Singapore is so much better than the other country. The Singapore train that we took back was so much better than the M train we took there. We only had to pay a little more (S$6 vs RM$20 for the ride back) to enjoy the comfort of fixed seats, air-condition and a more speedy ride rather than fear of losing seats, stuffiness (enclosed train without aircon) and squeeziness. Many other things were also better.
I brought back half of the things I brought there. We had to carry alot of food stuff and things for the kids and the guys even had to carry many cans of food (which were mostly not eaten as Grant cooked most of the meals with groceries bought there). My sports shoes got dirty and wet after the trip to the waterfall and they didn't dry even after 2 days so I simply left them there.
Kaoz, unaired dirty wet clothes are one of the stinkiest things I have ever touched. The weather there is weird. I hung my t-shirt for more than 2days and it was still damp.
I swept and mopped so much (for a person who doesn't do much household chores like me) that my palms hurt. haha. Slacker.
Grant talks alot of crap, like for the tsunami incident, he was saying its no big deal, not even 1% of the human population of 6 billion...
And there were disgusting mayflies and many other kinds of insects. I still feel them now.
Ouch, my bottoms still ache.
I think I always take very long to warm up to people of my age. I didn't really chat with my Endau Rompin mates until the train ride home when we randomly picked our train tickets and I got a seat next to Wei Bin. Luckily he could talk alot, so we were engaged in a conservation almost throughout the whole 2+ hours. Actually he was doing most of the talking. hahas. The others weren't talking much except for PeiLing and Ken who both kept turning around. They really behave like a couple - the huan xi yuan jia type. hahas. kk, back to the train ride. Initially I thought it would be quite awkward and very boring for him to sit with me, 'cos I'm the type who can't start a conversation. If this did not happen, I think I'll leave the 4-day trip as if I had been though a 4-minute one. hahas, abit exaggerated, but we really didn't form as close bonds as we should have.
It was the same case as for NKF WA - I didn't really start crapping with them till the last week of the attachment, and it was only during our meet-ups after the attachment (twice for the videos and once for the party) that we got to know each other more.
heys!!!! What's wrong man! My post keeps disappearing before I get to save them. Irritating! GRRRrrrrr
Now I have to type again... Arggghhh
kk, I rmb le:
Except for Jia Chien 'cos we have mutual friends (Janice and SingYin) so I found it easy to talk to her since the start. I think the greatest change in my perspective was that of Teck Kuan 'cos initially, the first time I met him - we coincidentally took the bus to NKF on my 1st day - I was abit scared of him. But now, the few of us (JC, TK, Wei Zhe and me) can be very lame among one another.
whoas, its already past 12.30am on New Year and the sms network is still jammed. hahas, reminds me of today exactly a year ago, when we were at esplanade.
Okays, now to list what happened.
Day 1 (27/12/04)
We were supposed to meet at 8.30am at Tanjong Pagar MRT station but I was 15 min earlier, just after Ken. They kept reminding us not to be late and I was quite paiseh 'cos I had arrived the latest - 20 minute late - for the briefing the Tuesday before.
Then there were lots of waiting, which was just the beginning of the dozens of hanging-around-doing-nothing periods there were during the trip, like what Yazeed correctly pointed out during one of such periods. Sounds like it was quite slack but no, it was because the house was so small and there was really nothing to do when were not allocated a job.
Okay, so we boarded the train which was supposed to leave at 9.35am but only left at 10am 'cos another train from Langkawi arrived. Before that, we had to go through the customs and this officer (do not imagine those you usually see at Changi Airport, imagine one at a decades-old un-airconditioned train station with rusty gates) questioned me why I had so many (21) sets of foam-made alphabet. I couldn't say we were going there to set up a school 'cos Grant told us not to and I fumbled awhile before he let me pass without getting a proper answer after frightening me.
I sat with Alexis, Pei Ling's eldest sister, an accountancy undergraduate for this near 4-hour train ride. I slept through a large part of it 'cos the train conditions were bad and I was tired. My bottoms were aching after 2+hours and the squeeziness of the seats and the people without seats standing around with frowns and all the noise didn't help at all. However, it was better than I had imagined when Grant and Pei Ling described to us the train conditions before that.
Upon arrival at Bekok train station, we proceeded to a local restaurant to have lunch (Grace, Alexis, PeiLing and I got to sit in the small bus-like van with all the baggage while the others walked). Actually the "restaurant" was more like those you see on TV in the shows about the '60s, just that this was more on the 'house' side of a shophouse. To make up for the disturbing houseflies, there was a 14" TV showing the cable programme, planet animals, though I would rather have neither.
Grant was telling us this would be the best meal 'cos after that it will be all his bad cooking but it turned out to be a lie 'cos his culinary skills are good.
Next, all the NJCians (PeiLing, Ken, WeiBin, Dax, Yazeed and I) took the small bus-like van again to the house (a small hall cum dining area, a small kitchen, a small toilet, 3 rooms) and spent 2+hours cleaning it up (moving the remaining rusty junk left behind by the previous owner into one of the rooms; sweeping out all the dust, dirt, hundreds of mayflies wings, cobwebs etc; mopping the floor with the 2 dirty mops - I was in the toilet changing the pail of water dozens of times 'cos the water turned black everytime the mop came back. Oh, I haven't mentioned the floor was concrete, except for one room which had some plastic covering) while the adults went shopping for groceries. They took real long - only returned when we were done cleaning up.
The rest of the first day was free-and-easy, so we played cards, took turns to bathe, had dinner at 9pm, played more cards, and heard some scary death stories that we were supposed to ask Ken yes-no questions so that we can solve the mystery. Then we had to clean up the hall again 'cos so many mayflies and insects had entered. We got to sleep at about 11.30 and the night was horrendous. More mayflies (attracted by light) invaded the hall where most of us were sleeping. There were two rows - 1st row nearer to the door and window beside the door were Ken (at the side), Yazeed, Weibin and Dax. 2nd row: Me (also at the side), PeiLing, Grace and Grant. Mayflies were buzzing all around us and I had to hide my head in my sleeping bag. Still it didn't keep me from awaking repeatedly and I was awake much of the night. I only found out the next morning that Ken had moved into the room where adult couples Lay Keng and Swee Beng were sleeping (together with the canned foods and stuff for kids) because a swarm of mayflies had enter through the window beside the door.
