just now i did sth really silly
i was at the mrt public phone area to make a phone call then i noticed a phonecard that someone had left behind at the phone so i handed in over to the mrt control officer. then i walked away only to realised that i myself had left my own phonecard at the phone! what irony! (or is it the wrong word to use?)
so i went back to the phone but someone went pass me exclaiming that she forgot to get her card. then when i looked at the phone, my card wasn't there. so i realised that person could be the earlier person who left the card there so i searched around and luckily, i managed to find her and explained to her that the card she took was mine and i had handed hers to the control officer. so after getting my card back from her, i asked her to follow me to the control room to get back her card.
ai yo, so muddleheaded of me!
today is the ultimate final day of lessons at nanyang...
mrs wong was really nice! though she's only our math teacher, she gave every single one of us an individual handmade present as a farewell gift! each of us got a bookmark with a hand written personal message on one side and 3 colour photos, 2 class ones and 1 smaller group photo that were all superbly printed on the other side. although the faces were very tiny, the group photo with faces of less than 2 cm diameter were all very clear and though the faces in the group photo were only a few mm long, i could still recognise everyone and their expressions.
attached to the bookmark is a friendship band that mrs wong made all by herself! just image how much effort she put in for each one multiplied by the dozens of sec 4s she have! and she has 3 young sons to handle!
i think mrs wong is really a very efficient person! and everything she mark our assignments and tests, she can finish marking by the next day! ah, she has been my math teacher since sec 1. i have never had any other formal math teachers in ny except mrs wong (but there are some others like relief teachers at the beginning of sec1 and the lecture teachers in upper sec)
then she was so funny, coz yuh shin let down her hair just before she received her bookmark and this reminded mrs wong that when she asked her husband what attracted him to her, he replied it was her hair coz when they were in university, she had long hair up to her waist and once when she let it down and shuai3 her hair like in those advertisements, her husband was smittened by that. haha so *romantic*
wang2 lao shi also gave each of us presents. a cute magnetic soft toy and a bookmark that was bought. i think the toy very cute and fun, coz can stick the magnets on the hands and legs in all sorts of weird positions like on the backside. haha
then yiling got a mashimaro and everyone was so jealous. but of course, she's the monitress, so xin1 ku3 how can just get something same as everyone else!
during the graduation ceremony rehearsal, i found out that yiling top our class! so capable! she has leadership abilities, good personality, and smart! a rare species! huiling was 2nd and liming was 3rd. then huiling told me that yiling achieved all a1sss expect for 1 subject that she got a2! sooo genius! and the school placed them by adding up the number of the grade and dividing the sum by the total number of subjects taken so the highest placing goes to the person with the lowest average.
then i was sweating like mad. i think i stinked.
anyway we had to go to the lt and walked back to the hall like for the real thing. but at least lt very cold, can cool me down. but i had to sit on the steps. so 'lucky', got arranged to sit on the steps. but actually i'm not really bother by it just that i am afraid that i would dirty my skirt and then when i go on stage to receive my scroll, there's a patch there. haha
oh ya, i wrote 4 autographs in all today. was quite fast coz already written so many liaoz. took only about 20 minutes each.
yeah!!! bio prac is over!!!
but there are still more then a dozen papers left.....
oh bother (pooh bear's commonly used phrase, haha)
1 more month and everything's over!
time passes fast, its what we've to go through that matters...
and it really does 'matter', coz its the 'o' levels!!! argh
and my tongue still hurts
anyway i think the bio prac exam was ok... not that i can gurantee a good grade but at least i answered all the questions and wrote down all that i could, which is a great feat to me since i usually never get to do that.
and something that i'm really relieved about is that at the very moment the invigilator said, ''pens down", i had just written down the very last word and put down the very last full stop! *ah, what a relief!*
ouch! my head still aches! owww!!!!!!
oh, where was i...
oh ya, all the specimens were green, 1 big fat bean pod (don't know the right name) and 2 leaves. oh my, the pod was really biiiggg! biggest pod i ever saw, maybe its another species or maybe it was genetically modified. heehee, bio
the question were very different from those we usually see but at least they didn't give us some weird and difficult-to-label fruit
then we were stuck in the lt for 2 hours (quartined...) i spent something like 45 minutes eating a pack of nasi lemak... all because of my tongue...
but at least, we were showed a movie by zhang yimou, called 'huo2 zhe4'. not bad, its about china in the 1930s-50s with gongli and ge3you1 as the leads, can learn history, heehee
urghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! horrible headache!!!!!
nvm, i shall go on...
after doing some english in the library and before going for tuition, i had stomachache so i rushed to the second floor toilet but there was no toilet paper there and i had left behind my tissue in the library with mich. so i dashed up to the third floor but there was still no toilet paper! then a sec1 who was standing outside a cubicle (most probably waiting for her friend inside) said, "li3 mian4 you3..." . i thought she was talking to her friend so i said, "huh?" then she repeated but still couldn't find the last few words to fill in.
i found that she was trying to tell me that there is toilet paper in the first cubicle so i thanked her before doing what i wanted to...
