my bed of roses ...

happy days

2007-04-23T00:33:00.000+10:00

we april babies have the most fun! :)

one year older, one year wiser ...

life is sweet

2007-04-23T00:12:00.000+10:00

2007-04-16T23:33:00.000+10:00

phantom of the opera was reallyreally fantastic! if i had the time, money, or the chance to, i'd watch it all over again. was moved to tears during the last scene... somehow don't remember feeling so touched or emotional the last time i watched the musical. at the end of it all, the "phantom" deservingly received a standing ovation from the audience.

behind that fearful mask lies a tortured soul who just wants to be loved.

masquerade. "hide your face so the world will never find you..."

baby has left the building

2007-04-15T03:41:00.000+10:00

tonight went wonderfully ^.^

happy birthday dd ! u're officially 4 years short of the big 3. =)

happy birthday to me! (3 days lag)

2007-04-13T00:46:00.000+10:00

after a long day out, it's nice to come back to a warm and cozy home ^.^

thanks to the million and one people who made my birthday this year so extra special! you all make me feel so loved.

updates soon i promise!
for now, it's back into my snuggly covers for a nice long chat on the phone :)

2007-04-05T01:02:00.000+10:00

worried.

please make everything okay. coz that would be the best birthday present ever.

2007-04-01T23:03:00.000+10:00

with this many ambiguities, it's easy to get lost in this whirlwind we call life.

i want to bang on my drums all day.

2007-03-25T20:28:00.000+10:00

can't believe the weekend went by so quickly :< not that i dislike my job, but nothing beats NOT having a schedule i.e. no deadlines please, and most imptly - being able to wake up latER. still can't get used to the 0650h start to my day.

the best thing about working isn't just the yummy coffee and snacks in e pantry, but also the lovely working environmt we've been given and also the friendly and cohesive team i work with everyday. being a rookie, i still get this weird geeky kick outta submitting reports to our counterparties. haha. the same high i felt after completing the thesis. to sum up my job as yet, so far so good! now let's see how long i can keep up with this v positive tone ;)

i don't have much time to blog anymore so when i actually do blog, the posts get rather lengthy.

got myself a sony ericsson in funky pink :) wasn't very upset to part with my old phone coz honestly it was driving me up the wall. think i need hardy phones because i keep dropping them. apparently L*phones aren't too sturdy - it went abit conky on me after i dropped it once or twice. then it started turning off by itself for no apparent reason which was really really annoying!! grrr. so anyway, the new phone is a very good change! it has so many exciting features, i'm constantly entertained ^.^

takes good photos too!

topshop

my sensitive bf always laughs at me when i wear shades - coz of my not-so-high nose, the sunglasses always rests on my cheekbones instead of my nose bridge. gah.

random hdb block

butteredcinnamonpancakesstewedapples&prunes&maple

daddy in motion ;D

my dad's birthday was the thursday before last, so we had dinner at town restaurant@fullerton hotel. my treat :)

'cept for the not-so-happy phone conservation i had that night, everything was perfect.

spent saturday with kw, as usual. managed to catch a glimpse of the FOX fashion show at marina square! besides the cute skirt i'd already set my eyes on prior to the show, nothing else really attracted me. models are really tall though. gosh. we then headed off to east coast park, where we cycled for two whole hours. renting a bike is so cheap nowadays! $6/hr with one hr free and a free drink. nice ^.^ it's a really good feeling too - cycling side by side, talking, wind on ur face, smelling the saltiness of the sea, basically just breathing in nature. and we found a really good spot to watch the sunset :)
a piece of tranquility in the city
sweets
last glimpse
tired
after dinner, we watched banquet at his house. it was late and i was sleepy and hence got rather lost in the plot. i reckon i should watch the movie again. :p i do enjoy all these arty-farty chinese films though! ditto to curse of the golden flower, which i, by the way, have already watched thrice.

monday tomorrow again. gimme my weekend back!

updates

2007-03-09T22:39:00.000+11:00

i had an off day today coz of my financial settlemts exam on monday! it's only been two odd months since i last touched my books, but nonetheless feeling v out of sync with s-t-u-d-y-ing. gah. at least this exam doesn't require a high-d, just a pass. work till now has been good! i like the classy office decor, the bright cheery environment, friendly receptionists and colleagues, approachable managers, and the well-stocked pantry. mmmmmm. this week's training programme wasn't terribly exciting, but i reckon still informative and definitely of use during my course of work.

tremors on tuesday were SCARY. i swear we (or rather the building) were swaying for a full half a minute. gosh. it was a good excuse for lunch and i dashed over to far east plaza to meet kw. it wasn't till abit later that i heard about the earthquake in sumatra. my heart really goes out to the victims of the earthquake - if that was what we felt in singapore, i can only imagine how horribly catastrophic it must have been for the people in sumatra. i feel the earth's wrath. shudders. after work that day i met up with my favourite babes! so nice to see them again after so long, reckon the last time we all met was on peg's birthday 3 months ago. we used to see each other everyday in school for 4 whole years and outside school, we would still insist on yakking on the phone and writing letters to each other. haha. that's secondary school for you! anyways we had a nice long chat over dinner and dessert that day. even got to meet peg's prospective beau ^.^
so that was nice.

i was supposed to cook dinner for kw and my dad on monday, coz my mom's away in malaysia. but i got lazy (heh nothin' new) and bought chicken rice for us all instead. so i decided on wednesday that i had to fulfill my prior "agreement". so it was on with the apron for me and off to the kitchen. my dad's quite fussy, and i couldn't for the life of me remember which fish he liked and disliked. very cleverly, i had to go and choose the one fish he really dislikes :< but being the ever doting daddy, he ate it dutifully. haha. that happens to be kw's favourite fish btw. growl. guys. so hard to please!

yesterday i had a half-day off to study for the exam ;) didn't really make good use of it. after lunch at my favourite roast duck rice store, i'd initially planned on heading down to the orchard library to read through my notes. ah yes we all know how well plans usually work - i saw the sales and went gaga. willpower is zilch. still can't decide on which pair of shorts in mphosis i like.

retail indulgence

shorts nowadays are getting too erm yes short. it's so hard to find a pair which looks good while at the same time qualifies for decency.
n'way, yes shopping and then managed to squeeze in 1.5 hours of studying before hopping over to city hall to meet kw and gabriel. gabriel is so funny! the two of them together means neverending fun and entertainment :)

drinks at loof

:)

spent a nice quiet friday night with my parents. it's good to have my mom back! i love her company, and i also don't know how to work the washing machine myself. haha.

okay off for more cramming now X_X

transformation complete ^.^

2007-03-09T22:20:00.000+11:00

with reference to my earlier posts... pending room renovation is now complete! or rather has been complete for a month just that i've been too lazy to blog about it. hah.

lovin' it! despite the gapping hole in my pocket :< haven't even received my first paycheck. booo.

miss trainee

2007-02-27T22:58:00.000+11:00

hello! would you believe, i've been getting off work at 5.15pm promptly for the past two days haha. i-bankers with work-life balance- now that's a first ^.^ ask me again in a few weeks time when training's over, this ain't going to last for very long. boooo. people in my team are relatively amiable and entertaining, less the not-so-amiable lass i met yesterday. ah but i do not waste my wrath on these green-eyed b****es. yup.
poor bf has, on the other hand, been really busy with work coz mr slavedriver's in town and giving these poor actuaries a hard time.

things have taken a turn for the worse. again. i thought everything was back to normal and as soon as i heaved a sigh of relief, this has to happen again. my head tells me to stay strong, but my heart's aching terribly.

this has nothing to do with kw btw - we bicker as usual but generally everything's smoochywoochy.

looking through rose-tinted lenses
at butterfactory

i lift my head up and face the world...

tagged by jensen seah gong heng

2007-02-25T19:43:00.000+11:00

This is what you are supposed to cut and paste if you decide to participate in the tagging game..Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog.

1. when i was a few months old, i used to cry promptly at 2am every single night and would only stop when my dad carried me to the computer and let me bang gleefully on the keyboard.

2. my ambition when i was little was to become a cashier (just because i loved pressing buttons) or a durian seller (because i adored durians).

3. i'm obsessed with my hair. i'm always adjusting my hairdo and i play with my locks when i'm bored or just about to sleep at night.

4. i've had several crushes on cartoon characters e.g. the suave general from mulan, and donatello from teenage mutant ninja turtles. no kidding!

5. i met aaron kwok up front at his movie premiere of A.D. 2000 and didn't dare ask him if he would take a photo with me. that's not weirdness, just stupidity.

6. i don't like to eat boiled or plain prawns - will only consume prawns that have been drenched in sauce/flavouring, or fried. i don't like salted egg on its own but i love anything that has been coated and fried with salted egg i.e. bittergourd with salted egg, crabs with salted egg, prawns with salted egg. yuuuummz.

not going to tag anyone, do it if u wanna ! ;)

sometimes

2007-02-25T19:32:00.000+11:00

life can be so complicated.
words fail me.

tomorrow marks the start of a brand new phase in my life. wish me luck!

sweetheart cupcakes!!

2007-02-15T20:28:00.000+11:00

valentines' day is so commercialized

2007-02-15T17:37:00.000+11:00

but that doesn't mean i don't like it! ;)

kw brought me to sweet indulgence for dinner. this little gem was tucked cozily in a corner of an inconspicuous walkway off stanley street. a gem it was indeed, for the ambience, the service and most importantly the food were absolutely toppers! i love candlelit dinners and this really made the cut. brownie points for my dd ^.^ the cuisine was french - when i think french i think foie gras and croissants hah. and the french are well known for their heartstoppingly rich food cleverly served up in delicate quantities, which is exactly whyfrench women don't get fat. i eat more japanese food coz japanese women don't get fat AND old haha. okay i digress.

foie gras with caramelized filo/herbed cornish hen with mesclun greens/wild mushroom consomme with dumpling/main course-beef tenderloin with red wine and mushroom sauce (served with egg on top!)/stuffed.

in my opinion, besides the complimentary glass of champagne, the best part of the meal was dessert - champagne jelly with fruits and vanilla ice-cream, served with even more champagne fresh from the bottle :)
heaven

sweet indulgence/ old-school

and it got even sweeter as the night progressed ^.^

roses/messy hair/presenttsss/funny

huggss. i know u'd love and pamper me as much any other day, but thank you for making y'day so very special :) happy vday y'all!

