★ ~ Ichigo, Ichie ~ ★

The whirlwind inside my head

2009-10-21T22:55:00.003+08:00

I've abandoned my blog again. And I'm gonna take a break from here for awhile as I've a new blog that I need to attend to. Nah it's not a rambling blog that's full of randomnesses like this one. Just something I feel like doing. Not gonna tell where it is either :P Just there to ~~pen~~ type things down (:

I'll come by every once in a while, hopefully.

So till then (:

2009-08-28T16:17:00.002+08:00

Today's my last day at this other dept where I'm pretty slack. I'm partly sad and partly relieved. Well sad cuz it means I won't have be able to go home on the dot everyday and I prolly won't have so much time to go browsing FB and random websites. I'll miss the relax and friendly ppl in there too. It's actually quite fun there. The guys are quite funny n well, kinda childish. Geeky (duh, what would u expect, if you know where I got seconded to), but in a good way. Baked them cream puff. All said the puffs were good. But those guys prolly are happy as long as they're edible. Haha...

But it got pretty boring too in that dept. Which is why I'm kinda relieved to be able to go back to my unit. Gosh I've been there for 5 weeks already. I've prolly forgotten my training materials already. Kinda apprehensive about the coming week's engagement. Hopefully I get a nice team with nice people working on interesting engagement, with nice clients.

Gosh, end of week. Somehow I'm pretty drained. Must be all that going out every evening. Couldn't sleep last night either. Cuz of bubble tea and late night running session? *shrugs*

Looking forward to weekend and continue reading my book, which I've neglected, on my cozy bed (:

Baking Frenzy

2009-08-26T11:18:00.002+08:00

I've been in a bit of baking frenzy lately. Never fail to come up with a baked goodies or two every week. Prolly because I've been quite free in the office that I visit my old fav food blogs and those I chanced upon while googling for recipes. They always make those dreamy desserts seem too easy to make. I'm inspired to make some myself.

Well, of course, the ever-impatient me sometimes can't be bothered to follow instructions step-by-step, especially those that consist of several components and need to be assembled. So I "improvised". For instance, there is this tart recipe that have 4 components: the choco tart base, the banana caramel, salted ganache and choc mousse. Tho' I like baking, I get lazy too and don't wanna spend the whole day in the kitchen. So I subsituted salted ganace with normal ganache and choc mousse with whipped cream. Oh well, the end products get good reviews from my food critics (aka walphie, the, er, nest, al) so I guess no harm had been done ;)

These past 3 weeks alone I've accumulated so many recipes that are waiting to be tried and tested. I really wish I had more time at home. I finally did warm molten choco cake and meringue, among others. Oh and my second attempt at making cream puff were succesful. Yatta! The recipe didn't lie when it says "How to make the perfect cream puff" =D (I'll post piktures soon!)

But but there's still panda bread (which looks so cute), ultimate cheesecake (which claimed to be the best cheesecake recipe *shrugs*), herbed ricotta tart etc etc waiting for me. And this morning I chanced upon butter recipe. Yesh, making my own butter. And it looks damn easy and uses heavy cream only. If only I had come across this recipe sooner, I wouldn't have to throw away half of my cream that had gone bad 2 days ago cuz I didn't know what to do with it anymore. Shucks. Waste money.

Oh, tomorrow's bebek's bday. Hmm what should I make him this time? Often times I lose sleep thinking what I should bake for people's bday. Better start thinking! (:

I Kinda Miss School

2009-08-25T10:00:00.003+08:00

Smoo students wud be entering their 2nd week of school by now. Saw some uni-student-looking people squeezing with the office workers on the train these past few days. Sigh... I kinda miss going to school. I miss wearing comfy casual clothes. I miss having to rush and attend boring seminars one day and getting to stay at home lazing around the next. I miss going for super extended lunch after classes and hitting the empty malls on weekday afternoons. I miss seeing sales items still neatly arranged on the shop shelves and taking my time choosing without squeezing with other bargain-hunters. And of course, I miss my afternoon naps. I feel sleepiest after lunch. But most of all, I miss waking up late and coming home early. I still can't get over the drag I feel every morning getting my butt off the bed.

Gah, must be the Tuesday blues! Er's right. Mondays' are actually not that bad since there is still the weekend happy feelings. But Tuesdays are worse since the weekend feelings have worn off and the weekend is still far away. Sooo far away.....

Wind-blown hair and sky-high kites

2009-08-20T15:52:00.008+08:00

To me, it's always the company that make or break my day. Here are some of the pictures from national day picnic at Marina Barrage. Notice there are no pictures of the fireworks. Can't be bothered to put the pathetic display of fireworks. Hmph, all those last minute googling on my sis' mobile wi-fi on "how to shoot fireworks" were for nothing.

(click on the image for better resolution. don't know why it looks pixelated here.)

Momonga (モモンガ)

2009-08-20T13:47:00.005+08:00

Gail posted a link about this little critters on FB. The moment I set my eyes on that single photo, I went "Kawaiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!" I couldn't help but go "Awwww" and smiled to myself even though I was in office. I went straight to Google images and googled for more pics of them. They are THAT cute.

Those critters are Japanese dwarf flying squirrels called Momonga, モモンガ. Honestly, they are so adorable they look like they pop out of a manga. Gotta love those huge, shiny, button-like eyes and tiny hands that they like to fold in front of their fluffy round tummy, making them look like they are peeking out of a half egg shells. And I don't know if it's just me, but they look like they are smiling on each of their piccas. Maybe just like most Japanese, they love their piccas to be taken :P

Feast your eyes on this cuteness overload ^ ^

"Hey I wanna be in the picca too!" said the last squirrel poking his head from behind the tree. HeeHee...

Aren't they precious?

The Big 4

2009-08-13T11:43:00.003+08:00

So I've been working in one of the Big 4 for over a month already and received my first paycheck yesterday. Yes, they've only given it to us after more than 5 weeks working for them. Don't they realise the time value of money? Oh yea, that's right, they do realise the time value for them, not for us. So calculative. As expected from an accounting firm eh. And I don't know why, I don't really feel cash-rich. Must be the $26,000 debt I have. Sigh....

Neways, read in S' blog about how working in the Big 4 is like entering a bad relationship. Well I have heard the horror stories from seniors. But I should count myself lucky cuz I haven't experienced any of those horror. The latest I've left office is 6pm and the earliest was 3.30pm HAHAHA. Ok, that happened only once during training period.

Well, that's cuz I've been seconded to this other dept where things are so relaxed. There isn't much things to do. Even if there are things to do, the secretary would keep telling me to take my time and that there's no deadline, unlike in audit. In her own words, "Take your time ar. No need to kan cheong". To that I say, "Yes m'am!"

So here's what i read about working in the Big 4:

1) You’re excited and have a new wave of confidence.
2) Your jealous friends think you’re so cool.
3) You’re eager to please.
4) You tell everyone. “I work at Big 4” “I’m dating Sam”
5) You spend way too much time.
6) You’ll be asked to order/make food.
7) Sometimes you wonder if you’re being taken advantage of.
8) Your parents wonder why you come home so late.
9) Your parents don’t know what you’re doing.
10) You tell yourself things will get better.
11) You’re made to do things you don’t want to.
12) You wonder if this is the ONE where you will spend the rest of your life.
13) You consider leaving but what will your friends/parents think?
14) You’re asked to eat things you don’t want to… um… like hours of course.
15) There are good times and bad times.
16) Bad times seem to be a lot worse.
17) The longer you stay, the worse it gets.
18) The smart ones leave early.

Gosh....

i ♥ singapore

2009-08-11T15:43:00.004+08:00

Well, not really. Had to say it just to get free toppings for my yami yoghurt which they offered in conjunction with s'pore national day, which was on Aug 9. heee... kiasu me. Guess I am becoming Singaporeanised.

After a good lunch at pow sing and a cup of yami yoghurt, we (my siblings n the BRATs) went to Marina Barrage for picnic, kite-flying and fireworks-watching. I'm telling you, don't trust Spore weather forecast. They are almost always wrong. And again, they predicted storm on sunday but au contraire, the weather was great! Sunny windy Sunday.

Haven't had Brats outing for some time so the picnic was really nice, JH even came! That "harlot upon many waters" who abandoned us. chih.... LOL jokes....

Was so excited I finally get to play the kite that I bought from this random shop I chanced upon during my lunch break. But alas... the kite sucks! It kept tilting to the left. Actually the first time was fine. Mayb it broke when it drop to the floor. then again, it means the kite sucks. Uncle A's kite on the other hand was so big and cool. Like a black hawk. And was so stable. Just needed to lift it up a bit and it straight away caught the wind and went soaring to the blue sky. Well I guess that's the difference between a $3 and a $16 kite T.T"

Then evening came and the NDP started. Nothing really exciting. Didn't even see the 5 fighter jets they usually have and the flag that the choppers were carrying was on the wrong side. And don't talk to me about the fireworks. It was PATHETIC! Short? Nevermind. It's always been like that, like it usually last for abt 5 to 7 mins. But it gave false alarms 4 times. FOUR!

We were sitting around, waiting for the longest time when it went Boom! All of us, including the other people who were waiting, went cheering and scrambling to our feet trying to capture the fireworks. We waited and waited for the fireworks to go off again..... nothing...

Then about 10-15 mins later, went Boom! again. Again we went scrambling to our feet. And the same thing happened 2 more times. Wah buay song ar! I know the economic's bad, but no need to cheat our feelings for four times can! Sian-ed! And when the real thing happened, it was behind the %&*%$** 3 IR buildings. So the fireworks were partly blocked by the damn thing. I was telling someone, if there was a terrorist hijacking a plane and went into the building the same time as the fireworks, it'll be funny if people keep cheering. The next day's headline would probable be "Triple tower go Ka-boom!" or something like that.

Oh well, lucky the picnic was fun. Otherwise I'd write to the newspaper and complain how the fireworks ruined my day, just like a true Sporean would o.O

I'm back

2009-07-30T10:18:00.004+08:00

After a long absence, I'm back here again. Feels bad for my blog. It gets abandoned every now and then. Actually there are tonnes of story to tell. The last exam of my uni life, the part-timing in a pastry shop (super fun!), the grad trip, the commencement, working life (or rather the lack of it) etc. But I got lazy.

So I've decided to start blogging again. Cuz i'm super bored and people kept asking me to start blogging again. I guess other ppl are pretty bored out like me too. I do have things to do. But not much and they're like non-brainer. I can finish them in a zip, but then I'd have nothing to do, my desk will be empty and I'll be spacing out or doing random googling. So i'll slowly do them while blogging heehee :P

Bet you've never heard of an auditor who's damn free like me. I'm not the only one tho. My unit mates are the same. We get to go home on the dot at 5.30, take 1.5hrs lunch, relax a bit. It was nice at first, but it gets boring real fast. And now i'm seconded to the IT dept and end up doing sai kang for them *rollseyes* Sigh... I wanna do real work already. Sian sian...

