yvonne's

2012-02-09T04:23:00.000+08:00

This is probably the most stressful n difficult part of my life. Everything stemmed to be going well, I had slow heartbeat after childbirth, and I regained my original weight quickly as I was exercising like a crazy woman. I still remember when Eunice asked me how's my health, I told her I have never been better.

However, at the third and half month after avril was born, things started to go downhill. I suffered hair loss. And people who know me well know that I already have thin hair to begin with, pregnancy didn't cause me to have more luxuriant hair though there was less hair fall during that period. Initially I want quite bothered by the hair loss as it wasn't excessive, but it got worse over time n I shed hundreds n hundreds of hair everyday. I can sweep the floor several times a day to get rid of the mess on the floor. I went to see 2 doctors, both of whom didn't make me feel any better, and suggested for me to go for treatments. They also mentioned that according to my recent blood test results, it could also be hyperthyroid causing my hair loss as well. Now I'm starting to feel all the symptoms of my thyroid acting up. I'm leavin for hk soon for a holiday but now with a heavy heart, afraid of losing hair till I can no longer cover it up with any styles already. Stress can also cause more hair loss but I can't help but feel stressed abt the entire thing.

I just cross my fingers n pray that my hair loss due to post partum will quickly end soon. I have also decided to give up breastfeeding my precious one to concentrate on my health.

I don't wanna bald, god please help me.

2011-09-28T13:48:00.001+08:00

Baby avril was born on 4 September 2011. She was induced, as I was already 40weeks and I couldn't wait to get her out of my tummy cause I was worrying about her well being when she was inside. The last one or two weeks before she was born, she was moving vigorously in my tummy most of the nights, I was so afraid that she would get herself entangled with the cord. Luckily, I have the world's best gynae to look after me. He loaned me a mini Doppler which I used many times a day to check on her heartbeat, especially towards the end of the pregnancy.

I was so eager to get her out of the tummy that I couldn't understand when my colleague told me, once she is out, u will feel like putting her back into the tummy. Now I understand.

Anyway, I didnt feel any pain at all throughout the whole labour, cause dr Phua arranged nicely for dr earnest to do the epidural as soon as he broke the water bag. The most painful thing during the labour was the needle poked on my left hand for the drips! Lol. So I waited from 9am till about 6pm for the dilation of the cervix to 10cm, and was ready to push. It felt like I needed to poo very badly when the contractions came. I thought it was going to come out easily as I really felt like I needed to push. But it wasn't easy at all. I had to push real hard in just one breath! And this went on for about 3 contractions then dr Phua decoded to help me with the vacuum. Baby was out the next push. I felt so relieved that I didn't have to push anymore. Hahaha.. That wasthe feeling. And tears welled up in my eyes as I heard the baby cried. Now whenever I think abt that moment I also feel like crying. I finally feel strongly for the word 'congratulations'. I didn't feel the need for others to congratulate me duorng my wedding, but this time ard, the word congratulations felt very meaningful to me. It's like my body has worked har for the past 10 months, I have suffered so much during he first 3 months, and I had worried so much throughout the pregnancy that when finally I got a baby, a normal baby, I felt 'yes..I Finally got what I have been waiting for, congratulate me!' Daryl was sp happy the first moment baby arrived, I have never seen him so happy before. I felt even more blessed than ever seeing the smile on his face. :)

One month of confinement is almost gone, I think I haven't slept for more than 3 hrs in a sleep at all. I'm so tired. And worrying continues... I'm worrying my baby isnt responding to me yet, worrying abt her when she cries. Sometimes I think I really have postnatal blues, I get upset easily n I cry often. Very tired now...

less than a month away...

2011-08-01T19:47:00.002+08:00

im now 35 weeks. its getting more and more difficult to move around. and i feel like an elephant. even my principal says im gaining alot of weight. almost 60kg now, gained 13kg in total already. i feel so tired and unmotivated to work nowadays, just wanna slack.

i really hope i will be a good mum . :) and my daughter will be healthy, pretty and smart. lol.. so much expectations. :P

Lousy morning

2011-06-17T09:04:00.002+08:00

I decided to take a cab down since I wasn't sure of where the school is. The cab didn't know where the sch is and didn't bother to tell me or find it n simply said he doesn't know. So I just asked him to drop me at clement mrt. It cost me 12 bucks just to get to clementi when I could have taken a bus and it would only have cost me less than a dollar. I was so overwhelmed by these two irritating things that I can't help it but cry. It was such a disguting morning. I'm so sianz. Think baby also crying inside alrd. :(

14th week

2011-03-07T17:23:00.001+08:00

I'm actually much better now.. Though I still don't have much appetite, at least I won't feel like puking my meal out after eating. Occasionally I will feel that my mouth is bland and wanna throw up but I never did anymore. And I'm no longer relying on those anti vomiting medicine already! Finally I'm leading a close to normal life :) hehehe. But still I don't feel as perfect as when I wasn't pregnant lah. But at least I can do my work with more energy. Yippee.

Work is still as busy as ever.. Just can't wait for hols to come asap. I don't mean march hols.. It is not a hol anyway.. I've got camps and meetings and mid yr papers to set... it will be a perfect march holiday if I can clear these work. Oh well.

JJ concert was fantastic. It reminded me how much I used to listen to his songs when I was studying for my a levels.. My cd player will just repeat the entire album again and again n i never got sick of the songs.. Only love them more n more. The concert was really loud though, esp when Xiao Jing teng sang Wang fei. I hope my baby isn't hurt in anyway. And I was so surprised to see ming there too!

12th week

2011-02-23T07:05:00.000+08:00

Things arent getting any better, else I wont be blogging away here early in the morning. Everyday i feel like im dragging my feet to work, cause i know that once my day starts, the nausea will come back and i wont have the appetite to eat, what's more the mood to work. I just feel like returning to the bed everyday as early as possible, even if that can happen i will also lie on the bed with great discomfort, just waiting to fall asleep to get rid of those lousy feelings. :( I am soooo sian of my life already, i wonder when will these pesky symptoms ever go away? :( feel like crying again. sighs.

Today is wednesday, still have 2 more LONG days to go before i can enjoy my weekend sleeping throughout. what kinda lousy weekend rite?

last weekend daryl and i booked a cruise to redang on 8apr! :) cant wait to feel great and enjoy the trip.

9th Week

2011-01-25T18:53:00.000+08:00

It is really not easy. The nausea is getting worse as the medicine itself is unable to stop my vomitting. Sometimes i wonder how am i going to survive for the next 4 weeks. At the same time, i also hope that my nausea wont last beyond week 12. I havent been eating happily and the smell of cooked food makes me wanna puke even more. :( I have lost my appetitie and I am getting outbreaks on my face and back. It is sooo bad. what to do? all for you, little fetus. I hope you will be healthy and come to the world safely in september. that's all i ask for for repayment k?

7th week

2011-01-16T11:32:00.000+08:00

It has been 2 weeks since school started. able to cope so far, but life was a little difficult in the first week due to my condition but it became better ever since i got the anti vomitting medicine from the doctor. Still have a long long way to go. Sometimes i wonder how i will be able to survive another 20 weeks of sch?! I have no march hols as it will be used for camps and setting of exam papers. omg.. its so scary to look forward. But i hope i can make it.

my classes are great so far. hopefully they will continue to be like that! :D Still trying to remember all the names.. its so hard for me!

Daryl and I got the new furnitures from ikea, and a new bed that is coming in a few days time from serta! The brand with all the sheepies. By then I would have 2 big sheep and 1 skinless one. So cute!!

In the blink of an eye

2010-12-31T11:23:00.000+08:00

school holidays are coming to an end! So soon.. everything happened just too quickly. I only have sat, sun and monday left before the war with time and energy starts.

So.. im quite prepared for the new year. Got resources ready up till june, hopefully i will have sufficient time to finish up the rest of my resources during June for the end of the year. Wanted to complete everything but that would take a hell lot of time and I kept telling myself that it was holiday and i should be getting more rest and recharging. these are just excuses though, excuses to lie on the bed longer when i woke up, cause i had a good break during the japan holiday trip already. but oh well, i have already spent the time I had that way and i told myself not to regret for lying on the bed longer when i did it. :P

This holiday has been a long one. I went for the austrialia pet rocket competition, but our school didnt win. I also went for the malacca trip with the student leaders, where i made a good friend/colleague - Farhana. :) And then it was the Japan - Kyushu trip, which although was a little boring but it was a fantastic getaway. I especially enjoyed the spring and sand bath. And the lovely winter. :D and shopping too! Anges B is like so much cheaper there.

So for next year, I will be teaching one extra class compared to this year. I have 2 Sec 2s General Science , 1 Sec 3 Pure phy class and the Sec 4 A and E math graduating class. omg.. its gonna be real stressful chasing after these kids. and not to mention, i have more committees too.

Good luck yvonne, u can do it! LOL. and to the rest of my friends too, happy new year 2011!

2010-10-30T19:00:00.000+08:00

It has been so long since I last blogged.

I'm using an iPhone to do my blogging! Lol. iPhone is really fantastic. It can do wonders. :)

School hols are here! And I'm now starting to prepare next year's work! I realized that I'm quite a workaholic although I love to slack too. Sometimes slacking feels like a total waste of time to me alr. I used to also think that it is impossible to love my job, but I m a litle sure that I'm enjoying my work n I would like to continue in this line too. This is quite a big thing to say n I'm always afriad of saying it but I think I'm a little more sure about it. Partly cause of my nice colleagues, and my wonderful boss - mr lee :) and definitely bcos of my students - my 2em n 2topaZ babies n some nice peeps in 3em. Thank u for giving me such a memorable year.

Just went for a blood test for my thyroid n the result is normal. Please stay this way forever.. :)

Going to aust for international pet rocket comp this nov. Quite stressed about getting the championship n quite scared cos its the first time I'm bringing students overseas.. I hope everything will turn out fine!

I hope my wish will come true soon.

2010-08-12T16:05:00.000+08:00

This is already week 7 of Term 3, 3 more weeks to go and then its Sep holidays. and heard that term 4 is rather slack so cant wait! :) hehee...

Took part in our school interhouse bowling competition and our team won the first place! There is this very pro player in my team, his name is Alvin, so that's why we won! and Alvin invited me to join the MOE bowling competition with 2 others from my school. HAHA!! I am soooo worried, cause im not good, i just know the basics. and sometimes when im off form, i can be really OFF! lol. But nevermind.. i will just go and try and do my best! Its fun! Love bowling. all thanks to my dear husband.

Now busy setting exam papers.. then keying in results for term 3, rushing to finish the syllabus, etcetc. ohh and i just wanna mention, i've a new neighbour sitting with me in school, her name is yi qiao! super nice girl... but i miss eunice... :(

Our 6th 19 July

2010-07-21T21:25:00.000+08:00

Is there such a thing as I miss my wedding? I really do.. i wish i can return back to the time when I walked into the ballroom with daryl, seeing all my friend and relatives there for me. enjoying the music i chose for to play during the wedding, and not forgetting counting all the blessings of ang pows! I really miss that day.

19th july has just passed, marking my 6 years with daryl. i wasnt expecting any gifts from him, every year its the same, we would just go for a dinner together to celebrate. This year, he bought a precious moment figurine for me without having me to "niam" at him to buy me something! :) so sweet. the figurine is actually a couple reading news together, and the name for it is "Here is the good news, I am by your side" And along with it was a card. Although there were only 4 words written by him in the card (which made me laugh), the words printed on the card itself made me teared. Thank you so much dear.

2010-07-12T17:35:00.000+08:00

I feel so much stronger now. After being in anxiety from last night till today!! I had a lesson study, and about 5 teachers were watching my lesson. The thought of them being around was so scary!! And I was so worried about it the whole night before. My mood was the lousiest in the morning and then it is over! And i really feel that i have overcomed this fear of people watching my lesson already! (hopefully.... cause i still have 2 more observations to go for next week and the week after)

And i m really quite a perfectionist.. :( feel upset when people say negative things about my lesson, but there is always room for improvement, and I should learn to look at it positively and treat these as opportunities to improve further! hehe

Shall continue marking now... wonder how can ppl with family balance their lives... im so tired.

2010-07-07T08:02:00.001+08:00

The last time I blogged was in March.. wow, the month difference is getting bigger and bigger. So many things happened between March till now. In summary..

April - my big day
May - yanjun's big day
June - mingwai's big day
Went to Korea in June
June - grandma passed away

I just cant wait for December holidays, when the June one has just passed only. omg...
In Dec, I must really enjoy myself!! I would have gone through soooo much in school by then. Lesson observations, lesson study, setting of papers, etc etc etc. Cant wait to rest.