2007-02-06T00:17:00.000+11:00

too much anger ain't good for the soul. i spent the afternoon enjoying quality time with myself, sometg that we should all endeavour to do more often! went to my friendly neighbourhood library - flipped through two issues of marie claire, (marie claire publishes more serious issues and relatively less frivolity and is hence in my opinion considered intellectual reading. )sipped my way through an iced expresso, which was far from iced and in fact, not even cold but warm. the coffee was pretty robust though, to their credit.

saw a (another) bag i liked at c&k~ i love retail items at c&k coz they're so reasonably priced. unlike the gorgeous tod shoes, which i love for aesthetic reasons but hate for the massive damage it'd cause to my bank account. sigh.

don't like interviews. luckily my throat's better so i no longer have to croak my way through ever-popular questions such as "where do u see yourself in 5 years time?". gah.

steaming

2007-02-05T17:44:00.000+11:00

infuriatinginfuriatinginfuriating

GROWL

wtf

mariemustcalmdown.

i want neat hair

2007-02-01T20:49:00.000+11:00

seems like if i don't resort to rebonding/perming my unruly locks, i'll have to always tie my hair for it to look neat. aahh. flyaway ends please go and die.
interview today went quite okay. the guy said i was outspoken, which is a good sign that i didn't seem that nervous! yay. hopefully tomorrow's meet-the-employer session goes smoothly too.
my voice is deep and husky coz of the sore throat, which in my opinion is good! because it makes me sound more mature. and with the help of my suit, i actually look more like my age. no longer xiao mei :D

coughcough

2007-01-31T15:39:00.000+11:00

third time i'm feeling sickly in two months. damn.
my boy told his colleagues that i was unwell and they replied in surprise, "huh? not recovered yet??"
hmm. must not have been sick very long ago =(

friday again.

2007-01-26T21:59:00.000+11:00

being unemployed ain't as bad after all! i've been spending heaps of time with my family and boyf, not so much with friends. we always say we'll try to meet up but sometimes it doesn't work out coz everyone(else)'s so busy. i've been toying with the idea of going travelling for abit, and was further encouraged by jem earlier on. if i had the choice, i'd fly my lonesome self to the US but then my mummy says i should wait for them then we can all go together in may for my bro's graduation. and as mentioned earlier, i am in the midst of refurbishing my room. progress as yet? well besides getting myself the wooden platter to display my gorgeous necklaces, zilch! ugh. procrastination never gets me anywhere. i've already set my eyes on a wondrously lush queensized bed and a wardrobe roomy enough to accommodate ALL my clothes. and i have a $300 ikea voucher to partially finance my furnishing needs. yay i love uobcreditcards.

been attempting to laze the day away at the beach, but plans have been spoilt twice by lousy weather. bah. vivocity is our new hangout coz it's so near the lovely beaches of sentosa. we waited there fervently last saturday, hoping the rain would subside. but alas, efforts were sadly in vain. did make a trip down nonetheless. i love the new monorail! so much more convenient and speedy than the bus. sentosa however was less attractive than i remembered it to be. must be all that development work. we saw a happy couple united in matrimony at the southern most point of singapore. beach weddings are dreamily romantic, but sadly not the most practical alternative in our little garden city. it's either gloomy and raining, or blistering hot. imagine getting married in a bikini! ooooh ;)

on the beach tram

yesterday kw took a day off work! :D klunch first, then we headed off to vivocity again in search of my red dress-top with cute buttons. sadly, the red tops in my size were all gone boooohooo so had to settle for green. which is quite pretty too i suppose. :) yet another frivolous top to add to my collection. never gonna have the time to wear them once i start working. in typical gluttony fashion, we then went to corduroy cafe for tea. i love the place! its decor is really tasteful and classy. the cafe boasts a panoramic view of the waterfront, and has lush couches for customers to laze the day away over a cuppa. and not to mention, droolworthy pastries, cakes & other dessertssss. we shared a cherry crumble and an apple&raisin cupcake. my obsession with cupcakes continues!
tea for two
cozy
hey look who's in town!
yep anyway it was a lovelylovely day. and yippeee less people on a weekday as well. also had a peek at potential first cars. opel peugeot mazda (3/6 not 2/4) i want! wish he could take leave more often.

and photos taken earlier this month. me and brother on another of our drinking sprees. we're not alcoholics, just avid consumers like everyone else - and he drinks much more than me coz he's so beeeeeeg ;D
tequila shots at alley bar
with dad and mom

have a good weekend everyone!

mmmpf

2007-01-15T19:49:00.000+11:00

i was just reading my friend's travel log on her visit to the uk and it made me superduper envious. i want to travel! breathtaking scenery, ultra-long history (i love all those melodramatic stories of kings and queens), beautiful monuments, lovely weather, adorably quaint shops, FOOD. raaawwrr. right now i'm stuck in teenyweeny singapore looking for the perfect but annoyingly elusive job. gah. must find it, and then can start refurbishing my room, travelling, and of course shopping.

the weekend came and went in a flash. even though i'm not working i still feel this certain dread on sunday nights. i think it's psychological heh. of course my bf was dreading the week ahead as well - for him it meant crazy deadlines, for me it meant job applications. both not v appealing ways to spend your days. i spent the most time with him the past two days than i have since the year started. :) we watched "blood diamond" on sat, which was strangely nice despite being yet another not-so-delightful movie. i've been watching too many distressing movies i.e. curse of the golden flower, and i think it's having an adverse impact on my state of mind. anyway, after the movie we had a late dinner at a quaint little japanese restaurant hidden in a snug corner in cuppage plaza. four thumbs up (me and bf!) for the yummily authentic food! real value for money too. i had a katsu curry set and he had a beef set and we were both super stuffed but wholely satisfied at the end of the meal. i found the ambience of the restaurant really interesting - no fancy decor, just a simple down-to-earth traditional japanese setting complete with native chef. there was an elderly man seated at the bar and drinking his beer. he appeared to be completely absorbed in his japanese manga and would intermittently burst out in laughter. and next to him, an old man was seated with a young somewhat scantily clad woman. haha. i was giving my boyf the look and i think he was thinking the exact same thing. ;)

then on sunday, we went to ikea! i really love ikea. it's such a happy vibrant place. even the kids are happy, since they get to play in little ikea playland. i saw the cutest baby there. *smooch* and their lovely furniture! i know i've complained about their workmanship previously, but i must say their aesthetic appeal still holds. bought skirt hangers for my mom, and a rattan platter for myself to display my pretty necklaces. and needless to say, we made a trip to the cafe and shared the mini meatballs and chicken wings. that wasn't dinner, just eating for the fun. and just for the record, i'm not the greedy one! although he might protest otherwise, hah.

i haven't typed such long wordy posts in a long time. usually get verbally lazy and just do photoblogs. sometimes i wish though that i'd studied journalism. i do love writing.

brother sent me photos (finally).

family

i miss u!

2007-01-12T18:16:00.000+11:00

another wetwet day. *frowns* i promise i'll stop complaining about the heat, but just please stop raining!!

anyhow, a tagme off my mei's blog.

Layer ONE : On the Outside

Name : chang kai jia marie
Birth Date : 9th april 1984
Current Status : head over heels
Eye color : black
Hair Color: black
Righty or Lefty : righty!
Zodiac Sign : arias

Layer TWO : On the inside
Your Fears : LIZARDS *shudder*, free-falling (so that rules out bungy jumping.ever.), death of my loved ones.
Your Weakness : (<-interview qn! :p) i'm a worrywart.
Your Perfect Pizza : smoked salmon with extra salmon bits, onions, and lots of bocconcini *slurps*

Layer THREE : Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Your thoughts first waking up : so early ..
Your Bedtime : i used to be nocturnal, but now i'm just a big sleepyhead. so maybe around 12-1.
Your most missed memory : aw.i can't choose!

Layer FOUR : Your Pick

Pepsi or Coke : cokkkeeee
McDonald's or Burger King: i think macs.for their yummy mcflurries and sundaes.AND chicken nuggets and macbrekkies! then again, i really like mushroom swiss burgers too.
Single or group dates: most definitely single. nobody likes to see me and my boy get smoochy.hah.
Adidas or Nike: really depends.
Lipton tea or Nestea: Lipton.
Chocolate or vanilla: i love anything chocolate, but i always go for vanilla-scented candles/moisturisers/bodybutters/perfumes etc.
Cappuccino or coffee: i like both on different occasions.

Layer FIVE :
Do youSmoke : no and never.
Curse : heh. *sheepish*
Take a shower : ?!
Have a crush : if you call that tingling feeling a crush then yes ;)
Think you've been in love : i love my boy.
Go to school : no :<:<:<:<
Want to get married : definitely!
Believe in yourself : i have cycles of over and underconfidence.
Think you're a health freak : nopppeee. love my food. lazy to exercise.

Layer SIX : In the Past Month

Drank alcohol: yesshh. *burp*
Gone to the mall: of course. what else does one do in singapore?
Been on stage: no.
Eaten sushi: yep.
Dyed your hair: no

Layer SEVEN: Have You Ever?

Played a stripping game: remember stripchess and strippoker? :D
Changed who you were to fit in: not to fit in, but i've changed in the past few years.

Layer EIGHT:
Age you're hoping to be married : 25-26

Layer NINE: In a Girl/Guy.

Best eye colour: pink.wahahah.
Best hair colour: i don't really care.
Short or long hair: don't really care either.

Layer TEN: What Were You Doing.
1 minute ago: bumming
1 hour ago: bumming
1 month ago: bumming
1 year ago: bumming! :D

Layer ELEVEN : Finish The Sentence
I love: my family. my friends. my boy.
I feel: unsettled.
I hate: feeling this way.
I hide: ... when i don't want anybody to find me
I miss: my boy. want hot dates.
I need: things to get back to normal. i'm praying everyday that it'll all be fine soon.

Layer TWELVE : Tag 10 people

anybody can do this really! if you've nothing to do like me.

2007-01-11T13:12:00.000+11:00

last night was really emotional, haven't felt so heartbreakingly sad in a long time :< it feels even worse when you want so badly for things to become right, yet there's so little you yourself can do.

and he said, "don't lose hope.."

happy 2007!

