Thursday, September 27, 2007  10:47 PM
Twentyonemoredays
Twenty-one more days, and I'll be right back where I belong, even if it's just for the weekend. I don't think my heart ever left the life I left behind, although I only have memories to rely on now. Still, who cares. Yay yay yay.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007 12:44 AM
4PE class reunion
Five years on, and we've all trodden on different paths after that last exam paper, when we knew it would be a certain end to one part of our lives - those wonderful four years in secondary school. And how time changes things, the fleeting element of time strikes me as a frightening prospect, at twenty-one, some of us are already working. In the United States as a producer of documentaries and films, as a research assistant at a local university, some of us have gotten an overseas education - UK being the most popular choice - and yet some of us are still stuck here sunk in the depths of this education system that we've been desperately trying to get out of since we were eight. Yet when we come together, it is all smiles, loud outbursts of laughter and hours of reminiscing those days. It didn't seem like that long ago, yet five years sounds like an eternity. Being an SCGS girl is something I'd never give up for anything else, and thinking back, oh how wonderful and carefree. Everyone remembers the same funny moments. The physics lesson in the lab where the small Vietnamese girl in our class got scolded because the teacher thought she wasn't standing up to greet her because the benches covered most of her, the time when the same teacher mispronounced a girl's name, calling her "dung" literally of all things, the loud shrill voice of our English teacher when she breezed into class, always fifteen minutes late, claiming she was "in a meeting" with some "important people". And that time when the form teacher in secondary one tripped and fell over some wiring, cracking the overhead projector, and everyone could see that crack right in the middle on the lighted screen above her. The nicknames we used to give our teachers - professing some lesbians just because they live together and shop at supermarkets together (although I highly believe that one is true), the one who should really live in an igloo because she looks like an eskimo - we called her ginamo - or the Amath teacher "mosquijoo" just because she looks like a mosquito. And who could forget the Chinese teacher Lizard Cheong who thought it would be a miracle if I could get a B because she always said my "造句"'s were literal translations from English to Chinese (hah, I proved her wrong). The category games and Kallang waves started by my best friends during Amath lessons once Mosquijoo's back was turned, the backstabbing when some people tried to tell us off for doing the Kallang wave in class, the race for meepok every recess - it came down to the sprinters running down to chope places in the queue. I became a category game expert as well, with answers to every movie, actor, actress, flower, country, song or brand starting with any letter from A-Z. And unlike Bo, I didn't have a secret cheat sheet which she prepared at home just for the competition during Amath lessons. But that also meant I never grasped relative velocity. Being sports representative in secondary school meant my class had slack PE lessons, because we always fought for baseball, netball or the occasional soccer. We would pretend to be the famous players in leagues. I was only good at appearing fast around the soccer field, but no one really passed the ball to me. In ten years our lives will change again. And that moment when we sang Vitamin C's "Graduation Friends Forever" on the stage during graduation day will only seem like an even more distant memory.
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Sunday, September 23, 2007 12:25 AM
China funnies
I looked through the China pictures and started laughing. I have an impossible amount of work to do, but I figured doing this post would be good for my personal well-being before I begin trudging through the sickening path of work. These are my favourite funny moments.  Some pointless birds.  In Shanghai, when Vic and I tried to do an exuberant happy pose in the middle of the bustling food street. I got so excited I tripped and fell all over her, in the process stealing all the limelight.  We love making Zhuomin jealous.  The pigeon and Minxiu Wu.  Guess who's the culprit behind this disgusting mess, and it appeared so deliberate. That entire moment unfolded in front of my eyes, and someone's jeans got soiled in the process. What is Mr. Koay doing?  The Chinese description is so lengthy, warm and genuine. When translated to English, it shortens itself to two words.  The world's most considerate airlines.  How can anyone not laugh at this picture?  I wonder what he was thinking.  They even welcome you to your coaster.  She touched the bell, and I exposed her.  The Magnum days. I forgot what the point of these expressions were, but look at Zhuomin's face. HAHAHA.  I died laughing when he suddenly dropped to the floor. He wins for the most earnest, enthusiastic and sacrificing photographer of all time.
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Friday, September 14, 2007 8:10 AM
Hold on
Exactly how I feel right now. A rainy night outside one of the best malls on earth, I can just feel myself there already, pulling my jacket tighter over myself, head bowed and shivering as I climb that mountain of a hill. I'm teary, weary and jaded. And a part of me wishes this part of my life would just end so we can move on to the better things. I'm on the verge of... something, if not definitely that weird case of conjunctivitis that hit this morning.
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007 11:58 PM
The Beautiful Frock
Today, I was asked to be a shopping trainer during the holidays and to critique River Island's latest collection.
