Sunday, March 21, 2004

just back from concert and supper....

one more day to back to school....

today was NIE symphonic band concert...i liked this concert. the pieces played are slighty more mature and abstract...but it's also refreshing as they explored a clarinet concerto (where the soloist was very good!), trombone quartet and a collabration btw. wind ensemble and choir...

today i collected my clay aiken "the way/solitaire" single from clay aiken singapore 'heads' (aka founders) charmaine and katherine. the 2 women are very nice!! sat down and had coffee with them and chatted. kat is a shipping lawyer. charm is in advertising...mother of 3 children...claymates are really amazing people....=)

friday went to bodyworlds exhibition with louisa. it was very insightful...and it was a great learning and discovery experience. we toured the whole exhibition which was grouped according to our systems. the bones, respiratory, cardiovascular, abdominal, digestive, reproduction etc. there was an exhibit of embryos which was SO cool...and a display of foetuses (i think this is the wrong sp...) the exhibits came with short writeups...they were understandable...but u'll just gawk at the super long names...they've got names for every single bone...u know stuff like that. but the both of us were recapping all our biology work...as well as laughing about all of ms. ng's lame jokes....nice to get back all the knowledge we acquired. though we couldn't remember some names...facts etc...=)

after that we went to town...shopped at zara...i bought one more skirt...and pants for dance class....louisa bought a miniskirt and a tube top...ah and my crumpler bag...haha~ MAJOR shopping spree. then ate dinner at big o...the food's nice...=)

started driving...realised i haven't complained about it. well it's quite fun actually...whizzing around the circuit. on friday someone actually almost slam into my car while turning round a bend...the fault isn't mine ok...he swerved into MY lane...but it was SCARY...my nice instructor had to hold my steering wheel steady. but my instructor's nice...we talked ALOT...so i'm learning how to multi-task while driving. i have to listen to him...reply...look out for cars, pedestrians, motorcycles...change gear when rounding a bend...stop when there's obstructions...change gear...step the clutch...brake...it's quite bad....but it was ok...we talked about medicine..university..babies..his own daughter who's 18 months old...very pretty and naughty...talked about school...the driving centre's management...passing rates...young guys who are most likely to fail driving on first try...yah...not too bad...=)

oh you know what...if you shrink our solar system into the size of a US quarter (like our 10 cents coin)...the size of the milky way galaxy would be the size of north america...

and that's just one galaxy....

This girl posted at 12:06 AM

Thursday, March 18, 2004

just finished watching AMI...leah got voted out...yeah~ see her name rhymes. but she really CANNOT sing...and dance for that matter. so i'm rooting for jon peter lewis, john stevens, jasmine trias and diana degarmo. for now. heard clay perform solitaire. i just sat there and couldn't believe it...he sounds SO GOOD! it was a very good adaptation of neil sedaka's...and also of course, clay's the one singing it. before AMI was watching total request live on MTV..where clay and kelly were guests and they premiered his new video for 'the way'. nice...better than 'invisible'.

sorry for ranting so much on AMI...it's getting exciting!

anyway happy belated st. patrick's day to all the irish people out there...and to my dear friends who introduced me to irish culture and to the idea of food, music, drinks and dance-the irish style 3 years ago. we went to eat at father flanagan's...then went to the chijmes courtyard to watch the band perform - as well as this irish girl doing the irish dance. 1st was the 'thunderstorm' routine from Riverdance..the 2nd was something else. but also very good nevertheless. it was just a night of good ol' irish fun...the peoplewho were at the festival was still the same...still as jolly...still the guiness in hand...still making merry..and still so friendly...when can singaporeans be like that?

watched big fish...loved the show! i have no words to describe it...it's just a classic..and a really smart film. full of emotions...full of things that make life interesting. i also watched contact. a film several years ago starring jodie foster and matthew mcounaghey...explores the idea of whether we are alone in the universe...and tries to bring in the controversial link of science and religion. quite thought-provoking.

speaking of thought-provoking films. i also watched the hours...the one with nicole kidman as the famous writer virginia woolf, meryl streep, julianne moore, ed harris etc. and this explores how 3 women's lives are connected in such a complex manner...yet they lived decades apart from each other. the film (which was adapted from a book by michael cunningham) is cleverly scripted because as u watch, u r never lost in its plot because the characters' lives mirrors one another. incidentally the whole film only shows ONE DAY in their lives. and also..it keeps u guessing what happens in the end...and until the end then u go..."oh my gosh...." and u discover a startling revelation...and go.."ooohhh..." here's a review of the movie..

