I think the pre-departure seminar made me a little more excited about leaving.. but only for the moment. still fearful of many things!
and yesterday in office when I was looking at the MSN website, I realised that (today) Harry Potter 6 is out! but I can't buy:( oh well. some kind soul please lend it to me? haha. though it's not that such a big deal anymore, I think I was more excited for the 5th book.. now it's kind of just for the sake of finishing the series. I think I've moved on. to better things! haha.
as foreseen, I was quite bored at grandpa's bday dinner. luckily two of my cousins were sitting at my table and my bro was v fascinated at the size of their youngest bro (sitting at the other table). the youngest bro is pri 3, and weighs somewhere in the range of 55 - 60 kg. he's around 1.2m. calculate his bmi, anyone? rofl. anyway, the oldest bro pointed to the youngest bro's tummy and asked "how many months already ah?" rofl.. and the 2 of them came up with various nicknames for the poor guy, including "mohammed ali" and "incredible bulk".. I really like the last name.
oh and I recounted the story of the creative primary 1 kid to my bro.. he sed he wud have given the kid A+ instead of failing him like the teachers apparently did.. totally agree there.. hahaha.
tinky has just related this to me, and it amused me hugely so i hope everyone else has a good laugh. the basic topic was to write about quacky the duck in united square :
this primary 1 wrote about quacky the duck who was walking around united square and then the duck rice seller at the food court saw him and caught him and turned him into roast duck.
tinky says she thinks they failed him. rofl.. although i sympathise with the poor fellow, it's actually quite an original piece of work:p creativity! hahaha. i must go dig up the pri1 file again and see if there's anything funny.
haha. i spent the morning reading the 2nd book in the chronicles of narnia. i.e. the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. it's quite interesting i guess.. although definitely for kids, given the language. which brings to mind my favourite bagthorpe series by helen cresswell.. it has a whole lot of super-cheem words and references I've never heard of and yet it's supposed to be for kids? hmm. anyway I wish they'd reprint it.. like my gerald durrell books.
okay back to the lion the witch n the wardrobe. the Christian references were really so obvious.. i felt kind of weird reading it. because it was too similar to the Bible. it's funny to have a lion instead of Jesus. even though it's a book.. okay nevermind maybe it's just me.
anyway, I stand by what I told Candice last time. Lunchtime is the highlight of the day when you're working! and of cos going home time, but that's at the end of the day so not counted.. I'm always very happy when it's time to knock off.. rofl
and I really wish I weren't writing for primary 1.. I don't think they're going to appreciate my style of writing cos it's been so long since I've done the narrative/descriptive thing. ugh. hmm. I don't know what I can write, actually. haven't tried satirising stuff in a really long time. or maybe that was only cos my brother egged me on. haha.
ah. and last night I woke up in the middle of the night, remembered I hadn't bought stuff to bring overseas, and I hadn't learnt how to cook. 9 weeks. or rather, soon coming to 8.
first day of work. something i realised, while i was staring around for inspiration. a lot of offices have no windows. that's why it's so oppressive, because everywhere you look, it's white walls. or cupboards. or walls. or computers. but actually even at home I don't think i look out of the window very much. maybe that's cos i have the luxury of not-staring-at-the-computer-all-the-time at home.. haha.
and taking minutes is very stressful. maybe cos it was my first time. or i didn't know what's important. i'm v glad i get to miss the 2nd meeting on wednesdays though haha:p
i think i shall take up my mom's suggestion and go read the lion, the witch and the wardrobe so i can, ahem, do my research better. haha. yeahh.... but after looking at all the pri sch stuff i'm like .. all this stuff is so long ago.. like narrative essays with a setting, building up to climax and resolving, different ways to describe stuff... synonyms for walk, anybody?
went to collect cheque today. i must say, i still think it was quite a waste of time to make both of us go down to collect it.. anyway, the tea cup set was so interesting.. i've never seen tea made like that. haha. oops. ignoramus. and he spent quite a lot of time telling us about ypag. some of which bored me to tears, rest of which was rather illuminating. i bet ting enjoyed herself though.. right? heh. this is exactly why i don't want to work for the government. cos i'm not interested. or maybe i'm one of the typical apathetic youth. not a very good sign.
anyway i start work tomorrow. finally, i'll be less broke. but i have to wait till end of the month to get my pay:( bah. therefore outings must be cut down until i receive some $$.
i guess i did have quite a fun time after all.. although i've come to dread the loooong walk to east coast park frm kembangan mrt. bleah. it's really long okay! even while i admit that i'm lazy. 1/2hr walk. and in the hot sun. it was nice cycling though, i haven't cycled in a looong time. a little wobbly at first. like amos said, one doesn't really forget how to cycle. or blade. or play the piano. just becomes rusty from lack of use of the skill.
