It was plainly work for the last few weeks. I remember on a faithful day after working from 8am to 8pm, Dear insisted that I go for dinner with her at King Albert's Mac. Although I was almost crying from fatigue, I went there with her nevertheless. But at around 10.45pm after our dinner, she refused to leave and wanted to play a game with me. Then she acted mysterious and all, and warned me not to peek at whatever she was gonna do next. The next thing I knew she gave me a really cute belated birthday present! Ahh, and I realised she walked around the whole of Orchard looking for the cosmetic cap that I really liked when we went shopping together a few months ago. But although you couldn't find it Dear, I really appreciate your efforts. Silly people and the things they do for me. <3

Last weekend was a really eventful one. I went for a delightful steamboat dinner with the polymates, unfortunately without Shifu and Bee. We had one helluva mahjong time and I swear I don't know any other girls who can get as vulgar and as R-rated as them. Love them totally still. I wish we can stay like that forever until all our teeth drop and white hair bloom on our heads. It is also with much regret that I couldn't join the 2b-ians for Jwee Siang's 21st birthday party but I hope everyone had fun there (: That very night, I only managed to sleep at 4.30am, and woke up at 7am to meet the trio for a morning stroll with the rabbits at West Coast Park. How funny eh, strolling with rabbits.

The white fluffy rabbit amidst the greens.

'How should we get the stubborn rabbit out of there?!'

Presenting to you, Hazel the cutie! He's my favourite dwarf rabbit ever since the day he was born and the way he ran about was just way too cute! Simply irresistible.

A brown little rabbit went rummaging through one of the plastic bags and found itself caught in it. What happened was really funny next. It started to panic cos' it probably thought that it was being caught or something and started running in circles, spilling with it all the contents in the plastic bag. For a moment I thought it looked like superman flying around with his red cape. It was HILARIOUS! But the little exercise came to an end when Chris caught the rabbit and rescued it from the torture of the plastic bag. So we tested this on another white rabbit but it didn't quite achieve the same effect. Hahah! Oh well.

We were supposed to be playing badminton in the afternoon but everyone was feeling lazy for the day, so we ended up playing mahjong again. It was raining by then anyway. The trio then came to my house for dinner cos' I thought I could finally see Mummy. I'm not exaggerating when I say I haven't seen the mother for over a week. But after dinner while I was doing the dishes, I felt kinda sick. And yeah, I had a very rough night. The head was throbbing so badly it felt as if someone just split opened a coconut. And thank god I don't get migraines cos' a normal headache and fever is enough to render me speaking incoherently. I couldn't fall asleep the entire night with the throbbing head and the big apple stuck in the throat. Finally dozed off at 10am in the morning and each time I woke up, I realised that I was sweating profusely probably because the body was burning. Anyways if you wanna know more about biomaterials, the type of polymer used for contact lenses, diode and whatever, ask my brother he's the expert. He has been pestering me everyday asking me some really profound questions and chemical terms that I haven't heard before in my life. I can't fight the medicine anymore. Nights.
Thanks for the dou hua (:





The shelves should have been cleaned, the books should have been properly arranged and categorised, and the drawers should have been rid of unwanted garbage. But here I am at 12 midnight, sitting on my bed typing away. Those junk on the table should have been cleared months and months ago but I managed to get rid of them with a powerful sweep of the hands only yesterday. Yes, I am a super hopeless procrastinator.