Day 2 (28/12/04)
We woke up at 8am and had breakfast before the 6 NJCians and Alexis spent 3hours washing up the school (its actually just a concrete-floored hall about the size of two classrooms, with a small toilet and a small storeroom). It seemed small but it was difficult cleaning up and there was no water supply in the school due to some problems so they had to connect hoses across the sand, grass, slopes and roads to a house i estimate more than 50m away, and the water supply kept getting cut-off when ever a vehicle passed and rolled over the hoses, breaking the connection and they had to keep going up the slopes to reconnect the tubes. I was scrubbing the floor with detergent (fortunately Grant had bought scrubs attached to poles) followed by sweeping the water out (there's no drainage system). Alexis, Wei Bin and Dax were scrubbing the windows but the 2 guys got to slack abit 'cos the adults went out to get more groceries.
At about 12, we got shooed away by representatives of the village head because according to Yazeed (they spoke Malay so he went out to speak to them), they weren't informed about the settling up of the school and the village head was unhappy about it, thinking we were up to something bad. Yazeed said the woman was really sarcastic, saying "Go, go wash the school!" so we had to return to the house and wait for Grant to return before things worsen.
When Grant returned, we went back to finish up the cleaning while he explained to the woman that he had gotten approval from the local authorities.
In the late afternoon, we went in the van again to a small waterfall. It was raining but fortunately, there was a wood hut on stilts for us to take shelter (we stood outside hut on the short extension) while waiting for the adults to come in the 2nd trip as the van was too small for one trip. When they finally came, we had to walk through the forest in the rain to the waterfall about 10-15 minutes away. The ground was muddy and there was this part where we had to cross over some slippery stones. Then just before reaching the waterfall, we had to cross a wooden bridge. Alexis was the most afraid of heights and furthermore it was wet and there were holes in the bridge which was less than 2feet wide and only had handles on one side.
At the waterfall, we went into the area that was level and had water flowing at a slower rate. I was quite scared 'cos I was barefooted and there were rather sharp rocks and I-don't-know-what underneath. It was generally neck-deep but some parts were deeper and I drank a gulp of water. It didn't taste as bad as swimming pool water but the feeling wasn't good. We climbed abit up the rocks on the other side which we just beside the waterfall and the rocks were real slippery I nearly cut myself when I slipped. Luckily I didn't.
Ken got adventurous and climbed onto the rocks in the middle of the waterfall. Yazeed and Dax also followed and I was a little scared that there would be an accident.
Anyway, it was an experience, though it would be much better if I had footwear on.
Then as I was going to cross the bridge, I felt something between my leg and my foot (I forgot which side). It was a leech! Initially I wasn't sure it was a leech 'cos it was rather tiny and the leech I had in my mind was fatter and longer. On the hike back to the road, more people got leech bites. Fortunately, there weren't that many leeches as the previous trip that Pei Ling had described.
Back at the house, we took turns to bathe again before we (everyone except Grace and Grant) went to paint the school (Lay Keng and Swee Beng had drawn most of the outlines in the afternoon while we were washing the pavement around the school). We had to us torchlights for the 5minute walk (it will be reduced to 2minutes the next time when the next group cuts a path across the long grasses so that it would no longer be necessary to walk on the sand, grass, gravel and road) to the school as it was pitch dark. We completed about 20% of the painting before having dinner at 10+ and continuing to paint. Initially we had decided among ourselves to continue only the next day but a few words from Grant and we continued painting till 12+.
The second nite was better as we took precautions and close all the windows but there were still mayflies and I only awoke once but that was to put myself into my sleeping bag (I had been sleeping on instead of inside it). Dax and Wei Bin joined Alexis to sleep in the room when our bags were 'cos mayflies didn't really fly in there as the lights were spoilt (all the lights in the rooms and the toilet were spoilt).
Day 3 (29/12/04)
We were supposed to wake up at 6 so that we could go for the morning hike at 6.30am. I was the last person to wake up at about 6.15am (piggy me). Then it was raining so the hike was cancelled and we hanged around till 8+ before we had breakfast then continue painting the other half of the school. It was still drizzling so our ponchos were of use. After lunch, there was more painting and we even painted our Green Link logo. Then Ken and Pei Ling got into a paint fight. It was very funny and I would have caught on video on my digicam if I weren't concentrating on a painting job.
Oh, I haven't mentioned, the paintings were of the a train, a train station, flowers, trees, animals, a pond, insects, signs and logos. Almost everything I painted were minor jobs like grass, flowers, branch etc. The best one was the Green Volunteer Network logo 'cos Peiling and Ken complained it shouldn't be so nice otherwise our Green Link logo wouldn't be outstanding enough.
In the late afternoon (it was still drizzling and we weren't expecting the kids to come), 2 kids appeared near the school but they didn't dare to come in. Then awhile later, 3 appeared again. One entered but the other 2 were very wary. In the end the first day of school had 4 students and no proper lessons 'cos only Yazeed and Ken (M'sian) could speak Malay and Grant didn't come over 'cos he said he was 'cooking'. When he finally did, the kids, had left.
In the evening, everyone except Alexis, PeiLing, Yazeed and me walked to a river about 15min away to bathe as water supply from the reservoir to the house had been cut off in the afternoon and water supply from the water tank was running low (this was much due to excessive usage as Grant kept emphasizing the water is free). The few of us didn't want to go 'cos we though going there wouldn't make ourselves any much cleaner since we'll get dirt on us again on the way back, and we didn't perspire much in the day.
Just before they returned, I found out that water supply from the reservoir was back though everyone was still wary of our usage cos this supply is only connected to the basin. Water to the toilet was from the tank.
Then we had dinner before we went to the school again just for a short while to do the final bits. Back in the house, Alexis and 5 of us NJCians played asshole dai di (Dax didn't 'cos he doesn't play cards) for more than an hour before it was time from dessert.
