yes grace, this place has most unfortunately accumulated close to three months of virtual dust.
but hey, new year, new start okay!

maybe i can start off with an update abt life in mfa (thats ministry of foreign affairs for you, and yes, ive caught on but not mastered the art of acronymising)
have been there close to two months; highlights of my career include 1 working visit to KL, getting a diplomatic passport (for previous reason), and stocking up the third drawer in my desk with loads of milo, green tea, and junk food.
never mind that im getting fatter by the day — i went for a health screening and my blood pressure count was 126, apparently bordering on high. 
considering that all my maternal aunts and uncles ALL have high blood pressure (oh wait, i think just about one doesnt)...

so anyway.
i just died on my third round of hangman in facebook (what kind of card game is sakura anyway?!)
if you have just crawled out of a cave and have not heard of this term yet, kindly visit www.facebook.com, register and add me to your friends list. you might recover a semblance of your social life. might, being the key word here.

speaking of sakura as well, i was just reading my last post trying to recall what kind of life i led in the past year, and i realised that i have not achieved my goal of mastering katakana yet.
the test and final lesson is next week, following which is the grad ceremony on 1 feb. last minute help, anyone?

i think not blogging for so long has put me quite out of practice.
have many random thoughts in my head that i cant seem to link and put to the keyboard.
hence, i bid you farewell for now.

before i go though, happy 15th birthday ben! (:
peace to the world~

1. finding out you had a paper cut when you were squeezing a lime over a lunch of hokkien mee 
i grimaced, shook my hand up and down to distract myself from the pain, sucked on it, ...the stinging lasted an agonising 5 minutes. 
any good idea to prevent paper cuts? 
this beats the blood test i took in sec 3 (remember, the one with a 3-inch long needle?) hands down.

2, the aftermath of muaythai class.
my bruise on the foot from 2 weeks back has pretty much subsided, but the pain is still there, and the bruises on the shins are regulars after each class. here's how my foot looked like 2 hours after the session where i injured it:

kindly ignore the unsightly and peeling blue polish on the toenails. 
and anyway, this may sound like im complaining but i actually quite enjoy the jabs, punches, crosses, hooks, kicks,,, 
and water just tastes so sweet after class (brings back old memories of water parade during the npcc days, haha)
anyone wants to sign up so we can share the joy (and slight, but rather satisfactory sense of pain) together?

3. a sore and stiff neck from staring at a laptop all day
yesterday night i discovered that if i tilted my head backwards and slowly rotated in an arch (imagine squeezing your neck against the upper part of your neck), a joyful cacophony of crrrrracking sounds would emerge.
addicted to it, i was doing the head-tilting action every other minute at work, and now i suspect ive sprained some part of my neck because it hurts to look down (i.e chin tucked inwards)
anyone knows a good place for neck massage?

NOTE: 
if you have an answer to any of the above questions, kindly let me know! im seriously in need of answers, or risk subjecting myself to more oww-ful times as
1. im still doing paperwork for my aunt
2. im still taking muaythai
3. im still facing the laptop everyday (and ironically, every night, as i voluntarily surf the net then)

so long, and ms sarajavo, now you cant say my LJ is stagnant :P
cheers and peace out!

Do you hear me
Do you care
Do you hear me
Do you care

My lips are moving and the sound's coming out
The words are audible but I have my doubts
That you realize what has been said
You look at me as if you're in a daze
It's like the feeling at the end of the page
When you realize you don't know what you just read

What are words for
When no one listens anymore
What are words for
When no one listens what are words for
When no one listens there's no use talking at all

I might as well go up and talk to a wall
'Cause all the words are having no effect at all
Its a funny thing am I all alone
Something has to happen to change the direction
What little filters through is giving you the wrong impression 
It's a sorry state, I say to myself

Let me get by over your dead body
Hope to see you soon
Doors three feet wide with no locks open
Walking always backwards in faces of strangers
Time could be my friend
But it's less than nowhere now

Pursue it any further and another thing you'll find
Not only are they deaf and dumb but they
Could be going blind no one notices
I think I'll dye my hair blue
Media overload bombarding you with action
It's getting near impossible to cause distraction
Someone answer me before I pull out the plug

What are words for
When no one listens anymore
What are words for
When no one listens what are words for
When no one listens there's no use talking at all

(Words - Missing Persons)

my sister had raved so much about it and the doughnuts she brought back were as good as she promised, so i decided to head there myself to have a look.