The darkness of the night seems to be consuming me right now.. alright then I get it. A quick update. The trio (yes them again! i guess they are the main actors and actress in my life drama) and I went to Kranji for some fishing after a quick lunch at Lot 1 Shopping Mall. I was so enthusiastic initially since that was the first time I'm gonna have to hold a line, with a hook and a bait. The minute I lowered my fishing line into the murky waters, the bait seemed to act as a bewitching instrument which charmed those little rascals, oops I meant creatures effortlessly out from the little hard rocks they called home. But a big no-no to take note of. Do not ever ever look down on them. I tried catching them with the net, thinking that those greedy creatures were gonna get hooked anytime. But after more than an hour of anticipation and what seemed like millions of attempts, I realised my efforts were all futile. Those prawns seriously outsmarted me! Wait, honestly I have no idea whatever I was catching were prawns or crayfish. -blink blink-

Those 3 huge prawns or whatever, were caught by Qi. Pro-ness. After switching locations and having no luck at any, I decided to take a break and play the swing nearby instead. Just one swing tells it all. It was rustic, definitely weathered with all the funny sounds it was making, not maintained and lubricated since the beginning of time. But it is only with such an old simple swing, that could make me feel like a child all over again. I have no idea why that swing is evoking such emotions out of me but I hope it will be able to withstand the advances of technology, and brings with it more untold stories. Half the time while I was swinging on that piece of rubber held loosely by 2 rusty chains, I felt droplets on my face. It soon took over in the form of rain. And not forgetting, cats and dogs. I was half drenched, thanks to Chrisssy. Thereafter, we bought dinner back to Nixon's house and after a quick bath, while Qi and I started on our food since we were starving, the guys they were..

working hard to project the movie I wanna watch from the laptop to the TV. -sneakoshot- But how nice of them! Finally got to watch my Mononoke Hime after years but I really hated the ending. It's so disappointing. And we watched Borat as well. I've got no comments on that movie, oh if you even consider it a movie. =X More to come I hope?

Here's a part of a conversation I had with a dear friend whom I haven't met for ages. Not exactly ages but, quite a long time I should say. And it felt like I've just lost a friend.

- Hello, I am Panda, u can call me Hello Panda. ™ + ' says:
lol like u said
' - Hello, I am Panda, u can call me Hello Panda. ™ + ' says:
we haven talked to each other
' - Hello, I am Panda, u can call me Hello Panda. ™ + ' says:
for ages
' - Hello, I am Panda, u can call me Hello Panda. ™ + ' says:
i rather we dont.
' - Hello, I am Panda, u can call me Hello Panda. ™ + ' says:
since we cant see each other
' - Hello, I am Panda, u can call me Hello Panda. ™ + ' says:
then mite as well just let it be
' - Hello, I am Panda, u can call me Hello Panda. ™ + ' says:
as time goes by

Shifu you don't used to talk like that, remember?
swing, swing, swing from the tangles of..





Random-ness. You can laugh your heads off at some of the nicknames given to me. I won't mind, really. Gonna list them down, here goes.

Ah Bu a.k.a Mother - nicknamed by Yvonne
Ah Care - Dawn loves this
Ah Mei - even the little cousins call me this..
Ah Girl - by the colleagues
Canon -_-
Carrot - every head in the class will turn towards me at the mention of this word during the primary school days
CYKL - the future of DKNY
Dear - colleague
Little Caren - by the colleagues
Ke Ren - you can interpret this as a cute person (ke ai de ren) OR a pitiful person whom no one loves (ke lian mei ren ai)
Moi Moi - by the grandmother, used to, long time ago

I find this quite absurd, really. When I'm at work around mid-afternoon everyday, the head will be propped on one of my hands and I'll start smiling away at the computer screen. The next thing I know, someone will walk past and say 'Ah girl, you daydreaming ah?', then I'll finally snap out of it (I'm seated at a conspicuous place in the office). What in the world is happening to me? Is it because of long hours in front of the computer, or is it that I'm purely happy? or rather.. am I going crazy?! I've been having horrid nightmares of late as well. If there are any doctors reading this, please conduct a free analysis for me?
They found the uncle, phew.





