I'm swamped!! :( Ahhs. Did badly for my first calc midterm but well for my organic chem one.. I wonder why.. Right now I'm pretty darn stressed abt my physical chem final tt's tml. Sighs. I need a break. A real break. Having 1/2/3 midterm every week is not good for the soul, even IF we did come from the highly regimented Singapore education system. This is waaay worse. Trust me on this. The idea of the cycle perpetuating for four whole years is not the least bit encouraging. AHHHH. I need to cut myself some slack.

Sighs. I wonder who told me that college life in the us is easy. That's so not true. I've mugged harder than I ever did in NJ, and it's only the first week of school!! Argh. Problem sets come almost every day and are due virtually the next day. :( I've dropped my writing seminar. It's too tough taking a writing sem with 4 tough courses. So.. right now I'm taking 5 tough courses. Haha. Organic chem, physical chem, calculus 3, intro to micro econs and intro to biotech. Hopefully I'm making the right choice. I'd soon be unable to add writing seminars and language courses.

Nights are spent doing problem sets while days are spent at lessons or simply hanging out. I miss the days in NJ when I was "free" once lessons are done for the day. Right now, I don't feel free. Not even during weekends when there's a pile of work waiting to be done. I could have taken the easy route and take courses like intro to chem and intro to physics, but I thought it'd make more sense to challenge myself to do well in sophmore classes.... it doesn't seem like such a smart idea right now.

In any case, I'm loving penn. 'tis great here, other than the freeze my butt off cold weather and strange sounding english and bad food.. Haha. A sentence of negatives doesn't reflect the fun I've had here. The socials were great, but orientation's over. It's now time to buckle down and get to work. Till winter break at least. :) Wish me luck!!

I've spent 3 days at penn, and it was all pretty good. :) The orientation activities are packed from morning to night, but *coughs* I do not attend every single one of course. :P

The flight was pretty good; I think I'd be taking the same one everytime I fly between philly and singapore.. ;) The guy who picked us up, Alf, was nice and friendly and brought us to this cute trucker diner on the way to penn for dinner.. Surprisingly, both of us were full and didn't eat much..

There's a fresh grocer near my residence which I'm really thankful for. It has pretty much everything! :D Fruits, dairy products, cereals, detergents, water, in short- everything. The prices are pretty reasonable too.. It's a good place to go when I can't sleep at night cuz it's opened 24 hrs..

I think penn is really pretty, even though my room isn't- yet. It'd soon be though. Just give me some time to do it up. :)

Oh no.. My house dean actually told me I talk like I do online.. :( Is that good or bad?? Seems more bad to me..

My roomies have all moved in yesterday, so I'm no longer alone in the apartment. They're all nice and friendly. ;)

I don't wanna take the chem placement test todae. *sulks*

It's 26 more hours till I go.. and I'm really apprehensive. I've met up with almost all the friends I wanna see one last time before gg, and I'd miss everyone like mad! :( Boohoohoo..

Anyways, everything's packed and ready other than my feelings I guess. I've had so much xiao long baos in the past few days that I'm kinda sick of them, but then again, I guess I'd soon crave for them.. AHHH. Sighs. I'm don't feel very coherent. I've had only like what.. 4 hours of sleep last night? I think I'm experiencing college sleeping hours already. :'( How am I gonna survive like this for 4 years? :(((((((

K lah, I'm actually really excited too. ;) I mean, I'd finally get to meet all the interesting ppl I've been talking to on facebook! Haha..

Thanks, my dearies, for the messages, mementos and memories. I love you all. *muacks*

Opps. So this is it: I'm a sporadic blogger. Ahwells. :P Life is good after work has stopped last friday. Lounging around at home is a luxury which I'd miss in the months to come. I've received my allocated time table after advance registration and it's realllllly lousy, but it's alright, after a few persistent visits to penn-in-touch, I am now pretty much enrolled in the courses of my choice sans one, but it'd be rectified soon, once I get permission to register for the sophmore chemistry class.

Hmms. Somehow I feel kinda sad. Perhaps it's cuz I'd be leaving singapore in 5 weeks (and also cuz I'm kinda broke).. There's so many ppl I'd miss! I mean, there's already a number of friends who've drifted away from me since school, and I'm still here!! Wouldn't everything be worse once I'm 10 000 miles away? Sighs. This is depressing. I wish I don't mind endings and new beginnings as much as I do.

