Embrace love and life.

AA3 people, you gotta hear this! It's to Kanye West's 'Homecoming' song. :p

Audio link here.

( OTHELLO IN A RAP )

Who would have thought you could integrate Shakespeare with hip-hop music?!

Some things have become a yearly tradition, like our JC Christmas gathering. Not everyone turned up but it's the good times as usual. Reks, Arina, Steph, Simin, Ches, Adiba, Mel, Ank, Ivan, Amos: You guys are missed! Thanks Si for opening up your house to us, and for the great dinner of sushi, potato salad, sweet fruits and chicken which for obvious reasons, I didn't eat. (More photos soon!, photo credits to Sher)

This week has truly been a week of gatherings, catching up with old friends.

We had our Primary 6 Reunion Dinner @ Purvis Street/'Field Trip to Zouk' on Wednesday evening. The songs played while I was there sucked, it was mad-ass packed so it was hot, sweaty and gross, but my companions on the podium were great. HAHA we didn't even touch much alcohol but man, our moves were groovy baby! I'm going to do a collage of photos (addicted to ComicLife), thanks to Milene and Jeanne who took most of the photos.

Yesterday night, I accompanied Tallie to the airport to pick her exchange buddy up. Her name's Janine, 23, and she's born in the Ukraine, raised in England, and is currently studying in Germany. After checking into a hostel, we brought her to Sophia Road which is just a 5 ninute walk away from school to view an apartment. It's so crazy; one bedroom with attached toilet costs S$1200, or S$1300 with utility bills like electricity, water and gas included. Per month. Guess that's because it's on prime PRIME land. It's a nice place though. Texted her today but she hasn't decided. (P.S. The South-Korean guy who rents the place out is hawt-cute and I don't actually pass these type of comments often. He is epitome of sporty-toned-tanned-geek chic and I am not kidding you. Friendly too. Too bad he is returning to his native country in March, and he just completed his exchange at SMU. Tallie and I were like, DARN, we missed him! HAHA. ;D)

I'm so, so tired. Averaging on 4 hours of sleep a night for the past week; starting the days early at 7am as driving practicals were at 8am (about 5 more lessons to go and I am done, I just need to pass the practical test!), with the nights stretching till 1,2 am. But I know when school starts proper (I really don't want!), I will become a dork again. 8-) I really need to work like triple-super-duper-hard this semester. I don't want to let myself down again. I can do this!! And I'm going to write a resolutions list for 2008. I need take some time to think of several realistic resolutions.

On a side note, I visited the school library today after my CIP meeting (more changes, but the team's getting closer) cos I needed to print some stuff (BGS course outline cos our prof wants us to read up before first lesson) and I realised that the library stocks some pretty cool books. I'm not talking about the journals or reference textbooks, but like a Jamie Oliver cookbook, 300 pages thick, full-colour and costs 15 pounds! I promptly borrowed it. And they have Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs and To The Lighthouse by Virgina Woolf!! and many more. I am so excited. I love love love reading books.

Eyelids are heavy....zzzz

The days need to slow down, but unfortunately this can only be a by-saying as time waits for no man. School's starting in less than 2 weeks or there about!! I can't believe the major bumming around is coming to an end soon, and it's about time to kick the rusty brain gears (sounds like some sort of protective guard for the brain...) into some action.

I'm ambivalent about starting school. I'm glad that I have gone for camps, because it's true when the seniors say it's a time to make new friends and not risk being a loner on the first proper day of school. It's through the 3 camps so far and my ELW course that I have met and made many fabulous friends from SMU. Why ambivalent then? Answer's easy.... the workload. :s

My email inbox is flooded from my ELW course mates. I am grateful for them, if not being the blur squid I am, I wouldn't have known about the academic writing course, the bidding system etc... My academic talk is scheduled next week while most of the bigger faculties have gone though the talk already. I can only cross my fingers and pray that I don't miss any important times/dates and what have you due to ignorance on my part. Not such a great way to start an academic term.

There are so many things which I wish to update about!

Firstly, meeting my BBF, Sam, and in her words, 'after earth took a few revolutions around the sun'. We used to meet up weekly, or once a fortnight but lately, our schedules have been packed to the brim that it was hard to squeeze in a common slot for the much needed girl-talk-advice catharsis session. It made me more aware of the need to be able to balance everything from responsibilities and relationships, and not forsake one at the expanse of the other. There were times when I glanced at the phone, willing myself to make a simple phone call to special people in my life, and this includes my grandma, but somehow, I always hold back. I guess this is one thing that I have to change. Simple words like, 'I miss you, how have you been', or 'Hey, just to let you know that I'm thinking of you despite finding myself drowning in obligations...'.

Slam, I hope I made your day with the birthday call, despite finding it hard to meet up with you too.

As I was saying, I am just thankful for Sam because I'm glad to have no-holds when it comes to sharing about everything under the sun with her.

Secondly, the B3 gathering last Sunday. Juicy gossip abounds when you put a group of girls together. Felt so great catching up with one another, and with ex-classmates you haven't seen in 3 years. JC life pales in comparison with our poly friends. I'm envious of their exciting lives! Seriously, lots of good stuff came out of that 4 hours of talking, over dinner at Swensons.