Oh, I haven't mentioned, we had to sweep and mop the hall floor every night before we sleep 'cos it just gets dirty so easily you step on something (either dirt or bug) almost every step you take.
The third night was the best - I slept well straight till the morning. We slept at about 12 and took the best precautions and I use clothes and my towel as 'cushion' to protect my poor tailbone from more pain caused by contact with the concrete floor.
Day 4 (30/12/04)
We had to wake up at 6 again so that we can go on the morning hike. This time I woke up soon after the first few (Grant and Grace) did though I continued lazing in my sleeping bag since Pei Ling was still asleep (I was between her and the wall).
We left the house before daybreak and after a near 2-hour bird-watching walk (the scenery was very beautiful and when we only photograph the greenery and the skies, you can't tell that the ground is so muddy and dirty), we went back to pack up and have breakfast before the 7 of us left for Labis train station while the adults took another vehicle and stopped by Bekok to buy stuff. Labis was the one after Bekok so the van-ride there was much longer (more than half an hour compared to 10 minutes) and Ken was taking sneak photos of everyone sleeping. Fortunately I was also playing with my cam so I didn't fall asleep.
When the adults also arrived at the train station, Grant suggested going to a prata store across the railway tracks across a road since there was nearly an hour before the train was scheduled to arrived (at 11.45am).
It was drizzling and I was the only one who put on my poncho before we went over. Roti prata in Msia is called roti canai.
Anyway, the train was more than half an hour late so Grant was criticising alot about the Singapore government and stuff and everyone was listening to him. There was also the family of the guy who had been chauffeuring us around and Lay Keng was playing with his daughter initially. I think the Orang Asli are all small-sized people, but I don't know why.
So the train finally came at 12+ and I was surprised by the great improvement of train conditions. The door between carriages was automated (though I soon found it irritating as it open every few seconds as people kept walking around) and the whole train gave me that wonderful feeling of basic Singapore standard that I missed over the past four days. The passengers also looked more well-to-do and civilised (they were very quiet. haha, that's what I call civilised..)
Then like I said before, WeiBin and I were talking. More than an hour later Pei Ling took a video of us saying our feelings about the trip for the upcoming CCA carnival. I viewed it earlier on (I have all their memory cards 'cos I'm supposed to collate the photos and videos) and it was really funny. Its also I think the first time I got to hear myself on a video and although I have known all along that my voice sounds childish, I never knew it was really that high. Its like if someone hears the voice I hear myself and what people hear, you can never tell its the same person. I kind of find my voice that people hear disgusting. haha. My own voice.
kk, its already nearly 5am on 1st Jan. I am supposed to be at Yio Chu Kang MRT station in 5 hours and I just spent the past 3+hours blogging.. Time to sleep. I hope I don't oversleep!
Yays, I really am glad that I went for the xmas party. At the beginning I was still doubtful about what it will turn out but my doubts were soon cleared. We had lots of fun and laughter - they are really great people. I realise that I think guys who do things they choose to do which are the same as what I do really are better people than others (I know my phrasing is confusing) - Edwin, Amir, Teck Kuan and Wei Zhe, guys whom I got to know through WA, all of them are better than the four best guys in my other circles of friends (I mean individual circles, eg as compared to the four best in a certain group). Maybe the only circle that can beat them is my primary school friends can beat them. hahas. I want to become closer friends with my primary school mates, a pity all of us are busy with our own lives. I remember them also great people since the 4 gatherings about a year ago.
Anyways, so we met at Novena at 10am and while the TJCians (Peishan, Vivian, Edwin, Amir) went straight to Mr Abhi's place, the rest of us (Hui Ping - only rep from YJ, Teck Kuan, Wei Zhe, Jia Chien and me) stayed at the MRT station to put the photos (taken during the WA) into the album because it was supposed to be a house-warming gift.
An hour later, we headed for Mr Abhi's and after some difficulties, we reached. Initially I felt a little awkward. (I realise that the more people around me, the more awkward I feel). but after warming up when all the guys were out to pack indian food for lunch, I 'warmed up' and was beginning to enjoy myself and by the time we left (Peishan left at 2+, Vivian, Wei Zhe and Hui Ping subsequently, then Edwin before the rest of left abit past 10pm), we had wanted to go back again another time. (We could have even stayed over if not for numerous constrains. hahas)
When everyone was still around, we played lame games/tricks like black magic, "bang bang bang who died", "how many maamaa jump over the fence", matching switches on 1st storey to light bulbs on 2nd storey, 3 people in a row and why centre person knows his hat 1st, "johnny johnny whoosh", point-handphone-game etc etc. It was great that they thought of playing such games, games that create alot of laughter without the need of any special materials.
Then we played bridge, hearts, asshole dai di (the positions really makes the game much more fun).
Of course in between Mr Abhi prepared dinner with some of our help. Edwin and TK knows more about cooking then us girls! That's good our dinner turned out tasty with everyone's contribution. The sense of group satisfaction. hahas.
Mr Abhi was very smart - he guessed most of the rationale behind the tricks and picked up the card games very very fast - winning the rest of us more experienced ones sometimes.
I am really having lots of activities the whole of this month - can't afford time to blog in detail. So I shall just list what happened.
1 - 4 dec: band fest with concert on 4th.
Everyone says band C was the best - yes, impressive that they can play Orient Express with just 3 days of rehearsal. They were full of praises for their conductor. They were the last band and their conductor was very enthusiastic - he responded to all the "encore"s and got them to play a couple of pieces again. Boy were they exhausted. haha, I guess everyone enjoyed it.
6dec: Band in the morning.
Supposed to prepare for tuning-in which was on the following day which I couldn't make it due to work attachment but I 'prepared' anyway. haha, anyway there's no harm playing.
Had lunch with Jia Yun and Bo Yang at Prince (Coro) at Jia Yun's request 'cos she missed the food. We chatted for quite a while before leaving. Hahas, I can't remember any of the content already.
Then I went to AMK library to try to do abit of math. Jun Hao passed by on a bus from NJ while we were at Coro bus-stop and called me to do lib CIP but I didn't feel like it. geez
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boos. I published the 30nov, 1dec , 10dec, 12dec, 13dec, 15dec, 17dec postsss (mostly real short ones). I can't even remember what I wanted to add to them. Anyhows. blahs.