*begin review*
Writer David Hare and director Stephen Daldry have transformed Michael Cunningham's intricate novel into a film of fluidity and emotion.
Book and film set up echoes between Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) writing Mrs Dalloway?in 1923 England with Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) reading it in California in the late 1940s and Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) unwittingly acting it out in 2001 New York. On screen, the material risks literary preciousness. It also seems much heavier than in the book, since the strongest themes are depression and suicide.

But there are benefits in the cinematic transference. Daldry and editor Peter Boyle effect neat links among the stories more easily than Cunningham could on paper. Daldry cleverly marks the passing of time during this day-in-the-life that spans three disparate eras. There are also pleasurable visual parallels between the episodes. Simple acts like preparing food or taking off a pair of shoes have an unexpected resonance. Philip Glass's score smoothes over the cracks so seamlessly that single scenes sometimes seem composed of different time periods.

Besides stunning work from the three leads, Ed Harris is unforgettable. The emotional climax of The Hours is his. Toni Collette is particularly vivid among the high-class supporting cast, which includes Jeff Daniels, Claire Danes, Thomas C Reilly and Miranda Richardson.

*end review*

and coincidentally me and ian were just talking about parallel universes over dinner yesterday. and the concept of time and time travel. it's really complex...it brings into the question theories on psychology, metaphysics, cosmology, physics, astrophysics, existentialism and many more...we talked and thought for very long! and then it's mirrored in the film..where the script is presented in such a way that these 3 women's lives are happening at the same time...in a parallel line...where one life influences the other.

i wonder about the existence of parallel universes...just how many are there? do they exist? even if they exist i know we can't get there. but just the thought of it is quite amazing..exhilirating...

i wonder who has the answer to that question? other than God of course...

This girl posted at 11:14 PM

Monday, March 15, 2004

what a beautiful/extremely hot weekend!

on saturday went to NTU/NUS open houses with louisa...at NTU we checked out bachelor of accountancy and business, biological sciences...then we made our way to jurong point to have lunch....then to NUS to check out the exhibition...hung around till 5 to catch my medicine talk...and she went to the office of admissions talk and fell asleep...=)

the medicine talk was overflowing with people. the hall was long, narrow and hot...many had to stand behind (myself included) and squint at the tiny words on the ppt. slides. it was SO hot...and people who were in JC 2 were there too...talk about kiasu...incidentally only saw top 5 JC 2 ppl....tj included...ppl like yazid, lou's juniors, jeremy...also saw jun qiang, hairul, rosewita...anyway the talk was quite good...i'm putting that as first choice i guess...see if they grant me an interview.

met many tjcians at the exhibitions...we talked to admissions people...walked around sth like our pdp exhibitions....

after that went to meet melody who was at suntec's uk education exhibition...to have dinner and shop...bought another 2 mango tops...i'm going crazy.

sunday had family lunch at plaza market cafe at swissotel, the stamford. it was a peranakan buffet which was really good!!! and only 23+++ per person...good news is the spread is good and u can stay and eat till 5pm...but we only stayed till 4 plus...nevertheless we ate till our oesophagus was filled..u get what i mean. the durian pudding was super nice...plus curries, thai stuff...jap stuff...a delicious selection of desserts...make-your-own ice kachang...we made our own durian ice kachang by putting the durian pudding on top of the ice kachang..it was very nice!

after that went to meet grace, joyce, sher and weiqiang for the uk exhibition. walked around with grace and joyce...ask questions etc...when they left for family dinners i went back to raffles city to shop...where i bought another pair of shoes from Aldo...it was on sale so i couldn't resist. then dad mum and mai came back from their IT/food fair and dad bought me a tag heuer watch as a reward for doing well in the A-levels...it was ex...yah~ he didn't want me to have this DKNY one which was just $155...

had dinner...then went prego's bakery to buy stuff at half price...then it was home!

feel so guilty for spending so much money.

anyway it's the school hols..so i'm restricting myself from going out so i wouldn't spend more money. need to visit LOTR and bodyworlds exhibitions...going irish-ing on st. pat's day....there's driving lessons to go to...but meanwhile just chilling at home...

just finished watching the abyss on dvd...again...=) it is a good movie! though old...1989...but it has such a gripping and emotional storyline which captures and amplifies whatever that is still happening now (not 1989 but 2004). the wars, conflicts, Man against Man, Man against nature and Man against himself. then you wonder about where God comes in. in the movie, the NTIs( non-terrestrial intelligence) or the beautiful 'aliens' judged us for what we did or is doing...and was prepared to punish us and make us realise the truth, to make us grow up and stop all these hurting...because they were more powerful than us. they can manipulate water molecules so they created giant tidal waves which threatened to destroy cities. but they didn't because...ok u shld watch it cos it's a long story. just drop me a tag..i'll lend u the dvd. thing is...the NTIs were a species stronger than us and could destroy us. they judged us, and they wanted to get rid of us because nothing seems to work - nothing can deter us from stepping away from violence and killings. isn't it true? this is such an unanswerable question. shouldn't i just give up on us...