i followed my uncle and aunt onboard the penguin 5, which took us on a surprisingly bump-less 45min ride across the sea to the island officially known as pulau batam.
it was most unfortunate that the strap of one of my beloved havainas chose at that time, for no reason, to snap.
hence, it was an embarassing limp from the customs to the hotel car as we headed to the sekupang area where my uncle's mattress factory is (max coil—do support if you are intending to change your bed, haha).
i was quite fascinated by how the mattress foam rises up (like bread, id think) and how those coils kingcoil and simmons like to advertise on the telly are made
and anyway, the onsite manager got one of his men to buy me a new pair of slippers.

we headed off to the hotel merlion for check-in.
it seems a little more weathered than the way i remembered it some 8 years back when the place was still known as hotel singa.
in any case, the benefits of having your relatives own a hotel amounted to very friendly and helpful service, and a nice big room all to yourself.
my first meal was, normal as it sounds, a surprisingly yummy plate of steaming hot fried rice (a tad spicy, but mouth-watering), keropok, fried egg and chicken wing on the side.
following which i headed back to my room to read a book, channel surf (they have singapore channels there and HBO. whoo!) and take a quick nap.

after my aunt was done with her work, we headed down to rudy hadisuwarno's (apparently the indo equivalent of the toni & guy or kimage here, whatever floats your boat) but they were packed, so we decided to walk around the nearby BSC (batam shopping centre, i think—how original) for a bit. 
i found breeks, seoul garden, zing-do, a pretty good KFC imitation aka Best Fried Chicken (BFC), and the local version of starbucks which i found to be in virtually every shopping mall, godiva coffee (no relation to the chocolate, unfortunately). 
good food, at amazingly cheap prices.
we found bumper cars and a bowling arcade on the top floor too, but decided to catch a bite at texas chicken.
the food here is pretty cheap—2 waffles with ice cream, 2 pieces of chicken (they even let you choose between thigh, breast, and wing) and 1 regular drink costs you about S$6.

so, back to rudy's.
we had a little fun communicating with the colourist—my aunt with her half-baked bahasa and me in stilted english (somehow, they understood it better that way), following which it was determined we should start off with washing our hair.
i enjoy the service in singapore but trust me—the batam locals do it so much better...apparently wash also includes massaging your scalp and neck for 10 minutes or so.
following which, the colourist worked on my aunt's hair while willy (LOL. sorry)—the designated hairstylist whom my aunt assured was a master of short cuts, started on mine.
my original idea was a shoulder-length bob with wispy bangs, and he too agreed the cut shouldn't be too long so that my face wouldn't 'poof', as he illustrated by filling out his cheeks with air and making the sound (yes, he's a little handicapped in english too).
somehow, after he was almost done, he took a glance at the mirror and had a flash of inspiration which got him enthusiastically lopping away more on the sides and layering a good deal on the top.
in the end, the bob developed into a crop of hair (i will refrain from putting up photos because id love to see your reaction in person—hah)
so then after, i got the mop of hair dyed a dark shade of red, and while waiting for the colour to set in i opted for this massage thingie to kill some time...
the process extended to my neck, upper back and arms (including fingers).
despite the initial tickles, the feeling of her kneading away at those tensed up kinks is so shiok you just want those fingers to keep working their magic forever.
sad to say, my short hair only justified one hour of her time, and then i was off for another round of washing (yay!) and blowing.
upon reflection, i guess most people might be pissed off when their hair doesn't get cut in the style they want, but this time round i was just so amused by the stylist's enthusiasm (he kept glancing at my hair in the mirror and laughing as he merrily snipped away) then his excitement became contagious.

the chaffeur got slightly taken aback at my hairdo when he came to pick us up.
we speedily drove back to the hotel and proceeded to end the day with a session of karaoke.
the lounge smells slightly musty and the system is old—you gotta find the song ID by flipping through folders, write it on a slip of paper and then pass it to the DJ (or KJ as they call him, haha), but it was pretty fun just belting out stuff and having the lounge all to myself and my aunt.
i guess the other hotel residents have a more exciting nightlife then we do (especially the male ones eh. hmm)
we sang for a good 2 hours amidst stuffing our faces (or at least i did) with keropok, peanuts and cocktails.
i sleepily trudged back to my room and took a nice long soak before sinking into bed.

