MERRY CHRISTMAS

Winter Wonderland - Jason Mraz!

I want to be a Cullen!

I finally got down to watching Twilight with carmen and zhen yesterday.

It was no better or worse than I expected. I like how the entire movie was cast in this vampirish blue hue, it made everything seem so surreal. The best scene wasn't the hollywood cliche kissing scene or the gory bloody one, but the scene when they used their vampire abilities to play baseball. It was like the adrenaline injection the movie needed. 

BUT. I think I would've enjoyed it more if there wasn't a congregation of girls behind us incessantly cooing over robert and swooning over gossip girl. I felt like smacking the girl behind me who kept squealing "kiss kiss kiss!" at all the wrong scenes. 

Other than that, it was a pretty good show. 

hong kong!

I realize I haven't posted about hong kong. So here it is! Short and sweet. Mainly because I'm too lazy and the pictures on facebook kinda say it all. So here are some pictures that aren't on facebook.

Alcohol in our room at the W hotel. Thank goodness sarah didn't stay here :P 

In the mall at The Venetian. This was next to a manmade river with gondola's floating in them. Then they charge you to ride in one while the person rowing the boat serenades you. Kinda lame actually, but the singing was good. 

We stayed at The Venetian which my dad said was very OTT. I was like huh? what's OTT? And he went "over the top" in this very matter of fact tone, like i was supposed to know what it was. haha i swear it's weird how my dad knows more teen stuff than me. Like how he likes Gwen Stefani and watches Ugly Betty and Heroes.

Anyway, I went to hk with jinx and sarah and juns and we met up with yinto and roth! Then met up with my family when juns and sarah left. I don't have much to say about hong kong, except that i shopped, ate, go-karted, cable-carred and went on a few roller coasters. The rest is on facebook!

I want to be invincible.

I used to believe in the power of words, but words bend emotions like sticks in water. 

Think before you let your words entangle themselves into her thoughts. Because those words will lift her up. And when you leave, those words will disappear, and she'll fall. 

rules. ugh.

I went to the National Library with zhen and carmen today. We sat on the floor at a pillar with a powerpoint. Then zhen and carmen went to borrow all their intimidatingly thick hitler books and what not. So there I was, happily minding my own business and trying to access the wireless internet, when one of the million library people walking around with a walkie talkies (who I can only refer to as the "people in charge of making sure the excruciatingly annoying rules in the library are followed to the letter") came up to me.

library person : "Excuse me, can you move over there? (gestures in the general direction away from the pillar) You're blocking the way. The trolleys have to move through here." 

me (looking around and seeing NO trolleys being rolled anywhere) : "err..okay."

So all of us moved to the student lounge on level 5. It was packed, so we sat outside, one person to a pillar with a powerpoint. And guess what? ANOTHER library person with a walkie talkie told us we "weren't allowed" to sit outside the lounge (even though we were totally at the side against a wall and not obstructing anything.)

Annoyed, we moved to level 7 at the reference library. And "library policy" says you can't go in with personal items. Yes, even your own books. So I couldn't even bring in my friggin This Earth of Mankind. We left. 

I hate rules. Especially unnecessary ones. What's the point of having so many power points if people can't sit there? Those library policies need some serious rethinking. Or maybe this is just me being bitter. 

I need to be somewhere.

'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where --' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
'--so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

If there's one thing I can't stand,

it's hovering between two extremes. 

I need to know where I should be. 

I need to make a choice so I can live my life the way I want to.

stop throwing me fishing lines and reel me in already. 

2008

Forever Young 

Thinking back on this year, I would have to say, this is one of the best years of my life. Not because it was the happiest, but because I changed the most. I've been thrust into an entirely new environment which forced me to mature, whether I wanted to or not. Or maybe it's because I made some real friends this year, and they've done much more for me than I could've have asked for. When I felt most alone, you guys were there to pull me up. When I was happiest, you guys were there to share it with me. 

