s w i r l * h e r e
before my head really hurts.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
And so I am back in Singapore.....not for long....

Have just come back from KL - it was a GREAT trip! Shall sum up what we ate - ain't that the most important of all?

Sunday:
- Laksa place at Times Square. Between 4 of us, 4 bowls of yummy laksa - Sarawak laksa, assam laksa, Bali laksa and curry laksa. Yum.
- WH and I shopped - with good results :)
- Rained that night but ended up later at Jln. Alor - Hokkien noodles, roti canai, roti tisu, char kuey tiau, chicken and fish porridge (I might have left out something :))

Monday:
- Midvalley - Had Nando's - Normal fare-lah.
- WH and I shopped some more with the guys tagging along.
- Spent the later afternoon at Sungei Wang. More shopping. More results. More eating.
- Pre-dinner (a new term coined during this trip) of char siew and roast duck at this HK restaurant at Sg. Wang
- Bak kut teh (along with pepper pork belly soup, stewed trotters and veggies) for dinner
- Dessert was at KTZ - their famous 'sai mai lou'
- Went to Zouk but it wasn't open - ended up at Beach Club
- Supper at mamak - roti bom and the works :)

Tuesday:
- KLCC food court, after which the 2 archi students went around taking pics while Justin and I walked around. (Note: WALKED around - didn't shop haha)
- WH and I at Lot 10 while the guys went off on their own.
- Petaling Steet - claypot 'lou shu fun', lok lok, 'gun kei' wan ton noodles and claypot chicken rice.
- Topped it all off with WH's watch shopping and my bag shopping.
- Wanted to try the KFC's tomyan chicken (which we figured won't be available in SG) so packed a 5 piece pack to bring back to the hotel. Downed it with a couple of bottles of cocktail thingies with Discovery channel:)

Wednesday:
- Justin and I took a walk to Fortuna hotel to buy 'ban min' for breakfast. Extra yum :)
- and it is back to Singapore again......

But as I told Siew Yee - I'll be back on Friday!

Overall - as I said, it was a great trip as all of us loved eating and no one was on a 'diet' or had small appetites. Very relaxing, nothing to think about but eating or shopping.

I love being on holiday!

Also loved the fact that I managed to call up Puy Jean and Wye Meng. I MISS THEM TOO MUCH! This time tomorrow, I'd be at JB waiting to board the bus back home.....in the meantime.....I am going to Zouk....in this rain.....grrrr.....


posted at 5:38 AM by sze

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Friday, April 23, 2004
Always wanted to act? Here's your chance - after you are dead.

Dead actor wanted for play.

Question: How many days do I have to be dead before I get to be on stage? Also, how much will I get paid?

posted at 12:12 AM by sze

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Thursday, April 22, 2004
Really darling...you shouldn't have...

Darling, did you know that the new employee can't call you that now?

Heheheh.....

posted at 10:30 PM by sze

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My first interview!

Right. As of 9:20am this morning, I've attended my first formal interview ever. Well, technically my 2nd if you count my interview at ILTI when I was 12 but I digress.

It all started with me being a dungu and forgetting that I would need my passport - apparently my student pass wasn't sufficient to admit me into the MOE building. Had to trouble the scholarship officer to come down to the security counter to verify me. Gah. The last time I went to MOE the security wasn't that tight. Anyway, it was good that I arrived half an hour earlier because of the whole verification fiasco PLUS the my slot was pushed forward.

So I went in and in times of stress, I SMILE. Was pleasantly surprised to see 3 very friendly faces in there - an MOE officer, JJC's principal and CHIJ (I think Katong) principal. They started off by saying stuff like my application was unlike other Malaysians and I don't look the typical Malaysian too. Right. So they went on to ask me what I knew about the education system in Singapore. Inside my head, I was going like "eh?". So I went on to say the little I know about the syllabus based on my tutoring experience.

However, the JJC principal was very nice and said, "Oh this question isn't that fair to you anyway, so you just try your best ok?" Anyway, the conversation (I swear, the atmosphere in there was so light hearted that it was just like a conversation between 4 people) turned to like what I thought about the Singaporean schools as compared to Malaysian schools.

