I S L A N D C H I C

lunedì, febbraio 27, 2006

My Secret Garden

that's the name of the restaurant we went, to celebrate beck's bday. Conjures images like the above, no?

Me, shaun and becks got lost trying to find the place. location's kinda off the beaten track. haha, shaun.. you've ZERO direction sense la. while jy, zw and hc went off first to deposit the cake

Lovely, charming place... and heartwarming too. Quite a few celebrations were ongoing around us, the interior of the restaurant was taken up by a wedding event. Outside, a group of girls celebrated their girlfriend's last remaining days as a single.. "i'm getting married!" they made her wear a sash and pose for the cam. =)
Another table behind ours, had the wrks, lighted, floating candle with roses, a nice warm gathering of family and friends to celebrate the wife's bday (i'd assume) they had the sweetest little girl, eurasian, like a doll ! and a birthday song (frank sinatra just came to mind, for some reason) was dedicated specially over the restaurant's system, and the cake was brought out. It was definitely the most unique cake i've ever seen, colourful and whimsical, it looked like a mini-mountain of cupcakes, which the guests plucked off one by one to eat. digi cams popped out from other tables, ( including me =p ) took a shot of it too, cept mine turned out real blur. In another corner, a couple celebrated the girlfriend's birthday, we thought it might've been a proposal at first, the guy was grasping her hand and speaking to her so tenderly. awww. then i realized that Winnie was there celebrating her bday with her friends, and there was us celebrating for becky. alrite. sap overload huh, but it really wasn't difficult to get into the romantic mood, all that love was just around us... friends, lovers, families.

I enjoyed sitting outdoors at the patio, the food was decent, I loved the music played, I liked the friendliness and warmth of the staff. They kept coming back to top up our ice water, although we had finished our meal long ago and were just chatting. jq says i'm really enamoured by the place, i think so too. heh. And the chocolate cake shaun got was heavenlyyy... mmm. chocolate all over.

Now onto my perf, well was a bundle of nerves as you can imagine, it didn't help that when i got there, the k-lounge seemed sooo bigggg and i was 1 of the earlier ones. kinda calmed down aftr all the performers came too... a warm, funny bunch, they put me at ease almost immediately, wasn't that fretful about singing in front of a crowd anymore. just that, it was slightly agonizing waiting for my turn, cos they placed me last !!!! gah. oh, and its really a pityy the girl after me couldn't sing, she came for the rehearsal but left cos she wasn't feeling well. she had the most powerful voice! idol standard!!! kla. i think my vocals are pretty weak, i mean... yeah, in tune and all definitely, but could feel tht the mic guy really adjusted the sound so it was nice and echo-ey, can only depend on tht kinda acoustics to sound really great. aha. but the happiest thing was, felt free on stage and i could hit the damn note i was never able to hit when i practised before! happiness. but i guess i was kinda careless with the really light whispery parts, difficult to control.

well. was really glad to have elisa there, a familiar face in the audience =) was initially all alonee. My other friends who actually promised to come, came. BUT they were late and missed me!! booo. jq , huilin, yk came later. both cousins too! but was uber glad to see them all the same. thx for the encouraging sms-es too.

felt accomplished after the whole event, that at least i've given it a shot! t'was all for the experience you know? singing on stage definitely feels better than speaking!! and now tong's asking me if i want to sing for lunchtime concert... whoa. if only i'm the type who already has many favourite songs that can sing them with 100% confidence offhand.. but yeah. we'll see i guess. i've got commitment issues. =p

如果永远逃避，就永远不能成长。Le Bin said tht random phrase on tv and i found it pretty meaningful. Last night saw me like a petulant child, tugging persistently on your shirt sleeve in a bid to get your attention. for that momment, felt like way back then again. saying and doing silly things in order to cajole you into talking to me.oh well, i laugh at my foolishness, sometimes. thanks for indulging me. and...i still care too.

Gemstar blogged on 2/27/2006 07:24:00 PM

domenica, febbraio 26, 2006

Our lovely bday girl, celeb her 2nd bday!

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:23:00 PM

the 3 guys..

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:22:00 PM

heh a pretty picture, dun u think?

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:19:00 PM

the 3 ladies on a swing..

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:19:00 PM

a big group shot. which is damn blur, sadly.