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7dec: NKF work attachment (WA) - 9 to 6. NY alumni - 7 to 9.30pm.
There wasn't much fun at WA. Jia Chien, Teck Kuan and Wei Zhe said the first two days - 2, 3 dec - were more fun as they had sessions with Shenton, an extremely busy professional who taught them public speaking.
8dec: WA - 9 to 5+.
9dec: WA - 9 to 7 (overtime as we had to help pack the goodie bags - 2 magazines, 1 bottle of NEwater, health brochures, discount vouchers etc) for Cancer Awareness Day on Saturday. We also attended the signing of memorandum of understanding between NKF and the top management school in India - India Institute of Management Ahmedabad. The High Commissioner of India and the potential next Prime Minister of India (he currently owns an IT company that makes billions of US$ annually) was also present. Wows.
NY alumni - almost 8 to 9.30pm (I rushed over but was still late)
10dec: WA (also packed goodie bags and added apples and bundled them up - 1159 bags in all.)
11dec: Help out at Tampines for Cancer Awareness Day - 9.30 to 5+. It was extremely tiring because although I was assigned to just give out goodie bags, Hui Ping (YJCian) swapped with me 'cos she wanted to be with Cherry (also YJ). So I did surveys and ended up helping people fill in registration forms 'cos quite a handful of heartlanders really had problems doing so. It was supposed to be Edwin and Amir's (both TJCians) job but neither of them could speak mandarin (Edwin's an English-educated M'sian; Amir's a Chinese Muslim - the 1st I know!) so I had to help the mandarin-speaking people. I didn't even do such hard work for my PW surveys. hahas. It was really alot of talking, especially hard for someone who can be speaking only a few minutes worth of words on some days.
Michelle, NKF's deputy director (or something like that), treated us to Swensen's dinner before we rushed over to Jiao Jie Li Concert (183 Club - there's Yan Xing Shu, Typhoon - there's Toro, 7 Flowers, 5566 etc) at Expo. The Events Marketing manager had given us the tickets - worth $98 each. It was my very first chance to watch a pop concert - the atmosphere and watching the singers perform live were the best parts. I cheered with Jia Chien quite abit - but mine was just for fun.
I met Boon, Yuen Teng's friend, who got me back onto business (I had changed my mind from business to Science after the 1st few days of WA as I did not like the faking-friendliness) 'cos he explained business is not necessarily that and everything can be learnt.
Oh ya, I keep having this dejavu feeling that things had happened before. Like what I just typed, I seemed to have typed them before... but I can't find any traces...
K, back to the concert. Its was 8-11pm and I managed to catch the last train from Expo, and also the last train to Sembawang (the next train would have stopped at AMK). I was indeed lucky, or perhaps the organisers of the concert had planned for that. By the time I was at YCK, I was already seated on the floor of the MRT train, falling asleep. I slept and even fell backwards. Fortunately I awoke before I further disgraced myself. Hahas.
12dec: CIP at SBCL - 10am to 1.30pm.
I had wanted to do it for the last time as it seemed to be the most unmeaningful CIP project but I didn't feel like letting the Malay librarian-in-charge down as it would be tiring for her to repeatedly teach students who only help out for a few sessions. Furthermore, I found out that she's already 50+ (I thought she was only 30 or 40). She was also place in-charge of a guy who was rehabilitating. From their conversation, I deduced that he was only about 16 (but he looked very big-sized, taller than me) and he wasn't really a bad boy. It was already his last session with her before he could graduate from rehabilitation.
CIP at Centrepoint, fund-raising for Assocation of Singapore Dogs (ASD) - 2.15 - 6+pm.
Out of 4 who signed up to help out, only another girl (although we were emailed the namelist, I didn't know she was the NY GEPer until we met) and I turned up. In fact I am still not sure of her name up till now. hahas. We were supposed to be acquaintances at some point of time back in NY, but I wasn't sociable enough. If I'm not wrong, her name's Ziwei. geez. Cleared quite abit of misconceptions: she's actually from a Chinese family (not the stereotypical English family I had thought) and her father told her lots of stuff about Chinese history; a rather nice person.
There was also this mixed Chinese Caucasian girl, an ASD member currently a student at NAFA. She's rather good-looking but she smokes. Ill.
We sold dog-themed items like t-shirts, car decals, soft toys (only a few pieces left), mugs with different doggie sculptures and $50 limited edition bag that looked like a dog soft toy which no one bought. The calendars were sold out even before it was our turn to men the stall and quite a few people who passed by were looking for them. Hmms, looks like people who often frequent Centrepoint likes to buy doggie calendars. hahas.
I was yawning many a times, extremely tired for the whole day. Then I rewarded my hard work with nice food. haha.
13dec: back to work. After that, I met my mom to by my long awaited oven! It was abit too late for me to have enough time to play around with it but as the saying goes - "Better late then never!"
14dec: WA - 9 to 6+pm (left late as we were preparing for the following day's presentation).
I was late again for NY alumni which started earlier than before (by half an hour) - otherwise I would be on time.
Back at home, I chatted then baked cookies (for Mr Abhi and the others) till 4am. Spent about 3 hours on the cookies as it was only my second attempt, the first being a try-out on the previous night. The taste was quite good as it was ready-mixed but the shape wasn't attractive. heez.
I should get a couple more trays.
15dec: final day at WA. 9-6+.
I woke up at 7 to do my bit of the presentation before rushing down to the office in a cab.
Our presentation last more than an hour! whoas. haaahas. We had to talk about what happened over the past one over weeks of attachment and what we learnt. The finale self-made video was the bestest best part! The most credits go to Wei Zhe, Teck Kuan and Jia Chien. Yuen Teng and I were sitting beside them slacking most of the time. This is really different from the case of my PW. hahas. The two guys are real great.
I was so exhausted by the misery 3-hour sleep in addition to 10 whole days out that I fell asleep by 8+.
16dec: I finally got a chance to slack again at home before going to WRL in the afternoon for hw purposes and I met Chee May with her friend there also for the same purpose! hahas. I'm not the only one.