here comes the funny part, she asked her friend, "what's toilet paper called in chinese?"
then i was like "???" u don't know what toilet paper is in chinese?!? then why didn't u speak to me in english?
haha, but at least she's smart enough to know what i need without me asking and helpful enough to tell me where it is
oh ya, forgot to mention...
i reached school at about 7+ am so i had some time to study before reporting for the prac exam. then, met some classmates so studied together. then xiuxia was really "cute" (quote from weilin, haha) coz she actually bought some specimens from the market to look at in preparation for the exam.
alamak, forgot another thing, haiz, have to come back and edit this post again...
i have yet to blog abt the trip to ajc. anyway, me and casie walked until we had to leave coz our legs were so tired... we walked around the whole campus, trying to search for this and that and when we couldn't find, we walked back to the same spot again... haiz... and there were no maps at all... yah, that's the whole problem
but i think other than having to climb up and down the stairs alot (which is a big point but at least can train leg muscles), the campus was quite ok.
at first we couldn't find the entrance and ended up at the old entrance (near the running track and the field) which was locked up with a rusty chain (so i told casie maybe the campus closed for very very long liaoz and they have another campus somewhere else, haha, so silly) then luckily we spotted some humans walking around the campus in the far distance and after casie called yiling to confirm that its the right place, we found the new gate...
we took alot of time trying to search how to get to the track and field area that we first saw... then when we finally found it, it was also the first place where an ajc guy actually said "welcome to ajc". though its not really formal coz they were the track team resting and just said it for fun. then they also said "join track" which further confirms it
the classrooms were quite weird coz there were no windows at all on the corridor side (totally concrete) though they were not air conditioned and the door seemed sort of like sealed so casie said the classrooms looked scary, like locking up the students, haha
the auditorium was amazing. it had like dozen of side doorss but not a single main entrance and any signs to show its location (or maybe we just missed it)
the lts were also quite funny. there were doors side by side labelled 'in' and 'out'! and through the glass in the 'out' door, i could see a long flight of straight steps built with a concrete wall separating this section from the lt itself which i can see through the glass in the 'in' door. i tried to come up with a reason for the doors and the separate stairs that since there were limited lts, they needed the students to move in an orderly efficient manner so that time would not be wasted on the transition between lectures. so the earlier group of students have to move all the way up to the top of the lt leading to the separated flight of stairs to get out of the lt so that the next group of students can enter straight from the 'in' door without the hundreds of people having to go in opposite ways trying to squeeze through one door.
aiya, me so lame... think of such reasons...
anyway, i think the whole campus is something like a maze... the entrance was not prominent... the way to the auditorium was also not...
wah, just now i watched the channel 8 travel show...
i think its so nice, i mean the place, feel like going to the teranggana (or whatever its called) after 'o' levels...
1 more month!
i am sooooo bored.........
bio 'o' level prac exam tomorrow......
i am having a headache since last night.......
my tongue hurts like there are needles sticking in it......
stupid me burnt my tongue from drinking soup that's tooo hot.......
i can feel my heart beating on my back leaning against the chair........
must be because i'm very scared of tomorrow's exam since i've not prepared much yet i'm still slacking.......
shall blog abt the ajc open house.
i reached ajc at 2+ pm, when the openhouse had already ended
erm... don't feel like blogging on, otherwise it will be half an hour before i'm done...
sth sucks....... it is life? or the cambridge examiners?? or what???
*teehee* me got praised again! during recess, sheena was playing sun yanzi's yu jian on the piano in the canteen and several classmates were surrounding her. then i approached them and someone (i forgot who, i think its either xiuxia or yiyun coz they were talking to me together) asked me if i can play the piano. of course i replied i can't, then yiyun said i can play the *clarinet action* (coz she not familiar with it so don't know the name). so i said its the clarinet. then yiyun and xiuxia said at least i can play the clarinet, they can't. then xiuxia said if i can play the piano, will *couldn't find the word*. so yiyun said will "you3 qi4 zhi4" (or sth like that, forgot her exact words but its sth nice). then xiuxia agreed! then they say not like sheena. actually sheena's not bad, just that she's a basketballer so people feel weird seeing her play the piano.
hmm... really really regret not learning the piano...
maybe i can learn after the 'o' levels? *hopefully!*
ruyan is so cute. just now amanda passed up the message to be at school during chinese period tomorrow to collect report book (which i already knew, but this is not the point) so i called ruyan. then she answered me with "mmm..." sound in a mischievous way which was so funny. anyway, the message was supposed to end at me which is very weird since i'm neither at the start or at the end
monday...
i had a great interesting dream
i read my primary 6 autograph book in the early evening then i tried to fill in my vocabulary book after reading another short story. however, i became sleepy so i went to bed. then i dreamt that i met my p6 classmates. the timeframe was similar to real life, ie post prelim/ pre 'o' levels period.