2010-03-20T11:57:00.003+08:00

Cant believe the last time i blogged was in Jan.. It is now the March hols, one term of school has passed. Time flies very quickly when you are loaded with never ending amount of things to do! And this March hols hasnt been much of a break either. Everyday there are things to do - camp, course, setting of papers and preparing for lessons when school reopens!

And it is 3 weeks to my wedding banquet! Finally. Cant wait for it to come... been preparing for it, thinking about it till I just want it to faster come and be over. It's exciting as it is going to be once in a lifetime :) hee.

Took out my wisdom tooth.. it was really quite an operation. I couldnt get to bed the whole night after the operation cause there was so much blood and it didnt seem to stop. After it stopped, it came back again as I was dozing off! it was really quite a nightmare and my face was swollen.. :(

And I have done something really bad. Hais.. all because of my blurness, I forgot about my best friend's wedding. I really hate myself for being so blur. I think my mind was preoccupied with school stuff that when my family asked if I could go on a holiday with them in June, I immediately said yes to the much needed holidays without thinking too much. My best friend's wedding is during the time that I will be in Korea for holiday... sighs. im a total failure!

busy life!!!

2010-01-30T13:23:00.001+08:00

A month of 2010 has passed. So quickly! Time really flies when it comes to work. I m now slowly getting used to stepping into class and doing all the scolding n nagging. And I have also come to realise that I really do HATE marking. Before I was a teacher, I always thought marking is the most fun part in a teacher's job. And now it is the most sickening part. Marking copied homework, untidy work to the point that you have to squint and search for corrections, little minus signs that are missing, is REALLY REALLY frustrating. Marking test papers is even worse, because the truth of whether the students have been doing and understanding their hw properly comes to light. The disgusting and scary truth.

Overall, I cant say that I like my job. I dislike the nature of the job, I have tons and endless of things to do everytime. And as teacher, we have to be involved and active in many different comittees etc. And unmotivated students are really a challenge that I have not been able to deal with properly yet. :( But I cant say that I hate my job too.. there are students that I really enjoy teaching and seeing in class. Those who are willing to learn, responsive and look happy to be in my class.. my sec 2 Topaz, i love them so much.

SIGH. It is really tiring to work! HAHA... i wish i can just slack throughout my life!! Wahaha. But then again, life will be quite meaningless, and I will have NO MONEY! :P

My wedding is drawing near. Weekends are just too short, need to buy new year clothes, prepare for wedding, do some work related stuff such as preparing for lessons ETC. TIRED!!!

2010-01-07T22:39:00.000+08:00

It has been 4 days of work! Wah. I am so overwhelmed by the many many events happening in school. The ongoing ones, upcoming ones, etc!! There are just so many events happening in school. omg. for the first 3 days, we had department meetings, sec 1 camp which i wasnt involved, and stuff. and i was quite stressed at the amount of work teachers have to do. Set test, exams, organise events, cca, attend courses, work appraisals, notice boards, enrichments, remedials etc.. the list is non exhaustive. After wednesday's meeting, I was so "filled to the brim" that tears just kept flowing while i was waiting for daryl to pick me up from his busy day at work too. lol. I dunno why i so stressed for what!!

Classroom management is still ok for me! i think partly cause i m taking all the express classes. But i guess i pissed my math class students when i decided to use part of cme's time for math.. and i forced them to buy the cme file which i dont know if i will ever ask them to use.. they kept groaning and moaning about buying n not using them at all in class and complained that i did math during cme.. haha... it was only the first lesson ma, and there was nothing much i could do also.. :P

Brand new 2010

2010-01-03T21:09:00.001+08:00

Cant believe it. My dec holidays has come to an end. Tomr I will be officially stepping into school as a permanent teacher! Of course it will be an exciting day, but I am worried and anxious more than excited.

I don't aspire to do very well in my career given my introverted personality and I dont want to really aim high. But I want to see myself progress well in the school. I want the students to enjoy my lessons and want to be a better teacher each day. I want to have really good classroom management skills too. Well.. just have to see how it goes! Good luck to all my nie batch teachers!

New Zealand Holiday

2009-12-17T14:19:00.000+08:00

Day 1 - on the plane to NZ

Day 2 - Christchurch

We didnt do much for day 2 as we were all tired from the overnight plane.

International Antartica Centre

We took the Hagglund ride and it was really bumpy and FUN!!

We saw some penguins and also experienced a snow storm! It was super chilling and scary, probably similar to the temp i experienced in finland but with strong winds.

cold~~

Day 3 - Hokitika

Hokitika

Lunch was whitebait, a popular fish in this town. We were really looking forward to eating it and were disappointed that it was just some small tiny fish fried with omelette.. diao...

Arthur's Pass

Some lake...

Views from the bus

Christchurch

Near Fox Glacier

Day 4 in New Zealand

2009-12-17T13:49:00.000+08:00

Day 4 - Fox Glacier to Queenstown

Beautiful Fox Glacier

the scene behind is the glacier.. i wanted our photo to turn out this way but no one could get a shot of us with this backgrd

Our tourguide photography skill...

can u spot me?

Beautiful mud

Salmon farm

Nice smoked slamon sandwich

Hot Chocolate is great for cold weather

Scenes taken from the bus... everyday on the bus, the views were like these.

Lake Hawea

Kawarau River

Jet boating which we didnt try

Waterfall

Compare the scenery of this photo with the previous one.. hai..

Fish and chips that cost... i think more than $10 in some normal cafe

Day 5 in New Zealand

2009-12-17T13:00:00.001+08:00

Day 5 - Queenstown, Milford Sound

Scenery just outside the hotel

Visit the mirror lake

I totally love this pic. Look at the reflection of the mountains in the lake. They look even clearer!

A sign that looks like some russian words but says "mirror lake" when u read its reflection

Scenery at Milford Sound.

Taking the cruise

Seals, which looked like small black lumps on the rocks.

Trying to pose with the seals.

Me trying to make Daryl an angel... see the ring of cloud on his head?

This waterfall was really nice!! The cruise went so close to the waterfall that we were drenched from it. And it felt like heavenly rain.

Bye waterfall...

Love the scenery

Kea

Taking the Gondola at Queenstown

Look at the scene from the Gondola!

From up there

Shopping and dinner

Day 6 in New Zealand

2009-12-15T11:11:00.007+08:00

Day 6 - Queenstown & Farmstay

First we went to Arrowtown. We arrived so early that only a few shops were opened, bad planning from Chan Bros la. The whole place looked so deserted that it is better for me to post this photo:

Next, Bungee!! I would have tried if I am a totally healthy person leh. (i think lah) It is high but I think once u overcome the fear of bungee, nothing is scary le. Here is a photo of a guy jumping!

Church of the Good Shepherd

Lake Tekapo

Garden + Fruits and other food souvenirs stall

Farmstay - We were divided into groups of 4 - 5 and dispatched to different farmers for our farmstay. I thought my farmstay was quite fun until i hear the other fellow tour members' experience... one of them got to hug and feed a sheep, ride on a pony and play with the house dogs. I only get to touch the sheep.

Outside the house

Inside the house.. a nice fireplace and cosy living/dining area

Our snack and SUPER yummy dinner, I think the best meal I had in NZ.

Pics of sheep

Their smoke house

We're under the tree!

Life is so simple, quiet, slow and relaxing.

Daryl and the pet cat. They have 2 pet cats, no dogs. :(

Last 2 days in NZ (omg.. the formatting is killing me)

2009-12-11T11:06:00.040+08:00

How good time flies.. my holiday in new zealand ended, really too soon.

In general, sheep roam the country. Mountains, lakes and beautiful green patches of land are all about New Zealand. Sorry for my poor description, but these are all that I see while rotting on the bus for more than half the trip. lol.

So here are the pictures that say it all!

Day 7 - Farmstay & Christchurch

Saying goodbye to our hosts at the Farmstay.

At Farmer's Corner.

Views of Christchurch

Our cute tourguide

tourguide lookalike:

Reminds me of the song, "xiang yao guang zhe jiao ya zai shu shang chang ge...."

Willowbank Wildlife Reserve

Maori Cultural Show

The tribe was so fierce that children were afraid. They recited the "Gambate gambate kora kora..." , which reminded me of my secondary school talentime where my class performed a tribal dance!

Audience engagement

Dinner

Lamb

Diabetic Pavlova.

Last Day (free and easy) - Christchurch
We made some friends along the way from our tour group and decided to spend our last day travelling together. First we went to take the Christchurch Gondola, then to the Wildlife park, Go-kart and lastly dinner and shopping at Christchurch.

On board the Gondola

We could even spot sheep on our way up the mountain! We noticed them when we heard "baa baa..."

Magnificient views from the top.

After lunch, we were off to wildlife park. The highlight of thi attraction was us being caged up in a van and the lions were free to walk around us. They even went on top of the van and the brave zookeepers fed the hungry and ferocious lions meat with their bare hands!

We found a small egg on the ground.

Rhinos behind. There were lots of other animals that can also be foound in sg.

Go kart. It was rather small.. only the 3 of them tried :)

They made him the champion cause he overtook them a few times.. it was quite exciting towatch them!

Huge chess in town!

Last meal in NZ. Big portions.

5 hours before departure for NZ

2009-12-01T12:14:00.000+08:00

Went to school this morning:

Cant believe my CCA is St John Ambulance....
Teaching sec 2 science and sec 3 A and E maths, CME, PW next year!!
And lots of other committees.........................

Acutally quite happy and excited with the arrangement. But gotta start preparing when i come back from hol! Classroom management is still a nightmare to me though they are all express classes. I should stop doubting my skills and build some confidence. (:

NZ here i come!!~~~

2009-11-28T11:00:00.002+08:00

Nov is ending. Just 2 more days and I am off to New Zealand!! How i wish my holiday would last a long long time! Cause when I come back from NZ, it will be time to face reality and start my engines working. I will know which classes I will be taking for next year on the day I will be flying off for NZ. I hope i can try not to think about the classes during my trip and only think when I am back!! *worried* And one more thing... Max is going to miss us for sure, and I am going to miss him badly too.

Just started using Lancome cleanser and toner, they feel so comfortable when applied to the skin, no stinging pain like the Clinque toner that I used previously and the cleanser is so nice and smooth. But it is so expensive..wonder if it will work some miracles for my hopeless skin? I must be dreaming la, my skin is already beyond hope...

I am really looking forward to boarding the plane, resting comfortably with my dar beside me, reading my fav book and knowing that I will fall asleep when my eyes get tired! (i dont usually fall asleep on planes, always have trouble doing so... but i think this time i have found my solution -- my book)

Nov holidays

2009-11-13T10:58:00.004+08:00

It's finally the holidays! Hee.. so happy! But then again, there are preparations to do.. preparation for next year's work and also the wedding programme etc. So many things to keep me occupied. Sort of can relax, but at the same time, if relax too much I think I wont feel good. So I must make sure I'm productive. Hee.

Nothing interesting happened... I wish to wake up from my blurness, if not I dont even know that next week have cme lessons. Haha. And we've to report to school on 30 nov!! and my NZ hol is like 1dec to 9dec!!! Can u imagine if i book a day earlier to go hol? that would be disastrous.

Quite happy with my tuition kids' results, but im gonna drop alot of them for next yr so that i dont work myself to death. My health is ok now, but still get panic attacks sometimes..hais. dunno when i will ever recover from this stupid thyroid thing.

My aims for Nov (before i go on hol):

to pack and refurnish the room for the wedding
to finish up my story books (reading books by Jodi Picoult) - can u imagine me reading books? wahaha. good influence of my nie friends.
to prepare the most i can for the wedding (coming out with ideas and stuff) - so vague hor..

When i come back from hols i must rem to start focusing on my preparations for next year's work!! Gambate!

Went out with hui hui to shop, eat and do pedicure.. nua the whole day away. Heh..

my fav flavours of ice cream! cookies and cream (but this one was so chunky that i cant really taste the ice cream) and green tea ice cream with some red beans in it!

Painted them brown... quit ugly. Haha!!!