17dec: i woke up at 11 and was supposed to meet my WA mates at AMK at 12. I was a little late but JiaChien was much later. hahas. We made another video for the people who taught us during the WA at Teck Kuan's house. It was a few years since I last visited the older HDB flats. Sense of reminiscence of my Potong Pasir home. We had alot of fun talking crap too. heeees.
18dec: band prac in the morning followed by lunch at Coro with Adeline and Karen. We completed the presents for Seniors' farewell and relaxed and chatted abit before Addy and I went down to ACSI to watch the Fan Yi Cheng (Van Fan) and Liu Jia Yue Tuan (Six Plus) concert.
Hais, I seriously have the feeling that I thought of these lines before. Maybe its because I think aaaallllloooootttt. So I can't remember what I really did. Hahas. Furthermore like Addy said I can remember my dreams. I think that's why my memory of real-life events all seem so close - in computer terms, they all seem to be files created during the same period though they actually happened on different days, they seem like they are filed all together. hahas, I don't know how to describe.
Both my WA mates and addy think that I am dreaming where I speak in an unsure manner about things that have happened. hmms. has. blahs.
Okays, back to concert again. Yeps, got the tickets from the Events Marketing manager, Shialey, as before. The hall was only half-filled. I was landed with 18 tickets as my WA mates couldn't give them out. In the end, I only managed to get two of my cousins - Zi Hui (P6) and Rui Lin (P5) who went with my grandma. There was VJ band concert that night so n0ne of my bandmates wanted to go.
I think this concert was only for those students who raised more than $100 for NKF through the pledge cards so not much of the audience were really supporters. Of course enthusiastic representatives of the two fan clubs were there. Six Plus seemed more well-liked though I never heard of them. hahas, but most of them were very good-looking compared to people we usually see. heez. External factors..
I rushed back for NY alumni prac after that.
19-20dec: Holiday trip to Kukup. I don't regret using the time I could have spent on hw to go on the trip because it was very enjoyable. There were 11 of us - My paternal fourth uncle and his family (including Hui Cong and Hui Ling), Zi Hui, Mom's secondary school friend, Rita Auntie and her sec4 daughter, Cai Ping and Rita Auntie's friend and Mom and me.
We took a mini-bus up through JB. I saw Wang De Yuan with he's friends at where we were having lunch. I think he comes from a rich family. He wrote this book about his overseas experience and now on my rare holiday trip, I meet him.
Then at Kukup, we met Xiang Yun! Mom was walking in front with Auntie Rita then Mom exclaimed and it was only after awhile that she told me she saw Xiang Yun. Luckily she was still there when I looked. It was very surprising that she was as small-sized as Mom. She seemed taller on TV. I think she was on a trip with her maiden family as Edmund Chen wasn't around. Then I said she was following us because we met her again at the mangrove place and on the next day at M'sian customs.
I felt very comfortable around my younger cousins, their simplicity and absolute zero possibility of any ulterior motive makes me feel very at ease too. Furthermore its the basic fact that we are cousins. We sang karaoke for a few hours (I had a bath break in between) before Mom, Zi Hui and I played a few rounds of Mahjong and went to bed (Everyone else was already asleep by 11+ but we stayed up till 12+). Don't be surprised that my 12-year-old cousin knows more about mahjong then my mom does. hahas.
We played some billard on the following morning before getting started on the journey back. I must say the total time we spent on the journey is more than the time we spent sleeping. hahas. We shopped along the way and I think I was the one who was the most enthusiastic about buying things. If you are one of those who have gone shopping with me, you can probably guess the shopping level of the others. I was quite puzzled 'cos usually I'm the least enthusiastic one about shopping but I guess it was because they didn't want to buy M'sian goods. hmms. Anyway, in the whole trip, I managed to get a top (on afternoon of day 1) and a pair of ladies' slippers after day 2's lunch.
The trip was mainly for food and fun but the flies really disrupted some of the meals. Still, we had lots of fun! =)
Upon arrival in Singapore, I proceed straight to NY alumni prac, the final one before the concert. I anticipated to be late but my travelling mates kindly asked the driver to leave earlier so that I won't be late. So nice of them.
21dec. I was supposed to be at Jia Yun's at Lentor (Yio Chu Kang, just a minute's walk from Gerard's!) at 9am as she wanted a hw partner but I was more than a hour late. geezz. 'cos I was meddling around my home and time flew. Anyway, Jia Yun's place is real big! We have know each other for almost 5 years now but never have I been to her place. This is her new house and its 4 storeys high (staggered). whoa.
Since I was so late, we only managed to do abit of work before her mom sent us around to pack lunch and fetch Addy. (Karen's mom sent her)
We had wanted to make brownies and konnyaku for our clarinet seniors but just the day before, they said they couldn't go so we decided to make for all the seniors.
It was Dong Zhi so Jia Yun's mom treated us each a bowl of tang yuan that she had just cooked.
Then in the late afternoon, we went over to Crystal's old house (Ang Mo Kio, just a minute's walk to St. Nicks) supposedly to prepare for the Seniors' farewell but then, I found out there was nothing to prepare. hahas. I was beginning to regret going as we were waiting outside her house for nearly half an hour for her to fetch the other j1s from the MRT (we had taken a straight bus) 'cos there was the usual late problem. I had to go for the briefing for the CIP trip to Endau Rompin so the later they arrive, the less time I get to hang out at Crystal's.
Fortunately, the near 1 hour I spent there was quite fun, exploring the house - seeing the structures that I had only previously seen on TV, gossiping with the girls to get the latest update about on-going interesting news of band people ('cos the clarinet girls don't know much as we usually do not mingle around), and mingling around. hahas.
I was the latest one to arrive for the briefing as I had underestimated the time. Furthermore I was so worried as I had forgotten to bring the $50 for payment and in the end I borrowed from one of the j2s, Yvonne, whom I had never spoken to before... felt rather thick-skinned and desperate... They were waiting at AMK MRT to go to Crystal's place together.
By the time the meeting ended, its was too late for me to go back to the farewell party.
