Due to my terribly unsavvy computer skills, I managed to somehow disenable my wireless in an attempt to configure the wireless (not like I knew how to do it anyway) and thus I was virtually-crippled for the last few days.

So it's back to sunny isle Singapore and it's been nothing short of great despite the sweltering heat which leaves me breathless and stuffy half the time.


Anyway, a whole slew of photos up ahead, note the weight gain :(

I arrived on Monday after an antsy plane ride and met up with Cel the Belle



















Prata, curry, milo dinosaur plus freeflow of fabtastic conversation til the wee hours of 5am: I LOVE!


yck pals :)


-

Tuesday saw me making my new passport, followed by a short meeting with tat and having dinner and a mini shopping spree with my old time shopping buddy Fiona :)















this was followed by Island Creamery with my favseatbuddy, Soozie-q!


and our homeground (soozie's house) with Lola dearest, cousin Quek Sue-It, Soozie herself and Pickles the English snob



-

Wednesday was shopping with my other favourite shopping buddy Lola!


and a day spent with CHICKEN RICE (I must tell you, Brisbane's chicken rice is a very, very poor attempt) except, I was terriby disappointed there was no liver. What's chicken rice without liver??!


The later part of the day was spent with Sue drinking coffee and tea while Mich popped by for a while (get well soon!) and dinner with the incomplete set of girls but wonderful nevertheless because, honestly, I miss every single one of you so so much.
Jame and Rage followed me home to get my keys while they turned my jewelry box upside and down and went to Mambo accessorised with my accessories.
But it was a good night nonetheless with Jame, Rage, Cel and Cindy :)





-

Thursday was spent with the rents having lunch, shopping and drinking tea before I met my sister for dinner.
I really enjoyed the time I spent with my sister tonight.
Ever since I'd been back it was always spent scurrying around, but I never really had time to sit and talk to her since she's at work.















-

It's really great to be back home.
I can't even remember what were all the things I wanted to say.
There were all these snippets of thoughts I had during the past few days but now when I'm looking at the photos and simpering about what great days I've had, the thoughts have fled my mind somehow.

Or maybe they're just tucked away in some unknown recess of my brain.

Sometimes, I wish I was somebody else living their life and smiling their smiles, but yet sometimes I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be than myself.
Simply because it's me.

But have you ever wondered if there was something wrong with you and you're so terrible inadequate somehow?

I'm tired.



When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC CHANG KUANG FU!!!














Green for MY favourite colour (ok, fine, and yours too) and lucky for you, my worst picture of you is gone when my laptop got stolen.

But this is for years of being friends; for all the times I cried and all the times you almost cried, for all the times we laughed our arses off, for all the phonecalls and emails, for all the mahjong and lost money, all the times where we sat down and walked and did nothing and got mad at lousy photobooths, all the whining, complaining, encouragement and late night walk and talks, for all the lunches and dinners and bowling and squash matches and online window shopping, and who can forget how you made me trek from taka to PS barefoot in the rain!

But most of all, happy birthday and thanks for all those years of irreplaceable friendship :)
Happy 19th, and it's only the beginning because I'll be hollering Happy Birthday straight down til you're 119, old creaking and greying with one foot in the grave!

-

It was a good day yesterday with Angie and Andy, displaying my worse than horrible pool skills and chomping our way down from Oriental Corner to Pancake Manor.
A good day with good food and even better company and conversation.

To cut a long blog short because I have no words today, thank you Laura and Mr. Team F for being those great pillars of support.

I honestly wouldn't know what to do without you.

When you wake up in the morning, and your day is new, you tend to either feel terrible, a reminder of yesterday's unhappiness, or, better but foolish, for having acted the way you did the day before because you realise its not that big a deal.

I'm feeling the latter because daaaaaaaaaaaaamn, I did that little meme thing in a fit of a pms pang and with all the bloody comments (hey it says disable comments right which means no comments about it cause I can't delete my tagboard!), I'm starting to feel... foolish.

Maybe I'll delete it, discard it to internet oblivion ha ha.

