Wei wanted to get a tan before flying off so, off we went! To Felicia's pool on Monday. Her place is so tranquil and made to resemble a resort. Convenient location too.
I also want to stay there.
We bitched and caught up over magazines and Cheezels by the beautiful pool. When we were sufficiently fried, we made our way over the the Hot + Cold Spa.
It had two separate pools with strong jets of water that massaged. Wei preferred the Warm Spa while i enjoyed the Cold Spa. We were blissfully blasting away cellulite when a cleaner uncle came up to me and warned me that there is a nest of snakes near the Warm Spa (where Wei was frolicking in). I informed Wei and we scrambled out ASAP.
How to relax in the Spa after hearing that ?!!!!!!!
Wei decided to try out the Rainforest Shower. It's some gimmicky thing that sprays jets of water on your body while you lie chest-down on the 'bed'. The last minute would consist of a fine mist.
We trooped over to shower and as you can see, we had fun scrubbing each other's backs. Naked. Or not. Hurhurhur.
To end a good day off, we made our way down to Wheelock Place for sushi. Thanks Wei for introducing new Japanese dishes to me! 

WELCOME THE MJU 700!

My lovely , lovely gift from Ron.

Night Safari was great!

The weather was nice, the animals were out, the show was entertaining and the tram ride was relaxing. So relaxing that HW fell asleep. The only bad was that the food at Bongo Burgers was super expensive.



I didnt put up the cute-cute photos of JY, Ming n HW cos i dunno if you all would want them made PUBLIC. Hur hur hur.




Desserts at Hyatt Hotel's Mezza9 after dinner at The Balcony. (courtesy of HW)



Sadly, they look better than they taste.

We decided to give Wei a scrapbook album full of past photos. So that she can go through them when she misses us. Below are a few pages of the 59 page thick album.













This is an envelope which contains letters from us to Weiwei.

What show is starting??

Where did we go last night?

Who's photo is he kissing?

What are the tickets for?



Yes! We went to Crazy Horse Paris!

WOMEN'S REVENGE

"Cash, cheque or credit?" I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet, I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.

"So, do you always carry your TV remote?" I asked.

"No," she replied, " but my husband refused to come shopping with me, so I figured this was the most legal evil thing I could do to him."

WIFE VS HUSBAND

A couple drove down a country road for several miles,not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position. As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"

"Yap," the wife replied, "in-laws."

WORDS

A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day... 30,000 to a man's 15,000. The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men...

The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"

CREATION

A man said to his wife one day, "I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time." The wife responded, "Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid, so I would be attracted to you!

WHO DOES WHAT

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.

The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."

The husband said, " You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."

Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."

Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me." So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says...........
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
HEBREWs

我想要攤在
泳池旁
做日光浴。

翻閲一半的
服裝雜誌
還有
高高的
碎冰飲料。

没有
现在可以开始的工作，
没有
现在可以着手的功课。

自從我變大人以后有过两段可以完全放松，没有罪恶感地今朝有酒今朝醉 - 自由的时光。

第一段是考完高中联考，七个月的长假里头最后的三个月。那时我打工只打半天，中午一到就可以走人。几乎每天都跟友人约在咖啡座或中意的餐馆吃个饭，聊个天。饭后就在城市的书店里游荡，五点不到我们就会乘车回家。永远都碰不上讨厌的上班族。这种日子，日复一日的过了三个月，我却没有觉得乏味。有些人真的闲不下来，我却非常适合悠闲的日子。

第二段就是到日本留学的那十个月。课业不忙也不难。日本是个童话，电车也浪漫。要吃好的有好的，要看人群有人群，要找个安静的角落也找得到，还付送你一树樱花，让你感觉寂寞得很为美。那年的春假，我在町屋的 Mister Donut 看了多少本小说，吃了多少个甜甜圈，喝了多少杯咖啡。现在回想起来，心里难免飘来一阵向往。

逝去的日子只能在回忆里追回，不能重返光榮。这个我了解。

我想要在偷來的这一年里创造同樣美丽的回忆，但必然失败。
不要看我乐得轻松的样子，要写的功课其实还真多！我也只能算是忙里偷懒而已！

那种忧哉的日子好像越争取越是得不到，反而曾經在我的被动中他们卻懂得自己找上門。

搞不清楚。

反正现在没有自由的日子也罢，把它們都留给年老的我吧！
現在的我能做的就是誠實地背負罪惡感，好好的偷懶！

俐安留美，家里竟不幸招来了小偷。偷儿来去几乎不留痕迹，只搁下了恐惧。
这让我发想：如果今天我家里也来了小偷，我能投靠谁？谁是我最可靠的人？

心情不好的时候
寂寞难耐的时候
把酒狂欢的时候
想要狂洒泪的时候
想大吃大喝的时候
想得到共鸣的时候
火大的时候
自满的时候
撒娇的时候

不同的时候会有不同的，最可靠的人出现。
而对我最可靠的人来说，谁又是他们最可靠的人呢？


（哦！这两天我话还真多！）

最近因为真的瘦了，所以更想再瘦一些些。
再瘦一点，再瘦一点，让我再瘦一点。
人类的贪婪跟欲望是个无底洞。

因为不怎么能控制食欲，我多希望自己生来就是个吃不胖的女孩子。
可是，我不是一个吃不胖的女孩子。
我越吃越想瘦。越吃越享受。

越痴越享受。

Today my B-day.
Happy B-day to me!

