reverie-me

2011-11-17T23:25:00.000+08:00

a nice walk along the bridge; a walk to remember...

2011-11-03T23:24:00.000+08:00

the best pasta and salad i've ever tasted...

2011-09-11T20:03:00.000+08:00

a stroll by the river, i will always remember...

2011-08-27T04:06:00.000+08:00

why oh why?

2011-08-20T17:08:00.001+08:00

when the only person i deceive... is none other than myself.

sleep, i need sleep.

2011-05-10T02:48:00.001+08:00

maybe it was just a dream
and i hope i will wake up from the dream soon.

2011-04-18T12:56:00.001+08:00

I thought it was over but... it was just a replay.

2011-03-06T20:11:00.001+08:00

does having fun means getting hurt eventually?

2011-02-12T13:36:00.000+08:00

time will heal all wounds... I sure hope it will, one day, some day...

2011-02-06T13:07:00.000+08:00

fairytales only exist in movies, unfortunately life is not a fairytale. life is life.

2011-01-31T06:06:00.000+08:00

i knew i was in trouble but it was all for the fun of it.

2011-01-15T13:18:00.000+08:00

I should just learn to be less playful, that way, there will be less chances of me getting hurt.

2010-11-28T23:54:00.003+08:00

forget and let go, go back to 1.5 mya...

2010-11-20T22:13:00.001+08:00

lovely day

2010-11-13T15:11:00.001+08:00

McRay: "maybe if i go i could stop looking..."

2010-11-10T23:52:00.001+08:00

with all these things happening, is it still worth chasing your dream? i dunno. in the practical sense, maybe not but if i were to follow my heart and do what i like, i guess my answer will still be a firm YES!

itwasallforthefunofit.

living (in) your dreams...

2010-09-12T23:52:00.003+08:00

living your dreams, living in your dreams...
sometimes i feel like i'm in a dream... how long is that? I don't know...
maybe one day i won't even be able to tell if i'm living my dreams or in my dreams...

hope

2010-09-12T10:18:00.002+08:00

A little hope, a little dream, a little disappointment, a little hurt.
you know you're gonna be hurt but you allowed it to happen...
what is wrong with you?

Always aim for the Sky

2010-09-05T23:58:00.002+08:00

for if you can't reach it, you'll land amongst the stars...

Iamstillindreamland

missing

2010-08-22T00:16:00.008+08:00

Hmm, it's been bothering me for a while... but I've yet to figure it out. maybe i jus need a holiday, chan yaak bpai tiaao kon diao na

2010-08-03T22:39:00.005+08:00

I wanna escape...

Can I?

2010-08-01T14:40:00.003+08:00

Love this nice cool weather, it jus reminded me of the Mae Sa days...

A year on...

2010-07-12T00:32:00.003+08:00

Time flies, don't you think? It's been a year since I officially graduated and hmm, sometimes I wonder what have I been up to the past year? I've definitely learnt a lot and been through a lot as well, both good and bad.. I'm still in the midst of adjusting to working life and I must say this: Life as a student is still the best! And if time could stand still, I would like to turn back to honours year again (even if it means geog thought A & B all over!)...

The Will to Win

2010-07-11T12:34:00.000+08:00

If you want a thing bad enough
To go out and fight for it,
Work day and night for it,
Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it

If only desire of it
Makes you quite mad enough
Never to tire of it,
Makes you hold all other things tawdry
and cheap for it

If life seems all empty and useless without it
And all that you scheme and you dream is about it,

If gladly you'll sweat for it,
Fret for it, Plan for it,
Lose all your terror of God or man for it,

If you'll simply go after that thing that you want.
With all your capacity,
Strength and sagacity,
Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinacity,

If neither cold poverty, famished and gaunt,
Nor sickness nor pain
Of body or brain
Can turn you away from the thing that you want,

If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it,
You'll get it!

-Berton Braley-

2010-06-21T22:33:00.002+08:00

when all these things makes forgetting difficult. argh..

Undo

2010-06-13T23:48:00.002+08:00

There are times when you can't just hit the 'undo' button and hope that everything will be back to normal, cos it ain't gonna happen.

2010-06-12T23:09:00.004+08:00

You know, it's really upsetting when someone you're quite close to isn't really who you think (s)he is. Sometimes, I feel the more I know a person, the more I don't seem to understand the person. Ah!! What a contradictory statement! Oh wells...

And somehow I'm trying to detach myself from all of you. I wanna escape...

Last yr this time

2010-06-02T23:34:00.002+08:00

Last yr this time I was in the Land of Smiles.
Last yr this time I was doing fieldwork in the mountains.
Last yr this time my life was so carefree and sabaay sabaay.
Last yr this time my life was much simpler and I was happier.

Ignorance is bliss

2010-06-01T02:05:00.004+08:00

And I guess the above statement is true...

Knowing too much is not a good thing, esp. things I don't wanna know. Why did my worst nightmare turned out to be true? Ouch, It's really painful...

There is no real trust in this world.

Why am I always the one getting this shit. Tam mai na?

Time

2010-05-30T21:54:00.002+08:00

Sometimes, when it hurts so badly, you no longer feel the pain...
Time will heal all wounds? Is that right?

with every sunrise, we start anew...

2010-05-18T21:49:00.003+08:00

view from my house at 6:43am

Escape!

2010-05-16T19:20:00.008+08:00

10:56, 39:55, 11:37, 10:23
appreciate it loads.

How far will you go?

2010-05-08T22:59:00.001+08:00

How far will you go in search of your dream?
How far will you go in search of fun?
It is fun but now what?

sweet memories...

2010-05-01T15:35:00.005+08:00

...which will be locked in the memory bank.

A new beginning

2010-04-11T00:50:00.010+08:00

Sometimes you just got to learn how to let go and move on, only then will you be able to see the beauty of life again. Oh well, it's easier said that done, it takes time and will probably take a long long time........

10 yrs down the rd...

2010-04-04T23:04:00.003+08:00

And I wonder what will happen 10 years down the road... Would I have:
Gotten my MA?
Gotten my own apartment?
Taught in an orphanage?
Been on road trips and visited the national parks in Canada?
Gotten my diving license and swim with the wild dolphins?
Still be in Singapore or working somewhere else in the world?
Travelled the world?

Promise

2010-03-28T19:22:00.007+08:00

The promise we made will be kept safely in my heart.

Falling...

2010-03-27T21:56:00.007+08:00

falling

Don't give up

2010-03-23T22:23:00.007+08:00

It's takes time but don't give up... Yar, I won't give up no matter how tough it is! :)

And I've been thinking, bkk, sydney, chiangmai or toronto? I wanna visit all of you but who first? hmm...

Seeing the world

2010-03-17T22:30:00.004+08:00

Sometimes, you've just got to take the bold step and move away from your comfort zone, only then will you be able to learn more things and realise that there are many more things out there waiting for you to explore! Now I know why you asked me to get out there, to see what the world is really like... And I'm glad I did that :)

Thanks for being there for me...

2010-02-28T19:02:00.014+08:00

It's been 8 months since I started work as a research assistant in NUS. My work wouldn't have been so enjoyable if not for the wonderful friends around me! A very big thank you to the following people for being there for me:

- Niang: for listening to all my whinings, those lunch-cum-gossiping sessions!
- Hanshe & Uncle Alan: for the lessons about life, teaching me all those very cool stuff, giving me advice and for lending me a listening ear! cheers to many more movies, beer and pool sessions!
- the research cluster peeps: for the lunches and the many gatherings we've had! you've been great!
- Boss & geog dept staff: for their guidance & corridor chats & esp. Shir boss for her patience and encouragement the past 2.5 years.
- FS & Geog Soc peeps: my working life wouldn't be so fun without you guys popping by my office, meeting for lunches & coffee breaks and all the other FS & GS gatherings! love ya guys!
- lastly, not forgetting Janice, PX, ZR, Erin, Tim, PL, Wins, Jess and all my other wonderful friends.

Working life wouldn't be the same without you guys! I will miss all of you! Hugs!

A geographer who wants to teach in a village, travel around the world & (dreaming of) a farm of her own! :)

thanks

2010-02-27T20:48:00.001+08:00

We all need a shoulder to lean on sometimes,
someone to assure us everything's gonna be fine.

thanks....

How true!

2010-02-20T19:59:00.002+08:00

back!

2010-01-16T23:58:00.017+08:00

I'm back! what a great way to start the new year with your own birthday celebration at the beginning of the year! ok i simply love meeting up with friends and catching up with one another, be it gossiping or just simply whining about work or sharing our travel tales!

the very first gathering for the year:

yikang's birthday which makes it another cluster gathering!

I couldn't wake up for brunch and was late for an hour. opsie. sleeping in on ny's day! haha. and met the the loveliest geogsoc peeps for dinner!

2.5 years on...

tried working from home for a few days but was distracted by cougar town. haha and was out most of the time during the 1st week of the ny! went picnic @ ecp with the 2 lovely girls! thanks much for the get together!

picnic @ ecp with the 2 girlies!

went for a haircut at far east, pris is as cool as always! shall highlight my hair when i've confirmed a job! dinner at soup spoon with with one of mt fav girls!

one of my fav gossip buddy! haha.

Birthday dinner missing bro...

birthday dinner!

We miss the beach and we wanted to go somewhere so that we can wear our singha singlets (that's the main reason)! haha... and it was a great day at sentosa catching up with the loveliest people yet again!

Sentosa with geogsoc peeps!

Birthday dinner with the wonderful research cluster peeps followed by drinks and pool!

another cluster gathering!

my birthday present... :| !!!

many more outings to come and cheers to many more years of friendships! hugs!

2010-01-05T13:53:00.005+08:00

Jules to Grayson: "... you're gonna end up being a stronger person because of all the stuff that you've been through"

yeah, i hope so!

i'm addicted to cougar town! grayson is so charming! haha.