Heyos.. Haven't updated in a while cuz I wasn't in the mood. Work is as usual, mundane, and will end in 4 weeks!! I can't wait, although my boss's really nice. Shubs has joined me and all, so.. work's slightly more interesting..

The weekend's been fun; yday was jam packed with activities. I woke up early in the morning to go ecp to cycle with debs, peach and nic. Deb's neighbour wanted to join us and gave debs and me a lift down.. She jogged and was faster than us initially!! We seemed to have had more fun chatting rather than exercising. Hehe. Perhaps we should do sth more strenuous in future.. Went off to parkway for lunch at mos followed by a really looong visit to mango. I tried on a gazillion items but decided not to buy any (which was a good choice).

Deb's neighbour gave me a lift home and i left shortly after taking a bath.. =) Went down to orchard to meet mar and jo and shopped ard mango and zara. The mango at wisma has nicer stuff!! Couldn't resist getting a dark blue thick knit turtle neck and a long sleeve grey tee.. They'd come in handy at penn! While crossing the road to liat towers, we bumped into meera and shubs.. ;) They joined us at zara after gg wheelock place, and peach came soon after. I decided not to get anything cuz of the 2 tops I bought at mango. :( There's lovely shoes!! But they're still not affordable except as a splurge, and I'm saving mine for a lap top bag (mum gave the green light!).

I left them soon after to go to loof for the sporeans at penn gathering. The night was very informative! I bombarded various rising sophmores/juniors with tons of questions.. Hee. They're pretty patient though. I feel relieved after meeting some of the other freshmen. :) It's nice to be able to put faces to the ppl I've been chatting with online..

I made a trip to ecp again today morning, this time for roller blading and breakfast at coffee bean.. ;) Went grocery shopping at parkway with mum aft tt before gg for driving. I can do a 3 point turn now!! Haha. Parking's gonna be next week.. I can't wait.

Does him being able to recognise my number mean anything at all? The feelings I used to have for him bubbled out. Perhaps this isn't a good thing.

I'm pretty stressed at work; too many things to remember, too little time. My shi fu's leaving tml.. So I'd be our boss's full-fledged PA on mon.. Seems worrying, doesn't it? Although responsibility is good, it brings with it stress and worries.

My driving lesson has been postponed to sun; my instructor doesn't think it's a good idea to have my first lesson during peak hours..

Sighs. As you can see, my thoughts are disjointed now. And I know the reason why. :(

Hmms. 1 week of work has flew past and it's now monday again.. I would say that I'm learning quite a fair bit, and have been enjoying my work.. But this definitely isn't my calling. Now, it seems as though everything I've tried isn't my thing. Then what is? I'm kinda worried. What if one day I decide I don't like i banking after interning at one of the i banks? *groans* I worry myself at times..

The past week has really been interesting, adapting to a new work environment, colleagues and all.. I'd say that the interns and my younger colleagues are pretty affable, but with regards to the rest.. well, let's just say they aren't exactly welcoming. My boss's pretty intense; he's serious about his work. I guess he isn't the easiest person to work for, with his exacting standards, but 'tis alright, I'd probabaly live. I tend to be sloppy at times, so I gotta keep myself in check or risk getting a dressing down.

My weekend was a harried rush, with sat being spent shopping around the suntec area with hx, dinner with the family at jln kayu, and sun in a even bigger whirl of activity. Tuition was first, followed by lunch and shopping with shan at orchard, tuition again, then dinner and drinks with sc n mar at serangoon gardens. :) I'm a happy gal though. All set for a week of work. Not so sure if I'm keen on every one of the remaining 8 weeks though.

Oh. I've passed my basic theory!! Haha. Spent less than 15mins doing the test and rushed out to apply for my pdl before going down to work.. yay! I'm starting lessons this wed; hope I won't run into any trouble.. *crosses fingers*

Another piece of good news: I've been accepted to the modern languages programme at penn! ;D I'd be living in german house, this whole floor of german speaking students.. hopefully my german won't deteriorate then..

Work

The last week of R&R before starting work was wonderful.. Met up with jiali and yanglin at holland v for lunch on wed. Yanglin kindly treated us to crys jade la mian xiao long bao. :D We had a nice chat during lunch. Kinda miss our ICES days.. too bad alex wasn't around. ;P Went on to tampines after lunch to get my white belt and key pouch from espirit as it was the last day I could use my 30% discount voucher. I wanted to get lime juice, and was worried that it wouldn't be sour enough. A nice boy behind the counter offered to squeeze an additional 10 limes into my juice.. hee. It was totally sour and yummy!