Happy day

2009-09-20T00:13:00.003+08:00

today is such a happy day that i just wanna blog abt it so that i will always rem such a happy day!! :) firstly, dar and i went k lunch at jurong safra in the morning! this was to satisfy my ktv craving since dunno when!! and the ktv session with mel & limin yesterday was not enough as I was late cause i went to meet my students first. Hehe.. Yup!! and the ktv being very new was really fun~! we still think that the 3 hrs was not enough though. Haha. The ktv had a touch screen where we select the songs from, and I also recorded 2 songs which daryl sang and blue tooth it to my hp!! COOL rite!

after a fun filled ktv, we went to suntec city games fair and then travel fair, where we booked our dec trip to new zealand!! im so excited abt it! after that we met my parents and went to the food fair to eat dinner. Had laksa, barbecued duck meat, yam paste, fish maw soup, kebab, hungary cake (the one which we had in prague!!) and also the freebie food tasting :) Yum.

In the evening, we went rtc for bowling! and this was the one of the best session i had. daryl's whole family was there, and we played 3 games in total where i scored 149,160,148! so consistent! Dar was even better, he scored 270 in the last game!

when we got home, the ampoule which i bought online on thurs had reached my house by mail already! didnt expect it to come so soon. And the ingredients in the ampoule is exactly the same as the one that i m using right now. I bought my current ampoule from my beautician which costs 69 bucks. it is made in USA. the one which i bought online is made in france and it costs only 18 bucks. Wonder if the result will be the same? Cause my current ampoule is helping me control my oil glands quite well. Wonder if i should switch cause of the price?

happy happy day. Smiles.

Last game:

The bread/biscuit/cake thing that we ate in prague during our exchange:

bored at home

2009-09-16T12:20:00.003+08:00

Though 1 week hols has passed, i am still feeling quite slack!! haha.. for this month, i would only need to go school for 3 days. Woooohooo.. hehe. and each day the max is 4 hrs! (: This period of time is really honeymoon, and i hope it willpass slowly!!

Dug out a photo of my bro and me, taken 4 to 5 years ago.

And then this photo that was taken recently:

I am really looking older!! SOBs. Missing ktv, looking for ppl to go with me! Slacking is so much fun!!!

Practicum Week 10

2009-09-02T10:26:00.000+08:00

Hurray, its the final week of practicum. FINALLY! HAHA. For week 9, i took 3 days of mc.. was feeling sick - cough n fever. until now still sick but better already.

After week 10 is 1 week of sep holidays! So cool rite!

Went Sattine to try my gowns already.. and already finalised the design of my wedding gown, so happy! but i dunno how it will turn out in the end, cause i can only imagine it for now :) So excited to wear my personalised gown!

Quite slack in school now, cause nothing much to do already. Hee.. getting ready to pack and GO! Haha.. i sound like i really hated practicum? no lah. its more of feeling happy that it is all over now.

Max is back to its boh-tak look. daryl's father says he looks like a refugee. Skinny legs! We shaved him cos the room is infested with ticks. we're really having problems about that. Dunno what to do. Been spraying insecticide non-stop but can still find ticks almost everywhere. YUCK.

Practicum Week 8 this week!!

2009-08-17T11:48:00.003+08:00

It is week 8! 3 more weeks to go!!! So excited abt finishing practicum! and guess wat? i actually enjoyed myself in my 2 classes today, although there are ppl still not doing work etc, i act feel quite comfortable in class today. :)

the observation that i had last week with my nie sup and mr lee was quite bad, in my eyes. Cause mr lee didnt feel pleased cause i was sorta rushing through and never slow down. That was cause i was really rushing for time and wanted to finish. Certain questions that my nie sup thinks that i should have asked, i also would have asked if i had the time!! :( so sad. when Mr lee says i would either get pass or credit, i was super disappointed and displeased.. cos i really put in alot of effort and my nie sup gave me 10 double pluses and gave me an excelling grade for classroom management. Hais... i really hope can get my credit loh. 3 ppl (mr lee, me ang and nie sup) will give me my final grade. if i get pass only, it must be mr lee lah. Mr ang already said its a credit most prob. *pouts*

work aside, daryl's birthday is on tues (tmr)! think my creative juices are sucked dry by my work. i have no idea what to do for him... HAHAHA.

Practicum Week 6

2009-08-09T11:54:00.008+08:00

Week 6 was smooth, only 4 days of work, but i actually disappointed myself quite badly once. It was during the math observation. I taught the wrong concept! OMG. i think in my heart i have already failed my math observation!! but my ct was nice enough to tell me that i am still new so still not familiar, ok to make mistakes. to him it may be ok, but to other ct, i would have failed miserably. If i was posted to a sch with strict cts, i die already. So, i am so glad to be blessed with nice CTs. :) hopefully he doesnt tell my phy CT, who will be so disappointed with me..

This weekend is a long one, with friday as the national day celebration, and mon is a public holiday! But guess what, time flies and its SUNDAY now!!! ARGH. really too fast already.. :(

Went to Yanjun's ROM yesterday nite, it was at amara hotel, nice ambience and pretty yanjun! Never seen her without specs before so we were all very surprised and couldnt recognise her at first! After that i went over to daryl's mum birthday celebration where we sang KTV till around 1.45am..

Here are some pics:

Practicum Week 5

2009-08-03T07:53:00.002+08:00

Just realised that i forgot to blog last weekend.

Everything is ok so far. Except that more than half the class failed the math test. which means that whatever that i taught has sort of gone to waste.. only a third of the class are listening while i was teaching. how terrible. :( I was very disappointed with them when i marked the papers, and i am still feeling disappointed. but what to do? gonna have a talk with them bah, but dunno if it works too. SIGH.

Yup and im in the office now, starting a brand new monday again. SIGH. But luckily this week is a short week, with a long weekend ahead too! so really looking forward to it. Friday is national day celebration and mon is a public hol, so cool. :)

back to work! starting lessons at 8.35am.

Practicum Week 4

2009-07-25T17:57:00.004+08:00

Wow, almost halfway there.. 6 more weeks to GO!!! really counting down! busy everyday.. very tired every night. Which is good, cause I had no time to hu si luan xiang, and my thyroid seemed not to be bothering me at all. :)

Have been doing well so far. Observations have been fine, have done 4/10 observations. My math CT said i will prob get a credit. Yay. At least i know, i can teach! Hahaha. But one thing that i hate is, i always go out of tune when i raise my voice. My students can laugh at me a few times each lesson, how diu lian! But I am ok, be teacher must be thick skin, so whatever lah! Another difficult thing is chasing homework from them!! ARGH. really have no idea how to get them to hand in their work. :( I really idolise teachers who can chase students to hand in their work on time, and those who can keep the class really quiet during lessons! For me, my math class can be noisy sometimes. But they can be really good when my ct is around. When my NIE sup came that day, they purposely made alot of funny comments and were so restless!! they purposely one. i asked them where the centre of the circle was and one of them told me it was at my tummy!!! ARGH. But my sup seemed ok, she even laughed during the lesson..

WEEK 5 I will survive!

Practicum Week 3

2009-07-19T22:46:00.005+08:00

It has only been week 3. so slow!! Haha.

Practicum so far has been fine. Both CTs say that I am doing well, and that gives me more stress to do even better, and I keep telling myself I shouldnt go below my usual standard!! I am giving myself quite alot of pressure. OMG. wanna faint.

Yup, my classes are nice to teach in general, but the homework part is sucky, esp the chasing of homework and the marking of copied answers. Seem rather meaningless. Hais. they all are not interested in doing hw.. and i decided to restrict homework to once per week during the weekends.. if not i will have to chase for hw like mad!

Had some good and bad experiences in class, esp with this girl.. initially she refused to do any work, but after scolding me (cause i kept nagging at her) i think she felt guilty and she started doing her work. then i showed appreciation so her attitude became better, i hope for a long period. :) Overall i am still coping well with the class. feels good. But i always have the butterfly in the stomach feeling before entering class! ARGH.

Week 4 here i come!!

Today is our 5th anniversary.. we went to the flyer, shopped, bowled and had a sumptuous meal at the jap restaurant at RTC.

Practicum Week 2

2009-07-11T10:49:00.001+08:00

Yeah! week 2 is over! 8 more weeks to go!

Initially, Meiping and I were sharing one pathetic table in the staff room. Meiping didnt even have space to put her legs while working on the table. Everytime students knock on the staff room door, we had to open it cause we were the nearest to it! And we have to help them to shout for the teacher's name to see if the teacher that they are looking for is ard. We felt really pathetic. However, our nice science HOD found us 2 seats at a cosy corner in the staff room. Now i can finally work in peace and comfort. :)

I started teaching my 2 own classes only on Thurs, and actually both classes were of good experience! They are both sec 3 express classes. My nightmares of noisy and uncooperative classes are over. But i have to be very careful, because now my CT is in the class with me, that may be the reason why they are so quiet while I was teaching... cuz when i entered the 1st class of express for relief, they were quite noisy when i was teaching. the class that im teaching is the 5th class n their behaviour seemed to be much better. My phy class is the 1st class n they are really lovely to teach. :) Super cooperative.

From the feedbacks from my ct, i had a good start with my classes. And hopefully I will progress well n maintain the class in an orderly manner.. its hard to say... when it comes to homework next week, things may change.

JIA YOU myselF!! and to all my frens/colleagues in practicum!

Practicum Week 1

2009-07-04T19:51:00.002+08:00

First week of practicum has passed! it was easy, cause I just had to observe the classes that my CTs are teaching. :) I really like my physics CT, he is the HOD of science. He's really helpful and friendly, someone that I can trust in school. So happy to have a nice CT. Almost as nice as Dr charles chew!! My math CT is also not bad :)

Yup, so next week i will have to start teaching! So scary!!! cant believe that after living for 24 years of my life, my heart still behaves like a child.. not strong enough to face the students and speak with confidence... I am really worried!! esp when the nice CT is looking at my teaching... i dun want to disappoint him as well. :( I must be brave, come on, i can do it!!

Next 8 weeks are gonna be real busy. Homework to mark, lesson plans to write, powerpt presetation to prepare, worksheet and test paper to set etc etc. BUSY!! AND TEACHING in front of many many ppl!! OMG.

Luckily Monday is a holiday! :) happy youth day!

Doggies Day Out and School Reopens

2009-06-28T20:37:00.009+08:00

We went to west coast park as there was a doggies day out event. Max was really naughty, he barked at almost every dog that he saw and was dead tired after the walk-a-jog. haha.. the fun part was the sight of so many dogs walking together!! dogs of many different sizes, from real skinny ones which can run very fast, to the fattest hush puppy! the owner of the hush puppy said something real funny "at the rate you are going, u will take ten years to reach the end!" and he was really walking very very very slowly. So FUNNY!! and cause max was sweating so badly, a boy who saw him went "yuck! this dog got so much saliva!" LOL.

We got lots of free dog snacks and went back after the jog. Think there were different competitions later on for the dogs but i bet max would fail anyway so we didnt stay.. and also the sun was so HOT. maybe if there was a salivating competition or competition for the loudest/noisiest dog, then probably he would win. haha. Was a bit sad that i didnt bring my camera along, i used the phone and took only a few shots:

max with the other schnauzers, can u recognise him? :)

look at this schnauzer with a mohawk

AHHHH my last day of JUNE HOLS is here. (CRY OUT LOUD). time to face reality!!! hope everything will go well. Lao tian ye, please bless me with 2 caring and nice CTs and give me courage!!

2009-06-19T13:10:00.002+08:00

My last week of june holidays is approaching!! Hahaha.. my big plan of preparing all my lesson plans and activities before school reopens failed miserably!! Wahaha... dont care already la. i just pray hard that i will survive, get a minimum of pass for my practicum! I really cross my fingers and hope to have more angels in my classes. The fear of getting kicked out of NIE due to poor practicum is still in me, but I shouldn't be so not confident rite? At least I know I have previous experience with these students before, and expecting the worst may not be a bad thing since i would have set my mind to prepare for the worst? haha. dunno wat i am talking abt le but u know the pressure is there!!!

Going to see the wedding gowns later! So exciting.. for today its just to visit the shop and get a feel of the gowns there and have in mind what i really want. hee.. we have signed up with Sattine cause their featured gowns are wonderful, they dun hard sell and the photographs that they take are superb! wondering what colour of evening gown i should choose. hehe..

Was very touched by the quote Junyong has on his msn - "before you talk about what you want, appreciate what you have". It reflects so well on most human beings, always asking for more and never really see what they already have around them.. greedy human beings. I should be so satisfied that i have a husband who loves me only, no matter how unromantic he is. :) thanks mel!

2009-06-12T08:31:00.004+08:00

Life has been slackish. almost half of my june hols are over, time really flies! how i wish this period of my life will just stop for a long long time, so that i can rest for a long long while!

I am definitely not looking forward to the 29th of june. haha.. that's when my practicum starts, and i can see myself leading a hectic and stressful life. there will be nonstop of lesson plans to write, and everyday i will have to face groups of students who may bully me!! that's what everyone says, i look like a teacher who will be bullied. Sobs.

