Welcome My New Family!

Monday, January 30, 2006 @ 12:29 PM

New members of the Tan Family as follows:

a.k.a T(horny) Tan. I destress by making him jump all over the place.

a.k.a Tan Zhen Zhu (i.e. The Real Pig)
P.S. Binbin, what are u doing here? :P

Treasures Unearthed

Sunday, January 29, 2006 @ 2:51 AM

After a massive excavation of my room, these are some of the antiques I discovered:

1) Some receipts from my Australia trip in 2004!
Crazy me fell in love with the tuna there and actually bought some cans back.. >_<"

2) A hand-delivered CNY card in upper primary by my good pal then.. since we only lived a block apart. Haha.

3) A love letter dated 26th Oct 1992. Somehow, back then, the term 'best friend' seemed to be rather loosely coined. Hehe..when you were young, you called everyone your best friend.

4) What came with the love letter. A nice drawing! Ever wonder how we have the time back in Pri. one and two to do such sweet things for our pals?

Pardon the withering state of my stuff.. but I'm simply amazed that I still keep such 'junk'. Oh well, but they brought back such wonderful memories today, while I was sifting through old photos, festive cards and heartwarming cheer-up notes from my dear friends.

These collectors' items are definitely here to stay, for who knows when this foggy brain of mine will need some refreshing of memories. :p

My Sister's Keeper

Saturday, January 28, 2006 @ 3:15 PM

By Jodi Picoult

It might be the sentimental afternoon weather or a lowered emotional immunity but I was reduced to tears and sniffles after reading this novel just now.

A story revolving around the issue of medical ethics and a couple who saw the need to procreate a genetically engineered child in order to save their daughter who was suffering from leukaemia. Subsequently, Anna, 13, then filed for a lawsuit, suing her parents for the rights to her own body.

Are you a good mother if you use one of your children to save the life of another? Or are you a bad one?
Till now, I don't really have the answer to that.

Somehow, the story just reminds me of how lucky I am that I am hale and healthy, not plagued by some illnesses that will rob me of the simple enjoyments in life. The twist of the plot's conclusion also struck a chord with me, of life's fragility and its unpredictability.

Really, there are still so many things that I've not accomplished...as yet.

Chiyo

Sunday, January 22, 2006 @ 12:01 PM

Suzuka Ohgo - Japanese Child Actress - One of the prettiest 13-year-olds I've ever seen.

I enjoyed the movie tremendously, though it did not really adhere to the original plot. Beautiful visuals and music.. Kimonos are really exquisite! In fact, I don't mind watching it again.

Just one fact that has been reinforced in the movie: Men are naturally lusty creatures! ^_^ "

Watch this link for some really appetising trailers of the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/?v=_AQvqsZFgDY

Now, This Is True Romance!

Friday, January 20, 2006 @ 11:01 PM

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Rita Sri Mutiara Dewi's fiance could not get time off from his job in the United States. But that didn't stop the couple - who have never met in person - from tying the knot on Thursday.

And a Muslim cleric who witnessed the ceremony between the Indonesian lovers declared it legal, she said, even though they were on opposite ends of the earth.

"We are happy that we're married now, even though we had to do it via the Internet," said Dewi, 50, noting that the two used a video link so her relatives could see her 52-year-old groom.

Dewi met Wiriadi, a physiotherapist who works at a hospital in California, in an Internet chat room several months ago. They exchanged pictures and contacted each other almost every day, she said, speaking usually online but other times by phone.

In November Wiriadi proposed. Over the Internet, of course.

Dewi, who works as a teacher in Malaysia, returned to Indonesia for the virtual wedding. Wiriadi, who uses only one name, was in California. It was the second marriage for both.

Dewi said Friday she plans to travel to the United States next month to meet her new husband.

Aww.. How sweet is that? But I can't imagine myself in her shoes though.. Marry someone whom you have never met?!!

You know..

Thursday, January 19, 2006 @ 11:46 PM

You have spent too much time in the office...when your biological cycles become synchronised with that of your female colleagues.

Now, at the rate my projects are going, I wouldn't be surprised if I start having my project mates in a similar cycle too..

I have only one word for it: ArGh! (That's putting it politely coz my internal voice is saying $#%$^&!#$#^!!!)

Long-drawn assignments really test my patience!

Now I only have Sat nite to look forward to.. Pls come soon and don't go away!

Female Woes

Monday, January 16, 2006 @ 11:37 PM

Other than the backaches and discomforts, for the first time today, I also felt like puking.

It is at times like this when I wonder why I couldn't have been born a boy.

Even 2 yrs of NS would have been more tolerable. At least to me at this moment.

Nostalgia Struck

Saturday, January 14, 2006 @ 12:33 AM

This morning on the train, amid the human clutter and despite the yet-to-wake-up state I was in, I spotted a Pri. One classmate across the carriage. I recognised her instantly coz she had not changed at all. Some people never do and that was the case for her. As compared to her appearance as a 7-year-old, it seemed that she only became taller, her hair grew longer and her body got larger. All in proportion of coz. An exact spitting image of her younger self.

Anyway, that is not the main point. Seeing her again brought back memories of my 'glory days' in primary school. Back then, she was this somewhat clumsy little girl who always tripped and fell when she walked. Somehow, as I was behind her in the queue, another classmate & I were often the ones to help her up. Pretty soon, we were assigned to be her 'assistants' in school.

