pic from my lomo camera!  

it was quite coincidental how while watching phantom of the opera, right after spooky things started happening in the opera house (in the show) there was suddenly a blackout in the movie theatre, leading ppl to shout "phantom" etc... and it turns out that there was a power failure. how unlucky... but the power returned after 10 min or so =) really love the songs even though i dind't enjoy the movie as much as i thought i would. i dunno. oh but i quite liked the masquerade scene where all the actors and actresses, despite being only clad in black and white, looked really spectacular together because of the qian bian wan hua designs of the costumes...the show made me really miss the phantom musical i watched in new york, though it is just but a faint memory now... but perhaps cos it was the first proper musical i caught and cos it was at Broadway... =P i hope i can go back to new york and catch more musicals during my stay at d.c. =)

was greeted by an unexpected visitor when i entered my grandma's place this afternoon.... a peach-faced lovebird named "Baby". it so turns out that someone gave my cousins this cute pet bird and they brought it to my grandma's place.... after some initial squeamishness i managed to get it to mount my jeans pocket.... after which it got kinda comfortable and started making its way up my t-shirt by clinging on to the folds of my t-shirt... and when Baby started moving up to my neck i started screaming and jumping cos it was really ticklish... (after the picture was taken) haha but felt like a kid for one whole afternoon, making cooing sounds to attract its attention. =) it was pretty tame though.

new year resolutions? dun really have anything in mind since i dun usually keep to them... but i suppose i will resolve to be less pessimistic and hu si luan xiang less, constantly remind myself to treat every single person i meet with respect, restrain myself from snacking too much, treasure every moment with my loved ones and make the best of my stay at Washington D.C..... and i hope for the many less fortunate souls in this world that no more disasters will hit them and worsen their already dismal living conditions..

Did i suddenly turn birdwoman?  

hmmm i can't help but think about the breadtalk bun.... i dun think you can help much by buying that bread leh....maybe ppl are getting cheated by breadtalk... i think save your money and use it for organizations that really give all the money to the victims.. well, unless of course, you actually want to eat that bun, then i guess it's a different story...

hmmm actually i better go and check out the little sign on the breadpan again.. later i got everything wrong and get sued by some random breadtalk person who visits my blog.... sadly, it's dangerous to talk rubbish on one's blog these days....

the death toll for the earthquake cum tsunami disaster has exceeded 120000... i feel touched and heartened that ppl everywhere are doing their little bit to help. eg. breadtalk has this 9.0 bun or something (though badly named i feel) which costs $2.30 and for every 9.0 bun bought, 90 cents is donated to the red cross or something. though they are still making money out of it!!! at least they are helping i suppose. hmm.. actually i wonder though (if ppl are all so re1 xin1 to help) whether the additional revenue from that bun actually exceeds the donations they hav to make such that overall they make profits?!! ok i shall not be so cynical. anyway, bbc has this article on international aid efforts and lists a host of organizations that ppl can make donations to! so i shall do my small bit and perhaps ppl who frequent my blog (though not many i suppose) feeling generous can do their small bit! Click here! (the internet links are on the RHS)

shopaholic me bought two pairs of shoes yest... but they were really good deals. $50 Sing for a pair of Skechers... feel bad shopping wiht my parents actually cos they just keep asking me to buy things if i like... actually borrowed a microsoft frontpage guide from the lib yest! haha wonder if i will hav the time to read it actually. cos i really feel tempted to do something to my blog.

a little incident two days ago made me feel that i am still a little insensitive sometimes.. but yest i felt that perhaps i am getting a little more rational... and less likely to jump to conclusions. and i suppose i should stop wishing for things that wun ever happen.

the most unglam thing just happened to me this evening.... was at the raffles city restroom and after i flushed, (luckily) my nice nokia hp conveniently slipped out of the side pocket of my gap hobo bag and fell right into the toilet bowl....despite the instinctive (though disgusting) retrieval of the phone right after its undeserving fate and despite immediate efforts to dry to whole phone with toilet tissue, it eventually still died on me after initial deceiving signs of 'revival'..... oh well. clumsy me... kinda upset cos i really liked that phone and it was really user and sms-friendly.... and upon returning home and reporting the unfortunate accident, it gave my mum more reason to reproach me since on this very same morning she just reminded me how my cell phone can drop out of my side pocket if i left it unbuttoned.....
oh well. i shall comfort myself that i managed to find a slip case for my widescreen laptop at funan today... that i met up wtih two groups of ppl and spent an evening with really good company... and that i have a spare phone to doodle around with and thus am not totally uncontactable... sigh. but upset with myself and feel sorry for my poor phone... =P