i'm starting to ramble.

i'm just SO sick of the world...i can't stand the newspapers...everyday there'll be something terrible that happened the day before. as i'm sitting here typing this, elsewhere...a group of terrorists is plotting something...a bunch of rebels are planting a bomb somewhere...people getting killed for no good reason...fathers mothers sons daughters husbands wives...(on a side note is better for the whole family to perish together so not much grieving takes place..) the thing that took place in madrid was just sad. there's no more words in my limited vocab to describe it. Sad. there's more to come...

why?
how?
when?
where?

why?

This girl posted at 5:07 PM

Friday, March 12, 2004

well well...i just saw a pretty pretty rainbow on my way home today...it's SO nice! i remembered from alias you can only see a rainbow if u r standing with your back facing the sun...wondered if it is true....oh alias..u know..the really cool super spy drama on TV starring jennifer garner and michael vartan...truth is i saw it with the sun behind me...so no chance prove it right.

anyway it's the school hols! kinda glad for a break like this...and my principal went to announce my results during contact time this week....so EVERYONE knows...if i wasn't a student of red swastika i don't think he'll even care...oh mayb it was because of mother also....oh well....

i suddenly have an urge to learn irish dance...after visiting the riverdance website and listening to the soundtrack. anyone has the contacts to the irish dancing school in singapore? is it still around?

tmr is open house day...they r announcing many changes to the admission stuff...can do double degree at NUS (quite cool...but abit late since many overseas unis have offered this a LONG time ago)...NTU admitting students based on leadership passion creativity...(passion, purpose and drive!!) additional impromptu essay to write for medicine applicants...oh well....good in a way...these changes...more flexibility.

i tell you my eldest sis likes william hung...or she can't get enough of him! first she demands i find my taped american idol where he auditioned...cos she missed it...then when i taped sth over it she asks me to find it on the net(which is easy...just type his name on google...)..now she asks me to tape tonight's AMI special which features him....mad...

we're going for family lunch this sunday! yeah...more food....

getting fat...need to exercise...and dance more....

This girl posted at 9:40 PM

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

i am aching all over!!

the reason being i went for dance class yesterday after work....with melody at jitterbugs swingapore....it's nice! the routine was nice...oh yah...it;s jazz dance. very cool...i'll get used to it. our instructor was fen...(not my schoolmate from tj...) she's good..though the music was quite loud..i couldn't hear her instructions. but it was nice! =)

sunday i went to rebond my hair 'cos i'm so sick of my old hair...it was only $150 with a cut! had a 50% discount coupon from cleo. so actually it was $300. it is a refreshing new change!

after that i went to visit melody at centrepoint...we went for a meal during her break. after that i went to dinner with my family...to 'celebrate' my good results at Patara...this very nice thai restaurant at tanglin mall...we went there a couple of times already. ordered green curry, thai mango salad, their special chicken wings stuffed with thai spices, olive rice, pineapple rice, pork ribs, and a few more..and we finished everything! and it;'s a rare time that mother paid the bill...though this week when shi (my 2nd sister) comes back from her finland/sweden trip we are gonna have another meal with her and joshua (her boyfriend).

oh yah i bought another mango top...=) haha~ couldn't resist.

i passed my basic theory test for driving! yeah...now i can drive on the roads. so if u are around bukit batok and see cars with L plates...look out for me! just don't sabo me by distracting me...=)

may be volunteering with the clay aiken club members at autism children centre at simei...my point is not to hang out with diehard claymates...but to make use of my time rather than sleeping...help out a good cause...interact with the kids...make new friends..since it's near my house...and i'm free during those times...

next week is the school hols...no income..but i get a break....which is not so bad afterall...and st. patrick's day falls inside the hols!