2007-01-04T17:33:00.000+11:00

booya! was going to blog for one last time in 2006, but guess i missed that deadline huh. made a last minute decision to come to malaysia, so here i am tired out from the on-off job hunt and typing this from my cousin's desktop. the past few weeks have been yet another whirlwind! the festivities have taken a toll on me - been sick twice already since coming back to sg, and now i'm having post-holiday aka no-more-party-i-must-find-job syndrome. boohoo :<

photos to sum up the happyhappy times!

1. i like the marina square food court: cheap and good eats complete with paranomic view :)

2. fun spent with my big bro, too bad he's only back for such a short while. :< anyhow, us at rochester park! graze has the yummiest wild mushroom pasta *slurps*

3. believe it or not, MORE weddings.
us at shehwan's wedding dinner at raffles town club
boy
happy bride and groom! the bubbles make everytg look so pretty :D
salsa-ing away
at his cousin aileen's wedding dinner

4. CHRISTMAS!
the day after the wedding - xmas party at my house: father carving a fat turkey
party the night away at mos! nat and jason all cute and christmassy >.<
my christmas present! the thoughtful boy actually remembered how delighted i'd been when i first discovered the collection in the shops one year ago. aww.
my version of a turkey. equally yummy i must say!

5. peg's birthday :D
note to self: do not share cake with president tay

6. more party!!
at clarkequay-chinaone

double-o plays really interesting music i must say :p

must go now. my mom thinks i'm busy applying for jobs (got tired after ci****** application, heh). happy new year everyone!!

praying for my grandma..

2006-12-15T13:54:00.000+11:00

hello everybody! funny how i insist on posting longwinded entries when at the same time, i'm horribly bogged down by work; and when i'm free as a bird (aka happily unemployed), i can't be stuffed to blog at all! >.<

highlights of my wonderful life:
1. weddingS , no not mine.
2. shoppingggg! mango sale, guess sale, lots of mphosis and topshop =))) i'm a happy girl.
3. family time. so nice that my big brother's back in town.
4. hot dates all the time. hah.
5. cheap coffee and food. you can't get tea (plus dimsum) for two in aussieland for a mere $3.90.
6. trips to malaysia!
7. project runway

results have been released and i'm quite happy. it's great when your efforts don't go unrecognized.
going to malaysia for the weekend! grandma's birthday. blog soon :)

2006-12-05T19:11:00.000+11:00

hello singapore! it feels good to be home but also strange coz i know i'm going to be here for a loooong time and not just the usual three months. been mia coz i've been really busy! unpacking/shopping for the wedding/dating(hah) and i actually just got home from malaysia a few days ago. my immune system fails again - fell sick halfway through the trip, and was depending on panadol for the last few days of the trip. it was fun nonetheless. so nice to see my dear cousin happily married :) and it's true! brides emit a wondrous glow on their wedding day, despite the stress and lack of sleep. can't say the same for bridesmaids.

back of the bride and papparazzi as reflected in mirror.
pretty suilin :)
bride and bridesmaid
the happy bride and groom
awwwwww
champagne and roses in the bridal suite.
oooooooh ;)

complimentary choccies
my boy arrives!
squuuuuuuueeeeze
vanity
with cheryl - we're both in white and gold!
baby and lovely ice sculpture
pretty murals
cutting the cake
my cousins - june and sheh tse
late-night drinks with my parents ;)
at the risk of being cliche...here's a vodka martini (shaken not stirred)
my favourite people (less brother) :D

on a totally different note, i'm really grateful to the dear friends who helped me pack my stuff and move on the 25th november. you guys are such sweeties! really going to miss hanging out together :<

becca/becca&tandy/shand/peranakan shot/byebyemelbourne:<

yawn

2006-11-21T17:18:00.001+11:00

it's 39 degrees today in melbourne, and i'm really feeling the effects of the heatwave. very bad for studying, i worry for my paper on thursday :< it doesn't help that most of my friends are long done with their exams... except of course time series pals and tandytandytandy! at first i thought ts would be okay to study for, but alas i was wrong. it's such a total drag, and so painful to get through each topic coz the subject's dry as dust. once again, wonderful subject choice. remember horrific programming experience last semester i.e. the notorious numtech? matlab: great for some, definitely not for moi. that's really going to haunt me for life.

yesterday was shan's margarita party! i had four - 2 peach,1 mango and 1 berry. yumyum, s makes great margaritas. :D the five of us had good fun as always, ended up having dinner at notturno's. but as i was walking home by myself, it suddenly struck me that that was the last time the five of us would ever get together in melbourne. wingki's leaving for sydney tomorrow and only coming back on the 30th, while i'm leaving melbourne for good on the 25th. agh. emo time. thank goodness for supportive bf.

w just called! gg for gelati now :)

congrats to my baby!

2006-11-17T19:52:00.000+11:00

i knew you could do it! here's a million and one hugs just for you :)

2006-11-17T19:19:00.001+11:00

thursday night out with the honours gang:

zhu,wira,amy,me,jemANDbeer/girls/danny&roofus&felix drinking frantically at the back/omg felix looks hilarious/.../paparazzi attack!/happy mingling/jem,eugene&danny/us at red emperor before alcohol intoxication.

i had to censor so many other photos coz em, not appropriate for public viewing :P

aggh okay study.

marie is all smiles because...

2006-11-15T21:03:00.000+11:00

1)advanced corpfi exam's over AND it wasn't crap. that's really wonderful :)

2)i gave myself a day off and went shoppiinnngggg! it's kind of like releasing an animal back into the wild ... got a satinpinktube,whiteruffledtube and whitemicroskirt. yay.

3)finally managed to sell my router and modem - to guess who? my housing agent! i stuck up a notice by the reception and she called me very excited 20 minutes later.

just three reasons but i reckon they're good enough to make my day. time series exam next thursday and that officially marks the end of university life! i can't believe i only have a little more than a week left in melbourne :<

tribute to THE thesis

2006-11-12T21:49:00.000+11:00

156 pages, 20000 words. happy reading profs!

tandy is 22 :)

2006-11-09T11:46:00.000+11:00

dinner at lola's (clockwise): pretty red-n-white roses/yummy tapas/smoked salmon w a BIG crouton/avocadoapplecarrot salad/the whole gang/tandy n morgan/half of us/churro made just for s/churrrros&hotchoc:D:D/bday girl w her cake/one side of the table.

yay chicks. we love you tandy!

2006-11-05T23:01:00.000+11:00

i think i blog excessively under stress. it's not even like i have that much to say, or like my life is so wonderfully exciting. hmmmm. if only the words could flow as freely when i'm writing up my thesis, but then again, i am currently more than double over the word limit so maybe i am really a very prolific writer! whether the words make any sense is a different story.

i was talking to my mom on the phone, and she was motivating me with the prospects of shopping and crystal jade. haha. yes i'm a #1 crystal jade fan. i love all their different outlets and franchise stores! ;)yep and shopping. i love shopping. i'm seriously weak in the face of sales. end up buying hundred things i wouldn't have bought under normal circumstances, and no, contrary to popular belief, you never ever "save" at a sale. boohoo :< can't help it. when the girl is vain, she wants all pretty things in the world! and unfortunately there seems to be a plentiful supply. the moolah on the other hand is not at all plentiful. boohoo to me again.

ramblerambleramble. this post is all fluff. not like i ever blog about anything very serious with the exception of the THESIS. now that is extremely serious stuff. boutique REITs. no joke.

okay enough.

the good and the bad

2006-11-05T22:55:00.000+11:00

okay i've been neutralized for the day :)

the dress ...

2006-11-04T21:41:00.000+11:00

...will go back to where it came from :<

2006-11-03T21:46:00.000+11:00

i haven't stayed in on friday nights for quite a while now. but ah well, all the little sacrifices we make in the hope that it'll be for the better. today was a weird little emotional day for me. think i have pre,during and post-ms. :<

indulged in abit of retail(aha), which surprisesurprise made me feel just that bit better. sales at sportsgirl is always too tempting to resist. agh. maybe it's just me. purchased a summery floaty top-i actually haven't made my mind up about it, but thought i'd buy it first coz it was the 2nd last piece in the store. and there's always refund/exchange options available later ;)

looking fwd to birthday parties next week! it's motivation for me to study hard now, so i can play even harder later.

oh and the much anticipated parcel finally arrived! haha. i was right all along. yay. and i guess a girl can never have too much body butter. now i have FIVE tubs: 3 yummiliciousblackrosecoconut&vanilla, 1 nivea, and 1 bodyshop. and blackrose is the bestbestbest! *beams at the predictable but veryvery sweet boy* :D

endless race

2006-11-01T18:28:00.000+11:00

i keep telling myself it's the last stretch, and once i successfully get past the next two weeks then it'll be all savvy. maybe i've overestimated myself. there seems to be so much to do, i can't really get my head around all of it. i was walking home just now and had this horrible feeling that i was going to faint - when everytg's blackish and there's a buzzing sound in your ears. fortunately, i made it home safely (obviously).

to you: thanks for all the help u've given me... not just the emotional support i need so badly, but also helping read my thesis (which is currently one friggin hundred pages long!!) and draw the dreaded m.excel graphs. what more could a girl ask for? :) i've been exceptionally bratty and fiery lately, but u're so much more appreciated than i give you credit for. xoxo

well-deserved fun!