i started chatting with weichen, telling him that he had changed alot since p6. the sec4 weichen in my dream was very restless and kept jumping up and down unlike the p6 weichen whom i recall was more settled. then we talked abt our results and he seemed to not know how to calculate l1r5. after that, i think we were trying to get the others to start moving to maybe eat or what
hmm... that's all i can remember...
this is one of the rare dreams (unlike those dreams that i usually have where i always get chased by all sorts of ppl/ weird stuff) that i wish happened in real life, because its so great to be able to chat so much with an old classmate (considering that i've become a person who is unable to start/ carry on any conversation with friends)
tuesday...
we practised the grad song. everyone was laughing so mrs ee said we won't be like that on that day when we sing the song. then i was wondering if she expects us to cry.
actually i think its quite fun singing the grad song
hey, i realised that the type of handsomeness of qi ye in qian nu you hun is the same as orlando bloom's. both look handsome when they have long hair like in their respective characters! when qi ye changed to the scholarly look, he didn't look as handsome and orlando's real life hairstule also makes him look less handsome than legolas.
1st time this year that i took the newton way to come to school (i think) and there was a maintenance problem with the mrt train. *dots*...
i saw the quite good-looking guy from asc(b) whom i used to see last year. can call this yuan2 fen4 since it has been months since i last took this route and this time when i took this route, i saw him? haha
on the bus, i saw something very cute!
a bird crossing the road when the green man was flashing! its movements were just so cute! just imagine that all the cars and buses have stopped (like they usually do when u cross the road) and instead of humans crossing the road, u see a bird!
by the time i reached school, the morning music was already playing so i went straight to the qradrangle. no one from my class was down yet so i just stood there and waited.
then out of the blue, qui jun appeared and tried to scare me. i though it was because of her excited mood so i asked for the reason of her being excited but she explained that it was because she saw me standing alone which seemed like a good opportunity to scare me so she was excited. i think it should be that mischievous feeling people sometimes have.
erm... i think i dampened her excitement with my blank reaction... sorry
anyway, it was quite pathetic for some classes like 4/9, 4/11, 4/8 etc which had only less than 3 people per class at flag-raising. and i don't think i saw anyone from 4/1 (but i saw anmin and some 4/1ers during recess) or 4/5.
hmm... i think most people avoid flag-raising on purpose or maybe they just wanted to come later. i would have if not for the fear that the side-gate would be closed.
the morning announcer and the uniformed group person who gave the senangdiri & stuff commands were lousy and made everyone laugh. mr ellis even had to tell everyone to settle down.
1st period was english. 11 people attended the lesson. not bad actually. some people who came early in the morning didn't attend though.
i was much more comfortable with the smaller group (may be because the english elites were not around so i didn't feel so inferior). also had to answer questions more often.
half more hour to chinese lesson. i shall write autographs now. bye
Ewwww
mom just told me to look at a hand on top of our service balcony window pane... and at first i was rather terrified and unwilling to go and take a look and scary images appeared in my mind.
it ended up to be a pale yellow glove which i suppose someone living above us had accidentally dropped down...
today was really wasted
i spent the whole morning sleeping till 11am and half the afternoon from 1-3pm sleeping too...
only managed to write some new words and their meaning and usage into my vocabulary book
I am totally shocked! there are 50 new views for my webshots photos this week! although me and my family went there a few times because of the equinox family photos, these couldn't have summed up to 50! i wonder why there are so many views
ok, now i shall blog about today.
first thing in the morning, amanda went around the class taking photos. hmm... its all thanks to her that we have so many class photos. THANKS. and i quite envy her because she has a small handy digital camera that also allows you to see the photo after its taken. so good, i want one too
during eng lesson in lang room, i was sitting behind yiyun who suddenly turned around and pointed out, "na4 bian1 de4 ren2 dou1 zai4 zuo4 tou1 ji1 mo1 gou3 de4 shi4 yo" which is actually writing autographs, haha. then we started taking turns to point out who was writing ours.
then, in groups, we had to write summaries of different paragraphs of a comprehension passage on a oht. mdm yick then went through them with the whole class. the last group was amanda's group and when mdm yick was abt to go through their summary, kaiyun and amanda told mdm yick that they want to go through their summary themselves. huilin then thought they were up to something bad. but it was in fact something very sweet. they had wanted to thank yiling and anqi for being our class monitress and assistant monitress respectively. but kaiyun was too rush in showing the thankyou message that the oht fell off the ohp even before the rest of us (or maybe just me because i was seated side-facing the front) could catch the message and she told us to clap before i could even realise what they were doing. then when the confused me finally understood, everyone was already clapping to show our gratefulness.
today is the last day that is compulsory for all sec4s to attend school as usual. after today, all sec4 classes will never ever attend the normal school lessons together as full classes for a full day again...
so far, 21 of my classmates have written in my autograph book, so 14 haven't. amanda is very efficient - she only has 3 ppl left.
after sch, we had to attend a science practical briefing session at the auditorium. mrs wong was really cautious. she was preparing for the worst case senario and said that it that was a major traffic jam or a flood or anything that stops someone who lives very far away from sch to get to sch in time, we can report to the nearest secondary school examination centre that has the particular paper to sit for it!