the unfortunate natural disaster that killed thousands of people in Asia on Sunday reminded me how vulnerable we are to 'random' acts of nature... a commentator on the straits times remarked that for a few moments, everyone, regardless of race, class and wealth, was equally vulnerable.. from rich tourists busking in the sun to the poor living in coastal villages of India and Sri Lanka...and that it was heartening that aid relief too came from many diff places around the world... i personally also felt the need to treasure every moment we have with our loved ones.. cos who can ever predict what can happen the next moment...

my mum has morphed into this chinese painting cum calligraphy expert and i just felt very happy for her that she can spend her free time doing all the drawing she wants.... and made me wonder, when i retire and grow old one day what would i do.... what if i am this old spinster with no kids, what do i devote my energy to...

exercised for the first time in dunno how long this morning! partly because i had slight jet lag and got up at like 530am and was doodling around house with no agenda... but feels good to exercise! i need to get rid of those layers of fats that have been building up around my waist and other spots during finals period. though i have been only back for a day, i can't help but feel really aware of people around me. somehow i am starting to see ppl in a different light. i can't really define what kinda change i am feeling.... but i just got the sense, from like a day out (yest and this morning) that there are actually many poor ppl around.... ok maybe not poor, but like lower middle class maybe? maybe i have been around HDB estates and hawker centers where the less well-to-do folks live.... i dunno why i suddenly feel so conscious of the different classes of people in society... in a way i feel bad that there seems to be a sizeable proportion of the population who aren't exactly very well off.... and will be likely to remain like this over generations... but i guess what matters is that these families are happy? sometimes i guess it's' not very good to know of greener pastures elsewhere cos then when we are down we feel extremely abject and shi bai... sigh dunno. i'm talking rubbish.

while jogging with my dad i was painfully alerted to teh fact that my parents are really ageing ... my dad complained of a constant ache in his shoulder and he seemed thinner than last time... if i had stayed in the US going about my own affairs i wouldn't be really aware of all these things about my family.... i'm glad i came home in a way. i guess if i had just stayed there i would just be so bogged down by my OWN affairs and my own problems and get so self-centred or worried about other trivial things constantly on my mind and not even think about my family that much... and am glad to receive smses from familiar faces like shu, jing, joyce, jeannice and ting!

despite having been home for less than 12 hours, i have already bought 3 pieces of clothing haha. what a shopaholic i am.... but well the sale is really good! g2000 has like 30% off blouses and skirts and 50% off blazers...mango was having a sale too. sigh. foresee myself spending quite a lot of money over the next week or so... the LA flight was really long! 18 continuous hours on a plane really isn't that fun. even though the seats were fairly comfy...

i am obsessed with zhi shao hai you ni by sandy lam recently. looped it on my laptop for like the whole morning and afternoon. hee. now i'm the only one left in my house but soon i'll be gone too. was clearing up stuff and re-read things i did in the past, random journal entries i penned down.... i feel like so many things have changed; that i have experienced so much in the past 2 years. i've def changed, for better or for worse i am not sure but i tend to believe it's for the former...
and am pretty excited about my internship next sem! got sent a booklet on the Woodrow Wilson Center and it had a short write-up of the scholar i would be assisting. she seems really cool and i really hope i can get to something useful and substantial.... flying home tmr afternoon! =)

enjoyed my first day of bumming around. after fetching jacqui to the airport i went to fourth street to 'gai gai'... then went to north face outlet to look see... then went to sch for a while to get my new SEVIS...then came home and FINALLY did some cleaning up of my room and toilet and sorting of old notes. still lots undone, but at least i did something... =) feel so totally 'at peace' with nothing to do just sitting at my table haha. =P

finals are over! but sadly i feel like i don't really know what i should do all of a sudden. feel very lost. hmmm withdrawal symptoms from having studied too much? not that i studied that much also. i guess i just look forward to going home, meeting my family and frens again, eating cheap good food. shopping. jianfei-ing. though i doubt that will happen considering how much i am going to be eating. =P

am getting a little tired of studying even though there is still a lot to do... sigh. wonder if stress has caused me to embark on a shopping spree online. from knitting kits to books.... i think i have been spending too much money online... it's too easy to buy on impulse... just a few clicks and u can buy a whole lot of stuff...
also confronted with a mess in my room but no motivation to clean up. after finals i suppose. and suddenly i was struck by how much stuff i have accumulated over the past year and now i think i REALLY have to start thinking properly about how to pack them into boxes. and i dun look forward as much to my LA-SING flight anymore... cos it's supposedly 18 long continuous hours on a plane. i hate long flights....