Went down to the american embassy on thurs to apply for my visa. To my relief, the interview was not the least bit scary. It seemed more like a conversation than anything. :) I was told to collect my visa the coming mon and got it without a hitch. ;) Met mum and sis for lunch at crys jade ginseng (korean) before going down to marina square for some shopping. Strangely, I felt really tired throughout the day. Perhaps it's the stress of applying for my visa.. Got a starbucks frappucino with coffee jelly to perk me up for tutoring later on...

The next day, mar, peach and I went cycling at ecp early in the morn. We spent 2 hrs jetting around, mostly chatting, before taking the bus down to orchard. At my insistence, we lunched at zingdo where I had my beef bi bim bap (again). Hee. I'm definitely a creature of habit. We shopped around, and I bought a lovely denim skirt from mambo.. There was this sale at isetan orchard and the skirt was really worth it. :D shh. don't let my mum know though. She was alr hopping mad about the 2 denim skirts I bought in hk.. Mummy can't tell them apart though. :X

Sat was peach's birthday!! Haha. I met shan at singpost for breakfast at coffee bean.. and went to the cll with her before meeting peach and meera at raffles city for lunch at aiwo.. It was totally delish; I stuffed myself silly. Peach had no idea though, what laid in wait for her.. ;) *sneaky grin* We took the train with meera to orchard (she had to go to work at borders) and went shopping. I bought a pair of beige-coloured 3 inch stillettos to wear to work (but have yet to wear it).. and Peach got her black bolero which caught her eye the day before.. :) The 2 of us had lots of fun wandering ard.. And then came the time to take the train back. I told peach that I'd be gg to my grandma's house (which is v near pj's house) for dinner.. On the train, I asked if I could go with her to her place first at my grandma was at her friend's house and forgot about the time.. *chuckles* To pj's surprise, mar, huiming, jo and tim were inside her house!! Haha. Apparently pj was suspicious as she knew I called her mum, but didn't guess we were throwing her a surprise bbq party! Hee. Sharm, pradeep and li hang turned up after that and we had a really fun bbq+chat even though the fire took ages to strengthen.

Hmm. Somehow what I did on sun eludes me.. I'd presume I spent the day lazing ard at home then. Hehe. Ahhh. And gave tuition in the aft. :)

Mon was my first day at work! I was pretty apprehensive going into a totally new environment and all, but my worries were unfounded. There's many nice friendly interns in my dept! :) Esp allan who's my predecessor teaching me the ropes. I'm really glad for him since it'd be way more difficult being taught by my busy boss.

HK

Heyo.. We're finally back in sg. ;D Our trip was a fruitful one, as evident by the bulging bags we brought back. Hehe. The bellhop as the hotel, as well as the taxi driver who brought us to the airport, thought us pretty hilarious to be travelling alone, and with such huge bags. I overheard them talking to each other in cantonese. Despite not understanding the words they used, I could tell from their way of speech that they were laughing at us.. Ahwell.

The plane ride was pretty uneventful, but we were raring to go, and therefore the 3hr40min ride felt like a really looong time... Upon reaching macau int airport, we hurriedly boarded a cab, and asked the driver to take us to the ferry terminal. Luckily, the driver clarified with us which ferry terminal it was we wanted to go to. If not...... we might have wasted time being sent somewhere else.

Here's a pic of the ferry we took from macau to hk. It was so spacious that I could stuff my huge bag in the leg room and still had lots of space for my legs. :D The one we made our return journey on was bad though. Squeezy and noisy, like a market early in the morning.

Our first stop upon reaching tsim tsa tsui was a pit stop at tang2 chao3 (sweets dynasty) to refuel. Last I was there, they had really delicious double boiled egg white with milk.. Unfortunately though, it was taken off the menu.. Here's a pic of tang2 chao2.. There's loads of ppl enjoying their desserts.. I like the atmosphere there, even though the standard of the desserts has dropped. It bustles with activity, at all times of the day. Despite the name, tang2 chao2 doesn't only serve desserts. They do pretty good meals too.And this is my mango dessert.. It has sago in mango juices, with mango chunks and pomelo as toppings.. ;)

This is mar's mango pudding in a lovely heart shape. We almost forgot to take photographs as the food looked so inviting.