Oops, my boss just saw me blogging. Yesterday he saw me giggling to myself while msn-ing. SHites... All Ad's fault for saying all those cheesy stuff on msn. Hee...

K. CIao for now.

UniQlo's coming to Spore but why no MatsuKen's posters? WHY?!?

2009-04-10T00:21:00.006+08:00

Ok exam time, so i'll make it quick. If you've been goin to City Hall mrt, you'd realised there's this new posters posted on all the glass windows for this new store called UniQlo. Never heard of it before Kit mentioned it in one of her surveys (she sent damn lots of surveys!). Apparently it's a casual clothing store. It looks ok. Very casual. The clothes remind me of Gio or Bossini clothes.

Then i've going thru this forum on MatsuKen (Matsuyama Ken'ichi). He's my new addiction. He's the one who plays L in Deathnote and the main actor in Detroit Metal City. Will talk about him more next time. But anywas, while ogling his pictures in the forum, i saw pictures of him as the posterboy for Uniqlo. And the clothes his wearing is sooo much cooler than the ones shown on Sg posters. Aaarrhh. I want him as the posterboy!! Why is he not the posterboy for Sg stores? Why put some unknown ang-mohs on your poster?? WHY?!?!? I'd be more than glad to stay in cityhall MRT for couple of mins just to stare at his posters. LOL.

Oh well, mayb the Sg branch too poor to afford him. He's a rising star after all. Sighs...

To Uniqlo, if you happen to see this, I suggest you change your posters. Girls will come flocking down to your stores. CONFIRM.

I can't believe this feelings

2009-04-01T22:12:00.002+08:00

The feelings that I know I'm gonna miss smoo *gasp*

It's mid-week 13. Somehow I'm already feeling sad that it's the last week of my university life. Correct that. My study life. After cursing the education system for the 16 years of my life, I can actually see the end and strangely i'm not THAT excited about it. Well i can definitely do without the crazy last-minute cramming, or anxious tears over unfinished schoolwork/exam materials. But during the past 3 days, my friends just keep reminding me that it's our last week of classes and in 2.5 weeks' time, it'll be over, all over. We kept taking pictures while saying over n over again "it's our last week of school!" and I have a feeling that all of us actually didn't mind having project meetings till pretty late at night since soon they will all be no more.

Argh! How can I be feeling nostalgic towards school stuff already? How can I, the smoo #1 hater, feel that I'm gonna miss it? Weird feelings. Must be the exhaustion and lack of sleep. Yes. That must be it.

It's week 12, darlings.

2009-03-26T13:18:00.002+08:00

Nearing the end of week 12. Everyday projects, assignments, more projects, more assignments. sian-ness. Worse, my parents are out of town. If it were week 1 or 2, I'd be shouting for joy. FREEDOM! is what i'd say. But not now. On top of schoolworks, i've to clean the house, cook my own food, wash the dishes, do the laundry etc. Mom will only be coming back 10 days later. More sian-ness.

First few days were fine. It was kinda liberating actually. No one tells me to sleep early, no one tells me to wake up early. Experimented a little in the kitchen. Made bunch of nameless meals, which were good. But the novelty is fading quickly. Dishes are piling up.

Unfortch, mom's not here cuz my sis is sick (told her to take care of herself. bah...). So i can't be so selfish to ask her to come back ASAP. Sigh.. when all the options are equally bad, it's hard to decide what to wish for. Oh and my dad is coming back on Sat. Hopefully he goes to bangkok soon after he comes back. It's more troublesome to look after two people than to look after myself only. And he always nags me to sleep early and wake up early. Sigh sighs...

I'm Dreaming of Hokkien Mee

2009-03-05T22:57:00.002+08:00

Wow, almost a month since I last blogged. A rather depressing post at that somemore. I thought time flies only when I'm really busy. Well I guess I'm wrong. Time flies even faster when I'm "free". This term is supposedly pretty relaxed for me, taking only 3 modules (plus one extra audit class) and no more accounting mod (HALLELUJAH!!). But it's because I'm so free that I often spend my time doing things that takes time with no particular result, like watching drama, read manga, sleep, flog-surfing, reading books or going out with friends. Sometimes I really have no idea what I've been doing. I'd wake up in the morning and then do those stuff and bam! it's midnight already ^^"

Anyways, time flies so fast that it's almost the end of week 9 of school. Just ended my Strategy mid-term this afternoon. Oh-em-gee. I kinda screwed up a bit. Everybody, and i mean EVERYBODY, has the correct answer for the essay part except moi. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really stupid or just plain idiotic. Gosh...

Though I was a little dizzy, due to lack of sleep, I went to join Shan, Pris and Hans for dinner after class to accompany the 2 angmohs staying at my bro's place. "Bring them eat Singapore food lor", Shan said.

Good thing I went with them. I was able to forget about that cursed mid-term and satisfied my craving for Chomp Chomp's hokkien mee. Yes, I think chomp chomp sells the best hokkien mee in the whole Singapore. Yumm! Ate other delish stuff too, like carrot cake, rojak, chicken wing, satay etc. All the fattening but happy-mood-inducing goodies. My headache was no more and my stomach is a happy organ tonight :D

The 2 angmohs are called Ricky and Robert (I think? Didn't properly intro ourselves) btw. Met Ricky before in Jakarta at my bro's wedding. They're Americans doing missionary work in Thailand. So, stories shared during dinner were bound to be really interesting. We talked about lotsa things from tranvestite (like duh, it's thailand), to our old mission trip village Bee Yew Ta, to smoking weed (eh?), to Robs living in a ranch (I had images of those ranches from Indiana Jones type o' movie) with horses and guns (o.O) and other random stuff. All those stories made me really really wanna go travel around the world like them.

And so... that brings me to my problem - should I go US or Eastern Europe?? And and and, the bigger problem is - how to earn lotsa money in a short time??? No suggestion of prostitution please. If it's a viable option, I'd have done it. Anyone feeling rich to give me some dosh? Please? Pretty please??? ^^

I Can't Think of an Appropriate Title

2009-02-08T09:57:00.007+08:00

I have been thinking for the longest time if I should write this post. Even though blogs are like personal journal/diary, which means that I'm able to write anything I want in here, I know other people are reading and so the content may affect them. I really don't mean to discourage people, but I figured I'm not the confrontation kinda person and I really can't say no to people. Even if I said no, I'll feel bad for rejecting afterwards. So I'm finally writing this post so not only can I think more clearly (I somehow can make a decision better once I write it down), but for certain people to stop pestering me.

To be honest, I've long forgotten the meaning of having a religion. In fact, I'm really tired trying to be a goody goody christian that I'm not. Of course, I did try to be a good christian. But at the end of the day I feel everything is meaningless. Coming to church has become a chore, an unbearable chore. It disgusts me to come to a place where people keep preaching to be good, to love one another, to forgive, blah blah blah...you know the drill, when in actuality the place is teeming with hypocrites. Bloody f***ing hypocrites.

They smile, they preach, they shake your hand and sometimes even hug you, when I know fully well all the "unchristian" things they've done. They gossip about mean things, they backstab people, they malign, or they form groups where they would bitch about one another. The adults who kept telling kids to act in christ-like manners are the very same people that commit "sinful" acts. Sometimes their obsession to be a "good christian" turn them to be the very Pharisees that they preach us not to be. They kept saying, "let's pray!", "let's read our bible!", "let's try to get people to come to church!" etc, so much that everything not christian becomes a bad BAD thing.

If we play some game on sabbath, tho it's supposedly to christian games, they'd say, "oooh we shudn do that on sabbath", or "how can you drink coke? it's got caffeine!", "oh no, the person that drink coke is actually a pastor *exaggerated gasp*!", "rock music is EVILLL!" yadda yadda yadda.

Then i observe they don't pay offerings, they wear earrings, they wear slack clothes to church and they do other things (which I'd rather not mention cuz it'll pretty obvious who i'm referring to) that I thought should/shouldn't be done as a "christian".

Religion becomes a laundry list of do's and don't's. More often than not I get confused, so what the hell/heaven/nirvana (whichever you have the most affinity with) are we supposed to do really? Sit down one corner and read our bible and, whole day long, and go out to streets and preach, "Jesus is coming soon. Repent all you SINNERS!"? There's gotta be more to christianity.

As much as I hate hating people, I really don't wanna hate God. Often I find myself reasoning with myself to give religion another chance, but now i seem to have used up my inventory of reasons. I don't understand what God has in store for me anymore (not that I've known before actually). It feels that he's a really troublesome friend who refuse to tell me what he wants. The kind who don't talk much despite your incessant questioning of what he wants and you decide you'll stop questioning and do what you think is good enough. But then it's never good enough and he gets angry at you and do mean things and you're left wondering, "what did I do wrong?"

Yes I know we are supposedly able to get the answers from the bible. But circumstances sometimes just prevent you to be THE perfect christian, you know. It says love your enemy and forgive for 70x7 times. Let me tell you, I have this person that I hate so very very much that the word hate is a gross understatement. I forgave him many times, definitely more than 490 times, feels more like a gazillion times. I tried to give reasons for his horrible behaviours. I tried to be nice. I tried to put the past wrongdoings behind. I tried, God knows. But he is just sooo incorrigible. It seems that it angers him to see me happy. He hurt people I care about, physically and mentally. And when they say words is sharper than swords, it's true. He just love saying mean things and leave me wounded. And get this, he is a supposedly devout christian who keeps preaching what the bible says and that we shud do this and that. After all the hurtful things he did, you think I can still love him?

It's tiring to keep up with that list. It's stifling to be restricted by all those rules. I have friends who don't have religion and they are really nice, much nicer sometimes than those "christians". At the very least, they are not hypocrites. Of course, I've some good friends in church and I've no intention to sever our friendships just because I'm done with church. My opinion towards religion has nothing to do with my friendships. If it's not because of the possibility of being disown, I'd have left the church. I tried, heaven knows, but I guess like some relationships this one just doesn't work out.

I Have a New Addiction...

2009-01-26T22:07:00.010+08:00

... and it's called flumpool!

flumpool is a four-man J-band: Ryuuta Yamamura (Voc & Gu), Kazuki Sakai (Gu), Genki Amakawa (Ba), and Seiji Ogura (Dru). They're pretty new to the J-music scene having been formed only in early 2007 and I think released their first single in early 2008. Their mini album "Unreal", released late last Dec, has gotta be one of the best J-album for the year 2008 IMHO!