its so weird that usually i need an alarm to get up before 11, but the next morning i awoke at 9.30 singapore time (8.30 for them) and trotted down for the hotel's buffet breakfast.
the spread is quite decent—fried rice, fried horfun noodles, assorted sides (fried egg, veggie, i cant remember what else), porridge with the usual braised peanuts and whathaveyous, toast with jam/butter, green bean soup (don't ask me why), and (surprise surprise)—roti prata!
i forgot to tell them i wanted it kosong but the one with egg tasted pretty good.
the chef added in diced onions which made it more savoury...and i washed everything down with two cups of tea.

next, i followed my aunt to pick up two of her friends at the sekupang harbour and we dropped by the mattress factory again for her to settle some stuff
though i ate a pretty heavy breakfast, i got hungry again when we arrived at waterfront, known for its fresh fresh fresh seafood.
lunch for that day was flower crabs, scallops (have you seen them with their shells on before?), fish, stir-fried beehoon and sambal kangkong.
we went back to the hotel briefly for my aunt's friends to check in,and then it was off to DC mall (aka diamond city mall...these people apparently don't know about copyright because the mall's logo looks exactly like the comics firm's one)
the two of them went for mani/pedicures while i went walking around.
i think a shoppaholic might do better, but at least i bought 2 DVDs for S$6 (kill bill and this other star-studded movie that i can't remember the name of and was never shown in singapore but looked pretty exciting) and a digital watch which i proudly bargained 5000 rupiahs off, which i later realised only amounted like 80 cents less.
i could barely contain my excitement when i discovered A&W...and of course i bought a root beer float and curly fries (around S$3).

my aunt's friends emerged post-grooming session raving about the cheap price (about S$4 for manicure and S$5 for pedicure) as we went on our way to sport massage and spa centre.
you can mix and match the various services they offer:
massage—traditional, thai, thai mixing (some complicated process which involved you twisting around here and there as the pictures near the counter reveal)
spa—milk bath, loola (indo spices) bath, aromatherapy, body scrub, blah blah blah.
i settled for a 1 hour massage (traditional), 30min body scrub, milk bath, and then steam/jacuzzi bath which amounted to 200,000 rupiah (about S$34)
i confess to being intimidated by the fact that i had to strip off and change into a pair of disposable underwear and linen shorts they provided (they don't want to dirty your clothes) and lie face-down, but tickled funny bone aside, its uber shiok just having someone to nudge away the kinks in your muscles
getting all steamed up and then plonking myself into a bubbling milk bath jacuzzi bath tub was just the icing on the cake

finally all showered and refreshed, i sat at the mini lounge area to wait for my aunt's friends while they complimentary ginger tea (aunt says its good to clear the stomach wind, though i declined to tried it myself) while watching HBO on the telly. 
i was contented to call it a day, but then my aunt had instructed one of her hotel staff to go to the market and we were greeted by a fantastic array of seafood and local delicacies when we returned to the hotel.

it was crab again that had a lot of eggs inside for people who like them (never mind the cholesterol), fish, very yummy chicken broth, avocado juice (sorry, not mine)... 
i must say my aunt has a very competent chef.
we were so stuffed up we forgoed plans for another karaoke session and just headed back to our rooms

im losing a little steam typing here so just to sum up the last day on the sunny little island of batam:
- took a drive down with my aunt's chaffeur (whilst her friends went to do their hair); highlights of the sightseeing included Southlinks Country Club (neat golf course) and Barelang Bridge (massive suspension bridge linking Batam to another island)
- rejoined aunt's friends at some other huge shopping mall with a matahari department store in it (the local equivalent of robinson's, i figure) and had an A&W float again
- headed back to hotel for lunch (had fish & chips) before we packed up, made a detour to my aunt's factory for her to tie up some loose ends and then finally got ourselves at batam waterfront to get J.Co doughnuts

if you've managed to read up till here, allow me to rave about the doughnuts.
upon my return i found out from an indo friend that this company is a subsidiary of Krispy Kreme, though i personally think that its alternative flavours (as compared to KK's glazed ones) are even better than the KK counterparts.
their tiramisu and oreo ones are my current loves.
if youre feeling ravenous or just cant get enough of the heavenly munchies, you can cart them home by the dozen (cheaper if you get more! i totally dig such 'value for money' marketing schemes)
i came with a duffel carrier and laptop bag, and returned to singapore with them and two dozen J.Co doughnuts which my church cell group and family helped polished off in 3 days.
theyre that good.