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:19:00 PM

the 3 cousins. haha both came dwn to support, but both were late and missed me singing. heh.

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:17:00 PM

super unglam shot of huilin. but here they all are. my different "best friends" who've rode thru a large part of life with me. and they now all know each other =)

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:17:00 PM

on the tiny train ride at the orchid farm. initially wanted to take just the 2 girls, but more and more rows of heads popped out suddenly. hiakz kukup~

me mich and boons on the boat to kukup.

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:10:00 PM

post perf pict, os cine's klounge

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:10:00 PM

JB trip with comms class.. and oh the gentleman in the red shirt's not some random guy in background. he's our prof !!!!!!!!!! LOL

Gemstar blogged on 2/26/2006 06:08:00 PM

giovedì, febbraio 23, 2006

haywire

reallyyyy. nd to whine now. i HATE my neighbour. they're drilling dwn the place again, its horribly noisy. and it just so happens the spot they're drilling is directly adjacent to my bedroom. bloody hell.

i'm sick, feverish, having cramps and gastric pains (can't tell the difference btw which is wad anymore) having some perf on sat which i reallyyy dun feel like going anymore. *breathe sr, breathe...* superduper upset

and there're tons of stuff for me to do... 3 project mtgs back to back tmr. and i can't concentrate with all the ruckus going on !

whineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
i want a hug.

Gemstar blogged on 2/23/2006 12:19:00 PM

lunedì, febbraio 20, 2006

i'm perpetually getting ps-ed these days. am 1 sad sorry bugger.
aaah. oh well wad the hell.

jb trip was yummy. omg. i love seafood !!! chilli crab, oatmeal prawn, chicken wings !! had a satisfying 2 meals plus visits to various places for just 40 bucks. amazing. otherwise the rest of the intenarary wasnt fantastic la... hahah i only liked the orchid farm for the train ride. heh cheap thrill. visited kukup for the 3rd time... yups. oh well. guess its a different experience with a different group of people. really really missed the choir clique just now. wld be like 10x more fun with them. otherwise, my classmates were pretty cool la, felt pretty out of place though, i was pretty much on my own cos sam cldnt make it last min.and it didn't feel like i particularly fit in with any group !!! and i'm SERIOUSLY amazed by the girls, gosh the mall we visited really had no stuff to look at and they cld just shop up a storm. i really felt like a guy tdy, hanging ard, totally sian and disinterested by the stuff that was amusing them. but yea, kudos to our TA for org our entire trip and taking such gd care of us!

now my friend's telling me she doesnt wanna sing for sat anymore, and i was under the impression tht hl was singing too. she ain't either.superduper sian.am i gg to be the only idiot on stage?? gah.

on a brighter note, for a separate shopping trip on sunday w my cousin, i bought a lovely huge bag for $44 and 2 pairs of kitten heels for 10bucks each! what a steal... and i love hanging out with my cousin and her friends, truly. the guys helped us bargain the prices dwn, lol.

Gemstar blogged on 2/20/2006 11:52:00 PM

domenica, febbraio 19, 2006

monkey see, monkey do lor
here's the meme tht's bn spreading like a virus amongst the smoo community,1 of those personality assessing "instruments" under mpw. But it is interesting to see how your friends perceive you. My theory is, the more people you get to do it, the more traits you'll eventually get covered. We all show slightly different facets of ourselves to different people anyhow, and you notice the distinction between those who've gotten to know you recently, and those whom you've known for years. The former, pick out the more diplomatic, "friendly, kind... cheerful" generic adjectives, whilst the latter suss out the underlying less obvious traits. To that i'd say, surprisingly, ed's read me well... perhaps the keyword there is "complex", and thru the eyes of my younger cousin, hahah I really see the big sister figure that I am to him. Lol. i'm not that mature, wise and knowledgeable, la. =p

heh, to all those who know me, do it leh, and leave your names behind please, no more anonymous-es.