Of course, i m gonna portray myself otherwise. i am going to try my very best to look like a fierce teacher and act like a strict teacher!! wonder how successful i would be in doing that? I have been giving myself some stress recently, like i've such a long period to rest, i should be spending my time wisely, practising my math and thinking abt how to engage the students and build rapport with them etc... but i am really too lazy to do any of these, and my laziness is creating stress! heh. crazy me..

my plan to go vietnam failed.. cos daryl cannot take leave on time.

i often get envious of ppl who have romantic husbands. husbands who talk abt their wives on facebook, who create surprises, who reads their wives' blog. daryl does none of these, and sometimes i really feel quite upset abt it. but i also dunno whether im reasonably right for being upset? cause i know he is not romantic already, but sometimes i wonder why cant he do a little more rather than sit in front of the tv every night when he's back? or am i really asking too much? sighs. its not that we are having problems.. i'm just wondering abt how we are working this relationship out.

Dr Charles Chew!

2009-05-21T16:53:00.002+08:00

I just wanted to blog about this really much. I have a super wonderful teacher in nie! hehe. He is dr charles chew. The way he engages us in his lessons really makes me go WOW. he is so fun, so friendly, so knowledgeable... too bad my vocabulary is limited else I will really praise him like mad! He was HOD and VP before, and he has even written a text book for physics that the studetns are using now. You see, he is so professional and high up there in his career yet he has no airs around him. He laughed with us during our micro-teaching, make funny jokes and is very very encouraging!

Had my micro teaching today and before I presented, he said that i looked very nervous. Act i was a bit nervous but half the time I was trembling cause the room was too cold. Then he just told me not to be nervous, just present whatever i have prepared. So sweet of him lah. Then at the end of my microteaching, he commented that it was very good cause improved alot from the trial microteaching! I was the only person to get the comment "very good" from him! I dont think it was cause i did better than the rest, it was cause he wanted to encourage me cause of my nervousness! And i thought that was real kind and sweet of him. :)

2009-05-11T15:00:00.001+08:00

2009-05-06T13:14:00.001+08:00

Just one last month in NIE, then im off for a month of june holidays, after which, it would be "hell time" cause its gonna be 10 weeks of practicum. And i heard that i would have to write lesson plans every single day of my life there. OMG. Dreading it. Wondering what i can do during the june holidays to make it a fruitful one? I think i will prob go source for useful teaching materials and do my tys!! haha.. hopefully i wont nua the entire hols away :P

These few days we've been looking for a suitable hotel for our wedding next year. There were lots of ups and downs during the entire process. It is really not easy to find a perfect venue that gives me everything that i want - a perfect name of the hotel, available date, with good food and good ambience, and reasonable price. My dream was to hold it at shangri-la hotel, and to me, everything is just perfect there. but 10apr and 10oct next year are all taken by others already so we've to resort to looking for other hotels.

Daryl's new car has arrived! im soooo happy abt it. But that means that we really really have to spend wisely... i havent bought any clothes since CNY! (i think) Great job!! :)

Going back to my assignments now...

2009-04-26T22:40:00.002+08:00

My skin condition turned really quite bad, cause now i cannot control with doctor's med due to my thyriod problem..I went to see a beautician recommended by my make up artist. Wa, the entire process was damn painful la.. and looked like a hell ghost after the treatment. Quickly put on my makeup so that i could travel home without ppl looking at me with strange eyes. She also told me to drink more juices and stop eating chilli and fried food, both of which are my loves. Sigh.. i will try, but i cannot resist tom yam ramen from ajisen, fried chicken wings and wonderful guo tiao gan with chilli! Think i will not sacrifise everything.. abit still ok la hor. :P my dar made me cucumber juice every night from 3 days ago, as i read about the benefits of cucumber juice from websites and it was also one of the recommended drinks in nie canteen. Sounds really miracle from the website, it is highly alkaline, lowers blood pressure, prevents cancer, helps in constipation, acne, hair, weight loss. I find myself keep wanting to go pee at night cause i drink at night.. maybe i should drink it in the morning...thank you cucumber, please help me! :P

My rom went as planned, actually loved the entire process of it. Thanks to all my lovely friends who came.. i really appreciate. I will be uploading the pics as soon as i get them from the photographer on tues! I will prob upload some here only and mostly in facebook. I think i had a super nice photographer and makeup artist.. will see if the photos are really nice..! So excited! Cant wait for my real wedding.. i wanna wear the lovely white gown!!! :) :) :)

weekend...

2009-03-31T08:47:00.005+08:00

It had been a roller coaster weekend. I was so happy, yet so sad...First of all, due to an e-learning lesson on friday, i didnt have to go to sch - that was happy for me cause i had a looooong weekend! :)

On sat, i attended ms tan's wedding! (my pri 6 teacher 12 yrs back) It was so nice to see other teachers whom i recognized still at the church wedding. Mrs yew, mrs yeo,.... and wang lao shi! the chinese teacher who made us read the text over n over again, and we could still rem what were the first few sentences of the first chap! Ms Tan and her husband wrote their own vows and the buffet lunch was great. Everyone had a place to sit and the entire place was so big with so many people.

After her wedding, xx pearl and i went to catch a movie "confessions of a shopaholic".. now i know im not a shopaholic!!! although my frens always call me one.. NO!!! i feel guilty abt spending money and i dun feel great doing that! and i dun like to use my card too much. i dun like to owe bank or ppl money. talking about money, i will blog more abt the issue that has been making me VERY upset later on.

On sat night, it was the wonderful JJ concert. JJ's concert... how to say ah.. felt closer. Like if i compare wang li hong and his, i can feel that he gives me a more "homely" feeling, he brought us closer to his life, his family and so on. There were a few things in his concert that i really LOVED: the baby Js that he created were soooo cute, the song where he brought his whole family (dad, mum and bro) to perform on their musical instruments tog and he kissed his parents, the part when he asked one of his fans to come up on stage just to sit beside him on the piano and enjoy the music.. and then JJ asked her if she wanted to leave with him, and when she nodded her head, they dissappeared tog backstage.. u know the elevator type of backstage. it was just damn cool.

Sun was just purely tuition, but cause daryl had to play for a competition for RTC, i had to drive myself. Everything was fine and after I had finished the 2 tuition, i was soooo happy. I went to the car park and drove off. And unluckily, while i was going down the slope, the right side of the car scratched the wall la. I was already so shocked and panicky!! i didnt know how to manueve the car so that there would not be any more damage. so i thought i should go ahead a little more and then turn right.. but when i went a bit in front only, i banged at the left side of the head. OMG i was so damn FREAKED OUT. firstly its NOT MY CAR and secondly its DARYL's DAD CAR! ARGH. When i got back i was so damn guilty lah. but daryl's parents are too nice to blame me for anything loh. HAIS IM SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT!!!

OK that was my weekend. now bringing back the point about money. Ya, its the pet shop owner who apporached me the second time to borrow money. cause i feel tat it is not right to borrow money from a customer, and i dont think that i know her very well compared to what she described me as.. like i know her very well le. Also, i feel that as a business woman, u should know better how to generate more revenue to help urself.. u dun have to go around borrowing 500 bucks here and thousand over there. I dunno if its possible, but i just feel that selling 5 packages of grooming, which do not even require assets, can already bring $1000. Moreover, i dont like her service, she behaves like in a damn proud way la.. my dad saw her the first time he was abit irritated with the way she talked already. as for me, i was also irritated the very very first time i saw her and adopted Max. She kept insisting that she wanted the dog to follow daryl and what had that got to do with her? its our dog and WTHECK la. There were many incidents that i was damn irritated la. i mean sometimes she tried to be nice for example when i wanted to buy the retractable leash. She said if i really wanted to buy she could lend me first then try out. But i have already set my mind to buy it but she just insisted that i may not control it properly. I mean.. there is business for u to earn money, just take it lah, the more u say, ppl get more irritated la. like WTHeck i know how to control lah, why u come and doubt me??? many others la. cant really rem and dun want to rem le lah. i am not going there ever again. although she still owes me 2 times of the grooming package. NEVER.

2009-03-24T09:37:00.002+08:00

I shifted from one place to another just to find a suitable spot to listen to my maths lecture online..First i sat at the basement, but found it too noisy cause there were many people walking around. I wanted to stay on and try to listen hard but in the end the internet connection failed me so I had to move. I went to the NIE "garden" there where there were sheltered benches and it was cooling! But after awhile, I found a silly worm crawling on my notes! So I had to move again.. and i shifted to another side of NIE basement and thought I found the perfect place already. It was quiet and the wind was just fine.. but after a while it started to rain and there was water dripping from the gaps of the stairs above.. i'm now squeezing in one corner of the bench. :P Wa.. seriously i should have just gone to Macs in NTU!!

It's like so nearing ROM. So excited now.. but i still have some work to finish before I can enjoy myself during ROM! Hee..this sat will be exciting.. its ms tan's (my pri sch teacher) wedding and then JJ concert at nite.. really must work hard this week to earn a good rest day on Sat! :)

nie days

2009-03-12T18:26:00.003+08:00

NIE is like MADNESS!!!! Oh goodness. I have like super duper many deadlines and I was really stressed for the past week since March started. Its like fighting a battle from March - May. It's really CRAZY. There is just so much work to do that it will be neverending till May. The reason why im really stressed too is cos i still have my ROM to prepare for!! ARGH.

Good thing that i made some really nice friends in NIE, other than Eunice! Huihui n alethea are 2 dearie friends who are keeping me company in school. Huihui has dogs at home! and we are quite similar in many ways - she is very sensitive like me too, she is so nice. Alethea says that we are like primary school mates, meeting each other everyday in school, we will sometimes behave childishly in class and make fun of teacher's pronounciations.. :P alethea is like so different from me - she is so loud, smart and speaks with a slang. the first time i knew that i had the exact same timetable as her, i was like so afriad that we wouldnt like each other because we are so very different. but i really love her.

2009-02-13T09:43:00.002+08:00

Only 6 of the 48 magnets that I have ordered arrvied. I'm anxiously waiting for the rest to come!! argh, why do they take soooo long?? The girl sent out tog in 2 parcels - 1 big 1 small. And only the small one arrived. The magnets are ok, just not as nice as i imagined it to be... :)

Feb is halfway through, i am so not looking forward to maRch!! sigh. I will be so busy gg to school everyday after march starts. But there is the JJ conert on 28mar that i am really looking forward to though. Hehe.

SC hasnt replied at all, and i sent an email to them again 2 days ago to "remind" them but still no replies. Hais, think i m just not fated to teach there! So i wont change my address le..only this way i will have some chance to be posted to the same sch as eunice! heh.

This year's vdae will be different, as we will be shopping for our presents, and also our wedding deco! It will be fun, but stressful!! wat if we cant find anything to decorate?

HP EliteBook 6930p

2009-02-03T22:28:00.004+08:00

Oh my god!!! I shouldnt have bought my sony vaio. It really sucks. I went to NIE with Eunice today to loan a HP laptop for $38.50 for a year. It's like a damn good deal lah, and the lappie is really good!! I really like it alot, and it's much faster than my SONY. Oh mans. I am so sad. Cause I'm really starting to hate my sony now. It is slow, my desktop wallpaper cannot display well and my iTunes kept going crazy!! I am really mad at my sony. SOBzzz

Hehe.. studied with eunice in nie today. Also dunno how to say, but she's so fun to be with and if there's anyone who could really influence me so much, its really her! haha.. so glad to find such a good fren. :)

Save the Date Magnets!

2009-01-30T11:01:00.008+08:00

Yeah.. I am done with the invitation for ppl to my ROM day! I just need to wait for it to be sent to me then i can start giving out! But there are still so much to prepare for the big day. Oh my god.

Here are the designs that I have chosen. Thanks to Sharon Fitzsimons from Heaven Sent Designs, UK. :) They are created by her and they will be shipped to me by next week.

Actually wanted to wait till they are here then let my friends choose, but think they are so lovely i just wanted to post them here. hehee.

Hais.. now pondering whether i should change my address. I applied for SCGS but then they have not replied me yet. Come to think about it now, though i wanted to teach in SC so badly just a few weeks ago, i dont really mind if i dont go SC for my practicum liao. Just hope that i will get a good mentor that will help me and not torture me. And also, i want to have a chance to get into the same sch as Eunice too. But if i change my add, the probablity of that will go to 0. If i dont change, my chances of getting SC or a better sch will be lower.