tuition was brought forward to start at 4.30pm but mr bala forgot so we started at about 5pm after miss doris called him.
during tuition, mr bala told us some stories, one of which was about the three wise men & birth of jesus. what a coincidence! i had actually read a story about that only yesterday! though the main character in that story was pontius. (found from the dictionary that he's the man who "condemned jesus to be crucified")
after tuition, i was waiting to cross the road to get to the bus-stop when two bus 67 drove past. at that moment, i was thinking, sigh, miss buses again...
but within 5 minutes of me reaching the bus-stop, another bus 67 arrived. i was like, *dots*...
i remember during sec 2 when i used to go to lot 1, i had to wait more than 20 minutes for a bus 67 to come...
later on on the bus, i saw a tchs student press the bell when another bell, which a woman sitting in front of him tried to press, was not working. i was a little impressed by his helpfulness (and was thinking, 'wah, tchs also have so gentlemanly person') but the next moment, when the bus stopped at the stop, he got off. so it could be that he wasn't that gentlemanly after all...
ai yo, yiyun's really so funny (& lame too, heehee). just now (abt 3+pm), she was going home then she said "bye miao miao , bye ice cream". then we starting laughing. 'miao' is linyan's commonly used greeting but linyan couldn't understand why yiyun called me 'ice cream'. actually, its bcoz 'fenella' when mispronounced sounds like vanilla. so linyan was like *dots*...
i spent most of free period today writing autographs (3 to write). i took alot of time to write coz had to think (slow brain...), then weilin and kaiyun were doing/saying funny lame stuff throughout the whole 1 and a half hours. gonna miss that when we go separate ways... though its such silly stuff
ok, i shall just blog this bit, haf to go do part of the tonnes of the papers now...
today, after flag raising, mdm mak told we sec4s tt the ppl who are stronger at some subjects are allowed not to go to sch to attend those lessons so that they can do self-studying. but i think i'll still go to sch, coz otherwise i'll only slack at home...
laura write autograph bk sooo fast, i think less than 15min, so efficient! then michelle say we become experienced in writing them liaoz coz write so many. mich and shiling started drawing cute graphics so i asked shiling and lisa (mich no extra space, lisa got) to draw for me. they draw so nice, not like me...
after sch, some ppl including clit ppl (coz they have extra lesson from 3.30-5.30pm), i shall list the ppl: laura, jane, casie, linyan, yiyun, anqi, xiuxia, ruyan, lingee, kim, quijun. huilin and i were doing eng part 2 essay.
yiyun and casie were playfully dou4 zui3ing then yiyun said not to lend casie her coloured pens and that they are reserved for "..." (some mushy expression i didn't catch) which referred to jane whom i think had borrowed the pens so jane blushed and yiyun pted tt out then everyone was laughing. yiyun always so comical, forever making us laugh
but i'll miss that when everyone parts which is so soon...
i was nearly knocked down by a motorcycle on sat night! it was already red light yet the motorcyclist sped on and missed me by less than 2 metres. it may seem quite far but if i had walked faster, i would be lying on a hospital bed now. mom gave a shriek while i exclaimed "wah!"
today, towards the end of the 1st lesson (chi), my whole class was excitedly discussing abt which jc to go. then zhenglan started collating the jc choices. i couldn't decided which jc to go then she kept forcing me to tell her my choice. then kaiyun tried to 'force'/'persuade' everyone to go to njc with her
at the end of the day, after going thru the choices of about half of the class, it seems that most ppl's 1st choice is hcjc (as expected...) but i don't think i can go there coz other than my poor results, the school fees are probably going to be raised since they are becoming independent nxt yr (according to wang2 lao3 shi1).
hmm... i just looked at the jc course outlines from the vjc website and had 1 feeling: disgusting. it seems that poly courses are much better... though i don't know much about it other than the poly experience at singapore poly.
anyway, sth nice happened during hist. lesson. i was given some positive comments :) i shall call it 'a'. this was how it happened. xiebo was saying she was 'a' so weilin say me 'a' also didn't praise myself then lingee say her mom saw our class photo say me 'a' too and xiebo said her mom also said the same thing.
hmm, i think i have phrased this in a very confusing way but nvm. the point is i'm trying to remember nice comments on me
moderations...
so far, there are 2:
- maths (+5%)
- physics (+3%)
*FRUSTRATION!!!* so much moderation yet my l1r5 remains at 10 because these 2 are 2 of the few subjects that i have already gotten a1 with my own abilities! why can't they moderate history(e)!!! or english!!! boohoohoo...
with all these moderations, everyone's l1r5 is going down yet mine is staying 'stagnant'! *JEALOUS* *SHOUTS: UNFAIR!* how can they be soooo unfair! they should give us the choice to add the 8% to whichever subject we want so that its fairer. then with these 8%, i can reduce my l1r5 to 8...
this is just a silly dream... one that will never come true coz life is never fair...
