that cap makes everyone look neater and smarter, not to mention that unforgettable throwing-the-graduation-cap-up-in-the-air moment we've been seeing on local TV in the 'We Are Singapore' video since we were kids o_O

I've always assumed that I'd definitely be able to throw my hat up in the sky on the day I graduate from university, but ... apparently not, and I found out too late (if not I would have transferred to another uni with the grad cap, like Monash :D). Something's missing without the cap, like there's no kick, no closure.

Look out for me at graduation ceremony on August 24 if you doubt my words :p But what the hell, who on earth graduates in the dark at 7.30 pm?!?!

X X X

Just twelve days I've been back in Melbourne, and my movie count has reached an alarming SEVEN (including DVDs). The ongoing MIFF is slowly taking its toll on my pocket, but strangely enough I am always willing to part with my money for movies, although not all of them I saw were fantastic. Osaka Love Thief was a magnificent eye-opener, Takeshis' started off great but ended very weirdly, and Black Gold left me to think twice about buying Starbucks coffee (uh...).

Yesterday afternoon I caught The Lake House and I honestly wished they could have left out the ending because it ruined such a potentially wonderful movie (okay, so the whole time-difference thing didn't quite make sense but hey, we're all allowed some fantasy in movies aren't we?). Loved the on-screen chemistry between Keanu and Sandra, too. Recommending this to all suckers for romance and drama who have been waiting long for a fresh new concept.

Oh, and Keanu Reeves - so, so, soooooo gorgeous that it hurt... Right ASS? ;)

X X X

In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever.

Eponine - Les Miserables OST.

Savvy.



Behold, the sexiest, coolest, funniest, most beautiful pirate on the face of this earth... Captain Jack Sparrow!!! ^_^

... okay, but I didn't like 'Dead Man's Chest' all that much - draggy, complicated, tried too hard. The presence of Captain Jack Sparrow saved the entire movie.

"One word love - curiosity. You long for freedom. You long to do what you want to do because you want it. To act on selfish impulse. You want to see what it's like. One day you wont be able to resist."

- Captain Jack Sparrow, "Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest".