The Happenings in August

Yahoo!

Week 5 had been amazingly FINE for me. Started my weekend on Wednesday after 10.30am. Apparently, one of my history modules which was supposed to be Monday 5.30, Wednesday 2.30, and Thursday 9.30 was on E-Learning! The timings were off. And I'm glad that it happened this week. I still need more anyway. =P Been studying the whole week. Been exhausted from readings after readings. Been excited about the coming recess week. Bahaha. I know. I'm still enjoying my LONGEST weekend this week. =) So what were the happenings since the last time I updated this blog? August 27 -- Blood Donation Drive organized by BA Club. I was just helping to mend the booth. I was thinking of donating, but when I checked..my pressure was barely 100! No surprise though. I had had low blood pressure before. My friends suggested me to eat more iron. Dig some, guys. Feed me then. =P At 3 PM, I had a rehearsal for the next day's event. Yeah. The FPO contacted me to be an emcee for this event. It had been a year since I emcee-ed something. The great thing was ... it was all prepared by the office. The script, and everything. I only need to show myself there. Present it well. And voila! The only thing that I had problem with was the pronunciation of names. Gosh! I read Hung as "Hoong" when it's suppose to be the 'Hung' in William Hung. Diao! So glad that I rehearsed that well. August 28 -- Waited almost 5 hours for the event. In the morning, Wan Kay asked me to join her in Learning Fest--MONOPOLY, organized by Club Jeux. Since I had nothing to do, might as well go there and make new friends. =P And so I did. The people there were really cool. They influenced me to join Club Jeux, yo.

Learning Fest with Club Jeux

Then at 4 PM, the NIE Passion and Club Award began. I was wearing batik (told one of the NIE staff who's organizing this that I'm proud of my country..hence I'll be wearing my "costume"). When I met her, her face brightened. She said, "Nice batik!" Hehe. Thank you momma, fifty thou is nothing compared to looking good. Hehe. The event went well. Only lasted for an hour. Did I talk too fast? =O I think I was nervous. But who cares! I sailed through successfully. Thank God for His favor.

Speech and lots of drama.

Prof. Goh, my ex-GESL facilitator

Mrs. Seah who told me that she liked my hairstyle. =P

With ex-em-cee, Faeez

NIE babes (75% Historians)

With Club Jeux again.

Blue is her favorite color

It was planned that after the event, Wan Kay and I would go Clarke Quay to have our drinks and enjoy our Thursday evening. A girl's day out! She was all prepared with the camera, that's why I had these pictures. But most importantly, she wanted to take pictures of narcistic self. Not saying that I am. Ahem.

We went to Cafe Iguana. Ordered my usual Mango House Margaritta with salt, while she ordered Lime blended margaritta. After a few sips, yes ... Wan Kay was blushing. Permanently blushing for an hour or so. There are evidence in that. Please refer to pictures below to guess the proceeding events before we call the night off.

She's not drunk, guys. Her blood pressure just went "up".

Viewing the River

Escalator up!

Doesn't it look like a movie poster?

The ultimate favorite picture of mine!

wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday

Wednesday

The eve of exam. I planned to study in Macs the whole day with Iggy and to meet Jeans for lunch too. Iggy and I were already in Macs. Just a few minutes after we sat down, Tera called regarding the class T-shirts. The company had problems with the images. They could not stretch the designs into maximum quality. That means, I have to send them pictures with higher pixels. That day I did not bring my laptop. I was a bit upset though, but I did go back home in the end. I decided to study at home. I dragged Iggy along. Cut the story short, I sent the designs to the company before lunchtime. Jeans came for lunch too. Before lunch, some things happened. It let me down. It was really a disappointment, especially when I'll be having exam the next day. I tried to forget by singing songs (I'm on the piano and Jeans, Iggy, and my sis sing). After the sing-along sessions, we walked to Hougang Interchange to grab bubbleteas. I wonder whose idea was it. I must say that Wednesday had been the toughest day of the week. I'm so glad that I got a chance to pray about it with my fellas. They're a real encouragement to me. I believed that tomorrow will be better than today.
Thursday