The trio and I went to Pulau Ubin last Saturday. It's always tons of fun with them, but the effect of exhaustion will build up in you and attempt to rupture your muscles when you are alone. Qi fetched us to Changi early in the morning to have breakfast and after a bumpy boat ride, there we were. The little sunny island, that old Singapore lookalike didn't change much as far as my memory served. Those cute happy dogs with their wagging tails chasing after cyclists, the little blue stilt house, the fresh breezy air, and those intriguing lands beyond the trees that completely aroused my curiosity.. it just felt oh so like a getaway, away from the bustling, fast-paced city life. Bliss~ We started cycling and I really have to say that I couldn't defeat those slopes although they weren't that steep. Perhaps I'm just lousy, or maybe I prefer walking more. =X Anyway, Nix made an interesting discovery at the bicycle park and we saw small little wild boar tracks near the rocky area. It's a pity we didn't follow them. Also, thanks to the self proclaimed roadblocker for the day, my bicycle together with me of course got stuck in some mud. The worst thing was, everyone just stood around laughing and no one came to my aid! How disappointing. I've been a faithful believer of 'saving the damsel in distress' story but now I'm beginning to doubt it. It's a fairytale story that will not ever come true, I guess. All in all, it was a day where the legs ached the most and these were some landmarks we set foot on..

Look! FREE OF CHARGE escargots! They were found after Chris overturned the rock and we cooked them of course. Who wouldn't want good stuff FOC?

Ketem quarry near the bike park.

Chek Jawa. I didn't find this new attraction particularly interesting except for watching the dominating Fiddler crabs overpowering the weaker ones. Yes, it's a cruel world. Only the strong ones can survive and get what they want. Anyway, see a little cottage at the far end? That's my house.

And this is my fireplace.

My viewing tower, specially made for a peeping tom like me. Ahahaha. That's rubbish okay. This viewing tower overlooks some pretty small islands around Pulau Ubin, and the rich plantation of attap chee (palm seeds).

After a whole day of fun, we decided to get some cheap and good stingray for dinner from Boon Lay after the wet boat ride back, together with our escargots. Cooked a dish of vege, had dinner and some mahjong after that, and I thought 'that's all, folks'. But while Qi was fetching us home, she had a sudden craving for the prata at Thompson Road nearing 11pm. So off we went to Thompson Road. I just love things unplanned!

Teh tarik!! My one and only love. Guess who is the odd one out?

The honey prata of the dissatisfied customer.

Nix and Qi's shared banana prata. It tasted good!

My cheese prata. The only prata that comes with curry. Apologies for the bad quality pictures, that's my handphone camera for you.

Recently, I attended the SP Symphonic Band's concert - Musical Delights duno-what-number already together with Meng and kor. Probably like the 30th concert and their repertoire wasn't really to my liking. But concerts always light up that spark in me, like I really have to do some practising on the instrument soon. I will. On a different note, work was a happy affair although tiring. Really glad to see that everyone is becoming less hostile to one another and even the boss now has a life outside the office. It is no longer just the work-and-sleep routine anymore. I'm feeling especially happy to see them being so cheerful and smiley everyday. Hmm.. and only after Alva dear pointed out that I've been taking away Jollibean (consists of a cup of soya bean and a piece of pancake) for lunch everyday did I realise that I've grown quite sick of it. But the fact is that it is cheap and does not require much hassle. And I'm missing out on all the great food. Bahh. I am so contradictory sometimes. Anyway, if you really think that we cooked and ate those escargots, tsk I really have no idea what I should say about you. It's time to try for a good night's rest.
Please recover soon and get that happy soul back.





Once again, a big HAPPY 2008 to you guys out there! It is definitely a great start to the new year with all the activities that had been going on so far. On New Year's Eve, I skipped work to go out with the three friends. After watching National Treasure (it was a great movie btw, with the humour and all) around noon, we went for some grocery shopping in the NTUC at Bukit Timah Plaza cos' we were planning to cook some chinese dishes for dinner this time round.

These were some pretty simple dishes that we cooked at Qi's house, not as difficult to make compared to the sushi buffet previously. Then later in the evening after our salad, we decided to watch Alien vs Predator 2 at Jurong East Entertainment Centre instead of heading to Orchard Road and get squeezed and sprayed until we look like Joker in Batman series. So we played some mahjong first, since there was still quite some time before the movie started. It was super creepy cos' I was supposed to be the biggest loser, then the tables just turned around unpredictably and I began winning like there's no tomorrow. Yeah and I became the biggest winner of the night with 17 bucks. Too bad we weren't playing with real notes again. Friendly game.