今天我生日。
祝我生日快乐的人还不少！
谢了！

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’m sleepy… God, I’m sleepy. I just woke from a nap but I’m still sleepy. I’m sleepy and I have a headache. I’m going to sleep again so very, very soon after typing this.

I’ve had a very good two days.
I finally handed in my first portfolio yesterday. That in itself was something that could make me heeheehee to myself all day long. But there were plans from some supreme being above. I had more (More! More!) reasons to heeheehee!

I got a parcel! Gift from XY! Presents galore! Yay!

Then I chatted with Ming online and she sent me Ongky’s song… Ongky, you’re good! I really like your song! Really, really! And I dunno what you think of Ming’s lyrics but the more I listen to it, the more I think she did a fantastic job. Happy for you that your song has such suitable lyrics! I’m impressed by both… Your song is way, way, way ahead of what I’m capable of! Wahaha! Ganbatte!

So, I got inspired to write more songs myself! Went to the Music Centre and had a fruitful song-making day! My yesterday was that good!

So I thought to myself, tomorrow (which is today) would pale in comparison. Definitely. But then, today, I received another parcel! WH, you really made my day! I suppose the giraffe is you? And the err… shorter, fatter, cub-like animal… is me? Thanks a lot. (See me grin!)
I heard from my flatmate that it’s bad luck to open your birthday gifts before THE DAY… but I dun care! I’ll just not use them till later… 意思意思啦！

Later Jasmine came to my place with a V-day card! Sweet, sweet girl… but as I said previously, I took a nap. So I dunno how long she endured the cold before someone let her in and she slipped the card under my door. Sorry! I’ll make it up sometime, cook you dinner, ok?

And that’s all for today’s events.


Got lotsa cards on my wall now!



Chinese New Year was surprisingly fun! We did the works. Reunion Dinner, celebrated 初一，had dinner on 初七（人日），had 汤圆 on 元宵。Basically, the works. And I liked that. (I even Spring Cleaned my room! Big time cleaning!)

初一 was an experience I’m neeever gonna forget. We planned to go London for shopping and (highlight) KTV! The bus was to leave at 8:30 a.m. but the reunion dinner the night before stretched till 2 a.m.! I had problems falling asleep then (now I’ve recovered); so I overslept. I had BIG PLANS for my 初一 morning. I wanted to take my time… eat my breakfast, dress up etc. Big plans obviously crushed. I woke up half an hour before I should leave the house, which, if you think about it, is ok. But I took my time, thinking I had, like, what, an hour? When I came out of the shower the clock said 8:10 a.m. I had five minutes to leave the house. Impossible. I had to blow my hair leh!!! Mad rush and I ended up leaving ten minutes behind time.
Ran, rolled, whatever, all the way to the bus stop! It wasn’t near. It takes me twenty minutes to walk there in the halcyon days of my normal life. The pain! Oh, the PAIN of running… in the morning, sweating in the cold and I just showered!!!
When I finally reached, my head was throbbing, cold, ache, cold, ache. I don’t think my blood have made such rapid circulation for sometime now. I blame only myself for ignoring the alarm and putting it comfortably back into the snooze mode when I ought to have jumped out of bed. But nevermind. At least I made it on the bus. Poor Yan didn’t and she had to take the next bus.

So anyway, the sale was partially still on in London and I did some shopping! Yay! Then we had KTV. Crooning is, of course, my favourite activity of all time! Now I just want more of KTV. I miss KTV. And that was how I spent my 大年初一！More fun than I would have thought!


Reunion Dinner looks yummy!


Group pic before the dinner... just waiting to be fed.


KTV in London... this is a weird pic to choose but I can't find another pic inside the KTV without one of us having a deformed expression.


Outside the KTV. Much nicer pic.


Dinner at a Chinese restaurant, Singsoc's CNY event on the Seventh day of the New Year.


I like this pic of Jas and me!


On writing songs, was telling XY that I finally found my 写歌的冲动。Which put in a good mood for some time now. There is new meaning to life when I can create what I really like. It’s not good, nah (many Song-pyatsu tunes…), but at least I got my lazy butt off the couch. At least I got started.
原来这就是老师所谓的写歌的冲动。我明白了。终于明白了。
创作嘛，是一辈子的事。是会陪我过一生的。不会消失的爱情，不会减少的激情。我祝创作情人节快乐。因为音乐是在心里面的。即使没有伴奏，没有歌词在手，我还是可以一辈子的唱着歌。这是老师教会我的。我投入，从那时候开始，就一直投入。



Yaaaaaaaay !!!

山崎まさよし。このやつ、
また、私の心を捕らえた。





One more time, One more chance.
山崎まさよし。結婚しようか？


わははは！


冗談！冗談！（ジェイ！ごめんね！）

4 jobs you've had in your life

(I've put mine in order of preference)
Reporter
Waitress
Tuition Teacher (tutor?)
Admin Asst


4 movies you can watch over and over again

Initial D
Notting Hill
And I Hate You So (小亲亲)
Long Vacation (it's not a movie but well...)


