:)

2008-01-13T14:01:00.001-08:00

2007-08-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

2007-08-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Shyyy friends Poppette Oh Dear Coolbeans

Lunch with two of the best people in the world! Oh, and me. :)

She Listens Like Rain & Talks Like June

2007-08-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

pa·tri·ot·ic (pā'trē-ŏt'ĭk) :
adj. Feeling, expressing, or inspired by love for one's country.

Well, while I don't exactly think our National Day Parade is anything to shout about, apart from the fireworks (Oohh pretty! Always a crowd pleaser) the military displays (men in uniforms, and the occasional lady to make us proud) the rest of the parade proceeds routinely from year to year. Although I must say, the skating red people with the horrendous poem was really something to behold. Another thing is, it would be nice if the head of the country would deign to sing the anthem!

But. The song at the end of the parade really captures what I want to say, and so here comes the volta. I'm very very vvvvvv proud to be a Singaporean :) And I really do know where my home is. The lyrics that my sieve of a brain remembers are: Although I've traveled the world, I know where I call home. Well cheesy yes, but so true hahaha. Its as Tong said, I've become more home-proud since I left. So, does anyone want to buy me a little flag? (With the candy in it?)

/edit here's a link to the song! http://www.ndp.org.sg/multimedia/audio/index.html

Today at dinner, Daddy said a prayer for the country. Which got me thinking, how often exactly do we pray for the country, and for our leaders? I'm reading this book Promoting the gospel - which is really good by the way - to quote the little witch, I'm apparently not only nerdy but also a 'nerdy evangelist'. I think along the way, somehow, I've forgotten to pray, not how to pray, but simply to pray. With all that the day can hold, especially in Uni, when I fall into bed, once my head touches the pillow (or sometimes even before that, studying has proven decidedly sleep-inducing) I'm fast asleep. I used to tell people that I really enjoyed praying, I'm that sort of a person, and I used to pray as I walked. And since I walk slowly, that's quite a bit of time we're talking about.

But, in Oxford, there's not that much walking to do. If its to be done, its with friends, so its chatting all the way. Most of the time, I cycle, and when I cycle, my thoughts usually run towards:

(a) Oh my word I'm going to die!!!
(b) Please get out of the way, please? GET OUT OF MY WAY!
(c) What're you looking at, I know I'm not a v good cyclist, okay. (Someone passerby actually told me once - You're not very good are you? I mean, tell me something I don't know)

So, really, not conducive to prayer.

I still do believe in the importance and the power of prayer :) And I will pick it up again.

Speaking of pick it up, Body Pump at CaliFitness is really some class! My non-existent biceps now have some sign of life, by life I mean screaming in pain as proof of existence. I need to get rid of the tummy. It SHALL happen. :)

2007-08-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Houston, We Have A Problem

2007-08-01T08:20:00.001-07:00

& the problem is me. More accurately, too much of me.

I remember saying to the little witch once, when we were on holiday, that I had bad news. The bad news was that I was hungry (again). Am eating wayyyyyy too much for a small person! So, will not be small person for much longer.

To give you an idea of just how greedy have become, this is what I ate after lunch today:

[1] Green tea - to stop myself from eating, I drink tea, somehow I still have the notion that this works, despite it having been proved a fatalistic attempt many times. Hope springs eternal.

[2] Green bean soup - still healthy food, so its all good at this stage

[3] Teh Si - evaporated milk instead of condensed milk! Am wayyyyy healthy. Also, is one of favourite drinks, so is understandable since do not get this in Oxford. Furthermore, is tea! So is good for the soul.

[4] Kaya toast - errr it is a pre-dinner snack. Like Joey Tribbiani, I must warm up my stomach, but unlike him, I don't eat chips to warm it up as am healthier version.

[5] Half a peanut pancake - only half of a minute thing, so its still all good

[6] Beef noodles and fried/sliced fish soup - half and half with Beek, yay for Singaporean food!! And vaguely healthy dinner

[6] Cheng teng - more of syruppy imposter. But again, only ate half as shared with g, so is okay.

[7] Char siew polo bun - erm. Post dinner snack? Ridiculously early supper?

Mummy took one look at me when I came home and promptly noted bulge-y-ness of tummy. I NEED TO GO ON RUNNING. At the rate I eat, I need to go on a marathon.

Milo dinosaur anyone?

Here Comes the Sun

2007-07-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

After what seemed like forever the skies have finally cleared up :) Which means a swimming trip's in order (the tan lines from OBS have to be gotten rid off!) but the horribly fickle Mr. Sun decided not to look upon me with favour, and there was an awful cheekopeh so the tanning, oops I meant swimming, trip was cut short.

