because the draft i prepared has disappeared when my computer hung, i'll just have to type everything here. which is a severely abridged version cos i don't remember
hope the title caught ur attention! haha! it's true you know. had a dinner date with some of the 4/6 girls. jac, poornima, feng cai, jessica, jeanette, huiling. haah! go figure the rest yourself. went to parkway for dinner at mos burger, gossip sessions (universities, sch, internships, pri sch teachers, slippers etc etc). then hanging out around parkway and taking lots and lots of photos (which i'm waiting for the photos to be uploaded). which is probably not anytime soon since the rest of them are playing pool till next year. or playing sparklers at ecp till next year too. haha!
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anyway, the main purpose i wanted to do this post before the new year is to reflect on what happened last year. the good, the bad, and the rest.
-caught dengue fever
-stayed in hospital for the first time
-worked as a door to door salesperson
-worked at john little
-saw a very overweight woman with a china doll hairstyle in nothing but lingerie (traumatised)
-went swimming
-went on a cruise
-organised a chalet
-shared a bed with a girl twice
-swore in public
-ponned choir
-conducted a choir
-went without a bra in public
-maintained a blog
-went gaga over a celeb
-cantored acapella
-watched a horror movie
-went to thailand
-almost handed in a blank exam paper
-fought depression
haha! all for now. can't remember anymore. but what a year! loved and hated it. sad to say, it deviated more towards the hate. but, hey! next year'll be better!!!!! see you then!
*goodness gracious, great balls of fire!*
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Friday, December 30, 2005
MJC alumni dinner
lets see, what to talk about. just got back from the dinner. it was ok. can do. lets see, i was supposed to meet duan hui at 6.30. but ended up waiting till around 7 cos she overslept. but that was ok. didn't wanna go in so early by myself anyway.
performances by the choir, band and guitar ensemble. choir and band were good. really enjoyed them. wanted to give a standing ovation for the choir but we were unsure of when they were going to do their last song. so missed the opportunity. never mind. next time they have a performance, we'll all go and cheer them on! the guitar ensemble was SO boring. they played "the entertainer" and "pink panther theme". but we were fighting off sleep as we listened to them. thank goodness miss lai didn't give a speech.
the juniors ran off the minute their performance ended so we had to run to catch them for photos. sigh. they could have stayed. the band stayed and gatecrashed the dinner. anyway, not much worth mentioning. oh ya, naresh was around. haha! for once. saw dr s, miss ho, mdm heng. yup. talked with mdm heng for a while. not much. none of my classmates were around. so me, myself and irene, was the only A101 there. sigh. the turnout was quite small. all the prominent people like nuha and denise weren't there. my guy was though (more on that later).
yup, so the usual photo taking sessions. dr s had to run off quite early for a family dinner. so sadly she didn't stay long. lucky we caught her as she was running off. we were sitting, eating in the dark on the bridge thingy (for the tables there) and we saw her with howard as her escort. we were saying, howard should lay the red carpet and open the car door for her while we cheer her on and give her a Royal farewell from the bridge. haha!
right. not much else to talk about. bit disappointed that none of my classmates turned up. i expected at least bra to show up. but .... sigh.
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all righty, been dying to talk about my guy (it's just habit that i'm calling him that). just to get him outta of my system for a while. today was the first time i saw him in a year. and he didn't act like i was invisible, like he did the last time. but he was definitely avoiding me. i was avoiding him too. so maybe it's mutual. afraid of the awkwardness. and as usual, i was watching him from afar. my girlfriend said that he was looking at me too. anyway, i should have gone and talked to him. there was a perfect opportunity when he was standing all alone by himself. i could have just gone up and like "hi (insert name)! nice to see you again. how's life?" you know? small talk. at least then, i'd get some insight into what' s happening on his side. i miss him. i've never denied that. but i wanna respect his decision.
but i don't know what he's thinking. maybe i'm just nursing a pipe dream. this time last year, after i told him, he said that he'd write to me in reply. but he never did. maybe he never planned to. there was a time when my girlfriends entertained the possibility that he did write and the letter got lost. some even contemplated asking him outright, confronting him but didn't in the end. of course, if u still wanna ask him, go ahead, be my guest. but don't say i sent you.