4 TV shows you love(ed) to watch

SMAPXSMAP
恋爱讲义
康熙来了
娱乐新闻（桃主播的年代）


4 places you've lived

Holland Close
Jalan Pelikat
Joo Seng Road (my fav!!!)
Arakawa-ku, Tokyo


4 places you've been on vacation to

Sydney
Phuket
Hong Kong
Taipei


4 places you would rather be now

Eating in Repulse Bay
Home
KTV with the gals!
In Japan for Jay's concert
(gosh, there are tons of places I'd rather be now... sad...)


4 of your favourite foods

Durians
Chocolates
Coffee
锅饼

4 websites you visit daily

this blog
this other blog... but also not DAILY (in fact tons of other blogs but also not daily)
the HK radio site
the VAIO website cos it's my Home page


4 tagged

HW
Fei (I hope you see this!)
Lovie (so you have to blog!!!)
Jasmine (if you see this!)

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Naaahhh... here is the new hair (blogging while keeping Wei company online)...


'V'-pose and I'm saying: "Yeahyeahyeah!" Posed for like one thousand times before I found a pic that looks relatively nice. And in case you think I wake up every morning looking like this, No lor... this is after a DIY wash and blow.

I feel like blogging leh.

I am listening to 903 again. I have been at it since yesterday. Can’t seem to get enough of HK radio for now. Reminds me of the nights I listened to Wu Jun Ru cackle her way through this radio programme with another guy on the same station. It entertained me so much while I studied for my NUS exams. It's a popular programme and it’s still running on weekdays which means I’ll be tuning in, I guess.
The interesting thing about listening to a radio station eight hours ahead of my time is that I get DJs speaking in whispery, sleepy tones although it’s afternoon here. I also get ballads, night tunes. Nocturnal music. Nocturne.

I’m dying to watch some dorama or movie or something but I need to do work so I find an in-between thing to do, which is to blog. I saw WH writing about turning 21. Well, well, well! We’re getting old, aren’t we? I had a dream. I dreamt that my 21st birthday was spent in Tokyo. I had a small, round, white chocolate birthday cake. I cut it at Shinjuku. I was happy enough! When I woke up the dream felt like it took place four years ago. But that's not true! (安慰獎笑容)

Damn crappy… Anyway CNY is coming! Hopefully I’ll find it in me to feel more festive this time round than Christmas or New Year.

Oh, a Happy New Year to all! The Fortune teller says 2006 is a filler year for me. Oh well, fillers can be fun too! The 精彩 thing, yah?

Wah, I’m damn crappy. I should shut up when I’m talking nonsense!

Erm, also, I’m the Fortune teller.

The Fortune teller is looking like shit today. She’s not even venturing into the kitchen.

This is not a valid blog entry!!!

I was walking home two nights ago – shuffling, moping. The short little lamps scattered all over Heronbank looked like fairy lights to me. So I guess my Kandou thing is coming back, yah? Hope I didn’t jinx it by telling you this.

I’m having bananas for breakfast and listening to the Warwick Radio online because FM93.3 is obviously failing me. Something to do with the bandwidth and getting the information from Singapore so it’s really slow. And they had just started on JY’s favourite Xian Ge Ji Yi.
Radio is a good substitute for T.V. who in turn is a good substitute for friends & family (although I like to keep them on whether I’m alone or not). It’s different from playing a CD or VCD where you just know what you are gonna get. ‘Real life’ is not like that. You need some spontaneity, yah? Hahaha… I’m creepy. Anyway, the Warwick Radio cannot make it; I shall switch to the HK Radio station. 903.
Wah! It’s Leslie Cheung singing the theme song for A Better Tomorrow! I have this on my MD. See! You never know what you’re gonna get with Radio! La-dida-dida…

WAH! WAHAHA!!! Jay’s Huo Yuan Jia! I’m in luck! TURN UP THE VOLUME!
(Yan & Alex were saying how things happen for a reason. NOW I know why FM93.3 was failing me! Soooou-ka! Soooou-ka!)

Okaaaaaay… the DJ is cracking some joke about his songs sounding alike. Yawnz…

I went for a haircut on Monday and despite reassurance from Yan & Alex (“I think it’s ok leh!” “Ok what, not that bad what!”) I’m still not completely over it. Five days later (or last night if you like), I tried to salvage it but I think I… didn’t… salvage… it…
So the pictures you see below would be the last of my fine long hair! Pics of the shorter hair will be up once it starts looking less cheena.

I just read Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen. I consider her an author that I like but I’ve never read her ‘best’ book until now – just like I’ve not finished Murakami Haruki’s Norwegian Wood. I find Kitchen to be not her best book. Surely her best book must be NP? Still Kitchen was an easy read and enjoyable enough. Banana Yoshimoto has a way with describing seasons. That’s what I like best about her.
I can’t remember the exact words she used, something about the blue sky being so blue you could get lost staring into it. That was NP. I was 19 when I read it; after the A levels. I sat with my body facing the shelves that displayed teenage fiction but my head was turned, my nose just an inch away from the glass window I was leaning on. At that time I thought: She and I must have seen the exact same sky.
The shop assistant would come at three or four to let down the blinds so the books wouldn’t yellow (I guess). By that time I would have finished my ‘clandestine mission’ (harharhar) and I would leave.
NP was full of summers. Kitchen had more autumns and winters and it’s good that I read it only after I’ve experienced them.