Am happy to be back in civilisation :) Post OBS, the bed seems more comfy -hooray for lizard-shit and insect-wing free surroundings!- the mere presence of hot water seems a treat, and the fact that I can still type a miracle. Was so pleased to place my fingers on a keyboard once again. However, that there's nothing much to do, apart from rather aimlessly surfing the internet, or being glued to the (nice new) television, seemed rather strange when I first got back. Where was the activity? Suddenly sedentary, it didn't quite suit me.

I kind of miss the singing.

But settling back down into a lazydaysummery routine's lovely :) Waking up to a greyish blue sky, hitting the snooze button for as long as I want before rolling out for a morning run (I hope to remain fit, or at least not gain too much weight as am eating a lot - Singapore food is soooogooooddddddd), taking a hot shower at home, lounging around in front of the dear laptop, watching the telly with lunch or meeting friends and lounging around, lounging around with a book, lounging around. Well you get the idea :) And now that I'm back home, there is TEA again :) And I don't even need to lift a finger, the tea comes to me, as does water, coffee, any form of food etc. Hee.

Its good to go away and come home again.

'When you're on an adventure, that's when you wish to be home, but when you're safely at home, that's when you wish to be on an adventure.'

'Ay me, sad hours seem long'

2007-07-03T02:26:00.000-07:00

So, the time spent at OBS will seem to go on forever. Ahhhh. I just got home yesterday, and will have to haul my jet lagged (and decidedly blubbery) self off to OBS tomorrow for a massively long 21 days! How am I ever going to survive?

But, in all seriousness, I am a survivor. Made it back home, through a decidedly perilous journey. First, friends were detained at the St. Petersburg airport. Negotiations and a call to the embassy (where the person helpfully informed me that 'Russia treats tourists like CRAP!' and said 'I tell people frankly, don't come to Russia!', I mean, very helpful information now that we're (a) already in Russia, and (b) in need or urgent help), but it all worked out in the end and he was very helpful. The poor things had to end up buying another flight ticket, so I was very lucky indeed, and felt a bit like I was some hugely important person hollering into my phone and making calls all around the world (my phone bill will be disastruous). But the whole thing struck me as strangely Bridget Jones-esque! Remember her Thailand episode? Magic mushrooms or not, my poor friends managed to escape relatively unscathed but decidedly poor-er. Thank God it turned out fine :)

Next, the connecting flight from Stockholm nearly had no seats for us. Then, the bus to a friend's place in London where I was staying the night was not running due to a fire. And what takes the cake is the flight back home from Heathrow. Wound up paying for excess baggage. Oops. 250ish quid gone :( But daddy says he'll pay for me, yay! There was a bomb scare at Heathrow. Thanks to some idiot who left their black bag in front of the information desk. These fluorescent yellow men popped out of nowhere and all made identical sweeping hand motions and sounds to tell us to evacuate. Grrr. At least I'd checked in my two heavy bags so I didn't need to lug them around. Made the best of the waiting time by sitting outside Heathrow in the Underground by watching dvds with Jish, so it wasn't so bad after all.

The flight was slightly delayed but still managed to get home earlier! Maybe the pilot flew faster? I <3 SIA's entertainment system :)

So after all that drama, I'm home! Besides the immigration episode, Russia was really amazing. The architecture in Moscow's Red Square, the rivers of Petersburg and the museums (The Hermitage!) were more than enough to make me happy :) But now, I've got to pack for OBS. I feel as though I could sleep for days! There'll be none of that though, look forward to a brand new, 'beep-beep' (Russian joke), less blubbery me!

hullo world

2007-06-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

it feels slightly strange to be blogging again. blogging's a rather funny word - makes me think of the sec3 (or was it sec2?) self. you know you're getting old when you go on blogskins to try and get a suitable template and find yourself rejecting all those that they have as they're too 'emo' (a really distasteful word if there was one) or too sappy, or simply too young. hmmmm.

but i'm back. :)

(and better than ever)

hurr.

so this is new. new html thing. new address. same old me though. and, obviously, the reason why i am doing this right this very moment, is that i have an essay to do (well in addition to keeping my dear family and friends updated on my life, of course) and i do NOT want to do the essay. gross. not that its not fun, in some warped, nerdy sense it really is! it just takes effort, and time. lots of time.

and i am here complaining again. guess some things don't ever change.

and on that note, on my massive pin board in my room, there's a picture of three shadows (taking pictures of shadows is a very st nicks thing i have discovered) of three silly girls at the zoo on one particular day, with the inscription on the top - 'because, (hopefully), [the writer clearly shares my affection for parentheses] some things won't EVER change'.

so, i'm still me, i'm still going to be always just that little bit silly, and clumsy, and prone to exclamations, but that also means that i'm still going to be cheery, and prone to optimism. let's take it from here :)