Of course there were times when all I wanted to do was to go back, but I had no choice but to stick through it and I dare say I emerged a better person for it. If it weren't for my friends, I don't know where I'd be now.

To my friends, you know who you are, thank you.

flashes

Jose singing LOVE on stage to a girl in a very mini skirt. 

A red-faced Dr Underwood belting his lungs out to Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

VOLARE.

Jon Lee joke flirting.

Rachel's sparkly shoes. 

Ian and Rachel & David and Benita dancing together.

Avinash in a garbage bag.

Ernest in a garbage bag.

Zhen being pushed onto the dance floor.

Ernest jumping from the stage and guitar solo-ing.

Dancing to LOW LOW LOW

Cabbing home with chris and matthew and jing qing.

Sleeping at 3.

Waking up at 11. 

Ernest trying to cram a burger into his mouth. 

Bowling with jinx and sarah and juns and ernest.

Car racing with sarah and winning by a second.

doggie paddle swim racing with sarah and ernest.

Walking SUPER FAR to chris's house with ernest.

Chris's dad asking me why chris seemed to be picking on me alot.

Foosball! shut up chris. I could have won. 

Chris rushing me and jq to learn to play poker. 

Zhen desperately trying to steal my chips using the gasp-what's-that-over-there method.

"I'm not going to fold. Because of avenged sevenfold!" the words of wang. yes, a part of me died.

Guitar hero 4!!

Matthew going crazy with the mike.

Yinto stoning at the tv at 1am.

Guitar battling with matthew. 

Climbing over the gate to get to the cab.

blank. 

light

I'm not giving up.

I'm not on the thin wire anymore. 

I've found solid ground. 

don't crumble beneath me.

give up.

I can choose.
I can choose to be sad, or I can choose to be happy.
I can harp over the loss, or I can find reprieve in what else I've gained.

I'm on a thin wire, and I'm falling towards the wrong side of the ground.

force yourself back to the right side.

my shallow form of catharsis.

mary says: (9:12:16 PM)
i DID feel slightly happier when i saw patrick dempsey.
I stay and go: I am a pause. says: (9:12:29 PM)
ahahhaa see!
mary says: (9:12:37 PM)
i saved the picture
mary says: (9:12:41 PM)
i'm going to look at it when i'm sad.
I stay and go: I am a pause. says: (9:12:58 PM)
HAHAHA OMG ME TOO

what the world can do without

We all know jose has a reputation for his inexplicably perfect english. Here's a glimpse of the catastrophe that would unfold if he decided to start speaking in Singlish. 

Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:42:17 PM)

y0uuu sTtuuuup11d g1rLx lolxlxlx
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:42:25 PM)
lolxzxzxz
mary says: (8:42:32 PM)
JOSE
mary says: (8:42:34 PM)
I'M CRINGING.
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:42:47 PM)
I l1kez dat oso cAnn0T!
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:42:55 PM)
h0w com aHH?
mary says: (8:43:00 PM)
i thought you were normal jose.
mary says: (8:43:03 PM)
i guess i was wrong
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:43:53 PM)
lolxzxzxz
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:43:59 PM)
maaybiii
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:44:17 PM)
I cute cute or nooottt?
mary says: (8:44:34 PM)
oh yes, jose. just perfectly adorable.
mary says: (8:44:43 PM)
*note the sarcasm please*
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:45:11 PM)
aiy00
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:45:17 PM)
d0nt be so bAd laaa
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:45:22 PM)
can onnot?
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:45:33 PM)
hahaxzxz
Inopportune moments come but too many too many in a lifetime... says: (8:45:35 PM)
sianzz

Thank goodness Jose speaks english.

REVAMP.

The SJIeye newspaper is stuck in sinking sand and nobody is trying to pull it back up. 

I want to do something about it, but I'm afraid I won't have the energy to go through with it. 

back.

I miss my mg life. 