maybe it would have been better if i didn't see him tonight. not let him give me hope that a friendship would still be possible between us. then maybe he'd just remain a figure of my fantasies. now, today, after seeing him again, i'm thinking, should i reopen communication with him? nothing direct lah. maybe just email. but i remember telling him that if he decides that i scare him too much (he's kinda shy) i'd leave him alone. i've left him alone for the past year. he never told me his decision. someone tell me what should i do?
sigh. such crushes are crazy. i should just find myself a boyfriend and forget about him. maybe that's why i'm going gaga over clay and romantic comedies. maybe i'm just trying to fuel my romantic inclinations and live through other people's romances. it's a sad life i know. and i don't expect to find anyone special anytime in the near future. haiz. complicated.
if life's a stage, then who's the director and why won't he call a cut and rewind to edit a scene?
performances by the choir, band and guitar ensemble. choir and band were good. really enjoyed them. wanted to give a standing ovation for the choir but we were unsure of when they were going to do their last song. so missed the opportunity. never mind. next time they have a performance, we'll all go and cheer them on! the guitar ensemble was SO boring. they played "the entertainer" and "pink panther theme". but we were fighting off sleep as we listened to them. thank goodness miss lai didn't give a speech.
the juniors ran off the minute their performance ended so we had to run to catch them for photos. sigh. they could have stayed. the band stayed and gatecrashed the dinner. anyway, not much worth mentioning. oh ya, naresh was around. haha! for once. saw dr s, miss ho, mdm heng. yup. talked with mdm heng for a while. not much. none of my classmates were around. so me, myself and irene, was the only A101 there. sigh. the turnout was quite small. all the prominent people like nuha and denise weren't there. my guy was though (more on that later).
yup, so the usual photo taking sessions. dr s had to run off quite early for a family dinner. so sadly she didn't stay long. lucky we caught her as she was running off. we were sitting, eating in the dark on the bridge thingy (for the tables there) and we saw her with howard as her escort. we were saying, howard should lay the red carpet and open the car door for her while we cheer her on and give her a Royal farewell from the bridge. haha!
right. not much else to talk about. bit disappointed that none of my classmates turned up. i expected at least bra to show up. but .... sigh.
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all righty, been dying to talk about my guy (it's just habit that i'm calling him that). just to get him outta of my system for a while. today was the first time i saw him in a year. and he didn't act like i was invisible, like he did the last time. but he was definitely avoiding me. i was avoiding him too. so maybe it's mutual. afraid of the awkwardness. and as usual, i was watching him from afar. my girlfriend said that he was looking at me too. anyway, i should have gone and talked to him. there was a perfect opportunity when he was standing all alone by himself. i could have just gone up and like "hi (insert name)! nice to see you again. how's life?" you know? small talk. at least then, i'd get some insight into what' s happening on his side. i miss him. i've never denied that. but i wanna respect his decision.
but i don't know what he's thinking. maybe i'm just nursing a pipe dream. this time last year, after i told him, he said that he'd write to me in reply. but he never did. maybe he never planned to. there was a time when my girlfriends entertained the possibility that he did write and the letter got lost. some even contemplated asking him outright, confronting him but didn't in the end. of course, if u still wanna ask him, go ahead, be my guest. but don't say i sent you.
maybe it would have been better if i didn't see him tonight. not let him give me hope that a friendship would still be possible between us. then maybe he'd just remain a figure of my fantasies. now, today, after seeing him again, i'm thinking, should i reopen communication with him? nothing direct lah. maybe just email. but i remember telling him that if he decides that i scare him too much (he's kinda shy) i'd leave him alone. i've left him alone for the past year. he never told me his decision. someone tell me what should i do?
sigh. such crushes are crazy. i should just find myself a boyfriend and forget about him. maybe that's why i'm going gaga over clay and romantic comedies. maybe i'm just trying to fuel my romantic inclinations and live through other people's romances. it's a sad life i know. and i don't expect to find anyone special anytime in the near future. haiz. complicated.
if life's a stage, then who's the director and why won't he call a cut and rewind to edit a scene?
i couldn't resist...
i checked up project runway.
