HIGHLY SUGGESTIVE.

2009-05-20T15:19:00.002-07:00

Dad wants coffee from my coffee shop because it's roasted by, ahem, me.

Vera: Oh. You want coffee? Okay.

Papa: Yah. Don't want tea!

Vera: What kind of roast you want?

Papa: The best lah!

Vera: Tsk. What the best.... hahhahaha light, medium or dark?

Papa: Oh medium to dark. I want like Vietnamese coffee lidat.

Vera: Dark dark one ah?

Papa: Don't know leh. Stronger scent. Not smooth one like the westerners like.

Vera: Sharp and smelly. Okay. Got it.

Papa: Yah. Like you.

HHHAHAHAHAA!!!

2009-05-11T02:57:00.003-07:00

I miss the conversations i used to have with Dad, whether in person or online. Online because, well, we're not on the same continent for most of the year. Here's a new quote:

After asking him to teach me how to drive when i get to Aussie, i told him i drove Ivan's manual car before in a quiet neighbourhood at 4am and Bean took a voice recording of the hilarious chaos that ensued. To listen, go to Bean's blog and look under the label Hilarity, and then scroll down to "Vera Driving" or something like that. I would like to first clarify that it was my first time driving. And the car was a MANUAL. (Which of you can drive manual huh!?) And i neither hit nor killed anyone/thing despite what sounds like chickens in a panic in the background. It's me and Bean laughing. After listening to it:

Dad: So hilarious. What answer did u expect when u asked what do u have to do at the turn?

Me: HAHA i thought got to do something tricky with the gears or the clutch or what mah. Thenthen, there was one try where i shifted to second for the first time then i was going too fast then ivan said, "STOP IT!", so i let go ot the clutch and the gas.

Dad: You mean stop the car?

Me: Yah. And then stalled. HAHA!

pause.

Dad: i'm now having second thots.

Me: WHYYYYYY! But it's only my first time. Not bad already okay!

Dad: hahahahhahahahah okay.

Me: At least i shifted to second after 3 tries or so.

Dad: Anyway mine is auto and it wont stall. If it does u must be really bad.

Me: HAHHAHAHAHA what car is it?

Dad: Ford focus.

Me: Eee. Ford.

Dad: ? It's free.

HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAH! I like these conversations where Dad is damn funny but he doesn't know it until i write it down. Then after that he admits to himself, "Yah, actually i'm quite funny ah..."

2009-05-04T13:50:00.002-07:00

It's the start of summer and i'm kind of bored. I can't bring myself to get out of bed even though i'm in desperate need of a shower and a toothbrush. The fact that it's 2pm has nothing to do with it at all.

San Fran with Bean, Ivan and for a while, Nicole was great while it lasted. It's such a wonderful city, so much character and not too shiny. One thing i loved very much were the cafes everywhere and the almost compulsory al fresco dining. Not cafes like Starbucks, but real Italian and French ones with waiters and baristas that spoke the language and English with an accent. In America, it's really all about value for money. The portions are ginormous. I could never finish my food although i always want more. One thing i found out about myself on this trip is that i'm quite a pig. Must be the "Yeo-Fong: Let's Go Makan" training. It didn't matter if i was hungry or not, the principle was: Got (new) food, Must eat. Downtown shopping was the usual big American city fare. All the big brands and Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom. All big, all expensive so we didn't shop there. Driving was a bit crazy downtown though. Pedestrians in San Francisco have no notion of road safety / do not understand what the "no walking" light means. They just happily sashay (yes, here the men sashay) across the street in full-on traffic, oblivious to people, and by people i mean us, staring in disbelief at their idiocricy. Ivan road-raged at them a bit, silently, in the car. It was quite fun though, to be a passenger in a car zooming here and there, dodging the odd greasy pigeon eating stuff in the middle of the road. Very simulator-esque. And of course, San Fran's got all those fantastic hills to zoom up and down on. I wonder if you park 90 degrees to the curb (like you have to) on hills and slam the car door very, very hard, you can make the car roll down the hill and cause a car avalanche with the other parked cars. I don't think Ivan would have liked me to try that.

We went to Berkeley to pick and drop off Nicole. It's so charming! Well some parts of it at least. Some parts are a bit ghetto. There's an ice cream place near the university that makes their own ice cream and ice cream cones with chocolate at the bottom. My goodness... blew my mind. I want that place. They had flavours like brown sugar clove, silver lime and other things i don't remember but all fabulous. It was so pretty! I just sat in there eating my cone and staring about in wonder. I would give up saying "I don't like ice cream" for more of this. Halp. I'm hungry just thinking about it.

On the way home from San Fran, we stopped at Bodega Bay to eat oysters and look at the sea. I wish we had longer to spend travelling. And also more money. To get there, we had to take the coastal highway which was one of the prettiest, most interesting drives ever. There, we had oysters and steamed clams and watched sea birds flap uselessly against the wind. Oh! We saw a sealion and Bean went into raptures. I only saw the ass before it disappeared underwater again and i've seen them before so i wasn't that enthralled but it was still cool! It was quite easily 10 metres in front of us. Then we followed the GPS that led us east across / close to Napa to join up with highway 5. Man... that was easily the best part of the trip. The road wound around hills with orchards and vineyards and forests covered in mist because it was a rainy day. I wound down the window and hung my head out because the air was so fresh. We have very unattractive photos and videos of that. For a moment i thought the air smelled like perfume, but then i realised that i was smelling Bean. haha!

Okay i'm going to eat tacos. So long!

2009-04-14T19:28:00.003-07:00

Bob (on the phone): I need to take the biggest piss in the world.

Vera: Why. Why do I have to know that?

Bob: What?? I thought you wanted to know what was going on in my life! What?? Why are you laughing??

out and aboout.

2009-03-23T16:20:00.006-07:00

in a wonderfully orchestrated day, God at once taught me, reminded me, gave me back my capacity to love, and refilled me with joy. this day was incidentally one of the most depressing, emotionally distressing days i've had in a long while (Bob was the lucky one who got to bear the brunt of snarky remarks when i wasn't in attitudes of deathly despair). but in His perfect way He turned sorrow into more joy than i've ever had before. nothing really drastic happened either - just delicious illumination. i have no cause to be depressed if everything i do, i do for Him.

the pastor was right, once you trust God, you gain perspective. my life is not hopeless. i just forgot what to hope for. but i remember again and i'm rejoicing for it! He let me wander in the dark, not as a punishment for my sins, but for me to rediscover that He is good. Jesus said to Peter, right after He predicted Peter's famous denial, "Let not your heart be troubled..." (John 14:1)

so i'm not gonna either.

2009-03-22T01:13:00.002-07:00

i need a direction. i just want to know where i'm going, what i'm heading for. nowadays it seems like whatever i do is a pointless mess. i don't really know why i do them anymore. i knew once, but i've forgotten. so i'm not doing work just because i don't see why i should, or if i do, it's not for me that i do it. i might have pms. although somehow i think that even if that went away, i'd still feel the same way.

i don't want to carry other people's burdens anymore. i'm quite tired. i know, i help. but who's going to help me? i'm just so very tired...

Dentures Brynn!

2009-03-11T02:11:00.002-07:00

Hehehehe! Bean put her retainers in the cup we use to put our toothbrushes! Machiam dentures! I'm so tickled! Note also how everything else around it is so neatly placed. And also that the tube of toothpaste has had it's contents pushed to the front because the way i left it all bumpy was untidy. Bean amuses me so much!!!

2009-02-27T01:49:00.003-08:00

We have an antiseptic air freshener called Lysol kept by our shoe rack in case, you know, the air gets too germy with foot germs. Bean put it there as part of her "Let's Fight Septic Contamination in da Haus" campaign.

This heard yesterday after a cleaning spree:

Bean: Hm! Lysol! I haven't Lysol-ed in a while!

Lysol can: pssssssssssssssst! psssst! pssst! psssssssssssssst!