They started humbly by singing at subway stations (i think when they were only 3-man band, ie sans the drummer, called "cube"). But they rise to fame pretty quickly. They have already has the highest selling debut act of 2008 in Japan; with only 2 digital singles & 1 mini-album to their name (which has almost sold 200k). Not surprising, really, since they have got real good music.

Another thing that attracted me to this band besides their good music is that their vocalist is real cute! *swoons*LOL...

I mean, hey, not many good J bands have got good-looking frontman. Among my fav bands, think only Larc~en~ciel (Hyde-sama!) and Uverworld have ikemen vocalists. if you wanna see ikemen, go listen to Johnny boys, but unfortch they can't really sing. So yea, it's definitely a plus for my viewing pleasure.

Anyways, back to their music. Their mini album has 10 songs, which includes 2 instrumentals, which kinda make it pseudo-singles. Out of the 8 songs, my fav are (in order of fav, 1 being best):
1. Hana ni Nare
2. 春風 (harukaze)
3. labo
4. Over the rain~Hikari no Hashi~

3 and 4 are kinda in a tie. And all 4 songs are pretty different from each other, which is nice.

Their song "Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~" was used as the closing song of the drama Bloody Monday (it's a must-watch show!), which I've only finished watching last week and it's where I've first heard of them. Didn't check the song out straight away cuz I don't really like melancholic songs and drama songs usually reminds me of the drama itself and despite BloMo being a good drama, it's not sth I wanna be reminded of often. But it's still a good slow song, tho sometimes somehow it makes me feel sad.

Hana ni Nare is without a doubt my fav! I like it the moment I hear the song. Dunno how to classify it, but it's kinda rock-ish? Love the string music arrangement in the beginning. It gives a perfect intro to the song. And Kazuki harmonize Ryuuta perfectly, maybe cuz they're like childhood friends.

Their latest song, Harukaze, is a lovely slow rock. The lyrics are really sweet too. It's a perfect song to listen to on a long bus/train ride, preferably with nice view outside, just like in the video (:

labo didn't become instant fav.It's like a mix of rock, jazz and punk, i think haha... But the more I listen to it, the more I like it although it's got pretty weird lyrics. Oh and I love the video. It's pretty cool and I love the way Ryuuta groove to the beat.

And saving the best for the last, I present you the cover for Unreal!!

I bet it will go straight to censorship if they ever bring this album to Singapore. Ryuuta said that it portrays their new entrance to the entertainment world or something like that. And the title Unreal is is also something like their surreal shot to fame and that fans are to decide if the pics are real or digitally modified. I say (and D too) that Ryuuta has got some nice, perky butts there hohoho...

It's pretty hard to get their pics. So be happy I've found these drool-worthy piccas!

Snippets of the Week

2009-01-25T12:27:00.004+08:00

Snippet 1

Krish and I were lamenting how the economic recession has affected everyone. Watched in Channelnewsasia that KP is having a salary cut of 7.5% (that's alot since usually pay increment in Spore is only like, what 10-20%?). Luckily it only affects the manager level and up. If they dare cut my already meager future salary, I think I'd rather bum around at home LOL...

Anyways, so there we were sighing on a beautiful blue-skied afternoon how we have to be mindful how we spend our money. Occasional trips to resto or nice cafe will have to be postponed and we have to be contented with meals in Koufu or Kopitiam. But then Krish said something pretty interesting. He said something like it is exactly the fact that people are tightening their belts that the recession is getting from bad to worse. Think about it, the lesser people spend, the lesser consumption there will be. Less consumption means less production and less income/profit for the producing industry. So companies have to cut somemore wage to cut cost. Which means, people will spend even lesser now that they have lower wage. And the cycle goes on.

Therefore, Krish suggested that we should contribute more to the economy. Spend more! More spending --> more consumption --> more production --> more income for companies --> (hopefully) salary increment for employees!

Brilliant isn't it? Never really thought about it.

Snippet 2

I think my interest in anything Japanese has somewhat become an addiction. I have to watch j-drama like once a day (cuz i'm still somewhat free, considering it's only the end of week 3 of school) and I had no idea who katy perry is or if britney has won can't-remember-how-many awards during MTV VMA last year. Instead, my mp3 is now filled with J songs. But still, I only fill it with my fav artists only. I dunno every crowing peeps in the J music scene, mind you. If I wake up early enough, I'd tune in to XFM 96.3, which ends its J segment at 9 am (unfortch, I hardly catch it since I wake up around 9 am haha...).

Oh and have I told you I'm taking Japanese mod? Heheh... It's an extra mod since I've already fulfilled my 39 credits requirement. The class is pretty fun, the teacher's really sweet. Very typical Japanese lady. But it's pretty slow-paced. I already know phrases and my vocab isn't too bad (according to Kit). But I know nuts about writing. So yea, I'm just hanging in there for the sake of the writing part.

Dawn and I got kinda excited being able to read the hiragana writings on the food packagings during our trip to Daiso. When I reached home I showed off my newly learned skill to mom. She was a little bit impressed only (mayb partly cuz jap is one of her least favourite language), and she just said, "Oh you know how to read huh? But do you understand what you're reading?"

Dang.. -_-

Anyways, when the usual gp of us (read: dawn, kit and I) were hanging out at koufu, Kit said that I should change my blog to j-drama, movie and music review blog cuz I seem to know the J entertainment world more than her despite the fact that she's stayed in the land of the rising sun itself for a year. Haha... Yea mayb she's right. I mean I do know what year many of the actors/actresses were born and some other little-known facts of some artists. But then again, just like my many other addictions, this addiction will sooner or later die, although it's definitely not anytime soon. So yea, from now on, I guess I will do some reviews when I feel like it. So ya, look forward to it ya! (:

Global Warming Effect

2009-01-22T15:10:00.003+08:00

I don't know about others, but I'm kinda loving this particular global warming effect on Singapore weather. The usual hot and humid Singapore with high cloud cover has become windy in the afternoon with pretty clear blue sky and cooling (sometimes even cold) with clear starry sky. Yep, starry sky! I have never seen so many stars on a Singapore sky in my 9 years' life here. Mom's pretty happy too with the weather too since the laundry dry faster.

Yes, I'm lovin this weather. I do hope it's not short-lived *crossfingers*

Niji (虹) by Aqua Timez

2008-12-31T15:45:00.005+08:00

This song has been on repeat on my iTunes for the past few days. I really love it! It has a happy tune and nice lyrics too. First heard of Aqua Timez when they sing the opening song for Bleach. The lead singer reminds me of the lead singer from Home Made Kazoku, only with higher-pitched voice. Cute heheh...

This song is used as the ending song for Gokusen 3. Very apt song for Gokusen series. The drama itself is ok lah. They kinda recycle the story, like Gokusen 2. Some parts are still pretty funny, but I watch mainly for Miura Haruma and for some brainless jokes before school starts and my brain have to be on full force again heh...

Btw if you are a Miura's fan, watch him in Bloody Monday. He acts really well there. He's a pretty good actor for his age IMO. I'm suspecting he'll be the next Oguri Shun. The two of them are so cute together in Binbo Danshi.

In the meantime, I present Niji by Aqua Timez...

Romaji
daijoubu dayo miagereba mou
daijoubu hora nanairo no hashi
yatto onaji sora no shita de waraeru ne

kutsu himo wo musubi naosu toki kaze ga bokura no sanaka wo osu
sora ga koboshita hikari no mukou ni ano yume no tsuzuki wo egakou
hidari mune no oku ga takanaru kitai to fuan ga myaku wo utsu
hontou ni daijoubu kana subete nori koete yukeru kana

daijoubu dayo miagereba mou
daijoubu hora nanairo no hashi
namida wo nagashi kiru to sora ni kakaru
nee mieru desho haruka kanata ni
boku nimo mieru kimi to onaji no
futatsu no sora ga ima hitotsu ni naru
yatto onaji sora no shita de waraeru ne

betsubetsu no sora wo motte umareta kioku wo utsushi dasu sora
kimi niwa kimi no monogatari ga ari boku no shiranai namida ga aru
moshikashitara boku ga warau koro ni kimi wa naiteta no kamo shirenai
nita you na yorokobi wa aru keredo onaji kanashimi wa kitto nai

yakusoku de mirai wo fuchidori kotoba de kazari tsuke wo suru
kimi wa tashika na asu wo kitto dare yori hoshigatteta

meguru kisetsu no hitotsu no you ni
kanashii toki wa kanashii mama ni
shiawase ni naru koto wo isoganai de
daijoubu dayo koko ni iru kara
daijoubu dayo doko nimo ikanai
mada hashiri dasu toki wa kimi to issho

namida no nai sekai nimo sono hashi wa kakari masu ka ?
kabe ni kizamareta rakugaki wa dareka no ji ni yoku niteta
kanashimi wo toozakeru koto de kimi wa hashi wo kakeyou to shita
keredo ima kasa wo sutete me wo tsuburu

daijoubu...

daijoubu dayo miagereba mou
daijoubu hora nanairo no hashi
namida wo nagashi oeta kimi no sora ni
nee mieru desho iro azayaka ni
boku nimo mieru kimi to onaji no
kizuna to iu na no niji ga kakatta ne
soshite
futatsu no sora ga yatto yatto hitotsu ni natte
bokura wo hashiraserunda

Translation
It’ll be okay, just look up
It’s okay, do you see the seven color (rainbow) bridge?
We can finally smile beneath the same sky

When we re-tie our shoelaces, the wind pushes us forward
Let’s continue our dreams beyond the light that spills from the sky
My heart beats within my chest, hope and fear pulsate through my veins
I wonder if it’s really okay, I wonder if I can make it through it all

It’ll be okay, just look up
It’s okay, do you see the seven color (rainbow) bridge?
It’s formed in the sky by the tears you shed
Hey, I know you can see it in the distance
I can see it too, same as you
Our two skies now become as one
We can finally smile beneath the same sky

We were born with different skies, skies that reflect our memories
You have your own story and tears I know nothing about
I might have been smiling at the same time you were crying
There may be similar kinds of happiness, but I doubt that for sadness

You place a border on the future with ‘promises’ and adorn it with words
I’m sure you wanted a guaranteed tomorrow more than anyone

Like a single season that goes by
Let your sad times remain sad
Don’t rush to turn them into happiness
It’s okay, I’m here for you
It’s okay, I’m not going anywhere
When it’s time to run, I’ll still run together with you

“Would that bridge form in a world without tears?”
The graffitti scrawled on the wall resembled someone’s handwriting
You wanted to build a bridge to get away from sadness
But now I close my eyes and toss my umbrella away

It’s okay

It’ll be okay, just look up
It’s okay, do you see the seven color (rainbow) bridge?
Look up in your sky that has cried all of its tears
Hey, I know you can see it shining brightly
I can see it too, same as you
The rainbow of our bond has formed
And now
Our two skies will finally, finally become as one
And get us to run

31.12.2008

2008-12-31T15:00:00.002+08:00

Exactly 9 hours to the new year, tho for the Adventists, we are only 4 hours away from the new year.