daryl has taken to poking me cos of the various noises i make when poked.. this is vaguely reminiscent of serene's favourite hobby. not a good sign.
everyone keeps dwelling on the fact that i eat very little. i think it started from camp when my plate was usually quite empty due to the not-so-wonderful food at desaru. so anyway, today charm/daryl described my lunch as "2 grains of rice and a molecule of potato". during dinner jonathan said i was trying to distract them so i'd fling my chicken somewhere else n pretend i'd finished eating it. or fling it into daryl's plate and pretend "wah, daryl, u also never finish!"
there's some conspiracy among them to put me in the boot. cos there're always more than 4 pple when we go out, and only one car. so, in order to fit everyone in, the reasoning is as follows: the smallest (i.e. me) should go into the boot. as suggested by ruishan first, then cynthia, then jonathan. in the space of the afternoon, all at different times. i don't believe they heard each other really, which is even more terrifying. haha. -shakes head-
amusing pple.. although really, while i was in school i don't think i would have spent so much time going out.. so that's one thing to think about hmm.
ah, i just realised stanford's commencement address by steve jobs is in today's papers. roxy! haha.
haha, last week i had one cut on my left index finger. this week, i have cuts on my left middle finger, and right index n middle fingers. even though they're less deep cuts, but still.. sheesh. next time i need like fully-protected gloves to blade.
anyway, i had a good day! happy clar:) although it's on journeys (with no books to read) that one starts reflecting on many many things. not all of which are pleasant. e.g. i lead a very boring life at the moment.
haha.. thanks to ser for alerting me to peiying's newest blog post.. her projection into the future is a magnificent piece of work! i think only pple who were there will get the jokes though.. but that's the good thing too:D i'll remember all those things we talked about tonight.. i think it was quite a good turn out, happily for everyone:) usually i don't like gatherings with too many people cos half the time you don't get to talk to half of the people purely due to seating arrangements, but cos today we were at crystal jade la mian (yum!!) with a nice round table.. it was good!
i think next time we should only have gatherings at places with round tables. haha. when there're more than.. 6 pple. anyway.. everyone go read peiying's projection into the future! rofl. am quite looking forward to blading tmr, it's fun!! whee~ and blading on sunday again (i hope my legs won't drop off)
alright, i finally booked my air ticket. oh dear.. i think i'd better learn to get things done faster without my mom reminding me: anyway, leaving 18 sept morning. and will be back in dec, happily. haha.
i'm so sad paris lost. but somehow before i heard the results i already saw "london wins 2012 bid" in my head. weird huh.
ahh.. i found the movie review on the new paper website. i remembered correctly! the actor n actress for "be with you" fell in love on set. so it says. how sweet.. fairytale ending maybe.. haha.
anyway, on my mom's suggestion, which i finally decided to take up, i called up one of my previous job-agency-contacts. hopefully she gets me a good job, since nobody else seems to be replying to me. and it's so weird, yesterday i was at raffles place wondering if anyone was still working there and it seems like there's no one now.. whereas in april or so there were tons of pple around. i think i know why.. all the ernst n young pple disappeared. n chris n anna n lynette n kahli n ...
funny journey of emotions.
before really applying to US unis, excited about going overseas.
when applying, more worrying about the applications than anything else.
when results were out, joy! of course there was an element of shock/surprise.
while trying to decide whether to stay/go, huge dilemma.
after I made my choice, reluctance to leave. which became even more pronounced while filling up those famous 14 forms, because it was an indication of just how much stuff I'd have to do on my own there. and with the reluctance to leave came fear of independence.
now.. I don't really feel anything. maybe the excitement will reappear when I go shopping. haha. or maybe I need to go look at the bulletin. or when my housing stuff comes out.
there'll be so few people left to send me off! if I have a sending-off, in the first place.
wow i'm so tired. as usual. i think i'm going to sleep another 10 hrs man. haha. everytime I spend the whole day out that happens. and then mommy won't be happy when I wake up late n i'll get scolded. bleah. anyway, be with you is a very sweet show. albeit very sad. it reminded me a teeny bit of "turn left turn right" (supposedly-unrequited love, in a way) and also of "quill" (wringing out the sad bits).
i have 10 weeks left. and no air ticket yet. wish they could house me on 17th so i can leave on saturday. and the weirdest thing is that i don't know why i prefer sat to sun. maybe more pple'll be free? ah well. shall see what happens.