Arena

(known to self and others)
calm, friendly, helpful, intelligent, reflective, trustworthy

Blind Spot

(known only to others)
able, accepting, bold, caring, cheerful, clever, complex, confident, dependable, extroverted, happy, idealistic, independent, introverted, kind, knowledgable, logical, loving, mature, modest, nervous, observant, patient, quiet, relaxed, sensible, sentimental, spontaneous, warm, wise, witty

Façade

(known only to self)

Unknown

(known to nobody)
adaptable, brave, dignified, energetic, giving, ingenious, organised, powerful, proud, religious, responsive, searching, self-assertive, self-conscious, shy, silly, sympathetic, tense

All Percentages
able (15%) accepting (15%) adaptable (0%) bold (5%) brave (0%) calm (26%) caring (15%) cheerful (42%) clever (21%) complex (5%) confident (5%) dependable (5%) dignified (0%) energetic (0%) extroverted (5%) friendly (36%) giving (0%) happy (5%) helpful (15%) idealistic (5%) independent (5%) ingenious (0%) intelligent (15%) introverted (5%) kind (36%) knowledgable (21%) logical (5%) loving (10%) mature (10%) modest (15%) nervous (5%) observant (10%) organised (0%) patient (10%) powerful (0%) proud (0%) quiet (10%) reflective (31%) relaxed (15%) religious (0%) responsive (0%) searching (0%) self-assertive (0%) self-conscious (0%) sensible (26%) sentimental (26%) shy (0%) silly (0%) spontaneous (15%) sympathetic (0%) tense (0%) trustworthy (15%) warm (31%) wise (10%) witty (5%)
Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 19.2.2006, using data from 19 respondents.
You can make your own Johari Window, or view shaoru's full data.

Gemstar blogged on 2/19/2006 01:27:00 PM

mercoledì, febbraio 15, 2006

the roller coaster ride

overwhelming urge to run away from everything.

lao ba's right, perhaps i'm nvr satisfied.heh. most capricorns are ambitious climbers afterall, perhaps the grass is sweeter up there?

smoolife's showing an upturn, somewhat, but i do get down still. and yeah everyone's gg thru the same shit tog, and some pple do have it worse, my workload is peanuts compared to the rest. yet i honestly do enjoy some classes and the participative style. still, damn restless and hesitantly reluctant. perhaps my heart's just... not here yet.

patron's day was really happening though! i so enjoy soaking up the atmosphere of the live bands playing on campus green at night...and our free beer and buffet! just ask my friends... we sat ard the steps with our food, right in the midst of the city, the cars just zipping past on the nearby main road. surreal. i was grinning non-stop when i saw the mai4 pian4 xia1 (oatmeal prawn?) !!! and everyone was just mingling around, chatting, all loosened up... totally didn't feel like a monday at all. i seriously think its my batch, the snrs are all damn laidback abt everything! oh well. me lis and liz were sitting on the small stage looking at the night sky and talking nonsense after...yups. we had fun, i ended my day on a high. hahah sth came to mind, the songs the different bands played, really varied. i think the ymca mambo actions are hilarious... so... old school ya know? and they played guns n roses sweet child of mine later on too. cool stuff.

ltb wise... csp's looking up! we got mr bean to sponsor our event. woohooooo. they were pretty kind with their contributions. =) Everybody, support mr bean from now on!!! they rock. but yeah. we'll really need more sponsors! and i love my ltb group lots !!! we're so going to make our project a success. Anyone willing to sponsor our event??????????????? its for a good cause. We're running a regular mini carnival for the elderly of Sunshine Welfare Action Mission Home. Need cash, foodstuff, prizes, and volunteers... any amt is greatly apreciated.

kk. oh well. downside is my saturdays are really eaten up by the csp. oh well oh well. hahaha. LY was DAMN funny.. she was saying, "we're attending silver-haired night this saturday!! i know my life is really unhappening, but this??"all in jest of course, heh. for the unintiated, i'll be vteering this sat evening as 1 of the interactors for this 8-course dinner treat for the elderly. and dont get me wrong, i do enjoy vteer wrk, i learn loads from each experience, and i find it meaningful... but you sacrifice sth for the other. in my case, all my sat dates with friends. bleah.