Bean (happily to herself): Good job Bean!

My Amazing, Exuberantly Multi-coloured Creatures.

2009-01-31T04:26:00.002-08:00

I have fish! 4 fish. (if you look closely, you can see the dwarf puffer, Bob3 lurking in the back. He's very shy and doesn't hang out with the rest of the Flaming Metros.

Tell you more in a bit.

PMS.

2009-01-29T23:18:00.002-08:00

I can't be happy, can't be sad, can't feel anything.

Oh. Wait yes i can. I can be irritated beyond belief.

It's lovely being a woman.

McDonald's Chicken nuggets - The best after-clubbing food.

2009-01-17T02:24:00.004-08:00

The best part of the night was eating chicken nuggets with Bean in my room! I'm too old for this clubbing shit. Don't need to, don't want to. It's not that fun in Vancouver anyway. I had so much more fun in Germany, that this doesn't really cut it anymore.

Partying is overrated. My nerdy confession is that i would rather have been at home reading up for class. Not even kidding man, this is what i've become...

Old.

We're Exercising!!!

2009-01-12T16:03:00.002-08:00

Who's surprised?

I am.

Bean and I are going to the Aquatic Centre to WORK OUT. She is going to swim in the extremely chlorinated pool and I am going to use the gym with all the sweaty testosterone-y men. Because I can't swim. Well I can, but I'm just not very streamlined okay? It's not my fault. Yeah, so we're on our quest to combat excess fat, cholesterol, stress, muscle degeneration and all the bad things that working out supposedly prevents. Every Monday and Wednesday after school.

How enthu are we?

How Heaven is Attained for About Half an Hour.

2009-01-03T22:30:00.004-08:00

I bought a pair of lambskin house slippers lined with wool at the Salzburg Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market) despite incredulous cries by M and J. Too expensive! Too ugly! Really? Blue? Oh come on let's go I'm cold. But i bought it anyway, just because i needed to buy something from the Christmas market. At least it's useful. Unlike some other thing i got... In my defense, it was a very pretty thing. Anyhoo, these were the best 15 Euros spent in my life. I can't help smiling blissfully when i wear them... it's like my feet are being squashed around by baby rabbits.

Terry Pratchett, instant noodles, squashy slippers = heaven.

How Emo Am I?

2009-01-02T11:37:00.002-08:00

In usual awesomeness, Juchee, Michael and Hannah (M's sister) woke up at unearthly hours to drive me to the airport. Hannah was there to supervise Michael's early-morning driving under orders from his parents, in case he fell asleep on the autobahn. I fell asleep so i don't know if he did. They also commanded him to "please make sure Vera wears socks!" Juchee did because he's wonderful, and Michael knows he's wonderful so i don't have to say it.

I'm in transit watching planes land in a very snow covered Montreal. It's been a perfect holiday and I would go back again in a heartbeat. You'd think I'd be sick of Germany after two and a half weeks of small town and man-company, but I'm not. It's kind of driving me nuts missing them, sitting by myself waiting for my stupid flight to Vancouver. Nuts! i tell you!

Goodbye at the airport was such a non-goodbye. I had to do it quick in case i cried because i know how the men/boys hate having to deal with crying goodbyes, especially Michael. And i totally would have cried too, if i had stayed longer, which would have been embarrassing. Then he'd have been a nervous mess and wouldn't know what to do, and we can't have that can we? Once inside, it was like... shit! i can't get back out. I haven't said bye! and of course not being able to do anything about it. It was a very pathetic situation and i was very sad.

In the ages that i took to type all the above, Montreal has turned a very beautiful violet and gold. It'll be dark soon and i'm so very tired and dirty. Thinking of my new bathroom (yes! new!) at home is making me very happy right now. And warm rooms with carpets. And my huge bed. And comforter. But if you gave me a ticket back to Frankfurt Main Airport, i would take it and go back right away.

Look how emo i am. =/

Deutschland!

2008-12-14T22:10:00.004-08:00

So!

After a rather trying flight from Montreal to Frankfurt, I'm finally in Wuerzberg where Michael and Jochen live. (The flight involved children, who, when they were not sleeping, spent their time on competitive screaming and kicking my chair. Not pleasant.) But I'm in Europe now and that's what matters.

Michi picked me up at the airport at Terminal 1, which was damn decent of him because he turned down millions of parties the night before so that he could get up and drive in the dark to pick me. The German Autobahn is fantastic. You can go at whatever the heck speed you want - there is no speed limit, so that was crazy.

Since he had his parents car, we drove up to the castle in Wurzberg on a hill surrounded by vineyards. It's pretty much a fortress to protect paranoid bishops against invaders or from the people in the city (depending on who was mad at them at that point in time), according to Micheal. It's got high walls and slitty windows and holey things for canons and fantastic medieval cobblestones. Tunnels leading to the gates have holes in the ceiling for men to pour hot oil/tar/shit down on the invaders. There are a million doors and a zillion windows, and i'm pretty sure secret passage ways. There was a chapel in the middle (incidentally right across from a tower containing a torture chamber) with ornate altars and things, very fascinating to look at. There on the ground, were carvings of the bishops on the stone of the floor. I almost swore out loud in the chapel when Michael told me they were the graves of the bishops. We also looked down an extremely deep well that i thought was kind of impractical seeing as it would have taken a half hour to get a bucket of water.

I rather liked that castle really. It's got old world charm and all that. The rest of the city does too, even though the buildings were pretty much all rebuilt after the war. Must be the cobblestones.

The Christmas Market is right by Michael's flat. We went last night and got roasted almonds and gluhwein (hot, spiced wine) with rum. The rum makes it a hundred times stronger than normal gluhwein, which is fun. And it was goooood! There's a longer more tongue-twistery name that i don't remember. I got a bit tipsy at the end but it was good for the cold. The Christmas Market sells lots of overpriced, pretty Christmas things for people who are drunk on gluhwein to buy. I wanted to get in on the action but M and J looked at me like a was nuts so i'm gonna when they aren't looking.

Oh damn. I might have wrecked Michael's blinds. They won't go up anymore. And it's not like they're skinny aluminum ones you can tie up. They're metal industrial monster ones that Singapore shops roll over their doors after they close. Shit. Ganz, ganz scheisse.

BABIES!!!

2008-12-10T23:17:00.006-08:00

MarcMarc.

After being in contact with Bean's two little relatives, Marc and Ezekiel, I'm having serious maternity pangs. Hugging small, soft, powdery smelling bundles of little person makes me crave for little persons of my own. I want so much to hold one, kiss one and teach one like Mummy and Papa hugged, kissed and taught me. That's talking about a huge, huge amount of love, and I want to show my children what it's like to be on the receiving end of that. I won't ever stop kissing them, i will smother them with ten thousand lifetimes of kisses! And i will teach them to be God-fearing, good mannered, intelligent, broad-minded, non-whiny, well-adjusted members of family and society.

I'm so excited! BABIES!!!

2008-12-03T22:44:00.002-08:00

New favourite things: brown rice with butter and rosemary, and tomato coulis.

Mmmmm.

Oh wait. Actually it's still steak. Yeah. Steak.

Next up, Bangers and Mash.

Menstrual Munchies.

2008-11-30T22:15:00.002-08:00

I want alot of things i don't usually eat. Like chocolate. And ice cream. With caramelized apples. It's like i'm pregnant. Only it's an oxymoron when i have my period.

I always know when it's the time of the month when i start getting extremely emotional about things. They don't even have to be real situations. In fact, most of the time they're in my head. If i imagined someone i loved died i could totally start bawling. I was in bed doing quiet time about three days ago, and i imagined i was married with three children. The eldest one was a boy, about 8. Then a girl a bit younger, and then a baby girl, about 2. And then my husband came home from work and all my children exploded with excitement.

I was so happy i cried. How pathetic right.

I want a baby.

Eeeeeat Meeeee!