The first thing that came to my mind? Haha I exposed myself as a small town (city...whatever) girl by saying that I was amazed by the facilities and stuff that just a normal neighbourhood school has. Honest. I wasn't sucking up to them. I was honestly amazed. And stuff like how even lower secondary school students get to go on overseas trips for Geography or Literature classes.

They seemed quite pleased. Oh well. In short, it was just stuff like, oh what I plan to do after 3 years of teaching, why I'd plant my roots here in Singapore yadayada. And they said that I spoke well and very unlike the normal Malaysians who come for interviews.

I've gotten THAT before. A bit too many times. Have never been sure whether to accept that as a compliment to myself or to be enraged by the generalisation on Malaysians by Singaporeans.

So what to do now? Continue mugging for my 18th century paper tomorrow (I sure hope I'd learn to appreciate Tristram Shandy one day because I jolly well do NOT as of now) and look forward to KL! :)


On a bimbotic note, I was quite shocked to see myself amidst a group of almost identically-dressed candidates. I had chosen to wear my white shirt with this knee length grey pencil skirt and black strappy heels. Reached there and all the scholarship candidates were in similar white shirts and black pants/skirts and court shoes. And I HAD nearly wanted to wear a black pencil skirt. *phew*

posted at 8:16 PM by sze

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Wednesday, April 21, 2004
When are all these going to stop!??!?!?!

Baby dumped in school toilet by a 13-year-old mother. We have been listening to these news since we were kids haven't we? And how typical - she was raped by her 66-year-old grandfather, who will now be charged with rape and/or incest.

So we have plans for new acts to protect children and women. But obviously people are not going to learn because they just don't care. I'm tired of asking: What goes through these sick people's minds?

And this....I suppose this is what happens when the people in charge are not even mentally ready to take on huge responsibilities as training the young people.

I shudder for the youth of Malaysia.

posted at 10:29 PM by sze

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Water Weight

Been getting comments that I am putting on weight *argh*. Blame it on the exams + lack of exercise. Anyway, would this help?

Right, drinking 2-3 liters a day would make you lose weight. I'd rather go out for a run or a swim thank you.

Btw - it is raining now - let's hope it would be a whole day affair instead of the 2 disappointing short spurts we've had this week. It looks promising: Having started with a drizzle, the raindrops are becoming more and more audible and the sky is increasingly grey too. And it IS starting to pour!

=I just gave a live commentary on RAIN. I seriously need to finish up my papers and get out of this place.=

posted at 10:13 PM by sze

::::

Next semester onwards, I resolve to....

- read my readings WAY before they are assigned
- do my supplementary readings during term time and not right before exams
- live and breath the air of the NUS Central Library
- and while I live and breath the air of CL, I'd better make sure that I know where every single book is
- not to fall asleep in class (sounds familiar eh?)
- give myself more time to ENJOY my classes instead of realising it only right before the exams.

19th Century Literature and Culture tomorrow. A-R-G-H.

posted at 8:22 AM by sze

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You made my day!

Opened up my email to find only the most unexpected - an email from Chang Puy Jean!

Just a shoutout to you girl ( ha how bimbotic I can get right?) - thanks for the email - made my day amidst the dreary environment of Victorian women and their depressing state. Also got me into thinking about Form 6 days again - the best days of my school life!

** Need to go home - fast **

posted at 12:35 AM by sze

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Tuesday, April 20, 2004
How much more can our heart take?

Some people have nothing better to do in life. Either that, or this guy is really one of them

I was already really freaked out by the Madrid incident and the train incident at Korea early last year. What with the blackout the other day and the collapse at Nicholl Highway today - I can't help but feel my level of paranoia rising to as high as my mom's "try not to leave hall". I CANNOT NOT LEAVE HALL! Been trapped here for too long.

However, I find this scarier. Is it just inherent in every human to want to remain young *forever*? There is only THAT number of years we have on this earth and still one can't accept that he/she would have to age and die eventually. I sure don't want to lie in my coffin with a cakey face, falling nose, bits of skin under my hair and a squeaky voice for people to remember.

For something cheerier, check out this photography magazine. It's run by an acquaintance and it's pretty good for a small scale magazine based in Chinatown, Singapore. I might be able to get a hardcopy issue soon!