just food for thought (pardon the pun), if youre one of those who queue meaninglessly for at least a hour at raffles place for whateverthatdoughnutshopiscalled, why not invest a few hours heading to batam and not queueing (or at least if you do, their fast service ensures you wait less than 5 minutes) for oh-so-yummy J.Co doughnuts?
you can throw in a $30 2-hour traditional indonesian massage while youre at it, and come back a happier and less-stressed person.

i shall cease the shameless and blatant plug of batam and end off with a couple of photos:

1. i failed my driving test having incurred 32 points and an immediate failure for doing a right turn instead of a U-turn. icing on the cake? my re-test date is september 11. nuff' sad.
2. the HTC children ministry Superhero kids camp is officially over. now i can get my sleep back
3. i finally watched a movie. two, in fact. too bad pirates and spiderman are no longer showing (hula girls, anyone?)
4. 3 threadless tees arrived, adding the total count in my wardrobe to 8 (thanks to whoever incorporated summer sales as a sales strategy)
5. my appeal to NUS didnt get through (technically, this shouldnt be on the list since i already knew it before it happened)
6. due to point 5, my mum now harbours ambitions of me studying in england. nice, but highly unlikely.
7. i am hindered in my search for a job by my inability to find a decent CV template. help, anyone?
8. i have decided to join my brother's karate class. now i can truthfully say my social circle includes people aged 5 to 50.

You are beautiful beyond description
Too marvelous for words,
Too wonderful for comprehension,
Like nothing ever seen or heard.
Who can grasp your infinite wisdom?
Who can fathom the depth of your love?

it was dinner at breeks, and then a good deal of cam-whoring, and concluded with just chatting about random stuff.
i will miss these times, truly.

would love to ramble, but i shudder to think i might wake up with humongous eye bags and ruin the big day
hence, just want to say to my dearest fellow mcm graduates: we've survived 2.5 years of SPSS, creative briefs, speech outlines, feature stories, storyboards, yada yada yada!

next stop, corporate world?
i don't know.

1. i found out my new nextdoor neighbours are french and their son is really cute if he was 5 years older or so... someone, how do you say 'nice to meet you again?'
2. my threadless tees arrived! yay yay yay!
3. i attended my first jap meetup group gathering yesterday, bumped into mr mcturk who was a friend of the organiser, and spent the rest of the night sipping tea.
4. i finally found out my graduation day is on 14th june. so, farewell nepal mission trip for good. (but thank you God and mr mcturk for the $200. to the latter, im sorry for not talking to you the day before)
5. i finished norwegian wood. anyone has the mp3, or other haruki murakami books? or maybe its time to start on good omens. (sorry for hogging it so long, yihan!)
   

1. i passed my jap conversation test on monday
2. i survived 4 days of babysitting 4 kids
3. i had my second last lesson of salsa intermediate 1.5 on wednesday and finally went down union square after an absence of 3 weeks
4. the agency that gabriel, grace and i booked with for our taiwan trip confirmed our hotel and gab/gra collected the air tickets (yay!)
5. the treasure hunt that brenda and i had planned for NET ministry's good friday programme achieved its unplanned objective of making its participants experience a teeny fragment of how Christ felt going through those six hours at Calvary
6. i surfed friendster/blogs for the first time in almost 1.5 years for 4 hours non-stop
7. i had my first EE session with daniel, sharon and brenda
8. i started on murakami haruhi's norwegian wood (and am abt 80% through. good prose!)
9. i attended easter service, and am once again reminded of my loving and just God.
10. my mum's car got stuck in some soggy grassland at the cemetery, i lost a slipper trying to push the car, and a kind man helped us to steer it out after 20 minutes of forwarding and reversing.

events not all exciting, but i love my life. for now.
till next week, world peace!

to cut to the chase, ive taken up my uncle's offer of helping to care for his four kids until he finds a new maid.
the job scope involves 
- playng with them (top ranked in terms of physical and mental demand), 
- helping the eldest with her homework (2nd due to the amount of brain juice it uses up),
- bringing them to and from school, a 10-minute walk away (3rd due to the constant worry that they will suddenly run off and get hit by a car while crossing the road),
- eating with/feeding them (4th),
and many other miscellaneous tasks including helping them to shower, play piano, etc etc.

among all, my ultimate comfort/favourite activity is plopping myself on the sofa and watching barney.
seriously, i can see why the kids are so addicted.
i mean, we all know and love the big purple dinosaur, but after being subjected to the assorted cartoons on disney and playhouse disney, nickelodean (only when the older sisters are watching), and the occasional cartoon network...
barney beats them hands down. 
oh, unless you count hi-5 (i think theyll prolly tie).