I want to be bimbo and go crazy, even if it's just for a day. 

simmering beneath the surface

I realized something today. There are 2 kinds of people in this world. The kind that explode in your face when they're angry, and the kind that lets the anger simmer beneath the surface and looks pretty calm on the outside.

I'm the second kind. I only explode when the simmering anger begins to boil. I know its not healthy, but it gives the anger a chance to subside and preserve the friendship. Of course if the anger is being fueled, then it will turn into fury. And thus, the delayed explosion.

So when people seem amazingly calm to you, don't always trust what you see on the surface, because you're not seeing everything.

who are you?

You are who you make yourself out to be.
You take bits and pieces of everyone who has ever had an impact on you,
You mould them together and
You make them your own.

It's something you have to do
because you don't want the world to see
the real you.

seachickens.

Kid says: (6:09:37 PM)
omg mary
Kid says: (6:09:38 PM)
im so hungry
Kid says: (6:09:40 PM)
i want seafood.
Kid says: (6:09:45 PM)
and grilled chicken with honey
mary says: (6:09:58 PM)
grilled chicken with honey is not seafood chris.
Kid says: (6:10:09 PM)
oh
Kid says: (6:10:10 PM)
it isnt?
mary says: (6:10:21 PM)
NO CHRIS ITS NOT.
Kid says: (6:10:26 PM)
i was pretty sure it
Kid says: (6:10:27 PM)
was
Kid says: (6:10:28 PM)
damnit
Kid says: (6:10:32 PM)
MY MOM LIED TO ME AGAIN.
mary says: (6:10:42 PM)
is CHICKEN from the SEA?!
Kid says: (6:10:58 PM)
...seachickens are.
mary says: (6:11:24 PM)
whats a seachicken?
mary says: (6:11:29 PM)
you so made that up!
Kid says: (6:11:35 PM)
DID NOT.
Kid says: (6:11:37 PM)
THEY'RE FROM THE SEA.
Kid says: (6:11:42 PM)
THATS WHY THEY'RE SEACHICKENS
mary says: (6:12:42 PM)
OH REALLY?
mary says: (6:12:48 PM)
and what do seachickens eat?
Kid says: (6:13:06 PM)
uhm.
Kid says: (6:13:08 PM)
seaworms.
mary says: (6:13:25 PM)
HAHAH
Kid says: (6:13:32 PM)
what.
Kid says: (6:13:33 PM)
they do.
mary says: (6:13:55 PM)
indeed chris.
Kid says: (6:14:09 PM)
yes.
Kid says: (6:14:11 PM)
im glad you see.

ashes.

"I've waited, and given the chance again,
I'd do it all the same, but either way
I'm always outplayed, up on your down days
I left it the right way, to start again

Now watch me rise up and leave all
the ashes you made out of me
When you said that we were wrong, life goes
on, just look how long I've agreed"

Home Cooked Pasta at Jinx's

Yesterday morning I very reluctantly woke up at 6.45 and helped SAVH with their treasure hunt for the blind. (They were partnered with secondary school students.) It was rather monotonous but necessary. Honestly, I don't think the visually handicapped people really enjoyed it. The highlight of the day was when one of them played his guitar and sang "Beyond the Sea". He was so good that when Jose did his cover of "Tomorrow", he played along with his guitar, impromptu. i'm so jealousss. 

When it FINALLY ended at 3, Juns and I went to Ngee Ann City to buy her a pair of school shoes. We ended up at the perfume and makeup section where we spent more than an hour of our time. lol. We're such bimbos. 

At 5, zhen met us at ngee ann and we all went to Jinx's house to cook pasta! We went to Tanglin Mall (where we met up with chris) to buy ingredients first. It cost us a whopping $130 for everything but that's cos we bought salmon and alot of prawns and scallops. Pasta is actually surprisingly easy to make. 

Quote juns - "i wish we had home economics lessons in school. The 5 of us could be the dream team!" lol. Here are some pictures i took with my phone. They're not very good but jinx's SLR was with ernest. 

Juns, Zhen and Chris sliding the pasta onto a plate!