In the meantime - it's 19th century lit for me!




posted at 3:29 AM by sze

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Monday, April 19, 2004
Disturbed

I was browsing through some Xanga blogrings and stumbled upon something quite disturbing - there is a good number of aneroxia blogrings, mostly consisting of girls barely 14 or 15 years old. The blogrings descriptions would be something like "if youare anti ana please don't join us" "we just want to be thin" "barf without your people knowing" - along that line.

Clicked on some public blogs and it nearly made me cry - these girls sound like they just stepped out of a film about aneroxic girls. Their entries were all about how they NEED to lose weight, how they are fat, how they look into the mirror and see blobs of fat, how they are targetting to lose 20lbs (or better still 40lbs) by when, how they need to see bones, how they are seeing other thin people etc. The comments left on their blogs were usually stuff like "congrats you managed to lose it" "oh recommend me what pills you are taking" etc.

There were also those who admitted that they were battling aneroxia and bulimia but they obviously had NO intention of getting away from it. Instead, they planned to "return" to it. I worry for these girls. They are all young teenagers who should have plenty of other things to occupy them apart from this unhealthy obsession of being thin.

It's very disturbing. You'd think that all these only happen to the girls in the films but it's happening in real life (or at least, I am seeing this for the first time) and it's happening to girls who are barely out of puberty.

Don't quite know how to react but whoa.

posted at 8:06 AM by sze

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New Sem Resolution

#1 NOT fall asleep during lectures!

Either that, or get a really good tape recorder. Or maybe bring my laptop to class.

I keep falling asleep when the lecture avenue is too cold - darned NUS and its air-conditioning system - brings to mind Arthur Yap's poem about this ang-moh praising Singapore's air-conditioning system

Was revising for my Postmodernism and Postcoloniality paper and was reading through my lecture notes - it was quite amusing to read my notes which I attempted to write while falling asleep - they are HORRIBLE and of course, unreadable. *sigh* shall have to put up with my extra readings.

I love this class. But the thought of the paper just makes me shudder.

I was doing my US Media History paper today and I was thinking - why are we subject to this whole cruel system of final examinations where if you are just not up to shape you won't get a good final grade? Like, if you have been getting As for your essays but you just screw up your final paper which is usually 40%-60% your final grade would be B-ish.

Which led me to thinking: Why are we subjecting our children to the horrible, cruel examination system from KINDERGARTEN onwards? Actually, correct me, it is actually PRE SCHOOL onwards - There are pre schools in KL who hold placement tests for 4 year olds damn it. I mean, I was lucky enough to have parents who taught me the alphabet at 18 months old and was reading Enid Blyton series by the time I was 5 but then it was never pressurising for me. And kids these days have to go through so many examinations!

WHEN I am Education Minister of Malaysia, I will make sure that pre-school to Primary 2 kids won't have to go through examinations. For primary school, exams won't be their entire final grade - they will have assessments and essays and exercises as homework and it would be counted towards the grade. Chinese primary schools will be banned from giving out more than 5 items on their homework lists ( I know the pain they go through). Yeah I am giving teachers extra work but it's better than having a whole generation of exam machines (of which many of us were from). But there will always be kiasu parents who will help their children do their take home assessments of course.

2 down, 3 to go. Another step towards perfecting the education system. Muahaha. slightly neurotic

posted at 7:25 AM by sze

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Sunday, April 18, 2004
As I was browsing....

This is for those people who constantly imitate, jeer at and avoid autistic kids.

On this topic, I was glad to hear from my Mom that the Malaysian education ministry has finally begun to do something constructive for the special children. Instead of dumping all special kids of different learning disabilities into ONE class for ONE teacher, (at my brother's school, at least), they have changed the system such that 5 children will have the attention of one properly TRAINED teacher. Also, they are encouraging these children to do mainsteam academic work so that they'd be able to take UPSR like the other children.

Ernie will be switching to the special stream by next week. No doubt that he WAS doing fine in Primary 1 and Primary 2 but in his current Primary 3 class of 50 kids, his teacher just could not give him the attention that he needed. As a result, he was just stagnant in his academic progress. He can speak quite well now (he can even argue with me!) so perhaps it's time to switch our focus on his schoolwork, which we have sort of abandoned since last, in the quest to focus on his social skills, which are more important.