22dec. Mom and I went to Woodlands Polyclinic in the morning 'cos of my sandfly bites etc and her rashes, and wasted like 3 hours just on waiting time. By the time I got back home and got ready for the night's concert, it was already past the time I had to leave to reach school in time (3pm) but to my disappointment, rehearsals only started more than half an hour later. Still, it wasn't that bad 'cos I didn't really want to take the bus as I was already in full-dress.
During the dinner break, I had to get the food that each of us were to bring for the Endau Rompin trip from Ken.
The concert went well, and Xin Yi and Rochelle were great emcees - trying to make the audience laugh.
23dec. The meeting at NKF was cancelled but we had to complete the video for them so Teck Kuan arranged to come to my house at 1pm so I spent my morning cleaning up as much as I could do to my messy dusty home in the short amount of time. I was 10minutes late but everyone else was even later. hmms.
It was only an hour later (the guys reached soon after I did so we went for lunch in between meeting Yuen Teng and Jia Chien) that we started work.
I almost piled them with the snacks I had at home. hahas, a bit exaggerated but they were lucky I had so much food lying around. hahas.
Then I went down to Civil Service Club for a swim (pathetic 7 laps...) before following Mom and her colleagues (they played badminton) for supper.
So that's Dec '04 so far. It's noticeable I elaborated for the more recent days due to my memory conditions. hahahs.
I'll be at Mr Abhi's on Xmas for my first ever Xmas party, I think it should be my first. I never celebrated Xmas. Later today (its already nearly 4am... I'm mAD), I'll be baking brownies again, this time for the party.
And on 27-30dec, I'll be away on the Endau Rompin trip to meet the Orang Asli tribe! hahas. Wish me luck! I need it. My parents have been trying to dissuade me from going as they have never heard of the place and my mom fears I'll get worst bites. My legs are still itching from the sandfly bites I got more than 3 weeks ago and I have very sensitive skin.
That's my cousin! And I only got to know he has such excellent music sense and dance sense only on Sunday! He's really talented. Hui Cong's his name.
I caught him dancing on a short video clip but he deleted it, I don't know whether on purpose or not, 'cos when I told him he had deleted it, he seems a little too blur for him (he's a very fast learner - only 1 demo and he got it). I think in our family (I mean the extended one), for every uncle's kids, the intelligence quotient differs by quite alot - in fact I just realised there's a more unique trend: the second child is the better one. Like for my eldest uncle - younger daughter graduated from uni and the elder from poly (but she's also smart); my elder brother doesn't study at all; Hui Cong's elder sister too; my sixth uncle's 2nd child is also a smart boy but I think his potential is wasted due to his environment - especially with a younger brother who doesn't study and plays all day. Okays, sounds rather messy.
Oh ya, I found out the fruitella fenella thingy is called a rao kou ling, not a rap... hahas, maybe I heard wrongly the other day. I also found out the last word is "pie" not "pai" (I had thought it was a Chinese word). They actually wrote the 'rao kou ling' on the white board and named it rao kong ling of the year". hahha. They also wrote 2 'rao kou ling' they came up with last year on the board, and declared that they welcome any challengers. hahas.
17-year-old's body; sometimes 7, some other times 37-year-old's mind; 70-year-old's memory
my my my. Adeline was responding to my previous post like how totally difference I sounded so I went to read it and guess what's my own response to it. It only seems to ring a tiny bell that I had written typed that just over a week ago. I can't really remember typing it! gosh gosh gosh.
I think I really become a different person when I get really inspired. haha.
I think its the first time I have band practices with two different bands in one day. I was with NJ band in the morning and NY alumni in the night. In between I watched Van Fan (Fan Yi Cheng) and Liu Jia Yue Tuan (Six Plus) concert! haha. Watched my first and second pop concert one Saturday after the previous. *Shiok*. hahahaa.
This is a rap Yanru came up with! "Xi huan chi fruitella de Fenella forever bi zhu zai novena xi huan chi nutella de Novella pai!" It sounds really creative. haha. Actually that's quite the wrong adjective.. I don't know what to use. Initially it was just my name. She told Xin Yi about it and they 'performed' it to me. Haha. Its really cool when they say it together. A good analogy will be mass dance. If only a couple dance it, its looks okay but if a more couples dance, its looks real cool. hahas.
And it really cheers me because we weren't close at all but they even bothered to come up with a rap with my name!
OMG. I already have about 7 drafts yet to be amended for posting. Maybe they'll get posted only when they are outdated. hahas. This is a quite 'fei' post. Unlike the previous one.
why am I crying again? commitments again. and lack of understanding from others.
I learnt that my practice of explaining everything is actually 'hated' by some though I would love it if others do that to me. An example where the Chinese saying "to do what you want others to do to you" doesn't apply. hmm.
I am so forgotful. I couldn't remember that I am supposed to accompany my mom to Kukup this weekend... and tried arranging a JTS...
I learnt (from attachment mates) on monday that one can sms oneself because I accidentally smsed to the 1st person on my list (which fortunately I had put as mom). Then I did I again on the following day but this time absent-mindedly. OMG. Really old...
I told my mom about it and she told me we can actually also email ourselves!
OMG. I suddenly realised how much knowing how to talk is "valued" subconsiously in poeple's mind. Even my grandmother's maid, who often does wrong things like not remembering to return items back to their original spots, says alot of nice-to-hear things (like "good morning, madam", "sorry"sss) even though she can't speak the language well.
7 days out. 6 straight days of work. (including CIP) 5% of physical energy left. 4 straight days of
3 CIP projects over the past 4 days. 2 out of 10 of emotional energy left (This means the nicer me because if I have too much emotion, people don't like that me). 1 fenella who's much more enriched
"Business + charity". paradox? no wonder "=controversy"
Hmm. Today I am back the earliest out of the whole week
you've got a point
Mr Ahbi "girlfriend" in Life Drops Department!
On the first day, we were told that in NKF, there are 44 departments! But later on, we found out that some of the departments are really small ones and rather highly segmentised. For example, the fund-raising team has departments like Life Drops (4 people),
We were asking why the employees claim transport allowance for taxi rides and May explained that it was because they rather reduce the amount of time employees spend on transport to meet cilents, schools, promote NKF etc so that they can get back to work soon than to let them waste time on transport. Furthermore, if they take bus/MRT, it gives them a chance to waste unnecessary (like to "chi she"). When they claim taxi fares, their head of departments will know and check if its really for work.