Fettucine with bacon strips soaked in cream sauce and egg. Garnished with italian parsley.

Prawn pasta made with fettucine, italian parsley and prawns & scallops cooked in cream sauce.

Enjoying our REALLY GREAT pasta! Not bad for our first try i think. But then again, its just pasta.

After dinner, Zhen left, Sam came over, and we played Iron Circle till 11 something. Iron circle rocks!! 

my musings.

Teenagers are the most dramatic people ever. I think its because we're still young. We want to believe the world is so much more exciting than it really is. Our only salvation from the realization that the real world is not as thrilling as we want it to be, is to create our own drama.
Everything that happens in school - all the gossip and all the scandal is so tiring. Sometimes i wish i lived in my own bubble of oblivious happiness.

P.S. this wasn't triggered by any dramatic event. Just all the drama that i've been through and heard of that has built up since i entered sjii.

SINGFEST08!

before you start, ALL THE PHOTOS ARE TAKEN BY JINX. 

okay,

Despite the heat and the crowds, this years singfest was one of the best performances i've ever seen, Zhen and i met brendan at plaza sing first, where brendan spent $15 trying to get some winnie the pooh in the arcade using the metal spider cling thing. After that amusing experience, zhen and i took a cab to Fort Canning where we spent about half an hour queuing and waiting for our tickets to be collected and the main gates to open.

When we finally got a place to sit, jinx was sitting a few metres away from us but we didn't know. So jinx decided to be all sneaky and take pictures of us. haha they're actually pretty good cos he was using his humongous SLR.


Jamie Scott came after Stacie Orrico. He looks sooo good in music videos but he's so short in real life :( Zhen says he looks like a hobbit and sadly, i have to agree. His performance was kind of dull, but i guess he can't help it because his songs are naturally soothing.
One republic followed. Everyone says they were pretty good and they were, but i think the other performances outshone theirs. Here's the lead singer splashing bottled water at the crowd because the weather was so hot.
Panic at the disco next! It was pretty sad because it was the only band that a experienced technical glitch. The mic wasn't working for one entire song but they kept on playing because i don't think they could hear the audience even when we were raising our arms and making "no sound" gestures.





All of us think ernest and the lead singer of panic and the disco look the same. Here's both of them on stage. Just look at the resemblance!! It's not just the hair and sunglasses, all their actions on stage are kinda the same as well haha.

Jason Mraz ROCKED. like seriously. He was the whole reason i paid $183 for my ticket and it was SO worth it. He got the whole audience having fun and singing along. And when he played I'm yours the ENTIRE audience was having fun. His ways of getting the whole audience moving and singing are so fresh, you can't help but have fun.

oooooh. Levi's fashion show. Too bad zhen and i went to get food to eat while jinx stayed with our stuff. Apparently the whole audience cheered like mad when they took off their shirts. sighh..i so should've stayed on. hahaha.
Pussycat Dolls! Plenty of eye candy for the guys now that the levi's models are gone. They have so much stamina but they did this creepy giggle thing for one of their songs and it made me cringe cos it sounded so bad.
Zhen was infatuated with this one cos he says she looks like a slutty version carrie underwood. tsk tsk zhen haha :P

Alicia Keys "no one" came second only to jason mraz's performance. It made a fantastic closing song, with everyone (even me, jinx and zhen) jumping up and down singing the "uh uh oh..." part at the end.

you make me smile.

I was just surfing through www.edwardmonkton.com and i found these.

For Jinx. The most serene person i know. 
For Juns. The first thing you do when you get back from school - go to the fridge. 


For Sarah. Too bad they didn't have a drinking one :P

For Jose. Pig because you love to eat. And happiness because you're always smiling.

and Zhen, this is for you because this seems uncannily like one of those things you do when you doodle on my books or tard around like you always do. 

