malaysia getaway

Back from my lil lil getaway to malaysia. Thankx bloopie for organising this outing for me. Time passes more quickly with friends and it's indeed less emo. And the outing was fun fun fun. and thankx once again bloopie for having us over at your place! And u had to clean up after us too after we messed up the bed. :S

in a nutshell, i had fun travelling, dinnering, singing k, htht and shopping with you guys :))

But now it's back to reality again. Lol. sucks. the second time parting is really much worse than the 1st time. After IYF last year, i felt so bad and sad when i had to leave korea and leave my new friends, but this time i think i felt it worse. Cos it's the second time we're parting now and with much more uncertainty as to when we'll all next meet. booohoooo. so now the only way is to get my ass to US. so pls pls pls let me go over to US smoothly for my SEP. And i really really hope for UCLA.... no ucsd pls..... it's too far flung a corner of California...

On another note, I really thank God for such wonderous friendship forged. It's really amazing, how marilyn and I can become close friends with chan ik over the past one year when we really just spent about 16 days together (8 days last yr + 8 days this yr) physically. thanks to technology, perhaps friendship really can be maintained across borders.

okie photo time:

photo memories

Rooftop of esplanade

Sand bar at sentosa

Extreme Log ride @ Sentosa

Merlion's mouth

Song of the Sea

soju+beer

"seaweed rice with kimchi is awesome~~"

At Marina Barrage

NDP fireworks from the Singapore Flyer

Parting shot

till we meet again~~~ *sniff sniff*

tour guide days #3

10 days just flew passed really. it felt like i was just at the airport with marilyn fetching our lil brother and then in the blink of the eye, i was there at the airport again this time alone sending him off. i think it's worse than the post IYF feeling cos at least i had marilyn to share the emptiness with. Now it's just me.

Next time i think i will really think twice about hosting friends at my house, cos now there's this void not just in my heart but literally in my home. oh gosh. it's almost like a dream. That cosy room which was turned into his sleeping quarter, is now back into its original form- my study. And no more tearing the pig off his bed anymore. And no more of his whiny "nuna~~" .

Now what's left are photos, memories, my bankruptness and my void...

아~~~~~~노무 울고싶어

tour guide days #2

oh my gosh.. the days just passed so quickly. really hate the idea of monday coming (marilyn flying off to aussie for exchange) and then very soon tuesday will come (chan ik flying back to korea).

omg.... really really dread it. I'm gonna be so sad. folks out there please jio me out for a drink on wednesday. thanks

tour guide days #1

First day of touring down and it was all lethargic and boring. oh goshh... cleared malls together with marilyn and our guest when it turns out that our guest didnt even enjoy shopping. arghhh

let's hope things pick up today and the few days on!! and also it feels like we're all running on borrowed time (argh cliche term). but it really feels so nice to have your friend whom u don't get to see often here with u. and the feel of having a little brother at home is really nice. someone to go home together with. watch movie on lappy till late etc. n even kicking each other. k i am odd.

anyway and goodness, it turns out that our guest is indeed a korean afterall! man... how he drinks is :S

day one and we had beer for lunch and beer again for supper.... n tonight is our supposed soju night... n I had always thought of him as a young boy who perhaps can't drink too much... but hmm... now i have my reservations about that... I think i might just collapse tonight for my first time. :S

답답패!!!

大嫌い。。。でもさ、仕方がないよ。どうして皆全部そう思う？どうして自分だけ皆の意見が好きじゃない？プロジェットするのスタールもとても同じじゃない。私たちのチェムストリはどこいるの？

二つのプロジェットもおなじの問題。リースタットをしっている。大変だ。Jaded

大嫌い！

funny trends

Funny Trends #1:

These days it seems that guys are getting more generous in their presents to the girls they woo. And yes girls they woo, not their girlfriends (it wont be a big deal if the girl is the girlfriend right? anyone can be sweet to their gfs). Inflation in terms of prezzies. And my lucky girl friends out there receiving big big prezzies.... man how i envy. why is it that i always meet those who are more sensible with their money? aiyohh... so by theory of accumulation does it mean that i can one shot get a lambo? LOL

Funny Trends #2:

It seems like both guys and girls like people who are more adventurous or exciting to be with. And so they both hope to date someone exciting. In soci terms, it's a 'cad'. But for marriage, they would prefer someone more stable, responsible and reliable. Less flamboyant than 'cad'. In soci term it's a 'dad'. So can you date a 'cad' and marry a 'dad'?