The one thing that I absolutely hate about packing is that the mess gets worse and worse because you're dragging things out from the hidden depths of your room; and only once you've finished chucking every random thing into the cardboard box or trash bin, does your room resemble something... neat.

And the problem with being an inherently messy person is that despite emphatic vows of reforming the next semester and making mental notes of assembling my things in an organised manner, I know once I run my penknife through the packaging tape of my cardboard box, the whole hoard of random things will just explode and scatter themselves around my room, again.

In some ways, I think the current state of my bedroom reflects the room in my head.
Boxes and boxes of memories and material sentiments are all over, specks of dust are hanging onto the bases of boxes, there are so many things that I need to throw away, but I simply won't.
I hang on to over forty pieces of plastic/paper bags thinking I'll need them in the future, I hold on to scrap pieces of paper thinking I can use them again.

This reminds me of how my father used to insist that if I cleared my room I'll get better grades because what I see will be a reflection of the organisation in my head.
Although practically speaking, it's for the more efficient access to notes and books.

But I don't think he's so wrong after all.
Maybe I should heed my dad's advice and clear my room.
Then, hopefully, my life will get all better.

In the meantime, it's time to pack my mess into neat little boxes.

Honestly, having lived in the same house/room for almost all my life, packing my life away into boxes seems so clinical and dry; just like tucking away memories into an ugly brown box and reopening them in a new environment.
Somehow it's just not the same.

And this time as I return to my little green room for almost a month, I'll be bringing back less than half of the things I had with me.
Somehow that makes me feel severed in half.

-

Ohwell, just a penny for my thoughts ( ha ha, yes PUN intended)

I whispered, 'I am too young,'
And then, 'I am old enough';
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
'Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.'
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.

O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.

- Brown Penny by William Butler Yeats

firstly, a GREAT BIG HUGE KICKARSE HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY TO MR FELLOW-TEAM-F-PARTNER!!
Thanks for being such a great friend these last few months and I'm really happy that all that heaviness has gone! Thanks for the encouragement and the rescue from late night boredom, it's very much appreciated. So on this very special day, I hope you have a great one and smile because I believe the years ahead will shower you with an abundance of blessings. And, here's to more F___ and F___ Markets and F__ when I get back!

-

Today, I woke up groggy and bleary with sleep, stepped into the bathroom and the first thing that came to mind was: I look like shit.
Say, Hello Panda! (this reminds me of the biscuits which I ate almost everyday for a month)

I love fruitful days where you accomplish what you set out to do, bought what you needed to buy and spent it with good company and good food, despite grey skies and the cold wet drizzle.
Although I'm anything but a control freak, it reminds me of the little satisfaction I derived from ticking off my checklist during Alevels period.

Also, I managed to watch my absolute all-time favourite chick flick which has a fabulous soundtrack, heartwarming storyline, and the sweetest ending accompanied by my favourite feel-good Beach Boys song.
From hick to chick, more importantly because of sweet personalities and character; that's what I like.

"That thing, that moment, when you kiss someone and everything around becomes hazy and the only thing in focus is you and this person and you realize that that person is the only person that you're supposed to kiss for the rest of your life, and for one moment you get this amazing gift and you want to laugh and you want to cry because you feel so lucky that you found it and so scared that that it will go away all at the same time." - Never Been Kissed



Don't worry baby
Everything will turn out all right

:)

"My Dearest Allie,
I couldn't sleep last night because I know that it's over between us. I'm not bitter any more, because I know that what we had was real. And if in some distant place in the future we see each other in our new lives, I'll smile at you with joy and remember how we spent the summer beneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love. The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever. I love you. I'll be seeing you. Noah."













It's the second time I'm watching this movie and it still has that uncanny ability to make me go soft and blubbery inside, letting the romantic idealist in me take over.

This movie is, in all honesty, terribly unrealistic but it's something we all love to watch because I reckon an insuperable longing for the impossible dream to come true stirs in all of us.
And maybe it's nice seeing a sugared fantasy come to life on the silver screen.
Bittersweet no doubt, but still nice.