2006-10-28T00:33:00.000+10:00

i've been b!tching so much about my thesis lately, i think the ppl closest to me are getting sick and tired of it. booohoo, so am i! a part of me just wants to hand it in and forget it ever existed. and then that irritating-responsible-conscientious part of me wants to work it to perfection - since i've come so far, what's a few more weeks of hard work? hate to admit it, but i think the latter makes sense.

managed to catch hold of greg y'day! yay! he's ever so elusive and in his own world most of the time, it's such a huge accomplishment to me whenever i actually get to see him. had a nice chat once again. talked about movies and melbourne uni's not-so-impressive graduation ceremony :) he really is a nice supervisor and my ego always inflates to twice its original size whenever i talk to him. but yes it's nice when somebody all important thinks highly of you! today was also the first time i'm hearing about "rumours in the department" about my "social life"... doesn't sound good :<

i don't know why i digressed so far. wanted to blog about my destressing friday night! it was cold and windy but i still felt really happy coz of the lovelylovely galpals i have :) we went to bluetrain at southbank and spent 4 happy hours eating and yakking.

calorie-laden but oh so yummy :)
pizzas as mains, which no i do not have photos of.

girls and dessert!

dharsh is missing coz he took the pretty photo. THE raspberry tart finally finally came. two mixup of orders in the two times that i've been there, but this time we made sure they got us the right one. i'm glad :) we were supposed to get home by 9, but ended up sitting there till 11. a little procrastination doesn't kill i s'pose! ;)

i wish i could just point a wand and make exams and THE thesis vanish!! muahahaa.

stresssssssed

2006-10-26T18:59:00.000+10:00

no kidding, i'm stressed! the more i work on my thesis, the more i'm starting to dislike it. i've put in this immense amount of effort to come up with the first draft, and now i've gotta change almost everytg i wrote in the data section. "too much detail, too little of the general picture", "perform a statistical test to justify your argument", "do proper tables!!", "you need to tease your data more" constructive comments but also too many comments!! i am sad. :< s'visor even commented that a particular sentence that i wrote sounded like "something out of a trailer for star trek...". HAHA. so much for flowery language. i'm starting to think that my s'visor's extreme optimism about my paper is seriously unjustified.

today was the last day of uni!! the last lecture of my university life didn't feel very different from others - simba was still rushing through last minute material, everyone was making as much noise per normal, smart-aleck comments fr usual ppl, constant scratching of pens trying to note down everytg simba said... and at the end of it all, everyone said "bye", as if we'd be seeing each other same place same time next week. but we're not. oh well.

i baked cupcakes yesterday :D quite a simple recipe, but i think it looks better than it tastes. icing's super sweet and on the buttery side. think i'll just buy cupcakes next time, coz the ones in the shop look so much prettier and it saves me all that effort from icing and decorating them attractively (or trying to at least).

pink cupcakes all stacked up

cupcakes in teacups :)

sexy back

2006-10-21T22:48:00.000+10:00

feeling absolutely drained from 7 hours of battling the evil m.excel/deciphering ambiguous figures/piecing sentences together with correct grammar/ trying to be the m&a expert that i'm not. boooo :<
had a pretty hectic morning as well. firstly i woke up late (what's new).. but i reckon since i slept at 3, my late start to the day is slightly more excusable. becca msged me at 945am to ask if i wanted to go to the market at 1015. obviously i couldn't make it, so ended up not going to the market at all. thinking about the best time to go to the market is uncool! so aunty can.
anyway was a bit short on cash so had to go to the city to change some money. not a very good day to go into the city coz the section of swanston street just outside my apartment had been blocked by the police. looked very exciting! don't really know what happened but very inconvenient indeed, coz that meant i had to take the looooong route to city.
got a cheap thrill coz i unintentionally wormed my way outta paying a fee on the currency exchange. saved me about $8! okay not alot, but being the singaporean i am, i was happppeeeee :D
then i rushed back home, grabbed my notes and laptop and was only marginally late for the assignment meeting. and yep that's my saturday for you - dull but rather fulfilling.

lovely sunshiney days seem to have disappeared! yesterday was dismal - grey, rainy and windy. fab chick time always brightens up the day though :) walking around the shops, and then dinner at stonegrill. wasn't exactly in the mood for a hearty slab of steak but their other food there was generally quite good too. but the highlight of the dinner definitely had to be the mangosago drink i had. one of the best i've had. very smooth, not too sweet and just the right amount of sago with a hint of coconut. yummmmmmmsss :) after that was flare dance performance at union house theatre. it was good friday night entertainment and overall definitely lots of talent in the troupe. felt a little nostalgic watching the performance coz it reminded me of the old days when performing used to be such a big part of my life. i guess i do miss it - there's nothing more amazing than doing what you love most in front of an audience. too bad i got lazy, and now i'm just stiff and old. damn.
we wanted hot chocolate after the performance, coz it was so cooooolllddd, but ended up at gelatissimo. i love icecream on cold days :) despite frequenting il dolce freddo alot more this year, gelatissimo still hasn't lost its charm. and i have fond memories of me dragging kw all the way to lygon in the rain just so i can satisfy my late night cravings. haha. marie's eccentricities.

totally out of point but justin t is so wonderful to listen to! yes which explains the title of this post ;)

twenty-five minutes

2006-10-19T19:01:00.000+10:00

equals the amount of time wasted trying to put together a new skin for my blog! i'm super duper busy, no i have not finished my thesis but oh don't you just love doing all these frivolous activities amidst all that serious hustle and bustle. i do ;)
the weather's been so lovely... i adore spring!(thus inspiration for a new "springish" blog)
last night, while waiting for my boy to reach home, i became increasingly confused over which week of school we're currently in (10?11?). took a short browse through my handphone calender for me to realize it's week 11 of uni. sighs. talk about the pressure piling on. two assignments due next week, thesis and first exam in three weeks, need to start thinking about packing up for good. it doesn't sound pretty at all :<
okay gotta rush for dinner... pineapple rice! and tandy's joining in. good girlie fun. :)

2006-10-14T22:37:00.000+10:00

i just got back from stamford plaza where i attended a little gathering by the overseas singaporeans' unit.. and guess who i met there? miss marie-ann KEE!! oh my, i swear i've seen a lady walking down swanston street who struck an uncannily strong resemblance with the person herself.. and voila! miss kee in the flesh. :) it was so nice meeting up with her again, talking about the old days and 01s67... (jensen she mentioned u several times) and she's still the same friendly lovely person i remembered her to be - very approachable and chatty. her husband's here as well and they're doing masters together. the funniest thing? the both of them stay in the very same building i live in! gasp. the coincidence of all coincidences. really brought back fond memories of my hwachong days... i might not have started off liking the school, but it did turn out to be a very good two years. lots of hard work but heaps more fun as well.(cheerleading/MAF/sportscarnival/cheerleading/classbenches/oooiahguat/ cheerleading!!!) booooo to all those who think hwachongians are squarish and dull! i'm walking evidence to prove you all wrong. haaa.

i miss 67!

2006-10-14T11:48:00.000+10:00

feeling horrible now. maybe we all shouldn't over-analyze things coz we'll get it wrong in the end anyway. it never really mattered who was right in the first place.
damndamndamn.
whatever.
gimme an hour or two... i'll be alright by then.

so how does one get rid of this sinking feeling?

miss sunshine

2006-10-12T11:13:00.000+10:00

i think i need to invest in weather derivatives!! yes i adore (and worship) the sun but reading about leveraged betas suddenly seems even less appealing with those blue glorious skies up above me... and no thanks to boyf who's constantly reminding me that it's a perfect day for the beach. bleagh. studying at the beach is a nono. i can't even study at the park!

on a totally different note...

fifteen is finally in melbourne!! current booking list reports that one has to wait till next year to get a table. patience is a virtue ..

and happy birthday to mark chang zikai! hope u didn't get too drunk ...

2006-10-09T21:37:00.000+10:00

wwheeeee!!

*zonked*

panic

2006-10-08T12:11:00.000+10:00

okay so the first draft of my thesis is due in approximately 27 hours... and have i actually finished the damn thing? NOnegativenonMEIYOU :< i swear the more i write, the less convincing my "story" becomes. luxury hotels, or rather luxury vacations, are discretionary goods, hence more vulnerable to up and downswings in the economy. this applies to hotel REITs that invest primarily in luxury accomodations. there is less information disclosure, due to relatively narrower media coverage, for smaller stocks and hence they tend to be more illiquid and investors have a hazy perception of their inherent riskiness. Thus they go through a relatively longer "learning process" and we cannot assume a static market beta over time. okay that kind of makes sense. then how about REITs that own and lease prisons/car dealership points/movie megaplexes/timberland? would one not expect their betas to vary greatly over time due to the relative obscurity of their operations (for a REIT that is)? no - their betas were found to be static over the sample period. my backed-out explanation? coz investors view these as defensive stocks. they invest in this sector to protect their capital from volatility as a result of cyclical economic activity. boooooo. i don't know if any reader's going to buy my theory :<

i miss ...

2006-10-08T12:01:00.000+10:00

sitting side-by-side together talking for endless hours, sharing a sundae on a "fun day", trying to wake up early enough to catch the sunrise ( but we never do..), strawberries and champagne, you trying to make me eat up my rice before i move on to dessert, me trying to make you ogle at babes and cute dogs with me, you.

mid-autumn!

2006-10-06T00:22:00.000+10:00

finally... sun in melbourne :D

2006-10-02T11:21:00.000+10:00

No studying permitted on gorgeous days !

lazy night

2006-09-27T22:13:00.000+10:00

i applaud the wonders of music. the intricate details of the melody, the almost tangible emotions in the singer's voice, beautiful poetic lyrics - in particular, i love how some songs manage to invoke such strong emotions in me. i love walking down the streets alone with my ipod, and when my favourite song comes on play, i can't help but smile uncontrollably and have to desperately subdue the urge to sing along at the top of my voice. i've been listening to jay's new songs & so many of them make me feel like hopping on a plane home and giving my boy a big hug. i know i'm a hopeless romantic and i never deny it :)

in such a soppy mood i can hardly bring myself to do anything. i've been procrastinating ever since lunch - maxbrenners with feli (chocolatechocolatechocolate!), WINDOWshoppping around melbournecentral, dinner w wing n becks, house on tv. sounds good eh. now i'm surrounded by pretty tulips, vanilla aromatherapy, dim candles, music ... don't think finance fits in anywhere does it? yux. today a few of us were sitting around discussing the stock market (yes that's what finance honours students do for fun!)and i felt ignorant relative to everyone else. oh well. the honours year managed to twitch my interest in finance up a notch, but i suspect i'm still lagging far behind. damn. maybe i should have done law instead :<

i feel stressed but i'm not doing anything about it. now that can't be good... nonetheless, i'm really looking forward to BALLET tomorrow!

it's been too long, and i know i'm going to want to take up ballet again after tomorrow night ;)

my baby spoils me rotten

2006-09-25T20:06:00.000+10:00

happy 14th month :)