Chinese New Year!

2009-01-29T22:54:00.009+08:00

Chinese New Year was so much fun!! 2 nights of mahjong at home and 1 day of blackjack at daryl's house!! I simply love little gambles! :) great entertainment to me.. hahaha. Too bad this year's CNY is like so shoRT. Next year is gonna be exactly the same...boo.. lousy!!

Here are some photos taken during CNY, I dressed Max up!

joan my cousin

this is how much we look alike

The papaya tree at my grandparent's house!!

a BIG bunch of bananas!

Sigh, these few days i've slacked so much. Simply forgot abt school work, didnt print notes to school and never study for my maths test that is coming very soon! Feeling quite stressed now but dont feel lik starting my engine at all. This is really bad :(

My family had dinner with daryl's today and we lau yu sheng! :):):)

CNY eve

2009-01-25T12:59:00.006+08:00

Today is the eve of Chinese New Year already. Time really flies. Cant wait to start gambling... :P

Yesterday Daryl went for a bowling competition at RTC and was the champion!! SO good! LOL. It was so exciting!! hehe.. he won $330 worth of vouchers to eat at RTC. heheh. I also played a few games at night after the competition. I improved!! yesterday all my games were above 130. yipee.

As time passes and feb comes, i am going to get so much busier. have to start thinking about how to write my essays and beware of deadlines. And also my Maths test is coming. have to cope with my tuition too. Hais.. sometimes i really think im not really up to the stress that i am gg to face cause of my thyroid problem. Sighs. But i will just try my best.

2009-01-21T22:19:00.004+08:00

Saw my thyroid doc today. As expected, she said my case was unusual, and i am her 2nd patient to suffer such a relapse. She advised me to go for radioactive iodine treatment once my thyroid is back to normal working condition, cause my thyroid condition is unpredictable and thus difficult to control using PTU (the med that i am currently taking). Sigh. I wonder why i have such bad luck!

CNY is coming, and i really hope that my thyroid condition wont affect my mood for the new year. Bought 3 new tops from HURS. think i really like the clothes from there. Got the membership already! :) Looking forward to the CNY break and time to spend with my family n daryl... and also the GAMBLING!! haha.. it will be fun.

Thyroid relapse :(

2009-01-19T09:52:00.003+08:00

I suffered a relapse for my thyroid even though i am under medication. Very sad case.. sigh. Can't wait to see my thyroid doctor to ask her why I did and my chances of recovering in future. Sighz. Why am I so unlucky and weak leh? It's really a very bad start for 2009 and a lousy ending before Chinese New Year arrives. Sobs.

I am so glad that these few days.. I've seen daryl's care for me. He fetched me to the hospital in the middle of the night, reminded me abt taking my mecidine, bought me a present, treated me to a nice dinner etc. Really very happy that he will love me even though I have illness. Thank you so much.

2009-01-13T10:26:00.003+08:00

Is a driving license or a marriage license more important? We need to go for lessons and tests before we can get our driving license, and so why does a marriage license not require anything? Daryl and I met the solemniser last night, and he gave us alot of advices and told us simple stories of life. he encouraged us to go for lessons before marriage and even a few yrs after marriage as refresher courses. now i do think that these are impt! anyway we plan to have a simple rom in april and will do the customary one sometime later. :)

Max was sick for the past week. He vomited and had diahorea and was admitted to the vet's hosipital. It was really sad to see him locked up in a cage. The nurses mentioned that he was a good boy and cooperated well. But when i visited him, he started to go crazy and screamed and whined. He couldnt stop even after I left. It was really heart breaking to see him alone and sad in the small little enclosed area. He lost about a kg since he was sick. I am glad he's back home with me now. Poor thing.

1st post of 2009

2009-01-03T15:16:00.004+08:00

It's a brand new year!!! What new year resolutions do i have? Hmm.. haven't really thought about it but I've new year wishes!! I wish that all the people around me and whom i love be healthy and happy!

NIE has finally started. 2nd jan marked the end of my holidays. But im still kinda in a holiday mood.. haha. Very glad to be back in school again with a new environment. Definitely gonna make new friends/coursemates again.. i'm not a very sociable person so not really looking forward to that tho. :P but i've tO!! So my new year resolution is to become more open to pple.. haha. lookin at the 9 modules already planned for me on my timetable and there's more to come, life is gonna turn busy for me definitely.

Bought a new laptop sony vaio to accompany me electronically for the next few years. Something brand new to keep my life interesting and fun!!!

Looking ahead at the 2009 calendar, my rom date is fixed on the 10th of april. excited! Lovelove!! i've got to learn to have more trust and faith in my relationship with daryl... another new year resolution. :)

abt...life?

2008-12-19T23:51:00.003+08:00

Had this sudden urge to post after hearing the news about chew chor meng. The cells and genes in our body are constantly multiplying and growing..and you never know when they are going to mutate. worse still, there is nothing you can do to control your cells. I feel really sad for him, and this news really depresses me.

There are thousand types of illnesses in this world..why are some ppl lucky and some so unfortunate? Life is not fair, and is so frightening.

i will be signing the bond with moe tmr, and that will confirm that for the next 4 years i will be in the teaching line. life is too short to regret anything that is 4 yrs long. So no matter wat, i will try my very best to do well in my career.

Amelia's sis wedding @ Conrad

2008-12-18T09:23:00.003+08:00

My bro's gf's sister wedding was held at Conrad. The food and ambience were both great. The bride is sooo pretty and slim.

my pretty future sister-in-law and my family! :P her makeup is sooo nicee.

Holiday is ending soon, meaning the start of my nie days is coming.. really quite sad that my slacking days are almost over, but at the same time i'm excited to start a new year!! I just hope that i wont get too stressed and hav breakouts nonstop.

Standard Chartered Marathon

2008-12-08T12:08:00.007+08:00

This was the first time I went for a marathon! Of course I didn't run the marathon...I joined the 10km run for women with Meiqing. Steven and Daryl went for the half marathon. Was supposed to train for it like half a year ago, but I was too lazy to train and only ran about 3km once in 2 weeks during the last 2 mths before the race. Ha.. I was very anxious the day before and was pondering whether to go or not cause i was almost sitting for an exam without studying!

Running with meiqing was good. she kept me going, and we didnt stop at all for the entire run! But due to my lack of training, after 1h15mins of running, i was damn shagged. Felt a little dizzy and nauseous by the end of it.. and took a long while to cool down. But the entire experience was good. It was so difficult to push on esp for the last 2km but I still continued to run..

JJ photoshoot session!

2008-11-27T11:30:00.005+08:00

The most exciting thing that I've done this week was going to JJ's bai zhao hui!!! Yes!! I've been right beside that singapore most talented n cute superstar and had taken a photo with him! How cool is that!!

The entire process was so memorable. Mingwai and I were queueing up 2.5 hours before the actual event started.. I was holding on tightly to the coupon that i needed in order to take a photo with him, so damn excited to see him in real life beside me! The last time I saw him straight in the face was not his yan chang hui, that one i had to look at the screen to capture the expressions on his face. It was in suntec city quite late after his performance and I pretended not to know him cause it was just too shocking to see him walk right past me and yanjun when the suntec mall was already deserted.

So anyway, he appeared and received the loudest screams of welcome from our side of the queue! It was so fun to see him sing a few songs without music. He also sang the duet with 2 girls and even held their hands while singing! I couldn't have managed to control my emotions if I was the one up there. Haha, it would have felt so diu lian and scary to me. Soon we were up the stage to take photo with him one by one.

The following that I am going to describe happened in just a few seconds and it was all over. When it was my turn, i placed my bag beside me and then went next to him. We exchanged a faint "hello" and I was smiling at the camera, and my mouth was actually shaking while smiling. haha.. so funny rite.. I leaned towards his side, not wanting to look far and distant from him. After 2 shots, I shook his hands and said jia you! He said xie xie and then i was down the stage.

I worried if i actually looked into the camera because i really felt blur on stage. What if i ruined the photo by not looking at the camera?

The photo has been sent to us thru email. I dunno whether i should post it here cos i dont really like the photo. it looks abit like im leaning too close to him and it looks weird. I didnt mean to be so close to him. In fact, i din even feel his face beside mine at all when i took the photo leh. i dunno how this photo portrayed me leaning on his shoulders. its really wierd. Seriously, i dont like the photo. i just wanted to look like an onz and supportive fan and not a se lang. haiz.. but once again the entire experience of meeting him was fantastic! and a photo to keep as a momento forever!

ktv with colleagues!

2008-11-19T17:26:00.004+08:00

Our school holidays are finally here! and see what we're doing while everyone else is working?? :P

Ktv sessions are really different with different groups of ppl.

different songs,

different tastes,

different voices,

totally different atmostphere!

eunice jumping up and down the sofa :P

the sad love songs and the happy ones... it was so much fun!

Blur Queen

2008-10-29T20:53:00.003+08:00

Yes, the blur queen is me. Sometimes I cant help but call myself a sotong. I am really a BIG sotong. Everyone thinks so too. But I don't wanna be. :(

I went to Yishun Polyclinic to get my referral letter to the dermatologist@NUH and also to do my insurance thyroid function test. The fees for this test would be paid by NTUC income so I actually did not have to pay for anything at all. After waiting for hours at the polyclinic, I was finally done and went to the check-out counter, expecting not to pay any money at all.. The girl at the counter said that I will have to pay for it because I was at the wrong clinic! It was stated in the letter that I should go to Yishun Central clinic, not Yishun polyclinic! arghh... so on my way back to yishun interchange, I called my adviser to check if i could claim the money etc and she told me most prob can't. It was also very troublesome cuz i have to go back to the polyclinic to collect the test and then send it to ntuc. She told me to go to central clinic and do the test again. As i was talking to her and getting off the bus, I wanted to throw my plaster away. I dunno how my brain and my hand coordinate.. i threw my EZlink card into the bin! I was shocked the moment i did that and had no choice but to dip my hands into the disgusting bin to get my card. Luckily the amt of rubbish in the bin was huge enough for me to reach for the card. Arggh...

so that was wat happened today. and i actually took a wrong bus to fuchun sec too. sigh.

Happy Birthday Choon & Yanjun! & bro!!

2008-10-22T14:56:00.009+08:00

We celebrated choon and yanjun's birthday at the sun and moon japanese restaurant at borders. The ambience was quite nice and there are many women whom we termed as taitais cause they wore scarfs around their necks. Haha..so to look taitai just wear scarf can le :P

The serving size was okay, just enough for ladies but i think not enough for guys. The usual me had unagi rice which was of course of good standard. Ming and choon ate something more special and they even placed an hr glass timer on top of the food cover.

Yanjun and choon with their lovely cake:

Celebrated my brother's 21st birthday too. Look at his wonderful cake that I bought. It's the monopoly board game design!

My blur account in school:

I had forgotten to bring my handphone to school and needed it badly to inform my tuition girl that I could not make it for the tuition because I had to stay back in school for my meeting. So one of my kind colleagues, Gavin, drove me back to get my handphone before the meeting. I was happy to be back in school with my handphone and then suddenly i realised that I was wearing slippers! I accidentally wore my slippers out when I got my handphone from my house! So poor Gavin has to drive me back again to change to my heels... :P

nearing hols~

2008-10-13T17:01:00.004+08:00

Exams are just over for sec1 to 3s.. during exam life was really quite slack. Now we're left with a week and a half more of lessons and then the sec1 to 3s will disappear from sch for holidays. As for me and my 2 buds, we'll be doing 'o' level invigilation frm the 20th oct to 12th nov, after which we will go back to sch for 2 more days and then holidays for us too. Yipee!

But my future is so uncertain... sighs. When am i going to nie? We asked our HOD today, then for a moment he said the appraisal forms are not here yet then when we reminded him that the forms did come and was with mr alawden (the senior teacher), then he remembered it was mr alawden who filled in the forms. He said the 3 of us are satisfactory in our performance so can go.. and i think the forms should be submitted already. So the next step should be to wait for NIE to send us the letter to sign the contract..sigh, wonder if the 3 of us can really go nie together in Jan? I really dont wanna stay for another half a year :(

Here are the 3 good friends in evergreen :) from left, eunice, siyun and me!

Went for a-mei's concert last last sat, it was damn good! But then it wasn't really my type of concert cause it was very disco-ish. I prefer liang jing ru's sweetish type of concert. Hee. But then I also like abit of fast music type like JJ's! But overall, a-mei's concert was super.

