Broke up the monotony of school life a little this morning by going over to the museum to help out with a school tour of Constructed Landscapes. This is despite a deadline looming over me like the archangel of doom and gloom. I really didn't care, I knew I wouldn't do much anyway in the morning so why not spend some time volunteering instead?

The kids were from sec 2s from Bowen Sec. The first group was really quiet but you could see them absorbing the information. The second group was more active, speaking up, asking questions and generally engaging more with the art works. I even conducted part of the tour for the woodblock prints section! One little boy was so cute. He came up to Karen and me, complaining that the tour was too short. He wanted to learn more about the paintings in CL and to see the rest of the collections as well. I was really touched by it, I mean, even at my age, not many of my peers would want to even spend an afternoon at any museum and here's a 14 year boy who wants to learn more. (Notice I said peers, not friends. I am blessed to have friends who love to visit museums as well! Ng Shizhen, if you are reading this, better make sure you clear space in your calendar to go to the National Museum with me! I know you are very 'busy'!)

Had lunch with Karen and Ahmad at some West Coast hawker centre. Ohmygosh, I finally had a good bowl of mee soto! It's been so long since I had a really good one! Yums! I spent pretty much the whole day in the office after that, working on the darned essay. And back to that darned essay, I go :(

 4Tomorrow - Tomorrow
Secret - I Want You Back
4Minute - MUZIK
W & Whale - Born To Rock
M-Flo Loves Boa - The Love Bug
M-Flo Loves Melody and Ryohei - Miss You
Whale & Jo-Kwon - Dunk Shot
Boa feat Verbal - Bump Bump
Brown Eyed Girls - Abracadabra
Many many different versions of Libertango

as you can tell, i am on a big kpop kick at the moment.
and i remember saying years ago that kpop was terrible and jpop was better. look who's better now...

 This week has been really hectic but yet extremely fulfilling in every aspect of my life.

Academic wise, I am being pummeled by (what seems like) thousands of essays. I finally presented my South China Sea topic on Tuesday and now I have to write out my paper within a week. At the rate I am going, I think I may end up with more than 20 pages. Longest paper I will have ever written! Not to mention, I still have to be diligent and keep up with daily readings so I can open my mouth in class and make (hopefully) intelligent comments. And right now, I have to work on a draft for my CPT paper to submit by tomorrow if I want some constructive comments for my paper.

This week I also attended both the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum and the Straight Talk: Is Singapore=PAP? forum. Both forums were interesting in their own way. At KRMF, of course I finally got my first glimpse of LKY! I enjoyed his answers to the questions very much even if I didn't enjoy the questions themselves. At Straight Talk, I enjoyed the questions as much as the answers (even though they were obviously skirting around the questions). I also bought Men In White and had them autographed by Teo Ser Luck, Christopher De Souza and Zaqy Mohammad!

I didn't lack in the cultural department this week either. I went to the opening of Ruckus Rubix at NUS Museum on Tuesday. I was kind of hoping to meet Jeremy Sharma after corresponding with him through email about one of his pieces but I don't think I saw him there :( I also went across to the Conservatory to check out the Wind Chamber concert. I enjoyed it slightly more than A Wind Evening but Cellisimo is still the best one for me so far. I really really liked the Debussy piece (put a smile to my face) and the Bassoon version of Carmen was interesting as well.

Obviously I have been holed up in my room typing like a mad woman and flipping pages faster than drunk drivers are flipping traffic cops the bird but I managed to find time for friends as well. I had lunch with Shizhen and Serene on Monday. Shizhen mugged with me on Wednesday. Thursday, I met up with TK, Xinyu, Cherie, Jeremy and Remy for dinner at Munchy Monkey's. MM was having a Mandopop Top 40 Night by CAC Voices. The singing may not be stellar but I really enjoyed the pub-like atmosphere.

Honestly, life is tough as year 4. The amount of work and expectations piled on you is no joke. But this is the first time in four years which I can honestly say I am really working hard and playing hard. I am disciplined and conscientious. If I ever said I was in the past three years, all those were lies. This is the real deal. And even if I do hate the suffering that I have to go through to accomplish all my work, I relish the challenge of doing so. And at the end of the day, when I complete this semester, I can tell myself honestly that I worked hard. Because I will never have this experience ever again.