I wanna...

2010-01-04T14:51:00.003+08:00

1. Get my driving license
2. Learn diving (and see the dolphins!)
3. Trekking in Tibet and visit the Potala Palace
4. Holiday at some beach resort (white water rafting!)
5. Visit Piiya in Chiangmai (movie & shopping at airport plaza, massage by the blind), visit Doi Inthanon National Park and maybe go further up to Chiangrai
6. Trekking at Phu Khradueng
7. Visit C.a.n.a.d.a
8. Backpacking alone!

let's see where the next chapter brings me to...

the 5 ppl u meet in heaven

2009-12-29T14:01:00.006+08:00

"That each affects the other and the other affects the next, and the world is full of stories, but the stories are all one."

drinking ahead..

2009-11-21T14:01:00.005+08:00

networking, cool acads, great company, loud music, soccer match, stories, gossips, pub crawl, pool, north indian curry, drinks (eh, no, i don't drink! haha..) - a good ending to a not-so-enjoyable work week!

Interview

2009-10-09T11:53:00.002+08:00

I almost fainted when I knew who my interviewers were. him, of all people... omg! and I don't understand why you are so amused by it. grr. Wish me luck!

Trust

2009-10-03T17:07:00.006+08:00

It's amazing how I can just easily give you that amount of trust when I've only met you for the very first time. And to some others whom I've known for quite sometime now, I still cant give them that level of trust. Is it you or is it just me? Oh wells..

And this reminded me of the pine forest in Mae Sa Valley (haha): Tall, Tall Trees
rian phaasaa thay yaak tae naa sanuk! enjoying it!

Any dream is possible

2009-10-01T00:13:00.008+08:00

Love the musical film, Fame! It's all about having passion in whatever you are doing and most importantly believing in yourself.. one nice quote from Kay:

"Success is joy, freedom, friendship and love."

And here's another quote, from Jo:
"Others think they got it straight, only to make a detour later in life".

..........And I think I've more or less decided on what I want to do.. follow your heart yeah!

A nice quote

2009-08-29T14:09:00.008+08:00

A nice quote from Uncle:
"The best things in life are:
a) still to come;
b) often learned by oneself;
c) discovered serendipitously..."

I sure hope the best has yet to come...

I'm back, finally!

2009-08-24T01:10:00.010+08:00

ok, i'm back from my long break! Here're the major events that sum up the last few months! (all photos on FB)

April
Now that my HT days(daze) are over, i'm kind of missing it. But I'm really glad I did a phy geog HT and yes, I've no regrets whatsoever thou it was quite tough at times with Sup's disappearing acts. But I'm really thankful for the wonderful ppl ard me who've helped me thru the late nights of thesis-writing!

May
A busy month with lots of bimbo moments, sanuk (fun) and laughter followed by serious work - packing of equipments for FS and learning thai but it was an enriching experience nonetheless.

June

FS'09 - simply awesome!! What more can I say yar? I regret not going for FS during my undergrad days but I'm really glad I embarked on this learning journey in my final year as a helper and thanks Uncle for giving me the opportunity to hone my field research skills. And thanks also to Hanshe, Siling, Erin, Tim and the rest of the FS09 Team!

Physicals at Nong Hoi

ADZ's Entourage - V.E.T

July
Back from FS and the start of my next phase in life - work. Work's been good so far. Very friendly and nice boss and colleagues, flexible working hours and I enjoy working on the project (that's why I'm here right!). And I've an office of my own with a really nice view, what more can I ask for yar?

Ok, not forgetting the event of the month, Commencement Ceremony 070709!

Geog Hons 0809!

loves.

bbss.

Thanks Uncle for flying back just in time for our graduation!

August
I'm still thinking if I should do MA or work. I've been an escapist the past month or so, planning gatherings to keep myself busy or bury myself in work (which i enjoy it - such a sadist, ok, i admit i'm quite a workaholic.) so that i don't have to think about what I wanna do in the near future. I'm kinda L.O.S.T., really!

MA - I do enjoy doing fieldwork and it'll be (purely) because of interest if I were to continue studying but... can that interest sustain for 2 years? dichan may ruu kha. Everyone's giving me differing viewpoints and I'm more confused than ever... I've always followed my heart when I have to make a difficult decision, but this time I really don't know...

It's over now!

2009-04-25T17:32:00.007+08:00

It has been a long long while since I last blogged. Was real busy with HT and catchment but I'm really glad I did both modules, yes and with no regrets although sometimes I'll be whining about Sup's disappearing act and how disorganised catchment mod is.. but i'm really thankful for the journey and I'll be missing those days..

In the midst of thesis-writing, tired but happy.

the days in geolab..

And not forgetting my fabulous Catchment projectmates! Taken after our submission at 1am in geolab, our very last project in NUS.

HT, HT, HT.

2009-03-08T16:42:00.006+08:00

Too many things happened the past 3 weeks but i have no time to blog about it.. will post again someday when i'm free (most likely after ht submission)..

3 more weeks to draft HT submission and I am still in the midst of doing labwork.. arghh.. I hope I can get the chemicals on time otherwise I'll be in deep trouble! Fieldwork started in Dec'08 and labwork started in Jan'09 and actual thesis writing started in feb'09.. I still need to go down to BTNR for 1 last time to get my measurements for topo and canopy cover of jungle falls. I think I'm losing my stamina from this never ending marathon!

And I've been watching drama to keep my mind off work (i need to relax too!).. I'm still watching 'witch yoo hee' and I dare not start watching boys before flowers in case i get addicted to it and won't be able to get my work done.. Kim Jeong Hoon is still as handsome and Han Ga In is really pretty! She can carry off the bob hairstyle much better than her original long hair! Currently, this is my fav song, Sarang Ah Nae Ge Oh Gi Man Hae, yes, and it is none other than witch yoo hee's ost!!

And here I am, back to ht writing! boo..

2009-02-14T01:44:00.004+08:00

What an eventful friday the 13th I've had!

First, was dept lunch which started late and AZY purposely came late so that he can start eating immediately but the head was even later than him and so we couldn't start eating! Someone came in and Jo made such a fuss over it which I hope no one saw it! And that someone came over to ask me when Clar was when she was jus right in front of me! - ok val, stop it! I thought catered thai food will taste horrible but I was wrong! The food was actually quite good but because I had big breakfast in the mroning, I took only a teeny weeny bit which covered only half my plate. Skelton looks so cool with her sunglasses and was really funny and animated when she told us she gave a talk to the 'kids' at nyjc and the cab exp.. haha.. And most of the time I was talking to someone else's sup but mine. Sorry sup, I guess I will be avoiding you for now since I've not really started my 1st chapter. We won the speed quiz all thanks to Sup who answered the very last qn, which is worth 3 points! Thanks! Don't forget the lyrics, geog version, would have been more fun if we had planned it earlier.. But we've got to thank the profs for being so spontaneous and readily join in the fun so that we can have a good laugh!! haha.. And now we know the profs can really sing and dance (sh, adz, lk, tb, mr...) and there's even a dancing queen in the dept too! I heart the dancing queen. she totally rocks! - and yes, she still remembers the lunch treat she owe us since last yr (I forgot all abt it!), can we have Jap food pls?!

SIA and STB did not set up a booth at the career fair. Oh well, even if they have a booth there, I doubt I can get in too. I should just apply to Navteq, URA, MTI and CSC and hopefully one of them will employ me..

Dinner cum PL's 26th birthday celeb at Xin Wang and Swensen's! haha. every time we feel like celebrating someone's birthday and that person will be none other than PL!! lol.. "I love you yesterday, I love you today, I will love you tmr and forever more" Ngiam, 2009 to her special someone. haha. classic. you tarnished your own image. Pontianak, MBA (married but available) - now mrs chong also knows it! And now our dear friend has a new position, damage control asst director! I guess you wont be able to clear up this mess even with this very pro title! haha.

2009-01-31T23:23:00.002+08:00

My Chinese New Year usually lasts 15 days which means i'm still in the midst of CNY visiting! When I was much younger, CNY means lots of new yr goodies and angpows and yes, I love it (i mean which kid wouldn't?) but now it means more than jus the food and angpow.. It's a time when you celebrate the beginning of a new year with your family and loved ones and catching up with your (distant) relatives and friends and knowing that they are all doing well and fine.

The 1st day of CNY is the busiest for me. I visited the 3 temples and pay respect to our great grandparents and after that, we headed to gong gong's house and finally granny's house. I went to granduncle's house on the 2nd day and we had a 42nd GSMC gathering at Cliff's house yesterday and today, I went to 3rd Aunt's house (thanks for the toy cow! haha.). Tmr, grandaunt will be coming over to visit us and next Sun, granny and my paternal side relatives (i think) will be coming over and after that we'll all head to grandaunt's house. Wow, seems like another busy CNY for me and I'm getting a bit tired alr...

Anyway, I watched 3 movies this CNY, Love Matters, Bride Wars and 家有囍事! I simply love Sandra Ng and Louis Koo! It's a really good comedy and I'm looking for the very first 家有囍事 movie (they always screen it on the 1st day of CNY but why not this year?), I want to watch it again! haha..

After watching Bride Wars, it dawned on me that maybe having a best friend is better than having a few good friends, having just one person whom you can always count on; someone whom you can really trust.. A loyal friend is hard to find and I wish I can find a friend like Liv/Emma, best friends who'd do anything for each other. Maybe, maybe it's time I learn to trust again, maybe it's time I learn to forget, though I've learnt that forgiving is so much easier than forgetting. I need to learn how to truly trust others again and not always draw a boundary and be guarded when someone knows me a little too well (I'm afraid, afraid of getting hurt once again..). I'll learn to trust again, but.. will you betray my trust? Where are you, my Best Friend??