So many things had happened, good things as well as bad. Being superstitious, I thought 2008 would be a breeze. But I was wrong. Personally I had the worst, I really mean WORST term of my uni life. I never had felt so scared of failing before. But thank God, tho the grades hurt my GPA a lot, I didn't fail. I'm just crossing my fingers that KPMG won't revoke my contract ^^"

Globally, shit happened too. What with the investment banks crumbling one after another. Studying in a business school, to work in banks or to be an investment banker seemed to be the common dream. Alas, the current the economy dashed some people's hopes. The headlines on the newspaper paint a bleak future. "The economic recession is nigh!" people say, or is it already here? I don't know. I don't really read the newspaper. Well, as they say, ignorance is bliss.

As usual, the pessimistic me always start with the negatives. But yes, there are good things. Small small ones, but many. I can't recall all of them one by one but still, I was and am thankful for them. Thanks to the recency effect, or simply cuz I've short memory, the things I can remember are limited.

Anyways, whenever I'm thankful about something, it always involve my friends. I'm glad I've people that I can complain to, listen to my bitchings and my anxiety. Like during my BSM trip, I'm really grateful for the many new friends made, and a couple of really good friends made. They made the nasty things bearable.

Oh and my bro got married! It's a bit sad tho since it means that when my sis go back to Thailand and my bro lives with his wife, I'll be the only one left for my dad to be ordered around. Sighs... but well, guess I'm happy for my bro since my dad will stop nagging him to get married. Haha... "Hope to see little Tamps soon!" my friend said excitedly. Amen to that.

December was a action-packed. 3/4 of it were spent overseas. It was filled with rush to get from one point to another, thanks to the BSM trip and my bro's wedding. Really exhausting but fun nonetheless. It's also the first time since I hit the big TWO O that I get to spend my birthday in Singapore. I spent it bumming around tho, since I was so tired from the BSM trip.

Oops, I've to go to church soon. So I guess I'll end my post here. I'll tell the stories from my BSM trip and my bro's wedding another time (depends if I don't feel lazy :P).

HAPPY NEW YEAR PEEPS!! (:

PS: As a bonus, I'll post up this super nice song titled Niji (Rainbow) by Aqua Timez.

Think SMoo is Great? Think Again.

2008-11-21T18:03:00.004+08:00

Week 14 MSN nicks.

And it shows only a fraction of the SMoo peeps. I've SMoo Indons, SMoo juniors, SMoo bsm etc... and their nicks are pretty much as sad.

2008-11-17T20:14:00.003+08:00

I dunno how to title my post, so i'll leave it blank.

School has been horrible. Another test with horrible grade. No horrible doesn't cut it. It's too god-awful, I dunno how to describe it. It's the worst mark I've ever gotten and am sure it's worse than any mark anyone would have ever gotten. It's THAT bad. And then there are never-ending projects and people tend to get cranky when deadlines are nearing, arguments (sometimes unfriendly) becomes abound.

I'm just glad most of my deadlines are over. Left exams and one more report to finish. I can't say I'm proud of the results that I've received so far and I can only cross my fingers for those results that are yet to come.

SY showed me this video from Avenue Q, titled "It sucks to be me". You can Youtube it. Sometimes i do feel it really sucks to be me. Often I ask when things happen, "Why me God?"

Sometimes I feel God is being really unfair. I do admit God grants wishes, but somehow I feel He's only granting small wishes, like when I ask for bus/cab to quickly come. But when it comes to things I really really REALLY want, He doesn't give. And I don't think my wishes are those selfish ones like asking God to make me richer, prettier, slimmer etc. Sometimes I even gave God reasons why my wishes should be granted. And I tell you, those reasons are reasonable.

When things are going really tough, I kinda become determined to be depressed. Refuse to smile, refuse to eat, refuse to be nice to ppl, refuse to talk to ppl and just lock myself in my room with rock music blasting my ears off. Anyways, when ur feeling like shit, it IS a chore to smile to ppl. Maybe I'm doing all that to let people know that I am depressed and that I should be pitied.

But somehow, I find it too troublesome to keep up such acts. And it's kinda like a circular thing, the more I show my depression, the more depressed and frustrated I become. Besides I am grateful for some friends that I have. Grateful for their non-judgemental attitude. "So you failed your tests, so you are a loser, so what?" they say.

I'm glad I can have a good hearty laugh with them without thinking, "Oh no, I shouldn't be laughing. How can I be so carefree when I just failed my test?"

When day-in day-out I'm surrounded with people who are forever bloody concerned with their academic achievements, I'm glad I've friends who can so freely tease one another, "owned" one another, make themselves look super silly and have a good laugh out of it, where I can make a fool out of myself without them looking at me with condescending eyes. Tho I can only enjoy such moments only 1 day out of the 7 days I have in a week, I am really grateful for it.

And yes, tho I do feel angry at God at times, I've to admit He does keep me sane in this crazy world. I do pray that He keeps this optimism in me so I can go through each day, to keep on living.

LOST MY AFA BOOK!

2008-11-07T12:08:00.003+08:00

Ok that's it. I.am.just.so.fucking.pissed.right.now!!!!!!!!!

Left my favorite blue Fila shoes bag, with my AFA book and my brand new shoes inside on Monday night in SESS GSR. Then when i went to check the room on Tuesday morning, it was already gone. Checked with security guards and cleaner aunties, nope, they didn't see any shoes bag. Then asked for CCTV viewing, they "regret to inform you that after carrying out our investigations, we are unable to get any findings on your reported lost items".

Regret my fucking arse! Did you even try? There are 2 bloody CCTVs outside the friggin' room and you tell me you are not able to get anything? HELLOW? Are you all blind? what's the point of having CCTVs if they can't capture the necessary images. Or don't tell me those stupid CCTVs are just there for a show. Wah, so much for the security in Smoo. So much for paying tens of thousands of dollars for the useless facilities (not to mention the suicide-inducing education system)

OMG i am just so dead. i got a bloody AFA quiz next Tuesday and I haven't finished studying and now the book's gone. Just to let you know, it is IMPOSSIBLE to re read everything now that exam's in 2 weeks' time. Oh btw, i failed my first quiz, so I suppose I should just continue my failing streak. Great. Fantastic. My life is so perfect now. Everything's going according to what I want. Woo hoo! HAAAAALLELUJAH!!

PS:
To whoever stole my stuff:

I hope you're happy. You have made a girl so friggin happy right now that she's lost sleep, spent day in day out wondering around SESS building, asking strangers here and there to find her precious book. I hope you get ur just dessert. Just don't let me find you. If I do, i'll make sure I slap your face so hard, your face swollen thrice the normal size. If you're a guy, I'm gonna kick your friggin' didi SOOOO HARD that you can say goodbye to your future kids. If you're a girl, hmm that's harder, well at least I'm gonna embarrass you enough that you wish you disappear from the face of the earth. I hope you die a horrible death you KNNCCB!!

Yea, life is great. So great.

The Cheap Thrills Aren't So Cheap After All

2008-11-05T09:22:00.001+08:00

Never have I experienced such a tough term in SMoo. Even the word 'tough' is such a gross understatement. True, each of the 6 terms that I've had has been tough, hectic and full of frustration. But this time I really feel like the water is all the way up to my neck.

Bombarded with works and demands left right back centre top bottom. I'm drowning in all these 'things to do' and I have no frickin' idea how to save myself. I don't see anyone in sight that I can shout for help to. No life buoy in sight either. Even the people I regarded as good friends have betrayed me. So bloody frustrating!

I tried to be optimistic, but every time I thought things are going a-ok after all the efforts done, all the late nights, then No, they are actually major flops. Failed tests, failed projects, re-do, more research, more writings to do. Don't people need a life? When the hell all these gonna stop?!? And worst, I'm doing all these for a degree that I don't even want. FUCKIN SHIT i tell u!

"You should thank me that you got into SMoo, where 100% of its graduates a job and they get paid well" he said.

Thank you??? You want me to thank you?!? You gave the least help when I need it the most. And you made those useless comments that you should've just kept in your fucking little shitty mouth. And who cares about money when everyday I just feel like gulping potassium cyanide.

You don't even show a little bit of proudness when I told you I got a job. Not even a tiny little glimmer of proudness. Why? The company not famous enough? Pay not big enough? Job title not zai enough for you to brag to your friends? It's ok. I feel it's not something to be proud of either, not when others can easily get twice or thrice the amount in some swanky big banks with some high-class-sounding job title. I'm sorry I'm such a disappointment. Never shown you any straight-As report card and the 5 Cs (it's 6 now) that I've collected aren't the same Cs that you want me to give you.

Oh wells, blame myself for being able to be swayed easily, to have believed those empty promises. I guess at the end of they day, I have only myself to blame for all these.

Oh wells, c'est la vie. I'll just have to psyche myself up. Delusion myself that everything will turn out fine. Do my best. Smile. Be happy. Yea, whatever.

Freedom to Choose?

2008-10-17T11:40:00.006+08:00

Was just wondering. Actually was reading AFA when my thoughts drifted away. It always happen. Anyways, was just wodnering the meaning of having a freedom to choose. The real meaning, of course.

It's funny how preaches always say that God has given us the freedom to choose. It's funny because if we choose to do something that is not in line with what God wants us to do, we suffer a consequence. For example, we can choose to be a goody-2-shoes or be a total jackass. But of course, God will bless the goody-2-shoes and not the jackass, right? Unless of course the jackass repents. But repentance is an entirely different thing and we shall keep this topic short and simple here.

It always happen, to me at least, when I do bad things I will suffer the horrible consequence almost immediately. Really. But I won't give you instances, cuz I ain't proud of my sins. So, if I want good things to happen to me, I have NO choice but to be a good girl right? I mean, who doesn't want good things ot happen to them. Even those super emo kids who claims they don't need God's blessings or good things to happen to them, deep deep down they must long for good things. That's irrefutable.

Ok I know that "God gives rain to both bad and good guys", which implies God's blessings is for everyone. But then again, why do we say "you will get your just dessert" to the baddies? which implies that if we do bad things, we get bad things.

So applying my Analytical Skill, I shall attempt to make a proposition (is it what it's called? can't remember. sold my AS bk already)

Since good things happen to good people, we HAVE to be a good person
if we want good things to happen to us.

"Have to" implies a MUST, which implies the lack of alternatives. So... what's that freedom to choose are we talking about again?