My insides are feeling all soft and liquid now, and nostalgia is in the air, reminding me of nights under the stars half-hidden in cloudy skies, with low murmurs, heartbeats and the occasional car driving by.



I'll be seeing you
In all the old familiar places
That this heart of mine embraces
All day through

In that small cafe;
The park across the way;
The children's carousel;
The chestnut trees;

The wishin' well

So, this fully marks the end of semester 1 of first year uni where I can throw all my notes out of the window or being the tree hugger that I am, recycle them, or any of the like.
Unless, God forbid, I failed any of my subjects and will have to retake them next semester.

Torts on saturday was shocking to say the least with me finding my ratio decidendi in a different paragraph from everyone else and facing the weirdest third question ever which almost made me break into tears of panic.

And also in the mad race against time to actually finish the bitch of a paper, this old asian invigilator stood at my desk, picked up my student ID and stared at it for the longest of periods, making me feel edgy and unnerved, blowing my concentration completely.
He then proceeded to tap me on the shoulder and asked me How do you pronounce your surname?

During an exam?!?!?!?!

But being a very polite young lady (my parents have taught me well), I smiled and said very briefly It's Gn, hoping he'll be satisfied with my answer and leave me in peace to finish my exam.

But nooooo, he went on to ask in a terribly interested voice Oh! So what dialect are you?

WHOOOAAAT?!

But I can't bear to be rude to people I don't know at all, so I smiled again and replied Oh I'm teochew and he grinned heartily and murmured Interesting, very very interesting! Very unique surname you have!

And even though I was itching to get back to my exam, I still had that polite smile plastered on my face and even spared those extra seconds to say thank you.

ARGH!!!

In retrospect, I found that whole little encounter rather amusing.
But, that's the end of exam rantings because it's now OVER.

----------------THE END---------------------

Proceeding on to post-exams, it was a night of laughter and hot korean food at WAH restaurant



















In case you're wondering, this is what WAH stands for...















with Angie dearest















Tracy and Kelly















A good end to a not-so-good day :)

Now that exams are over, I should probably start clearing my disaster of a room which can only be called a ... disaster.

I feel really lousy today :(

ARGH! ARGH! ARGH! ARGH!ARGH! ARGH! ARGH! ARGH! ARGH! AAAARRRGH!!!!!!!!!

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


That, was for so much and more.

And I don't feel that much better. Maybe a tiny little bit better.
But, honestly, I'm sick of looking for silver linings.
I want to have a cloudless sky, even if its just for a while.
Just so I'll remember what it's like.

Maybe tomorrow I'll take control of myself and be who I used to be, strong and optimistic.

But just for today, I want to be a petulant, depressed, stubborn girl who's angry with the world and crying for all that's lost and wishing it can be replaced.

jnjttzpvnpsfuibozpvdbojobhjof, but that's something you'll never know

From fractured bones to aching feet,

Still I remembered our first meet.

But goodbye, my broken shoes,

Maybe it's time to throw you away.

Lately, my moods have been lingering between happy motivation to lifeless melancholia; where I spend copious amounts of time just lying on my bed staring into space and replaying a fusion of past and future in my head.
This sort of activity leaves me feeling strangely suspended in time, where my body is living in the present but my mind is swimming to the future and dragging snippets of the past with it or vice versa.

Anyway, I was feeling really bored and decide to read one of my old loves: poetry!
Something I'd abandoned writing for a few years and resorted to analyse during the good ol' days of English class and subsequently abandoned again once exams were over.
But critique and technique aside, I really like this poem, simply for what it says.

If (Rudyard Kipling)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!


Perhaps why I like this poem so much is because this is something I find myself struggling with every single day; something so perfectly ideal but yet so perfectly impossible.

Anyway, my phone has decided to crank up on me and shut itself down.
I have a newer one but that other stubborn old mule refuses to read Australian simcards, so what I've been using for the last few months was my little old dear Nokia 6100; my first colour phone which I had since I was 15.

It's funny how something that serves such a practical purpose has such heavy sentimental value.
Other than the initial panic of being phone-less and uncontactable, what hit me a lot harder was losing everything else I had in the phone.




When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you.

1 down, 3 more to go!