JAY WON!!!!!!
haha!
p.s. everyone fingers crossed that i'll get my psych module. more later
JAY WON!!!!!!
haha!
p.s. everyone fingers crossed that i'll get my psych module. more later
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Aloha Oe!!!! whatever.
supposed to be planning next sems modules. still missing one. but i'll blog a bit. i've decided that i'm a night owl. it's midnight now but i'm not really tired yet. maybe it's just the eucalyptus and peppermint air freshener i'm using. heehee.
tonight's st stephen's feast day thingy was ok. not exactly a qualified disaster but kinda close to it.
prepare for lots of complaints.
we were supposed to turn up at 5.30 to practice with uncle james, who didn't show up till 15 minutes later. so didn't practice. he did go thru some stuff with the congregation. anyway, the mass music was kinda weird. cos there was very very very little coordination between choir and uncle james. and the aunties that were in the choir and us were kinda like fighting for air time. someone behind me sounded out of tune (cf the boy with special needs singing at ihm). the offertory was weird too cos uncle james seemed to be wanting to drag the song as long as possible so he kept playing looooonnnngggggg interludes between verses. but that only made a really draggy song sound even more draggy. gloria was bizarre cos every time it came to the verses, uncle james would just quit playing or minimal playing. lamb of god was a disaster i think. choir had no idea about the tune (which was something really complicated that he taught just 10 minutes before mass), and for some reason, he skipped to the 'grant us peace' after just one 'have mercy on us'. communion hymn was sung by a sitting down choir cos we had no idea when he was going to start. he didn't signal or anything. i thought he was playing background music then suddenly he started singing into the mic. so we were all like, "should we stand?" when he was already partway through the song. some of the aunties were still kneeling so...thanksgiving wasn't too bad but uncle james ended up singing his own conclusion to the song cos we had no idea what he was trying to do. recessional started out ok but i think he skipped a verse for some reason (or maybe i was just blur). and that isn't a good thing when the song is supposed to be sung as a whole, not in parts where the verses can be skipped around. (kinda like that "let there be peace on earth" song that just goes on) then at the end, after we thought he had finished, playing the ending and all, he suddenly jumped back to that verse and went through the WHOLE song again. oh well, i've seen worse. oh ya, and fr khoo was his usual boring self. i don't even remember what happened in the homily. there were 5 priests. khoo, lu, paul staes and 2 china priests that popped up out of nowhere to concelebrate. and 13 alter servers. me and marion counted.
moving on, after mass, all went for dinner. well, supposed to be all but i ended up with andrew, elvin and marion, eating ba chor mee with mushrooms at the hawker center. that was ok. no idea where the rest of them went. then came back and hung around. the usual chinese dinner entertainment. the kids were pretty good for their dance. fr paul and the sisters sang a 'sister act' song. there was this hawaiian dancing competition that parents somehow ended up in. haha! mum won.
the choir's piece was just short of a disaster. for one, we were the very last item. and it was after everyone was done with dinner. so we were there squeezed onto that mini stage singing to people's backs. even if we didn't sound that great, it's only common courtesy not to walk out so obviously ya? singaporeans these days are so rude. can't they see that there's a bunch of people on stage that has spent damn long practicing and getting things right JUST FOR THEM? we're not supposed to be background cocktail music. how sad is that? anyway, dawn was forced to cut short our songs. parents say that we should have sung catchier songs. and they had no idea that anyone was playing accompanyment for us. ya well, i guess it was our bad luck to be right after the dance competition. people expect something more fun than a choir performance. maybe if we all dressed in grass skirts and did a hula dance, people would have stayed and watched. sigh. what's over is over lah. what's new anyway? thank god the whole shebang's over. if it means anything, I think we were good. :D it cost a lot not to just walk off that stage. so, well done guys!
anyway, just for the heck of it, for those who don't know, i'll put st stephen's story here. he's the patron saint of my church and the catholic religion's first matyr. quoted from my bible, acts 7:54-60.