And it was. Besides finishing Dr. Rahil's exam, I felt overjoyed and encouraged by my friends. Historians united. The class T-shirts were delivered early in the morning. Tera, Jeans, Wanyee, and I were planning to wear them to the examination hall. I thought we all should, but I don't feel good telling the others to wear the shirts coz if not that'll make me look like I'm "bragging" about my designs. I was abit disappointed when some of them were not wearing the shirts after they bought them. But miraculously...15 minutes before we enter the hall, I saw almost ALL of them wore the shirts! Even when we enter, I saw Dr. Rahil's shocked face. It was like the attack of black ants! The rest of the people in the hall also stared at us. They called us snooty! Ahem. Who else if it wasn't the Chemistry student (you know who u are!). I was and still am overwhelmed. I have great friends!

Friday

The day of freedom. Finished the other and last paper! Australia!!! Why are you so complicated?! Well, not really. I think I'm gonna score well for this module anyway. =P As long as I'm happy, everything will look good to me. I came to school early to study and in less than 6 hours, I was done with the paper. I was in a state of shock. I still wasn't feeling the victory yet! Even in the bus, I was quiet. There were still remnants of the convict period, Vietnam War, and feminist writers. =S

Front design. Courtesy of Jean's FB picture.

After eating dinner with Wan Kay in JP (the Hokkien Mee!), I contemplated to go either with my Aunt or to Life Group or home. I decided to go LG instead. And I was truly blessed that I came. I got to share testimonies and be blessed too. Ate Ash messaged me that night. She was sad because I'll be going back to Indo (for a 2 month vacation) on Sunday. Before that, Wan Kay already said that she'll be missing me too. I told her, imagine after graduation. Her face was red! I was sad too. Again ... I thank God for great friends! I'll miss all of you. It's not over. We still have 2 more years to be hyped about! Agree?

Saturday

The packing begins in the morning. I was still shocked that I finished my semester! Nothing else to study when everyone else are still studying and exam-ing. In the afternoon, I met Wan Yee. Our appointment was impromptu. I only asked her out in the morning. She had nothing to do, sick of studying, and lived nearby, so why not. We watched the randomest movie ever: The Escape from Huang Shi. It was based on a Western guy's life who went to Nanjing and then to Huang Shi to help the orphans. It was abit gory and of course, historical movies expect you to let go of your emotions. Wan Yee cried at the end. Hehehe.
After the movie, we went shopping! The best day ever! I felt my freedom then and there. Haha. I bought 1 Forever21 sweater, 1 Forever21 short-sleeved jacket, one Zara cardigan. I nudged Wan Yee to buy a green cardigan from Zara. And she did. Looking forward to see you wear 'em when you're here, babe!

The day did not end there. I went for music practice then recording studio in the evening. My sister, Mark, P.Neli, and I recorded P.Neli's "rap" song somewhere in Potong Pasir. It took us about 2 and a 1/2 hours to complete. My takes for the bridge seemed forever. I was also upset at myself for not hitting the first four notes strongly! In the end, we stick to another arrangement. We'll see how it goes when I'm back. But it's a wrap!

sunday, monday, tuesday

Hey hey!

I've been physically and mentally tired this week. Starting from Sunday, when I stayed up late to finish my English lesson plan which was to be submitted the next day before 12 noon.

SUNDAY

On Sunday, Ate Ashley invited me to her house. I was quite worried coz what if I cannot finish my work. But then somehow I said yes. And I even suggested to sleep over at her place, given that from her place to Boon Lay is nearer. And so I did. Merryn was there too. We watched MSA's West-Side Story and they were pretty amazed at the number of mics we used! Haha.
Ate Lea cooked dinner for us. We ate a mixture of brown, white, and Jasmine rice (Ate Ash cooked that!), this soup thing, and fried fish. YUUUUUUMMMM! It's Filipino food, but I loveeeee 'em. I must confess that I went 5-6 rounds of rice because I enjoyed it so much.