Funny Trends #3

Let your yes be yes and no be no. It seemed like a programmed kind of thing perhaps from early childhood days that makes a girl always say things that contradicts her true feelings (ok not all the time but most). Perhaps from instances in the past when the girl was a lil girl and mommy teaching her about not saying the truth to consider others. So maybe someone gave you a candy and you don't really like it but you still have to say your thanks and pretend to like it cos mommy said so. Another programming could be girls playing with dolls. In playing with dolls, the girl will always have to assume the role of the doll as well, thinking as the other party (the doll) how the other party feels and how she should then react. This is in contrast to boys playing soccer or cars. You don't have to think how your ball feels when it gets kick or what the engine of the car is thinking as you make those spluttering sound. As a result, girls grow up to be more emotive and intuitive. And the downside you get is the dilemma and contradiction in speeches. And how bad can these get? see below:

Girl A: "Aye how should i go?"

Girl B: "where don't go?"

Girl A: "Cos if don't go then i can go (somewhere else)...."

Girl B: "ah.. then you choose lor... don't go also ok, you go where you like"

Girl A: " Harh... but i don't know where i wanna go..."

A girl may have where to go in mind but will still constantly delude herself that she doesn't know in order to avoid making a selfish decision or another case could be she REALLY could not recognise what her heart wants to do. And after all these, the girl still might end up choosing the option that she doesn't want. To see a more devastating effect of this, apply the same context but change the topic from a place to go to a guy.

Funny trend #4

Both men and women (again not to generalise. so not all perhaps most), don't know what they want. So we human do it by elimination: All things on earth - don't wants = Wants.

Pluck this equation into a context:

A: aye how what should i do? should i reject?

B: do u like him/her?

A: maybe 5%?

B: Ok, so why you don't like him or her?

A: Don't know

B: So what you like?

B: Don't know. I just know I don't like.

Staycation

Had a staycation weekend with marilyn over at this little hotel at East Coast. It's really good considering the meagre sum we forked out for it. It has a peranakan theme which matches the ambience of the stretch of road down the hotel, which is pretty much filled by old english style shophouses, old school chinese bakeries and peranakan shophouses. really cool place. I have never explored the east of singapore before and the both of us just feels so much like a tourist in our own land.

Anyway why the sudden staycation? It's not to have our relaxing tai tai life. Quite the contrary, we were sloughing our guts out over the entire mongolia expedition planning. AHHHHHH i swear the day this project comes true, I will really be crying buckets of happy tears. SOOOO much boulders i have to cross!! :(((

and now back to my RYSEC research. quite happy that the bunch of rover friends and i are doing this rysec competition together. back to the old days of project planning and proposal writing except that we have all mature ALOT. much more seasoned and trained in different aspects than before. And this project has actually spurred this intent to do a short business diploma course. i should find some time to do a short business course man... i feel sooo green next to the biz students.

simple joy

Glad i overcame my inertia and left my house for the women bible seminar by RBC ministry. it really brings pure joy into my heart as i listened to the preacher share. An older women who had went through much more in life, sharing her life testimonies and the gospel with the young, not so young and as old as her women.

And the most awesome part is, the preacher is actually a 79 year old lady who flew all the way from US to here. GOODNESS. truly in her words, it's God's grace and blessing that she can even fly across great distances to share His words. And again, it reminds me of the sharing at service last sunday as well on no one is too old or too weak to serve God and His people. awesomeness.

my first bible seminar and i am glad i didnt miss it cos the next one by RBC would only be in Jan and i may not be around then. and most of all, as i left church i could feel God's smile.