The over-enthusiastic sales person at River Island - I give him credit for being the most enthusiastic, most helpful and nicest person in the sales industry to date, he was everywhere I went in the store and offered me their newest and most popular items to try - asked me for comments on the new season's items as compared to the last. I gave him a five-minute speech on what I thought about their clothes ever since they came to Singapore and how it compares to the London one, and how the new fall/winter collection's colours have mellowed alot as opposed to summer's bright tones, and how I love their stuff but the prices are exorbitant and they have to lower it somewhat if they want to compete with the other leading British brands in Singapore. I think he was abit shocked, but I really have alot to say about that store.
I ended off with, "So, when is your next sale?"
He looked apologetic but was quick to reassure me that there are two sales every season at River Island.
"The Beautiful Frock" will now forever be my favourite story. Kate, Gen and I saw it at a gift shop about a month ago and I remember how out of all the little snippets in the store, that was my absolute favourite because I couldn't stop smiling looking at it. I even told myself I'd come back for it one day, it comes written on a cute little pouch which I could keep my iPod in. I received it today as a surprise gift, and it was bought because the story reminded that person of me. That stroke of fate, or coincidence - whatever it was, it amazes me that I never mentioned to anyone how much I wanted that story for myself but it came back to me in the end, which makes it so special.
"Buy me, Lady," said the frock, "and I will make you into a BEAUTIFUL and WHOLE and COMPLETE Human Being."
"Do not be silly," said the Man, "for a frock alone cannot do that."
"TRUE," said the Lady. "I will have the Shoes and the Bag as well."
- Edward Monkton
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Sunday, September 02, 2007 12:38 AM
Shopping is the world's greatest medicine
My oh my, I only had two posts in the whole month of August. And still I'm finding myself struggling for interesting, thought-provoking things to say.
I'm boring. One of my greatest fears is materialising.
Weekends are a luxury these days, the brief respite away from the West caves and school. I live for those two days, and spend hours in my bed back home. If I wake up too early for my own liking on a Saturday morning, I drag the blankets over my head, turn over and force myself to go back to sleep.
Something in me was dying yesterday as I sat in my room on a Friday night after dinner with the family. I felt like I needed to be out there among the crowds and doing something, perhaps to be with my clothing friends. And I hadn't stepped into a shopping mall for two weeks, and that is Lent enough to me (abstinence, abstinence, abstinence). So I did the most fun thing I had done all week - I headed down to City Hall and shopped by myself for a good hour until the shops closed. Of course, in order to cover as much ground as possible, it was a quick but thorough glance into all my favourite stores until something caught my eye. And I sped all the way, weaving through the different shopping malls in the area to get to the various mapped-out locations in my head. I got good exercise, and my spirits lifted almost immediately after I stepped into the air-conditioned concrete jungle with the familiar smell of new clothes hitting my face.
What a great idea it was. I felt an instant burst of joy, and there was no chocolate involved either.
I bumped into the two Taiwanese exchange students I had befriended in school, and that was a really nice surprise, because we ended up shopping and walking all the way back to the trains together. I wish I could do something to make Singapore more exciting for them, so I told them I'd bring them out to eat our local delights one of these days. I'm always involved with exchange students and trying to make their lives better in this holed-up place, because I don't want to outrightly tell them that "yes, you should have gone on exchange in Hong Kong instead". I wonder why Billy actually loved Singapore.
I'm going to set aside time to spend at a mall each week, or I think I'm really going to break down before the exams even start coming round. Although, I really am disgusted at how expensive the tops at Topshop have got. If a top costs $56 to $63 on average in their new collection, why not I get a dress that costs a little more at $73? Which is my theory these days.
I miss H&M so much.
The days when dresses cost $30 to $40, jeans were $30 to $50 and tops were $10 to $25, tell me why everything isn't better in Hong Kong. Melody and Anna and whoever else that's still there, please continue to shop there just to show them my respect.
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Saturday, September 01, 2007 11:45 PM
Excuse us while we flash our pearly whites
      A new discovery, the Hong Kong Tea House - better prices, pretty decent food and the large interior to boast of called for an unforgettable girls' night out complete with loud, boisterous laughter and gossip as well as a whole album of photos. With the exact same background just different expressions on our faces, we could very well have sat in front of a whitewashed wall. I loved watching Mel dance. Somehow when your friend is up there on stage, and she's the best dancer and the star, it fills you with pride. The photo-taking was hilarious - we were divas, we posed with utensils, we were each other, we were the boys, we were cute, we were sad - we love ourselves too much, coupled with the fact that we haven't had photo sessions like this in eight months. We made so much noise that the waiter came over to politely tell us to lower our volume because other customers were complaining. It still is an encapsulation of a moment for me, these are the moments I live for when school gets disgustingly stifling, and these are the moments where I'm myself, and people love me for it. Why don't these things form into paragraphs, damn it. I hate computers and html and codes.
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