"Now when [the chief priests] heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen]. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting to his death."
moving on. another thing i wanna complain about that's kinda stupid i know and completely unrelated. i'm watching 'project runway', like people probably know already. and according to that advert for that new reality show, (which i'm hoping is wrong) wendy won the thing. what?! how can that bitch win??? ok, i admit, she designs well. but her attitude has much to be desired. today, after watching my favourite austin get booted, it was so nice to see the disgusted looks on kara saun and jay's faces after wendy walked backstage leaving austin marooned on the runway. if you wanna know exactly what i think of wendy, ask me. (in case wendy's lawyers find this blog) all i'll say here is that if and when i find out what's wendy's label, i will boycott it.
on a more sober note. today's the first year anniversary of the tsunami disaster.
tonight's st stephen's feast day thingy was ok. not exactly a qualified disaster but kinda close to it.
prepare for lots of complaints.
we were supposed to turn up at 5.30 to practice with uncle james, who didn't show up till 15 minutes later. so didn't practice. he did go thru some stuff with the congregation. anyway, the mass music was kinda weird. cos there was very very very little coordination between choir and uncle james. and the aunties that were in the choir and us were kinda like fighting for air time. someone behind me sounded out of tune (cf the boy with special needs singing at ihm). the offertory was weird too cos uncle james seemed to be wanting to drag the song as long as possible so he kept playing looooonnnngggggg interludes between verses. but that only made a really draggy song sound even more draggy. gloria was bizarre cos every time it came to the verses, uncle james would just quit playing or minimal playing. lamb of god was a disaster i think. choir had no idea about the tune (which was something really complicated that he taught just 10 minutes before mass), and for some reason, he skipped to the 'grant us peace' after just one 'have mercy on us'. communion hymn was sung by a sitting down choir cos we had no idea when he was going to start. he didn't signal or anything. i thought he was playing background music then suddenly he started singing into the mic. so we were all like, "should we stand?" when he was already partway through the song. some of the aunties were still kneeling so...thanksgiving wasn't too bad but uncle james ended up singing his own conclusion to the song cos we had no idea what he was trying to do. recessional started out ok but i think he skipped a verse for some reason (or maybe i was just blur). and that isn't a good thing when the song is supposed to be sung as a whole, not in parts where the verses can be skipped around. (kinda like that "let there be peace on earth" song that just goes on) then at the end, after we thought he had finished, playing the ending and all, he suddenly jumped back to that verse and went through the WHOLE song again. oh well, i've seen worse. oh ya, and fr khoo was his usual boring self. i don't even remember what happened in the homily. there were 5 priests. khoo, lu, paul staes and 2 china priests that popped up out of nowhere to concelebrate. and 13 alter servers. me and marion counted.
moving on, after mass, all went for dinner. well, supposed to be all but i ended up with andrew, elvin and marion, eating ba chor mee with mushrooms at the hawker center. that was ok. no idea where the rest of them went. then came back and hung around. the usual chinese dinner entertainment. the kids were pretty good for their dance. fr paul and the sisters sang a 'sister act' song. there was this hawaiian dancing competition that parents somehow ended up in. haha! mum won.
the choir's piece was just short of a disaster. for one, we were the very last item. and it was after everyone was done with dinner. so we were there squeezed onto that mini stage singing to people's backs. even if we didn't sound that great, it's only common courtesy not to walk out so obviously ya? singaporeans these days are so rude. can't they see that there's a bunch of people on stage that has spent damn long practicing and getting things right JUST FOR THEM? we're not supposed to be background cocktail music. how sad is that? anyway, dawn was forced to cut short our songs. parents say that we should have sung catchier songs. and they had no idea that anyone was playing accompanyment for us. ya well, i guess it was our bad luck to be right after the dance competition. people expect something more fun than a choir performance. maybe if we all dressed in grass skirts and did a hula dance, people would have stayed and watched. sigh. what's over is over lah. what's new anyway? thank god the whole shebang's over. if it means anything, I think we were good. :D it cost a lot not to just walk off that stage. so, well done guys!
anyway, just for the heck of it, for those who don't know, i'll put st stephen's story here. he's the patron saint of my church and the catholic religion's first matyr. quoted from my bible, acts 7:54-60.