2008-11-30T16:27:00.003-08:00

I've been really well fed by myself lately. I bought a cookbook from the bookstore and i've been going crazy every since. It's all i can think about, "Cook what next??"

I had the best steak i've ever had two days ago, in red wine sauce. And yesterday was pork chops with apple and onions, rice and a salad. Today i'm baking cod with lemon and butter. I'm so excited!

It's kind of nuts. I've even considered getting a basil plant.

I'mma get fat. Yum yum.

2008-11-24T22:31:00.002-08:00

I'm so emotionally and spiritually drained. I don't even think it's worth feeling anymore.

I want to smash things.

Say a Little Prayer for Meeeeeeeeee

2008-11-21T21:27:00.003-08:00

Exams are upon us (me) again! It never ends. Please pray for me. I need prayer. Pray for determination and perseverance and intelligence and inspiration and no distraction.

Just, "God I pray for Vera. Please give her determination, perseverance, intelligence, inspiration and no distractions during exam time. And also a new cellphone. Amen," will be good enough.

Please?

2008-11-17T18:09:00.001-08:00

ANON.: Smeh, if we were made to worship God, what about people who are tone deaf?

Weird Things I Dislike:

2008-11-11T16:52:00.002-08:00

Sleeping.
Taking showers.
Stopping for meals.

I wish they weren't necessary. They're such a nuisance and a waste of time. Other than for the fact that I need them to stay alive and function reasonably well.

Man, i wish i didn't have to sleep. Ever. I'll never be late for class. I'll never have insomnia. I'll never have to feel tired and unproductive. I just want to keep going and going and going.

I like to eat for fun, you know, to try new things. I just don't want to do it as a necessity. I hate that it limits my activities and my moods if i don't have proper meals.

I just feel there are so many more important things in life to be doing besides sleeping, eating and showering. I could accomplish so much more, i think.

2008-11-06T02:09:00.002-08:00

THIS BLOODY ESSAY IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!! IT'S ALL DISORGANIZED AND UNFLOWING. AND LATE.

i wish i didn't care. if i didn't care i wouldn't be tired but refusing to go to bed because there's an essay trying to eat my brain! why is it so hard???

Obama.

2008-11-05T17:23:00.003-08:00

Having undutifully not voted in the last American election, i decided it was my duty to at least watch the victory speech of Barack Obama in Chicago, IL.

His charisma reminds me of a rock star.

Drowning Ants and Bacon.

2008-11-04T19:57:00.006-08:00

I'm reading a book for a book review (i know! who does book reviews anymore??) for my environmental ethics course written by George Perkins Marsh in the 19th century. He has been heralded as one of America's first conservationists. Although he wasn't scientifically trained, he was widely read and apparently gathered enough shit to be able to write quite intelligently on the topic of conservation and sustainability. His ideas are still widely accepted in today's sustainability movements. While he had extremely good foresight/hindsight/insight, he also had the ability to pack many, many ideas into one sentence, and to do it with many, many words. Maybe that was the style back then, and people had more cultured and coherent minds. Maybe following the flow of ideas framed in 10-line sentences was an unremarkable task. But the untrained modern reader (me) drowns like an ant who thought she could haul the pot of honey home by cannonballing into it, in the midst of the giant sentence-paragraph-mutants he constructs.

"Purely untutored humanity, it is true, interferes comparatively little with the arrangements of nature, and the destructive agency of man becomes more and more energetic and unsparing as he advances in civilization, until his impoverishment, with which his exhaustion of the natural resources of the soil is threatening him, at last awakens him to the necessity of preserving what is left, if not of restoring what has been wantonly wasted."
-George Perkins Marsh, 1864

All one sentence!!! This isn't the longest sentence either.

_____________________________________________

One hungry Sunday afternoon, Bean and i were in the Irish pub where they serve breakfast till 3pm. The Full Irish Breakfast is 1) Very Large, 2) Very oily, 3) Extremely satisfying if you're in the mood for it, and 4) Just DAMN Good. So, after the impatient 15 mins or so of waiting for the kitchen to construct this monster meal, the food arrived. We attacked.

And after putting off eating the bacon she was crazy-craving for the last week, Bean couldn't stand it any longer and took a bite of one glistening, crispy sliver and sighed the sigh of one who has reached the End the Maker had prepared her.

With an expression of absolute bliss, she said, "Mmmmmmmmmmmm... This is why God made pigs."

2008-10-27T17:44:00.002-07:00

Did you know, that we have changed the earth's freshwater system so much that we've actually redistributed the weight of the earth so that it spins on a different axis?

Creating dams and reservoirs from rivers all around the world has, redirected the water destined for the oceans into the land for irrigation and other human use. 60 % of rivers globally have been changed like this, and the water channelled into the land so that the masses on the earth's surface have been rearranged, changing the torque of the whole planet. This is measured by the length of a day or something, and has been found to be significantly altered.

I don't know about you, but to me, if a single species on earth can change the movement of a planet without even meaning to, it could be unknowingly capable of so much more destruction.

Our Free Food Day.

2008-10-27T00:14:00.003-07:00

Today is free food day. Ian, our Singaporean friend, who lives down the street from us invited us to his house int he afternoon for roti prata and curry because his landlord was away on holiday and he was housesitting. We all walked to the supermarket after that, three oily lumps.

Then my landlady, in a very sweet gesture, invited us for dinner today. And she's a super cook! Her daughter is staying over tonight, so she decided it would be a good idea to have us over to sit by the fire a bit and then for a home-cooked meal. They have a real fireplace that uses real wood, actual chopped up logs that crackle and pop with the dancing flames! Like the fireplaces on Christmas in all the books we've read describing Christmases that Singaporeans have always wanted - with weather cold enough for a fire to be a pleasure. It helps that her home looks like something out of a catalogue. She has a very precise sense of aesthetic, and everything is exactly where it should be, and looks beautiful for it!

Dinner was a roast beef and potatoes and potatoes and gravy, very English. My goodness... Best roast beef ever. Brynn doesn't even eat beef and she ate until she was damn happy. I had two helpings of everything. Couldn't help it, they were too good.

She and her daughter have such a good relationship, always laughing and warm. It made me think of Daddo and Mums and Meizee (and Jude and Alexander, wink wink.)and and how much I miss them and wish i was with them now. They are the most important people in my life and I love them more than anything in the whole world. My parents are the best people I know in every possible way, and Meizee is the most wonderful sister I could have. There is absolutely nothing more I could ask for.

Woah I think period is coming. I'm so emo. But! that doesn't make any of this less true!

I'm going to pick all the cranberries and walnuts out of my cranberry and walnut scone and eat them as i do my assignment.

2008-10-24T00:15:00.003-07:00

HEEHEEEHEEEHEEEHEEEHEEEE!!!

WAY TO GO DADDO!

Can't concentrate on my stupid conservation ethics now... it's too much! TOO MUCH!

I'm Damn Old.

2008-10-19T19:43:00.003-07:00

Woah krayzee... I'm turning 21 tomorrow. It didn't even dawn on me till this afternoon. It also struck me how indifferent I am to turning the most important age of my life (probably). I've always been kind of excited the week before my birthday, just cause it's cool to get older when you're young. But this kind of tapers off into oblivion once you reach an age where, however much you age thereafter, it doesn't really matter anymore. Except maybe until you get to 50 (haha, Daddo).

Really, it is quite a huge thing, and I'll finally realize it after some time when I'm actually ready to turn 21.

2008-10-05T19:32:00.002-07:00

Ugh. Hate being sick... I can't smell anything. Drinking coffee without the aroma is like drinking bitter black shit. Must. Wake. Up!

A Reflection on an Aspect of Life.

2008-10-04T13:09:00.003-07:00

It is imperative that I realize that a $300 dollar paycheck does not imply "OMGOMGOMG I'M RICH!!!". And the sooner i realize that, the sooner I will have more than $100 in my checking account on average per two weeks. Instead of wondering if $____ was an appropriate amount to spend on say, socks.