So let me remember this week...
And remind myself that I can do it...

serene, shizhen and me finally got to meet up for a dinner after ages of having to endure clashing timetables this semester. since all of us were broke and had little time to spare, we ate at KFC at Clementi. very unglam but hey! it's the company that counts right? we discussed our lives, moaned about school work, exchanged snatches of gossip, insulted one another, discussed poetry and translations.

serene shared with us, probably the most lovely Chinese phrase I have ever heard so far. it's the third sentence of a english haiku translated into mandarin

蓝天可归我？

sighhhh...

Week 8 is ending soon or have ended for some people but for me, this is always the toughest part of my week. I have to finish up readings for two seminars tomorrow and try to get some sleep to get up in time for 9am class. After almost 8 weeks of honours year, I can tell you, it's no joke. The pace of honours year is KILLER! It's nothing like years 1-3. I now understand what JJ meant when she told me last year that you really don't start studying until year 4 and you wonder what the hell have the last three years been all about.

Now that I have 5 essay deadlines coming up (I think I have been whining about this to everybody I know), I am finally forcing myself to be as efficient as possible. Not that I have given up my internet but basically my life is just sleep, school, homework, youtube and occasional lunches/dinner with friends. I have no time in my life for anything else. I am trying very hard to cut down on the youtube part. I am already pretty successful at cutting out reading thrashy books and obsessively checking my bookmarks, so now youtube must go. I think I should delete it from my bookmarks bar so it won't be so accessible.

I am very proud of myself this week actually. I completed most of my readings for classes this week before Wednesday. I actually started reading on Sunday night! And I finished 3/4s of my Visual essay. If I can continue being this efficient for the next two weeks, I should be able to complete the first three essays that's due on Week 11 all on time AND complete my daily readings. If I can accomplish this, I think this will be the greatest achievement of my academic career to date!

Gosh, I just realised what a nerd I am to be blogging about school. I sound so secondary school. Doh.

my newest aim in life is to own all the Friends and Will & Grace DVDs.
all eighteen of 'em!

To say the F1 experience was amazing was to say the least. It was seriously out of this world to see all the cars and drivers so up close, speeding along the roads. We walked all over the Circuit Park, catching different glimpses of the cars at different view points. We were at areas like Empress Place, Anderson Bridge, Esplanade Bridge, top of the Esplanade overlook Marina Bay/DXO (which is the best spot ever! TK, please take note!) and the apex of Connaught Drive. At some of these areas, the cars were literally like 2 metres from where you stood, you could see everything! I managed to identify quite a few cars/drivers. I could tell which was Rosberg and which was Nakajima from their helmets, Hamilton and Kovaleinen from their car numbers. I think Fisichella had some Italian colours on his helmet and Grosjean had a blue visor.

Of course, the noise was deafening! Thank goodness, they were selling the survival kits for charity. But even with the ear plugs, the noise was still really terrible. We also kept getting neck aches from whipping our heads from side to side looking at the cars. Besides watching the practises, we also caught a bit of the Aston Martin support race practise, went out for early dinner at Raffles City and early supper at Glutton's Bay. By the way, if anyone who is going over the next couple of days is reading this, don't buy drinks from the Circuit Park itself! Go down to the Esplanade Indian Mama shop, the prices for drinks are jacked up but at least it's cheaper than a $6 cup of juice! I also bought some Williams merchandise. I got the $20 set of mug, lanyard and key chain! It's the cheapo set but who cares!

Honestly though, when watching at the circuit itself, it's really cool/exciting to watch the cars go past for you the first few times. After a while, it does start to get boring especially when you have no idea what's going on at the other parts of the track. You also have no idea what the statistics are, whose leading the practise sessions, what's their timing, who crashed and so on and so forth. Yeah, there's some trackside commentary but when you put on the earplugs, it's bye bye commentary! F1 is really best experienced with statistics you can see and different camera shots of the most exciting stuff happening on track. Some of the people had these little handheld devices which gave them all the TV feeds and statistics going on. I think that's going to be really important on race day and if I ever go on race day, I will definitely rent one of those set otherwise I would rather sit at home and watch the tv instead.