2009-01-22T00:14:00.004+08:00

-edited-

I really admire the physical geographers (esp lim, higgs and quek)! I really wonder how they are able to go down to their fieldsite every other day to collect samples and take measurements. Just doing recce at btnr and marking out our new 35m plot took us half a day! I hope i can get all my samples for the 2 fieldsites on friday, and if it rains- I'm still hoping that it will, someday next week and early feb, i'll head down and collect my samples and wheee, i should be done with fieldwork then! I'm still hoping and dreaming.. when will the day come?

2009-01-16T21:49:00.004+08:00

It's the end of week 1 and I'm getting panicky and all stressed up with HT! there's no rain still and I guess it's time to change topic, which means lit review, methodology and all others have to be changed too. And I need to find another fieldsite so that i can do a comparison with jungle falls.. Thanks siling for welcoming me to the research world!! Now i can totally understand why you took so long to settle on a topic too! boo. well well, at least...

WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

2009-01-13T23:22:00.007+08:00

As I sent my very last 'work email' to my boss, I've this mixed feeling in me. I do enjoy work although I whine about it at times. I quit because I felt that someone out there can do the job better than me, at least for this sem, and I really hope to concentrate on my HT for now. It has gone terribly wrong and there is nothing I can do but wait for the rain to come. And the monsoon season is ending soon!! urgh.. Maybe it's time I start thinking of plan B. the sem had jus started yet I have so many things to worry abt. I'm facing one obstacle after another! 1st was sup allocation (yes I am still upset I didnt get my sup - can I dump him for her?!?) then it's my topic and when I've finally settled on my topic and about to start fieldwork, there is no rain and I can't collect any samples (although I did collect some for my preliminary study)! argh... why is this never-ending? I'm really tired! Can I raise the white flag?

How far will you go in search of your passion?? I dunno, I really dunno! If I were to go all the way out, it means I'll be back in NUS the next 2 years. And I'll definitely want her as my sup and I'll definitely want to do that topic again or at least something related.

On a lighter note, thanks mrs chong for helping me "drop" HT so I can shop for other modules. And thanks ctmas for all those talk about Toy Celica, Audi TT, Nissan Fairlady, BMW Coupé etc.. And thanks for the latest teddy (Kodi) to add to my toys collection (yes, i still like toys even at this age! ha.)

2009-01-04T19:35:00.001+08:00

Pls let it rain, not just some passing showers, but thunderstorm!! We need to do fieldwork and collect samples for analysis!!

I hope that the sky will be red tonight!

And I spent the entire day packing my room.. it's much neater now, ok, more of an organised mess, but I still can't bare to throw away my non-geog mods lecture notes and readings (geog mods lect notes and readings are too precious to be thrown away, even geog thought! haha). Somehow I have a feeling I might need that someday.. yar, just someday..

And I've a whole stack of newspaper articles ranging from tourism to hazards to anything that interests me... again, I've a feeling I might need them one day.. haha.

the very few I've arranged in themes.

And yes! something that is of interest to me!! When will I ever get to go C.A.N.A.D.A???

2009-01-01T23:27:00.009+08:00

I realised I forgot to thank someone in my previous post! opss. Thanks so much Prof Chang for inviting us to your house for New Year Tea, thanks for being such a supportive Geog Soc Advisor and for planning the fass mentorship prog (my mentor is really great!)! And I'll be meeting my mentor again the 2nd time (both of us are so looking forward to see him! haha..) Oh yes, and thanks mentor for inviting us to the star cruises visit and career talks! :))

nicest ctmas (x'mas) tree I've ever seen! haha.

super cute justine and cheeky jordan!

the real toyota celica and many small toyota celica car models.. (too tiny to be seen here)

Thanks so much for the very unique & geographical gifts! :)

2008-12-31T23:53:00.004+08:00

2008 wasn't as smooth sailing for me as the previous years. I faced quite a few setbacks and there were many times I so wanted to give up but thank God for sending angels to watch over me and help me through this arduous journey. Thanks to the loved ones ard me, I've become stronger and more confident of myself. And on this very day, I wish to thank all of you for walking 2008 with me!

Godma & Phoebe's mum: You both know me best!! Thanks for inspiring me and most importantly, believing in me and giving me the courage and confidence to face the challenges ahead of me. Passion, Perseverance & Perfection - that's what you've taught me throughout the past 10 years and they will continue to drive me to work.. And also to Phoebe - Thanks for being such a sweet angel! you're getting more and more cheeky but still as adorable!
Fiza, Hui Ying, Eunice: Thanks so much dearies for always bringing fun and laughter to my life, listening to all my whinings, always being there for me when I need a listening ear and taking such good care of me. I feel so loved! :)
Pei Xian, Zhen Rong, Pamy: Thanks so much for the many gatherings we've had, bringing me ard on eating trips and being so accommodating! I promise we'll go Tibet and Shanghai next year when I start working k!! Bhutan and Nepal soon to come to!
SH: Really glad & grateful to have such an encouraging and understanding 'boss', it's been great working with and learning from you and thanks for bringing in so much joy & laughter!
Nov, HL: It's been great working with you both! Sorry for not having done much for the research this sem.. And especially to HL - thanks for listening to me whine abt geog thot (even when you are in London. haha!) and those lunch-cum-catching up/gossip sessions!
Sup, self-declared 2nd Sup: Thanks for helping me to conceptualise my HT and giving me very valuable suggestions and feedback. And especially to my self-declared 2nd sup - thanks for the advice and your willingness to help even though I am not your supervisee.
Siling, Junhao: Thanks for motivating and encouraging me and helping me persevere through this very tough sem and always asking me how's HT coming along! haha.
Erin, Puey Ling, Tim, Joleen: Really thankful for having a grp of physical geographers to climb btnr (and guano!) and bash through the forest with. Thanks for always being there for me, even the day before exams to spot topics!! haha.
Janice: Thanks babe for being sooo encouraging, supportive and ever so optimistic! It gives me comfort to know that I can always depend on you and you never fail to put a smile on my face! :) let's enjoy our last sem taking catchment together!
Jess, Li Juan, Min Yee: Thanks girlies for the 4 years of friendship, for being the first few friends I met in fass, for being there when I needed someone to talk to, for whining together abt sch work and the gossiping sessions! haha.
Geog Soc 42nd MC: I'm really proud and honoured to be part of the 42nd GSMC, working with people who are full of passion, enthusiasm and crazy ideas (how come we don't seem to get tired? haha.). Somehow I feel a bit lost this sem with no geog soc meetings to attend and activities to plan.. I hope there'll be more gatherings to come and all the very best to those gg for SEP..
Geog Hons Class 08/09: And finally, my dearest (kinky) honours classmates, Thanks for all the fun and laughter and crazy plans we've had to delay submission of geog thought assignments (I guess that's what kept us sane)! the nights we spent rushing essays and projects in honours room, through msn, smses and phone calls, the many b****ing sessions we share in honours room and I'm sure there'll be many more to come next sem.. Thanks so much for everything and especially to Vincent neighbour (you stay 3 storeys below me but I've never met you before till this yr! omg!), Mr Ang Zheng Yang (the most thick-skinned guy I've met but I've really got to thank you for being such a wonderful projectmate! Strive harder next sem, I'm sure you can do it!) and Winnie, Sakinah calls her my twin, my only friend who gives me the courage to do frivolous things, haha, our dream came true leh!! :)))

A very BIG Thank you to all who have helped me in one way or another. May 2009 bring faith, hope, joy love, peace and good health to everyone!

As for my wishes for 2009, 1) I hope that HT will eventually work out fine, 2) my last semester in NUS will be a blast, not only for me but the entire class, 3) my plans for the first 6 mths after graduation will work out well, 4) get my driving license by the end of the yr, 5) get a job at a US MNC!

Once again, Thank you all sooo much!

xoxoxo
Lotsa Love,
Dearie Val

2008-12-25T23:15:00.005+08:00

Merry Christmas!!! May this season of giving and sharing bring joy, love and peace to all. Thank you my dearest aunts for the lovely christmas presents!

And today's fair weather makes it a good day for cycling! We went cycling at Changi Beach and we wanted (ok, I wanted) to head down to ECP but Pamy called to say that she'll meet us at Changi Village in an hours' time so we had to head back instead.. we will cycle from Changi beach to ECP (approx 10km) someday!!

And I spent the past 2 weeks 1) Reading up for HT, buying fieldwork essentials and doing recce at btnr (only went down once). 2) Dinner and X'mas celebration at Granny's house. 3) Dinner with Godma and Phoebe's mum, both of whom I've known for more than a decade now, wow, that's really long... 4) Dinner and shopping with HY and Fiza. 5) Shopping with mum and sis 6) Honours Class Christmas Gathering at Mel's house.. 7) Watched romantic princess and love actually again on X'mas eve.. and many other random stuff.. The following 2 weeks will be even busier for me with so many activities, which i jus happily jot them down in my diary, without thinking and planning what i should do for the last 2 weeks before sem starts..

And today, I've learnt to be thankful to be able to lead a healthy and normal life.. A walk in the ICU showed me another side of life which I've never really seen before.. It's so painful to see the patients assisted by a web of intravenous tubes and lines, breathing ventilators and many other equipments, yet I can see the strength in them, their tenacious fighting spirit as they all stand firm and striving hard to win the battle.. Life is so fragile and we don't know what will happen to us next.. Let's pray that my sis's friend will wake up from her coma soon and pls do join in the prayers..

I just want to sit by the beach and relax and reflect upon the past yr and also think about my future.. (and I found a nice and quiet spot at Changi Beach)

2008-12-13T23:01:00.010+08:00

Its been slightly more than a week since I ended my exams. phew.. Many thanks to all those who've helped me through this tough exams period (geog thot!!) especially Janice, Erin, Tim and Jonathan.

us after geog thot A paper! look at those wide grin, it seemed as thou our exams have ended! haha.