"Now when [the chief priests] heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen]. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting to his death."
moving on. another thing i wanna complain about that's kinda stupid i know and completely unrelated. i'm watching 'project runway', like people probably know already. and according to that advert for that new reality show, (which i'm hoping is wrong) wendy won the thing. what?! how can that bitch win??? ok, i admit, she designs well. but her attitude has much to be desired. today, after watching my favourite austin get booted, it was so nice to see the disgusted looks on kara saun and jay's faces after wendy walked backstage leaving austin marooned on the runway. if you wanna know exactly what i think of wendy, ask me. (in case wendy's lawyers find this blog) all i'll say here is that if and when i find out what's wendy's label, i will boycott it.
on a more sober note. today's the first year anniversary of the tsunami disaster.
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousands winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there.
I did not die.
Monday, December 26, 2005
of cruises, blogs, christmas and other stuff
long one.
well, this one's long overdue. went on superstar virgo for cruise on 18-21 dec. it was ok. not the best holiday but still...not one where i'm expected to learn or win something back. no photos here cos i didn't take many nice ones. sorry. the ship was really something. btw, my first time on a cruise. well, it took some getting used to. could feel vibrations all the time from the engine/movement of the ship. me shared a room with ah ma and popo. well, let's say, no comment about it. slept on a sofa bed. it was horrible. the thingy was so narrow and small and thin. could feel every single wire through the mattress. it was so narrow that it was impossible to shift position at all without falling out. darn. so you can expect that i racked up a HUGE sleep debt. and the longest time ever without my specs. yup, i forgot to pack my specs and had to wear my contacts for forever. first night, had karaoke (damn expensive) and watched "hitch". no stars out. dark night.
second day, arrival at penang. breakfast at bella vista had mixed reactions. on one hand, the food was good. on the other hand, the restaurant on a kinda low deck, i could feel every little movement that the ship did. ;p stoned on the balcony for a while. then, took the lifeboat (aka tender boat) out to shore. it was ok until the boat entered the jetty. rocking like heck. and so stuffy. so darn seasick. parents had signed up for shopping trip in penang. erm...well...i don't remember much of it. cos shopping is darn boring to me. oh ya, i bought my choir's black strappy heels. and there was a police raid on illegal vcd shop while we were in the shopping center. woah. first time i saw a raid. all the vcd shops suddenly closed as the warning spread that police were raiding. yup. the tender back wasn't too bad cos got some idea of what to expect liao. got back, was supposed to watch some kungfu show, but decided against cos wanted to go to the "beyond broadway". it was so worth it. the guy that sang "memory" was so good! pity my recording wasn't good enough. but it was such an enjoyable show.
third day, arrival at phuket in time for sunrise. so beautiful. ok, can't resist putting photo here.
patong beach is just the most beautiful beach i ever saw. so sad that it was the site of the tsunami last year. anyway, went on the shopping tour again. got a sting ray skin pouch. i don't think i'm gonna use it for anything specific but it's the only souvenior i got from there. know why? cos the tour ppl cheated us. took us to totally useless places to shop. and the guide tried to teach us how to bargain in thai, but she just made things worse cos the shopkeepers obviously didn't want to trade with asians. they were targetting angmohs. ya, so i just got some necklaces for the church ppl and that's that. the food was not bad though. :D that night was the gala dinner. dress up nice and all. parents booked bella vista for the dinner (to my dismay). the dinner was nice but the ship was moving so the restaurant was kinda 'moving' too. and to me, it's very sea sick causing. so me didn't enjoy dinner as much as i would have liked. watched "charlie and the chocolate factory". which was darn boring cos it was my 2nd time watching it. and i was bored the first time already. so why watch it again? cos dad didn't watch it before and cos it's free.