and vday.. wooot. haha. returned home to this big rose bouquet fr. mr derek sjh. was pleasantly pleasantly surprised of course, till realized tht all the other gals in the clique prob rcved one too. was AMAZED, but cheyyyyyyy, not special anymore. heh. my favourite bear's full of surprises, and that was really a sweet gesture. cheered me up, cos i ain't exactly having a great week. but i'd really rather we'd all have time to go out, chat and stuff... instead of just mtg once in a blue moon. haven't talked to him at all lately, or with the rest, for the matter, am feeling very detatched from everyone's lives, and getting damn tired abt the way things have been turning out, so i don't wanna be bothered by it anymore. friendship's a sweet responsibility, yeah, but i'd never ever want it to become a burden. just let it flow i guess... =)

Gemstar blogged on 2/15/2006 12:59:00 AM

sabato, febbraio 11, 2006

check in

time to drop in and ramble on abt the latest happenings. i think i'm somewhat getting used to being totally independent, and enjoying myself too.

another 2 friends have flown off temporarily... the lao ba, for a pre-job+honeymoon vacation in spain. SKIPPING SCHOOL to do so summore. WARH.heh. usually, i'd be damn envious, but i've somewhat found peace in contentment with the simple joys of life. the pple i know are just so full of surprises sometimes... and he's one of them. after awhile you can distinguish who genuinely cares, and who doesnt.
the other one's yl who's quit smoo to finish up his uni education in aus. yet another one of those who can't wait to graduate and plunge into the working world. i'm grinning over sth silly atm, but heyyy a i made a teeny tiny contribution to the website he designed! waha. my opinions are appreciated at least.

people come and go ,but for me, i guess, even if its for the brief-est of momments, to at least make tht connection, to be genuine.

chap 2
i have a newfound love: going to salons to get my hair done. i especially enjoy getting my hair washed. nice smelling shampoo and conditioner plus scalp massage! usually it costs me just 12 bucks at my regular hairdresser for a cut. but i'm always game to try sth new when it comes to hairstyles. FUN. =) well, i got my hair trimmed after a horribly disastrous looking passport photo taken (omg omg!)for my new passport. i'm still mildly distressed by the sight of it. fugly! oh well. at least the snazzy sparkly colourful new passport will help draw attn away fr. the photo. HOPEFULLY. chap 2 at bugis is gd !!! the stylist really pampered my hair, washed, trimmed, teased and styled them into 2 bunches of really cute curls. and she was really nice to talk to too! pity it only lasted for a whole of 2 days, and i just don't have the energy to maintain them. and uni students get a discount, just flash ur matric card. end of advert. =)

bsm china
its finally sunk in how fortunate i am to be doing the prog, seems like they don't usually accept yr 1s ahhahaa... but anyway, stayed up till 3 wrking on the slides for the ppt, thn woke up ard 6 to write my script. ALL FOR NOTHING. we didn't really get to present. there wasn't enough time. *sniff sniff* me and elisa didn't get to say a thing. times like these i'd usually be relieved, but tdy's different, just miffed cos i REALLY prepared for it!!! was all ready to do the presentation totally in mandarin summore. boohoo. but u know wad, its really got me paying attn to the chinese newspapers now. oh and i like my group. its really too much of a coincidence cos we're ALL FROM NJ. omg omg. of all places to reunite... so we've jq, the grand grand senior, kc and jx our direct snrs and me and elisa. its been nice wrking with them so far... although honestly our mtgs have been the least efficient of all the projects i've been doing. jq's super lame, he keeps us in stitches most of the time. i had to really suppress myself to prevent myself from bursting out with laughter during class tdy cos of the nonsense he typed on msn. grin. shanghai, watch out, here we come!

sing song
i'm gg to perform for a small event. heh. okay i'll just erm. well. really practise my song, first things first. and we'll see. it feels gd to sing again, though i honestly suck at it now. i nd kbox sessions to practise. heh kbox kakis vteer urselves !!!

and oh yeah. let me survive the comming midterms. and my individual presentation(dread dread dread.) which i've yet to start preparing for. =(

Gemstar blogged on 2/11/2006 10:02:00 PM

mercoledì, febbraio 08, 2006

munchkin

omg. i'm chubby. help

Gemstar blogged on 2/08/2006 02:09:00 AM

sabato, febbraio 04, 2006

perpetual crisis

lo and behold, we're almost entering the 7th week of school. (week 6 coming up) which means, term break's almost here.

but before that's CRUNCH time. the arrival of midterms, and certain presentations that are due before the break. schl life just whirls past u in a blur, you're perpetually busy but dunno over what, and stressed out, at least for me cos i'm a kancheong spider, BUT, a heavily procrastinating one at that, which has seen me accumulating whole backlog of work.