This girl posted at 11:37 PM

Sunday, March 07, 2004

well...just went by grace's blog...nice skin!! haha~ you can check hers out using the link...

been doing some post-results work. checking out courses at NUS and NTU...checking out scholarships that i'm interested in..so far only a few...PSC which i've applied to already..that's for the teaching or speech therapy one. firefly...either do research with A*star or STB do tourism (which will be interesting). IE singapore sounds good too..but need to find out more. but all under firefly....then there's DSTA...a biomed scholarship. as for NUS...if i'm crazy i'll try medicine (see if they even grant me an interview...ms ng was telling me today they normally take 72 points and above...while i got 71 points...) if not do a BSc in life science...NTU's biological sciences course is very appealing...and i can go school with daddy! =) haha.

today had steamboat with my council....it was so good to catch up with them...talked about results, life, work, our past council days..meetings in the students' lounge, our super funny super lame announcements to promote our events...ah well....

i still wonder how i got a merit for biology s paper. i'm not trying to boast. it's really a question in my head. i didn't finish one essay, i didn't study, i was the weakest in bio in the whole s paper class...i got D for bio prelims...how? the world at cambridge is just twisted...or i got extremely lucky.

the thing about cambridge exams is that you don't get to see your paper. so what happens if the marker failed to see one point in your essay? what if the GP essay marker misintrepreted your words and flunked you? i know there must be a system of marking where it is fair. but since when is the world fair? doesn't it make it worse when we don't get to see our papers and have a say? so ultimately it comes down to JC, play, mug, play, mug (the cycle continues for many times due to the common tests), prelims mug, a levels mug then forget everything (or many things like the formula to calculate some stat thing...) at the end of all the studying and late nights...we get 5 alphabets and one number. that's it. so isn't it right to say our academic achievements are just defined by those alphabets and numbers? there's not even room for self defence or u know what i mean....

that is SO sad....

note: i'm saying defining academic achievements..not defining our JC education...of cos that encompasses CCA etc.

why don't they let us see our papers? too trouble-some? too expensive? hey our fees are expensive you know...

i love our education system...but the changes have been so weird. and sudden. add to the SAT and MLT mess...they dropped physics as a requirement for engineering. last yr or so they dropped biology as a requirement for medicine. i was thinking how that makes sense. doesn't that do more harm to the students than good?? without prior knowledge of the principal and basic ideas of that subject that student has to put in so much more effort compared to his counterparts who have done the subject at A levels. it's just weird.

or are all these another MOE conspiracies?

This girl posted at 12:08 AM

Friday, March 05, 2004

woohoo! i got 4 As!! yay....i knew it when melody told me...as daphne told her...as mr. lim told daphne before it all started...(we went in a little late...) so even before mrs. lim gave us the highlights of our results...i knew...but i wanted to be sure...even though i was shocked when melody told me. then as my name appeared on the screen...i was relieved....that it wasn't just a dream...then got quite overwhelmed....it was a wild emotional roller coaster ride.

during the highlights the most cheers went to subjects which obtained 100% passes and high % of AB grades. for us science students...the loudest cheers and applause were for ms. ng, ms. teo and mrs. lam...our dear biology teachers...who wrecked up 100% passes and a staggering 94.5% AB grades...breaking records! we all could see ms. ng grinning away...mrs. lam later told me she was on cloud 9....=)

also cheers for our top students...those who achieved 7, 8 distinctions...2 recipients of some prestigious award from institute of physics Singapore or sth...apparently it's super prestigious...well our cohort outperformed our seniors i think...more %passes (2A 2AO with GP)...125 got 4As 130 got 3As...

of course with joys, there were tears. saw many friends crying, went to comfort a couple with tissues with reassuring pats on the backs. figured that was the least i could do. i wished i could have done something to make them feel better...

my friends generally did ok...no dramatic failures thank God...many managed As and Bs and a couple of Cs. GP wasn't a terrible problem...thankfully.

well one chapter of my life is now officially closed. as i was telling melody as we left tj today...i felt a sense of closure...though i missed tj terribly...at least i know i survived it...i came out of it a better person...i've seen so much, learnt so much and made life long friendships. the purpose of a JC education was to prepare us for the As...and now as the results are released...the purpose is fulfilled...

and the chapter is closed. those fond days will always be remembered...along with all the people and places....