SYDNEY

2006-09-25T18:01:00.000+10:00

the title says it all :) every single thing there was lovely - the people, the weather (33 degrees in sydney back to 4 degrees in melbourne), the hustle and bustle in the city no matter the time, the food(zhumama!krispykremes!sashimi!), and of course the primary reason of the trip, the wedding!

friday 22/09/2006

virgin blue and singapore airlines: i love those funky red planes, with their funky leather seats in the interior.
family at the beach! i welcome hot weather with open arms. and my aunt looks so cute here.
awww my cousin suilin and hubby william make a very lovely couple :)
me and mom at bondi beach. no i don't particularly like the hair in face look :<
halftime at the gelato cafe on bondi. this place has fantastic ice mochassss :D
bunch of seagulls at bondi
harbour bridge sunset.
at watson's bay: it's a long way up to the top... my aunt looks cute again ;)
love=being oblivious to everything and everyone else but each other.
sunset overlooking the city.
by the pier at watson's bay.
more of watson's bay! i really like this photo:)
after dinner and dessert, we decided that we had to try the very famous harry's pies.
check out the 11pm crowd! foodies of this world unite.
after 10 minutes of queueing... taddaaa - harry's special pea and mash on pie! i don't think it looks very appetizing, but yumz nonetheless. makes for a good hearty supper :)

saturday 23/09/06 - the wedding
we started off the day bright and early at zhumama, which is a very significant place for me. it's the place of destiny, or so i choose to call it. ;)
zhumama is known for its soybean milk and glutinousricerolls stuffed with youtiao&porkfloss. 3thumbsup!!
after brekkie, we walked around chinatown and market city. me and suilin went crazy shopping for shoes! i ended up with a pair of hot heels. it makes me 2.5 inches taller :)
my mom in chinatown.
after some mad shopping at hay market, we rushed back to our hotel to get dressed for the wedding.
in our hotel room dressed up for the event. yes my room has a fireplace!! (which doesn't work)
with suilin and my grandma at the hotel.
we then headed off to doublebay (can't remember the name of the hotel), where nat and her bridesmaids were getting their hair and make up done.
this is the back of nat's head. so pretty already! :)
suilin and i were indulging ourselves in a very posh toilet.
my mom and i at the venue of the garden wedding - vaucluse house. the weather was really perfect, and the flowers blooming prettily in all colours imaginable made up to be a very lovely picture of spring.
there were about 80 guests - all sitting/standing around waiting eagerly for the commencement of the ceremony.
from front to back: jason, jason's brother steven, and the other bestman. or otherwise known as SML ;P
sheh tse was the first to walk into the gardens. very lovely bridesmaid indeed :)
the 2nd bridesmaid clara was followed closely by the star of the show, nat! with my uncle and aunty by her side.
pretty nat in her gorgeous french lace dress. *hugs nat!* i was tearing when i saw you walk out :p

exchanging of vows

and the much anticipated kiss :D

signing papers...

and finally, man and wife.congrats to nat and jason! :):):)
photo with the bridesmaid.
we finally get a picture with the gorgeous bride! girl cousins at miller's point house for the wedding dinner.
this photo's kinda cute coz we're both looking slightly dreamily in different directions.
the first yummy wedding dinner i've had so far!

entree was tasmaniansmokedsalmon with mascarpone and rosti.
and i chose the crispyskinchicken with blacktrufflemash as my main. i'm still refusing the consumption of lamb!
we had the wedding cake for dessert, which looked really pretty with all the fresh flower petals on top of a moist mudcake and tasted really good too.
a really nice photo of the newlyweds taken by suilin.
grandma and the sisters. nat looks hot in her gold cheongsam ;)
doing the SALSA!!
end of a wonderful day... and i'm higgggghhhhh! just the way i like it :D

sunday 24/09/2006

yet another sunny morning was spent at the beach! this time we went to coogee beach for brekkie and a walk.

heart-breakingly sweet toddlers are always a reason to smile.
after a long walk, we headed off for lunch at the famous sydney fish market. we were spoilt for choice of seafood - lobster, prawns, calamari, baby octopus, fish, oysters cooked in every way possible, the freshest sashimi, heaps of fat fries. slurps. no pictures coz we were too hungry to care for any.
it was then back to the city for some more shoppingshoppingshopping! i almost couldn't believe it when i saw that the supre store in sydney had SIX whole levels of merchandise. *cheers!* bought a very functional (for once) pair of pants, couldn't try on as much as i'd like to due to lack of time. oh well. hurray for my bank account!
a bit more lingering around, then it was back to the hotel to get my bags and then off for an early dinner.
byebye sydney hello melbourne! my flight was delayed so i only arrived in melbourne at 11.15pm. a nice hot bath, and phone call with my baby saw me sinking into a deep slumber about an hour later.

holidays are always so lovely. i'd go for many more if only my work and bank account permits :<

prolificity

2006-09-19T17:45:00.000+10:00

i have spent the past few days typing furiously in the computer lab. not so furious maybe, coz sometimes the words don't flow as freely as i'd like them to. but overall i think it has been a very good effort! very pleased i am :)
shopping at bridge road on sunday was fab as always. got a pencil skirt with HUGE buttons running down the side for only $10, 2 evening bags for only $5 each, a satin tie-round skirt for $20, and most importantly, i managed to buy my bridesmaid dress! felt really accomplished coz usually i end up buying every other item except the one thing which i set out to buy. a bit off budget, and not exactly the colour it was meant to be but i think it'll do. for the sake of my mom's purse, i also managed to resist a pair of very pretty absolutely gorgeous heels. booooooo.
such frivolity. a girl can't resist!
3 more days to ssyyyyddnnneeyy!!! (and warmER weather too)

my saturday night date

2006-09-17T00:16:00.000+10:00

shopping at bridge road tomorrow :)

an illusion

2006-09-15T13:28:00.000+10:00

some emotions feel very surreal. maybe it was all in a dream, created purely through hyperactive imagination. i feel, i think, i look, but i don't know.

spring holiday

2006-09-15T12:23:00.000+10:00

today marks the very last day of school before the two-week midsemester break! woweeee ;) happily awaiting the impending sydney trip - it's short but will still be great, especially since my dearest cousin's gonna tie the knot with her university sweetheart! *beams* very happy for them. will be a memorable event for the whole extended family coz nat's the first of all of us younger generation people to get married.

today i woke up in a frenzy, coz my alarm had gone off 45 minutes ago and i realized i had only 30 mins to wash up, pretty myself, grab brekkie and get to greg's office. my efforts weren't in vain, coz not only did i make it in time, we also managed to solve the little glitches that somehow popped up in my regression results. :) he also proclaimed me to be a "joy to supervise". it's so nice receiving compliments from all-important people! i went through a rather traumatic week: numerous times i discovered small errors made in some data calculation which could possibly bias my results. crycrycry!!!! think my heart must have stopped a few hundred times over the past few days. my baby has been so supportive and comforting, helping in every single little way he can despite being thousands of miles away from me. i'm going to dedicate a whole page of acknowledgement to him in my thesis! hah. my mom has been really great help and company too! giving me encouragement and feeding me non-stop. :P i still have lots of work to do on my research essay though - plenty of words and pages to fill up and one big coherent FINANCE-related story to tell as well.

photos from last week:

with the khoos at koko black on saturday night.

mom waiting at bourke street.

we had yumcha at red emperor on sunday! everything there looks very delicate and pretty, may it be the food or the restaurant decor. desserts were yuuummmmmm - greenteajelly with redbean/coconutsagopudding/mangopudding

vanity and dress-rediscovered! i want and need more. more dresses, not the vanity. ;)

traders' bar tonight!

i'm a PEA-brain coz ...

2006-09-10T11:03:00.000+10:00

1. my wireless internet mysteriously died on me last night seconds before i was about to webcam with my boy. puzzlepuzzledpuzzling! then this morning i realized i had very cleverly turned off the wireless switch located at the front of my laptop. :<:< thank goodness i found out before stomping angrily into the front office downstairs demanding an explanation. boooooooo to marie.

2. this is the second time i'm typing this post coz i happily closed the whole window without saving it the first time round.

i'm crossing my fingers and praying that the list doesn't get any longer.

my mom's here, as previously mentioned, and will be for a whole month! it's always nice when someone from home comes to visit. melbourne's no longer foreign land to me, but nothing beats good ol' singapore! oooh uncharacteristically nationalistic statement. i've always been pretty close to my mom so that's even better. anyway we haven't been doing much mainly coz i've been having school, and assignments due as well. last night we met aunty cheryl and gang for dinner, and then koko black for dessert (again). iced chocolate is so yummily decadent - i think i must have gotten my dairy intake for the week already. fat intake too probably. mom thinks the hot chocolate is too sweet. i think most parents just don't appreciate sweet and creamy stuff.

we also took a photo with some random italian guy on lygon street. heh. he was more than willing coz i think he wanted to promote his restaurant - very obvious the way he was holding up the menu in the photo. the restaurants on lygon street are so competitive... i think everyone there hates everyone else to death.

i went back to the pet shop at queen vic yesterday, and was UPSET to discover that the cute little maltese-poodle with the black eye patch was gone. :<:<:<:<:< very distressing indeed. not that i was actually going to buy it - for the sole reason that i'm not going to stay here for long, but i wonder if i'll ever find another "wou" like it again. and coz me and kw spotted it together, that makes it all the more special. sigh. it'll definitely be easier to get a dog here coz there's so much more to choose from, and they're also much cheaper. my parents don't really know about our impending 5th family member yet. ssshhhhhhhhhhh ;)

relationships can be so tricky. in the start, everything's smooth and sweet like milk chocolate - you feel like the luckiest girl in the world. after the honeymoon period, you're taken on a mini rollercoaster ride: you get tousled up and down, you cry, you laugh, but you know you still love each other. at the end you get so angry and frustrated with each other, and your heart feels as if it's been scattered in a million places all around the world. you can't seem to remember why you even loved him in the first place, and when you do, you hate yourself for remembering. you distance yourself from each other, and in a few months/years, it's just as if you never were together. it starts all over again, and hopefully this time, you'll never have to reach the end. hugs to my babe! i know you'll be fine, and we're all here for you. :)

yumcha with galpals in 2 hours!

