Memories Memories Memories

Talking about memories, I realise that my memory is starting to fail me. I can't seem to remember simple figures by glancing through and I need to pen down all the information or I will forget it the next minute. Not to mention that I actually forget instructions pretty easily. Sighs. I wonder what is going on inside my tiny brain......

One good example would be me wanting to buy a phone to put in nix's room, but for the past two days, I cannot recall that at all and only remembered it on my train ride home today! I was trying so hard to recall yesterday but my mind went blank.... Maybe I need to drink pig brain soup huhh? (In chinese terms, drink brain soup to improve the activities of the brain)

But on the bright side, as I was walking to the bus-stop this morning, sweet memories pour in as I look into the bright sky. Really feel warm in the heart as I reminiscence on little things that have happened to me. In particular, I remembered how nix took really good care of me when I fell sick over the past two weeks, such as accompanying me to the doctor, put me to sleep, feed me my medications, etc etc. And also my mum, who would cook herbal drinks for me to drink, help me with my daily tasks, etc.

Ahhhhhhh... I feel loved. =)

Valentine's Day 09

Another year of V'day has passed and I think these two years of V'day are the most memorable so far! Last year I had a special invitation card from nixon and the whole day of program planned. This year, it was something special and also interestingly contradicting.

Nix planned to go to Demsey hills for V'day night program, in which he has sent me a interesting presentation on! I had the choice of Long Beach, Jumbo and western food from Brewhouse. The presentation on Long Beach and Jumbo was quite interesting. Long Beach serves Toadstools while Jumbo serves Black Pepper Sea Spiders.. hmmm I am not sure if those are edible though.. Interesting menu. The whole set of menu was thought up and done up by Nix, which was a shock to me cz I didn't know he can actually write so well! Dear Jia you oh! And I really appreciate the effort. =)

I have also planned a interesting V'day afternoon, and although things didn't go the way we planned it to, we had a wonderful V'day. A few days before V'day, I went to IMM and wet market to get ingredients for the special lunch! Sushi picnic! TaDA!!!!



The sushi were made with nix's help, and I also had grilled salmon and chicken with teriyaki sauce. Doesn't the food look appetising?

Originally we planned to go to Botanic Gardens for a nice relaxing afternoon with our sushi picnic. However, by the time we finished making the sushi, both of us were feeling lazy and the weather didn't look too pretty. We ended up in the garden closest to our place, Japanese Garden! On the bright side, there were not many people there and the scenery is beautiful!

We set up our picnic and spent the lazy afternoon away munching on our hard work and playing poker.

As said, both of us were too lazy to go to far away place for meals. Thus, we ended up in the Long Beach in IMM! We had our favourite Baby Squid, tried the drunken prawn, a veg and Crabmeat Mee Sua. The food were quite nice, but I think they added too much MSGs in the food cz my throat was quite dry when I got home.

We ended our V'day with a session of mahjong with another couple, chris and liting! hahh.. I guess we are a bunch of gamblers. Fancy playing mahjong on a V'day. Oh well! Chris was really lucky and skillful! He was the only one that won in the game and I was the biggest loser I guess. hahh. Lost most of the chips. Lucky we were playing on Ice-cream only. This means I owe them one ice-cream treat! Time to scoot off and relax now!