 I am going to go for the F1 today! It's only the practice sessions but I am still going to get to see the cars going past at high speed and high volume! OMG! So excited! After following F1 intensely since the last Singapore GP, I am going to get to be able to go to a race! Not every fan is lucky enough to go to a race, so I feel really blessed that the Singapore government is rich enough to bring it in.

Going to meet Kaiwei and Bingde at 3 at City Hall. We are going to max out our 28/38 dollars cheapo tickets by going for all the trackside events today. The schedule looks exciting with support races and music acts! :) I hope next year I will be rich enough to buy tickets for all 3 days!

I hope Williams will do well this weekend. They really need a podium this season! I think the first time I see a Williams car, I will go mad!

For the one time in goodness know how many years, I got sick with a raging fever yesterday. When I woke up yesterday, I immediately knew there was something wrong with me. But with the Migration essay to finish, I had no choice but to keep going. As the day wore on, my temperature rose from 37.6 to a high of 39. I don't think I have ever had as high a fever as that! I just kept working on the essay and taking naps the whole day. Eventually I finished my essay before night fell, which is what I was aiming for.

After that, I finally took the panadol and concussed from 7pm last night till 8am this morning. But it wasn't a full out concussion. I woke up intermittently throughout the night as my body fought to get my temperature back to normal. Sometimes my body was emanating so much heat that I thought you could fry eggs on me and other times I was shivering like a heroin addict going through withdrawal. Thank goodness, I woke up this morning feeling almost 100% normal with no fever whatsoever. I am still sort of tired but I think I am ok now. 

 ever so often, i dig up my girl in the city persona where i walk around the city area by myself, enjoying the sights and sounds of the civic district. after doing so much research at museum about singapore, it's interesting to see how much has changed since all those old paintings have been painted.

i attended the nus wind symphony's yesterday once more at the esplanade. i was sitting at level 2, circle 6, at the single seats along the side of the concert hall. this was my first time attending any event alone and it was nice to be there by myself, listening to the music, checking out all aspects of the orchestra. i really enjoyed the programme  this afternoon, especially the arrangement of Tsubasa wo Kudasai and the Glenn Miller piece.

after the concert, i realised that bingde/kaiwei and a few of the arts club peeps were at the concert too! :) it was nice seeing them but i am still glad that i went alone. it makes me want to go for more concerts now and i don't mind if i go alone :)

Before I forget...

Today was a really nice day. In the morning, I had my first ever art history class with pretty much the only art historian in Singapore. It's been awhile since I had a non major module that I am generally interested in. I am going to look forward to Monday this semester.

Had lunch with Shizhen where she introduced me to an old friend of her, Wanqi. It was amazing to hear Wanqi's memories of her SEP to Poland. I always thought Poland was kind of dangerous and remote because of all the communist eastern bloc history. But it sounds like a really nice and most importantly, very cheap place. Ng Shi Zhen, we are confirm going to visit poland before 2012, okays!

After all the hustle and bustle of the afternoon, I went to the library to photocopy more readings. I really don't think my files have enough space to store all my readings seeing that Week 1 of readings is already straining the files to the brink. I think I need to steal boxes from the library soon. Spent 2 over hours in there. The queues to the machines are ter-ri-ble! To avoid queueing, I actually walked up and down to SMC to photocopy in peace rather than jostling with everyone else. While at the library, I made another new friend and reaqquainted myself with an old one. Was talking with Yogesh when she introduced me to her friend who's a lit major. Turns out she likes existential literature and I had studied a little bit of Samuel Beckett so we chatted a little. And then I met Fazli! I haven't seen we graduated from NY! He's changed so much I barely recognised him! It was good to catch up a little with him though. Hopefully we can have a small 04A6 gathering with the rest. And I also met Chu Kiat, one of the people from NTU who co-organised the Peranakan conference with Museum earlier this summer. Turns out he just started doing a part-time masters here.