Apparently Olie has... tons more than i do in her bank account. Now how did she do that, having had 4 years less than i did to accumulate assets? I think from living at home and mostly spending the Parents' money. But apparently she "saves very hard" and "is careful with her money".

What are those things? haha

I heart men's clothes.

2008-10-01T16:05:00.002-07:00

They're so damn comfortable, i'm very jealous. I bought a second hand Christian Dior shirt from a vintage store and i'm wearing it now with shorts. It's damn shiok, feels like pajamas. New favourite thing to do!

2008-09-28T02:39:00.001-07:00

This sucks. I'm so sad now.

2008-09-21T02:00:00.002-07:00

Indescribable, uncontainable, you placed the stars in the sky and you called them by name. You are amazing God! Incomparable, unchangeable, you see the depths of my heart and you love me the same. You are amazing God.

Indescribable. Chris Tomlin.

Some Useful Trivia.

2008-09-17T19:35:00.003-07:00

Did you know, a mosquito has six tubes with which to pierce your skin with and suck your blood? SIX!!! When they're not in use i.e. giving someone a damn itchy red spot, they are kept in a sheath for the convenience of the insect. I guess so they don't whip all over the place while they do little whining cartwheels around our ears. And so we are tricked into believing they only have a single needle with which to irritate us with, but noooooooo. They have SIX!!!

Each has a pointed end and teeth to help it break the skin, and all at once they are plunged into your skin at once while one of the tubes called the hypopharynx injects an anti-coagulant, vasodilator and anaesthetic so you don't feel nuts, and the other tubes happily suck away, all for the happy enjoyment of the small hairy thing.

Grossed out yet? I learned this in entomology lab. See? Who asked you to send me to school Mum and Daddo. hehehhehe.

For Meizee...

2008-09-15T00:48:00.005-07:00

Back entrance to the basement where us, along with some big spiders live.

Front of house. Our landlady lives on the first and second floor, and her house looks like something out of a catalogue.

This is the apple tree with the tree house in the backyard behind my house.

"Huhh... I only took one hour for lunch today??"

2008-08-07T21:54:00.002-07:00

Mummy got one well deserved Monday off work after a sickening week of international conferences and international all-day-long headache, and of course we went to shop in town (that being what we do best). We had lunch with Dad at a Japanese place in Shaw Towers, and ended well on time for the end of his lunch hour which he notoriously does not keep, nor care to keep.

Mummy: Oh! It's so early. Eh you get to go back to work on time!
Dad (obviously in distress): Huhh. But... I don't want to go back to work on time!

Must. Watch. Soccer. Now. Everyday. Forever. Amen.

2008-06-22T20:49:00.002-07:00

HAHA! In your face Nash! Netherlands is out! Heheh!

Although, how the hell did Russia manage to win that match. People say (and by people i mean Jack) that it's because the coach for Russia is Dutch and apparently a fantastic tactician and also knew what van Basten was thinking. The Dutch looked like they were unbeatable. Guess not! Haha I'm having serious soccer fever now and it's killing me that there are no more matches till Wednesday. And thank God the final match is on Sunday and my exam will be done and i can guiltlessly bum my way into oblivion for the rest of the summer. Oh the days of useless existence, stretched out before me like a gold-lined avenue, whose end can only be my forgetting all my schoolwork and the addition of a couple of extra kilos. There will hopefully be a pitstop in India with Thi and Bean (which the Parents are not terribly enthusiastic about, what with diarrhea in every bowl of curry, dirty bathrooms and touchy old men); Calcutta, Varanasi, Nepal. So excited.

Must. Watch. Soccer. Now. Everyday. Forever. Amen.

EUROFEVER!

2008-06-10T01:49:00.001-07:00

2008-05-29T02:27:00.001-07:00

Argh! Why do all the good men have girlfriends and the rest of them just not good enough!?

I am Slightly Freaked.

2008-05-17T11:42:00.002-07:00

A mouse squeezed into my room this morning at 4am through the gap under my door and then ran behind some boxes. I couldn't find it after that but i could hear it all night.

Hallppp...

Mouse Attacks Housemate in Bathroom.

2008-05-15T02:29:00.005-07:00

My goodness. There are mice in my house.

For people who are not aware of my surroundings, i just moved into a 5 room house (yes, an actual House) on Macdonald and 4th. It's old and spacious like how they used to make houses. With space to actually live in the Living Room, dine in the Dining Room, and includes a porch and a back deck. There's even a lower floor, but that's rented out to some other dudes who, we suspect, are potheads.

7 of us live, cook , laugh, breathe in this creaky old house (which we thoroughly scrubbed, wiped, Swiffered, vacuumed, squirted cleaning product on; which is why we don't mind the oldness so much). I think my room was either a parlour or a drawing room or something, because it's right in front of the house and the first door you see once you open the front door. The wonderful thing about it is that it has three large windows set at angles to each other along one side of the room, forming a two-angled wall of windows, if you know what i mean. So, even though all my windows look into the windows of the house next to ours, i manage to get lots of light in the day which i am quite happy about.

Anyhow, the decision to write this post is the result of what must have been a nerve-shattering experience for Angie.

I was in the beginning stages of deciding to start my on my German homework when i realized that i (of course) could not do so without a cup of water. Flicking on the living room light, i walked mug-in-hand towards the dining room and spotted Angie's red shirt as she went to take a midnight bathroom break. I was about 2 metres from the dining table when i saw a little grey-brown blur scuttle madly out from the corner of the dining room towards the bathroom, scrabbling on the parquet floor. Approximately 1.5 seconds later, the most terrible, blood-curdling screaming exploded from the bathroom followed by a fleeing Angie sobbing about a mouse in the bathroom. The screaming quite made my hair stand because my first thought was that an apparition made an appearance in the bathroom, so how was i ever going to use that bathroom ever again you tell me huh? But! It was only a mouse! judging from the size and colour of it. I'd have been more sickened if it had been a rat, seeing as i've cut up some of those in lab before and i know quite well that they're not the prettiest rodents around.

The mystery of the night, however, was where the mouse went after being terrorized by a screaming Angie. We (being me and the men in the house who had bravely rushed out of their rooms in various degrees of undress to apprehend the Terror in the Night) ventured into the bathroom to look for the offensive mouse or at least to find out what hole it had used to escape. We found neither mouse nor hole, which left the bathtub drain, toilet bowl or heater vents as probable escape routes (unless it was hiding in Euken and Angies' laundry baskets, in which case: ew, i hope it's not pregnant.) Seeing as logic doesn't allow a 3 inch mouse to scale the side of the bathtub or be able to make a getaway by swimming down the sewage pipes down the toilet, the most obvious answer to our mystery was the heating vents. These, i wouldn't be surprised, are as old as the house and are not much more than rectangular holes in the walls with a wide-spaced grating over them. Most of these in the house have a metal flap that can be opened or closed, depending on whether the inhabitant of the room is partial to the hot air pouring from it or not. The bathroom vent did not have a flap however.

The possibility that the mouse escaped that way, therefore, begs the question of whether or not there is a slight chance that a colony of mice/rats/an assortment of bugs populate the house in addition to the 7 of us, in the heating system.

Living with mice has always been a phenomenon you read about in books when impoverished persons live in filthy wooden huts and have 10 children to feed with a scrubber-woman's salary and a fat drunken husband. But! No need for fantasy!

We proudly present, ladies and gents, our very own mouse breeding farm! (no but we'll speak to the landlady and make her do something about it. it's just gross.) Or maybe i can keep one as a pet. Hm.

Stop Being a Soppy Mess, Vera.

2008-05-12T02:25:00.003-07:00

It's been 2 days and the thought of Juchee not here is still as horrible. I miss him like hell and i wish he were here. It's just not the same anymore - there's the sense of something missing that sends me in to an aching depression. And the fact that Michael's leaving too really isn't helping. I foresee more bawling and emo-silent-staring in store for the future. These dudes have been such a massive part of my life these past 8 months that now that Juchee is gone, it seems like a chunk has been unexpectedly ripped out and left me in a gaping void. Bloody Germans. I want my Sasquatch back! We all miss you so much, you must get back here!