It's gonna be a wham bam excuse me ma'am (not in the dirty context, mind you) week with the exams coming in a roll, one after another, which will probably leave me reeling in its wake.

This is getting into an increasingly bad habit but after our contracts exam today, we headed to the city with the intention of having coffee and lunch but I came home with a bagful of spoils because I am inherently a shopaholic at heart and cannot resist the word SALE.

So I think, this is what shopping does to you (refer to graph below and I apologise for its terribly lousy quality because, I didn't know stupid blogger would shrink my lovely drawing by such a fair margin -_-)
















The more I shop, my level of happiness increases due to my absolute delight at my spoils.
HOWEVER, when I've blown a heap of money at one go to satisfy my post-first-exam grumpines, I start to creep into the region of what you call guilt (note the red: DANGER ZONE!!)

There is a very thin line between happiness and guilt in shopping and I might have crossed that line abit today.
If you put it in context, I didn't spend that much, but please bear in mind I'm a poor impoverished student with an even poorer, more impoverished budget.

Soooo, this is what I think my future shopping (realistically) timeline/graph would look like.
With the next few items I buy (hopefully not in the next two weeks), my guilt will start to dissipate and I will begin to shop with normal levels of emotion again.















So, today marks the end of Contracts A (hooray! unless I don't have to retake it next semester due to .. unfortunate results)!!
And it was a day well spent indeed with my dearest AngZstah the GangZstah (heehee! don't worry even though you're giving yourself hardcore nicknames and dressing in black all the time, I still love you!), blowing money and talking til the sun went down.

Okay, I think I should stop wasting time drawing stupid graphs and actually draw real graphs instead.
After all, tuesday's economics.

The thought of having 3 more exams is giving me a headache.

Today's a day worth noting because on this special day, two of my favourite boys were born!!

firstly,

HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY ONG CHEN TAT!


We might not have known each other for ages and ages, but if I could count the moments you'd come through for me through our (relatively) short one and a half years friendship, I'd say you'd been there every single time.
For all the times I felt so lonely and so low, for all the times I felt so confused, for all the times I was nearly dying with boredom, you were always there.

You've always had a real knack for calling or messaging me when I'm feeling my lowest or most bored; and for that I'm really thankful.
I'm really thankful that you've always been there with advice or simply someone to listen or sometimes just to crack me up or even 'delivering' McChicken to me:)

So a great big Happy Birthday to you and thanks for being the sweeeeeeetest bestest guy pal a girl can ever have!

(you'd better make time for me when I go back or I'll murder you! heh just kidding)

and secondly,

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY SMOKEEEEEEEEEY!


This is to tell you (although you'll never ever read this cause you erm.. can't read) that you've been the bestest, cutest, sweetest (although you're sometimes terribly naughty) pooch alive and I miss your snuggly warm fur and the pretty eyes that are forever hidden by your evergrowing eyebrows.

-

All attempts to study today was foiled by good food and incessant chatter.
Very, very bad.
I aim to be more disciplined and focussed tomorrow because I haven't much time with my first exam on Saturday.

It seems really strange but sometimes when I'm sitting all alone, watching the world pass me by and feeling like I'm completely set apart, I run these songs through my head almost as though I'm watching a real-life music video with music playing over and over in my head.

So tonight I sat at the bustop, all alone, in the crisp cool Brisbane night air watching the occasional car pass me by and the occasional pedestrian briskly walking past.
And the pure music video moment came as I watched the city lights blink and flicker and three buses in a row chugged past in slow motion like little yellow bugs, worn out by a hard day's work.
And at that very moment, I felt a strange serene sense of loneliness and wished I was lying in a warm house, in a warm bed, with a good book to read and with the comforting assurance that the people I love, love me back.

It's been a while, a really long while, since I felt like that.

My life is so dull and mundane now that blogging has become one of the more notable things that I do.
It allows me to splash splotches of colour into my otherwise whitewashed in hues of grey life.