Oh, today is Friday the Thirteenth! Aiyah, shit lah, I have a portfolio due exactly a month from now.


Austria was onz - beautiful - but cold. DAMN COLD!


Ming's trip to UK was onz - fun! - but short. TOO SHORT!

Hello Children!

Wei asked me to blog but my mind’s a blank.
Saw on my NHK friend, Eelynn’s blog that she has had a ‘dose of home’ cos two of her friends visited her in Seoul and I’m so envious! But it seems like I’ve had somewhat of a ‘dose of home’ this week too! And home is definitely where I can revel in all my wagamama-ness! I love it! Plus, it comes across as being funny, not really wagamama, y’know?

I read Weiyin’s blog as Wei asked me to and I totally empathized with her ‘bubble thing’. Seriously, I think most of us can. Not only me-who-is-abroad but the whole gin gang… if you are exclusively privileged to read her blog, then go take a look at it!

Ok, for the real ‘dose of home’, my friend Nicole (from the Nagoya TV days) will be flying in to London on Saturday. Yay! And I’ll be with her until Monday… and we can sight see and shop and bitch about people! Yay!!!

And now I’m talking about all these boring day to day things… yawnz…

Inspired only by the first gust of snow that swirled in four long days ago, I wrote this that is neither a blog nor a poem. What do you call this anyway?

(Looks like something you get at the beginning of every chapter in Zhang Xiao Xian’s novels… maybe I can make a career out of it.)


这年冬天的初雪就这样
在我孤守窗前的时候，来了，走了。
像我心里的那扇窗口一样，开了，关了。
难不成你以为它永远都会为你开着吗？
任性的我的世界里，
任何东西都可以随我挂上期限的。


Maybe can write into a song.

By the way, it’s not snowing anymore.

Damn gian the snow so took pictures of it from my room window.


Then later some of them came over and we went outside to take pictures with it.


This Christmas dinner organised by the Singsoc took place 2 weeks ago and Jasmine here accompanied me on the piano while I sang.


This gal is Xiuli and there's something about her camera that makes me look onz! Hurhurhur! Which is the whole purpose of this photo... that I think it's an onz form pic!

To get the full effect, this should be read aloud. You will understand what 'tenjewberrymuds' means by the end of the conversation.
The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service, at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review:


Room Service (RS): "Morrin. ? Roon sirbees."

Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service."

RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??"

G: "Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and eggs."

RS: "Ow July den?"

G: "What??"

RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?"

G : "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? ?>Sorry, scrambled please."

RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?"

G: "Crisp will be fine."

RS : "Hokay. An Sahn toes?"

G: "What?"

RS:"An toes. July Sahn toes?"

G: "I don't think so."

RS: "No? Judo wan sahn toes??"

G: "I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo wan sahn toes' means."

RS: "Toes! toes!...Why jew don juan toes? Ow bow Anglish moppin we bodder?"

G: "English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.' Fine. Yes, an
English muffin will be fine."

RS: "We bodder?"

G: "No...just put the bodder on the side."

RS: "Wad! ?"

G: "I mean butter...just put it on the side."

RS: "Copy?"

G: "Excuse me?"

RS: "Copy...tea...meel?"

G: "Yes. Coffee, please, and that's all."

RS: "One Minnie. Scramah egg, crease baykem, Anglish moppin we bodder on sigh and opy....rye??"

G: "Whatever you say."

RS: "Tenjewberrymuds."

G : "You're very welcome."

Buying Straits Times every day.

My eyes glued to the TV at work.

Browsing through Team Singapore website.

Posting comments on the forum.

THE LIFE OF A SEA GAMES WIDOW.

在日本烟火的季节是夏天。
记得那年我们到隅田川看花火，那位男生是叫伊桥吗？我已经不记得他的名字了。记得他帮我们占了个好位子。花火将会在我们的头顶上绽放。
穿着ゆかた，身体湿湿黏黏的，手上的扇子不停来回摆动。记得佩鱼（哈哈）坐在我右边直喊：“でっかい！でっかい！”我用数码相机式着碌下他的表情，却只看得到一片漆黑。幸好还听得到那激动的“でっかい”。那是花火的配乐。

我从来没有看过那么美丽的花火。
形容只会是一种遗憾。


在英国烟火的季节是末秋。
冷冷的空气里看烟火是为了纪念一个曾经试图纵火燃烧国会议院（House of Parliament是这样翻吗？）的犯人。
我们站在Kenilworth城堡对面的小山坡上。草地湿湿的，大家只好站着等待烟火笼罩城堡。
烟火非常的漂亮。大大小小，五彩缤纷。有像虫子一样一爆开就在乌黑的夜空里乱爬乱走的，也有像confetti一样，看起来像是长短丝带满天飞的。我喜欢的是金黄色的亮分淡去后遗留下来的，银色的，星星雨。
看着烟火，怎么都会感动。只是大家都沉默，而烟火的配乐是主办单位准备的，许多电影原声带的主题曲。有Star Wars，有 Titanic，有点黑色幽默。

两天前发现冬天来了。
也不是有什么特别的征兆，只是吞进肚子的那口空气变了。变冷了。
今天早上走着一如往常的崎岖道路，发现一路沿着的绿草竟然有部分变白了！他们被服上了一层霜。白里透绿，翠玉般的美。太神奇了！在我记忆里搜不出同样的画面，所以我看了好一下子。

不知道被封在冰霜里的草是不是温暖的。

Yellow!