ppl poorer at math and phy get to benefit soooo much yet ppl poor at other subjects (like me!) are left on the roadside to rot... i mean its just UNFAIR
so tired last night that i didn't even blog... *yawn*
wah, another week has past... a week after prelims... a week nearer to 'o' levels... a week wasted not studying...
me l1r5: 10. quite satisfied... coz i had already prepared going to a poly so now still can go jc so its ok though to many ppl, they would be very sad.
but actually i cld have gotten 9 if i had tried to dig out 2 more marks for english...
i got a1 for chem. paper1: 35/40. paper2: 37/50 & 19/30. paper3: 38/40.
i was quite surprised to get so high for paper3 coz i though i made quite a lot of mistakes but actually its bcoz that were loads of bonus points here and there.
i sat with huilin who did better than me yet she was still fretting that she doesn't deserve her marks and was looking for marks to deduct...
abt half of the level got distinctions
for physics, i was elated when i calculated that i got a1! it was out of my expectations bcoz i only managed to pass my midyrs by 2 pathetic marks.
paper1: 34/40 paper2 & 3 maybe can add marks though not necessary
i was sitting in front of a bunch of noisy irritating monkeys. so d*** irritating! kept talking so loudly that i had to lean forward to hear the teachers. and the monkey sitting behind me kept kicking my chair! i want to kick her a** ah!! cannot stand such monkeys!
*sorry for being vulgar*
mr bala said i can go hcjc... but i don't think so, coz alot of ppl are getting single digits
forgot to blog on tue that i was late for school. i was already very nervous when i board the bus coz the driver was driving so slowly. i was thinking about whether or not to ask him to drive faster but gave up on the idea coz i thought he wld drive even slower on purpose. but luckily, 200 over (i estimate) other ppl were also late due to a serious traffic jam along the whole road (xiebo said it was due to rgps's sports day). she, mich, lingee (whom i realised was on the same bus as me only after we alighted), zhixiu and casie were also late. so that sums up to one sixth of the class!
wednesday...
we got back hist(e) paper. me, 19/25 for sbq, 9/25 for seq. my structured is forever lousy coz i always never remember properly though this time, i really studied the questions that i attempted. for the whole week of sept holiday, the biggest proportion of time spent on studying was on history yet my results for it is the worst among all my subjects...
math was ok coz as long as i get a1, i'm satisfied. but i found 2 marks to deduct... and i was quite relaxed to write them on the paper since they won't affect my a1.
update: today (thur) during bio, ppl were saying the teachers are bring up the whole level's marks by 5marks ie 1 whole grade!!! but it doesn't help me at all... boohoohoo, why not some other subject???
cont at home... its 4+pm now
for ss, ms chua spent quite alot of time reading every class's results including the no. of a1s, a2s, b3 etc and the %age passes and the msg. when i first saw the results of our class, i was very scared coz there was 1 person who got e8 and i was worried that it was me. the whole level did very well and there were 8 ppl who got at least 45/50, 2 of which were from our class (1 is liming, don't know who the other is). but the %age of distinctions in our class since fell behind a few others.
when i finally got back my paper, i was so glad that the e8 wasn't mine~! i got 38/50!! (though to many others in my class, they won't be so happy to get such results, i am!) i didn't realise that my sbq achieved 24/25 until i saw huiling's 23/25 then take a look at my own. boy was i happy coz it really pulled my grade up from c5 for that history to a b3 for my combined humanities! (everyone else wld be mourning over a b3 but for me, its my highest ever! so i'm happy) i must thank ms/mrs? lena teo for give me 24/25 :) coz other very strict teachers will definitely not give me such a high mark although the answers are there.
today...
bio... the msg was 2 point sth so the teachers were very happy coz it was a vast improvement from midyrs. but i did badly since i only started studying 2 days before the exam and i studied extremely slowly and only touched a few chapters.
paper1: 29/40. paper2: 28/50 and 17/30. paper3: 27/40. total: 63.125% -> b4.
i really shld have looked at that kaposi sarcoma thingy when i saw it at the bio tb's index page but i forgot. otherwise i wld have known that its all about aids and i would have gained a few more marks and get a b3...
but that mrs tan is really extremely strict on marking and want all the keywords there before she give the mark. she gave me 3/10 for the essay qn she marked though i wrote 1 whole page which i rarely can do... at least she cld have given me 1 or 2 more marks...
but its actually much of my own fault too coz other than forgetting to check up on that kaposi, i also forgot to write back the temp unit for the graph's axis label after erasing it because it was too messy... really my fault that i didn't get b3...
huiling has already gotten 6 points for her l1r5 though she has not gotten back her phy, chem and malay papers... so smart and hardworking still always worry for nothing
oh yah, forgot to thank mdm yick for the time out chocolate and mrs wong for the nougat. children's day presents
ms lee is really smart. we went thru the chem mcqs and she knows what types of mistakes we make and the reasons for them when we only tell her the question number that we got wrong.
yesterday after school, i met mom at chinese high bus stop to take a taxi to nuh. we reached there earlier then the scheduled appointment at 3pm but had to wait till abt 3.20pm for my turn... luckily the result of the consultation was that i didn't have any major problems.