Preparations leading up to CNY

Another year has passed and its is just a few days away from the grand festival for the Chinese, Lunar New Year! Despite being a gloomy year for this Ox year, it seems that CNY has done some good in boosting retail sales.
I went to Chinatown on two occasions, once last saturday and the second time was yesterday. On saturday, it was really crowded, full of people looking out for new year goodies. Me and my bf were also there to look for some goodies and also managed to get a lot of free tastings. Yummy. We bought this taiwan jelly from one of the vendors, selling for $1.50 per 100grams. And we moved on to view the rest of the street only to find out that the exact same jelly was selling for $1.00 per 100 grams at other vendors!! My bf was pretty much hopping mad. hahx. Despite that, I enjoyed myself there. The atmosphere was great, not to mention the great new year goodies. Yesterday I went there again with my mum in the morning. This time round, it is not so crowded but we could still feel the atmosphere in the air. We went to get some new year decorations and also the taiwan jelly cz mum really likes it. Guess what, this time round, the same vendor that I bought the jelly for $1.50 per 100grams was selling for $1.00 per 100grams. My oh my. And it was quite interesting because they wrote there "Boss not around, anyhow sell", leading to that price. hah. crazy people.
Anyways, most of the preparations have been done for CNY and I am really looking forward to it!!! I am not sure how I am viewing the aftermaths though.. gloomy year ahead..

Jobless but loving it

Yup, my phrase of the day. Jobless but loving it.

I officially announce that I have resigned from my previous job and is now looking for another one =) The only problem, market doesn't seem to be that good now and I don't really know what I want to do. *Sighs*

In any case, I have been really busy since I resigned with alot of other random things at home and meeting up with friends. =) Let's do a general recap. It has been about 3 weeks since my last day of work and what have I been up to till now?

My family got a new dog, named Mango. I have been busy playing with her for the past few weeks, bringing her for her injection, etc. She's a Silky Terrier, which I think the aunty told me is mixed with a Yorkshire. I am not too sure about that. See the pictures for yourself. =)

This is the look she often gives us when we scold her. A really sad, lovable look.

My mum has been training her to stand on her hind legs, which is working pretty well. We have been using doggie biscuits to train her and she is responding well!

THis is actually one of her first photos and she looks really wonderful. A blur blur cute cute look. =)

I also went to Batam with my family and nix after Christmas to relax. Apparently they didn't really enjoy it that much cz there aren't too many things to do.. CHARISSA! Next time i will go with you to enjoy, not bringing other ppl along animore. -pouts-

Then spend the rest of the time doing really random things like spring cleaning, organizing my stuff, throwing away earrings, washing my stuffed toys, etc. Even though it was really random things, I have really spent really fruitful weeks since I have graduated to tidy up loose ends. Even until now, I still have alot of other things to tidy up. =X

Standing in between split roads

"Where does my future lie? What is my next move? What should I do next?" Are the thoughts that have been floating in my head for the past few days. It's like standing in the middle, looking at the different options to choose from, but not knowing what is the right decision..
Honestly, since i graduated, I don't really have an ambition of what I want to be, what I want to do or where I want to be 10 years from now. Half a year has past since I graduated and I really think it is time that I start looking at where I am standing now and where this is bringing me to. I need time to sit down and seriously consider my future path. Maybe I should take a few days off and sit by the beach to think this over.
This morning, my dad said to me "Do what you like to do". And now, I guess I really need to think over what I really like.
~lost in a pool of thoughts~

Facing reality

Yeah it has been going on for weeks and weeks. Since the first day of the sudden downturn, my world has been spinning non-stop. And today, I think i have been dealt with the harshest of the reality. Retrenchment. Although I wasn't the one retrenched, but facing the ones being retrenched is a harsher truth than being retrenched myself.
Although I have only started work not long, a total of close to 6 months of work in this company, I have grown close to my colleagues and really appreciate them for being there for me when I needed help. And to be honest, I don't know anything in this line and have been constantly learning new things. It's my colleagues who have helped me to understand the things I have been doing and to help me in things that I don't know how to handle. Honestly, they are one of the best colleagues that anyone could have. No politics in the office, giggling with each other after work. I wonder if such a day will come again, where we laugh over things that happened in the office and felt really comfortable with each other in the office.
Guys, I will really miss you. And I really hope the best for you guys no matter where you guys go.