Life

2008-10-15T12:46:00.009+08:00

泥だらけよ馴染めない都会で
同じように笑えないうつむいて歩いたの
急ぎ足ですれ違う人たち
「夢は叶いましたか?」
アタシまだモガいている
In the familiar, dirty city
We walked with our heads down, unable to laugh in the same way
People hurry past
“Has your dream come true?” I’m still struggling

陽のあたり場所に出て
両手を広げてみたなら
あの空越えてゆけるかな?
なんて思ったんだ
飛び立つ為の翼それは
まだ見えない
カンタンに行かないから生きてゆける
I went out to a place where the sun shone and held out my arms
And thought “Could I cross the sky?”
I still can’t see any wings to fly with
It’s because it’s not simple that I can go on living
~ Life by Yui

I listened with amusement to the guest speaker last nite. He's a big shot in a big hotels and resort company.

When he was talking to us, he said we looked so tired (damn right, we were), but he also said we "ain't seen nothing yet." He said working world is way tougher and we better start working hard early. He recalled his experience of having to make calls in the wee hours, working on London hours and coming back to work on sundays and stuff like that.

Then i went to the company's career webpage and one of the advantage of working in that co that the brochures is proudly saying is having a "work-life balance". I'm sure not having enough sleep and forgoing my weekends is part of "work-life balance".
T'hat's amusement #1

Then he also said that he didn't work hard when he was young and that he only realised that he should start working hard when he was in his thirties. But earlier he mentioned that he was a scholar who graduated with a law degree.

Uh huh, mister. I'm so sure that getting scholarship and a law degree doesn't require much hardship. I believe you.
That's amusement #2

Life is funny right. Oh crap, i better start studying my AFA again and stop complaining cuz I "ain't see nothing yet".

AFA: Absolutely Freakin' Abstruse

2008-10-03T18:16:00.002+08:00

Finally done with my midterms. Yayness!

Screwed up my AFA big time. No surprise.

Midterm break next week. But seriously break? What break?!? I'm almost fully booked by my project gpmates. Imagine - 4 major projects, all will be chiong-ed during the term break. Yargh!

Thinkin of buying a new lens for my camera. I like sceneries and I love macros. Um, suggestions?

Gonna read a new book this break. Just borrowed Haruki Murakami's Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World from Fels. Man, I love Murakami-san. I wanna marry his fantasies. They're pretty abstruse too, like AFA. But in a good way, very good way, unlike AFA.

Wanna go around snappy happy for one day. What ulu place in Spore that's pretty?

Gonna be a busy busy term break for me ^^

One Love - Arashi

2008-09-17T21:06:00.007+08:00

Arrgh I'm so busy that I don't think I can can post all things Hana Yori Dango cuz I know it'll take up too much time. But I still spare some time to search and download Hanadan Final OST, which is called One Love by Arashi.

It's a very typical J-pop JE (Johnny Entertainment, for the clueless you) boys' song - meaning... the song is sung by 5 pretty boys who ~~can't really sing~~ have passable voice. Ok before I get thrown at with rotten eggs by JE boys fans, I do like some JE boys. haha... some of them can really act, and yes, some are really such pretty eye candies. But when it comes to singing... only a handful of them can actually sing properly. The rest are okay only. Oh well, at least they don't sing out of tune :P

One of the Arashi members is Matsumoto Jun, who plays Domyouji Tsukasa in Hanadan. It's always like that. Whenever one of the JE boyband boys play in a drama, they'll make that boyband sing the OST of the drama. Although look-wise and vocal-wise Matsujun's not that great, but he's really really a very good actor and he's charming in his own way.

I've yet put any Arashi song into my iTunes, not even those from Hanadan 1 and 2. I'm pretty picky with my songs, and I do enjoy good vocals. From Arashi, I think Ohno is the one that has a better voice. So from Hanadan collection, I've only gotten Planetarium by Otsuka Ai and Flavour of Life by Utada Hikaru, both of which are really great songs.

But I got suckered into getting One Love cuz, the heck, it's the final OST from Arashi for Hanadan. Besides, to be honest, I really love the beginning part of the song. The sounds of the drums (the band type), the bagpipe, the violen, the beat of the song - it kinda has Irish folk dance sound. Whatever it is, I love the beginning part especially.

And the more I listen to the song, the more I like it. Been repeating the song over and over again, listening to it day and night for the past few days. It's a happy love song!

Like I said, the vocals are okay only, but the tune is really nice. I don't know how to describe it, but I think it's a PERFECT ending song. It's like, the song itself is able to wrap up all those 3 years of Hanadan series. I can't think of any other song that will be suitable for Hanadan's ending song. And despite being an ending song, it give you the feeling that the song does mark the ending of Hanadan but also the beginning of Tsukasa and Tsukushi's great love story. LOL... I hope you get what I mean.

LOL, i guess u can tell I really like (more like obsessesed with) the show, huh. I mean even D, who never ever watch Hanadan before or any other j-drama before (maybe only a couple), and unfortch, got dragged by me to watch felt that the movie was really sweet and funny.

Oh wells, I shud stop now and get back to my boring, dull and lifeless presentation reading material that's titled "A Longitudinal Investigation of Auditor Error Projection Decision". *urgh* - -"

For you peeps who have more time on your hands than I do, here's One Love by Arashi. Enjoy! :)

PS: Quality pretty bad, but if you're wondering why it's so blur, it's cuz the video is supposed to have painting-effect. So yea, it's not supposed to look very clear in the first place. I've got HQ if you want ;)

And this one is the trailer to the movie. There are several version, u can look it up on youtube.

hana yori dango final trailer 2 [sub us]
by mushihimeffseb

Another version (but not subbed).

2008-09-11T22:52:00.003+08:00

HANA YORI DANGO FINAL MOVIE ROCKS!!

IT'S SUPERB, IT'S AWESOME, IT'S SO SO SOOOO VERY NICE, IT'S THE BEST!!!

stay tune for more...

psst, i FINALLY get to watch the movie today! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Boo... I Miss iPod and iTunes

2008-09-07T11:29:00.003+08:00

Some of you might know already that I finally got my mp4, a Creative Zen, which was bought during Comex last week. Was so tempted to buy a better one, like Samsung P2 or Creative X-Fi, but I'm such a blur+careless+unlucky person that expensive stuff and I never seem to get along very well. So after reading reviews here and there, I decided that Creative Zen is good enough for me.

It looks pretty neat. It's really slim and light that it doesn't add much weight to my bag. Guess it's pretty important for me since somehow I'm always lugging a lot of things to school. And of course that it means it fits nicely to my tiny evening bags also.

I've been using iPod for about 5 years now! The first iPod I owned was a cool blue Mini. Besides wanting a change, I felt that iPod sounds is somehow not up to my standard. I like a stereo, full bass kinda sound. And iPod didn't give me that. The bass sound is especiall sucky. I love bass sound! Of course, changing my earphones to Senheizer or Shure is an entirely different thing, and they will cost the same, if not more ex, as the mp4 itself. And after reading the features and everything, Creative is more value-for-money. It's got better stuff at lower cost. See, this is what studying accounting and finance has done to me. My buys must be justifiable and worth the price :P

But boy, was I wrong. Ok, I may be biased and I'm just lazy to learn new stuff. But still, firstly, Creative doesn't have its own player, unlike iPod which has iTunes. Which means, it's more troublesome to arrange my music and playlist. I haven't really figured out how to categorise my music, maybe that's cuz i haven't really tried. But those creative user I've spoken too also agree that Creative's a bit messy when it comes to arranging your files. And according to D, I've to use Windows Media Player, which I haven't used for the past 5 years. So i miss iTunes which automatically pops up whenever I connect my iPod.

Creative's UI is also a bit confusing and have to press here and there if I wanna get around, unlike iPod. I especially hate it when I wanna play the songs according to Artists I've to click on the artist, then have to choose the album first before playing the song, unlike iPod which allows to play all songs from the artists, regardless of the album. And then there's the slow start-up. It still has to display the word "Creative Zen" for a few seconds before I can start playing my music, unlike iPod which starts immediately.

Of course it has its good things, which i read from Cnet and anythingbutipod.com, such as it's brilliant display screen, bigger screen that iPod nano (i'm comparing with nano, cuz that's the alternative, as the iPod itself is too big for me), which is gives u better video-watching experience and other features, like FM radio, and recorder. It's got better sound also, and since I bought it during Comex, they throw in the in-ear earphones (the one that comes with X-Fi, i think) for free, which makes the sound even better. But seriously, when i tried using that earphones on iPod, the sound quality doesn't differ much. So yea i dunno...

But but... the WORST thing is, less than a week after I bought that Zen, it DIED on me!! *grrr*

Not sure what happened. It's probably a corrupted file (it's Hero by Mariah Carey. Hero, for all titles. How ironic!) , which I know somehow can't be played even on iTunes or iPod. But in iTunes or iPod, it'll just get skipped, no problem at all. But when I accidentally click on that song, the Zen just hanged. And even after I press the reset button, it just kept getting hanged. So frustrating! So much for the zen >.<

Sigh... If I had known, I'd just get myself a Nano (or maybe Samsung P2, since Shan and Novs doesn't seem to have any complain about it yet)and a good earphones even if it costs more. Suddenly, I remember what my AA prof said in class last week. "Accountants tend to measure everything based on it's monetary value. But we should also consider other factors"

In my case, I should've considered my own "zen" experience that I'd get from listening from a good mp4 player :(

Do You Know 4 Sounds like "Die" in Mandarin?

2008-09-01T21:04:00.006+08:00

Hookay, it's week 3 of school and I still haven't find the drive to study. Seriously, i find going to school to be such a drag.

Anyways, I'm taking only 4 mods this term. Let's see...

Entrepreneurial (man, i never like tt word - always a mouthful to pronounce and tough to spell) Finance: So far it's okay i guess. One thing tho, when I saw the prof on our first class, I thought, "He's kinda cute". LOL. Seriously. Definitely the most good-looking, relatively speaking, prof that I've ever encountered. All of us thought that he's only in his 30s but he's almost 50 already! He looks much younger than his age and he's got a nice build. But too bad, he's pretty monotonous. My class is on Monday MORNINGs. No matter how cute he looks, i couldn't help but feeling bored. I almost dropped it, but damn, I paid e$70+ for tt class, and if I drop it, i'll lose e$20+.

2nd week of EF, I was lost most of the time. He just suddenly did some calculation and spoke in greek. My bad for not doing my reading, I guess. So since I was lost, I facebooked. Fenny who was sitting beside me told me that Prof has a facebook. So... obviously I went to his FB and checked him out. Can you believe it? Moi who thinks that most profs are out there to ruin her life (or GPA to be specific), and thus can't be bothered by such species, would do such a thing. But I was curious (and lost, remember). So check him out I did. And i got a surprise...or shock, can't decide. That's cuz there on my screen was a half-nekkid man (make that 90% nekkid) beaming at me. And there was a few of such pics. I couldn't help laughing, and when I showed to Fens, Eks and Yins, they laughed too. Luckily the prof was telling some joke or sth, cuz the class was laughing, otherwise it'd be weird if we're chuckling while the rest of the class was concentrating on whatever he was writing on the board. If he was some other guy, i'd be like "wow, that's hot!" when I see him on FB. But he's a friggin PROF! It's just weird. Profs are supposed to be thick-glasses wearing, pruny and balding old men. Ok i'm exaggerating, none of my profs are like tt, 'cept for one. But still...