Now see i'm crying again. I'm such a sop. Life should just shut up and stay the same. Or let me go to Germany next summer.

HAHA!

2008-04-27T15:46:00.002-07:00

"When two male [dungflies] struggle for possession of a female, the female is sometimes drowned in cowdung by the fighting males on top of her."

- An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology, 3rd Ed.
J.R. Krebs & N.B. Davies

I Want the World to Know...

2008-04-25T23:09:00.003-07:00

... that i have the most amazing parents in the world. I dont know what i did to deserve them.

Mysteries, mysteries.

I. Fricking. Hate. This.

2008-04-25T02:18:00.003-07:00

Why wasn't i born an African tribeman's daughter? Or a rich man's daughter? Or an orang utan's daughter? None of these have to take university exams or make sure they squeeze a degree in Biology out of their souls so that their parent's money won't be a pointless, crippling sacrifice. Nor would they have as much capacity to be a dismal failure. I'm such a lousy academic / exam-taker and i don't deserve my parents' investments. I wish i knew what to do. Right now. Next term. Next year. With my time. With my life.

Time to grow up, you, and slap the complacency out of your head. Things don't come that easily even with all that brain. Why was i not informed that the choices i make should make me happy, not ones that pretend to but actually are shimmering bubbles that pop when the heat is on?

And who knew i'd be so disappointed with my life at 20?

DON'T GO LAHHHHHHHHHH...

2008-04-22T14:00:00.001-07:00

2008-04-21T18:28:00.001-07:00

This end of term sucks. It just keeps getting sadder and sadder everyday.

I hate it.

Tripping Out on Cough Syrup

2008-04-06T23:18:00.002-07:00

Apparently cough syrup can be used to make meth. I did not know that. As such, i have been getting very high on decongestion every 6 hours. The world is spinning but not, and i have weird thoughts. Why do druggies do drugs? Not very fun what. Spin for a while, think some nonsense, stare at things, go to bed. Whatsofunaboutthat? Posers.

Phlegm, phlegm go away.

2008-04-04T10:23:00.001-07:00

Woah i was pissy. I'm all better now. Beer and Germans are a good way to cheer up.

Blame the System!

2008-04-03T18:08:00.003-07:00

School is lame, and of all 'schools' University is the lamest. The more i think about it, the more i've convinced myself that, unless you are Scienceboy with a superhuman thirst for knowledge (if you watch Friends you'll get this), or have a burning ambition to save the world using complex physics or genetic mutation, university is quite a waste of time. Honestly, if you live in a country where blue-collar workers could earn twice as much (or more)as educated people with white-collar jobs, spending 4 years++ on an education while you could be earning money/gaining work experience seems just a little bit stupid.

Four months a term is too short a time to properly learn, understand, master, be proficient in anything as intricate as animal physiology or ecology. Every term I feel like i'm scratching the surface of the ice, and by the time i manage to dig a bit deeper and think i'm starting to get a sense of the big picture, it's the end of the term and you have 3 days to cram, cram, cram before the exam comes and you're expected to do splendidly because 'Oh! You're smart enough to make it to university and you really want to learn about this stuff!' Universities are money sucking corporations that convince the world that you need a degree to survive. It's NOT true. I don't believe it!

All the Good Things in Life, I Share With You!

2008-03-24T15:47:00.003-07:00

Just call me Vera "Barista-in-training" Yang. That's right all you lovely people. I'm training to work in the Boulevard Coffee Roasting Co. on campus and i'm terribly excited about making organic coffee for the masses.

The world is rosy red, I LOVE IT! I shall have money now!!! $_$ MUAHHAHAHHAHA! uh... i mean, i'm thankful because i dont have to depend on papa to pay for my (over)shopping anymore. And i can finally start to be semi-independent and co-fund my insanely extravagant lifestyle. (Love you Pa!).

Also, i would like to officially announce my arrival to Singapore on 17 July. Feel free to await the day with anticipation!

My Paradox.

2008-03-18T13:42:00.002-07:00

I live in a warped dimension.

Time rushes by like water in the light of exams, but refuses to budge at the same time when i run out of MONEY!

What is this supposed to do for my psychological development?

Of Tennis.

2008-03-10T23:40:00.001-07:00

Jochen: mens sana in corpore sano
Me: What???
Jochen: thats latin for : if you dont do enough sport and just lie around than your brain doesnt like you anymore

My Saving Grace.

2008-03-09T15:33:00.001-07:00

Happy Times!

2008-03-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

Mother Of Nature - Funny bloopers R us

2008-03-08T23:45:00.002-08:00

SCREAM!!!

FRICK!

ARGH!

FRICKFRICKFRICK!

It hurts me...

2008-03-06T16:13:00.001-08:00

Man... I'm so frustrated.

Letters from Home.

2008-03-05T23:42:00.004-08:00

I've been reading through my old emails from friends and family, and it's been emotional to remember how much i'm loved, how far i've come, the friends i still have, and the friends i dont anymore.

Here's a funny one from Barn:

wa snow boarding? you know how meh? haha..
LA was quite fun the six flags and universal studios.
the rollercoaster shiok. haha. i had running nose then like going so fast
that it was blowing off. HAHA

And another one from Charm:

I HAVE CHICKEN POX! CHARM HAS CHICKEN POX! SITTING AT HOME. CANNOT VISIT.
DAMN IT. I JUST GOT IT ON THE NIGHT OF THE 2ND DAY OF CNY. AND I ATE ONLY 2
PINEAPPLE TARTS SO FAR. HELP. SO MANY ON MY BODY. THERE'S GOING TO BE SO
MANY ON MY FACE. EWWWW. HAVE TO GO FOR PLASTIC SURGERY OR SOMETHING LIAO.

Damn i want to go home.

Lab Reports.

2008-02-27T19:07:00.002-08:00

Lab reports. I'm being suffocated, squashed, stifled, sickened by all the fricking lab reports! Always, always, always lab reports.

Aiya, okay la. I might as well be good at it.

And I'm Proud to be an American!

2008-02-19T13:22:00.007-08:00

At 830am on Sunday (after my waking up extremely late, and Joy's going back to get her toothbrush and losing her keys that were actually in her bag) Joy, Robert and I went to Seattle for a Reading Break break and stayed in downtown Seattle for a night. The very tired Robert was a hero and drove us there and back and around even under continuous bullying from Joy and i (we're sorry). We did embarrassingly touristy things like gaping at the buildings downtown and taking pictures of the interior of Cheesecake Factory. I can also now say proudly that i've been to the top of the Space Needle and looked out on Puget Sound (through very annoying wires) at a height of slightly-less-than-184 m. Riding an elevator going at 10 miles per hour, your guts travel at a different speed from the rest of you, and by the time you take your first gasp in surprise at the rate you're ascending you're halfway up the thing. Joy and i shopped shamelessly and very enthusiastically on 5th Avenue while a very sleep-deprived Robert napped in the room till dinner. At this point i declare that i love love love America, and i'm proud to be an American (hence the very propaganda-rish video of I'm Proud to be an American). Singapore needs to have soul-stirring songs like this that actually mean something instead of the lame-ass National Day ones we have to memorise every year and that all sound the same.

And I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land God bless the U.S.A.

See ... sounds so inspiring even while not being necessarily true. Not like ours, most suck and won't convince ants.

Monday saw us in the University Village of the University of Washington eating sushi. Words cannot describe how envious i am of their "village", because it's not a bloody "village" at all. It's a very clean, very new, very shiny, very BIG, very classy city of shopping and food. Man... tell me what's the point of having an American citizenship if i'm living in Canada mad with jealousy of the places of education in the motherland.