Yes, that was my last paper! after hazards exam with cyclone chen, me (volcano val), tsunami tan and drought deguang. haha

5 Dec
Met the GSMC for lunch at Terra Cafe again after our exams! The last time we had lunch there was after our AY07/08 Sem 2 exams! wow, time passes real fast!! And later that afternoon, I met Erin and PL to get Tim's birthday present, we bought him a black striped shirt from Springfield, i realised it's not that easy to get birthday present for guys (ok, maybe it's just Tim) and i kept wandering off to look at other clothes (for myself). And finally I met the girlies for shopping and dinner, more shopping to come when both of you are back from Bali!!! :))

burnout after exams but still must to go shopping.. haha.

6 Dec
Happy Birthday Chipmunk. Lunch was at fish and co and we (erin, pl and I) planned a surprise for him from the very moment we woke up from our sweet dreams.. Eh, are you touched? No photos to post here cos Tim has yet to send us the photos we took that day...

7 Dec
Was involved in the funfair yet again. Tiring it may be but it was worthwhile. I've found myself 2 successors and yes, you'd better take charge next year!

The rest of the week was spent shopping, packing my messy room, watching movie, transcribing, back to sch borrowing books for HT, oh yes, and i had ytf lunch with Harng Luh! No 4 hours lunch, just 2hr 45 min! hahaha. Thanks Prof for the silk bag from Vietnam and I think the pink bag is just oh-so-perfect for HL!!

After a rather busy week, it's time I start work again for HT, somehow it seems like a never ending marathon, exams, research, research, exams... I need to get my proposal done asap and start fieldwork real soon (I was so glad to get my nparks pass!). haha.

I'm kind of scared, nervous and excited about my research topic and I wonder how things will turn out to be... it seemed as though I'm embarking on some mega huge project (and adventure, think indiana jones! haha), climbing up and down btnr, bashing through the forest, up the steep slopes, collecting soil samples, doing chemical testing and analyzing the results etc... To me, it's like a dream come true to be able to do HT.. I ought to make the best out of this HT and contribute my teeny weeny bit to the field of applied physical geography! haha. carpe diem! seize the day, seize the opportunity! :)

2008-11-16T18:08:00.014+08:00

I know I'm supposed to be studying but I'm giving myself a break for now (jus an excuse to come online..). I'm actually quite glad that the sem is coming to an end and the much dreaded geog thot will be over soon! It has been a really very painful journey for me and even till now I still cant understand what Amin, Thrift, Smith, Harvey, Hudson and friends are talking about!! I haven't been doing well for CA this sem too.. boo.. and this means I got to work even harder for exams in order to maintain my CAP.. oh well..

Anyway, the past 3 weeks had been great fun despite the countless assignments and terrible grades. I truly enjoyed all the GE4101B Physical Geog Manifesto Presentations and I'm sure the class did put in the effort to "impress" Higgitt or rather just have fun and make the best out of this presentation! haha.. And yes, we did a role play as part of our presentation!

Group 1 (missing ZY) and Indiana Higg!!

Us with our Sup!

Mulu-ers! (argh.. i miss those days!)

And on the last day of our geog thot lecture, a mini surprise for the class:

cupcakes and candles to celebrate all our birthdays and the 3 months anniversary of us being together! haha.. quite cheesy but yar very sweet right!

I simply <3 my honours classmates!

2008-10-26T23:03:00.004+08:00

Thanks dearies for the impromptu trip to the museum and for watching HSM3 a second time just for me! haha.. i feel so loved! I simply love HSM3 and I don't wonder why they decide to watch it a 2nd time with me! It's simply awesome and I've been listening to the songs since I woke up this afternoon. ha.

Lunch at Thai Express..

Desserts!

I love Vespa!

Us at the National Museum!

Honours year is rather stressful but very fun at times too! Really grateful for the wonderful classmates and fabulous friends I have around me! The many smses, phone calls and msn chats to whine about work and to encourage each other; the many gossips and random talk and even crazy plans of what we'll do so we don't have to submit our geog thot assignments, made the proj and essaying nights (sometimes till early morning) more bearable.. and thank you so much my dearest ge4101a projectmates! i don't know how else to thank you people!

The lucky colour is non other than PINK!

How time flies! It's been a year since we last went for Tim, Nick, Joshua and Firdaus' band performance. This time it was held at VCH instead of UCC and this will probably be our last time watching their band performance too!

How can we not take photos at the beautiful Cavenagh Bridge!

See what ge4101 did to us! haha..

I wish..

More assignments due in the weeks to come but I'm sure there will be more exciting things coming my way and yes, my ice-cream treat from an old friend! Till then, toodles!!

2008-10-19T14:49:00.002+08:00

I hate the feeling of doing things for the sake of doing them and at times (maybe most of the time), not knowing what I am doing.. All the -isms seem like an amorphous mess to me and yes, it's a terribly painful journey (I was glad she could empathize with me.)! I need to organise this whole lot of mess and structure them properly and also, work within some structures. From knowing nothing about social theory to having to write an essay on its development, I seriously wonder how I'm ever gonna do it. humanism, feminism, post-all-the-other-isms...not only knowing them but also having to deconstruct them as well. The worse thing is, all these won't help me in my HT! Here I am, studying them for the sake of studying...

2008-10-13T23:42:00.004+08:00

I got a terrible shock when I got up this morning and saw an sms from Prof H that Dr. W won't be supervising HTs next sem and was asked to choose another sup. How devastating is that! And after talking to Dr. W for an hour or so, we reached an agreement and that I'll do my HT under Prof DH and she will help me if I need help (but i have to bear in mind that HT is independent research work and I shouldn't bother her too much!). She doesn't mind supervising students but she thinks it will be unfair to me (she won't be in sch most of the time next sem + some other reasons). urgh, I'm still upset by the fact that I won't be able to do my HT under her which I've wanted to since yr 2! JH said I can do MA under her, but eh, not thinking abt that for now though Dr. W asked me abt it just now too.. and before I left the room she said: my door is always open for you if you need help! (something along that line..) SO nice of her! I'm sure things will turn out fine with Prof DH's supervision too.. And I've got to thank the head for letting me choose my sup again instead of allocating me to some random prof..

2008-10-12T23:48:00.004+08:00

Time flies! Phoebe is already 2 yrs old!! I'm still going to make her call me jie jie and not auntie although I am 20 years older than her (ohmygoodness!). haha..

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

Red volkswagen new beetle cabriolet - my dream car!

And we went Sentosa to take photos for our tsunami project, we really did our project k!

Hazards Project!

Project Modeling! (Chen, 2008)

Thanks Prof Chang, for sending us the FASS poster designed by Dean's Office! This poster was in King's College London for advertising NUS!! Whee, we made our mark in London! haha..

A lovely FASS poster!

More stressful weeks to come with 3 geog thought assignments due in 2 weeks! May I have the confidence, perseverance and determination to carry on!

Emergency Chocolate: For immediate STRESS relief.. (I need it badly!)

2008-09-26T19:48:00.005+08:00

how i wish i can be more decisive and settle on a topic soon and STOP thinking abt it, at least for now... I've been having sleepless nights thinking abt an appropriate HT topic which I'm interested in and is do-able! you know how tough phy geog research can be with the physically and manpower-demanding fieldwork as well as equipments and measurement techniques (esp the chemicals involved) which may cost you a bomb! I've been reading (quite a bit) and researching for the longest time ever, yet i still have no clue to what i want to do for HT. studying the two-sided edge effect of BTNR or KRP, stream acidification; a totally complex issue which i have to take into consideration the atm, soil and water and I'm really lost in the biogeochem readings which are so science-y. this is really annoying and tiring! proposal is due next week and i have to get something up by hook or by crook!

ok on a lighter note, i finally went island creamery! the mud pie is quite good and the pulut hitam (and some strawberry or raspberry) ice-cream too. mama mia is really entertaining and kind of bimbotic too but at least it managed to get my mind off proposal writing for that 1 and a half hours. lastly, a very big thank you to my mentor for the dinner treat at dempsey hill and for telling us more about the tourism industry, he is really easy to talk to and very candid too! sentosa cove, marina bay here we come!!

2008-09-08T09:52:00.008+08:00

I've been to 2 full month celebration the past week and met lots of babies and toddlers (so adorable!). Somehow I think I'm with the wrong group of people these days cos they are all talking about work, family, babies etc. and me, still talking about sch and how stressful honours year is. oh wells.

Darius is so adorable and so is Alfonso, with his rosy cheeks and such gentle cries that I can hardly hear him crying. haha.

Little Prince Darius

Super handsome Alfonso!

I didnt managed to take a shot with Alfonso thou, this was the photo his mummy sent me when he was a few hours old.. I was more excited about meeting Phoebe but she didnt seem to be in the best of mood, prob too tired with playing with the other kids and not used to having so many ppl ard, so grandma brought her upstairs to sleep. boo.. I shall see you again next mth on your birthday! :)

Oh yes, and we had our GS handover dinner finally! A poolside party at our dearest president's house! Fru fru is so cute but I don't seem to know how to carry puppies, only babies. lol.

fru fru

A poolside party at last!

42nd GSMC!

42nd and 43rd GSMC!

2008-09-05T23:22:00.002+08:00

In a state of liminality..

"Do something that you are really interested in!!!" Yes, and that refers to HT.. I've heard this umpteen times whenever someone talks to me abt thesis. Well, I mean who doesn't want to do a research they are interested in? I'd want to do something that's of my interest too! But thinking of a research topic (and I mean the broad topic only) is really troubling me! I'm equally interested in biogeog, coasts and tourism and they are 3 very different areas in geography! Besides finding a research area I are interested in, I was also told to get a Sup I can get along well with, so I thought this might help me to eliminate the topics I already have in mind for HT. But the thing is, I'm comfortable with having all the 3 profs specialising in the 3 different areas as my Sup too (sadly, I'm not as interested in the research my favourite-est prof is into)! Urgh. This is driving me nuts!! Proposal submission is in a mth's time! Time to talk to the profs! Meanwhile, I hope that something interesting will strike me while I read up on the 3 different topics......