Angie and I studied in the law library today and I brought a box of grapes hoping to substitute my exam-snack staple of chips and chocolate with something healthier.
But somehow or another, the very presence of that healthy box of grapes, makes me wish I had that crinkly bag of chips and half melted bar of chocolate right by my side.
Sour grapes, indeed.

So tonight Reuben and I went to watch Stick It!


yes, your run-of-the-mill feel-good chick flick complete with rebellious sore-thumb pretty main lead, bitchy teammate, ditzy friend(s) topped off by the whole bad-turned-to-good scenario.
I think the only thing missing was hot male lead.

But all these chick flick cliches aside, I really really enjoyed it!
Which is a mini throwback to my confession of how I really quite enjoyed Bring It On.

So before we entered the movie theatre, Reuben was commenting on how he hoped it wouldn't be full of little kids and how we both hate watching movies near little kids.
So we chose an empty block to sit, away from the little kids.
Just as we'd settled comfortably in our seats, a whole stream of giggly, squealy, ponytail-flipping little girls came trottering in filling up the entire row in front of us.

We spent the entire movie watching little girls clap enthusiastically complete with cat-calls and cheering, and not forgetting this.

Towards the end of the movie, it was continually interrupted with raised hands doing the.. handsign.

But I really enjoyed it nonetheless, both dripping with jealousy and utter admiration at.. those.. abs..


and not forgetting the fact that they played Come Baby Come which was a complete OMG-ORIENTATION-SONG! moment.

okok, back to study.

I can be such a pig sometimes, I disgust myself.

After ten hours of supposedly good sleep, I chomped on an apple and made my way to meet Liwen for shepherding (yes, that's the whole idea. I'm the little misguided lamb and she's my shepherd).
I headed home, devoured my pasta and orange and flopped on the bed (big mistake), note in hand, all prepared to ingest the lawyer-ly knowledge I need to know to pass my exams.

Then, I fell asleep.
Until 5.30pm.
What. A. Pig.

Anyway, while I was eating my lunch (pasta stir-fried with copious amounts of bacon, imagine all that fat congealing in my stomach. YUM), an incessant buzzing from the dustbin nearby made me realise that a fly was trapped inside.
I smiled instinctively with perverse pleasure, then was subsequently horrified at my sadism of a poor little fly trapped in a stinking dustbin (although what I thought at first was Hah stupid fly, serves you right for wanting to steal our food and infiltrate our home!)

It reminded me of all those times I used to put a little glass bowl over scurrying ants and watching them got confused and circle the enclosed area a dozen times in confusion.
And the other times where I'd spray my shower nozzle at beetles and watch them trying to survive the torrent of water and lather my clinging fearfully at my shower foam bottle.
And the other time I plopped my fat little hamster, very unoriginally christianed Hammy, into an upside down umbrella, tilted it to one side so the furball could scurry out of the umbrella, and just before it reached the edge, I would push the overturned umbrella back to its upright position and watch my confused hamster slide back to the centre, with its tiny claws outstretched, scraping the blue nylon with a tszzzssss sound.

Those were the things I'd do to amuse myself as a little girl
(barbies, masakmasak, playdoh, pollypocket, pretend, catching, what's the time mr wolf, cycling, hide&seek were all included. I wasn't that much of a perverted time-waster, okay!)

I'd better redeem myself from all this laziness and bad karma (especially with the consumption of bacon and cruelty to insects and whatnot), because if I don't get my arse off the bed and start studying, THIS is going to be me:

I must be breathing in too much bad air because my brain is moving through a fog and my reflexes have slowed down by a fair margin.
Even typing this sentence takes considerable effort.

In an attempt to break free from this foggy cycle, I took a walk in the cold evening down to Coles to satisfy my craving for grapes when I saw Chris ordering at the Japanese restaurant from afar.
In my excitement at seeing another familiar moving creature, I just had to run up and bang my fists at the glass panel, causing the Japanese guy at the counter to stare at me in shock.

So tonight, I satisfied three food cravings which still leaves me oddly unsatisfied.
I had my desired grapes.
I even had my desired-from-yesterday Japanese chicken curry rice.
And even had my desired-from-a-week-ago Kelloggs Summer Berries cereal bar too!