Juggling between work and family

Career Woman + Housewife = Superwoman

Ever since I started work, this is the first week that both my parents are out of town and I had to attend to everything that happens at home. From my sis to my bro to dinner to cleaning the house. *tireedddd* In addition, my work has been a rather big headache lately. With lots of places to run to and many unfinished paperwork, I can hardly find a space to breathe in.

Although it has only been two days since I had to juggle between family and work, it felt like forever. I really am envious and look up to those career woman with a wonderful family. I wonder how did they managed to juggle between the two. With another week to go for me to be a superwoman, I really gotta pray hard that I will survive. hahx.

Still, I love my work and family =)
-=challenges will not defeat me=-

Facebookieee

Am really amazed with what technology can do nowadays. In the past, a document will take a minimum of one day to reach you and information takes a long time to go travel around. And now, you are just a phone call away, a email away from the other party. How amazing, scary technology can be! With the ever-changing society, we are moving at a very fast pace to get a headstart in the game. And because of this, I think i am still trying to catch my breathe at work.
In any case, this is not really about work. More importantly, I am so glad that I have a face book account and I have managed to catch up with many of my old friends! Dropping them a msg every now and then to find out how they are doing. Looking at their pictures, see how they have changed since we've last met. It is just amazing how ppl changes through time and even to see myself change through time!
Although facebook is still a little hard to use, (with regards to the functions available) it is still a useful tool for me to communicate with friends overseas! Time to do more facebook stuff!

Comex Aug 2008

Ho Ho Ho!
Had a good time with Charissa at the Comex show yesterday even though both of us came out quite sick from the show. We were both very happy with our purchases! She managed to get her Creative Zen Xi-Fi player, which looks really cool! (I hope the spelling is correct) And I got my dad a bluetooth for his handphones (Which connects to 2 phones at a time! Ain't that coooool???) Then I got myself a lappy! Heex. Now, You will see me stuck to my laptop with my favourite game!
I was choosing between a few brands, Acer, BenQ, LG and Dell cz their prices are more reasonable. BenQ has a really cool laptop which has a 13.3" screen and pretty good specs but I haven't tried that brand before so I am a little worried on that. LG's promoter kept giving me all kinds of discounts and freebies so I was rather tempted to buy but their price a still a little on the high side and the specs wasn't as good for the price range. Then came Acer! One of my favourite brands. Their 12.1" laptop was selling at $1,298 and it was PRETTY! Unfortunately, I didn't really like the sales person.
So i settled for Dell. Their price is one of the best for the same specs compared with other brands. I got myself Dell Inspiron 1420, Expresso Brown cover.
At the price of $1,299, it comes with the following specs
Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5750
Memory - 4 GB Dual Channel 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Disk - 320GB SATA Hard Drive
Screen - 14.1" Widescreen WXGA TFT Display with 2.0 MP webcam
Operating System - Windows Vista Home Premium
Graphics - 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Optical Drive - 8X DVD RW Drive
McAfee - 15months
Bluetooth - Dell wireless 355 Bluetooth
Wireless - Dell Wireless 1490 Dual Band 802.11a/b/g 54 Mbps Mini-card
Warranty - 1 Year
The only sad thing... I can only get it in 2 weeks. =( But I am still quite happY! hahhx
After which Charissa and I had lunch at Marina Square. I forgot the name of the restaurant but it had really wonderful food! It was located next to Swensens and Ribs is one of its outstanding dishes. I had Grilled Chicken with mango slices on it, which was WONDERFUL! hahhx The mango was very sweet and it goes very well with the chicken. *Yummm* Charissa had Honey Baby-Ribs which looked quite nice too. heex. She even packed the ribs she couldn't finish back home to eat. So it must be of some standard!
Then went home after our lunch. On our way back, saw Vivien at Citilink but unfortunately she didn't see me. =( Nevertheless, she still looks so pretttyyyy =) Must catch up with her someday.
That's all for now!