America is also the land of ridiculously cheap cheap cheap (slightly outdated) branded stuff. This, of course, attracts hordes of Asian people in search of the honour and glory that comes with accessorizing oneself with the monograms of the likes of Burberry and Ralph Lauren. I spotted (by ear) some Singaporean aunties in the Coach store because one of them exclaimed in reverent wonder, "WAH! Ze ge bag yi bai quai er yi leh!! Wei shen me na me pian yi ah??! Zai Singapore mai yao qian duo quai de leh! Ekskew me! How much this one after discown ah?" In support of my homeland, i bought a Coach handbag for USD70 and Nine West ankle boots for USD24 in the outlet stores, among other little things. Burberry raincoats go for 200 bucks (i really want one! i tried one on and almost cried when i had to take it off) and Cole Haan belts are 20. So i conclude that i'm in love with the US of A and i can't wait for the next trip that takes me back.

Puget Sound from the top of the Space Needle.

There are frogs spitting water in the University Village of the University of Washington. How come they have so much money to make frogs spit water?

The travelers three.

HAHAHA! So much fun!!!

2008-01-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

Rolando Villazon singing La Danza. Fan-TAS-teeec! Up volume for better effect.

Introducing Stumpy.

2008-01-17T15:27:00.000-08:00

There's a squirrel with no tail that lives outside the Biological Sciences building. It's got a tail la, but only a small bit of it. Maybe it got rolled over by a car, or got into a pub brawl, i don't know. The people in the Bio building know it by sight and they call it Stumpy. There are two common species of squirrels on campus - a large, grey variety and a small black kind, and Stumpy is of the latter group. Apparently it sometimes falls out of the branches, probably because of the imbalance due to lack of tail. I'd imagine it gets bullied a lot by the other squirrels (maybe they shove him off the trees and steal his nuts) since their tails are such handy things to wave around and show off (like pompoms) and poor Stumpy has none. Today i saw it being chased by a mean looking large grey squirrel, while another small black one stood around and watched the drama unfold. Tsk tsk.

Politics.

Ooh. Patpat.

2008-01-15T20:12:00.000-08:00

I self-congratulation is in order, i think. I have put my foot in the door of the world of nerdy discipline. Did i just decline an invitation to go for Indian food with Jochen, Michael, Sara and Pawan just so i can read up on my plant physiology lectures i've missed? Oh yes i did! They're going to the casino after so that Pawan can show off his blackjack skills and win a lot of undeserved money and buy drinks for everyone after that.

My goodness i'm so impressed with myself.

Also, watch this. To the end because it gets better in the middle.

And I'm Back. Again.

2008-01-08T07:33:00.000-08:00

One day into the school term (okay, fine, two, but i spent the previous day sleeping from 230pm to 900pm and hence ponned class). I miss mummy and papa and Ohlie very, very much. I have endless fun with Olie. I wish she was here.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

2007-12-12T02:22:00.001-08:00

You know it's PMS when you burst into tears after watching a James Bond movie.

Exam Philosophy.

2007-12-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

I wonder if success is a state of mind. If you think you're going to be a success, you will be; but if you think you're going to be screwed, you will be just that. I think something just clicks into place if you have the former mentality, and you work faster, more effectively and you know instinctively just what to do. The right things stay in your head longer and you know where you're going, all rather effortlessly. Of course, working hard is an essential part in it, but really, you can work hard and be a blundering fool and get nowhere and obtain nothing in the end.

So now for trying out my theories for my very non-studied-for Biology 303 exam on Monday.

Won't You Be My Friend?

2007-12-05T14:51:00.000-08:00

HEHEHE!!!

In an attack of homeseickness:

2007-12-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

This picture, i think, is going to be one all 5 of us will look back on and smile and say things like, "Wah, see last time Barn so hamsum." or "Ruth did you gain any weight at all??" or someone's kid will say, "Mother why you look so toot?"

The Sisters Yang.

The Sisters Yang and Father.

Ahli and I show our enthusiasm.

This one is here because it made me laugh very loudly to myself in the Beanery. So embarrassing. Look at Nigel's face!!!

2007-12-04T16:57:00.001-08:00

I want a brother.

Hmph.

We Have Snow. Snow Snow Snow Snow.

2007-12-02T14:06:00.000-08:00

December blew in all it's snowy glory, layering a fat coat of snow on any surface that would hold it. Snow makes you appreciate a few things more than you would on an average day, or if you had a warm December. The effects of warm soup in vietnamese noodles spreads so much more effectively. Coffee in a crowded coffee shop smells satisfyingly richer, the couch is softer and you sink deeper into the cushions. As i sip coffee and wait for my feet to completely resurrect from the dead after being stamped around in inches of snow encased most inadequately in Converses, the appreciatability of jazz and warm feet becomes so much more apparent. I wonder if the man across the room meditatively picking his nose feels the same way when he watches the fat snowflakes drift by the window.

Disgruntlement.

2007-11-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

How annoying. I just pushed Michael's coffee off the table with my books in an attempt to change positions with him at the table because i needed a place to put the chair with my laptop on it so as to give my fungus books some breathing space on the table. And then i find that i can't bloody concentrate on this fungus stuff. Can't be as annoying as having your coffee pushed off the table though. So now i'm sitting in a pool of coffee that's soaked into the carpet, not using the chair that caused all the hoohaa in the first place, not doing work and feeling completely irritated at being so antsy. I can't move to another table now either (which, i just realised, would have been a much better idea when i wanted space), since i made Michael switch places and deprived him of his coffee in the process.

Argh. My life is so difficult.

And the countdown begins.

2007-11-27T16:42:00.000-08:00

22 days till i panic at 12am on the 19th of Dec because i haven't started packing.

And 23 days till i fly home.

Vera's Pet Peeves.

2007-11-24T18:29:00.001-08:00

1) When i scratch my lip balm with my too long nails and i can feel it under my nails for hours after.

2) Having to do work when i'm too high on coffee after drinking cups and cups. Like right now. Ironically, the only time i drink coffee is when i do work. How? Tell me how?

Royston Tan's Cut.

2007-11-22T14:56:00.001-08:00

I never knew the extent of censorship that the Singapore Board of Sensors impose on films screened in Singapore. I've always been slightly offended when foreigners tell me that Singapore is one of the most uptight, ridiculously expensive cities they've ever been to, because you know, don't anyhow talk about my country okay! We got char kway teow leh you got or not?! But of late, i'm starting to think that maybe we are too strict and self-righteous for our own good, and many of the restrictions imposed on us are quite unnecessary. It isnt a protection measure anymore - it's become a lifestyle.

Regarding movie censorship, watch Royston Tan's Cut and say it isnt so.

I thought when you grew up the choices in your life were yours. I have personal morals which i would like to see evident in society. But then, who are we to say what others can or cannot do? Is imposing morals on society the right way to make people moral? The question is not whether it is right to make people moral, but whether the way you make people moral is right.

Let the Festivities Commence.

2007-11-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

A levels are an abomination. My poor Jessie. The stress the government puts on these fresh young minds is completely unnecessary and absolutely stifling. Boo to you, person who decided to make this exam such a horrible experience. What happened to the joy of learning?

I'm glad it's over, Jessie!

I want to go home! I absolutely can't wait. I miss mummy and papa. Christmas is never the same if you're not with family. No, not even when you're up on a mountain snowboarding/sliding down the mountain on your ass like i was last year. Of course that was fun too, but you know what i mean. It's not Christmas if the family is not stuffing their faces with you at Eryiyi's overloaded dining table, or sitting on the floor exclaiming at presents received whether you like them or not. Or having two miniature hurricanes ripping about the house yelling a kindergarten war-cry. The real reason that Christmas at home is irreplaceable though, is the knowledge that every single person around you is as happy as you are at able to share this Christmas, crowded into the same house and singing Christmas carols out of tune at different octaves. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I always get so emo when it's almost time to go home. Ahhhhhhhh! One month couldn't pass fast enough.