Maybe the only time I'd be satisfied is when these woeful exams are over and I'm cuddling my snuggly snuffly lil pooch, surrounded by my family, sleeping in my little green room, chowing down with my girls, doing that odd bit of retail therapy, heralding mahjong sessions and letting the days and nights pass with good food and even better conversations and company.
Maybe throw in that little bit of fairy dust and holiday magic to make it even more satisfying.

Or, I wish at least :)

There are some days where I feel like speaking and writing in broken english and incomplete sentences; but yet there are some where I feel some sense of order and right to use the language as it is originally is necessary.

There are also some days where I feel like recounting the day's events in a gibberish garble and talking about nothing of importance whatsoever; but yet there are some where I feel cartharsis and reflection is what I need.

There are also days where I feel somewhat intelligent and some where I feel like I own an iota of this obscure thing called.. intelligence and might be just plain downright dumb.

There are some days where I feel like launching into a bitchy tirade about how stupid/annoying/aggravating some people are but there are some where I feel for all things wrong, the finger of blame ought to be upon me.

There are also some days where I feel like talking nonstop about all things frivolous like clothes and people and boys and hair but some days where I feel discussing law (harhar!) and religion and relationships and friendships.

There are some days I feel like roaring and yakking in a loud obstrusive voice but some days I feel like talking softly and sweetly.

There are also some days where I feel like rolling in the mud and playing some kickass sport but some days where I prefer to sit in a salon and get my hair done while poring through a chick magazine.

And on days like these, like today, it makes me wonder what exactly am I.

In the flurry of the hustle and bustle of adjustments and impending exams, I find myself wanting and severely lacking, but not in the aspect of humility but more out of human frustration and greed, of yearning for quick fixes and instant gratificaiton.

All this frustration has inevitably drawn me into the usual grouses and complaints, but more significantly, I think it reduced me to somewhat of a festering sewer; choking and manifesting the elements of anger, frustration, yearnings and wanting everything but rejecting all at the same time.

Half a year has sped by so quickly and I honestly wonder where did all that time go to. The beginnings of 2006 had me filled me with uncertainty, moving to a new place, studying new subjects and beginning the new phase of life one calls university. Bits of my heart lay in various places and moving to either meant gaining something but losing others at the same time.

So maybe in the midst of all this uncertainty and hiccups and adjustment, I'd forgotten to surrender a heart of thanksgiving before God. I'd very much been a brat of an 18 year old, begging God to make things all better and throwing dozens of why why why's at Him and struggling to trust and obey and understand.
Til now, there are so many things I don't understand, so many areas of my heart which are greyed with doubt, but then in these few days, He has opened the eyes of my heart to see the things that He has done, and for that I'm thankful.

I'm thankful for the friends I've made who have made this transition so much easier.
I'm so thankful for the churchmates, uni friends, housemates that I've met.
I'm so thankful for my nearest and dearest back home who call, email, text and snail mail to remind me that they are always there.
I'm thankful that He has allowed me to meet all these people and I thank Him for the little things that He has done to turn a frown upside down or how He magically turned a bad day around.
I'm thankful for the little areas that He has helped me to serve, as I'd prayed for before I came.
I'm thankful that He has people all around me to remind me that He is there and to teach me to pray and stand firm in my faith and to perservere.

Even though there are so many things I don't understand, so many things that distract me, so many things that I struggle with, so many times where I don't know what to say or don't know what to do, I'm thankful that He's always there.
I'm even feeling strangely thankful about that last tube of haribo which I have demolished within 5 minutes...

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things on earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

Pre-examination stress has me lugging out my little treasure horde of farewell presents and rereading all the lovely notes and looking at the pretty pictures!

So, to see how much you actually remember bout what you said to me and our -ahem- invaluable friendship, here's a list of the things all of you said to me so... GUESS WHICH ONE BELONGS TO YOU!

1. It'll cheer you up becoz you are looking at your favourite colour, PLUS you'll be reminded by the glitter of me and my not so smart moments. teehee

2. I'd definitely always want to be part of your life, sharing your JOY, ogling about boys on dramas and laughing ourselves crazy, doing retarded stuff, EATING, runnign away from horny smokey and being there as your tissue paper/punching bag/huggable friend in your lowest times.

