im getting sick of the cheery facade i put on...when i appear happy and like everything's going well and then when others go away, when im left alone again, all i feel is the intense fear deep within me, and the sadness overwhelming...
you think you are year 4 and should have acquired sufficient knowledge so as not to feel stupid in the lab, especially after having worked in a lab for 7 months just before this.
you are completely wrong. you actually still have such silly ideas and carry out such uneducated moves that even after 2 half-days in one lab (and travelling to the other lab multiple times) and 1 whole day in the other lab (and travelling back to the first lab again yet once more, you still have yet to start your experiments.
you don't even plan well enough. you do something and you realise you forgot something. you do another step and after so much time and effort you realise you did it wrongly.
what happened to all that you have learnt? so many years of lab work and yet you can't even think independently from all that experience you've got and choose the right way to do things and apply your previous knowledge.
how ignorant and how stupid...
edited to add (i feel like elaborating...):
just two very simple preparatory steps - 1) making a buffer from an acidic salt and its conjugate basic salt; 2) making a glucose stock solution from glucose crystals. and i met with multiple problems: 1) spoilt pH meter (only found out after a lot of time wasted on trying to calibrate it to no avail) 2) spoilt deionised water dispenser and hence having to re-prepare my buffer solution 3) realising the need for a magnetic stirrer and a hotplate with stirring function as the buffer salts were really too hard to dissolve just by shaking 4) finding out that the re-prepared buffer was at pH 7.31 instead of pH 7.4 and adding more basic salt several times and it suddenly reached pH 7.5 but after some time fell to pH 7.41... 5) calculating that the additional salt to adjust the pH to required value changes the salt concentration so much that it was no longer accurate 6) finally consulting a PhD student who taught me another way to prepare the buffer.. 7) preparing the glucose stock by putting the measured out crystals all into an empty beaker before adding the buffer then finding that all the crystals had clumped and the magnetic stirrer started jumping crazily due to the lumps and only after that then realising the right way to dissolve was to add the crystals onto the buffer solution that's already placed in the beaker first 8) finally dissolving the lumps after like more than an hour of stirring and manual force then measuring out the required amounts to the tubes with the measured out buffer solutions in each then realising that there was excessive glucose solution left i.e. the concentration of the glucose solution was no longer at the set value - problem: dissolving glucose increased the final volume of solution 9) consulting one PhD student who couldn't answer me and found that my concentration of glucose solution was just so high (but i was instructed to go high :/) 10) consulting another PhD student and learning i should have started with less solution and should have used a volumetric flask instead of just measuring cylinder..
wow. TEN key problems in one day. and i haven't mentioned other small problems like 1) having to move to another bench (that was in such a messed up state) cos the bench i picked was too close to the computers (not safe to work with solutions near computers!), 2) having milky water that smelt of rust coming out of the taps... 3) having to call the person using the water bath i need cos after checking with several persons yest and not being able to find who's the one using, today the newly pasted log sheet (that i was told to paste..) had her number on it...
Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than the words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism. – Abraham Lincoln
No One is Perfect. The quicker this is realized the faster you can get on with being excellent. Start every morning ready to fight harder than you did the day before and run further than you ever imagine.
Avoid over explaining yourself. Be confident with who you are.
Keep balance in your life. Write down what’s most important to you and show up. Sometimes we tend to do the things that are most important to us when it’s written down.
Play the hand you were dealt. Have the courage to face challenges head on it builds character. Start looking for a way through instead of a way out.
Be a student of life. Learn something new every day. The day you stop learning is the day you become obsolete so keep learning.
No Excuses. Stop making excuses replace them with ways to do better. Excuses are a waste of time and energy.
Let others know where you Stand. Be uncompromising and be up front when someone steps on your core values.
Never be afraid of a challenge. You put on your shoes like every other man. Now it comes down to who wants it more.
Service to others. Small, simple or important be a volunteer and give the very best of you.
Work like hell. Everyone has a job to do so do it. Cross every “T” and dot every “I”.
Discover You. Find your passion, life purpose, and take action.
Don’t take it Personal. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself self confidence shows that you’re comfortable in your own skin.
Manage your time. Our situation and environment is ever changing so be careful not to confuse the things that are urgent with the things that are important. Look for time wasters and eliminate them.
Ask for help. Life can be tough remember you never have to do it alone.
Do your homework. Know what you getting into before you start. Doing your homework reduces uncertainty and fear.