Jurong East's arcade is way too cool cos' they added a few basketball machines which is quite a hit in Taiwan's arcades actually. I didn't want to play initially cos' I don't have much confidence in stuff like that. But because of that unfaltering persistence from the girlie, I guess I didn't have a choice, and boy was it addictive! We decided to make it more competitive by playing against one another and it was C&C vs N&Q. What weird initials when you try pronouncing them, anyway nevermind that. C&C team won and luckily it was another friendly match otherwise team N&Q would've to cough out 139 bucks. =X Thereafter, we went for the movie. It wasn't really nice cos' there ain't a story plot but ack, having your favourite people for company was way more important than a good movie. And on the journey back to Qi's house, we talked about the worst and best things that happened to each of us in 2007. It's so special.. that was how the first few hours of the new year were spent. That night, we slurped on our banana split happily with some stupid horror movie for entertainment and they fell asleep on me gradually.

After what seemed like 1 to 2 hours of shut eye, we had a hearty breakfast and I thought everyone's gonna go home and catch some rest. Until someone requested to play table tennis. So Qi fetched me home to grab my table tennis bats and in the meantime, she fetched Chris home to get his. It felt abit like visiting the families day. Then she drove back to my house, both of us had green bean soup while the 2 guys were half dying in the car. But when we got over to Nix's house and started playing the table tennis, it was like a wake up call for them. They became super energetic and alive. Lesson learnt: don't ever do nothing when you are tired. After the table tennis, I thought that was it for the day when someone else suggested playing badminton. So we played a really great match under the rain and team C&C won again! Presenting to you, our blackish palms after the game..

We had dinner in Nix's house, then went over to Qi's house for some of my ice wine, and finally home. Totally unconscious for 12 hours. Time to digress.. I went to SIM to register for a full time course this morning - Bachelor's of Science in Management under University of London. I really want this very much. Very, very much. That's because I don't have any backup plans if they happen to reject my application. And yes, I'm going to be in a state of depression if that is gonna be their final decision. *hopes for the best* In the evening, Qi had to bring her rabbit to the veterinarian and I happened to kidnap her loaded wallet with me =P, so I tagged along with her to the vet. It's my first time there (definitely not the last) and I was quite surprised cos' there were quite a number of sick dogs together with their owners! I felt really happy just by sitting there and observing the behaviour of the dogs. It was kinda like a therapeutic session for me. Don't ask me why cos' I don't know either. Qi's rabbit - Whitey has a painful-looking swollen leg. Ewww, I felt so painful for her just by seeing that wound. And poor Whitey got so scared when the dogs were barking at each other and at times, almost on the verge of a fight. For the 1 and a half hour we spent there, I didn't see any dogs that I particularly have a soft spot for but there was a Dachshund and a Maltese, 2 Jack Russells, 2 Pomeranians, a few mixed breeds, a super huge Siberian Huskey, and a few tabby cats. It was a funny sight when Qi quickly covered the lid of the basket that her rabbit was in when she saw that huge dog walking past. Like a protective instinct. And this isn't just the only first-time that I experienced together with that group of 3 friends. In a nutshell, it is my first time to:
going overseas with purely friends
eating a crayfish
sitting on a bike with 3 persons
parasailing
experiencing the magic of foot massage
having dinner in a hotel (besides weddings)
cooking together
watching 2 movies consecutively and twice in 2 weeks
popping a party popper
celebrating a new year
reflecting on things aloud
seeing rabbits hopping all around when I wake up (thought it was all but a dream)
visiting a vet
doing so many activities with so little rest; a great test to a body's limit

I hope days like that with them will never ever end and may there be more first times to come!
*If you really read this post word-for-word, I guess you must be really interested in me. =D