Plus, special kids are receiving RM25 monthly from the Education Department as pocket money. May not be a HUGE amount of money but it at least shows that the kids are not being abandoned in the mad race for academic excellence and exam-smart kids. I am glad :)

posted at 10:38 AM by sze

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It's the time of the year again

It's 12:53am and here I am studying for my Thursday's 19th Century Literature and Culture paper. All of a sudden I smell a familiar aroma of vegetarian Maggi noodles, with an egg, and a warm mug of extra-thick Milo.

This is the breakfast that my mom would prepare should I anticipated a heavy day ahead - 4am when I was to attend some band performance or the other - 630am when I was due to have a paper that day. Never mind that the sodium in the noodles (along with many other 'bad' components) were bad for you - I just miss home now.

It's the time of the year - this is the 4th time I am facing it - every semester as I am studying for my exams I'd feel incredibly claustrophobic and I'd NEED to get out of this island. That's why I am so looking forward to the KL trip next weekend - something new yet something familiar.

And no - I am not hungry, in case you are wondering.

posted at 9:53 AM by sze

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Saturday, April 17, 2004
What on earth am I doing up on this unearthly hour?

Well, changing my blog layout, obviously. DUH. Normal people do that when they can't sleep.

Nah - just that my sleeping schedule is getting more and more screwed up. Further evidence? I can make myself sleep at anytime I want. Had a paper at 9am the other day and I promptly fell asleep the night before at 11pm, amidst the major blackout in Singapore.

Went to watch The Passion of the Christ this afternoon with Justin. It was a private screening at Lido held by my church and (warning ahead: yet another blog entry with a Passion review) whoever said that Titanic made them cry buckets should honestly rethink that, after they watch this.

Not going to spoil it much for those who haven't watched it but it was a very very graphic representation of the Bible interpretation of Jesus' death. Literally SLOW, painful death. Lots of blood. The 2 scenes - where Jesus was nailed and when they stabbed him in the ribs - which I KNEW I couldn't take (and which I've already anticipated) I shut my eyes tight. Justin usually laughs at me cos I really cannot stand gory films. HE was cringing away as well!

Was reading this article in the Straits Times the other day when the columnist said that he did not see the point of having so much gore and blood in the film. Why not focus the film on Jesus' good works and teachings instead? I'd definitely not agree with him. As much as it hurts to see the graphic interpretation, as much as I HATE blood and gore - the TRUTH remains that Jesus died this death. The slow and painful death for us. People are hearing too much about Jesus' good works and they just dismiss Him as 'another one of those gods'. But there hasn't been a 'god' who has died for his people yet.

Jerraine was telling me that the line that got her going was "Love thy neighbour as thyself" - prompting her to make a change.

My line? "There is no greater love that this. A brother who would lay his life down for a friend".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

For dinner we went to MOS Burger and were seated between 2 extremely interesting conversations.
Didn't mean to eavesdrop - we couldn't talk properly cos of their volume. Plus we were barely 30cm away from each table On my right were these 2 girls speaking in horrendous Singlish (help!!), talking about how "all religions are the same", "We Catholics don't like to show as much as them Christians" and "I like to watch films with Buddhist things also". On my left, 2 girls and a guy - the typical 'ah-lians' and 'ah beng' at one table. They were having a very lively conversation about mahjong after one of the girls finished a LOUD Hokkien conversation on her handphone about a game of mahjong. They looked barely out of their teens and seemed very 'professional' about their game - how they'd always make sure that the players have sufficient cash before playing, relating all their mahjong experiences and what makes a good player etc.

It was kinda interesting though. Haha.

posted at 2:11 PM by sze

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Thursday, April 15, 2004
Procrastination Queen Alert!

Added this bunch of links to things that keep me, erm, occupied.

Still trying to remember what other stuff that keep me hooked to the computer for so long at times.....

posted at 11:38 PM by sze

::::

Blessed I am.