then we went jurong pt coz i saw a top there that i wanted to buy. the journey from nuh to jurong pt took us alot of time (abt an hour) though its not far...
we ate seafood platter at fish & co. thought the portion was for 1 person, the 2 of us shared yet i was bloated by the end of the meal. the food is delicious but very oily
we visited jennyfer and i initially thought i cldn't find the top i had saw. we looked around and picked some others then luckily an assistant showed us where the top i had wanted was. i tried quite a few pieces but still bought the one i had seen previously. i also got a pair of three quarter pants at baleno. we ate crepes before going home at abt 7.45pm. throughout the shopping at jurong pt, i kept repeating that it was such a great place with all sorts of shops there.
since yesterday i think i don't want to go for the band overseas trip liaoz.... i know i'm very fickleminded but yesterday i found out ah hee uncle's wedding is on the day after we take off to thailand... and grad night is on the nxt day... so that sums up to 2 very impt dinners... if i knew that this was the case, i wouldn't have been convinced by jiayun to go...
and furthermore this morning when i met yumin and jac, they said only 40+ ppl are going which is so pathetic and yumin oso don't feel like going liaoz...
but i don't know if i really confirm don't want to go... and also, i don't know how to tell ms jasmine tan... and the final day to hand in the money for grad night is tomorrow... so i'll have to decide by tomorrow...
every non-biased opinion i asked for said no except one with the reason behind being its the one and only chance (which is a main reason why i had wanted to go) and it will leave some good records too
Have Read
'04 year-end holidays (highest number of books read in a long time)
-The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (gd read)
-Princess Diaries: Third Time Lucky by Meg Cabot (fun read)
-Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (must read - inspirational)
-Slab Rat by Ted Heller (full of office politics and R21 stuff - not for kids)
-The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (makes u want to finish it)
-A walk to remember by Nicholas Sparks (simple but meaningful)
-The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (can identify with)
-The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (romantic love story with too much R21 stuff)
-Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks (even more R21. ugh)
-The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery
-Unstrung Heroes by Franz Lidz (autobiography about his four uncles and father)
-The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks
-The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (very unique POV of an autistic boy)
-The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux (love the breadth of the plot, one of my favourites)
-Wild Orchids by Jude Deveraux (alternating between two first persons' view - unique, but don't like e plot)
-Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder (philosophy tb in a story; gets abit dry though plot saved)
-forgot what i read...-
-Working Wonders by Jenny Colgan (story of an urban planner)
-Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (impressive intelligence with bits of great humour)
-Just between Us by Cathy Kelly (thickest bk i've ever read-600+pg, too long for me but not bad)
ha, started a few bks but didn't enjoy them enough to read more.
'06
-Life of Pi by Yann Martel (novel based on true story; a lot to learn from the book - animals, religions,
survival, appreciation of simplicity; marvelous descriptions of both the tangible and the intangible,
such that I could feel their realness; bits of very enjoyable humour; a must read)
-The Complete Analects of Confucius, Volume 1 - Asiapac Comic Series (some good teachings.
didn't read everything though)
-The Parable of the Pipeline by Burke Hedges (lent to me by Shujun; like she said, its a short version
of Rich Dad Poor Dad - good financial tips)
-The Alchemist by Paul Coelho (simple story with deep meaning)
-Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
(hai, doesn't seem to be working for me - cos im not applying..)
-haven't been updating from Jun'06 to Jul'07-
'07
-Take a Chance by Sarah Webb (very interesting twist towards the end)
'08
-A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer (very saddening. made me realise how significant family is in how a child behaves)
-Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite by Paul Arden (refreshing book with many pics)
-The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Rui Zafon (amazing how people can think of so much plot to pack into one book, wld b a gd tv series)
-The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (the story is interesting but i think the ending cld hv been better written)
-This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes (a bit thought-provoking on relationships but i didnt like e abrupt ending)
-Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner (gd knowledge but partly qte repetitive)
-For One More Day by Mitch Albom
-The C Words by Mark Mason (made me keep wanting to read on. light & funny)
'09
-Return to Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux (another good read from Deveraux)
-The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (gosh such vivid descriptions! very well written book. i liked d theme of friendship and the realness of the story)
'10
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (a must-read!! i love the expressed thoughts of the protagonist, esp those about friendships, and the writing style - it seems like she's telling me her story specifically to me)
How to Save Your Own Life by Michael Gates Gill (an inspiring read, for emotional liberation and greater joy in life)
Reading
on hold
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Waiting for chance to get hold of
The Little White Car by Danuta de Rhodes
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Le Scaphandre Et Le Papillon or The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
My Left Foot by Christy Brown
Gotai Fumanzoku or An Unsatisfactory Body (Translated into English as No One's Perfect) by Hirotada Otatake
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Other Recommended Readings by Marc
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin – Few books have had as significant an impact on the way society views the natural world and the genesis of humankind.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell – Gladwell looks at how a small idea, or product concept, can spread like a virus and spark global sociological changes. Specifically, he analyzes “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.”