I somehow managed to finish my lesson plan at 11 pm.And before sleeping, Ate Ash and I played Viwawa (Sushido) for a while. We got lag problems, so we decided to stop. We slept in the living room, on the sofas. I couldn't sleep until 1ish. I guess too much to think about. But I managed to rest my body.


MONDAY

The submission date! I was in campus from 8.45 AM. I went to the computer lab and met Jonathan Boey and gang. Apparently, they too wanted to print out lesson plans. 10 AM, almost everyone who's taking English CS module flocked the computer lab. It was such a hilarious scene. Btw, I met my Secondary school experience mate, Aishah (Malay Lit), in computer lab. Been a looooooong time. She's still nice as usual. Haha!

I met Wan Kay, Wei Boon, and Iggy and we decided to submit the assignments together. After that, I planned to stay in school to study for my Australia exam on Friday. Wei Boon was also in Australia (Yeah! The class has only 7 people. The rest took Europe). As we were walking down to eat our lunch, I broke my sandals! The strap came off! It was so irritating! In the middle of the campus, and it was RUINED?! It happened in LT01, in between block 5 and 7. So I sat down with those two people and we're thinking how to solve this problem. The guys, being guys, said to staple it. (Anyone wanna comment on this?) I somehow thought of people in hall. And the first one that I had in mind was ROSENNA! It was also so coincidental that she was leaving hall to meet her friend in campus. After I hung up, I was thinking...that's really strange, I didn't even have to think twice to call her. Somehow, I realized that I called the right person. She has petite feet like me, she knows style, she stays in hall, she has spare sandals? (Rosie, if you're reading this, you're a miracle!;P)

We waited for about 10 minutes and she brought me the sandals. Amazingly, it's the type that I wanted since agessss ago. It was a black Roxy strap sandals. The sandals that I wanted to buy was Havaianas, but I figured that it's the most expensive sandals ever. Rosenna said she's giving these sandals to me. I was shocked. Her reason was that she didn't use them anymore coz it causes blisters and it's too big for her. At that moment I was still shocked. But then I was excited (yes, for a pair of sandals). I felt sad too when I had to throw away my broken old pair. My old pair would be one year old this June. *Sniff*. But once you let go of the past, you'll receive a better future. Thanks Rosie!

Monday was studying time with Wei Boon, Iggy, and Wan Kay.
We stayed there until 6.30ish. We had dinner in the new Canteen A! But we ordered Macs. =P Subway was terrible. The queue was horrible. Iggy was able to get Subway because he queued up first. The rest of us, including Moi whom we met in the library, ordered Macs. We were also coincidentally seated in groups. Iggy was alone on one side and the four of us on the other.

Subway versus Macs.

Hilarious! It was such a lovely day. And I did "learn" something at least.


TUESDAY

Went to AMK library with Iggy, Wei Boon, and Eric to study for Thursday exam. It was about Historical Interpretations, the philosophy of history, rather than the usual content-based history modules. It was the toughest, and I can assure you that everyone agrees with me. For both Iggy and I, the date of assignment submission was too close with the exams. We only had 3 more days left to study our history. For me, I only had 3 days to study for BOTH exams because I only had 2 papers, one's on Thursday and another on Friday!

WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY

* to be continued *

ARGH! There's so much things to talk about! I'll try to finish 'em somehow. Thursday and Friday was the best!

Stressed is Desserts Spelled Backwards

Before I start blabbering, I just read an email from my 7 years and 11 months cousin. She wrote:

Stesha D. to me

show details 3:18 PM (7 hours ago)

hello, what are you doing i am at school. when are you going back to jkt. bye

I think that is really cute. Well, apparently, I will be going back Indo in a while. Phew. It'll be a 2 months holiday and I can't wait til exam ends.