And now, I just came from the cluster meeting where I met some of my new cluster mates. They are all year 1s! From all over the place though, arts, computing, law, medicine. They all seem like nice girls and most importantly none of them from far across the oceans! :)) 

Seems like today is a day for new meetings and old friends. Bring on more days like these! :)

 
What you see upon entering...


Close up of bed and side table. Decals from Daiso Macau. Pillow from Ikea. Comforter from some silk farm in Shanghai.


Close close up of bedside table. Lamp, huge candle and flowers from Ikea. Small yellow candle from Suan Lum Night Bazaar. Books from NUS Museum. The first book is an exhibition's catalogue that I worked on while interning at the Museum. I am actually credited in the book so it's really exciting and a great reminder of my time there.


Study table area. I adore my huge windows! They let in so much light!


Close up of my table. My darling new macbook pro! Flowers again from Ikea. Can you tell that I love having flowers in my room to brighten it up a little. Since I can't get fresh flowers here, fake pretty ones are all I have.


Close up of postcards from Suan Lum.


Other side of table. My current favourite dress that I picked up for almost a song. More decals at the bottom.


A little arrangement I did on the empty part of my shelf. Flowers from Daiso, Candle from Suan Lum. The baskets contain some assorted tea lights and tarts for scenting my room. The M was done during my D&T classes in Cedar. It's supposed to be a book end.


Turning around, here's my vanity area and bathroom. Baskets jammed packed with makeup, skincare and bath&body items. 


Closet area and door with my currently most used bag.

In all the rooms that I have lived in on campus, I think this one is definitely my favourite. The location is awesome. I have huge windows. I finally managed to get in some interior decorating done for once. I just hope I can continue to maintain it when the work start piling on. It's still a bit of work in progress too. I haven't developed some of my favourite photos to frame and hang up. I am thinking of putting some either by the empty wall next to the dress of above my bed, haven't decided yet. Let me go and peruse my design blogs to get more ideas :)

 i am feeling random today so here's a picture of my breakfast! a big homemade sandwich filled with ham, bacon and cheese and glass of milk.

Sketching in the Straits - Irene Lim
The Mechanic's Tale: Life in the Pit Lanes of Formula One - Steve Matchett
National Museum of Singapore Guide - Iola Lenzi
The Playboy Prince - Nora Roberts
Santa Baby (anthology) - Jennifer Crusie, Lori Foster, Carly Phillips
One Hundred Years of the National Museum: Singapore 1887-1987 - Gretchen Liu

This is my last rag as an undergraduate.
The last time I will get to be part of a rag team, whether we win or we lose.

What a journey being a ragger has been. Like what I told someone last night, being a ragger was the start of my university journey. Without rag I would never be the person I am today. Most of the time it has never struck me that one day I would have to walk away from it. But today, on my last journey back to the float after the announcement of the results, it really hit home that today was the last time. What happened today was so eerily similar to what happened three years ago. We lost to the same group of people and to a rather similar design. I guess my rag journey has come full circle.

In the 4 times I have helped out at a rag, I have been the innocent little freshman being suckered into a sai kang project, the slightly more experienced crazy siao enthu ragger who worked at the rag site day and night, the frustrated senior who felt that maybe this wasn't the right way but was proven wrong otherwise. I have been a loser X 3 and a winner X 1. I have been to the SRC, I have been to the Padang. I have been the FOP Chairperson, I have been the ordinary freshmen, the ordinary affiliate. I have been a touch up person, I have been the marche girl, the girl who sits quietly in the corner and cut cans, the girls who paints till her fingers were a rainboe. I have slept on floors, on asphalts, on grass patches, on wooden planks. I have sat alone at night, pasting paper one after another. Caught in rain storms with only tarpaulin sheets to protect the float. I have painted, folded and marched. I have made so many many friends whom I still laugh and cry with. And this year, I added something new. I became a validator, helping to judge and validate another float. Thank goodness, I had a good partner who was awesome in helping to pass the long hours of the night. Thanks, Z.

I can safely say I have done everything that I can do in rag that my capabilities have allowed. Almost all of them were good memories that I shall keep with me for a lifetime.

So thank you, Arts Rag, for giving me so much. It's truly been a blessing to be apart of you.