ZZzzzz
i think i had a quite a gd time overall:) though it was a looong day. and had nice dessert at marche! haha. yum. fat.
hum. i think i got more tanned (or burnt) today with 3 hours of walking/blading than 3 hours at wild wild wet on wed. but of cos it was threatening to rain on wed. and i have 2 knee-guard-strap-lines. quite gross. i hope i don't start peeling.
but it was fun! i think i did quite okay, given it was at least 8 years since I last bladed (and bladed for the 1st time) and 4 years since I last ice-skated (and also skated for the first time). but i think i'm v slow. bleah. unfit. haha. was really really thirsty after that though. and my legs were feeling weird.
ohhh and it was such a coincidence to meet darryl at the mrt:) heh if i hadn't been early i wouldn't have seen him. like, a few minutes after i came out of the control station, he came into the station. reminds me of how i saw yingheng while waiting for lyd/pam to go to wild wild wet.
anyway hope i have a nice day tmr! church n fellowship n prob going out w church pple again..
heh.. saw my churchmates in sch u and suddenly felt this stab of schoolsickness. yes, i know it's a self-concocted word. but well, wish I were still wearing my sch u. miss those days. days of not-wearing-sch-u makes one feel very old. and pining to turn back time.
and it's funny how you appreciate people/things much more when you know you have a limited amount of time with them. like wat peiying says, talking to pple u'll miss, remembering spore, ... i think that is exactly why i didn't enjoy my us trip so much. knowing that i'll be there for the next 4 years just makes me wanna stay here and revel in the delights of home. and sometimes it's really really really so much easier to stay here. okay i think when i get there i'll feel different (i had better) but right now... hmm.
owch. feeling bit battered. today was fun though:) although i was late. as usual. oops. not my fault they were fumigating.. walked frm somerset to city hall. haha. stopped at this fashion on the way for some aircon (and they have a nice skirt! though i don't really think i'll wear that sort of thing hmm.. i could though.. hmm somemore..) and ser msged to tell me she was starving and called me a "tasty dino"..
lunch at bk then mrt to pasir ris. where we waited for our dearest candice who forgot her phone and had to go home for it and fiona. for 1/2hr! i told ser they wud come at 2pm and i was right (of cos). and ser was complaining "why do u hafta be right" rofl. not my fault.
n wild wild wet! heh. i prefer fantasy island. but with the accidents, guess it wasn't possible to continue. and i'm just a wee bit more tanned i think:D haha. luckily the rain held off until we left..
i'm glad i get some time at home tomorrow. or so i think. hmm.
"the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page" - koped from hon's blog. interesting huh. it sounds familiar somehow.
okay. time for post on us embassy. mom gave me a lift there (happily)
and then i saw this line of people outside. in the sun.
took a while to register that it was the line to get into the embassy.
clar joins the queue. while fending off various flies and mosquitoes. ugh. and melting in the sun.
finally! after half an hour, get to go thru security check. and they take away my handphone. i'm sure there're going to be detonating devices in my phone..
take queue number. sit down and wait for my turn at counter 2, the only counter for walk-in visa applicants. heh so many pple got mistaken, cos the standing queue was very short, but the queue actually continued to the sitting pple. hopefully that makes sense. ah well.
so this lady sat down beside me, and then another guy sat down beside her after asking if that was the queue.. and she said yeah, it's like musical chairs (cos half the queue was standing and half sitting) so they started chatting.. and then later she asked "where're u studying?" and he said "stanford" and i was like "!!" haha.. talk about coincidence.. he's a transfer though.
and then later while i was at the counter (after one hour of waiting), i turned around and saw jane! !! lovely surprise:) anyway so waited with her, went to lunch at nydc.. yum:D love their posh spice baked rice. i still think i prefer rice to pasta:p oh well.
went home, happened to look out of the window at the bus stop at shell, and saw a fren. like, woah. wat are the odds that i meet 3 pple by coincidence today. oh we saw hanyan xiuming and xuanming in orchard too..
okay i need to get myself out of this happily-slacking mode. sigh.
i am very alarmed. i come home, check my email and find "stanford - forms overdue!" in my mailbox. it almost gave me a heart-attack, i must admit. my first thought was that their system screwed up. then when chris said something about forms being un-editable after submission, i realised something i forgot earlier on. cos i -ahem- accidentally wrote 12pm instead of 12am and asked them to change my forms, and they probably didn't do the amendment properly. @#$%^&*. i think i shouldn't have bothered, then there wudn't be so much trouble. crap. i hope it didn't compromise my "housing, roommate, advisor and IHUM assignments" which "have already started". well done..
on a happier note, today was a day of coincidences! but i need to go nap before i collapse so i shall blog abt the us embassy and coincidences later
i hate visas. i had better have everything and bring everything tmr if not i'm going to be very very annoyed. and it's just the start of doing everything on my own, like i was telling fiona today when doing the cashier's order. guess that's what the asean/prc scholars have been doing huh. hmm.
anyway, watched madagascar finally! it's quite cute la, though not -that- funny.. love the penguins:D the lemurs are funny too! and it was great catching up w adeline.. haven't seen her in ages. she's still so full of nonsense sometimes, some things never change.