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens – This is a tale that lingers on the topic of attaining and maintaining a disciplined heart as it relates to one’s emotional and moral life. Dickens states that we must learn to go against “the first mistaken impulse of the undisciplined heart.”
Lolita – This is the kind of book that blows your mind wide open to conflicting feelings of life, love and corruption… and at times makes you deeply question your own perceptions of each. The story is as devious as it is beautiful.
Getting Things Done by David Allen – The quintessential guide to organizing your life and getting things done. Nuff said.
How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman – 900 pages of simple instructions on how to cook everything you could ever dream of eating. Pretty much the greatest cookbook ever written. Get through a few recipes each week, and you’ll be a master chef by the time you’re 30.
Honeymoon with My Brother by Franz Wisner – Franz Wisner had it all… a great job and a beautiful fiancée. Life was good. But then his fiancée dumped him days before their wedding, and his boss basically fired him. So he dragged his younger brother to Costa Rica for his already-scheduled honeymoon and they never turned back… around the world they went for two full years. This is a fun, heartfelt adventure story about life, relationships, and self discovery.
Self-note: Tip for my future business =D
give employees reasonably high pay to keep them- otherwise they are unlikely to stay loyal.
treat employees not according to how well they treat me but how conscientious they are at work
(of course, musn't expect them to only do work throughout the entire working hours -
give some breathing space too, we are humans, not machines) Movies watched(listing started on 6jan08)
in cinema from VCD/DVD
1Sep07: "Hairspray" w TK, GH & SH
14Sep07: "Ratatouille" w mom & extended family
28Dec07: "The Pianist" w Jus & Pam (heartbreaking but good lessons; i recommend!)
2Jan08: "I Am Legend" w Sherm (scary! but good acting; thought provoking; i recommend!)
5-6Jan08: "A Good Year" alone (excellent show! i like the acting; funny; good lessons; touches my heart; i recommend!)
11Jan08: "Le Grand Chef" w WLing, JT & Irene (good! funny, very touching, :) nice; watch if like humour+meaning+food)
7Feb08 (CNY 初一): "Ah Long Pte Ltd" w parents (pretty hilarious - but u gotta understand dialects, some teary parts. wells typical of jack neo movies but with diff content)
11Mar08: "The Leap Year" w Sherm (so sweet! :) and apart from couple relationship it touches the theme of mother-daughter and best friends too)
6Jun08: "P.S. I Love You" w Sherm (don't know if its coz we watched it on laptop, coz it didn't impress me as much as it did for him in cinema)
8Jun08: "The Forbidden Kingdom" w Lisa, Karen & Sandy (ums..guess i'm really not into kungfu)
8Jun08: "What Happens in Vegas" w Lisa, Karen & Sandy (simple,relaxing show)
7Jul08: "我和狗狗的10个约定" w Sherm, his ma & sisters (very simple,touching but actually not my type of show)
10Jul08: "Before Sunrise" w Sherm (hmm maybe watchg on laptop really affects appreciatn of movies..)
30Sep08: "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" w Sherm (i didn't like it as much as i thought i wld when i saw the ads)
31Dec08: "Yes Man" w Mom (inspiring and funny)
11Feb08: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" w Mom (not as impressive as i thought it wld be)
1Jul09: "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" w Yumei, YY & Matt (the best thing was the soundtrack. heh.)
14Aug09: "GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra" w Joyce (it was awesome! best action movie i've ever watched)
17Aug09: "Food, Inc." w SYL & RuiQ (learnt some stuff abt the American food industry but it was a bit boring and not worth the $10)
22Sep09: "The Time Traveller's Wife" w WB, VanD, WLing, CHL, Irene, VanQ, Mf, Pg (i liked it. having read the book really helps w udsg)
21Nov09: "Gokusen" w Mf, Eva, Tony, Sarah (funny inspirational movie)
24Dec09: "十月围城" w Tony, WLing, VanQ (action action and a bit funny? tony criticised the plot. my fav scene was the running n jumping through the crowd along the five-foot ways w/o cuts)
30Dec09: "Sherlock Holmes" w Irene, Tony, Sweetee (my favourite genre of books made into a movie - what else can be more cool? acting effects humour excitement suspense all in)
12Jan10: "Avatar 3D" w Mom (didn't appreciate the digital effects which everyone wowed about. content etc was so-so. cathay's 3D glasses were too heavy for me)
8Feb10: "The Truman Show" w Ky n sis n Yuhshin (a must-watch. very thought-provoking, funny. reminder to be spontaneous and create your life the way you want, instead of falling into a typical routine
14Feb10: "New York, I Love You" w Mom (I loved it! a good couple movie with meaningful pointers to keep it going. but i think some stories could be more developed)
16Feb10: rewatched "The Pianist" (still find it good, tho i still feel first viewings are the best)
17Feb10: "Valentine's Day" w CHL n WB (laughed throughout - a feel-good movie; liked the fact that the various stories binded tog so well with the little surprises here and there, vs NY ILU in which each story was separate)
20Feb10: "赤壁二" w Addy, Karen, Sharon, SJ (should have watched the first one first cos i ended up not knowing who's who and what's happening and had to keep asking :/ and couldn't pay attn.. if not i think it should be a pretty good movie..)