random notes

I have no idea wat to name this post because i have no idea what i wanna put in this post.
Still trying to recollect my thoughts together and put them down in words but my mind is wondering off into so many areas that I don't have a topic in mind that I can put my finger to.
Life have been rather monotonous lately. I have been working, tv, sleep and the cycle starts all over again the next day. And on weekends, I don't really have any idea what to do. Together with my bf, we are like lost wondering souls. Hahx.
We have been planning our future, looking at flats that will be coming up, furniture we want in the house etc etc. hahh i think this part of my life is rather interesting. Really can't wait for this future dream of ours to come =)
On the other hand, Olympics have just ended, so don't really know what to watch out for on tv nowadays. AND Congrats to the table tennis players who have won the silver medal for Singapore! And BOOOO to the person who has made it onto the headlines infamously. Apparently the words that the person has said to the media at the Olympics has upset many people, and I think people will start demonstrating at the park against her. I think her future looks rather misty right now...
Oh well, time to go do other stuff!

Work Work Work

Yo! haven't post for a very long time. I have been rather busy with work lately, going home at 7-8. *tiring* But I like being busy. There's a sense of achievement. =)
I am currently working in this Civil Engineering Consulting firm, as a asst. proj manager. Heexz. Nice title right? Basically, I have been dealing with contracts, and also clients (which is the harder part). The company that I am working in is not those big international company, but I will have to say that we are rather "internationalized" with people from all over the globe. And I really like this working environment, cz it is not so tensed, not much of conflict with colleagues and basically, everyone is working together in harmony! *Yup, I know this is the best part about work*
And the second best part is that I get to drive home the company van, so I dun really have to go look for my own transport. =) Talking about driving, had a really funny drive home today. Knocked off at about 7, with Syah and Yihong. So I drove them to the places they wanted to go, and have came to realization that EACH and EVERYTIME I drive the both of them back, I run into Red Lights almost the entire trip back. Last week, it took me half an hour to get from pandan loop to bukit batok (hitting red light almost the entire way back), which would usually take a much shorter time. And today, I ran into red lights 6 times in a row. hahh.. I dunno how I manage to get that "Lucky". Maybe its about time I go buy 4D.
And also had another funny experience the other day. After boss left for some investigation, all of us left at about 630pm. I was the last one to leave the office, with Syah. And as we walked towards the passenger's lift round the corner, the goods lift on our right was opening. Both of us stared at the door, then at each other and started running in the direction of the passenger's lift immediately! hahhh. this was actually for a good reason. Our boss like to use the goods' lift to get to office/out of office, so we thought that he was coming back and just wanted to get out of there immediately. hahhx.
Wish I have some photos that I can put up, but unfortunately, none. =X
Shall show you guys pictures of my durian trip soon!

Aftershock of SzeChuan Earthquake

Just 10 minutes ago, the live telecast to raise donations for the SzeChuan Earthquake ended. Watching the pictures of the earthquake, the aftermath, the orphans really make me feel touched.
It wasn't anything extreme, it was just a singing performance to raise the amount. And I was really glad that they managed to raise more than 6 million by the end of the show. The most touching part of the show was the mother's love for her 3-4months old baby. It was really saddening to know that the baby will never get to know his mother personally, but only through a phone message that has her love in it. And to that mum, my greatest respect.
Although it was just a 3 hour telecast, it managed to play its message across. With this show, I feel more and more for the sufferers of this natural disaster and I really hope that the survivors will walk out of this darkness soon. My deepest condolences to them.

A Short getaway

Yo! Ever since i started work a week plus ago, i have been too busy to do things I wanted to do. Shucks. But i have been enjoying work so far, at least I hope i did. *hmmm*.. There is still some sense of uncertainty about this job but so far everything is going well....

Over last weekend, went to bintan with family for a short getaway!! The views are fantastic, and tadaaaa.. below are some of the pictures that I took while I was there..