Just for the record, I had so little sleep last night! Last I glanced at the clock on my Miffy (name of VAIO), it was 4am. Nevermind, I thought to myself, no class tomorrow… sleep late lor… Then, most definitely the next day – the beginning of the day being sunrise and not simply after 12mn – I heard my phone (can’t do the tune here but you know my signature Wo De Di Pan… hehehe) and picked it up thinking: God, must be 11 or 12 already… I need to go to the supermarket. Die lah, my tongue hurts… very heaty, very sleepy.
It was XY.

“Hello? Hello? Ooi! You sleeping ah?” uhmmm… then? The reception today not bad, I noticed.
“…what time issit now…?”
“Er… er… (she said a random wrong timing)”

Well, what time was it? You know what time? It was only 8.27am!!! Not even 8.30am!!!

Ok, so I had an early start… not bad lah… at least I didn’t waste the whole morning sleeping. When was it we ended our witty bantering? Anyway, after that I proceeded to do my things in slow-mo. Went to the laundrette (took up so much time), cooked porridge for brunch, packed my room, or you can say I just flipped things around, haha! It’s still in a mess. And now I have 15min left before I have to meet this China gal who stays near me to go to Tesco the Supermarket. Time is 1.15pm. Time flies… so cliché.

(To Tesco and back… why did I spend so much?)

Was in London last weekend. Took a train down early Saturday morning, spent a night holing up at a friend’s friend’s hall (slept surprisingly well, maybe cos holing is my forte) and it was train ride back to uni late Sunday evening.
On hindsight, I think I didn’t maximise the train ride. Train rides are supposed to be nice!!! You amble up the steps, go down the aisle, get comfortable in your window seat, the doors close, the engine and wheels roll, slowly… slowly… Then faster, faster than a brisk walk, faster than a jog, a run, your bicycle, car and finally it takes off! You give up trying to measure how quickly it’s going. So you turn your attention to the cabin and you smell the train and hear the train and you focus on the atmosphere for a while. Unknowingly, you delve into your thoughts and they run like a long, thin thread above you, going in convoluted circles before they wind around you, you feel them, they need to be seen. You take a pen and put it to paper. You think and you write, you think and you write. You will get tired, lean on the glass and look outside again, the scenery, a mash of green, seem to fly by your ear. You look far, the sky, the horizon, the earth. And all this is inspiration! What did I do instead? I tried to study. And then I slept. Boooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I boo myself...

London was such a touch & go event for me! I didn’t even have time to feel the city! Argh, I know!!! I’m glad there’s still a next time.

I watched Les Miserables! And as I was sitting there in Queen’s theatre, I thought of… … HW! Harharhar!!! I just thought, gosh, you were sitting here a few months ago! The exact same place in the exact same city, watching the exact same show! And I thought, wouldn’t it have been fun if we were at the same place at the same time… well, guess my company in London was pretty good too!

Another place I should talk about is probably Tower Bridge – the colossal monument is a Victorian architecture striding across River Thames. It was beautiful. By the river where I stood looking at it, there was quietness. And that was beautiful too. Perhaps it was just late. whatever. I enjoyed standing still beholding the sight much better than speeding across the bridge. And we were speeding… sometimes I wonder how come I walk bloody slow? Or to be more perceptive, how come I do everything slow?
My walk across Tower Bridge largely reminded me of the walk I had with Donny and XY across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Plainer a bridge but better an occasion, I thought.

(Went to watch a music theatre thing called Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others. Fell asleep from time to time… I’m sleepy!!! It wasn’t that good anyway… it was… strange…)

Pictures!

Went to Leamington Spa (nope, it's not a spa spa) there's shopping and it's not too far from my Uni, about a half hour bus ride. This is an onz form pic!


Had tea at Kenilworth! This is the Cornish Cream Tea... the scones were cho~ oishii!!! If any of you come to visit, WE WILL GO THERE!

London:


This is the Tower Bridge I was talking about. Looking pretty, as always I suppose.


A kawaii squirrel that we saw... Singapore also got squirrels, yes, but well...


That's Alex, Me, Jasmine & Richard, the three were my company in London. We had fun! You see us sitting at the foot of a relatively large Queen Victoria monument, you can't see her from the pic but she is above. Just a random info, it did take some effort for me to get up that precipice! It's taller than you think! Brave Su...



Ming! See! They have one in London!


This is where I holed up for the night! Had to share the bed with Jasmine and Thank God, she's skinny! You see me as a red lump in this pic... resting my eyes, of course.


THE END.

Going to bed now. Oyasumi!

I feel so uninspired… yet I’m blogging!
What to say… what to say…?

There were so many little pockets of experiences I noted to blog about but now I can’t seem to think of any.

How?