I was listening to music while studying when one song on my MP3 list struck me (a bulk of my songs are from Justin's collection so sometimes I dont' quite know what I have) - Luther Vandross's "Dance With My Father". It's about this man who tells the story of growing up with his father, and in the end, he implores to God to bring his father back as his mother misses him very much. It brought tears to me - well I tear easily when I listen to songs like these, think in terms of Colin Raye etc - and I felt like sending the song to some of my close friends who enjoy good songs as much as I do. Then it struck me - many of my good friends here have lost their fathers. I mean, we have always taken that for granted because they are somewhat used to it already - but it struck me real hard tonight. I have good friends who have lost their parents or their fathers while they were growing up - even a friend who has lost her father as recently as last December.

I am blessed - I know I am. My uncle passed away when my cousin was 20 and I am 22 now. I remember when Kevin's father passed away, he was my dad's age now - and I remember feeling scared back then.

Only got closer to my dad after I moved to Singapore and it's wonderful how he just makes sure that everything is clear for me, just so that I'd have a better lifestyle. I had to pay up for hall holiday stay by tomorrow - my dad just said 'ok' - it's a friggin' 650 bucks (before subsidy but still....). I felt very very bad.

Thank you God.

posted at 6:25 AM by sze

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Wednesday, April 14, 2004
A trip down memory lane

These days, Justin and I watch an episode of Whose Line every night after dinner. To relax. However, he has been downloading things that he knew that I'd like and HE would like too....hehe.....like....



and I've been JEM-ified today with the pilot episode of....



Sze-Lyn is happy tonight!

posted at 5:31 AM by sze

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Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Shoes #2

Yes it is a rant about SHOES again.

My flats opened up on Saturday night right?

Yesterday, at the library, I was barely 10 steps away from my seat, walking towards the main section of the library - the straps on my white flats broke. Well, not really 'broke' but it just snapped from the flats itself.

2 pairs of shoes to be thrown away within the span of 3 days. Justin is amazed at his girlfriend (Had to call him to bring me a pair of slippers - boohoo).

I SHALL GO ON A MAD SHOE SHOPPING SPREE IN KL AND IPOH.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of KL - I am pretty psyched! Everything's pretty confirmed - it's Justin and I, Szue Hann and Wei Hui. My dad has helped me book 2 rooms at a hotel in KL for RM113 (after 70% discount) and yea everyone's happy. I have to be the sorta 'tour guide' in KL as I am the one who *supposedly* knows KL the best. Justin's from Kuching, Szue Hann's from Brunei and Wei Hui's Singaporean. Thrilling. I only know the places to shop haha.

Just that we haven't talked about booking coach tickets yet. Hehe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

It's my first paper tomorrow at 9am. Chinese. It's returning to secondary school all over again. My tutor was telling me that it should be a piece of cake for me 'because I am Malaysian'. What she failed to realise that there are MANY MANY Malaysians taking this module and TONNES of PRCs taking this module as well.

Gah. I might not get an A for this but it's not that bad. Considering how calm I am right now.

Off to studying....

posted at 5:36 AM by sze

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Sunday, April 11, 2004
Bigfoot.

I have come to a shocking conclusion : My feet are too big.

Now, those of you who know me know that I am always moaning about this but this time, it has become serious: My feet really are too big. Been shopping around for flats/strappy heels/court shoes - nothing fits well. I usually wear a size 9 - but these days, many shops do NOT carry a standard size 9 (my standard size 9 is a Vincci size 9 which fits me well most of the time). If the length fits, usually my feet will look pale and BROAD and yeah it'd look horrible. I am not quite ready to give up aesthetic beauty for pragmatism just yet. These days, I've had to resort to a size 10! And it's awkward wearing size 10s at times, because many times, they are too long for me right in the front part, resulting in many trips and falls.

Anyway, there is something else that I loathe more- shoe thieves.

This is my advice: If you want to steal a pair of women's shoes, leave the size 9s or 10s alone. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO GET A PERFECT FIT?!?!!

This comes out strong as I have a pair of low black heels stolen last year. Finally went out to get myself a pair today. It was because I realised that I do not have an actual presentable pair of shoes for my scholarship interview this week, apart from my Umbro sneakers, Nike crosstrainers and my 3.5 inch high 'dancing heels'. My wedges and 2 other pairs of flats are fast wearing out. Anyway, it was SGD29 for a comfy fit. I am keeping that shop in mind.