Day Dream Often. On the weekend when you are relaxing embrace a day dream. During the week take action to preserve your dreams.
Be A HERO. Cultivate a healthy dose of forgiveness and set someone free. Learn to forgive others and stop carrying those bags of hate, guilt or regret.
Stay One Step Ahead. Be proactive, Take the initiative, Brainstorm with the big picture in mind.
Self Love. Become your own priority. Strive to be the you, you want to be.
My empathic skills sort of forced the issue. Though empathy is a normal human skill, most of us learn to dampen it as we acquire spoken language. Most of us learn – by the age of four or five – to hide, squelch, or camouflage our emotions in social situations. We catch on very quickly to the fact that most people lie about their feelings, leave important words unsaid, or trample over each other’s obvious emotional cues. Learning to speak is often a process of learning not to speak the truth, and attaining an uncanny level of pretense in most relationships. Every culture and subculture has a different set of unspoken rules about emotions, but all of them require that specific emotions be camouflaged, overused, or ignored. Most children learn to turn down their empathic abilities in order to pilot their way through these confusing social rules. I wasn’t able to shut down, so I remained aware of emotions and studied them throughout my life.
Much of the information we have about emotions tells us to stop the natural flow of the emotions or place them into simplistic categories (these emotions are good, and those emotions are bad) – all of which mirror that early socialization we get on which emotions are acceptable and unacceptable.
This is a shame, because all emotions contain indispensable information. Sadly, we don’t treat emotions as indispensable. Instead, we categorize, celebrate, vilify, repress, manipulate, humiliate, adore, and ignore emotions. Rarely, if ever, do we treat them as important carriers of specific and necessary information. I wrote The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You to help people access their emotions and their empathic abilities again.
Your emotional sensitivity and agility – your empathy – helps you understand and connect with yourself, other people, your vision, and your purpose. Verbal skills and rationality may be what make people so smart, but it is your emotions and your empathy that make you a brilliant, decisive, and compassionate human being.
But haven’t you been hurt by your own emotions or other people’s emotions?
Absolutely! Emotions carry intensity and a motive force with them, and strong emotions carry massive amounts of force. If I’m unaware, I can knock myself (and others) down with my emotions, and certainly, other people can use their emotions to knock me down, too. But the empathic work I teach allows us to take hold of the intensity in our emotions and to use it – not to knock ourselves or other people down – but to change our lives.
Emotions are irreplaceable and necessary, and recent neurological research has shown that without our emotions, we cannot think or function properly. Therefore, our job as sentient human beings is to understand what emotions are and what they do, to listen to them, and to work with them intelligently and honorably. Of course, emotional states that repeat endlessly (or ones you can’t control) may be aspects of an underlying neurochemical, psychological, or endocrine imbalance. These imbalances need to be addressed, but it is not the emotion that needs to be cured; rather, the imbalance needs to be corrected so that the emotion can get back to its regular work!
In The Language of Emotions, we treat all of our emotions as our allies and make a pact with them – we promise not repress our emotions, and we promise not to improperly express them. This pact enables us to work with our emotions in utterly new ways – it enables us to hear the messages our emotions send, ask the proper questions, and make the proper correcting moves in response. This work also incorporates empathic mindfulness techniques that help us calm and focus ourselves so that we can communicate effectively with our emotions.
What messages do emotions carry?
We feel each emotion for a different reason. Here are four examples. Healthy anger is our sentry – our protector for ourselves and others. When we’re threatened, our anger will come forward to help us maintain our self image, our position, or the position of someone we care about. Healthy fear is our intuition – it helps us drop into our instinctive skills so that we can sense danger and act appropriately. Healthy sadnesshelps us let go when we need to. It brings us the capacity to relax and let go when we need to release things that aren’t working anyway. And healthy happinessis a rest stop in the psyche – it arises naturally when we manage our lives and our emotions properly. Each emotion exists for a specific reason, and we need all of them working properly or our lives won’t work.
What questions should we ask our emotions?
Understanding why the emotions arise helps us to understand which questions we should ask of them. With the protective sentry of anger, the questions are: What must be protected? and What must be restored? With the intuitive instincts of fear, the question is: What action should be taken?With the water-bearer of sadness, the questions are: What must be released? and What must be rejuvenated? Every emotion has a specific message, a specific skill, and a specific purpose. Learning their language helps you become your emotions’ ally instead of their ignorant puppet or their strict taskmaster.