2008-08-28T13:23:00.014+08:00

I've been down with flu, sore throat and cough for the past 3 weeks or so. urgh. I seriously need to rest and really stop chatting online until late into the night!

Olympics - Table Tennis
I know I'm lagging in this but Congratulations to the Singapore Table Tennis Team! Getting Silver is a very good achievement already! The Silver medal playoff was really exciting and I was messaging Janice almost every other minute about the match! haha..

Lunch
We had our lunch treat finally and it's at RSYC!!! Goodbye Harng Luh, have fun in Royal Holloway!

RSYC

Yummy!

And we certainy had fun taking photos in her car!

Dialogue Session
The dialogue session to discuss issues about PM's speech didn't really address all the concerns raised by the scholars (I am NOT a scholar, but I dunno why they invited us there - a bit intimidating thou) . They should get a more competent person to address us instead and maybe when their policies are more concrete!

GS AGM

Finally, we are to step down from our yr long commitment! I'll miss the wonderful Geog Soc days and definitely the people who make up the 42nd GSMC!!

_________________________________________________

My scholarship application for AY2008/2009 has been successful! yay! How weird that I am awarded the scholarship only in my final year in NUS (I dare not apply for any scholarships or even think abt them, if not for the email Mrs Chong sent us abt the donated scholarship).. Will I get a scholarship for MA if I were to apply for it too? I wonder which uni will sponsor me if I were to do my MA. Dad says the US uni will sponsor MA education but come on, I have to get a first class for them to sponsor me right and I am not anywhere near!!! I remember talking to Godma sometime back and she said she can sponsor my MA (T&C apply), but I won't want to be indebted to her.. oh wells, I shall see how when the time comes...

2008-08-17T12:01:00.011+08:00

It's only my first week into the new AY and there are so many things happening!!!

1. The modules problem is finally solved, thanks to the ever efficient Mrs Chong and Ms Wong.

2. Welcome Tea was quite successful due to the large number of students who attended, prob interested to major in geog, and I see a whole new lot of ppl interested to join the geog soc 43rd MC, great!

3. I got to meet my mentor from TP, a very friendly guy who is a geographer too and currently in the tourism industry! looking forward to the next meeting with him and XiaoHui next month!

4. My first time attending the FASS Awards Ceremony (and probably the last!) and we had a photograph taken with the Dean and someone prompted me from infront of the cameraman to ask me to smile more. I cant do that *ahem* smile for nuts k!

"Care Bear department!" (Straughan, 2008)

5. We had our GC Thank You Tea at Prof Chang's house!!! It looks like some Balinese Resort and I love that cosy and zen feel it gives. The buffet spread was good too, yummy, and I don't wonder why I'll never recover from my cough and sore throat. urgh. Ok, presenting his house...

"Rambling House" (Chang, 2008), NOT!

6. Finally met up with the fellow interns again. Dinner @ Thai Express then Coffee Club, urgh, I'm never gonna recover from sore throat. We'll be meeting again on Thur, this time for the dialogue session, and we can all say goodbye to Nicholas who will be going to Canada for his SEP!!! ohmygoodness!!! Canada!!!

the mojito tastes like sprite and there is nothing very special about it! I still like my strawberry milkshake! :)

2008-07-21T23:12:00.016+08:00

INTERNSHIP @ PSD!!!

CSIP 2008!

Civil
Service
Internship
Programme

Colleagues
Supervisors
Interns
PS21 ExCEL Convention

This internship gave me a good glimpse of the working life in the Public Service. I really enjoyed planning the ExCEL Convention and I wish I could be involved in the actual event too but it clashes with my exams. boo. The KM research was interesting too and I hope the report I did will be useful to them. Well, this internship is not just about projects and research but the fun and interesting activities as well. Prisons Trip, Tuas South Incineration Plant visit, World Cities Summit, Semakau Landfill visit, foreign delegates meeting, HCS Townhall session, BLT, BBL, CIP, dialogue sessions, photoshoot, presentations and many dept meetings aka 'happy hour' @ cosy corner made my internship experience at PSD even more Enriching and Exciting!

The very warm and friendly people, Fun-loving Fellow interns; Caring Colleagues and Supportive Supervisors in PSD has made my internship nothing short of wonderful! . Thanks Amanda, Zeinab, Nicholas, Jacklyn, Licia, Hong Hui and Huey Woon for the fun and laughter we shared and the many tea breaks and "mini conferences" we've had. Thanks to Jinsen, Jason, Yongkuan and everyone at PSO for being such great colleagues and taking such good care of us. And finally, Thanks to my Supervisors, Carolyn, Clarence and Grace for the guidance throughout the past 8 weeks! Last but not least, special thanks to Zhi Ying for being such a wonderful coordinator, colleague and friend! I'll miss PSD!

Incineration Plant visit

World Cities Summit

CIP

Photoshoot

My Wonderful Dept!!! :)

Caring Colleagues

Supportive Supervisors (there's still Clarence and Grace)

Fun-loving Fellow Interns

Thanks Zhiying for coordinating everything!

2008-05-20T19:46:00.013+08:00

What a busy start to the holidays! 2 weeks (back-to-back!) packed with activities and finally I could stay home to rest. ha.

7 May
Met the LRT ppl for lunch at Terra Cafe, after their last paper. Then Winnie and I headed to town after that for shopping. Can't wait for GSS!! haha.

8 May
Hosting Taiwanese Students from NTNU. They attended a talk by the dept and we were there to introduce ourselves and get to know them better so that we can bring them out to do fieldwork the very next day...

Yes, I was more excited about meeting Phoebe for dinner! Her mummy says she likes me leh! *secretly happy* I made her call me Valerie jiejie, obviously she can't pronounce my name for nuts! she can't even pronounce hers properly... Wheewhee, that's what she'll say when we asked her what's her name! haha. so adorable!

9 May
Huishi and I brought the Taiwanese students to Singapore River to do fieldwork. Can you imagine, both of us reading the article - Recreating place, replacing memory: Creative destruction at the Singapore River by Chang and Huang, 2005, after exams!!! and Beejooks even made notes for them! omg!

My Group!

All of us outside Istana.

Tired after 2 days of hosting!

10 May
Recce. tired tired tired.

11 May
Mothers' day. went Granny's house for mothers' day celeb. packing for OFT. *yawns*

12-15 May
OFT - Genting and Malacca. One word to describe the trip: AWESOME! although some of us came back "spoil" (Phua, 2008). haha.

Our first group photo in Genting - First World Hotel!

Cable car ride!

Atas dinner. haha.

What we did to buy time -YOGA- so that the rest could prepare for Winnie's surprise b'day celeb. haha.

Gathering in the extra room where we made our very own MV! haha.

Outdoor theme park

Indoor theme park

Lunch in Malacca - Chicken Rice Balls

Geographer cafe! We bought 23 Geographer Cafe shirts in total!!!

Wad we did to entertain ourselves - taking photos

Dinner at Hong Kong Cafe, only 3Ps coz the rest went A&W which was a 15 min cab ride from Jonker Street.

St. Paul's Church

Christ Church

Bye Genting and Malacca. We'll be back in July for our LFT, hopefully!

And it was really the company that made the trip absolutely enjoyable! :)

16 May
FASS Open House Prep and Jade's surprise birthday celeb.

He sure knows we will be wearing this shirt!

Surprise, Jade!

17 May
FASS Open House - Our dept is the most kiasu dept in FASS with the most number of lecturers and students helping out for the event! I think our geog booth is the most elaborated and we had flowers even! you know whose idea yar. haha.

Geog Soc and the lecturers

Geog Soc with the dept staff and lecturers

Geog Soc with the 2 Profs!

Jump shots with 2 fun-loving Profs who agreed to take the photo with us! haha.

With the dept head and Lai Wa at the back.

With Mama Chong! She's so motherly!

We Love Geography!

We Love Geog Soc too!

18, 19 May
Vesak day prep and actual event. Vesak Great Joy Party was held at Orchid Country Club again! I simply love the place!

Receptionists

How about having your wedding dinner here?!? haha.

20 May
And today, most of my time was spent doing research! How nice ah... My work is piling up!!!

Read the papers this morning and in the Life! section, there was an article about Malacca! - Malacca gets a makeover- I didn't really explore the place so I can't comment much on it. The Carrefour hypermarket just opened and it's opposite our hotel but we didn't go there, I mean, why would I want to go there when there are 2 in Singapore? I'd rather go Jonker Street and walk down the many small alleys and shophouses and indulge myself in the Paranakan food there, thou we only had Chicken Rice Balls and Chendol! And I bought my fav pineapple tarts!!! yummy!

Looking forward to internship next week! grin. Have a great Holiday!

2008-05-05T23:55:00.006+08:00

Finally, the exams are over! Goodbye yr 3! I truly enjoyed my yr 3 days! From taking coastal management under grandpa and mulu fieldtrip with the honours class to Geog Soc activities, research work, Sunday classes; activities we've planned for the kids; events at SBWS and all the other fun gatherings I've had, and not forgetting the wonderful friends who added COLOURS to my life! I truly enjoyed every single moment of my yr 3 days and yes, I hope the year ahead will be as Exciting and Enriching (E&E! ha.), which I'm sure it will be, definitely!

Looking forward to the 3 months long holidays with the research work, hosting of TW stu, OFT, Open House, Vesak GJP at Orchid Country Club (Yes, I simply love the place!), Internship, GC, LFT and the list goes on and on...

More gatherings with my lovely friends!

Finally met up with my dearies after my last paper!