I need new shoes. FLATS! And it's not a 'woman's thing' that I am whining. I've worn my flats for at least 2 years and they are all dying on me, one by one. Last night after dinner and grocery shopping at NTUC, I had to walk back to hall with a pair of flats whose soles opened up as I walked.

Next target: Court shoes. And flats. Shall visit Bugis soon.




posted at 4:49 AM by sze

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Friday, April 09, 2004
The end of the slacker day

Godspell was GOOD! It's based on the Gospel of Matthew and the first act basically comprised of songs/acts of 10 parables. It was like sitting through a crash course on Matthew. That, or 10 Sunday School lessons within 1 hour. The 10 actors have pretty good credentials and boy, it would have been tiring to be on stage throughout the entire musical! Singing was good, dancing was good (though you could tell who were the dancer/non-dancer/choreographer) and the thing I loved most was how they moved from one scene to the other.

When they reached the part where Jesus was betrayed and crucified - my heart ached - the same ache that I get everytime I watch the "Jesus" film. Just reminds me what a scum I am. Well, maybe not scum but .... argh you get the picture. And to think I'll be watching the magnified version of it next Saturday - going for The Passion of the Christ then.

On another note - there was this scene where Jesus kissed his male disciples on the cheek. Caused a *slight* uproar - I don't think people really anticipated THAT. Wonder what a HUGE uproar if this had been staged in, say, CGMC *wink*?

Good afternoon spent. The others throroughly enjoyed themselves too. We ended the evening at Holland V's Swensen's - polished off an Earthquake and chip 'n' dip. Not by myself, silly. :)

Totally unrelated:
I've found something that keeps me awake more than anything else. Caffeine never works for me so I can't exactly depend on coffee to keep me awake for late night studying. Anyway - I went for a run (not my first time either) last night - this morning to be exact - at about 1245am. Came back at about 115am - a short one near hall, within campus. It was too freaky to run out of campus at that hour. But that's not the point.

I COULD NOT FALL ASLEEP UNTIL 530am!!!!!!

It was truly irritating. I felt sleepy, my eyes were droopy and I couldn't read anymore. But my body just refused to rest! Asked Justin to give me a massage- which usually puts me to sleep. Didn't work. Since I couldn't read at all, I stayed up until 530am playing silly computer games. Grah.

Someone tell me whether it was really because of the run or was it just plain ol' insomnia?


May have not spent the entire day studying but it was a break well taken. All ready to mug again now.

posted at 8:42 AM by sze

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Thursday, April 08, 2004
I'm off to watch Godspell!

For the past 4 days, my schedule looked roughly like this:

9am- Wake up, shower, grab a quick bite
945am - Seated comfortably at library
MUGGING SESSION IN PROGRESS (albeit a slow one)
630pm - Leave library for hall dinner (yucks)
730pm-930pm - Chill out with whatever programmes Justin the pirate has downloaded (last night it was the pilot episode of Fresh Prince and our daily feed of Whose Line Is It Anyway?)
930pm - eyes droopy time - MUG

Progress has been slow but I've been enjoying it. I enjoy sitting at one corner of the library just reading through my notes, understanding again what I've learnt. My favourite, however, is sitting cross-legged on my chair in my room, studying/making notes while having music and the night breeze in the background.

However, taking a half day break today - going to church to watch Godspell with Justin, Szue Hann and Wei Hui. Excited!

posted at 10:00 PM by sze

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Monday, April 05, 2004
EXAM ALERT

14 April, 9am, GYM
CL1101E
Introduction to Chinese Language

19 April, 5pm, EUSOFF HALL
AS2236
US Media History

20 April, 1pm, EUSOFF HALL
EN3262
Postmodernism and Postcoloniality

22 April, 5pm, AS1-02-01/04
EN3223
19th Century Literature and Culture

24 April, 1pm, AS1-03-01/04
EN3222
18th Century




posted at 8:59 AM by sze

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Sunday, April 04, 2004
Observations (on the MRT again)

#1
This little girl of about 8-9 years old was sitting down while her mom was holding on to the pole. She asked her mother to give her her 'search-a-word' puzzle book which her mom fished out for her from her slingbag together with a pencil. A couple of minutes later, her mother opened up her spectacle case and passed her daughter her glasses, which were still 'folded'.