 Monday: 0900-1300, Reading Visual Images (GEK1025)
Tuesday: 1200-1500, Regional Security in the Asia Pacific (PS4206)
Wednesday: Free!
Thursday: 1600-1900, Comparative Political Thought (PS4219)
Friday: 0900-1200, Politics of Global Migration (PS4882D). 1500-1800, Contemporary Politics of Southeast Asia (PS4205)

 well, i am pretty much done packing for the big move back to campus. not that i really ever left it, what with my internship and all.
everytime i pack, i seem to have more and more boxes and bags to carry back than the last time. i remember last year, i only had 6 bulky loads, this time i think i have at least 10! i suspect my belongings are quietly spawning behind my back!

i am really happy to be moving back. i can have my own space again with all the blank walls and spaces to do to my liking. my own space to clean and my clothes to wash. sometimes i feel too spoiled at home with a maid. i like to be able to be in control for awhile.

and no more 151 nightmare bus trips, squeezing with the OLs and poly students. YES!
then again, now i have to contend with nightmare A1/A2 bus trips, squeezing with ATs, ANs and AMs. hmm, not that much better.

okays, it's time to go and find out which room i will be getting. please let me get back my old block!

 

Watch me when the sky is dark and sun is sleep
Time is here for me to show you wait and see
Want to love you, give you just ’bout everything
Won’t you come see me after 12AM
That’s when I change…(×3)
I know you’ll love me after 12AM

Silly lady, got my eyes on you
Gotta make you stay around tonight
But I know that you can hear me now
Silly lady, I will show you tonight

Its true, I’m kinda shy
Been screwed, for speaking my mind
Ive been told to never love
But I want to let you feel my will now

Watch me when the Tokyo light glow in the street
Something turns me on and makes me want to scream
Wanna hug you, rub you up and down to your feet
I let myself looser after 12AM
That’s when I change…(×3)
I know you’ll love me after 12AM

Take me down to Akihabara City where the laptop’s cheap and light are pretty
Let’s get fitted, with the villainy outfits
Chillin’ with velour suits make your boy jealous with the Cinema tics, got killa tactics
So when clock hits 12 I be feelin that kiss
Yeeeeaaaahhhh!! It’s abou that time
When I step out the phone booth watch me shine
In my linked up chains, vintafe frames
Chanel’s see right through your tinted brains
Let’s switch lanes, out the mundane
so we can excange names and be addicted to each other like Jane’s…surely
yes to the y’all and…we transforming
get metabolic that’s how we ballin’
From Cybertron to the stage of Apollo

Whats new? I’m no special guy
No clue where i can find
Someone else who could be my love
That’s why I know that you’re the one for me

Nobody ROBOTs, act like they ao HOT
swarm like locusts, Please move over
yall’s getting’ NO LOVE, hold up now
Room full of boom Clouds bigger than Louvre
Brown sugar on a soup Matsutake shrooms
From June to the mouth of the Moon I Lampoon
And lay on the sands of the Planet Dune

Huckleberry Finn in the skies
I’m lookin’ at Smurfs play games
Well, there’s fruits and we surf
Though the starry windows

Watch me when the sky is dark and sun is sleep
Time is here for me to show you wait and see
Want to love you, give you just ’bout everything
Won’t you come see me after 12AM
That’s when I change…(×3)

Watch me when the Tokyo lights glow in the street
Something turns me on and makes me want to scream
Wanna hug you, rub you up and down to your feet
I let myself looser after 12AM

$48.00


$118.00


$9.90


$2.50


$2.90


$6.00 (bought!)


$10.00


$1.80 (bought!)



$219.00

taking a break from work, i opened up my design linkz and found a treasure trove of inspirational stuff. what caught me most was how even clocks can be designed in out of the box ways.

check out these two clocks!



This is a clock that looks like an LCD display. It has the ability to change from black to white depending on the lighting conditions! It's self powered and doesn't have to be plugged in anywhere, making it look slick yet self contained. Designed by Vadim Kibardin, a Russian designer.




This one is so cool! It's called the On-Time Clock because it gives you the illusion of having three minutes more than you really have! The fake time is 1010 while the real time is 1013. Designed by Tak Cheung.