2006-09-09T10:30:00.000+10:00

mom's here! updates soon ;)

crestfallen

2006-09-01T23:46:00.000+10:00

as much as i'd like to live life to my fullest potential, it's hard to if others won't give you a chance...it's a huge setback when you know you have the brains and the capabilities, but can't prove yourself coz you're just not fully recognized. the superficialities of this world - people really shouldn't take things at face value. i know i'm largely guilty of this myself... but it sucks when it becomes a personal experience. i'm much more than just girlish charm and sweet smiles. really.

2006-08-31T23:28:00.000+10:00

Svetlana Zakharova - Perfect Pas de Deux!

last one i promise! cannot resist this one, i love pas de deux and her legs are as perfect as ever.

2006-08-31T22:08:00.000+10:00

Sleeping Beauty - Rose Adagio

& just coz i love the dance, here's a full version! i still prefer svetlana's technique and dance style heaps though. my favourite part of the dance is the ending! (a pity she was abit shaky...) patience is a virtue :)

2006-08-31T22:06:00.000+10:00

Bolshoi's Svetlana Zakharova in Rose Adagio

Another one of my very favourite dances starring my favourite dancer- adapted from the Sleeping Beauty, the scene where Aurora is being courted by the 4 princes.

2006-08-31T21:37:00.000+10:00

Svetlana Swan Lake 1

Svetlana Zakharova of the Bolshoi Ballet as Odette in Swan Lake.The best ballerina ever... never seen such amazing feet and technique.

2006-08-31T21:24:00.000+10:00

4 Swans

i found my very very favourite dance on youtube!!

i smell roses :)

2006-08-30T21:18:00.000+10:00

i've been neglecting my aromatherapy kit for so long, i forgot how nice and sweet it makes my apartment smell! i used to love coming back after a long day out, sit back relax, put on my favourite mp3s and burn sweet vanilla oil in my little aromatherapy pot. i'm all out of vanilla *boohoo* ... but rose is good for now. it smells even better than vanilla coz my baby bought it for me! *beams*

today's rounds of interviews went quite smoothly. i think that if i actually make an effort to suppress my pea-brainish tendencies, i can sound quite smart and possibly employable. yay! there is hope yet. hopefully final rounds in singapore go well too. stay intelligent-sounding. :P

been having lots of yummyyummy food of late. *slurps* my favourite almond&custardbun from breadtop, surprise nutellacheesecake (which i had been craving for before that-some people are so nice to me!;D), katongLAKSA (i lie, not katong but primataste), and now krispy kremes courtesy of mr c! i reckon i should start pounding the pavements some time soon.

kw's father is going to turkey for work - he's leaving tonight. i feel quite worried for him, and i'm sure kw must be too... what with all the explosions and unrest prevalent in the middle east. it sucks when your company sends you off on an assignment to some obscure place that you'd hardly want to set foot on, but can't say no or it's "off with your head". turkey's not obscure and it's quite a pretty place i hear, but i don't think it's the best place to stay in, esp not right now. turkish delights are not very delightful. to my tastebuds at least.

i would post photos, but i haven't been taking many recently. feeling sad to have missed my grandfather's birthday celebration again... the whole family celebrated it over the weekend. and as i heard from my mom, they had a lovely time. lots of satay and durian. :)

must start running my regressions soon. my results excite me slightly! i must be turning into a true blue finance geek. oh yippee.

jitters

2006-08-29T15:07:00.000+10:00

accenture interview tomorrow!
why doesn't macbank call? :<

weekend

2006-08-26T22:21:00.000+10:00

i was getting sick of the way my blog looked, but also lazy to do anything too major. so... voila! font change :D hopefully this doesn't make the words too hard to read. definitely easier to read than my real handwriting though. only hh can contest my small and messy writing i think! not very good for exams... maybe if i attempted to write nicely i could add an extra ten marks to every paper. *ponders seriously* now there's a thought.

spending most of the week all pale and sickly wasn't fun at all. plus it was not like i could just stay at home all snug and cozy under my covers drinking hot mugs of tea all day - had impending assignment deadlines, questioning supervisors, long overdue readings, and of course my own conscience to think of. but i hate ulcers even more than dizzy spells, colds, bad throats and coughs. i had one at the side of my mouth since last friday, and the left side of my face was swollen for the first half of the week. horrible! days like this you really don't wanna see or look at anyone at all. i'm vain, but it's not a sin.

i've met my fair share of weirdos/stalkers this semester... but the one i ran into today was really weird! i was walking along lygon on my way home - passing by all the little cafes. and suddenly this guy sitting at one of the tables stopped me and asked me if i would like to take a sip of his coffee. and he held out his cup of expresso, looking at me as if he had just asked the most natural thing in the world and yes, of course i should sit down and share a coffee with a total stranger. not to mention that it was an OLD(okay oldISH) PSYCHOTIC stranger. off-putting.

on a not-so-distasteful note, yesterday night with tandy and wingki was really really nice! :) we were planning on having jap for dinner (again) but ended up in seoul house, which was a good choice actually. seoul house used to have free-flow of side dishes which was great. now they're getting abit tighter about it, but i reckon the quantities they serve are still more than plentiful and probably much more than other places as well. yumyum *chompchomp* and then there's always plenty of room for dessert, and weren't we glad to get a spot at max brenner's! we actually managed to stay there for more than 2 hours - surprising since it's so crowded. not that it wasn't packed full of choco-lovers last night, i think we just decided that we could ignore them. ahah.

i love all these friday nights with favourite girly friends! :)

shall end off being random.

silly looking chocolate mantous make me happpeeee!!! hahahha. no wonder i spend so much $$ at the grocers every week.

2006-08-20T22:43:00.000+10:00

mini pancakes are cute.

and so's grandma playing the electric guitar! :D

thx again, yee for the photo! i couldn't resist, been tempted to post this for ages. i'm sure ahmah won't mind ;)

hachoooo

2006-08-20T17:31:00.000+10:00

i'm all sniffy and sore-throaty and achy! *whine* initially wanted to go out but decided against it when i saw the growing pile of tissues on my desk. lousylousy immune system, and it doesn't help when i have an exhorbitant amount of work waiting to be done. got a nasty shock this morning, when i discovered that i had very accidentally omitted one hotel REIT from my sample i.e. must redo all EIGHTEEN PAGES OF WORK I SLOGGED OVER FOR THE PAST WEEK. aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! called kw in a frenzy, "howhowhowhowhow?!" and as usual, he very calmly assured me that it doesn't matter and won't affect my analysis; just have to remember to add in the original flawed source i used for my data collection. i hope he's right :<:<

my mom sent me photos yesterday! she was very excited and proud that she managed to upload them all by herself. heh.

cute parents :D

my brother is leaving for duke tomorrow to start grad school. bon voyage! and make sure i see you in december.

2006-08-19T13:59:00.000+10:00

agh! 3rd time this week :<

updates!

2006-08-16T11:41:00.000+10:00

the past few days have been spent slogging (or at least attempting to slog) over my research essay. i've been stuck on my data for ages! and to think i used to pride myself on efficiency... maybe it's the age factor, the brain just doesn't move as fast anymore :<:<:< the worst part is when you make one little careless mistake, like missing out on 0.1% and as a result, the error snowballs and it's back to the much dreaded drawing board - at square one. flippancy is a sin.

i got another lovely lovely parcel from my baby yesterday. *beams* he spoils me so rotten sometimes i feel like a fulltime princess. maybe i am. hah. and he claims just coz i received the parcel yesterday, i didn't give him as hard a time i usually do when he didn't pick up his phone for the millionth time i tried calling. :P i have this thing about people persistently not picking up their phones. why carry a mobile if you're uncontactable with it anyway? my mom is one of the many culprits. anyhow, back to the parcel: he ordered the extremely exclusive and not to mention elusive black rose coconut and vanilla body butter from sydney for me! i bought it once in 2004 when i was over in sydney for a holiday - think it was from paddington market - and i've been looking all over for it in melbourne. all the other brands i've tried simply can't compare. i used to come out smelling like dessert after my shower and make s hungry all over again. heh. i love it i love it i love it!! *muackx to my prince charming* i'd love you even if you don't buy me stuff all the time. but the perks are always fantastic ;)

the sun has been shining brightly on us the past few days, which is great! it almost feels as if winter is finally over. byebye ugh boots hello flipflops and skirts! think i'm a true blue singapore girl - i really love hot weather... of course i don't mean 40 degrees sweltering heat but 30 degrees everyday is more than okay with me. summer in melbourne is abit over the top, but spring is quite lovely. everything comes back to life - end of hibernation period, trees start flowering, the sky starts looking so much bluer... it makes me so happy :D:D:D

this is such a perky and joyous post, i feel quite proud of myself. you'd think i'd be all doom and gloom after all those last nights spent with my excel spreadsheets. at least i think all that hard work is paying off... my data section is filling up steadily, albeit at snail's pace.

okay gonna hop back to work. hope everyone's having a wondrous day!

Annual Finance Honours dinner!

2006-08-12T20:46:00.000+10:00

eugene and jeremy, keeping me "sane" at the dinner table.

i couldn't resist taking a shot when i visited the ladies'. such lovely decor! almost felt as if i'd stepped back 100 years in time.

nerds UNITE - finance honours class of 2006!

i slogged through investments assignment last semester with ying, jeff and andison (mia).

with zhu, stephanie, ying and jeremy.

me, ying and prof ian o'connor!

head of finance, prof paul kofman.

eugene is happpeeeee!

"roofus" xu - my partner in crime ;)

i think all of us had a really good time, what with the free-flow of alcohol and non-stop chatter. i'm always complaining about honours and the workload... but i do believe that i'm really going to miss uni :<

2006-08-09T01:17:00.000+10:00

despite the constant crowd of students, uni feels rather empty nowadays.

it must be YOU that's missing.

who else sings silly hungry-ghost-ge-tai songs to me with such gusto??

just to know that you're always there for me whenever and wherever is enough to make me smile :D:D:D

especially for jensen

2006-08-05T20:40:00.000+10:00

yumyumyummm! okonomiyaki is a japanese pancake, with all sorts of different stuff in it. hope mine turns out to be as good as it looks :)

marie is penniless :<

2006-08-04T17:22:00.000+10:00

i spent $40 on groceries today!

