monday blues goodbye

these few days have been quite a blurr.
i've made manymany trips to the airport, to send off my parents, then mac, and then to pick mac and his family up today (:
amidst the tiredness from waking up at 630am everyday to send my sister to the mrt for sch, i overslept a little today to pick mac up
however, i made it to the airport in a record time of 15min, and was even earlier than them (:
i am sooooo proud of myself

today was monday without the blues, because it saw good company, with the accompaniment of NEW wii games (which are damn fun!), awesome hawker food, AND, a flu :(
i prescribe myself loads of sleep, loads of fun, and NO WORK in order to recover

while driving out to buy dinner today, mac suddenly exclaimed: IS THAT A CAT'S PAWPRINT?!
turns out, he was staring at these:




pawprints courtesy of a cat (i think) on my windscreen
it isnt very obvious in the pictures, but there was a whole trail of it leading from the hood to the top of the car. grrr

anyhow, BRIDGE session @ enjie's house yesterday was really funnnn. i havent played that much bridge in ages, nor have i had that great a winning streak since a long time :p
catherine and i had ladyluck on our side ytd - we were dealt gd cards, and called each other partners for like 80% of the games
hence explaining the winning streak :p hahaha

love, is just love

two consecutive days of doing ache inducing exercises is indeed.. ache-y.
im so darn glad i didnt drive today, because my after-pilates state of strength was prolly not enough to turn the steering wheel
badminton was pretty killer yesterday, maybe because i havent played intensive for too long

i had a huge bunch of churchies come over ytd after church for movie+wii at my place
after which we had a killer badminton + table soccer session
it was an adrenaline-pumped and white-blood-cells-filled session (because we all laughed a LOT, especially when lide pulled his fairy stunt, killing catherine almost instantly hahaha)
sophia managed to swim in the sharky pool finally ever since forever
again, we ordered pizza and macs, this time for 12 people, and pigged out in the video room, where girls vetoed guys, and chick flick triumphed cartoon, and thus the girls got to watch THE WEDDING PLANNER :D

to end, heres an awww-quote from the wedding planner, from massimo to mary:
"Mary, I know I never done the right thing, say the right thing. I know I act like a fool. I know say we'd be buddy-buddy friends, but that would not be true to my heart so I'll ask this one question, and if you answer "no" I'll leave you alone once and for all. Be my wife, Mary Fiore. If you answer yes I'll take care of you, be true to you, and like this house I built for your dolls, I'll make sure you have a strong roof over your head. If you answer yes than no one will love you as much as I love you. If you answer yes than you will make me the happiest man on earth"

if it aint got youu..

I'll be there
When the world stops turning
I'll be there
When the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you


alas for the poor students (aka, me) who have mountains of work piled up to tide us thru this long weekend
it sucks to be haunted by guilt pangs that come every now and then
so to satiate those guilty-pangys, i decided to study, while mac and ginger conveniently shared my bed for a nap - in the same position.


ok not really in this picture, cuz they both moved right before i snapped up the shot

after i managed to silence the guilt-voice in me, we made our way to bottle tree park, which is near khatib (:

it was a nature park/live seafood restaurants/fishing area/swanboats peddling pond all in one


i feel like im driving a humvee when i drive the orange tanker. but im getting used to it (:



live seafood center - loads of fishes, crabs, mussels, clams, weird-alien-prawns
and you could catch em yourself to be served on your dinner plate at the restaurant, or go home to cook em yourself


bearing striking resemblances to the memories on aasee river in germany
except, the water didnt look as murky, everybody wasnt wearing life vests, and you could actually tire yourself peddling in germany, where the river was about, 10times bigger than the pond there hahaha


us! (: when the sun was setting, so it looks oddly glaring and weirdly-colored


like i said, fishing, for the young to old
pictures are REALLY blur. i felt weird taking pictures of people while they fished
plus my phone camera sucks. too bad i didnt bother to bring my cam.
but yeah, kids can "fish" for free, while adults can fish/prawn for a price (i think)

on a random note, i watched "lions for lambs" today, and it was somewhat an exact parallel to my editorial essay, regarding the Iraq war and inefficiencies of NATO and the UN
i guess it made it feel more "real" to me, beyond the studying of those crappy hypocritcal theories of political science in Shively & Kripa's textbooks
for once i could actually understand and apply the politics in it
and i have to say, im darn proud of myself :P

bored economists

the things bored economists do in their free time

1) marriage


2)wealth and hair


3) evils of facebook


haha proud to call myself a budding one :p

i just printed my political science editorial response essay
im real glad to say, this is the FIRST piece of work that has been finished a full week and a half before its due date!!
*applause*

on a random note, heres a mosaic picture lide did for me for my birthday (:

it was a supermega HUGE file, and when i zoomed in all the way, i could actually see all the pictures that were used
its really amazing how those pictures put together formed another pictures
theres prolly like a thousand or more pictures in that mosaic itself
nice.