we had our show and tell for ltb today, well, it wasn't graded, and our booth look pretty decent for a last minute put together effort. HONESTLY, it was mad,me and luyi bought snacks fr. the timsum stall, and borrowed the aunties' coffee cups and plates fr. kopitiam, all on the way while printing our mkting posters for display at our booth. and it sure as hell wasn't preplanned at all. we only arrived at the classroom with 1 miserable teamcharter. and imagine our "shock" when we saw the other groups with huge banners, candles, lovely table-cloths, flowers, fanciful displays of twinkling lights... *sweatdrop* there were 3 classrooms and ours was definitely the most decorated. can i like just say the pple in my batch are super competitive???? and for some reason, i was super stressed out for this show and tell, cos my group was totally nonchalant about it, left everything till today to do, which we did. okay scraped through i guess, but i realized we based it on lotsa assumptions esp w regards to sponsorships. really counting on them for the project to pull through, at least we have 1 potential food sponsor for now.

please please please let me survive this term.

Gemstar blogged on 2/04/2006 01:07:00 AM

giovedì, febbraio 02, 2006

CharliE brown on DepRessioN

sometimes, when you're depressed, all you want to do is nothing.

all you want to do is lean your head on your arm and stare into space. <@-_-

sometimes, this can go on for hours. ( 5 hours later....) <@-_-

if you're unusually depressed, you may have to change arms. -_-@>

well. what i did in a momment of i dunno what, deleted the entire blogful of entries at glimmersparklefade. there goes. all goneeeeeeee. oh wells. the only part i managed to salvage that still exists, that bit above, which i still find mildly amusing. i've been blogging since sec 3, all the way back to those OBS days, heh, and its locked up in a secret online spot somewhere, sometimes, when i'm in a horribly procrastinating mood like now, i revisit those memories and laugh at myself. 5 years and counting.

Gemstar blogged on 2/02/2006 12:54:00 AM

mercoledì, febbraio 01, 2006

dog tired

its the first time in my life i went for a stayover without slping a wink, and left the hse str at 6sth in the morn. =)took a long train and bus ride back, which is amazing in itself, cos i didn't cab. i love long rides with music for company.

MAD. hmm. the activities of the night were cards and mj and some korean drama. lol. those who know me well know i nvr play cards. i'd contentedly snooze or do a million other things while my friends happily play on. kla played a few rounds of bj with them, used all our coins as a wager... before they moved on to mj and my dj-ing stint *smiles*

simply hilarious stuff. felix's eh "wake up wake up wake up" morn call is resounding in my head now la. grin and serene too, her laughter's contagious, she laughs at the minute-st of things which is super amusing. those 2 entertain us non-stop.

think the highlight was erm stealing her car to drive out for supper at 4sth am. total sense of deja vu. jy insisted she drive which she did till geylang, (was still damn happening at tht hr) but he ended up driving us to simpang bedok, and 'home' later. bedok's really a big part of my childhood!!! i remem the shop and save and stuff.. and how.. back thn i loved exploring new neighbourhoods on my bike. i'm still as restless tdy. really wanna go back to visit someday, if i'm ever in the area again. they almost made me drive too, cept i've like like zero confidence after my dad+mum's tirades, what's more driving someoneelse's car. SIGH. hate it. like, how am i ever going to learn if they nvr let me try? blah.

song of the day: james blunt's Goodbye My Lover
Always felt this was a heartbreaking song, but when you're in the momment whoa. listened to it in the wee hours of the morn in jy's car whilst he dropped us off at the stn. sth struck me, perhaps it was the time of the day, the silence in the car, the passing scenery outta the window... it felt surreal, alg with tht aching emptiness of missing someone. "so hollow..." nearly teared there and then. i'm just terribly emo these days. sad songs have to be listened in moderation.

heard a few other nice tracks on my mp3 player on the long ride back, i honestly think my zen is psychic. started off with random slow emo songs at first, thn the fast-paced upbeat ones, which left me all ready to face the day.

crashed headfirst into bed after, before joining 03s22 at elisa's place. heh.

Gemstar blogged on 2/01/2006 12:08:00 AM