After that, we made our way to ramada hotel on foot, with the help of our trusty map kindly supplied by mar's uncle.. :) Our room's nice. It's on the 18th floor, and comes with a view, albeit one of hk's not-too-pretty skyline. I still wonder why they were so nice to give us a room on the highest floor. The only drawback is that the lifts end on the 17th floor, and we had to climb up a flight of stairs to get to our room, but in any case, how could a lil bit of exercise be bad for us? ;) After doing a lil bit of unpacking, we went meandering down granville road (the road next to our hotel) and found lots of lovely clothes, shoes n bags shops. It's like a road full of shops like those n far east plaza, but mostly at approx half the price and with uncommon apparel.. =) sounds good, doesn't it? We were on a roll peering in all(almost) the shops, exclaming over delightful items.. As we proceeded down nathan road, our stomachs started to rumble.. We started keeping an eye out for a small cosy restaurant with good food and reasonable prices, and found one in the str next to temple str. The food was good and abundant, for a mere S$8 each. :) We ate our fill and proceeded to check out the deals at temple str night market. We found pretty good gifts, as well as a few bags for ourselves.. ;D They're totally unique. I love 'em. We decided to not be lazy and take the mtr.. To reward ourselves for our diligence, we went to xu liu shan for mango dessert before trudging back to the hotel.. I ate sth that's almost identical to what I had at tang2 chao2, other than an additional scope of home-made mango ice cream. :) Mar had sth similar, but with tiny dumplings too.. We walked back, tired but happy..

The next morning, I woke up at 3.30am cuz it was FREEZING. brr. And I thought it's summer. Adjusted the temperature to the hottest, thereby changing the air-con to a heater. Heh. Got up again at 7 though, and couldn't fall asleep again. Mar and I changed and went to scout out the church her uncle wants her to go to.. We didn't see any opened restuarants on the way there and had to wander ard all the way to a short str off haiphong rd. There we found a macau cafe which has been opened since 6.30am.

Here's a hungry me eating my pork chop bun with scrambled eggs. It's not a bad deal. Approx S$4 for a meal with a drink.. I got the yuan1 yang1 every single time. =) It's like milk tea with coffee, and taste really good. I love the pretty tin cups they come in (pictures later).

We went on to wander around harbour city and china ferry terminal as it wasn't time for service yet.. Harbour city is this really posh shopping centre with all the luxury brands.. Walking around there before the shops are opened was pretty fun as we could point and scrutinise the bags/shoes/clothes in the display for as long as we wanted to. :) We proceeded on to china ferry terminal as mar was keen on xu liu shan. Alas, it was not opened yet. We chanced upon this tiny shop selling genuine leather bags on 70% discount!! Mar and I bought a nice bag each. Mine's a dark blue hobo while mar's a mustard yellow in a shape I don't really know how to describe.. We bargained down the price further, and got a really good price for the bags imo. The bag's now in my mum's possession. :)

We then hurried down to st paul's church, which was bursting at the seams. There weren't enough seats for all those attending, and we had to stand in front of the pews for the one hr service.. I'd say that a catholic service is rather different from a christian (or rather a methodist one). It was a pretty interesting experience; the reader was really cute in a father christmas kinda way. ;) As we were leaving the church, it started to pour, but we didn't wanna change our original plan of walking through ladies street before heading to jade market. And that was what we did. Only catch was that the stalls at ladies street weren't fully opened, either cuz it was too early, it was pouring, or a combination of the two. In any case, we were pretty disappointed with ladies street, but decided to walk down to jade market anyway.. On the way, we saw a place selling double boiled egg white with milk!! I was so happy and dragged mar in for a brief respite from the rain.. I found their version delicious, but a lil bit too sweet; mar didn't really like it.. After that, we proceeded down to jade market where we bought a few pretty trinkets. Nothing of much value though, I think, as I was too lazy to bargain down the extremely high prices quoted by the sellers. It's sorta my fault though, I didn't really believe that the items were real and therefore wasn't ready to pay handsomely for the pretty pieces.. Ahwell. When I know my stones better, I'd buy more. :) We proceeded to trek down to harbour city to check out the shops we found interesting earlier on, and trust me, it's a trek, not a short walk. With my birks and mar's crocs sloshing in the rain, we trudged to harbour city.. We meadered through underpasses when available, ran through traffic lights, and finally reached our destination safe, albeit not dry. The trek was good exercise though. We felt hungry and grabbed some jap mochi for lunch. They're the really authentic tasting kind which has to be kept refrigerated, and has an icy smooth texture which I love. How I wish we could bring some home... We didn't spend a long time at harbour city as we were tired after our trek.. Thus, we made a trip back to our hotel to relieve our shoulders of our purchases and rest for a while. However, we were waylaid by the shops along granville road where mar made her purchases of 2 skirts and 2 tops.. :) We went back to try on our purchases and modelled for each other..