Oh i love the colour contrast in the sky... prettyyyy... and the beach looks pretty too.. wonderful...
Look! This is one of the pretty shell-like stuff that I found on the beach. It has a very distinct flower shape. And almost every shell there is like this! with this distinct flower. interesting hehhh... I tried to bring it back to the resort but somehow it crushed in my pocket... *shruggs*

A Pretty view of the pool at the resort area. Honestly, it has a really wonderful ambience. And when you lie on one of those beach chairs, it is so breeeezyyy!!
Another vieww of the resort =)

Honestly, the stay was wonderful, however the food is not as great. *shakes head* Ooo and i had a massage there! It was quite nice and relaxingg... And i chanced upon this magazine showing Miniloc Island of Philippines. IT IS VERYYY PRETTY!!!! I wanna go there one dayy. maybe 5 years in the future? Cz one night stay for 1 person is 400 sin dollar (minimum) and nooooooo i don't have that luxury for now.

Didn't put any of my pictures in this entry cz i look totally awful! I think i am growing too fat. need more exercise. *ROARRRR* must be the after effects of exams..

CONGRATS!

A big CONGRATS to myself for completing 3 years of univerisity life. =)
ANOTHER big congrats for finding a job =)
BUT a BIG slap on the face for beginning work the day AFTER exams end. =(

Spent a really nice day out with my friends, xiaoqian and charissa, after exam ended yesterday. We had our lunch at Hogsbreath Cafe, which was ok but not really that fantastic as people make it out to be. Oh well, at least we filled our tummy =) Spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the place before we went off to do our own separate stuff.

And for today, it was the first day of work! I will say that there is alot of things to do, but I didn't manage to find that much things to do. Hahhx. Went on a site inspection with my boss, and it was quite interesting to see how bad a building can turn into with age. And learnt alot about buildings, what to look out for, some laws for the buildings, etc. It feels like school all over againnn.. hahhh... let's hope tml will be a better day =)

Quick Update!

The start of exams...

one hour.. two hour..

Took my Infectious diseases exam more than 5 hours ago and came out feeling quite unsettled. Deep down inside, I know, I have done this exam badly. Like everyone around me say, Don't think about it anymore, concentrate on the next exam. Yeah i wish. Still feeling unsettled.

One exam down, 3 more to go. Having Applied microbiology at 1pm tomorrow, and I am on the brink of losing all my brain cells. More memorizing, i am afraid, and after 3pm tomorrow, its down to another 3 days of memorizing.

Let me try to think of something happy that happened these few days. hmmmm.. hmmm.. hmm.. hm.. Okay, I can't think of anything right now. Still brain dead from the exams.

Wish me luck!

1 week countdown

Currently studying for my cardio CA2, which is tearing my brain apart cz i hate to read reviews and papers. -sighs- Even so, I really hope that I will do well in tml's CA to make up for the really bad CA1. CAs aside, I have another week countdown to my Finals. schedule is as follows:

28th April - Infectious Diseases (70%)

29th April - Applied Microbiology (70%)

2nd May - Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology (60%)

5th May - Human Physiology: Cardiopulmonary System (40%)

With such a high percentage for the finals, it will come to no surprise that I am damn freaked out! And to tell the truth, I don't have one module that I am confident in, and in fact, i am scared for all of them! Infectious diseases is tough, and my prof has already sent us a sample of what the format will be like. The moment i opened the file, WTH is all over my head. This is definitely not going to be easy. -shrugs-

Applied Microbiology, probably the one that I am least stressed about, but still worried cz I am not particularly good with the last prof's lecture notes. And as for neurobiology, I really enjoyed studying it, but learning that the exam is going to be 4 essay questions without the choice to choose really bothers me. As for the last exam on cardio, it is going to be MCQs and TFs. Everyone is going to think it is easy, but honestly, i am really bad at MCQ!!! sighs so this is another worrying one. Not going to be a smooth month up ahead.

Stressed

Unlike in SMU, which is probably the period of total stress now, NUS has another 2 weeks to the finals. But i am already damn stressed. I have 3 tests coming up.