taking an 'afternoon' nap in the evening has proved to be a good strategy against falling asleep when trying to do work at home, which is what (unfortunately) happens to me all the time. for once, i feel really happy and at peace doing work on my bed, with my hp laptop balanced at 45 degrees on one lap, with sunyanzi playing on my windows media player and poli sci reader article turned to an article on East Asia precariously lodged on a pillow on my other lap. haha hard to imagine the acrobatic act i am doing on my bed ya? hee a 5 min break from summarizing my article.... =) oh yes, forgot to add with two devoured packets of on-offer chex (with the yucky pretzels left intact) and a half-finished box of chex cereal beside my bed.... haha. images of disorder during finals period.....

am one final away from the end of it all and slightly more than a week away from home!
i had better not be lazy and work hard for my last final... cos many undone readings waiting for me to analyse them. i just hope i do ok for my IAS and dun fail my astro... think i wasn't sure for half the questions on my Astro final... quite ashamed of myself =P tmr will be the start of a continuous 'streaming' of people home... starting from my housemate. evelyn was the anomaly who flew home on TUESDAY... but nmind i shall patiently wait for my turn next friday cos even after finals i doubt i will be bored... hav to start thinking how to stuff all my barang barang into boxes for storage or into my luggage back to sg this time round...

hmm was just randomly surfing and saw this interesting article on lap pillows
and in turns out that they have a female counterpart for this...created even before this... boyfriend pillows for single Jap women.... and i thought the comment one lady made in the article was funny... and so another advantage of this pillow is that ""It keeps holding me all the way through. I think this is great because this does not betray me."

hmm... shall be completing my last 'leg' of review session for today in about 15 min. last review session of the day!! 7-9pm! hav been 'reviewing' almost continuously since 1230 pm....
cannot believe my 'bouts' of forgetfulness yest and today. left my file at northside foodcourt yest evening and panicked cos all my precious notes were inside and without it i might as well skip my finals.... then today, i was victim of my forgetfulness once again.... and i really pissed myself off... haha. was trying to buy a sandwich at intermezzo cafe (south side) only to realize that i didn't hav my wallet with me.... so had to walk ALL THE WAY back to my car on north side to get my wallet and walk all the way back to buy the sandwich which had been prepared for me already.... so even though i originally had like 15-20 min before my first review, all was spent walking up and down slopes. oh well.... i guess I need the exercise huh. can foresee long hours of sitting at the table for the rest of the week....

felt somewhat inspired by my astro 10 prof when he sincerely urged us to find a job that we truly enjoy in future... and somehow i could sense that he loved every bit of the lectures he gives... from the donut demonstrations....to his display of his collection of astro 10 t shirts every lecture... to playing songs with lyrics involving astronomy.... to showing us his bungee jumping experience at victoria falls.... no wonder he gets voted one of the most popular profs everytime... cos even though i dun go for every lecture, when i do go, i really do enjoy his lectures, (when i am not asleep) complete with not-so-subtle remarks about stanford and bush... i do aspire to have a job that i really love and enjoy one day.... though i still dun have the faintest idea what that would be. one of the most impt? lessons that i have learnt, be it in or out of class, is that things change... all the time... so whatever i think now.... i really wonder it will be at all relevant to what will happen...

sigh. moffitt lib is scary. everyone's so motivated to study.. while i always sit there trying to read but distracted by frivolous things on my mind. this seems to happen every finals period...

feel totally crushed after my jap final.... =(
feel ultra sleepy and i just want to go home and sleep but i hav astro hw due later in the day.... maybe i'll drop it though i'm not supposed to... why am i so bad at coping with whatever i hav to cope with....
it's finals week starting next week... and am going home in exactly two weeks' time... but somehow i still don't hav the motivation to study... and there's like so many other things to worry about