When taking videos, move the camera slower
change colour for impt lines i can read in the future
=) Josh Groban's You Raised Me Up is such a wonderful song! Meaningful and nice to my ears. But now can't download songs... But I got it from Gloria! yay! I Know Him So Well by Steps is also great! Lovely tune!
I added the whole band's contacts to my msn yest. haha, super duper lag.. It's already half of my JC life gone, but never mind. As was Morrie Schwartz told everyone through Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie, "Don't assume that it's too late to get involved." So I decided to add them. Actually its not just Morrie, because I was quite scared they'll think its very weird to add them now, but so coincidentally around the time I was pondering whether to add, Bo Yang added me (Jia Yun told him my add - coz most of the band members dont know as the one in the contact list was wrong and I didn't re-clarify). Ya, and he told me he just added everyone so I dare to do. Yup, the human mentality that we don't dare to do something until someone else starts doing it. To think I have been putting down people who always have to wait for some other people to start doing things before they follow, yet I am now one of them too...
Wow, I haven't chat so much with so many people eversince first three months. I think the amount I chatted yesterday this week is more than that I had chatted between after first three months and before this week! (excluding for PW of course). Hmm, I really do more things when I am engaged in alot of activities. like in late November, I had about ten days without much commitments yet I wasted them on Neopets and slacking (not that I am doing any work now but I sure am doing more things).
haha, I think Wei Qi is in love with organising events - from class events to community events. Potential MP the class guys said.
I think Josh Groban's songs are really nice to hear!
More things to add to my list!
Haha, I am changing.
Used to not buy any books to read. But now I want to buy Tuesday with Morrie. I think its really a must read for every human being. I want to buy it and lend people to read, because its really difficult to borrow from the library. Though its not as difficult as Da Vinci Code since I have already borrowed and read Tuesdays but I have tried to get Da Vinci at various national libraries for months to no avail. Any kind soul to lend me?
Used to not buy any CDs. But now I want to buy Josh Groban. Perhaps a little propelled by the inability to download but more because now I find that all his songs are nice (usually for other artistes its just 1/2 songs so its not worth buying).
Oh ya, I got more reasons why I can't do business.
My vocabulary is simply too limited for me to convince people with fluency and confidence. (though it can be rebutted that language can be improved).
I was trying to explain my suggestion and my point to May, the senior executive of NKF's schools resource department, and I kept getting stuck even though I had the idea because I had difficulty finding the right word to express myself.
I think perhaps i should get a job where we have to think in different people's shoes. i always think alot about such things.
Maybe a debate assistant brainstormer? i think i am born to be an assistant. coz i need someone else to spark of my ideas. i cant come up with them on my own, and I can't be a debater since I can't think on the spot, I need time to think and process my thoughts before coming up with something that's not "anyhow".
I had my second day at the NKF work attachment, and I had been at a disabled home twice. I thought of myself in the unfortunate people's shoes - what Fenella or someone close to her might become in the future. It is awful, very awful, and I still have yet to see worse - I guess.
Life. Illnesses. Death.
What is the purpose of the existence of illnesses? Life? Death?
Most say, we should lead an enjoyable life. True. Some say, we should lead a meaningful life. True. But so what if you did? You will still die.
Then many say its the process.
Why are the 7 billion human beings in the world enduring all the bad feelings, illnesses just to live on to continue with these negativities?
Everyone definitely had unhappy times, suffered from illnesses. And I guess the occurrence of unenjoyable and meaningless moments and activities is increasing. So is the intensity of the negativity.
And as the years pass, many species get endangered and extinct, while new species are formed. I suppose one day, homo sapiens will uncontrollably be pulled into the renewal re-creation cycle. By then, that'll be the end of mankind. Nothing we do matters.
_____________________________
Well, that's that.
I'll blog generally for now instead of my usual practice - going into what happened over the past two days.
Some of the NKF employees seem to be trying to brainwash us and make us become NKF advocates. Its really difficult to make a stand, when you sort of understand the point of view of both sides. For the public's view, its like they really lavish too much on certain unnecessary items (eg. they only printed single-sided for the thick stack of handouts they gave us - I commented to Dennis about it in our short meeting which had other money-saving ideas generated but he told specfically told Abhi this! haha, it must have really been unexpected - but I am very sensitive to this considering the thick stacks of notes we have, single-sides definitely increase our loads, literally, and I try to be environmentally friendly - I am a GreenLinker. Another point is the refusal to accept NKF functioning as a not-for-profit organisation with a business model. Though NKF employees seems a little frustrated and cannot understand why the public refuse to accept charity and business as a single body). On the other camp, we learnt that its very heavy on all aspects of the kidney patients' lives - financially, emotionally, physically and socially - so NKF use the money not just for the financial aspect. Haha, explain so much, really like a NKF advocate.
Oh, and I realised that I am truly not suitable to go into business. I cannot believe how fast a normal person, by that I mean someone who had nothing whatsoever to do with NKF before or even had the view of NKF similar to that of the general Singapore public can become such passionate NKF advocates within a matter of several months, years or even a couple of months! Perhaps this doesn't seems to relate much to business but I inferred that if you are to have a job that you will depend heavily on changing your mindset (even if you had thought it is wrong) or on human relations, you have to be prepared to tell lies to create good relations, your world is so fake, you go for the money, and all the bad artificial things the working world today has developed - this is really not for me, especially not after reading Tuesdays with Morrie. That's a wonderful book. Everyone should have a read. Though I cannot be somebody who puts money as a side issue, I do not want to be somebody who always have to be so careful of every word and tell lies, and I am not referring to plain white lies. People in the business world have to do that - its a 'how-well-you-can-talk' place, and it does not have to be the truth.
Hmm.. Ahhh... Perhaps I shall stick to Science - the world where the truth matters.