Ok, maybe I talk about the Chorus thing I went to today. It’s this informal Chorus (choir) thingy that’s part of a society by the Music Centre. There were quite a lot of old people involved; I guess anybody can join even if they are not student or staff at Warwick. I had a fun time! The conductor is this super funny guy and I kept wanting to burst out laughing every time he did his weird facial expressions or hand gestures while we were singing. JY will be able to do a good impersonation I’m sure!
Seems like the Chorus will be having a performance sometime in November, maybe I can participate in that. Seems fun! Singing is always fun. I had my first singing lesson last week with this guy (my teacher) called Richard Whitehouse and he’s very Qiang2, very classical and loud when he sings… super loud. Like Lao Shi! Haha… in that first lesson, he said no matter what you’re singing, pop or jazz or musical, whatever, you basically use the same technique. Which I beg to differ but anyways, there’s definitely stuff to learn from him. The way they teach here is quite abstract. There’s less of a technical or practical approach but more of a mental, sensational kind of understanding. I have to get used to that. Anyway, that teacher of mine, he apparently bruised(?)/twisted(?) part of his neck(?)/shoulder(?) during karate and so my lesson this week has been postponed. That was quite comical, I thought. Him and karate. Him and bruised/twisted neck/shoulder.

I’m totally thrilled that I don’t have to do any work on a Thursday night so I’m free to write rubbish and if you’re looking to see if hmmmm… Su’s writing got improve or not… I’m so not applying anything I’ve learnt here! Although HW and XY and Wei did say I sounded different in my previous few entries. I think it’s more a matter of where I am and how I feel than what I’ve learnt. Now I feel like I have to blog but I dunno what to blog.

Oh, a little about the food here then… hiyaaaahh… there’s no cheap and good (healthy) food unless it’s cooked by yours truly (harhar). So that’s quite a pain because eating out usually means sandwiches or (save me!) fish and chips. Sianz… always deep fried! I want healthy Qing Dan, soupy food. I want Yong Tau Fu or Yu Pian Mi Fen! But cannot so too bad.
Went to Coventry last Saturday and had Duck Noodles (dry) at this Chinese restaurant. It costs £5.50 but two gals can share a bowl if their appetite is not that big. It was quite yummy but loaded with oil, nonetheless. Next time I go I’ll have the soup one and oh, the luxury of being served!!! Eat, pay, get up and leave. ‘Thank you very much! See you again!’ The pleasure is mine, really.

Just thought of something, a friend here said that I am VERY VAIN. Gosh… I am so un-vain and he said that I am vain… half in jest, but he meant it definitely. I am not offended, no. I just think it… weird. Over here, I have (suddenly) become vain (when I dun even MA-KE!!!). I don’t think I had anyone really said that to me before. I mean, I am not un-vain or blasé about appearances but vain??? Then again, it may be a matter of relativity so… ok lor, vain lor. The Onz Form Project is still on anyway and being part of the OFP, we can’t be afraid to be called vain, can we? Said friend also has my blog address so I can’t say anything bad about him other than that he is déjà vu number two because his disposition reminds me of the very delectable Hiroshi (he is not going to be reading this so I can say he is delectable! ‘Very’ somemore… he’ll be so happy if he knows…), which is not that bad a thing to say, is it? (That sentence is too long and needs a second reading to digest.)
I hope you guys are not gonna pop! and go, 'Su, you are vain what!' 'Su, VAIN!' Pop, pop, pop. Ignore me while I drown in this sea of mushrooms... but we go down together ah...

I’m being random again cos I can’t think of anything better to say… The skin on my arm is getting very dry and on the back of my hand it’s looking diseased again. What a bore! It’s either because of the washing liquid I used tonight at a friend’s place which stung my hands a bit and made them feel itchy for a while or because of the new moisturiser from Marks & Spencer which I like but am so likely to be allergic to.

I’m gonna end off abruptly here cos I’m getting kinda sleepy. Shall post some pics another time then.

Jay ne! (can’t stand myself!)

I’ve not had the time to listen to some songs properly - properly like how I am reading the stories given to me as homework; every sentence, over and over several times, analysing every detail - the way I like to do it. The enjoyment that comes out of mentally de-boning a song or even better, reconstructing the singing, making it mine in that sense, that is satisfaction.
I had been distracted. It took me several days of re-running NQMM’s new album, Set 02, before I finally got a chance to be touched by the songs, today. Thank God because for a while I thought that I had lost it! Or that they had lost it after the change in members. Well, they lost a bit of it, I guess, but not all of it.

Backtracking to last Saturday, an open café right at the lobby of a theatre – not all that classy, I saw some musicians playing jazz. A grand piano, a guitar, someone was on double bass and another on drums. I wanted to call them a jazz band but then again, not really. Those were the few staple players (I suppose) but were joined by another one or two others who could be out-rightly amateurish bathroom singers/players or perhaps professional in skill but not in title. It was a platform for these non-pros to have a go and demonstrate their secretly (or not) honed skills. There wasn’t even a stage! Just a space, a semi-circle formed in front of the glass panes that were the walls of the café so that we could look right into the streets on the outside and that formed the backdrop for their ‘stage’. Little round tables dotted the carpet on the inside where the patrons of the café would sit. It was full house on that day, last Saturday, and the crowd – mostly of our parent’s age but there were exceptions, they gave the musicians their full attention. They were not making small talk, or writing or reading. They were plain listening. And I liked that.