last day, back home! yay! i had traded beds with andrew cos he had the king size sofa bed and i desperately needed sleep. was ok i guess. not much happened. hmm...oh ya, had a huge chocolate icecream concoction at gelato cafe. ran through my carols (without much success i must add). stoned in the room for a long time. shiok. yup, anyway, back to singapore and i got sick at home. for some reason, once i got home and settled down to sleep, i got really really dizzy and had to go throw up. maybe i got used to being at sea, so being on solid ground kinda threw my internal system off balance. whatever. wanna go cruise again. maybe the one to alaska. haha!
moving on. recently i put a shoutout about not reading other people's blogs if you're depressed. well, in response to a comment i had, no, i wasn't specifically arrowing a specific someone's blog. it's just that, on that day, there was bad news all over the blogs that i read. death, arguments, sicknesses, bitching, etc etc. it was just depressing lah.
other stuff. christmas time. well, it doesn't feel anything like christmas. sadly. i feel like that girl in "how the grinch stole christmas": "where are you christmas? why can't i find you?" the whole shebang this year feels so much like a chore. so busy this year. no time to do much christmas stuff. the most christmassy thing i've done (i think) is listen to christmas carol cds instead of the radio. ya well, not much to say on the subject. another christmas come and gone just like any other holiday in the year.
went for 'christmas party' with LC this year. well, it was ok. dragged on for an hour after i had planned to leave but what to do? some folks went for the midnight mass (reporting that it wasn't exactly up to midnight mass standard). haha! hope fr khoo realised his 'mistake'. anyway, the cab back cos $5.95 (including surcharge). maybe we should have walked back at 2am. it would have been much healthier and cheaper. family 'celebration' when we got back. finally got to go to bed at 3am. pimple outbreak sia.
woke up 4 hours later to get ready for mass. sobsob. want to sleep. mass wasn't too bad i think. my first conducting stint. :D :D :D i think it went better than i was prepared for. yay! randall's psalm wasn't too bad, considering the drinking that went on the night before. and the stupid mix up of dawn and day mass. and btw, no i didn't practice at home. it's called beginner's luck. ;D plus years of watching other conductors.
went for lunch with the family. janice was her usual cute self. sweet. haven't played with her for so long liao. now she's fun to play with now that she's more aware of what's happening. love seeing her laugh. she with her missing teeth. :D jonathan and linus gave me this teddy bear that's practically as big as janice. they just love giving me huge toys.
didn't go for nus carolling. too tired. throat hurt. so i called in sick. sad though. i would have loved to go. but sigh...maybe next year ya?
watch dvd of "narnia: the lion the witch and the wardrobe". me rating: 4 stars of 5. it's good. the thing reflects the book's content very well. but not as good as i imagined it when reading the book. *spoilers ahead* aslan wasn't as impressive as i thought he should be. his mane was kinda scrawny. the stone table had a strong resemblance to stonehenge. again, the stone table isn't as impressive. a little trivia item that i think isn't too right. peter was riding a unicorn into battle. in one of the other books, it's stated that riding a unicorn is taboo. a unicorn isn't a common horse. btw, the unicorn's horn was puny. anyway, i think tilda swinton deserves an award for her performance here. beautiful working of the white witch. the battle scenes kinda resembled lord of the rings sequences. so it was a bit predictable. anyway, conclusion, this movie's worth catching. and buying the dvd. :D
anyway, i've finally realised the full impact and implications of me taking over the church choir. for one, and the biggest problem, there'll be no organist next year. dawn and daryl are both leaving. me and marion (the only other people who can play the organ) are no where near their standards. possible solution: request uncle james to play until we can train up well enough to handle it. or just look for another organist. there's got to be someone somewhere in the church who can play. another problem is my drastic lack of administrative skills. i'm assuming that my first 'solo' mass is gonna be next sunday, feast of the holy family. and i haven't got anything at all prepared yet. sigh. just thinking of planning for the rest of the year's masses seems an immense impossibility at the moment.