My Happy Coffee Break

2007-11-15T15:02:00.000-08:00

I am in a state of part elation, part inspiration. I have just found marvelous coffee from the cafe in the Life Sciences building and that makes me very happy. It's a dark roast that smells like heaven and burnt chocolate and flowers. This makes me want to open a coffee place and sell perfect coffee and sweets from all around the world in a shop overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

Free Lice! Free Lice!

2007-11-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

Improve your language skills and feed hungry people. That's what everyone's goal in life should be.
FreeRice

I love vocabulary games. I have so far donated 700 grains of rice. I wonder how much of a bowl that is. I also wonder if there will ever be an end to poverty and hunger, but i would please like to help the world to get to that end.

I shall give it all up and become a nun.

2007-10-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

In all your ways ackknowlege Him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:6

I had to memorize this in Sunday school over and over again. And now it's particularly applicable and i'm thankful that i know it by heart. One finally sees the point in all those seemingly pointless repetitions, most of which were chucked out of our memories at the playground right after church ended.

What exactly does "acknowledge Him" mean, does anyone know?

Mapping Eukaryote Chromosomes by Recombination

2007-10-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

-Psalm 62:1-2

I found this verse in an old post and i'm going to put it up again now, just because i like it. I love the sound of the last part: He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

I should remember that more often.

This is an attempt to peel my brains off the table where it was taking a nap while i was studying. One caffe mocha later, my heart beats faster, i take shorter, faster breaths, i keep thinking of amusing but irrelevant things, and my bladder refills at an alarming rate; but am i more alert/psyched to be studying?

No.

The Frenzied Swirlies.

2007-10-01T02:02:00.000-07:00

So here's what's been going on for the last hour from about 1am to 2am:

put on white formal pinstriped shirt and knee-length white skirt.
look in mirror.
make disapproving face.
remove shirt, put on dark linen short-sleeved shirt.
look in mirror.
make disapproving face.
tuck in shirt.
think i look like a waitress.
put on black loafers.
not helping.
remove skirt.
put on brown slightly-above-knee skirt.
remove dark shirt.
put on white long-sleeved blouse.
think i have unconsciously recreated the 90's look.
remove white blouse.
put white pinstriped shirt back on.
ew. no more short brown skirt.
removes brown skirt.
puts white skirt back on.
removes shirt.
put on black tank top and a buttoned sweater.
better but not quite there.
put a waist belt.
think i look like a snooty country club membership owner.
panic for a bit.
exchange bits of clothing for others.
fiddle with belts.
twirl around and look at what my butt looks like wearing this outfit.
not bad.
fiddle more with belts.
change items of clothing around again.
sigh in exasperation.
changes back into pajamas.
want to cry.

So. I have a mock interview tomorrow (today, really) at 4pm and it just dawned at 1am that i had no interview clothes to wear. What does one do?

One doesnt know.

One is sleepy. Also, very worried for the midterm not so very studied for.

The HUGEGIANTMASSIVE Egotrip.

2007-09-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

Deedle Dee...

The diabolical smile for diabolical schemes.

ARGH!

Let's look pleased with ourselves. *Looks pleased*

"Den den den..."

Ahhh! SO FUN!

Look! It's me and a naked man.

2007-09-19T18:10:00.001-07:00

Self-awareness Exercises.

2007-09-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

Er: Those are not big pictures on the floor la! They're posters on the wall and the photo is tilted. Hahahahaha I miss you Er!

Jessie: There you go!

Anonimo: Uhm okay. But who are you?

Self-awareness exercise #1
When i'm full of alcohol i dont realise when i fall asleep. I was at a bar yesterday getting properly soaked in vodka, gin and beer, and towards the end i rested my quite alarmingly dizzy head on someone's shoulder and closed my eyes for a bit. I only realised that i had fallen asleep when i woke up because the German guys had stopped talking and the silence that ensued was very loud. And then when i was on the bed, i thought i was quite fully confident of my consciousness until i jerked awake with a scarily full bladder, and had to stumble off to the bathroom. I also quite like beer now.

Self-awareness exercise #2
Taking a 4hour nap that spans from 6pm to 10pm is not a terribly good idea and will slightly, just slightly mess up your sleep schedule so that you're way too wide awake at 1230am in the morning. Also, your head feels like a ton of bricks after, inhibiting any ability to get any work done to make up for the hours squandered.

Self-awareness exercise #3
Rose pearl milk tea with pudding is a bit more than my lactose intolerant guts can handle. I refuse to say more.

Self-awareness #4
I never get hangovers. Or rather, i've never gotten drunk enough to get a hangover.

Self-awareness exercise #5
I'm hungry.

Garibaldi Lake.

2007-09-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

On a whim, and with the determination that the rest of the summer should not be spent under roofs, Alyssa, Baki, Vincent and I decided to go swimming in Lost Lake in Whistler. Basing our hopes for the lake to be the marvelous picture that Vincent painted, having been to some lake once when he was younger, we set off in Vincent's musty, dog-fur strewn car into the mountains driving by faith towards what we hoped was the right destination. In my mind i saw blue, blue water stretching as far as i could see, fringed by an idyllic grey-pebbled beach, and mountains sitting majestically in the background. Most significantly of all in my mind, it was deserted. Someone said something earlier about a hike to get to the lake, which, after several brain filters of the HearOnlyWhatYouWant sort, i took to mean a leisurely trot and wore pretty Nike sneakers with no socks. Thus, 4 happy people negotiated the bends on the Sea to Sky Highway and goggled at the general beauty of things, without a care in the world. Well, at least i was without a care in the world. I'm sure Vincent had cares about driving us over the edge of the cliffs.

After a very calorie-filled brunch at a Macdonalds in Squamish, we arrived at Whistler, made several wrong turns and found Lost Lake. Then we realised it was the wrong lake because the "hike" was all of 50 metres from the carpark. We then took a gamble and drove to Mt. Garibaldi which turned out to be the right one after all, the one in Vincent's distant memory. And it was beautiful. Apart from the fact that i was, and still am, terribly, terribly, terribly, unfit, and the fact that we trekked uphill for 3 hours straight, and then downhill for another 2.5 hours. Still, it was marvellous. And i'm glad we went despite the aching butt and sore feet after.

I have given up trying to figure out how to get the pictures the right way up. So we shall just have to use our imaginations a bit. Or tilt your head to the left.

The New Room.

2007-09-01T16:17:00.001-07:00

Okay i dont know why the pictures came out sideways. Tilt your computer.

I is Baack.

2007-08-28T04:50:00.000-07:00

So. I'm back again.

And true to expectations, i'm wide awake at 4.50am with nagging cramps, having slept at 9pm. I arrived in Vancouver at 1235pm yesterday to find an unshaven, punk-goth themed, iced tea-drinking, but nonetheless clean Vincent Ho staring cynically at me over the railing. You take reelly long. was thing he said. After dragging my insanely heavy luggage/body bag onto a trolley, we proceeded to lose his car in the car park. Soon after there was the joyous reunion of the Smellies in Bean's video store. There was much squealing, hugging, kissing and roaring of laughter, accompanied by Vincent's timeless admonish, Women. Psh.

I dragged around a heavy head and even heavier eyebags for the rest of the day, not daring to sleep in case i dont get over jet lag soon (also because Bean would have bit me). Airplanes are not good places to sleep. Your neck and shoulders go all wonky and stiff, and everyone can see the weird faces you make when you sleep.

Man, my skin is going to suffer much tribulation.

Nah. Blog already la.

2007-08-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

Oh, the donkey years that have passed since i last blogged.
Oh, the distant, ancient memories...

HAHA.

I have been deathly ill these past two days and have been languishing at home, spending time drifting mistily in and out of consciousness (the conscious parts being spent numbingly watching Korean dramas with Dayiyi). I am now, however, better although slightly stuffy, and thought i had better write something in my blog before i forget the, uhm, might of the written word.