15 Inspirational, Motivational Tips to Help You Dream Big
posted by Lissa Rankin Aug 6, 2010 9:03 am
Articulate your dream. How can you achieve it if you don’t know what it is? Be very specific. If you hate your job and you want to change jobs, do some serious soul searching and figure out what your dream job would look like. Where would you be? What would your office look like? Who would you work with? What would you do? What would you wear to work? How often would you be working? What would you eat for lunch? Be as detailed as you possibly can. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn just by asking yourself these questions. Write down your answers, so you can reference them later.
Answer this one question: “What would you do if you took fear out of the equation?” My husband once asked me that, and I tell you, it changed my life. It helped me bypass all the bullshit so I could whittle decisions down to their essence. What I realized was that I was not living my dream because I was desperately afraid — of financial ruin, of failure, of letting people down, of regret, even of success. Asking this question helped me separate the fear from the dream, and in doing so, I realized that I really wanted to move forward, in spite of the fear. The question helped me identify the fears and determine whether they deserved as much power as I was giving them. That way, I could address the fears separately. Do I still worry about those fears? You betcha. Sometimes I have those dark nights of the soul at 3am when I’m overcome with them. But do I let them rule my choices anymore? Nope.
Timing is everything. If you don’t know what to do, it’s probably not time yet. When the time is right to act, you’ll know. Which leads us to #4…
Listen to yourintuition. You’d be surprised how brilliant your inner wisdom is. Your gut knows more than any other individual ever will.
Believe that your dream will come true. Visualize it. Richard Bach said, “You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true.”
When the time comes to go after your dream, send naysayers to time out.Chances are, you have all the criticism you can stand between your own two ears. Kindly inform well-meaning family members, friends, and co-workers that you’ve got plenty of self-critique happening already. What you need from them is faith in your ability to achieve your dreams — or silence. Which leads us to #7…
Gag your inner critic. This is the time to be your own best cheerleader. You won’t be able to eliminate that fearful voice of criticism within, but you can muffle it so it doesn’t drown out the stadium anthem music you hear when you dream big.
Make room in your life for your dream to come true. I’m serious. Be careful what you wish for — because if you approach it right, it WILL come true. Then what? Build your life to hold space for your dream. Then when it comes true, you’ll be prepared.
Don’t be afraid to fly with eagles. You may have been living a sparrow kind of life, but if you’re dreaming big, you’re gonna be flying with eagles, baby! Let the eagles inspire you, but don’t let them make you feel small or unworthy. If I’d been afraid to fly with eagles, I wouldn’t have met Rachel. Dream big — FLY!
Work hard and stay focused. Few people who are living their big dream got lucky. Most worked their ass off to achieve their dreams.
Be gutsy and take risks. You may feel like you’ve jumped off a cliff and you’re free falling through outer space — and if you’re living your dream, chances are, you are. Embrace it! The free fall is exciting, and you never know where you’re going to land. Jumping off the proverbial cliff means that anything can happen. My all time favorite cartoon shows a stick woman floating in an upside down umbrella. The caption above her says, “If you hold onto the handle, it’s easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it’s more fun if you let the wind carry you.” –Brian Andreas
Go with the flow. Once you’ve jumped off the cliff, ride whatever wave you land on. I call my flow the “lavender-scented river.” Quit fighting the current and just enjoy the ride. It’s how big dreams come true, when you finally quit fighting and let go.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Yes, it’s trite. But SO true. I can’t tell you how many rejections I’ve suffered in my life — from medical schools to art galleries to literary agents to men to publishers…But it doesn’t keep me from putting myself out there. Grab the core of you, hold it close and keep it safe, but be willing to put the rest of you out there in the world. If someone rejects you, it’s not personal. Try again.
Nurture yourself. Get a massage, take personal days all to yourself, have lunch with a girlfriend, take a hike in nature, meditate, go on a retreat away from the family…whatever it takes to fill you up so that you’re overflowing and have more to give to your passion. It’ll serve you well when those naysayers show up…
Put yourself out there. Do you think Susan Boyle was ever going to be discovered when she was home singing in the shower? No! The woman had the guts to get herself on Britain’s Got Talent, and voila! Big dream come true. How much you wanna bet she’ll be singing for the queen? If you missed her unbelievable performance, click here to weep, laugh, and revel in big dreams come true. If Susan Boyle singing “I Dreamed a Dream” doesn’t rock your world, I give up…
You can do it! What’s your big dream? What’s getting in the way of making it come true?
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