Here is a photo of max enjoying the softness of the bed and pillow. He loves to sleep like this:

'school' days

2008-09-19T13:49:00.002+08:00

Time flies when im teaching.. its has been almost another month since i last updated my outdated blog. Life is not too bad as a teacher.. well for the advantage of going home early, i wouldnt say that its an advantage anymore, cause the office was talking abt us, the contract teachers having nothing to do n going home early. Can't they be more understanding that we are just contract teachers and there are some ppl who would prefer to bring work hm rather than stay for long hrs in the office? Politics.. sigh.

2 more UGTs came into our school abt a week ago, and its such a great thing cause i can clique so well with the new girl! haha, the type of friend that can go on chatting with me for hrs..she's friendly, easily amused, and she's almost the same pattern as me: neither ang moh pai nor china pai...listen to both eng n chi songs. She's also abit like me, will worry abt certain things happening in sch etc. so fun to be with as far as i know her.

I really think my tennis teacher is damn gd..he was the only coach who came yesterday and we had 12 ppl for the lesson. yet he could manage all of us so well. Usually there would be 2 to 3 coaches to help out for the lesson.

I'm so glad that today's friday, its time for some rest and nuahing at home.

1 month update...

2008-08-23T19:41:00.002+08:00

It has been a month since I started working. As for now, being paid is the best thing about working life, as there will be enough money to spend and to save as well. Although I am not earning big bucks, at least I don't have to ask for money from my parents, and I can even give my mum a dinner treat on her birthday! It's a sense of accomplishment and happiness.

As for how well I'm coping with my teaching career, well... I can't say that I am enjoying my job, neither do I dislike it. Firstly, dealing with problematic students is one thing that i hate most about my job. But I guess that's the bulk of what teaching is about. Secondly, I tend to forget some academic stuff here n there and it feels really upsetting when i can't give a student the correct ans. For this part, i think i am really not experienced enough to deal with such situations appropriately and professionally. Sometimes when I know that certain students dislike me, I tend to get abit upset abt myself. But i know that this cant be helped, since I cant have everyone to like me, unless im really a very very gd teacher which can only come with many yrs of experience. Apart from these, there are good students whom i enjoy teaching.. Think i'm more suitable to be a tutor coz i like students who wanna learn to learn from me. I hate forcing unwilling students to learn willingly.. that's a v v hard part. And going home at 2 plus on all days and 12plus on fri is one good thing that contract teachers get to enjoy most of the time. Well its still a long way to go for me. And there's so much to learn as a teacher.

Weekend is so precious to me nowadays. I look forward to it everyday and i enjoy friday nights the most, knowing that i have 2 days to rest ahead. cant wait to watch WallE next weekend! and i'll have my one week sep hols as well!

Beginning my career as a teacher

2008-07-29T20:48:00.004+08:00

A classroom can be heaven or hell, and I've finally experienced both. I'm currently co-teaching 3 diffferent classes with another teacher, shaun, and taking 2 classes on my own. The 45 sec 3 express who've dropped out of amaths have given me headache since i started teaching them. No matter how hard i tried to shout at them, they talked loudy, drew on the table, joked ard like clowns... partly cos the lesson was conducted in the library, they walked ard enjoying the aircon like nobody's business. some complained that the aircon was too cold, and most of them were doing other work or chatting ard when i asked them to do work. its really quite depressing when u see them like tt.. i ended up sitting alone in the staff room stoning almost an hour after the lesson. its like so tiring and upsetting tt i dun feel like doing anything at all and occassionally my mind would switch bac to the chaotic scene in the library, only thinking of how to 'take revenge' again the next lesson.

And then there was heaven. I'm also taking 5 sec3 normal acad students who were chosen to do emaths 'o' levels next yr. It was really so touching when i saw them copying the notes down when i was teaching. And they obediently finished the homework that i asked them to do. There was great sense of acheivement when they understood what i taught.. :)

Teaching can be fun but also can be stressful lor.. i will try not to give up too easily. Hopefully i will grow stronger, fiercer and better at controlling crazily noisy classes..

Dog Fight

2008-07-08T09:08:00.006+08:00

I'm happy that I'm finally back to the exercising days! After resting my heart for so long, its time to start burning my fats..though i have not built up much fats when my thyroid was overactive. It's much better now and i'm returning to those days where i will put on weight if i eat extra food after my 3 meals. Seems much normal and better this way. Dont like the feeling of gorgin myself with food and still losing abit of weight..

Brought max over to daryl's house for the past few days, and max was unluckily bitten by gigantic Storm on the right hand. Actually max was quarrelling with bruno (why they always quarrel i dont get it), and then storm started to make noise outside the window. So then my act-fierce dog went to the window to bark at Storm. The window is those floor to ceiling type u see, and Storm used his mouth to push open the window. The next thing I knew, I started to scream when max's hand ended up in Storm's mouth. Daryl quickly pulled it back and then there was blood leaking from his hand. of cos i started to cry and we quickly brought max to the vet. It felt painful cos max was whining.. Luckily there were only 1 abrasion and 2 puncture wounds. Now he's much better.

max wearing the e-collar to prevent it from licking its wound.

Here's something interesting... The 4 dogs in daryl's house have different barking sounds.
max - always calls for meat - "rou rou"
potato - always in pain - "aw aw"
bruno - always trying to get up the roof - "wroof wroof"
storm - wooyoaeoh..??? some funny sound i can't spell.

malaysia

2008-06-28T11:52:00.005+08:00

We went for our relatives' house warming party and spent a day in KL. My malaysia relatives all live in big houses cuz the houses there are so much more affordable. Even our 5 room hdb flat is more expensive than a 3 storey high terrace over there..

Elaine and I.

My nephew :)

Her cute rabbit hairband!

Random Photos from Tokyo!

2008-06-20T23:31:00.025+08:00

I am quite tired to blog on everyday of Tokyo, so I decided to just pick out some photos that are worth blogging...

Yummy Pork Noodles!

Palette Town in Odaiba. There is a ferris wheel, a super huge arcarde with any games that you may wanna play, including baseball, Toyota showroom, shopping etc.

Ramen which is superb. The meat is so soft and tender! And the egg is not totally hard boiled, its yolk is half watery. I love to drink the yolk.

Rainbow bridge

Tokyo from above from the metropolitan government building

Meiji Shrine

Takeshita Street

Harajuku

Check out the newest hangar-on-my-back fashion. Amazing.

Tsukiji Fish Market

Imperial Palace. Think this photo was badly taken, but it really depends on your luck on who you get to help take photo..

Ueno Park. I thought this lake looked damn disgusting.

Big TacoPachi balls!

Asakusa Temple

'Mua chi'

Check out our Li Guo Huang tourguide

Some photos taken from the night parade in Tokyo Disneyland

Boo!

Tokyo DisneySea

2008-06-13T10:27:00.023+08:00

Let me start off talking about Tokyo with Tokyo Disneysea! It is really beautifuL!! I am abit lazy to describe the rest of tokyo and disneyland, but i will try to see if i've time to blog. Going Malaysia tonight already.

Greetings from the characters! See Mickey and Minnie waving at us?

Sceneries.......

We took almost all the rides that we should take cause it was not as crowded in disneysea as compared to disneyland. I like the 20000 Leagues under the sea ride where we were sitting in a cable car and we had illusions that we were really under the sea.

A crazily exciting ride. Can you spot us?

Roller Coaster

Sinbad's story

Mermaid's Lagoon

Photo with lovely Mermaid. Thought she wld be a Japanese but she's an ang mo!

This is my favourite! House of Terror. There are always ppl screaming. Not that the things inside are scary you know... It's actually a ride. Daryl didn't want to take it after he knew that it was a free fall ride so I took it myself. So I sat in a lift together with other ppl and then the lift moved up and up and showed us scary stuff. I even saw myself in the mirror becoming a ghost. And then the lift just fell all the way from the top to the bottom. And then up again and down again.. think 2 or 3 times. When this happened I knew Daryl made a right choice not to take this ride, else i would have to walk ard Disneysea with a green face man. Although i really wished there was someone who had shared this with me. The ride was really funny and my legs and hands were shaking when I came out!!

A picture that was taken while I was taking the ride. There was a little boy in front of me who was so scared that when he came out and walked a few steps, his legs were wobbly and he just laid on the ground. Haha.

Spring carnival.

Kiddy cutsey ride

Water ride

Venetian Gondola ride! They made the place really like Venice!

Pinochio

More sceneries...

Tokyo Disney is 25!

Grad Trip - Japan, Hokkaido

2008-06-11T08:24:00.023+08:00

Day 4 in Hokkaido.

First, to Otaru! The place where they sell glass and musical boxes. The whole street was super long and we wished we had more time, cause its a good place to buy nice souvenirs. This was the most rushing part of our journey.

We also spent some time in this shop where the coffee was really good! We can take the cups back after finishing the drink. :) Feels like we're buying the cups instead. Lovely Kitty cups!

Lunch - smoked fish with other dishes.

The Otaru Canal

Then we travelled to Sapporo. Bai se lian ren factory!!! This chocolate factory is very famous in Japan, and maybe over the world too. They are very branded. Other companies try to copy them and gave similar names to their chocolates but they are still the most popular. I love their chocolate, which is covered with 2 layers of biscuits. It is delicious. Part of why I really wanna come to Japan is to grab these chocolates back! The other time when Daryl came, they got to visit the factory and see how they make them but now we don't get to visit it anymore.

The factory is beautiful, and its outside is like a big beautiful garden.

Then we went to the Sapporo TV Tower.

There were also many pretty flowers in its surroundings.

Dinner!

Night shopping

Day 5 was shopping and then taking the plane back to Tokyo. Then we continued to shop at a factory outlet. And then we stayed at the ANA Crowne Plaza, a real high class hotel!

On Day 6 we explored the shopping area at Narita (Jusco, 100 yen shop, UniQLo). Then after which we said goodbye to our tour group ppl at the airport and travelled to Tokyo ourselves. :)

Grad Trip - Japan, Hokkaido

2008-06-10T13:51:00.021+08:00

Day 3 in Hokkaido

First up was visiting the Ninja place.

In there, there was a zhao cai mao temple. There were also other performances and we also went to a maze where we had to find our way out through many doors and dizzy slanting paths. Actually it was rather easy to find our way out but out tourguide blocked the exit the first time round and we thought it was the wrong way and a dead end. Haha.

Lunch - big steamboat

Garden outside restaurant. Pretty red tree :)

Pu gong ying

Spent about 3 hours travelling to Furano to visit the Lavender Farm (Farm Tomita ). Too bad the season is not here yet (July). We only got to see one row of lavenders, but i guess its better than nothing! Love the purple.

There were many rows of these pretty flowers - white, yellow, orange. But I still don't know the name of these flowers. Anyone help?

click on it for a larger photo

We stopped by this shop called "Ampanman Shop". It is supposedly famous and popular among japanese. It is a cartoon character created by the japs. Quite funny looking character.

Dumb faces.

Buffet dinner. Crab legs!!!

Grad Trip - Japan, Hokkaido

2008-06-10T09:29:00.025+08:00

Day 2 in Hokkaido - Probably the most fruitful day in the entire trip. We really did many things in a day and ate many fruits!

In the morning, just outside the hotel... the place looked heavenly as the clouds covered the hills beside the lake.

Beautiful flowers outside

First, a cruise at Lake Toya

to Hokkaido National Park

Deers!!

The castle ship that we took

See that little island behind? It's the smallest among the 3 there. The one that I was standing on is the biggest.

Ice-cream making at Lake Hill Farm. It was surprising that ice-cream could be hand made! I always thought that ice-cream could only be made by machine. It wasn't too difficult to make after all. It was definitely fun and we got to eat our own ice-cream. Yumm.

I've the recipe!!

Teppanyaki lunch

Apple trees

Highlight of the day!! Picking strawberries! Firstly, strawberries are expensive. Secondly, Daryl and I love strawberries. Thirdly, we got to cut any big juicy strawberries that we wanted to eat. Fourthly, it was a strawberry buffet! Fifth, there were rows and rows of strawberries.

We could eat all we wanted and of course by the end, my stomach was bulging with fibre. We could just eat them without washing cause they did not have pesticide or chemicals on them. Yummy! They were BIG, SWEET, RED and juicy! Simply loved it.

I will always remember this strawberries moment.

Flowers near the strawberry garden.

Hell Valley in Noboribetsu. It was really smelly! Sulphur!!

After that we had our own free time to shop along the street near our hotel. We crazily bought many many souvenirs over here.

Sumptuous dinner again!! And then it was wen quan time before a piggie's sleep.