We went out again after that to shop around and get dinner. I found mar's skirt so pretty that I bought one too, in a different denim wash.. Mar found a nice rip curl tee/sweater at the same shop. 'twas quite funny that mar described the sales boys at the shop as chickens as they shouted to passerbys to lure them in to the shop.. We wandered ard the area somemore and found a nice noodle restuarant tucked away in a corner. Mar had dumplings with noodles while I had dumplings alone.. :) Their dumplings were pretty darn delicious. :D We proceeded to find the shop where I saw pretty scarves the other day, but weren't successful.. After a while, we decided to get dessert at xu liu shan so as to take a break from our hunt. After a nice long break, during which mar had her usual while I got the harsmar double boiled egg white with milk, we went on another round and discovered that the particular shop was closed for the day. Ahwell. 'twas no wonder we couldn't spot a shop selling scarves..

The next day (ie. day 3), we went back to the same macau cafe as I was craving for my pork chop bun.. Hehe. Then, we went on to take the mtr to causeway bay where we wandered ard sogo, bought belts at giordano to keep mar's skirt from slipping down.. After a while, we took the mtr again to central where we wandered down li yuen str before reaching the mid levels escalators.. Mar wasn't very keen on going higher up, so we went on to take the mtr to admiralty where we visited the spacious and luxurious pacific place. =) And that's where I came to meet my lovely nike bag. It's a steal, at half the price it would have cost in sg, so I'm pretty darn happy I bought it. Mar got herself a bright yellow nike messenger bag from the same shop which has yet to appear in sg. :) I then tried the xiao long baos at the food court but they weren't very good.. I miss crys jade la mian xiao long bao! We went to great supermarket to get bread for tml's ferry ride.. and check out the interesting goodies. I bought a barrett's jelly babies snack pack! :) They're really delish.. my fav jelly babies. Cold storage stocked them for christmas, but they are not to be found after the festive season.. Ahwell. We did some mall walking while mar ate her bread, and got ourselves some weird looks from the other shoppers. What's wrong with two teenage girls in a luxury shopping mall???? :P

In any case, we were tired, and wanted to go back to our hotel room to pack.. but before that, we went back to get a second identical denim skirt each. Ok, they aren't exactly identical since they're of different washes, but still the same design. :) We then painstakingly stuffed everything (almost) into our bags.. Mar wanted to nap, but I was restless. I convinced mar to go gai gai with me at harbour city as I wanted to get my sesame mochi. ;) After much ado, we chanced upon a nice looking shanghainese noodle restuarant and were tempted by their tea time sets which included a drink. As usual, I had my dumplings with yuan yang and mar had her dumplings with noodles and a almond drink.. With our tummys happily filled, we proceeded to harbour city to shop to our wallet's content. I felt very broke looking at the lovely clothes and bags in the shops.. :( And then I decided to heck it, and charge whatever catches my eye.. :X Almost immediately after that, I saw a cute powder blue nike bag in the shape of a flower basket, and thus bought it. It's a design which the nike shops in sg do not carry! ;) Isn't it sufficiently unique? Mar spent the last of her money on a looooong shrug. 'tis pretty.. Haha. We were pretty reckless that night. We walked back satisfied with having made the most out of our hk trip.. n ended the night with a mango drink from xu liu shan.. ;D

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to cab down to the ferry terminal.. I looked longingly at the bag shop but it wasn't opened yet (it was sth like 8am). :X Haha. I regret not buying more.. ahwell. The ferry ride wasn't exactly the most comfortable I've had. The ferry was packed with so many passengers it felt like a market place early in the morning.. :( Mar and I kept eating our mochi and jelly to distract ourselves from our surroundings. ;) Upon reaching macau, we hailed a cab to senado square with our luggage in tow as there weren't any lockers to be found. For the entire day, we dragged our bags up and down the stairs (the shops in senado sq are mostly 3 storied).. But then, it was a rewarding day as we found too- good- to- be- missed bargains all around. =) We lunched at this lovely chinese restaurant where they actually seated us in an alcove for 8 ppl.. Mar and I had our usual noodles and dumplings with a dish of eggplants in this special hong2 shao1 sauce. It was totally delicious! :D Not bad for a lunch of approx S$10 in a beautifully decorated restaurant. After proceeding with more shopping, we were shagged from hauling our luggage ard and went for a 1.5hr rest stop at starbucks. Their venti is called te1 da4 (extra large), while their grande is called da4 (large). I sillily ordered the large, thinking that it's the venti as in singapore.. Ahwell. Soon after, we went to espirit to take a look before having double boiled egg white with milk.. =) Mar almost killed me for ordering an extra pork chop bun to takeaway for dinner. We were left with 58 patacas for the taxi ride.. :X To our relief, the taxi ride costed sth like 56 patacas.. *phew* We were v worried for some time as there was a jam.. But then, we still got to the airport safely. :D