Flyer, Soju and No rae bang :)

After the intense walking around yesterday, accompanying jewel in bringing her two korean visitors around, my legs actually felt rather sore today. goodness. but it was real fun yesterday babe! and the day also saw my first trip up the singapore flyer. and it was so hilarious how the 2 of us photo-whored our way the entire ride, while the 2 tourists were much more calm than us.

and woohoo, finally i feel that there seemed to be some improvement in my korean. i could converse quite a fair bit more in korean now than before. and I can see myself using more complex sentences instead of just sticking to the elementary forms. though the process is still quite excruciating and i have to think hard about all the grammar forms i learnt. but they understood me :))

And today, after a refreshing relaxing day at home (FINALLY) doing all the things i love (gymed, swam, drummed, kb-ed, mugged jap), it was korean dinner time again with joyce and marilyn. explored a new restaurant today. not bad but the ambience is less awesome than ju shin jung i feel. and we only had a bottle of soju (miracle). And finally we came to the highlight of the night! Not wanting to go home yet after dinner, we decided to go explore and check out the korean karaoke!! WOOOHOOO so there we go, an hour singing gibberish songs as we simply can not read the words fast enough. And our dear friend joyce was just so cute and funny to watch... she was sooooo THRILLED....

dreams and affinity

i seem to have this strange affinity with issues pertaining to chinese ethnic minorities man. Like this unexplainable desire to go visit mongolia and do some work for the kids there, and now watching news on BBC about the riots in Urumqi and feeling utterly disturbed by it.

really strange affinity (seem inapt a word to use as well... just a stronger feeling and emotionally stirred). This group of people just intrigues me with their , can i say, hybrid identity. Their central-asian and chinese affiliation identities. their culture, their people, their problems. even though I haven't been there, I already smitten by the potential things that i think i can experience and see. I really just feel like going there to see the place and soak up the difference in culture and life.

but ok lah, I also hope to explore Egypt, Israel & Jordan, Cuba and Europe some time in the distant future. Maybe as a peace ambassador i hope, or a aid worker or maybe just be a tourist haha.

hmm... maybe i can really consider (if my grades allow... or rather if God permits) Peace Studies and International Relations in the future. or if grade and circumstances allow, international law..... hmm....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8137458.stm

jesmine's 21st

(the S65 saints woohoo~~)

So our gorillarila has finally turned 21 and the jungle all sings "in the jungle the mighty jungle, the gori turns 21!"

Here's the song for those who have no idea how the song is to go and of cos especially dedicated to our 21-year-old gori!

anyway the fabulous party was at essential brews and it turned out that once again no one really

adheres to party themes! tsk tsk tsk! the theme was black and white AND quirky which many

simply left out. Cheat our feelings!! (Liz and I really went to quirk ourselves up!)

But oh well, everyone soon turned crazy (almost certainly since it's GORI's birthday right? the

atmosphere is as wild as the jungle) and we started swopping and trying out all the different props

brought by ourselves and others. And the madness cam-whoring starts. Really no party ever truly

needs a programme. The guests almost always find their own joy with their cameras and playing

with the theme all the time.

and now let's let the pictures do the talking. For more wacky moments, check out Facebook.

the serious and glam ones:

(the scouts)

(the saints)

the surprise cake we baked especially for Grub-lover Jesmine

Jesmine and Grubbie

now for the wild:

the best nerd award goes to... ....(*drumsroll* IT'S A TIE!)

the closet nerd under the facade of a pro dancer

and the pro-guitarist nerd

sing to your heart's fill

went kbox with jewel and bloopie. sooooo satisfying to just sing. sing without any cares. just sing your hearts out. :)))

and jewel babe u improved TREMENDOUSLY!! N bloopie u just sound sooo good! you should talk like how u sing lah... tsk tsk tsk.

as for myself haha, i think i improved as well in terms of my breathing capacity, can belt more, sustain longer. but the tone. sigh. more honing.

anyway we had fun singing AND recording! haha videos are up on youtube for interested parties. :) (search for my youtube channel: shinentwinkle)