Because of that, at the end of that year, I obtained the Helpful badge.

I managed to dig out these relics after I got home. The Good Conduct badge was awarded the year after that.

Back then, my school had this custom of awarding badges to students with outstanding behaviour. There were a total of five, the others being Honesty, Bravery and Something else if i remember correctly. So all of us little brats wore the badges we got on our uniforms proudly, akin to that of a symbol of our rank in the army.

And because I later became a prefect, I wore mine on my dark red prefect tie with utmost pride. Silly me was searching for my prefect tie earlier when I realised that the school had collected it back after we ended our service to the school. Yes, our ties were recycled batch by batch.

So I shall just replicate what my badges would look like on a school tie:

Ta-Da~!! What a beauty!

I recall some prefects had managed to accumulate all five badges. So you can imagine the vertical line-up on the tie: a flapping strip of red cloth with several trinkets on it. Hilarious image huh?

Sometimes when I think back on my primary school days, I wish that if I ever have the chance to relive those days again, I would do it differently. Somehow I feel that I had not lived life to the max then. There were so many things I could have learnt and done!

I could have learnt to play the piano. I've always admired friends who can do so. Don't you think a guy who can play a piano seems just that much more charismatic?
I could have taken part in more things I might have been interested in. Like representing the school for instance, so that I can accumulate medals and display them in a cabinet like people do. Learn to play the harmonica (I got one for my birthday but didn't get to really utilise it).
Have more of a childhood. I always thought I didn't play enough when I was younger. Like not adventurous enough, maybe? There are so many childhood games I still don't know how to play!
Have better relationships with my friends then. Things were not bad then, just that coz we were all young and ignorant, we often did superficial stuff like "I don't friend you already". Haha, how childish. Oh well, can that be helped?
Maybe I should have gone to a mixed secondary school instead. It would have been an interesting and vastly different experience then being in a girl's school.

But still, I guess I didn't turn out too bad after all. :)

~~~ ~~~

This self-indulgent trip down nostalgia lane must be an effect on an overworked individual. I am still not done with my projects and presentations and this looks like it's going to drag on for another week or two. Oh well, at least the incessant rain looks like it's finally clearing away!

When nerves are frayed and stress levels are upped, it must be inevitable that tensions will arise. Absolute teamwork is really a tough state to achieve.

Wish me luck.

The Nite We Bling-ed Away

Sunday, January 08, 2006 @ 11:57 AM

The annual D & D was at the Jewel box at Mount Faber. Was looking forward to it coz we could take the cable car free-of-charge! Theme for the night was 'Bling-bling', which means lots of shine and sparkle for all of us. The Best Dressed of the nite was this indian lady who wore a white, shimmering sari, complete with shiny bangles, scrunchie and nose stud. Really the Bling Lady!

Another of the best dressed nominees was this guy with a bling necklace like that of 50 cents and two blinding dangling piercings at the top part of the ear. He tugged another 2 ladies onto the stage with him and proclaimed that those were his accessories. I was like ... ...! You know what i mean..

On the cable car to Mount Faber. We found it so fun that after we got down at Mt faber, we took it again to Sentosa and back. Woohoo! I esp loved the part where the cable car slides out onto the cable wires, like a mini roller coaster! Yes, I like cheap thrills.

The view from the top showing the straits. No breathtaking view but it was nice to be at such a height for once. We enjoyed the floaty feeling in the air, esp with the breeze coming from the bottom.

The Virgo Peace Boat beneath us. Everything looked like a doll house from our view. Look at the teeny Weeny deck chairs!

The washroom was one of our favourite places. All of us went WoW when we saw it. So open-concept and just amazing! See the fish tank in the background?

A close-up of the fish tank. They had those tiny fishes swimming inside. Should be something to do with fengshui.

The sinks. See the Zen-looking fountain in the middle?

The view from the washroom. It's this piece of clear glass behind the sinks! Spot the cable car coming towards the buildings! It was only while we were leaving in the cable car when we realised that everything was see-through in the wash room. Then we gasped as we thought of the Gents. But the guys assured us that theirs had an additional wall to shield the urinals. Phew!

I hope there have been no flying casualties so far i.e. birds crashing into the glass. Haha.

Mirrors and more mirrors! Us having a ball in the washroom. I can't imagine what the passengers in the cable cars thought of us loonies.

One of the performances that night. Behold the flamenco dancers! Really good..

The Jewel Box just opened recently and it is almost always a fully booked location. Apparently, we are the first corporate event to be held there. How nice! The food was rather good, we esp loved the scallops which were topped with melt-in-the mouth kind of creamy cheese.. and the salmon with mango sauce! Sedap! Needless to say, we went back for second helpings. Yum Yum..

The prizes for the night were rather attractive, just that I simply didn't have enough luck. Sigh. The prizes ranged from a $50 Robinsons vouchers to $350 Taka vouchers to $500 Lee Hwa Jewellery vouchers! Will really shop like siao if my luck had been better..

But all in all, i must say it was a great Bling night.

It's true when they say..

Tuesday, January 03, 2006 @ 11:56 PM

All play and no work makes Jack a kancheong spider..

Two project proposals, two tutorial presentations, all due next week.

I am really reaping the fruits of my indulgence for the past fortnight..

Memoirs of a Geisha

Monday, January 02, 2006 @ 11:06 PM

is coming your way soon..

*rubs palms in anticipation*