A number of things have happened in the giant span of time i have spent not blogging. Not necessarily in order, they are:

We moved out of Pine Grove to stay temporarily at Popo's house while our condo is being made ready. We are now separated from our dear cousins Fong, away from the pretty blue Pine Grove pool, away from Neighbour Leon (whose car door i used to accidentally scratch another person's car door). Yes, from 17th floor to 3rd. From top-of-the-windswept-tower to bottom-of-the-windless-stump. From huge sliding windows that open wide wide wide to very stingywindows. Yah, i need air and open space. I might be a Labrador Retriever, maybe. But i get to live with Popo and Dayiyi and make their lives so much better. This is of course the least i could do - me just staying here and stuffing my face makes them very happy.
I got a job at Singapore Cord Blood Bank - where Eryiyi works - as a data entry girl. Yes, data entry again. Yes, more groaning, more moaning and gnashing of teeth. Lots more food though, seeing as most of the nurses who work there are all of one mind with Eryiyi where food is concerned. They would mass order old-fashioned ice cream - the kind that has Potong/Chempedak/Durian flavors on a bamboo stick. Fifteen boxes of ten would be ordered at once (try all! all nice! all nice! ). Mooncakes would be ordered in bulk because someone's husband has some discount somewhere. (Ah, double yolk one! Give me two boxes. Three la, three. Two or three?! Four la. I give one to my mother). Yes, the fact that it is not even Mooncake Festival is not even an issue. They seize every opportunity to have a party with too much food. They quite like me too, i think because i'm young and happy. Today was my last day, though. And i can say: I'm freeeeeeeeeeeee! From the evil dusty black Dell computer and the stupid Panadol-pink donor files!
Okay i have only energy left for one more event. Actually, i think not. The might of the written word has shown itself (because i want to sleep). Oh! I bought a Macbook! The end.

Love you all.

the puctuationlessness of it all

2007-07-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

oh i'm in trouble i shall have no home when i go back to school oh my god i'm so stressed that i have thrown all punctuation rules to the wind and am rambling on in a continuous small caps fashion then i got accepted into biology co-op which apparently is quite hard to get into but i'm in two minds about it because it's going to take up a hell lot of time and i dont know if i'm willing to give up so much it doesnt help that i have had very little sleep the past few nights nor does it help that i have work tmr and have to get up at 7 what am i going to do about housing i'm very worried i was so looking forward to living with bean and emily and hairy but now i cant anymore (*^*%$*&$^

how now

i dont know

tell me how

pray lor

pleh.

2007-06-16T04:35:00.000-07:00

It is 4.35am right now and last night, i think, was the drunkest i've ever been. I think my hangover has started already. I look forward to waking up. At 10am for my hair appointment at 12pm. Best of luck, Vera. I love you. Kisskiss.

Typey Type Type.

2007-06-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

I have realised, with a rush of blood to the head and an exhilarated flurry of fingers, that i can type without looking at the keyboard. Oh happy day.

Now if only i can type without making a mistake on every word.

My Illustrious Baking Career.

2007-06-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

I would like to quite school and bake all day, please?

I spent the whole day today baking French Butter Cookies. They weren't too bad i think. Good things to eat with a glass of milk not by themselves because they contain a tablespoon of butter in each cookie. Not kidding.

The illustriousness of my baking career doesnt come cheap. My hands are paying the price of my consumption of yummy things. I have dried up hands from washing the heaps and heaps of cutlery/plates/pots/pans/bowls/baking sheets, three cuts on my fingers (one from cutting apples, two from the serrated edge of the roll of plastic wrap), and a viciously throbbing blister from touching the inside of the oven by accident.

How I Have Been Occupying Myself Lately.

2007-06-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

It is with excessive measures of glowing pride that i present to you my latest accomplishment in all it's dazzling sticky glory. Behold, French Apple Tart:

I like it very much. I shall make one for you when i get back to Singapore if youre nice to me and buy me presents. haha.

Here are other - i just realised - not so good pictures i took of the house and of today's dinner.

I Wish, I Wish, I Wish, I Wish for This:

2007-06-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

Pleeease?

Alyssa's Birthday.

2007-06-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap it's boiling! I need a fan! or a small private pool! or an army of little people with nice breath blowing air at me. Stupid living on the fourth floor and burning our brains out of our skulls! I'm going to burst like an overcooked sausage and spill my roasted guts all over my feet.

Eee. Why did i say that.

Anyhoo, here are pictures from Alyssa's bday. We have a bday tradition thing where if it's your bday, you buy dinner instead of being the one to be treated. It's all fair in the end. Alyssa made pizzas for us. They did not exist long enough to have their picture taken. One of Alyssa's sisters had the Wii video game thing, so after being stuffed full of pizza, we virtual-boxed each other to death. Part of the fun is watching people box because you dont know how stupid you look when you box with the Wii controllers. For this reason, i strategically blocked the accumulation of evidence that i looked silly while boxing, by stuffing my camera into my butt pocket out of reach of the guys. A great tactical move. ahem. Although I did get footage of Jerome and Vincent boxing. They looked like very bad Dance Dance Revolution dancers. It was delightful. Alyssa's sister made her a cake. It was the mostest prettiest, psychedelic, colourfullest cake in the world. And it was gooood.

The End.

Peace.

2007-05-31T01:35:00.000-07:00

I just realised i look like a flower child with what i'm wearing now, what with beaded earrings, tasseled belt over a shirt dress. Not to mention long, very ungroomed hair. Someone needs a haircut. Now if i could get my grubby paws off any and all food, and on some pot...

I'm such a lonely soul. I cant wait to go home and away from this maddening boredom. Summer here sucks (besides the good weather of course). I dont have friends in my classes like i did in the other terms and Bean has to gallivant with the boyfriend most of the time. Oh i'm dreaming of the comfort of home...

Plus i can cook now, so i can effectively contribute to the economics of our house and maybe take up an apprenticeship in Popo's kitchen at the same time. Slobber.

What the heck... i'm hungry.

When Bored, Stuff Face.

2007-05-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

I want to go home. June 18 seems like an eternity away.

I realise that i eat alot when i'm bored. Life is so uneventful that i fill in the gaps by eating buttered toast, grapes, cereal, carrots, chips, or whatever i can get my grubby little paws on. I guess the little red pok of a blister on my thumb is a stern warning that i shouldnt be eating buttered toast an hour after dinner.

Ooh. Popcorn! I want popcorn!

Milk and Honey.

2007-05-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

I'm drinking milk and eating bread with creamed honey and butter. The milk is lactose free so that i don't explode in a ball of flaming gas. You know somehow, when you eat bread, milk and honey, life is good.

What inspired this was that nursery rhyme about four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie: there's a line that goes 'the queen was in the parlor eating bread and honey'. In my book there was a charming picture of a fat queen stuffing hunks of honey soaked bread into her mouth with obvious delight. Yah. That's me.

Summer classes have been going okay. Yes this is my guilty-ridden update on my life since i havent been blogging properly in a while. Summer school is pretty hectic. I dont like it much. Especially because i'm taking bio and english at once and reading copious pages of fluff everyday is simply part of my self-afflicted bondage. Ooh. Come to think of it i dreamt i took French in the summer and absolutely sucked at it. Plus a prefect came in during class and told me to stop eating my Ritz biscuits. Apparently i was a prefect too and thus was duly ashamed of my irresponsible and un-exemplary behaviour. I had my bio midterm yesterday (yes, midterms two weeks after school starts. that's summer school.) It was slightly unfair because this is a first year course, and being a second-year-going-on-third-year student, i have been taught almost all these things before and thus got by by studying for three hours just before the midterm at the coffee place. *snicker*.

Ah well. Such is life. Time to go eat Pringles.

2007-05-22T18:33:00.001-07:00

Oh Good Lord.

I just burned my roommate's spanking new Ikea wok.

Diediediediediedie!

My devious self thinks i should go and buy one and replace it for her and not tell her! Then no one gets hurt.

My honest, upright, righteous self says, "Tell her you dummy!"

Oh man oh man! Ahhhh! Disaster!!!