4Mar10: "Alice in Wonderland 3D" w Mf (i found the 3D effects of this @ CCK Shaw SO much better than Avatar @ The Cathay =/ and the movie was much more enjoyable too! - cheered a sad me up :)) favourite quote - the Mad Hatter: “You used to be much muchier before. ... You have lost your muchness.”)
18Mar10: "Nodame Cantabile" w Irene, Mf (i thoroughly enjoyed some of the orchestra pieces - SO impressive! the expressions of the actors were really amusing :D)
23Apr10: "Ice Kacang Puppy Love" w Mom (funny, touching and meaningful - about love between friends and family. i cried 3 tissues! cos some touching parts i could really understand the feelings of the characters involved)
Inception
Letters to God (very simple Christian movie)
22Nov10: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" w Ame, Irene (they loved it. pretty good, i guess the main problem i had was that im not familiar with HP :X)
13Dec10: "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" w Sj (not bad, could follow the story unlike HP. like the meaningful teachings, too long - in a post)
2Mar11: "The King's Speech" w Ame (hilarious, inspirational, tho it doesn't impress me that much to understand why it's the Oscar winner)
Mar11: "10 Things I Hate About You" very funny. silly sweet high school romance. just right for having breaks in between doing homework
23May11: "Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides" w Wb Yl Ame Pg (pretty good - scenery, freakish parts, fighting scenes, dressing, humour, bits of Christianity like when the Spanish said "only God gives life")
6Jun11: "Xmen First Class" w Wb Ame Pg (i was very keen on watching it and it was really good! intellectual, makes sense, cool action, some humour)
9Jun11: "Legally Blonde 2" w Irene (seems like some dumb blonde movie but kind of meaningful too - speaking up for yourself and what you stand for)
17Jun11: "Something Borrowed" w Sandy Lisa (quite funny, somewhat meaningful wrt friendships. they didn't like the lack of sense for one part tho)
16Jul11: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" w Irene, Sweetee, Kw (not bad. i didn't understand some parts again but the humour and effects were pretty good)
Aug11 "Horrible Bosses" w Ma (she fell asleep! gosh. the movie was very crude i must say but there was the humour)
25Oct11: "The Three Musketeers" w H (i would rate it 3.5 for humour/intellectual language and 4 for action. it's by the same producer or director as Sherlock! but a bit less awesome albeit a good chill out movie)
5Nov11: "Real Steel" w Hl (action packed but not too hardcore for me. i liked that there was the father and son element and how the father eventually softened his heart and especially the part when charlie was having trouble telling max sth and max was so understanding saying "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." touching and demonstrates true fighting spirit)
12Dec11: "50/50" w L (adopting her words - a heavy topic put across in a lighthearted way, but not taking away d meaning. most of it was rather hollywood-ish trashiness but there were a couple of punch lines "u can't change ur parents, but u can change d way u respond to them.")
25Dec11: "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" w KY (ultimate action packed! super tense almost throughout the movie, and interesting Tom Cruise made it such that not everything happened smoothly - he would jump and misland and get all sorts of injuries..it's really the courage to jump without hesitation even though you are not sure you'll be alive after that. KY loved d movie and said she would watch it again!)
3Jan12: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" w KY (i love mystery (: and the witty sarcastic dialogues. good level of excitement with the action. didn't understand some parts as usual. i like Holmes and Watson they depict such a true pair of buddies ;D)
23Jan12: "You are the Apple of My Eye" w mom (now i understand why guys like this movie so much - the anxiety of chasing after a girl and the acts schoolboys do to get the girl's attention and hopefully affection. the initial fluttering and the subsequent quarrelling)
22Mar12: "The Iron Lady" w KY (really love Thatcher's sharp words. inspiring and thought-provoking, tho i was still left uncertain of what to do with my life, the movie is definitely an encouraging one)
29Mar12: "Barney's Version" w SJ (a funny movie of a screwed up life of a man who had 3 wives, smoked and drank but very heartwarming at the same time, the relationships with the dad and the 3th wife - quotable quotes!)
27Apr12: "The Hunger Games" w Mom
4May12" "Avengers" w MF n PS (funny, action-packed)
7Jul12: "The Amazing Spiderman"
21Jul12: "The Dark Knight Rises" (fantastic depth, loved the twists)
20Aug12: "ParaNorman" w Mom (simple funny animated movie, heartwarming support)
Performances watched (listing started on 25Apr10)
20Jan10: Patrick Marber's Closer by outoftheBLUE, NUS Science w Pam (
13Mar10: The Rain Came Down Like Pearls the Night I Died... The New Musical - Sing & Tell by Mark Chan w Addy & Jy
21Mar10: Quintessence by NUSCO w CHL