Prive and Brown Sugar

i went to Prive for sunday lunch today. The food was so gooood. We sat by the river (its near vivo and u can see the cable cars in the distance) so the ambiance was really relaxing. The best thing was that at least three quarters of the background music was on my ipod playlist. There was ingrid michaelson, imogen heap, colbie caillat and norah jones. Whoever chose the music has good taste.

Eggs Benedict! One of the best i've tried.

fluffy fruit pancakes :) my sister ordered that. for lunch. crazy right?

Wagyu burger! (my mum told me wagyu cows are fed beer and massaged. i want to be a wagyu cow.)

Chocolate milshake. It was okayy. Not as chocolatey as it could have been. I honestly don't see how it could have been labelled one of the best in singapore in the sunday times. 

Hazelnut Praline 

Chocolate mousse. Tasted like really soft chocolate haha.

Peanut Butter Crunch. Soft from the cake, creamy from the icing and crunchy from the peanut butter. Very rich, but very good. 

Claire and i enjoying our desserts. As you can see, i only had a sliver of the peanut butter crunch. NOT the whole thing, so don't judge me!

My dad took all the pictures. He likes to bring his camera out every sunday and teach my sisters and i about things like the aperture and lighting. i think i'll try taking more pictures one day when i'm in the mood.

Yesterday i went out to watch Hell Boy and Dark Knight. Hell boy was so boring i almost fell asleep. Who cares about some huge lumbering red man with two stumps on his head pushing some gold monster/machine around. Zhen says the blue fish guy is gay. i like the blue fish guy. He speaks with a certain air.

Dark knight was alot more satisfying. It was so disturbing though. What length are you willing to go to for revenge? Would you take the lives of many just to save your own? The ending was sad but heroic. Batman is such a dark show.

After the movies i left to go to Brown Sugar for dinner with jinx, juns, eskor and ian. It was so funny. I laughed so hard, it hurt. I finally got to eat my favourite dessert ever - sticky date toffee pudding! haha juns liked it so much she had like 3/4 of mine. tsk tsk juns is such a piggg :P

I ate so much this weekend. i can't wait for tennis and rock climbing.

Margaritas and Mexican food

I feel so healthy. This saturday i went to the gym and ran 3. smth km. That is ALOT for me. Then i surprise visited Jing xi and Sarah who were doing their homework in the area next to the sicc gym. 

zhen came over in the evening and we went out for dinner at Cha Cha Cha. The enchiladas were yummy but there was too much chicken. Wish we ordered fajitas though. Every 10 minutes, a sizzling hot plate of beef came out of the kitchen and it smelled soo GOOD.  

I love frozen margaritas.

After that we went to Cold Rock for ice cream. 

Irish cream ice cream + White cookies and cream ice cream + mint slice + strawberries = BEST COMBO EVER

zhenhe! says: (8:31:13 PM)
your blog post is so vague.
zhenhe! says: (8:31:17 PM)
you should talk more about
zhenhe! says: (8:31:23 PM)
my awesomeness
zhenhe! says: (8:31:28 PM)
or how we got woozy haha.

my reaction - *rolls eyes* :P  

Yes, we got woozy on half a glass of magarita (i know, we have a very low threshold for alcohol) and we were retarded all the way back :) 

oh, and zhen is awesome. 

HAPPY, ZHEN? 

Where do we go now?

once in while, I need to show my emo side.

Keeping secrets is such a burden. 

Don't tell me things if you don't have to. 

I hate keeping things from people because it makes them feel like I don't trust them. If I don't tell you something, it's for the sake of the secret teller, not because I don't trust you. 

morosely happy

First week of school. Very tiring but fun. My sense of purpose has been restored.

Things have changed since the last term. 

I'm so tired. I don't like shisha. 

I'm quitting tennis. I just realized how much the instructor gets on my nerves. 

I hate it when teachers patronize us and make us feel like kindergarten kids. Amusing but offensive. 

i need a sign to reassure me that everything will be fine.  

photography

Playing around with my dad's slr around my neighbourhood! I've been meaning to start learning photography for ages but today I was finally in the mood to start.