Then met Kris (who's also takin EF, but afternoon class) after my class and while we're talkin about how young prof looks, he suddenly said, "His pants are so tight! I'd feel uncomfortable in them". LOL. Yea, I had exactly the same thought on our first class. Real tight pants. Prolly, he wants to flaunt those tight butts of his. haha... okay.... hope he doesn't read this post :P

Today's class was better. At least I understood most part. And then he was like telling us how some students made biased simulation and I guessed that amused him and he smiled a lot. A thought went across my mind. "He looks even better when he smiles". Just as I had that thought, Fens beside me quipped, "Hey, he looks sweet when he smiles." This is Fens we're talking about, who hardly make comments about guys, unless prompted. That was amusing. Then we joked that in normal setting, he looks like in his 30s, in facebook (esp in his speedos) he looks in his 20s, and when he smiles, he looks 18! LOL.... Mayb the e$70 isn't such a waste after all. Haha.... *jokes*

Curious of who he is? Come to SMoo. LOL...There aren't many prof teaching EF, neways ;)

Wow, wrote 4 paras just on EF. Moving on...

Advance Auditing: Ketan is my prof. 'Nuff said.

Advance Financial Accounting: I remembered what Erls said when she saw my book. "Car, I saw 3 really disgusting words. First, it's accounting. Then it's actually financial accounting. ADVANCE somemore!" LOL....My sentiments exactly, Erls.

It's known as the buy-one-get-one-free mod. Some people say it's 3x worse than Corp rep, some said 5x and there are others who said 10x. Dunno which one's correct yet. But since I'm an accountant-in-training, I shall be conservative and so I'd say it's 10x. But one thing for sure, the moment I mention that I'm taking AFA, those who have taken it will either have a very disgusted look on their faces, or say "Urgh, I remember that mod!" with such contempt or simply wish me luck. ^^"

Frankly speaking, I like the prof. I think she's real nice. Kinda motherly. My friends thought so too. It's just the mod. It's a killer! 2nd week is still bearable tho. But heard she accelerates really quickly. Kinda like an F1 race car. haha...

Business Study Mission: Tonnes of emails! Omg, I just can't keep up with the emails. And we started working on the mod 1 mth BEFORE school starts. Lotsa work and it feels like I'm constantly walking on a field of landmines. Never know what's gonna happen. As in... you know I mean. But I kinda expected that already. I just have to keep telling myself that there's light at the end of the tunnel (i hope *crossfingers*) MIDDLE EAST BAYBEHH!! Who knows a rich oil sheikh is waiting there for me? Mwahahaha....

I seriously think this term is gonna be a hell of a ride. I've got like 2 friggin projects for EVERY single mods and my mods are the advance types. So yeah... WISH ME LUCK!!

Sayonara, My Blue-sky Holidays

2008-08-22T10:35:00.005+08:00

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You'll wish that summer could always be here
You'll wish that summer could always be here

These cuppies were so much fun to make!

I think these are the best cuppies I've made so far. I think they look so nice! Haha... Ok I should stop bragging about my babies.

Made this on the last day of my summer hols. I was actually quite busy and again it was a last-minute notice. But I took it up cuz i guess what better way to conclude my summer hols than to bake a batch of summer-themed cuppies.

At first Sophs just told me to have a beach volleyball theme. i had to rake my brain as to how to make the volleyballs. I didn't want to have a plain cuppies with volleyball pattern on top, like what I did previously with my ball-themed cuppies. That'd be too plain. Besides the bday girl is a grown-up girl. So that wouldn't do. So google google google, get some idea, included my own idea, sketch, scratch, sketch and scratch some more and in the end came up with these designs.

Acutally I came up with a nicer design, but factoring in my time availability and my fondant-sculpting skill, I decided against that. Figured, those weren't feasible. You may think those cuppies are easy to make. Maybe they are, but since I'm still quite an amateur, it took me quite a long time to make. Like almost whole day. The cupcakes itself take less than an hr to bake. It's those decorations that took forever.

The volleyball, especially, was quite hard to make. At first I used fondant ball, but the stupid fondant took forever to harden and by the time it get slightly hard, it wasn't a ball shape anymore. Cuz it was soft, it became somewhat oval-ish in shape. Luckily I remembered that I still have some white choc balls in the fridge. So I just covered that in fondant so I can make some pattern, cuz the choc ball itself was quite hard. Took me 3 balls to get it right. The first and second choc ball melted in my hand and had to throw them. Took me sometime to get the stupid pattern right also. haiz... so noob right.

But anyways, I'm quite satisfied with the final product. The design is quite simple now that I think about it. But it's got all the things I love about summer. The blue sky, the sun, the sand, the flip-flop, the water, and the starfish. And am glad when Soph's told me that Dans like all those stuff also. Again, great minds think alike! *grin* :D

Ball-themed Cake and Cuppies

2008-08-22T10:07:00.002+08:00

Basketball Cake!

Aunt N called me few weeks ago and asked me to bake for her son's 3rd birthday. She wanted a cake and about 30 cuppies. And she told me only 3 days in advance!

I was quite busy with work plus when I called Soph (my partner in crime heh...) to bake the cake, she couldn't cuz she was busy with school. Oh gosh, I wasn't ready to bake a cake! I only bake cupcakes. My cakes so far were rather pathetic. The last time I tried to bake a sponge cake, it was super bitter and oily, I tossed the whole thing into the bin. And the last time I tried baking devil's food cake, it was so thin and tasted kinda weird too.

Was pretty stressed out cuz time was really tight. I didn't have time to experiment with cake recipes. Moreover, just like last time, she wanted the cakes to be vegan. I only had a little left carob left and was afraid it wouldn't be enough. So far I haven't found a place in Sg that sells carob. Even the organic aisle in the supermarket doesn't carry it. And asking Aunt Di for more carob was out of qn. Paiseh lah... cuz she most probably wouldn't wanna be paid again.

But Aunt N really wanted the cuppies cuz I spose there isn't anyone selling cute vegan cuppies. Sigh... So i just measure everything and make sure I've enough of everything, my time, my carob, my olive oil etc. And then I just used the vegan cupcakes recipe to make the cake and hoped for the best.

Soccer, Basketball and Softball Cuppies

Thank goodness the cake went rather well. Nothing great, but still ok lah. I decorated it as best I could. Took quite awhile to get the icing rather even. At least Aunt N said it was cute. She even added some little balls and colorful candles on top and showed the pic to me. It indeed looked cute. Too bad I don't have those pics. And what's great was that the mini ball decoration she bought was exactly the ones that I made - basketball, softball and soccer ball. We didn't even tell each other. Great minds think alike, I suppose. Haha...

YUI - SUMMER SONG

2008-08-17T21:03:00.003+08:00

YUI - SUMMER SONG
Released date: 2 July 2008

1. SUMMER SONG
2. Oh My God
3. Laugh away ~YUI Acoustic Version~
4. SUMMER SONG ~Instrumental~

YUI's 13th single. Just like Laugh Away, I love SUMMER SONG the moment I hear it. The beginning part sounds like a cross between Laugh Away and CHE.R.RY - the accoustic guitar and the keyboard sound. I think the song has been aptly titled as it has a very summery sound and feel to it. The chorus especially has a happy, light feeling. Unfortunately though, I think her voice is a little too squeeky in some parts. The song has unusually many high parts. But I'm not really complaining. The song provides ample fab accoustic and bass sounds, which I love.

The PV is great too. It has all the summer images and colour - the beach, the breeze, sunflowers, a vast field full of little flowers, lemon yellow, grassy green, sky blue, coral blue, baby blue, lots and lotsa blue. Me likeys! The casts are the same from last time and the story is cute. YUI shows more emotion too; she smiles a lot more than usual and even grooves to the music, bobbing up and down while playing her trusty guitar. She looks like having a lot of fun making the video :)

I've got the 2nd track, Oh My God, too. Still undecided on how I feel about it. Don't really like the beginning part. But one thing I'm sure, I love the bass here. It's more pronounced than usual. It's got summer feel also. I think the song will grow on me.

Aa aah..... That reminds me that school re-opens tomorrow and I've got a blardy monday morning class. It's sad to think that today is the last day of my last summer holidays. *Sobs...* Sayonara atashi no saigo no natsu yasumi (Goodbye, my last summer holidays) :'(

Meanwhile, enjoy SUMMER SONG! :):)

YUI - SUMMER SONG
Uploaded by x-zaza-du-29

Cuppies for Mashimaro

2008-08-13T23:43:00.004+08:00

A very belated present for Viny aka the Mashimaro of Statz Farm Family! :D

She only celebrated the bday last sunday cuz well, even during hols i guess it's still hard to get everyone together. I used Vahlrona chocs for the choc cuppies. If you know your chocolates well, you'd know Vahlrona is THE chocolate, it's like the Tiffany's of chocolates.

But as with all things, quality comes with a price, which is why to be honest, I've never used it on my cupcakes before. If i were to use it, it's gonna inflate the price of my cuppies by a lot. haha... Was waiting for a chance to use it and find out what's so great it. Wanted to use it for some special occasion, and I guess Vins is special enough to be the first to try :)

When I opened the packet, sure enough it has the characteristics of a good choc. You see, a good choc has a very sweet chocolatey smell that just with a sniff, you can almost taste it. The first time I got a good whiff of a good handmade choc was when I bought some pralines and truffles froms Sinz choc. So expensive, but omg so so so good! It got the similar smell. And when i taste the Vahlrona choc powder, it's got this nice bitter that tho it's bitter, it doesn't make you scrunch your face and doesn't have that yucky acidic after-taste. Okay, I'm not tt great at describing things, but it's definitely quality stuff. Just take my word for it.

But then again, maybe I'm exaggerating. I think I'm the kind who'll be as happy if you give me a bar of Kit Kat or Godiva (um... ok, Godiva makes me happier :P). In fact, I'm planning to do some choc powder tasting soon. I've got a few brands at home. I'm no choc expert but I'll try to be objective and will tell u the result soon :)

Can You See What I See

2008-08-07T23:27:00.000+08:00

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're here not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, can you see what I see

How apt.

Gawd, I don't fucking care anymore.