Lindt Blocks X 2 = $5.00 (it was on offer, i can't resist ;P)
Uncle Toby's Apple & Raspberry Oats X 1 = $4.53
Devondale Milk 1 Litre X 1 = $1.49
Arnott's Raspberry Tartlets 200g X 1 = $1.99 (yyuuummmmyyy)
Burgen Rye Bread X 1 = $3.28
Naga. Ika Okonomiyaki Mix X 1 = $6.79
Instant Curry Ramen X 1 = $4.83
Soya Bean Drink 375ml X 1 = $0.95
Ayam Tuna mayo X 1 = $2.39
3-in-1 milk tea sachets X 1 = $3.99 (my favourite brand and my favourite drink)

Total: $38.02

p.s. i'm waiting for my boy to vet my cover letter and resume, going to send it off to Macquarie bank in just minutes! now I think my dream job might be in real estate, but then again, i could just be under the influence of my research essay. REITs rule!

p.p.s. you know i'm bored when i resort to typing out my grocery list.

not so sunny

2006-08-03T10:35:00.000+10:00

after last night's insomnia, i woke up bright and early - correction: i dragged myself out of bed at 8.30am so that i'd be able to just barely make it for international business finance seminar at 9am. i brushed my teeth, washed my face, relieved myself and just as i was headaching over the day's outfit, i got an sms from andison:

"hey int biz fi has been cancelled today! will be rescheduled. i only just got the email..."

!!!!!!

that plus lack of sleep, plus worry over my research, plus the not-so-happy-phonecall, plus the grey skies outside my window, plus the hugs and kisses dearly missed is enough to make any girl frown. :<:<:<

i think we're all entitled to a fair dose of whining every day.

good times

2006-07-29T20:41:00.000+10:00

i only realised today that my cousin wen has a blog! read through a good number of entries and started feeling very nostalgic, especially when i came across those about my grandparents. it made me recall all the times when the 5 of us were still little and used to play together in kajang. yee would scare me with his toy guns and i'd go running to leng ee; yan and my brother were always together playing their "boy games"; wen, the tiniest of us all, loved to jump on my bro and wrestle him. awwww! it's so different when we all meet up now - of course it's still lovely to all be together, but i can't help but wish we were all naughty little kids playing together once again: standing in a row from shortest to tallest; happily plopping ourselves on a certain aunty's swing and BREAKING the damn thing. gosh. i know all this has nothing to do with my grandparents, but i agree with wen, it hurts to see them grow older and hear them complain about aches and pains. i know it isn't possible, but i wish i never had to say goodbye to them. :< this is getting all so morbid. there have been times when i cry and cry to kw, telling him that i don't want my grandparents to get old, and that i always say that i'll spend more time with them but i don't in the end. it doesn't help that they're in malaysia and i've always been living in singapore. it's not going to get better when i start working - my grandmother always tells me to call back more often, and i always say yes yes i will but end up forgetting. i wish i could be a better granddaughter and i wish i could always remember to set aside more time for them coz i really do love them so much. and more than anything, i want them to attend my wedding and let them get to know the man i'm going to spend the rest of my life with.

i'm getting really emotional. *sob* wen, this is all your fault!

on a more cheerful note, i had a good friday night with the girls - slightly bigger group now due to the return of my favourite housemate! it's great to have you back :) ye shanghai fell short of expectations, but dessert at ichiban crepes was yummmmm! the only shortcoming was the rude crowd. people should really learn their manners: pushing other customers around doesn't make your order come any faster. stupid impatient morons. back to the yummy crepes, i wanted a hot one so i had mine with nutella, custard and strawberries. i really liked becca's cheesecake one too.

since i'm on the topic of good times, i was reminded by kw today of a particular magical moment we shared together. last thursday, after dinner at his house, we went to ecp for a walk: the stars were twinkling at us from the sky up above, the light evening breeze caressing our faces, the gentle lapping waves by our side, and then my beautiful boy started singing softly in my ear. *melts* i know my ears are probably biased, but i do believe he's the best singer around.

today was a weird day, we spent nearly the whole day on the phone. not every minute of it was enjoyable, but i'm really glad we resolved the matter. for now at least. :P

okay gotta go get some data now!

2006-07-26T21:03:00.000+10:00

call me cynical, but sometimes i really wonder how genuine some people are being. i wonder whether they smile at me then turn around and roll their eyes. people are too quick to judge: they rate you upon 10 the very first time they meet you, without even bothering to try to get to know you better. i admit i fall into that category, but i'd never bother being nice to someone i really can't stand. you think you know this person, and that he's just genuinely trying to be your friend, but then you think again and realise that he may have an ulterior motive. it's almost impossible to read the mind of someone you hardly know. when you were little, your idea of a bad person was the girl from the other "gang" in playschool who told the other girls not to talk to you. how i wish it could be as simple as that. maybe at this stage of our lifes we have all already met and made our "real" friends, friends that will last us for the rest of our lifes, who will be there for you when you need them... which is perhaps why new "real" friends are hard to come by now, coz everyone just can't be bothered. i'm grateful for some people i met this year, but for the others, i really can't say the same.
maybe it's not cynicism but just lack of self-confidence.

2006-07-25T17:54:00.000+10:00

happy year number 1!
girls are suckers for surprises and this one worked wonders :)

reality

2006-07-23T17:45:00.000+10:00

where did my one month of holidays go?! i'm back downunder and it's freezing :( everytime i'm back in melbourne i feel as if i'd never left, now my holiday in singapore seems so far away. feeling more and more apprehensive as the end of year nears - firstly, the thesis (untouched since may) has to be submitted in november; secondly, i think i should start my jobhunt more actively, especially considering i've only had one interview as yet which didn't go well at all. M** doesn't appreciate my frivolous chatter i reckon.

more random pictures from my july break!

1.yummy soyabean "egg" tart from middle road. very light and smooth filling with a thin fragrant pastry! five thumbs up!

2.big dolly walking around takashimaya square - i thought it was hilarious the way she used her head to hit the people trying to walk past her.

3.me and joanna at the esplanade mall! i like the way everything around us seems to be happening so quickly while we're at a standstill. my clever dd took this photo :)

4.taking the bus together is always so amazingly enjoyable. i really like this picture.

5.NYDC MUDPIE :D:D:D

6.dd has a car and he can zoom!!

7.my mom's pretty tree

8.i made raspberry tartlets!

9.our friday night date cum early-1st-yr-dinner-celebration

10.dd with his heart-shaped raspberry tartlet. :D

11.me with my 24 roses!

back in singapore

2006-07-19T13:40:00.000+10:00

the past week has been hectic, so it's nice to finally be able to sit in and relax. it's raining cats and dogs outside - singapore weather's as unpredictable as melbourne's! so nice and sunny in the morning and then 2 hours later, voila, 180 degrees change. i delivered bread to the children's home with my mom this morning, saw a cute little girl at the door. awww! said hi to her and she smiled back shyly. looking at all these sweet toddlers really make my day :)

i just got back from malaysia yesterday afternoon. the trip was great! lots of eating, not enough shopping. sigh.

pictures from malaysia:

we had cendol and ice kachang in melaka! sweet and perfect for a sweltering hot day ;)

my brother and mom in front of the maritime museum.

everyone knows malacca for THIS red building!

cooling down with beer. slurps.

i saw a pretty sunset along the streets of malacca :)

drinks along jonkers' street after dinner - a margarita for me finally! not strawberry unfortunately.
drove up to KL the next day and stayed a night with my aunt.

my dad likes ice chocolate! teehee.

my brother likes beer.

i like shots.
note: it's actually just sugar syrup for my lime juice ;)

and my cousin likes to drive! it's fun being a passenger in wen's car :)

back in kajang, we celebrated yan's 25th bday. it suddenly occurred to me that all five of us cousins will be 20 plus year olds once wen turns 20 at the end of this year :0

my brother the greedy pig digs into the devilish ramly burger - this was after supper at the mamak stall, which was after a big chinese dinner. tsks.

so we made him do some exercise! i think i'm looking abit like a lunatic ;P

wen gets a piggyback as well. it's good to be a girl ;>
back home - we had a family dinner at peach garden (wasabi prawns wasabi prawns wasabi prawns!!) and my boy was invited!

finally... wasabi prawns!!

i'm wearing dd's retro tie! (the one i bought for him, and the one wingki chose :) )

my sweet dd.

4 more days and then it's time to hit the books once again.

i looked back at you, tears shining in my eyes. it was the most magical moment... :)

strawberry margaritas in melaka!

2006-07-15T21:33:00.000+10:00

hello everybody! i'm still well alive and in melaka for the night :) playing around with my brother's mac and waiting for dinner.

update: just got back from dinner along jonkers' street, very bustling and full of life. abit like chinatown during chinese new year. we were looking for peranakan food, but ended up with western. then drinks at geographers cafe. that was my first margarita for the year. heh. who would have thought that i would be having it in good ol melaka.

i don't normally like coming to this part of malaysia, but this round's different coz we haven't had a family holiday in ages. i think the last time could be when i was in secondary 2 when we went to the US - so that was 8 years ago. phew.

life after the exams have been great naturally. i did okay for this round of exams, one was unsatisfactory, the rest were pretty good. and i know i did try my best so that's fine :) the 13 days with my baby in melbourne were wonderful. little memories carved in my mind forever and ever. i love you.

and it feels good to be back in singapore too! my brother's still the same, maybe bigger and more americanized but at least he still feels familiar.

will post pictures when i'm back in singapore. 7 more days to melbourne! my apologies to people i didn't get to meet this time round (that's almost everybody actually), i only have 12 days in singapore this hols and lots of family committments as well. plus my pre-1st year anniversary just around the corner, sigh, so many things to do, so little time.

looking forward to seeing cousies for the next few days :)

sunshine!