We're now at the budget terminal, waiting to board our plane.. I managed to sneak my 8kg bag through the check in counter. Hehe. This place is pretty spartan, but it has sufficient shops I guess; 'tis better than some of the "international" airports I've been to where there's downright nowhere to kill time prior to boarding..

Yesterday was my last day at aj. It was challenging, but also extremely rewarding. The conversations I've had with my darlings in the past week let me saw how they view me and our lessons.. Most of them saw me as friendly and eager to help them learn, but at the same time, I am afraid that I was perhaps too much of a friend to them, such that they weren't "afraid" of me, and therefore didn't take physics that seriously despite my encouragement to do so. But then again, I would miss the connection that we've had, the talks which we had.. I didn't take any photos, as I wanted to preserve the images of the times I spent there in my heart. I guess by taking pictures, I would actually be giving myself permission to rely on the photos rather than my memory..

Met up with angeline after work to check out the GSS. There were throngs of ppl!! It definitely didn't seem like a friday afternoon, but then again, I suppose most ppl took leave to check out the sale.. I bought a lovely khaki coloured straight skirt which I plan to wear in uni.. =) 'tis super easy to wash and iron.. I've a feeling it'd be one of my favourite skirts soon..

I feel really tired. I've no idea why, but I had to drag myself out of bed today to make it to school on time. Why isn't 8 hrs of sleep sufficient for me? :(

Mar and I would be going hk in 2 days! Hah. Hope we'd have lots of fun.. I'd bring pretty photos back.

It'd be my bdae exactly one month from today. No longer would I be 18. 19 sounds pretty darn old.

My colleague and I checked out breeks/zingdo at amk central yday.. The bi bim bap wasn't as good as the branch at taka, I suppose cuz the chef doesn't get much opportunities to hone his bi bim bap cooking skills. They've this porridge buffet for lunch (at breeks, yes I know), and most patrons came in for the buffet. Poor chefs. They seldom get to prepare food from the menu. We had quite some fun eating and teasing each other. Before walking back to sch, we went ntuc, and I bought a box of yummy meiji ice cream. I ate one on the spot, but he didn't want any, so I've 5 more sticks sitting in the freezer waiting to be shared with the rest. Shall ask them later.

My dentist made me wait for ages again. Sat in the waiting room reading my book, and was about to doze off when he came in.. I'm to be extra careful with my teeth. According to my dentist, most cavities surface during the wearing retainers stage. :( ahhhh. He showed me the models of my teeth before putting braces and after. The difference is pretty significant. The pain was worth it I suppose..

I was totally flabbergasted on mon when one of my H2 classes asked me what the kinematics equations are. I was already shocked earlier this term when my H1 class asked me that, but for H2 students to not know their kinematics equations at the end of term 2 is downright atrocious.. ARGH. I feel so.. inadequate. The students themselves aren't exactly keen on helping themselves, so whatever I do isn't gonna help them that much. :(

On a lighter note, I met debs after school to shop the sales.. Hee. Our first stop was tangs, where I showed debs the tocco bags I was enamoured with. To my delight, there's a new colour for a design I like!! I didn't get the other one cuz it's a bluish green which wouldn't exactly go with the items in my wardrobe.. But they had one in a deep purple!! Haha. I couldn't help but buy it. ;D Debs fell in love with a peachy pink one, and bought it too.. The designs are similar though not identical.. :) Hee. I'm gonna build upon my collection of leather bags. We wandered around some more, looking, but not commiting ourselves to other items as we could ill afford to do so, but ended up with some gel cushions for our shoes to keep our feet comfy during further shopping trips. =) I haven't yet decided if the cushions should go into my new stiletto pumps or my aldo flats.. Hmm. Tough choice. I shall sleep on it.