Monday - Applied Microbiology (ENTIRE COURSE TESTED) 30%

Wednesday - Human Physiology (Essay - Respiratory System) 20%

Friday - Human Physiology (CA - Cardiopulmonary system) 20%

And added up together, its a high percentage for my grades. -stressed- I hope I will get good grades for human physiology cz i did really badly for my first CA. -praying hard- And the bad thing now is that I have not touched a single thing on cardio cz i have been studying for applied microbiology. -sighs- This is making me really stressed and depressed.

really hope to do well this term.. can't afford to jumble up anything. -sighs-

Dream Phone

I wanna get this phone. :D

And i have got it. =)

In silver colour, and its pretty stylish...

overly emotional?

tired? crazy? I don't know. I can't tell anymore.
-living dead human-

busy busy

Phew~ It's been rather busy, with labs, CAs and tutorials and closed the busy week with a short trip to tioman island over the long weekend. =)

Life in school have been rather fast-paced lately, in which I have been having trouble trying to catch up. With 1 lab due today, another lab report due next tuesday and a commentary on Alzheimer's disease due next monday, I dare say that i have alot of work to do this week. Not to mention my zero sense of music directions in my music class is driving me crazy, there's 2 birthday parties to attend this week as well. Oh! And I haven't actually started on my reports due next week. Sighs. This is going to be a rather tormenting week up ahead.

Enough with the complaints, I have had quite a interesting breakaway over the weekend. Along with caren and HK, I went to tioman with my family and nix. The bus ride there was totally horrible! Driver was rather slow and it felt like a sideways Pirate ship where we bob from side to side for the entire 4 hours trip (and it actually stated in the itinery that it was supposed to be 3 hrs ride). Another 2hrs boat ride to the tioman island (which again, stated 45min in the itinery). To add to our dismay, it began pouring as soon as we stepped onto the island!!! Trying to squeeze on the bus with so many other tourists wasn't a easy task. Not to mention that almost everyone got our butts wet as the bus was rather "opened". There was no side covers to shield us from the heavy rain.

Despite such an uncomfortable ride to the island, things begin to turn for the better as we checked into the resort. The chalet was pretty and felt so relaxing, with connecting doors for us to walk from one chalet to the other. Spent our first day exploring the pretty beach along the resort (but it was definitely not as nice as KK), and a tennis treat for 2hrs. Oh and we saw a coral snake along the beach!! We began to throwthings at the snake to see if it was alive, and yeah it was just lazing around the beach. Dangerous thing to have along the beach eh.

On the second day, which is a saturday, we went for a short snorkelling trip that is 2 minutes away from the main island. Pretty corals, big sea cucumbers and loads of sea urchins! There wasn't as much fishes as we expect there to be, but the fishes were definitely more vicious than the ones in KK! My sis got bitten by one of the fishes and her finger was bleeding non-stop! scary little fish, who ended our snorkelling trip earlier than expected. Oh well! And we went out of the resort to have a nice lunch with crabs and prawns in a chinese restaurant.

Shortly after, we went for trekking along the waterfall in which most of us were rather unprepared cz all of us wore slippers for the trek. Not to mention the hateful mosquitoes that kept bitting us, we have had a rather tormenting time on the trek. Even so, we still enjoyed the waterfall trek with the pretty chamelons and the cooling water in the waterfall.

Ended our day with a BBQ buffet ( which was horrible) and a game of pool in the games room. Continued with some work in the chalet and a game of munchkins which was rather fascinating. hahhx. The ride back the next day was another unthinkable trip, but this time round, the bus driver drove so fast that i felt like puking. It took us 2 hours to get from the Telok Munuk pier to JB, in which i think it is a record for the bus driver.

p.s. try to take boat from Singapore - Mersing - Tioman If you wanna go there next time. The bumpy bus ride is just horrible.