She exclaimed, "Why can't you even open that for me?"

I was appalled! If I had the guts to say that, I'd have received a tight slap!

#2
This was quite amusing actually. This whole family walked through my aisle, all decked out in gold accessories. I kid you not.

The father was wearing gold bracelets on each wrist, complete with a few chunky golden rings.

Mom was a Malay version of Kirstie Alley ( She really looked like her). She wore about 3 necklaces, one longer and chunkier than the other, while the longest one ended off with a pendant slightly smaller than our EZ link/credit card. I am not exaggerating. 4 chunky bracelets (each with the width of your space bar on your keyboard!) adorning her left arm while her right arm had some gold accessories as well. And don't forget the rings.

2 daughters. The elder one was probably about 10/11 and the sister was a couple of years younger. With elaborately plaited hair (think those MTVs with horrendous Malaysian little girl groups who whine CNY songs) and shiny purple patent boots, both sisters wore 2 necklaces each. Like their mother, one was chunkier than the other and the longest one ended off with a pendant as well. Their pendants were about the size of, err, nearly half of a normal credit card? Of course, and how could their outfits be complete without golden bangles and bracelets on both wrists?

If my mom saw this, her first reaction would be: "bei yan da chiong dou ji gei loh lei lah" (translation: even if they get robbed, they would have brought it upon themselves)

Maybe Singapore is THAT safe after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spent a glorious afternoon alone at the MPH warehouse sale at Expo, all the way at the east of the island.

Of course, I wasn't entirely alone. Hordes of people were there, with running kids and babies. Enid Blyton books were going for SGD10 for 3 while normal fiction books ranged from SGD2-SGD10+ I think.

When I reached and started browsing, there were many people holding on to the MPH cartons, loading up on books. I thought to myself: "Wah, is there even a need?" cos the stack that I was at at that point of time was all chick lit (which frankly I could get cheaper at used bookstores. There, I've said it: I READ CHICK LIT TOO!).

Later on, I too grabbed a carton! Spotted lots of good books (think in terms of Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Puffin "Classics" that kinda thing). However, me is poor foreign student. Walked away with the following:
1. Lord of the Rings trilogy - Have decided to finally jump onto the bandwagon with the people who have the book sitting on their shelf but have never gotten around to reading it yet.
2. Possession - AS Byatt
3. Cane River - Lalita Tademy
4. Moments of Truth - edited by Lorna Sage
5. Still She Haunts Me - Katie Roiphe
and
6. Mister God,This Is Anna - Fynn

6 books for SGD39. I'd say that I have made a pretty good buy.

However, as I stepped into D322, reality sank in.

I CAN'T START READING YET.



posted at 4:42 AM by sze

::::


the girl


sze-lyn
doodler
procrastinator
part time nerd
part time bimbotic shopaholic


Last 10
And so it is.
Cos I am already sick of NIE canteen food
Still learning, after all.
Gah.
1 Tuesday night2 weeks since we've met up3 hours o...
So, stuff have been happening
The only thing that kept me from bursting out in l...
Broken Bridges, anyone?
Weekend, good.
When shall we three meet again?



Links

books actually-- great books at low, low prices!
church of our saviour, singapore
screenshots
voice of malaysia?
mostly fiction
tv smith
fidler on the roof
first-year writing teacher
sixthseal
kenny sia
book blog
tinkerbelle shoppe
--Sharon's website with lots of pretty things!


Magazines/Newsy stuff

singapore news publications
the star
relevant magazine
arts and letters daily
infuse magazine
klue online
boundless


Friends

alvin
andrea
cinny
deferens
eric
fade2grey
geekchic
jerraine
keon
maoma_o
p.chan
psalmistwannabe
ser_pent
shryh
sookyeen
stephen
szep
teck horng
twank
unithoughts
vicki
wye meng
yahkid
yodge



Photos
Random Hall Stuff 02-03
DnD 03
Evermore
DnD 04
Black Russian
DnD 05
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