Sat was NJ's college day.. Went back with mar and peach on mar's insistence. 'twas pretty.. nostalgic I guess. Lots of conflicting feelings. I miss jc life a lot. Having all (almost) my closest friends in the same compound for most parts of the day means being surrounded with ppl I love.. There's always someone to talk to, someone to commensurate with, someone to organise outings to sixth ave with, someone to plan shopping trips with.. It's only after starting to work that I realise how precious this was. On the other hand, it's pretty liberating to chat with teachers as more or less equals, to not have to run and hide when the discipline mistress approaches, to not care when evil teachers cast disapproving glares.. Hehe. I'd always miss nj in any case. The long "study" sessions in the library during which we'd more often than not end up chatting or fooling around, trying to study in the german room with most of s23 around, running around the sch looking for teachers (or most ks) and end up entering the classroom sheepishly 10 mins late.. Bantering with mrs chiew and ms wong during tutorials, distracting mrs chiew with weird meowing sounds during lessons, passing notes with debs during lectures to discuss our plans for after sch activities.. I don't know. Somehow, I wish jc didn't end.

Mar, peach and I ran out early, and went down to orchard first.. We were strolling ard Tangs while waiting for meera and jo when I saw lovely tocco bags on sale!! I love tocco bags for their super soft and comfy leather, and pretty hues.. as well as their more reasonable prices. Alas, I've no money to spare cuz of the hk trip. Had to rein in my desire to acquire those lovely bags.. :( ahwell. Hopefully I'd be able to find nicer stuff in hk. 6 more days to go!

I miss German

Here's a pic of Nadine and Carolin, my two lovely german gals.. I miss them!!!
On a random note, here's a caricature of Albert Einstein, whom I did my coursework on.. (okok, you all can probably guess that I'm missing german)

And here's a pic of me with my nice long fringe before it all got snipped off. ARGH. I look like a silly thing right now. I'm never entrusting my hair to undeserving souls any more.

I miss my darlings!!

My darlings were so sweet last thursday when I told them their teacher's coming back today.. I miss them!! :( Oh. I've gotten my retainers, and they're a horrid hassle, but virtually no pain at all.

Hmms. The weekend was pretty fun; fridae was spent at ecp for a s23 gathering.. Debs came by to pick mar n me up before driving us down.. =D Hehe. Debs and I bladed while mar and peach cycled while waiting for the rest to turn up.. Twas fun blading with debs, but there's way too many ppl at ecp.. Wanna go back v early in the morn. :) Everyone managed to be persuaded to lunch at kenny rogers and we spent.. more than 2 hrs there eating and chatting. Hehe. The staff there is pretty nice; they didn't try to chase us away. I love kenny rogers side dishes. :D Twas all yummy.. I had to leave early to pick dad up at the airport. We were kinda early so we waited at starbucks and I had my dose of coffee jelly frappucino.. Sis and I went to candy empire to stock up on candies too. Hee.

Went for a psychometric test on sat morn at the civil service college.. There were so many ppl!! Agh. My chances are slim.. Met up with shan after that to shop around orchard, but there were simply too many ppl ard!! :( We had a lovely lunch at zingdo though. Hehe. My second beef bi bim bap last week.. Saw nice nine west shoes, but they're oh-so-impractical.. Haha. purple mules with a big purple flower and white tapered heels.. So lovely!! omg. They're discounted some more.. My rational self got the better of me, and so I didn't buy them, but I feel like going down today to take a second look......

Sunday was tuition day, as per normal, had quite some fun cuz we did topics which I like.. First order differential equations, probablity and discrete random variable.. :) Went for a hair cut at night, and it's preeeetty horrid cuz my fringe's too short. Ugh. I'm not cutting my fringe again. Sis bought venezia ice cream home for me.. Hehe. Green tea and youghurt. *smacks lips*

Today morning was gone in a blur.. Was rushing through spa marking as well the totaling up ct scores.. I can feel a headache coming up..