well, anyway, this post has gone on long enough. let's think some happy thoughts. erm...i passed everything for my uni sem 1 exams. haha! what a great achievement. although EL wasn't what i expected, the rest of it was not too bad. especially my cultural studies. i wish i could see my script. i have no idea what i wrote in there that prof phillips could have found worthy of a B+. to me, it was 6 pages of crap that i handed in. oh well, after a sem with him, i should know that he's a weird guy with even weirder thinking. so... :D
btw, did i mention that i hate bluetooth?
well, this one's long overdue. went on superstar virgo for cruise on 18-21 dec. it was ok. not the best holiday but still...not one where i'm expected to learn or win something back. no photos here cos i didn't take many nice ones. sorry. the ship was really something. btw, my first time on a cruise. well, it took some getting used to. could feel vibrations all the time from the engine/movement of the ship. me shared a room with ah ma and popo. well, let's say, no comment about it. slept on a sofa bed. it was horrible. the thingy was so narrow and small and thin. could feel every single wire through the mattress. it was so narrow that it was impossible to shift position at all without falling out. darn. so you can expect that i racked up a HUGE sleep debt. and the longest time ever without my specs. yup, i forgot to pack my specs and had to wear my contacts for forever. first night, had karaoke (damn expensive) and watched "hitch". no stars out. dark night.
second day, arrival at penang. breakfast at bella vista had mixed reactions. on one hand, the food was good. on the other hand, the restaurant on a kinda low deck, i could feel every little movement that the ship did. ;p stoned on the balcony for a while. then, took the lifeboat (aka tender boat) out to shore. it was ok until the boat entered the jetty. rocking like heck. and so stuffy. so darn seasick. parents had signed up for shopping trip in penang. erm...well...i don't remember much of it. cos shopping is darn boring to me. oh ya, i bought my choir's black strappy heels. and there was a police raid on illegal vcd shop while we were in the shopping center. woah. first time i saw a raid. all the vcd shops suddenly closed as the warning spread that police were raiding. yup. the tender back wasn't too bad cos got some idea of what to expect liao. got back, was supposed to watch some kungfu show, but decided against cos wanted to go to the "beyond broadway". it was so worth it. the guy that sang "memory" was so good! pity my recording wasn't good enough. but it was such an enjoyable show.
third day, arrival at phuket in time for sunrise. so beautiful. ok, can't resist putting photo here.
patong beach is just the most beautiful beach i ever saw. so sad that it was the site of the tsunami last year. anyway, went on the shopping tour again. got a sting ray skin pouch. i don't think i'm gonna use it for anything specific but it's the only souvenior i got from there. know why? cos the tour ppl cheated us. took us to totally useless places to shop. and the guide tried to teach us how to bargain in thai, but she just made things worse cos the shopkeepers obviously didn't want to trade with asians. they were targetting angmohs. ya, so i just got some necklaces for the church ppl and that's that. the food was not bad though. :D that night was the gala dinner. dress up nice and all. parents booked bella vista for the dinner (to my dismay). the dinner was nice but the ship was moving so the restaurant was kinda 'moving' too. and to me, it's very sea sick causing. so me didn't enjoy dinner as much as i would have liked. watched "charlie and the chocolate factory". which was darn boring cos it was my 2nd time watching it. and i was bored the first time already. so why watch it again? cos dad didn't watch it before and cos it's free.
last day, back home! yay! i had traded beds with andrew cos he had the king size sofa bed and i desperately needed sleep. was ok i guess. not much happened. hmm...oh ya, had a huge chocolate icecream concoction at gelato cafe. ran through my carols (without much success i must add). stoned in the room for a long time. shiok. yup, anyway, back to singapore and i got sick at home. for some reason, once i got home and settled down to sleep, i got really really dizzy and had to go throw up. maybe i got used to being at sea, so being on solid ground kinda threw my internal system off balance. whatever. wanna go cruise again. maybe the one to alaska. haha!
moving on. recently i put a shoutout about not reading other people's blogs if you're depressed. well, in response to a comment i had, no, i wasn't specifically arrowing a specific someone's blog. it's just that, on that day, there was bad news all over the blogs that i read. death, arguments, sicknesses, bitching, etc etc. it was just depressing lah.