3. Stop hibernating and thinking too muhc, take everyday as a new day and enjoy every moment you live and make the most of it cos Jesus loves you and _____ loves you!

4. Although QUIRKY is the first word that comes to mind when having to describe you, you're also kind, loving, VERY nostalgic and have a neverending stomach.

5. You're my specifial friend shumin. It's funny that most the time we take to 'dating' each other during the ____________ period.

6. P.S. And I'm never ever goign to forget the game of Stroke the Baby until it Sleeps (hahahahhha shite, rereading this is making me hoot with laughter and outrage)

7. This isn't going to be a sappy card since I'll see you in a couple of months so just smile, take good care of yourself and don't eat supper.

8. P.P.S the only reason why you have such a laopok card cos I don't time to buy u one... and u can't leave w/o a card from me!! loveya lots *muah. Rememeber: Happy Birthday _____! we love u! muah!

10. Here's my contact:
________ Lorong Kismis (S)______
___________@hotmail.com (same 4 friendster)
_______.blogspot.com
(STARS) 6th MAY (STARS) (insert picture of little present)
height: 154, weight: ___, stats (not sure).... ... .

(haha, this made me laugh heaps too!)

11. I LOVE YOU SHUMIN! SARANGHEI SHOOMIN-AH! gonna miss you so bad :(
(I miss you :( will reply mail to you soon!)

12. Hope you like this little postcard cos I think it reminds me of you (maybe it's the dog and you once said how you conversed with your dog... ha!)

13. To Shumin from ___ and ___ (15/2/06)
(this was all your gift said!)

14. We've been freinds since p4 when we sat together, played pound puppies and bitched about a certain ________ (my we started young), and that friendship has evolved to us beign tuition buddies and classmates and goodfriends!

15. these two years we've gone through so many similar things and have sorta gotten out of them stronger and wiser than before

16. The most strikign memory was one day after chapel when you told me that you've prayed for me, I dunno why but it REALLY made me feel much better and I was very touched
(just to tell you, reading this makes me really touched too. I miss you dear)

now all these were SPOKEN since there was no card ha ha

17. shumin, I knew you would miss local food so I bought this recipe book for you.. .. ..

18. here shumin.. (passes me a spongebob)

19. here shumin, this is to remind you of the zoo!

I miss everybody now :(
and I am currently gorging on Laura's mint chocolates and Tat's haribo...

something sweet to make the memory of my sweet friends even sweeter :)

the pms pangs have hit and is festering within me a deluge of pent-up emotions which can be very neatly summed up in an extremely huge bold italicised ARGH!!

anyway, tat seriously never fails to crack me up.

me: hellooo, I am pmsing okay! So please let me pms and feel bitchy
tat: hellooo, I am pmsing too OKAY
me: no tat, you can't pms
tat: yes I can. I'm a.. yknow half man half girl..
me: oh yes MOMMY ONG!
tat: YES! and yknow.. it's that time of the month.. which makes me feel so UGH.. and easily irritable.. yknow THAT TIME OF THE MONTH?
me: ha ha tat, if you're mommy ong, then its menopause
tat: yeah, whatever, but I'm still yknow.. pmsing?!
me: haahhahahahahahaahha!

So today was the last day of uni. It felt strangely surreal with people going Omg it's the last day of uni! when it didn't feel completely over.
Maybe the impending exams have driven out the end of semester joy within me.
But it was a nice way to spend the last day at uni consuming chocolate and sitting at the Great Court talking to Angie and ending the day at uni with the last tonymckinnon contracts tut and talking some more.

Anyway, being the foodie I am, this was the last meal I'll ever cook for the house this semester!

I cooked Jasmine's leftover boiled pasta














and I fried the leftover rice














and I cooked the near dying vegetables (don't worry it was still edible)














and I cooked stew!















There's a current dearth of thoughts right now.
My brain is existing as one straight line and all I really wanna do now is sleep.

Sleep the pms away!