oh you light up my lifeeee

there're certain days or weeks when i just feel absolutely lazy and lethargic for no good reason
these days/weeks are one of em
the lethargy comes with guilt of course, in view of the countless political science, macroecons, and medical soci lectures i've skipped
in my defense, these are the webcasted lectures
(i see a trend here)

also, in light of our melbournian quest, followed by my american journey,
i've been trying to shed some calories so there'll be room to spare then :p
unfortunately, every time i lose em, i put them right back on

saturday:
i played badminton with victor, sooyein and mac, followed by like 20 games of table soccer (im a pretty decent goal keeper now i think!)
just as i was feeling satisfied with myself, we went for hanabi buffet dinner

sunday:
badminton again at my house, but just with mac this time
twas a short game cuz i was already aching like crazy, but its still exercise okayy
however, when mac went for his swim, i dialled for pizza hut to settle dinner
2 slices of pizza + 5 chicken drumlet + those hashy-browny things later, i realised i prolly just doubled the amt of calories i lost, except positively
(and before that, we had lunch at marina club with a hugeass bunch of peeps from church)

weight loss attempt: FAILED.

but at least we had a really nice time ytd night (:
dinner was by the pool, and we spent three hours laying on the beach chairs listening to EMO music and gazing at stars, talking till the wee hours of the morning when it got too cold (:

today was the start of mac's off from ns as well, so we went for a nice fish&co meal+ spiderwick chronicles (:
i like mondays like that.

fuzzy

rainy and cold days like these are perfect for the nice warm hugs and cuddles



someone find me a cat please (:

(just kidding mac)

i'm grouchy

(what a cute baby)

i dislike rainy days. they're cold, gloomy, and extremely wet in a depressing, humid sticky way
unfortunately we've been (joyously) blessed with continual showers that explode every now and then on you when you least expect it, and soggy everything-else

today was generally NOT a good day because:

#1
i had to wake up early today for a makeup political science tutorial (which was essentially useless because the tutor had standard answers like "it depends" or "i dont know" for almost everything)
after lunch with josh i decided to go home to rest my sleepyhead before my next class in 2hours
i was halfway home when ruth called to remind me of DG, which i had totally forgotten
so i turned the car around, and drove back to school

#2
just as a bad day would have it, the min i reached the carpark, it started pouring like there was no tomorrow
it was quite a distance to the sheltered walkway, and i had JUST lent my umbrella to cheryl before i left school. so i was stranded there for 10min before i decided to call kenneth for umbrella-rescue
how embarrassing

#3
i lost my organiser, and it has EVERYTHING i need in there. deadlines, dates to note, work assignment details, study plans, everything.

#4
i have already finished 2 brownies, a scoop of icecream, 3 sticks of kinder bueno, and 2 ferrero rocher (which i just bought at the Esso)
and i still feel grouchy.
so much for comfort food.

when you find yourself

When we go through life
So sure of where we're headin'
And we wind up lost and it's
The best thing that could have happened
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way
it's really just as well
Because that's when you find yourself

-

im making a conscious effort to blog more so i'd have more to look back unto
im also making effort to meet up with friends, because old friends are like old wine (right?)

i feel really sorry for NSguys especially during this manhunt hoohaa period (and also glad tt im not an NSgirl)
its been raining cats and dogs these few days, and i've been seeing many perimeters of armyguys guarding forests, reservoirs, and whatevers looking like poor drenched pigeons perched on their respective guarding spot, about 100m apart from each other such that they (conveniently) cannot talk with each another

today was another one of those days, where it thunderstormed and the weather was as cold as hell (or antarctica)
i was driving along mandai stretch when i saw yet another SAF perimeter, with their weapons and bagpacks and whatnot stationed throughout the entire stretch, from BKE exit to end of mandai
then, at one of the stoplights, i turned to look at the poor soldier (with water dripping off his hair), only to realise it was a friend of mine, whose name i instantly forgot

it almost made me feel guilty because i was headed for a nice comfy airconditioned room with loads of DVD entertainment with my boyfriend.
just almost.