2008-04-28T15:01:00.006+08:00

*gasp* oh my goodness! one email and it can cause the whole issue to be blown up as such. haha. and 'mummy dearest' is sooo funny!! he has got real good memory and i can remember what i wore too!!! blue top from forever 21 and skinny jeans from bugis street. haha. ok. jus a little break i need from all the studying.

AND... on this very day, a year ago, i sat for a tourism paper early in the morning at 9am. on this very day, a year later, i sat for another tourism paper early in the morning at 9am too! haha. on this very day! time passes real fast! Ok, i better get back to studying for grandpa's paper!!! "I give you all the luck in the world" (Grandpa, 2008).

2008-04-16T18:55:00.010+08:00

Mulu essay is driving me nuts and I've really no motivation to do it. How I wish someone could be more understanding and give me a little more encouragement. Somebody has been annoying me and making me feel miserable and one of my besties can feel that I am actually avoiding that somebody too. Everyone has not been in good mood lately and yes, it's the time of the sem when you are really really drained and how you wish time could jus pass more quickly so that the long awaited hols can come faster! Nevertheless, I hope we can all persevere thru this very tough period and have the confidence and determination to carry on (yes, the pressure to succeed is even greater this sem!).

I am really grateful to my friends for the "wisdom and friendly support", and yes, they were the ones who "enthuse, and who encourage and who demand no less than the best from me!" (adapted from part of the speech which i thought was very apt for this post.)

thank you very much my dear friends!

Meanwhile, I shall TRY to reconstruct the paleoclimatic history through the use of cave deposits...

2008-04-12T00:34:00.011+08:00

Today marks the end of my very crazy week. ok, not quite coz i still have another 35% Mulu essay to go. Oh wells. The assignments due this week add up to more than 100% and it's really madness! I've been going home at 10plus, 11pm everyday and i miss home cooked food! really drained now and yes, no more 2 100% CA mod! it's really really tiring!

Despite a very Stressful week, there had been some pleasant Surprises too (S&S)! lol. cheng yi'en bought us this cookie and cream flavoured straw to go with our HL fresh milk (he said he bought it for us because he thought it was rather lame and it reminded him of us! grr.).

Then we went to the office to collect some stuff and we met blue eyes, baikaishui and almost half the dept and she told baikaishui "these 2 naughty girls.... blah blah blah". OMG! i mean, i'd never expect her to say that. ha. yes, Winnie, i'd better be more careful with my words! oh yar, and we got this FASS open house (some invitation brochure) from the dept office!

it's so geographical! and GEOGRAPHY is on top of the world!

And we had "no reason needed to do certain things, especially at night when people are working" (Png, 2008). we did somethings that i wouldn't have the courage to do if not for winnie. haha.

I would have gone down to STB for the talk if not for the much dreaded essay huishi and i had to rush to submit before 5pm (she made me dislike her so much after the 1st lect!) and winnie had lecture till 6pm. otherwise we would have gotten the STB lions!

these are not ours thou. i like the red one!

And we met the GS peepz for dinner after their STB field visit and after submitting our essay, lectures, etc. at NYDC! We all had baked rice/pasta and mudpie!!! feel so contented now!

notice the globe? ha.

grandma goes nuts mudpie!

Finally, thanks boon kian for giving me his STB lion and hp charm. i don't understand why would anyone not want them. oh wells.

Gary the Gourmet.

I hope there will be more surprises in the weeks to come! till then, study hard for exams and we'll have some leisure, recreation and tourism (lrt) after that!!!

2008-04-05T10:14:00.011+08:00

Some little things that made my hectic week more bearable.

1. That closed-eye hearty laugh. wahaha. so cute! (opss.. cute is not an appropriate word to describe him thou. haha..)

2. The surprise ppt presentation we did for erin and the guano-coated cake! yummy!

3. A sweet message from Beejooks! Thanks!

5. And a lovely postcard and post-it (received it sometime ago) from Hawaii!!! Thanks Tim!

5. Our first meeting held in the dept's meeting room but the last meeting for GC until after exams (every GS event/meeting is so fun! looking forward to OFT!)

aiyoh, missing 1P (coz she was the photographer!), it's a nice photo nevertheless!

6. I truly appreciate those praises! *grin* wahaha

7. That "awful" photo is nice leh! look so guai!!! haha.

8. Thanks for the ride home! we shall go jalan kayu for supper another time k! haha.

For some reason, we have been very interested in Chinese Names these days! yes, huishi ma, peishan jie, wang de guang and bai(kai)sui!!!

Quite a few *gasp* oh my goodness! things happened today. I dunno to be happy or sad for you but it's all too late now. I jus hope you'll be more responsible in future...

2008-03-30T15:13:00.007+08:00

(It's a bit blur coz its a photo of the photo postcard!)

Pitstop
The treat 3Ps were so looking forward to after a really hectic week, thanks to Prof Chang and Dr. Lim! We played Taboo, Smart Ass (I was quite shocked when he said the word 'ass'. I mean, i wont expect that word to come from him!), Paris Tower, some Dinosaur game and Ugly Dolls! and yes, the dinosaur game and ugly dolls are really brainless games! haha.. anyway, we had great fun there and I'm so looking forward to our OFT in may!

3Ps at Pitstop

Group photo taken (by a new zealander! - he has a nice voice!) at the Cavenagh bridge

supper at xin wang! mango ice-kachang, finally! wide grin.

quite a few not-so-pleasant things happened in the past week and i am seriously quite drained (but thanks to the pitstop treat, i'm more rejuvenated now!). i've been thinking through alot and having really weird dreams these days (I'm sorry if i've not been my usual self). i hope i'll have the tenacity to carry on and thanks, my wonderful friends, for the encouragement, support and company. love ya loads!

2008-03-23T15:56:00.012+08:00

Majors Tea

The 2nd geog soc event in less than a week! Not many yr 3s went for the talk thou, maybe coz they alr know what's in store for honours yr and after a while you get bored of listening to such talks as they talk abt the same things every yr.. Oh wells. There's always so much fun and laughter when I'm with the GS peepz! haha.

And here's the FC members!

Mosiac Music Festival

We went for Olivia's performance at the esplanade after majors tea. Her voice was much lower when she sang live as compared to those in her CDs, i like her voice nevertheless.

Mind Cafe

Went for Yurong's 21st birthday party at Mind Cafe, Purvis Street (Welcome to the forever21 club! haha..). She booked the entire cafe together with another friend to celebrate their 21st! We didn't get to play any board games thou, coz we went real late but we were just in time to cut the birthday cake. It's so weird going to a board games cafe and not playing any board games! Oh well! I'm so looking forward to the pitstop treat next sat!! haha.

STB Field visit
We went there to get postcards for our soci of tourism project but we were told they do not have anymore postcards. grr.. so we went for retail therapy instead! wad an excuse. haha. dinner was at fish and co and we had "the best fish and chips in town!" (huishi jus had to say "the best fish and chips in town" instead of simply saying fish and chips!) haha. and i'm so looking forward to our next tai tai outing (part II)!! grin.

Nalanda Trail
My 2nd time to Asian Civilisation Museum (the first time I was there for the ABC waterways project). They have this night at the museum, 24hrs@ACM (so cool!) to catch the exhibition of the Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China and SEA. Some of the relics, artefacts and paintings are quite fascinating thou. cant show photos coz we are not allowed to take photos there. ok, what i was more excited about was walking pass the arts house and saw 2 vintage cars!

so cool right!

i don't mind a ride in any one of these cars (dreaming)! ok, i got to stop daydreaming and get back to work real soon. i spent 2 days drawing the planform of melinau paku river and my river still looks weird (i even dreamt of the river!)! i think i cant be a limnologist! grr.

i've been talking too much random stuff these days, ok, i shall stop it!

2008-03-15T12:05:00.005+08:00

25 feb - 2 march

Mulu trip was awesome and i'm so glad i took the module! ok, there's too much to blog abt and i shall show some photos instead.

gunung mulu national park!

ge4880 topics in geography III

in our dorm - Tonkat Ali.

the year 3 girls!

boat ride upstream to clearwater cave and wind cave

the walk up to clearwater cave - you cant even see the top! and it's jus the beginning to a long and tiring walk!

clearwater cave!
deer cave - the largest cave passage in the world, where we climbed over heaps of guano (bat's shit) jus to get to garden of eden.

an artistic shot. wahaha.

garden of eden, not very impressive thou!! look at the boulders and heaps of guano!!! oh gosh.

garden of eden, after a long walk! we were supposed to trek further in to see the area where the sandstone meets the limestone but we didnt have enough time.

2-3 million bats flying out of deer cave at dusk.

canopy walk, 480m.

our fluvial geomorphology project site - melinau paku river.

leap yr dinner! yam seng!

at some bar there where we were made to do the sarawak dance! wahaha.

lagang cave - my favourite cave exploration!

the trek down lagang cave! look at the steep slopes!!

royal mulu resort. we didnt stay here of course!

bye bye mulu! i'll miss those wonderful fieldwork days!

8 march
GC prelims was a success and many thanks to the advisors for their 'thank you' emails! so touched! ok, and here are more photos of the event!

registration.

our GS MC mugshots! thanks to winnie.

my favourite photo! grin.

my current wall paper! so nice!

we are certified geographers! wahaha.

the things we do! lol.

globes!

more globes!

eh, who's pose ah?

2008-02-24T19:24:00.002+08:00

Mulu is a must-see destination, famed for its fascinating cave system in the world renowned Gunung Mulu National Park.The Clearwater Cave, which has a river running through it, has the longest cave system in Southeast Asia. At the Deer Cave, the largest cave corridor in the world, you can witness the daily flight of bats from the cave. The Sarawak Chamber, located in the Nasib Bagus cave, is the largest natural cave chamber in the world and is able to house the equivalent of 16 football fields or 40 jumbo jets.Other attractions that should not be missed are the Pinnacles of Mulu and Batu Lawi, just some of Mulu's spectacular and unique rock formations.