so, have no idea why im blogging when i could be savouring the 30minutes of spare time i have till the oldest gets home in many other ways, but perhaps i just needed to tell someone above the age of 9 about my new job.
hopefully my next post wont contain proclamations that ill never have kids ever or similar sentiments.
world peace! (and barney loves you)

curse lactic acid, and whatever biological fluids our body produces that make us ache all over.
its been ages since i exercised, but even more since i blogged!
so, updates.

for one, i have relocated from the intern's desk to the big comfy chair parked in front of my tv
it was an unofficial re-entry into the world of k, j and t-dramas, all thanks to lihui and sharon that have fuelled my vcd/dvd supply
i have also watched more movies in the last week than i ever did in my entire three years of mass comm at ngee ann
the popcorn list included:
- little miss sunshine
- walk the line
- the departed
- she's the man
- march of the penguins
- protege
- ghost rider
- howl's moving castle
still on the list to watch are letters from iwo jima and the pursuit of happyness (what can i say, im an oscar-nominees whore)
oh, and music and lyrics, and 300 (finally found out that the hot guy from love actually is called rodrigo santoro), and....oh, many more, if my wallet allows.

secondly, i have officially broke my goodness-knows-how-long unintended fast of sports when i played tennis with gabs and aggie last thurs
also, i advanced to intermediate 1.5 in salsa, though my technique is not as good as it sounds
went to union square finally to practise the moves but i suck terribly (and jason, this guy from our class, is an incredibly patient teacher despite the fact that i stepped on his toes, jabbed like some guy dancing next to us, and tripped just about every time i turned)
i blame it on the heels (3.5inches), but i think its more because i havent been practising much.
oh, and i bumped into mr mcturk at the place—he actually learnt salsa at the same sch before! whoo!

okay, somehow im kinda lazy to finish up this LJ post, so ill just leave you guys here. 
back to my weffriddles and youtube!
take care, y'all, and best of luck to my fellow mcm-ers for results day on march 14th!
peace out.

hello, hello.
well, christmas has been a blast and im looking forward to the new year!

just got back from k-stering with grace & gabs.
we found a chipped piece of marble or goodness knows what which we had no idea dropped from the ceiling or was originally already in the bowl of mixed nuts we were munching on (either way, equally disturbing).
too bad we didnt get the discount grace hoped for or the extra 2 hours i was crossing my fingers for, but we did get a new bowl.
and at long last i got to satisfy my k craving. haha.

but anyway.
my expenditure this month far exceeds the $450 paycheck mr goh (AMIC's money man) passed on to me just a couple of days ago.
namely, the moolah went to christmas presents, but kino zapped up quite a fair bit too, all thanks to its seductive 20% discount.
speaking of which, i saw an old lady at tenchi comics just the other day who was collecting a mountain of comics (am not exaggerating—there were like 15 books in the pile)had an eerie vision of myself squandering my fortune away keeping this hobby till my ripe years.

on a lighter note, have somehow watched more movies in the past 2 days then ive had in the past two months, namely deathnote 2 and night at the museum.
thanks to the CGI guys out there did a nice job on the movies—ryuk & rem somehow managed to fit in deathnote whilst the whole gang in night at the museum gave me a good laugh too.
also, thanks to the boss for the long 6-day break! :)

back to the anime/manga love thread, i completed the existing episodes of bleach i have, and am officially declaring my love for hitsugaya toushirou (gabs, you better not get started or youll be immensely hooked, i assure you).
would have put up some pictures if i wasnt such a LJ-functions idiot, but you guys can google it if you want！

had an e-mail convo with lizette just the other day regarding work and that 'whatareyougonnadowithyourlife' issue.
personally, id love to take up some broadcast-related courses: filmmaking, tv journ, editing, directing, producing...i love the lot!
too bad in the struggle of passion vs practicality, its usually either one or the other, but rarely a compromise.
post-attachment (5 weeks! persevere, my comrades), id hopefully get a clearer idea of what the next phase in my life is going to revolve around.
meanwhile, im getting real excited thinking abt watching the phantom of the opera in april, backpacking with my sis in australia, and even travelling (if ever) with the other mcm-ers!

to all you dear people out there, may you have a fruitful year ahead!
esp. those graduating with me, all the best for the future, and happy new year!