One Tuesday Evening

2008-08-06T20:42:00.001+08:00

Yesterday was the first time I go to Dawn's place. We, incl zw and his friend, were supposed to go to the zoo but somebody was so smart that he forgot to get the free tix despite my countless reminders. Hmph, was so pissed! Despite having lived in Sg for more than 8 yrs, I've never been to the zoo. So yea, was kinda looking froward to the trip.

Anyways, in the end I went to d's place for a swim, dinner and bowling. Her house is like soo far, took me almost an hr to reach but i'm kinda in a desperate need to lose some fat before sch stars as I've been pigging out during the hols. Oh did I tell you some bitch stole my shoes at the school gym 2 wks ago? WTF right?

Who in their right mind would steal sports shoes? Most smoo students are like how friggin rich. Besides my shoes aren't the latest model and they were a bit muddy from hiking. But yea, when I came out from showering, my shoes were gone. How unlucky!

Anyways, d said we would do laps, but in the end we were just chit-chatting in the pool for almost 2 hrs. zw was there also. So while i did a couple of laps, d was happily talking to zw. She even bought this float thing that you can sit on - so much for wanting to exercise. LOL....

Dinner was simple since we already had the sushi that I brought. Sushi didn't turn out as good as the last time I made them. Dunno what went wrong tho. Then we went to Starbowl to find ot that a competition was being held, which took most lanes. So we had to wait. Was quite long and it was getting late. Usu the place is quite empty during weekdays, but just our luck there was a competition. Have I mentioned that I'm unlucky? *sighs...

We almost gave up waiting. One uncle who was plaing alone actually offered us to join him. But that was mayb cuz he saw me n d only. Be when he realised that zw was with us, he regretted giving us the offer. haha...But neways, we didn't join him cuz d didn't want to.

At almost 9.30pm we finally got our lane and played 2 games. d and I were such pathetic bowlers. Our balls kept going to the longkang. So paiseh especially since the competition was still going on. Compared to the score of the guys at our right (the pro's) ours were like -sighs-. I noticed one uncle who was with the competiting teams kept looking at our scoreboard and kept sniggering. *rollseyes* But our second game was better, ok mine was slightly better but d improved tremendously (more than doubled her score) and zw hit the 100. haha...

clockwise: me, dawn, colourful balls and zw

First game

Second

Dejected Dawn and her super eye-catching multicolor socks

Oh btw, the guy at the counted was so anal la. He kept looking at us and told us off, saying that we were disturbing at the competing teams and that we should give way to them. What the? The pros never even complained and they even gave way to us. So friggin annoying! It's not like we played for free. We paid lor! D was saying that the idiot must be single and prolly no gf or even friends to bowl with. I had to agree. *tsktsk...

Cuppies for PING.SG

2008-07-30T22:34:00.006+08:00

This is such an outdated post. But then again, when I think about it, my posts are always outdated. I've a lot of things that I wanna post, but whenever I turn on my lappie for the purpose of updating my blog, I end up watching a drama, read manga online, or my recent activity - reading, replying, deleting emails in my constantly-flooded inbox.

Anyways, 2 weeks ago I got a cuppie order from syls. It was for the anniversary of this online community that she's a member of. I almost rejected the request cuz the organiser wants it to be for the event which falls on Saturday and wants to take it like in the afternoon. As you noe, I got church on Sat and usually i stay in church the whole day cuz there's a lot of activities. Besides I was busy working too, so was afraid that I wouldn't have enough time to bake.

But in the end I took up the job, partly cuz syls my friend, and I always find it hard to say 'no'. Secondly, it was actually quite a new experience since it was the first time i bake for a total stranger, a community at that, called ping.sg. Usually I just bake for like a birthday party of a friend or friend's friend. So they're just casual party and they know I'm an amatuer baker, so they won't be mean if the cuppies don't turn out so well (altho I always ensure they turn out good (; )

So yea, baking for a community... it's like for a corporate. And I needed to really ensure the quality cuz my reputation was at stake. It wasn't just some baking favor that I do for ppl I know, where I can just bake for fun, you know I mean? So yea, was kinda exciting but was a bit apprehensive also.

I had to bake 64 cuppies and need to make some fondant letters to write the happy birthday thing. It's not hard to make fondant topping, but the thing is I only had shape cutters, not letters and forgot to buy cuz there were other things that I needed to buy and I didn't have much time. So in the end, I had to cut the letters one by one using an x-acto knive. A very long and tedious process. Spent a few hours just cutting those letters, such that I work into the Sabbath. Felt a bit bad about it.

But in the end, everything turned out fine. Well, great actually. I was really worried about what ppl would think about my cuppies. So i asked syls to gather their opinions. And my, I had such good reviews. Heheh.... so flattered. Thanks for all the comments!^^

The cuppies were rather simply decorated (cuz I spent most of my time on those damn letters). But I guess they didn't mind :)

People have been telling me that I should start a home bakery and market my cuppies. But I bake not cuz I want to make money (trust me, I don't earn much from my baked goodies). I just like baking. And it's always nice to see people enjoy eating my cakes and hear compliments from them. Besides, I realise from past experiences that I can't mass produce. I get stressed out if I get too many orders. Haha...

Anyways, here's a pic of the cuppies, courtesy of claudia. I've got my own pics, but not uploaded yet. Kinda lazy hee....

Why MPW and LTB might be useful

2008-07-21T22:48:00.002+08:00

All of you might know how much I regret to be in SMU, particularly, how much I regret taking accountancy. Most of the modules really don't make sense to me, or rather, are of no interest to me. I'm the kind of person who doesn't even know how much I have in my account. I just spend whenever I feel like it and once in a blue moon, will update my passbook to check the balance. Haven't got an overdraft problem since I don't spend much. So... money matters don't really concern me, which means, accounting and finance modules are horribly dry to me.

Instead, modules that people find as nonsense are actually quite interesting to me, well relatively speaking - relative to the acct and finance mods that is. Mods such as analytical skill (eg. If all A are B, and all B are C, then all A are C), creative thinking, and the likes. And working in my current place, I realise that Management of People at Work (MPW) and Leadership and Team Building (LTB) can be quite useful, esp if I were to have my own business.

Ok I'm being quite long-winded in my intro, but actually I just feel like complaining about my boss. I think he's such a $%^&!$%#!*&*%$^! ass. Actually I've never really had any problem with him. He minds his own business, I mind my own. He comes and goes without acknowledging my existence. Never once had he said hi to me whatsoever. That's fine tho, so long as he doesn't bother me. He doesn't look like he's a bad person either.

But I often talk to the other staff, both the service and the kitchen, during lunch time or when we're quite free, and found out that he's not such a nice person after all. I shan't elaborate on what they told me tho. Since it's their story, not mine. But still, he's not a nice person. Then I start hearing him scolding vulgarities to the kitchen staff. The F-word is somehow quite popular among the ppl who work there.

Then just few weeks ago, because the resto wants to change their menu, they asked the staff to do food-testing. Then I was just talking to my colleague about sushi and sashimi and how a good sashimi depends on the quality of the fish and even the way the chef cut it and stuff like that. And I have not the vague-est how such conversation could offend anyone. But somehow it offended the boss. He was like showing unhappy face and saying stuff like "you all dunno anything lah, you're just wasting money. You think got such good chef in singapore meh? yaddayaddayadda..."

I was like "Huh? What are you so mad about?"

It's just my speculation but you see, the business has been rather slow nowadays, and some say it's because our quality has dropped and stuff. So maybe, just maybe, he felt offended cuz he thought I was talking about hte chef. Ceh... such an easily offended person.

Then today was so busy. Busy like hell. It was full house and even had people waiting to be seated. Never had this occured before in my 4 months working there. So anyways, it was so busy that the kitchen ran out of rice. Which is why the staff had to ask if it's okay for the rice to be changed to udon, at no extra cost (usu. got extra charge).

So neways, there's this one table that had their rice changed to udon. But thing is, I wasn't the one handling hte table and I didn't know they had their rice changed. Then 2 of the orders took quite long to come, and the cust kept asking for it. So went to the pantry to inform the kitchen. Boss was there telling that there's rice now, and told me to ask them if then want rice or udon. Yes, that's exactly what he said "Ask them if they want rice or udon?" that's all.

So of course I had to ask what their order was, so that I know what the problem was, because i didn't even know there was no more rice in the first place. But he just raised his voice and hit the counter-top and said "JUST ASK THEM IF THEY WANT RICE OR UDON?"

What the $%^*! And there was other staff around. You know, scold me is bad, but scold me in front of people is worse, man. Pai seh ar. KNNBCCB!

Dude, I know it's busy and all but no need to shout and I had to know the problem right and need to explain properly right. That's called quality service. Even my supervisor agreed with me. Actually the rest of the staff are quite pissed that the mgt want everything to be done rapido while compromising the quality. No wonder biz has been bad. Today's an exception tho, maybe cuz of the feng shui master he brought in last week. But that's another story.

Oh and one more thing. He doesn't look at the people in the eye when he's talking to them. I feel like telling him, "Hey your mother never teach you is it? It's basic courtesy to look at the person you're talking to in the eye, stoops"

I seriously think he doesnt have any people management skill whatsoever. Thru MPW and LTB, at least I know that it's really impt to have a good attitude if you were to be a manager. Or else, you'll have people cursing at you behind your back. But him... pfft.... bad-tempered, scolds vulgarites, get angry for no rhymes or reason, easily offended, rude and like Thes also add at the end... STILL ALIVE SOME MORE.

Actually I've been having this thought. I wonder if I should tell him how bad a manager he is the same time that I resign, which is not too long from now. I mean, I've got nothing to lose. I won't be working there anymore. Not like I will ever go back and mayb, he'll change his attitude. I'll be kinda helping my colleagues to have a nice boss right? Haha... the thought somehow excites me. But then again. it might be too troublesome. We'll see...

How Do I Hate Thee, Let Me Count the Ways

2008-07-16T16:31:00.004+08:00

"How do I love thee" was one of the cheesiest poem I had to recite in my secondary school days. But since the whole class had to recite them, one by one of course, the experience wasn't that bad. Quite funny, in fact, since some people just can't put emotion into it, including myself. haha...

But if you were to ask me to recite my own version, called "How do I hate thee!", I can do it close-eyed, with full of emotion easily. And I tell you, my version can take hours to finish. So, obviously I'm feeling an intense hatred towards a certain someone currently. But then again, I feel hatred towards that idiot most of the time since I was an innocent little girl.

Honestly, I think some people do enjoy pissing other people off. They never think how their actions would make other people feel - wait, maybe they actually do, that is how their actions would piss other ppl off. They always look from their own point of view only. They are a bunch of irritating, selfish, unreasonable, conceited, absolutely detestable creatures and most annoyingly, they won't leave you alone.