I stood there for about 5 minutes before two old, old men, black, together with a younger man that looks Jamaican (although I’m not all that sure what Jamaican looks like but he really gave me that Jamaican feeling… harhar!) had their turn to perform.
They were obviously good and contrasted greatly with the saxophone player who played before them. The sax player was performing for his first time and I caught him grinning as he scooted off to one side of the café, a corner still against the glass windows, rejoining the other musicians who were waiting, nervously I suppose, because it would be their turn soon.
I don’t know too much about jazz other than to enjoy it but I could tell from the sound of one old black man’s saxophone and the other’s voice that they were old souls. Not just simply old, but old souls! I cannot describe it but perhaps you might have heard this sort of sound before. From the sound, you can tell that at some point in their lives, they were in turmoil, they had suffered. Whether or not they are suffering now or if the wounds have healed, that’s not important because they had grasped the meaning of it and they knows what it is and they use it cleverly in their songs. The songs maybe sad but listening was a joy!
I do not think they felt particularly touched or emotional while they were performing. I think they are more professional than that. I was probably more emotional as an audience. At one point the singer was gesturing animatedly at the band to go one key higher and looked really agitated when they didn’t. The voice that came out right after was still smooth as silk and sad as anyone can imagine. He was singing wearing a pink and grey chequered pullover and a white shirt within it. That the pullover was pink made me amused because the colour just simply didn’t fit with the kind of voice and music he was doing. It was probably nothing, maybe he just liked pink! But at that point I thought it just showed me his commitment and resilience. I am ridiculous, I know but I felt this is one dependable singer who would go on be it a pink shirt he had on, no shirt perhaps or if the lightning threatened to strike him dead.
I’m just really Tou2 Ru4 (I love this word) in my appreciation.

On the topic of me being ridiculous, last night while walking home, I saw a flock of birds (to put it generally but they maybe Herons because I stay at Heronbank which is named after those birds) fly south (but it could be any other direction) and I was touched! I don’t even remember why! The birds were in the shape of an arrow and some were lurking behind, probably some sort of defence formation for them, and they were flying rather low so I could really see them and they were grey and had long necks. And I just thought of SHE’s song, you know, that song… … and I was bloody touched!
Looking as unglamorous as ever, hugging a free duvet I got earlier in the evening, side by side, my friend and I stood for a while, our vision in their wake.

I promised to talk about my class. It is not the most interesting thing to talk about at this point but if you must know, basically we have only 6 people in our course. They all seem very smart and articulate to me and they all have had more professional experiences or have had done similar courses before. Since there are only 6 of us, I can briefly tell you about each of them.
1) John is a father of three. He looks like a stern man but I guess he is not really. He worked at a business magazine as a journalist a few years ago and seems to know a lot about journalism. He is quite a practised writer and had submitted some of his works for competitions and awards etc.
2) Angie is, as she described herself, a middle-class, middle-aged, British housewife. She also has kids. She also, right before joining us, took up a writing seminar in Cambridge but was focusing more on poetry than fiction.
3) Kirsten together with Jane has eccentric dressing. Kirsten has red hair and she likes to wear cutie stuff. It is somewhat Goth in a sense but not in the black lipstick and nails sense, more like a toned down cosplay (think pastel pinks and reds). I think Kirsten is really, really good at writing. She’s the jewel among us. Can tell. She also took a writing course at Oxford before this.
4) Jane always has eyeshadow on and more often than not, it stands out as a huge contrast on her face. She just completed her undergraduate degree in Lit at Warwick so she’s very familiar with the department and all.
5) Sarah looks a few years older than me although I can’t be sure. She seems to have very nice skin and she seems more… … ‘normal’ as in someone whom I feel is closer to me in this stage of my life. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word ‘normal’.
6) Then there is me.
Because they are all locals, they get along a lot better with each other, small talk and all. But they are well, polite to me at worst, nice to me at best so I don’t feel all that left out.
The lecturers are pretty interesting and the lessons too. I will have a lot of writing to do… I don’t even know why I’m blogging when I should jolly well be writing my homework!

I think I’ve spent more time than I’ve allocated here so I’ll write more next time! Friday tomorrow!
Ming and JY, good luck for auditions!

Halfway through dinner 2 hours ago.

The ulu driving range where I'm attempting to learn some golf.

Heya! One half of the Blogger is back for now…

Whew… it has been 13 days since I landed on this foreign yet familiar piece of land that I have only read about yet never set foot upon. This university, whose website I have been frequenting so often over the past half year or maybe more. I’m thinking of the things I have read about, the preparation, the anticipation and the fear that I had. It is an inability, the impossible mission for me to reconcile my real and surreal world, my fact and my fiction, so now I have no idea what my previous expectations were and if they had been met or disappointed. All for the better perhaps, to give myself a clean slate to begin with. I have another 10 months, or maybe more, to explore the place and to explore within myself as I some what try to settle down or build up, if you like, a home here. As without any immediate burden or support, I try to live for this second and not the last nor the next.

This is project SUPER HAPPY GIRL in the making.