Silly me

Argh. I simply assumed that there was stammtisch on mondae cuz they always have it on the first mondae of every month, only on the second mondae when the first falls on a public holiday, which is what happened this month. Never did I think that marche would be closed for renovations. Peach and I were astounded when we couldn't find an entrance into marche. :( Aftre confirmingiwth the information counter.. *gasps* marche would be closed till end july. That's really sad. I'd have to go to suntec to get my dose of marche and the cooking there simply isn't on par with the heeren branch. In any case, peach and I met up with em at heeren before deciding to go zingdo at ngee ann city on my suggestion. :D For the uninitiated, zingdo's combined with breeks at ngee ann city's 5th floor.. So.. Diners can order from both menus, and enjoy american and korean food at the same time. Lovely, isn't it? I love their beef bi bim baps!! They give hearty portions (unlike miserly foodcourt korean stalls) and use authentic ingredients. Yum yum. I still wanna go there again this week!! I'm a gal possessed. It was a lovely night.. chatting away with em n peach. Chatting on the way home with em was delightful too.. I miss em.. Haha. Think I haven't seen her in.. at least 2 months before mondae.

I dropped by at the german embassy before going to sch to get my certs certified.. So.. I suppose that means I'm applying to tum. =D There was a loooong queue even before the embassy opened at 9. Rushed back to sch and hurriedly did my marking to get them back to the students during their lecture.. I went to the yio chu kang driving centre yday after work to register for my basic theory test.. I had no idea that it'd be so crowded. The entire waiting area was filled with so many ppl!! There was a queue of 30+ ppl waiting to be registered.. n so I took out my mag to read. The waiting took more than an hr, leaving my poor tummy rumbling for substenance.. :( I can't believe I actually thought I could simply breeze in and register just like that.

weekend

lalalala. I love weekends. :D Slept over at deb's on fridae night; debs actually drove down to pick me up! Thanks debs! =) It was fun chatting late into the night.. until we dropped off for good. The next morning, debs and I went to pick her bro up from pasir ris. The boys coming down from the tekong bus look really similar!! They're almost clones of each other.. Hehe. I thought I've spied someone, but then again, my eyes could simply be playing tricks on me. We wanted to suntan, but ominous dark clouds and occasional rain droplets made us put our plans on hold, and changed out of our bathing suits. Only then did the sky clear up. It felt as though the weather was purposedly making a fool of us. In any case, we had a nice time tanning on the beach chairs. The only thing I loathe about tanning is sweating. I was forced to take occasional dips in the pool in order to bring down my body temperature... washing some of the tanning oil off in the process. 'tis no wonder that debs acquired a darker tan than mine. Haha.

Went to my grandma's in the evening to celebrate my lil cousin's first month.. He's totally adorable!! He exudes quiet confidence and poise, unlike his brat of an elder sister. He allows me to carry him without protest!! Haha. I'm charmed. I love this lil cousion of mine who's almost 19 years younger than I am..

Sundae was spent giving tuition.. 'tis challenging teach boys a mere year younger than me, that's for sure, but I can't say I do not appreciate the challenge. :D

One of my colleagues drove to school today in his friend's car. We went amk library to return books, had lunch at a nice coffee shop, and bought snacks at ntuc before returning back to school. Haha. I love excursions.

Week in recap

Hmms. Nus only gave me chemical engineering.. Ahwell. I feel so tempted about applying to tum.

This week flew past pretty quickly, probably cuz mon was a public holiday.. On tue, I dropped by the central lending library to get more fab reads before meeting nic at raffles city for dinner at cedele. I had their sweet corn and red pepper soup while nic had the creamy mushroom. I absolutely love cedele. :D Their soups taste so.. satisfyingly filling. We proceeded to marks n sparks to get sweets (fruit sherbets for me, fizzy piglets for nic), and hurried to the esplanade to catch the string orchestra performance. Luckily, we were just in time.. ;) The performance was pretty good- short and sweet. Met Mrs Marianne Tan there.. and had an interesting conversation with her. :) After the performance, debs and I waited ages for 70 before squeezing onto a very packed one.. Luckily, the bus emptied out at guillemard road, allowing debs n I to sit tog and have a nice chat. ;D

Rushed down to my dentist after school on wed to have my braces removed after a tortorous hour of my dentist scrubbing at my teeth. Yay. No more cement and yucky brackets! Shall go back next week to get my retainers.. in the meanwhile, my teeth are free! :D Hehe. Went down to polished diva for a pedi while waiting for mar to get off work.. We then proceeded to chinatown to get hkd for our upcoming trip. :) 22 more days to hk!

Went queensway with mum on thurs to get my lovely purplish pink nike bag. :D Although it doesn't yet qualify as a steal at 15% off, I couldn't resist. At least I've saved $10+ yea? :) Shall resist temptation for the rest of the month to prevent my bank balance from dwindling any further.. It's in a pathetic state right now. :(