This girl posted at 11:40 PM

"We come to it at last..."

if you can guess where that line came from...join my club! haha~ hint..my favourite trilogy of all time....uttered by the actor who played titanic's captain...

anyway that's beside the point. my point is...today's the day when dreaming ends...in about 13+ hours i'll get my results. my A-level results....the nightmare which i don't know how i survived. can vaguely remember late nights of doing ten year series, memorising my notes, regurgitating out using cheap blue pens and used paper...with only my handphone and power98 accompanying me late into the night. not only that, many hours spent in school with girlfriends or fellow year 2 friends who have the same purpose in mind...until 7 8pm...under LT 2 or TRC...listening to either my discman or power98..notes all over the table with snacks like combos (pepperoni pizza or cheddar cheese flavour) and kit kat chunky bought from the bookshop uncle....i can go on....those were the days...

well....later we'll know the results. it's nerve-wrecking, scary, horrible, nightmarish...i often wondered if you go into something like this with absolutely no expectations and no feeling...would it be more bearable? with no pressure of getting flying colours, you walk into the hall calm, cool...like the outcome would not matter at all....

however that voice in my head (which i often shut it out when it goes out of hand and tells me nonsense) told me you can't help it but have expectations. in our world EVERYONE wants 4As. everyone's obsessed with distinctions and good grades. without them, you'll have to cry and take the road less traveled. without good grades, your tutors tell you you'll either have to go poly or go overseas (even then the university may not accept you...'cos many are obsessed with grades! heard of an university where it's entry requirements are based entirely on other things other than academic achievement? i haven't at least...if you have please tell me.) ok..enough of grades....i won't wanna get a nightmare on the day of THE DAY.

many people go through this. release of results. american idol contestants get results of whether they made it to the top 12. ryan and charlie battled out for trista's love...and knew the results on that day. job seekers get results of their application. i will get results of my driving theory test next week. we are not alone! anyway thousands other 18/19 yr olds across singapore will get it too....

you know the weirdest thing is on the eve of the release of my results, the science teachers (even the HOD of science haha~ sorry...) of my school were discussing about a question in the p5 science CA1 paper. they asked if i did biology in JC...yah....so they asked if the heart removes carbon dioxide and water vapour from our body when we exercise. the answer key said yes....so i gave my (expert...haha) opinion... i ran through my head the functions of heart and the cardiac cycle in my head...(you know what...i can still remember how the pages of ms. ng's lecture notes look like...) nothing said anything about the heart removing CO2 and H2O from our body....it's our lungs and sweat glands that do that respectively! haha...i remember my JC work! =) yeah....hope i'm correct. well i'm quite positive. so they decided to accept both yes and no answers, then explain to the kids actually that option's answer should be no. don't think they were taught that.

oh well..it's getting late. tomorrow b4 the TIME i'm lunching with melody....then back to tj...wish me luck!

This girl posted at 12:17 AM

Monday, March 01, 2004

well today was the telecast of the 76th academy awards...i've been following this star-studded event since 1997...hosted by my favourite host billy crystal...and good to say he didn't disappoint me this year...still very funny...=) plus the best thing was lord of the rings:return of the king, my favourite movie since i watched it twice...did a historic clean sweep! woohoo...they won 11 awards out of 11 nominations. historic because both ben hur and titanic didn't do the clean sweep....weird thing is fellowship of the ring got 13 nominations...was cheering everytime they got an award...ESP directing and picture...

cheers to peter jackson and his wonderful team...kiwis...and j.r.r tolkien....am SO thankful films will live forever....

yesterday was family day...though i got my new nokia 3200 phone...for $38 cos i trade in my 8250...if i don't get a nokia phone i think my sis will kill me...and today she just dropped by an sms from Finland to tell me it's snowing there and it's really pretty...while i was stuck in the hot science room in school marking....anyway i like my new phone! =)

anyway ian asked me...do i believe Providence....i checked out the dictionary to get a clearer picture...

Providence: n. God and his wise care and direction of the affairs of all living creatures; fate as a kindly influence

ian dear..u r asking a duh question...of course i do believe in that...if i don't believe that He is always there, i don't know what will happen to me...having juggled friends family school (wait a min...everyone goes thru' that)..well...anyway still managing to come out normal (nobody say anything!) and sane...it's that belief i guess...and it helps!
well....about fate...that's a different. it's quite a shocking idea to me that if fate exist...it means i'm not really in full control of my life...so i'm still pondering over the fate question....

well...in the movie serendipity...the leading actress Sara believed TOTALLY in fate....and it actually comes true for her in the movie...(yah it's a movie!!and it stars John Cusak....) well see she and her 'soulmate' meet by accident, they spend a wonderful night together...and she says if we are meant to be together we will find each other...so she writes her number in a book and sells it to a bookshop and he writes his number on a $5 bill and she used it to buy gum. after a few years they found each other....

i wondered if anyone actually tried this...in our real world....whether a little thing called fate controls us. as neo aka thomas anderson said in the first matrix movie...he can't stand the thought that he's not in control of his life...hence his disbelief in fate. so are we in control of our lives? our choices, our paths? or is everything pre-determined by a higher force up there/far away and we are just here to live that pre-determined plan?

This girl posted at 11:29 PM