2006-06-27T23:08:00.000+10:00

the past two days have been great! relaxing, coffee with pals, lots of tv, and more shopping - just looking though, coz my bank account is starting to feel the effects of the weekend splurge.

yes i missed the match last night. i was upset when i woke up from a dream that the socceroos beat italy 2-1, and realised it was already 6am. *growl at myself* and i'm even more upset that australia's out of the world cup! boohoo :( good effort though, and there's still world cup 2010 ;)

woke up and had krispy kremes for brekkie. v nutritious, i know! it was yum, as always, despite the fact that i'd selected a rather unorthodox flavoured krispy kreme - it had a lemon custardy centre. the thing i love most about these wonder donuts is that they melt in your mouth especially when they're nice and fresh and hot. wonder donut also has a wonderful gallon of calories i'm sure.

hmm. did i mention the fact that i'm currently...

coz my cutie's gonna be here real soon !!
FINALLY :D

2006-06-25T15:00:00.000+10:00

i know exams are over, and i've been having great fun, and the shopping's been amazing. but this just ruins everything. been listening to the same song on repeat for the past half hour, just trying to figure what i should do right now. it doesn't seem as if i'll get a solution from anyone else.

sucks.

oh yeah, and i forgot to say happy 11th month.

becca's 21st

2006-06-25T14:22:00.000+10:00

cake on monday...

think she likes the estee lauder gift set ;)

party on friday!

pretty becca with her gorgeous new dress :D

toilet shots are great fun. and no, we don't know the caucasian lady.

and more cake! :)

self-motivation

2006-06-21T18:51:00.000+10:00

go girl! only 2 more days!
i've never felt so burnt out before :<

after advanced derivative securities...

2006-06-16T14:41:00.000+10:00

this is just what i need.

oh and please throw this in for extra effect.

thank you.

winter pretties!

2006-06-12T21:41:00.000+10:00

bettina's winter'06 season!

oooh imagine wearing these lovelies when it's less than 10 degrees out. the price of beauty ;)

bored

2006-06-12T00:01:00.000+10:00

character analysis courtesy of miss elmo!

WHO YOU REALLY ARE?

You are a person who is willing to share.
Any friends that came along, you will accept and trust them completely.
What you want in your life is half fullfilled. (sigh so true...)
You are weak in your life and tends to be fragile.
You have high sex drive. ;P
You have a few good friends in your life.
Your last relationship is not a good one and is not memorable to you.(i beg to differ!)
Even when your partner is around you, you will flirt around with others. (untrue! dd protects me from all unwanted attention.)
You've got a low ego. (maybe...)
You are proud and stuck up personality.
You get average bond with your friends. :S!!
Your partner is pure and good in your heart. (yes of course :D )
Your partner is a very homely and humble person. (yes of course again, despite all the great things he hath done)
You will go to your friends whenever you are met with problems.

i've been dumped for soccer. and my hand hurts from writing notes, two more weeks before i get my life back!

then again, maybe not

2006-06-08T21:02:00.000+10:00

today marked the very first day of my examinations for semester 1 2006. i was kinda glad that it was as bitterly cold as it was this morning, coz at least it took my mind off codes and matrices for awhile. and after 3 whole mindboggling hours, all i can say is... i'm sooooo glad it's over.

and i hope i pass :(

lovey dovey mushy wushy

2006-06-05T11:20:00.000+10:00

you have been warned!

you know your guy loves you when he,
1. Braves the GSS for you and says very matter-of-factly, "since you can't go shopping, i'll go for you."
2. Remembers the exact top you wanted the last time you went shopping with him 4 months ago.
3. Spends almost his whole weekend searching for elusive top.
4. Talks to you on the phone for hours, even though the ulcer on his tongue hurts when he speaks. :(
5. Cooks for you when you're sick, and refuses to ever let you do the dishes.
6. Cheers you up whenever and whereever.
7. Sings silly fan xiao xuan songs to you.
8. Gives you encouragement in his own subtle way whenever you're feeling down on yourself.
9. Knows how to sing in korean just so he can sing bogoshipda to you! *melt*

Just as i thought it impossible to love you even more, you proved me wrong again. I miss you heeeaaaappss!

FRIDAY

2006-06-02T22:31:00.000+10:00

i got into abit of a frenzy this morning: with just the simple task of handing in the assignment, i ran up and down the ecom building stairs at least 6 times, in and out of the honours lab 6 times, visited the bookshop 2 times, asked for a refund 1 time, ran up and down south lawn 2 times, flurried myself into the 24-hour lab fighting with numerous other uni students for a computer slot, and printed out the assignment 2 times.

i'm such a scatterbrain. :(

study session after that was unproductive as well. i met wy on my way to starbucks and he started going on and on about how he can't stop studying numtech coz he's so stressed about it, and that stressed me out too coz i haven't really even started. gosh.

so starbucks was packed. i couldn't get a seat upstairs, not a single one available, not even the lousy seat at the corner that nobody usually wants. i had to sit myself downstairs, and thus couldn't stop shivering coz the air in melbourne is freezing. bbbrrr. plus i didn't understand a word of lectures 5&6, up till now i can't still figure out the difference between eigenvalues and eigenvectors. so i got increasingly demoralized, and LEFT, headed to sportsgirl where i got myself a gorgeous pair of earrings for $3.45! how about that!

the girl can't study, but she sure can shop. ;)

and then i came home, made myself dinner, and got a lovely surprise!

yummy strawberry cheesecake delivery! thank you,even though i don't think you know the existence of this blog. you sure do know how to make a girl happy :)

and my boy's at the GSS right now!! with another girl but he's shopping for me and me alone. heh.

so it wasn't such a bad day after all. :D

2006-06-01T11:55:00.000+10:00

swotvac is more than halfway over! *P.A.N.I.C.* and i still have an assignment due on friday, we changed the code one million times - debugging the programme line by line, and still can't get the right answer. :( boy am i glad i'm never ever going to have to do programming after this semester.

i've been going out to study every single day. it's getting to be quite expensive- you can't study w/o a cuppa so that always costs me $3+ at a minimum, sometimes $4+ if i'm at starbucks. plus all the other expenses we somehow seem to incur unknowingly (i wish the shops weren't so close by :<) that would add up to maybe $40.00 a week just on these miscellanous items. sighh! and i was supposed to save up for my grey skinnys, gorgeous lace top, plus europe tripppppp. yippee! okay that's maybe in 3 years time, but the girl's still gotta start saving yeah? maybe i really should try the stock market, put some of my "knowledge" to practical use.

actually i'm not as stressed as i should be for this round of exams. i was alot more pressurized earlier on during the semester - like during easter when we had like 5-6 assignments due the week after. and it's not your simple ask question give answer assignment. we had to spend weeks and days slaving over each assignment, and i actually stayed in school from 9am to 3am once to finish one particular assignment. and everyone thought i'd disappeared coz my mobile went flat and i became uncontactable - mom calls boyfriend to ask where i am, boyfriend was like "???". plus i had to deal with my stupid phone and internet s***. oh well, don't know why i'm talking about all this, maybe sometimes you reflect back on what happened, and you're so glad you got through it and didn't just give up. coz sometimes you just feel so alone and that nobody could possibly understand what you're going through. maybe i could have handled it alot better, maybe i wasn't strong enough to do alot of things rationally, and i know i couldn't have done it w/o your support. i haven't been the easiest person to get along with this semester, and you've done more for me that you could imagine.

*sniffs* i'm getting so emotional.

enough of that, coz it's over and things have been looking up ever since. :)

last night, i decided to do this.

it's toasted mini marshmallows on a chopstick!

*yumyum* almost as sweet as my baby. 3.5 more weeks! :)

i want an oven!

2006-05-30T23:33:00.000+10:00

This is exactly what i need to go along with my neverending behavioural finance readings. :(

the only good thing about winter in melbourne ...

2006-05-30T11:13:00.000+10:00

UV Index: 1 - 2 [low]

Source: Australian Government, Bureau of Meteorology

finally, i can put away my daily-extra-UV-protection-sunblock!

i'm freezing cold though. want my hugs :(

swotvac day one

2006-05-27T20:02:00.000+10:00

freshly baked irresistable miss marple scones with whipped cream and jam, hot mugga cappuccino, tasty grilled sandwich fingers, yummy-smelling teas in all flavours possible, cute toy shops, even cuter toys, lots of "nature", long long drive, chocolate coated coffee beans for quick pick-me-ups, and shoooppppinnnggg!!

oooooh, someone has hot boots!

make a wild guess, it's me ;)

got myself a pretty earring stand. now i don't ever have to deal with tangled dangly earrings again. the only problem is, i think i need more than one of these handy little gadgets.

okay now i really have to start "swotting". :(

2006-05-27T00:51:00.000+10:00

pray everything goes well for my dearest daddy tomorrow

happpeeeee

2006-05-24T17:08:00.000+10:00

Honestly, no other words of praise i've received has ever felt this good. i'm flattered :)

Reached home early today for the first time in a long while! meant to polish up my presentation for tomorrow *shudder* but somehow couldn't really get much done. snacked, made myself a mug of almond tea (currently my favourite drink),took a steamy hot shower, phonecall with mom, and what do you know! there's just a little over an hour before i have to walk over to uropa for dinner. gimme 48 hours in a day and i'll still be screaming for more.

today was a sunny day! at least it was for melbourne winter standards. i looked outta my apartment window and decided to put my photography skills to practise.

it really did look a lot prettier than this. somehow the flush of salmony pink tones in the sky weren't really accentuated in the picture. don't know if it's my camera, or just ME.

i did, however, manage to make this little guy look even more adorable and lovable than he already is!

*melts into a puddle*

2006-05-22T17:46:00.000+10:00

winter is well along its wayyyy! it was a very miserable 4 degrees this morning. was sick over the weekend (again) but feeling alot better now, must be the magical powers of homemade chicken soup and TLC ;)

warm hugs and nice comfy shoulder to lie on in just 5 weeks!

2006-05-18T22:09:00.000+10:00

i suddenly realised...

i never got to post the picture of the REAL birthday cake i sent to my boy. how can?!

voila! it's quite badly taken coz his parents were in china with the camera so all he had was a camera phone.

awwww... the ex-birthday boy in his new shirt and tie - think he might kill me for putting this up. :P he only looks happy when he's taking photos with me ;)
special credit must go to w for finding the funky retro tie, it's so painstakingly troublesome buying guy stuff. even sizes are complicated. grr.

okay this post is more than a month late. i suspect i'm lagging in everything, sigh.

it's MY turn to present my thesis proposal at the honours proposal workshop next week. *shudder* let's hope i don't get gunned down by the firing squad i.e.the department professors during Q&A session.