Thirdly, I visited Dawn's art show at Red Dot Design Museum and got my portrait done by her. I love it, it's so cute and congrats dear for getting into Curtin (erm, correct me if I'm wrong!) and for your successful art show. :) Support local talent!

Today, I went back to AC with Si with the intentions to play squash at the courts but unfortunately, we are required to pay a norminal fee to use the courts! Boo. No such thing as being an ex-student, an alumnai! :(
Ah well, we still managed to psyche ourselves to run outside of school, around Singapore Poly because it's been ages (ok, only a week) since we ran. The weather is just a killer. So hot!

Glad we caught up with the teachers we wanted to meet, which is only just 2 of them. I find they make time to actually talk to us, to genuinely find out about what's been going on in our lives, and to even confide in us. :)  It makes you feel very welcomed anytime, and I'm grateful to these 2 wonderful tutors I have.

Had CIP at Zhenghua Primary at 4pm, today is just the preparation for our carnival booth. My booth's balloon sculpturing, and all we have to do is to pump balloons, and twist them into animals and objects that vaguely resembles a dog/giraffe/bunny/butterfly/sword/flower and whatever else your imagination allows you to. I hope that the kids would be orderly tomorrow, since the balloons would be free. We are supposed to pump 700 balloon in all, but I think if we hit 300 it would be a feat already.  The only balloon pumps we have are really small, and requires repeated pressing of the thumb and fore-finger... which only tires us out pretty quickly. Diminishing returns to scale. Heh heh. But pretty excited to see the smiles on the kiddos' faces when we hand the balloons out. We've seen so many adorable kids today, and it makes me miss my P3 class a lot.

OH...! I know I am mega slow, but I just started watching Prison Break. That's because I didn't really have time to watch TV during JC. Borrowed the VCDs from Fong's brother and it's SO good. Love the plot. It's complex in a very smart way, and everyone's right about Wentworth Miller man. He oozes charm and sexiness with the eyes and everything about him. Hahaha. What I just said was quite embarrassing as I never really saw myself as a 'fan girl'!

Should head to bed now. Super duper tired, and early day tomorrow.
I owe BK trip updates and photos.... (as a note to myself).

Days are spent reading Margaret Atwood's Cat Eye, vegetating in front of Discovery Travel and Living (I don't watch DVDs because of my short attention span), doing Sudoko, checking up travel guides and websites on Bangkok (will be going there with Si and Daph at the end of this month) and doing lots of 'research' on SMU Matriculation Day. Will be going down with Si and Sher, whom I have not seen in over three months! Oh and while for the SMU website, I see softplaces being a poster girl for Law School. That's so cool Jan!

My interest for shopping has greatly subsided, and it's a good thing because it's starting to burn a hole in my pocket plus my mum has been nagging at me to stop buying shoes. On last count I have over 25 pairs, and it never really dawned on me that I could amass such a huge stash. On any given day, I'm just found in Birks and a comfy pair of pumps anyway. Another reason why I don't shop as much as I do previously is because the weather is a freaking average of 30 degrees C outside and with the humidity, that just puts me off. Shopping Centres are air-conditioned, but I feel the things are just carbon copies after some time and it gets boring after sometime. I feel the need to spend my time 'productively', and even though it may not produce really tangible results like economical gains, it is gratifying to note that time and energy invested into relationships and sometimes, just solitude yields much pleasure and satisfaction. Besides, at least watching Discovery is some sort of gaining knowledge, given the titular name of the channel itself.

Much of the time is also spent with friends who are going to go overseas soon, we trying to fib ourselves into maximising the time left in Singapore together. I regret not having made it to Nat's farewell party last Sat evening. Just recalling the few days before when I sat on the floor of my room, flipping through past photos... I don't really know exactly how to pin-point that feeling. Nat's a good friend but I've never been particulary close to her, perhaps it's got to do with our varied interests but at the same time, I feel comfortable around her. I can say stupid things, share our thoughts and the most recent being after the SMU high tea season when I bummed around with her at Kino while waiting for the rest of F5 to appear for dinner. I wish her all the best as she moves on to her next stage in life, hopefully she'll retain some of her craziness; the nutty Nat as we all know her to be! I'll miss you dearly Nat!

The first two photos look SO ancient. Taken in 2003, when we were in Sec 3. Some heritage trail outing and during OBS. I miss OBS times! I shared a tent with Nat, Sue, Pet and Di then, and we were so obsessed about keeping our tent clean, which of course, was a good thing and we didn't have any politics... like how did politics evolve during OBS? Ok, it's possible but it's so silly!




So dearest Nat, thank you for all the laughter and the encouragement that you've graciously shown when we were still in school. I'd remember you for your corny jokes, your resonant loud voice, your friendly smiles and though you may be a tad blur sometimes, that's what made you so endearing. :*) You taught me what it is like to be outgoing, to be gusto (remember all the performances b3 has to put up and usually you'll be together with Honyi/Meg/Aliya to lead the class!) to embrace your individuality (you have the funkiest dress sense), and at the same time, to be a lady after God's heart. All the best, I'm should be off to send you an email soon.

See once in a while when it's good
It'll feel like it should
And they're all still around
And you're still safe and sound
And you don't miss a thing
'til you cry when you're driving away in the dark.