I wouldn't call myself a mugger coz I don't think I can ever be one. I cannot study the whole week for exams coz I feel that it is a waste of time, especially when I got stressed in the process. I am the type who learns along the way. So, for the whole semester (13 weeks), those are the times when I study. I cannot study too much because in the end, whatever comes out from my pen on my essays will be things that I already thought about and able to relate to. Besides, education is about life change. I guess for me, grades are not that important. Don't take it to the extreme side, of course, who wants to get a C or D! But grades are just bonuses. And it is not the ultimate goal in education. Though, I must confess that I did get several A's in my last semester. But I didn't try too hard, you see. I enjoy what I was doing. No wonder they always say to do the best in what you are interested in. Because you don't need to try hard to achieve better results. Enjoying the subject is the most crucial point in education. Less stress but achieve perfectness.

You know, lesson plans are stressing me out, but at the same time kinda motivates me to be creative. It's all part of learning. I don't have to know everything to write lesson plan. We are not expected to write so much since it's our first year right? But at the same time, we should not reject the mistakes. It is okay to make mistakes. We learn along the way.

Stressed is Desserts Spelled Backwards.

The funny thing is that our English CS tutor closed the FAQs on the 7th of April. Any questions asked beyond that date will not be replied. She even posted another reminder to say that she was not going to answer anymore questions. So, guess what.. I counted.. at least 5 people came to me for advices by means of MSN, sms, one to one, etc. It's really funny coz it's as if I'm playing the second role (substitute role) of my tutor. I'll get questions EVERYDAY! I think I should open FAQs session in my blog eh? =P

Oops. It's 11.30 already. I better sleep. 6.45 tomorrow. Wake me up again! ;)

[MFLW] I ate ayam penyet today with my sis, Love, and Rosna. THANK YOU ROSNA FOR THE TREAT! =D

List #1

Hey Hey!
I finished with school. No more morning classes. No more lectures. No more going to Boon Lay with heavy bags! But, I still have 2 exams on April 17 and 18. Then I'm gonna fly back to Indo to enjoy my 2 months holiday. Yummy!
Can't believe that I'm almost a Year 3 student. Time flies really fast. And fast enough to get me back to where I belong, leaving Singapore. There's, of course, excitement to go back home, but on the other hand, there's always the feeling that I'll be leaving my other home too. Especially the people I love and care for. ALOT of them! And it's impossible to name you all one by one. It's just amazing how God placed them as part of my life. I know I'm blessed with such wonderful friends. =)

In this appreciation list, there aren't any names that are more important than the others. No hierarchical order. All are equally important. Thank you...

1. NIE

• Tera, Sze Jia, Thomas, Wan Yee, Jeanette, Iggy

Sze Jia and I rollerblading in East Coast Park.

Thomas and I on a Heritage Trail to Civic District.

Above left to bottom left: Wan Yee, Sze Jia, Jeanette, and I @ NIE Canteen level 2 - celebrating Tera's birthday.

• History mates

ALMOST all history people (July '06 intake) are here celebrating Tera's 20th birthday.

After Dr. Fernando's Early Modern Southeast Asia class. Left to right: Kain, Terence, Iggy, Anna, Bernard.

Tera's house.

Iggy crying over spilt-milk @ Max Brenner.

• Rosenna, Wan Kay, Melvyn, Wayne Onn, Melvin, Faeez, Tze Wei

Rosenna pointing at my wound in the bus.

Wan Kay and I studying for Math.

Faeez, Melvin Chin, and I after NIE Grand Welcome 2007.

Melvyn, Wan Kay, and I concentrating in class.

• Abang Sherefudin

Fullerton.

Giver of Logitech webcam for my 20th birthday.

• Other beautiful people!

AED 102 Project Group - Yvonne Ho, Adelene, San Yi, Kai Jun, me

Roy, borrow laptop arh?!

Historians and one Literature boy.

ICT project group - Me, Adelene, Michelle, Hakim.

ICT last day with Yuyan.

Secondary school experience with Huda and Aishah.

And many other people whom I have never taken picture with! Uni life rocks because of ya'll! =)

I am very much grateful for those people whom I always can count on, especially tutoring me in my school subjects, giving me insights, comments, debates, and EVERYTHING just to see me excel in my studies. I'm sure God'll bless you. You know who you are =D