Some of the NKF employees canunderstand the kidney patients' suffering and even be so convincing in persuading us to take the NKF stand yet they sort of "compete" with the patients for the public donation by lavishing on luxury items for their personal enjoyment when they know that the patients are going through such a tough life and some of them cannot even afford basic necessities yet some of the NKF employees, whose pay come from public donations, enjoy themselves from good lodging, to food, to accessories, to A-grade handphones etc. Furthermore, they are well aware that the public are very unhappy that their hard-earned money that they donate are not just used to help the needy but they still lavish... Yes, they work as full-time employees, but since their pay comes from donations that could have otherwise helped other needy people, not just those with NKF, they should keep that in mind and go easy on the luxuries.
The events marketing manager, Shialey, told us in a rather "I-don't-understand-what-they-are thinking-about"way that some parents complain about the KBuddy series of collectibles as rewards to children for helping NKF collect donations or to make donations themselves instilling the wrong values in them. I do understand and agree with the parents' thinking, that when you do good deeds, you should not be getting and should even be expecting anything in return - I think this appeared in the comprehension passage of promos or some other paper. haha, but its simply true and morally correct - and having morals is what makes us homo sapiens - we shouldmust be humane.
I also understand and cannot disagree that NKF's method is a very effective fund-raising method in today's Singapore.
Then she also said in a "phew-luckily-they-think-like-this" way or rather "phew-luckily-they-covet-small-advantages" way that some parents do think its a good way to give the children "little rewards" for collecting donations.
Oh, by the way, Shialey even gave each of us a ticket worth $98 to this Saturday's concert at Expo, the one with 5566 etc. The reward for 'making use' of us supposed interns to help them improve their marketing methods through a focus group over 2 hours which was supposed to be spent on teaching us about events marketing. Sigh. Can't they stop doing such "rewardings". I do not like this method of attraction. We so totally did not expect any thing of such in return. Yet its the mind at work. The lure of rewards. Freebies. They are so transforming us into morally wrong creatures. Many people used to do good deeds, perform well, for self-satisfaction. Yet because of the concept of rewards, it is getting so terribly abused that Singaporeans and the society itself are gradually being transformed and such a situation is created whereby rewards are no longer incentives but customary.
So back to the NKF bit, I think it would definitely put my PW on a much better level if I had went for the NKF work attachment before the end of PW. Yes.
Anyway, its been a packed 10 minus 1 and a half days for me - 2 near-full days of CIP; 3 and a half days of intensive band practice and rehearsals and some games with so many strangers; half a day for the concert itself; half day of band rehearsal for tuning-in which I could not attend; and two days of work attachment plus a night of NY alumni practice. Despite all these activities, I went shopping and bought new shoes and sandals tonight! haha, supposed to get of baking oven but Mom came across these sandals which were fine for me (its not easy buying items that I wear or carry).
Haha, long time since I last blogged and post at one go (expect for this last bit. booz) instead of saving as draft and adding on more. I haven't even got down to edit the previous 2 posts that i 'save as draft'. tata. (its already 00:52. I'll be yawning away again at work)
yups. Today's day 1 of WASBE bandfest. Actually I wanted to put the title... wait, its "The Reason"... haha. ya, Singapore Idol. However, i changed my mind since its just a show, for enjoyment, not truly a part of my life.
Hmm... seems to be taking such a long time to announce now but it will be boring history soon. Just like everything else in life. Take for example bandfest. It had seemed like 'the future'; now its 'the present'; and in time to come, it will become 'the past'. haha, very cliche.
Okay, my little comment. I think Sly is still not mature enough as an idol. He behaves more like a teenager wanting to make it big but isn't sure of how to handle things well. It seems like all he has in mind is to be an idol. Taufik is better. haha, like what most people say.
Alot of people are skipping band camp in between for other matters but I am putting bandfest before the NKF work attachment and its the first two days, supposedly the more important days. I don't know.
Anyway, so the whole band met at Boon Lay MRT at 7.30am. Oh, I was late - was supposed to meet Jun Hao and Swee Peng at Semb MRT at 6.40... still we reached there on time and had to wait. phew.
Surprisingly, Jurena backed out last minute - went overseas - it was said. We didn't know and still kept trying to call her. haha.
NJCSB was the earliest to reach the reporting venue, more due to our familiarity with NIE - so they said this is one of the reasons why Mr Ho held the band practices at NIE for the past month or so. Such events have no lack of long waits for the early birds. Fortunately, we didn't feel out-of-place so everyone was like themselves, chatting etc. We can just imagine being in the others' shoes, wondering about the foreign place. haha.
After an hour of the usual introduction, housekeeping matters and speech, each festival band (Bach, Liszt, Strauss and Rossini) proceeded - in order- to each of our homerooms. Our festband was last because the chaperone IC is the emcee! haha. Melvin Cher. He's the only male chaperone IC - generally, the chaperone team is female dominated. haha.
Oh, Mr Ho is the 'advisor'. haha. Not bad, really feels better to have non-total strangers in the organising committee.
kk, so we had a short tour around NIE before playing ice-breakers - Name Game (haha, no one called me) as clarinet and flute sections, before the whole of Rossini played this Hunter, Fire, Earthquake game with squirrels and trees. haha, kind of childish and doesn't help in getting to know each others' names... I got forfeited! One of the rare times I kana. Guess what's the forfeit? - Come up with a cheer for Rossini. haha... kk... at least it doesn't embarrass us, but its boring for those who didn't get forfeited. Anyway, Meera came up with the main part of the cheer! but its only 3 lines... haha
Rossini Cheer (with actions of course.)
Ross Mana? Sini!
Ross Mana? Sini!
Rossss..... sini!
Short, simple and sweet! Btw, 'mana' is where in Malay.
Then we did the caterpillar game. Whoa. Its super tiring, because we didn't form a proper circle. I have weak legs.
Next was lunch. Non-muslim food was bad. Oily. Very. Tasteless. Saltish. The muslim food was much better, but by the time I went to try, there was only chicken curry left. There was another that smelt delicious but was empty. aiya.
We had three hours of rehearsal with our conductor, a hongkonger, with alot of high posts.
Hmm... actually Day 1 sounds pretty bad now that I have listed out what happened..
I realised that Yu Lin is a very straightforward just-do-it kind of person. haha.
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