(http://www.maswings.com.my/sarawak.html, photos: http://www.mulupark.com/htm/about_gunung_mulu/index.htm)

Now, i'm quite eager to hop onto the plane and head to mulu. this will be an "edu-tainment" (Buhalis, 2001) trip and this is my first time being a hardcore ecotourist. this also means the entire module's CAs will be based on the trip!! oh wells. i hope i'll be rejuvenated after the trip and yes, tons of work to do after that!

one of the crane operators who was killed in the NUS crane crush shouted a warning to his fellow workers before the crane toppled and swung the crane away from biz sch. he was trapped in the cabin and died from multiple injuries. he is a hero indeed. if not for that, the crane might hit the biz sch and i can't image what would have happened then! let's all pray for those who lost their lives due to this tragic accident!

2008-02-22T23:02:00.010+08:00

I don't regret joining geog soc, being involved in GC, being an undergrad RA, being a TA, choosing 2 mod that are 100% CA, having to go sarawak to do fieldwork during mid-sem break, choosing to do honours instead of graduating this sem, and forgoing many other things that i can do just to achieve my goal... we have to make a lot of choices in life, sometimes we may sort of regret the decisions we've made but i guess, wad's more important is that we learn to persevere through. if you have the will, you'll have the way. everything is teaching us and we should make use of every opportunity to learn from these adversities. i believe that i will be able pull through yet another hectic sem with the encouragement and support from my family and friends.

Yes, indeed, what makes uni life more colourful are the wonderful friends I have! and here's the crazy geog soc peepz or certified geographers with our signature red shirts! haha..

and the geog clique in sentosa missing joleen and tim.. so touristy! haha.

and i'll be in sarawak with these 2 girlies too. hope everything will go well for the trip and yes, we can still communicate with the outside world from mulu, jus that we have to pay a lot more, 65 cents for 1 sms i think. oh wells, sarawak, here i come again, after 8 years! grin. met hanshum (winnie's name for him. ha.) when i was heading to the office to meet the head (i've agreed to continue with the project and she is giving me more flexibility! she is really sweet thou.). I have a stong feeling he will be VD, hm, shall wait for him to announce his new admin position.

i was one of those who witnessed the crane collapse in sch this afternoon while having lunch with winnie and huishi at arts canteen. traumatised! investigations are still underway and let's all pray for the 3 workers who were killed and the other 2 workers who were injured by the crane crush.

2008-02-12T21:22:00.001+08:00

(more photos will be posted soon. ha.)

the CNY break came and gone in the blink of an eye. but 4 days of break is still not enough for me.. grr. nevertheless, it's great meeting my relatives yet again and for those distant relatives, it's good to know that they are well and fine. i've more cny visitings in the coming week and i've yet to start doing my readings. i should know by now that i ought to start reading but i jus cant seem to concentrate on my work. it's great to learn that i've been placed on the dean's list for last sem's performance and secured an internship at the Prime Minister's Office working on the PS21 ExCEL Convention 2008 (but i've yet to get further details on it - i guess there might be an interview or something). BUT i just don't seem to be contented with myself. STB didn't reply my email and i wonder if they even bother to read it, it's sooo difficult to get participants for her research and the potential sponsors for GC are not replying meeeee!!! It's so irritating!

it suddenly came to me what she said is pretty accurately --- "a perfectionist can never be happy because they want everything to be prefect but nothing is prefect in this world. so if you want to be happy, stop being a perfectionist and be contented with yourself" yar, all these from a perfectionist herself!

2008-01-29T23:23:00.007+08:00

it's just been slightly more than 2 weeks into the new semester and i've quite a few readings to catch up and webcasts to watch already. and yes, i need to print all my readings soon!! i've finally dropped GE3206 Gender, Space and Place, thou reluctantly. I want to take gender because of my interest and the lectures are really interesting but i cant cope with 6 mods this sem, not when i have 2 mods that are 100% CA! Mods i'm taking this sem:

GE3216 Applications of GIS
GE3226 Tourism Development
GE4880 Topics in Geography
SC2217 Sociology of Tourism
SSS1207 Natural Heritage of Singapore

i'm taking GIS coz it's more of application than the normal technical stuff and the lecturer is good and i may need the skills for HT/ISM. Also, working in a GIS company will be a backup for me too... Both tourism mods, because of my interest thou the other tourism lecturer is rather boring and her voice is so hypnotizing but the content is interesting! ok, here's wad she said in lecture 1:

"Some of your may have taken another course on tourism in this university, of course most notably, that will be the course offered by Prof TC Chang over at Geography Department ....(she praises him).... but he is a geographer, even though he does use the article that I wrote in his coursepack, he still is a GEOGRAPHER! (yes, with much emphasis) ok, and i do believe, that sociologists have something to offer that geographers cant quite do in the same way..."

Yes yes, i agree that the sociologists have something to offer but, GEOGRAPHERS have even more to contribute to the field!!! And now I have to think in the sociological/anthropological way, the sociological and anthropological imagination rather than the Geographical Imagination we are all so familiar with.

Ok, other than school work, i've got tons of other things to do as well.. I need to secure an internship from may-aug, and this will be my last chance before i grad. there's still GC marketing stuff to settle, sunday classes to plan for and yes, the RA work.

And yar, i've been busy tidying up my room too, and i ought to have done it during the break but i didnt. gr. i practically shifted everything deemed moveable in my room. i've relocated my study desk to a more conducive spot in my tiny room, with a new STB calendar (thanks to TC! --- that silver thing) and some photos to add to my now-more-tidy desk, moved the 2 bookshelves to the other side. And yes i like the new arrangement. grin.

Yes, he gave me a shock, like totally! I hope i dint *gasp!* too loudly. I ought to be more mindful!!

2008-01-11T23:48:00.002+08:00

what a busy start to 2008! the first 2 weeks into the new year was really packed and yes, school is starting in 3 days' time! boo. i can foresee another really busy sem!

wed

fiza, eunice and huiying gave me a surprise birthday celebration at sakae! well, it was really a pleasant surprise indeed and thanks so much for that.. haha. and eh, the card, yes, it's really creative (content) and i really heart it! wahaha.

fri
tim, erin, puey ling and joleen came my house to give me a surprise too!! thanks thanks for all the planning you have to go through for this and the many smses and phone calls to plan this.

our 8 course dinner!

sun
the performance was great and i enjoyed myself totally. i thought i'll have stage fright but i was perfectly fine when i went on stage. haha. luckily!

us in the most toot attire! (scene1)

ok, we look more normal now! (scene2)

and that was really a pleasant surprise for me and i was quite paiseh too, with so many teachers (about 50+ ) celebrating my birthday with me!! gosh, i didnt realised i looked so red until i saw that video PX recorded! well, well, thanks to all and i still cant figure out how you managed to bring the cake and flowers to the room?!?!?!

thanks for all the planning!

mon
i didnt want to go for the interview initially (because it's my b'day!) but i felt a bit guilty for not doing much this sem break so i decided to go for the interview in the end. she never fails to share so many of her stories and personal experiences with me.. haha. she is really funny too! oh well, i shall go to that bistro someday since u recommended it.

I had 4 cakes in less than a week, oh man, this is really sinful! my antique globe from pageone is OOS! boo.

tue
had GC meeting early in the morning and then was moving of GS room to the new one at ADM blk. the wooden cupboard is really heavy but we managed to move it over still! if we can move that, then every other things in the room will be movable! hm.. there's no more sense of place. boo. the geog soc room we are all so familiar with, the room that gives us a sense of belonging, a place we used to study and share many gossips, is to be used by a new prof/grad student.. sigh.

i've finally gotten my esprit jacket and thanks for the tomato-chan! joyous!!

fri
finally met phoebe again after so many months! she is still as adorable. my sweet little girl! and yes, she is as loud as her mummy and everyone ard her seems to love her too coz she keeps smiling at them. wahaha. what a cute little girl!

for whatever reason, "we keep seeing each other today!"

2007-12-31T15:25:00.002+08:00

It has been yet another eventful year for me. so many things happened this yr and i must really be grateful for that! i've met a lot of new friends this year both in school and outside sch and yes, it's time to thank all my wonderful friends who have helped me throughout this sem, or rather this year!

Grandpa: for the extremely entertaining seminars, fieldtrips and yes, my final grade.
SH: thanks for giving me the opportunity to learn from you and i hope i have been a useful RA.. haha.. (ok, i've alr thank this person but yar, thank you once again for the recommendation)
Eunice: for taking 2 mod with me and for the relentless encouragement and support! studying is more fun and interesting with you ard and you can really motivate me to study!!
Fiza and Huiying: thank you dearies for the many shopping trips and gatherings and listening to all my whinings... haha..
Janice: my fellow researcher! thanks for the many gossips we share on the long bus ride home from sch! lol.

Mr Ang: stop daydreaming abt paris! and thanks for the lunchtime small talks! wahaha...
Tim, Erin, Puey Ling, Joleen: the "geog clique" for the many gatherings we've had and thanks for being such great friends/projectmates!
Jess, Min Yee, Li Juan: the artssies. b'day celeb are always a good time for us to meet up yar! grin.
Yu Zhu, Pei Xian, Pamy, ZR: for being such wonderful companion, teaching is much more fun and interesting with you ard and for being so spontaneous in the activities we've organised! ok, more overseas trip for next yr! grin.
GS peeps: for the many meetings in earthlab, prep for dnd; teachers' day, MAF etc, and yes, the gossip sessions in GS room!!! i really hope we were not that loud!

ok, and thanks to many others (alright, there're some i have to thank personally and not here...) who have helped me in one way or another.

Goodbye 2007, WELCOME 2008! i hope 2008 will be another fabulous year! wide grin!