Grad Trip - Japan, Hokkaido

2008-06-09T20:35:00.012+08:00

Before I start my story on my fabulous Japan trip, I must say that this was the most memorable and wonderful holiday I had. This is cause i had no exams, nothing to worry about etc. Thanks to my parents for taking care of max while i was away. Moreover, Japan has been the country I want to visit all along. The things are really Cawaii!! Most Japanese are full of courtesy. It was a dream come true lovely holiday. Hehe. So here we gooooo!

Day 1 in Hokkaido.

I was tired. Couldn't sleep on the overnight plane at all...
Our very first meal there. We had hairy crab legs. And our tour guide looked like and behaved like Mark Lee!! He was hilarious and I seemed to be able to take in every word he said. I think the way a tour guide speaks is quite important.. during my taiwan trip, I fell asleep everytime he started to talk, while Eric (our guide's name) made me laugh and enjoy my days there very much. Btw, he teased me everyday, I dunno why. Haha.

First to Ainu Village. We get to watch some performances by the pple there and learn about the past. I liked it cause the history was not too much and interesting(unlike tt time when i was in berlin where i was flooded with history by the free tour guide). I am not a History-loving ger so a little history here n there is enough for me. :)

Mount Showa - Probably a substitute for Mt Fuji (haha, we were too lazy to travel there in Tokyo later on)

Bear Ranch - We got to feed the bears with apples/cookies. It was real fun cos the bear could catch them accurately! And they would make noise or wave at us to catch our attention so that we would give them the food in our hands.

The Japanese Style Room that we lived in... Beautiful Lake Toya scenery outside. The mattress for sleeping was only laid for us after dinner. The table had to be shifted to one side to allow space for the mattress. Although it was good experience living in such a room, it can't be compared to all the other westernized hotel rooms that we lived in for the days after. It wasn't too comfortable sleeping on the mattress on the floor.

This hotel had the traditional 'wen quan' in Japan. Had to go in naked! I went to try of course..It was weird when I saw my own tour group ppl, but it was not so when I saw other japanese. they wouldnt look at one another so it didnt feel weird at all. Of course, males n females were seperated.

Dinner in kimono! The dinner was sumptuous!! A variety of food in small servings...udon, fish, chawamushi, crab,..... ate until fullfull! I took 2 slices of sashimi.. and then suffered at night, kept sweating. I think i can't eat raw food else my thyroid will activate.

Beautiful fireworks outside our hotel at Lake Toya

Hitomi in Sg

2008-05-18T12:40:00.005+08:00

Hitomi is in Singapore! It is so fun to have her here... She has been studying and living in Finland for the past few years, and that's how we got to know her. And we're gng to Japan soon as well, just that unfortunately she would still be in Finland at that time.

Of course, we brought them to eat DURIANS, mangosteens, rambutans, beancurd, ba gua etc. It was fun sharing all the local food. We ordered so many varieties of food including rojak, stingray, kangkong, cereal prawns, lala, etc. Newton Circus is such a touristy place.. but the quality of food is not bad la. There are so many stalls selling the same food tho..

This is my Max aka Wall E.

Max!

2008-05-09T12:54:00.005+08:00

Finally, i m done with examinations. Still have 2 presentations left to go on mon and wed and im free from school ever after!! Can't believe I'm graduating le, and this would be the end of lessons and exams etc for me. I guess I will miss school in future but not for now.. :) But thinking that I would still be stepping into schools again in future... hmm..

I am definitely going to talk about my baby boy dog, Max!! hehe.. he is so cute. I adopted him on 4/5/2008. He is a 11month old minature schnauzer, salt and pepper, super active, loves company and only pees outside the house, which is a sad case cause if no one is free to bring him out, he will have to hold it. I would have named it Kimi or Wallie if his previous owner hadn't given him a name. I really love him soooo much. So looking forward to my Japan trip but at the same time worried about him.. cause when I go out for about 45 mins or more and return, he will jump and hop and scratch me cause he is too excited. I wonder what will happen if I never see him for 1 or 2 weeks..

Diagnosed with Thyroid

2008-04-08T22:13:00.003+08:00

My heart was a little unwell that's all. No.. it became worse, and I decided that it was time to seek medical help after my mid term and quiz. My mum took me to ttsh on the night of 29 March. That night, my life changed.

My heart was racing as I was waiting to see the doctor after midnight. When the nurse took my heartrate and blood pressure, it was the most shocking thing to know. 144 beats/min, my blood pressure rose to 150. I lay on the bed the entire night with my eyes wide open and my heart racing like I was exercising crazily. My mum accompanied me the whole night and didn't get to sleep.

At about 4 or 5am, the blood test showed that I have hyperthyriodism, as predicted by the doctor when she saw me earlier. My heart sank, and I know from that point onwards, that I will no longer be the healthy, sporty and happy yvonne again.

The past week had been tedious for me, as my heart was not really stable and some nights i broke out in cold sweat and my heart raced again. For now, I can only pray and hope that throughout the 1.5 years that I am under medication, nothing bad happens. And after I can stop my medication, I would not suffer a relapse ever again. And the doc told me the chance is only 40%.

Of course I am sad. I am worried. I am tired. I want to be healthy, so that I can have healthy babies in future. But there is no point being worried, since I can do nothing at all to change my fate. I can only pray. :(

tiring

2008-03-21T23:02:00.005+08:00

This is my new fav song! hehe.. Chris Brown-with you. Love the beat, the music, the voice! Think the version on my blog is abit unclear.. visit youtube for a better version.

My fyp is almost done and im quite happy with it, though there are some mistakes here n there but at least, the bulk of it is finally over and done with. sigh.. been rather displeased with moe's response so far. One month ago, before I went for an interview on 22feb, I received their letter informing me that i've been shortlisted. But the programme that they indicated on the letter was incorrect.. mine was supposed to be PGDE, and they put BSc instead, which was for ppl who have just finished their A levels. Now after the interview, they havent replied me after 15 working days... I called them they told me to email them instead. So i did so, and they smsed me with a msg telling me that they are pleased to offer me a position and told me to check my email for further details. I was so eager to know what they have given me, but I didn't received any email at all. Now I've got to wait again. this is getting quite irritating. It is really very tiring to wait for people to reply.

Joining tennis intermediate classes already.. but sometimes i just feel like a beginner. I have this habit of slapping the ball. but finally at least i know how to hit the ball decently. Golf for me is still quite terrible. Sigh. its hard. But i do enjoy bowling alot.. :)

Another milestone on 28 Mar, hand in SDP poster, FYP report, FNA test and Forensic test all on the same day.

I'm so exicited about my graduation trip, though its just me and Daryl, its gonna be very very exciting to go Japan with my bloved one...Japan has always been the country i wana visit. I know its ex, but I just wanna go!!! Really look forward to 24th May~

buzzzy

2008-02-28T23:26:00.003+08:00

Life hasnt been very good. Currently i'm busy with projects & mid term test.

Chinese new year was okay, most of the days were spent gambling. but still, many unlucky things happened to me la. So much that i dun really wanna talk about them or rem them anymore. I am still very upset about the shoe thing with daryl's bro n gf tho. but alr xiao qi after so long.

moe interview was okay, but i dont think i'm going to get what i want. actually the whole process was very upsetting. first they printed wrongly for the progamme that i applied, i was supposed to be under the PGDE and not BSc. Then they told me that I am selected for primary sch, then during interview they kept insisting that i should go for 1 year contract before nie. Sigh. Its all the way depressing. Why cant i just get what i want.

My golf is deterioriating. Sigh. Played quite okay with daryl and the next day when I played with his daddy, almost every ball was sweeping the grass. So upsetting.

6A reunion

2008-02-03T23:51:00.000+08:00

Pearlie and i were contemplating whether to go or not... in the end we went! haha.. it was a very interesting session with my primary school friends!

We were the third to reach although we were already 20 mins late. Well ppl usually come late for such gatherings. There were a total of 18 ppl who turned up, including miss Tan! (our dear form teacher) It was so nice to see the faces again! Many of them changed, the person who changed most drastically was kaijian, followed by zeyi. It was really funny when yong huat and zeyi were walking together and didnt recognize each other until they reached the same destination n got a shock. :P At first it felt quite weird being ard ppl i havent seen for ages, but after awhile, the way they spoke and behaved reminded me of the good old days in primary sch. Dinner was not bad, there were alot of food... western food, chocolate fondue etc.

Will upload pics once i get them :)

Engin was first for IFG bowling! haha... luckily i didnt cause them to lose. I cant say that I played to my best.. wasnt very familiar with my new ball though i had practised alot before the competition.

IFG is not for mi.. :(

2008-01-20T00:05:00.000+08:00

i'm so confused.. Wondering whether to continue for Masters or not. Sigh. This is so confusing and irritating. I'm scared tt im just wasting my time, might as well go work. Even if I decide to go for Masters, there are two major tests that i need to pass first also - GRE test and scholarship application and interview. I wouldnt want to spend any more money studying, I want to get a confirmed job, get some experience already, then it wld be easier for me to look for work next time... SiGh.

Chinese New yr is approaching and i havent bought my clothes too. So busy with so many things nowadays... Took up one more tuition student and now i've 5 students alr. SDP on the way to mid term presentation, FYP still left 1 month to complete the main research, stupid bowling competition next Sat. Urgh... im so busy and stressed out.

It's all daryl's fault la.. he went to join the IFG bowling then the captain was desperate for a female player as they lack one girl. Until the last day of submission of names, he still couldnt find so i volunteered lo. else i think the whole team cannot play ba. And i get myself into this mess.. it sux.. I went to get another new ball just for this competition cos my old ball is plastic one then daryl also say it cmi liao. But when i went there to buy a new ball, the proshop man told me that it would be no difference if i drill conventional way of holding the ball. So in the end he sorta made me drill the hole for ppl who play hook. Damn.. didnt know that it would be so hard to learn a new way of holding ball. I had a super hard time getting used to the ball and it really stressed me out to the max after buying it. Thought that I could play much better with my old ball. Now im still forcing myself to use the new ball loh, there are improvements la, im finally getting used to it alr, but i think not good enough cos i still cannot bowl like i used to. Really worried about malu-ing myself on Sat. OMG... :( *sobs*

tennis!

2008-01-09T23:17:00.000+08:00

Tennis lesson is so much fun! I laughed alot and sweat alot. Trying to improve myself... :) Love sports so much, tennis, golf, bowling, my top 3 love nowadays. It takes my mind off the stressful fyp and the future... Only half a year left to find a job for myself before I graduate.

The tennis coach is humorous, and it is so much fun to be exercising with a group of ppl trying to learn tennis like me. And after the lesson there is the yummy yakun kaya stall at the safra. hehe..

School is starting next week. Once again, it does not really make a difference to me because hols also need to work on my 2 big projects - fyp n sdp. And when sch reopens, I only have one more module left to take. so exciting.. cos finally for the first n last time, i am taking a module with yanjun n pearlie! hehe... been 4 yrs in nus and we havent taken a single common mod tog. And the module sounds interesting too.. forensic science.

december is gone...

2007-12-29T12:38:00.000+08:00

cant believe the whole of dec is already gone, 2008 is coming! omg, i haven't really touched my fyp this whole dec! after exams i was busy with preparing for fyp interim report, then taiwan trip till the 20th and then i fell sick n still not totally feeling well now yet. There goes my fyp..... im in trouble~ Dunno why nowadays feel lethargic easily, will feel like pukin and just wanna lie on the bed.

Will update abt my taiwan trip when i remember to bring my camera back from daryl's house.. haha. I will be going for liang jing ru's concert tonight!! EXCITING... hehee... (still playing away)

Watched a really cute movie.. Alvin n the chipmunks!! i wan a hula hoooop :P

my mummie's new vios is cuming! the car plate num is quite special.. 241. Like the canadian piazza :P just ordered it for lunch. Hungry..

broken fingers

2007-12-04T17:35:00.000+08:00

my blogskin is so plain and simple, unlike others. Partly cause im lazy to change it to a nicer one, im not really an IT person hence i hate the troubles of changing all the settings and looking at the long list of programming language. simple.. that's quite me, i admit. how i wish life is simple. its not really wise to live simple in such a complicated world.

Weeks and weeks of studying kept my body stationary at the work table, eyes on the laptop and television. oh how much i miss sports. Went for a simple 5 hole golf game with daryl n his dadi last thurs and it was really an eye opener. This is my very first time playing such a game! Well, i was lousy at it of cuz, but still not too bad as a beginner! There was this par 3 hole which i managed to get my ball into the green with 2 strokes. But i didnt get par tho.. haha. My fingers are in a terrible state. they are really painful and i have a big blister on my thumb. gripped wrongly or something.