other stuff. christmas time. well, it doesn't feel anything like christmas. sadly. i feel like that girl in "how the grinch stole christmas": "where are you christmas? why can't i find you?" the whole shebang this year feels so much like a chore. so busy this year. no time to do much christmas stuff. the most christmassy thing i've done (i think) is listen to christmas carol cds instead of the radio. ya well, not much to say on the subject. another christmas come and gone just like any other holiday in the year.
went for 'christmas party' with LC this year. well, it was ok. dragged on for an hour after i had planned to leave but what to do? some folks went for the midnight mass (reporting that it wasn't exactly up to midnight mass standard). haha! hope fr khoo realised his 'mistake'. anyway, the cab back cos $5.95 (including surcharge). maybe we should have walked back at 2am. it would have been much healthier and cheaper. family 'celebration' when we got back. finally got to go to bed at 3am. pimple outbreak sia.
woke up 4 hours later to get ready for mass. sobsob. want to sleep. mass wasn't too bad i think. my first conducting stint. :D :D :D i think it went better than i was prepared for. yay! randall's psalm wasn't too bad, considering the drinking that went on the night before. and the stupid mix up of dawn and day mass. and btw, no i didn't practice at home. it's called beginner's luck. ;D plus years of watching other conductors.
went for lunch with the family. janice was her usual cute self. sweet. haven't played with her for so long liao. now she's fun to play with now that she's more aware of what's happening. love seeing her laugh. she with her missing teeth. :D jonathan and linus gave me this teddy bear that's practically as big as janice. they just love giving me huge toys.
didn't go for nus carolling. too tired. throat hurt. so i called in sick. sad though. i would have loved to go. but sigh...maybe next year ya?
watch dvd of "narnia: the lion the witch and the wardrobe". me rating: 4 stars of 5. it's good. the thing reflects the book's content very well. but not as good as i imagined it when reading the book. *spoilers ahead* aslan wasn't as impressive as i thought he should be. his mane was kinda scrawny. the stone table had a strong resemblance to stonehenge. again, the stone table isn't as impressive. a little trivia item that i think isn't too right. peter was riding a unicorn into battle. in one of the other books, it's stated that riding a unicorn is taboo. a unicorn isn't a common horse. btw, the unicorn's horn was puny. anyway, i think tilda swinton deserves an award for her performance here. beautiful working of the white witch. the battle scenes kinda resembled lord of the rings sequences. so it was a bit predictable. anyway, conclusion, this movie's worth catching. and buying the dvd. :D
anyway, i've finally realised the full impact and implications of me taking over the church choir. for one, and the biggest problem, there'll be no organist next year. dawn and daryl are both leaving. me and marion (the only other people who can play the organ) are no where near their standards. possible solution: request uncle james to play until we can train up well enough to handle it. or just look for another organist. there's got to be someone somewhere in the church who can play. another problem is my drastic lack of administrative skills. i'm assuming that my first 'solo' mass is gonna be next sunday, feast of the holy family. and i haven't got anything at all prepared yet. sigh. just thinking of planning for the rest of the year's masses seems an immense impossibility at the moment.
well, anyway, this post has gone on long enough. let's think some happy thoughts. erm...i passed everything for my uni sem 1 exams. haha! what a great achievement. although EL wasn't what i expected, the rest of it was not too bad. especially my cultural studies. i wish i could see my script. i have no idea what i wrote in there that prof phillips could have found worthy of a B+. to me, it was 6 pages of crap that i handed in. oh well, after a sem with him, i should know that he's a weird guy with even weirder thinking. so... :D
btw, did i mention that i hate bluetooth?
Friday, December 23, 2005
in shock
i passed all my modules!
and the biggest *shock* of all...
CULTURAL STUDIES RECEIEVED THE HIGHEST GRADE!!!!!!!!!!!!
prof philips must like crap.
at least i don't have to worry about repeating any of the modules.
thank god sia.
and the biggest *shock* of all...
CULTURAL STUDIES RECEIEVED THE HIGHEST GRADE!!!!!!!!!!!!
prof philips must like crap.
at least i don't have to worry about repeating any of the modules.
thank god sia.
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