food haven

i've been having alot of (good) food these two days
sunday
lunch was my first time at manhatten fish market, where 8 of us squeezed into zhenjie's car, and another 4 in grace's car to go to PS for lunch after church
maybe it was because i was rly hungry, or maybe the food there was rly good, cuz i felt i enjoyed my money's worth
i had pacific dory fish&chips, while mac had some herbal garlic fish something. we all shared isaac's garlic mussels with bread
shiok.

dinner was also my first time at longhouse dempsey, for chilli crab session with my family
i finally didnt have to drive, so i could ride in the merc on our way there
throughout the whole trip my sister and i amused ourselves with the multiple cool gadgets that the car was endowed with
including automatic sunshades, cool dual sunroof, adjustable backseats, a very polite GPS system.. etc
this is what happens when you put two mountain tortoise into a cool car :p
food was rly good, and the environment cozy and cool at the same time
however, it wasnt all cut out like i thought it was gonna be, just a nice ordinary place to chill out
it did come with its own sets of long queues, so luckily we made reservations beforehand or we'd not only have left without our crabs but with an empty stomach and strings of curses

monday
i met up with joshua and enru for hotpot dinner @ the deck before our pilates session
we've wanted to have our hotpot dinner since the start of pilates, but every week someone wouldnt be able to make it for dinner, until this week
apparently the price of the hotpot would be 50% off (right?) after 6pm, so it was quite affordable
it had a nice array of meat and vegetables included, but nothing too fancy
it looked rather tiny and small and unfilling, but i realised it can get you quite filled, cuz of the breaks in between where you stop eating to cook your stuff.
joshua couldnt even finish his own hotpot :p haha

tmr's a long and early day :( not looking forward to it at all.

touch of nature

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you...
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves" - John Muir

amidst heavy schedules, tight deadlines, and torrential and incessant flows of workload, i found time for a revisit back to the greens with the sister, the boyfriend and the doggies today evening
i guess it goes without saying that botanical gardens is a very relaxing place to be at, with its little huts with quaint thatched roofs, the scenic nature, and the frequent blows of light breeze

and, for the first time, i actualised the full capacities of having an SUV - to ferry my not-so-nice-smelling but very-active furry pals
and still have alot of space for ourselves


because we went there about evening, the gentle sunlight was perfect for taking pictures




when we got there however, all hell broke loose as we saw the transformation of docile oh-so-cute dogs, to hyper maniacs ready to rule the world
in between the intermissions from these bouts of insanity and hyperactivity, we snapped a few shots that were coo-worthy
like this: emo contemplative shot of ginger fit for a story book cover (:


or this: fit for a bookmark (somehow the camera compresed the image into a bookmark sized one)


and then of ourselves when our dogs worn themselves out enough for us to take a break



after all the swan-chasing, pond-waddling, we went for our customary session to ogle at the turtles


to prevent bubble from straining on her injured leg too much, we brought along this box trolley for her to be pulled around in
mac had to spend some time coaxing her to get into it tho


additionally, he also had to carry her around when we were on non-rollable surfaces

just like in kampong days :p

i particularly love this shot - on our way back to my car


it's a really tiring experience bringing the dogs for a dayout session
on our way back home, i turned around to check on the sister and dogs while waiting for mac to buy dinner for all of us, only to find the three of them concussed in various positions, with unidentified snoring
that's evidence enough haha

115 words

Speed test

happy birthday abel! (:

exactly last tuesday after resonance rehearsals was..


abel's 21st birthday surprise thingy(:

i wanted to dedicate a post to you abel.. BUT, i had no time.
so here's a veryvery delayed post on what happened last tues (:

melo planned the entire thing at the park near abel's house, and the guys helped to blow up balloons
however, due to the latenight-effect and their innate horniness, the balloons ended up either as

1) BOOB


2) BOOB with BALLS


melody blindfolded abel with his tie

and then drove him around the estate in multiple 3-pt-turns so he wouldnt know where he was being brought to
the rest of the surprise was captured in video, so thats it for pictures! hahaha
now, im just waiting for the birthday japanese buffet.. (:(: (still waiting..)

anyhow, the rest of the year looks real good (:
after all that trouble and scares, we're finally good to go for our australia winter road trip!! :D
we've booked our tickets ytd, and so far all's good!
to say im excited about it is prolly a major understatement - it'll be my first time traveling with so many gd friends (:
also, enru and i have also been planning on roadtrips in the USA during our exchange term
and also chicago and maybe newyork after the semester (:

on a super random note, i think i've been having too many suppers
today was supper at fongseng with the reso guys, ytd was supper at subway with enru & joshua.
the last weeks was countless suppers at railway mall with mac
its time to put an end to these fat-inducing activities
i'll have lots of chance to grow fat when im in the States..