Feel really stressed abt fyp. :(

50yard

2007-11-24T00:37:00.000+08:00

i hit the 50 yard sign board!! ahh finally did it. See how beginner i'm now at golf? haha..i was super happy when the ball hit the sign with a loud thud. :P Had 3 lessons so far, and i really learnt alot! its jus too bad that my shoulder power is not strong enough to hit like guys, daryl can really hit v far, like more than x2 me with the same club. lots of practice to do...

Facebook is really addictive.

deCholidaYs?

2007-11-22T09:16:00.000+08:00

Don't know why I suddenly had the mood to blog in this early morning. Well its not really early now but i just woke up. Yeap, I have realised how pig i am nowadays, i wouldn't wake up until 9am in the morning. Usually during this exam period, I will wake up at 7am to study cuz i used to love studying in the morning when my brain is the freshest. But not anymore.. eversince i came back from Finland, im jus a pig.

Had 3 golf lessons so far, each lesson he taught me different things, and i tried to remember everything and used them when i swing the club. It is not easy, the swing last less than a second and everything that he taught me has to be done in that second. My hands kena blisters and my fingers hurt everytime.. i think i gripped the club too tight. Needs lots of practice..

I better get down to finishing my da term paper and study for exams, and after exams, its not really a december hol for me either*sobs*. One week after exams i've to hand in my fyp report which i have not started at all and then i'm off to taiwan. After that i'm bac to sdp and fyp during the rest of the dec hols. it is really a last hol but its not a hol at all other than the taiwan trip. :( miserablee

my first golf lesson!

2007-11-13T21:27:00.000+08:00

First and most imptly, i wanna thank daryl's daddy for everything.. he was the one who initiated that i go learn golf and he bought everything for mi.. so sweet..

and so, I went for my first golf lesson today! It was tiring, stressful but very fun! My coach kept asking me if I felt it when i got the correct swing, but every swing felt almost the same leh... i didnt know when i was doing it correctly or wrongly until he told me, that was why it was so stressful. there were a few times i couldnt even hit the ball.. and my ball doesnt fly as far as gavyn's (daryl's bro who started lessons with me today as well). can go over the roof not bad liao. :P But oh well, its the first time..

me and my pink golf bag

and a pair of girlie pink gloves to go with..

yea!!

exams coming soon. project gonna due soon too.
I think we can never find any other prof as enthu as prof poh alr. We were doing our project in the IBM lab today and prof poh walked in and asked if anyone needed help! He is really nice.. some students even talked to him like he was a friend..

random thoughts

2007-11-03T23:45:00.000+08:00

It's not that I don't wanna think! Its not that i didnt spend time thinking about it. I really tried very hard everytime, yet i go to u for help everytime still. Sigh. I think you are really disappointed with me by now. it started off with "u impress me!", and now its "yea, whatever". Sigh, my fyp is in a pathetic state. Jiu mIng aH. Stressed.

Stressed over the future too. wondering What AM i going to do after I grad...

rebecca, thank u for doing well!!!!! =)

haha, i want to be muscular woman.:P training very hard now hoping that one day i am able to do 1 man pull up. That's my aim~ yea...

my ipod spoil.. *sobs*

cylysce, i'm glad u are able to move on, and i am happy to be there for you. you thanked me for guiding you to be strong, so u have to be strong yea? *biG hug* u will find someone true to you, believe in it. frens forever~

love?

2007-10-23T22:31:00.000+08:00

Sometimes I think a relationship can be strong, love can be strong, yet at times love can be so fragile. One incident may change a person, time may change a person's thinking. Unknowingly, a person can just lose the partner, whom he/she may once thought was forever, till the end of his/her lifetime. Is love really so fragile? can a relationship that is built over years simply be broken like that? I dont understand what's true love. i dont understand what is love anymore.

However, love for parents and for siblings, i know. I have no doubts about that.

Although i have no idea what happened, I hope you will be strong. Be happy that you've known his true colours before marriage. Learn from the past, be heartbroken and then grow stronger emotionally.

argHH

2007-10-13T12:39:00.000+08:00

Feel so drained each time after the 9-12pm tuition on weekends. SIgh. The students are not motivated, and I cant seem to help much. The parent is heck care. They will be having their exams next week and yet they can go on a holiday on that weekend? The p3 child's english is already weaker than a p1's standard... tell me what to do.. ARGHhHhhh

Troubles aside, yesterday I went for a foot massage with daryl's family. oOooh.. it was damn shiok. :P 1 hour foot massage was greeat. It was itchy at first, and i wanted to laugh but nobody was laughing so i kept very quiet. Then it started to hurt. ha. but the feeling was great after that. My feet felt so shuang. muahahahaa...

Shopping is also a good way of destressing, especially when you get good deals like 15 dollars for a pair of shorts at pepperPlus. But i was so unlucky, the cashier gave me the shorts with the same design but longer and i didnt notice it until i got home. Sigh. Promotional items cannot be exchanged. :(

Wishing all babies born in october a very happy birthday! - weiling, yanjun, choonlei, bro, xiulin jie, joan!! :P

i wanna go back...

2007-09-24T23:15:00.000+08:00

to Finland.

i miss the weather, the air, the school, the spring, the peacefulness...and of course my wonderful roomie.. i miss u morwenna~~

Now having the 1 week break for this semester. Would be feeling kinda relaxed if there is no fyp. sigh. though there is a midterm coming.. feeling abit stressed abt my student who's gonna take her exam soon. I really hope she'd do well, and i will continue to teach her next yr. her mum is nice to me, even bought me mooncakes!

blahblah

2007-09-18T22:48:00.000+08:00

Sometimes i just feel very stressed. I think cause this sem's timetable is empty. And the more that I am not really doing things, the more stressed I get. I guess its the feeling like I should be busy, but I am not. But anyway, midterm is coming and project will be more xiong as time passes. fyp.. ArGHHHHhhh:(

Regret cutting my hair again. Everyone who saw me in my newest short hair gave me lousy comments. Well, I wanted to cut it into a nicer shape, but it turned out bad. Everyone told me my previous hairstyle is nicer, and i truly think so too. hai.. wat can i do other than wait for it to grow long again..

Photos of Me, Myself and I... zi lian kuang.. :P

The "Ru Hua" photo!! Scary rite! so UGLY

before haircut

after haircut

Ratatouille

2007-09-04T10:40:00.000+08:00

Remy, the rat from Ratatouille
he is much braver than me
he thinks positively
he is confident
he is willing to step out of his comfort zone to pursue his dreams
he is able to persuade others to realise that his dream is realistic
he is not afraid of what his dad and what other rats think of him
and most importantly
he knows what he wants

Ratatouille the movie is cute. though i still find the older works of Pixar better... like finding nemo n the incredibles. :)

thanks

eyebrows!

2007-08-28T23:15:00.000+08:00

I went for eyebrow embroidery (xiu mei) 2 days ago... It was a really terrifying experience!

First, I went there cause 'xin xue lai cao'... my cousin was telling me about it and my heart itchy so she recommended me a place and brought me there. So my parents and my cousin went to amk hub there together.

The girl started to pluck off my eyebrows and after she was done, I thought that the shape was not bad! But it wasn't finished yet, because i came here to do the embriodery, not just plucking. And so the girl drew eyebrows for me to see if i like it or not. But the process was long and tedious, and tiring.

too thick on one side.

unbalanced. one up one down... etc.

she drew and redrew for so many times, and then she kept plucking my brows to make it balance. In the end, when she erased off everything, i almost had no brows anymore. I was so terrified and so worried that she cannot get the right shape and balanced brows and my mum was nagging non-stop... Felt terrible and upset, have to pay so much ($250) and yet not being able to enjoy the process. Worse still, walk out eyebrowless.

after what seemed like 10 years, another girl finally got it right. And then she started the real process of embroidery. It was painful. Quite... but I think I got quite a high threshold of pain (since i can deal with removing 4 teeth at one go when i wanted to wear braces last time).

Didn't feel confident that my brows look nice at all after that. Cos I think it looks really TATOOed. And super dark. And my bro laughed at me non stop... yanjun found it weird too. But now then i realised what eyebrow embroidery is: the dark disgusting brows on the skin are starting to shed, and the remaining brows looks not too bad after all! stupid me.. didnt even know they will shed off, thought it will look so damn dark for a long time. Ha... give comments when u see me! --end of story :P

Me with short hair and my naughty but adorable tuition girl whom i really love.

*before the 'eyebrow operation'*

She didnt do well this time round for her exams. scared that im not a good teacher, i hope i am. if she can do well by the end of the yr, then i really know what i wanna be in 1 year's time.. need some assurance that i can teach.

Beautiful fireworks on 18th August

2007-08-21T23:03:00.000+08:00

The night view of Marina Bay.

I was there for the FIREWORKS! Of course, the actual thing is much more colorful and exciting than these photos... The music and the fireworks "worked together" and made it really amazing. The different ways the fireworks danced in the sky and even appeared from the water was really cool. i cant describe much, its just a "i hope it never ends" thing!

this is my most favourite photo. i don't like red colour but this was really pretty.

201

2007-08-15T22:13:00.001+08:00

Today! I acheived something really GREAT!!! Haha... i got a super high score (to me) for bowling today! It is such a superb acheivement, but yet I fear that it is just once... I didn't know how I managed to get these scores also. I was soooo happy that i needed to take a photo of it since it doesnt happen often. (but i really hope it does in future.. heheheh) No open frames, and I would have nearly strike all for a 9pin tap competition!

Yet i still feel a bit down inside me.. a little stressed, a little of skin problem bothering me, feeling unconfident of myself for my final year project. I will be meeting my supervisor for the first time tomr, and hope that it goes well and i know what to do after that. And his opinion of me.. sigh, after all 15% of the marks consistute of my working attitude aka what he thinks of me. So stressful and so bothered. The sad thing is that I think he has no impression of me at all, even though I took his module before and contacted him during that time too. Plus, I am his mentee too... but i never talked much to him. Stressed...............

New haircut!!

2007-08-10T22:02:00.000+08:00

Finally! I changed my hairstyle! I've been having looooong hair since Sec 3? yea.. about 7 years already, and I finally decided that it's time to change a new look. Hee.. Now my shoulder length hair only requires a little bit of shampoo and conditioner, and less than 30 seconds to comb! Haha. My damaged hair since half a yr ago has also been got rid of... Hai one thing that i regret is I never take a photo of that bunch of hair that was being chopped off--> could have posted it here. The barber tied my long hair together and cut it off at one go, and the whole bunch was on the floor. Could have used it as a broom or something hahaha. Regret that i never take it home for fun. :P

Watched a great movie -- jay chou's Secret. Nice twist and surprisingly wonderful plot. its a must-watch! really.

School's starting on monday... sobzz... doubt whether i have the energy to STUDY, after sooooo long.

bored.........

2007-07-30T22:20:00.000+08:00

been slacking nowadays. waiting for school to start... wish i'm doing something more productive but this is really the very last holiday to nua!! Argh. Im really not looking forward to the hectic nus life again... sometimes i wish i can just rewind back to the days in finland where my main concern is "what should i cook today for lunch?" Sometimes when i'm too bored i'll just walk to the big supermarket and take my time to choose the ingredients for my food. The wide choices of cheese, pasta and ready marinated meat is so amazing as compared to ntuc. aww.. how i miss finland.

Just had a tuition session with my pri 1 kid. enjoying it more n more, cuz she is more willing to listen to me now that she is closer to me.

Suffered nose bleed after taking the medicine, so the doc advised me to take it on alternate days instead. now better alr...

Update on Taiwan trip!

2007-07-17T17:52:00.001+08:00

Shopping everyday... alot of xiao chi so we ate them everyday! Cheap cheap bags and clothes, cheap food... totally a place for girls. :) Let the photos do the talking. hee

yummies

coffin bread

ah ma de suan mei tang

on the mrt

the tallest building

jiu fen

dan shui

lovers' bridge

and lastly, of cos KTV!! ok la, 15 per person still got shui jiao and popcorn chicken :)

Happy Birthday Mingwai!

2007-07-07T23:09:00.000+08:00

Clarke quay's central is not bad! The shops are quite different from what I see in usual shopping centres. We celebrated ming's birthday at a japanese pasta restaurant today.. the food is yummy! Its called Pasta de Waraku.

mouth-watering huh.. there's this special Waku sauce and creamy tomato sauce :)

Heard about this doughnut factory 4hr queue...?!?! (worse than going into Vatican City!!!) Gonna check it out @raffles city.