Why, oh why, are there such creatures in this world? This world would be a gazillion times better place without their existance. But unfortunately, I have to live with one of them. Poor me :(

2008-07-09T11:00:00.002+08:00

There are a couple of reasons why I wanna work as a waitress despite the long working hours, hardwork and pathetic pay. One of them is due to my love for food. The other is because I get to meet interesting people, which sometimes can be amusing or irritating.

And many interesting people I meet.

This happens last week. Well, actually I dunno if I should classify him as interesting or just plain stupid. What happens was like this…

I was doing my usual duty as a waitress. So he called me to take his order. He inquired about the lunch specials (basically value-for-money lunch sets). It’s ok to inquire; many customers do that to ask for recommendations and to verify. But then he pointed to the first line on the menu which says “Chicken Katsu Curry” and the line after that which says “Rosu (Pork) Katsu Curry” and asked, “Umm, may I know what’s the difference between these two?”

I thought I heard him wrongly. So I asked him, “The difference between these two, sir?”

He said, “Yea, what’s the difference?”

I almost rolled my eyes. I mean, how difficult is it to decipher what those lines mean? Obviously one is chicken and the other is pork. It’s not like the menu is written fully in Japanese, you know.

I was so tempted to say, “One is chicken and the other is pork. DUH!”

But of course, I couldn’t do that and have to smile and answered him, “Well sir, the difference lies in the type of meat. This one (pointing to the first line) is chicken and this one (the other line) is pork.”

He nodded and looked like I just solved a really difficult problem.

Then he flipped the pages and stopped at the “Katsu Curry” section and the “Half-size Curry” section. But then he asked while pointing at the Chicken Katsu at both section, “then what’s the difference between this chicken katsu (pointing at the Katsu Curry section) and this chicken katsu (pointing at the half size one).

Seriously, I had to make a conscious effort not to slap my forehead. I mean, the headlines on both sections are pretty big, you see. So it’s hard not to see. Besides, the prices are different, with the half-size one being cheaper obviously. I wanted to say, “Goodness me, do you even know how to read English? Obviously half-size means smaller portion lah.”

But of course, again, I couldn’t say that. I had to pretend like it was indeed difficult to know the difference between those two chicken katsus and that his questions made total sense and answered, “Well sir, the half-size one is smaller in portion.”

Then he said, “Oooh, ok then. I’ll have this….”

Oh I forgot to mention that he was with an older man and I can swear that man was looking at him as if he couldn’t believe that guy just asked such a ridiculously stupid question. I pity him. I wonder what kind of conversation they had during their lunch.

To Laugh or to Cry?

2008-06-16T00:17:00.002+08:00

Accounting mods and I can never be best friends.

Got back both my results for accounting theory and tax planning. Altho my AT's grade is considered a better one, it's still so lousy. I studied harder than usual, read some of my articles. seriusly, u'd be shocked to see how much readings i've to do. damn profs. they've got nth better to do than reading articles and assume that we're the same. And quantity is one thing. Those articles were absolutely incomprehensible, or should I use the terms used in one of the articles, they are ARBITRARY AND INCORRIGIBLE. I think i'll have better chance scoring an A in greek than in AT. So yea, I was kinda disappointed with my result. It's a pretty rare feeling when it comes to acctg mods since usually i have the come-what-may attitude towards them.

I remembered we just finished our last AT class and was walking towards KPT for lunch, and we were just talking how much we dread the exams. Then Sis was like saying how worried she was. I was too. Then Krist's was like saying "Sis, when u fret, u're fretting whether you get an A or A+. But for Car, she's fretting whether she'll pass or not." LOL...

While I'm struggling to pass, the rest are struggling to be on the dean's list. It's pathetic.

Then prof released the TP grade last Fri. Seriously I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I seriously thot I'd fail. I screwed up the exam badly, and i mean B.A.D.L.Y. The thought of having to endure another term sutdying that damned mod just terrified me. So I prayed that I don't mind a bad grade as long as I pass. And so my prayer was answered. I passed....but with a horrible grade that really hurt my already pathetic GPA.

Cuz of that, I was trying to forget how pissed I was by watching some funny stuff on youtube that I forgot the time. When I reached SYC, I was just in time when the speaker said "Thank you". There were quite a few parents also and the damned door creaked so much everyone turned their heads to see me standing at the door with all my sleeping bag and all. So embarrasing.

Crap, parents coming back tmr. Gotta wake up early tmr to clean up the house :S

Meitantei Conan (Detective Conan)

2008-06-13T16:24:00.003+08:00

Oh gosh, I can't remember the last time I read manga. It was like donkey years ago!

Started reading again when I went to Er's place few weeks ago (cuz i forgot my house key, again) and saw fel's manga collection. She lent me Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne. It's an okay manga. The kind I used to like a lot when I was in primary school. We called it the "serial cantik" (loosely tranlated as "pretty series". weird huh...) But now, it's okay only. Still entertaining tho cuz I got that "ah, been a long time, ne" kinda feeling.

Then went over to Ern's place to pick sth up and he was reading Detective Conan on Onemanga.com. I was like "Eh Detective Conan?!?"

It was one of my fav manga back in primary school. I even used to collect it (so proud that I used my own meager pocket money to buy), until the 20+th volume. Then stop buying manga when I moved to Singapore cuz the english manga here cost a bomb. The chinese ones are cheaper, but I can't read chinese character for nuts, except for I, You and He/She characters which I learnt recently. LOL..

First volume of the original Japanese release of the series

Since I'm so free now I decided to start reading again. I even forgot where I stop cuz it was such a long time ago. But now that I've started reading, I can't stop. Conan still give me the same excitement I got years ago :)

Neways, Meitantei Conan (aka Detective Conan) is a detective manga and anime series (i don't watch the anime tho) written and illustrated by Aoyama Gosho. It follows the adventure of Shinichi Kudo, a high schooler who loves solving mystery, supposedly cuz his dad is a mystery novelist. But one of the case that he was solving was linked to the Black Organisation, a secret criminal organisation. They made him drink some drug to kill him. But instead of killing him, it shrunk his body to be that of a 6-year-old. So then now while solving cases, he is also trying to get into the Black Organisation so he can be normal again.

The first Anime series was aired in 1996. So yea, it's been more than a decade!

Click here to read more about Detective Conan. Btw, it's called Case Closed in US. Shinichi Kudo becomes Jimmy Kudo, Ran Mouri becomes Rachel Moore and Kogor Mours (Ran's detective father) becomes Richard Moore. Dunno why they change the names. So silly.

I miss reading manga properly. As in holding mangas in my hand. But now they cost so much. Almost $10 per volume and there are many many volumes. So I've to be contented with reading Conan from onemanga.com *sigh*

Well, imma go back to my manga now. Catch!

Yui - Laugh Away

2008-06-13T02:36:00.011+08:00

Have I ever told you how much I love Yui?

Erm, no, not in that way. But i just love her music. And she's such an unassuming, shy, sweet person (at least from what I see from her interviews and behind-the-scenes). To be honest, her voice isn't that great. But most of her music just hit all the right notes for me.

Been her fan since "Life" days. Yes, that long ago, that is, since I started watching Bleach (which was I dunno, a couple years ago) and her song was used as the opening song. Didn't think much of her cuz her voice sounds like a little girl. But then I got curious and youtube-ed her and listened to her other songs and got hooked since. Maybe I'll do a review of her other songs next time. My fav ones include Feel My Soul, Winter Music, CHE.R.RY, Rolling Star, and I Remember You. I can even play her It's Happy Line on guitar heheh...

Goodbye Days is nice. But everytime I listen to it, i feel all sad and depressed. Prolly cuz it's used in her movie called "Taiyo no Uta", which is a very nice but very sad movie. I dunno what's up with jpnese movie directors. They like to make depressing, unhappy-ending or tragic shows. And the thing about me, songs always evoke my memories, be it the incidents in TV shows/movies that they are associated with or incidents that I experienced while the songs are playing.

Neways, her recent song (released around March) is called Laugh Away. Been on my repeat playlist for the past few months and am still loving it. It's such a nice spring song that makes me feel all light-spirited and relaxed. I listen to it all the time cuz it just makes me smile.

The music video is great too. The scene shows YUI singing in the green green grass of home (ok not home, just some plains) with beautiful blue sky as the backdrop and her band playing in the background. Then there are scenes of sakura tree in full blossom, butterflies, a boy riding his bike, YUI listening to the sound of nature, and a pretty sunset. Love the cool blue vintage car in the video too. Perfect :D

Read somewhere that it was still extremely cold when the video was shot. A freezing -6 centrigrade! Shows her dedication in her music, doesn't it?

I don't believe in love at first sight. But totally a believer of love at first sound :D

Enjoy!

YUI - Laugh Away

PS: I don't know how to make the screen fit my page, so it got a bit cut off on the right. If you wanna watch full screen, click here. I hate youtube. Keeps deleting MVs T.T

Hello Again :)

2008-06-12T01:30:00.000+08:00

Okay so I changed my blog again due to some reasons... okay due to my indecisiveness. haha....Figured I don't like the old addie.

Neways, mod term has finally ended. HALLELUJAH!

Been more than a week actually. Still slacking away. Ok, I did try applying for some internship. But they all rejected me. Oh well, I guess no company would wanna waste money on someone who's incompetent right?

Not sure how to fill my 'summer' hols now (let's just use the term summer, tho technically speaking there's no such a thing as summer here in S'pore). Someone reminded me that this is actually my last summer hols, as in really the last summer hols of my school life. I'll be graduating in a year's time, and after that I've to, unfortunately, join S'pore's workforce *sigh*

And so, that left me thinking whether I should slack it away and do whatever I feel like doing, or I should ~~waste~~ make use of it doing stuff like getting an internship (tho i doubt i can get any this late), OR i could actually go to a bakery or some cake shop and try to get apprenticeship OR go for cake-making classes. I don't know.

Working in a cake shop or bakery sounds like a good idea. But not sure where to apply and whether any of them would wanna hire an amateur who has no education in pastry-making but have somehow gained some skill by messing up her kitchen. Still looking into it tho. Stoops Ands sposed to give me some contacts T.T Going for cake making classes isn't a bad idea either. BUT (and that's a big BUT) me hasn't been working, so me no income, so me broke now and so me no money to pay for them :'(

Dad's been asking me if I've gotten an internship or a job. But I really don't feel like getting a 9-to-6 job. So boring and it makes me fat cuz I'd be sitting down all day long. Dammit! Sometimes I just wish money would fall from the sky. Dammit, I still don't know how to make use of my saigo no natsu (japanese for "last summer"). Sigh, my indecisiveness is gonna kill me one day (maybe like when there's a car approaching me and I can't make up my mind if I should move it or stay put and let the car bang into me so I can leave this tough world).

G'nite.