The first day I set foot on campus, I was depressed. As always, sad to leave my family and sad to be away from my friends, the people I care about. It is quite illogical, that I should make myself feel this terrible when I can jolly well just stay home and be simple and contented but no, neither is in my control. Firstly, I had to leave; secondly, I had to feel terrible. I knew there was no remedy other than time. But that’s ok, because in my mind I knew I could always count on time and I knew that nothing and nobody is indispensable. I knew as they had sung in some Jap song, that ‘everything’s gonna be all right’. (Which song is it?)
So as I sat on the steps of the sunken forum they have outside the Student’s union on the very first day, thinking how tragically long this year is gonna be, I already secretly knew that a year is but too short. I knew many things it seems!

The first person I got to know is a girl called Carol whom I met at the pre-departure meeting. Déjà vu number one comes in here because the way she talks reminds me so much of Wei. Her expressions and even the way she speaks Mandarin! But she is a lot more of a go-getter and she is also tanned and diminutive in size. I bumped into her at Heathrow Airport while we were clearing customs and I’m somewhat glad I found someone to hang with so early on in the Orientation.

The Singaporeans tend to hang together as do most people from other countries. I did make several friends from China and such and my flatmates come from all over but ultimately, the Singaporeans are more supportive of each other and we eat together and shop together. It is not the ultimate fun one can get but it is not a bad experience. Most of them are younger than me but very, very smart and although I lapse into my occasional daydream when they talk, I don’t actually mind just listening to them getting heated over social issues, politics, economics, math or even literature that I don’t know or have no opinion on.

The campus is a self-contained one. It has a post office, supermarket, medical centre and a beautiful arts centre; basically everything that you ever need to get your life running. It is a great place really, beautiful with greenery. There are big open fields where squirrels sprint and right outside my place is a lake. Tons of ducks and some swans gather here everyday. They shit all over the long and winding pebbled footpath that I have to tread everyday but I cleverly avoid the green shit with my keen eyes. I like the campus although it is rather new (we’re only 40 years old) unlike Oxford where the very air you breathe feels laden with history. But the side-effects of being self-contained in this small campus town came to me a few days ago. I actually felt slightly claustrophobic and ironically, wished for big bustling city milling with people, faceless and mysterious. People who walk so fast they overtake me (ok, everybody overtakes me), people jostling, grabbing a quick coffee before getting to work. That toil in a city, so bored and routine yet so energetic and vibrant, like everyone is tuned in to the same drum roll for war. I miss being anonymous in a city. It’s different from being anonymous on campus. I will look forward to London.

Two nights ago I watched a play at the Arts Centre called Bronte. It is about the 3 Bronte sisters who wrote passionate novels despite being chaste and isolated. The play was mostly serious and intense. Although I was in the mood for some romantic comedy sort (that’s my cuppa tea!), I have to admit from my amateurish point of view, that the play was well acted and well scripted and I was enraptured as it unfolded.
There are ample opportunities here to watch plays, musicals and concerts of all sorts, provided you have the money, of course. I have decided to save up (although I dunno how I’m going to do that when I’m not even earning) for the shows! Yesterday morning, I found out that a friend is also interested in watching Jason Mraz who will be playing at London, Manchester, Nottingham, Wolverhampton and several other accessible places, supporting James Blunt's concert. We spent the whole day surfing for his concert tickets but they are all sold out! I can’t believe the bad luck! The show is on February 2006, they started selling the tickets in August and they are all sold out already! I am so disappointed! My only wish is that they add an extra day or that someone sells the right tickets on ebay! What I would give to watch MRAZ play live! That would definitely make a good memory for one and all! I’m gonna keep watch for any chance to grab a ticket!

I was in Birmingham on Saturday and as a Singaporean friend puts it, Birmingham is to UK as Jurong is to Singapore. It was really nothing to shout about as compared to Warwick and Oxford, both of which is really quaint and pretty. Birmingham is not the kind of city I miss or that I am familiar with. It was rather dreary and boring but there is a relatively large (as compared to the one in Coventry – the nearest town to Warwick Uni) Chinese supermarket there so everybody was stocking up on food stuff. Some people went crazy over the tofu which was funny! I bought 2 packets of red bean cos I had a sudden craving for my mom’s red bean soup! On our way back to the station, someone kicked a bag of groceries left lying by the street and happily usurped the loot. I dunno if it’s right to do that. It’s definitely not moral but then if left there to waste, we may in fact be making better use of the stuff by cooking them. Part of me kept thinking if there was gonna be some drugs or voodoo in the bag but in the end I shoved the paranoia aside and landed myself with a pack of sago and rock sugar! Both of which I had decided not to buy so as to save money!

Gosh… I think this is stretching too long and I’m not even making it that interesting! I shall rattle on another time about my classes, déjà vu number two and the horrible food... amongst other long-winded tales.

And now some pictures to make everybody happy!

This is yesterday's brunch.

This is Heronbank, the place I live.

This is me and Carol in front of the Birmingham City Council. If you think I lost weight, you are very nice! I think I did too! Tell you about the food another time!

A rather beautiful church in Birmingham... it just reminded me of Jane's wedding! Every church now reminds me of Jane's wedding!