2007-12-19T19:14:00.000+08:00

movies, shopping, organising my stuff, meeting up with friends, research, lessons planning, rehearsals, and reading by the window with raindrops falling onto the window pane and with a hot cuppa latte! woohoo, that's what i call enjoying life! it'll be perfect if there's snow too! haha.. yes, that's what i've been busy with the past week and will continue to be busy with, the entire hols. christmas presents aren't cheap these days! and sale sale sale means i'm gonna be totally broke soon! i'm quite excited for the CSIP, wondering what proj they'll have next yr and which ministry i can go to. grin, if only they include STB as well. and yes, we've got our very first sponsor for GC! yay! more to come i hope! it'll be another really busy hols and i better recharge and be prepared for yet another crazy sem ahead!

2007-12-13T14:51:00.007+08:00

It's been more than a week since my last paper but I've been really busy, not studying of course but with the tons of work i've to do and yes, meeting up with friends too!

wed
went vivo to give tim a surprise birthday celeb but we were too hungry to wait for the other 2 for dinner so we had the sarawak kolo mee first.. haha.. but why didnt i see them selling the noodles when i was in sarawak that time? hm..

Celebrated Tim's birthday at secret recipe, i simply love their cheesecakes! yummy! and we met huishi and the other geographers there too!
thur
met the girlies for lunch at sakae minus HY who's working. went shopping at MS and i tried on this nice top from Zara which they say looks like what wyc will wear! grr.... so irritating! this guy, Ziv, was promoting some dead sea facial peel and guess wad! we bought it from him! haha because he has this nice british accent (i like those ppl with nice voices.. lol) and is tall, not that dark, but handsome and really funny! ok, that expensive facial peel better be worth it!

fri
had GC meeting early in the morning at earth lab. roar. and we went T3 to see the green room. to our dismay, there was no green room as such, only a green wall (i wonder where the $10k went to..) the place was MADE green but it is not as environmentally friendly as it claims to be. it was a disappointment indeed.

sat and sun
was busy with the funfair prep and coordinating the games on the actual day. this is my 5th, 6th, 7th time!!! i'm having the 7 yrs itch, like seriously! this shall be my last year i swear! i dont want to mess up honours yr!

mon

went to school to look for interviewees for research. why is it so difficult to get interviewees this time round? this is even worse than the 1st phase! urgh. janice, better finish your transcript soon! haha, although i know it should be a reminder for me instead as i still owe her 1 for months now! lol... hmm... till she comes back.

tue

retail therapy is great! grin. but i've yet to get the presents for christmas.. i'm eyeing this esprit jacket and yes, will get it when my next pay comes! woohoo..

wed

i still prefer stardust to enchanted! but enchanted is really funny thou and Robert is quite charismatic and Prince Edward is charming too! grin. Pip - the chipmunk is really cute and where in the world is Andalasia?? talking abt chipmunks, i want to watch Alvin and the chipmunks!! haha.. dreams are dreams and if only they'll come true...

Giselle: "Dreams do come true!" -- blink blink, if only they do!

Went Esplanade for the recording of the CNN Future Summit - Saving Planet Earth. it's an eye opener for me, especially knowing what's happening behind the scenes of an interview. well well, i'm eager to see the actual telecast on 18 dec. actually, i think that most of the time they were not exactly answering what had been asked of them and a short 1.5 hr recording didnt allow them to say much also esp when there are 5 panelists. hm.. i wonder how's the IPCC conference in Bali.

geographers!

geographers with the president of Iceland!

with richard quest --- CNN presenter

2007-12-04T14:25:00.000+08:00

I rode on the tsunami wave!! haha.. no more Ellison, 2002; Check, 2005; IUCN 2005 Env Reports/ Info Paper/ Best Prac Guidelines, Wong, 2005; Kay, 2005; Carter, 1998; Christie and White, Olsen, 2005; Kanagaratnam, 2007, Jayakumar, 2007; Alverson, 2005; Crawford, 2002; Latief and Hadi, 2005; FAO, 2005... till the next tsunami!! And yes, i'll be taking tourism development offered by grandpa next sem! grin. cant wait to meet up with the girlies once again!

2007-11-23T23:01:00.001+08:00

Valerian --- Root, teas, and extracts as OTC medicine for "states of excitation" and "difficulty in falling asleep owing to nervousness". Night time sleep aid. Advantages: no major adverse reactions, unlike barbiturates and other conventional drugs for insomnia, no synergy with alcohol. Ahha... there's a herb name after me.. haha..

Was studying for CAM and i came across ginkgo biloba and i long for cheng teng now.. boo. CAM is really interesting but there's so much to memorize! uses of 26 herbs, TCM, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Aromatherapy, Obesity, Regulations of CAM etc. grr... and those taking the mod have like photographic memory! more than half the class got A+ for the 2 MTT! the bell curve gonna be really high and i wonder if i can even get a C so that i can S/U it!

Now i need to get ppl for the FG discussions which will be starting right after exams. I hope it'll be interesting! grin. I've more interviews to plan for and i shall make good use of the dec hols to get all the interviews done (hopefully!). I wonder how the interviews in LA will turn out to be! so exciting! haha..

The International Summer Program 2008 for UofA is out and guess wad!?! It clashes with my exams again! roar! Seems like i'm really not fated to go Canada!!! sob...

I'm not as motivated to study this sem as compared to last semester but i'm trying hard to study nevertheless. I cant wait for the activities after exams! woohoo. christmas party, lotsa shopping and plenty of trips..... wheeeeee........

"you'll succeed in life with confidence, determination and perseverance"

2007-11-19T14:31:00.000+08:00

If you write about coastal (mis)management, your paper will be (mis)managed and you'll get (2)0 marks. (Wong, 2007).

Dont write wooly wooly stuff like on that fateful day if you can just say the Dec 2004 Tsunami caused large number of deaths and damage... (Wong, 2007).

haha. grandpa is so funny! but his module is rather demanding thou! urgh. must remember quotations, case studies, concepts, methodology, findings... i hope i can remember them, seriously! (the only concepts that i can still remember are the lrt concepts!! oh man, "glocalisation", "rouselisation", "liminality", Relph's "insiders-outsiders", Maccannell's "Staged authenticity", Boorstin's "pseudo-events", Picard's "Cultural Involution", Hvenegaard and Dearden's CBET framework...). He was quite lenient for the paper evaluation and i hope he'll be lenient for exams too!!! There'll be no bell-curve for this exam and i hope i'll do just fine!

STARDUST is really good! i want a babylon candle too! or go to the other side of the wall with Tristan! wahaha..

2007-11-13T21:43:00.000+08:00

Feng drew a mindmap during the review lect and i managed to see the big picture finally and how are all the topics and points linked to one another. yes, i'm a visual person, i can conceptualise better with drawings than words... this is the first time i drew a mindmap this sem, compared to 1 mindmap for each lecture and reading last sem for lrt. i miss doodling the mindmaps but this very very hectic sem just proved that drawing mindmaps are simply impossible. i still have 2 assignments due this wk and yar, i havent started revision yet. gr... i think studying has reached a plateau for me. i seriously hate doing assignments for the sake of doing them. i want to enjoy the learning journey, it's more important than getting good grades. aiyah, but the latter is still impt thou. sigh.

the lovely lrt mindmaps i did last sem

2007-11-11T23:33:00.002+08:00

Hell wk is over, finally! But the worst has yet to come --- Exams! grr... I must seriously thank my wonderful friends for their support and encouragement throughout the sem, those sweet smses, words of encouragement and the little things they did helped me survive the sem! mum and dad bought me this premium raw honey to perk me up a little, i didnt know honey cost so much! haha.. and mummy spent 4 hours brewing this tonic soup for me, it's not that horrible tasting thou. ha. they made me feel so loved! wide grin! :)

Friday

Dinner after the end of hell week at Fong Seng!

Saturday
Bintan trip was real fun and i simply love the coastal class with an excellent grandfatherly lecturer! Finally he had been recognised for the nobel peace prize on the dept website! So proud of him!

coastal town

lunch at Mayang Sari Beach Resort --- grandpa's treat

rocky coast

he cracked open and ate the fresh oyster! omg!

intertidal zone

Sunday
Finally met up with the girlies for shopping.. lots of catching up to do still! haha... we've already planned for our holidays! yay! and i shall meet them for coffee after my last paper! woohoo... cant wait for exams to be over!!

ok, time to start revising for exams in less than 2 weeks' time! grrr.... cant wait for the progammes we've planned for dec/jan!

2007-10-28T16:03:00.002+08:00

wed
My dearest friend and i will be fellow RAs from now on. yay! And i've found myself an RA too.. haha.. but only till Jan before he flies off to hawaii... thanks tim for helping me out with the transcript yar!

thur

Janice and i had a sudden craving for COMBOS and we went ard AMK looking for it. We were really dismayed to learn that the entire AMK doesn't sell combos! i think we've walked 2km, up and down looking for it. gr... and finally i managed to get the last 2 pepperoni pizza combos from the provision shop next to my block... uncle, why dont you have cheddar cheese combos too? anyway, i saw this pocky sticks at the supermaket and it's just so gendered. ha.

sat
Went UCC for tim's symphonic band concert. it's really good i must say, especially the final piece --- Star Wars! ok, and Sound of Music's Do-Re-Mi. Oh... i miss that movie... it's been more than a decade since i first watched it, oh wells. dinner at thai express was great esp with the company of the girlies and lots of bitching too, of course! haha..

sun

I simply heart these lovely STB postcards... and now i've got all 8 of them. smile.

jus a quote i saw from somewhere (i can't remember where..) ---

"you'll succeed in life with confidence, determination and perseverance"

oh well, i jus hope that this will motivate me to work even harder to achieve my goal. alright, back to essaying...

2007-10-23T23:20:00.005+08:00

whydoialwaysmeetthatpersonatthemostunexpectedtiming?!?